Hello, Everybody. Y'know, it's absolutely amazing just how many "Old Geezers"we have here in Georgia! And I sincerely thank each and every one of you who took the time to drop me a line to let me know that you're there. Eddy Kosobucki, K4JNL, called me on the phone and posed the question "What do you call the female counterpart of an Old Geezer?" I said I dunno, maybe Geezer-ette?? He said that it would have to be "Old Hag" I just don't know about that. as much as I respect Eddy's opinion, it's just not the SAME, y'know???

Anyhow, on to the news…

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS

Statesboro hamfest: April 13 This hamfest is still rather small, but now that it's moved to April, rather than the same time as the Dayton Hamvention in May, I'm hoping that the club gives it a chance to grow and prosper. Always a pleasure to visit this part of the state, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones. We had the honor of meeting and spending the better part of one day with Dot Fennell, KA4HHE, and were thoroughly impressed with this genuine Southern belle soft-spoken and very genteel. Miss Dot's done a tremendous amount for the GA section over the yearsas an EC, as DEC for GEMA, as SEC, and as SM, not to mention being an active operator and traffic handler on GSSB nets and a beloved member of the Army MARS family. She is truly the "first lady" of amateur radio here in Georgia. Of particular note is the fact that she and her husband Bob celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary the day before our visit what a marvelous milestone! Both Val Ashcroft, AF4VH, DEC of the Southeast district, and Henry Arostequi, KN4AV, DEC of the East Central district, were present to conduct an ARES forum at the hamfest, and did an excellent job. Larry Price, W4RA, conducted a fascinating forum, too, on well, I guess you could call it a "state of amateur radio" address. More on that later...

U.S. ARDFing Championships: April 20-21 WOW! Kudos to the members of the Georgia Orienteering Club for bringing this top-notch competition to Georgia, and for the fabulous job they did with the planning and execution of it. There were competitors from CA, OR, NM, TX, AR, OH, IL, KY, NY, VA, NC, FL, AL, and GA, as well as some competitors from Japan and Russia, who are currently living and working in the US.

As the finishers of the 2M portion of the competition on Saturday came through the "chute", gasping, sweating, some a little tattered and scratched up from the briars and brambles, I heard such words as. "sadistic". "satanic".so we all knew that Sam Smith, N4MAP, had done an outstanding job of setting up a world-class, challenging course.

The way it worked was five transmitters were hidden throughout the woods. Competitors were started, a couple at a time, from nine until ten AM, and the object was to find as many of the transmitters as possible in the shortest amount of time. Each transmitter had a paper punch with it, with a unique shape, so it could be easily determined which transmitters had been found by each competitor. Let me tell ya, this was not a leisurely amble through the woods they were doing some serious motivating!

At the dinner on Saturday night, Joe Moell, K0OV, the ARRL's ARDF coordinator, talked about the history of DFing in the US. Other countries of the world have been active in this radiosport for much longer than we here in the US have, but Joe is certainly up to the task of getting the word out and promoting interest in this fascinating aspect of the hobby. He's written a book entitled Transmitter Hunting, and he has a website at http://www.homingin.com, where you can find a multitude of information on this subject.

Dale Hunt, WB6BYU, who is the IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) region 2 ARDF coordinator, also spoke at the dinner. His goal is to encourage an awakening of interest in ARDFing throughout the entire region. While activity is on the rise in the U.S., there is but a modicum of activity in Canada, and activity in South and Central America is virtually non-existent. Americans who have entered the international competitions in regions 1 and 3 have been welcomed enthusiastically, so hopefully, in the near future, the entire region 1 will have a presence in international competitions. Dale has developed a wonderful, simple, and fairly inexpensive DFing antenna for 80M competition, and he has submitted an article all about it to QST. Hopefully, we'll all be able to read that soon.

