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March has been an interesting month with Green Country Hamfest, an excellent TARC meeting presentation, and plans for field day are moving forward.
This month's presentation is by Don Root, Operations Supervisor at KOTV, and he is going to explain all the changes TV stations are having to do to get ready for the HDTV change over, and what users need to do at home. Then Gregg Wonderly, W5GGW, is going to present what changes are coming for digital HAM radio.
The club was able to sell most of the equipment at the TARC and AAARC meetings and Green Country Hamfest, with the proceeds going towards the Mounds site. Many ideas have been purposed for Mounds but if you have any ideas please let me know and I can take them into account.
At the March meeting we found out the Edmond repeater is now on the air so listening for operators in the OKC area on the link system and if you are in the area you can use 443.250 with the PL Tone of 88.5. We had an interesting presentation on Anderson powerpoles by Jay, AD5PE, and Rick, KA5EMT. Jay had a power point presentation on the deferent types that can be used and proper ways of making the cables. Rick had several examples of how to setup batteries and I had an example of how not to.
Field Day plans are coming along. This year we are combining Field Day with the other area clubs an initial meeting of club presidents and FD representatives has been held. The clubs represented were: AAARC, BAARC, TARC, and TRO. Other clubs in the area have expressed interest and are invited to attend the planning sessions. ARRL Section Manager, John Thomason, WB5SYT, is very interested and supportive of the area-wide Field Day activity.
Several locations have been mentioned and, to-date, no selection has been made. Some of the ground rules the Clubs discussed are: 1) Each club to maintain its own identity, 2) Use a lottery for frequencies, 3) No one, so far, plans to be a serious contender for point totals, 4) GOTA stations on HF, VHF, and UHF. Several field day activities have been discussed as well. These include an intro to satellite communications, WX spotting class, some ARES training, and perhaps a "fox hunt" type activity.
TARC needs volunteers for the positions of First and Second Vice Presidents. Primary duty of the First VP is to coordinate Field Day activities. Primary duty of the Second VP is to coordinate meeting programs. I am doing all of these duties at this time and need your help please consider one of the positions your club needs you.
President Jeff Washbourne
KC5ERT
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