Category Archives: Club Meetings

September 3, 2026 WARC Meeting

Meeting was called to order. Introductions of visitors – we had 4.

President Curtis read the minutes from the previous meeting. Motion of approval/Seconded/Passed

Treasurer’s report was presented. Motion of approval/Seconded/Passed

The report on whether the club could purchase insurance from ARRL was given by Treasurer Doug Bates. ARRL says once a member,.. always a member. There was a motion to purchase insurance for the club equipment ($15,000) to stay under $250/year limit. Seconded/Passed

QSL cards. Jimmy Hassell reported that they did not use the approved design, that he and Doug decided on a different one due to cost of details. 100 QSL cards were purchased for $29.95 which are post card style. Doug bought forever post card stamps to go with them.

The Board of Director’s decision was to leave the quorum requirement as it is for now.

Nothing was done to the club antenna trailer to see if it could be made more travel-worthy.

We discussed the upcoming Tri-Club Hamfest. We still need folks to step up and give a class or demo. We also need people to say they will help set-up or tear down or post flyers.

We discussed the wonderful prizes being given away. Doug is actively selling tickets. The more we sell, the more money goes into our club. It’s a great prize. Talk it up!

Looked at WARC Events sheets and noted that the JOTA and 9/11 events are coming up. Check them out!

We then discussed positions that need to happen to make our club a success. A few tentative nods were thrown in for a few positions. Please pray about them, ask about them, decide what YOU can do. Also, it will soon be time for officer nominations. Do you have what it takes?

An invitation to the New Not So New Workshop this Saturday was extended, but Doug would not share the secret handshake until Saturday. They are working on the vertical antenna that has been in the clubhouse for awhile. Should be a fun project. Coffee and donuts will be available.

Rick Major then gave a demonstration of the Open Ham Clock. Great program to help you visualize where you want to make a contact and the relative reliability of the signal strength among many other cool features. Lots of moving parts and choices to customize it to your particular tastes. Thanks Rick!

Advertisement for ARES next Thursday at 6:30pm. Same Place.

Jimmy Hassell then made a motion to close the meeting, Al seconded and Jimmy stated we were adjourned.

BLC

August 13th, 2026 ARES Meeting

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8/13/26

ARES meeting held at Dothan Clubhouse started at 6:30pm.

Went through welcomes and roll call and task book updates.

There were no past event recaps since we did not have a meeting last month.

Future events:

September POTA – listed parks with camping close by. Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna Florida was the general consensus. It is also near Vortex Springs so interested parties can scuba dive in the morning and POTA in the afternoon. No definite date set.

The October SET for Alabama will be on October 31st. Alan has asked if everyone would be willing to commit to the same places and maybe pick up a few more. He also asked if anyone is willing to add a “shelter” to their list. Those in attendance said ‘no problem.’

Some light discussion and the meeting adjourned at 7pm.

BLC

August 6th, 2026 WARC Meeting

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13 Members in Attendance

Meeting was called to order. No visitors or new members.

President Barbara Curtis read minutes of June meeting. Vice President gave a recap of July meeting – quorum issue: no voting took place.

Treasurer Doug Bates gave the treasurer’s report. All reports were accepted as read. seconded and then approved.

Greg Lane gave a recap of his field day set up, participants and contact numbers in the Houston County area. We discussed why the main WARC club did not do well this year. Ideas to make it not flop next year are: More signage, canvas area with posters, in May nominate a coordinator to get volunteers and set up times. Also, classes on how to set up big antenna and equipment/computers so that Al and Doug are not the only ones responsible.

President Curtis gave a recap of the Jim Hartnett/DARC proposal to go to the Saliba Center and teach Amateur Radio to the VETs there. There were no objections from the previous meeting and all agreed that promoting Amateur Radio is always the goal.

Insurance on equipment was tabled again until we can determine how many members are ARRL members to make sure we qualify for ARRL Insurance for the club’s equipment. Alan Curtis took on the task of polling on Groups.IO. We have some quotes from the internet as well.

