SCARS Weekly Newsletter November 25, 2016

/ November 25, 2016

November SCARS Meeting Aftermath
Dates To Remember
WB7EOI, Michael
Hey! SCARS Has A Webpage – Part 13
Collector & Emitter
Weekly “Memories” Nag
The Doctor Is In
Latest ARRL Letter
ARRL DX Bulletin
Amateur Radio Newsline
Ham Nation
Odds and Ends 
Upcoming Hamfests within 250 miles  _…_._

November SCARS Meeting Aftermath

The November SCARS meeting broke the attendance record one more time. Five brought their own chairs, and we still had SRO. President Harold Black W5IFN needed a bigger gavel to get the 65 folks in order!

Peter Laws N5UWY gave the technical committee report, and suggested folks visit thehttp://w5nor.org/repeaterblog for details of our APRS upgrade. Peter also stated that we had a VE test, people came, people passed. Three or four of those that upgraded were in the room and received a rousing round of applause, including two new Extras.

In honor of Veterans Day, those that served the country were asked to stand. It seemed that over half the crowd was on their feet. Another round of applause served to thank the men and women that served in the Armed Forces.

Rodney Barrett KF5UZA, ran the annual elections and we ended up with a great cast of volunteer leaders to help us make it through the 2017 year.

President: Rodney Barrett KF5UZA
VP-President Elect: Ed Hatch AG5DV
Treasurer: Doug Forsyth WX5DF
Secretary: Chris Pape KE5JZN

There were no hanging chads

We talked about the Christmas Party and how it brings tens of hams together with for a great meal, and a ‘White Elephant’ Christmas gift exchange. This year there is a maximum $10 spend on each gift, and “No Free Harbor Freight items are allowed”. Bring your wrapped gift labeled as from/for either a “male”, or “female”. This will be December 6, 2016 at 6:00 pm, at the Golden Corral, in Norman, OK.

Again, two programs:

Michelle Carey W5MQC, the new Region 5 District Representative for the Young Ladies Radio League (YLRL) talked about that group, and their goals to get more Young Ladies (YLs) into, and more involved in amateur radio. More info  at http://w5nor.org/yl Lots of great interest, and did we talk about scholarship opportunities??

The second half was Bill Roberson N5AQ, and Mark Kleine N5HZR talking about Morse Code operation. This Morse Code presentation is available at the bottom of the http://w5nor.org/events page. If you want to play along, sign up for daily emails at http://w5nor.org/morse and after 60 days of practice, at the January meeting, we’ll talk about live hands on opportunities to Get On The Air with code. Elmers will practice with you locally, and then guide you through the first CW contact.

Another great meeting, and we held most of the OU/Baylor game fans until the 11:08 adjournment.

You should’a been there! 

Thanks to Mark, N5HZR, for supplying these highlights!

Dates To Remember

Some VERY important events are scheduled in the near future which you need to put into your planner:

Dec 1 – VE Testing, 6:30pm, Fire Station #7, Norman
Dec 6 – SCARS Christmas Party, Golden Corral, 6pm
Dec 10 – SCARS December Meeting

WB7EOI, Michael 

I received word this morning that SCARS member WB7EOI, Michael Wilson, was injured seriously in a traffic accident.
Last word was that he is still hospitalized and will be for some days yet, but I’m certain that he would enjoy hearing from you or reading any notes or cards that you’d wish to send him.
Keep Michael in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to recover.
His mailing address is good on QRZ.com.

[NOTE: This was originally shared with me as W5SX. Rex is just fine and was at the December meeting.]

If you need more information, contact me via email. –Gary, WB5ULK (wb5ulk@arrl.net)

Hey! SCARS Has A Webpage – Part 13

 N5HZR continues his series about how the SCARS home page has morphed over the past year and how you can use it.

OK DMR on the W5NOR.org website

Last week we learned where to find the configuration files for all of our new computer controlled radios, this week we talk about the most digital of these radios, the “Digital Mobile Radio DMR” systems. Our http://w5nor.org/okdmr page details all of the Oklahoma DMR system. Users of the DMR service can connect to other hams across town, across the state, across the country, and across the oceans. With these $150 handheld radios you select a talkgroup for an area you’d like to connect to, and then key the radio. Your voice will be digitized, and sent to a local repeater, where it will travel across the Internet to a remote repeater, and arrive at the destination in a couple of seconds.

