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07/08/2024 UPDATE
I hope everyone enjoyed Independence Day this last week. It looks like we are going to have a small break in the weather. A few showers today and tomorrow, and then low 90s the rest of the week. It’s still going to be hot, so continue being safe, but I have been enjoying the evenings. Those have been nice.
We have one spot left on the 5G hotspots from TechSoup. If you want it, let us know at officers@wb5rdd.org. It will be the first person we hear from will get it, and then we’ll get the order placed and get them distributed when they come in.
There is still time to volunteer for the Tour de Paris on July 20th. Please let me know if you are interested. You can call, text, or email.
Please join us tonight for the RRVARC Information Net @ 7pm. I’m sure we’ll talk about TdP, weather, and ham radio. It’s always good to hear everybody check in and let us know what is going on in their world. Our next meeting will be on July 27th @ 10am @ High Cotton Kitchen.
I hope everyone has a great week, and if you need anything, please let us know.
Hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
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Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
07/05/2024 UPDATE
Each year the Club gets an allotment of eleven cellular WiFi hotspots through TechSoup. We get them as one benefit of our IRS 501(c)3 status and they become available on July 1st. This is the first year where the allotment is for a 5G hot spot. We currently have eight Club members on the list to get one and we plan to place the order a week from today, on Friday, July 12.
If you want one please email hotspots@wb5rdd.org and let us know. Next Friday we will place the order for however many are requested up to the full eleven. If between now and next Friday we get more than eleven people express a desire for one, Club leadership will come up with a fair way of figuring out who gets one. We will cross that bridge if we get to it. In any case, the order will go in next Friday, so if you wish one please email and let us know.
73
RRVARC Officers
07/01/2024 UPDATE
Welcome to July. The forecast for the week is hot, hot, hot. Everyone try to stay cool and stay safe if you are outside doing things. If the bands cooperate it will be a good time to stay in and play some radio. Here is a link to field day pictures taken by Lance N5GHO. Thank you again to everyone that participated in field day.
Looking forward, we have the Tour de Paris coming up on July 20th. (click here for details) I will be driving the route sometime this week and checking on repeater access from each rest stop. I will be contacting everyone to finalize plans and directions to the rest stops. Thank you to all that have volunteered so far.
The special event 13 colonies (click here for details) has started today and will run through July 7th. I’ve only worked a few of them in the past, but I may try and see if I can get them all this year. Good luck, if you are trying also.
Please join us tonight 7/1/24 @ 7pm is the RRVARC Information Net. We’ll talk about whatever is on your mind and give updates on upcoming events. I always enjoy hearing everyone check in.
Our next meeting is July 27th @ 10am @ High Cotton Kitchen.
Hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
Ps It’s just a short update this week. Other than the tour and meeting, there isn’t much planned over the summer. If you have any ideas, let me know, or mention them on the net. We will try to get some things going for the fall.
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Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
06/24/2024 UPDATE
What a great weekend! Thank you to all that came out to the Field Day 2024 event. I think I’m supposed to be doing a recap, but I do not have final numbers at the moment. I came home and chilled out in the a/c. We’ll get those and get them posted on the forums in the near future. There are a few pictures at the end of this email and we will get more up on the forums very soon.
Thank you to Lamar County Tax Assessor-Collector Brooke Hill, Paris PD Assistant Chief Randy Tuttle, and Lamar County Sheriff Scott Cass for visiting with us. I look forward to working with them any time they need us to be of service.
Thank you to all members, visitors, and new club applicants that attended. It was great seeing everyone that came out. I enjoyed operating, visiting, and eating with everyone, and I hope you had a great time too.
We ran a special event call sign W5W and had 5 stations on the air. The bands were pretty rough going on Saturday but came around a little on Sunday for the final push for contacts. Overall, we still made a lot of contacts, and had some fun. Rock stars Ronnie KA5LEK, Charles WA5VHU, and Cindy KD5CCB pulled an all-nighter. I couldn’t hang, I had to get some sleep.
