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
Club Dinner RSVP
Click here 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.
GENERAL-MEETING-minutes-2024-05-28We will be raffling of a 2024 Field Day shirt, size Large, and a 2024 Field Day Cap, separately for Field Day. The items were donated by Aurora Figueiredo KW4AGF. Thank you Aurora, and may the new owners get a lot of use out of the items.
Gold Coast Summer Field Day 2024 – June 22/23 2024
The Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association will sponsor its ARRL Field Day event on June 22/23 , again at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach.
All interested parties, licensed amateurs and others , are invited to attend and participate. As in the recent past, we will set up 3 operating stations , one each for Single Sideband (SSB), Morse Code (CW) and Digital (primarily FT-8 or FT-4) modulation.
In addition, we will have other activities including various equipment demonstrations and satellite contact attempts.
Food will be available (please indicate your interest in advance) and we do have an open shelter with bathroom facilities. Those who wish to stay overnight will be welcome and can help us remain on the air through the evening hours. They should bring their own sleeping equipment (Bags, cots, blankets, air mattresses, tents, etc.)
Setup will begin at 8 AM Saturday and we will go on the air at 2 PM for a period of 24 hours.
Advance reservations for operating time on the SSB station will be available on the website (below)
We seek volunteers for this effort and encourage anyone willing to chip in and help us to contact the undersigned
This will be an interesting and fun event. Do plan to join us.
Additional details wil be available on our website (www.w4bug.org) and in future announcements. Also questions can be addressed to the undersigned.
Joe McGee, NX4T
Ricky Eaton, KD4HGR
Field Day Chairmen
Call to order 1931 hrs. Adjourned 2045r hrs.
Board members – Melanie Fernandez, Ben Echavarria, Ricky Eaton, Joe McGee
Absent – Rickie Witte, Tom Savoca, Dirk Basting
Members present – Rick K1DS, Jeff Stahl K4BH, Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB, Alan N4ALK,Mike Wolf KD4OVP, Elliot N2HYD, Sylvan Pierre, Leon Rosen N1XKT, Harvey KC4CX, Matt K4VMF, Mark Blanchard KQ4RRG, Dan AI4WW, Bill Mercer KE8TPU, Rick Rosen WA5VJB gave a talk on Satellites.
PRESIDENT – MELANIE FERNANDEZ KJ4VCT
- Call to order
- Greeting and Pledge of allegiance.
- Introductions from the board and roll call
Secretary – Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ - Approval of draft of Minutes as appears on the website W4BUG.org Vice President – Ben Echavarria N7BBE
- Testing – Jeff Stahl K4BH Jeff to give address of MAY 2024 testing and date
- Broward Ares Races – Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB
Treasurer Report – Dirk Basting N4AN (away) Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ to give report
- Current checking balance $5,000 FUND $3305.65 checking
- Membership_104 Unpaid 15 Lifetime 28
Repeater trustee – Ricky Eaton KD4HGR
- DMR Update
- AllSTAR update
- HF Update
- Plans for this year
Director, PIO. -Tom Savoca K9TJS
- New projects for website?p
- Who’s not getting their emails? Remember if you change email,
please update on website.
Director at Large – Joe McGee NX4T
- Speakers
- Tonight – April 23, 2024 Jeff Stahl K4BH Digital on a
dime - Vista View Picnic. May 4, 2024 10 am to 5 pm
- Next Club Dinner May 26, 2024 at GIGI’s of NY in Margate on 441. 6 pm to 8:30 pm
- Gen Mtg. May 28, 2024 Rick Rosen K1DS on Satellites. Happy Birthday Rick!
Announcements:
o We can order shirts or badges as people are interested. Please call Melanie @ 954-560-3706 with interest. Badges are a $10.00 Donation to the club and Shirts are a $40.00 donation to the club. We need your size, with or without a pocket, call sign and you may pay for these items online.
o Please consider using EDCO.com for all your awards and trophies needs. My contact there for Gold Coast is Gloria Sejas.
