One of the cool things about writing a monthly column for amateur radio club newsletters is that the clubs put me on their mailing lists, and I get to see all of the cool meetings and activities they have. Here are some the recent programs that I found interesting. Maybe they’ll give you some ideas for your club meeting presentations.
- The October 9, 2017 meeting of the Fond du Lac (WI) Amateur Radio Club will feature Marty Karjala, Research Site Supervisor for HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) located in Alaska. (Marty will be speaking via Skype.) HAARP is an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance.
- The guest speaker at the Riverland Amateur Radio Club’s October meeting was Keith Butler, LaCrosse County Emergency Coordinator. He discussed ARES/RACES and emergency communications as related to Amateur Radio. ARRL section officials are often ready and willing to speak to clubs. I know that I spoke at many clubs when I was the Affiliated Club Coordinator here in Michigan.
- Many clubs have picnics over the summer in place of a regular club meeting. Keep that in mind as a club activity next summer.
- Loop antennas! Several clubs have recently had presentations on small, magnetic loop antennas. These are becoming very popular as they are small and easy to set up for portable operations. Of course, you’ll need someone who’s either built one or bought one to give the presentation.
Cale K4HCK says
These are all great ideas. Our club hosts NWS SKYWARN classes (which exposes new people to Amateur Radio), invites repeater owners to talk about their setups, we do a lot of digital mode demos both HF and VHF, and of course an excuse to come together and eat is always fun.
Frank Sanor says
Our Alliance Amateur Radio Club November is my favorite. We have a “Homebrew Night.” We have a contest with each entrant taking 5 minutes to describe a project they are working on or completed in the last year. The winner , by vote of the attendees, gets a small prize and bragging rights.
John Brome says
Hi! My name is John Brome and I am with the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers. Every year we offer what we call a “Discovery Conference” and I was wonding if Marty Karjala would be interested in making a Zoom meeting presentation (60 minutes) on HAARP technology, its origin and future plans for its usage. Our next conference will be held online next Spring (2022) and a range of dates are available from early March to Mid April. Please let me know if this would be possible, we would love to hear what Marty has to say about this most interesting topic. By the way, our theme for the upcoming Discovery Conference is “How Today’s Technology is Transforming Tomorrow’s World”..