January - February Ark ARRL
News Summary
January VE Testing Super
Session- The VE Supersession was a major success beyond our wildest
dreams! A tremendous effort by our instructor extraordinaire John,
AD5FU, J.M. N5XFW, Ark. DOH, all the participating hospitals and all the
VE teams netted us 186 new techs and several new general class hams
January 19. By publicizing this to the general public, we gained many
more new amateurs around the state particularly in the areas and
districts that were having a real shortage of amateur operators. We have
a tremendous opportunity with these new hams in our ranks; now we must
be elmers! Help them, encourage them and make them HAMS! Again,
Congratulations to John, AD5FU for a great effort!
February Tornado Outbreak-
February saw an unprecedented tornado outbreak in the diamond state. The
outbreak affected areas from West to extreme North Arkansas and one
storm now looks like it may well hold the record for distance traveled
on the ground - 126 Miles from Yell County to Fulton County. Hams from
across the state activated Skywarn nets giving valuable warning to many
communities and saving scores of lives. I want to thank all amateurs in
the CAUHF network and Arkansas Skywarn for you invaluable service to the
citizens of the state. From Atkins, to Scotland, Clinton, Mt. View,
Melbourne, Zion, Ash Flat, Highland and Gassville the damage was
horrific and I was amazed that there weren't hundreds of casualties.
This disaster showed our strengths and also showed our weaknesses. We
must "lightning proof" our HF stations. We must better follow our
ARES/RACES SOP and Plan after the WX outbreak in the effected areas. We
must revitalize the Arkansas Packet Network and get all hubs back on
line and functioning. We need more HF and VHF/UHF PMBO's on Winlink
throughout the state. We will need local volunteers and resources to
complete this task and get Arkansas back in to leading the US in Emcomm.
Are you up to helping us?
New STM- Tom Harris K5WTH has
been appointed Section Traffic Manager for the Arkansas Section of the
ARRL by Section Manager David Norris, K5UZ.
From the Arkansas Section Traffic Manager:
New Net- ASTEN - "Arkansas
Section Traffic Emergency Net" is off to a good start. In the twelve
sessions we had during February, even with bad band conditions, we had
236 check- ins and ran for a total of 348 minutes. Our Net Control
Stations are some of the best and they are eager to do their duties and
their part towards bringing the Arkansas Section into the New Age of
Emergency Communications. Plans are in the working stages towards the
ASTEN becoming the States first HF Skywarn Net during times of severe
weather. If you have any thoughts that may help along the lines of an HF
Skywarn net please e-mail them to Tom Harris at
k5wth@arrl.net or David Norris
k5uz@arrl.org .
It's that time of year again;
time to start gearing up for Field Day, ARRL's flagship operating event.
Field Day, held the fourth full weekend in June, brings together new and
experienced hams for 24 hours of operating fun. ARRL Field Day Manager
Dan Henderson, N1ND, says there are several rules changes this year,
mainly concerning "Get on the Air" (GOTA) stations and the elimination
of the Demonstration Mode Bonus Category. The complete Field Day Packet
can be downloaded from the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/fieldday>.
And please pass a lot of NTS traffic during this year.
Congratulations to all of our
Net Managers for another great job well done during February 2008. All
of our States Section Nets continue to grow despite the bad band
conditions we have had the past couple of months.
The "Arkansas Section Traffic
Emergency Net" is looking for a few good men and women who would like to
be a Net Control Station, Alternate Net Control Station or enter into
Net Control Station Training. If you would like to volunteer to fill one
of these slots please contact or e-mail
k5wth@arrl.net or k5uz@arrl.org .
ARKAN News- W5T! On March 2 we
conducted our first tests on installing antennas on the 1950s vintage
caboose that will be used on the Memorial Day Troop Train, Saturday May
26, 2008. Our biggest concern was that operating on both 40 and 20
meters simultaneously would cause interference with one or both of the
transmitting stations. Our tests indicate that there will be no problem
with interference even thought the antennas are not that far apart. The
next test will be operating the stations on board the train during a run
from Springdale to Van Buren during a regular run of the Arkansas &
Missouri Excursion Train. The date has not been set for the test, but
we'll make an effort to post it here so you can try to work us while we
are train mobile. We can hardly wait! The article about last year's
troop train is on page 21 of the March issue of QST Magazine.
FS Area ARC News- The Fort
Smith Area Amateur Radio Club met at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 17 at
the Harry E. Kelly Riverfront Park and amphitheater for its annual
Christmas dinner. President Dennis
Burton called the meeting to order and presented the club officers for
2008.
- Newsletter Editor - David Overton
- Repeater Chairman - Wayne Johnson
- Activity Chairman - Mike Cole
- Secretary - Kathy Bromley
- Treasurer - Mike Bell
- Vice President - Chuck Johnson
- President - Jimmy Lowrey
Our appreciation goes out to
the staff of the Golden Coral for the delicious meal they catered.
President Burton gave out the following awards in recognition for their
excellent service during 2007:
- Hamfest Coordinators - John & Jan Eddleman
- Secretary - Larry Carmack
- Activity Chairman - Mike Cole
- Newsletter - David Overton
- Website Master - Jim Scott
- New Ham of the Year - Deborah Kee
- President - Dennis Burton (Award presented
by John Samuels)
- Awards Makers - Rick & Mary Deaton
Numerous prizes were awarded. President Burton
closed the meeting with an appreciation for everyone's help during 2007
and looking forward to an exciting new year.
LCARC News - The Lawrence
County Amateur Radio Club held its annual winter-fest at the Hoxie
Community Center Saturday February 16ÂAmateur radio operators from
several surrounding counties and Missouri attended. The Amateur Radio
Club would like to thank the following local merchants for donating door
prizes and helped to make our winter fest a success. - 2008 Grand Prize
winners: Kenny Weathers ( KE5RHX) of Caraway, AR won the Yaesu VH-150.
Roy Pits (AD5SL) of Marked Tree, AR won the Yaesu FT-7800 with
separation Kit.
ARRL Arkansas Section
Section Manager: David A. Norris, K5UZ
k5uz@arrl.org
Arkansas Section Traffic
Emergency Net: Monday - Friday at 7:00PM Monday, Tuesday - Friday 7:30
p.m. local.
ARES/RACES Net Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. local, 3987.5 Khz.
Every Saturday - Worked All Arkansas Net 3987.5 Khz 7 p.m. OR earlier as
band CONX permit!
Every Saturday - Arkansas DX Association Net 3815 Khz 10:00 AM
