Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club

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Phillip Beall

04/10/2023 Update

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All,

This update covers a host of material that we hope you will find informative.

New Officers – At the last Club meeting (Saturday, March 25), three new officers were elected. With the adoption of the Club constitution in 2022, and with the clear membership direction to get as much administrative business accomplished away from Club meetings as can be done, a board of directors system was put into place. To promote continuity there will be an election at each March Club meeting, but in alternating years executive (president, vice president, secretary and treasurer) and non-executive/general officers will be elected. The body as a whole serves as a board of directors. This year the election was to fill the three non-executive/general officer positions. The term of office began on April 1 and the term of office is two years. All three members serving (Mel Toye (K5KEY), Dan Beard (KB7JZI) and Kelly Collins (W5KJC)) opted to not run for a subsequent term and so three new members were elected to fill their very large shoes. Elected were Haskell Maroney (KI5VGQ), Vicki Ross (KG5YWO) and Mark Perrine (KI5KNX). We all owe Mel, Dan and Kelly a huge thank you for their service. We also thank Haskell, Vicki and Mark for their willingness to step up and help with this important task. Kelly Collins continues in his capacity as Club station trustee.

This coming Saturday, April 15, we will conduct a board of directors meeting. The agenda items reflect a mix of discussion points covering myriad topics. The tentative agenda items are:

Dues – Cut dues ($25 to $24 and $37 to $36), expire everyone in January and prorate mid-year joiners. Club Treasurer George Haneke (NV7Z) has advocated for this to ease the administrative effort required to manage and monitor dues for the Club as it continues to evolve and grow. With nearly 50 members the challenges are getting pretty big and so he believes this approach would simplify things.

Hardware Insurance – Increase our insurance to better cover Atlas or hold what we have until next year?

Business Development Plan – Briefing to fully bring the new officers up to speed and develop details for how to move forward.

444.500 Operation – A comprehensive discussion of how the UHF repeater is operated, the NCTC link specifically and a more general discussion reference the upcoming Club station license renewal, control operators and their training adequate to the task of ensuring FCC compliance, and other administrative details.

WB5RDD versus RRVARC – A comprehensive discussion about how to best market the Club going forward, particularly with the business development plan.

Band Plan Printouts – ARRL has put out band plan documents that we have all seen in training books, online and occasionally as a handout. These can be printed out on your home computer. RRVARC is hosting these plans as a PDF to ease people finding them. If you want to take a look at the various offerings, please click this link.

50th Anniversary Speakers – We have invited a number of people to come to the 50th Anniversary Club meeting on Saturday, May 20. Family of Alvin and Bertie Todd, original Club members, plan to attend as our guest and their grandson (and ham) Steven Walker (WB5EJV) agreed to share some comments with the group. We also reached out to Pete Delkus (Chief Meteorologist, WFAA-TV Channel 8 Dallas/Fort Worth) and Steve LaNore (KB5DEY) (Chief Meteorologist, KXII-TV Channel 12 Sherman) and invited them to come and speak to the group, but both graciously declined. Storm chaser Reed Timmer was a recommendation, but looking into inviting him we discovered that he uses a booking agency and seeks $10,000-20,000 per speaking engagement. We have two other invitees pending replies and will update you on them once we know.  In the meantime, if anyone in the Club has a personal connection to LaNore or Timmer and would not mind reaching out to them, we would all appreciate the effort.

We also wanted to emphasize that we are still looking for:

1) Two volunteers to review available ARRL awards and determine and nominate to the board anyone in our Club worthy of something ARRL gives someone for their efforts in amateur radio.

2) One volunteer to help coordinate programs to be presented at Club meetings.

3) High resolution pictures of weather, ham shacks and you or another ham operating.

To volunteer, please click this link and send an email to the Club officers. To submit pictures please click this link and send them to the admins.

73

RRVARC Officers

Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting Debrief – March 11, 2023 BOD Meeting

