On Tuesday, 20 February 2024 at 1900 hours local, Mark, WA5MA, called to order the meeting of the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club in Room-3140 of Keplinger Hall at the University of Tulsa.
You can download a copy of the agenda via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/0ZF3FBTNH0#4HLdlS3hmy2T
WA5MA introduced the club officers who were present at the meeting. 38 hams added their names to the attendance register with an additional four or five aspiring hams who brought the total in attendance to 43. You can download a copy of the attendance register via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/D1XBBBN0BW#5kvaDexraAe7
WA5MA said that our last meeting was three months ago in November 2023. Instead of a formal meeting in December 2023, we gathered for our annual Christmas dinner at the Golden Corral at 71st & Mingo Road. We cancelled our in-person meeting in January 2024 due to cold weather and icy road conditions that made it dangerous to travel, instead, we conducted our meeting via radio on the Superlink repeater system.
WA5MA said that we have a lot to do this evening and so made an immediate start on the formal business of the meeting.
WA5MA asked whether anyone is not receiving the minutes of meeting in the newsletter: Nothing heard or observed.
WA5MA asked for any questions or comments about the minutes of last month’s meeting. Nothing heard. Ed, W1PN, moved to approve the minutes as written; Ky, KY5VAR, seconded; the minutes were approved by acclamation.
WA5MA asked Treasurer Jerry, KE5PMK, whether he had anything to add about the financials. KE5PMK said that PayPal had changed its reporting format again, making accounting more difficult. Since the newsletter contained a copy of the financial report, WA5MA asked for any questions or comments. Nothing heard. Ed, W1PN, moved to approve the financials; Bart, N5TWB, seconded; motion carried by acclamation.
WA5MA asked Bart, N5TWB, about grant applications to the ARRL Foundation. N5TWB said that given holidays and illness, there was no change, but having received information about the University of Tulsa from KY5VAR, N5TWB will be bringing things up-to-date.
WA5MA said that he had received some inquiries about amplifier and radio repair, and had found two sources for this work. If anyone is in need of amplifier or radio repair, email wa5ma.mark@gmail.com for contact information.
WA5MA said that at the most recent count, club membership stands at 196. We are an active club that depends on participation by members for that activity, of which there was a lot last year in 2023.
WA5MA said that as club president, he feels it is important to recognize individual effort by club members who contribute to making the club a successful organization. With this in mind, WA5MA handed certificates of achievement to:
Jack, W5JHC, for his ongoing maintenance of the club web-site at w5ias.com/, and for his coordination of Field Day activity.
Ian, KC9THI, for his work as 2nd Vice President in 2023, volunteering as Net Control Operator for the weekly net on Tuesday evenings, for inaugurating the Ham Radio University events, and for instigating and making the Go Boxes a reality. Our club now has two Go Boxes that any dues-paying member in good standing can check-out from the Quartermaster, KE5EHM: one is an Icom 7100, the other is an FT-991A; both Go Boxes are completely self-contained with detailed usage instructions.
Andrew, W5AWS, for secretarial duties; net logging; elmering the other net loggers, Dave, K5TZS, and Brent, N5LOL; producing club badges; and articles appearing in QST magazine.
Jerry, KE5PMK, ongoing treasurer managing the financials, and being the membership committee.
Bob, W5RAB, for his long service maintaining the repeater system; elmering Paul, WB5ANX, and David, N5DMK, so that they can take over repeater responsibilities; and for repairing the Yaesu FT-991A transceiver gifted to the club that became the core of the second Go Box.
WB5ANX and N5DMK, for the large effort needed to get up to speed on the repeater system and adjust the new 443.850 repeater node into its current operational state.
N5DMK for managing the Volunteer Examiners who proctor FCC licensing exams every two months in Room-3140 of Keplinger Hall at the University of Tulsa.
WB5ANX for leading the club effort to support bike rides, field day, and as the Tulsa county ARES coordinator.
Grant, KC1KCI, who is a net control operator for the Tuesday evening TARC Net on the Superlink repeater system.
Brent, N5LOL, helps the Tuesday night net by running net logger.
