Chelsea Amateur Radio Club holding raffle

By Lisa Carolin

The Chelsea Amateur Radio Club will be holding its second annual radio raffle with two prizes to go to the winners: First prize is an Icon IC-2730A (radio) or $350 in cash, and second prize is a Wouxun KG-UV3D-2/UHF (radio) or $100.

There are just 100 tickets, and you can purchase them by emailing [email protected]. The drawing date is June 3, 2018, or whenever tickets are sold out. If all 100 tickets are not sold, there will only be one prize, which will be half of the total amount from ticket sales to date.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Chelsea Amateur Radio Club is invited to attend a meeting or event, and you don’t have to be a licensed amateur radio operator to do so. The club meets on the second Tuesday of each month (except December, June and July) at 7 p.m. (6:30 p.m. social time) at the Chelsea Police Station, 311 S. Main St.

The Amateur Radio Club will be helping the Chelsea Police Department with Devil’s Night and Halloween patrol on Oct. 30 and 31.

Mike Bloomfield, who helps run the club, says their radios can transmit around the world and calls it “a very cool hobby.” He says the club has close to 100 members and an average of 10-15 people at their monthly meetings.

In addition to Halloween, they help with Chelsea’s Heart and Sole Race, the Memorial Day parade and the Christmas Parade. The club’s biggest money-maker is the Ham Radio Swap ’n’ Shop, which takes place on the morning of the first Sunday in June at the Chelsea Fairgrounds, where new equipment as well as used electronics are sold.

For more information about the Chelsea Amateur Radio Club, go to http://www.wd8iel.com/