President’s Message

Hello, CVARC Members and Visitors,

Daphne Vandervalk-KN6TXX

Wow, it’s already February! I hope you enjoyed our January club activities. Our January meeting about test equipment with Alan Wolke-W2AEW was very informative – everybody learned something new, and we heard some very positive feedback from meeting attendees on the air in the days following. We are fortunate to have had such a notable guest join us for a club meeting – Alan’s YouTube channel is a great teaching tool you should take a look at if you haven’t discovered it already. 

Winter Field Day was a success – we had a great turnout and lots of fun socializing, as usual. The day had its share of challenges, as it was so windy, we witnessed antennas, tables, and sandwiches taking flight across the grass, but everyone made the best of it – we’re hams! I was happy to be able to meet and talk with some of our new members and had some great discussions with many of you regarding ideas for the club. Thank you to Martin Hickey-AJ6CL for organizing another successful CVARC event!

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President’s Message

Hello, CVARC Members and Visitors,

Daphne Vandervalk-KN6TXX

First, I’d like to thank you for electing me as the new President of CVARC. I had the pleasure of serving as Vice President in 2023 – the board is such a great group of people! As far as personnel changes, our former President Ed Zimmerman-N6XEW and I have switched roles, as he will serve as Vice President this year. We would like to welcome Huston Herman-KK6WT as our new Member at Large, who will be replacing Phil Bartlett-K6UJO. Thank you to Phil for serving on the board – you are appreciated, and I really enjoyed our conversations.

As much as I’ve gotten to know many of you already, I figured I should start out by introducing myself and give you some background information that will answer some common questions.

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

It’s December, and we’ve made it through the year, and what a year it has been for CVARC:

  • Welcomed 18 new members
  • Held a Winter Field Day event
  • Hosted two club building projects
  • Continued the Spring Fling Rover Round Up
  • Staged a very successful 2023 ARRL Field
  • Conducted our first club SOTA event,
  • Gathered for the annual club picnic
  • Held two Technician, two General and one Extra licensing class

We had some excellent speakers at our monthly meetings and to top it all off, we are expecting a record turnout for our upcoming CVARC 2023 Holiday Party.    

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

October is in the books. 10 Meters was still on fire! Get on the air and make contacts. The CVARC Extra Class starts in November. Also starting up is an ZOOM self-paced General Class.  

The CVARC Picnic was Sunday, October 22nd at Conejo Community Park in Thousand  Oaks – and wow, what a great location! Beautiful surroundings, plenty of room to spread out and as usual Mike Felio–K6MJF did an excellent job grilling the hamburgers and hot dogs. As it was potluck, there were some wonderful homemade dishes presented and consumed.  A great, and filling, time was had by all who attended. Thank you all for making this a success. And thanks to Martin Hickey–AJ6CL for scouting and reserving the location. I am sure we will be there again very soon. 

November is another busy month.

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

August flew by, did it not?  We had a tropical storm, record heat, an earthquake, a VE session, an end fed half wave antenna build and a SOTA event. It was a busy and exciting month for sure. I can’t wait to see what September has in store. For one, September is National Preparedness Month. Also in August, we had our first recipient of the CVARC Newbie Net Challenge Coin. Congratulations to Huston Herman-KE6FGX!  You did an excellent job running the net!

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

July went by quickly and boy was it a warm month! August promises to be the same. The sunspot cycle is still on the upswing. Get on the air and make some contacts. In late July I had several amazing contacts, not on FT8 but on phone. That’s right, single side band to Australia and South Africa! The conversations lasted only a few minutes, but they were clear and booming. Both stations were S9 and they were receiving me at S5. Not bad for 100 watts and a wire. So, turn that radio on and tune around the bands. Propagation always sucks when the radio is turned off.

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW at Field Day

First off, a huge thank you to all those who participated in CVARC’s Field Day! Keith Elliott-W6KME and the Field Day Committee did a wonderful job with the planning and execution of the Field Day activities. Secondly, a thank you to the Sherwood Development Corp. for the use of Dicken’s Patch as our Field Day site once again. CVARC had an impressive 18 stations operating for the event (not a contest.) The score, so far, for the CVARC Field Day is 8,208 points!  That’s a 3,000-point gain from last year.

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

June is here and another very busy month is ahead for amateur radio in Ventura County. We had the Love Run this past Sunday. Coming up is the CVARC VE session on the 11th. And let’s not forget that Field Day preparations are well under way. Field Day setup starts on Friday June 23rd at noon. Field Day operating hours begin on Saturday June 24th at 11 A.M. and continue to Sunday June 25th at 11 A.M. After that, we break everything down, pack up, and clean up the field.

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

May is upon us and a very busy month for amateur radio in Ventura County. We have the Ride to Defeat ALS, the CVARC J-Pole Build, and the Mountains to Beach Marathon. If you have not volunteered for an event before, these events are a great way to get started. 

Congratulations to the 20 newly licensed/upgraded operators from the CVARC VE Session held on April 16th. We look forward to hearing you all on the air soon!

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