September, 2009    

The next Club meeting is Tuesday, September 1, at 7 PM in the EOC Training Room. We will be reviewing in detail the Emergency Management response to the Lapel Grain Elevator trapped employee on August 19. This wasn’t exactly a communications event, but was our first fully activated “Incident Management” response. Tom, KA9SYP, was the Logistics Officer, and Jamie, KA9WJF was the Planning Officer in the Command Staff. A few of us were the Communications resources, and Tom, W9EEL, played a key role in keeping the detailed weather reports coming. Several of you then responded to the Stormnet Alert that occurred at the end of this recovery effort. I think you will find this report interesting and we’ll cover it in this meeting while everything is fresh.

Some Club trivia: 2009 is YEAR 40 for our Club. Our CURRENT MEMBERSHIP is 38. We have had 259 DIFFERENT HAMS as members over the years. 61 FORMER MEMBERS are known to be SILENT KEYS. Our GREATEST MEMBERSHIP was 1994 with 77 Members. Our first year, 1971 was the LOWEST MEMBERSHIP with 17.

Does anyone remember a ham from the 1940’s by the name of Albert J. Titus? The requester thought that he was an engineer (Communications) for the Anderson Police Dept. A ham from Paoli contacted the web site seeking info on him. I know that time period is before most of us were born, but if you know any “Old Timers” you might ask.

I’m sorry to report that Jack Ballentine, W9ETI, has become a Silent Key. Jack was a member or our Club from 1973 to 1976, and was very active in the Madison County Amateur Radio Club until recently. Jack taught code and Theory classes back in the 60’s and 70’s and was a strong supporter of the Civil Defense Communications group. We will miss Jack and his enthusiasm for ATV and FM communications.

We welcome our new members Dale Bales, KV9W and Jon Fields, KC9PWR. Both were approved at the last meeting and we look forward to their active participation in the Club and the hobby.

As you have noticed the band conditions on two meters have been quite good in recent weeks. The ground wave in the morning has resulted in extended range that is a blessing if you are working simplex and looking for new contacts out of the area but a nuisance if you are monitoring the repeater closely. There isn’t a lot that we can do about it short of making the repeater a full time PL’ed condition, and we haven’t elected to do that to this point. Take advantage of this great conditions to make some new friends a ways out.

We continue to look for new Technical Sessions to present at the Club meetings. If you are working on something new or studying a new aspect of the hobby please pass along to us what you have learned by offering to present. It doesn’t have to be all “slicked-up” and in PowerPoint. It works just fine to stand up and “wing-it”. We all learn something with every presentation.

I’m happy to report that Dick, WA9STB, is recovering well after his surgery. He and I had a great visit in his shack a couple weeks back, and Dick is checking into the nets as often as possible. As he recovers I’m sure that we’ll begin to see him at our meetings and events. One great thing about our hobby is that you don’t have to be at the top of your game physically to enjoy what it has to offer. A few minutes here and there in front of your transceiver is very rewarding and not taxing.

It’s time to start thinking about officers for 2010 and also the Ham-Of-The-Year award that is available. As usual the current crop of leaders is willing to continue on, but we’re always open to new blood. Mike, KC9AOM, our first-year President, is doing a great job taking over after Doug, KB9DXO, carried the load for 11 years. We’re always open to new ideas, so even if you don’t have the time to be an officer feel free to offer ideas to improve the Club and bring in new members.

Paul, KC9BKZ, continues to keep our club web site, www.andersonrepeaterclub.org current and looking good. He needs input from everyone to keep it interesting. If you have a digital picture of you and your shack send it along to Paul (paulr45@comcast.net) so he can add it to the site. I’d be neat to have a page with several of us shown enjoying our hobby.

If you have attended a Hamfest lately pass along to us how it went. We don’t always get to attend the various gatherings around, but would like to know if it’s worth planning for in the future. Give us a report on your experience.

If you are a member of the ARRL you should have received the September issue of QST. It’s the Special Emergency Communications Issue and has lots of good articles and projects. Even though most of us aren’t doing much in the way of tower work anymore, take note of the article on Page 62 related to Keeping Safe: Tower Safety. It points out the safety issues of being a part of the “ground crew”, an assignment that comes closer to meeting our age and ability (no offense to the youngsters in the crowd). By the way, if you aren’t a member of the ARRL membership is $39 per year and includes the 12 issues of QST. It’s a real contribution to the enjoyment of the hobby, and the ARRL is our only effective means of lobbying the government for us.

Hope to see you at the meeting next Tuesday.



73,
Steve