Well, the groundhog may have predicted six more weeks until Spring, but we’re not waiting around. We’ve already begun working on the club activities known for lifting us out of the winter season. Here come two anticipated events Georgia Hams enjoy; the Georgia QSO Party and Georgia State Parks on the Air. Look for information on both activities in our revised website home page.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those members who have responded to the recent 2025 Operating Plan survey. This is a significant opportunity for members to provide input into the annual operating plan development. If you, as a club member, haven’t responded, I hope you’re able to do so before the February 28, 2025 deadline. Early response so far has been beneficial in providing feedback we need to ensure the operating plan reflects club member interests.
Speaking of planning, we’ve already begun looking into options for license and skill training sessions and events. Two years ago we successfully utilized the curriculum from Ham Radio School for a Technician license kids camp at the Computer Museum of America. This is one of the learning tools we’re evaluating for use in some club based events.More to come as we further develop plans around education and training strategies.
If you haven’t noticed them, we’ve been making subtle modifications to our website. Roy, KQ4OYM, has been guiding us through some tweaks that we believe will make information in the website more accessible and easier to read, as well as helping the team keep the website up to date. I invite you to take a look at the site and provide feedback to Tony, Roy and the Leadership Team on things you think might be helpful to optimize user and visitor experiences in the site.
Another behind the scenes activity taking place is evaluation of methods we use to communicate during club meetings and how we share the recorded videos. A small team (Lee N4WYE, Roy Kq4OYM, Dave KO4USA, and Steve KS4KJ) have tested some different recording equipment to help simplify the process for video creation. We’re not done with this work, by any means, so you’ll see some ‘experimentation’ during upcoming meetings. Parts of this work also involve the video conferencing means we use to share the meeting, so stand by for the experiences and opportunities to provide feedback.
Along with the video technique experiments, we made good progress with our transition to utilization of the new NFARL.org Google Workspace. Google offers this enterprise level platform at no expense to non-profit (i.e., 501(c)(3)) organizations. The Workspace platform is going to help us simplify communication and manage our catalogue of intellectual information. You’ll hear more about how individual club members will be able to interact with this information platform over the coming year.
Finally, please feel free to contact me directly, or any other club Leadership Team member with any questions or feedback. We appreciate your interest and participation in the club!
73, Mike KN4OAK
