Welcome to the November edition of the CLARA Current. HamCon Colorado was an absolute treat! Lots of great networking and a great learning experience. I wish more members could attend, but the ideas shared between Rocky Mountain Hams and CLARA may bring some great collaboration in 2026, to the benefit of all amateur operators in the valley. Stay tuned for more!
From Bob KØNR
RADIO TREK!
On Oct 11, we held our first ever Radio Trek event. It ended up that we had quite a few CLARA folks out of town that weekend. We fielded four teams, three of them were individuals, but KE0PWR had spouse Laurel helping out. For more details on the event see https://w0cla.org/ham-help/
Here’s the Official Final Scoring:
KF5WCW: 80 points
K0SJP: 80 points
KE0PWR: 65 points
K0RWE: 55 points
So KF5WCW and K0SJP tied for first place and received some fabulous prizes (an ARRL antenna book and Baofeng HT, respectively). All teams did pretty well, getting to and checking in from all checkpoints. Most teams were able to answer all of the standard questions (Q1, Q2, Q3) but the bonus questions (QB) were differentiators. The Bonus questions were designed to be challenging and they proved to be so! At one checkpoint, teams needed to program their radio to a very uncommon simplex frequency on 70 cm. Two teams were able to do this, which was worth 20 points. Thanks to everyone that came out and participated. Special thanks to Joyce/K0JJW for helping with this and Bob/W0BV for being there on the very uncommon simplex frequency.
Let’s Do It Again
We will follow up with another Radio Trek event for the next Ham Help Workshop on Saturday Dec 6th. By then we will be into winter weather, so the course will be designed with that in mind. That is, it will again be based on car travel and people will not have to be out of their vehicles for any length of time. We will use the Casa Del Rio Clubhouse for the Start and Finish location, to keep that activity indoors. We will still have the risk of a big snowstorm moving in but we can always cancel if the forecast is awful.
For now, mark your calendars for Dec 6th, 1 pm to 4 pm.
More details to follow.
From Rick WA6NUT
November Presentation!
Tuesday, November 11th, 2025
Social: 6 pm, Meeting: 7 pm
Casa del Rio Clubhouse
27665 CR 313 #24 in BV
Looking Good on Digital Amateur TV by Rick Peterson, WA6NUT
Our November meeting will feature a presentation on digital amateur television (DATV) by Rick Peterson, WA6NUT.
Amateur radio is a “hobby of hobbies,” and television is one of those hobbies. Amateur TV provides the opportunity to be seen, as well as heard, on the air. Every QSO is an “eyeball” QSO. And amateur TV enthusiasts can “show and tell” over the airwaves, sharing their station setups and current projects. If you’ve enjoyed Facetime conversations with family and friends, you can imagine what ATV can add to your QSO on the UHF and microwave bands.
Rick’s presentation will show an inexpensive approach to digital amateur TV, describing his setup and portable operation with ATV. And he’ll provide resources for those interested in learning more about this fascinating mode.
Rick serves as Program Chairman for CLARA. He has been licensed for 65 years, and holds an Amateur Extra license. He’s been involved in various modes, including PSK31, narrow-band TV and digital voice on the HF bands, and analog and digital TV on 70 cm. He retired in 1995 as a senior engineer, after being employed for 30 years with a defense electronics division of General Motors.
You won’t want to miss this exciting and informative presentation.
You’re invited to our November 11th meeting! Social hour starts at 6:00 PM, meeting is at 7:00 PM. Light refreshments will be served.
To join our meeting by Zoom, click HERE! The passcode is 7373
From Doug KØILO
Secretary Report
Brian called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. The first item on the agenda was a discussion of the Swapfest held on October 14. It went well and the club earned $880. About 15 people attended; two were from Kansas. Brian had all of the items on tables. Some tables were marked for silent auction and others “make an offer.” There was a “free” table, too.
The next discussion was about the Radio trek. Bob reported that while turnout was not as high as expected, participants had a great time and are eager to do it again. Bob is looking at December 6 for the next one weather permitting. Various activities for the trek were discussed. Winter Field Day was the next item discussed. Brian will head the committee. It will be centered around emergency communications. That led to a discussion of Ecomm Committee. They are developing a band plan for our area. It was decided that an emergency simplex net will follow the regular Clare net at least once a month.
Bob and Doug will have a survey ready for the Board to review on November 20. The December newsletter will have a link to the survey for all members to fill out. This will help the board glean what members value most and what we can do to better serve CLARA in 2026. The Board next discussed having a pot luck as part of the December club meeting. Doug volunteered to bring chili and others will bring other dishes.
Brian made a motion to have the Board serve as the nominating committee again this year. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35.
From Jim KDØMRC
Fianace Report
We have $1624.04 in checking and $378.71 in PayPal for a total of $2002.75. We had no expenses but generated $880 from the swap fest.
We are coming to the end of the year. We will hold annual elections at the January meeting. Only dues paying members can vote. If you haven’t paid dues to support CLARA, please consider it!
Lastly, I’m excited to share that Bob KØNR came in FIRST PLACE in the Colorado section, 3-band, single operator category and 7th overall in the June VHF Contest. Great Job Bob!
I’ll be looking for a couple of folks to help with winter field day. Remember that this is an emergency comms exercise and we intend to have some fun exercises planned whether you make it to the E.O.C. or not (We might have fun activities like a simplex net, so participating from the comfort of your home will still let you have some fun). While we want to have a station (or two) running as much as possible, we have some secondary activities and even some demonstrations planned, so mark your calendars for January 24th &25th. More details to come! Thanks to everyone for being a part of CLARA and for supporting amateur radio in the valley. 73, KF5WCW clear.