WELCOME

UAARC meets the second Monday of the month at 7:00PM
in the Upshur Rural Electric Coop auditorium
1200 W. Tyler St., Gilmer, TX

DEC 12th is our next club meeting. We invite everyone interested in Amateur Radio, licensed or not, to join us.

Business Meeting will be limited to presenting Appreciation plaques and Certificates,
followed by a light Christmas Dinner and special door prizes.
Family event, so bring guest.

Programs to come: January 2023 dues need to be paid.
February officer elections. Latter in the year; Dr. Ed Fong by way of video conference on twin lead J-Pole design, J-Pole construction, fox hunt, field trip, etc..

NEW CLUB REPEATER INSTALLATION
The Simpson Mt. repeater site is now on the air!

Early tests show much improved coverage of Upshur and surrounding counties. Be sure to try it out, if not already done so.
A very big THANK YOU to all the club members who participated in the clearing, repair work, installation, donations and moral support!!

UAARC News

Nov 14
Rainy cold night, but still we had 24 members and visitors present and a really good time. By meetings end, we now have 40 members! Hot coffee seemed to be the drink of choice and Debbie and William brought very good treats that went well with coffee.

Important business was conducted, with a quorum present. First, the BOD presented a request to purchase ARRL Equipment Insurance to cover the equipment that has been donated to the club. Members approved the purchase which will be made yet this year.

Secondly, with elections coming up William accepted the Elections Chairman appointment again. He ask Debbie KI5BHT and John W5BWC if they are willing to run for office one more year. The By-Laws require anyone running for the same office more than three terms be approved to run by 2/3 of a quorum present at a general meeting.

By paper ballots, a vote was taken to allow the President and Secretary/Treasurer to run one more year. Both were approved by more than 2/3 of the members present. This was not an election, simply they can run for office one more year along with any other candidates that are nominated.

The program was a slide show of Ham Shacks. As each was shown, the respective Ham describe his/her shack. It was a fun project, seeing other shacks, some of which are quite elaborate.

Planning for the Christmas Dinner was described by Jo Ann KA5AZK, the Refreshment Chairwoman and Debbie KI5BHT. Jo Ann passed around a list of side dishes for members to sign up to bring. If interested contact Jo Ann or an officer.

Oct 10
Meetings improve each month – we may getting the hang of this – hi. Randy Fulco K5SL from the Shreveport club presented “SWR – when it does and doesn’t matter”. Not only a very interesting and thought provoking presentation, but also a good show and tell! Many thanks to Randy and Mike!

Debbie KI5BHT and Don KG5CMS are planning our first K5UAR, club Parks on the Air activation, Sunday, October 23 at the Daingerfield State Park. Pot luck lunch for those who wish. Be sure and come out for awhile. You may operate or watch or both. All are welcome. Contact KI5BHT for more details.

Jerry, WA5OKO demonstrated two different approaches to building VHF antennas that have a 60 dB notch in their pattern. Excellent for DF or rejecting a strong interfering signal. Contact Jerry for more info at wa5oko8678@gmail.com.

Welcome to our LETARC visitors! It was sure good to have you come by, you may come anytime and as often as you can. We had 34 members and visitors present with really good refreshments provided by Ray, KE5VJH.

I forgot to announce that William, KG5SVM has created a new Calendar page on the website. It is really nice allowing you to easily see up coming events, much better than our previous page. Please thank William when you see or talk to him next.

Rod, KN0WER and Kuni, KT4LKS continue to work on our repeater coverage mapping. Once completed it will reduce the effort to check weak spots considerably and will be very useful for emergency communications coverage analysis.

Sep 12
Well, this was a really good meeting with a lot of discussion and participation. KI5BHT and KI5CMS are planning a Parks on the Air event, maybe in October, with a pot-luck meal in the park.

KA5AZK is working on a “Welcome to Ham Radio” and a “Welcome to the Club” package for us to hand out at UAARC meeting.

She is also planning another “Traffic Handling Training” session. If you are interested in attending please let her know. Time and place TBD.

