[ARRL-OK] 2026 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Guidelines

In keeping with the theme that all disasters/emergencies are LOCAL and in consideration of local schedules and relationships with partners agencies, LOCAL ARES Leaders have the option of conducting their local SET at another date & time besides the focal-point weekend of October 3 and 4, 2026.  SETs should be conducted no later than the end of the fall season or the calendar year. Check with your  LOCAL ARES Leaders for the exact date or dates of the SET in your area. 2026 Simulated Emergency Test Guidelines  https://www.arrl.org/simulated-emergency-test Test Your Readiness on October 3 - 4  ARRL’s Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is October 3 - 4, 2026, and this nationwide exercise is the chance to test your personal emergency-operating skills and the readiness of your communications equipment and accessories in a simulated emergency-like deployment.  ARRL Field Organization Leaders at the section and local levels, and many other volunteers that are active in public service and emergency communications, are developing simulated emergency-like scenarios in consultation with a variety of agencies and organizations for whom radio amateurs are known to provide service during emergencies. Please remember that station readiness and personal training and practice are tenets of the Amateur Radio Service. Any time we spend on the air will contribute to developing and practicing our personal radio communication capability. The ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service ® (ARES®), the National Traffic System (NTS), the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), SKYWARN ™, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), and other allied groups and public-service oriented radio amateurs are among those who are eligible to participate in the simulated exercise and to practice emergency operation plans, nets and procedures.  Simulated Emergency Test (SET) reporting forms are located at this link:  ARRL SET Data Forms   Establishing Relationships   The ARRL has longstanding relationships with several national organizations including the American Red Cross, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Salvation Army (among several others). More information on these and other national served agencies may be found at www.arrl.org/served-agencies-and-partners/. Let this year’s ARRL Simulated Emergency Test be a chance to reach out to these partners to establish or review plans and develop working relationships.   National Preparedness Month   National Preparedness Month is in September.  This is a nationwide effort to encourage everyone to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, workplaces, schools and communities. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security works with a wide variety of organizations to highlight the importance of emergency preparedness and to promote individual involvement through events and activities across the nation. We encourage you to consider this year's Simulated Emergency Test (and all preparations for it) as a demonstration of amateur radio's readiness. More information on National Preparedness Month is found at www.ready.gov/ .   SET to Go!                                                   In consideration of local and section wide schedules and relationships with partners, agencies and many others, ARRL Field Organization Leaders have the option of conducting their local or section wide SET at another time besides the focal-point weekend of October 3 and 4, 2026.  SETs should be conducted no later than the end of the fall season or the calendar year. Check with your local ARRL Field Organization leadership for the exact date or dates of the SET in your area.   To find out how to be involved in this year’s SET, please contact your local ARRL Emergency Coordinator or Net Manager. Check on upcoming planned activities through local, state or section wide nets. Contact your local club or other area clubs to find out who the Emergency Coordinator is and/or when and where the nearest ARES net or NTS net meets and their frequencies. In addition, refer to the ARRL Section Web pages at www.arrl.org/groups/sections. Your ARRL Section Manager can assist, too. See page 16 of QST for contact information. Additional background on the annual SET is presented in the article, Simulated Emergency Test 2025 Results. See July, 2026, QST, pp. 70 – 72.   Purpose of SET   1. To find out the strengths and weaknesses of ARES, NTS, RACES and other groups in providing emergency communications.   2. To provide a demonstration--to served and partner agencies such as the American Red Cross, the emergency management agency and through the news media--of the value to the public that Amateur Radio provides, particularly in time of need.   3. To help radio amateurs gain experience in communications using standard procedures and a variety of modes under simulated-emergency conditions. Format     The scoring format reflects broad objectives and encourages use of digital modes for handling high-volume traffic and point-to-point Welfare reports out of the affected simulated- disaster area.  Participants will find SET an opportunity to strengthen the VHF-HF link at the local level, thereby ensuring that ARES and NTS are working in concert.  The SET will give all levels of NTS the chance to handle exercise-related traffic.  The guidelines also recognize tactical traffic on behalf of served agencies.     Test messages should carry the word "TEST" before the precedence; that is, "Test Priority" on phone and "TEST P" on cw.  The text of such messages should also begin with the words "TEST MESSAGE."     ARES units and other groups are free to conduct their emergency exercises anytime until the end of the calendar year if an alternative date is preferred.  The activity period should not exceed 48 hours.   Preparation is Important Steps for the Emergency Coordinator and Net Manager   Adapt to the circumstances and situation at hand.  Conducting a “tabletop” exercise via a combination of teleconferences, video conferences, and/or on-the-air meetings or even in-person meetings, too, would work well for the Simulated Emergency Test.   1.  Sign up all available amateurs in the area under your jurisdiction and work them into your SET plans.   2.  Call an on-the-air meeting or video/teleconference of all ARES members and prospective members to briefly outline the SET activities, and give general instructions.  