Sandy Donahue, W4RU, and I also spoke to the dinner group, and while I clearly admitted to the crowd that I'm somewhat "directionally challenged", Sandy elected to prove his inadequacies more demonstratively. on Sunday morning, he managed to get himself LOST while attempting to find his way from the starting line to his car in the parking lot. Trust me, he got some serious ribbing over that one! (He said that none of the trees had street signs!!) Sam Smith, N4MAP, (who is married to the lovely and delightful Laurie), and Sam Smith, KD4SHK, (who is NOT married to the lovely and delightful Laurie) came to Sandy's rescue, who though hot and thirsty, was none the worse for the experience. He will, of course, never live it down, though. Don't be surprised if he manages to "ham it up" a little, though, (who… Sandy???) when he tells you the story of his "ordeal"I can just imagine it now how he was crawling, hot and sweaty, through the briars, bloody and torn, with a rabid armadillo on his tail

Some highlights of the actual competition: Charlie Siler, KO4NO, member of the Bill Gremillion Memorial Amateur Radio Club, won gold medals in the M-50 class, for both the 2M and the 80M competition. He absolutely smoked the competition!! Charlie is now eligible to be on the U.S. team and travel to the world competition in Slovakia in the fall. In the HF competition on Sunday, Gyuri Nagy, KF6YKN, and Sergie Storkov, KD5RNL, finished less than a minute apart, with times of 75:14 and 75:51, respectively. Very exciting! Steve Reynolds, W4CNG, did a terrific job of heading us up at the finish line, as did my better half Mike, K4HBI, who watched out for the competitors and then guided them toward the finish line with some serious arm waving. (Especially on Saturday, when the finishers were liable to approach from just about any direction, this was a very necessary function!) Members of the Georgia Orienteering Club, the South Fulton ARES, and Bill Gremillion Memorial Amateur Radio Club all did an outstanding job of volunteering for this exciting event. For more information, check out http://www.gaorienteering.org.

Calhoum hamfest: April 27 Mike and I have been attending this hamfest every year since the first one, four or five years ago, and it's been a pleasure to watch it grow. The weather was a little cool and overcast, but the rains never came, and a good time was had by all. It was good to have the opportunity to meet some of the folks from the Georgia Single Sideband Association, from the Tri-State ARC, and the Northwest Georgia ARC, who were in attendance. This is always an enjoyable hamfest, with lots of friendly people, and it's growing slowly every year. If you've never gone before, why not check it out next year?

CLUB NEWS

1. Alford Memorial Amateur Radio Club: is moving the site of its meetings, beginning with the May meeting, May 9th. The new location is Annistown Road Baptist Church, at 4554 Annistown Road, between Ross Road and Spain Drive. Talk-in 146.760.
2. Athens ARC: Members of the Athens club are working on improving their DX-ing skills with a couple of DX practice weekends, the first of which was April 19-21, and a couple of club meetings devoted to learning how to improve their skills. With this kind of focus, look for these guys to start racking up the points in future contests in the club category.
3. Coastal Amateur Radio Society: These guys have a terrific idea! They are having a DX challenge among club members from January 1 to December 31, to see who can make the most ( and best!) contacts. This is such a good idea to encourage operating on the HF bands. It'll be interesting to see what kind of results they have at the year's end.
4. Confederate Signal Corps ARC: Longtime members George Murray, WB4DYQ, and his wife Joan, who, like many retirees, travel the country year-round in their 5th wheel travel trailer, made a rare surprise visit to the April meeting. George was a president of the Alford Memorial Amateur Radio Club in the early 70's, and was the main driving force behind the first "Famventions" which were held at Stone Mountain Park. He retired as the chief of communications for the GA State Patrol in 1994, and he and his wife have been enjoying the countryside ever since.
5. Conyers Amateur Radio Group: also have a new meeting place. They meet the 3rd Thursday of every month at the pool clubhouse on Martingdale Drive. In Rockdale county, take GA20 south to Cowan Road, and Martingdale is about I mile down Cowan.
6. GA Tech ARC: Congratulations to the new club officers: President: David Ziskind, KE4QLH; VP: Philip Michael, KG4SJG; Secretary: John Hall, KG4RUO; (who recently upgraded to extra classcongratulations!) Treasurer: Tim Cailloux, W4EGT; Shack Steward: Charles Frey, K3SWK; and repeater managers: Peter Jensen, KD5BWT; Charles Frey, K3SWK; and Jonathon Miner, WJ2RM.
7. NOGA QRP Club: Mike and I visited their club meeting the beginning of April. While this is a somewhat unique club, in that they don't bother with such things as by-laws, club officers and usual politics, they are a bunch of savvy hams with a love of building and QRP operations. While most of their meetings are more of a "show and tell" type format that gives them the opportunity to share ideas and building projects, this particular meeting featured a speaker, Ted Hart, W5QJR, who talked about his EH antennas. He made some pretty amazing claims, but unfortunately, he didn't bring along an antenna that he could use in a much-anticipated antenna "shoot-out" in the parking lot after the meeting. Most of the club members must be "from Missouri", because they did seem to be a bit skeptical. If you'd like to take a look at this antenna and maybe check it out for yourself, go to www.eh-antenna.com
8. Thomasville ARC: Club members are planning an "amphibious DX-pedition to Rock Island in the near future to make contacts from this IOTA( and to maybe do some fishing with a rod and reel, too.) Sounds like fun!