An exercise to map the new repeater RF coverage is being planned as a club project. KN0WER is working with a computer simulator to identify specific points to check. If you are interested in helping please contact W5BWC. Time TBA.

The ARRL NTX Section manager told us he is working on a round table to discuss bringing back a major Ham Convention in the North Texas area. I am very excited as I miss Hamcom. An informal vote showed 19 out of 22 would plan to attend such a convention, with 12 indicating they would be willing to help put it on.

We also discussed an Elmers class to help new Hams determine what they are most interested in and how to set up and operate a station.

The program was a slide show of the new repeater project from rat nest to complete. If you missed it and want to view it, the power point is on the “Files” page. It is in pdf format and 5 Mb.

Kuni, KT4LKS brought snacks and drinks, including some really good home made brownies.

Aug 8
Another really good meeting! You are missing a good time if you don’t make the meetings!! We had 24 members plus 3 visitors present and want to welcome Judy KG7JKL and Richard KG7JKK home to Texas and Kelly KG5TEJ from Longview.

Tony KI5OFD supplied refreshments and drinks which we all enjoyed, Thanks Tony!

We talked on the repeater from inside URECC auditorium on HTs. I know that does not sound significant, but considering we could not even hear the repeater inside the building before – let alone talk on it, it was a very big deal.

We had a first time ever Home-brew night. Outstanding projects were presented by Tony KI5OFD, William KG5SVM, Don KG5CMS, Rod KN0WER (KI5VAI) and Phillip KJ5ZW. This was real enjoyable with lots of questions, comments and sharing of ideas!!

We also had a show of hands for those interested in participating in a club sponsored Elmer’s class. This is not a license class, but a class to help new folks install antennas, learn terms and technology as applied to Amateur Radio. More on this to come.

July 11
You missed a great meeting if you were not at Monday’s club meeting! We had 26 members and guest in attendance with 3 visitors; N5TZM John from Kentucky, K5UYD Jerry and N5WWW Jason. Very warm welcome to these guys and hope you see fit to join us or visit any chance you get.

Jo Ann KA5AZK out did herself with refreshments with her now famous oatmeal cookies and strawberry cream cake. We had a door prize, but I can’t remember who won it, soon as someone reminds me, I’ll put on here.

John N5TZM presented our program on SDR, software defined radio, and how to get started in it inexpensively. Nice program thanks John!

We had an update on K5UAR, the clubs repeater, moving to Simpson Mt. The contributions made by the members in time, material and money was recognized. The entire project has been funded and executed by the members with no funds out of the club’s treasury!

Matt W5MSM our VP announced home-brew night for August meeting. If you have built an Amateur Radio related project and are willing to give a 10 minute talk on it contact Matt.

There was a discussion on planning a future club trip to the Kilgore Broadcast Museum. It is a really neat place and even has a working Amateur Radio Station set up. We will plan on making a club outing of this in the future.

POTA is still in the works. Between busy schedules and the WX it will require some planning, but Don KG5CMS and others are going to make it happen.


May 10
Exciting news!!!! The county asked us to improve our Upshur County emergency communications coverage. I do not think the difficulty of doing so can be overstated. Finding a property at elevation and obtaining permission to use it is a significant task within itself, but as much so, obtaining frequency coordination at high elevation and power is equally so. However, we have succeeded with both.

UAARC is now authorized to use the Mt. Pleasant abandoned 146.94 pair at 712 ft AMSL with 150W ERP. For details, check into the Upshur County ARES net on Thursday evening at 20:00 local. You do not have to be a member, visitors are welcome.

We will stay on 146.90 for the rest of this week, but probably will be on 146.94 by May 19. Please program 146.94, -600, tone 107.2Hz into your radios. If you try 146.90 and do not hear a squelch tail or ID, try 146.94.

April 11
We had our largest crowd yet! We also have four new members; Richard Wells WD5CMZ, Gary Cude W5GWC, Kuni Archer and Rod Archer both passed General Class License Test and waiting for Calls. Welcome to the club!!