They do excellent work and are consumer attentive. Call Gloria @ 800-377-8646 xt 114 or go to EDCO.com to see what they offer.
o Carol Sjursen is collecting names now for volunteering at 2024 Winterfest Boat Parade KINDLY GIVE HER A CALL AT 954-
803-6338 if you are interested for winter of this year.
o CERT training is being offered by Parkland, Coral Springs Cert ASSN. Classes can be started when registered. For more information, talk to Carol.
o If you are a serious volunteer in radio communications, please get involved with ARES/RACES. They need shelter workers for
the hurricane season and it is good training for community service AND ham radio. Contact Jeff Stahl K4BH or Carol Sjursen KJ4AWB for more information.
PROGRAM: Digital on a Dime. Jeff Stahl K4BH
Ben E
N7BBE
CQ, CQ, CQ, CALLING ALL HAMS!
April 2024 and May 2024 have been busy months for the GCARA.
In April, I had the pleasure of going to the 85th Anniversary of West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group up in the Cox Center in West Palm Beach. Barry Porter K1PB, representing the ARRL, was sitting next to me at the entrance greeting all the ham visitors which included those from West Palm Beach and Broward County. I met some snowbirds from New York and New Jersey and welcomed them to check out our Website W4BUG.org and catch a Zoom meeting or two at their convenience.
It was nice to see visitors like Jan Wheltan KK3W, who is a member of many of the clubs in North Broward and WPB, including ours. His Satellite set up is impressive and he shares his talents at various clubs during Field Days and has attended our Winter Field Day in the past.
Also, surprise, surprise, I talked to Mark Blanchard KQ4RRG, an enthusiastic new GCARA member who is making the rounds to various clubs, lunches, and picnics and making new ham friends. Way to go Mark! One of the best ways to enjoy and learn in this hobby is by total immersion in the culture and meeting various hams with specialized interests. It makes for a well-rounded experience, and I wholly advocate sharing the wealth of information in this exciting hobby. Before any of us is a club supporter, we are hams, after all, and there should be no limits to who or what we know.
I also had a good conversation with our club member, David Pomerantz KO4DKN, a Boynton Beach resident, who has made a mark by supporting many clubs and in particular, the Palmetto Club in Davie by serving as their VE Leader for testing. Here is another example of full immersion in the hobby being enjoyed by this delightful and positive ham.
I was excited to talk to our old friend, Robert Molledo of the National Weather Service in Miami who manned a booth for the NWS at the Cox Center. He, as always is bright, articulate, and very full of good information for all South Floridians. He is one of the dedicated people in Meterology who makes good information available, whether on Hurricanes or Space Weather. He is one of GCARA’s favorite and steadfast speakers and we have enjoyed a long association with him. Whether a weather lecture or teaching a SKYWARN class to us, he has been a stimulating and excellent speaker. Thank you, Robert, for all you do, for and with the ham community.
The Red Cross of PB County was represented there as well as CERT, and the PB County Shelter Volunteers who were also explaining how the animals are cared for during the storms at the shelters. The whole tour of services was indeed fascinating and populated by the best and brightest young volunteers of Palm Beach County. I was very impressed and felt very hopeful by the number of young volunteers in the community.
My favorite display was the gentleman (I am sorry I did not get his name) that manned a Morse Code key and let everyone use CW to send their initials to a dummy load. He was so interesting and very helpful in letting people know how they can still learn Morse Code and use it for emergency communications or rag chewing. The Morse Code Hams are generally older and are among the most interesting hams I have met because of their place in history as well as their occupations in life. Dedicated to amateur radio, they have been integral in radio communications in the armed forces as well as civic groups in times of distress. Talking to this gentleman, rekindled my excitement for learning and using CW again. I highly recommend that we continue to learn and maintain this method of communication.
