Tri-state Amateur Radio Assn
P.O. Box 4120 • Huntington, WV • 25729 • Repeater 146.760 PL 131.8 • Packet 145.070
Past & Present - Events and News
T.A.R.A. Meeting
Dont' forget the T.A.R.A. meeting on Tuesday April 17th, 2007. We
are looking forward to seeing you all there.
Don't forget the Museum Spring Meet on Saturday April 21, 2007.
Much of the stuff that will be in the auction will be out on
the tables for your viewing pleasure at the T.A.R.A. meeting.
You may even have some items that you would like to sell at
the flea market or even donate to the auction.
I hope to see you at both events.
Dwight Smith WB8JPJ VP T.A.R.A.
Ham Testing Session
Hello VE's: (04/09/2007)
Time to ask the question again, "Can you be there
Saturday April 14th, 2007?"
Testing is at the Radio Museum at 9 a.m. as usual.
I'm counting noses to make sure we have enough so I'd
appreciate hearing from you either way.
Thanks so much.
Garry, W8OI
TARA Meeting (05/14/06 8:46PM)
Don't forget the meeting on Tuesday May 16th. We'll be discussing
Field Day, Hamfest, and I have received the videos from ARRL. We
will try to watch a selection for our second half. Hope to see you
there!
73
Benny
Hello, all: ( 03/06/06 )
Here are some considerations for this year's Field Day. Please comment if
you're interested.
The Barboursville park site would cost $200 instead of $100. We are happy
with the site and know where everything goes, but some of you considered
$100 too much to spend and might have problems with the doubled fee.
One alternate site has been proposed: the Tri-State Fire Academy (Rt 2, just
outside the floodwall beyond Guyandotte).
On the "good" side:
This fits very nicely with current efforts by EOC administration and
personnel to work with hams and to encourage more of their people to be
licensed. We could even have some extra help with publicity.
Gordon Merry would bring the county's emergency communications trailer (has
HF radio, needs antenna) to the site and provide generator power.
We could list ourselves as a "foxtrot" class station, one established in
cooperation with a served agency for emergency response. (In that class,
the rules about non-commercial power are a bit different; we would only need
to demonstrate that it's working, not run the whole 24 hours that way.)
Climate-controlled rest space, bathrooms, and kitchen are available in the
school building.
On the "bad" side:
There's an enormous power-transmission line at one end of the property.
(Can somebody run up there with a mobile HF radio and antenna and let me
know what it puts out, where, and whether it's impossible or just a serious
nuisance?)
There are normal power and phone lines all around the school site, too.
The site isn't elevated and there are hills just across the road.
I don't know about cost yet.
Other site suggestions are welcome.
73
Judy
WD8EOP
(2/5/2006)
Hello VE's:
Time to ask the question again, "Can you be there Saturday
morning 02/11/2006." Testing is at the Radio Museum at
9 a.m. as usual.
I'm counting noses to make sure we have enough so I'd
appreciate hearing from you either way.
Thanks so much.
Dwight - WB8JPJ
wb8jpj@verizon.net
edited by ki8du
(12/11/2005)
Just a reminder to everyone, that we will have our annual
Club Christmas get together and dinner on Tuesday Night,
December 13th, at the Golden Corral Restaurant on Route 60
East in Barboursville. Please bring your wife, girlfriend,
kids, or anyone else that would like to attend (No dogs
allowed, Dwight). I hope to see all of you there, but if
you can't make it, let me wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!,
(OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS, OR HAPPY HANNUKA, OR WHATEVER ELSE I'M
SUPPOSED TO SAY TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT!)
73
Benny
Hello VE's: (11/27/05)
Time to ask the question again, "Can you be there
Saturday December 10th ?"
Testing is at the Radio Museum at 9 a.m. as usual.
I'm counting noses to make sure we have enough so I'd
appreciate hearing from you either way.
Thanks so much.
Garry, W8OI
[edited by KI8DU]
To all TARA Members: (10/24/05)
Lawrence County OH ARES and SOARA are participating in an
emergency-services showcase at K-Mart Plaza, Burlington, this Saturday,
October 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain date is Nov. 5). There will be
emergency vehicle and equipment displays, health and safety info, police
and fire departments, and others.
Cabell County ARES will be cooperating with Lawrence County for this
showcase.
