It’s never good starting a newsletter this way…
I moved to Oklahoma from California in 2010 and while in California I had several opportunities to work with a great ham and a dedicated ARRL representative. His name is Carl Gardenias WU6D. A friend of mine and fellow ham. And if you’ve heard of Gordon West WB6NOA, you may have heard of Chip Margelli.
The following is from an e mail from Clint Bradford K6LCS…
Amateur radio – along with “educators” and “ambassadors of good will” – took a double-hit in the last two weeks, as we lost Carl Gardenias to a ranch accident and Chip Margelli to cancer.
There are few others as dedicated to the hobby as Carl and Chip. Carl represented Southern California hams’ interests for decades while serv-ing with the American Radio Relay League. Chip took on the planet as his personal shack – with his infectious wit and effective teaching man-nerisms.
So this has been a sad last couple of weeks. But I am proud to say that they both sat through my satellite presentations – each more than once. They both told me they enjoyed it. THAT is a badge of honor I cherish – now more than ever.
When Carl would introduce me to a Newington ARRL rep at a confer-ence, he would always tell them that I was the ARRL educator that in-jured an audience member by throwing a Yaesu FT-60R at them during a show.
Well, it was true.
To demonstrate how “bullet-proof” the Yaesu was constructed – and if I had indoor-outdoor carpeting on the stage – I’d roll a FT-60R across the stage. But this one time, Carl and his guests were sitting in the front row and, well, the bouncing FT-60R struck his guest in the shin.
OK – let’s get on with this. And let’s dedicate a little fun – AND education – to the memories of Carl and Chip!
So as Clint says “let’s dedicate a little fun – AND edu-cation – to the memories of Chip and Carl!”
Life is too short to not spend as much time as we can in this wonderful, mysterious hobby!
So…what now? Field Day…
On June 24th and 25th we have a chance to really stretch our ham radio legs, have some fun and learn about radio with FieldDay 2023. We’ll be at Chandler Park, Shelter #2 (almost directly across the street from Shelter #3).
The Chandler Park Community Center and a big parking lot are right there next to Shel-ter #2.
We’ve already ordered the good weather (not so hot as last year).
The TARC Comm 1 trailer will be there so you can operate in air-conditioned comfort and we have the shelter re-served until late Sunday afternoon so if you want to stay and operate your own portable station, please do. Radio pro-gramming will again be provided and we’ll have some other teaching opportunities available as well, and the GOTA (get on the air) station.
Look for more information from Jack W5JHC as we get a little closer to Field Day, but be sure and mark your calendars now!
By the time you read this…
the first ever Black Wallstreet Bike Ride to Re-member will be history and since we do such a great job supporting bike rides this one will go off without a hitch, I’m sure.
Many thanks to those that took time to help sup-port this new event!
You’ll read this before…
the Tulsa Tough Bike Ride on June 10th and 11th. This is one of the last bike rides before the end of the season so if you haven’t participated as a SAG driver or ride a long, now is your chance to learn and get educated on how bike rides are supported and why we are so very appreciated by the ride officials and the riders themselves. Go to the W5IAS.com website, click on Events / Nets dropdown to 2023 Tulsa Tough to sign up.
I’m really excited about this next item…
I can’t say enough good things about David N5DMK and the rest of the VE team. It’s a won-derful thing that we are doing our part to bring new hams into the hobby and when you give away a radio and free membership who could refuse. It’s really nice that we are able to do this in- house, in a comfortable setting with VE’s that we know. Many, many, many thanks and if you’d like to help please contact David at N5DMK@att.net
Do you like the new TARC badge? See Andrew W5AWS and bring $2.00.
We are well on our way…
to having a start on the portable HF 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 activiation, camping trip, Field Day or other outdoor ham radio activity. The proposal was for the club to pay approximately $1,500 for the radio, box, antenna and accessories.
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, any amount will be graciously accepted, and you can do so on the website under the “Join” dropdown. Look for the Pay-Pal link. Of course, you can always donate at a club meeting or other TARC event. See Ian KC9THI or Jerry KE5PMK or myself. Thank you!!!
As always, monitor the Superlink Repeater System when severe weather is forecast…
As we’ve seen recently, storms can be here year round, so please monitor the Superlink System for the W5IAS Weather Watch when severe weather is fore-cast. Frequencies for the repeater in your area can be found at W5IAS.com, click on Repeaters 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 comforta-ble, 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! Recently, there were 55 hams check-ing in from all over Green Country!
We give signal reports, answer ham related ques-tions, give announcements of upcoming ham ra-dio events and activities and we even have time for a little bit of trivia!
We’re still interested in helping some club members learn about net control and logging. Contact me at wa5ma.mark@gmail.com.
Every month is a contest month…
Pick a Contest…any Contest! Go to ARRL.com, click Contest Calendar, scroll to Contest Corral, click on the month you want to check.
Try POTA or SOTA! Call CQ! Go to a local park, throw up a wire and get on the air!
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 in-formation on past and future activities. Maybe you’ve seen a rcurring theme in this newsletter about volun-teering your time, experience and knowledge to help others in the club that are just starting out or returning 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 earlier in the newsletter, all the club activity shows that there is a lot happen-ing 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!
If you have not renewed your TARC member-ship, you have until Field Day to renew. After that time your name will be taken off the mem-bership roster and you’ll not receive any more of these newsletters. That alone should be enough for you to renew!!! ??
The next regular club meeting of the Tulsa Ama-teur Radio Club is June 20th 2023 7 PM at TU’s Keplinger Hall room 3140. Field Day is on the agenda.
Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air! Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club