New !!! Winterfest Banquet – The Amateur Radio Caravan Club will again celebrate the holidays on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at 3 PM. Thanks to our Special Events Director John Gleason, K5JVG, he has arranged for us to meet again this year at the Olive Garden, 6301 San Mateo Blvd in Albuquerque. Oh, and he is working hard to reserve better seating than at last year’s. As always, John requests that you email him (k5jvg@yahoo.com) with how many will be attending in your party so the restaurant is prepared.

Directions: The Olive Garden Restaurant is set back from San Mateo Blvd so the easiest way to reach it is when you arrive at the San Mateo & Academy Rd intersection, go west on Academy Rd through a series of parking lots until you reach Olive Garden which is very close to the I-25 frontage road north. Or, if you are driving north on I-25, take the Jefferson St offramp onto Pan American Frontage Road North.  Continue on the frontage road past Jefferson St, and Osuna Road until you see the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant on you right, slow down and look for an small entrance road on your right.  Take that road and you will see the Olive Garden immediately on your right.

You may ask why we celebrate in January?  Because if we pick any date in December for our celebration, many of us will already have a conflict.  Hence, we have found that by slipping into January, our attendance is awesome!

New !!! Work Ham Radio Satellites – Ed Poccia, KC2LM, will be presenting a Work Ham Radio Satellites workshop on January 11th (10 AM – 1 PM) at the Bear Canyon Senior Center at 4645 Pitt St NE. Albuquerque, NM 87111. The workshop is free and open to all licensed Amateur Radio Operators.  For more details about the workshop Click Here.

Initially, he will use the ISS for each mode, SSTV, FM Voice & APRS, as it is the easiest to contact, he will also bring in the LEO satellites, too. The SO50 for FM Voice and SONATE-2 for APRS & SSTV allow participants to practice satellite tracking.

Those interested must register by emailing Mike Smith, KI5NBP at hdarcpres@gmail.com. He recommends signing up soon as the workshop is filling up fast. The workshop is free and open to all licensed Amateur Radio Operators. 

Ed says, “I promise you, that after the workshop, you will be able to make a contact with a Ham Radio Satellite using a Baofeng HT, a few 1/8 each steel rods and a stick”.

New !!! Winter Tailgate Swapfest – The 146.580 Simplex Group has announced that it will be hosting their 29th Annual Winter Tailgate Swapfest on Saturday, January 25, 2025 (sunrise to about 11 AM). It will be held in the Stoneface Tavern’s north parking lot, 8201 San Pedro Dr NE.  Location is just north of Paseo Del Norte on San Pedro at Carmel Ave.  Please note that this is an outdoor event so dress warmly. No indoor facilities are available but there will be a porta-potty onsite. As always, there is no admission charge and no vendor space fee.  Hope to see you there!  Click Here for flyer.

New!!! Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Getting on the Air Workshop – John Betz II KI5YIF and Paul Bouthillier KBØWMA will be presenting a workshop to get a new DMR operator and their DMR radio on the air. It will be on Saturday February 1, 2025, from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 p.m. The location will be the Bear Canyon Senior Center, 4645 Pitt St NE. in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you are interested in attending this workshop, please send Mike Smith KI5NBP a quick email stating such to hdarcpres@gmail.com as the workshop is filling up fast. The workshop is free and open to all licensed Amateur Radio Operators. 

Happy New Years! – A gentle reminder that the Caravan Club’s new fiscal year began on November 1st, so we are now accepting dues for FY 2025. Your dues pay for the upkeep of our two repeaters on 10,600-foot Sandia Crest plus other club expenses.

Dues can be paid online by going to the Membership tab on the www.caravanradio.org website,

OR

Send a Check to ARCC, PO Box 36365, Albuquerque, NM 87176-6365

OR

Better yet, bring your dues to a Club Meeting!

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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:   January 9, 2025 Copyright © 2025, Caravan Radio Club.  All rights reserved.