Also, I want to give a shoutout to Charles WA5VHU for taking care of the logs and the submission process for us. I’m sure he will get the final contact info posted to the forums as soon as he gets it all finalized. And, thank you again Cindy for being our safety officer. Thanks to everyone that helped put this event on (helping with setup, helping with teardown, helping with clean up, taking pictures). A special shoutout to members that came back out yesterday to help us break the event down. Dan Beard KB7JZI, Randy Holland N5DDS, Charles “Cookie” Ferguson KJ5BLH, Johnny Thomas WB5JT and Don Heetderks KJ5EQS. It was hot and their help was just terrific.
It would not have been a success without all of you. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Our next big event is the Tour de Paris and it is on July 20th. I have sent out preliminary assignments to all that have signed up so far. You will now start hearing more from me about it. I’ll have final instructions and should be able to answer any questions within the next week to week and half. As always, you can contact me anytime. My info is below, and you can call, text, or email. This is a great way for us to support our community, and show off ham radio, Paris, TX, and Lamar county.
Join us for the RRVARC Information Net tonight @ 7pm. I don’t know if there will be a “net topic”, but I bet we will talk a little about field day. It looks like summer is here in full force, so everyone stay cool, and stay safe. If you need something (i.e. a fan or drinking water) let us know at officers@wb5rdd.org and we will try and help out.
Thank you everyone. I had a great time. And, I hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
Ps Thank you ARRL NTX section manager Steve KG5VK for coming out and operating with us. It is so cool that we get that honor.
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
06/17/2024 UPDATE
One day until Field Day! We are looking forward to seeing you this weekend at the Love Civic Center Pavilion. Setup starts @ 8am, then meeting @ 10, lunch around 11-11:30, and on air at 1pm. You can bring your station and set up, operate with someone else, or just come to fellowship. If you have ever been interested in ham radio, and are wondering what it’s all about, please come out and see it in action.
The forecast is calling for it to be hot. It’s going to be mid to high 90s both afternoons. We have water and Gatorade on hand. You will want to bring a chair and maybe a fan also. I will have one at my station and I do have an extra fan, but space around it will probably go quick. We will also have 2 RVs there with air conditioning, so there will be a place to get in out of the heat and cool off. We don’t want anyone getting overheated. Despite the heat, we still should have a good time.
Here’s a little preview for Saturday Night @ 7.
We will be cooking up some fajitas. We are asking for donations for the club, but if you can’t or don’t want to, don’t worry about it. Come out and join us anyway, a donation is not required.
Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend.
73
Mark W5PTX
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
06/17/2024 UPDATE
Alright, for all you WWE fans out there, tonight @ 7pm will be the “go home” edition of the RRVARC Information Net (nothing much happens, but you do finalize the needed gaps in info). Join us, and let us know your plans: are you bringing a station, are you hanging out with us, are you looking forward to fajitas, etc.? I do hope everyone can join us, as I believe it is one of the best weekends for radio of the year.
A few of us met up at the DFW Ham Expo in Lewisville. We met Sam Lovett KI5RSV who is the 2023 Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award recipient. Sam recently upgraded to extra class at just 16 years old. Well done, Sam, keep it up! I think he also does cw, so he is well ahead of the curve. I did manage to find a few goodies and look forward to putting my new antenna into action. Let me know if you know of an upcoming event that would make a good field trip.
Top: Phillip W5EBC, Mark W5PTX, Steve KG5VK, Sam KI5RSV, Cindy KD5CCB, Charles WA5VHU Bottom: Cliff KI5OPP, Mike WB5KWK
I’ll keep it short this week, as we are all getting our gear ready. I’ll leave us with a few Field Day links that you can check out.
Club Forums: www.wb5rdd.org/forums/topic/summer-field-day-2024/
www.arrl.org/field-day
RRVARC Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094038844036
ARRL: https://www.arrl.org/field-day
N3FJP logging software: http://n3fjp.com/
ARRL Field Day Contest Log 6.6.8: https://www.n3fjp.com/fieldday.html
I hope everybody makes the net tonight and I look forward to seeing all of you at Field Day!