Do this in a socially-distant manner that is safe for everyone.  Do not divulge the exact time or nature of the test to participants at this time.  Take this opportunity to register new ARES members and get up-to-date information on other participants.  3.  Contact served and partner agencies and explain the intent and overall purpose of the SET.  Offer to send test messages to other branches of their agencies.  Contact should be conducted by telephone, or other virtual means with proper social distancing measures in place.   4.  Contact officials of any adjacent communities having no active amateurs by telephone or virtual format.  Offer to provide representation in amateur networks for them as well.   5.  Arrange publicity in consultation with an ARRL Public Information Officer in local newspapers and radio/TV stations by preparing an announcement and/or inviting the press to observe your group's SET operation if there happens to be an in-person deployment as part of the exercise.  Or, if it’s convenient or suitable, ask the media representative to conduct an interview via on-line video, or telephone.     6.  Set up liaison with one or more NTS local/section nets (if you don't already have liaison) so you will have an outlet for all messages out of the local area.   7.  Formulate your plans around a simulated disaster.  Possible "plots" include: a flood, a serious fire, an ice storm, a missing person, a serious accident (automobile, bus, aircraft, for examples), a broken gas line, and so forth.  Elaborate on the situation by developing a scenario, but please be realistic. During the SET   1.  Announce the simulated   emergency situation.  Activate the emergency net.  Dispatch mobiles if necessary to the simulated emergency scene or to the area where the served agencies or partner organizations are situated.  Feel free to adapt your exercise as necessary and as the situation or circumstances warrent in your community, area or state.    2.  Have designated stations originate messages on behalf of served agencies.  Test messages may be sent simulating requests for supplies.  Simulated emergency messages (just like real emergency messages) should be signed by an authorized official even if the authorized officials are not physically in the area because of social-distancing requirements.   3.  Emphasize tactical communications for served agencies and partner organizations.   4.  As warranted by traffic loads, have liaison stations on hand to receive traffic on the local net and relay to your section net.  You should also be sure that there is a representative on each session of the section net to receive traffic going to the local area.   5.  Operate at least one session (or substantial segment of a session) of the local net on emergency-only basis.  Or, if a repeater is on emergency power, allow only emergency-powered stations to operate through the repeater for a certain time period. After the SET An important post-SET activity is a critique session to discuss the test results.  All SET participants may be invited to a virtual meeting using on-line meeting tools or a teleconference to review good points and weaknesses apparent in the drill.  Emphasize ways to improve procedures, techniques, and coordination with all groups involved.  Please report your group's effort using the appropriate forms and include any photos, clippings and other items of interest. The Role of NTS The main function of the National Traffic System in an emergency situation is to tie together all of the various local activities and to provide a means by which all traffic destined outside of a local area, section or region can be systematically relayed to the addressee. Normal NTS routing should be followed.  A valid exception is the handling of emergency traffic that should be routed as rapidly and efficiently as possible, bypassing various levels of nets when delivery can be expedited.  Another exception is when one station is loaded down with traffic for one region or section.  At the discretion of the Net Control Station (NCS), the station may be directed to bypass a normal channel and go directly to a lower (or higher) echelon net. The interface between NTS and ARES lies in the liaison function between local nets and other NTS nets, particularly at the section level.  Responsibility for representation of the local network on the section net lies with the local net manager who may or may not be the ARRL Emergency Coordinator.   Although we usually think of ARES members being the representatives in section nets, it is equally valid to expect NTS personnel to act as liaison to local nets. At least one net session or substantial segment of a session should be conducted on emergency power. Plan a surprise session or two.  Advise the NCS just before net time.  If the NCS is unable to operate on emergency power, then someone else must be net control. Only stations operating on emergency power may report in during this time. Summary One of the first steps on the way to a successful SET is to try to get as many people involved as possible.  In a real emergency, we find amateurs with all sorts of varied interests coming out of the “woodwork.”  Let's get them involved and informed through the SET so they will know more about how emergency communications can be and should be handled. Promote the SET on nets and repeaters ahead of time to sign up prospective participants. Thanks to your efforts, the public service tradition in Amateur Radio continues!    ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) Report Forms For ARRL Simulated Emergency Test reporting forms, click below  ARRL SET Data Forms   The above link will take you to links for Form A:  Emergency Coordinator (EC) SET Report Form B:  Net Manager (NM) SET Report  and a link to upload supporting documentation for the 2026 ARRL SET.    _. ______________________________________________________ ___________________ Information __________________________ http://arrlok.blogspot.com/ is the Section Blog http://www.arrl.org/sections/view/oklahoma is the Section Page at ARRL _________________________________ This list is for the discussion of topics relating to amateur radio in the ARRL Oklahoma Section. Anyone is welcome to post to the list. It was set up in order to improve communication between the section leaders and members. ______________________________________________________________ ARRL-OK mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arrl-ok Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:ARRL-OK@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

