Welcome to the newest ARRL Affiliated Club in NM
The New Mexico SAR Support Team, founded in 1987, is a well known club around New Mexico and celebrates their 25th anniversary this year. The team recently requested affiliation to take advantage of some of the ARRL’s programs for affiliated clubs. Although not a “ham” club in the sense most of our clubs are, everyone on the team is required to have an Amateur license to become a full member. SAR Support Team provides communications support for SAR operations in addition to base camp support (mapping, etc), four-wheel drive support and ATV/snow mobile support for SAR missions. Congratulations on 25 years of saving lives and on becoming an affiliated “club”. nmsarsupport.org
Transition of ARRL Club Officers (from the ARRL online Active Club Primer). Tips for Affiliated Clubs submitted by Affiliated Club Coordinator, Art Priebe, N5ART
It is crucial to the continued success of a League-affiliated club that when club officers change, appropriate notifications are filed and club records are passed along or otherwise maintained. Here’s a handy check-off list that should be reviewed upon any officer change.
1. Notify ARRL HQ immediately of all new club officers. (This is critical so that important news and other items from HQ are sent to the correct club officers.) Use the Club Update form to make these changes.
2. Notify the Division Director, Section Manager, and Affiliated Club Coordinator.
3. Is your current Club Update on file with ARRL HQ?
4. If your club is an SSC, is SSC status current?
5. Are your official club papers secure?
Certificate and Articles of Incorporation. Articles of Association, By-Laws. Corporate seal.
Non-profit status documentation.
State and Federal tax ID numbers.
• List of documents to be filed with IRS, and copies of those filed by club.
• Insurance policies: liability, equipment. Are they current?
http://arrl.org/affiliated-
• Post office bulk mailing permit.
6. Is club station license secure? (Is station license current?)
http://arrl.org/files/file/
7. Club property inventory accounted for? (Is inventory list current? Does list show location and custody responsibilities?)
8. Is inventory of materials in club safe deposit box current?
9. List of all bank accounts and holdings. (Is list current and updated quarterly?)
10. Club archives (Are historical records, minutes, newsletters, photos, ledgers, and awards in safe, secure location?)
11. Contracts and agreements in force. (Are they current? Are all associated papers present in appropriate file?)
12. Is current information on utilities billed to the club (power, water, telephone), including billing addresses, on hand?
13. Frequency coordination correspondence. Is repeater pair assignment current?
14. Is club Postal Box current?
15. Club email list current?
Socorro Hamfest report by Ed James, KA8JMW, Assistant Section Manager
Friday afternoon, I meet up with John Davis, WB4QDX at the Albuquerque Sunport and headed south. We missed the scheduled VLA tour, however Dave Finley, N1IRZ stayed on late and was able to provide John and I an abbreviated tour. The Friday banquet was well attended with over 50 in attendance. Paul Harden, NA5N, longtime CW & QRP enthusiast gave an excellent presentation on the history of Morse code from its inception and use in the railroads and maritime, its role in the sinking of the Titanic, to its demise in commercial service. Paul had previously interviewed several former railroad telegraph operators and shared their experiences as part of the program. Overall, I would say an excellent presentation.
The Hamfest was well attended; attendance appeared to be up from last year. The indoor and tailgate sales were active. Icom had shipped in their D-Star radio display and arranged for renowned D-Star enthusiast John Davis, WB4QDX to fly-in and hold both a ‘D-Star intro’ and ‘D-Star & Emcomm’ presentations. The presentations were well attended with standing room only. John also participated in a workshop for D-Star Gateway administrators that was attended by admins from throughout NM and West Texas.
At the ARRL forum I passed along on both of your regret’s for W5YEJ and N5ZGT not being able to attend. About 20 ARRL members attended the ARRL forum including two new league members.
Don Wood, W5FHA talked about the Hero’s Club, the requirements for receiving equipment and the establishment of a station.
1. Written approval from the school’s principal
2. A responsible person on staff (not necessarily a licensed amateur radio operator) to be the custodian of the equipment.
