Elecraft K4 Raffle Results!

Congratulations to George Robertson, KG5KUQ, on winning the Midland Amateur Radio Club Elecraft K4 raffle. The raffle drawing was held on March 16, 2024, at the conclusion of the 68th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest in Midland, Texas. Enjoy the new rig!

St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest in Less Than Two Weeks!

The St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest and ARRL West Texas Section Convention is less than two weeks away on March 16th!

You can pre-register for the hamfest and have a shot at winning the pre-registration prize, which is a RigExpert AA-230 Zoom Antenna Analyzer.  You also may win one of the Grand Prizes.  This year the Grand Prizes are a Yaesu FT-710 AESS HF/50 MHz Base/Portable Transceiver, an ICOM IC-2730A VHF/UHF FM Transceiver, and a Alinco DM-330MVT Power Supply.  But you can’t win if you don’t register!

There are tables still available to rent.  Look around your shack and find what you don’t use or need anymore. Bring that stuff to the hamfest and turn it into cash!

There is a morning of interesting programs lined up starting at 8:00 am concluding with the ARRL WTX Section Convention Meeting at 11:00 am.  VE Testing will start at 1:00 pm.  Check out the programs at <https://hamfest.w5qgg.org/forums/>.

All the information about the hamfest as well as online pre-registration and table rental is available at <https://hamfest.w5qgg.org/>.  Pre-registration and online table rental will end on Thursday, March 14th, at 6:00 pm so don’t delay!

We hope to see you there!

2024 St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest and Elecraft K4 Raffle!

Mark your calendars for the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest on March 16, 2024. We’re also raffling an Elecraft K4 Transceiver. Hamfest registration, table rental, and raffle tickets are currently available on the hamfest website. Make plans to attend NOW!

Update: The Elecraft K4 raffle tickets sold out on February 4th. You can still pre-register for the hamfest which gives you a chance to win the pre-registration prize and/or one of the grand prizes!

Midland, Odessa, and Big Spring Hams Provide Communications for the Bike MS Cactus & Crude Ride!

Midland, Odessa, and Big Spring hams provided communications for the annual Bike MS Cactus & Crude Ride July 15 & 16. Andrew, NF5T, isolated the Midland, Big Spring, Patricia, Post, and Lubbock repeaters from the rest of the PermNet system providing a mini linked repeater system for the event.

Midland/Odessa hams participating were: Frank Alvarado AD5D, Daren Bishop W5DTB, Matthew Ellsworth KE5VFO, Chad Hauris KG5OZI, Scott Johnson AD5U, Clint Lannom N5MXE, David Moore N5QGL, David Overton W5JDO, George Robertson KG5KUQ, Alan Sewell N5NA, Alton Teague N5PSP, Michael Watson KB5KNF, and Lonnie Yee KE5MLP.

Big Spring hams participating were: Dustin Clark KF5FTY, Marvin Gross KE5EUR, Henry Hunter KN3RD, Jackie Moore KI5FJX, and Josh Sigmon KG5ROR.

Motorcycle marshals who are also hams were Jeff Edwards K1TAZ and John Wildenthal KG5PHX from Lubbock and Boerne, respectively.

Ham operators provided lead and tail vehicles for both days, called for bike mechanics as needed, were rovers along the route to assist cyclists, tracked down lost cyclists, moved rest stop supplies along the route, and generally insured the safety of the cyclists. Some hams who were 1st aid certified were called upon by the MS Society to act as 1st aid representatives at various rest stops in addition to their ham radio duties.

Overall the Cactus & Crude Ride went smoothly. One cyclist did have to be transported to the hospital on Saturday. The mini PermNet system worked well and provided good coverage over the whole route.

Plans are already being made for the 2024 Cactus & Crude which will be July 20 & 21, 2024.

Field Day Results

The points totals for Field Day are as follows:

QSO points – 7674

Bonus points – 1050

Total points – 8724

We also had 24 contacts made on the GOTA station by Aaron, KG5YUP and Jonathan, KI5JKG. Each contact was worth 5 points for a total of 120. Very good that we had some activity on GOTA.

A very good showing! The sideband effort was by far the most improved and we have the makings of some good contest ops. I hope we can get some contest-level CW ops trained to help in that effort. Next year will be even better!

73, Roger, W5LXS