In case you missed it…
At the April meeting of the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club, Paul WB5ANX gave his presentation on ARES / Bike Rides / Community Events and how to be prepared for each of them.
Also, Ky Vargas KY5VAR recently made the trek out to Little Sahara State Park for a POTA activation, and he had a slide show and presenta-tion for the club.
Meeting attendance in April was 35.
It’s that time of year…
This past weekend was the first VHF/UHF University attended by 27 hams looking for information on “How not to be a LID, the VHF/UHF version”, “Rubber Ducky, You’re not the one” and “How to reach Net Success” all presented by myself. Jeff AE5ME presented on “Everything Digital” and even how to work weak signal. He really packed a lot of info into a short amount of time.
If you want to see the presentations, they’ll be posted shortly on the w5ias.com website and the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club YouTube channel.
There is a lot going on in the coming months…Tour de Tulsa and Cop-land Classic Bike rides, (and possibly the Black Wallstreet Ride to Re-member).
Our regular monthly club meeting on May 16th will be all about Field Day planning which should be awesome this year.
On June 3rd is the next license exam session. Contact David N5DMK if you are looking to attend.
Our June club meeting will be spent wrapping up Field Day planning and one other presentation to be determined.
June 24th and 25th is Field Day. We’ll be up at Chan-dler Park and with a little luck propagation will be hot and the weather will be cool!
This is so important that I wanted to include it in this months’ message, too!
Here are the activities that the club is currently participating in…
Club growth…over 200 members (FOUR-FOLD in-crease in 2 years)
We started the W5IAS Weather Watch
Continued improvements and usage of the Comm 1 Trailer (Loaned out to other events as well)
ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test)
Field Day
Winter Field Day
Route 66 OTA (Webster High School and Chan-dler Park or another location TBD)
Upgrading the Superlink hub repeater, 443.850 (This is done and working great!)
Tuesday club net on the Superlink Repeater Sys-tem 8 PM (55 checked in last week)
License exam sessions (with radio giveaway and free membership)
Ice Cream Social at Chandler Park
Sand Springs Christmas Parade staging
Upgraded the TARC website
Upgraded TARC FaceBook page
Created a TARC YouTube channel
TARC club stickers
TARC T shirts
TARC business cards with repeater frequencies TARC club flag
Green Country Hamfest Raffle and membership sig-nup tables
W6L QSL cards
W5IAS QSL cards
Support for bike rides (Tour de Tulsa, Copland Clas-sic, Tulsa Tough, DamJam)
TARC Christmas party
MakerFair
HF University
Boy Scouts Merit Badge
Now…after reviewing this list we looked at future events and got plenty of suggestions from the 50 members in attendance.
Here are the future activities that the club is want-ing to participate in…
Fox Hunts
Portable operations (POTA, etc.)
VHF/UHF University (completed on April 29th)
Gathering Place events (Outdoor Adventure was done on April 15th with much success and we’d like to be invited to another event scheduled in the fall)
Special Events Stations (Does anyone know what the Sooner Spring Special Event Station was about?)
ARRL Special Service Club
Starting an HF Net
Starting a 6-meter Net (We’re working on this one)
CW net and practice net
Upgrade the TARC Newsletter – additional con-tent from club members
Anyone of the Young Lady hams want to start a YL Net?
Club hats and/or Name badges and other SWAG items such as TARC mugs, mousepads, back-packs, etc.
Upcoming 2024 TARC 100-year anniversary
VHF/UHF Win-link and MMDVM/M17
A 220 Net has just started – Fridays at 8:30 PM on 224.380, 1.6 off-set and 88.5 PL
Create a Kids Kit for kids interested in ham radio and electronics (Building easy kits, soldering, CW key, etc.)
Scouts Jamboree on the Air
Train some Net Control Operators and loggers for the Tuesday net (we picked up 2 more Net Contol operators at the VHF/UHF University)
You see there is something for everyone to be involved in…
After seeing all the activities that TARC is involved in and all the activities that the club members are in-terested in, I ask…no, plead and beg (almost) we’re still looking for volunteers to help get the activities, current and/or future up and running or just to keep them going and members active.
Is that you?
The club needs your help and participation. If you’re not interested in heading up an activity you can help in the background and provide support. WE NEED YOU!
Update on the club go box…
At the last several meetings it was discussed that we would like to put together an HF go box (or two) and make it available to the club members for their short term use on a POTA activation, camping trip, Field Day or other outdoor ham radio activity. The pro-posal was for the club to pay approximately $1,500 for the radio, box, antenna and accessories.
A suggestion was made to ask for donations specifi-cally for an HF go box and the majority of those in attendance responded in the positive and would con-tribute to the project with one member donating right then. According to Jerry KE5PMK we are well on our way to having enough donations to start on the first box. So, thank you to all those who’ve donated thus far.
If you would like to donate to this project, and any amount will be graciously accepted, and you can do so on the website under the “Join” dropdown. Look for the PayPal link. Of course, you can always donate at a club meeting or other TARC event. See Ian KC9THI or Jerry KE5PMK or myself. I donated!!!
Thank you!!!
The 443.850 Superlink Repeater sounds great!…
Bob W5RAB, Paul WB5ANX and David N5DMK have been working on the 443.850 repeater and it has been an incredibly complex task, but they’ve won the battle and even though they are still testing and work-ing out some of the bugs, it sounds great! If you have-n’t heard it yet, listen for a while and hear the new an-nouncements. If you hear anything out of the ordi-nary, please contact Paul WB5ANX, David N5DMK or Bob W5RAB.
Thank you for all the work you guys have put in-to this!!!
As always, monitor the Superlink Repeater Sys-tem when severe weather is forecast…
As we’ve seen recently, storms can be here year-round, so please monitor the Superlink System for the Weather Watch net when severe weather is forecast. Frequencies for the repeater in your area can be found at W5IAS.com, click on Re-peaters and scroll down to
TARC: Wide-Area Link System.
Photo courtesy of Tyler Layne Photography
Coming to the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club in 2024…
2024 will be the 100-year anniversary of the Tul-sa 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. To save time we’re using 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 duties.
No pressure…just fun doing ham radio!
Thanks going out to Ian KC9THI and Grant KC1KCE who will be joining me in doing net control for the Tuesday nets.
Speaking of Nets…
The Tuesday night TARC net is going strong! We hit a new high for check-ins on Netlogger and over the air! There were 55 hams checking in from all over Green Country!
We give signal reports, answer ham related questions, give announcements of upcoming ham radio events and activities and we even have time for a little bit of trivia!
Every month is a contest month…
Pick a Contest…any Contest!
Try POTA or SOTA! Call CQ! Go to a local park and get on the air!
Go to ARRL.com, click Contest Calendar, scroll to Contest Corral, click on the month you want to check.
Upcoming contests and operating opportunities…
If you’ve read this far in the TARC Newsletter, thank you! I try to make it interesting reading and give lots of important club information on past and future activities. Maybe you’ve seen a recur-ring theme in this newsletter about volunteering your time, experience, and knowledge to help others in the club that are just starting out or re-turning to the hobby after a long absence. Many things are new, and many things have changed over the years. We have over 190 members with different interests, and we need your help to keep that interest alive and growing! As was said earli-er in the newsletter, all the club activity shows that there is a lot happening with TARC and that the club depends on its members to exist and thrive.
Send me an e mail with your interest and how you’d like to help your fellow hams at wa5ma.mark@gmail.com, and have some fun yourself!
The next regular club meeting of the Tulsa Am-ateur Radio Club is May 16th 2023 7 PM at TU’s Keplinger Hall room 3140. Field Day planning is on the agenda.
Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air! Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club