Boatnik!!  Field Day!!  Gardening time!!  You say that is not ham radio?  Well try it while you carry your handie talkie.  Now that is a ham radio opp!  May is almost over and it?s time to think about summer fun with ham radio.

See you at club, Jim, WA6OTP

Lot's happening in the next few months. Boatnik is around the corner, followed by SeaPac, Field Day, picnic, and Crop Walk. Before we know it, old Santa will be paying us another visit! The older we get, the faster time flies. Make the most of it – have fun with ham radio!

If you have anything to submit for publication in the Gnus, see the contact information below the masthead.

73, Mike, N7GEI

Western Belles is a women's ham radio chat group that meets at 7:30 PM on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursdays of every month on the 147.300 repeater. Please check in!

The ladies get together regularly for lunch and all female hams are invited to attend.

Our next luncheon will be at 11:30 on June 7th at La Fuente's Mexican Restaurant, next to the Black Forest Restaurant, in the Grants Pass Shopping Center.

SOARC-sponsored ARRL VE license exam dates for the remainder of 2003 will be May 30, September 26, and November 28.

The tests will be administered at 6:30 PM at the Senior Programs Center (our regular meeting place) at 4th and C Streets in Grants Pass.  VE's will be coming at 6:00, as per custom.  Remember, the front door to the building may be off of B St., but it is locked and access is from the parking lot doors that are off of C Street.  Entry is made into the parking lot from either C or B Street access points.

Don't forget--we will need a copy of your driver's license (need to see picture ID) and a copy of any CSCE's you may hold and want to use (make sure they have been awarded within the one-year time limit).  Anyone who will grandfather into general class needs proof of their license status prior to April 1987.  It's surprising what will pass for proof nowadays. Walk-ins are welcome.

73, Bill Tyner, WX7U

VE Liaison

June 13, 14, 15 will see Seaside, Oregon, alive with hams from all over the Northwest and beyond. It is time for the Northwestern Division Convention on the Oregon coast.

I'll be manning the ARRL table in the front lobby along with Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, our Vice Director. I'm sure that Kay Craigie, N3KN, ARRL Vice President, will also be there. Stop by and talk. We'll also have an ARRL Forum and lots of other good forums.

The ARRL will offer a FREE Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course (ARECC) seminar Friday, June 13, in conjunction with Sea Pac.  THE SEMINAR WILL NOT INCLUDE THE LEVEL I COURSE ITSELF! This program is designed to explain in greater detail the duties of volunteer certification mentors, instructors, and examiners of the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Courses and provide additional information for those considering these volunteer positions.  "With Level I emergency communications training being offered nationwide under the homeland security grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, we hope to have all ARECC team  players reading from the same page to ensure success under the federal grant guidelines," said ARRL Emergency Communications Course Manager Dan Miller, K3UFG.  The seminar will be held Friday afternoon, June 13, from 1:00 to 5:00.  Seating may be limited.  Those planning to attend should contact Dan Miller, K3UFG, phone 860-594-0340 or fax 860-594-0259 at ARRL Headquarters.  Registered CMs, Cis, and CEs who attend may be reimbursed for their mileage up to a total of $35.  Seminar attendance does NOT include admission to the convention, which runs June 13-15.  For more information on Sea Pac, visit the convention website:  http://www.seapac.org/.

Come look at the exhibits of new gear from the big-time manufacturers and retail outlets. Be sure to come to the annual banquet Saturday night, featuring Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN, and a great Banquet Master of Ceremonies (me, Greg, W7OZ). Really, I don't think I'm so great, but I will have a bunch of new jokes to tell.

All in all, we'll have a good time and probably learn some good stuff too.

73 and 88, where appropriate

Greg Milnes, W7OZ
ARRL Northwestern Division Director

I was approached recently by a fellow who saw my ham plates on the car and asked if I was interested in purchasing a radio operator's desk that he had received from the estate of a deceased ham relative. It is a metal desk with a console, approximately five feet wide, and has shelf spaces for ham tranceivers. No price was given. I can't use it, but maybe someone in the club can. If you are interested, phone David Dempsey at 479-8184.

Tnx & 73,  Jan, K6FM

I am looking for an ICOM 706 MKIIG transceiver and packet equipment.

73, Gary Ingram, KB7FCI 
474-7974
kb7fci@cdsnet.net 

NASA Expedition 6 International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, has suggested that NASA should consider setting up lunar bases in the future as a stepping stone to expand mankind's exploration of the universe. The comment came in response to a student's question during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group contact. Several students at Cowichan Secondary School in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada, had the opportunity to quiz Pettit about life in space via Amateur Radio on April 21. The QSO between VE7CVA and NA1SS was the last for members of the Expedition 6 crew of Pettit, Commander Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP, and Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB, who are now back on earth.

"I hope the next step for manned space exploration will be to go away from the planet Earth for a while instead of just going in circles around the planet," Pettit said. Setting up bases on the moon and learning how to operate at that distance from Earth, he said, would represent "a logical next step" in space exploration.

"When you have your technology down, then you can go off to Mars and try doing a little exploration there," he added.

Pettit remarked that his five months aboard the ISS have been "an amazing experience" and "really quite enjoyable." A couple of the Cowichan students wanted to know about sleeping in space. Pettit said he does dream in space. "When I initially started dreaming, I would dream about walking places," he said. "Now, though, I am starting to have dreams I'm on the space station and not on Earth and I'm flying everywhere in my dreams." He explained to another youngster that the ISS crew members take their cues about when to sleep from their bodies, not from periods of light and dark. As the ISS orbits Earth, the sun "rises" and "sets" 16 times a day, he pointed out.

ARISS is an international project with participation by ARRL, NASA, and AMSAT. For more information, visit the ARISS website: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/.

A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

Anyone who thinks old age is golden must not have had a very exciting youth.

How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teen-ager who wants to stay out all night?

Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.

Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?

Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job.

No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.

There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. It could be a right number.

No one ever says "It's only a game" when their team is winning.

How come we choose from just two people for president and 50 for Miss America?

Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.

One of the quickest ways for a young man to fail in life is to work so hard the boss will think he's after his job.

A backyard barbecue draws two things, flies and relatives.

The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.

If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.

Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.

You know you're old when you reach down to get the wrinkles out of your panty hose and realize you aren't wearing any.

I've reached the age where happy hour is a nap.

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms & randomly put them in people's carts  when  they aren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at five minute  intervals.
3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, "Code 3 in housewares", and see what happens.
5. Look right into the security camera and use it as a mirror while you pick your nose.
6. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.
7. Dart around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the theme  from "Mission Impossible".
8. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through say "PICK ME! PICK ME!"
9. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!"
10. Go into a fitting room and yell loudly "Hey! We're out of  toilet paper in here!"