20250121-TARC-Meeting-Minutes – PDF

 

On Tuesday, 21 January 2025 at 1902 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. See a copy of the agenda below left.

Attendance

Twenty-seven hams added their names to the attendance register, a copy of which is reproduced above right.

Introductions

WA5MA introduced the club officers present: Secretary Andrew, W5AWS; Treasurer Jerry, KE5PMK; Repeater Trustee, Gregg, W5GGW; and ARES coordinator for Tulsa County, Paul, WB5ANX.

Round Robin

WA5MA solicited introductions from the attendees, name and callsign.

Business

Minutes

WA5MA asked if anyone is not receiving the newsletter: nothing heard.

WA5MA asked whether there are questions or comments about the minutes as published in the newsletter: nothing heard.

WA5MA asked for a motion to approve the minutes as written. Robert, K5WDD, moved to approve the minutes as written.

WA5MA asked for a second. Remell, KA6DOY, seconded the motion. Motion approved by acclamation.

Financials

WA5MA asked whether there were any questions or comments about the November financial report.

Paul, WB5ANX, asked about the balance of the Sinking Fund.

Treasurer Jerry, KE5PMK, said that he didn’t have the current balance of the Go Fund Me campaign, but there was about $8,400 in the Sinking Fund before $3,500 was transferred to the general fund to reimburse the expense of paying the tower climbers to replace the club’s antenna at 41st & Lynn Lane. Current cash balance of the Sinking Fund is $3,907.12.

WA5MA asked if there was anything else regarding the November 2024 financial reports. Nothing heard.

WA5MA asked for a motion to approve the November 2024 financial report; Greg, AI5HV, so moved; Gregg, W5GGW, seconded. Motion approved by acclamation.

Someone else asked about the December 2024 financial report.

KE5PMK said that there is a $4,200 liability outstanding for the Centenary celebration at Ti Amo Restaurant, which involves reimbursement of Ky, KY5VAR, who settled the bill.

WB5ANX asked whether that money is an excess cost? KE5PMK said that it wasn’t and that the sale of Centenary merchandise and tickets to attend the event covered the cost.

WA5MA asked if there was anything else regarding the December 2024 financial reports. Nothing heard.

WA5MA asked for a motion to approve the December 2024 financial report; Paul, WB5ANX, so moved; Mark, KD5SMF, seconded. Motion approved by acclamation.

State of the Club

WA5MA delivered his State of the Club address to the assembled multitude of 27 attendees from a membership roster of 211.

WA5MA said that we are now recognized by the ARRL as a Special Services Club, which means that we provide services to our local community, mainly our provision

of Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) when disaster strikes in our part of the world; we also assist at various community events throughout the year.

WA5MA said that we are a very active club, as you can see in the list of club activities scheduled for 2025, below.

None of this happens without the active participation by club members.

WA5MA recognized members who assisted at the various club activities throughout 2024, and on into this year, by bestowing certificates of achievement, shown in the list below left, followed by those who received honorable mentions.

WA5MA displayed and discussed a list of club accomplishments in 2024, shown below right.

This is what your club is doing, supported by you and your annual membership fee, which includes use by you of the club Go-boxes.

ARES Update

WA5MA called upon Paul, WB5ANX, to brief us on the activities of ARES in the Tulsa Area.

WB5ANX said that he recently appointed a deputy ARES Emergency Coordinator for Tulsa County in the person of Mark, WA5MA.

WB5ANX said that having had trouble with the local repeaters, he decided to take the hit as a gift by practicing frequency agility. This means that the Thursday night ARES net will happen on different local repeaters, thereby forcing everyone to practice changing frequencies and PL tones; this is important because during emergencies, situations can and do change rapidly, often requiring participants to change frequencies when they are redeployed for different tasks.

WB5ANX is always in need of new volunteers, but to participate you must complete a self-paced training course and get an Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps (OKMRC) badge that gives you access to the places where amateur radio operators work during emergencies. OKMRC badges are FEMA-approved and therefore involves a background check.

ARES involves training, nets, membership, hospital nets, and Simulated Emergency Tests.

