San Antonio Hams

I’m a boy scout and ham operator (K5AJE) who works with the troop to teach the scouts about radios. On October 20th we will be participating in Jamboree On The Air where scouts across the world meet with amateur operators to use radio frequencies (mainly HF) to communicate to others. We plan to meet at Steven’s High school (Potranco & Ellison Rd) where we will have an open soccer field and no power lines.

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Folks,

Here is my “Rambling Ride Report” for the weekend [editor: Valero BikeMS Ride to the River on October 6-7th, 2018]. Please feel free to publish, conceal, distribute, fold, spindle, or mutilate as you see fit.

Yours,

Andy

KE5PWX

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10/08/2018

2018 MS Ride to the River: A Backseat Ham Reports.

Day 1: Saturday

At about 03:00 Saturday morning, I dragged my reluctant backside out of a nice warm bed, loaded some radio equipment, tools, and a few personal items into “Smart Car 42,” and set out for Rolling Oaks mall on the extreme Northeast side of San Antonio, Texas. If you asked me why, I’d have to say it’s complected. Sure, my company encourages me to do volunteer stuff. US Bank even matches cash donations to the organization at my hourly rate for events I participate in, but the biggest part is that my late father-in-law was a MS victim—a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair for half of his adult life—and that, and his daughter, my wife, was diagnosed with MS shortly after we were married 25 years ago. I’d like to say that those who participate in these events exemplify the indomitable spirits of my wife and her dad—accept, adapt, adjust, double-down, overcome—rinse, and repeat.

First thing Saturday, I discovered that while I know exactly where the mall is in the daytime, I have no idea where it is at 04:00 in the morning. Fortunately I was able to illustrate one of the many valid reasons for having a ham radio in your car. My dedicated GPS was not acting anything like ‘dedicated’, and it seemed like it would be more expedient to ask for directions than to fool with getting it on my phone; I posed my quandary to the good folks who happened to be monitoring the AARO repeater at that hour, and, Bob’s your uncle, I had the name and exit number about two minutes before I needed it.

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Here’s the edited version of the drone video on Day-1, Saturday, October 6, 2018. I used my DJI Mavic Pro drone to fly near the start line at Rolling Oaks Mall and later to track the riders and Turtle vehicles a short distance north on Nacogdoches Road as they rode past my launching point.

The 2018 Valero BikeMS Ride to the River 2-day bicycle ride started in San Antonio and ended up in New Braunfels, TX. #BIKEMS #MAVICPRO

The Medina Radio Club will have it’s monthly meeting this Thursday, October 11th, at 10am at the Medina United Methodist Church.

We will be working on teaching members how to program their radios so any help would be appreciated.

The Church is on the road next to the new Family Dollar store off of 16. We do have coffee and food.

While you are in downtown Medina you can visit our wonderful library and check out one of our 43 Amateur Radio related books.

Thanks

Peter K5HAB

Mike Falcon KD5OZM Silent Key Sept 17, 2018

RIP Mike Falcon, KD5OZM.

I just received a phone call from Andrew Watson saying that Mike had passed away.

Andrew Watson had given Mike a ride to the ARRO Ham Club meeting last week on Wednesday, then Mike reported becoming extremely ill the next day.

It is not believed that the two events were related.

Mike had been in great spirits during the meeting, saying how much better his vision had become after his eye surgery.

Mike is a former director and club president of the Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) and had been very active with club events in the past.

UPDATE 10/22 Services: Here’s the info on Mike’s funeral/memorial service.

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church 1710 Clower Street SA, TX 78201

A lunch reception will follow in the church hall following services Oct 22, 2018 at 10 a.m.

DUE TO THE ACTIVATION OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, in response to the expected incoming coastal weather patterns, their building became unavailable for this event. A new date will be selected and announced in the future.

New Date Selected – February 2, 2019

Greg N5XO

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The HAMster VHF/UHF Weak Signal Group presents our 4TH HAMster Lunch and Learn, plus swap meet. FREE admission. Friends and family are very welcome! You don’t need to be a ham to attend. Lots and lots of door prizes will be raffled off.

FREE EVENT! TECHNICAL TRAINING – SWAP MEET – VE TESTING – RAFFLE

FREE COFFEE, SODAS, WATER AND SPAGHETTI LUNCHEON

Saturday, September 22, 2018 @ 8:00 am

Location: American Red Cross, 3642 E Houston St, San Antonio TX 78219

(Please use the side entrance off of Houston Street, not the main entrance from parking lot.)

Please RSVP ASAP to Greg n5xo@144200.net for lunch, etc.

RAFFLE:

• FT-920 100 Watt HF/6 Meter Radio with Desk Microphone
• Yaesu HT, VX-5 with Desk Charger
• Lots of other door prizes!

SWAP MEET:

Indoor swap meet with table lease of $10 each. If you wish to lease a table, contact Patrick KG5OMX – hondopatrick@me.com or call/text 210-380-1220.

TRAINING:

Technical Training to make yourself more effective in VHF/UHF DXing, no matter your VHF/UHF interest. A more efficient station is just more fun!!

SCHEDULE:

07:15-08:00 Swap meet table setup

08:00 Sign in – Raffle Ticket Sales – Swap Meet

09:00 N5XO – Introduction to VHF/UHF Weak Signal & HAMster Group

09:30 N5XO – Is your Coax Charging you a TAX?

