Section Reports

Current Section Report (May 2025)

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SM: Malcolm Keown, W5XX. Section Website at www.arrlmiss.org. Webmaster: W5UE, ASM: K5BAK, K5DSG, KB5HC, KF8PD, K0UPW, K5VOK, W4WLF, KB5YEE, ACC: W5VMS, PIC: K5RFL, SEC: KC5IMN, ASEC: AA1NA, W5DIX; SGL: AK5J; STM: WV5Q, TC: N5JGK.


Just ahead …. Field Day 2025!  Are you ready?  Is the site or EOC secured?  Are the Field Day set up crew and all-night operators lined up? Is the list of equipment and antennas nailed down?  Menu and cooks lined up for the Saturday Night meal?  Your club’s teardrop on the ARRL Field Day Station Locator? Now is the time to pull all of the last-minute details together!

In recognition of Ham Radio’s standing communication response capability SGL AK5J advises that Governor Tate Reeves has signed a proclamation designating June 23 through June 29 as Amateur Radio Week in Mississippi. The proclamation can be down loaded from the Section Website to post at your Field Day site or included in your club newsletter.

The 22nd Mississippi QSO Party is now history.  Records show that 195 logs were received and have been checked. 54 Mississippi Stations were on the air in 39 of 82 counties. Of 9 of Mississippi grids 7 were on the air (missed EM43 and EM44). Now it’s time to prepare certificates and order plaques for the high scorers. If arrangements can be made the plaques will be presented at club meetings in late summer or fall.

Repeaters come and go … some coordinated and some not.  Some new repeaters make a listing, which can be helpful if you are looking for a new repeater to use, but sometimes the listing is many years out of date. Such is the listing on the Mississippi Section Website at www.arrlmiss.org.  Edward, K5VOK, is making an effort to update the listings.  This is a major task since many of the repeaters haven’t been heard from in years, or the POC has disappeared into the noise level.  Please take a look at this listing on the website, and if you see anything that needs to be updated, pass this information along to Edward at eliving1@comcast.net

Attached for your information below is the current status (updated from last month) of known upcoming Ham events in and around Mississippi:

  • ARRL Field Day, June 28-29, See ARRL Website
  • EMCOMM Checkin on 3862, 6:00 PM, July 3 
  • Simulated Emergency Test, August 9, POC: KC5IMN
  • Jackson County Hamfest, September 12-13, POC: N2PKW 
  •       2026 Capital City Hamfest, Jan 30-31, POC AK5J

… and in DEC/EC Reports from around the State. 

From DeSoto County EC KF5WVJ: May was a busy month for the DeSoto County ARES/Reservists.  We had several Skywarn days for severe and potentially tornadic storms. On May 17 The ARES/EMA Reservists were listed on the Hernando Police Departments IPA as weather observers for the ‘A’ Fair Event on the Hernando Square.  KF5WVJ, KI5HAQ, KF8PD, AB8LA, K5OIM, and KD5BS, set up the Comm Trailer in preparation to monitor weather for the event which turned out to not be severe.  We ended up turning the event into a PR opportunity.  On May 18 at approximately 10:45 a storm we were monitoring from home in Hernando dropped an F1 tornado over a neighborhood in Hernando.  KF5WVJ, KF8PD, KD5BS, and KI5HWA were tasked by the De Soto County EMA to monitor public service radio traffic for any damage reports called into dispatch by county law enforcement.

From Harrison County EC WX5RJ: Continuing work on a Go Box for remote operations and preparing for Field Day.

From the Delta AEC KG5RRF: A new emergency backup repeater is being installed. Setting up a storm spotter class for the June DARA meeting.

From Hinds County EC KD5SQZ: Our 3rd Saturday emergency communications practice day was held at River Bend on the Natchez Trace.

From West Central Mississippi DEC W5VMS: The District Emergency Coordinators (DECs) held a conference call on 18 May with a purpose to discuss the upcoming Section Emergency Test (SET; 9 August) and the proposed Emergency Coordinator (EC) district realignment.  Currently the section has nine EC districts, each aligning with a Mississippi Highway Patrol district.  The proposal is to create four EC districts.  The initial partition separated the section using US-278, I-20, and US-98 as boundaries.  This is a VERY ROUGH first cut, since those roads split counties, something that will not work.  Concerns from VARC stated they wanted to keep Warren and Claiborne Counties in the same EC district, and the counties that border both Grand Gulf and Riverbend Nuclear Power Plants should be in the same EC district.  ECs and ARES members should share proposals and concerns with their DECs in the coming weeks and months.  Obviously a lot more work to happen here before anything is changed.  More details on both topics as they emerge.