AFFILIATED CLUBS: Have you filed your annual report? Even if you haven't filed a report in YEARS and are now in the "Inactive" file, you can be re-instated as an active affiliate by a simple online filing.

SPECIAL SERVICE CLUBS: An online report is required of you every two years. If you haven't filed one for many years, you can still do it and may be restored to your former status as an SSC. The basic requirement of having a minimum of 51% ARRL membership from your club still stands. For more information, contact Mary Ahls, W4NZJ, at w4nzj@arrl.net And don't forget: it PAYS to recruit new members to the ARRL. If a new member signs up through your affiliated club, you get FIFTEEN dollars for your club's coffers.

SEND ME YOUR NEWS!!! Especially about Field Day plans. I'd rather hear from several members from your club than to hear from NO one!! Tell me where you're gonna be setting upand how to get there.

ARES NEWS

1. Mike Boatright, KO4WX, conducted a surprise ARES drill via pagers on April 2, and was very pleased with the excellent response from 44 participants.
2. Steve Reynolds, W4CNG, held a "table top drill" in Waller Park in Roswell on April 13. There were 17 participants, from North Fulton ARES, Cherokee ARES, and Gwinnett ARES. Forty-four pieces of traffic were passed, and it was a valuable training exercise for all involved. Looks like there may some more of these types of drills in the area in the future.
3. Beginning April 23, at 8:30 PM, and every Tuesday thereafter, Bill Sims, KG4BWB, will be holding a Henry county ARES net on 145.450. Thanks to the Alford Memorial ARC for generously offering their repeater for the benefit of this net.
4. Fred Runkle, K4KAZ, our Technical Coordinator and a long-time Red Cross volunteer, as is his wife Pat, KC4DOO, is heading up a communications task force to study, determine, and make recommendations on the needs in communications functions of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of the Red Cross. While it will take many months to cover the many levels of needs, one important item will be "outside support" of many different groups. He said, "Don't worry. The hams are very important to us and will be a part of the program."
5. While at the ARDFing championships, I had the opportunity to speak to April Moell, WA6OPS, who is the coordinator of Hospital Disaster Communications for ARES back in Fullerton, CA. She's been doing this for over 20 years, and virtually all of the hospitals in the area 30-some are involved. Once she got started, hospitals came to HER to be included. Check out her webpage at www.hdscs.org.
6. I'm not sure, but I think that if you look up the word "serendipity"in the dictionary, you're likely to see a picture of John Shinall, K4YK, our DEC for the Central District. I mean, picture this: imagine being a DEC, in need of an EC for a particular county. A fellow parishioner becomes interested in amateur radio, gets his license, accepts the EC positionand now, get this he just "happens" to be a golf partner of the EOC director from the county. Local authorities are falling all over themselves to work with John and the other ARES members, and terrific things are happening left and right. While visiting the Milledgeville meeting last month, John gave me a copy of the local newspaper, The Eatonton Messenger. Plastered on the front page is a picture of eleven ARES members, accompanying the article, "Disaster Team". To say that "good things" are happening for these dedicated and hard-working hams in central Georgia, led by John Shinall, would be a gross understatement. So it's true: good things DO happen to good people.
7. If you have any question as to who your DEC or EC is for your county, check out the section ARES webpage at www.qsl.net/gaares You'll notice that there are some vacancies. would you like to fill one? If so, get in touch with Mike Boatright, our SEC at ko4wx@arrl.net or the DEC for your district.

