In case you missed it…
Things in the amateur radio world here in Tulsa are starting to wind down just a little bit. On September 10th TARC helped with the DamJam bike ride in the Pryor area, up around Lake Hudson and Grand Lake areas. It was a beau-tiful day and you can see some of the prettiest scenery in Oklahoma in that area. We had an early start at Pryor High School arriving at 6:30 AM, grabbed our APRS units and after a quick briefing we all headed out to our designated positions on the course. The only problem, and what a great problem to have…there were 25 volunteers with five ride along. The day had it’s usual share of minor problems, but nothing bad hap-pened. There was one medical incident that EMS responded to, but after being checked out the rider was transported back to the start/finish line without incident. Being a ride a long is a great way to learn how commu-nications for the bike rides is done without the pressure. This is the last ride until the Spring so between now and then think about helping out with the next ride and improving your radio skills.
It really is a lot of fun and you get to play radio all day!
Many thanks goes to Paul WB5ANX and all the others that helped out by checking out the course ahead of the ride. It makes everything on ride day go soooooooo much smoother.
Route 66 on the Air is in the log as well.
The Route 66 Special Event was September 10th through the 18th. On the 10th TARC had the comm trailer out at Webster High School right on Route 66. There were about 10 that should up throughout the day and several sat down at the radio to make contacts. This was the first use of the pneumatic mast that Steve KF5VCQ has been working on that was donated to the club with Jack W5JHC’s help. The weather was great and many contacts were made.
The following Saturday, September 17th was another beautiful day. We met up at Chandler Park in the same area as Field Day 2 years ago, at the flag pole across from the waterpark. About 15 showed up throughout the day and most, if not all, that were there sat down and took a turn at making contacts. Again, we used the pneumatic mast to sup-port a dipole antenna and Bob W5RAB used a push up mast to support another dipole antenna. All in all, both special event stations made a few hundred con-tacts. The rest of the week we had about 8 operators in the Tulsa area that worked from their home stations and made contacts using FT8, CW and SSB. That’s double the number of operators from last year. We made a total of 1,765 contacts with 16 different coun-tries. That was almost double the number from last year, too. We’ve already received a bunch of QSL cards.
Thanks Steve KF5VCQ for bringing out the trail-er and doing a lot of the set up for us to enjoy!
We’re already looking forward to next year. Have an idea for a special event station somewhere along Route 66? Maybe the Route 66 museum in Sapulpa? Or, how about the Blue Whale? Or just a nice, shady spot somewhere along Route 66? Let us know soon so we can make arrangements, next year will be hear before you know it!
If you missed the September meeting, here’s what you missed! Bob, W5RAB gave us a presentation on the Superlink Repeater System. Here are some of the highlights…
W5RAB retired from a career in telecommunications that included microwave systems. He took over maintenance of the Super Link System which was de-veloped ad-hoc by others in the past. Some of the equipment belongs to W5RAB and some to clubs around Northeastern Oklahoma and Western Arkan-sas.
W5RAB said that due to system configuration, some interference occurs when atmospheric skip enables repeaters on the same frequency in Colorado to trigger repeaters here.
W5RAB said that access to some sites is difficult. When he first assumed the maintenance activity, he spent most of each week visiting sites. Now that ef-fort is reduced one or two days each week depending on need.
Modern equipment doesn’t need as much test gear, though calibrated power meters are useful. Even so, maintenance can be challenging. For some of the old-er equipment there is no support because the manufac-turers are defunct.
W5RAB said that the system works and has worked well for a long time.
If you want to see the entire Superlink System presen-tation as well as some other interesting videos, please go to YouTube and search Tulsa Amateur Radio Club.
Did you make it to the Joplin Hamfest?
There were four of us that carpooled up to the Joplin Hamfest. Robbie W5RML, Wade WA5DE, Remmell KA6DOY and myself. We saw several other club members there as well as some old friends that we haven’t seen in awhile. We even made a few new friends. We had a great time…didn’t win anything, but we still had a great time.
The next hamfest is the Texoma Hamarama on Octo-ber 22nd in Ardmore.
The Tulsa Amateur Radio Club is an active and thriving club! We currently have over 150 members! It’s not just a handful of hams that makes it what it is, it’s a whole group of active hams that enjoy a great hobby! However, this or any other club won’t survive without support from its’ members and we are asking for your help and support! Please volunteer and get
involved with something that you’re interested in. You’ll enjoy the hobby more and you’ll get to fel-lowship with some great ham operators.
The ARRL Foundation Clubs Grant Program can provide up to $25,000 to a club for any pro-jects that they may be working on or would like to do. Bart N5TWB is working on the grant pro-posal and he’ll be submitting it to the ARRL very soon. Got an idea for a club project? Send it to us so we can add it to the list. https://w5ias.com/2022/04/20/tarc-grant-project
Not interested in helping with a bike ride… but still want to support your club and community? Anyone interested in ARES participation should visit the website at https://aresok.org and/or con-tact Paul WB5ANX via email at wb5anx@arrl.net.
HamRescue… Bike rides not your thing… Not interested in ARES… HamRescue exists to help aging or disabled ham operators maintain their stations in working order and on the air. It relies on participation from volunteers. HamRescue is on an as-needed basis and the help you give a fel-low ham is greatly appreciated. See this web-site for more information: https://w5ias.com/ham-rescue/
Weather Watch Net… So far the weather has been pretty mild this year here in the Tulsa area, but storm season can be year round, so please monitor the Superlink System for the Weather Watch net when severe weather is forecast. Fre-quencies for the repeater in your area can be found at W5IAS.com, click on Repeaters and scroll down to TARC: Wide-Area Link System. Please monitor the national VHF/UHF calling frequencies, too. Sometimes hams passing through the area call for local information, help or just looking for someone to talk to. You may even hear and talk to a ham in an airplane operat-ing aeronautical mobile! I did! He was in a small plane flying over Wichita.
Coming to the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club in 2024… 2024 will be the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club. I know it’s more than a year away, but we can start planning now. It’ll be here before you know it! Got any ideas about how we can celebrate? Maybe a special event station? Ham banquet? What’s your idea?
We’re still looking for Net Control Operators and Loggers for the Tuesday night TARC Net. We’re us-ing NetLogger more now for check ins so if you’d like to give it a try let us know and we’ll be happy to show you how easy it is and how you can help your club stay strong and active. Start small and when you feel comfortable, move on up to other events. No pres-sure…just fun doing ham radio!
Upcoming Events
· The next hamfest is the Texoma Hamarama on October 22nd in Ardmore.
· The TARC Christmas Party is coming up on De-cember 20th. More details to follow.
· Winter Field Day is January 28th and 29th.
Mark your calendars!
Pick a Contest… any Contest! Try POTA or SOTA! Call CQ! Just get on the air! Go to ARRL.com, click Contest Calendar, scroll to Contest Corral, click on the month you want to check.
Next Meeting – Wes Lee and one of his techni-cians will be sharing about the Oklahoma Mesonet System. Wes works through OSU and primarily gives weather data for use in Agricul-ture, but also gives the data to public and private agencies from the 120 Mesonet sites in Oklaho-ma. Location: Tulsa University, Keplinger Hall Room 3140 at 7 PM.
Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air!
Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club