Sep 16

The South Texas Hamfest on October 19th 2019, will be here before we know it !!
Discount registration is still available! For those that print and mail in your pre-registration forms there is now a link available at the bottom of the main page.

We will be hosting a Testing Session at the South Texas Hamfest on October 19th 2019, to get your FCC Amateur Radio Operators License.

For those taking the ham test for the first time, or upgrading, if you
pass, your name will be entered into an Exclusive Prize Drawing.

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Sep 15

Jamboree-on-the-Air, or JOTA, is the largest Scouting event in the world. It is held annually the third full weekend in October, for 2019
it’s Oct 18-20.
JOTA uses amateur radio to link Scouts and hams around the world, around the nation, and in your own community. This jamboree requires no travel, other than to a nearby amateur radio operator’s ham shack.

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Sep 6

http://radioaficion.com/news/new-fcc-rules-that-impact-ham-radio/

I couldn’t copy an excerpt from this article, so I made a quick screenshot instead. Click the above link for the full article.

Some of the changes may impact certain popular models of the Baofeng HT radios. These radios can operate outside the Ham Radio bands and might not be type accepted for GMRS / FRS, etc..

It restricts the sale of combined FRS/GMRS radios. It drops the cost of a GMRS license from $85 to $65 / family and increases the license period from 5 years to 10 years.

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Sep 6

AMATEUR HIGH-FREQUENCY EMERGENCY / HURRICANE NETS

Listed below are some of the usual established amateur (HAM) high frequency emergency network frequencies in Megahertz, with Mode of Lower or Upper Sideband and the coverage area. This list does fluctuate over time.

These frequencies are typically in operation during disasters in the immediate area. They can provide a great deal of information to those with receive only capabilities and the amateur radio community.

Abbreviations:
Abbreviation Meaning

  • Wx Weather
  • ARES Amateur Radio Emergency Service
  • SSB Single Sideband
  • LSB Lower Sideband
  • USB Upper Sideband
  • NTS National Traffic System
  • altn Alternate frequency typically used for night time operations
  • RACES Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (affiliated with local Emergency Management Organizations)

FREQ MODE LOCATION
03808.0 LSB Caribbean Wx (1030)
03815.0 LSB Inter-island (continuous watch)
03845.0 LSB Gulf Coast West Hurricane
03862.5 LSB Mississippi Section Traffic
03865.0 LSB West Virginia Emergency
03872.5 LSB Mercury Amateur Radio Assoc ad hoc hurricane info net (0100)
03873.0 LSB West Gulf ARES Emergency (night)
03873.0 LSB Central Gulf Coast Hurricane
03873.0 LSB Louisiana ARES Emergency (night)
03873.0 LSB Mississippi ARES Emergency

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Sep 2

Major Hurricane Dorian Prompts Sustained Activations

09/01/2019

From ARRL.org

Hurricane Dorian, now a dangerous Category 5 storm, hit the island of Abaco in the Bahamas with 185 MPH winds and heavy rain. The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz (7268 MHz alternate) and the VoIP Hurricane Net (EchoLink WX_TALK Conference) remain activated in conjunction with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center to keep on top of ground-truth weather information and to handle emergency traffic, if needed.

FEMA has announced that channels 1 and 2 of the 60 meter band will be made available, as necessary, beginning September 2 for interoperability between federal government stations and US Amateur Radio stations involved in Hurricane Dorian emergency communications. They will remain active until the storm has passed and the need for the channels no longer exists.

Channel 1 (5332 kHz channel center) will be available for primary voice traffic 5332 kHz channel center, 5330.5 kHz USB. Channel 2 (5348 kHz channel center) will handle digital traffic, 5346.5 kHz USB with 1.5 kHz offset to center of digital waveform

Radio amateurs must yield to operational traffic related to Hurricane Dorian. Although the intended use for these channels is interoperability between federal government stations and US Amateur Radio stations, federal government stations are primary users and amateurs are secondary.

For the full article click here

http://www.arrl.org/news/major-hurricane-dorian-prompts-sustained-activations

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Sep 2

For those of you playing with GR Level 3, Dorian is just now starting
to show up on Base Reflectivity (red marker at center of eye).
If you want to watch yourself, use site KAMX.

If you want to view on the new GOES-16 satellite,

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/?parms=subregional-Florida-15-24-1-100-1&checked=map&colorbar=undefined

And the hurricane watch net is active

https://www.hwn.org/
The Net is Active on 14.325 MHz & 7.268 MHz

Avoid unnecessary traffic on those 2 frequencies.

This thing is shaping up to be a real monster….

On Facebook, you follow the Hurricane Watch Net here…

https://www.facebook.com/HurricaneWatchNet/

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Sep 2

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of ARRL’s first president and cofounder Hiram Percy Maxim (HPM), W1AW, born on September 2, 1869.

ARRL will hold an operating event this summer to celebrate HPM’s legacy, getting under way at 0000 UTC on August 31 and continuing until 2359 UTC on September 8. It is open to all radio amateurs.

ARRL members will append “/150” to their call signs during this event.

Check out http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-announces-happy-150-hiram-percy-maxim-birthday-celebration

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Sep 2

The ARRL Foundation has announced it is accepting scholarship applications between September 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 for the academic year 2020-2021.
If you know a deserving Amateur, please urge them to apply.
For details of the program, please see:

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-scholarship-program-is-now-accepting-applications

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Sep 2

The annual Texas QSO Party starts 1400Z Saturday, September 14, 2019 and runs to 0200Z, Sunday, September 15, 2019. (New weekend this year.)
The organizers have requested that all who plan on participating, particularly the very important mobile operators, send their operating plans to no5w.chuck@gmail.com
TQP gets better every year; even if you can only operate for a part of the contest, please do so — you become one more valuable QSO for someone, including the increasing number of DX operators that favor the TQP.
For more details see:

http://txqp.net/index.php

More Info …

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Sep 2

Route 66 On The Air Returns

The 20th Annual Amateur Radio special operating event, known as “Route 66 On The Air” returns on September 7-15, 2019.

Organized by the Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club of San
Bernardino, California in 1999 to celebrate the anniversary of Bobby Troup’s 1946 hit song “Get Your Kicks On Route 66”, the event now involves over 20 cities on the “Mother Road” being activated by
multiple Amateur Radio clubs and individuals.

Oklahoma and Texas will again activate portions of the Mother Road. Oklahoma expects to have special event stations in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Elk City. Texas expects to have a station in
Amarillo.

The list of all the planned special event stations along the Mother Road can be found at:

http://w6jbt.org/?page_id=117

and the operating frequency guidelines can be found at

http://w6jbt.org/?page_id=25

John Robert Stratton N5AUS
West Gulf Division Director

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