Georgia Section On My Mind

June, 2006

 Greetings, All. It's hard to believe that June is upon us, but with the temperatures already topping ninety degrees in various parts of the state, there's no denying the fact that summer's starting to breathe down our necks.(or maybe that should be "pant" down our necks?) It won't be long before the chickens start laying those hard-cooked eggs again, I reckon, but if you're lucky enough to have air-conditioning in your shack, look at the bright side. Maybe you'll be able to stay out of that heat and spend a little more time operating during the long hot summer ahead of us. Six meters and ten meters have both had some decent openings recently. ELLIOTT KANTER, W4PGI, has been pretty excited about some good overnight 20M openings recently, too. (He worked Baghdad this past week) Hope you have a chance to work some new ones, too.

I know that everyone has a pretty busy schedule, but let me make a special plea for any of you who can help out with the communications needs for the Special Olympics GA Summer Games, which are being held this weekend... Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at Emory University in Atlanta. Volunteer response has been very sparse so far, and STEVE GARRISON, N4SEG, would appreciate ANY time that you can possibly spare to offer your assistance for these worthwhile (and heart-warming) events. If you can help, please contact Steve at n4seg@arrl.net. Steve has been coordinating the communications for these games for several years now, and it's a true labor of love for him, but he needs HELP. If you can help, please do.

ROBERT TYLER, KF4VBR, has served as Assistant SM for several years now, and has done a fantastic job as our Section Webmaster. However, as often happens, his job responsibilities just keep on growing, making it darned near impossible for him to spend as much time with the website as he would like. Therefore, he is stepping down to become an assistant webmaster, and former assistant BOB SMITH, K4PHE, will be taking over the ASM position as our Section Webmaster. Many thanks to Robert for all of the fine work that he has done (and will continue to do) and to Bob for taking over the primary responsibilities for the feeding and caring of our website. (NOTE: I did say "our" website. We're counting on you folks to send articles and pictures to k4phe@bellsouth.net). ROSS STATHAM, KX4BSA, continues to serve as an assistant, and has recently updated some of the posters on our site. Check 'em out! www.arrl-ga.org ALSO: Robert will soon be posting information on the website, telling you how YOU can order some of those terrific-looking GA Piglet tee shirts... for your kids, for your grandkids, for yourself. A great way to show a unified support for our great young hams here in Georgia.

It is a pleasure to announce that PARKER BISHOP, N4PB, of Statesboro, has been appointed to take on the position as our second DXCC Card Checker for the GA Section. Parker is a well-seasoned DX-er and eminently qualified to take on this new role, joining our primary card checker, BILL BARR, N4NX, to serve the needs of all of our DX enthusiasts, especially those in south Georgia. A couple of months ago, the announcement was made that JOHN LANEY, K4BAI, would be taking on this position. Those of us who know him were a little surprised that he could find room on his already full plate to take on yet another task, and as it turns out, after some consideration, John has regretfully decided that he couldn't. Many thanks to Parker, to John, and to MARSHALL THIGPEN, W4IS, for recommending Parker for this position.

In honor of Fathers' Day, we offer a tip of the hat to all of our handymen out there, (as TIM ALLEN would say, "ARR! ARR! ARR!") and provide some "tool descriptions" as one-liners for this month's newsletter.

OK, let's see what's been going on, and what's coming up right around the corner....

DRILL PRESS:
A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching a flat metal bar out of your hands so
that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against
that freshly painted airplane part you were drying.

THE PAULDING POSER

Since there was such a positive response to the Poser that was in last month's newsletter, we're going to aim at bringing a new one to you every month. So with a tip o' the hat and a big thank you to Paulding/ Douglas County ARES and a certain cerebral (and just a wee bit devious) leader, here's this month's offering. (Put on those thinking caps!)

Sticking with the theme of "ENCRYPTION"....the PDC ARES Question for the Month (aka Paulding Poser):

Black + Black = Black
Black X Black = Black
Black X Red = Black
Black + Red = Red
Brown X Red = Red
White X Red = Brown, Gray ....Brown + Gray = White

Any two of the equations above should get you the answer, but the last set of equations is a dead give-away.

Question: What Color is Blue + Gray divided by Red?

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you've been trying to find for the last fifteen minutes.

MAY HIGHLIGHTS

MAY 13 --- HEART OF GEORGIA Hamfest --- I've heard it said that, if there are three hams in one city, that there will be TWO ham clubs. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but unfortunately, some ham clubs do seem to enjoy engaging in a bitter rivalry with other ham clubs in their area, oftentimes forcing the local hams into "choosing sides" or choosing to be a loner and simply staying away from the clubs altogether. What a tremendous waste of potential friendships!

That's why it was so totally refreshing to hear about five clubs in middle Georgia who chose to pool their resources in order to hold a Hamfest in their area. KUDOS to the members of the Macon ARC, Central GA ARC, Middle GA RC, Milledgeville ARC, and Macon-Bibb EMA ARG, for showing us that it can be done. And done well.

This was a tail-gating Hamfest, free of charge, held at the Peach Shops in Byron, and this was the second year for this event. I was pleasantly surprised to see attendees there from all over the state, and even a few from Florida. (Including our favorite director, FRANK BUTLER, W4RH) Members of the Central GA ARC ran an onsite Special Event Station, W4M, and EMA Director JOHNNY WINGERS, WX4R, graciously provided his state-of-the-art emergency communications vehicle as a basis for the operations. (You can see some pictures on our www.arrl-ga.org website)

I can't say enough good things about this experience. To have this many clubs come together in celebration of the things we all have in common.... ham radio, Hamfests, good deals, and good fellowship... was fantastic. The weather was great, (although SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, did get a little "pinko"..) and everyone seemed to have a terrific time. There were lingering groups of hams chatting all over the place, and no one seemed to be in a huge hurry to leave. My better half, MIKE, K4HBI, didn't do a whole lot of selling this time, (turns out that he wasn't the only one with a table full of mikes to sell) but he did manage to buy some goodies.