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On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the Club officers met for a Board of Directors (BOD) meeting.  In attendance were:
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Officers in attendance:
Wayne Moore (KC5KOH), President
Mark Johnson (W5PTX), Vice President
Rick Leonhardt (NN7ET) (DDR for George Haneke (NV7Z), Treasurer)
Phillip Beall (W5EBC), Secretary
Kelly Collins (W5KJC), Board Member
Mel Toye (K5KEY), Board Member
Dan Beard (KB7JZI), Board Member
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Also in attendance:
Mike Rice (WB5KWK)
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At that meeting some pretty momentous items were settled and we will pull them out and brief them first:
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  1. Revenue: Lion’s Club fair participation – As a part of the Business Development Proposal there was a cost/benefit analysis done on the Lion’s Club fair part of our revenue process. That analysis showed that at best – at best – the Club realized $1 per hour for every hour of labor expended by our Club members.  That process served to pay for the needs associated with the Atlas site, but the annual toll it took to get that process done was simply deemed to no longer have an adequate return.  Many options were considered, but in the end the BOD opted to sever the relationship.  We all owe Kelly Collins a huge thank you for making the event happen for several years.  It literally paid for our Atlas project.  Recognizing the facts, even Kelly voted with the group to terminate the arrangement.
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  2. Expense: Club hardware insurance policy – The membership directed the board to look into the cost of hardware insurance by motion last year. ARRL insurance is $1.40 per $100 of replacement cost value.  On the low end our Atlas site hardware is valued at greater than $10,000, so insuring it against total loss would be $1,400 per year.  UPDATE: We had a couple of members reach out to us and point out that this number is in error.  The correct figure is $140, so the officers will revisit this item in short order.  We have already reached out to the ARRL hardware insurance plan administrator (Risk Strategies Company) and once we get a couple of things answered reference our Atlas site gear, we will update everyone. – Phillip)  Even though we currently have ample funds to do that, there are other expenses throughout the year where the BOD deemed it imprudent to fully insure it against 100% loss.  Instead, the BOD decided to insure it up to $5,000, which will cost about $700 per year.  Going forward this will be reevaluated periodically.  Further, a review of Club history reveals that we have infrequently had hardware insurance.  A variety of factors influenced this, ranging from cost, to not having much equipment, to having repeater sites located at Club members homes, to us now having more expensive equipment.  While it was less important in the past, it is becoming more important with the cost of replacement gear.  We have added this to our ongoing list of recurring events/items that have to be constantly reviewed.  That list can be seen by clicking here.
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  3. Expense: Mesquite TX HamComm Sponsorship – Club member and ARRL North Texas Section Manager Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) had briefed the January 28th Club meeting about efforts to secure a HamComm at the Mesquite Rodeo facility in Mesquite, Texas. He is attempting to raise more than $50,000 to pay for the venue, but must secure a $5,000 deposit just to reserve the dates.  In follow up conversations it was determined that another club about our size had donated $500 to the effort.  Steve must raise the $5,000 to secure the weekend date they wish…as their second choice.  Their first choice was taken by another group while they were seeking the $5,000.  After review of the facts the BOD decided that we could not make a contribution to that effort.
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Dues:  During this process there has been no, zero, discussion of raising dues.  To the contrary, there has been brief discussion of lowering dues by $1 so that we could again prorate dues ($24÷12=$2 per month, $36÷12=$3 per month, our current $25/$37 do not divide out equally).  But that has only been discussed in passing.  The larger point is that we are about to embark on a sponsorship program that the officers believe will replace the Lion’s Club fair revenue and then some.

Other items covered and/or briefed at the meeting:

