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SM037 – OKC Ham Holiday Hamfest July 28/29 – This Weekend     |     SM021 – Announcing http://ok.arrl.org/     |     SM020 – Pryor Tailgate & John Stratton N5AUS     |     SM019 – John Stratton N5AUS in Norman This Saturday     |     SM018 – Straight Key Night (SKN)     |     SM017 – Happy Holidays and 2021 Year-End Summary     |     SM016 – CQ HO HO Talk-In de W5HTK     |    
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Category: Special Events

SM037 – OKC Ham Holiday Hamfest July 28/29 – This Weekend

July 27, 2023

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

See you there!

SM021 – Announcing http://ok.arrl.org/

January 23, 2022

Greetings, and I hope you are all staying warm and are making the best of the new year. To start the year off, I’d like to introduce the new ARRL Oklahoma section website,  https://ok.arrl.org/. This site houses the OK Section Manager News and publicizes ARRL activity in the entire state. Currently, there are segments for Becoming a Ham, Section Manager News, ARES/SKYWARN, NTS, Clubs, and Hamfests. The goal for this site is to become the place where you can visit or send someone for more amateur radio information anywhere in the state of Oklahoma. 

Be a Ham

Each year hundreds of folks obtain their first Technician license. This tab will help them learn what’s required, show them how, give them training assistance, and show them where they can take a license test. If your club operates an ongoing license test session, make sure we listed it on the license page, and please get in touch with us if you need some changes/additions.

Section Mgr News

The Oklahoma Section Manager newsletters are stored here. So if you missed a past issue or need to catch up on some local information, this is the place to look. 

ARES/SKYWARN

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a service that hams provide during communications emergencies. Here you will find a link to the ARES Oklahoma web page, where you can join, learn, obtain training, and more. 

The National Weather Service’s SKYWARN program is also a good way for hams to get involved with severe weather reporting. This page provides the four different regions of the NWS for the state and how you can get involved from your area.

NTS

The National Traffic System (NTS) is how amateur radio operators pass traffic during ‘blue-sky’ days and during communications emergencies. Every day Oklahoma hams pass traffic via voice, CW, and Winlink. This tab describes the local methods we use to get messages in and out of Oklahoma. You will hear more about NTS in subsequent Section Manager News reports.

Clubs

There are 40 ARRL affiliated clubs in the state, and you will be able to find one of these clubs here. If you are a club leader and notice that some information needs to be updated, please let us know.

Join ARRL

Here you can link to the ARRL membership benefits page and the page to allow you to join or renew your ARRL membership online. 

Hamfests

Oklahoma has five hamfests (or conventions) annually in Elk City, (Green Country) at Claremore, Oklahoma City, Ardmore, and Enid. In addition, we hold tailgate events in the Pryor and Edmond areas. This tab has links to each event, and you will find the most current information about each event here. If you have some updated information about one of these events, please make sure you contact us.

Contact Us

The contact us section has links to provide contact information for the Oklahoma Section and describes our neighboring regions. Oklahoma, along with Texas, makes up the ARRL West Gulf Division, one of the fifteen national divisions. Links to the WGD and the three Texas sections can be found on this tab. 

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 40 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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM020 – Pryor Tailgate & John Stratton N5AUS

January 10, 2022

Pryor Tailgate

Mayes County Amateur Radio Club (MCARC) presents: the Pryor, OK Tailgate Event – Saturday, January 15, 2022 – Doors Open from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, at the Graham Community Center, 6 North Adair Street – Pryor, OK 74361

All of the information is on the https://ok.arrl.org/hamfests/pryor/ website. They have produced a video for you to get the details that’s available at https://youtu.be/2x9IXG8EX1w

Only $5 at the door. Talk in on the 147.060 MHz repeater (-600 offset 88.5 Hz Tone) or on the 444.675 MHz machine (+5 MHz offset 88.5 Tone). 40 flea market tables are available, contact kd5jxu@gmail.com or n5yir@yahoo.com to reserve yours. Set up begins at 6:00 am on Friday, people with multi-tables will be allowed early set up on Friday, January 14 from Noon to 6 PM. D&L Antenna, Mike’s Embroidery, and amateur radio testing will be available. Concessions will be provided by the American Legion Post 240 Women’s Auxiliary. Not sure of your radio? Jon N5UUA will have a test bench set up.

And, they have a second video that talks about the raffles at https://youtu.be/5UsK2SMbLAU

John Stratton N5AUS’ Presentation

If you were unable to join the ARRL West Gulf Division Director John Stratton N5AUS at Saturday’s SCARS meeting, or you need to pick up something you missed, we have this presentation recorded for you to watch at your leisure at https://youtu.be/RNVO8SPDkV8.

John Stratton N5AUS – ARRL Update – SCARS Meeting

As a Division Directory, John is our elected representative on the ARRL board of directors and serves on the ARRL Executive Committee and on the new Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (EC-FSC). He talked about the many changes that are happening at ARRL headquarters and what is coming down the road.

