AJ5Q 2011 Field Day

KE5BPL (left), ARRL Public Information Officer,  had Field Day and a Birthday celebration at AJ5Q Field Day site with N5VX (right)

KE5BPL (foreground) operates a radio at the AJ5Q Field Day while N5VX  watches.

Thanks to KD5CYW for the photos.

4th of July events

With burn bans in place for much of the western part of Oklahoma, hams may need a rest from popping fireworks, which in the burn bans are in place.


Two events, both with Technician class operator opportunity are happening this weekend.


The first is the 13 Colonies event.


All HF bands will be in play except the WARC bands and 60 meters. 2 meters and 6 meter simplex are encouraged.  While most of the effort in Oklahoma may be on 40 and 20, band openings on six and the 10-meter segment will give Technicians an opportunity for this event.


The next event is the Spirit of 76 event from 10-10 Net International.


This event, started first time last year, allows for multiple contacts using multiple modes.  For example, CW, PSK, FM, AM, SSB all count as points.  While the Technicians are limited to the mode and frequency so they can't operate AM or FM subbands, this is a fun event.


One Oklahoma ham made most of his contacts last year in the Technician band.


There's your reason to stay inside and not pop firecrackers this weekend.


73

More on the N5VGH murder

Linda and Gary Haas pulled up at the rest stop on Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico to walk their dogs and tidy up. It was a sunny morning, already hot, on Aug. 2, 2010. Linda was walking back to the pickup truck and camper when two men came up behind her. One stuck a handgun in her back and warned her in a low voice to keep quiet.


Gary Haas N5VGH and his wife Linda were found burned in their travel trailer in Santa Rosa, NM. Their pickup was located later in Albuquerque. The murders appear to have been committed by three escapees from an Arizona jail.

In the mean time, both the Arizona Department of Corrections and Utah-based Management & Training Corp., which manages the prison under contract, have made sweeping changes meant to prevent another escape.

WB5ONA describes his station

Every Sunday the ARES-OK HF net is held at 2130Hrs UTC and depending
on band conditions the net is held on either frequency of 7.260 MHz or
3.900 MHz.

Each week during the net several stations come booming in are always
loud and clear. One of the cleanest and clearest such station belongs
to Nelson WB5ONA of Stillwater, OK.

One of the best ways to learn "how to" in amateur radio is ask another
amateur how he or she is doing it. What did they do to build
something, or connect their equipment.

So I asked him… How is your station set up? What radio are you using?
Do you use an amp? If so which? What antenna are you using?
Below is the e-mail Nelson WB5ONA sent back to me just full of great
info. His secret, a good radio, no amp, basic tuner, and home brew
NVIS type antenna.

I hope you enjoy and find the information from Nelson WB5ONA as useful
as I did. My thanks, Nelson, for giving me permission to share his
e-mail with all of you.

73 Mark Conklin N7XYO

>From Nelson WB5ONA:

I use an ICOM 7000 usually running 100 watts. I use the stock
hand-held mike but with the AB5N upgrade. The upgrade makes a marked
improvement in audio and output. I highly recommend the upgrade.
(www.7000mic.com)

I do not use an amplifier.

My antenna is an inverted "V" with two 63-ft legs of woven copper. The
feed line is Radio Shack TV lead-in (not window line). At present, the
lead is around 100 feet, more than enough to reach my equipment. The
extra length is randomly tossed into a flower bed. Coiling introduces
SWR problems. Once the antenna is supported as I hope at a later date,
the lead may be trimmed.

I use an MFJ-969 tuner. This tuner has a built-in 4:1 balun and
balanced-line posts with one post shorted as described in the
operating manual. Using this or similar tuners with the described
antenna enables 80- to 6-meter operation. A 1:1 SWR is possible on
each band, however, not throughout each band.

Contrary to common mind-set that feed lines must be coaxial, twin lead
does work very well and, I believe, delivers more RF to the antenna
than would an equal length of coax.

The center of my antenna is up about 35 ft and is supported above the
house eave with 15 ft of 2-inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe. PVC
eliminates any twin lead/metal interactions. On a tower, twin-lead
must be stood off with non-conducting material from any metal by at
least 3 times the lead width.

The PVC pipe I use is topped with a tee. The twin-lead is taped to the
outside of the pipe and enters a slot cut in the side of the tee.
Eye-hole lugs are soldered to the antenna legs and twin leads and
attached together via small bolts extending through the tee wall near
each end of the tee. The connections are inside the ends of the tee.
So, far, this connection technique eliminated breakages I was plagued
with when connecting in other ways.

The free antenna ends are about 20 feet above the ground and are
supported using 2, 3/4 x 2 inch strips of PlexiGlass as insulators
with 1/8th inch holes drilled at each narrow end of each strip. The
antenna ends are looped through an insulator hole, wrapped and
soldered to the leg end. Trimmer (weed eater) cord is used to support
the ends of the antenna. Green trimmer cord blends into sky and tree
colors and is a longer lasting alternative to nylon. I've used trimmer
cord for years and have never had one break or in need of replacement.
The trimmer cord was left long enough to toss the loose end over a
branch for hoisting the antenna legs. To get the cord over the branch,
I attach a vise-grip pliers to the end of the cord and hope for a
lucky toss. The support cord is tied within ground reach. The legs are
not drawn tight to prevent bending the center PVC support. The
resulting inverted "V" is more like a slightly swooping W. The
"V" angle between the legs is kept between 90 and 120 degrees.
A good ground, as with any antenna system is a definite must.

