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GCARA-General-Meeting-Minutes-20230926
John Cole N1QFH, SK
It is with a sincerely heavy heart that I must inform the GCARA membership of the passing of John Cole, N1QFH, SK this week. John was a special friend to many in the GCARA and the BRARA club as well as MARS. He had been battling cancer for many years and lost that battle this week.
Our condolences go out to his wife Beryl and his family as they lay him to rest in his beloved Maine.
John will be remembered by many of us as the most positive ham, eager to help and so dedicated to his endeavors with many groups. He supported webpages for many charities and he helped with our club as webmaster for 2 years before Charlie Artner, KN4VDW came on board. He also did the Boca website until his health interfered with the day to day of it. I am so bereaved to lose such a wonderful person, friend and extraordinary ham.
Rest in peace, my friend.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of one of the nicest hams I know, Anna-Jean Karden N4KAJ. Anna was born in Detroit, MI April 17, 1948 and married Allan Karden N4ALK September 12, 1971, 52 years and one day before her death on September 13, 2023.
A proud graduate of Wayne State University in 1970, Anna and Allan lived in the Detroit area until June of 1976.
Anna was a loving mother of two children, Belle and Jacob, and doting grandmother to three grandchildren Bradley, Brooke And Sofia. Always the perfect, sensitive, and diligent hostess at all of the JEWISH HOLIDAYS, she would call the Rabbi to make sure she was spelling the names of her guests correctly. She never failed to include newcomers to the neighborhood or people with no one else to celebrate with. This Rosh Hashanah, the empty chair will be for this woman of valor, in tribute and in honor of her life.
Anna-Jean became a ham in November 2019 as KN4UXM and a year later passed her General and changed her call sign to N4KAJ. Even as she lived with her multiple medical problems, she was studying for the Extra exam. Both Anna-Jean and Allan Karden supported our club faithfully for many years. Those of us who got to know Anna appreciated the person she was and knows that she will be certainly missed by us, her family and her friends.
In life, Anna was the perfect mitzvah for others, loving, sharing and caring for all. The world may have lost a wonderful woman, but her light will shine in the memory of those she so faithfully served.
Melanie Fernandez
Contributions:
American Heart Association. https://www.heart.org/donate
Or any Israeli Charity
CQ, CQ, CQ: Calling ALL Hams
Hello, this is your President calling!
GCARA is in NEED for new smiling faces to help FACILITATE the many needs of the club. We are seeking first, those who wish to serve their radio club and have or can make time in their schedule to do small, important jobs. That is a start!
Second, we are seeking those who work well in an integrated group of people with varying backgrounds and that know how to be a team player while feeling secure enough to offer solutions for the problems which SOMETIMES arise. We are looking for a mature person, not prone to gossip or “spreading gossip”.
Third, it would be helpful, but not necessarily essential, to have a little computer savvy for the job. I, myself, am learning from others on the Board as we speak. The Board contains very generous people who love sharing info and are willing to mentor anyone who has a need.
Fourth, we are looking for someone who loves to network among the other clubs, make valuable new friends, and be a great ambassador for Ham radio.
Fifth, the need for a person with his or her finger on the pulse of the club is a great help to the success of the club, knowing the membership is helpful and often time plays an important part of problem solving when it is needed. Knowing who is not doing well Healthwise, who is a shut in but still supports the club and wants to be viable in life is very important, as well as someone who is keeping abreast of those who are in need of specialized training or who desire to learn a new area of the hobby. It is said, information is power and that it is. The information you glean from conversations with fellow hams, can help them develop skills they need to be more successful as a ham and a positive influence on other hams. The world is in short supply of those who build good strong foundations with people and encourage others to succeed as they succeed. We can never know everything but we can share knowledge and become genius as a group.
Sixth, besides sharing and caring for one another, we are in need of those who remember the past in ham radio but are willing to try out the new so we keep up to date in attracting brilliant people who can give a lot to the organization. There is a strong need for the “worker bees”, too, and we do not underrate those people, whose skill set is in service to others. All can combine forces for a strong, meaningful and effective organization.
Seventh, we are looking for a genuine willingness to serve others to maintain this club as Chuck Ritchie founded for us 50 years ago. If we do not get someone willing to serve and take responsibility, the club’s future is in doubt and that would be a shame. It is essentially a group of good, varied, and interesting people who make up this club and I have enjoyed associating with each and every one of you. No matter what you bring to the table, it IS APPRECIATED.
GCARA is once again looking for leadership as its President, and as its Director at Large. The President presides and works well with others to help them achieve the level of success ALL are capable of. They are NOT divisive or self-seeking, instead they lead by example. The Director supports the club in any capacity the President needs. This person will help keep an eye on things.