Welcome to the following new Hams in Mississippi in May:

KJ5LFV, Mark – Vicksburg; KJ5LHB, Michael – Brookhaven; KJ5LIK, Ryan – Brookhaven;

KJ5LJA, Mark – Port Gibson, KJ5LJJ, Gregory – Purvis; KJ5LJK, Charles – Taylorsville,

Welcome to new ARRL Members: KJ5IUU, Scottie – Greenville; KJ5LIK, Ryan – Brookhaven; KJ5LJK. Charles – Taylorsville.

Also, kudos to long time ARRL Member, Rez K1REZ, in Pelahatchie, who has upgraded to Life Membership.

ARRL Membership in Mississippi on June 1 was 831 down 12 from last month.

SEC/DEC/EC Reports: KC5IMN (SEC), K5DSC (Newton), WJ5ES (Adams), AE5FK (Walthall), NI5I (Perry), AG5ND (Golden Triangle/Oktibbeha), KG5OVS (Leake), WX5RJ (Harrison), KG5RRF (AEC)(Carroll), AA5SG (Jones), KG5SQZ (Hinds), W5VMS (West Central MS/Warren/Claiborne), KD4VVZ (Gulf Coast/George), KF5WVJ (Northwest MS/DeSoto), AB6Z (Pearl; River)

Club Newsletters (Editor): the Meridian ARC Spark Gap (W5MAV), the Mississippi Coast ARA Splatter (N5OCT)

Regret to report the passing of:

WD8BIE of Gulfport.  Robert retired from the Air Force as a Master Sergeant in 1979. After his service in the Military, he began working at the US Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center. Robert was an active Ham beginning in 1969. He was a charter member of the Mississippi Coast ARA club. He was active in Air Force MARS mainly running radio-telephone patches and messages between service personnel all over the world, and their families. For over 20 years he served as CAP Director of Communications at Wing Level. He had over 52 years of service as a CAP Volunteer at the time of his death.

HF Net Reports – sessions/QNI/QTC (Net Manager)

Magnolia Section Net 31/1096/5 (KF5BA)

MS Baptist Hams Net 3/13/0 Sunday, 7263 at 4PM

MSPN 31/2034/11 (W5JGW)

VHF Net Reports – sessions/QNI/QTC (Net Manager)

Bluff City EM Net 4/63/0 (WJ5ES)

Capital Area Em Net 4/36/0 (K5XU)

Calhoun County ARES Net 4/25/0 (KI5LKJ)

Central MS ARES Net 8/143/0 (KG5SQZ)

DARA ARES Net 84 QNI (KG5RRF) 7 Skywarn Nets

DeSoto County Training and Emergency Net 4/56/0 (KF5WVJ) 4 Skywarn Nets

George County ARES Net 4/42/0 (KG4VVZ)

HARCO ARES Net 3/21/10 (WX5RJ) 2 Skywarn Nets

Jackson ARC Net 4/40/0 (K5XU)

Leake County ARES 4/16/2 (KG5OVS) 2 Skywarn Nets

Lowndes County ARES Net 4/38/0 (K5TCO)

Meridian Area EM Net 4/18/0 (KB5SZJ)

NE MS WX Net 4/33/0 (W5BAQ)

Pearl River ARES Net 4/55/0 (AB6Z) 1 Emergency Net

Pine Belt ARC 2M Em Training Net 4/44/0 (K5TLL)

Pine Belt ARC 2M Em Training Simplex Net 1/19/0 (K5TLL)

South Central MS Skywarn Net 4/45/0 (AA5SG)

Vicksburg ARC/MLEN 4/74/0 (KG5YEE)

Walthall County ARES Team 4/57/0 (AE5FK)

W5YD Monday ARES Net 4/18/0 (AG5ND)

Digital Net Reports

East MS EM Communications Net 31/341/3 (K5TCO)

K5FIT WL2K Hybrid Gateway – 125 connections to pass traffic.

MS WL2K Net QNI 80 by 6 stations (K5FIT)

Traffic: WV5Q 127, AE5MI 21, and W5XX 5.

PSHR: WV5Q 110, AE5MI 101, and W5XX 74

Congratulations to AE5MI on being awarded the Public Service Honor Roll Commendation Certificate.

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