DX NEWS

1. The loud rejoicing you've been hearing from the DX-ing crowd is because of the recent announcement that the ARRL will accept SSB contacts with P5/4L4FN in North Korea. This was the "last one" for lots of folks. If you haven't worked him yet, he expects to remain in country until June or July of next year, possibly longer. His favorite haunt is at 21.225 MHz, though he also spends some time on 10M. His QSL manager is KK5DO. More info can be found on the "P5 North Korea" link at http://www.amsatnet.com.
2. Joe Owen, KO4RR, and Dick Hanson, K5AND, recently returned from their successful DX-pedition to San Felix Island. They made over 70,000 contacts as XR0X, so it puts them in the top ten of DX-peditions. They worked CW, SSB, 6M, and RTTY. Joe said that it was "hard work, but fun, and we were satisfied that we had done as good a job as possible." They worked anywhere from 16-18 hours each day, and after a couple of days, it got to be a "job". He said the boat ride was pretty good, as boat rides go. It was a large Chilean Navy boat, but as Joe put it, "Two and a half days on a boat each way is still more boat than I care for."
3. If you get the SE DX Club's newsletter, you've been seeing that club VP Wes Lamboley, W3WL, was "gone fishing". Gone fishing for contacts, that is. He and fellow club member Bob Allphin, K4UEE, (who was inducted into CQ magazine's DX Hall of Fame last year), recently returned from a 6-week expedition to South Sandwich (VP8THU) and South Georgia (VP8GEO), numbers 6 and 10 on the DX "most wanted" list. If you are going to Dayton, they'll be giving a presentation at the DX forum on this trip. Wes also participated in the Comoros (D68C) trip last year, where they absolutely obliterated the old QSO record of 96,000 with a remarkable total of 168,722 contacts by the time the dust settled. Something tells me that this record will be around for a long, long time. They've raised the bar big-time.

WORDS FROM THE WISE or THE "PRICE" IS RIGHT

The 2002 World Telecommunication Development Conference was held recently in Istanbul, Turkey, and IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) president Larry Price, W4RA, was one of the five American representatives in attendance. While Larry co-authored an article about the conference, which will be appearing in an upcoming QST, those of us attending the Statesboro ARC meeting and the hamfest a couple of days later, were privileged to hear his informal account of the conference, as well as engage in a little Q&A session with him. From his long-time experiences holding various offices with the ARRL, including the presidency, to his dealings with the IARU and the ITU, Larry is in the unique position of being able to truly field questions from a broad base of knowledge. (The man knows what he's talking about!) Anyhow, thought I'd share some of this info with you:

Q: What's the future of the code requirement for amateur radio licensing in the U.S?
A: Larry is quite sure that the ITU will drop the code requirement at next year's convention, and believes that the U.S. will follow suit shortly thereafter.

Q. Isn't that going to make us a bunch of glorified CB-ers?
A. The ITU, in anticipation of the possibility that some countries that aren't particularly enamored with amateur radio in the first place, might adopt an attitude of "anybody who wants to be an amateur radio operator OK, you're an amateur radio operator" after the elimination of code requirements, spent a good deal of time working out the detailed wording that spells out requirement of the demonstration of a working knowledge of such things as basic electronics, propagation, etc, by means of passing a written test, in order to be a licensed amateur radio operator.

Q. How about 40 M? Is the attempt to clean it up for better amateur radio use going to be successful?
A. The bottom line is that Larry said he is "cautiously optimistic". He also gave some fascinating background information on the 40M band, but unfortunately, I didn't take notes, so rather than mis-inform, I'll suffice it to stop at saying he's "cautiously optimistic". Next time I see him I'll have to make like Brenda Starr, and be sure to get the facts straight, so I can pass them on to you.

Q. Oh, wow! You get to go to Switzerland! Isn't that exciting? (No one in attendance asked this question, but he told of someone else having asked before)
A. When he first started to go, ten years ago, it was very exciting. Now, it's a just a verrrrry long commute to the office!

Q. Something has to be done about the CC&Rs. (covenants, conditions, and restrictions) Don't you agree that that's the most important thing for the future of amateur radio? (this question was also asked at another time, and related to us)
A. NO, he believes that protection of our radio spectrum is of much more importance. If we don't have any frequencies to operate on, it doesn't much matter if we can sling up an antenna or not, does it?

KUDOS TO OUR SCOUT LEADERS

Some of the wonderful hams that I know are active Scout leaders, or actively volunteer with the Scouts to do amateur radio demonstrations whenever the occasion arises. These folks merit our appreciation and gratitude, for, as we all realize, the future of amateur radio depends on recruiting new people, especially our young people. One Scout leader, Carter Wood, AG4LK, stated several years back that it was his goal to "lower the average age of amateur radio operators to below 60 before he got there." He and many other Scout leaders and volunteers have been working hard to do just that. On May 4, there will be a number of Scout Expos going on all over the state, and I'm betting that there will be an amateur radio demonstration at most, if not all of them. Sincere thanks to all of you wonderful men and women who will be volunteering your time and energies to inspire these youngsters. And a great big congratulations to Earl Whatley, AF4FG, who was recently awarded the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor a Council can bestow on a volunteer.

