December 2005

NEXT MEETING: Monday, 19 December 2005, 8:00 PM at the Sterling Community Center Annex. Contact Gordon (NQ4K) email: nq4k@arrl.net PRESENTATION: None. REFRESHMENTS: Bill, WF1L. PRESIDENTS THOUGHTS: Hi, The last month went by very fast. It is Christmas, I have not  been on the radio very much and I have not brought a present for my wife's birthday or for Christmas. Oh well, I think a sign of impending middle age is a certain tendency to delay doing things. Time does have a way of slippling by. It was a year ago that Bill, KC4ATU, reported that the interchange with Route 28 was open and that there were road changes in the area around the community center. Since then they have also enlarged the parking lot. I hardly noticed that the whole year has gone by. The Virginia QSO Party preparations are coming along fine.  Several plaque sponsors have responded saying they would again support the Virginia QSO Party. The Alamance Amateur Radio Club, K4EG, has volunteered to sponsor an Expedition plaque. This is another new plaque for this year. In addition, Jim, AF4MO, has undertaked the task to encourage activation of all 135 counties and independent cities. He established a web page and will start soon to contact hams. The next SPARC meeting is on Monday, 19 December. Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting. 73, Gordon, NQ4K

WEBSITES http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.qcwa.org Quarter Century Wireless Association http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.qsl.net\sterling SPARC Website http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.amateurradio-far.org FAR Website http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.groups.yahoo.com\group\k4nva http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.arrl.org\divisions\roanoke\ ARRL Roanoke Division http://www.qsl.net/sterling/SparcGap/www.wage.com WAGE Radio, Leesburg, VA http://nist.time.gov%20/ NIST time site http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html International Space Station tracking information HAMFESTS UPCOMING SPARC ACTIVITIES CONTESTS 18-20 February 2006     ARRL International DX Contest (CW) OTHER NOTES None.