+++++++++++++++++++ AmQRP = The American QRP Club (A merger of NJQRP and NorCal clubs in essence) +++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 13:38:51 -0700 From: "George Heron N2APB" To: "EPA-QRP" , "NoVAQRP" , "NJQRP" , Subject: [151914] AmQRP = The American QRP Club Hi all - First, a hearty "Thank You!" to all who have commented, both privately and publicly, on our recent formation of the American QRP Club. We've been trying to respond to as many as possible, but there are a ton! We've also been fielding some legitimate questions along the way and have really enjoyed the constructive criticism ... that's what will help us grow and best achieve the stated goals. We'd like to share a few of the fine tunings and clarifications ... 1) The acronym for the organization -- We goofed! We were aware of the Austin QRP Club but we didn't realize they went by the name of AQRP. Of course we want to honor their rights to use it, so we've reselected our acronym to be "AmQRP", and the website will be www.amqrp.org (when ready). It's easy to say, doesn't mistakenly encroach on anybody in our groups, and it appropriately says who we are. Thanks to someone here on the list who suggested these letters! 2) Organizational structure of AmQRP -- Someone elaborated on the benefits of having at least a minimal amount of leadership structure in a club, and we couldn't agree more. Indeed some of this is needed for incorporation and non-profit status, so please rest assured that we have already taken appropriate steps to ensure that everything is above-board and handled properly. This kind of change is needed when smaller, informal groups merge to form a truly national organization. However we are definitely retaining our ability to make decisions efficiently and to proactively forge ahead where needed. This has been a characteristic of both the NJQRP and NorCal, and it will also be this way for AmQRP. 3) CD-ROM for back issues of The Homebrewer -- In trying to keep down the length of the original announcement, I wasn't clear enough on the item of the CD-ROM associated with The Homebrewer magazine. Every 5th issue of the magazine will have a CD-ROM inserted in its mailing envelope containing PDF files for the previous 4 issues. This practice will happen with issue #5, #10, etc. We realize the value of having full-resolution and full-color electronic versions of our QRP magazine and this is one of the unique benefits of subscribing to The Homebrewer. We believe subscribers will enjoy this feature. 4) Relationship with QRP ARCI -- The American QRP Club is not affiliated with ARCI is any fashion, inasmuch as no other club today is affiliated with them. Each club has its own goals structure and characteristics and this is fine with both AmQRP and ARCI. There's no competition or animosity whatsoever. Several of the ARCI leaders have written nice notes to express congratulations and well-wishes to us, and we appreciate that very much. It's important to keep in mind that the NJQRP and NorCal clubs each already had design and kitting operations, QRP publications and QRP weekend sponsorship. From one perspective, we just intend on continuing these important activities in a more efficient and better-leveraged manner together, for the same reason that companies merge in business. Different from the business world, however, we do not have layoffs or take cost-cutting measures, so this is a purely beneficial and positive evolutionary merger and the QRP community benefits as a whole. So AmQRP will continue doing together what we've each been doing separately as NJQRP and NorCal, and we've stated what our goals and directions are. ARCI has their own goals and directions, and there's plenty of room for even more clubs to help evolve the state of QRP and ham radio in general! 5) Is The Homebrewer "homebrew-centric"? -- The Homebrewer magazine will indeed have a lot of content dealing with homebrewing, electronic construction and experimentation. Initially this is because the now-merged NJQRP and NorCal publications concentrated a lot on this aspect of our hobby. But this is also true because our goals actually extend *beyond* our current QRP boundaries. We plan on addressing a very important initiative that we see crucial for the hobby ... the introduction of America's youth to ham radio, electronics homebrewing and experimentation. Without this attention we feel that newcomers to ham radio will be missing out on so much of what the hobby has to offer. We've really honed these technical areas within QHB and QRPp and it's now time to take them to a wider public audience. And that's really why we're all here. Sure it's fun to play radio and build kits, but we're all here on this earth to help others in the variety of ways we can ... and this is our group's way of contributing. It will be a blast, I assure you! But this is not to say we will be devoid of operating aspects or other dimensions that many of us find enjoyable in QRP. We already have some fine columnists pounding away on their keyboards preparing for the inaugural issue of The Homebrewer for August 15th ... Richard Fisher, KI6SN is crafting his wonderful "Operator News" column for us; Rich Arland, K7SZ has a wonderful regular column up his sleeve for readers; Jan Medley, N0QT and Ken Newman, N2CQ are collaborating to cover "contesting" with some great innovation; Ron Polityka, WB3AAL is gearing up to focus on aspects of "taking radio to the field by hiking, climbing and mobiling" (Ron just received the Atlantic Division Technical Achievement Award for his exploits over the years); Joe Everhart, N2CX has a passion for test equipment and in addition to building test gear he plans on describing how to *use* a lot commercial equipment on the market; and finally, we have a growing alliance of QRP vendors that we're working with to showcase equipment, have "infomercials" and present other ways for readers to learn about appliances on the market. So is Homebrewer magazine homebrew-centric? Yeah, but there's lots of other good material planned too! Okay, this is long enough for now. There are indeed some great times ahead for us all. As always, ask questions if you'd like and we'll do our best to answer them along the way. 73 from the AmQRP leadership team: George N2APB n2apb at amsat.org Doug KI6DS ki6ds at dospalos.og Joe N2CX n2cx at voicenet.com Jim WA6GER wa6ger at juno.com ++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 15:39:31 -0500 From: "Boulineau, Lee" To: "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" Subject: [151915] RE: The American QRP Club Caity, I made the same observations as Steve has made in an answer to another = posting earlier - and because of NJ-QRP, NorCal, NogaQRP, and the Ft. = Smith Group, I am having a blast kitbuilding and homebrewing again (I = had gotten away from building stuff). I've got a SideKick Reciever kit = to assemble, as well as a NogaWatt meter (it's going in a Whitman's = sampler tin!).=20 Being more interested in the operating side is OK - ham radio is such a = big umbrella that it's difficult to run out of things to have fun doing. = Now if I can get Steve to put out another run of the AT Sprint so I can = "melt some serious solder"! 73, Lee N4MVL -----Original Message----- From: Steven Weber [mailto:kd1jv at moose.ncia.net] Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 2:53 PM To: Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion Subject: Re: The American QRP Club > That is not a criticism, but rather an observation. My assumption, > though, is that you are not really going to add any value to my QRP > activities since I do not homebrew equipment. I don't see why I would > want to join the new organization. Am I wrong in my assumptions? Caity, No, your not wrong with you assumptions. True, not all QRPer's are homebrewers. But many, if not most, homebrewers are QRPer's. NorCal and NJQRP cater largely to homebrewers with thier many kit offerings and the technical content of the journals and forums they sponser. This is how Am-QRP and ARCI differ, Am-QRP caters more to the technically inclined and ARCI more towards the operator. So, for someone like yourself, Am-QRP may not be for you. But who knows, someday you might decide to buy a kit and try building it. Thanks to the efforts of NorCal and NJQRP, many people who didn't even know which end of a soldering iron to hold have discovered the statisfaction and joy of building something themselfs and are now compulsive kit builders :-) 72, Steve, KD1JV White Mountains of New Hampshire "Melt Solder" www.qsl.net/kd1jv/ +++++++++++++++++++