TROJAN ARC HARMONIC

WAØVJR.#CLBY.KS.USA.NA

CHRISTMAS PARTY AT SIRLOIN STOCKADE DEC. 11 We'll meet around 6pm CST and hit the chow line at 6:30. We decided not to do a gift exchange this year, so put on your best bah-humbug clothes and figure on a good time for chatting, as well as a short meeting. There will be a door prize, and a 15 minute video from Kenwood touting their TM7V (the video planned for November that came 2 days late!)

NEW OFFICERS ENTHRONED Congratulations and thanks to our new slate of officers. Elected in November were Mike KØFJ President; Gerry KBØLGX Vice President, and Larry KCØBNV Sec/Treas. After many years with the pen and checkbook, Kathy NØXNJ has dropped them in favor of two-fisted mothering. Thanks for your work Kathy, and all other former officers.

DUES NOW DUE Please remember that our $10 dues will be due shortly. You can belly up to the bar at the Christmas party, or send them to Larry Jumper 1345 E 8th Colby KS 67701. In addition to getting the club newsletter (which is free for the asking by email anyway) dues give you autopatch privileges on the 22/82 machine and the chance to support a club full of people just as nerdy as yourself.

KØRXT Fleck is now at home with his own dialysis machine. He's sleeping alot and Lee is hoping he continues to get more active as he recuperates. We're going to check into getting him squared away back on the Internet and HF bands when he's ready for more activity. Keep pluggin' Fleck.

SCANNER RAFFLE Once again we'll be raffling a scanner from Gavon's. This time it's a 50 channel tabletop model. Drawing date and other details will be worked out later. This is usually a good moneymaker for our club.

CONTEST ACTIVITY KØFJ and KØBJ prowled the bands during Phone Sweepstakes in mid-November. Bruce's effort was a little paltry, and not helped any by having only his 'killer' Spider antenna for a skyhook, but he did work 115 QSOs, enough for the participation PIN. Mike made a fairly serious attempt, including a run at a Clean Sweep of all 79 sections (the old Maritime section was split into Newfoundland & Labrador, and the rest of the old section, in 1997). He ended up missing Mississippi and Louisiana and a new coffee mug, but had some good runs on the new station and antenna setup anyway. Listeners on the repeater were somewhat amazed at the antics of the pair as they worked on chasing various new sections.

KØBJ TOWER Bruce is still busy working on a replacement tower. It looks like the new one will go to 60 - 80'. He's still debating whether to guy with steel or non-conducting Phillystran, which is more expensive. He's hoping to have it up in the next couple weeks but weather will have to cooperate.

BANDSCAN BT KBØMBT recently found out about a nifty video from ARRL on antenna construction. We're ordering the tape, which has some other programs as well. We hope to have this ready for the January program, so get ready to warm up your soldering guns and uncoil the wire nests. BT KØBJ KBØMBS and family spent Thanksgiving week at Lake of the Ozarks in central MO. Thanks to callsign plates, they had a half-hour eyeball QSO Thanksgiving Day with WØDIM and his XYL. The extended trip gave Bruce a chance to shake down his mobile setup. QRN from the Explorer's fuel pump has been killed with an RFI filter installed by Tubbs & Sons, and it makes a big difference on performance of the rig. BT KBØMBS, KBØVUS and KGØPI's harmonic Michaela are on the CHS Scholar's Bowl teams. They've been doing pretty well since the season started a few weeks ago, and Colby is hosting a tournament Dec. 8. Jack and Jon have also been to Hays for math relays and Manhattan for a C++ programming competition. BT The sunspots are back, and solar flux is usually above 110 these days, making for good conditions on the HF bands. BT The FCC has now opened Gate 4 of the Vanity Callsign program. Hams of any license class are eligible to trade their call for an open one from their license class block or lower (for a fee of course!). See KØBJ for details if you're interested in having a call of your own choosing.

NEXT MEETING December 11 Sirloin Stockade 6:00pm A reminder that we're NOT exchanging gifts this year, but will have a door prize. Video on the Kenwood dualband TM7V; spouses encouraged to take notes for Santa!