Dave, K5TZS, shares net logging duties with N5LOL and W5AWS. K5TZS also, scanned scores of QSL cards that the club receives during national on-air events.
Ky, KY5VAR, brings his Hamvee to events, started the Monday night CW Nervous Novice Net on 7.037 MHz, and is now the new 2nd Vice President of the club.
Mike, KI5EGH, is recognized for his mentoring CW operators and being net control for the Nervous Novices.
Jeff, AE5ME, is recognized for being ever-helpful to anyone who needs to know about digital modes, especially M17.
Greg, AI5HV, has long maintained the club social media accounts.
Steve, KF5VCQ, who built and maintains the Emergency Communications trailer, Comm1. He usually serves as the parliamentarian during elections of officers.
WA5MA had two or three certificates that he couldn’t give because the recipients were absent the meeting.
WA5MA said that in this centenary year of the club, we have a planning committee to organize celebration of this event comprising: Steve, KF5VCQ; Robert, KI5WDD; Ray, K5CFY; and Remell, KA6DOY.
WA5MA asked Robert, KI5WDD, to update us on club centenary merchandise,
KI5WDD indicated the displayed logo items available for sale: a Stadium cup and coffee mug combination for $20, ball caps price not mentioned, short and long sleeved T-shirts that cost approximately $40 each. KI5WDD invited club members to suggest other ideas for club items, like knit beanie hats with embroidered club logo to keep the heads of portable operators warm during the colder times of the year.
WA5MA asked Ky, KY5VAR, for info about club collaboration with the University of Tulsa.
KY5VAR said that he and CJ, WW0CJ, organized a Lunch-n-Learn event for students and faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at Rayzor Hall, that will introduce faculty and students to the capabilities of the club emergency communications trailer.
KY5VAR said that the faculty is interested in introducing a practical radio component into their courseware that involves building a radio in modular format. KY5VAR said that he and Andrew, W5AWS, had visited with faculty and senior students, during which Andrew had displayed a couple of radios, one of which was a Cricket 40 CW QRP kit designed by David Cripe, NM0S, that had drawn particular interest.
www.4sqrp.com/cricket40.php
KY5VAR said that the main objective is to reinstate and maintain a student radio club station that has access to an antenna tower, that also serves to produce licensed amateur radio operators as an element of engineering student time at TU.
WA5MA asked Ian, KC9THI, to talk about the FT-991A Go Box displayed at the front of the room.
KC9THI said that dues-paying club members in good standing can check- out either of the two Go Boxes from the Quartermaster, Paul, KE5EGH. Each Go-Box is self-contained with the radio user manual, and a quick- start guide created by Mark, WA5MA. These units particularly help members who don’t have an HF rig, or those who want to take a rig with them for portable operations.
KC9THI had the FT-991A running, connected to a folding J-pole antenna, and tuned to 443.850. As the clock moved to 2000 hrs, we heard the Tuesday evening TARC Net get under way with Dirk, W4IPD, as net control.
KC9THI said that the Go Boxes are a boon to club members, and an example of how the club is using membership dues.
WA5MA asked KC9THI about Ham University.
KC9THI said that Ham University is an occasional meeting in Room-3140 of Keplinger Hall that is half a day of seminars on operating modes, one-air etiquette, radio-related information, followed by and afternoon of workshop Q&A between novice operators and experienced hams.
KC9THI encourage attendees to share any ideas for other Ham Uni workshop-seminars.
WA5MA asked Paul, WB5ANX, about bike-ride and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) communications.
WB5ANX distributed a sheet of paper listing the bicycle event communications, a copy of which you can download via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/5CBQEWMDKR#sASlltsJtixK
WB5ANX said that he needs volunteers to act as event observers and Safety And Gear (SAG) operators. If you don’t know what to do then volunteer to ride-along with an experienced operator to learn what to do. These are fun events and the cyclists really appreciate having dedicated help roaming the course. See the handout for more information.