We also had four visitors; Cheyann McLendon, Chris Crawford KG5SMZ, Larry Coulter and Shawn Markmann KE5YNB. Always glad to have visitors and enjoyed meeting these folks.

The meeting this month was a review of Upshur ARES participation in the March 21, 2022 tornado that did extensive damage in the county, discussion of Field Day and short slide show and report on the plans to relocate the club repeater to a better location.

Refreshments were provided by Janice KI5OWB and Jeff KI5OVZ and hit the spot with a cup of coffee!

The club’s POTA event for April got caught up in the rush of life, however, Don KG5CMS and Chris KG5SMZ are planning to activate Daingerfield State Park from 8:00AM until 11:00AM on Saturday, April 30, 2022. They invite everyone in the club and others interested to come join them. Don says they have enough rigs to operate more than one station.

March 16
We had a really short meeting on the one evening we had a lot to do!! The WX moving in from the West sent us home early, so much of what was planned is postponed until April.

We did have a very short program on 2M to 70 cm cross-band operation and quick demo. We voted for the club to participate in Field Day 2022 and to again hold it at the QTH of Jo Ann KA5AZK and John W5BWC. Tony KI5OFD volunteered to be FD Coordinator. Please contact him if you wish to help or participate.

Don Gamble KG5CMS XYL donated a beautiful insulated cup with the club logo on it for our door prize. Thank you Heidi and Don!! No doubt you will want to purchase one of your own – it really was spectacular! Watch for info on how and how much coming soon.

We also welcome WD5CMZ, Richard Wells to the club! Good to have you and thanks for joining.

February 14
Election results:
W5MSM elected to second term as Vice President. George, KG5UGY was a really close second with 8 to 9 votes. Congratulations to Matt and thanks to George for running. The President remains W5BWC (uncontested) and the Secretary/Treasurer is KI5BHT (uncontested). Thanks to these folks for accepting these important club roles.

We have a new member Phil, N5ECY bringing us to 23 dues paying members plus one associate member. We also had James, KC5DSP visiting. We had a total of 21 present with 19 licensed Hams.

Bill, K5WAM talked about efforts to establish a club VE program. Seems the next step is for several club members to obtain their VE certification, then assist some existing VE testing session around the area for experience.

We also voted on the final versions of the club’s QSL card design. Thanks to William, KG5SVM for his work on creating, modifying and completing this design.

Matt, W5MSM presented our program, An Introduction to DMR. A very interesting program explaining the capability of this fairly new mode in Amateur Radio.

Refreshments were supplied by George, KG5UGY including his own home baked cookies. He needs to forget selling tractors and open a bakery!

January 11
Outstanding meeting! One new member and 18 renewed members! We met Chris KI5OMH who takes on the role of Upshur County Coordinator for Upshur County ARES and Bill KI5TCK who also joined ARES.

We had an outstanding slide show presentation by William KG5SVM and Jeff KI5OVZ on Parks On The Air. We will plan a club activation soon, as they already registered K5UAR with POTA.

Tony brought all the refreshments we needed and they were very good. Debbie, KI5BHT presented John W5BWC and Jo Ann KA5AZK a very nicely framed picture of 2021 Field Day participants as a thank you for hosting FD.

December 13
We had a good time even though all did not go as planned. Our Secretary/Treasurer turned up with the flu. She had our special door prize, special presentation and decorations. She really hated missing the meeting, as did we missing her.

But, still a good time as we presented URECC with a check for the Scholarship Fund and Matt, W5MSM a certificate of appreciation for his digital projector donation to the club.

We had wonderful Christmas treats that everyone brought. We set up tables so we could relax as we ate and visited. Door prizes were a little short but we passed them out to both Hams and spouses.

November 8
We had a really nice meeting with lots of folks present and one new member and one upgrade!! Time to pay dues for 2022, which we need to do before February Officer Elections. William first Club QSL design won the contest – CONGRATULATIONS to him and thanks for the really nice design!

