Our Next Fox Hunt: Mar 18 & 19

Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Boris, those wily White Rock Lake radio foxes, will be released again on March 18 & 19 from 9 AM to 5 PM!

These fox hunts are always held in the White Rock Lake area, on pubic land and within a mile of the lake. Rocky transmits on 146.565 MHz FM, and a very low powered Bullwinkle is close by on 146.545 MHz. Boris is also close by on 146.580 MHz. Many club members are able to hear Rocky at their home QTH, so hunt for Rocky first, and then for Bullwinkle and lastly for Boris.

Listen for a distinctive set of warbling tones followed by a CW ID. Each transmission is about 20 seconds long and repeats each minute.

Radio fox hunts are scheduled at the lake on the first and third Saturday of each month.

Many thanks to Dave, K5YR, and David, KG5VSR, for hosting these fun events on behalf of the club for area hams to enjoy and to practice radio direction finding skills.

For more info, check out the fox hunt web site, https://k5yr.com/foxhunt

“Wires in the Park” Spring Event March 25

NOTE: date changed from March 18 to March 25 due to COLD weather!

Dave K5YR has created an innovative concept called “Wires in the Park” and is hosting our third WRLARC event at Dreyfuss Point at White Rock Lake on Saturday March 25, 2023.

Prior WITP held at White Rock Lake and the Spring Creek Forest Preserve were a lot of fun and this one could be even better. Activities will include a demonstration of simple antenna techniques, QSOs with other clubs in the North Texas area, a demonstration of Radio Fox Hunting and more.

For a full list of activities, visit the Wires in the Park website, witp.info 

Our Next Fox Hunt: Mar 4 & 5

Rocky and Bullwinkle, that wily pair of White Rock Lake radio foxes, will be released again on March 4 & 5 from 9 AM to 5 PM!

As an additional feature for this next hunt, we are adding in another transmitter: Boris Badenov, the Bad Boy of Radio Foxes. Boris is another low power fox, with a shorter antenna and has a propensity for being harder to find. Boris will be able to be heard from Bullwinkle but probably not from Rocky.

These fox hunts are always held in the White Rock Lake area, on pubic land and within a mile of the lake. Rocky transmits on 146.565 MHz FM, and a very low powered Bullwinkle is close by on 146.545 MHz. Boris is also close by on 146.580 MHz. Many club members are able to hear Rocky at their home QTH, so hunt for Rocky first, and then for Bullwinkle and lastly for Boris.

Listen for a distinctive set of warbling tones followed by a CW ID. Each transmission is about 20 seconds long and repeats each minute.

Radio fox hunts are scheduled at the lake on the first and third Saturday of each month.

Many thanks to Dave, K5YR, and David, KG5VSR, for hosting these fun events on behalf of the club for area hams to enjoy and to practice radio direction finding skills.

For more info, check out Rocky’s web site, https://k5yr.com/foxhunt

Our Next Fox Hunt: Feb 18 & 19

Rocky and Bullwinkle, that wily pair of White Rock Lake radio foxes, will be released again on February 18 and 19 from 9 AM to 5 PM!

These fox hunts are always held in the White Rock Lake area, on pubic land and within a mile of the lake. Rocky transmits on 146.565 MHz FM, and a very low powered Bullwinkle was close by on 146.545 MHz. Many club members are able to hear Rocky at their home QTH, so hunt for him first. If you find Rocky, then search for Bullwinkle.

Listen for a distinctive set of warbling tones followed by a CW ID. Each transmission is about 20 seconds long and repeats each minute.

Radio fox hunts are scheduled at the lake on the first and third Saturday of each month.

Many thanks to Dave, K5YR, and David, KG5VSR, for hosting these fun events on behalf of the club for area hams to enjoy and to practice radio direction finding skills.