73
W5PTX
PS We will keep the meeting as short as possible. The meeting minutes are on the website, and we’ll approve them and the treasurer report. Then move onto new business. We have one member application to vote on. And we’ll wrap up with the safety officer. If you have anything that needs to be added please let me know.
06/13/2024 UPDATE
We have a number of items to report out right quick. The first is that a number of Club members have decided to go to the 2024 DFW HAM EXPO on Saturday morning. It will be at the Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville. There will be a group from northeast Texas – some Club members and some not Club members – caravanning and ride-sharing to the EXPO. Tailgating starts at 0700 and the EXPO opens at 0900. Our group is shooting for an 0800 show. Anyone that wants a ride or to caravan needs to be at Thompson’s in Honey Grove (intersection of 34/100 and 82) in time for an 0630 departure. If you want a ride please RSVP with an email to Phillip Beall (W5EBC).
We also had some administrative stuff to report out. With only a little over eight days until 2024 Field Day we got media notices out to North Texas eNews, eExtra Paris News, The Paris News, North Texas eNews, the ARRL news release reflector and others. We also made contact with local elected and other officials to coordinate their attendance.
We got an updated Call Sign List (link here) out for the last Club meeting and wanted to provide a download link to the website for those of you that might wish one. Speaking of the website, in the last week we hit a new all-time high for website traffic – 1,021 visitors in the last week! The April and May meeting minutes are now available (link here). And starting July 1st the Club will have another allotment of cellular hot spots – 5G no less! The hot spots will run about $30 and activation for a year is another $130, so $160 total. If you want to go onto the waiting list please email hotspots@wb5rdd.org.
We look forward to seeing you at the DFW HAM EXPO and Field Day!
73,
RRVARC Officers
06/10/2024 UPDATE
Cindy KD5CCB, our safety officer for field day, has secured donations (drinks/safety gear) from Home Depot. Thank you so much for doing that for us. I’m getting into my field day preps. I’m looking forward to the event. If you are available, please come and join us June 22-23. You can bring a station and setup, work with one of the other operators, or just hang out and fellowship. I understand if you want to go home and cool off during the afternoon but would love for you to come back and join us for fajitas. We will have 2 RVs there that you can go to if you get too hot and need to cool off. I’m sure going to take advantage of them. I am also, hoping that the bands are good. A little sun cooperation would be fantastic.
The Tour de Paris is July 20th. Thank you to all that have volunteered. I now have the rest stop information, so be looking for assignments in your inbox. I still have a few rest stops that need manned, and SAG (support and gear) drivers slots open. Please let me know if you would like to sign up.
Our well wishes go out to Jim Clark WA5QEC. He fell a couple of weeks ago and broke a hip. Phillip W5EBC has spoken with him and reports that Jim is in good spirits, given his situation. I hope he has a speedy recovery and gets better soon. He enjoys visitors and is at Paris Regional Medical Center until his planned discharge on June 19.
It looks like summer is about to show up in full force. Let me know if there are any events you would like to add to the calendar.
Father’s Day is this weekend, June 16th. Hopefully you can celebrate your father, or your kids get you something nice.
Hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
PS Let’s go Mavs!
06/13/2024 UPDATE
All,
We have a number of items to report out right quick. The first is that a number of Club members have decided to go to the 2024 DFW HAM EXPO on Saturday morning. It will be at the Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville. There will be a group from northeast Texas – some Club members and some not Club members – caravanning and ride-sharing to the EXPO. Tailgating starts at 0700 and the EXPO opens at 0900. Our group is shooting for an 0800 show. Anyone that wants a ride or to caravan needs to be at Thompson’s in Honey Grove (intersection of 34/100 and 82) in time for an 0630 departure. If you want a ride please RSVP with an email to Phillip Beall (W5EBC).
We also had some administrative stuff to report out. With only a little over eight days until 2024 Field Day we got media notices out to North Texas eNews, eExtra Paris News, The Paris News, North Texas eNews, the ARRL news release reflector and others. We also made contact with local elected and other officials to coordinate their attendance.
