Saturday, November 9, 2024 from 9:30 AM to about 3:30 PM
What:
The West Valley Amateur Radio Association (WVARA) is having a Beach Party POTA.
It is a chance to get outside, have fun and play radio with old and new friends. We always welcome and enjoy seeing members and non-members, meeting new hams, and showing off and explaining our hobby with interested non-hams.
If you’re recently licensed, stop by and make some new friends. Perhaps you can get a little help with a cantankerous HT, some antenna advice, or check out different gear and operating modes.
If you don’t have a license and are interested in what amateur radio is about, come by and ask questions, see some of what we do and try getting on the air.
If you are a ham and interested in POTA (Parks on the Air), but not sure about what
to do or not yet registered, we can help you with that. It is easy and free!
Where:
Manresa Main State Beach, day use picnic area
POTA: US-3469
1445 San Andreas Rd, Watsonville 95076
(Admission fee or CA state park pass needed)
Details:
To spice it up a little, we’re going to:
- Try getting some kind of a kite antenna up and make some contacts using it
- Award a few prizes
Prizes:
We have some great “gate*” prizes we’re going to award. Prizes will be awarded by
random drawing.
To enter a drawing, you’ll need to check in with “Beach Party Control”, receive a ticket
for the appropriate drawing, and provide enough contact information so we can get in
touch with you if you win something but are not around at the drawing .
For licensed hams, we’ll have a SOTABEAMS Band Hopper II 20m-40m antenna package, a PackTenna Mini In-line RF Choke and other fun and useful items to award.
If you are not yet licensed, but are interested, we’ll have a separate drawing for a copyvof Gordon West’s Technician FCC Amateur Radio License Preparation book (10th Edition, 2022-2026 questions).
* We can’t really have “door” prizes, since there is no door.
Food:
We provide: charcoal, grilling tools, basic condiments, bottled H2O.
You bring: whatever you want to grill/eat, perhaps a side dish, snack or desert to share.
Logistics:
Bring any gear you’d like to operate. We’ll be QRP, but higher power is fine if you want:
bring your own power and antenna. We’ll work out interference if needed.
If you’re hiking / biking / small vehicle-ing to the site, here’s what we’ll have there that you won’t need to bring (unless you have gear you want to try — always fun!).
We’ll have QRP-sufficient 12 volt power, and power distribution strips with PowerPoles.
Bring your own PowerPole-equipped power cables.
We’ll have two or three push-up fiberglass masts. If you have antennas you want to try,
bring them. If they need support beyond a push-up, you’ll need to bring that too.
If you need AC power (i.e. for a PC for digital), bring it.
Day of the event we’ll monitor 146.52 (2M call) and 446.00 (440 call).
More Info:
Subscribe to the WVARA chat email list: chat@wvara.groups.io
Listen to the WVARA weekly net every Tuesday night at 8:30PM on the frequencises listed at https://wvara.org/repeaters/
Email: KN6FGHTim@gmail.com