  • Merchandising – Our website will soon have the ability for Club members to go to a “Store” page, see a list of items that are available and then click a link and go make a purchase.
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  • The State of Texas Franchise Tax submission has been accomplished.
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  • The ARRL Club records have been updated to reflect current membership numbers and the ratio of ARRL members in order to keep us within compliance as an affiliated club. The numbers are 45 active members and 29 ARRL members, giving us a 64% membership rate (51% required).
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  • Love Civic Center Pavilion – The Club paid $63 and secured a permit for the Love Civic Center Pavilion for Field Day 2023 (June 24-25).
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  • A 50th Anniversary Press Release for distribution to ARRL and local media has been drafted.
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  • A “Media Contact” page has been started on the site. It is a non-public page that can be used going forward when Club leadership needs to do something like issue a press release.  Local media and ARRL contacts are the ones so far listed.
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  • Eagle Eyed Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) was looking over our list of recurring “things” and contacted the Club leadership to inquire about hardware insurance. The officers had been formally requested to look into it by a motion passed last year.  The outcome of that review was covered as one of the three bullet points at the first of this briefing.
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  • Club policies, rules that have been adopted throughout the years, rules adopted during the BOD meetings that were conducted since the inception of a BOD leadership structure over the last year; they have been gathered and placed into a Policies Draft 1 document. At only two pages long it is very succinct, but they are for the first time since adaptation of our new Constitution where they have been combined into one working document.  That document will be submitted for review as an agenda item for the next BOD meeting.
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  • A “pass down book” for new officers has been started. This book is intended to help a new officer to know what all functions they are expected to perform, and when.
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  • Broadcastify is live but not yet incorporated into our Club website. Initial discussions have been held with weather radar providers seeking an economical radar feed that could be incorporated into a weather page with Broadcastify so that storm spotters and chasers’ radio broadcasts via our repeater(s) might be listened to while simultaneously a radar could be viewed.  Those efforts will continue.
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  • We were recently requested to help an Extra to get an “official” copy of his license. He was fighting the somewhat difficult FCC website trying to get it.  As a result, we developed a stand-alone web page – How to obtain an official copy of your FCC license – that a person can use with step-by-step instructions for how to get one.
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  • An initial tri-fold slick and glossy pamphlet has been developed. That handout is for use in recruiting sponsors as outlined by the Business Development Proposal.  It will be ready for distribution very soon.  First draft, too wordy and being rewritten, it is available on the Club site with the meeting minutes from the BOD meeting.
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  • An initial tri-fold slick and glossy pamphlet to be used as a handout to newly licensed hams and/or new members joining the Club is being designed.
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  • The “Donate” button on the website is about to be changed to “Contributors” or “Sponsors” and will be reformatted in anticipation of us getting some corporate sponsors, but while also giving individuals the opportunity to make a one time or even ongoing contribution. If anyone – anyone – says that they do not believe that we have the website traffic to leverage into support, tell them the facts are this – We average over five hundred web hits a week.  We are working hard to get our site traffic up because that is what we want to leverage to generate revenue to pay for all the things that we need to pay for and the fun stuff we all want to do.
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  • We have researched and sourced some options for corporate sponsors, things such as decals or plaques with the ability to add subsequent years to it. Examples of how we might do both are in the Business Development Proposal that accompanies the meeting minutes for the March 11th BOD meeting.  These are not just a reward to Club sponsors, but also a recruiting tool seen by persons perhaps unfamiliar with what we do.

This update is a summary.  Please click on this link in order to review the March 11th Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, Secretary Report, Business Development Proposal and first draft flyer to use when recruiting sponsors.

03/08/2023 UPDATE

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Technician Class Cancelled – Mel Toye’s Technician class was cancelled. It will be rescheduled once ten confirmed students are signed up. If you know anyone that wishes to take that class, please have them email Mel here.

BOD Meeting This Coming Saturday – We will conduct our quarterly board of directors meeting this coming Saturday, March 11th, at – TIME CHANGE NOTE – 1100 at High Cotton Kitchen. The current agenda items are: Old business – Tabled items: Club Meeting Program Coordinator, Awards Nominating Committee. Items to be updated: 2023 RRVARC 50th Anniversary, Merchandising. New Business: Virtual 903 Phone Number, Lion’s Club Fair participation, Budget, Mesquite TX HamCom Sponsorship?, hardware insurance.  Members are always welcome to attend, but may not participate unless recognized by the chair.

Officer Elections at March Meeting – As a reminder, at the March 25 meeting the three General board members will be elected. We need to make sure and have good turnout for that meeting. All three current officers are eligible to run for another term, at their option. If you are interested in serving, please be ready to raise your hand.

General Exam Pool Changes On July 1st – If you are considering taking the General exam: 1) Reviewers say the new exam pool looks more difficult than the current one. 2) RRVARC will conduct one more scheduled testing on Saturday, June 3. You might try and get up to speed to take the test on June 3 before the new exam pool takes effect on July 1.

Lots of Administrative Details – We know how much you love these administrative details, but they have to be done and reported out to you.  Tax Filing: State of Texas Franchise Tax submission was accomplished well before the filing deadline.  ARRL Affiliated Club: RRVARC’s ARRL Club records were updated to reflect current membership numbers and the ratio of ARRL members in order to keep us within compliance as an affiliated club. The numbers are 45 active members and 29 ARRL members, giving us a 64% membership rate (51% required). PRESS RELEASE: Rick Leonhardt and Phillip Beall have drafted a 50th Anniversary Press Release. Official License: We have posted up a step-by-step tutorial for how to obtain an “official” copy of your ham radio license here – How to obtain an official copy of your FCC license – on the Club website. Right now, why don’t you take your license out of your pocket, or go look at it wherever it is, and see if it has OFFICIAL stamped across it. If not, you can avail yourself of the process, now made easy by this new web page. Website Software Updated: Rick Leonhardt took on the thankless and perilous task of updating the website software.  All aspects of the Club website software have been updated and are now current.  These were both security and operational updates and you hopefully may notice it is faster than it was.  There are also some newly added statistics and other new features. We are trying to add pieces that we think will help to keep the site fresh, informative and entertaining.

