From The President's mike,
I'm sure most of us can agree that we have no idea where the time goes!
And it seems to get worse as one
gets older. I certainly can attest to this, as another month has gone
speeding by & alas, once again, late on
producing a column for the newsletter. It's now Sunday night &
all too soon, loyal hams will show up for our
November meeting the 24th (I hope). Perhaps you've figured this out
by now, but I'm really in a quandary as to
what members would like to do at them. Some of you have mentioned what
you've done in year's past but it
seems few are interested to show us what you've accomplished in the
course of years you've devoted to
Amateur Radio. I'm certain a lot of us are really interested what skills
you may have, be they technical,
operational, passing traffic, rare contacts & QSL cards. The list
goes on and on. Some of you are avid
designers, builders & do share your antenna ideas, kits when you
demo things at the club meetings. Showing
your new rig, GPS or antenna makes the time much more enjoyable. A
while back, we had model rocketry with
a radio telemetry payload for sensing & locating after landing.
We've done planning for events like Field Day,
the Heart Walk, the Jingle Bell Run & others we help officiate.
We talk of hamfests either we've attended or are
planning to. And you update us on other ham's health conditions. And
of course, we've discussed the tough
business & governmental issues we've had to face.
All in all, we do what we really do best - COMMUNICATE! That's why we
get together. That's why you meet for
coffee in the mornings, chat on the way to/from work or report bad
weather via the radio. I thank all of you who
attend. We all appreciate the ones who take the time to demo. There
are so many things we can share with
other members. Show us some the things you do best at one of our upcoming
meetings.
Plates
While I've had my license for some time now, I am finally a real ham
as I recently got my ham license plates for
my new vehicle. Wasn't sure if they would come right as the dealership
hadn't done a ham plate application
before and it wasn't listed on the forms very clearly. So, with little
guidance, I filled out the paperwork stating I
wanted Amateur Radio plates & attached a copy of my pocket license
so I hoped they would figure this all out.
It was worth the wait (almost as long as it took to get my Novice/Tech
Plus in the mail back then). So I'm now in
the group of folks who share a special category plate. Even some who
move a lot collect ham plates in the
state the are currently living in. Like the chef Emeril, I just got
kicked up a notch.
FRS making quite a sweep...
The new Family Radio Service handhelds are amazing; 500 mW, Tone Coded
Squelch, some with 14
channels, range about 2 miles. There's a lot of radio in that tiny
little package. And the prices! I just saw some
at the local Mart-type store for $63.9?/pair. That's roughly $32 bucks
for a radio! Wow! I hope the Ham radio
manufacturers are listening & get the prices of our gear down more
than it is today. I know we have more
features, power, etc. but folks new to a radio hobby can buy that 'spouse
finder' for a mere pittance and all
without a license. With all the talk one hears about how the Internet
or computers killed ham radio (bunk), I don't
expect it to adversely affect our hobby any. Has anybody bought one
of these yet & wants to show it off at a
meeting? If so, bring it along.
de Chuck / N9RZV
November Meeting
Wednesday 24 November
Primary topic will be the election of the 2000 board..
December Meeting
Wednesday 2 December
Christmas Party
Ozark House
Gather 6:30 PM
Dinner 7:00 PM
Minutes
From the Secretary/Treasurer
I must apologize for the fact that I do not have my priorities in order.
My boss(es) keep thinking that duties as a
volunteer officer are less important than the making sure that there
is lots of paper and records to show that we
have used due diligence in our assessment of the equipment that might
be affected by the Y2K problem. It’s
been hectic and sometimes humorous but it is coming to an end.
If you haven’t been to our meetings, you might have thought the club
didn’t exist anymore. Not true, we are
survivors.
September Minutes:
The meeting was called to order By N9RZV .
First order of business was a request by Marty Pane for our usual great
support for the
Jingle Bell Run The Run is November 14th and starts at 1 PM.. A map
is included in the
newsletter. I will be bicycle mobile with APRS for those who want to
watch the progress .
Other volunteers are needed, especially since there is an ATV event
the same afternoon.
The next item was announcement of the Christmas dinner which will be
held at the Ozark
House Thursday 2 December. Social hour at 6:30 PM, Dinner at 7:00PM.
A short discussion was held on the subject of the ESDA drill scheduled
for later the same
week.
The Peoria Hamfest was then discussed. Those who went enjoyed the experience.
