New Club Hit's the Ground Running
A meeting of the Sun City Anthem ARC
Less than two months after being formed, the brand new Sun City Anthem Amateur Radio Club in Henderson is off to a speedy start.
Already the group has grown to nearly fifty members, has been holding licensing classes, and just completed their first exam session with their own VE team.
The club has undergone an interesting metamorphosis. A group of about fifteen Anthem residents regularly got together for breakfast and socializing. During one of these get together's the talk turned into a discussion about the lack of egress from their community during a disaster. This fostered additional talk about how they would communicate in an emergency, which of course took them to the topic of amateur radio.
The participants in the breakfast group began exploring how to get on the air. This led them to study and earn their Technician licenses. Since then several of the group have earned upgrades to their licenses. As can be imagined the club members are quite interested in emergency and disaster communications.
With this in mind the club recently hosted a contingent of local ARRL represent-atives who spoke at their meeting. These included Clark County ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator Bill Smith-W7HMV, Southern District Emergency Coordinator Jay Peskin-KE7EGO, and Pacific Division Assistant Director John Bigley-N7UR.
Already the group has grown to nearly fifty members, has been holding licensing classes, and just completed their first exam session with their own VE team.
The club has undergone an interesting metamorphosis. A group of about fifteen Anthem residents regularly got together for breakfast and socializing. During one of these get together's the talk turned into a discussion about the lack of egress from their community during a disaster. This fostered additional talk about how they would communicate in an emergency, which of course took them to the topic of amateur radio.
The participants in the breakfast group began exploring how to get on the air. This led them to study and earn their Technician licenses. Since then several of the group have earned upgrades to their licenses. As can be imagined the club members are quite interested in emergency and disaster communications.
With this in mind the club recently hosted a contingent of local ARRL represent-atives who spoke at their meeting. These included Clark County ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator Bill Smith-W7HMV, Southern District Emergency Coordinator Jay Peskin-KE7EGO, and Pacific Division Assistant Director John Bigley-N7UR.
Bill Smith W7HMV speaks about ARES
Smith and Peskin introduced the club members to ARES/RACES participation, while Bigley welcomed those attending, to the amateur radio community.
The club was recently certified as an official Sun City Chartered Club. They have also been working closely with their communities emergency preparedness people and with their Architectural Review Board. This rapport has resulted in a level of cooperation which is not often seen in HOA controlled communities. As an example, members will be allowed to install outside antennas. These antennas will be permitted to extend 12 feet above the roofline of their homes, which will include ground mounted verticals for HF.
Sun City Anthem is also providing funding for radio equipment for the club. The group plans to have both a club station and a repeater in operation in the near future.
Membership in the Sun City Amateur Radio Club is open to any resident of the Anthem community. The club elected a full slate of officers at this meeting. Al Griefer-NØADG will take the reins as the clubs first President.
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The club was recently certified as an official Sun City Chartered Club. They have also been working closely with their communities emergency preparedness people and with their Architectural Review Board. This rapport has resulted in a level of cooperation which is not often seen in HOA controlled communities. As an example, members will be allowed to install outside antennas. These antennas will be permitted to extend 12 feet above the roofline of their homes, which will include ground mounted verticals for HF.
Sun City Anthem is also providing funding for radio equipment for the club. The group plans to have both a club station and a repeater in operation in the near future.
Membership in the Sun City Amateur Radio Club is open to any resident of the Anthem community. The club elected a full slate of officers at this meeting. Al Griefer-NØADG will take the reins as the clubs first President.
Read Another Newswire Story