- March Tailgate -

New!!!  Ken KO5Y (“Mr. Trivia”) has announced his latest tailgate.  It will be on Saturday, March 21 (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”.

- 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 Arthur 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.

- The 2026 Rocky Mountain Techfest -

The TWELFTH annual New Mexico TechFest, an ARRL-sanctioned operating specialty event, was held Saturday, February 28th. Details about the proceedings at the New Mexico TechFest can be found 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.

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: March 1, 2026. Copyright © 2026, Caravan Radio Club.  All rights reserved.