WinLink/VarAC is tabled again until whatever is causing it not to be installed and work is resolved. Alan and Al worked on it and will continue.

QSL cards. Tom Spann’s card design presented on Groups.IO was approved. Jimmy Hassell agreed to get them printed on budget.

Clinton Huff was approved as Ed Winkler’s replacement on the Board of Directors.

Alan Curtis gave a report on ARES and last October’s SET. Alabama won the competition with our own Houston County coming in 4th in the state. Looking for a solid follow up this coming October.

Quorum Issue. President Curtis brought up that since July had an issue of quorum and the current Bylaws state that “A quorum for any membership meeting shall consist of the smaller of 25 persons or 25% of the membership.” The issue is that we have many members that only come occasionally or not at all (and that we have a great number is not necessarily a bad thing) but it limits what can get done if a quorum is not achieved for a meeting and is not respective of the people that do take the time to come to a meeting on a regularly scheduled date and time. Doug said he would take it to the Board of Directors and seek a resolution and report back.

We then moved on to the Tri-Club Hamfest coming up on September 12th to be held at the Daleville Convention Center from 8am-1pm.

Set up will begin at 6am and tear down will happen shortly after closing. (Need folks to volunteer for this!)

President Curtis read the email from President Bowman of DARC requesting help and especially for classes (30minutes to 1 hour long each)

We discussed classes.

Tape Measure Antenna –

Fox Hunting –

Morse Code – Greg Lane

Adult Soldering –

Portable Antennas-(Jungle Antennas, 70cm homebrew, etc)

DXing 101-

Lightning Protection for Hams-

Meshtastic-

Power Supplies-

Ham Clock-

Kids Snap Circuit Activity Table –

Teen Activity – Carl Rippe

There will also be testing from 10am until ?

We NEED all hands on deck to make this a success. Please come up with a presentation/demonstration for one of the above or something that you can do that is Ham radio related. We don’t have that much time. Please post what you will do so we don’t have duplicates and how long you need for time.

The WARC Activities sheet was presented as always. It will be attached.

Doug said that we would have the New-Not-So-New Ham Workshop this Saturday. General cleanup and stuffs to do along with donuts and coffee;-)

Greg Lane then gave a rockin’ presentation of World Radio League Logger. A program for logging contacts and keeping them all in one place as well as the multi-faceted items it provides the user. He posted it on Groups.IO if you missed it.

Other information: ARES meeting next Thursday, August 13th at 6:30pm here at the clubhouse.

Meeting adjourned.

BLC

Open for a flyer for the upcoming Hamfest.

091226 triclub hamfest

May 14th, 2026 ARES Meeting

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The May ARES meeting had six members in attendance. We started off with updating TASK books and then moved to past events. We discussed the tailgate and ways to get more foot traffic and youth to the event. We segued into the September 12th Daleville Hamfest and ways we can help bring it more attendance.

Fliers in the local area and at the local schools and businesses

Maybe a few street signages (business signages)

More of Alan’s magnets

(Will need to follow Daleville’s lead though)

We then moved on to the Tri-States Bike Ride. Discussed making sure our rigs are prepared to go. Any concerns, questions please ask prior to event.

We will do the October SET event again. No scores yet.

Alan did a WinLink presentation on the computer. Did POTA activation for Chris. Previewed a bit of VarAC.

Alan then asked, “What’s Next?”

POTA Recaps, September POTA event – Frank Jackson Park, Blue Water Park, etc.. one within 1.5 hours from Dothan.

We discussed End Fed antenna’s (article on ARRL), Tarheel or Atoss 300 antennas. 891, 857 auto tuners Giga Parts Club membership gets 20% off first order.

Meeting concluded. As usual, great time.

BLC

June 11th, 2026 ARES Meeting

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Meeting started at 6:30PM. Eight members present. We discussed past events of the Tri-State Bike Ride and some issues that had happened during the event such as someone leaving their mike stuck on which timed out the repeater and occasional events that we lost signal until we shut down and came back up. Discussed possibilities of riders with an excessively powerful hot spot and the tracking panels that receive the chipped riders as they pass by them. We will do some experimenting and discovery during the next ride to see what affects our units in a negative way. We also discussed testing simplex during the next ride.

