FVARC Flathead Valley Amateur Radio Club

***** NOTICE *****
At 7PM MST on 11/17, Gary Roberts (KF7VQO) will be hosting an on-air club meeting on the Blacktail repeater (146.760). Please join him for some on-air comradery. ***** END OF SPECIAL NOTICE *****

As most of you probably know, COVID cases and hospitalizations locally are on the increase and only half of the increase in new cases can be attributed to increases in testing. Since I last communicated with you, I personally have become aware of more friends and family members who’ve recently contracted the virus. This is to be expected as we spend more time indoors, due to seasonal weather. Our local hospitals have limited ICU space for COVID patients and we certainly don’t want to overwhelm their capabilities.

We have a testing session just before the club’s regularly scheduled meeting time and that’s still going to be held.  However, we have a large number of people to test this time and that potentially significantly increases the airborne and surface born viral load at SAR’s building and just before club members would be arriving for the club meeting.
 
I’ve discussed our course of action with the club’s officers and trustees and we’ve universally agreed that we should cancel the November club meeting.

In December, we normally have a club Christmas dinner party with Famous Dave’s being the preferred venue for the past two years. Because of the continuing COVID risk, restaurants are not currently hosting dinner gatherings for parties our size; so, sadly, we also won’t be having our normal annual club Christmas dinner.

I wish all of you a happy and safe holiday season and hope to see you again early in the new year.

73,
Rick, W7YP