January 8, 2026 Club Meeting
The RVARC club meeting will be held Thursday, January 8th at 7:00 PM at the Jacksonville Library, 340 W C St., Jacksonville, Oregon.
NOTE: This is a week later than normal due to the conflict with New Year’s Day.
The program will be on Chirp radio progrmming software. The speaker will be Kameron Gasso, W7KRG.
This meeting or event is not sponsored nor endorsed by the Library.
Note: that the exam times & locations have changed. Please consult the Exams page for details.
Announced in the January 2026 issue of The Repeater.
Meeting Notes
From the February 2026 issue of The Repeater.
2026-01-08 RVARC Meeting Minutes
7:00pm President Amy Haptonstall, AG7GP, calls meeting to order.
At least 19 attendees.
Question: What are the club member’s goals for 2026? Among the answers: Getting the 300th summit, 500 SOTA points, getting an Extra License, putting up more antennas.
Old Business: Tom, N5EG, made a motion to adopt the club constitution dated December 4, 2025 In Toto as posted on the club website. The motion was previously announced in the club newsletter. Changes from the year 2000 version are in 3 areas:
- Provide for flexible meeting dates upon agreement of the Executive Board (previously approved).
- Include dual membership status,
- Allow modification of club callsign, as needed, plus a minor typo correction.
Motion was seconded by Raoul, KD6DKA, and vote was unanimous, motion passed.
Dates for the next two meetings were announced as the first Thursday in February, and the first Tuesday in March. Thereafter, the meetings will be regularly held on the first Tuesday of the month.
Winter Field Day will be on January 24-25.
For the SOTA Challenges on 2M&70cm, SSB & CW, we will now need to use the 6-digit grid location.
Treasurer’s Report: $5924.27 bank balance, with $135 in new dues payments, and after $50 Oregon Secretary of State Business Registry fee.
New Business: CARE Club requests RVARC help with the 2026 Field Day planning. Mike, W6FFC, volunteered to help, others may contact Josh at the CARE Club to help.
Contact Mike, W6FFC, to obtain some extra antennas that he has on hand, such as 80-10M verticals, or a TM33 Mosley with mast.
John, AC7S, announced a new ARRL contest for the 250th anniversary (like the “work W1AW” one).
Pat, N7UH, announced license exams will be happening at the Star Auto location on Jan 17th and Mar 21st.
7:18pm Kameron Gasso, W7KRG, starts the presentation on CHIRP Software: “a free open source tool for programming your radio. It supports a large number of manufacturers and models, as well as provides a way to interface with multiple data sources and formats.”
You will need:
- A copy of CHIRP from CHIRPmyRadio.com/
- A compatible radio.
- A computer with a relatively recent version of Windows, MacOS, or Linux (with a GUI)
- A quality USB serial adapter cable, with appropriate connectors for your radio.
Kameron mentioned the “MIRKIT FTDI USB Programming Cable”, as an option for item 4.
7:54pm End presentation, start of questions & answers.
8:05pm Break for coffee & snacks.
~8:30 pm meeting adjourned.
Submitted John KF7UMF, Secretary.
