It’s October! We’re in the last quarter of 2024 and we have a lot of holidays in the next 3 months ahead of us. Weather has been pretty nice, and though I keep hearing about a heat wave coming, so far our temps have been mild. That said, I can feel that Autumn is here.
Speaking of weather, hurricane Helene has demonstrated why 2-way radio, especially ham radio, is still important and relevant. I’ve read the emails and visited links from the ACS/ARES Groups.io page about isolated people and towns, and how ham radio has been the only way for folks to get the help they need and messages sent out. In preparation for this article, I checked to see if communication was still a problem, and sure enough it still is. Even though cell providers have deployed mobile cellular nodes, and many workers to repair damaged fiber optic lines and cell towers, continued widespread power outages are limiting their effectiveness. We have become dependent on easy communication, and it doesn’t take much to bring it down.
At each of our nets during the week, one of the questions asked is a variation on “what have you been doing with ham radio?” Given the still fresh news about damage from hurricane Helene, will you be doing something different? If so, what? Do you need help? What is your emergency plan?
This weekend Oct 5-6 is the California QSO Party contest! Jacques KN6VQ has been doing an excellent job keeping us informed about this contest via his emails through Groups.io. I briefly ‘participated’ in the North America QSO Party last year and was amazed at the voice contacts I made. Pretty much every station I could hear I could work. Really showed me that the bands are alive even when it doesn’t seem like it is. I really hope a lot of you give this contest a try. It’s a great way to practice radio, get used to your equipment, see how far you can reach, and have fun doing it.
Our next club meeting is October 11th and Robert KM6RSS is going to give us an excellent presentation on vacuum tubes and tube testers. I’m currently fixing an AA5 (All American 5) Admiral tube radio. Very clean construction, cleanest I’ve seen, with 5 octal tubes in an attractive bakelite case. After this radio I have a wooden Philco and a wooden Zenith to do. Thankfully they’re table top radios as I’m running out of room!
Lastly, October is membership renewal time, and we have 3 ways for you to renew. Electronically you can renew using the donate button on our website. Be sure to put in the notes that you are renewing your membership. You can also pay in-person by visiting our treasurer John W6JPG at our Oct 11th club meeting. Finally you can mail in your payment to K6MEP POB 2103 Oxnard CA 93034. Your dues enable our club to continue promoting ham radio, and host club member activities throughout the year (picnics, Field Day, Decemberfest, etc). I hope you feel that your club is providing a worthy service and choose to renew your membership. If not, please let me know why so we can make it better.
Thank you all!
Dave AI6VX
President – VCARC