3. A licensed ham, ( with station equipment appropriate license class)
4. Written permission to locate antenna(s)
5. A locked room in order to store the equipment.
Don is always seeking donations for the program; those items not suitable for a school stations are sold to generate funds to support the program.
FCC proposed rulemaking change in regard to Amateur Licensing Rules was discussed among those in attendance: of the three points discussed
1. To allow exam credit for expired licenses.
2. To reduce the number of VEs from three to two
3. To allow remote testing
Most concerns were over the concept of remote testing, via video link vs. in-person testing and how it would be implemented. In particular the ‘how’s’ of implementation and the potential for fraud and abuse. Encouraged those so inclined to their provide feedback to their FCC no later than December 24th.
I put in a plug for the 2013 RMD convention to be held the weekend of June 28th in Estes Park, CO. Additional information on the event is available at http://www.hamconcolorado.org/
Mentioned the upcoming ARRL sweepstakes. CW event is on the first weekend of November, Phone on the third weekend. Encouraged all to get on the air and participate.
Doug May KF5AVG asked if the ARRL still offered any on-line technical continuing education courses, no one in the room could answer, I referred him to the leagues website.
There was a question from the audience in regard to recent restrictions on amateur use in the use of 23cm band and ‘USAF protected frequencies’ no one in attendance was able to provide any information. (Note: Rocky Mountain Division Director, N5ZGT, advises ARRL has been working closely with FAA on this topic, and is helping to facilitate the relocation (in frequency) of offending repeaters as the system is being rolled-out.)
Reminded all that ARRL is a member organization and that the leadership depends on our feedback to improve the organization. Contact information for both the New Mexico Section and RMD leadership can be found on page 15 & 16 of every QST magazine. That for NM Section, field organization matters, contact Bill, W5YEY and for League organizational or ARRL staff matters to contact Brian, N5ZGT.
Hero’s Club by Don Wood, W5FHA, past Section Manager
The “Hero’s club” is a listing of those generous hams who have contributed equipment for our efforts to get radio clubs into the schools and encourage the students to become active hams. The donated equipment will be available to any school amateur radio club in the state. A licensed amateur will be needed as the custodian of the equipment. There are only three requirements to obtain this equipment. 1) The custodian of the equipment must be 18 years of age or older and a General Class licensee or better, 2) The club must be sanctioned by the school, 3) A member of the school staff must be the sponsor of the club. The school sponsor does not have to be a ham. Available equipment is currently being inventoried and tested. Contact Don Wood, W5FHA (w5fha@arrl.net) for a list of the available equipment or to make your donation.
Hero’s club contributors include:
Robert Fox, KA5VRV; Christopher Aas, NB5T; William L. Nohrn, N5UNB; Raymond J. Caraveo, N5IZV; Evan R. Newlon, WB5HAM; Stuart Simon (Stu), K2QBU with a second donation; Jess Wright, W5QDW – SK; Don Wood, W5FHA; Ray Hill, KB5SF; Robbie Hill, KC5FT; Dan Oppenheimer, WB6CRG SK; John Ryan, NO5LF; Julianne P. King, KD5EFT; Larry Moore, WB5IZW; Judy Moore, KA5CRK; Ray Arvidson, W5RAU-SK; Robbie Arvidson, N4CHK; Roy Venaglia, KD5GBY; Art Priebe, N5ART.
Albuquerque DX Association elects new officers by Bill Mader, K8TE
The Albuquerque DX Association (ADXA) is pleased to announce their new officers: President, Jim Koshmider, K8OZ; Secretary-Treasurer, Jim Duffey, KK6MC; Activities Manager, Bill Mader, K8TE; and Information Officer, Bob Finch, W9YA. We meet each third Wednesday at the Copper Canyon on Gibson SE in Albuquerque at 5:30 p.m. for dinner followed by our monthly meeting which begins with a program related to DXing or Contesting. If you would like to learn more about these subjects plus the equipment, antennas, software, etc. to have more fun in ham radio, please join us. We also meet each Tuesday evening at 8:00 Mountain Time on 3857. Learn more at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Albuquerque DX Association announces Field Day 2012 results by Bill Mader, K8TE
We improved our score once again in 2012. We managed to eke out just under 700 points more than the W5YA group to take fourth overall out of 2,617 participating groups and first in Class 6 A with 20,654 points and 6,026 QSOs. Murphy stopped by for a visit disabling a coax connector at the SSB station (1,451 QSOs, 2,902 points) around 2:00 Sunday morning. Our CW team earned the bulk of our QSOs and points with their four rigs: 2,973 QSOs for 11,892 points. PSK31 provided 223 QSOs and 892 points.
