It is with great sadness that I write that GCARA Lifetime Member, Francis (FRANK) Baker W1IB became a silent key on Thursday, November 17, 2022. A faithful radio enthusiast, Frank spent most of the last several years in bed due to breaking his hip some time ago. Memorial services will be held in Boston according to his surviving daughter, Sandra. Our prayers and condolences go out to his daughter Sandra, who has lived down here during the Covid 19 pandemic, overseeing her father’s care.
-submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
GCARA has a new and younger Board now, fully charged with the responsibility of leading us into the new year. It is my hope that the new people will offer a fresh approach to maintaining our fun hobby by its work and dedication to the hobby we all enjoy.
Congratulations to ERIK OLMER W4EJO, the new president,
Ben Echavarria N7BBE, as the new Secretary,
Robert “Liggy” Ligum KN4WII, as the new Treasurer,
Thomas Savoca K9TJS as Director/PIO,
Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ, as a very supportive and able Vice President,
Ricky Eaton KD4HG, as the stable REPEATER TRUSTEE and the leader of the Technical Team for the club.
I will remain in the wings as Director at Large, for continuity and to help out where ever and when ever there is a need. I have great confidence and look forward to what each person offers to the Board.
Happy 2023 ya’ll and God Bless.
73,
Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
CQ, CQ, CQ, Calling all hams……..It is with a great deal of satisfaction and pride that I accept passing on the baton to the next executive board. Congratulations to the elected Board of Directors as accepted by the general membership on November 22, 2022.
The new Board has a great deal to accomplish, and I am assured that they will continue to promote the spirit of this hobby in the manner for which it is intended. First of all, in order for a hobby to be enjoyable it must be fun to its participants. A spirit of camaraderie, of giving and sharing , needs to continue in the pursuit of our higher learning about the hobby. There must be a mutual understanding that everyone has gifts to share and should be given the opportunity to do so. There must be an understanding that a club is NOT one or two people, but the whole group, who strive to accomplish the work that needs to be done to achieve the goals of the group. It is with this understanding and respect that I led this club in the past and I hope it will be led in the future.
Since this will be my last message to the club as your president, I want to commend several people, who unselfishly gave of their time and talents to improve this club in specials ways.
Charlie Artner KN4VDW, is the first on my list. He spent many hours of his free time delving into the construction of a beautiful website. He is a true artist who designed the communication forms that we all now use by habit to send information to the executive board for the good of the club. His thoughtful architecture of our website is a tribute to the man he is, thoughtful, creative and very thorough. It was he who paid attention to details, both as the secretary and as webmaster, and he found ways to remind of us of where we were going if we found ourselves off track. These are big shoes to fill in my opinion and I want to thank him for his unselfish support of the club for these past few years. Thank you, Charlie, for putting your all into the tasks at hand. You have been a valuable and unselfish club member and certainly a joy to me.
I have also enjoyed working closely with our repeater trustee, Ricky Eaton KD4HGR and his associate Eric Rodriguez KF4LZA. These two men, sometimes along with the technical assistance of Joe McGee NX4T, Al Flapan AF4FA, and Michael Samokiesyzyn KF4ZW, have been instrumental in keeping our repeaters, DMR and HF station working and in service to the club, for many years. They worked in the background, unselfishly putting in many hours to solve complex problems with equipment so that the hams of GCARA could enjoy our hobby seamlessly. As with all effective people, they shared their vast knowledge and approached each problem from their own field of expertise and worked as a team to provide a very good communication service to our club members, both as the hobby demands and in times of emergency communication needs. Thank you gentlemen for giving your all to this effort.
Jeff Stahl K4BH served as part of the technical team, provided presentations to our club from his vast arsenal of powerpoints developed over time, tested our newer hams and provided the information for them to get involved. Despite being heavily involved with Ares Races as an officer, working in the EOC, teaching courses in CPR, and teaching the ham licensure information for the Boca Raton Club, working the WINTERFEST effort, carrying out CERT responsibilities as well as his involvement in CAP, Jeff has shown remarkable ability to serve amateur radio in all aspects selflessly. It is with a great deal of admiration and pride that I worked with this gentleman to make our club the best it could be. Thank you Jeff for both your encouragement to me and your loyal support.