With this large of a turn-out on only its second year, I can see great things for the future for this event. I hope they "outgrow" this site and have to move to someplace even bigger to accommodate the crowds in the future! A hearty, "Job well done!" to all of you folks who worked together to bring this one off. We'll definitely plan on coming back again next year.

One last thing: Special thanks to KIM LANDER, N4RTO, who graciously responded to Mike's call on the local repeater and directed us to the nearest tire store. (At least it was only a flat tire this time, and not a blown engine... THAT was much "worser"..) So, thank you, Kim; you're a true gentleman, and we really appreciated your ready assistance.

WIRE WHEEL:
Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light.
Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say "OUCH".

CLUB NEWS

It's all about FIELD DAY. Although this certainly isn't EVERY Field Day site that will be operational in Georgia this year, this is a pretty fair representation of them. Thank you to those of you who provided the information for this listing. If you are a new ham, and don't see anyplace listed in your area, I would suggest listening to the local repeaters, and asking questions there. Or you can send me an email; maybe I can find another location near you. Field Day is too much fun to miss.

ALBANY ARC --- The Albany Radio Club W4MM will be operating Field-Day this year at the Sportsman Club at the end of Sportsman Club Rd. We plan on operating several stations along with one station dedicated to QRP. We will have our Emergency Communications trailer there in full operation. We plan on having a cookout Saturday afternoon. Everyone is welcome to come out and operate, eat and we all have a good time and fellowship. We will be monitoring 148.82 (no tone) for anyone needing information or directions. For further information contact Ken Adams K1KBA kba1@surfsouth.com.

ALFORD MEMORIAL ARC --- Alford Memorial Radio Club Field Day this year will be held at the Lakeside Pavilion at Stone Mountain Park. If you want to gain entrance to the park, without paying an entrance fee, come to the East Gate anytime from Saturday Morning until 2:00pm on Sunday. Tell them you are there for the Alford Memorial Radio Club Amateur Radio Field Day and they will let you in the park and give you instructions to the Lakeside Pavilion. To find the Lakeside Pavilion, come into the park on the East Entrance (Hwy 78 entrance.) Just inside the Park, turn Left and follow the road all the way to the Golf Club House (on your Right) Turn Right into the Parking lot and stay to the right. you will see the Pavilion just past the Putting Greens and before the Beach Area. We will have our activities at the pavilion and the beach area which is reserved just for Amateur Radio usage. Dinner will be held around 6:00pm and the menu will be Jared's Famous BBQ cooked by our own K4JJL and his helpers. If you have an entrance gate problem, contact Robert Tyler, KF4VBR at 404-394-7557. We have been told by the Park EMA, we will have FREE, 24 hour entrance privileges for all amateurs.

ARC of AUGUSTA --- Patriot's Park, off of Columbia Road, just past the Columbia County Fairgrounds

ARC of SAVANNAH --- ARCS will meet at the National Guard Recreational Pavilion off of Dean Forrest Road. You will need ID to get in and a copy of your license because of security at the gate. Get off I-16 at the Dean Forrest Road Exit. Take a left at Dean Forrest Road towards old airport entrance. Continue to Darque Road. Take Right. Ride all the way back to the recreational pavilion. The guard at the gate will require ID. (Anyone who wants to join them needs to let them know beforehand so their names can be added to the security list at the gate. It's that strict.)

ATHENS ARC --- These folks will be operating at a new location this year, from outside the WalMart store on highway 78 on the east side of Athens. If you come in the entrance, turn at the first intersection and go to the dead end. We will be in the grassy lot on the left. It should be easy to spot the two shelters and the antennas hanging from the light poles.

CHEROKEE ARS & CHEROKEE ARES ---These folks will be doing a joint club Field Day at Chapman Elementary School (next to Etowah High School) on Eagle Drive in Woodstock. The location is great, not only for ham use, but excellent for the public to stop by with plenty of parking and high visibility in the Towne Lake Community. Directions are I-575 north from I-75, exit at Towne Lake Parkway and turn left. Proceed about 1.5 miles, go past the Kroger (on the right), go to top of the hill, and turn right at red light and you're at the school.

CHEROKEE CAPITOL ARS --- It'll be a new location for this club, too, as they move to the Georgia/Gordon Co. Extension Office at 1 McDaniel Station Rd. in Calhoun.

COASTAL ARC --- These folks will be meeting at Southside Fire Station #1 at 10703 White Bluff Road in Savannah, setting up on Saturday morning and then operating continuously until Sunday afternoon. Plans are to have about 5 HF rigs in operation with dipole antennas and one 20 meter portable hex beam mounted on a trailer with a 25' push up flag pole mast which has been specially rigged for this purpose. It also doubles as an event mast for the Tybee Island Marathon in the Winter using 2 meter HTs to reach the net operator. Saturday night dinner will be hot dogs and hamburgers, chips and side dishes and desserts, followed by an auction to raise money for the club's operating expenses. Several members of the Chatham Emergency Management Agency and the Savannah Chapter of the American Red Cross may also be in attendance.

