In this Issue of the Presidents Corner…
QST…QST…QST…We need your help!!!
100 Year Anniversary
100 Year Anniversary Merchandise / Mugs and Pins
TARC Tech Night
TARC Merchandise
Repeater Challenge
WX5TUL Skywarn Net
Let’s make DMR great…again!!!
Upcoming events
Go Boxes
CW Class / CW Nervous Novice Net
TARC badges are available
Club Spotlight / Member Spotlight
Tulsa Amateur Radio Club and Tulsa University
QST…QST…QST! We need your help!!!
If you were at the September TARC meeting, then you know we had an issue with our 145.170 repeater antenna that caused problems for the 443.850 Superlink Repeater System hub radio. After a lively discussion about the issue, what may have caused it, what could happen if it’s not repaired or replaced in a timely manner and what is needed to replace it, the club approved one of the two bids that we received for a like for like replacement of the broken antenna. That bid was for $3500 and was ap-proved by the club.
The day after the club meeting, we were on the schedule to get the anten-na replaced.
Exactly one week and a day following the club’s approval to replace the antenna, the work was done and the antenna replaced.
As of today, October 30th we’ve had 16 persons donate to the GoFundMe account for a total of $2,720. At this time, I would like to commend and thank those that have donated and encourage those that have not donated yet to do so. When we reach $3,500 in donations, that money will go back into the TARC treasury and anything over that amount will go into a sinking fund to help pay for future antenna and repeater repairs. Repairs will happen and money will be needed.
Thank you in advance for your donations that’ll help keep TARC repeaters in top condition!
On a lighter note…Will you be there on December 10th…
Tickets to TARC’s 100 Year Anniversary Celebration are still available!!!
The Tulsa Amateur Radio Club is celebrating 100 years as the oldest Amateur Radio Club in Oklahoma and we are celebrating with an evening of dinner and dessert, some club history (actually, a lot of club his-tory), guest speakers, some awards and lots of fun and fellowship with other hams enjoying a great evening. 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 giving away radios and of course there will be lots of history about TARC.
We still have 100 Year Anniversary Celebration pins (like the logo above), mugs and shirts to help offset the cost of the celebration. Go to the TARC website for tickets.
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.
There are still some 100 Year Anniversary mugs and pins for sale at the TARC monthly meetings. They are very, very nice and will soon be collectors’ items since we only had a limited number made. Those items and more anniversary merchandise will be available at the club meetings, but if you want one reserved in your name, contact Robert KI5WDD at rkerns007@gmail.com. The sale of those items will help fund the celebration and we’re now selling tickets on the TARC website.
Don’t miss this chance to celebrate with us…our next celebration is 100 years away.
Don’t come alone! Spouses, kids, relatives, friends, neighbors, anyone is invited, just not your dog, cat or horse! You don’t need to be a club member either!!!
Did you miss the October Tech Night???
We had a fantastic workshop all about DMR by Jeff AE5ME. There were 10 in attendance and we spent just about 2 hours discussing DMR, how it works, what radios will work, hotspots and open-spots, just about everything related to DMR! You shoulda’ been there!
Our next TARC Tech Night in November will be cancelled since that is election day and I want everyone to get out and vote!
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.
Repeater Challenge…
You’ve no doubt heard me put out a challenge to get more activity going on the repeaters…
a Repeater Challenge.
Many hams say that there’s little to no activity on the repeaters these days, so the challenge is that at least once a day, turn on your radio, tune to a repeater, throw out your callsign and have a conversation with someone else on the repeater. If you’re just listening and you hear someone else throw out their callsign, answer their call and strike up a conversation! Give them a signal report. If they’re mobile, ask where are they are and what repeater they’re using?
If they’re at home, what radio and antenna are they using? What’s the weather like where they are?
The idea is to get hams on the air. There are many new hams that have recently received their callsign and they may have some mic fright. It’s more common than you think! It’s up to the more experienced hams to take the challenge and get them talking! If you consider the size of the foot-print of the Superlink System there should always be someone, somewhere listening that you can talk to.
Will you accept the Repeater Challenge?
Are you interested in Oklahoma weather and Sky-warn?…
As we’ve seen already this year, storms, strong winds, hail and tornados can be here in Oklahoma, year ’round. When severe weather is forecast for Northeast Oklahoma, monitor the Superlink System for the WX5TUL Skywarn Net and the WX5TUL Weather Net. Listen for watches, warnings, advisories and other helpful information to help keep you safe. The frequency for the repeater in your area can be found at W5IAS.com. Click on Repeaters and scroll down to TARC: Wide-Area Link System. We had some severe weather in the Superlink footprint recently and the WX5TUL Skywarn Net was on the air for several hours taking weather reports and talking to hams checking the weather in their ar-ea. Every severe weather event that we have has more and more hams checking in and giving reports from all over Green Country.
Good work by the WX5TUL Skywarn Net Control Operators! Would you like to help? Contact Mark WA5MA and let me know if you’d like to be a Net Control Operator, backup NCO or provide support to the NCO’s.
We have NCO training scheduled for November 16th 9 AM to 1 PM. The training will teach you everything you need to know about being an NCO and there will be hands on training as well.
We will walk the path with you to be sure that you’re successful and become a great NCO.
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 every day. 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 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. (November is cancelled. Election Day)
” November Monthly meeting – November 19th 7 PM at Tulsa University. It’s election time and time to
vote for your favorite club officers for 2025. We’re also updating the club Bylaws and Steve KF5VCQ will giving us a short review of the changes.
Show up and support your club and club offic-ers that do so very much for the club with ac-tivities, nets, events and keeping the club run-ning smoothly!
” Are you a YL looking for a net or other ac-tivity? There is a YL net on Thursdays at 4 PM on the Evergreen repeater in Bixby on 145.250 PL 141.3. Stay tuned for other YL events coming up.
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 is a Yaesu FT-991A which is a VHF/UHF/HF radio, 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 clas-ses…
The first CW training class has already graduated and the second class is in progress. Each class of 6 must commit to studying and practicing at least 30 minutes a day and attending an in-person class once a week at Tulsa University with the goal be-ing 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 accountabil-ity, but if you put in the time practicing, the in-structor Mike KI5EGH will have you on the air. You can contact 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.
Join the Nervous Novice CW Net! It’s going strong and growing! The net is going very well and band conditions are improving so wher-ever you are in your CW journey, even if you can’t even spell CW, you need to get on this net. Mike KI5EGH and Ky KY5VAR share the Net Control Operator duties 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.
Not available on Mondays? Ky is operating an infor-mal CW net on Thursdays, same time, same frequen-cy. Join in and get some easy CW experience.
Looking for some one-on-one CW practice? Contact Mark WA5MA and I’ll set you up on a schedule with another operator that you can practice with, at your convenience. No pressure!
Do you like the TARC badge? See Andrew W5AWS and bring $2.00.
There are quite a few badges waiting at the next club meeting for those that ordered them!
Come pick yours up! Of course, your badge will have your name and callsign on it. Hihi.
And don’t forget about Club Spotlight…
If you have an event coming 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 – 10minutes on the Tuesday net to reach anyone and everyone listening on the SuperLink Repeater System. Just let us know, it’s that simple.
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 Universi-ty…
We are still
working to part-
ner with the Uni-
versity of Tulsa. Our goal is to enhance their cur-riculum 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 stu-dents to use, as well as for UTARC and TARC members. CJ WW0CJ has been re-united with the University club callsign, KC5TU. A remote inter-net link to the station 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 clubs 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