Thanks to the ARRL team of Barry Porter KB1PA, Jeff Beals WA4AW, and Marty Falk KI4IQZ, who gave me endless positive support in my tenure as president of this club. Thank you one and all for your time and support of our club in general.
Who could forget our club sponsor, Mike Spivak WB4RFC, who first recommended that this previous Secretary on the Board, take the lead of this fantastic club? Certainly I could not! He gave sage advice, made valuable suggestions and supported this club so faithfully throughout my tenure. He helped me collect information for Field Days, took care of the attendance sheet when the club met in person and sold the fifty-fifty tickets, cheerfully greeting all of our members and visitors each month. Those were the “good ole days” for the club when we met in person pre-COVID times. We had a lot of fun while learning all about all aspects of ham radio.
Thank you, Mike for all of the help and encouragement.
And the list goes on! I could not possibly name every person who were instrumental in my tenure. There is not enough time nor paper. Thank you to all who unselfishly worked to promote amateur radio in its highest form during my presidency. You may not be named here but I have recall of ALL of you. You reside in my mind and heart as good friends, mentors and honorable hams, whether you are alive or are silent keys. There was and is so much effort by so many wonderful people that goes into being a good club. Thank you to all of you.
In closing, I would like to extend a heartfelt wish for the happiest of holidays to all. May your signal be strong and the QRM be non-existent in 2023! God bless everyone!
73, Melanie Fernandez JK4VCT
As members of GCARA, we cannot forget those contributions of older members. They achieved holding the club intact by those contributions. Such is the case for Mr. Joe Ruby KJ4OW.
He was our very first webmaster and he donated his services and his own money to fund it out of his own pocket. In those days, funds were low and it was a hardship to repair the repeaters or get new equipment. Joe saw to it that funds could be offloaded from our club account by his generous contributions.
He also was the cheerful “chef” at all of our functions and having done that job myself, I can tell you it is no small undertaking. Whenever there was a job to be done, he never minded volunteering. He was part of the technical team and he certainly will be remembered for his ability to cajole members into paying their dues on time as membership committee chairman.
It is with that generosity of spirit that I remember Joe Ruby KJ4OW, SK.
-Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
The President’s Message for October 2022
Calling all the GCARA hams! I have some important information for you. First, allow me to remind you that as the year draws to an end, we are focusing on elections of the executive board for 2023. There are many things to be done. First, in order to vote, you must pay your dues. They must be brought current by November 21, 2022, so if you are in a grace period or you have lapsed and still want to participate in the club with us, kindly and quickly, bring your account current as soon as possible.
Second, the Board has heard people’s opinion about the opportunity to vote in the elections. We are sensitive to the people who support us but have difficulty in being present at our Zoom meetings to vote. We have decided to offer an alternative way to vote by mail or by Proxy. Upon request, we will send ballots to members by mail and they may vote and get their ballot mailed back in to the GCARA Post office address no later than November 21, 2022. You may also choose someone who will be able to attend the meeting by giving that person written permission to cast your vote for you. Just as there will be the proposed slate, we will accept nominations of people from the floor at our November meeting, who wish to run for office.
In the event that you want to help us with our many projects and do not want to hold an office, there are many ways you can help the Board execute the projects at hand. All are invited and welcome to share the experience. Please let me know and I will pass it on to the powers that be.
So far, our proposed slate is as follows:
President: Erik Olmer W3EJO
Vice President: Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ
Secretary: Ben Echavarria N7BBE
Treasurer: Robert “Liggy” Ligum KN4WII
Director/PIO: Thomas Savoca K9TJS
Director at Large: Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
Trustee: Ricky Eaton KD4HGR
If you wish to run for any office above, kindly contact Barry Porter KB1PA, our nominating Committee so we can get you on the ballot. Nominations will be accepted until November 22, 2022 meeting. In the event that 2 people want to run for the same office, they will have to be voted on at the time of the meeting and the quorum of paid members present will vote. Up to now, we are unaware of anyone other than those noted on the slate, who wish to run.
