The Wiregrass Amateur Radio Club held its monthly club meeting on Thursday evening, April 6, at the American Red Cross office in Dothan. 

Old business discussed – 

A reminder that The Wiregrass 100 Bike Ride is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. For those that signed up to help with communications for the ride, post assignments will be given out in the coming week or two. Our club is coordinating with the Chipola Amateur Radio Club in Marianna to supply comms for the entire ride. Also, since May 6 is the regularly scheduled date for our New and Not So New Ham Workshop, there will not be a workshop that day. The next New and Not So New Workshop will be held on Saturday, June 3.

The club was asked to come up with names of silent keys that were club members for a plaque that will be displayed at the club station. We will spend the next couple of months compiling names of silent keys, then decide the size plaque needed based on that number. If you know of a previous Wiregrass Amateur Radio Club member who is now a silent key, please email the name and callsign to info@w4dhn.org. 

New business discussed – 

A discussion was held regarding improvements and upgrades to the club website, w4dhn.org. David Schwab, K4FOO, is handling the maintenance of the site, and offered several suggestions for improvements, including a new layout, making it mobile friendly, and a membership directory. Other changes were suggested by those in attendance, including a members only area.

Presentation-

Further discussion was held on different HF antennas. John Willis, KB4DU, showed some army surplus fiberglass poles that he uses to get antennas up in the air when working portable. Charles Woodall, W4CLW, demonstrated the setup of his Wolf River Coils portable antenna system that he uses for Parks on the Air activations, as well as an end fed half wave quad band antenna that he also uses.

In total there were 15 people in attendance. The next club meeting will be held on Thursday, May 4.