1. ELMERS. During our new recruitment drive, we’re projecting many new members that likely are seeking to get licenses and needing someone to help them get introduced to the hobby. Looking for ELMERs to be matched as dedicated mentors with our new members. No experienced required other than helping new members get introduced to the functions of the club and with other members. Signup on the W5RRR home page on the right hand side.
2. License Instructors. Bob Scully (N9RCS) and Dave Lee (W5OC) will be coordinating our first series of lunchtime classes for those trying to get their Technician license. Starting 2/21 Wednesday in B14a/2000, we’ll gauge the interest levels and numbers. If there’s overflow, we’ll discuss a second class. The more instructors we have available, the better. See Bob or Dave if you have a passion and interest to teach the Technician, General, or Extra classes.
3. NOTA NASA 60th anniversary. Ken Goodwin (K5RG) came up with a great idea to help celebrate our NOTA (NASA On The Air) NASA 60th anniversary. He’s volunteered to loan the club a classic ham setup that would be vintage for that time period in 1958. His offering includes an EF Johnson Viking Ranger Transmitter and a Courier Amplifier. We’ll have to find a special space in the shack to set it up and show others how to operate a Transmit/Receive switch and a dedicated transmitter and receiver. We might even operate AM mode and use a semi-automatic bug for CW. More information to come.
4. CW Decoder Project. Stu Donnan (W4STU) has kindly offered to update and finish the instructions for the AB5SS CW decoder project kit. Stu will validate his notes based on him building up the kit in advance. The parts and earlier version of the Printed Circuit Board will be provided to him this week, so he can attempt the build while building instruction notes. We’re still targeting taking orders and offering up a group build activity. Looking for anyone willing to loan us soldering irons for this group activity. The cost is still hovering around $49. Many thanks to John Maca (AB5SS), Stu Donnan (W4STU), and Mike Vandewalle (N8MTV) for making this an awesome club project.
5. Calendar. 160m SSB contest will be February 24-25. Hopefully we’ll be able to use our newest addition to our antenna farm. The next big event is the International DX contest SSB on March 3-4. Keith Grimm (KG5HOK) and Dave Lee (W5OC) operated in this last year, had a lot of fun, and placed in the top 25%. These are terrific opportunities to learn how to operate a contest and get the fever how to exchange information with hams across the globe. It will be common to communicate with hams in South America and Europe during this fun contest. Our TH7DX and linear amp will likely help us be a big signal during this contest which makes it even more fun.
6. Roulette wheel. Looking for any volunteers who can make a large roulette wheel for the club to use during the April Safety Health and Environmental Fair and for the October Safety & Health Day. During these events, we can use this wheel to attract crowds and give away prizes.
7. EA4KT/DL4EA from Spain and Germany may tentatively visit our shack on Saturday 2/17th. He has reached out to us via our website and has expressed interest to operation our famous shack.
8. Thanks to members who contributed to the wonderful paint and refurbishment of the shack. New furniture is being deployed into the shack this weekend. Checkout the web for pictures of the deployment.
9. The cipher lock on the shack is not working. Keith put in a work request to get it fixed. If it’s still inoperable, please go to the Gilruth front desk and ask them to borrow a key to get into the shack. John Maca (AB5SS) mentioned it may be worth trying the lock first before checking out the key.
10. VE Testing. VE testing will be held this Saturday, February 17th at the Gilruth Center in the Inspiration Room. If you know of anyone looking to get their license or upgrade their ticket, please let them know. Check-in starts at 9am with testing starting at 9:30am. If you have any questions, please contact David Fanelli (KB5PGY).