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 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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM019 – John Stratton N5AUS in Norman This Saturday

January 4, 2022

Our Oklahoma/Texas ARRL West Gulf Division Director John Stratton N5AUS will be speaking at the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) meeting, in-person this Saturday, January 8th at 9:30 am.

Please feel free to join the group in person at their normal meeting location, Firehouse #7 Training Center, 2207 Goddard Ave, Norman, OK. The meeting, and John’s presentation, start at 9:30 am, but people start showing up at 9:00 am to visit before the meeting. You can also join the meeting via Zoom using the https://w5nor.org/zoom/ link, or this will be streamed live on YouTube by clicking the https://w5nor.org/stream/ link.

John is on the ARRL Executive Committee and is a member of the new Emergency Communications – Field Services Committee. John has an Aerospace Engineering Degree and a Law Degree from a little school south of Dallas. John will have some great upcoming information about the happenings at ARRL. The ARRL board of directors will meet next week, so there will be a lot of buzz about upcoming activities. This is a great way to provide your input on ARRL activities or ask any questions you may have.

ARRL directors are hard-working volunteers and are elected every three years for our division by the ARRL members in Oklahoma and Texas.

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 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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM018 – Straight Key Night (SKN)

December 30, 2021

About Straight Key Night

The ARRL year starts out with a di and a dah with the Straight Key Night. This 24-hour event is not a contest; rather it is a day dedicated to celebrating our CW heritage. Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable conversational CW QSOs. The use of straight keys or bugs to send CW is preferred. There are no points scored and all who participate are winners.

Contest Details

Dates

Straight Key Night is held every January 1 from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC. Here in Oklahoma, Friday, December 31 from 6:00 pm central time through 5:59 pm on Saturday.

Terms Of Entry

  • Entrants agree to be bound by the provisions and intent of ARRL contest rules.
  • Entrants agree to be bound by the regulations of their national licensing authority.
  • Entrants agree to be bound by the decisions of the ARRL Awards Committee.
  • Log contents used to determine final score and awards will be available to the public.
  • All entries become the property of the ARRL.

Bands

All authorized Amateur frequencies, but activity has traditionally been centered on the HF bands.

Log Submission Deadline

Entries for Straight Key Night must be received by January 31, 2022. Votes for “Best Fist” and “Most Interesting QSO” will be tabulated and included in the results.


Send your information to straightkey@arrl.org

or by mail to:

ARRL Straight Key Night

225 Main Street

Newington, CT 06111

For more information, contact the contests group at contests@arrl.org or (860) 594-0232.

Results

Results from previous Straight Key Nights are available at https://contests.arrl.org/

Contest Exchange

When participating in SKN instead of sending RST before sending the signal report send the letters SKN, to indicate your participation, and to clue in passers-by who may be listening that SKN is going strong.  After SKN, send the Contest Branch a list of stations worked, plus your vote for the best fist you heard (it doesn’t have to be one you worked).  Also, include your vote for the most interesting QSO you had or monitored.

Don’t forget to post your comments and interesting photographs from your SKN adventure to the ARRL Contest Online Soapbox at https://www.arrl.org/soapbox. Entries should be emailed to the Contest Branch at StraightKey@arrl.org or may be sent via regular mail to SKN, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. The Soapbox https://www.arrl.org/soapbox becomes an online album of stories and photographs to share with others.

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 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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de Mark Kleine N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM017 – Happy Holidays and 2021 Year-End Summary

December 24, 2021

‘Tis the Season

The end of the year brings a number of holidays that tend to make the time fly by faster each and every year. So, no matter what you celebrate, all of us that bring you the Oklahoma ARRL experience wish you the best. So, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, and all the rest to you and yours from the Oklahoma ARRL section.

And, many thanks from me to the hundreds of volunteers that make this process run smoothly. Without the help of the section leaders, ARES leaders, ARES volunteers, NTS Traffic Handlers, club leaders, hamfest organizers, net control operators, net participants, and others we wouldn’t have been able to make the waves that we have during 2021.

2021 Year-End Summary

The ARRL national organization is defined by the five pillars of public service, advocacy, education, technology, and membership. These tenants are used to define all of the activities that make up the organization’s tasks. Earlier this year I took a look at the five pillars and found that we would be able to support all of them by concentrating on the following five action groups; ARES, NTS, Clubs, Member Communications, and Outreach. Throughout the year each of those groups has had a lot of activity, and some of it is shown here:

ARES – Amateur Radio Emergency Service

  • A new https://aresok.org website was unveiled to support the 800+ ARES members.
  • An ARES OK Fall Summit was held on 10/23/2021 that had 30 ARES members in-person in Norman and 20 more that attended via Zoom and YouTube.
  • We obtained several new Region Emergency Coordinators.
  • We obtained about 20 new county Emergency Coordinators.
  • Email communications were sent to the 800+ ARESOK contacts.