SM057 – Route 66 On-The-Air — Get involved

Route 66 on the Air Special Event Station Starts — September 12, 2026

W6J, W6K, and W6L are special event call signs for use in the Great State of Oklahoma.  The calls are registered and administered for the western, central, and eastern parts of the state and are available to all Amateur Clubs and Hams in the area who wish to activate a Special Event Station for Route 66’s 100-year Celebration.

To get involved in being a transmitting station, contact:

• W6J – Western OK – Gary Woodrow aa5gw.gary@gmail.com
• W6K – Central OK – NE5SD.Steve@gmail.com 0r TMWebb@cox.net or sensei_Kyle@yahoo.com
• W6L – Eastern OK – Daryl Reimer N5NYT darylrreimer@gmail.com

Those who “join the team” will receive a commemorative pair of poker chips, as shown here. Sign up, make some contacts, and turn in your log! You’ll get a nifty token. For the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road, we’re looking for 100 operators on the W6J, W6K, and W6L teams. Send your email today!

Otherwise, get on the air – and contact the other stations…

Purpose of Route 66 On the Air 

The purpose of the event is to commemorate the history of the “Mother Road” connecting the east and west United States.  Through stories, songs, and TV shows, the highway came to symbolize the spirit of the freedom of the open road, inspiring many to see America.

Route 66, established on November 11th 1926, as part of the U.S. Highway System, stretched approximately 2,448 miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, passing through eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Known as the “Main Street of America” and later dubbed the “Mother Road” by John Steinbeck in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, it became an iconic symbol of American mobility and opportunity.

Although much of the original Highway 66 has been rerouted into a fast-moving interstate bypassing many of the small towns and interests of this nation, we take the week of September 12,  2026 through September 20, 2026 to remember and celebrate and share the enthusiasm and memories that Highway 66 represented in its time… and even still today.

25 Special Event Stations under the 1×1 call sign have been set up to commemorate this event. W6J is managed by the West Central Oklahoma ARC, W6K is managed by Steve Duskin NE5SD in OKC, and W6L is managed by TARC – W5IAS for all of Northeast Oklahoma.  Hams all over the world will be on the air that week, remembering, making contacts, and having conversations celebrating the freedom and opportunities that Route 66 represents.

Oklahoma Route 66 Stations On the Air

• W6J: ELK CITY, OK West Central OK Amateur Radio Club https://sites.google.com/view/wcoarc
• W6K: OKLAHOMA CITY,OK     W6K OKLAHOMA CITY – Steve Duskin NE5SD
• W6L: TULSA,OK      TULSA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB –  https://www.w5ias.com

SM052 - Oklahoma Upcoming Hamfests

Two Oklahoma Hamfests are still on the calendar for 2025. Amateur radio operators attend hamfests to buy things, sell things, learn things, take license tests, and meet old and new friends.

Enid Hamfest
The Enid Hamfest is on Saturday, September 20, 2025; tickets are available online at https://enidarc.org/store. Save $2 and order early, online!

Ardmore Hamfest Texoma Hamarama
The Ardmore Hamfest, Texoma Hamarama, is on October 11, 2025; tickets are available online at https://hamarama.org/tix. Save $2 and order early, online!

Ardmore Texoma Hamarama – Super Raffle

The Texoma Hamarama Hamfest has another super raffle for a Yaesu FT-DX101D HF-50 MHz 100-watt super radio. Get your tickets before we run out at  https://hamarama.org/super/. This 100-watt HF radio is an awesome flagship model. This radio is valued at well over $4,000. Raffle tickets are only $20, with only 300 tickets sold.

