Well things have been busy for us GOTAhams lately but we are having a great time. Sorry about the wrong dates posted in March, those are fixed now. We will be shifting our “Radio In The Park” day to the second Saturday of the month instead of the third after the Claremont Amateur Radio Swap Meet. This will allow us more time at the park to play on the radios and socialize with each other. Also It’s less work having to set up and break down equipment twice in one day.
Claremont Amateur Radio Swap Meet, Feb, 2020
We had a great time hanging out at the Claremont Swap Meet yesterday, February 15th. Thank you Scott KG6ABF for hosting this event. Please check our Calendar as we are adding new events often.
GOTAhams will be serving FREE coffee and donuts at our swap meet booth!
Vic KM6RWB, has been working tirelessly to supply us with our much anticipated monthly installment of Ham Humor, Club News, Coverage of our infamous field events and Member “Spotlights”
The GOTAhams Board will be meeting Wed. Jan. 29th at our regular meeting place, 921 W. Foothill Blvd Claremont CA. 91711. Topics will be Direction/Focus of the Club, Budget, Outreach, Bylaws/Constitution, Field Day plans and other items that may be introduced.
We post the meeting here publicly because this organization is Member driven and all members are welcome to attend and voice their opinions, give input and introduce discussion items.
We expect a small group, so we plan on meeting in the restaurant’s small meeting room near their bar area. We have heard from members that can’t make the meeting but have some input, that is always an option, simply email Kathi at kd6caf@gmail.com with any concerns you would like the Board to discuss and Thanks for your input.
Join us Saturday January 25th at San Dimas Canyon Park and “Get On The Air” with the GOTAhams. We plan on setting up several HF band stations and will attempt to make as many contacts as we can from 1900 UTC (11:00 AM PDT) until Dusk (park closing). The link above has lots of information including rules, Station locator map and scores from past years.
As always during our outings in the Park, Everyone is welcome, no license is required, we are sure you will learn something and “Get On The Air” Our Secretary always has something for Children to do, from making “Morse Code necklaces to code practice and building electronic circuits with “Snap Circuits”
Also our events are always “Social Events” first that include Radio Communication So come out Socialize and find out how much fun you can have with a transceiver.
We will begin “Set-up” at 9:00 AM, East end of San Dimas Canyon Park 1628 Sycamore Canyon Rd. San Dimas 91773.
Another Year gone by, Holidays have past, I know we had a busy 2019 but that was our first year of learning about being a Radio Club. What I believe we’ve learned is Clubs need a purpose! ours is easily apparent within the name “Get On The Air”, I do believe we have been true to that namesake.
2020 will have us continuing in that mission of, Helping HAMs Get On The Air and keeping the Amateur Radio community “Radio Active”.
There have been Challenges from across the country by the 2019 club of the year to create a “New Ham Boot Camp”. Locally we have been asked to help the Tri City ACS with their mission of educating and licensing new hams. Our mission supporting Tri City is to help get those newly licensed Hams Get On The Air and help them find their interest or passion within this hobby.
At this Months meeting I will be Challenging each of you to find and mentor (elmer) a new or a non-active Ham to help them learn all the opportunities this Hobby has to offer. get them to check in to a local net, discover some of the field activities like a Swap meet, Radio store, GOTAhams field Ops etc.
I will also be asking for input of course content for our “New Ham Boot Camp” presentation and volunteers to help present during our “Boot Camp”.
It is not all work, we will have our monthly Raffle and as always input from YOU our members is Welcome and Highly promoted so bring those Questions and Ideas! (that is the best part of our meetings)
Kathi and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.
Setup in preparation of our 2019 Field Day at Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort
We have Registered our 2020 Field Day Site and information with the American Radio Relay League ARRL’s Field Day Locator map. It does appear that the GOTAhams are the first California Club to be officially registered. Our information includes the following:
Location: Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort, Spaces B181 and B182, we relocated slightly from our 2019 sites, the new sites give us a clearer “line of Sight” toward the East overlooking Brackett Field, Fairplex and the San Bernardino Mountain range. We still have a view of parts of the Puddingstone Reservoir, it does provide us more real estate for our antennas.
All Risk Training Center, 11285 Jersey Blvd., Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730
The Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) functions as a community service organization and a disaster or emergency service asset consisting of highly-skilled volunteers using amateur (ham) radio to accomplish stated and implied missions. For more info about ASC and the next Technician classes, see www.tricityacs.net! The classes are FREE! Already a few of our GOTAhams members have signed up. ’73 Mark KM6AHY
Yes, I know, Vic KM6RWB had to step in and take control (Net Control) last Tuesday when Kathi was a No-Show. In Kathi’s defense she was out doing last minute shopping for Christmas gifts and meals and didn’t quite make it home in time for the Net. I personally was asleep in my recliner (perfect excuse). Vic in true GOTAhams fashion stepped up to his microphone and took on Net Control Duty completely cold but “Like A Boss”! Thanks Vic for being a “Super Goat”.
If you’re out at your New Years Eve party, Carry your HT and listen in, Check in and offer up some third party traffic check ins with your Party guests! all are welcome.
Thanks Vic KM6RWB for all your hard work putting this newsletter together for us each month. Your tireless efforts (and constant “reminders”) are greatly appreciated.
For those of you wondering “will there be a net Christmas Eve?” The answer is YES, we will be active on our regular frequency 446.400 WA6FZH repeater.
We understand that most of you will be at a family get together or Christmas party that night but, if you carry your trustee HT and check-in, we will definitely allow “third party traffic” and let EVERYONE check in to the net!
The Plan is Kathi KD6CAF will handle Net Control. We will likely do just a single round unless folks have something interesting to keep the roundtable going!
So, Charge up the Handy Talkie, carry it with you and at least monitor (with a earphone if you have to) and enjoy Christmas Eve with Mrs. Clause (Kathi).
