On June 5th, we had our first in person meeting since Feb/Mar 2020! It was great to see those who attended! We tried using Zoom for those out of state or choosing not to attend in person. It wasn’t without some technical issues, but we made it work. Improvements to come for the next meeting!
Thirteen people attended in person, one of whom was Ray Dabkowski,W8RD. He visited our club and decided to join!
If you did not know, Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Islands were once connected. It was called Hog Island until the 1921 hurricane cut a channel thru the island forming what we know today as Hurricane Pass.
We learned from Ray that the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tampa Bay Hurricane is this October. He suggested running a Special Event Station from Honeymoon Island to commemorate. It’s a great idea. We’re going to submit for a SES call sign and research custom QSL cards for the event. There is time to plan the the event.
We also got into a discussion about D-Star. If you’ve been a member for at least 5yrs, you’ll likely recall the club once had two repeaters; analog and D-Star. The club has an opportunity to place an antenna on a tower in Palm Harbor. There would be an expense to the club. Those attending the meeting passed a motion to allow our negotiator, Jason N4BOZ to offer $360/yr. Jason will discuss with the tower owner. If the offer is accepted, the Repeater Team will work out the logistics, additional costs and present a plan to the membership for approval to move forward. We’ have to move quickly as there is a limited window for installation.
Hope to see you in person at the July meeting!
73,
Jack, N4KIN