GOTA paid off well this year. When we added their QSO and bonus points they gave us another 1,920 points plus 40 more points for youth participants. We earned 2,210 bonus points proving attention to detail and hard work pay off! Still, there were another 500 bonus points we could have earned but missed this year.
New Mexico had 30 entries listed in the ARRL’s results for 2012 with 318 participants making 19,865 QSOs for a total of 90,226 points. Considering the size of our ham population, I think we made a pretty good showing! Now it’s time to plan for FD 2013.
Metro area repeaters now linked
Thanks to the efforts of Gary Bonebrake, W5BI, and Conny Jonsson, N5HC, the Bernalillo County and Sandoval County ARES repeaters are now operating as a linked network. Repeaters and their locations are 145.13 in Albuquerque, 145.15 in Tijeras (Cedro Peak), 442.050 in Albuquerque south valley, 147.10 and 443.0 in Rio Rancho, 443.1 on Pajarito Peak above San Ysidro and 147.08 at La Madera (near Paa-Ko Ridge golf course on northeast Sandias). All repeaters can be accessed with a 100 Hz PL tone using standard offsets. The two networks can be unlinked if required.
Addition to Taos Amateur Radio Club repeater system by Lew Baker, K5LEW
We are very excited to announce the addition of a new club repeater in Taos. This repeater gives us a repeater site for the local community in the vicinity of Taos, NM. It will serve us well, should anything happen to our mountain repeaters. Here’s the frequency information: 444.875+, 123.0Hz. We are happy to lend a hand to anyone needing radio programming assistance. Now, for an added bonus, Mickey Blake, N5TSV and John Wheatley, W5JHW, have linked this new repeater with the Angel Fire repeater on Agua Fria peak. To access this link through the Angel Fire repeater, you need only add an encode PL tone of 100.0Hz to your radio. Thanks to both Mickey and John for their great work! This linked repeater system gives us a fantastic reach from Taos to many remote areas including, Valle Vidal, Moreno valley and Bobcat pass. In conjunction with the existing Red River/Taos Ski Valley link, we have nearly completed our goal of an “Enchanted Circle” amateur radio link.
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ARRL AFFILIATED CLUBS IN NM
Alamogordo Amateur Radio Club Hamfest: The club meets at 8:00am on the first Saturday of the month for breakfast at Alamo Grill. Interested hams are invited to join this informal meal and rag chew. Regular monthly meetings on the third Sunday of each month at 3PM at the Parish Hall of St John’s Episcopal Church, 1114 Indiana Ave. http://www.qsl.net/k5lrw/index.htm
Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club breakfast and meeting at Ropers on 1st Saturday of the month Breakfast at 7AM, meeting at 8AM. Ropers is on the south side of Central east of Wyoming. http://www.qsl.net/albuquerquearc/index.html
Albuquerque DX Association meets on the third Wednesday of each month at the Copper Canyon Café on Gibson. Dinner at 5:30 and meeting at 6:30. http://www.qsl.net/adxa/index.htm
Amateur Radio Caravan Club (Albuquerque) conducts a Net each Sunday evening at 9:00 PM local time on 145.33 and 444.0 Mhz. for the purpose of holding club business, passing traffic, making announcements of interest to Hams and just getting to know each other. Next meeting officers on at the Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 8600 Academy Road in Albuquerque. http://abqcaravanclub.org/
Duke City Hamfest: For a wrap-up of the 2012 DCHF go to http://www.dukecityhamfest.org/.
