California TALARC chapter reaches out at local Hamfest

The 2017 Palm Springs Hamfest on Feb. 4 saw multiple vendors and presenters - including the local Owen Coffman Post 519 Amateur Radio Club, which runs station K6TAL.
The Hamfest, held at the Palm Springs Air Museum, was organized by the Desert Radio Amateur Transmitting Society, or Desert R.A.T.S. Its president, Glenn Morrison, is also president of the Post 519 club. The club represented both TALARC and the California American Legion Amateur Radio Service (CALARS).
According to member Tom McLean, out of the hundreds who attended the event, the club's booth had more than 100 licensed-veteran visitors - 90 percent of whom didn't even know TALARC existed. The club made sure to have Legion membership forms available. One enthusiastic attendee was Post 519 commander Alan Tripp, who is studying for a ham license himself. Tripp commented, "I didn't know how big this was."
An active radio set-up, a Yaesu FT-857D radio with HF/UHF, was especially exciting to young people such as Boy Scouts.
The club participates in its community not just through outreach events - all its members take part in the HEROS (Hospital Emergency Radio Operator Service) program to assist with emergency communication needs of hospitals.
Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsJBf83AMhw&feature=youtu.be to see a video about American Legion amateur radio programs.