We got an updated Call Sign List (link here) out for the last Club meeting and wanted to provide a download link to the website for those of you that might wish one. Speaking of the website, in the last week we hit a new all-time high for website traffic – 1,021 visitors in the last week! The April and May meeting minutes are now available (link here). And starting July 1st the Club will have another allotment of cellular hot spots – 5G no less! The hot spots will run about $30 and activation for a year is another $130, so $160 total. If you want to go onto the waiting list please email hotspots@wb5rdd.org.
We look forward to seeing you at the DFW HAM EXPO and Field Day!
73,
RRVARC Officers
06/10/2023 UPDATE
Join us tonight for the RRVARC Information Net @ 7pm. I don’t have much to go over this week, except for the upcoming events.
Cindy KD5CCB, our safety officer for field day, has secured donations (drinks/safety gear) from Home Depot. Thank you so much for doing that for us. I’m getting into my field day preps. I’m looking forward to the event. If you are available, please come and join us June 22-23. You can bring a station and setup, work with one of the other operators, or just hang out and fellowship. I understand if you want to go home and cool off during the afternoon but would love for you to come back and join us for fajitas. We will have 2 RVs there that you can go to if you get too hot and need to cool off. I’m sure going to take advantage of them. I am also, hoping that the bands are good. A little sun cooperation would be fantastic.
The Tour de Paris is July 20th. Thank you to all that have volunteered. I now have the rest stop information, so be looking for assignments in your inbox. I still have a few rest stops that need manned, and SAG (support and gear) drivers slots open. Please let me know if you would like to sign up.
Our well wishes go out to Jim Clark WA5QEC. He fell a couple of weeks ago and broke a hip. Phillip W5EBC has spoken with him and reports that Jim is in good spirits, given his situation. I hope he has a speedy recovery and gets better soon. He enjoys visitors and is at Paris Regional Medical Center (Update: Room #346) until his planned discharge on June 19.
It looks like summer is about to show up in full force. Let me know if there are any events you would like to add to the calendar.
Father’s Day is this weekend, June 16th. Hopefully you can celebrate your father, or your kids get you something nice.
Hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
PS Let’s go Mavs!
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
06/03/2024 UPDATE
June has arrived. It’s wet again, but that’s alright. We will be looking for some of this rain in another month or so. This week’s forecast has a mix of chances for T-storms, clouds, and sun. We’ll see what happens. If there is anything severe, we will call a weather net on the 146.76 repeater. A great way to make sure you are prepared for a weather net is to join us on the Monday night RRVARC Information Net. It happens every Monday @ 7pm. Please stop by and say hi, let us know what you’ve been up to, and hear about upcoming events.
There are two big events upcoming, and I’m looking forward to both. The first is Field Day. It is happening on June 22 & 23. The countdown clock is on the front page of www.wb5rdd.org and you can read about the plans, and make you plans here https://www.wb5rdd.org/forums/topic/summer-field-day-2024/. I hope everyone can come out and enjoy operating and fellowshipping with us. The second event is Tour de Paris on July 20th. Thank you to all of those that have signed up to volunteer. I am waiting for this year’s rest stop information, and then I will be sending the packets out to everyone. This is a big event for our community, and a great way for us to give back.
District Emergency Coordinator Dan KB7JZI and Lamar County Emergency Coordinator Haskell KI5VGQ held a training session at the EOC for the people that will be manning that station during events. Thank you to all that have volunteered to operate there, and for continuing to ensure that operations run smoothly.
We had 8 VEs and 1 candidate at the last testing session. Congratulations to the 14-year-old candidate that passed his Technician exam. Well done, and we look forward to hearing you on the air. It’s always great to see the youth getting involved. The Extra class question pool changes on July 1st. If you’ve been studying for this exam, now is the time. If you are prepared between now and the 1st, please let us know and we’ll see about getting you tested before the changeover.
A thank you to the guys that went out and raised the lanyards at the civic center. They are now raised to an optimum height, and that should help us reach our goal on field day. We are going to attempt to work all ARRL/RAC sections, which would be hard to do without good antennas. Thanks again for getting that done.
