CLARA Current August 2024

Welcome to the August edition of the CLARA Current! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer full of relaxation & QSOs. We have some great activities lined up for August, so read on to see how to be involved!


From Bob KØNR

The results of our Technician license class were quite good and we’ve used that experience to tune our approach for future classes. The key idea is that we can use online courses and license exams to offer licensing opportunities on a continuous basis. That is, we won’t offer a specific license class at a specific time. Instead, we will provide regular help sessions for people learning about ham radio. These sessions are aimed primarily at two groups: people working towards their license exam and people already licensed that need some practical help getting started. For those working on getting a license or upgrading to a higher class license, we will point them to the Ham Radio School online course and provide whatever assistance is needed on a 1:1 basis. For newbie licensees, we will help them with getting started on their ham radio journey (see topics below).


The first Ham Help Workshop will be held 2 pm August 10th at the Casa Del Rio Clubhouse in Buena Vista.

Here are the topics we will cover, depending on the needs of the people that attend:

  • Guidance and coaching on how to get your ham radio (Technician) license.
  • Guidance and coaching on how to upgrade to General or Extra.
  • Help with making your first VHF/UHF ham radio contact.
  • Help with programming your VHF/UHF radio (we program the radios for you).
  • Help with learning how to program your VHF/UHF radios using Chirp or similar software.
  • Demonstrations of operating a ham radio station (VHF/UHF)
  • <other topics by request, just let me know>

Advance registration is NOT required but letting me know that you are coming along with a description of the help you are looking for will be very useful.

Please let me know via email: bob@k0nr.com


From Rick WA6NUT

Our featured speaker will be Walt Stinson, WØCP.  Walt has been involved in amateur radio throughout his life, receiving his first license in 1963.  He is a past director of the ARRL, served 10 years on the board, and served several years as a director of the ARRL Foundation.  He has authored many articles in QST and CQ magazines, and has been on several DXpeditions (his DXpedition to Howland Island is the subject of a two-part article in CQ and is also the subject of a documentary video).  Walt especially enjoys SOTA operation and ragchewing on CW.

Professionally, Walt has been involved in high-end audio and video, beginning with work as a recording/broadcast engineer, leading to his present position with Listen Up, a high-end consumer electronics firm he founded in Denver.  He is chairman of a trade association, and has recently headed a global initiative for the United Nations.

Walt will be taking us on a guided tour of the world of HF.  He’ll show us what the 3-30 MHz bands offer the amateur operator: DX’ing, propagation, and the various modes like SSB, CW, and the digital modes, plus much more.  Walt will share some of his experiences on HF, both working DX and being the DX.  And how to become a CW operator (and why one should become skilled at CW).  You won’t want to miss Walt’s presentation!

You’re invited to our August 13th meeting!  Social time starts at 6:00 PM, meeting is at 7:00 PM.  Light refreshments will be served.


From Sean KFØIHL

Here’s a bit of history I found in the CLARA binder. I especially enjoyed reading about the autopatch on the repeater. (Written July 6, 1981)

Mark down July 3, 1981 in your diary as the date the repeater was officially brought to life, Rich, Barry, Terry and myself put the finishing touches on the installation at 2:15 pm fri- day and 146.745/145 is now a reality. If you haven’t tried bringing it up yet, hopefully you will soon to see how the sig- nal is at your Qth. The list of hams in the area seems to be growing and the word is getting out to other clubs that the repeater is on the air, so hopefully it will get plenty of use. We also might note that we have documented the installation of the repeater in the refrigerator and would like to submit it to 73 magazine as an article. If any of you are around B.V and would like to stop by the site, just let me know.

According to the by-laws that were established, the “dues” were to be $15 for regular members and $10 for an associate membership. If any of you can pry loose any funds it would be appreciated. The funds ran a little low and thanks to a lot of donations from junk boxes we at least were able to get it on the air.

A couple of notes for further use. The repeater has autopatch facilities. Since I am on a party line one has to be careful. In the summer there might be people on the party line using the phone, so if you bring it up and you hear someone on it, bring it back down. To bring up the autopatch, just hit the star sign and then listen. If you hear the dial tone, you have brought it up. Then dial the last four numbers of the phone call. Here in B.V. you don’t need to dial the prefix of 395. It is only connected for local calls so no long distance calls can be made. A number to remember is 2230, this is the sheriff’s office and in case you have trouble somewhere this is a handy number to remember. To bring the patch down, hit the STAR, the same sign you brought it up with. Do not hit the pound sign. So, its star up and star down. It is also not necessary to wait for the squelch tail after each transmission. I have enclosed a list of some of the other info that might be helpful as far as times are concerned regarding the repeater. If any of you have any questions give me a call or give a call on the repeater, I monitor most of the time. 73 WØLSD


From Jim KDØMRC

The checking account has $1,291.76. Income was a $75 donation by K0NR from sales of his book. Expense was $137.34 for purchase of a new battery for the W0LSD repeater (check not cleared). The agreement to have our ‘North’ repeater hosted at the Otero Pump Station has been submitted to their legal department for final review. The repeater is set up temporarily at my house for testing. Give it a try (147.240+ 156.7).


Thanks for reading this edition of the CLARA Current. Make sure to check out the events calendar on our website for dates and locations of upcoming events! I hope to see everyone at the 8/13 meeting. 73 from me, KF5WCW and the entire CLARA board.