Oklahoma ARRL Club Liaison Report – March 2023

Welcome to the 1st OK Club Liaison Report This newsletter is being sent out to the OK ARRL club liaisons. Please distribute this info at your club meetings, in club newsletters, and on club nets! Print ‘em, email ‘em, copy and paste ‘em, or post ‘em. A few days after our monthly all Section Manager conference call (third Tuesday night) this report will appear. If you think there is a different person that needs to receive this newsletter, or if you receive doubles, please let me know at n5hzr@arrl.org. OK Spring POTA More details next month, but Oklahoma Spring POTA […]

GridTracker Users Alert:

For those of you that use GridTracker to log to LoTW and are using version 1.22.1204 (very recent issue), please note the following statement in the changelog for the newest version 1.23.0110: GENERAL INFORMATION An oversight in Logbook of the World handling can cause GT to callback to LoTW repeatedly every 1⁄2 second. Please update as soon as possible if you are a LoTW member. CHANGELOG Emergency LoTW fix ———————– Please upgrade immediately at https://gridtracker.org/index.php/downloads/gridtracker/gridtracker-releases/v1-23-0110/files

Tulsa County ARES SET 11/5

The Tulsa County ARES organization will conduct the annual simulated emergency test on Saturday, November 5.  This is a multi-county, multi-mode exercise.  The ICS-205 communications plan is linked below.  The exercise will begin at 0900 local and volunteers will begin by checking in on the resource net, 147.390. We have defined frequencies for: Resource Net.  Tulsa area volunteers check-in on the Resource Net to receive an assignment. Primary Operations (where most voice traffic will be in Tulsa) Winlink Operations and Help Desk. VHF digipeater & gateway for NTS messages via Winlink HF frequencies for NTS messages via Winlink Digital voice […]

Masonic Lodges on the Air Event to Take Place on September 24

Masonic Lodges on the Air (MLotA), an amateur radio special event, will be on the air Saturday, September 24, 2022, from locations across the county. The event is open to all amateur radio operators, and the idea for the event grew out of the realization that many Freemasons also have a love for amateur radio. The Fulton County Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) and the Fulton Lodge #248 in Ohio first hosted the event in 2021. Because of its success, the event has now been scheduled for the next 3 years. The event will be operating K8BXQ from 10:00 AM – […]

QRZ New Ham Jumpstart

We are pleased to announce the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart, a program that will help new hams get on the air faster than ever. The program, which is jointly sponsored by QRZ and GigaParts, will provide a FREE, New Ham Welcome Package to eligible applicants. Among the goodies in the first edition of the Welcome Package, we are including a brand-new dual-band handheld transceiver, the Explorer QRZ-1, along with a host of other sponsor-supplied goodies. Purpose of the Jumpstart Program This program is designed to promote amateur radio to the masses, helping to eliminate a possible barrier to entry by […]

New Ham Radio Programming

By Paul, WB5ANX Have you recently passed your tech license and bought an HT that you don’t know how to program? You are not alone. Field Day 2022 debuted a radio programming opportunity and about half dozen new hams show up with their radio to be programmed. There was even one couple studying to take their ex-am that bought an HT and did not know how to pro-gram it. Steve Childers, KF5VCQ, built a small list of 53 repeater and simplex frequencies that comprise a good starter list. I put that list into Chirp, free programming software, to enable an […]

ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program

As of April 19, 2022, ARRL covers the one-time $35 application fee for new license candidates younger than 18 years old that take tests administered under the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) program. As part of the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program, the $35 FCC application fee will be reimbursed after the ARRL VEC receives the completed reimbursement form and the new license has been issued by the FCC. The reimbursement check will be mailed to the fee payer. Also, candidates younger than the age of 18 would pay the ARRL VEC team a reduced exam session fee of $5 at the […]