I’m not sure if it was the pizza or the gift exchange or the election of officers for 2025 (yeah, right…), but we had a great turnout at our December meeting. The agenda included:
- Eating pizza. (Thanks, Don!)
- Recapping our 2024 activities
- Looking ahead to 2025
- A “mystery” activity
- “Electing” next year’s officers. There were no contested elections this year, so someone moved that we approve the slate presented by acclamation, and after a second, we did just that.
- Holding the annual “white elephant” gift exchange.
2024 was a good year
2024 was a very good year for ARROW. We’re now up to 160 paying members, we participated in a number of activities, including:
- WOTO Site Repeater Upgrades
- ARROW Equipment/Property Insurance through ARRL
- Updating and Improving ARROW financial and membership records
- Getting our ARRL special service club award renewed
- Relationship with Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA, W8HHF.org)
- Finding new general meeting location (Maker Works
- Supported Switch Fixer Program (repaired dozens of assistive devices for disabled people)
- Weekly 2-meter club nets.
- AMPTeam outings each month. AMP stands for ARROW Mobile and Portable and they’re kind of like POTA activations and mini Field Days, but people bring all kinds of different stuff to them. The crazy people in our club even meet in the winter months.
- Monthly breakfasts at local greasy spoon.
- Communication support for two bike tours: One Helluva Ride and Tour de Cure.
- Bus to the Dayton Hamvention. For more than ten years, our club has rented a bus and taken members and others to Dayton.
- Two one-day Tech classes in 2024, with a total of 50 students.
- 14 VE test sessions that tested 99 candidates who earned 54 Tech licenses, 18 General Class licenses, and 11 Extra Class licenses.
- Great showing in the Summer ARRL Field Day. In 2024, our club finished first in class 4A in Michigan, and nationally, we ranked 43 out of 4,319 entries overall regardless of class.
- Participation in community tech events, including the Ann Arbor Library Creativity and Making Expo and the Maker Works Open House.
- Participated in Jamboree on the Air (JOTA)
Scenes from our very successful 2024 Field Day operation.
Looking ahead to 2025
We’re not resting on our laurels, though. The club leadership is planning some new initiatives for 2025, including:
- Review of Groups.io General mailing list.
- Moving to electronic license testing through the ExamTools platform.
- Building relationship with other clubs in Southeast Michigan.
- Name/Callsign Badges for ARROW members.
- Supporting Kiwanis to test and repair electronics for their rummage sales.
- One-day tech & electronics classes at Maker Works.
- 220 MHz antenna build session.
Election of officers
The folks nominated to be our officers for 2025 included:
- President: James Forgacs, AE8JF
- Vice President: Steve Szafarek, AC8YA
- Secretary: Don Winsor, AC8TO
- Treasurer: Steve Rogacki, AC8GO
- Technical Coordinator: Jay Nugent, WB8TKL
- Public Information Officer: Edward Vielmetti, W8EMV
- Activities Coordinator: Dinesh Cyanam, AB3DC
There being no nominations from the floor, these nominees were declared the winners by acclamation!
What’s a white elephant, anyway?
The final item on the agenda was the white elephant gift exchange. As is our custom, those who have been licensed the longest get to choose first. That honor has gone to Paul, KW1L, for the past five years or so. He was followed by John, WA8TON; Mark, W8FSA; Jay, WB8TKL, and Dan, KB6NU.
There were lots of good items in the gift exhange this year. I spotted a nice parts organizer, a 100 W dummy load, and a couple of HTs. Of course, they weren’t all so useful. One fellow got a couple of older Ethernet switches, including one that had at least 50 ports!
The meeting was adjourned after the sale. Happy holidays to all!
