Information / News

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the OMISS App for the Android.

This free App was created to provide members moblie access to key information from the OMISS website.

Click on the Google Play badge to download.

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the OMISS App for the iPhone/iPod.

This free App was created to provide members moblie access to key information from the OMISS website.

Click on the App Store badge to download.

We have created a report to aid members in working for the Father Time Award.

The report shows the last known checkin date for Father Time Stations.

You can find it here.

It is also linked under the Award Rules for the Father Time Award.

The OMISS QSO Party will run on Feb 9 & 10, 2013.

There are two important changes for this year.

- OMISS nets will run as scheduled this year. But remember that any contacts you make while participating in the QSOP do not count for OMISS awards.

- Contest Entries are due by March 1, 2013.

Complete details may be found on the OMISS Web Site.

Dear OMISS Members,

On November 22, 2012, the Election Officer, W8EMT, presented the final 2012 Election results to the Board of Directors, as follows:

*FOR PRESIDENT:
W4UZI (Incumbent)/Charlie/KY/#6193 is reelected with 60.1% of the vote.
W5JDF/Jerry/TX/#6949 received 39.9% of the vote.

*FOR VICE PRESIDENT (Uncontested):
K0MAF (Incumbent)/Jack/MO/#5274 is reelected with 100% of the vote.

*FOR TREASURER (Uncontested):
K5ENA (Incumbent)/John/OK/#4604 is reelected with 100% of the vote.

*FOR SECRETARY:
KI6WOX (Incumbent)/Mike/CA/#6716 is reelected with 64.4% of the vote.
KE5WDI/Danny/TX/#6421 received 35.6% of the vote.

*FOR DIRECTOR (2):
ND8F (Incumbent)/Homer/GA/#774 is reelected with 43.18% of the vote.
KF7UX (Incumbent)/Bob/ID/#2167 is reelected with 36.76% of the vote.
K6HP/Ed/CA/#7019 received 20.06% of the vote.

Notes:

-511 members voted for at least one elective office. This represents a 46% increase in voting over the last election.

-41 incomplete ballots and 8 ballots received after the voting deadline were rejected.

Conducting an election for a large organization, such as ours, requires a lot of hard work on the part of many volunteers. We thank everyone who contributed their efforts in keeping this a professionally conducted election. A tip of the hat is due to the Nominating Committee, The Candidates, The Election Officer, The QSL Bureau Managers, and The Webmaster. A special tip of the hat is due to all the OMISS Members who participated by voting.

Thank you—one and all—for participating in this year’s election.

Greetings OMISSers
Please note for a trial period the 160 meter net will move to 1930 kc.
This move is to get away from the ARRL AM broadcast.
Also the 15 meter net is moving to 21.395mc to try and get away from the DX and contest activity for a trial period.
Please make note as these moves will begin next weekend.
Thanks
Dan W0VD

Greetings Omiss Members,

To maintain the free QSL Bureau and keep it functioning in an efficient manner, we have found it necessary to make some adjustments. Effective 12/09/11, the free OMISS QSL Bureau has been reorganized to operate out of two locations instead of three. Please read the FAQ, which follows:

FAQ.

Question 1:
Where do I send my Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes (SASE)?

Answer:
If your call sign starts with A, N, or W, send your SASE to KB4BML.

If your call sign starts with K, send your SASE to KF5RD.

Question 2:
Where do I send my OUTGOING QSL Cards?

Answer:
Everyone’s OUTGOING QSL cards will be sent as follows:

OUTGOING QSL cards that start with A, N, W, and DX QSL cards go to KB4BML.

OUTGOING QSL cards that start with K go to KF5RD.

Check Netlogger or the OMISS website to see if the station worked is good in the bureau before sending OUTGOING QSL’s. Send QSL’s direct if station does not have envelopes in the bureau.

Mailing Addresses:

K Bureau

Peter Mann, KF5RD
722 South 138th East Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74108
KF5RD@omiss.net

A, N, W, DX Bureau

Charissa Dunham, KB4BML
1405 S. Montebello
Olathe, KS 66062
n.dunham@att.net

Complete QSl Bureau information may be found Here.

Family Tree Award - Work 5 (or more) members of your Family Tree. Your family tree consists of all members whose OMISS# ends in the same two digits as yours.

Perfect Attendance Award - Work 30 different Omiss Members, one each day, on any OMISS Net, for 30 consecutive calendar days.

Centurion Award - Work 80 OMISS members whose OMISS #s are from the same century (i.e. starts with the same first two digits...)

Some of these awards include additional endorsements and award levels.

Complete details are available on the OMISS website under Awards Rules.

Effective immediately, members now have the option of receiving their Awards Certificates by email.


Members taking advantage of this option will receive their certificates immediately, by email, without the hassle of waiting on snail mail delivery.

In addition, the normal $1 fee for awards processing will be waived.
This service is free and applies only to paper certificate awards.

To take advantage of this option, when you submit your next award application, please let the Awards Manager know that you prefer to receive your award by email.

It’s as simple as that.

There have been some additions to the OMISS.prf file used by NetLogger. The goal is to provide additional information about who can be worked for which awards.

In addition to the GIB (good in bureau) information and M D E F P codes you will also see:

V - To designate an OMISS VIP who can be worked for the VIP award
(see complete award rules)

T - To designate a Top Op of the Month award recipient who can be
worked at any time for the Kings and Queens Award


There are three more codes which are not award specific, but recognize individual honors or accomplishments, and also signifies a station that can either help with 'whatever', or probably knows who can.