February 25 Meeting Minutes and Support Documents – Please click here and load the page that has all of these items at the top of the page: February Meeting Minutes Draft v1, Secretary’s Report Talking Points, Presentation #1 EMP Shield, Presentation #2 Representing our Club Uniformly and three resolutions passed by the membership – All are uploaded and available to review. If you were not present at the meeting and want to see the kinds of merchandising we are exploring for you, please go look at that slide show Representing our Club Uniformly. These and similar items will be available for you to order very soon.

Outreach Program – We have recently attempted to contact former Club members that we had lost contact with. The result was that at least one – John Emmett KI5KC –  rejoined. Not having been a member since 2002 we are excited to have him back. Welcome back John!

Club News

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THIS IS NOT THE PAGE TO UPDATE.  GO TO CLUB NEWS IN PAGES FOR UPDATES.  THIS PAGE WILL DISCONTINUE BEING UPDATED AS IT WAS A TEST PAGE THAT ACCIDENTALLY GOT UPDATED SEVERAL TIMES. – PHILLIP

 

 

10/27/2023 Update

Fox Hunt Poll – Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) has been running some local transmitter hunts – Fox Hunts – and he has asked us to poll the Club.  Please click here, take the poll and help us to help you.  The poll will close at 1700 today (Friday, October 27, 2023).  You are offered the choice of YES or NO as to whether you are interested in or not.  You taking the few seconds it will take to provide an answer helps us to validate the functioning of our poll.  Please take it – thank you.

Board of Directors meeting – The board has set a meeting at High Cotton Kitchen on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 0900.  Members are welcome to come and observe if they wish.

“Unofficial” Call Sign list updated to v7 – The popularity of this list continues to amaze us.  We added a couple of names and the page is just about filled up.  You can download it to your phone, print it out and throw it on the desk in your ham shack or on the seat in your vehicle.  Know who is making a call when you answer them.  As always, if you see any errors or omissions, please let us know.  Please click here for the latest version (v7).

Club Meeting October 28, 2023 – Tomorrow we will have our monthly meeting at High Cotton Kitchen (1260 Clarksville St, Paris, TX 75460).  Many meet for breakfast prior to the meeting, we just ask that you please be there by 0900 if you plan breakfast.  The meeting will start at 1000 sharp and we want the waitstaff cleared from the room before the meeting starts.  Remember, gratuity is not included with your check.  Please don’t forget to tip the great staff that helps us to pull these meetings off.

Free Stuff! – At the meeting a gentleman from Greenville (Allen Shutt (KE5VOH)) will be giving out 36 cases that we think would perform well as a “Go-Bag/Box”.  For more information on them please see this forum post – Radio Go-Bag/Box Event.  The event references the Fannin County ARC event at Coffee Mill Lake last weekend, but it was updated following the event.  There are lots of pictures of these high-quality cases.

 

10/22/2023 UPDATE

There has been a lot of Club activity in the last few weeks. Following is a recap:

Fox Hunt Poll – Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) has been running some local transmitter hunts – Fox Hunts – and he has asked us to poll the Club to see what level of interest there is and what days of the week might interest people.  So far only ten people have shared their thoughts with us.  If you have not yet taken it please click here and take it now.  Doing the poll does at least two things for us: 1) It informs us of interest or lack of interest in a particular subject, and; 2) It gives you a chance to let us know if the polling tool works OK.  Please help us to help you and take the poll.  The poll will be open until Friday evening prior to the next Club meeting.

Fannin County ARC “Radio Go-Bag/Box” event – On Saturday, October 21st, the Fannin County Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) hosted a “Radio Go-Bag/Box” event at Coffee Mill Lake recreation area.  Our own Randy Holland (N5DDS) went, participated, took notes and pictures and sent them back to us.  Please click here and check those details out.

Fannin County ARC “Autumn in Bonham” bike rally – The Fannin County Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) reached out to the RRVARC officers and asked if we could help them out with some additional radio operators for the Saturday, October 7, Bonham Area Chamber of Commerce Autumn in Bonham bike rally.  They suspended the rally in maybe 2019 and this was to be the first rally in resumption of what will hopefully be an annual event.  It was short notice, but we scrambled and got five people to go and help them.  Please click this link and go read the debriefs of the event.