A big group of folks met for breakfast. This is a good time for fellowship with fellow hams. You never know what topic may come up. It might be radio, it could be airplanes, or motorcycles, you never know where the conversation will go. I hate that I missed this one but look forward to the next time. These meetups are impromptu, and we don’t do any official club business. If you would like to get these notifications by text, please let Phillip or I know if you are not receiving them.
As I look around my office, I realize, it’s time to start gathering this gear into one spot to get it ready for field day. The countdown is on. Here is a website that Jerry WA5KZA told us about if you are looking for batteries. https://batteryhookup.com/
I hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
PS Is anyone interested in being the club photographer? Let me know if you are.
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
05/27/2024 UPDATE
I hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day. It was great seeing everyone at the meeting this past Saturday. We had twenty-two members and one visitor. Thank you to all that came out. If you were unable to make it, that’s okay, we will be getting the presentation material posted soon. As always, if you have any questions about Field Day or Tour de Paris, reach out to me and I will get you the info. Another avenue to pursue is the forums. https://www.wb5rdd.org/forums/topic/summer-field-day-2024/ You can add to the conversation and planning there. It’ll probably be tomorrow before I get the schedule posted there. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there. It looks like we will have a lot of operators, covering different modes this year. We should have a blast, playing radio, eating, and fellowshipping. If you are not familiar with the N3FJP logging software, here is the link to download it. https://www.n3fjp.com/ It has a free trial, so you don’t have to buy it, if you don’t want to. We will have it fully operational for Field Day. Also tomorrow, I will start the Tour de Paris 2024 forum, that way we can get the info posted there too. So, be looking for that.
Congratulations Bill KJ5ABG. He was elected to the empty Board of Directors spot. Thank you for taking that role and we look forward to working with you on Club business.
Look for Bill KJ5ABG, Randy N5DDS, and Jeff KJ5DNA in this month’s QST magazine. They have their picture and a write up about them covering the EOC during the eclipse in there. Great job guys. Steve KG5VK, Club member and ARRL North Texas Section Manager, took the picture. Steve can also be seen on the front page of www.qrz.com, presenting the 2023 NTX Ham of the Year award to Gerald Marchant WB5NZV of the Denton County ARC. I bet we can get somebody nominated, and give these other clubs a run for their money. Ha.
We had a weather net this past week and the EOC was opened. Thank you to everyone that manned the EOC, ran net control, and observed the weather conditions. It is an important role that we have in the community.
The connection to NCTC has been reestablished on the 444.500 repeater. Both repeaters are now fully operational. If you experience any problems, please let us know, so that we can investigate them.
Technician, General, and Extra class exams are this coming Saturday, June 1st 10am @ Paris PD courtroom. If you, or someone you know, needs testing, please come out and test for a new license or an upgrade. This is the last scheduled test before the Extra class question pool changes. Now is the perfect time to do it. Then you’ll be able to use your new privileges to kick off summer.
Join us tonight @ 7pm for the RRVARC Information Net on the 146.76 repeater. Let us know what is going on in your radio world. If you ever want to have something mentioned in one of these recaps, send me an email and I’ll try to get it included.
73
Mark W5PTX
PS Field Day theme song — Radar Love by Golden Earring
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Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
05/13/2024 UPDATE
We had a busy week this last week. We had two weather nets, one on Wednesday evening and one on Thursday evening. Thank you to Jerry WA5KZA for running the nets and Thank You to all those that went out to track the storms and/or report damage, or if you supported the net in any way. If you sustained any damage and need help, please let us know at officers@wb5rdd.org. We will do what we can to help you out.
The last scheduled transmitter hunt was this past Saturday. There were four hunters looking for two transmitters. My understanding is that one was put in a more difficult to find location, but was indeed found. The hunts are getting tougher as time goes on. A few hunts could pop up over the summer. I’m looking forward to hearing about those, and for picking them back up in the fall. Maybe I’ll get some practice over the summer, I need it.