COLOMBIA COUNTY ARC --- It sounds like this group will be enjoying Field Day in style, from a couple of air-conditioned trailers at the Ft. Gordon Recreation center off of Hwy 104 (Washington Road) in Augusta. From Patriots Park you would exit the park and go west on Columbia Road until you reach William Few Parkway - maybe a 1/2 mile from the park exit on Columbia Road. Turn right (going North) onto William Few Parkway and continue about 4 mi. until you reach Washington Road, Highway 104. Turn left (there is a gas station on the right). Continue on highway 104 for about 10 miles until you start to see water on both sides of the road - you'll pass a park on the right called Wildwood Park - just keep going a few more miles at that point. Finally you'll see the Pointes West Army Recreation Area signs- name is posted on two large brown signs as you turn off of Hwy 104 into the rec area. Turn right into the Ft. recreation area. Continue on the main road until you pass the main registration building (a green brick place on the left about 1 -2 miles inside the park) Once your turn off of Hwy 104 into the recreation area, the area the club will be located in is about 2 miles in and on the right side of the road. In fact you may pass it just as you see the sign for camping area 3 - the RV trailers are white and have large numbers on them facing the road. (campers #15 and 16)

COLUMBUS ARC ---The Columbus Amateur Radio Club will hold its 2006 Field Day operations from the parking lot of the Sam's Club/Walmart complex on Airport Thruway in Columbus. This is the same location that we have used for the past four years, and it provides plenty of exposure to the public and opportunities for us to spread the word about amateur radio. We invite all interested individuals to come out and join us to operate or just to fellowship.

ELLIJAY ARS --- at the equestrian rink on South Main Street next to the Lions Club where we had the Hamfest last year.

FAYETTE COUNTY ARC --- New this year, these folks will be holding their Field Day activities in the Peachtree City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located at Peachtree City Fire Station 81, 110 Paschal Road, Peachtree City, GA, and will be operating from 2pm-2pm (local).

GATEWAY ARC --- Our third annual Field Day is being planned for June 24; it will be held on the land of Ron K4RBM and Betty K4BSM McEntire (see QRZ for address).

GWINNETT ARS --- It's back to the same terrific location at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville for this group, which always does Field Day up in a BIG way. For directions, see www.gars.org Members of Crew 73 will once again be active participants, so bring your youngsters along to share in the fun.

KENNECHOOCHEE ARC --- at Dallas Park Landing on Lake Allatoona, in Acworth. Take exit 277, Highway 92, from I-75, and head south, approximately 1.4 miles, towards Acworth. Turn right onto Main Street, and go west for 1.2 miles, under the overpass and then turn left onto Lakewood Drive. Go 0.4 miles to the stop sign, and then bear right on Allatoona Drive. From there, it's .25 miles to Dallas Landing Park. (f you let the attendant know that you're there for Field Day, you won't be charged an entrance fee.) Go straight, and the road will loop around to the picnic pavilion at the top of the hill.

LANIERLAND ARC --- You can hook up with these folks at Oakwood City Park, in Oakwood, Ga.

MIDDLE GA RADIO ASSOCIATION --- Central Baptist Church in Warner Robins, at the corner of Tharpe Road and Joy Drive, will be the spot of choice for this club.

MILLEDGEVILLE ARC --- Milledgeville ARC Field Day will be held again at the Georgia College & State University Pavilion area, off Blandy Road. The WB4DOJ repeater is 146.700 output, 146.100 input with a 67 hertz tone. Tone can be deactivated by keying in 67 on pad. Signs will be posted for the event area.

NEWTON COUNTY RC --- The Newton County Radio Club will be conducting field day at the Bert Adams Boy Scout Reservation this year. We plan to have a two day event with a camp out Saturday night. A large number of Scouts will be on site and we hope they will come by and check us out. The reservation is located on Scout Rd. off of Hwy 36, Covington, GA.

NORTHEAST GA ARC --- will be at the Nicholson City Park, near the intersection of US 441 and State 335. The public is invited and food will be provided. Nicholson is about half way between Commerce and Athens.

OCONEE COUNTY ARS --- will again be operating from the EMA/RACES operations center in the county annex complex. Located at Oconee County Government Annex 1291 Greensboro Highway, Watkinsville, GA 30677. Visitors are welcome during field day operating times. We are planning for the full 24 hours of fun! Contact WB9TBY@arrl.org for more info.

SILVER COMET ARS --- Again this year we will be operating 2A Battery with a GOTA Station. We plan on Satellite contacts, Multi Digital modes, a FD Digi on Packet live on site and Amateur TV (ATV) 2 way contacts and CW and SSB . We will be set up at the Paulding County Fire Station and EMA offices on Seaboard Ave behind Home Depot in Hiram, Ga. Hope to see all on FD.

TENNESSEE VALLEY DX ASSOCIATION --- This bunch of smooth operators will be setting up their Field Day operations at Martin's Nest in Chickamauga. Directions: (from Chattanooga) I-75 S to Exit 350, Georgia 2. (Battlefield, Ft. Oglethorpe) GA 2W to Battlefield Bypass, Route 27S. (past K-Mart Center) Stay on Rte 27 Bypass S. First light is Battlefield and 27 Bypass. Stay on 27 to the light at Lee-Gordon Mill Road. Turn right. Stay on Lee-Gordon Mill Road until the first light, and turn left onto Chittenden Avenue. Take Chittenden into Chickamauga. The road will change names to W 10th. At the 4-way stop, turn left onto W 6th, which will become Grand Center. Just past the Grand Center Baptist Church (on your left) there is a gravel road, which is the entrance to Martin's Nest. Talk-in 146.715(-)

THOMASVILLE ARC ---The location for the Thomasville Amateur Radio Club's Field Day exercise is American Legion Post 31 located just off downtown Thomasville in the 900th block of North Madison Street (unsure of the actual number, just look for antennas between the two graveyards). There will be a test session that afternoon for anyone looking to get a license or upgrade, and we will have the kids from the newly formed Jefferson County Hamsters as special guest operators.