Map Build Assistance Request – We are trying to get a Google Maps project launched.  You can customize layers in Google Maps and we have the ambition to use multiple layers combined with weather radar to provide everyone the ability to look at multiple layers of things like roads, APRS beacons, emergency providers (hospitals, fire stations, etc.).  This is doable, we just need some help with it. Like everything with our Club, there are seemingly more tasks than people willing to help with the tasks.  If this piques your curiosity please click Google My Maps – Assistance with Red River Valley ARC Area of Operations Map, give it a read and sign up to help out.

Call Sign List Updated – The “Unofficial Call Sign” list was recently updated. The latest is v6 dated October 3.  As always, humans make mistakes.  Please look it over and if you see any errors, drop a note to secretary@wb5rdd.org. You can now go to the website and from any page hover over the “Library” button and then click the link “Unofficial” Call Sign List from the drop down menu. The latest copy can be obtained right now by clicking here.

Club email list maintenance – If you are reading this and have not received any email from the Club recently, please drop a note to secretary@wb5rdd.org. We have recently done some work on our email list and want to make sure that nobody’s address was inadvertently purged.

November & December Club meeting Dates Changed – At the last Club meeting the members present decided to deconflict the November and December Club meeting dates to get them away from the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The new dates are Saturday, November 18 Club meeting and Friday, December 8 (6PM) Christmas Party.

December 2 Testing – The last testing session of the year will be on Saturday, December 2.  For details please click here.

December Christmas party – Friday, December 8 (6PM) at Magel’s Grill (3805 NE Loop 286, Paris, TX 75460).  A deposit has been made and we hope to see a bunch of you join with us for the festivities.

 

09/20/2023 UPDATE:

W1AW Event – On Friday, September 22 (0845) Club members and others interested in ham radio are gathering at the home of Club member and ARRL North TX Section Manager Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) and his wife Zogail Smith (KB5KBE). They will be operating HF and making contact with Club member Gary Sorensen (K9AIA) who is on a consulting contract in Connecticut. Gary is 30 minutes away from ARRL headquarters and the historic W1AW museum. If you have not been getting the email invitations and want more detail, please contact rsvp@wb5rdd.org and tell us what you need.  We want to encourage all of you to attend if able.

Upcoming solar eclipse – On Tuesday, September 19, the City of Paris conducted a seminar on the total solar eclipse that will occur on April 8, 2024. The seminar was at Love Civic Center and was about 45 minutes of presentation and then Q&A. The presentation discussed the experiences of those that were in the last big one nearly two decades ago. Think tens of thousands of people pouring into the area to experience it. Paris is going to be right in the center of the path so community leaders are expecting a days-long onslaught of curiosity seekers. The Club leadership is in preliminary discussions with Lamar County emergency preparedness personnel and will keep the group updated as the plan firms up.  For updates please go to this forum post – Solar Eclipse 2024 – RRVARC Planning & Preparation.

Kim Ledbetter (KI5VLH) – Kim is home and continues to improve. He is a walking, talking, living and breathing miracle and an inspiration to all of us. He is meeting with his cancer doctor soon to map a strategy for beating his cancer once and for all. Please email or call him. He enjoys the contact.

“Unofficial” Call Sign List – This list started off as a one-off, but it has proven very popular. We moved it, it is now right under the library menu on the website. Please go look for it, v5 is the most recent one, and if you are not on it, your name or call sign is misspelled; anything that is wrong, please email and we will get it updated promptly.

Cindy Penry (KD5CCB) apron – Club Secretary Phillip Beall (W5EBC) recently stopped into Home Depot and noticed a very – very – festively “ham radio” decorated smock being worn by our own Cindy Penry. Way to go Cindy!

Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) – Jerry has run a couple of “fox hunts” in the last couple of weeks. He has asked everyone to come to the meeting Saturday prepared to tell him what you want to see in a fox hunt. With the arrival of cooler weather there is a nice opportunity to do some of these and have it be fun all the way around.

Vicki Ross (KG5YWO) – Can collecting for the Club – Vicki asked us to let everyone know that she is going to once again miss the Club meeting because she will be working at Harbor Freight 0745-1315 Saturday. She knows some of us are overflowing, so she offered that she will drive her truck to Harbor Freight and anyone that takes their cans to the meeting can swing in there and drop them in her truck bed. Her truck is a blue 2011 Ford Ranger and she always parks on the left facing the building when you pull into the lot.

Johnny Thomas (WB5JT) – At the Club meeting on Saturday, September 23, Johnny is going to do a presentation on the NanoVNA-H4. It is one of the newest latest and greatest devices for tuning antennas, “sweeping” cables and all manner of other testing.

