Below is the newsletter for September 9th, 2024. Please let me know if you can help with the newsletter so we can keep sending one out regularly.
I am trying to include original articles and I could use some help. If you can write an article or even if you have a suggestion for an article, please let me know!
Steven Christy, N5ZQ
n5zq@n5zq.us
EARS VHF Repeater – PL Tone Access Required Soon
A number of months ago it was announced that the EARS 147.135 VHF repeater would start requiring a PL (CTCSS) tone of 79.7 at some point in the future. That time is now upon us.
The change is planned for 12pm on Saturday, October 12th. Even though tone has not been required to use the VHF repeater, it has been listed in all of the repeater directories for as long as I can remember. It is likely that many of you already have it programmed but now is a good time to check.
If you have any questions about this change, please let us know!
73
Steven, N5ZQ
n5zq@n5zq.us
EARS September Board Meeting
EARS holds a monthly board meeting on the second Tuesday of each month. The next board meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, September 10th at 7pm. The meeting is at Edmond Fire Station 5 in the training building down the hill by the tower. The blue pin on the map below shows the meeting location.
Fire Station 5 is located at 5300 E Covell Rd which is just East of I-35. If you need any help finding the meeting location, please give us a call on the repeater and we can help you out.
Unleashing the Power of Your Ham License: Beyond Basic FM
Are you ready to take your ham radio experience to the next level? Beyond the familiar 144 MHz FM repeater, there’s a vast universe of exciting activities waiting to be explored.
Embrace the Diversity of Ham Radio
– Explore the HF Bands: Discover the magic of long-distance communication on bands like 10 meters, 20 meters, and 40 meters.
– Conquer VHF and UHF: Experiment with frequencies like 6 meters, 2 meters, 1.25 meters, and 70 centimeters for a variety of applications.
– Communicate via Satellites: Connect with hams around the world using satellites orbiting Earth.
– Track and Interact with High-Altitude Balloons:** Follow the journey of these atmospheric explorers and even communicate with them.
– Embrace Digital Modes: Explore the world of digital communication, including PSK31, FT8, and Winlink.
– Contesting: Test your skills and see how many points you can accumulate during the exciting ARRL VHF contests.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
– Try Different Modes and Frequencies: Explore the wide range of options available to you.
– Learn New Skills: Master Morse code, digital modes, and other technical aspects of ham radio.
– Get Involved in Contesting: Test your skills and compete against other hams in exciting contests or just compete against yourself – improving year after year.
The Future of Ham Radio
The world of ham radio is constantly evolving. New technologies, modes, and applications are emerging all the time. By staying informed and actively participating in the community, you can be at the forefront of this exciting field.
So what are you waiting for? Start exploring the endless possibilities of ham radio today!
Attend the Enid Hamfest Saturday morning 14-Sept to view N5ZY’s Rover vehicle! Listen in and get yourself in the N5ZY/R’s contest logbook, and likely others.
The ARRL Sept VHF Contest starts 14-Sept at 1:00 PM and ends 15-Sept at 10 PM! We hope to hear you on the air!
For more information about N5ZY’s rover see https://n5zy.org
Marcus, N5ZY
Enid Hamfest
The 2024 Enid Hamfest is coming up on September 14th from 8am to 3pm. All of the info can be found at https://enidarc.org/enidhamfest.
OKC All Ham Dinner – Thursday September 19, 2024
New Location!!! Many years ago, the amateur radio clubs in the Oklahoma City area started an event that is now known as the “All Ham Dinner.” This dinner allows about 60 hams to get together, eat dinner, and communicate with each other. This dinner happens on the second Thursday of May and the third Thursday of January and September at 6:00 p.m.
We Have MOVED!!! — 9/19/2024 – Thursday’s Dinner
The next All Ham Dinner will be held Thursday, September 19, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. This dinner will be at Mr. Gatti’s Pizza, 9410 N May Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73120. Mr. Gatti’s Pizza is on the Northeast corner of Britton and May just east of Lake Hefner. No RSVP is needed; show up, get your meal, and join the fun in their banquet rooms. Our old location, Golden Palace, CLOSED their operation and we’re looking for new spaces!
At this meeting, we’ll talk about the upcoming Texoma Hamarama hamfest in Ardmore, OK and a special opportunity for a group Winter Field Day for all of OKC to share.
Stay in touch with the OKC Memorial Marathon on the https://coraok.org/marathon/webpage and the Facebook group for us to stay in-touch throughout the year and to keep up to date on what’s happening with the upcoming event. It’s also a great place to share your photos and check out what others have done with their OKCMM setups! Join us, and post your pictures today, at https://facebook.com/groups/okcmmauxcomm/ — Mark N5HZR
Sponsoring Clubs
To spread the load, and fun, of hosting these dinners, the member clubs of CORA take turns organizing the event. Each club sponsors one about every two years. The hosting club selects the location and makes the arrangements with a restaurant to host the 60 or so people that show up. Also, the host club makes a presentation and then facilitates a round-robin discussion by all clubs. Each club presents its recent activities or asks for assistance at a future event.
