Kudos to our JSCARC heroes of outreach
- Kelvin K5KGH
- George AD5CQ
- David KG5URA
for an outstanding showing of amateur radio at the GIA event held on Saturday Sept 20, 2025 at the Lone Star Flight Museum.
Our JSCARC members put together a terrific display of amateur radio information, demonstrations, and hardware in the exhibition room in the busy sold out event.
The GIA event is an annually staged forum staged to showcase diverse aspects of aviation to girls (and boys), and their families. The overall goal is to expose and nurture a young mind’s curiosity and to spark interests in aviation-related technology.
From Kelvin K5KGH:
Things went well, and there was a large turnout. George AD5CQ and David KG5URA brought some nice HF and VHF rigs and go kits. George had his key out and was attracting traffic with his cw skills. George took several pictures, so you might want to ask him to post to groups.io to share the photos to the club.
I did point a few adults to our websites to engage in outreach, particularly with Girl Scout troops. I also got Tanner Jones’s email for some people who had taken courses but not tested, so that was a good thing. We also had a visit from one of the UH club’s members that has spoken to you in recent days (sorry, I can’t recall the name) who were attending with the rocket club.
Even though the event was scheduled through 100pm, when the call went out for lunch the crowds went away, and everyone packed up around 1215. A pretty good showing and worth the effort. I think next year I’ll bring a 2-wpm tape so they can put those CW decoder cards to good use.
From George AD5CQ:
The alarm went off at o’dark thirty. The faithful volunteers, David Kimbrell (KG5URA), Kelvin Hickman (K5KGH), and myself (AD5CQ) of the JSC Amateur Radio Club arose and loaded their wagons, stuck a key in the horses and hit the trail to the Lone Star Flight Museum. The great day had finally come. The long awaited Girls In Aviation day had finally arrived. Excitement was building as I entered the wagon parking lot and found a spot close to the building. Soon I received the coveted “Girls In Aviation Exhibitor” placard to proudly display on my wagon dashboard. Then I was told to move my wagon to the lower 40 acres across the trail. Phooey! Meanwhile I began setting up a display at the standard one table and two chairs station. I setup my Elecraft K3 transceiver and a telegraph key to demonstrate Morse Code, always a novelty for young and old. Scattered around were pictures of girls operating radio equipment. David setup his trusty “go-kit” which is an amateur radio station in a box ready to be setup at any location and operate on battery power. Kelvin setup his QRP (very low power transceiver) rig and education materials. We all had our handheld radios so together we were able to answer all of the greatest questions in the universe…..well, especially those about amateur radio. Unlike other events I have attended I only had one visitor attempt the delightful activity of trying to disassemble a straight key in less than 30 seconds. Our table was located almost directly under the wing of a B-24 bomber aircraft. It was truly a delight to show young girls about amateur radio and discuss how radio was used in that B-24 aircraft and still used today to help support emergency communications. When you are in the Houston area please consider visiting the Lone Star Flight museum to see vintage aircraft of all kinds.