William also presented a slide show of 20212 UAARC Field Day, along with some humorous dialog.

October 11
We had a nice informal club meeting because we did not have a quorum present. Illness (non-Covid) and pressing engagements disrupted our event.

However, Jerry, WA5OKO presented an interesting program that demonstrated how the wrong coax connectors can degrade a UHF feed-line.

As always the refreshments and time to visit made it a lot of fun.

September 14
Steve L. Smith KG5VK our ARRL North Texas Section Manager did a great job introducing himself and the ARRL to us. He described some really good things now taking place at HQ.

KA5AZK, Jo Ann was presented with the ARRL NTX Section Ham of the year award for 2020. Presentation was delayed due to the virus. More to come on this.

We had visitors from LETARC – really good to see those folks! and two new members; welcome KI5OVZ Jeff and KI5OWB Janice!

August 24
Shreveport NWS will present Fall SKYWARN Training
See ARES Tab for details

August 10
We had a good meeting that ran a little late, but URECC did not kick us out, so we all got our visiting done. We have two new members, welcome to Buddy, W5DW as a Full member and Emily, our Club Photographer as an Associate Member. The ARS Grounding and Lightning Protection was presented by W5BWC, John. The booklet used is on my website if you wish to download it.

July 28 New Items on the Classified Page – HF station for sale

July 20
ARRL posted the UAARC FD Entry as complete. No further documentation needed.

July 13
Best part of last night’s club meeting was the refreshments! We had two new members (renewing members) and a special guest; the Newsletter Editor for LETARC, Don KG5CMS. We were all glad to meet him and enjoyed visiting.

The club members reviewed our Field Day Summary and enjoyed talking about the fun we had. We voted to have a QSL card contest for K5UAR. Everyone is invited to design a card and enter it into the voting, probably at the September meeting. The members will choose our new card design.

Tommy Brooks offered to work on a certificate for us to send to select contacts during FD that documents the contact as UAARC first FD.

Our VP, Matt W5MSM announced up coming programs and told everyone to be thinking about a Home-brew night to be held as the club program sometime in the Spring of 2022.

Several folks are interested in another Club outing before next FD. Suggestions were; Winter FD, Parks on the Air, Yamboree and a seminar session with pot luck lunch or dinner. More to come on this…..

June 29
UAARC Field Day 2021 was an outstanding success!! We had 27 folks show up, good weather, food and fellowship. We even had a good time working around 240 stations. Details will be forthcoming shortly, we are still sorting out the Logs. You really missed out if you did not make the BBQ Brisket Dinner!

Read FD 2021 Summary


June 9
You missed a fun time if you did not make the Club meeting last night!! We had excellent refreshments prepared by KE5VJH and a new stainless steel coffee pot for much better tasting coffee.

The program was a discussion of, and final preparations for, the upcoming Field Day operation. All the identified items needed for FD have been offered by club members, so it looks like we are all set. The links below show who and what on Supplies and Menu Items.

Visitors are welcome anytime during the 24 hour period of operation starting at 1300 Local. If you wish to participate in the BBQ Brisket Dinner at 1900 on June 26 please see the link in the earlier text below. We need to know how many will be in the chow hall.

May 18
The club members have voted to participate in Field Day 2021. We will conduct an actual FD Exercise by operating from a temporary set up in the field in front of W5BWC’s shop and barn. We will use generator power, portable antennas and operate Class 1A (one transmitter using emergency power and non-permanent antenna). We are also allowed to operate a VHF station in addition to our single HF station and still be 1A. While we will meet all the requirements for a remote location, we will have rest room, A/C office, large shop bay, etc. available near by.

We plan to have a family BBQ Brisket Dinner around 1900 Local on Saturday June 26. If you are willing to help, donate or loan items, would like to operate or enjoy the BBQ please let me know at jlk@bwcelectronics.com If you are willing to bring side dishes or food please contact Jo Ann at jkeith@etex.net.