Our Board is already built with strong, independent thinkers who cherish hearing other’s opinions and do not become obstinate or opiniated to a detriment and therefore are able to legislate fairly, the matters before them.
So far, Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ has consented to perform the duties of secretary for the Board. A para-legal, Ricki brings a lot of knowledge about current affairs, peoples, and legal matters. We are so blessed to have her on board, literally. She keeps meticulous records and is well suited for the position and despite working a fulltime job, will make time for us in 2024.
We are also very lucky to have Dirk Basting, PhD, as Treasurer. His skill set with science and particular attention to details and numbers makes him well suited for leadership in this area. A good Treasurer is hard to find. The job has a lot of responsibility, and the person needs to be above scrutiny in all of his dealings with people. We are secure in the knowledge that Dirk is such a person.
Our Web and Information Technology department, Director PIO position is also filled with a very talented, ingenious and patient person, Tom Savoca K9TJS. He is well versed in Google, computer usage and PIO work. He heavily promotes other organizations and knows the ins and outs of doing it. He is full of new ideas and his critical thinking skills make it a pleasure to interface with him.
Our Vice President choice for 2024 is now Secretary Ben Echavarria N7BBE. He comes fully loaded with various and sundry certifications as a shelter manager, crisis manager and is willing to support the efforts of the next President, whomever they be. He is an avid radio enthusiast who gives as a volunteer on multiple projects cheerfully and effectively. Ben does not run as President this year as it is more time than he can afford to spend with all of his other activities.
Ricky Eaton KD4HGR will continue to lead the Repeater Maintenance/Technical Team as Repeater Trustee. Ricky engenders the characteristics of someone who is able to successfully link the technical with the human in this endeavor. He plays well with others and keeps his team on a steady course while allowing others to share knowledge with him. Ricky works with equally gifted but hardly ever publicly seen, Eric Rodriguez KF4LZA. The reason he is seldomly publicly seen is that he works fulltime in the business and manages several complex communication platforms as it is and time with his family is important to him. Thank you, gentlemen, for all you give in your daily lives with grace, humility and generosity of spirit. {If you have a technical itch that needs to be scratched, the two gentlemen, will gladly take your help and get you onboard with the tasks at hand. I said it before and I will keep saying it, “Many hands make light work”.}
Besides the Board positions, we are in need of a Parliamentarian, VE capable people and those who wish to familiarize themselves with the VE liaison position as an educational objective, a Historian and those who like calling members and chatting with them when they are in need of company or help. We have temporary odd jobs like feeding people on Field Days and Picnics on the Food Committee. It may involve shopping and carting goods to the park or it may be in prep or planning, whatever your flavor is!
GCARA looks forward to a very exciting year as a quality club geared to its member’s development in every area and that strives to make commitments to support our communities and other sister clubs, always. It is a TALL order perhaps, but accomplishable. Everyone needs to be a part of the whole in the way that they can be. To happiness and quality of life! God bless everyone and may they make many more QSOs in life.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
President GCARA 2023
CQ, CQ, CQ Calling all hams……………
I picked up my QST magazine last month and was surprised to find a very interesting article on one of our members, Dirk Basting PhD N4AN. It was a well written snippet of his accomplishments in the world of science and his amateur radio hobby. I’ll bet many of you did not know we had such an impressive mind in our midst! Dirk serves on the Executive Board as our Treasurer this year and I am pleased he answered the call to serve us in this capacity.
That article gave me thought about how well the ARRL serves the ham community. It sets standards for excellence, provides interesting articles to read about fellow hams, great technology articles and keeps abreast of legal issues for our hobby’s welfare. We are well informed as an ARRL member and well represented in the legislative branch of the government.
It makes sense to support this organization by buying a membership in the organization and supporting the contests, special programs and our ever-popular Field Days. We are so lucky to have an organization which helps us In the Free World as they do. Our club is a proud supporter of the ARRL and will hopefully achieve our goal of making our membership almost 100% members in the future. To be an ARRL affiliated club, you must maintain 51% membership in the ARRL and embody the virtues of positive radio practice. It is a no-brainer to give back to those people who support our wonderful hobby, don’t you think?
Do you have old copies of QST laying around the house collecting dust? Try to lend or give them to other new hams that you are aware of and help open their eyes to this wonderful organization. You may be supplying the next creative mind with the information needed to do something noteworthy in this world. I have never not learned from reading their articles or their interviews about people in the hobby and I am sure that you can glean helpful information even from the advertisers of the magazine. It is a bargain at $45.00 a year for a subscription and even if it costs more, it pays back in dividends you cannot imagine for yourself, your fellow hobbyists, and the nation. Keep free communications on the air and support the organization dedicated to supporting our hobby. Thank you.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
The meeting minutes are now a downloadable PDF.
