In this Issue of the Presidents Corner…
QST…QST…QST…Here are your report cards!!!
100 Year Anniversary Merchandise / Mugs and Pins / TARC Merchan-dise
Big changes at the November meeting / Election results
Three new Net Control Operators
Let’s make DMR great…again!!!
Upcoming events
Go Boxes
CW Class / CW Nervous Novice Net
Club Spotlight / Member Spotlight
Tulsa Amateur Radio Club and Tulsa University
QST…QST…QST! Here is your report card for the antenna replace-ment.
As of today, December 2nd, 2024 we’ve only had 24 persons donate to the gofundme account for a total of $3,350. I would like to commend and thank those that have donated and strongly encourage those that have not donated yet to do so. At the September meeting it was unanimous by those in attendance that the club spend the $3,500 to pay the tower climb-ers to replace the antenna. I’m assuming that everyone, club member or not, uses either the Superlink Repeater System or one of the other TARC owned repeaters and currently there are over 207 club members and if you subtract the 24, that means we are still waiting for 183 members to donate. But what if you’re not a club member? You can still donate to the cause through the gofundme website. Any donation will be accepted, even as low as $10! It all counts and when we reach our ultimate goal of $15,000 we will be able to take care of pretty much any repeater issue that may arise.
Go to www.gofundme.com, click on Search and type in Tulsa Amateur Radio Club.
QST…QST…QST! Here is your report card for the 100 Year Anni-versary Celebration.
As of today, December 2nd 2024 we are way short of our anticipated headcount that would be attending the 100 Year Anni-versary Celebration on December 10th. Again, there are over 207 club members that should be at this cele-bration, but I know not everyone lives in the Tulsa area although most of us do and should be attending. Our goal was to have 100 or more come out and cele-brate, but we are way short of that number.
The committee has gone to great lengths to make this celebration a reality for the club, even to the point of paying with their own money to reserve the room at Ti Amo’s restaurant.
I have to say that I’m disappointed that more members and non members are not attending since this has been on the club announcement radar for more than 6 months.
We are doing this for you and celebrating something that will not come around again for another 100 years. Please come and support your club and those that have worked so hard to make this a night to remem-ber!
The date is December 10th at Ti Amo Restaurant, 61st and Sheridan in Tulsa. The celebration starts at 6 PM and continues until 9 PM.
Here’s the line-up: A great dinner at Ti Amo’s restau-rant and our own Ian Duncan, KC9THI (aka Cupcake) will be our Master of Ceremonies. We have 2 guest speakers, Steve Piltz Meteorologist-in-charge with the National Weather Service (I understand that he’s also pretty funny) and Mark Kleine N5HZR the ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager with an award for TARC. Mark Adams WA5MA TARC Club President will be giving out Achievement Awards to two of our club members. We’re also giving away radios and of course there will be lots of history about TARC.
We still have 100 Year Anniversary Celebration pins, mugs and shirts to help offset the cost of the celebra-tion. If you want one contact Robert KI5WDD at rkerns007@gmail.com or you can purchase at the event.
Looking for a club T shirt, hat, hoodie or other club merchandise…
We now have more apparel with the club logo and our 100 Year Anniversary logo. Robert KI5WDD has done a great job adding more mer-chandise and he’ll have it available at the Septem-ber TARC meeting, and they can be purchased on the spot. Come and see, bring cash or your check-book.
There were 41 in attendance at the November meeting.
There were 2 very important things that were dis-cussed at the meeting:
Steve KF5VCQ gave a readout on the bylaws changes that were accepted by an online vote. For more infor-mation on the bylaws changes and how the process was completed please see the meeting minutes from the November meeting.
One of the more notable changes to the bylaws:
The stipulation within the previous Tulsa Amateur Radio Club bylaws allowing a President to serve only two consecutive one-year terms, has been eliminated in the new bylaws, so the current President is able to continue to serve during the 2025 term if elected.
Thank you to Steve KF5VCQ, Jerry KE5PMK, An-drew W5AWS and Ian KC9THI for their efforts.
The other item of importance was the elections of club officers.