Last, final plans were made for the Pot Luck to be held with the N1SF club.
A motion was then made and seconded to adjourn.
October Minutes
The meeting was called to order by Rick, WD9HRU.
We held introductions due to the fact we had two potential members at the meeting.
A short discussion followed about the code practice which was in progress.
It was noted
that a couple of the participants had no license and also needed work
on the theory.
Larry, K9ORP discussed the NOAA special event briefly, (See information
in the
newsletter.)
Discussion of the Christmas party plans followed.
A report on the Pot-Luck was made, we missed you!
Under New Business
A request for a start of planning for the Cherry Pie meeting was made.
The secretary was tasked with reserving the Red Cross for the coming
year. (That has
been accomplished.)
The secretary reported on the informal request by some of the Boy Scout
leaders for a
display of amateur radio at the Scout Show in February
A motion to adjourn was made by Earl, KB9UWA and seconded by Eldon,
KB9PZA. The
motion was passed without dissent.
Time for Action!
It is the time of year again for elections for our club. Our president
has sent a message
indicating he will be on the road with work projects and is resigning
as president. There
have been problems with the office of secretary-treasurer since I have
been working long
hours and that plus family have prevented me from getting to the things
I wanted to do for
the club. The current job is coming to an end so I should have time
but maybe it’s time for
a change. The membership is reminded that elections will be held at
the November
meeting, Anyone wishing to depose any of the current board may have
their chance by
simply volunteering to run against them.The current offices of this
club are:
President
Vice President
Secretary/Treasurer
Member of the Board (Past President)
So - we need candidates. It would be nice if some of the members would
volunteer to fill the positions. No one
wants to be twisting arms.
We also have a position required for the incorporation papers of Trustee.
This has apparently been the
repeater trustee for the last few years, BUT the two positions are
not necessarily tied together. Ralph Bellas
has agreed to be repeater trustee. He does not want to be Club Trustee.
The current situation is that the
papers were sent in to Springfield. They messed up and did not note
the fact that BOTH a renewal of the Non
Profit and a change of Trustee form had been sent, and sent back a
request for a Trustee change form. Calling
the office got me the information that they are two to three months
behind and don’t do anything until you get
the other papers back. We do need to address this as soon as possible.
WHAT’S THE PLAN?
I want to be a positive person. I hate hearing the doom and gloom all the time. So where is the club going?
Let’s have a November meeting with an agenda! Lets get out the membership
and the potential members and
set an agenda for next year and take the bit in our teeth and DO IT.
Things which are already out there to do:
Demonstration of Ham Radio at Scout Show Feb. 2000
Field Day 2000 - Do we accept the offer of support from N1SF?
Camporee and JOTA October 2000
Annual Cherry Pie get-together/Pot luck.
I see all the press and talk about ham radio’s demise but there are
people out there experimenting and
advancing. That is what the hobby is about. If ham’s had believed in
the "do it the way I did it" method we would
still be using smoke signals and pony express. Computers are not the
death of our hobby, they are a new
mode and aid , like side band was an improvement at the time of it’s
creation. I’ll guess there were those who
said at that time, "It will be the end of radio."
Let’s find some of the excitement this hobby can provide and go for it.
Last, what do you want from your "newsletter"? Do you want a schedule
or do you want news and articles.
Newsletters, and web pages have the same problem. Lack of input! I
can reprint things from newsline or other
newsletters but I would rather get some input from the members. I have
had promises but no follow through.
You all have to be doing something that the other members might have
an interest in! If some one has a
suggestion for some good features, such as, Yesteryear in radio, VHF/UHF
happenings, Youth activities, Trips
I’ve taken with my radio, SUBMIT them. If all you want is a post card
reminding you of the upcomming meeting
and you want to pass all information at the morning coffee klatch that
could be arranged.
NOTE
Anyone who becomes aware of something of interest to the group is requested
to send me an email for
forwarding. I have all the email addresses which were entered on those
applications I keep annoying you all
about in a folder and can forward mail to all members with email with
a couple of key strokes. Chuck and
probably many others who work and do not make the coffee klatch are
late to find out the news affecting the
club members.
MORTON EXAM DATES
Bob Davis AA9MY
If there are any questions phone 309-263-8620 (day) or 309-925-3141 (evenings) My email is redavis@dpc.net
All Morton exams begin at noon on Saturdays at the Morton Public Library.
Dec 19
73 de Bob AA9MY
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