Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club
February 2005 Newsletter

Internet Edition

(Excerpts From the February 2005 paper edition)


	Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club
	P. O. Box 11853
	Albuquerque, New Mexico 87192

Community Service Through Amateur Radio

2005 Board of Directors

President Mike Pendley K5ATM ( k5atm@yahoo.com ) Vice President Freeman Pascal N5FPP ( pascal@pascal.org ) Secretary Carl Russell KE5AKI ( crussell@nmcba.com ) Treasurer Melva Gellenthien KB0IEA ( shadtrek@netscape.com ) Director Jerry Boyd WB8WFK ( wb8wfk@arrl.net ) Director Glenn Wonn KK5UZ ( kk5uz@arrl.net ) Director Perry Abernethy ( pcabernethy@comcast.net ) Director Steve Keithley WD9FJL ( skeithley1@comcast.com )

From the President

Mike Pendley,
K5ATM

This administration is only 1 month old and I already find myself apologizing! An unexpected emergency for our secretary resulted in no newsletter in January and the need for me to go on foreign travel for work has resulted in my missing the February meeting. Extended working hours to prepare for my trip has left me with little time to pull the Board of Directors together to plan for 2005.

I sincerely hope that my life is back to something more like normal by mid February and I am able to get the AARC Directors together before the March meeting.

Planning for 2005 is the subject for the rest of this note.

I believe that the AARC is heavy on the social aspects of HAM radio and light on the technical side. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, if not convinced otherwise I will at least try to tip the scales in the other direction. My question for you is Should I?

I see several easy ways to shift this emphasis change the format of the monthly meeting, get information about the AARC to new HAMS, and encourage the formation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that meet as needed and share what they do at the monthly AARC meetings.

One possible monthly meeting format change would be to limit the discussion of business topics to a minimum or make every other or every third meeting a business meeting. This would allow the lionís share of the monthly meeting to be devoted to technical presentations. I certainly know it is hard to find speakers but it is almost as hard to convince a speaker to try and format a meaningful technical presentation into a 10 or 15 minute slot. I for one would enjoy longer more detailed talks. You can help by passing any leads you may have for speakers on to Freeman.

As for SIGS ... T-hunt / ARDF activities, the PIC microprocessor classes, N5VA, and collecting / restoring antique radios are easy examples. I would be interested in knowing what other activities already exist or should exist.

One nagging open topic is the Boy Scout Explorer Post. The AARC served as the charter organization for a HAM radio related Explorer Post several years ago. The post was active and still has money in the bank. However, the youth members grew up, left the area, and the Post has not been re-chartered in several years. The AARC needs to decide if this area of interest should be developed or dropped.

This is an excellent way to get youth interested in HAM radio but it does take a fair amount of volunteer effort to make it successful.

While I am quite interested in Scouting and HAM radio I will probably recommend the effort be dropped if volunteers do not come forward soon.

A list of AARC officers and directors is listed below. Please feel free to contact any or all with your comments and suggestions. The only way the AARC can evolve into the organization YOU want it to be is by making your desires known..

You can contact me by e-mail at k5atm@yahoo.com or by phone at 505-296-3455.

Please send comments and questions concerning this web document to John (KC5AYN) at kc5ayn@qsl.net .

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Albuquerque Amateur Radio Club February 2005 Newsletter