DELARANEWS
DELARA NEWS is the monthly publication of the Delaware Amateur Radio Association, Delaware OH. February 2021 VOL 40 Number 2

Welcome

This is the official newsletter of a great ham radio club! Our DELARA family appreciates what you’re doing with the hobby! Why not take a few minutes and write out what interests you in our hobby! We have room for your article always! Send it to Stan [at] standi.com by the end of the month.

The Prez’s Shack

Happy Groundhog Day (again)... One of my favorite movies is 'Groundhog Day', where TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murry) keeps reliving the same day over and over until he finally gets it right. This past year has felt a little like that, especially for those of us stuck at home. But fortunate for us, we have a great hobby! Every day of the week our club has something going on. Whether it is our weekly Monday Evening Net, our Zoom Wednesday meetings, our Digital Nets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or the Informal 7:30 Net on days in-between, there is always a chance to do something fun and connect with others every day. But like Phil Connors, at some point we will break out of this loop and get back to normal. Your club's leadership is planning for that day. One of the common themes in the 2021 Survey feedback was a need for hands-on training. Whether it is how to build a wire dipole antenna from scratch, how to use an antenna analyzer to tune an antenna, or just how to operate an HF radio and call CQ, folks want to have more hands-on assistance from Elmers in the club. There were also many suggestions around our club station. We have great equipment, but it goes underutilized even in normal times. To address this, we are forming a Training Committee chaired by Joe K8MP. The first step will be to hold our first annual 'Radio Boot Camp' a few weeks ahead of Field Day 2021 (June 26-27). We want to focus on the basic skills a newbie would need in order to setup and operate on Field Day. The specific content will be determined over the next couple of months - with your input. We need a few Elmers to join this committee and provide the hands-on training. We also need some newer members to keep us focused on the right content. Joe and I will discuss this new committee at the next Monthly DELARA Meeting (17-Feb). Please give this some thought and come to the meeting ready to get involved. On another front, the Membership Committee chaired by Bob W8ERD has already hit the ground running. Based on your feedback, we are putting more focus on engaging new licensees / prospects and new members. It’s not just about welcoming folks at their first meeting. It’s about making them feel connected and giving them support as they get started in this great hobby. In January we had three new members join, and we have three new prospects beyond that. I want to thank Bob for all he does for our club, especially around this important role. We have more coming soon on planning for Field Day 2021 and other activities. Look for updates in the next newsletter. And until then, enjoy a long winter (thank a lot, Punxsutawney Phil). Bing ! 73 - Mike W8MDC DELARA President

Better than…

One of the traditional values of DELARA has been its ‘family’ nature. While there are experts and interests in many RF fields, the overriding impression you’ll get from almost every club meeting and club net is how great our friendships are, and how we care for each other. Never before has this been proven to the extent that we can observe during the shutdown of 2020 and beyond. Thanks specifically to President Mike, W8MDC, who became our intrepid “Nightly Informal Net” manager. This gathering started as a way to combat the doldrums of COVID home bound members, but has grown into a pleasant wayt to touch base every evening. Thanks also to Bob, W8ERD who along with Larry, AC8YE created the digital practice net. Born in preparation for the October ARES Simulated Emergency Test, this gang of the digital persuasion has been developing their skills at computer based communication on VHF and HF frequencies, using fldigi’s program suite as well as Winlink (by which one can send email over RF to any email address in the world.) Add to that the now regular Wednesday evening Zoom meeting- where all members can gather to watch, pass the time, and comment on topics of their interest. It almost makes “club meetings” a thing of the past! Get involved! We hope to hear from you!
DELARANews
DELARA NEWS is the monthly publication of the Delaware Amateur Radio Association, Delaware OH. February 2021 VOL 40 Number 2

Welcome

This is the official newsletter of a great ham radio club! Our DELARA family appreciates what you’re doing with the hobby! Why not take a few minutes and write out what interests you in our hobby! We have room for your article always! Send it to Stan [at] standi.com by the end of the month.

The Prez’s Shack

Happy Groundhog Day (again)... One of my favorite movies is 'Groundhog Day', where TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murry) keeps reliving the same day over and over until he finally gets it right. This past year has felt a little like that, especially for those of us stuck at home. But fortunate for us, we have a great hobby! Every day of the week our club has something going on. Whether it is our weekly Monday Evening Net, our Zoom Wednesday meetings, our Digital Nets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or the Informal 7:30 Net on days in-between, there is always a chance to do something fun and connect with others every day. But like Phil Connors, at some point we will break out of this loop and get back to normal. Your club's leadership is planning for that day. One of the common themes in the 2021 Survey feedback was a need for hands-on training. Whether it is how to build a wire dipole antenna from scratch, how to use an antenna analyzer to tune an antenna, or just how to operate an HF radio and call CQ, folks want to have more hands-on assistance from Elmers in the club. There were also many suggestions around our club station. We have great equipment, but it goes underutilized even in normal times. To address this, we are forming a Training Committee chaired by Joe K8MP. The first step will be to hold our first annual 'Radio Boot Camp' a few weeks ahead of Field Day 2021 (June 26-27). We want to focus on the basic skills a newbie would need in order to setup and operate on Field Day. The specific content will be determined over the next couple of months - with your input. We need a few Elmers to join this committee and provide the hands-on training. We also need some newer members to keep us focused on the right content. Joe and I will discuss this new committee at the next Monthly DELARA Meeting (17-Feb). Please give this some thought and come to the meeting ready to get involved. On another front, the Membership Committee chaired by Bob W8ERD has already hit the ground running. Based on your feedback, we are putting more focus on engaging new licensees / prospects and new members. It’s not just about welcoming folks at their first meeting. It’s about making them feel connected and giving them support as they get started in this great hobby. In January we had three new members join, and we have three new prospects beyond that. I want to thank Bob for all he does for our club, especially around this important role. We have more coming soon on planning for Field Day 2021 and other activities. Look for updates in the next newsletter. And until then, enjoy a long winter (thank a lot, Punxsutawney Phil). Bing ! 73 - Mike W8MDC DELARA President

Better than…

One of the traditional values of DELARA has been its ‘family’ nature. While there are experts and interests in many RF fields, the overriding impression you’ll get from almost every club meeting and club net is how great our friendships are, and how we care for each other. Never before has this been proven to the extent that we can observe during the shutdown of 2020 and beyond. Thanks specifically to President Mike, W8MDC, who became our intrepid “Nightly Informal Net” manager. This gathering started as a way to combat the doldrums of COVID home bound members, but has grown into a pleasant wayt to touch base every evening. Thanks also to Bob, W8ERD who along with Larry, AC8YE created the digital practice net. Born in preparation for the October ARES Simulated Emergency Test, this gang of the digital persuasion has been developing their skills at computer based communication on VHF and HF frequencies, using fldigi’s program suite as well as Winlink (by which one can send email over RF to any email address in the world.) Add to that the now regular Wednesday evening Zoom meeting- where all members can gather to watch, pass the time, and comment on topics of their interest. It almost makes “club meetings” a thing of the past! Get involved! We hope to hear from you!