- February 2026 Meeting -

New!!! Padgett Nailed the Retail Side of Amateur Radio - The Amateur Radio Caravan Club was honored to welcome an old amateur radio friend from Albuquerque Jeff Padgett W5ABQ as the featured speaker to its February 13th meeting. Via Zoom from his HRO store in Anaheim, California, he began by he and the crowd calling out pioneer radio brands in our hobby e.g. Henry Radio, Lafayette, Heath Kit & Hallicrafter. He mentioned that ham radio retail sales are down…probably due to online sales?

Jeff then shifted to Ham Radio Outlet (HRO):

•  First HRO store opened in Burlingame, CA in 1971. 

• Albuquerque is served by HRO stores in Phoenix and Denver.

• HRO processes internet orders first thing every morning for faster delivery.

• Backlogs are caused when manufacturers cannot get certain components for their products.

• Retail products are only marked up a little as the manufacturers normally set the retail price.

• Hamfest sale prices are even lower than online.

• Portable radio equipment is the best seller now due to the popularity of POTA and SOTA.

• Trend: “Hang onto the old; grab the new” meaning that hams tend to keep their old stuff while buying new.

• All consignment sales by HRO are tested before on sale.

Our sincere thanks Jeff for a most educational meeting…and to John Mocho and John Nihart for arranging the ZOOM setup!

During the business part of our meeting:

• The Caravan Club now has a digipeater on the Sanda Crest and it is getting a lot of use.

• Our club is sponsoring the New Mexico QSO Party this year on April 11, 2026 (8 AM to 8 PM) and the club is proposing to Caravan 😊to a park in Estancia, NM.

• The ARCC board is considering seeking a new meeting site on Saturdays as during the winter months, many of our older members prefer not to drive after dark. Also, it is considering putting our meetings on ZOOM.

• John Mocho will begin hosting our biweekly Radio Fun in the Park activities sometime in April or May.  He also might assign monthly themes so he can help hams wanting to learn various facets of our hobby.

- It Was a COLD Winter Tailgate!!! -

New!!! After wisely postponing their 30th annual winter tailgate by one week due to forecasted snow and frigid temperatures, the 146.580 Simplex Group held it on January 31, 2026, only to be faced with a continued freezing temperature. Despite a clear 20 degree morning, intrepid vendors and hams attended looking for bargains and fellowship.  Our thanks to the Simplex group proceeding despite not catching a break this year on the weather!  See you next year!

- The 2026 Rocky Mountain Techfest is now open for registration -

Rocky Mountain Ham Radio is pleased to announce its TWELFTH annual New Mexico TechFest, an ARRL-sanctioned operating specialty event, on Saturday, February 28.

Join fellow amateur radio operators from around the Land of Enchantment and beyond for a full day of quality presentations, posterboards, and demonstrations delivered by some of the most experienced technical hams in and around New Mexico. TechFest is designed to be accessible to both experienced operators and newer hams who want to deepen their technical understanding and learn from one another while exploring emerging technologies in amateur radio. Prizes will be drawn throughout the event. Coffee, water, and light snacks will be available for in-person attendees, with an optional catered lunch available for purchase.

New Mexico TechFest is a hybrid event, offering both in-person attendance at the UNM Continuing Education Conference Center (1634 University Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102) and live online participation via Zoom’s professional webinar platform, for those unable to travel or attend in person.

All interested hams are invited.  Additional details about the New Mexico TechFest can be found here.

- FCC License Counts -

The Federal Communiations Commission just released its FCC license Counts by state and license as of January 17, 2026. It’s an interesting read. Click Here  Our thanks to Yul Bratcher WA5YUL for sharing. Enjoy!

- New Technician Class Question Pool Released –

The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) Question Pool Committee (QPC) released the revised 2026-2030 Technician Class (Element 2) question pool. It will be required for all exam sessions beginning July 1, 2026. The new pool includes 409 questions (27 new, 30 removed, and about 155 modified), compared to 412 in the prior pool. The pool also includes three diagrams used for some of the questions.  You can view all question pools on the NCVEC website.

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.

Please sign our log, explore our site, and consider joining our growing club. 73

Website Committee:  Pete KE5WTM; Larry K5LRY, Mark W5MHG Site Last Updated: February 16, 2026. Copyright © 2026, Caravan Radio Club.  All rights reserved.