WAYNE COUNTY EMA ARC ---Field day will be held at the Rayonier Park just off Hwy 341 in Jesup adjacent to the County Administration Offices.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL:
Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

FIELD DAY FOLLIES

Some of you may recognize this, because it was originally written as "The Field Day Fiasco" on eham five years ago by CLINTON HERBERT, AB7RG, and it has been reprinted a smattering of places since that time. CHUCK SKOLAUT, KØBOG, sent it to me last year, (thank you!) and Clinton graciously granted his permission to share it with y'all in this month's newsletter. Clinton, by the way, is now the main editor for eham, and doesn't have the time to write like he did five years ago, but I think you'll all agree with me that he did a great job with this article. Enjoy!

I remember being really excited for my first Field Day event. I had already gone to a few of the local Amateur Radio club meetings shortly after receiving my license, KF7OOL, and was all fired up for the event. Chuck, the club's president invited me to come and help out. They had about 200 members, and many of them were going to be at Field Day this year, just as always. I was ecstatic! Finally the big day had arrived. It was Field Day! I was so sleepy that I could hardly get any rest the night before, but was ready to do the whole 24 hours just the same. I went and picked up Willy, one of the senior club members whose car was in the shop and needed a lift. No problem, I had room to spare, and he knew the way to the site, some 50 miles away. I drove out to the annual Field Day site with great enthusiasm, so much so that I got two speeding tickets on the way there. It would have been three, but I didn't want to be late, so I outran the last state trooper to get there. Not an easy feat in a small Toyota truck, but I managed... Willy kind of freaked out when I did that, and was unable to speak once we arrived at the site (thankfully he had a map to the site in his front shirt pocket or I would have never found the site!)

I got to the parking lot that the club had set up for Field Day, and quickly pulled behind a nice new yellow Corvette. My emergency brake never has worked right, but I figured that I could block up the tires of my truck well enough to where nothing would happen. Looking back upon it, I guess I should have not parked on the little hill, as my truck did start to roll forward as soon as I got out of it, but that Corvette managed to stop the sudden forward motion of my truck, really fast! I was glad, as Willy was still in it. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Willy! I went over and asked some club members to help me get Willy out of my Toyota. They were a little concerned with his condition upon seeing him, pale, sweating, hands shaking and all. This was really too bad, as Willy was one of the clubs best CW operators. He was unable to compete and had to be taken home. I guess that Willy wasn't much for long drives! Ted, Willy's younger brother, must have been in one too many Field Day events, as he pulled out of the operation after finding out that someone had carelessly ran into his Corvette. It was some Toyota truck I was told. I guess my truck is a popular make. I wonder who could have been such a careless driver to this day. Quite the coincidence in vehicle makes if you ask me. I was dismayed at such a lack of dedication on Ted's behalf however. After all, a car is a car is a car, and I was sure that Willy would recover nicely.

Anyway, after a little while I met Bob, one of the 80-meter CW & 40-meter SSB operators and club treasurer, who welcomed my offer to help, and asked me if I could get some rope to help him better secure one of the supports for his dipole for 80-meters, as the wind was kicking up a bit. I said no problem and proceeded to my truck. Imagine my good fortune, as on the way to my truck I found some rope! No need to walk all that distance back up to the parking area. The rope was tied to a nice piece of wood that was stuck in the ground at an awkward angle, but I managed to get it untied and gave it a good yank. As I was walking back from my great rope find one of the operators on 15-meter CW had something horrible happen! His tent collapsed suddenly upon him and his operating station. He was quite shaken by the event, and it also ended the clubs 15-meter station operation. This was very unfortunate for the club. Later, someone said that one of the ropes tied to a tent stake got cut lose from the stake and a gust of wind came along and caused the tent to capsize. Odd, you would have thought that such a well-prepared Amateur Radio club such as this would have made sure that the tent was fastened securely.

Later on that evening the club had its annual Field Day barbeque. Great, I was very hungry at this point. I walked up and offered my assistance in getting the fire started. Bob said that I could get the campfire going. So I went and put the wood in the place they had set up for the campfire. The only problem was that the wood had gotten wet from a rainstorm the night before. I came up with a quick solution for this however, and went over to the generator and got a five-gallon gas can. Nothing starts a fire quite like good ol' gasoline! I just knew that the club members would be pleased with my effort in getting the fire started once they came over and saw a roaring campfire! The wood was pretty wet, so I poured on about a gallon of gas or so. Then I figured, you know, this wood is awfully wet, the logs are pretty thick, and I really need to get this fire blazing for the barbeque. So I poured the rest of the can on the wood. I decided to wait a bit before lighting the fire, as I wanted the gasoline to soak in real good. I walked back to the generator and placed the empty gas can where I found it. On my way back to the campfire I suddenly saw a huge ball of fire shoot way up into the air along with what sounded like an explosion!