Special thanks to Jo Cummings N2QDT, who invited me to this event and worked hard to pull it off, as well as introducing me to the President of the WPBARG, Michael Mathis K1WX, who is a younger, enthusiastic ham who has served as the President for 2 years now, making a positive mark on this older club. His positive and cheerful attitude has been an asset to keeping the club on track and in focus for its future in the world of amateur radio.
May 4, 2024, was GCARA’s Spring/Summer Picnic at Vista View Park in Davie. The weather was gorgeous with white puffy clouds and a nice, continual breeze that cooled off the 84 degree day. Thirty hams attended and many were newcomers to the club and I was so excited to meet and talk with them as well as watch while they pitched in to help us with set up and serving. Special thanks to Mark Blanchard KQ4RRG, who jumped right in from the get go, helping carry ham equipment for Mike Wolf KD4QVP, who brought his radio and antenna to the park to operate, and also to help Ben Echavarria NB7BBE unload his car of all of the equipment he had brought to show and tell.
What an amazing group of men and women in this venture. Highly social couple, Jerry KN4UPI and wife Terry Tyler, were there cheerfully making conversation with everyone and supporting the effort with Jerry’s sense of humor. Terry pitched in and helped with the food service, helping to set up and break down at the end. Thank you, Terry, for your assistance.
Tom McClain N3HPR (or “Dr. Tom” as he is affectionately known to me) brought goodies baked by his precious wife, Sandy McClain N3LKW, but who was under the weather from medical treatments on the day of the picnic and could not attend. Thanks, Sandy for those Um-m-m Good treats!
Also, in attendance, with her county wide known CHILI, was Ricki Witte KJ4FSJ, who was gracious enough to prepare and serve up her chili. It was crazy good, not spicy, and is always requested at our gatherings. Thank you, Ricki!
Chef de Jour was Mike Wolf KD4OVP, of Traffic Net fame, and he perfectly cooked up some of the tastiest burgers, hot dogs and organic chicken breasts to the group of hungry hams. With Mike present, you not only have a cook, but you get entertainment throughout the process.
His side kick, Kenny Hollenbeck KE4NC, who faithfully stores and maintains the grill for our club, was there assisting in preparing the grill for use and cleaning it up and breaking it down after the picnic. We are so lucky to have Kenny’s help with this aspect of food preparation because without the grill, we would not be able to offer such tasty treats to our membership. Thanks, Kenny for all you do to help us out!! (and Sally).
We would not be able to purchase food and transport it to the parks without our Hospitality Team, in the persons of Gerald Deitch W4LST and David Warner KB4ICU, who generously give of their time and body strength to help me shop, store safely on ice, and bring the food to the venue. These two gentlemen are also cheerful volunteers in many other efforts and support the Parrot club as well as ours. If you have an Explorer sized SUV, or large covered truck and you are able to help the Hospitality Team out on our shopping excursions, kindly contact me, Melanie, (954-560-3706) and let me know. This club moves on its belly and there are plenty of goods to haul. Jerry has been my partner in the shopping and hauling of goods for over 8 years and without him, I could never have achieved the food service we provide. Thank you, Jerry, from the bottom of my heart, and also, thank you to Dave Warner who is a whiz as a human calculator and can cube out the van very efficiently. They have been in it with me to the bitter end and it is time to give Jerry a well-deserved rest. We are also looking for a convenient place to store our two large coolers and supplies. If anyone has room in their garage or storage facility, also, kindly give Melanie a call. Thanks.
This month’s message is so long because I did not get out the April message in time and decided to combine these two messages. I sincerely hope I do not cause a digital overload on the readers.
In closing, whether I mentioned you publicly or not, I saw you and noticed your role in our effort and please accept my thanks. Without gracious people like you, GCARA would not be the club it is. It is full of the most generous and positive individuals who are so supportive and giving to the club. Many hands make light work and I encourage those who have not yet volunteered to do something, to join in and feel the good feeling of being a help to others. Whether for the club or the community, the feeling is a reward in and of itself. Thank you to all!
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