Charles Bouton (AD5PG) – Charles is our latest ham, an Extra, to join the Club. We got an application, letter and check for $24 from a guy that lives in El Paso, Texas. It turns out he has relatives and his deceased wife is interred in the Paris area. He is coming here for about a month and had hoped to make our September 23 Club meeting, but a doctor appointment was changed and he will not be here until the following week. While in the area he hopes to make contact with some of us via the repeater and as he put it, he doesn’t believe in “repeater fairies”. Repeaters take money to build and maintain and hence his $24 in dues money. When Mr. Bouton shows up on the repeater, everyone please give him a warm welcome.

Member discipline – Some of you have maybe heard that there was a member disciplinary matter before the Club leadership. We can confirm it and can tell you that facing likely expulsion the member tendered their resignation.

100th Birthday – This one has zero, absolutely nothing to do with ham radio. But there was recently a Stars and Stripes article about U.S. Army Veteran Ethelyn Szad Bell, a resident of the Clyde W. Cosper Texas State Veterans Home in nearby Bonham, asking to get 100 birthday cards for her 100th birthday. For more details please click this link to a forum post on the topic. A card will be circulated at the Club meeting on Saturday.

Repectful Radio Behavior – We have a Club member who ran the Monday evening information net a while back.  The next day he interpreted some conversation between a couple of people on the repeater to be…critical of how he had performed.  This member has not been to a Club meeting since.  Missing him a couple of officers reached out, discovered what had happened and have talked with him a number of times.  We have reassured him that this was not his fault, that we value him and that we want him to continue to be a member of the Club.  Honestly, he is on the fence and may not be back.  The conduct that lead to this situation is, in a word, unacceptable.  We want to take the time to remind everyone:

  1. We want to encourage people to do net control.
  2. There are no FCC hard and fast rules for conduct of information nets beyond call sign announcement.
  3. There are technical suggestions, recommeded “best practices”, but those are recommendations only.
  4. If you hear someone participating on the net and they depart from those recommendations and you have a question or comment, keep it to yourself until later.  You can later pick the telephone up and call the person and ask them about it or get in touch with a Club officer.  If it is as simple as “That isn’t how I would do it.”  OK, that is your opinion.  Others may not share your opinion and we are not going to have members feeling criticized because they do not conform to another persons personal preferences.
  5. The officers are not going to tolerate people trying to police our repeaters, scolding people on operating technique or talking unkindly about someone.  If you wonder if this is directed at you, then it probably is.  Correct yourself before we have to get in touch about it.

The Club officers work very hard on member recruitment and retention.  When we lose members because of the tacky or cliqish behavior of others, they can anticipate a telephone call from one or more officers calling their behavior out.  We simply are not going to tolerate it.

That is a lot of info for you to absorb. As always, if you have any questions please call, text or drop the officers an email. We work for you and we want to make the RRVARC the best club you could ever want to be a member of.

73

RRVARC Officers

 

02/17/2023 UPDATE:

We have quite a bit of news to update the Club with, so here we go:

Net time change – During the Monday, February 6, net, the participants discussed and agreed to modify the net time going forward. Starting on Monday, February 20, the Club net will change from 8PM to 7PM. This change was made in hopes of picking up a few extra participants for whom the previous time was a little too late for their participation. We will try the new 7PM time and see how participation pans out.

Club meeting – Our next Club meeting is Saturday, February 25 at High Cotton Kitchen. Pre-meeting breakfast at 0900, meeting starts at 1000. With the recent balloon issues and learning that a top offensive military EMP threat is by balloon delivery, Phillip Beall (W5EBC) has agreed to do a repeat presentation of EMP Shield. If you are unaware of the amateur radio component to the balloon stories, please click this link and read the forum post on the topic.

Board of Directors (BOD) meeting – A BOD meeting has been set for Saturday, March 11. The officers are obliged to schedule a BOD meeting at least once per quarter. The meeting will be at High Cotton Kitchen and is tentatively set to begin at 8AM. The draft agenda includes the following: Copyright/Trademark/Registration of Club logo, business relationship development (i.e. corporate sponsorship), 50th Anniversary preparation, alternate/supplemental north tower site, virtual 903 phone number, recent new domain registrations. Action may or may not be taken on these items.

Logo professionally recreated – The Club logo was an original creation of Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA). We recently had a professional graphics artist recreate it in high-resolution and reflecting Jerry’s updates from last fall where he incorporated 50th Anniversary (1973-2023) verbiage. This new logo will be able to be uniformly utilized with consistent color and clarity, even allowing for very large displays. This new logo was accepted by the leadership, presented at the last Club meeting and approved by the membership. The officers are exploring options so the logo has all legal protections.

Mel Toye (K5KEY) Technician Class – Mel now has sufficient enough interest to set a Technician class. He is working on a date right now and we will announce it once we know. If you know anyone that has been wanting to get licensed, please ask them to email Mel and give him their contact info.

March Officer Elections – At the March 25 Club meeting we will be electing three general board of director members. When we adopted the new Constitution in 2022 we staggered the terms of the officers by setting up the initial term of office for the three general board members at one year. This election will be for a full two-year term. In subsequent years we will have an election at each March meeting, alternating president, vice president, treasurer and secretary in even years and general board members in odd years. Please plan to attend and participate in your Club elections.

12/30/2022 UPDATE:

This is likely our final update for the year and there is a lot of info to cover.

Please mark your calendar that the next Club meeting is on Saturday, January 28th. That is also the same day as Winter Field Day. We know you can’t be in two places at once, but we do hope you will do one or the other.

Club meeting – At the January 28th Club meeting there will be two presentations/activities. Dan Beard (KB7JZI) will continue with his table-top fox hunt. There were a lot of laughs during the start of that engagement at our last meeting and we expect more when it is continued. And Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) is going to update us on ARRL happenings.

Winter Field Day – In a first in many years we will have Club members conducting Winter Field Day exercises. Charles (WA5VHU) and Cindy (KD5CCB) Penry initiated things and will be at the Doctor’s Creek Unit at the Cooper Lake State Park at Jim Chapman Lake for Friday the 27th through Sunday the 29th. There is a forum write up on the subject at this link. Please go read up on it at the forum link, post any questions and/or comments you may have and join in the action!

Charles also scored the W5W 1X1 Special Event call sign for the function. Getting a Special Event Coordinator issued 1X1 is something the Club has been doing at Summer Field Day for the last few years. When the process of looking into that was initiated the alphabet was scanned for something easy. There are 750 total 1X1 signs in the pool. W1W-W3W were taken so we selected W4W. It had nothing to do with anything other than being the next available call sign. But some rightly pointed out that our Club is technically in Call Sign Zone 5. They thought our use of W4W was confusing and that W5W was more logical since that aligned with our Club geographically.

When Charles reserved the W5W 1X1 for Winter Field Day he investigated if it was still available for Summer Field Day and surprisingly it was. The Club relinquished the W4W 1X1 and will now use W5W at both 2023 events. Going forward the Club officers will also attempt to reserve it for future events.

In the summer of 2022 Charles really stepped into the breach to get Club Field Day activities up and running. Recognizing that he has the technical skills, energy and willingness to take the position on, Club President T. Wayne More has appointed Charles the Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club WB5RDD Field Day Coordinator. Please thank Charles for his willingness to help out with the important tasks associated with that position.

Yaesu announces end of FTM-400XDR & FT818 Production – Leo Salas (N5JEP) informs us of this sad notice.  While we have not seen anything official from Yaesu, there are stories on the topic all over the Internet.  Please click here and read Leo’s forum post on the topic.

Erroneous Dues Notices – In an effort to keep Club expenses down we use as many free or very low-cost website tools as we can. One downside to that is that free can have a lot of limitations. An example of one of those limits is dues administration. The membership website tool will only do membership for one year at a time. Some members have paid for more than one year and then are confused when they get an erroneous dues reminder. If you get an erroneous automatic dues reminder from the website, one you know is not right, please disregard it. As the Club budget improves and allows for such things, we will upgrade that feature of the website. In the interim dues is managed manually. We try and update the site monthly, but those erroneous automatic notices may still be sent. If you have any questions please call or drop an email to Club Secretary Phillip Beall (W5EBC) or Club Treasurer George Haneke (NV7Z).

Unofficial WB5RDD Call Sign List – Thanks to all for pointing out errors and omissions on previous versions of that list. We have updated it to incorporate your input and believe it to now be accurate.  If you spot any other errors please let us know! And if your copy does not say v4 at the top, please click on this link and download the latest.

Please be safe and have a wonderful New Year’s celebration. We believe 2022 was a really great year for the Club and looking forward to our May 2023 50th Anniversary we believe 2023 will be even better!

73

RRVARC WB5RDD Officers

 

CLUB NEWS – CLUB NEWS – CLUB NEWS – CLUB NEWS – CLUB NEWS – CLUB NEWS
12/21/2022 UPDATE:

Club Meeting Update:  On 12/17/2022 another Club meeting was conducted and once again FUN BROKE OUT!  Please click here to read a forum post debrief of the meeting, access links to presentation materials and an updated unofficial WB5RDD call sign list.

