WX SPOTTER TRAINING This year's spotter class for Thomas County is March 26^th at 7:00pm. The meeting will be held in the Colby Community College Student Union Activity Room. With Kevin KCØFEH gone to the east coast, MIC Scott NØQE will be conducting the class. All are Amateurs are encouraged to attend this important training event.

HAM LUNCH NOW ON FRIDAYS At the request of several of the Ham Lunch regulars, NØOXP checked on availability of the CCC union cafeteria. We are now meeting there at noon Fridays for Ham Lunch. Come in the south door and pick up food at the cafeteria -- cost is $4 cash or you can get a 10-meal ticket for $35. We meet in the "club room" 107 in the southwest hallway leading to the cafeteria. There's good quality and variety of food and a nice quiet room and the chance for more relaxed visiting.

IMPORTANT - We're considering moving our meetings from 2^nd Thursday nights to 2^nd Friday Ham Lunch. We need to check everyone's schedules, and also see If we can get our business taken care of in the time that would leave us. We'll discuss this further at the upcoming evening meeting. If you would like to comment on this and will not be at the Feb Meeting, contact KØBJ.

NWS SkyWarn Network KØFJ and Bruce KØBJ met with Scott NØQE regarding possible solutions to getting additional Amateur Radio coverage into the Goodland NWS Office during severe storm events. APRS, IRLP, VHF Repeater Linking, and Mobile HF were possibilities discussed for this purpose. After weighing the above options, it was decided that VHF Repeater linking would offer the best possibility for this operation. Scott will be promoting Amateur Radio to spotters attending his NWS Training this spring. If we can assist spotters in other counties getting their Ham license, we can enhance the SkyWarn Network in NW Kansas.

HOLIDAY DINNER AT COLONIAL Our January after-holiday party was an enjoyable evening with KØS certificates handed out to club participants/QSOs, and an informative presentation on the IRLP internet audio gateway linking possibilities, explained by Mike KØFJ. We'll be discussing the idea of establishing a 2 meter PRLP link in our area at the upcoming meeting.

MT SUNFLOWER CERTIFICATES The NWS guys got these out the door without the help of any other Trojans. Thanks guys, for inviting us to be a part of NØA and for completing the QSL certificate chores.

VHF CONTEST EFFORT NØXJ KCØJAO KØFJ and KCØHBR slogged away in the ARRL January VHF contest January 18-20. NØXJ and KCØJAO worked from KØBJ's grain leg in Halford. KØFJ assisted with antenna and rotor deployment before heading in to assist his Mom who was just returning home after knee replacement surgery. Faced with nasty wx and a shorted piece of hardline, they had some major challenges getting the QTH going, and then no favors from operating conditions. The guys made over 20 QSOs in flurries of openings surrounded by hours of boredom!

ANOTHER SPECIAL EVENT OPPORTUNITY Bruce KØBJ attended the first Great Plains Super Launch of 3 ham radio balloons near Manhattan last summer. The eastern KS organizers of this event are fishing for a club to put on an HF special event station for this year's gathering. In addition, there would be use for some mobile APRS stations in tracking the balloons, or logging calls of stations using the balloon repeaters. Is this something that some Trojans would want to take on? We'll get info on dates etc. if there is interest in this.

KØFJ GRADUATE OF ARRL'S FIRST C-CE COURSE Our Emergency Coordinator Mike KØFJ has completed Level 3, the highest in ARRL's first online continuing education course, Emergency Communications. He's the only Kansas ham with Level 3 under his belt, and one of 4 in the Midwest division. ARRL's Field and Educational Services department has received high marks for the C-CE course, and are on the verge of unveiling Antenna Modeling, with more courses to follow. C-CE program head Dan Miller K3UFG visited the Salina hamfest last year and had some interesting insights regarding setup and running of this new ARRL education initiative. K0FJ reports having fun writing papers for his online mentors and learning about the fine points of emergency comms. The SHARC club plans to present Level One of the Emergency Communications course in an in-person classroom venue in Garden City sometime in March. FJ will be a resource for that class, and any interested Trojans are encouraged to attend the class (one or two days on a weekend; details to be determined). Congratulations Mike on completing this thorough course.

APRS PACKET RACKET de Mike KØFJ – Problems with the Hoxie School APRS station will require one more trip. KØFJ will replace both the TNC and VHF radio at the school with equipment from home for a test run. The Hoxie Digi checks out OK with packets sent from Colby.

BANDSCAN Roy NØTVS and Julie Litfin were in Colby for the Quinter BB games. Roy is now the computer/tech guy at Quinter hospital, and reports liking the steady paycheck! Andy NØFBS is still in WaKeeney, and Rodger KØGBZ is logging 6 meter DX during the great winter opening. BT Gil KØBLU has been out of commission with yet more surgeries, but is back in Oberlin now. A cornea transplant was part of the last round of work. BT Jim KØQP's brother Dennis Horney was flown to Denver with heart problems. We're hoping for a good report from this caper. BT KØBJ KØFJ and NØKQX from Garden City are planning to make the Dayton Hamvention this year. The guys may have room for more participants; if interested give one of them a call. The Hamvention is May 17-19. BT I-70 traveler Gary WØTM was weak into the .82 the other day until just a couple miles out. Upon stopping to check the antenna, he discovered NO antenna! Some electrical tape wrapped around the coil to reduce wind noise probably increased drag. For the eagle-eyed, there's a nice Larsen 2m whip somewhere between Hays and Colby in the westbound lanes…… Gary also had a fight getting through the Eisenhower tunnel, due to the same storm that hit us Saturday. BT Kevin KCØFEH and family are off to his new job in Maryland, working in hydrology with NOAA. Kevin reports hopes of getting NOAA Hq. Active in the NWS special event next December. KØFJ and KØBJ attended a going away party at Butterfly Aviation restaurant in Goodland in Kevin's honor, at which Aaron KCØKOR and Scott NØQE were in attendance. BT KØBJ had nice QSOs with friends while operating ZF2CM in Grand Cayman. KCØJAO KØFJ NØXJ NØKQX KØEQH KCØIVP made his ssb skeds, as well as Roger WØHLU, a friend from Manhattan and ex-VU2HLU. Among casual cw QSOs were Dave NØIN, a former KSU classmate of Bruce's who is now heading KSU's EE department. A mere 30 minutes before tearing down his station for 2002, in the middle of a JA run on 17M cw, 'CM picked KCØJAO out of the crowd and gave Jeff his very first cw QSO! BT Justin Reed NØUJQ of Minneapolis is moving to Colby shortly. Sounds as though he's into VHF and above, as he has a 70cm repeater and some extra antennas. He's also interested in flying ultra lights and airplanes. Hmmm….., maybe he could have a really HIGH 70cm machine…? BT Mike KCØIWH found a solution to the line noise that's been plaguing him -- the KC ice storm knocked out his power! Actually afterward he thought it might have quit for good….. but, in true Murphy fashion, it's back. Those of you who are on the Trojan ARC email list may have seen Mike homebrew paddle, done in Bencher style. Nice piece of work, Mike! BJ had an eyeball QSO with Mike and Hayli when he was at the Johnson Co RAC meeting last month.

NEXT MEETING FEBRUARY 14 7:00PM PIONEER MEMORIAL LIBRARY. Possible club meeting time change, further discussion of IRLP project, NWS needs for area-wide spotting report collection are among discussion items. DXpedition video available for program.