What's New in the Section?

Hello all you guys and gals,

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to the new year! It’s been VERY busy around the O’Dell household and I haven’t been able to get on the air as much as I would like, but hopefully things will slow down a little soon. I hope all of you got all the nice new packages of rigs, bells and whistles you wanted for Christmas……if you didn’t, well hamfest season is upon us. Speaking of which…… 

2013 Hamfests

These are the hamfests that are already on the calendar for 2013. There are a couple yet to be determined…

2/2 Tri-State Hamfest & Computer Show, Mooreland, OK -- Was GREAT!!

3/2 Elk City Hamfest, Elk City, OK

3/8 – 3/9 Green Country Hamfest, Claremore, OK 

6/7 – 6/8 Ham-Com, Plano, TX 

7/26 – 7/27 Ham Holiday, OKC

9/13-14  ADA HAM FEST 

10/25 – 10/26 Texhoma Hamarama, Ardmore, OK

11/2 Enid Hamfest, Enid, OK 

Legislative Agenda

Eddie Manley, K5EMS, our State Government Liaison , has Gotten one piece of our proposed legislation filed and has found a couple of others of note to amateurs. When I get the actual bill numbers, I’ll post them here.

The bill we had filed changes the wording on our current PRB-1 legislation to make the municipality not the ham prove why they might not be allowed to erect an antenna structure.

Of the other bills of amateur interest. One will now allow you to apply for Oklahoma Amateur Radio license plates at your local tag agent instead of by mail only. The application cost is apparently $8 if you do it at the tag agent. And if you have a zero in your call, they WILL put the slash mark in it. You will need a copy of your amateur license to give to the tag agent.

There are 2 bills having to do with texting, one from the House and one from the Senate, they are basically the same bill. Amateur radio is specifically excluded from these bills.

Youth

I am proud to let you know that the section now has an Assistant Section Manager for Youth. Conner Keef, WX5CJK is a meteorology student at OU and will be working with the youth of the section. He is being assisted by Megan McCellan, K5MEM past North Texas ASM for youth. They are planning on having a Youth Lounge at the sections 3 larger hamfests this year starting with Green Country, then Ham Holiday and ending with Texhoma. The youth lounge concept has really started to catch on. This way, any kids that come to these hamfests, licensed or not, will have programming aimed directly at them.

ARRL Centennial

Don’t forget the ARRL Centennial is coming up in 2014. By the beginning of 3rd quarter this year you should start seeing ideas for your club to start the planning process for next year. Be looking especially for the chance to immortalize your QSL card for 2064!!

E-mail Groups

If you aren’t a member of the aresoklahoma or OKtraders Yahoo groups, then you should be. Also check out the section presence on Twitter and Facebook. Then make sure you join the ARRL-OK section e-mail list,

---WGD Announces New Annual Division Awards

Director David Woolweaver is pleased to announce the creation of the West Gulf Division Annual Division Awards. There are two primary awards: Ham of the Year and Young Ham of the Year, which will be
complimented by a third award, the West Gulf Division Excellence Award.

While the first two awards are self explanatory, the third award represents any Amateur Radio endeavor that the nominators feel deserves recognition. Suggested categories can be found on the Division website.
www.arrlwgd.org They include Educator of the Year, Radio Scouter of the Year, Technical Achievement and Amateur Radio Organization of the Year among many others. For the WGD Excellence Award only, the nominators are not limited to the suggested categories. 

Divisional Awards will be presented at the West Gulf Division Convention each year. Nominations for 2012 Award Winners will be accepted until April 15, 2013 for presentation at HamCom in June. Nomination forms for each nominee (by category) must be supported by at least three ARRL members on the award nomination form, a minimum 150-word statement and any available supporting documentation. Other rules do apply and can be found on the WGD website. 

The Division Awards judging panel consists of four (4) ARRL members, selected by each of the Section Managers in North Texas, Oklahoma, South Texas and West Texas Sections. The Section Manager may opt to
appoint his/herself to the committee. The fifth judge is selected by the Division Director and may reside anywhere within the West Gulf Division. Neither the Division Director nor the Vice Director will participate in the vote.

That’s all for now. I hope to see all of you at one time or another this year.

73,

Kevin O’Dell, N0IRW

Oklahoma Section Manager

Chairman ARRL PR Committee