There will be maps of our areas posted at the display. All hams are
invited to check in by radio during the display hours. When you call,
we will put a flag on the map at your location with your callsign. We
will also want to know your level of emergency preparedness; we will
add symbols to your flag to show our collective capabilities. Do you
have battery or generator emergency power? Portable radios and
antennas? Have you completed any of the training available to us:
ARRL, CERT, FEMA, Red Cross, SKYWARN, etc? Do you serve on a safety
team where you work? Do you belong to a group with "homeland security"
responsibilities: Coast Guard auxiliary, public health department,
fire department, EMS, law enforcement, CAP? Do you have special
background or equipment: aero or marine mobile, RDF, weather station?
Anything useful that I have left out?
We hope to cover the map. You can help by giving us a call any time
between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. next Saturday, October 29. The main
frequency for the showcase will be 146.715, but we will do our best to
monitor .76, .985, .94, or 440 repeaters as well. HF frequencies to
be arranged: let us know if you want to meet any place special.
If you want to come to the showcase and help, you are welcome. Please
let us know you are coming.
Judy Taylor
WD8EOP
P. S. watch for news of a Cabell County ARES drill November 12, 2005
(10/1/2005)
Next Saturday, October 8, is our next VE session. Would you let me
know whether you plan to be there so that I can make sure we have
enough.
Thanks so much.
Garry
Hello everyone, (8/1/2005)
Meeting this Friday at 4 o'clock pm at the Fieldhouse with Don Ewanis.
Anyone that would like to attend is welcome. We will go over table
layout and finalize plans for the Hamfest. Shouldn't be there more
than an hour.
Thanks,
Benny
06/15/2005)
Field Day 2005 will again be held at Barboursville City Park, our
normal location. Club members and the general public alike is
encouraged to participate. We also need your help in the initial
setup and tear down of the station equipment. Setup will commence
9am Saturday June 25th and tear down will start around noon Sunday
June 26th.
As you know Field Day is a continuous 24 hour, national event. Come
and operate your favorite mode(s). During this annual event, anyone
may operate any of the TARA Clubs online radio's. There are no age
limit requirements. Please bring your friends, neighbors, the entire
family along with your favorite dish. The club will provide the
drinks, hot dogs and hamburgers.
For any questions that you may have you can contact Garry Ritchie-W8OI
@733-1300
(02/15/05)
Here are the Minutes of the January TARA meeting. (Click: Meetings Link)
Also the VE testing session this past Saturday had a large turnout.
Eleven people tested and nine of them either received a new or
upgraded license. One upgrade to General and another to Extra.
WB8JPJ
Hello everyone, ( 02/09/05 )
I haven't heard from many of the VE's about this weeks VE testing
at the Museum. Some of you can't make it for one reason or
another so please try to be there to help out. This Saturday,
February 12, 2005. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Dwight WB8JPJ
Hello everyone, ( 02/05/05 )
There will be a VE testing session next Saturday, February 12, 2005 at
the Radio Museum, Let me know if you are planning on being there.
Thanks,
Dwight
wb8jpj@verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 8:18 AM
Subject: Testing this Saturday
Hello VE's:
Testing at the radio museum is this Saturday at 9? Would you let
me know whether you can be there please?
Thanks.
Garry
Christmas Dinner/Meeting
TARA dinner will be at 7 p.m. in the private room on the east end of
Golden Corral(US Rte 60 East). It will be on TARA's normal third
Tuesday meeting night, December 21.
As always, we get our own food and pay our own way but enjoy each
other's company. And also as usual members are encouraged to bring
a wife or guest. Very little business, if any, gets done at this
holiday meeting.
Garry
Hello hams: ( 11/05/2004 )
A reminder that TARA is asking you to consider bringing a new toy to the
next TARA meeting on Tuesday, November 16 along with either your QSL
card or your name, address and call written on an index card. We will
attach your card to your toy and TARA will ship it to the hurricane area
of Florida for distribution to a hurricane-harmed family. The card is
so that ARRL can keep track of how many hams participate in this good
cause.
The following story about this drive is from today's ARRL NEWSLETTER.
73,
Garry
W8OI
==>UNITED WAY REPORTS HUGE HAM RADIO RESPONSE TO ARRL HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE
The United Way in Martin County, Florida, reports "a huge response" by the
Amateur Radio community to the ARRL's call to support a holiday toy drive
on behalf of the agency's "White Doves Holiday Project." The ARRL effort
aims to provide toys for youngsters left homeless or displaced by a
relentless string of hurricanes earlier this year. Carol Hodnett, who
directs the United Way of Martin County's Volunteer and Community Resource
Center (VCRC) says ARRL members from Maine to California have sent toys or
money, and more are arriving every day.