WB5ANX yielded the floor to WA5MA.

Hospital Net

WA5MA asked James, KI5DAZ, to speak about the hospital net.

KI5DAZ who works for the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency (TAEMA), said that the Hospital Net will restart operations in late February. Each hospital has amateur radio equipment in a secure area; all that is needed is a qualified operator with the appropriate clearance to begin passing messages when the local communication infrastructure is not working properly.

KI5DAZ also said that he checks the coverage of the Superlink system by relaying messages into unreachable areas, Newcastle most recently. Knowing how to relay messages is a core function of amateur radio, exemplified by the eponymous Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).

KI5DAZ yielded the floor to WA5MA.

New for 2025

WA5MA solicited audience ideas for new things to do in 2025.

W5GGW suggested taking the communications’ trailer to outlying areas for simulated emergency responses. For example, the trailer could be a communications’ hub for local townships recovering from disaster―Barnsdall tornado recovery for example. When somewhere needs help our trailer could help restore communications with the outside work, especially if it is equipped with StarLink.

Remell, KA6DOY, suggested a club field-trip to the Dayton Hamvention. Mark, KD5SMF, suggested a tube radio special event.

Andrew, W5AWS, suggested making a Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) control interface for visually impaired operators. W5GGW pointed out that handheld transceivers aren’t equipped with CAT control; that’s true, but the Yaesu FT-991A is in one of our Go-boxes, and it is an all-band, all-mode transceiver. It was possibly Greg, AI5HV, who said that Mycroft is an open-source Artificial Intelligence system that might help with text-to-speech and speech-to-text. Ultimately, it would be nice for the club to offer greater accessibility; last year there was another blind person who attended our meetings as a prospective ham.

Membership Dues

WA5MA said that given the amount of equipment we maintain and the high level of club activity, we need to think about an increase in membership dues; the current level of $20 has remained unchanged for decades.

W5GGW pointed out that Tulsa Amateur Radio Club benefited from grace, favor, and donated equipment, especially when public services changed from old VHF and UHF communications to digital trunked communication systems. Most of this equipment is now a half-century or more old. We also benefited from decommissioned equipment on tower systems around the state. All of this we now have a responsibility to maintain.

WA5MA said that the repair to the 145.170 MHz antenna could have easily cost upwards of $20,000 had we not been lucky to find experienced tower-climbers with the clearance to work on the tower. We were also gifted a commercial-grade replacement antenna that would have cost us another $4,000 to $5,000 had we had to buy it.

The 145.170 repeater event is what prompted us to create a Sinking Fund and a Go Fund Me account, but we must make sure that our dues income meets or exceeds our annual expenses.

Our fact-finding discussion was extensive.

Treasurer Jerry, KE5PMK, said that any increase in dues should take effect from April 1st, 2025 since we collect most annual dues at the Green Country Hamfest.

WA5MA asked for a show of hands in favor of increasing the dues by $5. Only one person raised their hand.

WA5MA asked for a show of hands in favor of increasing the dues to $30. The majority present raised their hands. If this were implemented, family memberships would rise to $40.

This does not constitute an official vote. It is a show of interest only.

Taking this show of interest, the club officers will discuss further and present a proposal to the full membership.

Club Badges

These club badges await collection by their owners:

KI5URK, Larry ― paid          •           NJ5Z, John ― $2

KI5TZG, Ellis ― paid   •           KI5HJM, Cameron ― paid

KI5ZWB, Gabe ― $2 •           N5CEL, Curtis ― paid

KC5BTQ, Lowell ― paid      •           KJ5BLZ, Jay ― $2

Next Meeting

Our next monthly meeting of the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club is February 18th at the University of Tulsa, Keplinger Hall, Room 3140, beginning at 1900 hrs.

Adjournment

There being no further business, WA5MA called for a motion to adjourn; Remell, KA6DOY, made a motion to adjourn; Kenny, KC5MJE seconded; motion approved by a general exodus.

Meeting adjourned at 2030 hrs.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Andrew, W5AWS, Secretary.