We will be discussing FD on the ARES nets every Thursday evening on the K5UAR repeater at 2000 Local, everyone licensed to operate on 2M is invited to join us, you do not need to be a member. As you see above the June UAARC meeting will finalize the preparations. The FD Lists are available at the following links:
FD K5UAR Operator’s Schedule
FD Supplies
FD Dinner RSVP List
FD Menu – items to bring

ARRL Field Day Rules

May 11
The May club meeting was very interesting and productive, you missed a good time if you were not able to make it. Tommy, KG5ZSU presented a program on open wire, twin lead and coax feed-lines.

We had refreshments by the Mannings, K5GDM and KT8TOR which include fresh fruit and cookies. We cut the refreshments a little short when Gary, SKYWARN Coordinator warned us of approaching TS.

The business meeting accomplished several things. Club voted to obtain ARRL Liability Insurance, to hold FD at KA5AZK and W5BWC place and have a BBQ Brisket Dinner on Saturday of FD. FD is June 26 and 27.

Matt, W5MSM who is our VP, is donating an LCD Digital projector to the club. THANKS Matt!!

Lastly, our Application of April 21 to change our club call of KI5OYZ to K5UAR (for Upshur Amateur Radio) is still pending.



April 12
We had a great meeting this month with a really interesting 3D printer demo that included producing an actual part during the demo.

We still need a Field Day Coordinator. Considerable interest was shown, so the Coordinator will have folks willing to help, just need a leader. If you’re interested please contact one of the officers listed on the CONTACT page.

March 31
UAARC has just received word that we have been approved for ARRL Affiliation!!

March 23
FIELD DAY 2021!! Several members have asked if we are participating in FD this year. The BOD agrees we shall!! We think the virus is contained sufficiently that setting up in an open area is low risk. Now, we need the Field Day Coordinator to step forward – hi. Seriously, we do need to start planning now. The first step is enlisting a FD Coordinator. If you are interested, please contact one of the officers. The Coordinator does not have to do all the work, just be sure all the work gets done. We also need folks who can help the Coordinator, again contact an officer if you are willing.


March 10
We had a wonderful meeting March 8, back in the URECC building. We presented Charter Membership Certificates, had a guest speaker, passed out 2021 membership cards, had on display club tee shirts for sale, as well as iron/sew on patches and a large spread of cold cuts, sausage and cheese and Welcome Back cake. We had fellowship (eyeball QSOs) late into the evening. Also have three new members that have never been to the club before.

Be sure to plan on making the April meeting. We’ll have a good time again.

February 23

In person club meeting!!! March 8 at 7:00 PM in Upshur Rural Electric Coop auditorium1200 W. Tyler St., Gilmer, TX. Be sure to make this meeting, we have a lot planned.

Main Trading in Paris, TX is planning a March 13 (2nd Saturday) Tail Gate Sale. Be sure to watch their website for details. It is planned to be from 7:00AM to 11:00AM.

February 9

The February club meeting was held last evening on the club repeater. We had 22 stations and a good meeting on the air. Hopefully, this will be the last of on-air meetings as it is looking good that we may return to the URECC.

We had a unanimous vote of acceptance for the nominated Club Officers, as listed below. Kelly KD5S remains the groups.io moderator for the club.

The remainder of the meeting was spent talking about the many activities that the club will undertake in 2021. Some of which are; meet in-person again, apply for ARRL Affiliation, present Charter Member Certificates, consider 2021 Field day, tail gate sale and many more. Lot’s planned for 2021, so be sure to make the meetings to get “the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey use to say.

January 21

Nominations for UAARC Club Officers are complete. Only one person for each office was nominated. The nominees are;

PRESIDENT John L Keith, W5BWC
VICE-PRESIDENT Matt McIntosh, W5MSM
SECRETARY/TREASURER Debbie Collier, KI5BHT.

Any questions should be directed to the Nomination/Election Chairman – William, KG5SVM. Election information will be posted here so continue to watch for updates.

