"Forever" stamps...now for QSL cards!

QSL cards are one of the things I love about ham radio. I have collected them since I first got my license nearly 25 years ago. But trying to make sure I have the write amount of postage for my cards in the everchange world of postal rates has been a pain. Now, the worry is gone.

The United States Postal Service's popular first class "Forever" stamp concept has now been extended to postcards. The "Forever" stamp was created several years ago so that you would not have to purchase additional one or two-cent stamps every time the rates when up. They were printed with the word "Forever" on the stamp instead of a value so you could simply use the stamp on first class letters regardless of the current postage rate or how much you originally paid for it.

Now, the post office has introduced a "Forever" stamp in a postcard variety. The stamp has no value printed on it, but does include the word "Postcard". It currently costs 34-cents to mail a postcard, so a 100-stamp roll coast $34 but you can use them "Forever"! Ask for them at the post office.

Field Day 2016 has Finally Arrived!

Join us for Field Day this weekend at the OEM building (behind the courthouse in Henderson). Here's a map if you need directions.

We will begin setting up around 11am Saturday (June 25) and the event will officially start at 1pm. We will man the station all night until 1pm Sunday.

Thanks to several club members who will be bringing their own radios, you'll get a chance to see and USE some top-of-the-line equipment. We will have at least two antennas up including the vertical permanently installed on the roof of the OEM.

So call the kids and wake the neighbors and join us for fun, fellowship and food! It's a great way to introduce someone to the excitment of amatuer radio! You can even step up to the mic and make some contacts. Your efforts can help use repeat our first place for 2F stations in the West Gulf Division!

See you there!

The Shack of O'Dell Hunter, K5ILL (SK)

O'Dell (K5ILL) and wife Dorrthy

By Keith (KN5G) - This morning I had the rare privilege of visiting the shack of a fellow HAM that I had never met. O’Dell Hunter, K5ILL, of Henderson, Texas is now a Silent Key, but I enjoyed visiting with him vicariously today through some of his personal items that have survived him over the years. A quick search on the Internet when I got back home revealed that O’Dell had passed away in 1980. His wife, Dorothy, just recently passed away in March of this year, explaining the estate sale being held at their home, and how I happened to discover O’Dell’s “Shack”.

Suzanne, a friend of mine was helping with an estate sale being held at the Hunter’s home. She recognized a framed Texas Radio Operator’s license plate from 1975, and knowing that I might be interested in some of the amateur radio related items gave me a phone call and suggested that I come and look through some of them.

Arriving at the estate sale, there were two cardboard boxes of QSL cards on the living room floor that O’Dell had collected over the years. Many of these cards were from Europe, Africa, and South America. Most were dated in the mid to late fifties, about the time I was born. I wish I would have had the time to look through each of them. As a fellow HAM, I know that each QSL card held a very special memory for O’Dell. I have a few paper QSL cards myself that I cherish, but most of my contact confirmations are electronic, buried somewhere in the memory of my personal computer, or

Coverage Map added to About Us Page

by Dave (W5CWT) I was wanting a nice way to represent our repeater's (N5RCA) coverage area. I stumbled across a nice online service that allows you to create good-looking coverage maps. The site is called Radio Mobile Online. It is very bi-lingual (both French and English) so don't let that throw you.

Basically, you create a free account, then log on and you can create multiple coverage maps. Make note that elevations and heights are in meters, not feet. You can change a variety of parameters including frequency, type of antenna and even line loss.

I created a coverage map based on our current situation (as closely as I could guess) and it looks very accurate based on signal reports we've received. I put a link to the image on the "About Us" page in the discussion of the repeater.

Checking Winlink email on Raspberry Pi

By Dave (W5CWT) - I've been wanting to find ways to check my Winlink email other than having to use a Windows machine. I dug out an extra Raspberry Pi and went to work with it. Surprisingly, the Direwolf soundcard program is so good these days that outperforms nearly every hardware TNC. (Here's a nice discussion on Direwolf.) And it's getting better all the time. It, combined with a Signalink (or other external soundcard), a radio and a power supply make up a great little digital station.