Oh what bad luck the club is having this year, I thought. I heard all sorts of yelling and screaming on my hurried trek to the campfire. As it turns out Bob had tossed a match onto the wet wood, after putting a little bit of lighter fluid on it to help get it started. He lost his eyebrows, his callsign cap, and his new ARRL Field Day shirt in the event. I guess Bob didn't know the dangers of putting too much lighter fluid on a campfire! Joe, our club's vice-president, asked me if I could help out with running Bob's 40-meter SSB station. I eagerly jumped at the chance. In fact, I was so eager that I tripped over a few large solar panels, breaking them up pretty badly. Nothing a little glue here and there couldn't fix I thought. However, this really angered Joe, and he told me that the club would be better off if I went out and did something called "Snipe Hunting". So he sent me out into the woods with a nice wooden tent stake from the now ruined 15-meter CW station to go and kill a Snipe. Now I've been Snipe hunting before, but have never to this day seen one, much less killed one. And the odd thing about going Snipe hunting is that when you get back to where you started from all of your hunting buddies are always gone. So I only went out for a couple of hours to assure I would be back and ready to operate the night shift. I never did find any Snipes that night either. Boy, they sure are elusive creatures.

Sometime during the middle of the night the generator quit running. All the stations shut down as the generator died. It had run out of gas, and Joe got all worked up once he found that the gas can was empty. I was amazed at how unprepared the club really was for this years Field Day. Joe, seeing that I had returned from Snipe hunting asked me to get some more gas for the generator. I couldn't make out what he was saying at first because I was so far away, but he was pointing to me, and it sounded like he was saying; "Steven that ool can't screw this up", or something to that effect. I was impressed that he remembered the last three of my call letters, not to mention his faith in my abilities. I think that by this time I really had made an impression on Joe. Joe must have wanted Steve, the club's secretary to take a lesson from me, as he said for him to go and watch everything that I did, and to make sure that nothing got screwed up by some fool. I'm not sure why Joe was worried about some "fool" messing things up, as this club was supposed to be a top-notch group of guys, and I didn't think that any "fool" would try to interfere with us...anyway, I grabbed the two nearest five-gallon cans and took them to my Toyota and proceeded out, along with Steve riding shotgun. The gas station was a good ways away, but I managed to shave off a few minutes by making a quick detour down one of the older roads in the area. I guess that Steve wasn't as dedicated to Field Day as I had thought, because when we came to a sign that said; "bridge out", he protested my suggestion that we jump the bridge. I knew that I could do it; my trusty rusty Toyota had made this sort of thing before... Well we made the jump; it wasn't 30 feet or so across, and about 150 feet down. No problem! Steve must have been really tired; as he apparently passed out from what I figured was exhaustion about the time we went airborne. So I dropped him off at the gas station after filling the cans with gasoline and headed back to the clubs Field Day site. Just like I figured, Steve just wasn't that dedicated to Field Day. Upon my arrival back at the Field Day site Joe seemed a bit irritated, as Steve wasn't with me. I explained to him that Steve just couldn't handle the stress of the event and fell asleep. I think that Joe was pretty upset with Steve, as he kept mumbling and kicking dirt around for a while. At least he was happy to see that I had brought the two five-gallon gas cans back.

Now we were full into the night shift. Joe, somewhat reluctantly told me that I could run the 40-meter station. I could hardly wait! I had no problem with solar panels this time, as they were all broken and piled up next to the trashcan. I guess that Joe figured they were now useless due to it being nighttime and all. I hurried into the tent to make my very first Field Day contacts on 40-meter SSB. Once inside, I quickly fired up the radio, a nice one at that a Yaesu FT-1000D. I saw that the mike gain wasn't adjusted properly, so I turned it all the way up and punched the processor button. I started tuning the amplifier, and then realized that I could get more power out of it if I just kept increasing the drive power, and tweaking the load and plate controls. I did this for a while and it was a good thing, as every time that I would un-key, I heard operators complaining about some idiot who was constantly tuning up on the frequency. Odd, I never heard him...I guess I was lucky. So I continued to tune up the amplifier. Then yet another problem arose! The amplifier, which had worked very well up until this point, had a very sharp decrease in power, and smoke started coming out of it. I grabbed a cup of coffee to pour into the small fire in the amplifier, but missed, and it went down into the Yaesu FT-1000D. Then the Yaesu made a few arcing noises and quit. I guess they just don't make radios like they used to. Well I couldn't get the fire under control, and had to bail out of the tent and it went up in flames. It managed to catch the 10-meter tent on fire too. Good thing the band was dead and the club wasn't using the tent for the night shift. However, I knew that this was going to hurt the club's chances at another good score for this year's Field Day. We nearly had lost the 6-meter station that Mike, the clubs VHF guru was running. It seems in my haste to help put the fire out I tripped over a guy wire, causing me to fall into a table, which broke my fall nicely I might add, but it did knock over a five gallon jug of ice water, right onto Mike. This was too bad, as I could have used it to help put out the fire. But at least it did wake Mike up, albeit rather suddenly from a sound sleep. Joe, after being woke up suddenly when the tent he was sleeping in caught fire (the 10-meter setup), was once again, pretty upset to say the least. I tried to explain how the amplifier malfunctioned and that the Yaesu was just a junky piece of plastic, now melted anyway, but Joe didn't seem to care too much for what I had to say. He really needed some psychological treatment I figured, as he rushed at me, screaming, yelling, and swinging a vertical antenna he had yanked up out of the ground at me. I guess the several accidents at this year's Field Day and the stress of operating for so many years had really taken its toll on Joe. It took the club a good while to get the fire out, and once it was out, the club had lost not only their 15-meter station, but now the 40-meter and 10-meter stations as well. This was most disturbing. It was just getting to be daylight too. After the fire was put out, I decided to go over and offer my assistance to Mike, with the 6-meter station he was operating. Well as soon as Mike saw me coming he started yelling for me to go away and threw a folding chair at me. I guess that Mike wasn't much of a morning person.
Well even though quite a few of the club members seemed to have lost Their zest for this year's Field Day I sure hadn't, and I went over to the 20-meter station, ran by Sam. Sam was a ham's ham, a real DX expert. I asked Sam if I could help him out, and he told me that I could do the logging for him. Great, as this was finally my chance to put some contacts down for the club. However, after only about five minutes or so, Sam told me rather bluntly to leave his operating position, as he was getting very annoyed at me and my yelling "Yeah, way to go Sam!" after each contact he made. Gee, I was only trying to cheer him on. Undaunted, I went over to the breakfast table to catch a bite to eat. I figured that Sam would need my assistance again after I had eaten. Perhaps then he would have regained his enthusiasm for this year's Field Day. On my way back from breakfast I nearly tripped over some coax cable that was carelessly lying on the ground. With the condition that many of the club members were in at this point I figured that it would be best for me to move it, before someone had another accident. So I gave the coax a good yank. At precisely that same moment however, there must have been a huge gust of wind, because Mike's 6-meter radio suddenly flew right off of his operating table, smashing into the ground! So much for the club's VHF station preparation...Boy was the club ever having bad luck this year. Well, at least I did avert any accidents by moving that coax. I continued on to Sam's 20-meter operating position, he had Joe, who seemed a bit calmer now, logging for him. I didn't want to further upset Joe or bother Sam, so I tried to stay quiet. I noticed that their 30-foot tower that they had erected was swaying a bit in the wind, so I went and got my truck and tied a guy wire to the end of it and secured their tower to my bumper. Sam and Joe were doing great at this point and both got ecstatic when a P5 came on frequency and responded to their call. Then I noticed that someone hadn't taped up a coax connector for the station they were operating. Wow, I would hate to have seen them lose a contact or have another malfunction, so I quickly un-did the connector on the coax cable, to clean it, then fastened it back up and taped it up. It really was too bad that Sam couldn't ever get that P5 to come back again... I don't know what happened, and neither did they. Before Sam and the P5 could exchange signal reports their HF radio quit receiving suddenly for a minute. We never could figure out what caused it. It really wasn't a good way to end Field Day, and just made this year's event the club's worst ever.

