Hello to all the hams that come across this new website. GCARA hopes to make it a most beneficiary site in the upcoming months. While we LOVED the old site, our webmaster, Joe Ruby KJ4OW has retired from doing it to pursue other life pleasures. We all owe Mr. Ruby a debt of gratitude for his many years of continued service to our club as the web master and sole payer of all of the costs for doing this out of his own pocket. Thank you Joe, for being so generous and kind with your time, talents and money. You are one in a million!!!!!
If anyone is interested in writing for the new webpage, please contact Melanie Fernandez, KJ4VCT, who will with the help of Jeff Stahl, K4BH and Ricky Eaton, KD4HDR, will be adding content to the site. It is being currently designed by another member of the club, John Cole,N1QFH, who has done many sites for non profits already and most recently manages the Boca Raton Amateur Radio Association. He does wonderful work and if you would like to see for yourself you may check out the BRARA.ORG site. Thanks John for helping us fill some mighty big shoes.
GCARA will be paying for the site, the domain name and the SSL certification that GOOGLE has decided is needed to deem a website “safe” to view, even if there are no money transactions being done. We realize that this is an added expense to the club, however, we cannot avoid this expense any longer and must try to recoup the money elsewhere while still providing our hams a useful and valuable site. We hope that more donations will be coming in to help support this effort and the many activities we want to provide our growing club.
Upcoming in March is our Quarterly GCARA Dinner at Wing’s Plus, located at 9880 W. Sample Road in Coral Springs 33065. We will meet in the back (just ask at the front desk) at 7 PM and dine not only on the best Wings there are but the best American cuisine for the price anywhere. I have tried a lot of items there and have never been disappointed. It is our hope that many members will choose to join us there that Saturday, March 23, 2019. Please bring your guests with you as all are welcome. Please RSVP to Jeff Stahl K4BH@arrl.org or call Melanie at 954-560-3706. We would like to know how many people to prepare for. Our guest speaker that evening will be the ever entertaining Chuck Gress, K3NXH, who will speak about digital communications, possibly moon bounce and satellite communications, time permitting. What he does not cover that evening, he will follow up with Ricky Eaton, KD4HDR at the general meeting in April. Our thanks to Chuck for offering to speak and to Joe McGee, NX4T, who contacted Chuck and made the arrangements. I am so encouraged by all of the people who step up to help make this a positive environment for learning about our hobby. We are all truly blessed by our Board and membership.
In conclusion, I would like to say happy birthday to all of our members who enjoy a March birthday and a general get well message to those who are too ill to come to our general meetings. We miss all of you and you will remain in my prayers for you until you are better. We thank all of our friends from GCARA who have blessed us with your presence and participation in the past and present. We hope for an even more exciting and fruitful future as we help in our community and practice our hobby with each other. Take care and be well, each and every one of you.
Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT