Click BELOW to download and print the PDF version NOTE: Meeting minutes are posted online as a draft for review until approved at the following meeting. Corrections can be sent to the Secretary, currently rickiwitte4@gmail.com.
CQ,CQ, CQ, Calling all hams! HELP NEEDED!
The new year is coming and as the Gold Coast Club reorders its Board of Directors and tries to rearrange it’s committees, we need to ask for more help. We have received excellent responses when we need volunteers to help with the physical set up of Field Days and Picnics and we are ever so grateful for the good response. Without the technical Team and its helpers, we could not provide a Field Day effort the size of that in the past. Thank you one and all.
Now, we have openings in the Food and Hospitality Services that is critical to the feeding of the volunteers and visitors to our club functions. I want to thank Gerald (Jerry) Deitch W4LST, for his continued support to GCARA and me in the past 10 years with Food shopping, storage and preparation. Although he is the President of the very active Parrot Club, he has not wavered in his volunteer efforts for GCARA in both the VE section and the Hospitality arena. He is a true treasure but he is retiring from this commitment in 2025. Jerry holds in storage, at his house, the coolers, paper products and things necessary to feed our populace at our gatherings. He shops with me, holds onto the groceries, keeping them in ice chests until delivery to the venue the next day. He helps set up and break down the Food area and takes all of the extra hospitality supplies back with him to his house. [] Now, new blood must take the reins. So, first, we need helpers in the Food and Hospitality Sector of the Club. The only person that is remaining on the committee is Mike Wolf KD4OVP who has graciously agreed to continue being the chef de jour at our events.
I also have things in my house, i.e. coolers, signs, Banners, supplies for Field Day events that I need to find a home for. As President for the GCARA for the last 11 years, I have taken the responsibility to store much of the club paperwork , some coolers and other supplies which I must find a home for. In the past, we have always relied on Kenny Hollenbeck KE4NC, Jerry Deitch, myself, Joe McGee NX4T, Ricky Eaton KD4HGR and Jeff Stahl K4BH for storage of club property. If there is a problem finding home storage for some of these items for the future, it may become necessary to incur the monthly expense of a Public Storage facility for the coming year. Please, if you think you can help us avoid this extra expense for the club, call Melanie at 954-560-3706 and let her know. Any and all help is appreciated.
In general, I would like to ask for help from many newer people to the club. It is necessary to “pass the torch” to the next group and if you can serve in any capacity to maintain our club activities, it would be incumbent upon you to do so. It is highly rewarding and lots of fun at the end of the day. Let’s see some of the GCARA spirit soar in 2025. Thank you for listening and more, for participating in 2025.
With love,
Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT PRESIDENT 2024
Click to download and print the PDF version NOTE: Meeting minutes are posted online as a draft for review until approved at the following meeting. Corrections can be sent to the Secretary, currently rickiwitte4@gmail.com.
Board-Meeting-Minutes-2024-05-26
• CQ, CQ, CQ. Calling all hams……..
On September 24, 2024, GCARA held their first in person/ZOOM meeting at Imperial Point Hospital since the COVID epidemic struck. About 20 people attended in person and 14 showed up on Zoom to hear an out of town speaker talk on the RFinder DMR Phone. Unfortunately, Mr. Monteverde was unable to attend, however, in true Ham fashion, Eric Rodriguez KF4LZA, stepped up to give a nice talk on the phone as he had the latest version on him. He gave all of the positive attributes of owning and using this phone and several people familiar with the product added some comments as well. Dirk Basting N4AN showed us the tablet version of the RFinder Phone and the whole evening was busy with conversation about the phone and catching up with old friends now that we were back in person.
Our old standby, Dandee donuts, were served with Dunkin Donut Coffee and people enjoyed the blast from the past as we celebrated being all together for the first time in four years since the Covid epidemic shut us down. The general consensus of those who attended was that it was more enjoyable to be meeting in person than trying to interact on Zoom meetings. While Zoom is convenient, it lacks a lot of personal interactions possible while in person. It also had the advantage of being able to allow real time access to the items being discussed, which is only visual on the ZOOM programs. Touching and examining the items on display was thought to be much more fulfilling for most of the hams present.
We also had the opportunity to hold a 50/50 drawing which was won by Howard Groveman W6HDG, a new member to the club. He won $30.00 from the $65.00 pot. The remainder of the funds goes to offset costs of the meeting. Our door prize, a Baofeng radio was won in the door prize drawing by another newcomer to the club, A.J. Horowitz KQ4QYJ.
Our Sunday Dinner meeting on September 22, 2024 was lightly attended and it is thought that we would be better served to limit that opportunity for the group to three times a year instead of monthly. We are scheduled to meet October 20, 2024 at GG’s of New York again for probably the last time this year. Those wishing to come are welcome and asked to please RSVP so we know how many to anticipate. Dirk and I were able to practice setting up Zoom in the dining Room and were excited at that opportunity.
Our Treasurer, Dirk Basting N4AN, has been so gracious to donate his gently used toys to us for auction. Many are very expensive and have been made available in full working order with little use at a discounted price. He plans to auction off another item in our November meeting as he will be absent for the October Meeting. Dirk has also been very actively getting us speakers for our programs and all subjects have been interesting and well received. Thank you Dirk for your tremendous help to the club.
Our October 24, 2024 meeting will feature Patrick from Geochron, a fantastic product Dirk uses personally and it will be an interesting item to hear about for most of us. I hope to see a lot more people in person.
The October meeting will also be the meeting where we introduce the new slate for the 2025 Board of Directors. We are currently seeking help for the Board positions including the President position. To be eligible, you should be a member in good standing for 2 years (dues kept current and paid in full). We have a Treasurer, Trustee, 2 Directors and a Vice President at this time. The position for Secretary is open. If you are interested in running or helping us on the Board this coming year, kindly contact Barry Porter KB1PA at 561-251-9150 or by email barryp13@mac.com. Please hurry as time is getting short.
As some of you already know, I will be stepping down from the President position (again) to allow myself some much needed attention to my personal health matters. I have just spread myself too thin and have neglected family opportunities to serve on the Board and for Field Day activities. While fun, these duties have me slightly exhausted and I will also need to forego some of my people caretaker duties as well. The last 15 years hold many wonderful memories which I would not trade for anything else, however, the clock only ticks so long for everyone. If anyone is sincerely interested in the President position and would like to talk to me about what it has entailed, you may call me at 954-560-3706.
Thank you all for being the best, most friendly Radio Club around. We are full of helpful, cheerful and cooperative people that I have ever seen. It has been a real delight to be associated with each and every one of you. God bless all.
Vista View Park
4001 SW 142nd Ave, Davie, FL 33330, USA
All are invited, please RSVP so we can have enough food. $10.00 Donation is suggested to help cover the food costs and park price.
More information closer to the event.
A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT – AUGUST 2024
CQ, CQ, CQ, calling all members of GCARA!
I hope that my note finds everyone doing well and making contacts as you wish. Our equipment is working well at this time except for our HF Remote station which for some unknown reason keeps shutting itself off intermittently and without reason we can identify yet. This weekend, Eric Rodriguez KF4LZA, and Ricky Eaton KD4HGR, will go up to the repeater room at John Knox and investigate further. More details to follow in my next communication.
I want to remind people that we are in the process of collecting the dues owed to the club for this year and greatly appreciate all of you who respond in a timely manner with payment. Dues support the club infrastructure and equipment. They are a necessary ASK of the membership.
Thank you to all who stay current and to those individuals who are busy volunteering for the many jobs in the club. Any and all support is greatly appreciated by the Board and those members who seek to have a viable club. We cannot do anything of import without the loyal support of the membership.
Recently, the “91” repeater and equipment was removed from its home and no longer provides the County EOC with communications during hurricanes and disasters. Our “61” repeater now fills that position, and it is so very important to keep it up and running. GCARA takes that responsibility very seriously and our repeater Trustee team is busy doing whatever it takes to both maintain and secure the equipment. We owe a great deal of thanks to both Ricky Eaton KD4HGR and Eric Rodriguez KF4LZA for their devotion to this cause. These two gentlemen give many hours of personal time to keep us with working equipment that is both reliable and up to date. Kindly tell them thanks should you ever see them as they are the jewels in GCARA’s crown.
We are planning for our November picnic at Vista View Park in Davie for Nov 9th. We are looking forward to seeing all of you there for some mutually beneficial fun and education as well as networking. Everyone is welcome to attend.
I have included some pictures from our recent club dinner at GG’s of New York. The food is so good and the company is stimulating. We have been able to even have some successful auctions of donated equipment to provide the club with some funding. Many thanks to Dirk Basting N4AN, our Treasurer for his generous donations of slightly used but still viable top end equipment. Eating great food served by the sweetest, waitress, “Trish the Dish”, and socializing with our Ham friends is a great way to spend a Sunday evening.
The Board is currently trying, once again, to make some arrangements to meet at Imperial Point Hospital for our monthly meetings which will be a hybrid of in person and a Zoom affair. If we can, we would like to start in September. Many members have requested this because they miss the old format of rag chewing in person and networking with their Ham friends in the club. (A few have also stated they miss the Dandee Donuts, too. Lol) Luckily, GCARA has had a wonderful memory of old meetings where we came together to learn and check on old friends in person as well as get all of the information necessary to operate a great club. Thank you to all for all of your efforts in that capacity. We welcome ALL hams to our meetings.
Hopefully, we will be seeing each other soon! God bless.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT
Our guest speaker in August 27, 2024 will be Ian Barton (VK5AIB).
Ian has been licensed since July 1977 and over the years has had an interest in RTTY including “Glass RTTY” & Packet radio.
In 1992 he ceased all operations upon moving location to a much smaller block which couldn’t accommodate his previous 50ft free standing tower and antennas. Back in about April 2023 he recommenced operations after chatting with Henry Seidner about FT8 and the ICOM IC-7300 but this time with a Cushcraft R8 vertical antenna rather than the HyGain TH3 he had in his previous days.
Due to “domestic pressure”(!!!) it was important to Ian that he be able to bring his antenna to ground quickly and by himself in the event of inclement weather so Ian will demonstrate to us the approach he has taken to bringing this about. He will also share information about operating amateur radio “down under”.
Speaker info submitted by Henry Seidner WA2ROA Boca Raton ARA Vice President
CQ, CQ, CQ, Calling all hams!
The very first priority of mine is to thank all of those hams who volunteered their time, talent and strength to get involved in the June ARRL Summer Field Day this past June. It has taken us some time to recover from being in Covid Isolation and our previous attempts at large public gatherings were understandably impacted. 2024 proved to be encouraging with about 70 visitors and volunteers who attended, visited, learned, operated and enjoyed our twenty-four hour emergency practice Field Day. This was a 50% improvement over last Summer Field Day. Thank you. Hopefully this will be a trend toward higher attendance in the future.
We have learned valuable tips and have improved our set up and planning techniques. I want to thank some particular people, instrumental in this Field Day exercise in 2024.
First, the architect of the Plan, Joe McGee NX4T, who faithfully drew people together, creatively anticipated the technical needs and found interesting ways to entice people to come. He and Tom Savoca K9TJS, our PIO, worked tirelessly to advertise, invite people and we learned new ways to attract hams and keep order among the communicators.