I wish at this time, to thank the outgoing Board members for their dedication to serving the club this past year. First, I would like to recognize our current secretary and webmaster, Charlie Artner KN4VDW. Charlie has unselfishly lent his creative talents to the club by producing impeccable, true and accurate meeting notes both for the Board meetings and the general meetings. This has taken much time to do as it means that besides attending the meetings, he reviews the tapes of the meetings to fact check and organize the information. He has made so many valuable contributions to the Board, it is hard to list them all, however one of my favorite items is the to do log of projects he keeps with “due dates”. It keep us all aware of what we are trying to achieve in a timely manner. Charlie, being both computer savvy and artistic, has given us a very nice website which has been updated in a timely manner. He has also generated all of the emails of upcoming events, meetings and general information for the club. He was responsible for obtaining some interesting speakers during the first half of the year which greatly improved the quality of our programs.
Last, but not least, he has designed the systems for contacting us and the forms for signing up for events, or membership of the club. Charlie is a very thoughtful and thorough person whose creative abilities will be hard to match. Thank you, Charlie, for all of the best that you have given us. I appreciate it and will miss you as you relocate your family to Georgia.
Jeff Stahl K4BH, has been the very able Director/Parliamentarian for the club as well as handling the VE responsibilities for the club. Although his plate is full of many important duties such as serving as Ares Officer, serving on another Amateur Radio Board (Boca Raton Amateur Radio Club), handling leadership of his CAP squadron, working on the Winterfest Parade communications with his partner Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB, being an active CERT member and offering his astute technical skills to the club, he has found time to give us his help time and time again throughout the years. I deeply appreciate his friendship to GCARA and myself, as it has made my duties easier. Now, with family members needing him more and other commitments calling him, Jeff has need to step down from this and some other activities to better serve those other commitments. Thanks, Jeff, for all of your hard work and expertise and know that it will be hard to replace you on the Board.
As most of you already know, I am stepping down from the top leadership position of the Board so that the club can continue to grow and appeal to younger people in the hobby. Every person on the slate is a go getter and a leader in their own right and I look forward to the different flavor of the Board next year. I would like to continue to serve in any capacity needed and to offer my full support of the new Board. A leader is only as good as the people he surrounds himself with and I am honored to say that I have worked with many of the best hams I know and I have learned a lot during my time as President from everyone I have worked with. Many hands make light work and it is not work when you are having FUN. I always say that with all of the cooperation that I have had during my tenure and all of the talent people have lent to me, it has been a pleasure to serve you. We may all be smart in our own ways but in combination, we can be genius!
God bless every member, every person with a servant’s heart and may 2023 outshine our every accomplishment thus far.
With love,
Melanie
On a very solemn, quiet, sad night for me In February 2011, following the death of my beloved husband, Ray Fernandez K4RAY, I received a call from then President of GCARA Joey Tirritilli N4ZUW. He had a humane offer for me. He presented me with the opportunity to finish out my husband’s term as Secretary for the GCARA. I did not know then what a fabulous time I would have during the 11 years that followed. I was re-elected the Secretary for the next 4 years until an unfortunate vacancy occurred in the Presidency with the resignation of John Kramer after a one-year stint of being President following the departure of longtime President Joseph Tirritilli N4ZUW. (Jon had obtained new employment which curtailed his many duties in the club till then.) As we met in October of 2015, Club Sponsor Mike Spivak WB4RFC, shouted my name to run for President. I was shocked and overwhelmed but unopposed, and that is how I came to be President of the GCARA for 2016. I battled nerves and a bad case of inferiority due to my lack of technical matters in amateur radio. Still, I decided to give it a try with the very able help of people like Jeff Stahl K4BH, Joe Ruby KJ4OW, and Bob Walter KI4BFS. Many others helped guide and support me along the way, and to each of them, I say thank you, and I appreciate you. Hams are my most beloved friends and most stalwart allies during these times.
GCARA is now fortunate enough to have much younger people on the Board and newly joining the Club. Since I must return to the workforce in these uncertain times, I have decided not to run for President of the club this year. I am confident that the people running for the Board this year are indeed competent, technical, and very well versed in social media to benefit the club further. I have visions of these people being able to keep this club intact and thriving in the future. I want to thank everyone who has been a loyal supporter of this club and invite you to continue your loving support of this wonderful hobby. It made a world of difference in my existence, and I look forward to seeing it bless others as well.
73
Melanie Fernandes (KJ4VCT)
Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association
