13 Colonies #hamradio week #ARRL

It's time for the 13 Colonies event.  The Patriot in me loves this weekend. 

It's a nice simple QSO party.  Work one, all, or anyone in between.

All HF bands will be in play, including the WARC bands, with the exception of 60 meters. Simplex on 2 meters and 6 meters is encouraged.

Use DX spotting to find the stations.  Spot the stations you work to help others.

Have FUN!

#FieldDay and Digital Voice #hamradio #ARRL

So,  if the rules are right,  satellite contacts are allowed for Field Day.  Terrestrial repeaters and VOIP modes are not.  

How right is that?  Field Day is a supposed test of the ability to communicate with stations around the planet.  While HF is important, when you train like you fight, you use the modes you normally use.  

For example, the VOIP Skywarn Net fights every hurricane season on Allstar, Echolink, IRLP, Dstar, Fusion, APRS, Winlink, and a host of other modes.  Do they provide reports to the National Hurricane Center station at WX4NHC?  You bet they do.  

Yet, they are excluded, should they choose to participate because of the modes they use in their work.

It's time for the League to revisit the field day rules and allow, at least, a token collective of points for a contact made on VOIP, ex. 100 points for any mode.  How about points for a local repeater?  Make it your Get On The Air station.  

It would clearly be a way for the League to show they are ALL inclusive of ALL amateur radio operators.

Are you on your way to Derby? #ARRL #hamradio

Saturday ... as in this one coming up ... in Derby, Kansas, the annual sidewalk sale is held from "early to Noon".  Folks from Oklahoma, Kansas, and a few other places gather to tailgate their goods in the parking lot..

Food, fun, fellowship and the ability to sign up for membership in area clubs will be available.  

Of course, used gear will be available.  New gear can be purchased also.

Come see one of the last remaining Radio Shack stores on the Planet.

  

Oklahoma got an F with @RepeaterBook #ARRL #hamradio

As part of the Quality Control process at RepeaterBook, there is now a rating scale for each administrator..  Oklahoma ... and your State admin ... got an F.

It's not pleasant failing at anything but it's a good sign that there' needs to be improvement.

If you want to help get the grade up, send an email to volunteer.  Unlike the other directory that charges for their data, RepeaterBook is free.  Because it is free, you don't get anything ... and likely not even the thanks for doing it.

As you can see, the Section is just over 50%.

Category	Raw Score	Score
Admin assigned	10	10 of 10
% of repeaters not updated in the past 2 years	73.21%	3 of 10
% of unknown operational status repeaters versus actively listed repeaters	17.51%	8 of 10
% of updates by admin in the last two years versus the number of listed repeaters	80.64%	8 of 10
% of updates by non-admins in the last two years versus the number of listed repeaters	27.59%	3 of 10
% of Repeater Record Custodians to the number of listed repeaters	3.45%	0 of 10
Total Score		32 of 60

Adding another admin would bring the score up five points.  As you can see, 80% of the repeaters have been updated by an admin over the last two years.  Custodians don't care to keep their records updated.

In fact, users update repeater information more often than custodians..

So, here's some things to try.

1.  Regional administrators.  How about it Elk City, Woodward, McAlester, Tulsa, Oklahoma City?  The hardest part for one admin to do is verify the information about a repeater reported in Bugtussle from Kenton.  

There have been other admins but, for one reason or another, they fall off.

2.  How about it Clubs and Trustees?  The apparent unwillingness of keeping repeater information up to date in your back yard is that you don't want people, visiting from out of town, to find your resource.  Some repeater owners, on closed repeaters, don't want their repeater listed.  There are ways to hide information, ex. PL tones, etc, from the directory.  

3.  Update your listing to include nets, meetings, etc.  This is an opportunity for your club to shine.  There are more clubs listing their meetings on Facebook, where a very few of your target audience will see it, than on RepeaterBook.

4.  Update your local repeater.  Anyone can do that.  That one act would go a long way to bringing the score up to a C.

Any other ideas?  Put them in Comments.  

Any other ideas?  Put them in Comments.

You need to join @QCWA #hamradio

If you missed the Quarter Century Wireless Association annual meeting, download the recording, when available, and listen ... just listen to what this group is doing.

Do you have a child struggling with college $$$?  They are a ham radio operator, right?  There are scholarships there.

The scholarships are available for international students as well.  Of course, an active member has to submit a recommendation for you.

Dues are not expensive and the budget sheets are looking good.

Speaking of money, they are looking for a treasurer.  Yes, you need to be a member.  

There are chapters all over the Planet.  If there's not one near you, get some of your friends together and start one.

Join ...