PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE for March, 2021
As I sit here getting ready for the ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX Contest this weekend- March 6 and 7, I can only hope there will be propagation to make it a successful contest. It’s hard to set goals for this contest, however, I always commit a good amount of time to the contest and hope for the best. With all the high winds this week I am surprised my vertical is still vertical and ready for this weekend. There are many events coming up for the FT8 crowd: ssb contests and a lot of cw for both the fast and slower operators. Lots of good practice at a slower pace- even fun…
For those of you who did not participate in Tuesday night’s open discussion, it turned out to be a success with 23 people taking part. Discussion ranged from apartment operation: antenna and shack grounding techniques: baluns and toroids use: 2-meter operation and several other topics. There appears to be a strong interest in people wanting to learn Morse or cw. Dick, VE1AI is looking into this along with Don Trotter, VE1DTR and Jason, VE1PYE. Hopefully, we can put together a short program to fill this need. More information will follow. We will continue to have these open forums for those with questions or who want information on any number of topics. Again, stay tuned for more info on this new feature we are offering our members.
This is the time of the year when club memberships are due. This year we have a very good electronic funds transfer method in place thru the club website and is working very well. However, I do go into the club 2 or 3 times a week to check on mail that may have membership forms/cheques that need to go to Bill who is our treasurer. Jason is sending out the membership cards to all once confirmed thru Bill.
There is a requirement to add more radio operators to the HATS PROGRAM. This need for operators especially trained in the operation of the EOC and the Incident Command System along with message handling procedures and various pieces of radio equipment makes this a challenging opportunity for our younger members. TRAINING is from EMO members and course recognition is kept up to date for all those to take these courses. The courses are good to have if you are called out either for the EOC or field location. This is the REAL side of Amateur Radio Communications as opposed to the hobby aspect. Many of you participated in the 911 events: Swiss Air disaster and of course the 2 Juans. Everyone knows how important we are in theseevents. FormoreinformationonjoiningHATSandgettingthenecessarytrainingpleasecontactGarryMurphy.
I would like to wish everyone safe weeks ahead as the vaccine is close at hand for everyone who wants one for the protection of family members and friends and the hope we can resume some form of normalcy for the coming fall. Take care and look forward to seeing you for the general meeting later this month.
73 – Respectfully, Brian Allen- VA1CC, President of the HARC