"Because of the overall strain on our state, we have been looking outside
the area for help in supporting the White Doves Holiday Project this
year," Hodnett said. "We are so incredibly thankful to the American Radio
Relay League for thinking of the children in our area in planning its toy
drive."
Among the responses: Hodnett says a representative from an ARRL-affiliated
club in Cary, North Carolina, is planning to drive a truckload of toys to
the White Doves warehouse at the Martin County Fairgrounds next month. The
ham radio club at Salt Brook Elementary School in New Providence, New
Jersey, also is planning to contribute to the toy drive, she said.
Ham radio operators maintained emergency communication operations in
several Florida counties following hurricanes Charley, Frances, Jeanne and
Ivan, Hodnett noted, and "they learned about the devastation firsthand or
through their networks."
ARRL Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says that while severe
weather affected many areas of the US to differing degrees, Florida was
hit the worst, and thousands of families were left without a place to
live. "For a child suddenly living out of a tent, or car, or someone
else's home, the 2004 holiday season will be anything but jolly," Pitts
says. "But hams are coming to their rescue in a new way."
Hams across the country are encouraged to purchase an unwrapped toy for a
boy or girl aged 1 to 14 and send it with a QSL card or 3x5 card
displaying their call sign to: Ham Radio, The United Way White Dove
Project, 50 Kindred St--Suite 207, Stuart, FL 34994. Monetary donations
also are welcome. Send gifts and donations prior to Thanksgiving,
Thursday, November 25. Martin County United Way has agreed to serve as the
collection point and also coordinate distribution to the surrounding
counties.
"The thousands of hours hams spent in providing free emergency
communications to the families hurt by the hurricanes is now being matched
by the thousands of dollars in caring for their children," Pitts said. The
first shipment of toys from ARRL Headquarters staffers should go out by
November 8.
Additional information about the ARRL holiday toy drive are on the ARRL
Web site .
From: W8OI
Time: Thursday, October 14 2004 (3:58PM)
Subject: Radio Museum Program
A great FREE program tomorrow night (Friday) at the Museum of Radio and
Technology.
Not only is it free, there will be free refreshments too.
Fred Crews, long-time electronics honcho at the Greenbank Radiotelescope
Observatory, will give an update on what's happening at Greenbank now.
He's done this many times in the past to rave reviews.
7 p.m. Friday and FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Subject:
Next TARA meeting Program Set with W8DL
From:KC8FS@aol.com
Date:Sat, 09 Oct 2004 09:34:08 -0400
To:W8oi@aol.com
CC:W8DL@aol.com
Garry,
I don't have easy access to email address to some of the TARA folks so
would you mind spreading the word, let Benny, Mike, Judy and others
that our WV Section ARRL Technical Coordinator Don Lemley, W8DL has
graciously agreed to attend the October 18 TARA meeting and provide a
program on the basics of operating satellites. Benny inquired about
this as a program and I had told him I would touch base with Don. He
has been there, done that and should provide an interesting program
introducing Sat Op to the TARA folks that are wanting to pursue that.
Thanks!
Hal, W8HC
Hello loyal VE folks: (08/07/2004)
Next Saturday is the hamfest, one of our most active VE sessions every
year. So I need to know if we have enough VE's willing to tear
themselves away from the hamfest floor to do the testing at 10:30 a.m.
Would you let me know whether you can serve?
Thanks so much
Garry
W8OI
Dear VEs: (12/7/2003)
Another two months, another VE session. Can you make it to the
Radio Museum next Saturday, December 13 at 9 a.m?
Thanks.
Garry
W8OI
For our Emergency Communications notes. (10/22/2003)
Red Cross News:
Congratulations to our two ERV drivers, Dwight Smith WB8JPJ and James May.
Here are the dates for CPR and First Aid classes at the Red Cross in
Huntington. Please note that these are "Community" classes, so our
Disaster Action Teams do not have first priority for enrollment. If
there is space in a class, you are welcome -- and it's free!
To enroll or to ask for more information, call Hillary in Health & Safety
Services at 526-2995. Identify yourself as a Disaster Services volunteer
who needs a CPR and First Aid class. Ask if your preferred date is
available.
October 23, 9:00 a.m. Adult CPR with First Aid Basics
October 25, 9:00 a.m. Pet First Aid
October 27 and 28, 4:30 p.m. Adult, Infant, & Child CPR with First Aid
Basics, parts I and II
November 6, 9:00 a.m. Adult CPR with First Aid Basics
November 15, 8:30 a.m. Adult, Infant, & Child CPR with First Aid Basics
November 17, 9:00 a.m. Adult CPR with First Aid Basics
November 19 and 20, 4:30 p.m. Adult, Infant, & Child CPR with First Aid
Basics, parts I and II
Citizen Corps News:
Oscar Adkins is still running in place waiting for money to fall from
the sky. He hopes to schedule the CERT course in November. We won't
have much advance notice if he does manage it.
