Albemarle Amateur Radio Club

The Annual Meeting of the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club will be held at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA on January 8, 2013 at 7:30 pm. Annual Reports will be presented by the Officers and Directors and the Nominating Committee for 2013. The club will elect a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, as well as three directors. Those elected will be installed immediately upon their election to lead the club during it's 50th Year. This is an important meeting and one you won't want to miss.

The 2012 Annual Awards Dinner will be held at the Elks Club (Across from Towe Park) on December 11 at 6:30 pm. Tickets will be $20 per person. The fare will feature Prime Rib and Crab Cakes. Deadline for reservations is December 7 and they should be made with Vice President Carter Elliott WD4AYS. Send him an email at: celliott14[at]aol[dot]com

Now that the 2012 AARC Public Service Event schedule has been completed, it is a good time to summarize our efforts for the year.

In 2012, we worked 10 events, down 2 triathlons from 2011. Services were provided for 2 extreme mountain runs, 2 mountain bike races, 2 road bike races, 2 days of the MS-150 Bike Tour, 1 triathlon, and the Boys and Girls Club Cycling Challenge. A total of 40 different hams were logged in these events, with approximately 21 hours on average for each of these participants. Of course that is just the average, a few worked many of the events, and many worked just a single event, but whatever the level of participation, it was greatly appreciated by me as the AARC Director for Public Service, the event organizers, as well as all the bikers, runners and triathletes who competed or participated in the 10 events.

The November meeting of the AARC will be held on Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30 pm in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville. A Nominating Commitee will be announced to recruit a slate of officers and directors for 2012. The meeting will feature a program on Fox Hunting (Transmitter Hunting) followed by a discussion of the club's interest in staging a club hunt in the future. Fox Hunting can be a fun activity, as well as good training in the use of radio direction finding equipment for tracking down noise, interference, illegal use of the ham bands and search and rescue. The board will meet at 7 pm.

Harry W2HD, does a great job encouraging and recruiting AARC members to become ARRL Accredited Volunteer Examiners. I recently heard him nudging (well maybe nudging isn't the right description) another to join the ranks. The fact is that the AARC has a great group of VE's who have collectively participated in a large number of VE sessions over the years. I just updated my list of VE's and this time included those listed as active by the ARRL, who have been former members of AARC but have moved on to other locations and other radio clubs.

For the entire list of 33 VE's, 23 of whom are current AARC members, see the attached pdf. Let me join W2HD in encouraging you to become an ARRL Volunteer Examiner and add your name and callsign to the list.

The AARC Board of Directors has approved the 2012 Annual Awards Dinner to be held at the Elks Club on December 11 at 6:30 pm. Tickets will be $20 per person. Put the date on your calendar and plan to be there!

The club meeting on Tuesday, October 9, at 7:30 pm in the NRAO will offer you an opportunity to meet our new 911 Center’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Kirby Felts, who succeeded Marge Thomas upon her retirement from that position. The club meets in the auditorium of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm. There will be a board meeting at 7 pm.

Many thanks to the following AARC members for a great job at the last Public Service Event, the Boys and Girls Club Cycling Challenge: John KU4KAE, Patsy K4PMC, Bill N0WP, Elmer KF4UCI, Don KE4DDR, Jon KJ4RPW, Jim K4BAV, Jim K4JEC, Greg N4PGS, and Paul AK4OH. You all did a fantastic job, and the event organizers were extremely pleased with the job we did. So thanks again for you time, your effort and your expertise.

It was fun to have Paul AK4OH riding the event as bike mobile, I hope we will see Paul as bike mobile on future cycling events. The last PS event of the 2012 season is coming Saturday, September 29. This will be the last opportunity for you to add to your PS event score for the year, so please make an effort to participate in this last event.

73 and see you on the 29th. de K4DND

Bill, AD6JV has announced that he has arranged to offer a General License Course from 7 pm till 9 pm starting on September 24 and to run through November 5 in seven sessions. The course will be offered in the facilities of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad through the courtesy of Dayton Haugh AA4DH who is the captain of the squad. To register send an email to Bill at: billp1048[at]earthlink[dot]net. The next License Examination Session is set for Saturday, November 10, at 9 am.

The Club Call/Name Roster has been updated as of August 28, 2012. Downloadable as a pdf file single page. Go to the column on the left and load "Club Call Roster."