This is not a plug and play system. It takes a little effort and tweaking to get it right. Every set of instructions I found assumed more than I knew, it took some time for me to piece it all together. But in the end, I could check my email without a Windows machine in sight!

Here is my attempt to detail what I did.

"Thank You" from the Rusk Co. Library

As many of you know, the club recently donated more than a dozen books to the Rusk County Library. The books covered topics such as amateur radio, basic electronics, antenna systems, digital and emergency communications, as well as study guides for all three classes of amateur radio licenses. The total cost for the club was just over $200.

This week, the club received a Thank-You card from the library in appreciation for the donation. As noted in the card, the library has already seen some interest in the new books.

Tech Class begins with 11 students

Students take practice exams

Eleven students, raging in age from 9 to over 60, began their journey to becoming radio amateurs Saturday, the first day of the RCARC's current new ham course. Keith (KN5G) and David (W5CWT) lead the class as the students learned about the vast aspects of ham radio, how to use an HT and a little bit of wave theory.

Out of the four women and seven men who made up the class, most said they were drawn to amateur radio because of its role in emergency communications and public service.

the class runs each Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon through April 30th. At the end of the last session, students will have an opportunity to take the FCC's Technician Class License test administered by a local volunteer examiner team.

Longview club to host sidewalk sale

The Longview East Texas Amateur Radio Club is hosting a sidewalk sale this Saturday on the campus of LeTourneau University. While the website says the sale runs from 8 to noon, several folks (with apparently nothing better to do in the wee hours of the morning) will forgo sleep an arrive closer to 7 am. (I'm sure the college students would prefer the later time!)

Anyway, it's always a fun time and typically there are lots of good deals to be had. There's also some nice door prizes throughout the morning. The exact address is the Glaske Center Parking Lot, 2100 S Mobberly Avenue, Longview, TX 75602.

For more info, visit their website, which includes a map.

Club Invited to Tour Broadcast Station

Chuck (far right) poses with RCARC members.

The club had a wonderful experience traveling back in time as Chuck Conrad (KD5TZT) owner of KZQX in Chalk Hill, better known as QX-FM, hosted the club at his stations' studios March 31st.

Chuck has been in the radio business for a number of years, starting out with a Low-Power FM station and eventually transitioning to a full-sized commercial station. He also owns an AM station in Jacksonville and an FM translator station in Tyler. He began his career in the TV industry and then owned a sound company for many years.

Chuck is also a collector broadcast memorabilia and is preparing to open a museum in downtown Kilgore. However, during the visit, most of his collections were still at the KZQX studios, allowing club members to get a preview during the tour.

Read more about Chuck and his broadcast story here. Or visit the QX-FM station website here.

RCARC members got a chance to see the station studios in action, browse a huge collection of vintage broadcast receivers, view a large collection of television cameras and even step inside a classic mobile unit from KBTV (the pre-cursor to Dallas' WFAA Channel 8). His brownies weren't bad either!

Continue (by clicking "Read more" below) for more photos...

Radio books donated to Rusk Co. Library

The Rusk County Amateur Radio Club donated 11 new books to the Rusk County Library on Thursday. The books, worth more than $250, cover a variety of topics including basic electronics, antenna designs, radio frequency interference and amateur radio satellites.

A copy each of the American Radio Relay League's Handbook for Radio Communications and the Antenna Book for Radio Communications, both large reference-style books, were also given to the library.

The club voted to donate the books in order to promote electronics knowledge and skills and increase the awareness of the role amateur radio operators play in public service and emergencies.  The books can be checked out or requested at any of the library's four locations in the county.

The club also donated study guides for each of the three levels of amateur radio licensee exams required by the F.C.C. The guides cover material in the Technician, General and Extra level exams. After using the guides, a prospective "Ham" can contact the club for help in scheduling an official testing session.

Several club members were on hand to deliver the books and the library's assistant director, Michelle Zenor, accepted them on behalf of the library.