This weekend is central Oklahoma’s Hamfest, Ham Holiday https://hamholiday.com/. This two-day hamfest is at the Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) campus at 7777 S May, Oklahoma City, OK. This campus is on the southwest corner of Oklahoma City, just east of the Will Rogers airport.
On Friday, vendors and flea market table holders will set up their wares from noon to 3:00 pm. The doors will open to the public from 3:00 pm until the banquet begins at 6:30 pm. On Saturday, the building will open for setup at 7:00 am, and the doors will be open to the public from 8:00 am to the show’s end at 3:00 pm. The Hamfest schedule is listed on the Ham Holiday Schedule page https://hamholiday.com/schedule/.
There will be a 6:30 pm Friday banquet to feed and entertain the hams in attendance. They will have a served buffet consisting of Chicken Marsala with mashed potatoes, green beans, a side salad, dinner rolls, cobbler, lemonade, tea, and water. This year the featured speaker will be Joe Eisenberg K0NEB, also known as “The Cat In The Hat” from the Dayton Hamfest and beyond. This banquet is a great place to visit with your fellow hams and the regional, state, and local ARRL leadership present. The banquet information is on the banquet page at https://hamholiday.com/banquet/.
After the Friday banquet at 8:30 pm will be the Wouff Hong ceremony for ARRL members. Register for this short presentation at https://hamholiday.com/wouffhong/ to ensure your certificate will be printed and waiting for you. This free ceremony is for all ARRL members.
There is a raffle for a $3,000 Icom 705 package. This package includes everything you need to operate HF, VHF, and UHF, right out of the box. Antennas, coax, radio, extra carrying handles, antenna analyzer, Begali Morse Code key, and more. Details are available at https://hamholiday.com/raffle/.
The Oklahoma City Hamfest will have another large group of forums to learn about amateur radio, the ARRL, ARES, AUXCOM, TV Weatherman Aaron Brackett, and more. These forums are detailed on the https://hamholiday.com web page.
This year, OCCC will open its cafeteria on Friday until 4:00 pm, and the Cafe & Coffee shop operating hours will be from 7:30 am to 2 pm on Saturday.
The cafe will sell the items below for Breakfast;
• Breakfast burritos
• Breakfast Sandwiches
• Biscuits and Gravy single and double
• Breakfast Combo, scrambled eggs, two bacon or sausage, biscuit, and a fountain drink
• All retail items and beverages will be available.
And for lunch, they will have the following options:
• Cheese Burger, Fries, and Fountain Beverage Combo
• 2 Slices of Pizza and Fountain Beverage Combo
• 1 Chili Cheese Hot Dog, Fries, and Fountain Beverage Combo
• 2 Chili Cheese Hot Dogs, Fries, and Fountain Beverage Combo
• Build Your Own Nachos with Fountain Beverage Combo
• 2 Tacos, Rice, Beans, and a Fountain Beverage Combo
The 2023 Oklahoma QSO Party is this weekend, on March 11th and 12th. This will run from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm on Saturday and from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday, Oklahoma time. Note that Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend.
If you are an Oklahoma station, please consider going mobile this year to help get all 77 counties on-the-air in a big way!! Connie Marshall K5CM has all the details on his OK QSO party web page. Grab your HF radio and get on-the-air.
The Oklahoma Hamfest season starts with the Elk City Hamfest. On March 4, 2023, the hamfest will be at 105 Allee Drive, Elk City, OK 73644. More information is available at the club link.
The doors are open Saturday from 8:00 AM until ???
Admission is $5.00, and tables are available for $5.00 each. No pre-registration is required. Pay at the door.
Early setup is available for Friday afternoon (3/3/2023) from 1:30 PM until 8:00 PM.
Amateur Radio License testing is available on Saturday at 1:00 PM. If upgrading, bring photo identification and a copy of your current amateur radio license. License test reregistration is preferred at http://www.sites.google.com/view/wcoarc/pre-registration but is not required. You must have a Federal Registration Number (FRN) and a valid email address. There is no fee for the exam.
Plenty of parking is available at the hamfest site, but no RV hookups are available there.
Talk-in on the 146.76 –offset 88.5 tone repeater or DMR on the 147.225 +offset CC1 TG 304098 machine.
See you there!
Green Country Hamfest
The largest hamfest in the state is the Green Country hamfest on Friday, April 7, and Saturday, April 8, 2023. The hamfest will again be at the Expo Center, 400 Veterans Parkway, Claremore, OK 74017. They will be open to the public on Friday from 4 PM to 9 PM. They will be open to the public on Saturday from 8 AM to 3 PM. Setup on Friday begins at noon. Setup on Saturday starts at 7:00 AM.