WB5ANX is the ARES coordinator for Tulsa county. Recently, WB5ANX in conjunction with James, KI5DAZ, resurrected the hospital net, which means that they need licensed operators to work the rigs located in area hospitals during emergencies. To help in hospitals, licensed operators need credentials that involve a background-checked badge; to get this, volunteers should visit the OK MRC web-site and take the online training:
www.okmrc.org/
aresok.org/
Green Country Hamfest is on April 12th & 13th during which there are opportunities to volunteer to help ARES. Sign-up here:
volunteersignup.org/mklb9
WA5MA handed out SKYWARN reporting guides produced by Remell, KA6DOY, a copy of which you can download via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/J9VQ78CVYM#s4wtrxuMyWrd
WA5MA said that we are trying to get Travis Meyer to come and talk about weather in a seminar about emergency communications preparedness.
WA5MA said that during the developing weather events, we should monitor the Weather Watch on the Superlink, 443.850 in Tulsa, check-in to the NCO on duty, KC9THI is one of those, and then when conditions become severe, the Weather Watch will transition to the Weather Net that is connected to the National Weather Service emergency operations center.
Russ, KF5UZG, said that he is a Weather Net NCO and that when the change happens from Watch to Net, silence descends. Russ said that the ground-truth reports are important and that those monitoring the net shouldn’t be afraid to make reports. Experienced Weather Net NCOs will pass relevant information to NWS operations management.
WA5MA said that there have been several occasions when mobile operators have been out of mobile telephone range in rural Oklahoma when bad weather is present, heard about tornadic activity on the Superlink system, and called for more information.
There is a use-case here for Shredpix because a picture is worth a thousand words. An operator could transmit a picture of weather related damage, flooding, or hail.
WA5MA said that we have time now for round-robin introductions.
WA5MA showed some pictures of equipment left by a Silent Key, and asked anyone interested to make a fair offer that WA5MA can give to the ham’s widow.
WA5MA also mentioned reporting temblors and earthquakes to the Earthquake Net.
Someone mentioned that the ARES Net has a temporary frequency change. Weeks 1-3 are on 145.110, week 4 is on 443.850.
WA5MA said that the next club meeting is on March 19th.
There being no further business, WA5MA called for a motion to adjourn, proposed by KI5UGG, seconded by W5JHC, approved by general exodus.
Meeting adjourned at 2020 hrs local.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Andrew, W5AWS. -=-=-=-
You can download a copy of the agenda via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/0ZF3FBTNH0#4HLdlS3hmy2T
WA5MA introduced the club officers who were present at the meeting. 38 hams added their names to the attendance register with an additional four or five aspiring hams who brought the total in attendance to 43. You can download a copy of the attendance register via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/D1XBBBN0BW#5kvaDexraAe7
WA5MA said that our last meeting was three months ago in November 2023. Instead of a formal meeting in December 2023, we gathered for our annual Christmas dinner at the Golden Corral at 71st & Mingo Road. We cancelled our in-person meeting in January 2024 due to cold weather and icy road conditions that made it dangerous to travel, instead, we conducted our meeting via radio on the Superlink repeater system.
WA5MA said that we have a lot to do this evening and so made an immediate start on the formal business of the meeting.
WA5MA asked whether anyone is not receiving the minutes of meeting in the newsletter: Nothing heard or observed.
WA5MA asked for any questions or comments about the minutes of last month’s meeting. Nothing heard. Ed, W1PN, moved to approve the minutes as written; Ky, KY5VAR, seconded; the minutes were approved by acclamation.
WA5MA asked Treasurer Jerry, KE5PMK, whether he had anything to add about the financials. KE5PMK said that PayPal had changed its reporting format again, making accounting more difficult. Since the newsletter contained a copy of the financial report, WA5MA asked for any questions or comments. Nothing heard. Ed, W1PN, moved to approve the financials; Bart, N5TWB, seconded; motion carried by acclamation.
WA5MA asked Bart, N5TWB, about grant applications to the ARRL Foundation. N5TWB said that given holidays and illness, there was no change, but having received information about the University of Tulsa from KY5VAR, N5TWB will be bringing things up-to-date.
WA5MA said that he had received some inquiries about amplifier and radio repair, and had found two sources for this work. If anyone is in need of amplifier or radio repair, email wa5ma.mark@gmail.com for contact information.
WA5MA said that at the most recent count, club membership stands at 196. We are an active club that depends on participation by members for that activity, of which there was a lot last year in 2023.