09:30 N7LRY– Quadrifilar Helix Antenna. A surprising performer

10:30 W5KTX – Station building, Grounding

10:30 N7LRY– Analyzer-Tools to get you that last db

11:00 LUNCH IS SERVED

12:00 noon SWAP MEET IS CLOSED DOWN

12:30 KC5ULU– How to build a 2 meter 4 element Quad for under $50

12:30 KA2ZGW– Traffic Handling-How to create a message and send it

13:00 AD5BR – Volunteer Examiner Test Session for New hams & Upgrades. $15 Test fee. Bring photo ID. Contact HAMTEST@GMAIL.COM for more info.

14:00 N5XO– Final Program & Raffle

For more information on the HAMsters go to: www.144200.net or our all new interactive web page: www.hamstergroup.ning.com

Greg N5XO

The annual Universal City Veterans Day Parade will be held on Saturday, November 3rd. Both Ham Radio and non-ham operators are needed to provide assistance to the UC Police Department. Our duties include moving barricades into place along the route (Pat Booker Rd) and start pointing cars to head south towards Randolph AFB if they insist on leaving. Our “job” is not to be confrontational, but to help drivers avoid being confronted by a uniformed police officer if they ignore our instructions. Lol

We meet up at the UCPD Office on Universal City Blvd at 9am for free donuts, coffee, juice and assignments of course. Around 10:10 we’ll be told over the radio to close off all side streets and parking lots. Barricades are prepositioned for this purpose.

If you are interested in helping out, please email Lee N5NTG at info@sanantoniohams.org for more info.

Jerry Barry/K5AXN passed away last night from numerous health issues. According to Carol, there will be no further arrangements. Carol said “We didn’t like going to funerals and didn’t want one for ourselves. Years ago we signed up for the Willed Body Program at the UT Health Science Center and want all our friends and family to take a moment to remember Jerry and laugh and smile.”

Carol Barry

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Personally I will miss seeing him at ham fests, his regular phone calls, and visits. He loved the old technology and used to hold an annual field day with classic equipment.

Best 73,

Gary H. Harmon, Jr. – K5JWK

We’re still needing some more ham radio operators to help with the 2-day BikeMS Valero Ride To The River on the first weekend of October, Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th.  Hours are generally 7am until 6pm, but may vary depending upon your assignment.

The ride on Saturday starts at Rolling Oaks Mall on the Northeast side of SA (1604 & Nacogdoches), then wanders thru the countryside via mostly back roads over to Seguin and back to a finish line at the Comal County Fairgrounds in New Braunfels. (River Road will be involved both days.)  The event will finish up Saturday before 7pm, but most rest stops will close before 5pm.

On Sunday, the 2 routes start at, and return to, the Fairgrounds. Both routes include River Road, coming one direction from Sattler. Sunday is shorter due to shorter routes.

We need hams to help in these areas:

* SAG VAN drivers & co-pilots (picking up stranded riders in a rental 15 passenger van or pickup truck)

* Motorcycle Safety Marshals (need to train w group before the actual ride)

* Ham shadows for event officials (ride with them all day, relaying msgs)

* Medical rovers / first responders (EMTs, ham shadows)

* Rest Stop Hams (relaying msgs to/from medical, the Rest Stop captain (supplies), or when a need to have riders picked up)

Background checks are required for some, but not all positions, paid for by National MS Society. Driver DMV checks are required for Van & Truck drivers (also paid for). Some online driver training is required for those driving rental vehicles.

Free t-shirts will be available. All fuel expenses for event provided vehicles and motorcycles are covered without need to pay up front and wait for reimbursement.

A training / briefing meeting is typically held the weekend before the event to cover the routes, assignments, pass out maps & other items (like t-shirts), etc.

* Ham Coordinators are Charlie Land KC5NKK, MaryAnn Horn N5NYM, and myself.

* Motorcycle Safety Marshals are coordinated by Ray McLeaird N5RAM.

* Medical Rovers / First Responders are coordinated by Neil Martin WA5FSR, with an actual doctor in overall charge.

Police coordination with SAPD, Guadalupe Sheriff, Comal Sheriff and New Braunfels police has been arranged. Major intersections will have a police presence.

This would be a great training opportunity for ARES and CERT groups as well, perhaps with several volunteers helping out at one or more rest stops. Hill Country REACT members are involved also.

Note: SAG Van & Pickup Truck assignments are expected to be 2-day assignments, with the vehicles being picked up from designated rental agency location on Friday (before 6pm) and returned either Sunday night or Monday morning.

Rest stops can be assignments for 1 or both days since locations change each day. Hours vary by position relative to start and finish line.  We usually have 8 stops on Saturday and 5 stops on Sunday.

While we prefer ham shadows to be a 2-day assignment, we understand that some folks might not br available both days. Preference in assignments is given to those able to do both days of course.

Please contact me for more info. If you email / call / text / or leave voicemail msg, please include your name, callsign and your contact info.

We do have some non-ham positions available, such as being a co-pilot for a SAG ham driver. SAG operators work best as teams, driver & navigator/co-pilot.

Lee Besing, N5NTG
210-771-7075 (cell)
info@sanantoniohams.org