Albemarle Amateur Radio Club

The fall edition of the Devil’s Backbone Mountain Cross was a great success, due to the number and abilities of the AARC participants. Even though the day was cool and damp, our AARC volunteers performed at their usual level of competence, enthusiasm and good humor.

Many thanks to the following AARC members: Don KE4DDR, Bill N0WP, Elmer KF4UCI, Wes K4WLE, Greg N4PGS, Jimmy KK4EDT, and Linda KI5LLB. Also special thanks to Wes K4WLE and Greg N4PGS for taking such good care of the one medical emergency that resulted in transport to UVA. This rider was quickly patched up at the hospital and released later in the afternoon.

Don’t miss out on the last two PS events of 2012 coming up in September. Sunday, September 16 is the Boy’s and Girl’s Club Cycling Challenge. This one day event starts and finishes from Old Trail Park in Crozet. Last year was the first year of AARC participation and the event organizers were very pleased to know that we would be coming back again this year. This is a very important event, as there will be a large number of young people out riding the courses.

The September Issue of The Beacon has been posted. This issue contains 8 pages of news and photos consisting of 20 pictures and 10 stories and columns. More than 60 member's pictures and/or names appear within its pages recognizing some great photographic and copy writing talent among our membership.
In the column on the left, go to the "Beacon" and download 201209 and check it out for yourself.

The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club will offer an Amateur Radio License Examination on Saturday, September 8, at 9 am in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Headquarters Building, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville. Examinations will be offered for all level classes including entry level Technician, General and Extra. What to bring to the exam session is listed in the attachment below.

The club will meet on September 11 at 7:30 pm at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville. Dennis K4THE will be discussing NVIS at the September meeting. Near Vertical Incidence Skywave is a radio-wave propagation method that provides usable signals within the skip zone and has advantages for emergency communications. If you wish to study ahead, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Vertical_Incidence_Skywave

The August Issue of our club newsletter, The Beacon, has been posted and is available for dowload from the menu on the left. Check it out, take the quiz and have some fun!

Saturday, July 7 was so hot so early in the morning, I bow before the AARC members that showed up to help out with the Jefferson Sprint Triathlon. Fortunately, since this event ends early, we weren't forced to endure the afternoon temperature, morning was quite enough, thank you very much!

Assisting in this event were Daniel KJ4YHE, Mike KA4JJD, Jim K4CGY, Don KE4DDR, Dayton AA4DH and Noah W4NRH (former KF4JHB). Thank you all very much.

Upcoming AARC Public Service events include:
July 29 – Sunday – Miller School Loop Bike Race
August 25 – Saturday – Devil’s Backbone Mt Cross – Nelson County
September 16 – Sunday – Boys and Girls Club Cycling Challenge
September 29 – Saturday – UROC – Blue Ridge Parkway and Wintergreen

Check your schedule and make sure you don't miss out on one or more of these last 4 PS events for 2012. Don't worry, if you don't have previous PS event experience, we will match you up with one of our more experienced participants, and gently phase you into the event.

The club's annual picnic and silent auction will be held at the Darden Towe Park Pavillion on Tuesday, August 14, at 6 pm. Place a box in your ham shack and fill it with items you would like to sell to raise some money for items you want to buy. As they say, "One person's trash is another person's treasure." Each member is asked to bring a dish to share to supplement the hot dogs and hamburgers the club will provide along with drinks and paper products. To ensure we have enough food for the event, we ask that each member send an email to jecrosby[at]comcast[dot]net stating how many, if anyone, will be attending with you. Members and their immediate family are invited along with significant others.
Items for the silent auction should be ham gear or ham related gear. All items must contain a bid sheet and they can be downloaded below. All item bidding will cease at 8 pm and the highest bidder will then settle up with the seller.

The regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club will be held on Tuesday, July 10, at 7:30 pm. Dr. Michael Rein will present a program on "Ticks of the insect kind." We will also hear a report and discussion on Field Day 2012. The board will meet at 7 pm.

Our club really came through with an outstanding performance during Field Day 2012. Much of the credit for that has to go to Bill Pond N0WP and Jim Owen K4CGY for their dedicated leadership. To me, the most rewarding aspect of leadership is to discover people standing with you to push the successful effort along because no one of us can do it alone. Bill and Jim are the perfect duo for Field Day. I so much admire people with the "can do" attitude they bring to Field Day and so many others within our club bring to other club projects. That is what makes our club special and a standout among amateur radio clubs!

Field Day '2012 is creeping up on us! The weekend of June 23 and 24 are the dates of this very popular operating event this year. The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club is again going to be operating from our home for the past few years at the Earlysville Fire station. As usual, we plan to have a dinner Saturday evening, and light breakfast Sunday morning for any club members wanting to come out and be part of the fun, whether it by operating, or just being part of the social gathering.
We would ask that if you come for the meal, that you bring a covered dish of some sort to share. The club will be furnishing burgers, dogs, paper plates, soft drinks, etc., similar to what was done last year.
We will begin setup on Friday afternoon 6/22 after 2:00 PM. We can always use the help of anyone who is able to assist with that work. Actual Field Day operations begin at 1800 UTC on Saturday afternoon (2:00 PM local time). It's really exciting to hear the bands come alive right at 2:00 PM, and I
hope that we can have lots of folks on hand to pitch in and participate in the fun!