You can purchase your hamfest admission and tables online and save at http://www.greencountryhamfest.org/. Online advance admission tickets are $8.00, preregistered flea market tables are $15.00 each, and commercial booths are $50.00 each. Tickets are $10.00 at the door. Tables are $20.00 at the door. Order early and save. Online preregistration closes March 31, 2023
ARRL amateur radio license testing will be available two times during the event. The first session is Friday evening at 1800, and the second is Saturday at 1300. Testing will be in the Will Rogers Room of the Expo Building and will cost $15.
ARRL West Gulf Division Director John Stratton N5AUS and ARRL West Gulf Vice Director Lee Cooper W5LHC will attend.
As a part of the Year of the Volunteer celebration, the mystical callsign W1AW will be traveling to the corners of ARRL-land. ARRL members in each state/territory will be asked to operate their stations for two different weeks using the callsign W1AW/x where x is one of the local regions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, KL, KH0, KH2, KH6, KH7, KH8, KP2, KP3, or KP4. For example, Oklahoma’s first week starts January 25, 2023, at 0000z and will run through January 31, 2023, at 2359z, using the callsign W1AW/5. We’ll have a second chance to do this during the week of August 16, 2023. Each state will coordinate the time/band/mode slots throughout the week, and hams can operate their stations using W1AW/. Sign up for a slot today at https://ok.arrl.org/w1awok/.
Traveling W1AW rules include:
Remember that each operator must follow the rules for their license class. Stay in the sub-bands that you’re legally allowed to operate in.
Operators do not need to be at the same site.
Members that contact the Traveling W1AW stations will receive 5 points.
Each band/mode combination can be activated simultaneously. For example, N5OP could be working on 20 M SSB, N5OK could be working on 20 M CW, N5AZQ could be working on 20 M FT8, and N5HZR could be on 40 M SSB, all at the same time.
State operations start at 0000z each Wednesday.
State operations stop at 2359z the following Tuesday.
Operations should not happen on the 12 M, 17 M, 30 M, 60 M, 630 M, or 2190 M bands.
All logs for the week should be consolidated into one ADIF file so the folks at ARRL HQ can load them into LoTW.
Each state W1AW coordinator, in OK, that is Mark Kleine N5HZR, will make a schedule to optimize the on-air time for those interested in running the callsign. The https://ok.arrl.org/w1awok/ page is the OK schedule.
Sign up today, and see you on the air!!!
Clubs
Amateur radio clubs like the Enid Amateur Radio Club (EARC) https://enidarc.org/ are the backbone of the hobby. The tremendous local hams have good information, and as Elmers or mentors, they love to share it. Send something that your club is doing well to me n5hzr@arrl.org, and I’ll feature your club in this newsletter, and in the ARRL club newsletter. Most clubs are seeing an increase in new member activity recently. Our Oklahoma Affiliated Club Coordinator, Jim Shideler W5JCS, can help you find a club or help your club become affiliated. We currently have 39 clubs listed at https://ok.arrl.org/clubs/. Look for a club near you, or verify that your club is on the list. Send Jim an email at W5JCS@arrl.net if you need club assistance.
2023 will be celebrated by ARRL as “The Year of the Volunteer.” More information will be available throughout the year as the details are confirmed. However, the first adventure has been announced as a project called “Volunteers On The Air (VOTA).” Here we get ‘points’ for each contact made with another ARRL volunteer. So, if two ARRL members contact each other, they will each receive a point for that QSO. No special codes, sequence numbers, or section information needs to be passed. Make contact with a fellow ARRL member, and you each receive a point. Each of you must upload the contact to the Logbook of The World (LoTW), and your points are calculated when the QSO is matched. This could be an FT8 contact, a CW contact, a simplex 2M FM contact, an RTTY contact, or an SSB rag-chew.
To add more interest to the year-long operating event and help demonstrate the ARRL volunteers’ value, each level of volunteer activity has been assigned a point level, shown in the table at https://ok.arrl.org/vota/. For example, if you make a contact with Mark Kleine N5HZR, the Oklahoma Section Manager, you’ll get 175 points for that one contact. So, I’ll need to up my HF game to handle all the pile-ups coming my way in 2023. Maybe I need that 160M sky loop and an amplifier.
My mother has told me that whenever I did something ‘extra’ or for someone else, I would “get points for that.” I’ve heard those words for over 60 years, and I’ve not yet figured out what those points are worth. In this case, I’m hoping you will be able to get some certificates, or wallpaper, for your efforts. More details on this as they are fleshed out.
So, get your HF gear running, make sure your LoTW connection is working, and see you on the air!!!
VOTA Program Rules
I’m sure these rules will be extended or revised, so please return here to check for updates.
Contacts can be made on any band (except 12 M, 17 M, and 30 M).
Contacts can be made on any legal mode of operation.
You receive ‘points’ based on the volunteer level of the ARRL member you contact. Points range from 1 point for an ARRL member to 300 points for Rick Roderick K5UR. The point levels are listed at https://ok.arrl.org/vota/. (Your favorite Section Managers are worth 175 points.)