This meeting is sponsored by the South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) out of Norman, OK. The sponsoring club sets up the logistics for the evening and emcees the event. Activities from each club in attendance are discussed to provide information exchange among groups.
Future Dinner Dates
- September 19, 2024 – SCARS
- January 16, 2025 – ACARC
- May 15, 2025 – OCAPA
- September 18, 2025 – Mid-Del
- January 15, 2026 – EARS
See you there!
Logan County ARES Meeting
The Logan County ARES group held their bi-monthly meeting last Saturday. The next meeting is schedule for September 21st. If you are interesting in getting involved in ARES in this area, please make plans to attend. You can contact either Clay Mayrose, WA6LBU, or myself if you have any questions.
Steven Christy, N5ZQ
Route 66 On the Air 2024 Has Begun!!!
We are three days into “Route 66 On The Air”!!! There is still time to register as a W6K station and participate in ‘R66OTA 2024’.
Oklahoma City will again use the special event call sign W6K; Steve Duskin, NE5SD is the trustee for the call sign. Use of W6K must be authorized by the trustee through the R66OTA Registration Page. All W6K operations should be conducted in the Oklahoma City Metro area and in the spirit of the event, as close to Route 66 as practical.
R66OTA continues to Sunday, 2359Z/15 September.
Radio operators may use phone, CW or digital. Radio operators may also consider operating mobile on “The Mother Road”.
For R66OTA contacts in the Oklahoma City area, the 146.82MHz and 147.135MHz repeaters have been designated ‘R66OTA repeaters’. Stations may reserve ‘2m FM’ operating slots and use W6K on these repeaters.
To sign up as a R66OTA Radio Operator for Oklahoma City, contact Tom Webb, WA9AFM/5 (tmwebb@cox.net), Duane Angle, AA5KD (dangles1@cox.net), or Kyle Sloan, NQ5M (sensei_kyle@yahoo.com) . You will be assigned a username (your call sign) and password to access the R66OTA Registration Page. Besides your name and call sign, please provide a phone and email address in case we need to get in touch with you.
R66OTA Fun Fact: Route 66 was commission as a Federal Highway on 11 November, 1926. In 2026, the Centennial of “The Mother Road”.
Tom Webb, WA9AFM
Route 66 On the Air Rover Stations
Planning on being a ‘rover station’ for Route 66 On The Air? There are no less than three different routes of “The Mother Road” through Oklahoma City; original, alternate, and beltway.
Route 66 was signed in Oklahoma City by 1929. Its original routing entered from the west on 39th Street and turned south on Classen Boulevard and east on 23rd Street. SH-7 entered from the south on Robinson Avenue, which also carried SH-4, SH-9, and US 77. At the intersection of 23rd Street and Lincoln Boulevard, just north of the State Capitol, SH-3 and SH-9 continued east, along with US 266, while the other routes, including Route 66, turned north.
After leaving the city limits, continuing on Lincoln Boulevard (including the present Beverly Drive), it jogged east on Grand Boulevard (now I-44) to reach Kelley Avenue. By 1931, traffic was routed via Western Avenue rather than Classen Boulevard, and a new US 66 Alternate bypassed downtown, turning north rather than south on Western Avenue to Britton and east on Britton Road to Kelley Avenue.
By 1935 Route 66 used May Avenue rather than Western Avenue; the alternate route continued to use Western Avenue, moving to Classen Boulevard south of 53rd Street on March 18, 1936. The alternate route was eventually moved to May Avenue on May 6, 1947.
Also, coordination has been arranged with the Oklahoma Historical Center, the State of Oklahoma Capitol Police, and the Museum of Western Heritage and Cowboy Hall of Fame to allow R66OTA Rover Stations to operate from their respective parking lots during normal hours. These three locations are adjacent to Route 66.
Normal business hours for these three locations are, for the Historical Center, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM; the south parking lot of the State of Oklahoma Capitol, 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM; the Museum of Western Heritage and Cowboy Hall of Fame, Monday – Saturday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Sunday, Noon to 5:00 PM. If you elect to operate from any of these locations, when you arrive, please let the staff at the respective welcome desks/security check points know you are present as part of Route 66 On The Air.
R66OTA Fun Fact: Adrian, Texas is the official midpoint of Route 66. A white line on the road marked the distance to Chicago and Los Angeles-1,139 miles either way.
Tom Webb, WA9AFM
National Fire Prevention Week Special Event
National Fire Prevention week is coming up October 6-12, 2024. As in previous years there will be amateur radio special event stations. The callsign for the 5 call area will be N5F.
Clay, WA6LBU, is the coordinator for the entire 5 call area this year. Please contact him at wa6lbu@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you would like to get scheduled to operate the special event station!