Estancia Valley Amateur Radio Association meets at the Chili Hills II Restaurant across old Route 66 (Hwy 333) from the TA Travel Center in Moriarty on the second Saturday of each month. Breakfast at 0830 and meeting at 0900. Nets each Tuesday on 146.72 at 7:30 PM. http://qsl.net/nm5ev/
Greyhound Amateur Radio Club (Portales) conducts the Greyhound ARES net every Tuesday evening at 7:00PM on the 147.000 repeater. The club meets the first and third Saturdays each month. Meetings are held in Conference Room 203 in the KENW Broadcast Center on the campus of Eastern New Mexico University.For locations and frequencies see http://org.enmu.edu/enmuarc/events.php
High Desert Amateur Radio Club: next club meeting will be on Saturday, November 17 at 10:00 am at the West Albuquerque Police Station, 4051 Ellison Ave. NW, directly across the street from Cibola High School. VE testing will be held after the meeting at 12:15 AM. PLEASE NOTE NEW DAY AND TIME. http://www.nm5hd.com/
HDARC ARRL VEC team VE report for October 2012 reported by Marty Soffran, NM5MS, HDARC ARRL VEC liaison
October 20 HDARC Monthly Test Session (3 examines)
El 2 – 2 persons passed
El 4 – 1 person passed
Oct 25 – Special Test Session in Santa Fe (1 examine)
El 4 – 1 person passed
Los Alamos Amateur Radio Club: sponsors two weekly nets; a Two Meter FM Net that meets on Sunday at 2000 local time on the W5PDO repeater at 146.88 MHz and a Ten Meter USB Net that meets later on Sunday at 2100 local time on 28.440 MHz. Meetings the second Friday of each month at CD-1, 4017 Arkansas St, Los Alamos. Meeting starts at 8PM but get there early! http://www.laarc.org/
Mesilla Valley Radio Club (Las Cruces): Next meeting September 8th at the Club House. Breakfast at 0700, meeting at 0800. Wednesday nets at 1845 on 146.64 repeater. Read about Route 66 on the air at http://n5bl.org/LO1210.pdf
Mid Rio Grande Amateur Radio Club (Albuquerque): Meetings on the 2nd Sunday of the month at APD’s Northwest Area Command across from Cibola High School at 1300. The MRGARC also meets for coffee at Quarters on the west side.. Check their calendar at http://nm5mr.com/.
Mimbres Valley Radio Club, Deming: Next Club Meeting September 12th at 6:00 PM at Deming High School. http://www.mimbresvalleyradioclub.com/index.html
New Mexico Big River Contester specializes in…….contesting! More info contact aa5b@arrl.net
New Mexico SAR Support Team, Albuquerque. Breakfast meetings at Copper Canyon Café at 5455 Gibson Blvd the second Saturday of each month at 0730. http://nmsarsupport.org/
Pecos Valley Amateur Radio Club (Roswell) will conduct VE testing on December 15, 2012. PVARC conducts the Yucca net every evening at 7 PM on 147.18 repeater. (From the PVARC Newsletter) http://www.qsl.net/w5zu/
Santa Fe Amateur Radio Club:
SFARC meets every Saturday morning for breakfast at 7:00AM local time at the Pantry Restaurant in Santa Fe, located at 1820 Cerrillos Road. http://w5sf.com/index.html
Sacramento Mountains Radio Club meets the second Sunday of each month at 2 PM at the James Canyon VFD. This entire week they are conducting Technician classes with testing to follow — good luck to all the prospective new hams! Check their web site for net times and frequencies at http://sacramentomountainsradioclub.org/.