For more info, check out Rocky’s web site, https://k5yr.com/foxhunt

HOUNDS WHO FOUND ROCKY DURING THE FEB 4 & 5 HUNT:

• KI5KTZ, Phillippe Lewis, 2023-02-04 17:27:53Z
• WB8QZM, Brian Murphy, 2023-02-04 20:27:04Z
• KN5EEE, Al Alexander , 2023-02-04 20:27:54Z
• NT5TM, Anthony Mendina, 2023-02-04 21:55:14Z
• KI5WZZ, Alberto Boisse, 2023-02-05 22:31:02Z
• W5WXY, Randy Durham, 2023-02-06 17:51:05Z

HOUNDS WHO FOUND BULLWINKLE:

• KN5EEE, Al Alexander, 2023-02-04 19:35:33Z
• WB8QZM, Brian Murphy, 2023-02-04 19:35:55Z
• NT5TM, Anthony Mendina, 2023-02-04 20:38:09Z
• KI5KTZ, Phillipe Lewis, 2023-02-04 23:23:22Z
• KI5WZZ, Alberto Boisse, 2023-02-05 22:53:03Z
• W5WXY, Randy Durham, 2023-02-06 17:52:41Z

Next fox hunt is scheduled for Feb 18 at 9AM through Feb 19 at 5PM.

General Meeting February 15

The first post-pandemic in-person general membership meeting will be held February 15, 2023 at 6:30 PM in the meeting room at the REI store, 5929 E. Northwest Highway, Dallas. 

The club Board of Directors has developed a comprehensive list of planned activities and objectives for the upcoming year. Review and discussion of these plans will be the major focus of the evening. Additionally, we will be voting on club membership applications for two new members.

Going forward, HamClubOnline will be the primary membership database and event scheduling system for all WRLARC activities. Consequently, all members listed in groups.io need to log into HamClubOnline and apply for membership in the club. This is the only way to assure that everyone gets announcements and updates for future activities and credit for participating in our many planned activities

Update: here’s a photo taken before prior to our meeting at REI. From left to right: club President Dave K5YR. Gary AF5XZ and one of our newest hams, Alberto KI5WZZ.

White Rock Simplex Nets Continue

Each Wednesday at 7 PM, hams from White Rock Lake neighborhoods and throughout the Metroplex check in to our simplex net. “Simplex” means there is no repeater used to boost a ham’s signal across the city; each signal has to “stand on its own.” Since some members use low powered hand held transceivers whose signals may not reach all participants, net members are encouraged to relay in the callsigns of any weak signals.

All D/FW area hams are welcome to check in via radio. If outside of the Dallas area, hams can also check in to the net via Echolink at WA5WRL-L.

Winter Field Day 2023!

The weather was great and the radio band conditions were good too! During five hours of operating, members made 100 radio contacts across the country and even stretched a signal across the Pacific Ocean.

Many thanks to Dave K5YR and David KG5VSR for co-chairing this event, to the many members that helped set up and take down, and to everyone that stopped by.

WRLARC Now on HamClubOnline

As was announced on the Simplex Net this evening, our club has implemented use of HamClubOnline as a way to manage our club roster, club activities, and participation in club events. This is the same system used by many North Texas ham radio clubs including the Dallas ARC and Richardson Wireless Klub.

This change was driven in large part by our intention to, at some point in the future, begin collecting dues in order to support operations such as Field Day and perhaps a club owned EchoLink equipment setup.

All club members are asked to go into HamClubOnline.com and apply for membership with the WA5WRL club. If you are already loaded into the HamClubOnline system, you can simply sign in with your existing email address and password and then ask for membership with WA5WRL. You won’t need to load all your data again.

If you are not already a user of HamClubOnline, registration is quite simple and takes only a few minutes. You can then apply for membership with WA5WRL.

If you have any problems getting into HamClubOnline please let Dave, K5YR know so he can resolve the issue.

Winter Field Day January 28, 2023

Winter in Dallas is always interesting, with temps somewhere between 20 and 75 degrees. Unless the weather is REALLY bad, we will again head out to Dreyfuss Club Point at White Rock Lake Saturday January 28 to operate portable ham radio equipment. David, KG5VSR, and Dave K5YR will be our event chairs, and begin setup late morning, with on the air activities beginning at 1 PM until late afternoon. Several HF stations are planned.

While the ARRL Field Day weekend in June is the “official” event, a more casual Winter Field Day has grown in popularity since it was first held in 2007. The purpose of Field Day is to test our readiness (and our equipment) and have some fun!

This would be a great time to meet the folks behind the voices you hear on our simplex net each week. Bring your radios to test, or just come on out and say hi!

More info on Winter Field Day is online.

New Club Officers

Please welcome our newly elected club officers! Each of these folks has been every active in club activities and nets since the club’s founding back in 2019.

Our new officers begin their terms on January 1, 2023:
President: Dave K5YR
Vice-President: Ron N5SQA
Secretary: Dave KG5VSR
Treasurer: Randy W5WXY