SM049 – Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act Re-Introduced

Legislation Will Increase Communication Options During Natural Disasters WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., and Representatives August Pfluger, R-Tex., and Joe Courtney, D-Conn. announced their joint re-introduction of legislation in the Senate and House to restore the right to Amateur Radio operators to install the antennas necessary to serve their communities. Here in Oklahoma, we ask all amateur radio clubs and individuals to visit https://ok.arrl.org/hoa/. This page has all of our contact information and template letters. Please note that all letters should be sent to the email and address listed. Letters emailed to legislators tend to (more…)

SM048 – Winter Field Days

January 21, 2025 Winter Field Day is among us. Field days are a great way to learn how to operate your radios or other peoples’ radios. Typically, a field day operation starts mid-day on Saturday and operates for 24 hours straight. I’ve listed all the Winter Field Day sites I’m familiar with, so you can join the fun no matter where you live. Also, you can operate from your house to contact as many folks as possible. More information (and the new rules for this year) are available at https://winterfieldday.com/. Visit one of these sites, or fire up your radio to (more…)

SM047 – Ardmore Texoma Hamarama Hamfest 10/26/2024

Here comes the Ardmore Hamarama https://hamarama.org hamfest, which will be held on October 26, 2024, at the Ardmore, OK Convention Center. Entry tickets are only $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Flea market tables are going fast for $15. Plan to visit Ardmore to see your old friends, make new friends, attend great training forums, and buy/sell tons of radio equipment. CORA will offer another chance to win a Yaesu FTDX10 Special Package Super Raffle this year. For only a $20 super raffle entry ticket, you can win a chance to win a $3,000+ deluxe radio package. Only (more…)

Contact your Congressional representatives today!

As you are likely aware, there are two bills before Congress which will protect amateur radio antennas from overly restrictive HOA rules and covenants, HR 4006 and SB 3690. John Stratton, N5AUS, West Gulf Division Director has initiated a letter writing campaign for the West Gulf Division.  For those of us in Oklahoma, we need to contact our respective Senators and House members to encourage their support of these measures.  The bills have a goodly amount of bipartisan support for this issue and we must strike while the soldering iron is hot! We need Congress to approve these bills, and (more…)

ARRL Learning Center Features Two New Emergency Communication Training Courses

ARRL has released two new courses to train emergency communications (EmComm) operators for volunteering within the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®). Both courses are within the ARRL Learning Center. The Basic EmComm course is designed to get a new volunteer started. It provides basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer and contains three modules and 11 topics, including required prerequisites. It’s expected to take approximately 10 – 20 hours to complete. The Intermediate EmComm course builds on the lessons learned in the first course and equips volunteer radio amateurs with the tools needed to thrive in the fast-paced environment of public service (more…)

 SPRING STORMS  4/26-28/2024

29 APR 2024 ATTENTION ALL: ALL ARES-OK Leaders (ReginalEC, DistrictEC & CountyEC) are asked to contact their ARES-OK team(s) to insure that they have received this info and to check to see if any of Amateurs Operators were effected by these storms. Any ARES-OK groups that were called into assist by local served agencies are asked to notify the SEC as soon as you can. Any Amateur Radio Operators groups that were active in your area during or after the storms  submitted please submit a report via Public Safety report at this link  https://tinyurl.com/ARESOK please CC: your report to [email protected]  73 & Thank you, Mark Conklin, N7XYO ARRL-Oklahoma Section Emergency (more…)