The winner of this prize does not have to be present to win, and the winner will be announced at the 2025 Texoma Hamarama Hamfest. So, even if you can’t come, you can participate in the action!

Hamfest Survey

To learn more about what you want at future hamfests, I have built a quick survey to let you help the Oklahoma hamfests build better events in 2026. Please take about 2 minutes to respond to this survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JP2C8VP. All results are anonymous, and I’ll share the results with all of the Oklahoma hamfests. Thanks in advance!!!!

Oklahoma Hamfest Schedule
Elk City – Early March
Altus – Late March
Green Country – Mid April
Oklahoma City – Late July
Enid – Mid September
Ardmore – Late October

All the details about OK hamfests are available online at: https://ok.arrl.org/hamfests/

Plan now, and see you there!!!

Clubs

Amateur radio clubs 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 https://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.

ARRL Oklahoma is On The Web

• OK.ARRL.ORG — https://ok.arrl.org/

• ARESOK —  https://aresok.org/
• ARRL.org —  http://www.arrl.org/sections/view/oklahoma
• Blogspot —  http://arrlok.blogspot.com/
• Facebook —  https://www.facebook.com/arrloklahoma
• Twitter —  https://twitter.com/arrl_OK/
• ARRL Member Emails —  https://www.arrl.org/myarrl-account-management#!/edit-info-email_subscriptions

JOIN/RENEW ARRL NOW —  http://arrl.org/join/

73, de N5HZR — Stand by, more follows…

SM051 - Ham Holiday 2025 and Super Raffle

 Ham Holiday 2025 OKC Hamfest July 25/26 – Super Raffle

Ham Holiday 2025 is Friday and Saturday, July 25 and 26, 2025. Tickets are available online at https://hamholiday.com/tix/. Bring your amateur radio friends or make new ones here. This year, we are having a super raffle for a Yaesu FT-DX101D HF-50 MHz 100 watt radio. Get your tickets before we run out at https://hamholiday.com/raffle/ .This 100-watt HF radio is an awesome flagship model. This radio is valued at well over $3,200. Raffle tickets are only $20, with only 300 tickets sold.

The winner of this prize does not have to be present to win, and the winner will be announced at the 2025 Ham Holiday Hamfest.

—————————————————————————————–

On Friday, July 25, the doors will be open from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm, with the Ham Holiday Friday Banquet starting at 6:30 pm. Banquet tickets are still available. This year our banquet speaker is Tim Duffy K3LR, CEO of DX Engineering. Tim was an Edmond club member before transplanting to Pennsylvania. Tim will talk about where he sees the amateur radio hobby. This year, through the generosity of ICOM and DX Engineering, the main raffle prize for the banquet is an ICOM 7300 radio. This fan-favorite transceiver covers the HF through 50MHz bands with 100 W of output power, has sold over 100,000 units worldwide. You must have a 2025 banquet ticket and must be present to win!!

Friday Banquet
Banquet ticketing information is available on the tickets page.
Saturday, July 26, the doors are open from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Location
All of this happens at Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S May, Oklahoma City, just south of I-240, on May Ave. There is some construction on 74th Ave, so take a look at the construction update on https://hamholiday.com.

Flea Market
Buy, sell, trade, and learn all about amateur radio at Ham Holiday 2025.

Ham Holiday 2025 is a two-day HamFest held continuously since 1974. Ham Holiday will again be at the Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) in Southwest Oklahoma City this year. We will be in the OCCC Student Union. Follow the arrows when you get to campus and head to Parking Lot D.
There will also be forums or classes to help you gain knowledge and learn something new about various topics.

The amateur radio license examination session will be at 12:30 pm on Saturday. You can get your amateur radio license, or upgrade your ticket right on-site, for no testing fee.

Super Raffle
In addition to the great door prizes, this year, we have a special limited raffle for a chance to win that Yeasu FT-DX101D radio worth over $3,200. Only 300 twenty-dollar tickets will be sold for this raffle and they are going fast. Please get your tickets today before they run out.

You can get your tickets online today or at the door, and we’ll see you there.

73

SM050 – Field Day 2025 and OK NTS Additional Contest

 

What is Field Day?

ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth full weekend of June each year, thousands of radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups, or friends to operate remotely.

Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest, and, most of all, FUN! For more information and to find the nearest field day site, visit ARRL’s Field Day site at https://www.arrl.org/field-day

We use these same skills when we help with events such as marathons and bike-a-thons, fund-raisers such as walk-a-thons, celebrations such as parades, and exhibits at fairs, malls, and museums, which are all large, preplanned, non-emergency activities.

OK NTS Contest for Field Day 2025

THIS YEAR, we have added an extension to let you send radiograms and transfer messages through Amateur Radio. The object is to exchange as many NTS messages as possible on the 40m, 80m, and 2m bands.

For more information…

All of the details and information are available at the OK NTS Contest 2025 flyer at https://ok.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/OKNTS-2025.pdf

Clubs

Amateur radio clubs are the backbone of the hobby. All of the tremendous local hams have good information, and as Elmers or mentors, they love to share it. Send me something that your club is doing well at n5hzr@arrl.org, and I’ll feature your club in this newsletter. Most clubs have seen an increase in new member activity during the pandemic. Our Oklahoma Affiliated Club Coordinator, Jim Shideler W5JCS, can help you find a club or help your club become affiliated. We currently have 38 clubs listed on the ARRL Find-a-club directory at http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club. 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.

SM049 – Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act Re-Introduced

Legislation Will Increase Communication Options During Natural Disasters

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., and Representatives August Pfluger, R-Tex., and Joe Courtney, D-Conn. announced their joint re-introduction of legislation in the Senate and House to restore the right to Amateur Radio operators to install the antennas necessary to serve their communities.

Here in Oklahoma, we ask all amateur radio clubs and individuals to visit https://ok.arrl.org/hoa/. This page has all of our contact information and template letters. Please note that all letters should be sent to the email and address listed. Letters emailed to legislators tend to get lost in the cleansing process. ARRL will aggregate these letters and deliver them directly to our senators and representatives. If you don’t live in an HOA, please complete a letter to make sure those in the HOAs will be there to contact you.

Please fill out the letters as soon as possible.

SM048 – Winter Field Days

Winter Field Day is among us. Field days are a great way to learn how to operate your radios or other peoples’ radios. Typically, a field day operation starts mid-day on Saturday and operates for 24 hours straight. I’ve listed all the Winter Field Day sites I’m familiar with, so you can join the fun no matter where you live. Also, you can operate from your house to contact as many folks as possible. More information (and the new rules for this year) are available at https://winterfieldday.com/. Visit one of these sites, or fire up your radio to make some noise on HF!

OKLAHOMA CITY

Oklahoma City Emergency Management will be standing up an Outdoor “2O” Winter Field Day operation on Saturday, January 25th, from 10 a.m. to Sunday, the 26th, at 3:30 p.m. You are invited to drop by and visit or sign up to operate.

Location: 4600 N M L King –  The OKC Regional Multi-Agency Coordination Center RMAC/EOC. The operation will be in a tent above the underground facility with a generator-providing 120 VAC source. ( …and some heat) Come to the second gate east of M L King on Meyers Place and press the intercom button. You can’t miss the huge, heavily loaded radio tower site.

Lt David Storer and Officer Kevin Long are providing this as an opportunity for those who volunteered and attended the AUXCOMM training course to begin completing activities required in their Position Task Books.  But you do not have to be one of their volunteers to come by and visit or operate. If you wish to sign up to operate one of the stations, you can do so. The link to sign up is

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A45AEAE2AA6FEC16-54149977-winter#/

Times are set up in 6-hour blocks to help them with scheduling operators.

No food will be provided.  Operators should bring sufficient food to be self-sustaining, as per the training for deployments.

 

MID-DEL

Event by Mid-Del Amateur Radio Club
Joe B. Barnes Regional Park
8700 E Reno Ave, Midwest City, OK 73130
Duration: 2 days
Public  · Anyone on or off Facebook

The Winter Field Day event runs on Saturday and Sunday. We are still making plans, so times are subject to change. We will finalize our schedule at our Monday, 1/13 club meeting.

The Mid-Del Amateur Radio Club will host a public Winter Field Day event on Saturday, 1/25, and Sunday, 1/26.

We will be open to the public on Saturday from Noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.

All are welcome to visit, chat, observe, or get on the air.

On Saturday, we will also hold a VE Test session from 3 to 5 p.m. for those wishing to obtain or upgrade their Amateur Radio license.