The club members claimed that a curse had befallen them this year, and I was beginning to agree at this point. I felt bad for the club, and I did have to leave a little early, as I had some yard work that needed to get done, so I offered to drive anyone home who needed a lift, but no one took me up on it. Some of them must really be into physical fitness, as more than one of them said that they would rather walk home. I left about an hour early, while Sam and Joe were still trying to get that P5 back and make some more contacts before Field Day was officially over. So it was a long lonely drive home for me. However, an odd thing happened to me. I noticed when I got home that I had three 10-foot sections of tower tied behind my truck! Wow, this was very fortunate for me, as I needed a tower. Maybe one of the club members thoroughly appreciated my efforts helping out at Field Day this year, and decided to give me the tower sections as a surprise. Oh well, as they say, there's always next year! And boy, I can hardly wait to help out with the club next year at Field Day! I'm already looking forward to it. I plan to be much more helpful too.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

FIELD DAY MESSAGES TO SM

As Field Day approaches, I would like to remind everyone that you can earn 100 bonus points for sending me a message. Here's what the rules say:

7.3.5. Message Origination to Section Manager: 100 bonus points for origination of a National Traffic System (NTS) style formal message to the ARRL Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator by your group from its site. You should include the club name, number of participants, Field Day location, and number of ARES operators involved with your station. The message must be transmitted during the Field Day period and a fully serviced copy of it must be included in your submission, in standard ARRL NTS format, or no credit will be given. The Section Manager message is separate from the messages handled in Rule7.3.6. and may not be claimed for bonus points under that rule. Available to all Classes.

Once again, our super Section Traffic Manager JIM HANNA, AF4NS, has agreed to help you guys by making himself available to receive your group's FD message, (either to me, or to our SEC JIM COTE, N4PJR) which would earn you an easy 100 bonus points. Jim will be listening on 3595 kHz on Saturday evening from 7 until 8:30 PM. (CW)

The net managers and fine folks from three of our statewide nets have also agreed to accept this traffic. The GA Single Sideband Association Net will be on Saturday night at 7PM, on 3975 kHz; the GA Traffic & Emergency Net will be on 3983 kHz at 7:15 PM; and the GA Cracker Net will be on Sunday morning at 8AM on 3995 kHz.

This is to be a formal piece of traffic. Here's an example of what this message should look like:

NR 1 R N4WW 19 COLUMBUS GA JUN 22
SUSAN SWIDERSKI AF4FO/SM
772 CAMELOT WAY NORCROSS, GA 30071
BT
FD 2002 STATION REPORT N4WW
COLUMBUS AMATEUR RADIO CLUB 24
OPERATORS LOCATION COLUMBUS GA 12
ARES MEMBERS X 73
BT
BURCH CAMERON W4WY FD CHAIRMAN AR

Many thanks to Jim and to the Net Managers and members of these three nets for agreeing to accept these messages. (Now, it's up to you guys to send them!)

