Saturday at the Clubhouse

Purpose: To give members and the general public an opportunity to use the clubhouse to further their interest in ham radio and to provide an opportunity for fellowship.

Frequency: Every Saturday (except as noted in the schedule link below), beginning June 30, 2012 the Clubhouse will be open for member activities from 9:00 am to Noon. A member of the VCARA Board of Directors will be present at or before 9:00 am to open the facility. Click here for schedule.

List of Possible Activities:
(Suggestion: You might want to use the Wednesday Night Net to discuss what you’d like to do on the next Saturday and see if anyone else would like to join you, help you, etc.)

♦ Work on your own kit building or other project using Club equipment
♦ Build a working APRS transmitter kit for around $100
♦ Get tested for a ham license or upgrade (requires that at least 3 VE’s are present and willing to conduct the test if a non-VE test day)
♦ Learn how to use the DXLab Suite logging software installed on the 3 operating position computers
♦ Build a hand-held 2-meter/70-cm Yagi so we can work some ham satellites
♦ Use a Club computer to make some contacts on EchoLink
♦ Get tutoring on some aspect of ham radio you’re interested in learning more about
♦ Get tips on/experience with learning the Morse Code
♦ Operate the Club station (we have at least 3 different models of HF radios you can use)
♦ Learn how to operate PSK-31 or other digital modes on the Club’s digital station
♦ Learn how to tune an antenna with our antenna analyzer
♦ See a demo of how a “simplex repeater” works