The map shown here details the 20 DMR repeaters that blanket the state. The digital signal allows the signals to travel 40% farther, while using 30% less battery power. We’ve used this network for Amateur Radio Emergency Service ARES work during the recent Bike MS event. Those of us on the trail were able to keep in contact with each other from Norman to Guthrie, with only a handheld radio.

This week the Oklahoma DMR system switched to a new networking system, called Brandmeister. A lot of information regarding their system is available at: http://brandmeister.network. This new network makes it easier to connect to others across the globe, and it makes it easier for those that travel to connect back with us in Norman. To help learn how this new network operates, SCARS will be offering a “Stay After School” lesson after the December 10th meeting. If you’d like to get involved with DMR, or get more involved with DMR, or simply need your radio reprogrammed, stay after the meeting and we’ll get you up to speed on the new system.

These DMR systems work well for those that travel, those that want to talk to the world, and those that simply want to stay in touch with the local group.

Spend some time on the http://w5nor.org/okdmr web page, and learn how this new mode of operation will let you get more radio active!

73, de N5HZR, webmaster – W5NOR.org

 Collector & Emitter

Here is the direct link to the historical issues of CORA’s almost 30 year long, monthly publication, The Collector & Emitter. Lot’s of great stories, True and Fiction, MANY club meeting notes, Happenings in Oklahoma Amateur Radio, and for me at least, a ton of memories about the Amateur Radio Dealers which we had in the OKC area. Lots and lots of fun reading.

When you start reading these, the clock will just melt away…

W5NOR.ORG/CE

 Weekly “Memories” Nag?

Keep your Memory channels on your mobile or HT sorted so you’ll have easy access to frequencies needed for Skywarn or ARES activation. That list is at the bottom of the SCARS Repeater blog maintained by our trusty Trustee, N5UWY – SCARS Repeater Blog (that underlined part is a hyperlink straight to the repeater blog). Scroll down to the Red Box at the bottom of the blog to find the recommended memory entries for you VHF/UHF equipment. 

The Doctor Is In

Many of us have enjoyed Joel Hallas’ (W1ZR) columns in QST titled
“The Doctor Is In” for years.
Now selected stuff from The Doctor is available via podcast from the ARRL.
The Latest Podcast is titled
“Stealth Antennas“.

“We’re on the downhill slide to the solar minimum, but that doesn’t mean the end of Amateur Radio enjoyment. Even at the very bottom of the cycle there is still plenty to do, and plenty of ways to do it!“

[Listen to it here-> The Doctor Is In Podcast ]

The Doctor’s Home page is here: The Doctor Is In

Latest ARRL Letter

Headlines At Press Time:
[ARRL was closed Thanksgiving day and the Friday following. No new ARRL Letter this week. Last week’s headlines below]

Read it all here: ARRL Letter

ARRL DX Bulletin

 Latest version at the top here:  ARRL DX Bulletin

 

—————————————–
Other DX links via Alexander, 4L5A:
http://dxnews.com
http://dxnews.com/calendar

 Amateur Radio Newsline

Latest Headlines:

  • MORE SUSPICIOUS RADIO SIGNALS TROUBLE INDIA
  • IN NEW ZEALAND QUAKE, RADIO AMID THE RUBBLE
  • A NEW SUMMIT-TO-SUMMIT SUCCESS
  • WEATHER OR NOT, HERE COMES THE BALLOON
  • KEYING IN ON THE KEYSTONE STATE
  • SCOUTS WRAP UP JAMBOREE ON THE AIR
  • THREE NEW EMERGENCY ALERT EVENT CODES
  • PHILIPPINE AMATEURS MARK 84 YEARS
  • THE WORLD OF DX
  • NO PLACE LIKE HARA FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Live links, Script, and Audio here: Amateur Radio Newsline – Latest News

Ham Nation

Big earthquake rocks New Zealand,
Ted Randell comes on to talk about the BST1 Mobile SW Receiver
and Fox Cities ARC Hamfest!

The last half-dozen or so episodes are linked right here: Ham Nation

Go watch!

 Odds and Ends

Upcoming Hamfests within 250 miles

Link below lists all the ARRL-related hamfests within a 250 mile drive of Norman for about the next 5 months. Lots of good ones close to Norman.

http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search/page:1/Location.zip:73072/Location.area:250.rpt?format=html

As always, News, Links, Repeater Info, Hamfests, Licensing, General Help & more linked from the sidebar at the SCARS Homepage – W5NOR.ORG !!!

73 de Gary, WB5ULK …_._

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