New NTX Emergency Coordinator named

Matthew Morris, K5ICR, has been appointed to the position of Section Emergency coordinator.  He may be reached at: K5ICR@arrl.net or by phone at 940-441-7220.

Matthew is currently in the Masters Public Administration program at the University of North Texas. His background in public safety includes active reserve deputy sheriff, assistant fire chief and in EMS.

Please join us in welcoming him to this position. I look forward to working with him for the future growth of North Texas ARES.

Nancy McCain - K5NLM
Section Manager - North Texas

Skywarn Class set for February 2nd

Rusk County residents will have an opportunity to refresh their storm-spotting skills (or learn them for the first time) in February. The National Weather Service will be in Rusk County on Tuesday, February 2, 2016. The class will run from 6 pm - 9 pm at the Rusk County Sheriff's Department Training Room, 210 W Charlevoix St, in Henderson. (Click link for a map).

The free training will include both Basic and Advance level training sessions and is open to the public. Hams, along with local EMS, firefighters and first responders are encouraged to attend.  Rusk County Office of Emergency Management is organizing the classes, so if you plan to attend, please RSVP emailing Patrick Dooley at patrick.dooley[at]ruskcountyoem.org so he can get a head count.

Relive the history of American Radio

Ever had the desire to step back in time and relive some of the golden years of radio? There's a cool website that features thousands of radio magazines from the back 100 years.

American Radio History has a website filled with magazines about radios, engineering, broadcasting and much more. Each magazine has been scanned in and even run through OCR technology to convert the pages into real text. That means you can search all the issues at once with a single search window!

Did you listen to WOR or WGN back in the day? They've got station books and written histories of these station and many more. Whether you're interested in the broadcast industry, engineering and electronics, early radio or DX and listening, they've got something you'll enjoy. They've even got 70 years of Billboard magazine!

Check out the entire collection at www.americanradiohistory.com.

6 Meter Opening

This Thursday evening, following the 146.780 net I checked the www.dxmaps.com site to see what was going on on 6 Meters and HF. Low and behold there was a pretty good 6 Meter opening going on. I tuned to 50.125 MHz and sure enough there was a station calling CQ!

After tuning around a bit I managed to work a station in Nashville Tennessee, and one in East Rochester, Ohio. As luck would have it I got a phone call about that time and by the time I got off the call the band had quietened down. I worked these two stations off of my 160 meter delta loop, which happens to tune 6 Meters pretty well. Kinda makes me wish I had a 6 Meter Yagi for these little quick band opening!

73, and keep an eye on the Magic Band, you never know when it might pop open!

Keith
KN5G

Having a little PSKFest with the 991

FT-991 during the PSKFest

by Dave (W5CWT) One of the pleasures of the new year, is the PSKFest hosted by the PODXS 070 Club! The event is held on the first Saturday of the year and causes the digital bands to light up like fireworks.

This year, I put my new FT-991 to the test and came away with just over 40 contacts. I only worked about 2 1/2 hours during the day, so, I was pleased. The 991 performed flawlessly.

One nice thing about the PSKFest is the automated scoring system. Simply export your QSOs to an ADF file and upload them to the scoring program. It instantly shows you your results and as well as updates the overall contest results. Check out the 2016 PSKFest live results page here.

If you dabble in PSK, mark your calendar for next years event. In the mean time, consider joining the 070 club. It's completely free and they send you cool stickers to note your PSK accomplishments. To join, simply make 100 PSK31 contacts and then send them your log. Find out more on the 070 website.