Y - To designate an OM of the Year Award recipient

Q - To designate an NCS of the Quarter Award recipient

N - To designate a Certified OMISS Net Control Station


And remember, if this does not work out for some reason, we can always go back to the old way.

All pages on the OMISS web site now have a ShareThis icon in the top right corner. By clicking on the ShareThis link, you can share the page you are looking at with whomever you like in whatever format you choose. Email it, txt it, Facebook it, Blog it, Tweet it -- ShareThis supports them all.
Why not give it a try today?

A listing of Operating Awards granted in the last 14 days is now available on the OMISS news and information page, which is located here.
The whole idea here is to help our members toot their horn in recognition of their accomplishments.
This listing is dynamically updated when the page is presented, so it should always be current.

A while back I solicited input from the OMISS membership concerning the website. This weekend I finally had the time to address the remaining issues.

* I have created a forms page. All OMISS forms can be found here as well as in their original locations. Links are on the home, news/info and awards pages.

* The Rosters page now has links to the First Responder and Military Rosters. Those pages also now have direct links to the pages where you can add or update your listing on those rosters.

* The anticipated NCS Schedule can now be displayed on the home page by pressing a button. I used Google Calendars for this because its free, fast, and full featured. I expect a little howling about this at first. The calendar is in UTC to match the published net times. However, some folks may be visually confused at first. e.g. The 80 meter net I run on Thursday nights (my local time) appears on the calendar, quite correctly, @ 02:00 UTC on Friday.

* The latest news headlines from various sources can now be displayed on he home page on demand. This is a common use of RSS -- gathering content from other sources and displaying it on your own site.

* I added permanent links for the Checkin Archive to the home and news/info page.

Today I created an RSS feed for the OMISS News and Information page.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Wikipedia has a very good introductory article on RSS here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss

One use of RSS is to allow web sites to gather information from each other and publish it. Ever wonder how Google and Yahoo! gather their headlines stories? RSS.

Another common use is for end users to subscriber to RSS feeds from multiple sources (web sites, blogs, online newspapers and magazines) and present it in an aggregated form with links back to the original source.

Why should you care? Well if you use iGoogle or MyYahoo!, for example, you can add the OMISS RSS feed right to your page and see whats new without having to go to the OMISS web site.

You might want to give RSS a try. Just look for the RSS icon!

The OMISS website now has an archive of Checkin lists.
The archive includes OMISS nets held on or after 1/1/2011 (UTC).
To access the Archive.

1. Point your browser to http://omiss.net/Facelift/listCheckinHistory.php (A permanent link will soon be added to the menu system)

2. Select a net from the list and click Submit or press Enter. (As the list grows you will need to scroll the page or use CTRL-F to locate the net that interests you.)

3. The Checkin list, summary, and graph appear. To view the checkin's on a Google map click the Map It! item on the OMISS Tools sidebar. The map can be scrolled or zoomed in/out using the map controls.

Important notes:
*Not all nets are listed.* -- NCS stations are not required to use Netlogger, in which case there would be nothing to archive. In order for a net to be listed, the NCS must send out the checkin list via the OMISS website. (We are almost at 100% compliance with this process.) Nothing can be done to recover any *missing* nets.

*Some nets have multiple entries.* -- This is most likely because the list was uploaded more than once, perhaps to correct a problem. Please report what you believe to be duplicate net entries to the webmaster for investigation.

Some thoughts about tuning up for the net.

Click HERE to read.

Just when you thought you had heard it all...



Kudos to N4JTE Bob, #1440
Download it here...(Right Click - Save Link As...)

Here is something every OMISS member should be proud to own and display.

We asked Bill K5YRT at www.hamplaques.com if he had ever considered offering an OMISS organizational plaque and he came up with a really nice product offering that you can purchase on the web at: http://hamplaques.com/o-omiss.htm

This is something you can even ask the XYL to buy for that "Ham that has everything." (i.e. you) it is fairly priced, it doesn't take up a lot of space, and it is100% guaranteed not to cause TVI, hi hi. Click on the image above for a larger view...

OMISS has nothing to do with the pricing or payment, so please direct any of those questions to Bill K5YRT.

The folks over at Hosenose.com have incorporated support for OMISS into their products for years, so we decided to reciprocate.

LOGic 8 can programmatic-ally import the OMISS roster and track ANY OMISS award.

Click the banner ad and read for yourself. (There is even a free demo.)

How many of you know that "Cheap QSL's" is run by one of our own members? Hal, K6RF #5240 has special pricing on QSL cards for OMISS Members. I just sent him a few more OMISS logos to use, so if you're looking for a card that has the OMISS look, check out his web page at http://cheapqsls.com/club_omiss.htm.

OMISS Mugs Available!

After working with Rick, NV5A "The Signman of Baton Rouge" on a design for an OMISS Mug, we have come up with one that any OMISS Member would be proud to display in the shack - or at work!

To view the mug and/or place an order for one, surf on over to: http://www.thesignman.com/clubs/omiss.html and see what you think. OMISS has nothing to do with the pricing or payment, so please direct any of those questions to Rick, NV5A.

When sending corrections or news items for the web site, be sure to include the web address (URL) for the pages you are correcting.

Frequently, it is difficult to find content without knowing which pages to look at. Please send all corrections and news items to the address at the bottom of this page.