Outages Affect Receipt of Applications, FCC License Processing

The Newington, Connecticut, US Post Office, which serves ARRL Headquarters, is without power, so ARRL is receiving little or no mail, affecting the receipt of amateur radio exam session paperwork as well as other mail and parcels. The outage is a result from damage due to Tropical Storm Isaias. In addition, the FCC electronic batch filing system was down for about 24 hours and did not process any license applications — amateur or commercial — during that period. The FCC batch-file system now appears to be operating normally.

August Club Meeting

The KCARC monthly meeting scheduled for May 11th will be conducted online via ZOOM at 7:00 pm.
More about August meeting….

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 212 888 4758
Passcode: W5WI
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Meeting ID: 212 888 4758
Passcode: 340336

Ham-Com 2020

| Ham-Com 2020 has been rescheduled to 2021 |

The Ham-Com Board of Directors announced today that in light of the
risks attendant to the C0VID-19 virus and based on input from multiple
advisors, it reluctantly made the decision for the safety of attendees,
vendors, volunteers, presenters and staff to postpone Ham-Com 2020 until June 17-19, 2021.

April Meetings

Our April 13th KCARC meeting is now scheduled to be conducted via the Information Net at 7:00 pm as the Cobb Recreation Center is closed. We plan to continue discussion of the ARRL Summer Field Day preparations.

   2-meter (VHF) band
   146.76 MHz repeater
   - 0.6 offset / 146.2 Hz tone
   Abilene, Texas

The ARES meeting scheduled for April 4th is hereby cancelled.

COVID-19

COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.

For your personal protection; please adhere to all recommendations from Federal, State and local officials like social distancing and hand-washing among other precautions.

   - Texas Department of State Health Services
     [map of Texas Case Counts COVID-19 by counties]
     
   - Abilene, Texas COVID-19

   - Taylor County Judge declares 'Local State of Disaster'

   - Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM)

The Abilene Taylor-County Public Health District continues to urge residents to protect themselves, and our medically fragile community members by:

- Practicing social distancing
- Staying home as much as possible
- Washing or sanitizing hands often
- Covering sneezes and coughs
- Avoid touching your face
- Staying home if you are sick
- Routinely cleaning commonly touched surfaces

If an individual feels they may be showing symptoms for COVID-19, it is important they first call their medical provider or the Abilene Taylor-County Public Health District at 325.692.5600 for screening and further instruction. Please do not arrive at a medical office, facility, or hospital without first making contact by phone and receiving instruction.

The CDC still warns that older adults and those with underlying medical conditions continue to be at higher risk for serious complications from the virus. Its website says fever, cough,  shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking, muscle pain,  headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell could all be symptoms that appear between two and 14 days after exposure.

Steam-N-Wheels

Steam-N-Wheels Bike Race is sponsored by the City of Abilene Parks & Recreation Department. Additional information will be discussed at the March 9th club meeting.

   Date: March 14, 2020
   Time: 10:00 am
   Location: Abilene Zoological Park
   Address:  2070 Zoo Ln, Abilene, TX 79602

Midland ARC Hamfest

UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus scare and the unpredictability of venue management and public officials, we are postponing the St. Patrick’s Day Hamfest and West Texas Section Convention scheduled for March 21, 2020. We are exploring the options to host the event this summer in either June or July. The new date will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.

The Midland Amateur Radio Club 65th Annual St. Patrick's Day Hamfest / ARRL West Texas Section Convention is on Saturday March 21, 2020 at the Martin Luther King Center in Midland, Texas. The doors are open to the public @ 8:00 am.
 
For more information, please visit http://hamfest.w5qgg.org.