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President’s Corner

February 7, 2019

   What an exciting January! Winter Field Day was a blast; weather was great, there were three different clubs working together, and the venue was outstanding. Kudos to Steve Darrah, KD5YPB, for spearheading Winter Field Day and working so well with the other clubs to make it happen. And thanks to Andy Parcel, KE5KOF, for the use of his ICOM IC-7200 HF Radio and two antennas, and for bringing his new Flex 6400 radio.

   We have more coming up. There is Texas State Parks on the Air (TSPOTA), ARRL Field Day, Radio Play Days and of course, our great club meetings.

   This is the time to start thinking about how you can contribute to the club. Each of these activities requires a committee of members like you who are willing to pull it together and make it an enjoyable success for other members. It isn’t hard, and it’s not too time-consuming, and the more people on a committee the better. Please actively seek out club officers and find out how you can get involved.

   It’s also time to start thinking about elections. Some of the current club officers have stood for more than one term and are ready to hand the reins to others. We’ll be setting up a nominating committee in the next few months. The slate closes in May and elections are in June. Being an officer or director lets you directly influence the direction and success of the club. Plan on serving in an elected position this next time around.

   MARS is a strong club. And we can make it even stronger by inviting friends to join. Too many hams operate alone and miss out on the camaraderie we offer. We need both new-to-the-hobby hams and well-seasoned-and-experienced hams. We could set up a formal mentoring program, for example, to make sure that newcomers don’t get frustrated and drop out. We could offer a code school, license class upgrade training, HT Bootcamp, DX Workshop, Contest Workshop, and more. What’s your interest?

   I went to a presentation over at the Dallas Amateur Radio Club. It seems there is some interest between DCARA and other groups in setting up county-wide and even larger “fox hunts.” Would you be interested? Someone would hide a transmitter and give some start clues, and then the teams or individuals who found it first would get prizes. It’s a great way to develop direction-finding skills and loads of fun. Let me know!

  That’s it for now.
            73 Kevin

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