QCWA Peach State Chapter 49 June 2004 Newsletter MEETING NOTICE: SATURDAY June 19, 2004 The name of our meeting place restaurant has changed but it is the same building and location! Our next meeting will be at Fire Mountain Restaurant, 7045 Jimmy Carter Blvd. 12 Noon to eat and meeting to begin at 1PM. Directions to Fire Mountain: From I-285 take Peachtree Industrial Blvd (141) North. Stay on Peachtree Industrial for about 3 and a half miles to the Jimmy Carter Blvd exit. Exit off Peachtree Industrial at Jimmy Carter and at the traffic light at the bottom of the exit ramp make a left on to Jimmy Carter . You will go under Peachtree Industrial and get in the right hand lane. Fire Mountain will be about 200 yards up on the right. They have a separate turn-in lane. If you miss the turn-in lane, go to the light and make a right, go till the road ends (drive way into a motel) and turn right, the restaurant will be on the right. Leaving, to get back on to Peachtree Industrial Blvd, it is easier to go out the back way and make a left. Make another left at the motel and this will take you to a traffic light on Jimmy Carter. A left at the light and head towards the right hand lane entrance ramp to Peachtree Industrial Blvd South. Meeting Minutes April 3, 2004 Meeting called to order by Mike K4HBI. Twenty Seven inattendance, 15 members, 2 'Friends' 5 spouses 4 visiting hams and our guest and speaker Croft Taylor VE3CT. Round-robin introductions were made. New members in attendance were recognized: John Elicker N4FAI, John Benka KF6JG and Bill Wilson KJ4EX. Sec/Treas K4SZ reported $315 in the checking account and hopes to make progress on dues. Nets reported going well although the problems continue with the 2m repeater. Program chair Sandy W4RU reported that the June meeting will be on Ga Public Broadcasting with Mark Fehlig WA6NGC. Historian Doug KT4XF reported receiving some more materials of K4VN's (SK) for the archives K4HBI from Joan Cushing. Doug also reported on SciTrek antenna status, called for more volunteers and noted that new meetings are held on the first Sunday of the month. New member John N4FAI is an active volunteer at SciTrek. K4HBI reminded all to keep their e-mail addresses up to date with the secretary. After our fine meal, Program Chairman Sandy Donahue W4RU introduced our guest speaker, QCWA National President Croft Taylor VE3CT. Croft and his wife Elizabeth were on their way home from the winter season in Florida and managed to schedule the trip to visit with us. We were updated on the recent changes in National operations and the future of QCWA. Croft asked the chapter to consider hosting the annual national convention in the future. We thank Croft for his visit to our Chapter, for all the info about current operations of QCWA and hope he will be able to visit again sometime.. The many door prizes from the book collection of SK K4VN were drawn for and some taken home by all in attendance. Respectfully submitted, Bob Lear K4SZ, Sec/Treas Chapter 49 "Presidential Pontification" (or Da President Yaps!!!) Hope you all enjoy the new Atlanta digital weather - furnace to AC in 12 hours. I am writing this in the midst of total chaos, dealer damage to Susan's car during servicing, prepping for a weeklong exercise that spans our next meeting, and preparing for deployment or should say redeployment during the G8 Summit Conference. Not even counting redoing an exterior wall, repairing, building radios and supporting the ARRL OO, MARS, and SHARES. Just finished up with Fort Mac coordination and deployment for an emergency traffic relay via digital radio from a parking deck at Fort Mac to a hotel roof in Denver in just under an hour. Between now and our meeting date of June 19th, the Atlanta Radio Club Hamfest will occur on June 5th at Jim Miller Park, hope you all can make it there. Thank You, to all the QCWA Chapter Forty-Niners for your support and smiling faces at all the local hamfests, they have turned into great gabfests. Hamfests have become not so much places for new or more equipment for us, but more in the QCWA tradition, a face-to-face re-acquainting, meeting, and talking event. Our March meeting was at the Fire Mountain Restaurant (the old Ryan's Steak House) and let me tell you some of our folks tried to make the dessert bar into a desert. Sandy, W4RU, presented Croft Taylor, VE3CT, President of QCWA National as our guest speaker for the meeting's program. He provided insightful and humorous anecdotes with regards to travel, QCWA history and the inter-workings. One of Croft's goals was to make a request of Chapter 49, best described from a line from a follow up email. "We are looking forward with anticipation to a possible 2007 Convention in your area - so please consider it carefully." Two folks have offered to help to make this happen, so I see this as a topic of discussion during the meeting. Please keep the members of the QCWA family in your thoughts and prayers. Hope all stay healthy and if not, wish you a speedy recovery. Please keep us informed about your health, so we can put you in our prayers and let your friends know of status. With the travel season and gas price gouging upon us, please be extra careful out there, and try to make some of the special events and hamfests to renew friendships. Plan on seeing your QCWA family at some of these upcoming events: Atlanta Radio Club Hamfest, June 5 G8 Summit Conference, June 8-10 (Please be extra alert for emergency traffic) Chapter 49 Meeting at Fire Mountain, June 19 SciTrek Amateur Station Participation (every 3rd Sunday of the month) June 20 ARRL Field Day June 26-27 We are still looking for someone to help Bob, K4SZ, by providing National with our Chapter news to be put in the quarterly QCWA Journal. You can always use the newsletter or minutes as a cut and paste source for info. Just need someone who would like to do this function and take some of the workload off Bob. Our meeting every other month, is a great success. This gives us more time to catch up on each other and less time to forget what we were going to tell each other. Please join us at these gatherings and please really consider the blessings you have been given, including the QCWA Chapter 49 Family. Again, Thanks Bob, K4SZ, for the great Chapter 49 Newsletter. See you all soon, 73 Mike Sectretary Treasurer/Newsletter Editors Notes: OK, obviously I still haven't done the dues thing. Sorry about that. I don't know where the time goes. Seems that there is always too much going on. The SVHFS conference in April where we did see several of the QCWA members also, Dayton Hamvention in May and preparing for the June VHF contest with the FourLanders since then. Contest preps are my biggest time user. With all the tower trailers here and me doing four microwave bands and supplying stuff for other bands along with back-up, it seems like it never ends, but somehow I enjoy doing it. I promise that the next NL will have the dues assessments and a new chapter roster mailed to all members. This will be a double check on the e-mail addresses too as I'm sure someone will receive the snail mail and realize then that they haven't been getting the e-mail version because they've made a change and not updated us!! Welcome another new member: Mark Fehlig WA6NGC. Mark lives in Snellville and works for GPB and will be our program speaker at the June meeting. Welcome to Mark. Short NL this time. I hope to have more to report in the next one after the June VHF contest and Field Day along with the roster and such. 73 Bob K4SZ