THE PRESIDENT’S CORNER August 2023

Know someone who would like to get their Ham license or upgrade
to General or Extra…
Your chance is coming up on August 5th, 10 AM at TU’s Keplinger Hall
Room 3140 (same location as our monthly club meetings).
David N5DMK and the TARC VE team do a fantastic job of running the
exam sessions and can have you in and out with a new license or upgrade
in less than 2 hours. If you miss this one your next chance to attend a license
exam session will be October 7th. Start studying today!!!
Do you like the new TARC badge?
See Andrew W5AWS and bring
$2.00.
If your name is listed here, you
have a badge waiting for you!
W5JHC, Jack / KD5VSB, John /
KI5UGG, Steven / KJ5BKB, Mac /
KC5BXB, Sam / WA5YNE,
Wayne / W1PN, Ed / KI5ZDE,
Chris / W5RAB, Bob
If you missed the last meeting…
We did a wrap up of the club’s participation in the 13
Colonies Special Event. Remell, KA6DOY, and
Mike, KI5EGH, both participated making contact
with all stations except the UK. KA6DOY said that all
his contacts were via CW. Congratulations Remell
and Mike! You made one more contact than me. I
made the clean sweep, but I didn’t get either of the
European stations. Maybe I’ll try CW next year!
We also wrapped up Field Day at Haikey Creek Park.
– I asked whether we should conduct future field days
at Haikey Creek Park (South Garnett Road and 121st
South} and the majority of the members present voted
to do so by a show of hands, there being plenty of
shade, the park open 24-hours, convenient restrooms,
and more public visibility.
WA5MA said that we will reserve space at Haikey
Creek Park for future field days.
We operated on the following bands, making contacts
as follows:
Band CW Phone Dig Total
40 0 39 93 132
20 12 109 0 121
15 0 16 0 16
It was reported that this field day was the first operation
of the new Honda generator purchased by the
club and running on propane. It was paired with the
generator owned by Ann K5AEB. Steve KF5VCQ
acquired the new generator as approved at our last
meeting and converted it to propane fuel. Steve reported
that the generator ran for 24-hours on a 20lb
tank of propane. Dual generators provided enough
power to run the air conditioning in the Comm-1 trailer
until K5AEB had to leave after dinner in the evening
with her generator.
Jeff AE5ME operated in Comm-1, he took the opportunity
to establish digital operations on the computer
at Station – 2. Ky KY5VAR and Jeff AE5ME were up
all night making contacts.
KY5VAR projected pictures of the Hamvee setup and
showed what happened when an unexpected groundloop
burned a power cable, demonstrating the value of
fuses in the negative and positive wires. Stuff
happens and kudos to KY5VAR for sharing his
alarming moments during station setup so that we
can all learn.
Rick, WD5ETD, operated QRP with a Penntek
TR-45L with W5AWS and KY5VAR observing.
Later in the day, Mike, KI5EGH, arrived after
W5AWS departed. KY5VAR stayed overnight
with his station illuminated by Tikki Torches.
AE5ME continued to operate in Comm-1 until 0300
hours Sunday morning.
KY5VAR said that he visited with the patrolling park
ranger who was supportive of the ham radio event.
All in all, in spite of the warm weather we had about
50 club members and visitors pass through the Field
Day site. Many thanks to all those that helped make
this year’s Field Day a success and especially Ian and
Jack!!!
KY5VAR invited W5AWS to join him to talk about
inauguration of the TARC CW Nervous Novice Net
that met for the first time on Monday, July 3rd at 7
PM. Net Control is usually Mike KI5EGH who
provides a script to show us nervous CW novices
what to expect. KI5EGH is supported by experienced
CW operators Remell KA6DOY and Rick
WD5ETD. We use NetLogger and the AIM window
to chat. Net Control will go down the list of
checked-in operators, calling each in turn, which
will help us to stay on track.
KY said that key-fright is a lot worse than micfright
and related an incident when he and
W5AWS were at Chandler Park operating portable
when KY5VAR suggested that W5AWS
make a call, and W5AWS responded: “no, you
make a call using your callsign”. At one point,
W5AWS realized that he had just called “QC QC
QC” instead of the other way around. Eventually,
W5AWS made three correct calls on 20m, though
nothing heard in reply. Five days later, W5AWS
thought to check the Reverse Beacon network and
discovered that he had been heard in Arizona and
Michigan, not bad for 5W into a mag-loop antenna.
See the RBN screenshot at this link:
KY5VAR emphasized that the whole point of
Nervous Novice CW Net is to support aspiring
CW Operators in a low-stress, friendly environment.
The TARC CW Nervous Novice Net is on Monday
evenings at 7 PM on 7.037 MHz. Look for
the net on NetLogger and join in. All are welcome.
Greg AI5HV gave a short presentation on ham
radio insurance. He provided us with a handout,
which you can download via this link:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/
J3T4ZM7W5R#BkKRkP7NDiQK
AI5HV explained that a lightning strike to his
house destroyed all the electronics therein, including
his ham radio equipment. His tussle with
his homeowners insurance company convinced
him that there had to be a better way, which
turned out to be the ARRL insurance program
that is the cheapest and easiest way to get replacement
cost of equipment lost,
which includes supporting equipment like computers,
power supplies, etc. Important with ARRL insurance
is that you list the retail replacement cost including
any tax and shipping costs. AI5HV’s was a cautionary
tale that should make operators seriously consider
specialized insurance, given the reluctance of homeowners
insurance companies to pay. Overall, AI5HV
said that getting ARRL insurance coverage is easy
through their web-site.
We have some good news on the TARC club HF go
box…
But I can’t tell you yet what it is. You’ll just have to
come to the September club meeting. (The August
club meeting is the Ice Cream Social at Chandler
Park.)
As always, monitor the Superlink Repeater System
when severe weather is forecast…
As we’ve seen recently, storms and strong winds can
be here year round, so please monitor the Superlink
System for the W5IAS Weather Watch when severe
weather is forecast. 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 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.
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
those doing the logging and Net Control!
Don’t forget about the Tuesday Net…
The Tuesday night TARC net is going strong!
We’re averaging 40 check ins between NetLogger
and over the air check ins. We give signal reports,
answer ham related questions, give announcements
of upcoming ham radio events and
activities and we even have time for some trivia!
Both, Ian KC9THI and Grant KC1KCE are doing
a great job as net control!
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! Route 66 on the air is
coming up in September so get ready to operate at
W6L on Saturday, September 9th and Saturday
September 16th from 2 different locations in the
Tulsa area. This is a fun event and it’s your
chance to be on the other side of a pile up.
Upcoming events…
Centenary of the club in 2024. (That’s the 100-
year anniversary)!
Route-66 On The Air, locations to be decided later.
DamJam Bike Ride will happen on Saturday,
September 9th.
Register on the W5IAS.com website.
MS100 Bike Ride date to be determined.
Maker Faire is scheduled for Saturday, August 26th
from 10 AM to 5 PM. We’re looking for volunteers so
if you can spend an hour or all day send an e mail to
Steve at KF5VCQ@cox.net.
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 re-occurring theme in this newsletter about volunteering
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 170 members with different
interests, and we need your help to keep that interest
alive and the club growing!
As was said earlier 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 meeting of the Tulsa Amateur
Radio Club will be our Annual Ice Cream Social
on August 15th 7 PM at Chandler Park, Shelter
#1. That’s the first shelter on the left as you get to
the top of the hill. Talk in will be on the 145.110
repeater.
You don’t need to bring anything but your appetite
for ice cream and toppings!
Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air!
Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club