Meeting Minutes March 4, 2026
Alan Zaur
The monthly meeting of the Central Vermont Amateur Radio Club was held at the Good Measure Pub and Brewery in Northfield, VT on March 4, 2026. The meeting was called to order at 6:20 PM. There were 15 members and guests in attendance.
The following items were discussed during the business meeting:
Muddy Onion: Jeff (KC1WLT) announced that our help has been requested to provide communications for the Muddy Onion bicycle race that is being sponsored by Onion River Outdoors on April 25, 2026. Between 6 and 10 operators are needed to provide coverage of the race circuit which is largely outside the range of cellular service. Interested members should contact Jeff if they wish to volunteer. He can be reached at Koo...@gmail.com.
The results of the 2026 election of officers was announced by Patrick, KC1DPM. The following members were elected to serve from March 2026 through March 2027:
President: Chris Knox KI1P
Vice President: Patrick Schlott KC1DPM
Secretary: Alan Zaur K1MZM
Treasurer: John LaRue K4TSU
Trustee of W1BD: Patrick Schlott KC1DPM
Patrick, KC1DPM discussed the results of the membership survey. By license class, the members who responded to the survey are 54% Amateur Extra, 18% General Class, and 27% Technician Class. In a brief discussion period there seemed to be a general sense that holders of technician class licenses feel that upgrading to General or Extra Class would have been easier if they persisted in their studies after passing the Technician exam rather than taking a break. Among our membership are several Volunteer Examiners and we hope to enable our members who wish to upgrade their privileges to do so during the coming year.
The number of members and other interested people attending our meetings has increased markedly over the past year. This speaks to the health of the hobby and the health of our club. It does appear that we have outgrown the meeting space at the Good Measure Pub and we discussed other potential venues. Among the options are the Kellogg-Hubbard Public Library in Montpelier and the Montpelier Grange. If anyone has additional ideas please contact me at Alan...@gmail.com.
We discussed ways of improving communication among the members. Although there was a general feeling against using Facebook and other “traditional” social media platforms, use of a Discord server elicited a positive response. Patrick, KC1DPM agreed to give a brief talk about the use of Discord at our next meeting.
Given that Ham Radio was perhaps the earliest “social medium”, we discussed using the VHF/UHF repeater system to encourage greater communication amongst the members. There was a discussion of reviving the Sunday evening 2 meter net. We also discussed encouraging members to listen to the 146.62 MHz repeater during “drive time” when other members may be monitoring the repeater and available to swap ideas or otherwise chat.
The membership seemed to support the idea of a “free swap” that would be held at the Middletown Volunteer Fire Department, 55 Welch Park Drive / 1097 U.S. 2, Middlesex, VT 05602 on May 10. The swap would allow members and friends to exchange excess gear with other members. We all have items that we do not use that are simply too valuable to throw away. Why not get it into the hands of someone who could put it to use?
Field Day 2026. The predominant sentiment of the membership was to schedule our annual Field Day exercise (June 27-28) at the Old Shelter in Hubbard Park. This was a comfortable location last year which everyone seemed to feel was the most successful Field Day we have had in years. Our emphasis will be to encourage our newly licensed and less experienced operators to work the contest with the assistance of seasoned ops. Since the Field Day exchange is very simple and unambiguous, it is a wonderful time to get started in contesting. I would especially like to encourage beginning CW ops to take the plunge. I would be happy to help you log contacts and get the hang of things.
Patrick, KC1DPM suggested that FIeld Day planning be organized around several committees to make sure that the workload is distributed more evenly than in the past and that all tasks get completed in a timely manner. Potential committees would be Site Logistics, Food and Public Outreach. I will contact the Montpelier Parks Department to see if they are willing to let us use the Old Shelter again this year.
The first Fox Hunt of the year will take place on Saturday, March 28 in Orange County, VT. Patrick, KC1DPM will provide details before the date of the Fox Hunt.
Respectfully submitted,