Greetings,

Welcome to the new year!  I hope 2025 enables you to accomplish all the Ham Radio projects you have pending and that you can operate on as many modes as you desire.  Now that we are in a new year, it’s time to think about what you actually want to accomplish in Ham Radio in 2025.  In my ongoing quest to have a solid emergency communications capability, I am taking a page out of Dale’s, KG7KVI, book and adding CB and GMRS to my Radio Room here and at my cabin.  I decided to go with Retevis radios and am getting ready to place an order through Chris Cox since he is a Retevis Dealer and Club Member!  Much better prices than ordering direct.  I am also researching how to build a portable repeater system.  It will be battery operated like my VHF Go Box.  The rest of the build is up in the air and I am watching YouTube videos to look at how others have made theirs. 

We will be doing elections in January for Board members.  The current Board are all running again and running unopposed so the election won’t take too much time.

Our January Meeting is the 23rd.  Dale, KG7KVI, has agreed to present about the Nano VNA and its use in analyzing antennas.  I look forward to this because I am considering buying a Nano VNA for this purpose and use it as part of my portable HF Radio Kit.  Should be a good presentation and a good meeting in January.

We do not have a topic lined up yet for February.  If you have an idea, feel free to email the list or directly to K7BSE14694@gmail.com.

Also, the Treasure Valley 220 MHZ Net is going strong.  Nick, K7NQB, Scott, W7IMC,  and I have been joined by Nils, W7BFN, as net controls.  Thank you for joining the rotation Nils!  If you have 220 MHZ capability, we are looking for at least one more net control operator. It’s easy to be net control and using 220 MHZ to run a net (the only one in the Treasure Valley or surrounding area) is fun since it is little used and there is virtually no interference.