WA5MA said that as club president, he feels it is important to recognize individual effort by club members who contribute to making the club a successful organization. With this in mind, WA5MA handed certificates of achievement to:
Jack, W5JHC, for his ongoing maintenance of the club web-site at w5ias.com/, and for his coordination of Field Day activity.
Ian, KC9THI, for his work as 2nd Vice President in 2023, volunteering as Net Control Operator for the weekly net on Tuesday evenings, for inaugurating the Ham Radio University events, and for instigating and making the Go Boxes a reality. Our club now has two Go Boxes that any dues-paying member in good standing can check-out from the Quartermaster, KE5EHM: one is an Icom 7100, the other is an FT-991A; both Go Boxes are completely self-contained with detailed usage instructions.
Andrew, W5AWS, for secretarial duties; net logging; elmering the other net loggers, Dave, K5TZS, and Brent, N5LOL; producing club badges; and articles appearing in QST magazine.
Jerry, KE5PMK, ongoing treasurer managing the financials, and being the membership committee.
Bob, W5RAB, for his long service maintaining the repeater system; elmering Paul, WB5ANX, and David, N5DMK, so that they can take over repeater responsibilities; and for repairing the Yaesu FT-991A transceiver gifted to the club that became the core of the second Go Box.
WB5ANX and N5DMK, for the large effort needed to get up to speed on the repeater system and adjust the new 443.850 repeater node into its current operational state.
N5DMK for managing the Volunteer Examiners who proctor FCC licensing exams every two months in Room-3140 of Keplinger Hall at the University of Tulsa.
WB5ANX for leading the club effort to support bike rides, field day, and as the Tulsa county ARES coordinator.
Grant, KC1KCI, who is a net control operator for the Tuesday evening TARC Net on the Superlink repeater system.
Brent, N5LOL, helps the Tuesday night net by running net logger.
Dave, K5TZS, shares net logging duties with N5LOL and W5AWS. K5TZS also, scanned scores of QSL cards that the club receives during national on-air events.
Ky, KY5VAR, brings his Hamvee to events, started the Monday night CW Nervous Novice Net on 7.037 MHz, and is now the new 2nd Vice President of the club.
Mike, KI5EGH, is recognized for his mentoring CW operators and being net control for the Nervous Novices.
Jeff, AE5ME, is recognized for being ever-helpful to anyone who needs to know about digital modes, especially M17.
Greg, AI5HV, has long maintained the club social media accounts.
Steve, KF5VCQ, who built and maintains the Emergency Communications trailer, Comm1. He usually serves as the parliamentarian during elections of officers.
WA5MA had two or three certificates that he couldn’t give because the recipients were absent the meeting.
WA5MA said that in this centenary year of the club, we have a planning committee to organize celebration of this event comprising: Steve, KF5VCQ; Robert, KI5WDD; Ray, K5CFY; and Remell, KA6DOY.
WA5MA asked Robert, KI5WDD, to update us on club centenary merchandise,
KI5WDD indicated the displayed logo items available for sale: a Stadium cup and coffee mug combination for $20, ball caps price not mentioned, short and long sleeved T-shirts that cost approximately $40 each. KI5WDD invited club members to suggest other ideas for club items, like knit beanie hats with embroidered club logo to keep the heads of portable operators warm during the colder times of the year.
WA5MA asked Ky, KY5VAR, for info about club collaboration with the University of Tulsa.
KY5VAR said that he and CJ, WW0CJ, organized a Lunch-n-Learn event for students and faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at Rayzor Hall, that will introduce faculty and students to the capabilities of the club emergency communications trailer.
KY5VAR said that the faculty is interested in introducing a practical radio component into their courseware that involves building a radio in modular format. KY5VAR said that he and Andrew, W5AWS, had visited with faculty and senior students, during which Andrew had displayed a couple of radios, one of which was a Cricket 40 CW QRP kit designed by David Cripe, NM0S, that had drawn particular interest.
www.4sqrp.com/cricket40.php
KY5VAR said that the main objective is to reinstate and maintain a student radio club station that has access to an antenna tower, that also serves to produce licensed amateur radio operators as an element of engineering student time at TU.