Cycle 66
We will once again be helping with the Cycle 66 bike race which takes place on Sunday, November 3, 2024. This year there are multiple races of 10 miles, 33 miles, 66 miles, a kids route and criterium race. Our amateur volunteers are a fundamental part of insuring the success of this event. We will need a decent number of volunteers so please consider helping.
The volunteer form is now live! Please visit the Cycle 66 page on the website to volunteer!
If you have any questions, please contact Clay at wa6lbu@gmail.com.
EARS Volunteers
I am sure all of you are aware that EARS is an entirely volunteer organization. That means we alway need volunteers. There are many tasks to get done and the more we share the load, the more this club will be able to do!
Below is a summary of just some of the events and activities in which the club participates:
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
LibertyFest Parade
Cowboy Christmas Parade
Cycle 66 Bike Race
Monthly Siren Test
Weekly Information Net – 52 Net Control Volunteers
Monthly VE Test Session
Bi-Monthly Club Dinner – 5 Dinners
Christmas Dinner
Technician License Class – Spring and Fall
Field Day – Also One of the Club Dinners
Severe Weather Spotting
This list does not include all of the administrative and management function of the club. The website needs frequent updates, this newsletter needs to be written, etc.
What does all this mean? It means We Need You! If you are able to help in any way, please let us know. Even if you are unsure how to help or where you might best fit, please let us know and we will work with you to find the best fit.
If you are willing to help, please contact us at k5eok@k5eok.org. That will send a message to both myself, Steven, N5ZQ, and Clay, WA6LBU and we will be in touch!
Space Weather
Space (Solar) Weather is important is impacts our radio communication. While the greatest impact is usually on HF frequencies, it can also impact VHF, UHF and even higher frequencies. The video below comes from a YouTube page that is updated about every 2 weeks with new space weather reports. I encourage you to watch her channel for updates when you can as it is very educational.
Contests
Below are a few upcoming HF contests. The ARRL has a more complete list in their Contest Corral from QST which is available as a downloadable PDF file. You can also find a list of upcoming contests along with contest details at contestcalendar.com.
| Route 66 On the Air Special Event – 25th Anniversary | Sep 7 to Sep 15 |
| ARRL September VHF Contest | 1800Z, Sep 14 to 0300Z, Sep 16 |
| ARRL EME Contest | 0000Z, Sep 21 to 2359Z, Sep 22 |
| ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest | 0900Z, Sep 21 to 0759Z, Sep 23 |
| New Jersey QSO Party | 1400Z, Sep 21 to 0159Z, Sep 22 |
| Texas QSO Party | 1400Z, Sep 21 to 0200Z, Sep 22 and 1400Z-2000Z, Sep 22 |
| Iowa QSO Party | 1400Z, Sep 21 to 0200Z, Sep 22 |
| New Hampshire QSO Party | 1600Z, Sep 21 to 0400Z, Sep 22 and 1200Z-2200Z, Sep 22 |
| Washington State Salmon Run | 1600Z, Sep 21 to 0700Z, Sep 22 and 1600Z-2400Z, Sep 22 |
| Wisconsin Parks on the Air | 1600Z-2300Z, Sep 21 |
| Maine QSO Party | 1200Z, Sep 28 to 1200Z, Sep 29 |
| Masonic Lodges on the Air | 1400Z-2200Z, Sep 28 |
| Collegiate QSO Party | 0000Z, Oct 5 to 2359Z, Oct 6 |
| California QSO Party | 1600Z, Oct 5 to 2200Z, Oct 6 |
| National Fire Prevention Week Special Event | Oct 6 to Oct 12 |
Web Links
Here are a few links to other websites that may be of interest.
- ARRL (American Radio Relay League) – https://arrl.org
- CORA (Central Oklahoma Radio Amateurs) – https://coraok.org
- Ham Holiday (OKC Hamfest) – https://hamholiday.com
- ARRL Oklahoma Section – https://ok.arrl.org
- South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS)
- DMR Info – https://w5nor.org/okdmr/
- They have lots of other good info on their website such as modes of operation, weather/emergency info etc.
- ARES
- ARRL ARES – https://www.arrl.org/ares
- OK ARES – https://aresok.org
- Winlink – https://winlink.org
- AREDN – arednmesh.org
- POTA (Parks on the Air) – https://pota.app
Upcoming Events
- EARS Information Net – Every Monday at 8pm
- EARS Breakfast – Every Saturday at approximately 6:30am at Around The Corner, 11 S. Broadway, Edmond
- Fall Technician Class – Starts August 27th on Zoom – Register on Technician License Class page
- September Board Meeting – Tuesday, September 10th at 7pm at Edmond Fire Station 5, 5300 E Covell
- OKC All Ham Dinner – Thursday, September 19th at 6pm at Mr. Gatti’s Pizza, 9410 N May Ave
- EARS Licensing Testing – Saturday, October 5th – Sign Up on License Testing page
- Edmond Siren Test – Saturday, October 5th at 11:30am
- National Fire Prevention Week Special Event – October 6-12
- Cycle 66 – Sunday, November 3rd