January 12

During the January 11, 2021 on-air club meeting, the By-Laws amendment to Article 5.1 was approved and will now read “Regular Club Meetings will be held once a month.”
Continue to watch this page for updates on February meeting. We have plans to meet in person in URECC auditorium pending the availability of their staff and the safety of meeting in person.

Remember 2021 dues are payable by the February Club meeting and need to be paid before your ballot is counted. See “Contact” page for details.



January 4

Officer nominations are being taken by our Nomination Chairman, William KG5SVM at this time. If you wish to nominate a dues paying member for office, contact that person to be sure they are willing to run, if the person is, ask William to add their name to the nominees.

Election normally would be held at the February 8 Club meeting; however, most likely that meeting will be on the air. Therefore mail-in ballots, to the club PO Box, will be taken until March 1, 2021. Results will be announced at the March 8 club meeting.

October 26

The Upshur County repeater got a significant boost with an antenna party Saturday.  We had a perfect crew of Jo Ann KA5AZK, Nancy KT8TOR, Gary K5GDM, George KG5UGY, Tommy KG5ZSU, Jim N5TQI, Garrett Manning no-call and John W5BWC.

The DB224-E that Jerry WA5OKO donated to us weighs 38 pounds.  In order to raise it in the upright position, it required a nearly equal counterweight attached to the bottom, bringing the total weight to just under 80 pounds. Several hours were spent Saturday morning studying and designing the lift.  After a  quick lunch, the crew split into ground and tower members.  The first task after settling in atop the tower was to raise a gin pole and mount it.  Next the tower crew disconnected the Ringo Ranger for the ground crew to lower.

Next, the ground crew raised the DB224, now 40 feet long to the upright position, where the counterweight kept it for the trip up the tower. The tower crew clamped it into place atop the tower.  Testing yesterday after the installation showed a 13 dB improvement in receive performance.  We may need to increase the transmit power if we see the repeater now hears better than it talks.

Many thanks to the antenna party, and if you get the chance be sure to tell them so!  Please try the new antenna from you QTH and mobile as you can.

October 14. We had 17 in attendance at the club meeting and it was sure good to meet in person again. We voted on the club logo, had a program by Kelly KD5S on Fox Hunting which he will conclude at the November meeting, and great cookies, sausage/cheese and crackers supplied by our newly appointed Refreshment Chairperson, Jo Ann KA5AZK.

The club needs a photographer, if interested contact an officer or use the contact email on this website. Jo Ann KA5AZK took a charter member picture and 2020 officers picture. We make take another Charter Member picture at the December meeting, so make plans now to be there. See sidebar for meeting dates and times.

September 8. The club meeting was held using WebEx with 14 in attendance. Kelly, KD5S hosted the meeting and provided the program on lightning safety. See groups.io/uaarc for a link to that video.

Debbie, KI5BHT presented a logo contest. The club needs a logo for the webpage, groups.io, caps, vest, tee shirts, etc.. Please submit your design to Debbie or the club’s email (on the contact page) before October 9, 2020. We will vote on the designs at the October 12 (MONDAY) evening meeting.

The UAARC now has 21 dues paying members. Remember you have until the end of the year to pay your dues to become a charter member. However, to receive your Charter Member Certificate at the December Christmas party (club meeting) please pay your dues by no latter than the end of November, otherwise you will not receive your certificate until January 2021.

The UAARC Board of Directors met Aug. 18, 2020 for the first time. Minutes of the meeting will be on the Meeting Minutes page but the short version follows.

The main topic was how to resume eyeball meetings, which everyone seems to miss. For the September club meeting, Kelly KD5S offered to host a WebEx video conference. This is a secure Cisco product which will allow us to see one another again! For October, with cooling WX, it is thought we may have an outdoor meeting.

The next big news item is this website. The BOD approved the proposed url https://www.uarc.club which has now been donated to the club. The url ownership will remain with the officers, keeping it separate from the website developer.

The Secretary/Treasurer, Debbie KI5BHT has already secured the club’s mailing address and donated the box rent. She also will announce a club logo contest at the September meeting, so be there to join in on that project.

Remember to pay your prorated dues before the December meeting.