October 1997

October Meeting

The next CMRA meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 14th, 1997, at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room of Boone Electric Co-op. A VE exam session will follow the meeting ( provided there are three VE's on hand and any takers.)

September Meeting

The September meeting was called to order by Robert, KB0TCR, at Boone Electric. One of the committee reports was from Perry, N0NMC, regarding the CMRA Hamfest, held in September. It was a pretty successful venture, with lots of nice prizes given out, lots of goods times being had, and few, if any, negatives. The Club even made a little bit to put back in the treasury (always a plus!). It was also decided to plan on holding a Hamfest same time, same place, next year. Our experience this year showed up a couple of areas that need improvement (such as more room needed for the VE sessions, getting rid some RFI between the Talk-in rig and the PA, work on offering some more flea market space, if needed, and it wouldn't hurt to get out there earlier in the morning to get the show off to a good start. All in all, a FB Hamfest! The Club owes a collective Hats-Off to Perry for for stepping up and taking the bull by the horns when we needed a Hamfest Chairman. Well done, Perry ! (Perry is encouraging anyone that would like to be Chairman for the '1998 Fest to make their intentions known. He will be at hand to offer any Elmering needed.

Another topic brought up was the upcoming License Classes. More on this in just a moment. It is also that time of the year to consider your nominations for next year's Club Officers. The Nominating Committee will be fromed at the November meeting, with elections held at the January meeting. If you think someone would do a particularly good job at some position, let us know. Better yet, let us know what position YOU would do a good job at ! Give it some thought. The rewards of serving YOUR Club are great. One last bit of business, two new membership applications were voted on and approved. The Club welcomes W0ZB and KC0BIE to the group !

Novice / Tech Class

The CMRA will be holding licensing classes, starting Tuesday, October 28th, at Boone Hospital at 7:00 p.m., and consecutive Tuesdays until December 16th. After the First of the New Year, we will be holding a General License Class, based on the ARRL Video Course. If an individual orders the Video Course, the ARRL will refund the price of the course if the student doesn\'92t make General with-in one year. It sounds to me like they have a LOT of confidence in their Course. Around December 1st, we will also have Morse Code practice on the K0SI repeater (146.760 / .160) about three nights a week. The present plan is to run several short sessions each night, which can be taped for practice on nights that the classes don't run.

CMRA Home Page

The Club Home Page on the Web is at http://www.qsl.net/cmra. Look for the Newsletters there, as well as info about Club activities. If you would like something added to the page, talk to Perry, N0NMC.

Club Breakfast

Just a reminder, the Club Breakfast is held on the last Saturday of the month at Country Kitchen, on Providence Road, at 8:00 a.m. Get in on some good eating, and some better camraderie.

Hamfest Prize Donors

Again, our thanks go to the following donors who contributed prizes to the Hamfest this year: American Radio Relay League, Yaesu Communications, M Squared Antenna Systems, Watson-Guptil Publications, Amateur Radio Trader, Cushcraft, Kenwood, and Premier Radio (ADI).

Club Station

Just a reminder, the Club Station is opened on most Monday evenings, from approximately 7:00 p.m. till whenever. This is another great time to sit around, make a few QSO's on the radio, then make a few more "eyeball QSO's". The station is not opened on the Monday before Club meetings, and usually not on Mondays that fall on holiday weekends. The Station is located in the basement of the Red Cross Building, on Worley Street, next to Machens Ford. We could use more people willing to get the doors open on a regular basis, since I sometimes get called away at work and can't make it every Monday, and one of our more regular "gatekeepers" will be leaving the area soon. Also, I expect a large part of my "Ham time" will be spent with the upcoming classes. Old Timers are preferable from an "Elmering" point of view, but all Club members are welcome at the Station. If you'd like to help, let me know. If you're in the neighborhood, stop on by!

Net Control Ops

Dewey, WM0H, is looking for anyone interested in becoming Net Control Operators for the 9:00 p.m. Wednesday night CMRA Net. This is great training and a lot of fun. With several Ops in the rotation, you end up calling the Net about once a month.

Well, that about wraps it up for this month. Hope to hear you on the bands! 73, es CUL... de WY0B.