Tippah Amateur Radio Association

Welcome to Tippah Amateur Radio Association's Homepage

Our Next Meeting will be June 11, 2008

The Tippah Amateur Radio Association (TARA) is a group of Amateur Radio operators in the North Mississippi area that for all intents and purposes have formed a Ham Radio Club. As such we try to exchange ideas and help each other with projects. The members are primarily residents of Tippah county, with most club members living near Ripley, Mississippi. Our meetings and activities are a great opportunity for all of us to get together and socialize.

Please understand that TARA is not setup strictly to provide emergency communication services, but because of the role that Amateur Radio has played in disasters and emergency situations of the past, some of our members also concern themselves with Amateur Radio as an Emergency Resource. These members add a double meaning to what TARA means to the surrounding communities.

Traditionally, Ham Radio Operators have always provided assistance to civil authorities whenever disaster strikes, and while some of the members of TARA try to maintain a readiness in case of emergency, other members are part of TARA because they enjoy the club itself. Whether it be to belong to a GREAT radio club, or to be part of an emergency communications team, we like to think that TARA has something to offer everyone.

We always welcome visitors and new members!

Updated From Our Last Meeting

A Brief Summary of Each Meeting is Located in our Newsletter Section

TARAs Meeting for May began a serious look into the needs of the upcoming Field Day. We did well last year and of course were hoping to do much better this year. Again we will only operate in 2 positions, but we are hoping to get some new hams out for the event. The K5YD Repeater is still under repair - Hey Lightning isn't nice to electrical components, but it is a few diodes closer to operation. KA9OFM is still designing the control circuit for the mew repeater and that may take some time as it is all experimental. The proposed Fox Hunt was cancelled so we could concentrate on preparations for Field Day. The new coax is in and waiting to replace the old coax on the club antennas. A motion and a second to buy Robert's Kenwood Radio passed and we will be selling our old Tempo on ebay. Tom, KD5SBC donated his old 2 meter radio so the base station at the club could work as net control as needed. Lastly, our club president Brian announced that he has been called into the ministry, and as such he will not be seeking reelection at the July Meeting. He asks us all to pray for him and for good leadership for the club. This is the time of the year that a lot seems to be happening so if you have thought about becoming active in ham radio we would love to have you in attendance at our next meeting.

General Information

Tippah Amateur Radio Association (TARA) is an affiliated member club of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and is assigned the FCC club callsign K5DGL with K5YPV the license trustee.

MEETING TIME:The Tippah Amateur Radio Association meets each month on the Second Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The meeting are held at the Tippah County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC is located on the grounds of the Tippah County Hospital, directly across the "side" street from Stone's Jewelry, all at the intersection of Highway 15 North and North Main Street. The TARA maintains the HF and VHF antenna systems at the EOC as part of the organization's commitment to emergency communications preparedness.

MEMBERSHIP: Full (voting) membership in TARA is open to any licensed Amateur Radio Operator in the Ripley/Tippah County/North Mississippi area. Associate membership is open to anyone with a genuine interest in Amateur Radio. Officers must be residents of Tippah County, but all are welcome to attend our meetings.

AFFILIATION: The Tippah Amateur Radio Association is an affiliated organization with The American Radio Relay League. The ARRL is the national organization of Ham Radio Operators, and as such, League membership is strongly recommended, particularly since affiliation requires that 51% or more of our members are also League members. For more information on the ARRL, and on Ham Radio in general, go to their website at http://www.arrl.org.

REPEATER: The TARA supports the Pine Grove Repeater (a privately owned system), and recommends all local amateurs have the capability of operation on this system. The repeater is located near the ETV tower just East of Pine Grove, MS near the Tippah/Prentiss County line. The system includes remote voter receivers located around the area, and is an "open" system. The frequency split is 144.59/145.19 with a tone of 110.9Hz. While construction is ongoing, the repeater is currently up for operation and testing. Once testing is complete, and we have all the gear mounted, the remote receivers will be located in Tupelo (at the Hospital), New Albany, Falkner, Corinth, Pontotoc, Belmont and Booneville. So, get your 2-meter rigs working!

A STORM-READY COMMUNITY: Thanks to work from Amy, N5TBB and Tom, KD5SBC, Ripley has been awarded status as a "Storm Ready Community" by the National Weather Service. The standards were specific and rigorous, and Ripley is one of the first in the Mid-South to be awarded this status. Congrats!

Make A Difference

Volunteer - Learn - Enjoy

Would you like to make a difference in the world? ....... Have you been searching for a way to do that? ....... Your Amateur Radio License can help you to accomplish that goal.

TARA is known to several agencies that are interested in having amateur radio support during emergency situations. These agencies are impressed by the group's training and ability to get messages through when normal communications fail. TARA is interested in expanding to serve these agencies more efficiently.

We would like to extend an invitation for you to expand with us.

Don't have your Amateur Radio License yet? That's not a problem. TARA members can assist you in becoming licensed. All you need is a sincere desire. After you are licensed we will continue to help you achieve higher classes of your license. We will also show you what training is available for emergency services and how to obtain it. We will help you learn new modes of operation and vital communications skills.

You can make a difference, and you can have fun doing it.

For more information come to one of our meetings or email us.

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