Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

Whilst in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA on business, a QSO on a local 2M repeater with some friendly locals indicated that the regular monthly meeting of the Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club was due to be held that week at a venue only a few miles from where I was staying.

With the help of the in-car GPS (if you're driving in a foreign country, you simply can't do without one of these things!) I managed to find the venue, though sadly I was a little late for the meeting due to a work related commitment. Still, I got to catch the tail end of a very interesting presentation by Dr. Don Lynch, W4ZYT, on his experiences working as a Doctor in Kenya.

Post the guest speaker, their general business discussions commenced. VBARC is a club of around 130 members, of whom about 40 must have been in attendance at the club meeting. By the sounds of their business discuss they're quite active, with a number of public service events, hamfests and open days (etc) under discussion. It was indicated to me in later discussions that VBARC is one of about 6 clubs within a ~20-30 mile radius and all are fairly active, although theirs is one of the largest.

The very kind folks that helped me out while I was on the bands at at the club that evening - Ed Williams KN4KL and Stewart Smokler K4STW (pictured above) - made me feel right at home and yours truly wound up drawing their club raffle (a serious wad of cash as the prize it seems!) and also featuring on their website...

My thanks to those who made me welcome at VBARC and an open invitation to pay us at the Wellington VHF Group a visit if you're ever in the neighbourhood!

73
ZL1VMF