I do get some stray RF at times in computer speakers and on some TVs.
Careful tuning and a good ground on all equipment reduces or
eliminates this problem. The RFI problems also vary by operating band.

This is a great multi-band antenna. It's very portable and handy for
special event and field day operations with appropriate center and
support. It is also great as a fixed antenna as I usually have good
reports from stateside and DX stations. I'm often surprised and
pleased when I manage to come out on top in a pileup.

73,

Nelson Ehrlich, WB5ONA
Stillwater, ok
****************************************************************************************************

Posted by:
Mark Conklin, N7XYO
Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
918.232.8346
n7xyo@arrl.net
Follow me on Twitter @N7XYO
www.ARESOK.org

AJ5Q 2011 Field Day Altus

AJ5Q Field Day was in the cool and comfort of the new Radio Shack at N5VX

N5VX (left) had Field Day in his new operating station with his new wife, W5ORN.

Here's some more of the Crew at AJ5Q Field Day

Howdy from Hotsville USA....
Had a great time, great food, and well needed nap afterwards.... till next year.
Ron R (KD5CYW)
Altus, OK

Ham Cram

During my travels visiting for Field Day yesterday, I was advised of a ham cram
that is scheduled in 2 weeks.

Ham Cram will be conducted in Elk City on July 9 at the Elks Lodge
located at 108 Blue Ridge
in Elk City beginning at 8:30 AM. Test session will follow. Cost
is $30.00 for books and materials.
Point of Contact is Gary Woodrow, KB5BSA gwoodrow@cableone.net
or 580-210-9271

Steve Grayson, KE5BPL
ARRL-OK PIO
ARES-OK ZEC2

N7XYO encourages NVIS

Will you be setting up an NVIS HF antenna (Near
Vertical Incident Scattering Antenna)?

For more info on this simple and very effective regional antenna system:
http://www.vcars.org/tech/NVIS.html

NVIS is a great antenna system for statewide and regional HF
communications. And it's cheap to build your own.

Mark Conklin, N7XYO
Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
918.232.8346
n7xyo@arrl.net
Follow me on Twitter @N7XYO
www.ARESOK.org

Where will you be going out to a Field Day site?

Do you plan to visit/operate at more than one site?

ARRL Field Day site locator page

http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Field Day is a great way to practice those Emergency Communications skills (EmComm).  

I don't mean the eating of hotdogs, laughing and having a good time with HAM friends and spending hours of "CQ FIELD DAY - CQ FIELD DAY"...

I'm speaking of the setting up Amateur Radio stations and antenna systems, in less than ideal conditions using off the grid, back up or emergency power... what a fun way to practice for "When all else fails".

Will you use Field Day as a way practice setting up an NVIS "Cloud Burner" HF antenna? http://www.vcars.org/tech/NVIS.html

Share you plans!

73s

Mark Conklin, N7XYO

Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
918.232.8346
n7xyo@...
Follow me on Twitter @N7XYO

www.ARESOK.org

Joplin Missouri Volunteer Pictures

Members of the Oklahoma Amateur Radio Emergency Service recently served in Joplin, MO at the request of the Salvation Army.

Brian Lee Gnad, KB5TSI, filed this photo after his return.  He is the ARES Tulsa District Emergency Coordinator.


More of the photos are on Facebook.

Oklahoma Online #hamradio Resources

Do you know about these #Oklahoma resources for amateur radio operators?

You found this blog so there's no need to mention it.

Are you aware of:

• ARRL-OK mail reflector?
• OK-Traders mail reflector to list items for sale or trade?
• Oklahoma ARES mail reflector to learn of activations and other information related to the Amateur Radio Emergency Service in Oklahoma.
• The Oklahoma ARES web page 
• Twitter and Facebook pages
• The ARRL Daily "paper" 

These are just a few of the ways Oklahoma hams are staying connected.

New Appointment

I am pleased to announce that I will be appointing Floyd Grant, NV5N to the position Zone Emergency Coordinator for Zone 4 (Northeastern Oklahoma).

The ZEC is the assistant to the Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) for emergency preparedness. The ZEC is appointed by the SEC to take care of all matters pertaining to emergency communications and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) on a zone wide basis. 

Floyd is a long time amateur operator with a strong interest in emergency communications. The ZEC position is a big job and I appreciate Floyd's' willingness to take on the challenge. 

Please welcome Floyd to the team, plus want to thank Ben Joplin WB5VST for doing double duty covering both Zone 4 & Zone 5. Ben will continue to serve as ZEC in Zone5.

73

Mark Conklin, N7XYO
Oklahoma Section Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
            918.232.8346      
n7xyo@arrl.net
Follow me on Twitter @N7XYO

www.ARESOK.org

Amateur Radio Technician Class and Licensing - July 9 and 10 - Marietta, OK

The  Mercy Health/Love County Hospital and the W5LCH Love County Mercy Memorial Club are hosting a two day class to prepare and license individuals as Amateur Radio Technicians.  

This two day class will be on  July 9th and 10th, 2011 at the Love County Hospital.  It will cover all the materials and information required to pass the Technician level license.  The costs are $30.00 for the book and $15.00 for the testing fee.

The registration deadline is the 13th of June 2011 to allow time to order the books and materials.  If  you would like to register for this class or would like more information you can contact  David C. Bond, KF5CMR or by cell/text at 817-368-5548.

Thanks to Steve Grayson, KE5BPL, League Public Information Officer,

for this information.