NTS – National Traffic System

  • The National Traffic System in Oklahoma will be highlighted during the month of January. If you are interested in NTS, more information is available at https://ok.arrl.org/nts/
  • HF Phone Nets are still going strong with the following schedule. More information is available at https://ok.arrl.org/ntsnets/
    • Sunday 3900 08:00 local
    • Sunday 3900 16:30 local
    • Daily 7290 AM/PM
  • New Tulsa Superlink UHF Night Net – More information is available at https://ok.arrl.org/ntslocal/
    • Every Thursday 7:00 pm
  • NTSOK Winlink is up and running on HF and VHF – More information is available at https://ok.arrl.org/ntsok/
    • Send NTS messages to message to NTSOK

Clubs

  • The Oklahoma Section Affiliated Club Coordinator – Jim Shideler mailto:W5JCS@arrl.net
  • We created a club leader email list
  • The 39 clubs are listed at https://ok.arrl.org/clubs/
  • A SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) club analysis tool is available at https://ok.arrl.org/clubtool/
  • ARRL Club Newsletter started in November from ARRL HQ (first time since 2009). If you have any club information and pictures you would like to share, send them to mailto:clubs@arrl.org.
  • ARRL Club news will start back up in QST as ‘strays’.
  • All club contact information for each club was updated on ARRL.ORG
  • A new national ARRL Club Funding program was announced at the Enid hamfest.

Member Communication

  • The https://aresok.org site was updated.
  • The https://ok.arrl.org web site was started. This site should be “THE” place to go for amateur radio information in the state. Wanna be hams, new hams, upgrading hams, and curious hams should find something to do here. Look here for clubs, testing sessions, classes, and more.
  • The https://arrlok.blogspot.com, Facebook page, ARRL.org section page, and the Twitter page all receive Section Manager News about every fortnight.
  • Postcards are sent monthly to the following groups of people. More information is available at https://ok.arrl.org/postcards/
    • New FCC license
    • Upgraded FCC license
    • New ARRL member
    • Lapsed ARRL members

Outreach

  • Oklahoma Memorial Marathon Communications
  • Do-Wacka-Do Communications
  • Tour de Tulsa Communications
  • Cycle 66 Bike Communications
  • Tulsa Makers Faire demonstration station
  • Tulsa Channel 8 News report on Hurricane Ida preparations
  • Lots of Field Day Stations and Field Day home stations
  • City of Norman National Night Out demonstration station
  • Westheimer Airport Open House demonstration station
  • NIGHT, the movie – we assisted with a feature movie short
  • ARISS – AMSAT school communication – Tecumseh, OK – K5TMS
  • Emergency Preparedness – Norman Sooner Mall demonstration station
  • Full blown Elk City Hamfest
  • Full blown Enid Hamfest


And, all of this happened during the international pandemic. Next year should allow even more activities.

Summary Numbers


This year in the state of Oklahoma, we welcomed 394 new Technicians, 137 upgraded licensees, and 413 new ARRL Members. This resulted in an increase in ARRL Membership of 87 (+5.1%), to over 1,800. We recently added three new clubs that will be detailed soon!

1,051 postcards were sent to the new hams, upgraded hams, and new ARRL members.

There are currently 832 ARES Oklahoma members.

— See you next year!!!

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM016 – CQ HO HO Talk-In de W5HTK

December 11, 2021

The Enid Amateur Radio Club (W5HTK) is one of the 39 ARRL Affiliated clubs based out of Garfield County in Northern Oklahoma. This year, club members are helping the City of Enid to welcome the world to Enid in celebration of the whopping 140’ tall, fresh-cut Christmas tree, “Christ Tree.” This tree is the world’s largest fresh-cut Christmas tree from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California. The tree is just south of the arena located at 301 S. Independence. More information about the tree and events around it are available at https://facebook.com/TheOneEnid.

As amateur radio operators you can contact the Santa W5HTK via the Special Event Station called the “Ho Ho Talk-in.” This will operate next Saturday on December 18th, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm central time. The W5HTK hams will take your contact information, and they will send you a historic QSL card with a picture of the “world’s tallest Christmas tree.” More information about the Special Event Station is available at https://enidarc.org/ho-ho-talkin

Operating Frequencies

  • EchoLink — 255318 N5UBY-R
  • 2 Meters — 145.290 FM
  • 40 Meters — 7.195 to 7.220 LSB
  • 40 Meters — 7.140 to 7.150 CW
  • 60 Meters — 5330.5, 5346.5, 5347.0 and 5371.5-all upper wideband
  • 75 Meters — 3.845 to 3.900

Talk With Santa

If you make a contact with Santa W5HTK, you will also be entered into a drawing for one of three ARRL gift certificates.

Get on the air, make a contact with Santa, get a Special Event Station QSL card, and you may win an ARRL gift certificate. And, tell all of your friends!!!

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 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 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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

ARRL Oklahoma
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