To all: Regarding the Joe Martin stage race



Thursday, May 1, we will conduct an organizational meeting for amateur radio volunteers to support the Joe Martin stage race.

The meeting is 7 p.m. at the Washington County EOC, and is open to anyone interested in volunteering for the event.

This note is going out especially to Washington County ARES members --remember, this is our spring drill event.

In addition, please help me reach our most recent ham operators that may
not be on this list to involve them in this event.  New hams that want to sign up with ARES can do so at the meeting.

Tell your friends and invite them to be a part.

The race dates we are covering are Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10. We need a minimum of eight operators each day, and can use as many as we can turn out both days.

See you all on Thursday at the EOC.

Bill Smith, K1ARK


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


For past Arkansas News Summaries please visit the Arkansas Section portion of the arrl website at:

 Monthly Summaries

 Then select the month you wish to view.



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