March 2021 Club Meeting

Wednesday, March 31, 2021    

The venue for the March meeting will again be Joe's Italian Restaurant in Brenham, located on US 290 at S. Market St.  The address is 2100 Hwy 290 East (used to be Orman's Steak House).  It's located on the other side of the freeway from Tractor Supply.    We'll meet in the back room at 6 pm for dinner, followed by the club meeting at 7 pm.  Hope to see you there!

Club meetings are held on the lAST Wednesday of the month (except for Nov & Dec)

Upcoming Club Events:

RaDAR (Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio) Event - Saturday March 20, 10am.  We'll be in vehicles operating on the HF bands.  You can operate from your own vehicle, or band together with other hams.  Start time is 10 am, and event concludes at 12:30 pm at the Margaret Chesley Memorial Park in Brenham.  All hams are welcome to participate.  If you don't have a General class license or higher, simply join up with one of the groups and operate with them.  Email info@w5sfa.org for more information.  Here are the details:

Objective:  Make 5 HF contacts at each of 5 locations from a vehicle.  Any mode, any band, any equipment, any antenna, any power level.

Entrants:  Can be a single individual or a group, whatever will fit in the vehicle.  One person must be a licensed ham (general or higher).  It will be easier to have more than one person, and this is a great opportunity to do some “Elmering” for those new to HF!  Please send an email to the club reflector if you plan to operate a station so others can glom on if they wish.

Start time: 10:00 am (This is the earliest time you can start transmitting to make your first contact – equipment prep/setup can be prior to this, take as much time as you like but don’t start transmitting before 10 am.)

Starting Location:  Any location you like – start from your home, or another team member’s home or anyplace else that is convenient.

Number of locations  to operate from:  5.  Any location is good (but select someplace safe out of traffic!).  Each location must be at least 5 miles away from the previous location.  You must make 5 contacts at each location.

Setup time at each location: 10 minutes.  This is the elapsed time from when you arrive at a location to when you can start transmitting.  It may take less time  for you to set up.  If so, wait until the 10 minutes are up before transmitting.

Contacts:  You may only work a station once from each location.  However, you may not make arrangements for future contacts with other stations.

Exchange:  Call Sign of Station Worked and Time.

Logs:  Keep a log of your contacts:  Band, Mode, Call sign of Station worked and Time of contact.

Conclusion of Event:  The event will conclude at 12:30 pm at the covered parking lot at the Margaret Chesley Memorial Park in Bellville.  You may head to the park after you have made your five contacts at each of five different locations.  Or, if you have not made enough contacts, meet at the park at 12:30 anyhow.   At this time we will compare logs, brag, socialize…we will then proceed to lunch at Cielito Lindo Mexican Restaurant.

Covid-19:  If you have concerns about exposure, you are welcome to participate as the event is compatible with social distancing.  Just turn in your log at the park at 12:30 pm and forego lunch.