RASON has been on the move lately, with a regular seminar program, a Morse code education net, regular foxhunts, club activities like Winter Field Day and upgrades to our repeater site. I will expand on a few of these topics, but they are all centered around a common theme: creating exciting opportunities for us to pursue amateur radio together. Our members and leaders have been very resilient in keeping these activities going despite the pandemic. We have also embraced new ways of gathering – using nets for business meetings and Zoom for programs – that will enhance how we pursue the hobby in the future.

We have a seminar program that runs monthly via Zoom. All talks are recorded and are available on the club server. See the Resources tab on the main page for more information. There is a password for the server site, and that is posted on the RASON@groups.io page. Go there for more information on the archive and the Zoom link for future seminars. Our seminars run the fourth Thursday of every month at 7:30 PM. Continuing with the theme of education, we also offer a CW practice net on the club repeater. More details can be found on the Nets page. We are reducing the frequency of these sessions because we have an archive of recorded CW practice sessions available on our server. Again, our groups.io page is a good resource. We plan to offer licensing courses in the coming months, and details will appear in the Announcements section of our new website.

I am looking forward to resuming in-person club activities. Field day is around the corner, and we will be at Zagray Farms in Colchester. Contact Chip, N1MIE (club secretary) for more details. RASON had a good showing at Winter Field Day earlier this year – at the same location. I attended to help with satellite operations, and the site is really impressive. I was also impressed with how our members bore the elements during that contest! RASON will resume its auction fundraiser in the fall – details are forthcoming. We also have a strong foxhunting program. As the weather warms up, we will be doing monthly foxhunts. These radio games of hide and seek are designed for beginners. The fox hides at a public location with transmitters at different power levels. No fancy equipment is needed, and our members are here to help if you want to get involved and haven’t tried this before (or if you have and would just like some tips).

Finally, we have a new website, which is designed to convey some of our excitement about amateur radio and the activities we pursue. Come back often for a new note from me every month, and check out the cool projects, useful links, description of activities and other features that our website has to offer. If you are not yet a member of RASON, we encourage you to join. Check out the membership tab at the bottom of the website or just contact me at KE1IUmark@gmail.com

73 for now,

-Mark

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.