PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

he last couple of business meetings have included interesting discussions about the role that the club can play in the Portland amateur radio community. These discussions have reinforced the idea that the we are a
general interest radio club which best serves the community by providing a wide range of activities, including: operation of the VHF repeaters, a packet repeater, BBS and node; UHF-VHF contesting; a 160M contest station;
Field Day; a VE program; regular social events such as the Saturday morning breakfasts; an elmer program; basic radio classes; and providing support to public safety agencies. The officers and directors are endeavoring to make each of these activities available to members, without any single activity becoming so dominant that it overshadows others.

    Why do this? I think the club's leadership recognizes that expanding the ham radio horizons

of every member is a valuable goal, and that this goal can best be realized by facilitating a wide range of activities. The 160 Meter
Contest station on Mt. Scott, for example, has proven to be an excellent laboratory for members' to experiment with antenna systems and station equipment which are frequently unavailable otherwise. Our packet activity is also serves multiple purposes, including providing a vehicle for packet
training and buttressing the emergency communications network. Similarly, Field Day consistently proves to be a great group activity for getting the rookies and the veterans, the young and old, the tired and the poor together for a weekend of continuous radio activity.

    My own experience with the club bears this out. Before I belonged to PARC, I scoffed at QRP contesting and had never tried packet. I'm involved with
both now, largely because there were (and are) club activities which allowed me to get my feet wet. I may or may not have tried

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