Hello BVARC, The year is almost over, but BVARC still has a few more events left to participate in for 2023. We have our December General Meeting where we will be hearing from Mike Lambert KI5MIK about his transition from generator to solar and battery backup power. We've also got our VE Testing, BoD Meeting, our 12th and "best of the year" for Brews with BVARC, BVARC POTA at another new park for the club, and of course we'll all be celebrating the Holidays with our families and friends this December as well. It's gonna be another fun and busy month for the club, so please come on out and join us if you can.
A quick glance forward to next year: we have some big events coming up! Every January the club celebrates with a *Banquet* and next year it will be on *Thursday January 18th at 6pm*. You will need to RSVP and purchase a meal ticket for the event, those details and more should be posted shortly. *Winter Field Day will be on January 28th and 29th. *BVARC will be hosting our own WFD event at Duhacsek Park (17034 Old Richmond Rd, in Sugar Land), so please mark your calendars for that event, and keep an eye out on the website and reflector for more information (sign-up sheets, meal schedules, etc.). Lastly, we have a massive undertaking ahead for the club, the *Greater Houston Hamfest!* Planning for the event is well underway, please join the planning meetings so you can help out with our biggest event of the year. The GHHF will be held *March 1st and 2nd this year at The Fort Bend County Fairgrounds*. Contact Mike Hardwick N5VCX for more info on the event and volunteering. Again, please check out our website BVARC.org <http://bvarc.org/> for updates, and for information on our weekly in-person events, nets, and other resources. The December Newsletter should be posted on the website soon. Don't forget about our social media as well! We have a Facebook Page <https://www.facebook.com/groups/bvarc/>, a Discord Server <https://discord.gg/kwVGeXM7UH>, and YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/bvarc> for the club. Add the BVARC Calendar to your calendar app (by clicking the link here <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=YTk0YTkxYmRhNWU3ZmY3ODhkNjFjOWExNWVjNzY5M2VlYjUzM2IxYTE1YTc4NDlmNDM4MTRmNzI3NzZlNWNmY0Bncm91cC5jYWxlbmRhci5nb29nbGUuY29t>), all events for the next 30 days should be on that calendar as well as others as we confirm their dates. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> *BVARC Calendar for December 2023:* *BVARC VE Test Session* *Saturday December 9th at 10:30am* You can sign up now on our website (BVARC.org <https://bvarc.org/home/ham-radio-license-testing-houston/>) to take an FCC license exam to get your ham radio license or upgrade to General or Extra. *Where:* Bayland Community Center 6400 Bissonnet St Houston, TX 77074 *BVARC Board of Directors Meeting* *Sunday December 10th at 5:00pm* The BVARC BoD is now meeting on the Sunday before the Second Thursday of the month at 5pm (with few exceptions). This meeting will take place on Zoom only, and all members are encouraged to attend so they can check out what the board is up to. The BVARC BoD is here to serve you, so please attend and let your voice be heard.. *Where:* On Zoom See BVARC.org <http://bvarc.org/> for the link on the day of the meeting. *Brews with BVARC* *Tuesday December 12th at 6:30pm* The next Brews with BVARC will be on Tuesday December 12th at 6:30pm. We will be heading back to Texas Leaguer Brewing Company in Missouri City! This is our last destination of the year and our Brews with BVARC “committee” voted this spot our top location for 2023. Our last time at this brewery had one of the highest attendances and was an absolute blast so we will be visiting them again to round out our tour around the Houston area this year. As always, arrive when you can, be safe, be responsible, and let’s have fun! See you there. *Where:* Texas Leaguer Brewing Company 13503 Pike Rd. Missouri City, TX 77489 *BVARC General Meeting* *Thursday December 14th at 7:00pm* This BVARC General Meeting will be a great presentation by Mike Lambert KI5MIK titled “Backup Power, from Chasing Gasoline to Sun & Batteries in 2019 to 2020″! The presentation will cover backup power topics such as solar panels, battery types, charging methods, and more. For those who are unable to attend in person, we expect to have our Zoom link for the meeting up on the website (BVARC.org) by the Monday before the meeting. *Where:* Volunteer Fire Station #4 16005 Bellaire Blvd. Houston, TX 77083 *BVARC Pre-POTA Rag Chew Net* *Saturday December 16th around 8pm* One more reminder for this month that our monthly BVARC POTA event now has a 40m HF net that precedes it the night before at 8pm. The frequency is not set in stone and should be somewhere* near 7.265MHz*, so if you don't hear them there, turn that VFO dial up or down a few kHz until you find them or try finding them using the NetLogger program. I want to thank Sean N5LNK for taking on the role of Net Control Station. *BVARC POTA at Sheldon Lake State Park* *Sunday December 17th, from 10am to 4pm* Last month we made the leap to a try POTA at a National Wildlife refuge, and it was incredible, with one of the highest attendances of the year. To end the year, we are going to head to another POTA site that the club hasn't been to yet: Sheldon Lake State Park! The site looks beautiful and the weather should be nice and cool. So please join us to get on the air and have some food and fun with the club. Bring out your own equipment, operate radios brought by other members, or just come by and watch how POTA works. It's a ton of fun and a great opportunity to share ham knowledge, we hope to see you there. *Where:* Sheldon Lake State Park & Environmental Learning Center 14140 Garrett Rd. Houston, TX 77044 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> That's the rundown that I have for now. I will keep the updates coming throughout the month, so stay tuned. Please reach out to me or any BVARC board member if you have any questions or concerns about our club events, volunteering, or anything else ham radio related. We're here for you! Thanks for being a member. Thank you for your time. Have a Merry Christmas and 73! Kori Rahman, WX5KR *Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club* *Vice-President and Club Call Sign KK5W Trustee* Cell: (770) 298 8516 kori...@gmail.com
________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Publicly available archives are available here: https://www.mail-archive.com/bvarc@bvarc.org/
