[na0tc] Field Day planning and June meeting presenter(s) needed

[285 TechConnect Radio Club - Morrison, Colorado]

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate the club's 20th anniversary at
the May meeting! It's truly an honor to lead such an awesome club into its
third decade.

A couple of updates:

*1. Field Day 2026: *

Plans are underway to hold Field Day activities at Star Haven Ranch out in
Strasburg (thanks again Jim Moravec for offering to host!). We will be
joining forces with the Colorado QRP Club (https://www.coloradoqrpclub.org/)
to help make this year's event a success.

Field Day will run from 1800 UTC (12:00 MDT) Saturday June 27th to 2059 UTC
(14:59 MDT) Sunday June 28th. Setup can begin at 12:00 MDT on Friday June
26th. More information can be found in the Field Day Packe
<https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2026/2026-Field-Day-Rules.pdf>t.

*We're looking for some volunteers to join us on Friday to help with setup*,
and all are welcome to join us for the main event. If you want to stay over
Saturday evening, there is plenty of room for camping at Star Haven and
there are also a few hotels in the area.

The plan is to have 3 to 4 stations set up, all running QRP on battery
power and sharing one antenna via a triplexer, on various bands, which will
enable us to cash in on scoring multiples. We'll be running multiple modes,
including CW, digital and voice, and possibly satellite as well. We'll be
using the QRP club call sign so that we can all pool points, although
individuals can also use their own callsign if they want to do so.

Hams are also welcome to bring their own radio setups, but we ask everyone
doing so to run QRP power levels so that others don't get overwhelmed by
someone running QRO.

We're hoping to repair the Force 12 Yagi in time for Field Day, which is
part of the reason we're asking for help on Friday. If we're not able to
finish repairs in time, we'll plan on using a fan dipole which has also
worked really well in the past. As an added bonus, the repaired Force 12
will then be available to install on the tower for use with the club remote
station!

If you have any questions on Field Day, feel free to reach out to me
directly.

*2. June Club Meeting*
Given that the past few meetings have been very Flex- and AI-heavy, I'm
looking to move back to classic ham radio for the June meeting. At present,
the topic(s) are open and I'm actively looking for someone to present. We
have one potential topic around emali on HF (Winlink/VARA) and I'm also
looking for a second topic. If you have a suggestion, or better yet, have a
topic to present, please let me know.

Also, as a reminder, we won't have a July meeting since Field Day is
considered the July meeting.

73,

Mark K0EHR
president at na0tc / mark at ehrmail.com