Hello Ventura County Hams,
I can’t believe it’s December and another year of fun radio activities is coming to an end. “Where did the time go?” I say to myself every year at this time. The club had a great 2025: lots of fantastic weekends at our portable operation sessions, entertaining speakers at our monthly meetings, Field Day was a blast as always, and we welcomed many new hams to our ranks through our VE testing sessions. From my perspective, this has been an incredibly fruitful year for our club!
As Dave AI6VX mentioned in his Pres Says message, the club needs members to step up and help out next year. We are still looking for a club President, Vice President, and Secretary. I wish I could commit to a full year of service to the club in one of these positions, but I will continue to help out when and where I can. I hope that some of you, who enjoy all the activities that the club puts on, will step up to help fill these roles. Even if it’s in an interim capacity, you would be doing your fellow members a tremendous service. With your help, our favorite club activities will continue and thrive!
Next Year:
Before the beginning of a new year I like to set some radio goals, and boy do I feel like I’ve set the bar high for myself in 2026. My main goal for the coming year: start and finish some fun – and useful – DIY builds. This is way outside of my comfort zone. I have little to no inherent knowledge of electrical circuits or how to build… well… anything! But that’s what makes this hobby so great. I can experiment, try new things, and I have the cumulative knowledge of all of you to draw upon. Don’t be surprised if you receive an email from me asking for advice!
I have expressed, annoyingly I admit, my love for contesting. To improve my contest scores, I need to build a couple of new pieces of gear. My hexbeam antenna, which wasn’t meant for permanent installation but was pressed into service in that regard, finally died a valiant death after years of great service. Since I’m limited to a push-up mast, I’m considering replacing it with a homebrew spiderbeam, which will take a lot of research and experimentation to get on the air. An extra element on 20m and 15m, and two extra elements on 10m… I think it’s worth the effort!
I could also use an antenna switching box, so I can route two radios to five different bandpass filters without any crossover. A headphone switching box that will allow me to listen to each radio in a different ear in my headphones, or one radio in both ears, would be a great addition to the shack as well. Does that sound like gibberish to you? Me too! I know what I need, but I don’t really know how to get to the finish line. But I’m excited to learn, have some setbacks, learn some more, and finally succeed.
The reason I’m giving you my goals for 2026 is to inspire you to set some goals for yourself. Maybe you have been putting off upgrading from Technician to General, and now is the time to start studying. Perhaps you have been wanting to get a better – or first – HF antenna up at your QTH, but just haven’t had the time or energy. This might be the year when you finally volunteer to work one of the local marathons, which is a great learning experience for how to pass traffic in a controlled net. Whatever your goals in the hobby may be, I hope all of you are able to set some achievable 2026 objectives for yourselves!
Finally, I want to thank outgoing President Dave AI6VX for his many years of tremendous service. The radio activities and gatherings he organized, his dedication to growing our club, and his unwavering enthusiasm for amateur radio in Ventura County created such a fun and inspiring atmosphere. I’m very glad that he will be staying involved in the club, just at a slightly lesser capacity.
While I may be signing off as Vice President, I will not be fading into the ether. I hope to be just as involved with the club as I have been, and look forward to helping the incoming Board of Directors – and the club in general – as much as I can.
As always, I hope to hear you all on the air soon.
73,
Jacques
KN6VQ
