FCC $35 Fee

The $35 FCC application fee is now in place for any new amateur radio license application, vanity callsign applications, and your 10-year renewal. Address changes and updates from Tech to General or General to Amateur Extra are free.

The ARRL or other examiners will NOT collect this fee. Instead, a new licensee will receive a couple of emails that include a link to pay the fee online. There will also be methods to pay by check. However, that will slow down the process. The FCC has implemented its new procedure. Their system is back online, ready to handle the latest transactions.

Club Grants

The time has come to enter the ARRL Club grant program. As we have discussed before, these grants will total $500,000. Mike Walters W8ZY will be on this week's HamNation show to explain the details. HamNation is live this Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at 8:00 pm local time. You can watch this program live or later at https://www.youtube.com/hamradiocrashcourse.

They will announce a live webinar on May 4, 2022, that you can join to get any questions answered. Good luck. Let me know what your club submits!!!

ARRL.org Update

ARRL updated its internal management software recently. Unfortunately, this change resulted in some ARRL members having login problems at

https://arrl.org. ARRL has provided a web page at https://www.arrl.org/login-instructions that should help you get back connected with the organization, and if all else fails, call the number listed. The ARRL membership team will work to get you back online.

While I don't have any internal information about this conversion, my 40 years in the Information Technology field tells me that this conversion was a big deal. Organizations like ARRL started 100+ years ago with a paper tablet and a number 2 pencil. Then many people begin to automate their little corner of the organization in a bunch of different ways. Finally, the organization realizes it needs to integrate its systems to provide better, faster, and cheaper information to the whole group at a much later date. Converting to one of these systems is brutal, but the integrated data will make everyone's lives better over the long haul. ARRL's conversion to Personify management software will take time, but I'd love to hear every story as an IT guy. Let me know if I can help you through this transition.

Hamfest Update

Last week was the Green Country Ham Fest (GCHF) http://www.greencountryhamfest.org/, and it was a fantastic return to the hamfests as we knew them before the pandemic. The crowds enjoyed many great programs, saw a bunch of gear to buy and sell, and visited with friends. The presentations on Winlink and 20 Things You Can Do With The Oklahoma Link are available on the https://ok.arrl.org/ website.

The Oklahoma hamfest schedule is available online, and you can start planning for the next ones at https://ok.arrl.org/hamfests/.

See you there.

Clubs

Amateur radio clubs like the Enid Amateur Radio Club (EARC) https://enidarc.org/ are the backbone of the hobby. The tremendous local hams have good information, and as Elmers or mentors they love to share it. Send something that your club is doing well to me n5hzr@arrl.org, and I'll feature your club in this newsletter, and on the ARRL club newsletter. Most clubs are seeing an increase in new member activity recently. Our Oklahoma Affiliated Club Coordinator, Jim Shideler W5JCS, can help you find a club or help your club become affiliated. We currently have 39 clubs listed at http://ok.arrl.org/clubs/. Look for a club near you, or verify that your club is on the list. Send Jim an email at W5JCS@arrl.net if you need club assistance.