Hello everyone,
Welcome to this month’s update! We have a lot going on at the moment and everyone is welcome to help out or put forward any ideas they want to lead on to help improve the community! [community development channel on discord] You can always find out who is delivering what at https://www.oarc.uk/activity-leads
Below are some highlights!
Training
This year the OARC is planning to run 5 training and development opportunities.
- Nathan 2M0OCC – Foundation – See below
- Francis M0UKFÂ – Intermediate – https://www.oarc.uk/intermediate
- Robin 2E0GGJÂ – Full https://www.oarc.uk/full
- Paul M0TZO – Open Study – See below
- Francis M0UKF – Beyond Exams – https://www.oarc.uk/beyond-exams
Our foundation course pilot is pencilled in to launch in March. The course is built upon a hands-on classroom course [with a pass rate of over 95%]. It is Zoom based, but promotes learning through doing and getting involved – rather than being presented to! It should be a lot of fun and a great help to those getting into the hobby.
The Open Study Group is an ambitious program that looks to support everyone progressing in the hobby, from newly licenced individuals and those who may be happy keeping their foundation/intermediate callsign but want to learn more, through to those with a full licence or returning to the hobby after a break!
Digital Modes & OARC Phone Network [SIP]
As some of you may have spotted, last week we raised money for a new key component to the community’s digital bridge. This is now up and running! Connection details are on https://www.oarc.uk/digital-channels – if you need help getting on digital modes head into #digital-voice where Matthew 2E0SIP and other members will be very happy to help. Starting today we will be trialling hooking the bridge up to a weekly net each Wednesday at 7:30pm. It is hoped the audience of that net will be more aligned to the interests of this group, making it one worth dropping into.
Mitchell 2E0EMO has been working hard on developing a phone network for OARC members, using either physical phones or software you can connect to “OARC Call” and speak to fellow members. The network is hosted on amateur networks – currently supported significantly by the Internet. For some idea of what you can do on it see https://www.oarc.uk/oarc-pbx-callbook – or drop in #sip-network and have a chat with Mitch and the team!
Community Promotion [Radcom]
We are currently trying to capture our successes and challenges in 2020. We are hoping to write a piece for Radcom to promote the community – as such we need your input. Please drop by the #collab-promotional-document channel for more info.
Facebook Presence
We have a new page on Facebook kindly created and administered by Lance 2E0YLD https://www.oarc.uk/fb – the page is for promotional purposes – to let people know about activities going on within the community and to encourage those interested to join us. It’s directly linked to our twitter account – during its creation a number of concerns were raised about the toxic elements within Facebook potentially abusing the page, for that reason it won’t be open to comment or discussion and will just be for sign posting. That said, if you have an account please be sure to like it and share it! The more visibility we have the better!
