New !!! Digital Voice Modes Explained – The Amateur Radio Caravan Club was honored to have Paul Bouthillier, KB0WMA and John Betz II KI5YIF explained three different modes of digital voice available to hams.  They are D-STAR, Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and Yaesu System Fusion (YSF). They covered the similarities and differences among them.  Our thanks to Paul and John for a most educational evening.  For more information, their entire slide show is now posted on our website under Presentations.

Under the business portion of the meeting, Larry Goga, lead instructor of the Frank Warren Instructor Group, mentioned that he is closing registration for the Technician licensing class now so the students have about a month to read the manual and take a few practice exams before the class begins in May.  He also mentioned that plans for their General licensing class are still TBD but he hopes to have it in September before the Duke City Hamfest so new Generals will have an opportunity, at the Hamfest, to inspect and upgrade their radio equipment.

New Mexico QSO Party Well Attended – The Amateur Radio Caravan Club gathered at the Petroglyph National Monument’s picnic area on its west side to participate in the New Mexico QSO Party. This is the activity where us hams in Bernalillo County, NM, try to contact as many other NM counties as possible (and vice versa) and hams in other states try to contact us. It’s a lot of fun. I counted 7 rigs spread out in the parking lot plus plenty of kibitzers. Propagation was reported to be pretty good from 8 – 9 AM when Tom KD7YUR collected 11 POTA contacts, mostly from Florida, and then the propagation died after that.

New !!! Tailgate Coming - Ken KO5Y (“Mr. Trivia”) has announced his latest tailgate.  It will be on Saturday, April 26th (6 AM to ~ 11 AM) again at the American Legion Post 13 parking lot. The site is located just north of Lomas Blvd NE between University Blvd and I-25. If you drive west on Lomas from University, turn right at the first available street (Legion Rd.), drive north and then west behind some large self-storage units to the end of the road (see attached map). However, the American Legion requests that we NOT park against their building. All other spaces are available.

There is no cost for hams to buy or sell radio equipment. Ken says that he will have coffee and “the facility” onsite. There also will be breakfast burritos available for sale as well as free coffee and a donation jar to help offset his rental cost of the parking lot and “the facility”.

New!!! Status of Technician and General Licensing Classes – Larry Goga AE5CZ, lead instructor of the Frank Warren Instructor Group has announced that their Technician class is scheduled on Thursday evening, May 8th from 6:00 to 9:00 PM and then on Saturday and Sunday, May 10th and 11th from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM both days. Testing will be offered at the end of the Sunday class. [Note: that Sunday is Mother’s Day].

The Technician class venue will be the Clubhouse at the Vineyards 55+ Mobile Home Community at 6118 Edith Blvd NE (between Montano Rd and Osuna Rd). This is the same place where we held the General class in November of 2023.

As of April 2nd, there are 15 students confirmed that they will be attending.  On April 8th or thereabouts Larry will be closing the class to new enrollments.  Experience has shown that students need about a month of reading and taking practice exams before the class.  The 20-hour class is then meant to be a "review session” just before taking the exam. For more information or to enroll, Larry’s email address is lgoga@swcp.com.

At this point he is only collecting names for the General class.  No dates, times or venue yet.

New !!! Radio Fun in the Park to Continue - Caravan Club president John Mocho KC5QOC, mentioned at our February meeting that Radio Fun in the Park for 2025 will begin in May on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays (9AM ~ 1 PM) again at Sister Cities Park. We will meet under the trees on the Harper St. (north) side of the park. This activity is expected to continue monthly through to about September or whenever the weather gets too cold.  We look forward to being “radio active” in this beautiful park throughout the summer. For directions to Sister Cities Park Click Here.

Getting Started in Ham Radio - A page has been added to the Become a Ham tab titled Getting Started in Ham Radio.  Thanks to Pete Stine for this write up to help those interested in becoming a licensed Amateur Radio Operator.

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Website Committee:  Pete KE5WTM; Larry K5LRY, Mark W5MHG Site Last Updated:   April 22, 2025 Copyright © 2025, Caravan Radio Club.  All rights reserved.