SKYWARN Training:  Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) provided this – A 2023 SKYWARN Schedule list of classes is now available at this link.  Of note, the National Weather Service is cutting back on the number of classes they do so please look that information over carefully.

 

12/16/2012 UPDATE: Two quick items:

Master Channel Plan (MCP) – Anyone who still needs to have the Master Channel Plan (MCP) programmed into their TYT radios, please remember to bring them to breakfast tomorrow.  If you want the programming file, please bring a jump/thumb drive.

WB5RDD Unofficial Call Sign List – Ever wonder who you are talking to on the radio?  Click here (Version 4, reformatted for size, call sign corrected and members added) and download the WB5RDD Unofficial Call Sign List.  It is a courtesy list the Club has been providing for a number of years.  It is in PDF format so you can download it to your phone, print it out and stick it up in the ham shack, whatever you wish.  Is your call sign missing or have an error in it?  We make human mistakes.  If you have a correction, please email Phillip Beall and let him know.  A small number will be available at the Club meeting on 12/17/2022.

12/11/2012 UPDATE: Please click RRVARC Christmas Party 2022 – It’s a wrap! for an update on the Friday night (12/09/2022) Christmas party!

We are trying something new with the site.  General news is being posted to the forums and Club news is being posted on this page.  At least on a trial basis.  The reason is to make it easy for people to swing by the site and click the very first button on the second menu from the top “Club News” and get updates on recent happenings.  On the right we added a search box and a list of the next five upcoming events (Not visible on smaller screens such as smartphones or tablets in portrait mode.).

Please make a forum post or email us with comments and let us know what you think of this page and the new format.  Whether you suggest that we move something on the site to make it easier to find, you discover that something is not indexing correctly so the search gets a bad result or you want us to bump up the number of calendar events displayed on the right; please just let us know by writing admin@wb5rdd.org.  This is your Club and your website so we want it to reflect your wishes.

Short notice alert: From Club member Wyndell Ferguson (K5WJF) – This coming Thursday (December 8th) from 7pm-8pm the National Weather Service (NWS) Shreveport office is going to conduct a Winter Skywarn Spotter Training webinar.  Here is a static image of their notice:

If you are interested in taking this training please click – NWS-Shreveport Virtual Winter SKYWARN Class – and sign up.

Reminder: The Club Christmas party is this coming Friday, December 9th, from 7pm-9pm, at Magel’s Grill.  There is no RSVP this year, just show up and join the festivities!  We look forward to seeing all of you there.

Reminder: The Club membership voted to move the December meeting from the weekend following Christmas to the weekend before Christmas.  The new meeting date is 12/17 and the location will be High Cotton.  0900 pre-meeting breakfast, 1000 meeting.  There will again be two presentations.  One will be a primer on Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) by Charles Penry (WA5VHU), Leo Salas (N5JEP) and Phillip Beall (W5EBC) and a mystery interactive presentation by Dan Beard (KB7JZI).

VE Testing Report: On Saturday, December 3rd, three people tested.  Two for General and one for Technician.  They were from from Greenville, Mt. Vernon and one near Commerce.

New feature: Have you ever tired of searching high and low for the manual to a radio or other piece of gear?  Maybe the piece of equipment did not come with a printed manual, maybe it is a specialized “additional” manual for a piece of gear (i.e. the Yaesu FTM-400 “APRS” or “GM” standalone manuals) or maybe you simply lost the one you previously had?  Well, suffer no more!  We have added a new page to the Club website – “Manuals”.  There we have provided links to the manuals for some of the equipment that we know some Club members own.  Here is a screen grab illustrating how to get there:

We prepopulated the list, but there will be more that need to be added.  Please, if you want us to add anything to that page just email admin@wb5rdd.org.

A Club meeting was held and FUN BROKE OUT!  – Club Meeting 11/19/2022 @ High Cotton – In case you you were unable to attend we had a Club meeting on November 19th.  Everyone present said it was really enjoyable and some even used the word FUN!  Wow!  Club meeting and fun used in the same sentence!  The Club officers are devoted to try and make that a frequent event.  For a complete rundown of the meeting please read the forum post at this link.

Great News! – In the debrief of the last meeting (please click that “forum post at this link” above) the Club not only received our Lion’s Club fair distribution (~$1,400) but we also received a $500 personal donation.  Subsequently, another member anonymously donated 10 $100 bills ($1,000) to the Club.  A heartfelt thank you to those that have recently made these generous donations to the Club!

This page will be updated frequently so please do check it often!

73

RRVARC Officers