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle.
It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion,
and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

OTHER CLUB NEWS

(OK, so it's NOT all about Field Day.) Some of you folks were kind enough to send additional info on your club, so by golly, we'll share it:

ALFORD MEMORIAL ARC --- CONGRATULATIONS to the officers and members of this club for its renewal as one of Georgia's Special Service Clubs. This designation is reserved for those clubs that demonstrate excellence in the promotion of amateur radio, education of its membership, and in dedication to public service and emergency communications. For this group, this is a designation that is well-deserved.

GATEWAY ARC --- Cleveland GA: GARC is working on ARRL membership numbers, and plans to submit papers and application for ARRL Affiliated Club status. The club had several hams working the Ford Tour de Georgia in Helen, the area of White County that the Tour passed through on the Blairsville to Brasstown leg on April 22. Our third annual Field Day is being planned for June 24; it will be held on the land of Ron K4RBM and Betty K4BSM McEntire (see QRZ for address). (de DIANA WHITE, KB4SNU)

LAGRANGE ARC --- These folks helped 14 girls of Troop 7843 from Woodstock earn their "Emergency Preparedness Interest Project" patch. On May 6, members joined the girls at their Girl Scout camp-out, and introduced them to amateur radio. See the story, and pictures on our www.arrl-ga.org website.

NORTH GA ARC --- Dahlonega GA: NGARC served as communicators all along the Ford Tour de Georgia route on the Dalton to Dahlonega leg on Friday, April 21. The NGARC team was coordinated by Craig Pfeiffer KG4TJJ, who's getting pretty good at this; good enough that when he was pulled by the Red Cross to work a tanker fire/melted highway/traffic nightmare east of Dahlonega, the club president Tom Crowell KD4DK could take Craig's paperwork and go from there. Our Field Day planning will be led by Bob Lear K4SZ and the FourLanders.(de DIANA WHITE, KB4SNU)

NEWTON COUNTY RC --- These fine folks held elections at their May meeting, and congratulations go out to the following: President- CHARLES DAVIS, WA4UJC; VP-JIM MARSTON, K4DOI; Secretary- BOB CARTER, W4NNN; and Treasurer- BRIAN FAIN, KI4JIL. NOTE: This club also celebrated its first anniversary in May, and are looking forward to great things this year. Best wishes to the new officers and to all club members for a successful and enjoyable year. (de CHARLES DAVIS, WA4UJC)

SILVER COMET ARS --- ( Hiram, Ga. 5/31/2006 ) The Silvercomet ARS has been busy with club presentations on antennas and Field Day Prep. One of our most fun outings to help the community is always on Memorial Day and also at Labor Day. This year Memorial Day we were ask to provide communications for the 2006 Cedartown Memorial Day Bike Ride. Hosted by the Georgia Rails Into Trails Society ( G.R.I.T.S. ). It was a great time with over 200 riders on the Silvercomet Trail. Thanks to all that helped W4WRO, WB3ILX, KI4MDU, K4OL, W4JFL, KG4NFS, KG4NZA, KD4EKZ, (KD4ZWX guest rider on the trail) and WB4QOJ NET Control. Under our club call W4RSC ( Radio Silver Comet ) we want to thank the North West Georgia Amateur Radio Club for the use again of the 146.34/94 Rome Rpt W4VO for all our communications at this event. BIG THANK YOU. We had several times during the ride that people were having trouble because of the heat and we were there to assist. We found out that things can go wrong in the field as they did and were corrected quickly which was great training. Paulding County ARES also helped with this event. Thanks again for a great time. The next Meeting of the Silvercomet ARS will be Tuesday June 6th at the Paulding Chamber on RT 278 in Dallas, Ga. 7pm talk-in 146.955 minus 77hz tone. Discussion Field Day 2006 presented by W4WRO. (de LEE MCDANIEL, WB4QOJ)

GREAT COOPERATIVE EFFORT --- When multiple public service events dared to fall on the same day, resourceful hams from multiple clubs worked to together, and their cooperative efforts got all of the jobs done. In all, sixteen hams from the Athens ARC, Oconee County ARS, NE Georgia Radio Club (Jackson County), and the Oglethorpe County club, pooled their talents and their resources to "get 'er done". With a day that started at 6AM, setting up in preparation for a 5k road race, then another 100k race kicking off at 10AM, and bike races later in the day, these folks didn't call it a day until 11 PM. Some clubs, when faced with these many challenges in one day, might pick and choose. Not these folks. They figured out a way to work together and handle ALL of 'em. Great job by all involved.

VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available,
they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

ARES NEWS

BIBB COUNTY ARES--- BOB CURREY, WA4ALQ, has been serving ably as the EC in Bibb county for the past couple of years, but because of other commitments, will now be stepping down and passing the reins to new EC JEFF AMERSON, KS4GH. Many thanks to both of these fine fellas.

PAULDING COUNTY ARES --- ( Dallas Ga. 5/31/2006 ) Paulding County ARES Nets and membership is growing. Our Thursday night net at 8pm is growing every week. Check-ins and representatives from other ARES organizations are regulars. Also KI4MDU and WB4QOJ along with others have been testing a new Packet Node on 145.03 WB4QOJ - 6 it is on the air and should be located on a 100' tower in Dallas by the first week in June. This will give coverage to KI4MDU-10 TelPac node for WinLink and allow digital check-ins on the net. Also the Silvercomet ARS ask Paulding County ARES to help in the Memorial Day Bike Ride on the Silver Comet Trail. We did and while the ride was going on we had an official piece of traffic that was passed on air in the ARRL Traffic format as Priority. One Polk County agency was trying to locate one of the Ride Directors Joe Anderson. This worked great. Our practice on the ARES Nets paid off. Net control passed the traffic to the Director at Rest Station 3 on the trail, message delivered fast and in proper format. Later that day the Deputy with Polk County Sheriffs Office sought out W4WRO ( Race Communications Director ) to thank ARES for a job will done. This was a great opportunity for Amateur Radio to shine and W4WRO to the opportunity to explain what we were all about. Remember our NETS and the web site at www.pauldingares.com (de LEE MCDANIEL, WB4QOJ)

