[SMCARA] SMCARA Amateur Radio News - Saturday, 14 January 2006

[Peter Butt]

Folks,

  This is a reminder that the next meeting of the St. Mary's County Amateur
Radio Association (SMCARA) will be held on Thursday evening, 26 January
beginning at 7:30 PM at the Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park.  I look
forward to seeing you at this very important first meeting of 2006.  We will
be mapping out our plan for the way ahead for the club, including what
activities you want us to pursue this year such as license training and
exams, special event station operations at the club-owned ham station
(K3NHK) at the Naval Air Museum, upgrades to the club-owned K3HKI 2-meter
repeater, and much more.  Please mark your calendars now to allocate
approximately two hours of your time on the 26th to help us decide the
course of the club for the New Year.

  On Friday, 13 January, I completed a maintenance upgrade to the amateur
radio display at the museum and added the new 2005 SMCARA Field Day video
into the rotation on the video display screen.  I gathered up the museum
staff, including Director Toby van Esselstyn, and gave them a personal
preview and received a big 'thumbs up'.  Our next steps will be to further
enhance the visual appearance of the display, add an uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) to help avert further computer crashes, develop a schedule of
when we can have the station manned by club members for a few hours a week,
and adding new equipment to further enhance the operating capabilities.

  And, finally, in 2006 we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the
SMCARA.  I hope that we can schedule several excellent operating events
(special event station operations) during the year plus have a family dinner
for all of our current and past members to attend.

  Please block out the 26th now and I look forward to seeing all of you at
the meeting!

  Vr, Pete (WA3UMY)
      President, SMCARA