BY THE NUMBERS

The latest figures show that there are a total of 14,716 hams in Georgia, of whom 3445 are members of the ARRL. This breaks down to 613 Novices, (as compared to 621 last month), 5083 technicians (5071), 1745 tech plusses (1772), 3031 generals (3023), 2002 advanced, (2004), and 2242 extras (2233).

I received mailing labels and sent cards to 51 newly licensed hams this month, 40 of whom are males. There was one family from Gillsville, in which four members all got their ticket: the Parris family, David, KG4SKC, Elisabeth, KG4SKD, Jonathon, KG4SKE, and Sarah, KG4SKF. How outstanding is that?! While there were new hams from here, there, and everywhere across the state, interestingly enough, there were 9 new licensees from Marietta. Sounds like somebody held a class.

As reported by STM Jim Hanna, Af4NS, for March

STM REPORTS FROM JIM HANNA, AF4NS

Net Activity: 

GCN, Georgia Cracker Net:          QNI-1345,     QTC-11,     
Sessions-31      N4BD/NM 

GA ARES:                                     QNI-314,        QTC-5,     
Sessions-5        AA4P/NM 

GBH, Georgia Baptist Hams:        QNI-90           QTC-0,      
Sessions-5       AA4P/NM 

GSN CW Traffic Net:                 QNI-525         QTC-172,    QND-984
minutes     Sessions-62   AF4NS/NM 
GSSBA, Georgia Single Sideband Assn.      QNI-2406,       QTC-52,   
Sessions-31    K4WKW/NM 

Six Meter Ragchew Net:                  QNI-27,        QTC-0,      
Sessions-4       KF4MLT/NM 

STARS, Statesboro ARS:                 QNI-58,        QTC-0,    
Sessions-4,        KF4MLT/NM 

GTN (SSB) GA Traffic Net:            QNI-179,        QTC-0,     
Sessions-26,     WU4C/NM 

GTN (CW) GA CW Traffic Handling Training Net:     QNI-199,   QTC-135, 
QND-930 min.  Sessions-31  KG4FXG/NM 

PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL 

KG4FXG   239 
K4BEH    139 
AF4NS    139 
W4WXA    125 
K4WKT    120 
WB4GGS   119 
WB4BIK   110 
WB2NYM    86 
K4BB      74 

NOTE:  Beginning May 1, the points for the PSHR will be calculated using
different criteria, putting more emphasis on public service activities. 
If you are unsure about these changes, please contact Jim Hanna, AF4NS,
our esteemed STM at af4ns@arrl.net.  This information has also been
given in recent QST magazines. 

STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS 

QTC: 

KG4FXG         270 ****** 
W4WXA          192 
AF4NS          165 
K4BB           139 
WB4GGS         136 
K4BEH          122 
WB4BIK          35 
K4WKT           30 
WB2NYM          19 
KG4QDH           8 
K4BAI            6 
K4JNL            4 

****** Bill Carter, KG4FXG, with his 270 messages (114 originations)
earned the Brass Pounder certificate for March 2002.  Congratulations,
Bill!!   Jim Hanna, AF4NS, noted that Bill is doing a fine job bringing
in new operators to NTS as well as working GSN CW net as NCS. 

PIGLETS (AKA YOUNG HAMS)

If Dot Fennell, KA4HHE, is the ""First Lady" of amateur radio in Georgia, then surely Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, is our princess. She recently celebrated her 13th birthday, and has been a ham for nearly 2 years now. Her picture was in the May issue of World Radio magazine, accompanying an article written by Sharon Carter, KG4HKO, about amateur radio in a couple of local middle schools. Andrea is shown addressing some of the students at a Richards Middle School ARC meeting. She does a terrific job of explaining amateur radio to the other students in words that they can understand. Ever since she got her license, Andrea has done a fantastic job of PR for amateur radio, most especially for other young people.