Where: Joe B Barnes Regional Park in Midwest City. South of the Fred Quinn Happy Trails Dog Park. 8517 E Reno Ave, Midwest City, OK 73110. Look for the Mid-Del Club banner.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/547QSNBZdrdMWpt9A

The day will help enhance the essential skills of those who generously volunteer their time and equipment to these organizations. Preparedness is the key to a professional and timely response during any event, and local and state authorities expect this when they reach out to emergency service groups that offer their services.

Members: Setup will be on Saturday at 10  a.m. All help will be appreciated. Tear down will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Please come by and help with the event if you are available. Also, please bring your own chair, as the club chairs will be dedicated to operator use, testing, and guests.

 

TULSA

The Tulsa Amateur Radio Club (TARC) will operate Winter Field Day at Haikey Creek Park,

11327 S Garnett Rd, Broken Arrow, OK 74011-9600, starting at noon on Saturday.

 

TECUMSEH

Name: Tecumseh Amateur Radio Club

Callsign: KD5WAV

Category: O

Visitors are welcome!

We will be operating on the oval of Oklahoma Baptist University and would love for people to come by and observe and ask questions.

 

LAKE EUFAULA STATE PARK

Crossroads Amateur Radio Club

Callsign: AD5MC

Category: O

Visitors are welcome! See info below for more details.

Winter Field Day January 25-26th

Lake Eufaula State Park at Yurt on Longhorn Loop

Talk in on 146.52 or KB5QAI repeater 443.9750 +5 PL 100.0

carcradio.org

facebook.com/ad5mc

 

BARTLESVILLE

Name: Bartlesville Amateur Radio Club

Callsign: W5NS

Category: I

Visitors are welcome!

https://bartlesvilleamateurradioclub.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/barcbartlesville

The public is welcome to visit on Saturday, although the best time to see the action is from Noon to about 5 pm.

We are planning on being at Cabin 3. Look for vehicles with antennas on them.

Hams: Talk-in frequency will be the 146.655 repeater (88.5hz PL).

Note: All vehicles are required to pay to park at the park. There are signs to pay for parking or visit the office as you enter. Seniors and Veterans, please let them know as there are discounts. For more information, call the park office at Osage Hills State Park | TravelOK.com – Oklahoma’s Official Travel & Tourism Site

 

ELK CITY

Name: West Central Ok Amateur Radio Club

Callsign: K5WCO

Category: I

Visitors are welcome!

sites.google.com/view/wcoarc

Visitors welcome!

105 Alee Dr, Elk City, OK

The building is open Friday afternoon/Saturday morning for setup.

VE Testing 1:00 PM Saturday, pre-register on the website.. no fee to test

SM045 - Field Day is Coming

Here comes the Amateur Radio Superbowl! This year, the weekend will be June 22-23, 2024. Field Day is where tens of thousands of amateur radio operators get on the air to test their emergency operation abilities. It’s also a great place to teach or learn about amateur radio modes that you may not have tried. “Bring someone to Field Day” this year and share your passion. More information about ARRL’s Field Day is available online at https://www.arrl.org/field_day. You can also find a local Field Day on the ARRL site by logging in and visiting https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator. Publicize your local Field Day site by adding a station at  https://www.arrl.org/field_days/add, and you’ll be on your way!

ARRL Digital Systems

In case you’re concerned about the digital outage at ARRL-land, there’s some background at

https://ok.arrl.org/sm044-arrl-digital-infrastructure-issues/. Systems are starting to come back online. The phone system was restored last week, W1AW started automated operations, ARRL store orders started shipping last week, ARRL FCC tests were uploaded last week, and the https://contests.arrl.org/ site came back online for the upcoming VHF contest and the ARRL International Digital Contest (others to be backfilled.) Logbook of The World (LoTW) and the learning site are still offline.

Ham Holiday – Oklahoma City – July 26-27

The 2024 Hamfest season is in full swing. The Oklahoma City Hamfest, Ham Holiday, will be July 26-27, 2024. Tickets are available online at https://hamholiday.com/tix/. Don’t forget this year’s special Yaesu FTDX10 Operating Package. Everything you need to operate on phone, CW, and digital (except a computer<G>.) Tickets are only $20, and only 300 will be sold. Buy yours today at https://hamholiday.com/raffle/.

