Ham radio operators make a difference in disaster, ready if called for Ida

Video courtesy of News Channel 8 – KTUL, Lily Cummings.   TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Many in Louisiana are still without power and cell service following Hurricane Ida. But one form of communication that’s been helping folks for decades, ham radio, is still able to make those vital calls. Ham radio isn’t reliant on WiFi or cell service. Just devoted operators. Paul Teel, an emergency coordinator for Tulsa County and part of the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club, said when he checked Monday more than half the state of Louisiana was without cell signal. Thankfully, by Tuesday around 80 percent had signal, but […]

The President’s Corner – August 2021

Portable Operations Is On The Horizon!!! Last years’ Field Day was…well…you know…kinda discouraging, but this years’ Field Day was much better and from that many club members are looking at doing a lot more portable operations. The last club meeting was all about portable and we had several club members bring out their radios and antennas to show, myself included. You can see some pictures on the TARC website at w5ias.com or on the club Facebook page. Thanks to all those who came out to see…all 30 of you! We’ve not had attendance like that in a long time! Thanks! […]

Aug 26 NTS Net

12 check-ins, 2 messages handled between KG5ZZV and AE5ME who was acting as a liaison  to the WinLink system. I introduced Ray K5CFY who will be my guest NCO next week, with my thanks to him!  I’ve had contact with Mark Kleine regarding some folks in Norman wanting to get into traffic handling and doing it in digital modes, I told him I really don’t have additional time to devote to that personally, but he should (and apparently did contact Jeff AE5ME).  As they get going, I’m hoping they will send a liaison via the Edmond repeater (if they would […]

AUG 19 NTS Net Recap

We had 6 check-ins.  I did list 2 messages from me to go out, but there were no outlets to take the messages.  I will therefore pass them on HF this weekend.  We had no questions.  I talked a bit about all the places that you can exchange traffic, any ARES net, HF Phone Traffic nets, CW Traffic Nets, NBEMS (fldigi) Nets, WInLink, etc.  Basically any mode in amateur radio can be used for passing traffic. If you can even listen to HF, the HF Phone Traffic Nets are interesting because of the wide area they tend to cover and […]

New Classifieds!

Take a moment to check out our classifieds section on the www.w5ias.com website! We have two new listings posted today! Take a look and see if you need Yaesu Ft-2800M or an Astron RS-35a! Ham Classifieds  

AUG 12 NTS Net Recap

We had 15 check-ins, including a WinLink liaison station who brought one message to me personally. We had an excellent question from a newly licensed ham who wants to do things to help the community, but was wondering what he can do with his limited range and is technician license.  I let him know that the UHF Link system covers about 50,000 sq miles and he can help with anything in that coverage area.  Giving those folks something new (old) to do is one of my primary goals with the net.  If we have a communications emergency in all or […]

AUG 5 NTS Net Recap

It was pretty light tonight at 8 check-ins.  I did an introduction to NTS and the Radiogram form, hopefully addressing people that have joined the net recently.  Jeff AE5ME brought traffic over from Winlink, where he has apparently been talking on other nets about the traffic net (thanks Jeff).  The message to me was a congratulations on starting the traffic net and a request for information on how I did it.  I sent a long reponse by email, but I will send a short response by NTS also as everyone likes to get those back.  I fielded a good question […]