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 4: another picnic for the Georgia Single Sideband Association. This time, it'll be at Indian Springs State Park, near Jackson. Exit 188 just north of Forsyth. Talk-in 146.805(-) Bring a covered dish, drinks, and folding chairs. All are welcome to attend. Hope to be there! (Eddy Kosobucki, K4JNL, promised me some of his famous banana pudding, and ., told me there'd be some pickin' and grinnin' going on, and I don't want to miss either one!)

May 4-5: Birmingham, AL hamfest

May 12: Mother's Day. Those of you are mothers, hope you have a wonderful day surrounded by the people you love. Those of you who are fortunate enough to still have a mother living, please do what you can to make the day special for her, and to show her that you care.

May 17-19: you may have heard something about the little hamfest they throw together in Dayton, OH.

May 24: Happy Anniversary to my better--half lucky number 33. He keeps telling people that the secret to our longevity are two little words "Yes, dear."

May 28: Memorial Day net on 147.075(+) PL 82.5 I've had the pleasure of serving as net control for this special net every year, and all of you in the metro Atlanta area are welcome to join in, or to monitor. The purpose of the net is to put the "memorial" back in Memorial Day.

SILENT KEYS

Virgil Buckbee, W8IGY, valued member of the Thomasville ARC, VE, 77 years old, but still very young at heart and bubbly with enthusiasm for life and the hobby. He was always looking for ways to help others. From the club's newsletter: "We are comforted by the thought that Virgil has now made that most ultimate of contacts and his call is now safe in the Master's Logbook of Life."

John "Chester" Lunsford, W4EVG (also XV5AC and HS1AIV) long-time member of the Albany ARC, was the person principally responsible for getting Vietnam back on the amateur radio bands in 1971, after a lengthy absence, with some help from U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, who arranged some high-level intervention on Chester's behalf , after finding that Amateur Radio was the only way he, stationed in Vietnam, could communicate by voice with his wife, who was the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal at the time. There was no telephone service between these two countries at that time. Chester managed to equip the legendary Father Marshall Moran, 9N1MM, with a VHF link from Father Moran's shack to the American Embassy in Kathmandu. Using a MARS station at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon on the amateur bands as XV5AC, Chester linked Ambassador Bunker with his wife by phone patch with Kathmandu through Father Moran on 14.320, the SE Asia Net (SEANET) frequency. Naturally, the ambassador was anxious to do it again, and when Chester told him that he didn't have a Vietnamese ham license, the ambassador quickly made the necessary arrangements to get Chester properly licensed. At that time, Vietnam was still on the ITU's banned list, so U.S. hams weren't legally able to work XV5AC, but Chester managed to work that out with the FCC so that U.S. hams were soon making their contacts with his station. Chester also participated in one of the first DX-peditions to the Spratly Islands, 1S1A in 1973. (thanks to Larry Price, W4RA, for this information)

Ray Nixon, AE4OR, of Milledgeville, was only 53 years old, when he was killed recently in a tragic traffic accident. Originally from Arkansas, he was an Air Force veteran, and a resident of Baldwin county for the past 21 years.

Louis Parham, KF4GKU, of Milledgeville, was 86 years old, an Army veteran, and a retired employee of Central Hospital. Besides being an amateur radio operator, he was also a CB radio hobbyist and avid gardener.

Betty June Prince, WA4QJG, was 71 years old and an active member of the Savannah ARC, who especially enjoyed helping provide communications for the Special Olympics. She was a dedicated homemaker for many years.

Special condolences to the families and friends of all of these people.

OPINIONS SOUGHT BY FCC

We ALL have opinions, and we're usually all too happy to express them, whether anyone else wants to hear them or not. Well, the FCC actually invites our comments. The amateur microwave band 2390 to 2400 MHz is the latest segment to be facing scrutiny. Increasing incidents of interference on the 800 MHz band is causing a need to do some restructuring there, which means the possibility of moving some users, like public safety services, elsewhere… i.e. our microwave frequencies.

The 2385-2390 portion of the band is already slated for auction. If you would like to express your concerns, go to http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs-public/attachmatch/FCC-02-81Al.doc.(At least, I thought they wanted our opinions I've not been able to bring up this site.)

Also, if you want to make any comments about the restructuring of the novice CW bands, you still have until May 16 to state your viewpoint. The ARRL petition, RM-10413, would eliminate the novice CW subbands and increase the phone frequencies. To comment, go to http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfc.html.

Q SIGNALS THAT MAY HAVE ESCAPED YOUR NOTICE

These are a hoot, and I've gotten them from a number of people. If you've haven't already seen them before, hope you get a kick out of them.