Our next meeting is May 25th @ 10am at High Cotton Kitchen. We will have two topics, Field Day and Tour de Paris. If you are planning to attend either event, or just want to learn more about them, please join us. You can also come early and have breakfast. For Field Day, we will discuss operating plans, points plans, rules, and most importantly food details. For Tour de Paris, we will touch on operating procedures, and go over what information needs to be relayed, etc.
JUNE 1st is the next testing session 10am @ Paris PD Courtroom. This testing session will be for Technician, General, and Extra class exams. Reminder, this is the last scheduled session before the extra exam changes the question pool. This is the perfect time to upgrade or get your new Tech license and join the ham community. Good luck and good studies to all those planning on testing.
Join us tonight @ 7pm for the RRVARC Information Net on frequency 146.76 tone 203.5. Let us know if you have any announcements, what you’ve been doing, or if you saw the aurora borealis.
Let me know what you think about getting together on Tuesdays (weekly or biweekly) for doing radio things. Examples are POTA, antenna building, etc. This idea is still a work in progress.
Looking forward to hearing you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
…..
05/06/2024 UPDATE
I hope everyone has had a great week. Band conditions have been a bit rough around my place. Maybe this week will be better. Please join us tonight for the RRVARC Information Net starting @ 7pm. It’s on 146.76 tone 203.5. Looking forward to hearing what everyone has been doing or has plans to do.
Haskell KI5VGQ, Bill KJ5ABG, Randy N5DDS, and I (Mark W5PTX) went to the Sam Bell Maxey House on May 1st for their Home School Day. We had a great time there. The age group was a little younger than those that would’ve been interested in ham radio, but we did talk to a few people. I’m already looking forward to next year, and we will get on the schedule for a presentation. We had to work for it, but we did get a POTA activation while we were there.
We have two transmitter hunts coming up. It will be the last two before we take a summer break. They are on Saturday May 11th and Tuesday May 21st at 10am. Be listening to the net and checking emails for more information on these.
Our next meeting is May 25th at High Cotton Kitchen. We will be covering Field Day and Tour de Paris. Phone calls for volunteers have started as of today. If I haven’t contacted you yet and you would like to volunteer for a rest stop or SAG, please let me know. You can call, email, or text me at 903-495-2445 or Markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com.
Extra, Extra, Extra. The next testing session is June 1st. This is the last scheduled testing session before the new Extra class question pool takes effect on July 1st. If you’ve been studying for extra, now is the time to upgrade. We will also be giving Technician and General exams. If you know anyone that wants to get licensed, let them know when and where. July 1st – 10am – Paris PD Courtroom.
Charles WA5VHU and Cliff KI5OPP went to the repeater site, and they installed the new VHF (146.76) repeater and controller. A big thank you to those guys for getting that project completed. The 444.500 repeater is also being updated with the new controller, and is not connected to NCTC currently. Charles is working on getting it all updated and will have it installed and back on the air soon. It is still available for local use.
The weatherman is back at it again this week. They are predicting rain/thunderstorms every day until Friday. We’ll wait and see what happens. As always, if needed a weather net will be called.
Hope to hear you on the air!
73
Mark W5PTX
—
Mark W5PTX
903-495-2445
markjohnsonjr66@gmail.com
…..
04/29/2024 UPDATE
I am going to start out with a little goof up of mine this week. We had some fun events happen this past week and I have zero pictures to show for it. If there is anyone that would like to volunteer to be club photographer, or just send me a reminder text and say “Hey! Take pictures!”, please let me know. On that note, if anyone is doing something during the week and wants to be included in the recap, let me know that too. Just send the info and a pic, if you have one. Now, we’ll get on to the things that did happen.
Jerry WA5KZA, held a transmitter hunt. We had seven hunters looking for two different “foxes.” A couple of hunters found it really quick, and a couple of us took a little more time. Finding both transmitters is a little tricky for me for sure. I heard through the grapevine (the Purely repeater net) that the next hunt should be harder. These are a great way to hone in your equipment, and there is always someone there to learn from.
