Author: Michael M

We Will Be Testing Saturday December 2nd

Posted on By Michael M
Announcements, Testing

Now is the opportunity to sit for your technician or upgrade your current license.

We are accredited to administer all elements of the FCC Amateur Radio exams, and we do so every OTHER month, on the first Saturday of the month, at the Cox Science Center in West Palm Beach.

Testing begins at 10:00 a.m. When you get to the front door let them know you are here for the amateur radio exam and they will get you to our room. Below is an ARRL link on what to bring Saturday.

What to Bring – Click here

Any questions, register and post on our forms here – Click here

Contact us directly here – Click here

Cox Science Center
4801 Dreher Trail N, West Palm Beach, FL 33405

WPBARG 2023 Holiday Party

Posted on By Michael M
Announcements, Events

December 13th at 1830 hrs

Due to the success of last year’s holiday party, we are having this year’s party at the same location.

For more information: WPBARG Forums

Note: There is no meeting in December. Our next meeting will be January 24, 2024, with a special guest, and you don’t want to miss that one!
We will not be doing an official Saturday in the Park for December. Of course, anyone who wants to get together certainly can.

Officer Elections Tonight – 11/15/2023

Posted on By Michael M
Elections

We had our elections tonight and the following are the Officers for the 2024 Year. They will be installed at the January Meeting. Congratulations to each of you. We look forward to another successful and fun year!

Officers

  • President – Michael M (K1WX)
  • Vice President – Marcos M (KK4OPI)
  • Secretary – Randy P (KO4WTM)
  • Treasurer – Chris H (AJ1Q)

Directors

  • Richard S (AF4RS)
  • Jeff F ((KM4UBL)
  • Jo (N2QFT)

Stay tuned for more information on our holiday party in December.

As the holidays approach, we will all be busy, but come January 24th, we are kicking off our first meeting of the year with a special presentation. More information on that will follow. You don’t want to miss this presentation!

Saturday in the Park – November 18

Posted on By Michael M
Activities, Announcements

On November 18th, we will be having our monthly “Saturday in the Park.” Come join us!

Set-up starts at 10:00 a.m. Some folks like to get there a little earlier, and we run till we’re done, usually around 2:00 or so. 

Directions can be found here – Saturday in The Park & Directions – WPBARG Forums

As always, everyone is invited… members, non-members, participants and observers, come one, come all!

Monthly Meeting – November 15

Posted on By Michael M
Announcements, Meetings
Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

This month, our monthly meeting will NOT be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Due to Thanksgiving, in November, we move the meeting back a week. Our monthly meeting this month will be held on November 15 at 7:00 p.m. We will also be moving back our Saturday in the Park to November 18th.

At the meeting, we will be reviewing this past year, the success we enjoyed and the fun we had doing it, and we will be looking at what’s ahead for the coming year. We will be holding our elections, so there may not be time for a presentation, but maybe we can get a short one in there if time permits.

This month is the last meeting of the year. December is our Holiday Party – December 13 at 6:30. We will be having it at the same place we did last year. More information to follow.

We welcome everyone to our meetings and activities, members and non-members, whether licensed or not!

Location:
Cox Science Center and Aquarium
4801 Dreher Trail North, West Palm Beach, FL 33405

https://www.coxsciencecenter.org

WPBARG Family Picnic – 10/28/23

Posted on By Michael M
Activities, Events

This is some of the members who joined us. If you missed this one, don’t worry. If you’re interested in joining our family, or just participating in a fun time, we will be doing Saturday in the Park each month (except December) during the cooler weather. 

Everyone had a great time! Dominic brought his girls and Marcos and Cecilia were there with their new baby boy… this could be our next generation of operators!

There was soooo much food. Thanks to everyone who brought extra goodies, Richard who spent all day manning the grill, Michael who lugged all of that equipment back and forth, all those who generously contributed to our donation bucket, and everyone who joined us to make it a fantastic day out in the park! 

We had some tables set up to sell equipment, and Chris was pricing that stuff to move! Due to that success, we’re going to be doing that again next month at our Saturday in the Park, which will be November 18th. If you have equipment you’d like to sell or trade, bring it!

Keep in mind that next month, due to Thanksgiving, our meeting and Saturday in the Park is moved back a week. Our meeting will be November 15th and Saturday in the Park will be November 18th. See you there! 

For discussion and more pictures, click here – https://wpbarg.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=363

WPBARG In The News

Posted on By Michael M
News

The West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group is in the news again. This time on Fox 29. You can see that here – https://www.wflx.com/2023/10/18/growing-iceberg-titanic-exhibit-west-palm-beach/

WPTV also covered this. You can see that here – https://www.wptv.com/shining-a-light/growing-iceberg-at-titanic-exhibit-in-west-palm-beach On the last video, beginning at 1:22, Kristina showcases our spark gap transceiver array, while T.A. Walker tries his hand at sending code on the Morse code oscillator.

For more information – https://wpbarg.com/2023/10/10/wpbarg-joins-cox-in-titanic-exhibit/

WPBARG Joins Cox in Titanic Exhibit

Posted on By Michael M
Announcements

This morning Randy KO4WTM and Dave WD4LLQ attended a press event and demonstrated Morse code at the Cox Science Center. 

This evening I joined them for the Cox Science Center’s premier of their exhibit, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.

Our area received a lot of interest, and that’s not surprising given the transceiver array that Dave WD4LLQ and Jim KO4UYW built. This is a picture of it. The receiver, tuner, and spark gap transmitter were all fabricated by hand. This wasn’t a kit. This was hand-built from scratch. Dave is a very talented guy, and Jim served with the elite Seabees during Vietnam. These two guys can build anything, and they didn’t have a lot of time to do it. They were under a tight timeline. This display wouldn’t be complete without Bruce KB4SWP designing and creating the backdrop banner, which I had a lesson on tonight!

More pictures and discussion –  WPBARG Forums

More information of the exhibit – https://www.coxsciencecenter.org/Titanic

Monthly Meeting – October 25

Posted on By Michael M
Announcements, Meetings
Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

Our monthly meeting, held on the fourth Wednesday of the month, is Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.

We will be following up on our ongoing projects, including the Titanic display, our custom developed curriculum for Palm Beach County schools (that has now been requested by a homeschooling group), discussing how it went at JOTA and our upcoming WPBARG Fall Picnic/Saturday in the Park.

At our last meeting, Dave and Jim presented the spark gap transmitter and the membership was very excited about this project. Dave then found himself in an impromptu role as a docent. He was so good that this became an unplanned presentation, bumping our planned presentation of Winlink Global Radio Email, hosted by Marcos. We will have that Winlink presentation at this meeting.

We welcome everyone to our meetings and activities, members and non-members, whether licensed or not!

Location:
Cox Science Center and Aquarium
4801 Dreher Trail North, West Palm Beach, FL 33405
https://www.coxsciencecenter.org