It Was A New Adventure!

By John Wolcott, KB6OVO and Bill Malecki, KN6SMP

It really was a new adventure for the CARA group, being able to meet indoors on the chilly winter day. Our February meeting was the inaugural at our new indoor venue! It is now the Breakfast in the Building; or BITB. It was quite a crowd for being at a cooler time of year. With 33 members there and many guests, it made for a good gathering for great food, ‘show and tell’ demonstrations and important club announcements.

The pancake breakfast kicked things off with Don, WA6GVI and Nancy, KJ6EYB, being able to make pancakes in an actual kitchen and adding topping treats; cherry and blueberry. This along with the bananas, oranges, coffee and orange juice were tasty fare. We also had Jim, KB6TKA, bring chocolate chip cookies and chocolate potato chips that were really a hit. Bill, KN6SMP, spoiled us with 3 kinds bacon; brown sugar, onion salt, applewood smoked salt flavors. Bill commented that the bacon was so well liked, it was gone in a flash.

‘Show and tell’ brought us four demonstration packages. Chris, KF6LEX, was showing his bicycle mobile unit. Jay, KK6OZ, had a portable VHF/UHF setup that was Win-Link enabled. Steve, AJ6TL had a QRP HF setup to show; along with compact wire antennas. AJ, KN6WNO presented a Yaesu FTM-300DR backpack radio with a solar charger and a battery for dual band operation.

Important club announcements included Dan, AD6HK, our club Treasurer, discussing volunteers for the Catalina Marathon, and Conservancy volunteer opportunities with the possibility of overnight stays at Catalina Island to first offer communications for events and having portable operation there the following day. He also talked about Club Officer nominations now being open and that will close at the end of the April 20^th meeting.

Jeff, KK6TRC, Board Member at Large, talked about initiating committee opportunities, to help the board with duties many members can offer assistance with. These included managing equipment, club membership, meetings, raffles, tech Support, and the CARA.RADIO web site.

Tom, W6ETC, delivered praise for our NET@9 NCOs and advised that we are seriously in need of volunteer Net Control Operators. If you can offer help as an NCO for the Net@9 Wellness and Support net, please contact Tom via email, TOM@W6ETC.COM or Jeff, KK6TRC, also via email, KK6TRC@YAHOO.COM.

The raffles always please the group with the Grand Prize for February being a QYT TH-350 Triband HT Transceiver being won by Bob, KO6ACP. Midge, W6LIK, had a special drawing for the ladies that were present, for a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Midge always makes the meetings welcoming events; being our energetic Public Relations Officer. Jim, KB6TKA had his grandson James join us at the BITB and he participated in drawing the winner of the flowers. He drew the winning ticket and the winner was his Grandmother Karol, KC6LJF.

The next breakfast meeting will be at the same new location on Saturday April 20^th from 8am to 10am or even after 10 with group interest at the levels experienced. It’s held at 9933 Villa Pacific Drive in Huntington Beach, just off Brookhurst Street. All interested are welcome with a nominal donation to offset the breakfast costs. Bring your smiling face and a coffee mug to another great CARA gathering. Tables and chairs are provided for a sit-down breakfast and to display any ‘show and tell’ items you’d like to bring.