Sandoval County ARES Meetings on the 3rd Monday of each month at 1900 – location varies between Station 1 and Station 5 in Rio Rancho or the County Transportation Bldg. Net on Monday, except the 3rd Monday, on 147.10, 443.0, 443.1 and 147.08 repeaters (plus the Bern-Co ARES repeaters) at 1930. Nmscares.org
Sierra Blanca ARC meets monthly, usually on the fourth Thursday of the month at the Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club, 1 Country Club Drive, Alto, NM at 6:00 PM. Check the web site before heading out http://www.sbarcnm.org/meetinginfo.html
Socorro Amateur Radio Association: SARA meetings are held, beginning at 1930 hrs local on the second Wednesday of each month (except December) in the Socorro County Annex, 198 Neel Ave. Use front door, turn right go to the back of building. http://www.socorroara.org/ for info.
The Eastern NM Amateur Radio Club, Clovis: Meetings on the 2nd Saturday of each month at the Disabled American Veterans Hall at 220 W Fourth St in Clovis at 10 AM. For local frequencies and other info about the club visit http://www.ka5b.org/index.html
Taos Amateur Radio Club For a complete listing of Taos area repeaters and other club info go to http://www.taosarc.com/index.html
Totah Amateur Radio Club serving the Four Corners area will have their next meeting on Thursday, September 13that Fire Station 6 at 1930 with a presentation by Floyd, W5OXK, on digital systems. http://totaharc.org/
Upper Rio FM Society, Inc. (Albuquerque) is working a new linking system to replace the current system circa mid 1980’s. The Upper Rio FM Society, Inc., (URFMSI) will hold its next quarterly meeting on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 7:00pm in the Fellowship Hall of the Immanuel Presbyterian Church located at 114 Carlisle Blvd., SE, in Albuquerque. http://www.urfmsi.org/wp/
Valencia County Amateur Radio Association (Belen): Next meeting November 27th at 7PM at the VCARA Clubhouse located at 302 Rio Communities Blvd, Belen, NM. Wednesday evening net on 146.70 at 8PM. VE testing on Saturday, December 1st from 9 AM to noon. http://kc5our.com/wordpress/
Net Traffic Reports for October (reported by ARRL ASM Don Grab, K5BIS):
NM Roadrunner Traffic Net: 1364/116
NM Breakfast Club Net: 1205/98
Caravan Club Net: 78/5
Four Corners Net: 594/47
Yucca Net: 691/33
Rustys Raiders Net: 514/91
Valencia Cnty. ARA Net: 72/29
SCAT Net: 1056/198
Red Cross NM. Radio Net: 82/5
Bernalillo County ARES had 4 sessions with 70 checkins (reported by NM TM Jay Miller, W5WHN)
Coming Attractions – mark your calendars!
November 10th 0600-1200: High Desert ARC Tailgate at the Intel, Rio Rancho, south parking lot. See the flier for time restrictions and parking location: http://www.nm5hd.com/documents/20121110_TailgateA.pdf
June 28 – 30 2013: Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Estes Park, CO. http://www.hamconcolorado.org/wordpress/
July 17-20, 2014. Dateline August 29, 2012 NEWINGTON, CT – ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio®, announced the organization will hold its national Centennial Convention in Hartford, Connecticut, July 17-20, 2014. The Convention will mark 100 years of the ARRL’s founding in Hartford. The theme for ARRL’s Centennial year is “Advancing the Art and Science of Radio — since 1914.”
Silent Key Report:
Richard L. Schwoebel, WY5Z, of Albuquerque. Director of Sandia National Labs, member of Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Balloon Museum and technical director of Double Eagle II. Passed away Aug 22, 2012. (K5TEE report).
Nathan A. Kirby, KA1MW, of Tijeras. Long time operator from Tijeras known as “Doc”. Had a long military career in Air Guard, Air Force and Navy Reserve (CPO). Passed away Oct 9th at 72 years of age. (K5BIS report).
General Information
The Section Web site, designed and implemented by Mike Pendley, K5ATM, can be found at www.arrl-nm.org. If your club or group is not yet set up on the web site please contact Mike at k5atm (at) arrl.net and he will take care of you. Our thanks to Mike for the great job he’s doing.
Visit our national organization, ARRL, at arrl.org.
To make sure your club events are reported in the Section News please email me at w5yej@arrl.net.
73, Bill W5YEJ/100