QBA: My antenna is BIG!
QBA? How big is YOUR antenna?

QBO: Don't sit next to that guy in the meeting.
QBO? Got soap?

QBS: It's getting deep in here.
QBS? Did I tell you about the one that got away?

QHI: I'm jumping in to say a quick HI, and then I'm going QRT
QHI? Are you leaving after only one transmission?

QOK: Your last transmission was okey-dokey.
QOK? Was my last transmission okey-dokey?

QRC: Warning! Rag chewer on frequency!
QRC? Are you a rag chewer?

QFH: This frequency is MINE! Go elsewhere!
QFH? Is this frequency hogged?

QWC: I don't care.
QWC? Who cares?

QZZ: I fell asleep at the mike.
QZZ? Is that a 60Hz hum, or are you snoring?

A TOUCH OF NOSTALGIA

COMMENTS AND CLARIFICATIONS

Both Willie Brown, AG4HY, and Dave Thompson, K4JRB, let me know that I'd left out an important website in last month's newsletter, when giving information about where to take practice amateur radio licensing tests online. That, of course, is www.eHam.net, run by Bill Fisher, W4AN. This is an absolutely fantastic website, and is chock full of information that can benefit all hams. Willie later let me know about another URL that he'd found via the ARRL website that has code tests, in addition to the written tests. It's http://www.w8mhb.com/ This is also an excellent site, and offers information on how other webmasters can add the practice tests to their sites. Richard Myers, AD4VS, also let me know that the LeGrange ARC website has a link for practice exams, too. That's at www.lgarc.org. Thanks, guys.

Jim Harris, W4UKR, was real surprised to read in last month's newsletter that there are no Technical Specialists in the Savannah area, where he lives. He says that he's been in amateur radio since 1938, when he was a student at Tech High School, which ran the school station of W4YC. In those days, only school stations could get the 2-letter suffix. Those were the days radio was wonderful then, he said. The PA system drove the modulator for about a KW. So, how about it? Anybody in the Savannah area interested in being one of our Technical Specialists for the GA section?

Couple of booboos last month: Guy Shields' callsign is W4GBU, not K4GBU. And, of course, I meant the Southeastern VHF Society, not "Southern". But hey! Not bad for all of that typing, huh???

Interestingly enough, not a single person has expressed any concerns at the possibility of removing the "Section News" from QST magazine, but I've heard from quite a few who want this version of the section newsletter to continue via email, as I've been doing. (The next SM is gonna have to continue whether he… or she… wants to or not!) However, several have expressed their adamant disapproval of the contest results being removed from the magazine, and in fact, would like to see that type coverage increased, along with bringing back the DXCC listings.

Those of you who may have followed the Georgia legislative sessions this year may have noticed that HB1353, which had the potential to threaten our use of amateur radio while in our vehicle, has died a quiet death this year. However, that does not mean that it won't be rearing its head again in the future. As regards the use of cellphones while driving, the Senate voted 48-5 to make distracting activities, like using the cellphone, a 2-point violation for drivers who cause accidents. Not sure if this may include talking on the radio as well, but we're all VERY careful, anyway, right? And of course, we can all rest assured that our hard-working legislators managed to hash out the tough bill that made grits the official "processed food" of Georgia. Guess we can all rest easier now, huh?

Once again, thanks to Mary Ahls, W4NZJ, for the great puns in the newsletter.

I think I've finally figured out what the female version of the "Old Geezer" should be called. "Old Biddy". I reckon we "Old Biddies" always offer our visitors something to eat and drink, even when they're unexpected drop-in company, and if one of our plates is chipped, we make sure that it's always at our place at the table. We always say "please" and "thank you", and though our hearts fill with fear and dread when our husbands or sons must go into battle, we hold our heads high and feel pride for the type of men we have in our lives. And for the country in which we live. And our heroes? Naturally, they're "Old Geezers."

In closing, in honor of Memorial Day, these are the words engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Sangamon Valley, Illinois: "To those who died, honor and eternal rest; to those still in bondage, remembrance and hope; to those who returned, gratitude and peace."

WHEW!!! Well, fellow hams-ters, that's it. Hope you found something of interest in here. Again, thanks for all of your input… y'all have been terrific. Until next time, this is AF4FO, signing clear. Take care of yourselves. And each other.