After the transmitter hunt and lunch, we went to the Sam Bell Maxey House to do a POTA activation. The bands were a bit tough last week, but we did get it activated. This is where I realized I neglected to take pictures. We’ll get some pics next time we’re out. Take a look at our POTA profile here https://pota.app/#/profile/WB5RDD. It is going to be hard to schedule a POTA at this time with the weather outlook, but we’ll get one in the near future.
This Wednesday 5/1/24 the Sam Bell Maxey house is having Home School Day and we have been invited to come and share ham radio with the group. I would love for anyone that is available to join me.
We had a great meeting at High Cotton Kitchen. It was good to see everyone there. I would like to say hello and welcome to our 3 new members:
Lance Brooks – N5GHO
Charles Naslund – ZL3CWN
Shannon Naslund – ZL3SFN
We received the updates on the Master Channel Plan and discussed upcoming events, more on that later. Cindy KD5CCB gave us an update on MFJ shutting down their on-site production. Say what you want about their products, but they will be missed. They definitely fill in some niche areas of the hobby.
ARRL Field Day is June 22-23 www.arrl.org/field-day. I am looking forward to this event. It will be 24+ hours of operating, food, and fellowship. We will have lunch and supper on the 22nd, and breakfast on the 23rd. I will also bring my snacky snacks. However, if you out snack me, I am not afraid to sneak over and swipe some. Charles WA5VHU is going to set up a digital station for us to use and get us some points. I would like for us to set a goal of working all the ARRL sections this year. The May 25th meeting will also include preps for Field Day.
It looks like we should have a break in the rain on Monday and Tuesday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms returning Wednesday afternoon and continuing through the weekend. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=33.6633106&lon=-95.5597429. My yard remains soggy.
Tour de Paris is July 20th. I will be looking for 25-30 volunteers. If you gave me your shirt size at the meeting, then you are good. If you plan on working the Tour de Paris, please send me your shirt size ASAP. Later this week I will start verifying assignments from last year and assigning new locations to new volunteers. The May 25th meeting will have a training session for us. Here is an April 28 article in The Paris News – Valley Visions: Tour de Paris set to celebrate 40th year of annual event – that you might find interesting. The Club is mentioned. When we sent this email the article was not behind a paywall.
Please join us on the weekly net tonight at 7pm. It is a great way to make sure you can get into the repeater in the event of a weather net. It is conducted on the “76 repeater” (146.76- PL 203.5). We look forward to chatting with you then.
73
Mark Johnson – W5PTX
President
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01/23/2024 UPDATE
All,
Happy New Year! On Friday, December 8th, we had a Christmas party at Magel’s and A LOT OF FUN BROKE OUT! We had thirty-two people present.
Big thanks to Ben York (K5BLY) for running over to his church to get a speaker system and microphone. The Club owns one, but it was not brought and the group realized too late that one would be needed. Thank you Ben!
Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) rolled about a 15 minute compilation of Super 8 video with audio dubbed in. It was projected up onto a screen for viewing and then he briefed the group on what all the material covered. There was video of a B17 and a P51 at Cox Field and lots of Field Day stuff. Here is a link to the video and we had him to write up a narrative to cover his remarks at the party.
From Jerry: The video contains footage from four field days, three at Pat Mays Lake Dam on the west side of the dam and one on Rich mountain at a fire lookout tower. It also includes the Ham fly-in at Tigers Field airport west of town. He liked restoring old military aircraft. And the first RRVARC repeater build [was] with donated items from club members. The strip is about 14 minutes long. The picture was originally made using super 8 movie film. Then converted to VHS tape using a camera shooting a screen that the super 8 projector was shooting. The VHS was converted to DVD. Which was converted to MP4. – Jerry
Kim Ledbetter (KI5VLH) broke out on the keyboard with Christmas carols (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas) with the group singing along. Using a projector Phillip Beall (W5EBC) scrolled the lyrics on-screen so that everyone knew the 
words.