Each QSO will get only one point value. For example, someone who is a member, a life member, and an Assistant Section Manager will be worth the value of the highest role, 35 points for the ASM role.
Logbook of The World (LoTW)
All of the reporting for this VOTA effort will be handled automatically by the ARRL Logbook of The World (LoTD) QSO matching system. If you already log your QSOs from your favorite logging software and it uploads them to LoTW, you will automatically be enrolled in the project. Your QSOs will be verified normally, and the callsigns of the people you work will be searched to find the appropriate points (table shown at https://ok.arrl.org/vota/) that you receive for each QSO.
But, if you aren’t set up to use LoTW, now is the time to set it up. The LoTW quick-start page is a great place to start, and the “What is LoTW Document” explains the whole process. You must authenticate yourself with the system by receiving a postcard mailed to your FCC-registered address. You’ll run a program called TSQL that is used by your logging program, N3FJP, N1MM, DX Lab Suite, or something else to authenticate and upload to LoTW. You can start the setup process now, and you’ll be ready on January 1st! Or, hold your logs until you get LoTW set up, and you can upload them when you get it all sorted.
If you need help setting up your LoTW account, watch some YouTube videos, contact your Elmer, or local club. If that fails, email me at n5hzr@arrl.org, and I’ll find someone to help you.
W1AW Remote Operations
As a part of the Year of the Volunteer celebration, the mystical callsign W1AW will be traveling to the corners of ARRL-land. ARRL members in each state/territory will be asked to operate their stations for two different weeks using the callsign W1AW/x where x is one of the local regions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, KL, KH0, KH2, KH6, KH7, KH8, KP2, KP3, or KP4. For example, Oklahoma’s first week starts January 25, 2023, at 0000z and will run through January 31, 2023, at 2359z, using the callsign W1AW/5. Each state will coordinate the time/band/mode slots throughout the week and hams will be able to operate their stations.
Traveling W1AW rules include:
Remember that each operator must follow the rules for their own license class. Stay in the sub-bands that you’re legally allowed to operate in.
Operators do not need to be at the same site.
Members that contact the Traveling W1AW stations will receive 5 points.
Each band/mode combination can be activated simultaneously. For example, N5OP could be working 20 M SSB, N5OK could be working on 20 M CW, N5AZQ could be working on 20 M FT8, and N5HZR could be on 40 M SSB, all at the same time.
I am looking for volunteers to help with route safety for Cycle 66 2022. This is a bicycle event designed to highlight Route 66 as a tourism destination. There are three routes, and I will need 10-15 more Hams to help. Routes start and finish in downtown Edmond. The 66-mile route goes out Route 66 to Luther and then winds through Oklahoma County to the Capital and then back to Edmond. Operators are invited to attend the finish line festivities once their assignment is completed.
The event is on November 6th.
Follow the link below to sign up and thank you.
There is a fair amount of high-level interest in our state leadership and this is a great opportunity for Amateur Radio to shine.
It’s fall and this year the National Weather Festival will be celebrated in-person at the National Weather Center on October 29 from 8 am to 1 pm. We’ve missed the last two years due to Covid 19 precautions and the weather community is ready to go “all-out” to celebrate the weather, this year. More information about this event is available at https://www.ou.edu/nwc/nwf/ and there is no entrance fee for any activity.
This year the TV news channels will be heavily represented by their chase vehicles, helicopters, and on-air personalities. The emergency management community will be well represented, with city, county, and state departments in attendance. The mobile classroom of the National Weather Museum and Science Center https://NationalWeatherMuseum.org/ with be on-site and it always has some interesting displays.
Look for the Oklahoma ARRL amateur radio presence that will be operated by the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) group at the City of Norman Emergency Management display and with the National Weather Museum. Feel free to stop by to listen/transmit from the facility.
Here comes the Ardmore Hamarama http://hamarama.org hamfest on October 21 and 22, 2022 at the Ardmore Convention Center. Entry tickets are still only $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Flea market tables are going fast for $15. Plan to make it to Ardmore to see your old friends, make some new friends, attend some great training forums, and buy/sell tons of radio equipment. This year there will be an outdoor flea market event for those that want to display their equipment outside. These spots are also going fast at $15 each.
This year CORA will be offering another chance to win an Icom 705 Super Package Raffle. For only a $20 raffle entry ticket, you will be able to obtain a chance to win a $2,200+ deluxe radio package. Only 200 raffle tickets will be sold. This raffle includes the Icom 705 HF/VHF/UHF portable radio, an AH-705 automatic antenna tuner, some great add-on cages, wiring connections, and an external wireless display that will let you “simply add antennas”.
There are hotel rooms on site if you’d like to stay the night and amateur radio license testing will be available Saturday at 11:00 am. You can buy tickets online and all of the details are available at http://hamarama.org.