ARES Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is rolling through another storm season. More information is available online at https://aresok.org/. Log in and verify your contact information and training profile by clicking on your name in the upper right. ECs, you now have a way to download your county data in a CSV file from the reports menu.

de N5HZR — 73, Mark

SM044 – ARRL Digital Infrastructure Issues

You may have heard of some issues the ARRL has with its digital network infrastructure. This message won’t contain any new information, however, based on the public reports provided on https://arrl.org/, I will try to summarize what’s out there. You may know my training and forty years of “day jobs” are in Computer Science and IT Management. I’ve seen many of these situations and found that these are typically temporary issues. Let’s call them digital speedbumps. Just like driving through a suburban street with physical speed bumps, going too fast can cause additional problems when encountering the next bump.

From the ARRL disruption page, I know this is a network-related computer system outage. While the IT Manager in me wants to see how this started and what devices are involved, none of that matters to those on the outside. I also read that the Logbook Of The World database is secure but offline. That’s good news for the “big picture” of us external users. The ARRL Learning Center is also offline. There isn’t any status update on that system. Finally, they have asserted that no personally identifiable information (PII) is stored on-site. Should any information have been shared with external sources, we would be comfortable knowing any PII would haunt this issue. Job 1 for this rebuild is to find, obtain, and verify the required user and system data. Fortunately, the website https://arrl.org is fully functional.

While there may be structured locations like file servers and databases where users should store their data, most users have bad habits of storing information on their local systems. Sorting through all of these storage locations can complicate any recovery. Then, the old infrastructure must be “burned down” and rebuilt. In today’s modern society, much information is required to run the world. Remember that this is a business, and things like payroll, banking, and accounts payable must start back up quickly so employees and vendors get paid.

These events highlight the need for a business continuity plan for your business and even your personal information. Should something like this happen at your house, would your information be retrievable? Are your QSO logs (and other vital data) stored safely and off-site?

The ARRL has a web page dedicated to this situation. As time passes, you should see additional updates here: https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-systems-service-disruption. Remember that discussions may be limited due to “bad-guy awareness,” future prosecution, or lack of new information.

Rest assured, your Oklahoma and Texas Section Managers and the West Gulf Division Directors are as engaged as we can be. If you are not in Oklahoma or Texas, please contact your Division Directors https://www.arrl.org/divisions to ensure they are working to mitigate this issue.

This is a reminder that “When all else fails, amateur radio is there.” We are 160,000 hams that are still connected by the ionosphere. Grab your microphone, CW key, or FT8 mouse, and get on the air. (Hang on to your QSO logs and update them when the dust settles.)

SM043 - Checotah Hamfest Saturday

Checotah Hamfest

Crossroads Amateur Radio Club (CARC) presents:

2024 CARC Ham Fest

The Checotah, OK hamfest is scheduled for Saturday, January 6, 2024. The doors will be open from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Start your year off right at the CARC Ham Fest

This year’s hamfest will be held at the Granite Station Covenant Church – 1128 White Stag Ave –  Checotah, OK 74426. Directions here

• $10 at the door includes one door prize entry.
• Extra door prize entries are available for $2 each or 6 for $10.
• $20 vendor tables also include one door entry.
• $15 individual tables.

Preorder your table/tickets at www.carcradio.org/hamfest

Forums

10:00 Oklahoma Link & Wires-X AE5ME

11:00 ARRL N5HZR ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager

See you there! 

SM042 – The Board is Back In Town

A message from our West Gulf Division Director, John Stratton N5AUS. Our Oklahoma/Texas leadership supports this Motion. However, they are currently in the minority. Feel free to contact the leaders that John lists below and contact your friends outside the region so they can review this information and take appropriate action:

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“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”
               
        A centuries old truism often attributed to Mark Twain — it is applicable to any elected organization with the power to alter the lives and rights of others — public, private, or governmental — including the ARRL Board of Directors.

        While the Agenda for the Board Meeting is always published before a Board meeting, the many motions to be considered by the Board have rarely ever been published before a Board Meeting. The most recent and notorious exception occurred before the January 2018 Board meeting when the Executive Committee and Lisenco motions intended to juice the 2017 “Code of Conduct” were leaked to the general Membership. The overwhelming Membership outrage resulting from the unintentional disclosure was instrumental in the punitive proposals being withdrawn. The 2017 Code of Conduct was itself overturned by a newly elected Board in January 2019.

     The Members’ voices were heard — and their wishes were honored.

     It is my belief, that of a small minority of Directors, and Vice Director Lee Cooper’s, that the Members should be permitted to have advance notice of the substantive matters to considered by the Board of Directors at its meetings.

     To that end, the West Gulf intends to publish to its website the substantive motions scheduled to be considered at the January Board meeting and subsequent meetings.