Several awards were given out. We had hinted at it strongly hoping that addition to the party would get people off the couch and headed there for a great meal and to hang with our friends in the Club. We were not disappointed. The Club officers have decided that going forward there may be the occasional award during the year given out at a Club meeting, but the bulk of them will be awarded at the Christmas party. The award categories and details are available at this link and those that have been honored are listed on the Honor Roll page at this link.
To recap the awards that were given at the Christmas party:
Lifetime Achievement Award – This award had previously been awarded only to Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) and Bertie Todd (WB5JFL). The board awarded the new Lifetime Achievement award to Jerry (WA5KZA) and Patricia “Pat” (WD5FGW) Keisler, Bertie (WB5JFL) and Alvin (WB5EJV) Todd (posthumously) and Mike Rice (WB5KWK).
Distinguished Service – Kelly Collins (W5KJC) – Kelly was given this award in recognition of his twenty years of dedicated service to the Club. From organizing fundraisers to coordinating all of our repeater gains of the last several years to securing access to the Atlas site for our repeater gear; the things he has done for the Club are too many to list.
Meritorious Service – Phillip Beall (W5EBC) was presented this award for his ongoing efforts for the Club. Organizational efforts, structural efforts, website development and content, support for other officers; the officers wished to thank Phillip for his efforts.
Annual Special Recognition – Club Member of the Year 2023 – Charles Penry (WA5VHU). Charles has tirelessly worked to upgrade and enhance the Club repeaters and other repeater support tools such as APRS, supported station Trustee Kelly Collins as the primary alternate Control Operator and simultaneously serving as the Club Field Day Coordinator. In the latter capacity he reintroduced the Club to Winter Field Day and successfully coordinated both events in 2023.
Each of these awards came from the Club via nomination of the leadership. Going forward a member at large may nominate someone to the leadership formally or informally or the officers themselves may initiate the discussion. The awards can be presented throughout the year or during the annual Christmas Party.
After the awards were given out and while visiting with each other, the crowd dove into the meal while listening to Christmas music.
We are building a “light box” to take pictures of the glass and acrylic awards. They have proved to be quite challenging to photograph and have the pictures show just how pretty they are. We will eventually add a picture of each to our Honor Roll page.
Dues – Everyone’s dues comes due on January 1 each year. If you have not yet renewed please click this link to do it via PayPal or you can bring a check on Saturday. The Club runs on a tight budget and for now dues money is what supports most of our activities. Thank you for follow up on this.
January 27 Club Meeting – This coming Saturday is our next Club meeting. Many show up 0800-0830 for breakfast before the meeting. We ask that you be early enough so that we can clear the waitstaff when the meeting begins at 1000. The presentation this month will be our own Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) who is also our ARRL North Texas Section Manager. He will be doing a presentation on the FEMA RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) and the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) programs.
Winter Field Day – A handful of our members will be at Winter Field Day and will not make the meeting. Others are going to the Club meeting and then will carpool or caravan from High Cotton Kitchen to the Winter Field Day location at Cooper Lake State Park. Here is a link to details on our Club Winter Field Day activity.
SKYWARN Spotter Training Schedule 2024 – Do you know the difference between a cirrus cloud and a cumulus cloud? What about advection and radiation fog? A wall cloud and a shelf cloud? Do you know how to accurately describe the size of hail or the amount of rain that is falling using approved National Weather Service descriptions? If not and if you want to make weather observations and sound like you have a clue, this course is for you. There will not be one in Lamar County in 2024, but courses are available in nearby counties and online. Please click here and read up on it.
Fox Hunts – Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) has now started scheduling regular Fox Hunts, twice a month. For details please click here.
Board of Directors meeting – We have set Tuesday, February 27, as the date for the next board of directors meeting. All members in good standing are invited to attend if they wish. Details to be announced.
The feedback that we received following the Christmas party was that everyone had a really good time. 2024 will be a big year for amateur radio in general and the RRVARC in particular. From the January Club meeting RACES/ARES presentation, to the “Go Box” presentations at upcoming meetings, a board of directors meeting in February and there will be elections for new officers in March and the April 8 solar eclipse; just the first quarter promises a lot of “live action”. We look forward to seeing all of you soon.
73
RRVARC Officers