Judy Taylor, WD8EOP
Cabell County ARES
Hi All
Just a reminder we are going to be at the boy scouts camp arrowhead this
Saturday. They want us there ready to go by 9am. This is a fun event and
you are really missing out if you miss this one. Please email or call me
if you plan to attend 697-0805. If you cannot make it that early or
cannot stay all day then come for whatever time you have.
73 de N8OP Bill
Dear VE team:
This coming Saturday, October 11, is our next VE sesssion at 9 a.m. in the
radio museum.
Would you let me know whether you can serve, please?
Thanks.
Garry
Dear TARA hams: (Wed 10/1/03 8:47 AM)
We have been asked to provide communications again this year at a walk
to raise funds for the fight against diabetes.
That Diabetes Walk is this coming Saturday morning. We gather at the
main picnic pavillion in Ritter Park at 9 a.m. to get our supplies
and instructions. We should be out of there by noon with bellies full
of pizza. They usually hand us each a commemorative t-shirt as well.
If you can make it, please let me know so I can count noses.
Thanks.
Garry
W8OI
Thanks a million.
Garry, W8OI
Congratulations to these brave souls for their completion of three
Red Cross courses (Introduction to Disasters, Mass Care Overview,
and Weapons of Mass Destruction/Terrorism) on Saturday,
September 20:
Dwight, WB8JPJ
Mike aka General Nippy, KB8NPY
Okey, WV0KEY
Ralph, KB9ORD
Judy, WD8EOP
Jim, no call
and to Clarence, KK5ZP, who had already completed the first two classes
and joined us for the WMD/T course.
It was a long day. We demolished a stack of pizzas, a shopping-bag of
chips, several liters of pop, and all the cookies.
The ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) class, originally scheduled for
October 4, may have to be postponed because of Hurricane Isabel: the
teacher went to North Carolina and the vehicle went to Martinsburg.
Watch this space for news of the ERV class and for further training for
our new Disaster Action Teams.
73,
Judy
WD8EOP
Red Cross Training
Saturday, September 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 3? p.m. Seth Staker KB8KMI will
offer introductory classes for anyone interested in emergency
communications for the Red Cross. Three classes are scheduled: Intro to
Disasters, Mass Care, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Lunch is included.
Seth would like to establish a number of two-ham teams who would be his
Disaster Assistance Teams, the first Red Cross representatives to be sent
to a disaster scene. These Teams would be able to assess the need for
various types of assistance at the scene and relay that information
quickly. Seth warns us that this is a large commitment, but also says
he can really use this help.
Team members would need training in many areas, for example, first aid
and damage assessment. Training is provided by the Red Cross
(it's free!). Other courses will be offered this fall. One of the
least-frequently-offered courses, Emergency Response Vehicle, will be
offered October 4 in Winfield. I know, we have 42 things to do on
October 4. Persons who would like to drive the Red Cross ERV will
need this course. Anyone wishing to take the ERV course must already
have completed the Intro to Disasters.
If you're looking for a public-service challenge, please consider this
opportunity.
Judy
WD8EOP
ARES Drill:
If you're not going to Jackson's Mill, please consider participating in
a local emergency drill this coming Saturday, August 23, at 23rd
Street and 3rd Avenue in Huntington, WV.
The drill is a simulated haz-mat event with rail cars and about 100
role-playing victims. Many area responders (EMS, fire, police,
hospitals, Red Cross, etc.) will be using this event as training.
ARES is among the groups INVITED to participate actively in the
response.
The drill begins at 2:00 p.m. Some equipment and responders will be in
place by 11:00 a.m. The "victims" are to arrive about noon, and
organizers believe the site will be very crowded any time after that.
It is a long day for everyone -- the drill goes until 8:00 p.m. We will
be able to use everyone who can show up, and you are welcome to come for
whatever couple of hours you can give us.
Bring your mobile or handheld, pencil, paper, water -- whatever else is
in your "go kit."
See you at the TARA meeting on Tuesday.
73,
Judy Taylor
WD8EOP
Hi All (Thursday, August 14 2003)
The club campout this year will be held the last weekend of next month.
No plans have been made yet. So mark it down and plan to be off
work and have a fun weekend and lets hope dry. The regular club meeting
will be the 3rd Tuesday as always. Hope to see you there.
73 de N8OP Bill