     It is our intent to discuss each known January 2024 motion in a separate email, although we will publish to the website each motion as it becomes available.

     At present, there are three known motions. The Agenda for the January Board meeting and each of these three motions are available for review and download at:

                 https://westgulfdivision.org/motion

The first motion we wish to discuss is the:

   Motion To Honor Membership Contracts

        In July 2023, the Board voted to raise the annual dues from $49 to $59 and to eliminate the delivery of a printed copy of QST or On The Air, effective January 2024, unless a Member paid an extra $25/year.

        The West Gulf Division, the Atlantic Division, the Southeastern Division, and the Southwestern Divisions voted against both proposals, but the two proposals passed by an 11-4 vote.

        While a dues increase was long overdue and actually needed, the West Gulf Division voted against it because it was tied to the termination of the delivery of a printed copy of QST/On The Air unless a Member paid an extra $25/year.

        The four divisions argued it was a breach of the ARRL’s legal contract with those Members — both annual memberships and 3-year memberships — to terminate their promised printed copy of QST/On The Air before their membership contracts expired. The membership applications in use at the time promised, in writing, the delivery of QST/On The Air magazines by “standard mail.”

        Besides the risks attendant upon a breach of contract, Article 11 of the ARRL Articles of Association prohibits the Board from terminating or reducing the rights of any Member. The stripping of the delivery of printed copies of QST/On The Air from unexpired Memberships constitutes a reduction in the rights of the affected Member.

        Both the Membership Application and Article 11 are promises — and the League should stand on its promises. That is the reason we have filed the Motion To Honor Membership Contracts.

        The ARRL is a membership organization, and the opinions of the Members are important.

        I have been asked by each of the West Gulf Division Section Managers — NTX SM Steve Smith (KG5VK), STX SM Stuart Wolfe (KF5NIX), WTX SM Dale Durham (W5WI), and OK SM Mark Kleine (N5HZR) — to share that they each support the Motion To Honor Membership Contracts.

     If you believe the Motion has merit and it should pass, it would be important for you to share your support for the Motion with the ARRL President, Rick Roderick, and the other Directors. All of their email addresses can be found on Page 15 of QST or at http://www.arrl.org/divisions . If you choose to share your views, please be respectful — we choose to disagree, but need not be disrespectful.

John Robert Stratton
N5AUS
West Gulf Division Director

Lee H. Cooper
W5LHC
West Gulf Division Vice Director

SM040 - Tulsa/Rogers SET 2023 Comm Plan

 By Paul Teel WB9ANX Tulsa Emergency Coordinator and Jeff Scoville AE5ME

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Tulsa and Rogers County volunteers.  We are less than one week away from the annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on October 7th.  Operations will begin at 0900L time.

The two documents that you will need, the ICS-205 communications plan (pages 1 and 2), are available at https://aresok.org/ics205. The planned participation is growing in Oklahoma, and we encourage you to join in. We also have stations from international locations, including Germany and the Philippines.

In Tulsa or Rogers County

• If you are in the local Tulsa market, please check in to the staging net on 145.110 at 0900.
• Advise Net Control if you are.
  • Operating on emergency power,
  • Have Winlink or NTS message traffic,
  • Are available for additional assignments (meaning you are not a check-in only).  You will be given instructions on what to do next.

Outside of Tulsa or Rogers County

• You may not be able to reach the 145.110 staging net.
• If so, you can still participate in the exercise in the following ways;
  • Check-in with the Net Control Operator (NCO) on DMR talk group 3140 (statewide)
  • Check-in with the NCO on Oklahoma Link talk group 314022
  • Send a Winlink message to Jeff Scoville.  Address it to AE5ME in Winlink.  You can send that message via FM on any Winlink gateway near you (145.03 statewide or 145.04 in OKC).
  • Send a Winlink message to Jeff AE5ME via HF.  Frequencies are in the ICS-205.

This is a very ambitious project and would not be possible without the ARES Tulsa Team—many thanks to them.

• Jeff, AE5ME (Winlink NCO)
• John, N9JYJ  (Winlink NCO)
• Ray, K5CFY (Rogers County Operations NCO)
• Ian, KC9THI (Tulsa County Operations NCO)
• Russ, KF5UZG (Staging NCO)
• James, KI5DAZ (Tulsa Emergency Management Agency NCO)
• Greg, AI5HV (DMR 3140, Okla Link 314022 NCO)