See you there!
Enid Hamfest 11/5/2022
And, the Enid Hamfest rounds out the Oklahoma hamfest calendar with their blow-out event at a great new location in downtown Enid on November 5, 2022.
This one-day event runs from 8 am to 5 pm and features amateur radio license testing at Stride Bank Center.
Put August 20th and August 21st, 2022, on your calendar for the Oklahoma Parks On The Air (OKPOTA) day. The POTA concept has taken the country by storm, and hams of all types are getting interested in the program. While every day can be a POTA day, we’re going to try to get Oklahoma on the map by activating as many of the 164 parks in Oklahoma over the weekend. And by getting as many Oklahoma POTA Hunters on the bands as possible. Activations will run from 0000Z on August 20th through 2359Z on August 21st. (7:00 PM CDT Friday night through 6:59 PM CDT Sunday night.) Please submit all log entries to the pota.app website by September 4th, 2022.
So, if you want to stay home and be a ‘hunter’ of POTA activations, get your home station antennas and radios tuned up and plan to make some great contacts across the country throughout the day. Check for POTA activations on the pota.app website. The good folks at POTA will be creating a special page to highlight our activations on that weekend.
If you want to go mobile and activate a park, start working on your portable radio/antenna combinations, create an activation on the pota.app website RIGHT NOW to schedule the activation of your favorite park, and make plans to ‘hit the road.’ Take a look at the other scheduled activations at your same park to make sure you don’t over a given park. Create a POTA account and schedule your activation at the pota.app website.
Park activations typically happen during daylight hours, so plan accordingly. More details will be available here as they develop and the current information will be available at ok.arrl.org/okpota/.
See you ‘on the air.’
If you need help with radios, antennas, connections, operation rules, creating a POTA account, or anything else, find an Elmer, work with your club, or send me a note to n5hzr@arrl.org.
Clubs
Amateur radio clubs are the backbone of the hobby. The tremendous local hams have good information, and as Elmers or mentors they love to share it. Send something that your club is doing well to me n5hzr@arrl.org, and I’ll feature your club in this newsletter, and on the ARRL club newsletter. Most clubs are seeing an increase in new member activity recently. Our Oklahoma Affiliated Club Coordinator, Jim Shideler W5JCS, can help you find a club or help your club become affiliated. We currently have 41 clubs listed at https://ok.arrl.org/clubs/. Look for a club near you, or verify that your club is on the list. Send Jim an email at W5JCS@arrl.net if you need club assistance.
Thanks to all of you that attended and stopped by the ARRL booth and said HI. ARRL West Gulf Director John Stratton N5AUS and ARRL West Gulf Vice Director Lee Cooper W5LHC joined the rest of the Oklahoma ARRL contingent during the two-day event. If you have some pictures from this event, please send them to N5HZR@arrl.org. The numbers were similar to the 2019 event, so we still all showed up after two years without a hamfest.
This year the group added a high-end raffle of a $2,200 Icom 705 package that was a big hit. Congratulations to Steve Dusking NE5SD, who walked away with that prize. In addition, the grand prize of a Yaesu FTDX10 went to Coy Day N5OK.
Clear your calendar. Ham Holiday 2023 will be July 28/29, 2023.
Ponca City 22 is Coming
The Kay County Amateur Radio Club Trunk-N-Tailgate will be in Ponca City, OK, on September 17, 2022, at the VFW, from 8 AM to 2 PM. All of the details are available at https://ok.arrl.org/ponca/ – See you there!
Hamarama 22 is Coming
The Ardmore hamfest, Hamarama, will be held at the Ardmore Convention Center on October 21/22, 2022. This two-day event runs from 5 PM to 8 PM on Friday and from 8 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, and it pulls in lots of folks from the North Texas area. All of the details are available at http://hamarama.org/ – See you there!
Enid 22 is Coming
The Enid hamfest will be at the Stride Bank Center on November 5, 2022. This location is a new location for them, and it has lots more space available. This one-day event runs from 8 AM to 5 PM and brings in a lot of folks from Kansas. All of the details are available at https://enidarc.squarespace.com/enidhamfest – See you there!
Clubs
Amateur radio clubs are the backbone of the hobby. The tremendous local hams have good information, and as Elmers or mentors they love to share it. Send something that your club is doing well to me n5hzr@arrl.org, and I’ll feature your club in this newsletter, and on the ARRL club newsletter. Most clubs are seeing an increase in new member activity recently. Our Oklahoma Affiliated Club Coordinator, Jim Shideler W5JCS, can help you find a club or help your club become affiliated. We currently have 41 clubs listed at https://ok.arrl.org/clubs/. Look for a club near you, or verify that your club is on the list. Send Jim an email at W5JCS@arrl.net if you need club assistance.
