Things continue to be rather busy in the Handiham Program office! LaToya remains off on leave, so if you need anything, please reach out to me at handiham@allina.com. It will sometimes take longer than usual to process payments and class applications during this time, but rest assured that they will be processed as quickly as possible!
Next week, on September 6th, we are returning to in-person Radio Camp. It will look a little different from past Radio Camps. We will be in a hotel, the same one we used for the 2018 Amateur Radio and Assistive Technology Conference. Of course, we won’t be staying in the hotel all the time. We will take several field trips during the week to operate radios and visit local attractions. If this sounds like fun, start planning for the 2024 Radio Camp and mark your calendars for September 4th through 11th to make plans to join us for a very special week filled with hands-on ham radio activities and fun fellowship with other hams. This year’s activities include visiting the Pavek Museum, a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River, fox hunting, a special event station run from a local park, musical jam sessions, and more.
On Monday, September 11, as part of the 2023 Handiham Radio Camp, we will be conducting a “Day in the Park” special event QSO party to honor the 56th Anniversary of the Courage Kenny Handiham Program. Our goal is to work as many stations as possible throughout the United States and beyond. We will operate on both SSB and CW on 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters as conditions and our antennas allow from 11 AM – 4 PM Central daylight time (16:00 – 21:00 UTC). We will be using both W0ZSW and W0EQO, two call signs with a rich history in the Handiham Program. The exchange for this special event will simply be name and state, province, or country. We also will use this opportunity to promote and give more details about the Handiham Program for those who are interested. Contacts will be confirmed via a commemorative Handiham special event QSL card if requested. Please listen out for CQ Handiham 56, and give us a call. We’d love to hear from you!
Jerry, W0UH, our net manager, would like to invite you to check into the Handiham Radio Club net. We have several net control stations who faithfully keep the net running smoothly and provide interesting conversation each day. The Handiham Radio Club sponsors daily nets at 11:00 am Central time and on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm Central time on the Handiham Conference Server. Please join us as often as you can! It’s a great time to get together with other hams throughout the world and enjoy some good fellowship.
If you have already completed the intermediate level Morse code class or if you can copy around 13 words per minute, I invite you to join us in late September for a two semester advanced Morse code class. We will be taking students from 13 to around 20 words per minute. The class will run two semesters with a long break between semesters. If you are interested in this class, please contact me to be placed on the list for an application.
The new 2023-2027 General Class question pool is available on the website in text, docx, Mp3, and DAISY format. In late September, we will also be starting a two-semester General Class license class. If you are interested in joining us for this class, please send an email to handiham@allina.com to get on the list for an application. This class will be in the same format as the two-semester Technician Class we just finished with interactive Zoom classes along with class recordings and handouts sent via email to students each week.
The Handiham Radio Club is getting radio active! We will have our next monthly meeting on September 10th at 3:00pm Central Time. While meetings usually take place on the first Sunday of each month at 3:00pm Central Time, because of the US holiday that weekend, the meeting was moved to September 10th, which means we will get to meet both in person and via Zoom during Radio Camp. The Zoom link will go out to the radio club Groups.io list. If you have not yet joined the Handiham Radio Club, all current members of the Handiham Program are eligible to join. Just send an email to handiham@allina.com to let me know you want to be put on the email list for the club. Staying on that list allows you to keep up with everything that is happening in the club.
We put out a new Handiham Program merchandise order that includes tote bags, t-shirts, sweat shirts, hats, stickers, patches, and dog bandanas. If you didn’t get it, that means you probably are not subscribed to the Handiham Notify email list. If you are interested in ordering, please let me know as soon as possible. And if you are a member in need of subscribing to the Handiham Notify email list, please let me know that as well!
73,
Lucinda AB8WF