We discussed the Simulated Emergency Test from last October. The results are finally out and Alabama came in first in the nation and our club came in 4th in the state. Great job W4DHN ARES group!! We will be sending out letters with the results of last years SET to all the Emergency Personnel that we made contact with to complete our tasks during the set to thank them for helping us do well and asking for their help again in the SET this upcoming October.

Discussion of the upcoming field day and this year’s SET occurred.

A suggestion of another POTA camping trip was made and a consensus occurred. We will start looking for another venue for our outing.

We discussed Tic Tac Tile. Rick came up with the suggestion of two players starting on a designated ‘board’ which would be 9 tiles and the first one to make contact in a tile “blocks” the rest from that tile. Whoever gets 3 vertically, horizontally or diagonally first would be the winner. We will revisit this idea.

Alan and Barbara’s vacation will be from June 18th until July 13th. The July ARES meeting is cancelled.

Alan then gave a presentation on the Raspberry Pi Health & Welfare RMail program designed by WF5W using the Pi as a hot spot and allowing those with cell phones to connect and type in their email to whoever they chose for their health & welfare notification. The administrator would then only need to review the messages to make sure they meet Amateur Radio qualifications and then send them via winlink or changing to a location with internet. A great deduction of time and energy instead of handwriting Radiograms and then calling them over the air.

We discussed the winch for the equipment trailer. It had a crack in the spindle and had been disassembled. Jimmy cancelled the workday on Saturday because we had not gotten approval to spend the funds on a new winch. Barbara texted Doug and got the procedures. Jimmy found prices and information from Harbor Freight on winches. Problem solved by Friday afternoon.

The meeting adjourned. Alan and Clinton worked on the WinLink on the club computer to no avail. Al will need to be brought in.

BLC

June 4th, 2026 WARC Meeting

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Talked about the Fox Hunt, TOTA, APRS, Amateur Field Day and POTA. Lots of good information given and you can check under Greg Lane’s feeds for more info and for recordings of his Monday night ZOOMS on the topics.

Jimmy didn’t get all the information to talk about insurance on the club equipment so it is tabled till next time.

Alan got the paid version of WinLink on the club computer but had an issue with the VarAC and will need to confer with AL on it.

The winch on the club equipment trailer is not working well and a motion was made to use the new winch donated to the club by Bob JV. Passed and the work day is next Saturday, June 13th.

Charles obtained approval for the Field Day to be at Northside Methodist Academy on June 27 & 28th.

New-Not-So-New Workshop is cancelled for this month and in July.

Tomorrow – Saturday, June 6th is the Tri-States Bike Ride. Hopefully you have volunteered and know where you are stationed and have your equipment up-to-par.

There is a Quilts of Valor Ceremony at 6am at Bethel Baptist Church first thing for those who can make it.

Rex gave his presentation of Antenna Circuit Impedance. He did a fine job and fielded questions at the end. Thanks Rex!

ARES meeting is next Thursday at 6:30.

And for the sad news, Ed Winkler informed the club that he is moving to Hartsell, Alabama here in the near future (like ASAP) and will be leaving our club after 16 years of being a faithful part of it. Please make sure you tell him what a wonderful ELMER he is and such an inspiration to the HAM community. I know I have learned from him and in a positive way. Pray we still hear him on the airwaves.

Barbara

WARC President

May 7th, 2026 W4DHN Meeting

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On May 7th, 2026, W4DHN held it’s monthly meeting. Meeting was called to order. Introductions were made; guests and first time visitors were introduced of which we had three.

Reports were given and motions were made and approved.

Recaps were given on the Jungle Antenna Workshop, the Blue Springs POTA Event, Rookie Round-Up, and Tri-Club Tailgate.

Jimmy and Al are working on getting insurance quotes to cover all the club’s equipment and will present findings at the next club meeting.

