Can you believe it…
We’re already into March and anticipating all the spring and summer events, not to mention the 100 Year Anniversary events that will be going on. Here’s the short list of events coming up… March 16 th 9 AM – Storm Spotter training, OSU Auditorium March 16 th 12 PM – License exam session, Keplinger Hall room 3140. Sign up at W5IAS.com/Testing March 19th TARC meeting 7 PM – Kit Building with Andrew W5AWS March 23 rd 8 AM – Ham University, Keplinger Hall room 3140 March 25 th – Hospital Net, Contact James KI5DAZ if emcomm is your thing April 12 th and 13 th – Green Country Hamfest, Renew your TARC Club membership. Volunteer and get in the drawing for a $150 gift certificate. See the TARC Facebook page for more information. April 16 th TARC meeting 7 PM
Happy Anniversary TARC!!!
January 1 st has come and gone so now we can officially celebrate the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club’s 100 year anniversary!!! We’ve put a com-mittee together to plan some events and activities. Steve KF5VCQ, Rob-ert KI5WDD, Ray K5CFY and Remell KA6DOY are on the committee. They’ll be scheduling events during the year and if anyone has any ideas for an activity, event or a way to celebrate this once in a century event, talk to Steve KF5VCQ or send an e mail to him at kf5vcq@cox.net or one of the other three committee members.
The wheels are turning slow…but they are turn-ing… The TARC Young Ladies Group is starting slow, but it is coming together. I’ve contacted some other YL Groups to find out what their events and ac-tivities are and how they found other interested YL’s. The next TARC Ham University on March 23 rd will have a YL’s only seminar, so if you’re a YL and have any questions about ham radio, it’s for YL’s only!
Looking for a club T shirt, hat, hoodie or some-thing else?… We now have more apparel with the club logo. And you should see our 100 Year Anniver-sary polo shirts and merchandise. Robert KI5WDD has done a great job working with 1907 Store in Bro-ken Arrow and we now have a TARC Store at shop.1907ok.com/tarc where you can order polo shirts, long sleeved shirts, t shirts and hats with more to come. They’ll have more of the mer-chandise at the March TARC meeting and can be purchased on the spot. Come and see, bring cash or your checkbook.
Something new… TARC now has 2 HF go box-es and they are really nice! They have both been on display and are ready for use. Would you like to use it for a POTA activation or just an after-noon at a local park. One of the go boxes is an ICOM IC-7200 which is more of a heavy duty radio and more basic. The other go box is a Yae-su FT-991A which is a VHF/UHF/HF radio so it’ll have the capability to work all three bands. The radio was donated by Forrest (Frosty) De-Lunger KC0KFL. Thanks Frosty!!! They will both be on display at the March meeting and available for checkout or you can contact Paul KE5EHM at ke5ehm1@gmail.com.
The Nervous Novice CW Net is going strong and growing… The net is going very well and band condi-tions are improving so wherever you are in your CW journey, even if you can’t even spell CW, you need to get on this net. Mike KI5EGH has handed off the reigns of Net Control to Ky KY5VAR and he does a wonderful job as Net Control operator and will slow down to your CW speed if needed so no reason not to join in. The Nervous Novice CW Net is on Monday evenings at 1900 hrs on 7.037 MHz +/- QRM.
Do you like the new TARC badge? See Andrew W5AWS and bring $2.00. Of course it’ll have your name and callsign on it. hihi
Spring storm season is right around the cor-ner… Hopefully you’ve not noticed anything dif-ferent about the Superlink Repeater System late-ly. That’s a good thing. Paul WB5ANX and Da-vid N5DMK have programmed the backup hub repeater and it’s been on the air for about a month. We’ve also been trying out a variable message that can be recorded remotely and would be used for short duration announcements. Ex-cept for a few minor things that will be fixed shortly, the backup repeater has been working flawlessly. As we’ve seen last year, storms and strong winds can be here year round, this is Okla-homa after all, so please monitor the Superlink System for the W5IAS Weather Watch and listen for an announcement when severe weather is forecast. Frequencies for the repeater in your ar-ea can be found at W5IAS.com, click on Repeat-ers and scroll down to TARC: Wide- Area Link System.
The Tuesday TARC Net is going strong and grow-ing… Until now there has been no net on the third Tuesday of each month because the in-person meeting was going on here in Tulsa. Now we can say the TARC net is every Tuesday evening throughout the year. We now have Dirk W4IPD in the OKC area that’ll take over net control on meeting nights. Thanks Dirk! We’re averaging 35 check ins between NetLogger and over the air check ins. We give signal reports, answer ham related questions, give announce-ments 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 operators and David K5TZS and Brent N5LOL have Netlogger handled. I’m sure Dirk will be no different! If you can do a once a month Net Control Operator duty and give Dirk a break once in while, we’d appreciate it. No big formal net, just an informal net like we do any other night.
And don’t forget about Club Spotlight and our new Member Spotlight! If you have an event com-ing up, you need operators for an event, you have a hamfest or just want to talk about your club or your station, you can have 5 – 10 minutes on the Tuesday net to reach anyone listening on the SuperLink Re-peater System. Just let us know, it’s that simple. We will also be starting a Member Spotlight segment at our monthly meetings. Want to talk about your sta-tion or your love for a particular part of ham radio? Contact Ky KY5VAR and let him know. He’ll get you scheduled. He’s also starting a “show me your shack” presentation, so show us your ham shack!!!
Our partnership with the University of Tulsa is coming along… Several of the TARC members made a visit to the University for one of their Lunch and Learn sessions. We met with Dr Jussaume from the RF Engineering Department and several of his stu-dents. Ky KY5VAR, Jeff AE5ME, Robert KI5WDD, Steve KF5VCQ, Paul WB5ANX and myself were there to talk about ham radio from a 30,000 foot per-spective and we looked at how we can enhance their curriculum. There is the possibility that a ham radio station may be placed on campus as a teaching aid, for the students to use, as well as for club members. CJ WW0CJ has been re-united with the University club callsign, KC5TU. A remote internet link to the sta-tion is also being discussed.
Every month is a contest month… 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, grab one of the club go boxes, throw up a wire and get on the air!
The next regular meeting… of the Tulsa Ama-teur Radio Club will be March 19th 7 PM at TU’s Keplinger Hall Room 3140. Please come out to the meeting and support your club, the club officers and those members that give so much of their time and effort to make TARC active and successful!!! Thanks! Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air!
Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club