GCARA_Board_Minutes-20230910 GCARA_Board_Minutes-2023-07
CQ, CQ, CQ………..calling all GCARA hams………
I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the “shut-ins” in our club. These are people who can no longer navigate to go to the meeting’s under their own power but support the club and use the radio every day. Life and circumstances are not always kind to people but thanks to those who notice our situations and jump in to help, we are truly blessed. Ham radio cultivates this desire to help others and attracts such people in our midst. Such is the case of our favorite little ham, WB3ANE, Hope Smith.
Hope lost her significant other of 50 years, Donald Search W3AZD in March of 2020 and I happened to witness the tragedy of a cared for woman left alone to navigate all of her business by herself. I made sure Hope got to the hospital and Rehab, as did fellow ham Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ, or where ever Donald was while he suffered a bleed on his brain which ultimately took his life. He had a series of falls in 2019, the last one being at a restaurant in December of 2019. Up to then, their lives together was rich in friends, club meetings, club events and traveling. Don was Hope’s everything and her care giver. To lose him was devastating both for emotional reasons as well as practical ones. They had successfully navigated life as a team. Hope would make the phone arrangements and Don would drive and take care of the little things for both of them.
Everyone was familiar with the couple because they went everywhere together, including to Field Days when Don would stay up all night long making contacts while Hope patiently and lovingly watched him. We hams loved seeing them and tried to make their days comfortable when they joined us. In fact, it was hams who came to her rescue when Don was stricken down and unable to care for his personal business. Hams like Silent Key Roy Neiman KJ4EGN and his wife, took Hope in while Don was hospitalized and ultimately got her established at an upscale ALF in Tamarac where Hope would reside for 2 years after that. Roy had asked me to help care for Hope as he and his wife were about to travel so I took over from there, finding her an elder attorney and settling her personal matters. All was shaky at first because Hope was understandably depressed at her loss of her life partner and she resumed her activities in Ham radio by joining the 6 pm Traffic Net every day. She did so with the help of another ham, David Warner, KB4ICU who custom built an indoor free standing antenna which could be moved to wherever reception was best for her. Hope was in seventh heaven and I admire the antenna that David provided her and am thankful that he cared enough to do it.
Other hams in other clubs, collected funds and bought Don’s equipment so that Hope could reside in the new ALF until the financial assets were awarded. Don had put together a financial retirement package for he and Hope and his sister, Renna Reed, and the elder attorney helped Hope access those funds. For two years she lived in a fine ALF with comforts before that were unknown to Hope. She and Don had lived in a manufactured home of some age and recently partially destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. Being older and somewhat helpless in those matters, the home was never repaired and Hope and Don resided there in privacy, others never knowing the disarray of their situation. When Don passed away, a group of hams, Kenny Hollenbeck KE4NC, Jeff Stahl K4BH, Jerry Deitch W4LST, Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB and Roy Neiman KJ4EGN went to the home and recovered their “treasures”, coins, cash and equipment. All was collected and cataloged for Hope’s financial security as each item was sold. Mike Spivak WB4RFC was instrumental in marketing some radios and equipment and passed the funds onto Hope, as was Kenny Hollenback KE4NC.
The ham community came together to lift Hope out of a sad and desperate situation and she was and is still full of gratitude.
Hope is now living in a Pompano Beach ALF called the “W” on SW 4th AVE. in a shared room with a woman that has since become her best friend, Betty. Betty shares Hope’s joy at joining the 6 PM Net at night and at other times, she gets on the radio to talk to both of their friends, Mike Wolf K2HXC and (Abe) Abraham Betesh W4FTL (faster than light). Hope always has some radio action going on in her room as she solicits others to join ham radio. She has talked up ham radio to EVERY EMPLOYEE, visitor or casual attendant. She proudly wears her badge labelling her as PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER. It is quite cute to see Hope talk to her physicians about Ham radio and give them her press clippings from a recent article in the June Pelican paper about Field Day. Hope is proud and delighted that the reporter chose her to interview there.
What can you do about people in HOPE’S situation? First, tell Melanie of the person who needs support and she and Hope will reach out to them to see if they are in need of technical help or just company. Hope loves to operate and talk on the radio as well as the phone and will keep in touch with people. We want our club to be a family oriented club with people to reach out to. Life is sometimes cruel and lonely but no one should ever have to be alone who is in our club.
Today, we covered Hope, next month someone else will be profiled and their phone number published so if you want to make contact with them you can. To reach Hope, or to make arrangements for a visit, please call her at 954-647-5713. She loves to talk and has a past rich in ham radio history, including her days at the ARRL. I, myself, have learned a lot more since meeting Hope.
Remember, a life filled with good people is a quality life. Amen.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