Doug and Alan will get the WinLink and VarAC (paid versions already approved by club) installed on club computers.

No further news on the sale of Wolfe Tower and our lease agreement.

June 6th is the Tri-States Bike Ride. Joe from Tri-States came and updated us on the routes and gave out maps and expressed his appreciation for our participation in helping them. Charles is coordinating the ride and stations. He needs 4 more volunteers. (It’s not hard to do. You have a radio that can hit the tower and respond if contacted with information. If you are awake and breathing,.. you are good to go.) May 19th is the last day for T-shirts order.

June 27th is Field Day at Northside Methodist Academy as well as testing there. Charles will make the contact to make sure we are welcome again. Please be thinking of ways to advertise this event, especially the neighborhood it is in. These events are to bring the outside non-hams in to see what we can do that they might want to learn.

The New-Not-So-New Workshop on Saturday the 9th was working on the tri-band Yagi and whatever else. Coffee and Donuts provided.

ARES meeting will be next Thursday, May 14th, here at the American Red Cross Building at 6:30pm.

Meeting was adjourned.

ARES Camping & POTA Event

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On April 10-12th, the Houston WARC ARES group camped at Blue Springs State Park and activated for POTA (Parks on the Air). In total 17 folks attended and most made at least the 10 activations with overachievers making 30+. A variety of antennas and rigs were brought out and lots of CQ’s rang out. Friday night was semi-quiet, but after the pancake and sausage breakfast it was all hands to the mic’s and knobs! A break for hamburgers and hotdogs for a late lunch and we were back at it. Was a busy weekend but oh so fun! We did do a wind down campfire on Saturday night.

Thank you to all who participated!

April 9, 2026 ARES Meeting

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Thursday evening, April 9, 2026, the Dothan W4DHN ARES group had it’s monthly meeting at the American Red Cross located on Montezuma Avenue. After the welcome, Alan went over task books and updates. We discussed previous events such as the Pizza and VarAC Friday night event. We then moved on to future events. April 10th – 12th, the ARES group will host a camp-out and POTA activation at Blue Springs State Park. We will be working totally off battery and not using the repeater. This is an exercise to see how well we fare should we have to go portable during a storm or other disaster. We also discussed the Tri-State Bike Ride and that we are tapped in to help.

We had discussions on future topics and then did WinLink on the club computer.

As always, great night with ARES!

April 2, 2026 W4DHN Meeting

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Meeting was called to order. One new member attending. Welcome Bob! 17 members present.

Secretary & Treasure’s Reports were read and approved.

Reports of last months NNSN Workday on Power Supplies demonstrated by Steve, Al & Bob JV’s visit to Dothan Dodge to help find the culprit of discharging batteries and not working key fobs, and the impromptu POTA get together at Dale County Park were all purveyed.

Under Topics:

A question arose as to if WARC carries insurance on all our equipment. No one knew off the top of their head, so Al said he would check into it. It was mentioned that ARRL carries such insurance should we need it.

The Future WARC Activities Sheet was mentioned to keep members up to date on happenings.

April 4th is the RaDAR Rallies. Greg will be at Dale County Park.

April Tailgate is coming up on the 25th. The Spring Tailgate Opportunities List STILL needs some helpers. I expect to see volunteers to be on hand for the Tape Measure Antenna with Steve and some volunteers to help Alan with the Antenna Park. We need some back up folks for the Kids Educational Station. WE NEED VENDORS and people to get the flyers out. It would be preferrable if you would let us know that you will make the commitment to help in a particular area.

Rookie Roundup is April 19th. Charles and Jimmie will be at the club helping newbies (hams licensed less than 3 years) get on the air and making contacts and answering any questions. Charles will put out information closer to the date with times.

June 6th is the Tri-States Bike Ride. Charles will check with bike club and see if they want to come touch base with us next meeting.

Clinton then did a presentation of a Jungle Antenna.

At the NNSN Workday, Jimmie did the build for Clinton. Simple and works! Just like Hams like it! Great job!

Attached are flyers for you to pass out, post, disseminate…. do something with to get people to come!