Our co-chairmen in the event were Joe McGee NX4T and our loyal Repeater Trustee, Ricky Eaton KD4HGR. They were assisted by Jeff Stahl K4BH and Dan Vasilca AI4WW in the technical arena. Thank you gentlemen for all of your time and consideration and doing what it takes to provide a successful event. Dan, thank you for collecting all of our FD information and submitting our points to the ARRL. Thanks to you and your new friend with CW, and all the rest who operated, we did remarkably better than the previous year. That’s fantastic.
Thanks to the PIO Tom Savoca K9TJS and his partner, Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB, who helped meet and greet and get officials to come, making it effortless to extend out hospitality to those friends we had not met yet. They get better every year and they are a big blessing to GCARA. This year Tom arranged for a drone pilot to record our event and to get a picture of our group who were present at that time. Thanks Tom and Carol, for all of your work and sharing of talents.
We were assisted by volunteers Mark Blanchard KQ4RRG, Bill Mercer KE8TPU, Mike Meeks WA4VEF, Matt Foran K4VMF, Mark Filla N4DES, Half Moon AJ4JG, Ed Grumet KE2EF, and a few others that I know I am forgetting. Thank you gentlemen for all the lifting, antenna placement, radio assembly, and acting as gophers when we needed more supplies.
In the cooking arena, the chefs de jour were Melanie Fernandez KJ4VCT, Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB, Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ, and Mike Wolf KD4OVP. We were told that the chili was the best ever tasted (Ricki made it). The Brazilian Chicken Wings and Brazilian steak was complimented throughout the evening as had been our Burgers, dogs and Kielbasa at lunch. The Hospitality Crew with Jerry Deitch W4LST, our procurement specialist, and Kenny Hollenbeck KE4NC, our grill keeper and transport, worked tirelessly to get everything done in an orderly manner. Breakdown this year was done at record speed and order was established for our inventory with Carol’s help. New clear view plastic bins were provided by the club so we can see what we have as well as store it in a cleanlier fashion. Two new coolers were purchased to help in keeping perishables at safe temperatures and to hold and to replace a broken one that is kept to hold drinks.
Almost to the person, everyone I spoke with had a positive comment and many who had not previously participated in an outdoor Field Day were very impressed at our efforts and encouraged to do this again next year.
I am happy to report that we added six new members to our rolls as a result of the experience at Field Day.
If I missed naming you, it was an oversight, and not intentional. I thank everyone who came, helped, learned and enjoyed this Field Day.
As to the future of Field Day, we are letting people know that we need a replacement for Jerry Deitch W4LST, as procurement specialist and for storage of our coolers, and inventory. This faithful ham has been by my side through the last 6 years, helping me shop for food the Friday preceding the Field Day event, store the inventory, transport the food for Field Day, and packing all up at the end of Field Day. He has a Ford Explorer that has been so, so helpful for our needs. If you think you would like to help us in Hospitality to shop, store and transport food and drinks for our events, kindly let Melanie know. Jerry will not be available after Winter Field Day. Thank you Jerry for the advance notice and all of your help.
We also need younger hams to learn how to put on a Field Day next year. We want the hams to be able to be self sufficient and have an idea of how to throw such a large event. While all of us spend a lot of time planning, talking, and calling others, we do not feel this is an impossible task or one that is not fun. It is just that the leaders of Field Day now are much older and prone to health insults as a result of life and this causes some difficulty in execution of duties. We would love to mentor anyone interested in learning and helping us. We will be ready to assist, too. We just “need a little help from our friends”. By all means, please contact Melanie to volunteer for January and June 2025 Field Days or our November 9, 2024 Picnic. God bless us all and keep us well throughout the coming year.
Submitted by Melanie Fernandez, KJ4VCT
Come and join us for our August Monthly Dinner Meeting at GG’s at 5 PM, Sunday August 25, 2024.. The menu is great and so is the food! See you there!
******* Auction of a Veritium Clock at 7 PM ******
NOTE: Individual cash payments suggested to make it easy on restaurant staff serving us. Thank you!
RSVPs APPRECIATED
There will be a brief overview of:
- Monthly meeting speaker
- Upcoming events
