FIELD DAY APPROACHING
The vote at the March meeting was to operate from the Colby airport. The area has been checked for RFI and is very quiet! We have lots of options, including the chance to use the terminal entrance overhang as a sun/rain awning for the operating positions, eating/relaxing inside the terminal, etc. Our upcoming work/meeting night will be held there. There is a new 100 point bonus for using APRS during FD this year, so we’ll connect with the local APRS wx nodes at a minimum, to achieve that bonus. The trailer tower needs some attention to welds, wheel bearing, etc. This may be a project for the club work night if time allows, otherwise we can hold it over for May club night or schedule a special session. Shawn KC0CVS now of Lawrence hopes to join us this year. We are taking orders for the slick Field Day 2000 pin. Those wishing to order, contact K0BJ ASAP. We will place our first order fairly soon. Individuals are paying the $5 fee, except the club will pay for PINS for anyone who has never operated Field Day with us before.

WX SPOTTER TRAINING Somehow this didn’t get plugged in the March Harmonic. Thomas County NWS spotter training was held March 28 at the Community Building. Thanks to those hams who picked up the event from other sources and made it. Kevin KC0FEH was the presenter, for the 2^nd year running.

WELCOME HOME N0XNO Tom N0XNO spent some uncomfortable days in Hays with blood clots in the lungs. When he arrived there and was scanned, the experts commented that his case was more severe than the clots that killed KC Chiefs star Derek Thomas. We’re thankful that XNO is tougher than a pro football player!!

BANDSCAN The club extends sympathy to Mike K0FJ, Patti N0OXP Dave N0TES and Candace on the loss of George Albers March 19. For a while George was one of our regular non-ham Ham Lunch attendees. BT As most of you know Dave N3HQ was briefly in Colby but had some seizure problems that put him in the hospital for a while, and necessitated moving back to Park. Dave thanks the Trojans for their hospitality during his brief stay in Colby. BT Jake KB0ZIA is moving to Colby from Garden City. He used to live in Ludell. Sounds like he’ll still be working for the same company. He’s been one of the hot Field Day operators with the NOMADs at Beecher Island; maybe we can get him enlisted to operate with us…. BT Nancy UrbanN0OXQ

Spent a few days in our area recently visiting friends. She missed having ham lunch with us when she didn’t snag any ops the evening before. She reports that Dale N0KQX passed his General, and they enjoyed the Amarillo hamfest, where she bought a new 2m HT. BT KG0PI KB0WPY and K0BJ were among the hams who contacted the Clipperton Island FO0AAA DXpedition southwest of Mexico in early March. Back in the early 70s this was the rarest DXCC country – the French were doing nuclear testing near there and it was off-limits. Jim and Bruce snagged ‘aaa on RTTY. BT Scott KB0WPY operated in the WPX contest and made 400+ QSOs. He also reports having bagged VP6BR on Pitcairn Island and an FK New Caledonia station, for new countries, recently. BT Congratulations to Dennis Brown N5LHW of Oberlin who upgraded to General from Tech Plus (pending April 15 rule change) at the April Fool’s Day VE session. Our own Jim KC0HBR passed the 5wpm cw and will be a General come the 15^th, and Allen K0MXU passed the Extra cw for an instant upgrade to top-dog. Gregg KB0MBT easily passed the General written and only needs the 5wpm cw for his General ticket. Brad Cramer of Goodland passed his Tech. BT Our Hoxie VE, Rev. Craig Larson WU0X, is leaving in June for VE4 land, where he will be running a retreat center. This is Craig’s second time to live in Manitoba. Best of luck Craig, and we hope to hear some QRP signals from you. BT Bruce K0BJ fixed a PL259 problem in his 2m J-pole and now has better signals into the repeater from the shack, as well as improved satellite Mode A uplink possibilities. He also got the Spider antenna mount on the Explorer revamped just in time for a trip to Wichita. BT President Patti N0OXP will have shoulder surgery April 17, and expects to miss a week of work. Good luck!