WA5MA asked Ian, KC9THI, to talk about the FT-991A Go Box displayed at the front of the room.
KC9THI said that dues-paying club members in good standing can check- out either of the two Go Boxes from the Quartermaster, Paul, KE5EGH. Each Go-Box is self-contained with the radio user manual, and a quick- start guide created by Mark, WA5MA. These units particularly help members who don’t have an HF rig, or those who want to take a rig with them for portable operations.
KC9THI had the FT-991A running, connected to a folding J-pole antenna, and tuned to 443.850. As the clock moved to 2000 hrs, we heard the Tuesday evening TARC Net get under way with Dirk, W4IPD, as net control.
KC9THI said that the Go Boxes are a boon to club members, and an example of how the club is using membership dues.
WA5MA asked KC9THI about Ham University.
KC9THI said that Ham University is an occasional meeting in Room-3140 of Keplinger Hall that is half a day of seminars on operating modes, one-air etiquette, radio-related information, followed by and afternoon of workshop Q&A between novice operators and experienced hams.
KC9THI encourage attendees to share any ideas for other Ham Uni workshop-seminars.
WA5MA asked Paul, WB5ANX, about bike-ride and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) communications.
WB5ANX distributed a sheet of paper listing the bicycle event communications, a copy of which you can download via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/5CBQEWMDKR#sASlltsJtixK
WB5ANX said that he needs volunteers to act as event observers and Safety And Gear (SAG) operators. If you don’t know what to do then volunteer to ride-along with an experienced operator to learn what to do. These are fun events and the cyclists really appreciate having dedicated help roaming the course. See the handout for more information.
WB5ANX is the ARES coordinator for Tulsa county. Recently, WB5ANX in conjunction with James, KI5DAZ, resurrected the hospital net, which means that they need licensed operators to work the rigs located in area hospitals during emergencies. To help in hospitals, licensed operators need credentials that involve a background-checked badge; to get this, volunteers should visit the OK MRC web-site and take the online training:
www.okmrc.org/
aresok.org/
Green Country Hamfest is on April 12th & 13th during which there are opportunities to volunteer to help ARES. Sign-up here:
volunteersignup.org/mklb9
WA5MA handed out SKYWARN reporting guides produced by Remell, KA6DOY, a copy of which you can download via this link:
drive.proton.me/urls/J9VQ78CVYM#s4wtrxuMyWrd
WA5MA said that we are trying to get Travis Meyer to come and talk about weather in a seminar about emergency communications preparedness.
WA5MA said that during the developing weather events, we should monitor the Weather Watch on the Superlink, 443.850 in Tulsa, check-in to the NCO on duty, KC9THI is one of those, and then when conditions become severe, the Weather Watch will transition to the Weather Net that is connected to the National Weather Service emergency operations center.
Russ, KF5UZG, said that he is a Weather Net NCO and that when the change happens from Watch to Net, silence descends. Russ said that the ground-truth reports are important and that those monitoring the net shouldn’t be afraid to make reports. Experienced Weather Net NCOs will pass relevant information to NWS operations management.
WA5MA said that there have been several occasions when mobile operators have been out of mobile telephone range in rural Oklahoma when bad weather is present, heard about tornadic activity on the Superlink system, and called for more information.
There is a use-case here for Shredpix because a picture is worth a thousand words. An operator could transmit a picture of weather related damage, flooding, or hail.
WA5MA said that we have time now for round-robin introductions.
WA5MA showed some pictures of equipment left by a Silent Key, and asked anyone interested to make a fair offer that WA5MA can give to the ham’s widow.
WA5MA also mentioned reporting temblors and earthquakes to the Earthquake Net.
Someone mentioned that the ARES Net has a temporary frequency change. Weeks 1-3 are on 145.110, week 4 is on 443.850.
WA5MA said that the next club meeting is on March 19th.
There being no further business, WA5MA called for a motion to adjourn, proposed by KI5UGG, seconded by W5JHC, approved by general exodus.
Meeting adjourned at 2020 hrs local.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Andrew, W5AWS. -=-=-=-