KF5VCQ said that given that the current office hold-ers have all indicated that they are willing to serve in the same capacity for the coming year(s), including the current President who can now, under the new by-laws, serve consecutively as an elected official, and as we have not received any other nominations or inter-est from members about filling an officer position the following uncontested slate of Officers shall be elect-ed by acclamation from a majority of members pre-sent by indication and verbal vote:
o President Mark Adams WA5MA
o 1st Vice President Jack Conway W5JHC
o 2nd Vice President Ky Vargas KY5VAR
o Secretary Andrew Shead W5AWS
o Treasurer Jerry Weikel KE5PMK
o Trustee Gregg Wonderly W5GGW
o Public Liaison Bart Pickens NSTWB
Three new Net Control Operators!!!
We had Net Control Operator training on Novem-ber 16th with 10 members in attendance that said they would like to try their hand at being an NCO. Paul WB5ANX gave an overview of what is an NCO and what makes a good NCO while I answered the question about what tools will make a good NCO a great NCO. Ian KC9THI coordi-nated some role playing to help them get their feet wet handling everything from hecklers to someone transmitting on the wrong frequency and another wanting to start a survey about what donut is their favorite. We already have Ky KY5VAR, Roy WK5F and Andrew W5AWS on the Tuesday net schedule while Logan KJ5EDE is in the on deck circle and will take on the NCO duties when school will allow.
Many thanks to them and it’ll be good to hear them on the air!
Are you ready to make DMR great…again??? DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) is making a comeback in TARC. There are DMR repeaters out there and they are getting more use everyday. Paul WB5ANX is working on a club codeplug (basically a list frequen-cies) to be distributed among the club members that have DMR radios and for use in ARES events. What’s so good about DMR? The radio signal received by a DMR radio is clear with little to no static and noise. The signal remains that way right up until the trans-mitting station loses contact with the repeater or other DMR radio. This is unlike analog transmissions that have increasing noise and loss of signal until the transmitting station loses contact with the repeater. Let us know if you’re interested in getting into DMR and we’ll get you connected.
Upcoming Events…
” Ham University – TBD in 2025
” Weekly TARC Net on the Superlink System, Tuesdays at 8 PM
” Tech Night – 1st Tuesday of each month. Janu-ary 7th at TU.
” Monthly meeting – 3rd Tuesday of each month. January 21st 7 PM at TU.
Show up and support your club and club officers that do so very much for the club with activities, nets, events and keeping the club running smoothly!
” Are you a YL looking for a net or other activity? There is a YL net on Thursdays at 4 PM on the Ever-green repeater in Bixby on 145.250 PL 141.3. Stay tuned for other YL events coming up.
” Winter Field Day is the last full weekend in Jan-uary, the 25th and 26th. The Comm 1 trailer will be out somewhere (TBD). Check the club website and the Facebook page for more info in January.
TARC has 2 go boxes for club members to use… TARC has 2 HF go boxes and they are really nice! They have both been on display and have everything needed to get on the air except for a tall tree. 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 isa Yaesu FT-991A which is a VHF/UHF/HF ra-dio, so it’ll have the capability to work all three bands.
Would you like to use it for a POTA activation or just an afternoon at a local park, contact Paul KE5EHM at ke5ehm1@gmail.com.
Want to learn CW? We’ve started CW train-ing classes…
Each class of 6 must commit to studying and practicing at least 30 minutes a day and attending an in person class at Tulsa University or a Zoom call once a week, with the goal being to get you on the air in 8 weeks, maybe the Nervous Novice Net or the Thursday evening CW practice net. There is a high level of accountability, but if you put in the time practicing, the instructor Mike KI5EGH will have you on the air. You can con-tact Mike if you have any questions at KI5EGH@yahoo.com.
We’re now taking applications for the next CW class which will start early next year.
Contact Mark WA5MA at wa5ma.mark@gmail.com.
Already know CW? Join the Nervous Novice CW Net! It’s going strong and growing!
We also have Member Spotlight…
Member Spotlight is now a part of our monthly meetings. Want to show and tell your station or your love for a particular part of ham radio? Con-tact 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!!!
Tulsa Amateur Radio Club and Tulsa University… We are still working to partner with the University of Tulsa. Our goal is to enhance their curriculum with ham radio knowledge and help each student get their Amateur Radio license. 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 UTARC and TARC members. CJ WW0CJ has been re-united with the University club callsign, KC5TU. A remote internet link to the station is also being dis-cussed.
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!
Start now…Winter Field Day is not far off!
Be safe, Be a good friend, Get on the air!
Mark WA5MA
President – Tulsa Amateur Radio Club