ADDITIONAL GRANT INFORMATION --- It was announced in last month's newsletter that Home Depot had awarded a grant to Gwinnett County ARES, and those of you who also have the 501(c)(3) designation were encouraged to apply for a similar grant for your group. TIM BLITCH, N4EEE, who made the application for the Gwinnett ARES group, has some additional information on that process. He said that he filed the application online at http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/Grants. The door was opened for applications on February first, and he filed the very first day. (proving that the early bird really DOES get the worm!) So, you might check to see whether or not applications are still being accepted, or if not, be prepared to file for that grant money when the door for applications opens again.

***ARES-MAT 2006--- (de SCOTT ROYLE, KK4Z, ARES-MAT DEC) ARES-MAT, or Amateur Radio Emergency Service-Mutual Assistance Team for the Georgia Section is going through a genesis or at least a renaissance. The tragedy of 9-11 and increased hurricane activity call for a rethinking of how we do business as ARES.

Our model is changing and we are revamping our system to meet those needs in this new era. Under this new system we have created an ARES-MAT (ARES-1) whose specific duty is assist state agencies such as OHS/GEMA providing communications from the affected areas back to their SOC's/command posts. This team is designed to be self-sustaining for up to 5-days, travel 500-600 miles in their own vehicle without refueling, and to provide reliable long range communications to include digital modes such Winlink 2000. This team is designed for statewide and interstate travel. The team has training requirements that must be met. Records are kept of this training to prove to the served agencies that we are certified to do the work required. All this must be done prior to deployment or before the disaster event occurs. Gone are the days of showing up with an HT and saying "Here I am." Federal Guidelines under the National Incident Management System (NIMS) requires all first responders to have minimum training requirements. If you are interested in this type of service and can meet the requirements for training and deployment within a reasonable amount of time please contact Scott Royle KK4Z, DEC for ARES-MAT GA at kk4z@bellsouth.net. We currently have eight members and are looking for more.

Under our new model we are also developing ARES-MAT at the district level. Each DEC is being asked to form an ARES-MAT in his district for the purpose of supporting the counties in his district and his neighboring districts. In areas with few Hams, counties can combine to form one team. These teams will be designed to support the local county EOC's and county agencies. Travel and training requirements are not as stringent as ARES-1. Primary communication here will be short range with some long range capability. Each team will develop their own Standard Operating Procedures based on local agency needs and some statewide guidelines. For more information about District Level ARES-MAT please contact your local DEC. DEC's looking for more information can contact Scott Royle KK4Z at kk4z@bellsouth.net.

The third type of team we are developing is ARES-L (Amateur Radio Emergency Service Logistics). This team provides support for the deployed teams. Duties include monitoring ARES frequencies, providing winlink support (PMBO's), phone support, monitor weather and propagation, and re-supply of the deployed teams. This would be a good opportunity for those who cannot deploy for various reasons but still have a desire to serve. Deployed teams need a good support base. The Logistics team is every bit as important as the deployed teams. A team leader for this group has not been assigned. Anyone interested please contact Scott Royle KK4Z at kk4z@bellsouth.net.

**** As some of you may be aware, the ARRL signed an MOU with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) last year. (This document can be found at www.arrl.org/FandES/field/mou/CAR.pdf) Recently, some of Georgia's finest hams participated in an exercise with the CAP and GEMA. The After Action Report for that exercise follows:

John KC4ZGQ, Tom KG4VUB, Lyn KN4YC and Scott KK4Z represented ARES-MAT at Falcon Field with the Civil Air Patrol. Lowry KM4Z and David KE4ZLH were at the GEMA SOC. In addition Jere N4DQ was operating a portable station up in Dawson County and Greg N4VAD was operating fixed base in Jesup.

Mission Profile:

To provide emergency communications between GEMA's SOC and CAP's mission base at Falcon Filed in Peachtree City. Specific modes used were voice over VHF/FM using the 145.21 repeater and Pactor III over HF/USB.

CAP's mission brief began at 0745 lcl. Exercise started at approx. 0800 lcl. First message was passed using voice VHF/FM at approx. 0830 lcl. HF at this time was not set up. The HF station was activated under the call sign KK4Z and given the tactical call sign Peachtree Mission Base at 0900 lcl. Tactical call sigh for GEMA was SOC. There were two other messages passed via HF using Pactor III and Winlink each successfully reaching its destination. In addition tactical information was passed to N4DQ and N4VAD as well as KM4Z. At 1230 lcl it was determined that ARES-MAT was no longer needed and the stations KK4Z and WX4GMA stood down at 1245 lcl.

All in all the CAP people were very pleased with the way in which we operated and were impressed with Airmail and Winlink. We allowed a couple of them to sit at the laptop and hammer out a few emails to show how easy it was. Winlink was working very well in conditions that were not conducive to voice communication. We are hoping to get involved in there state wide exercise next month. Also I may get certified in CAP as a communicator to become a liaison for them.

Issues:

Major issue was the station at GEMA SOC was not operational during the exercise. This may be due to a new antenna system that was recently installed there. GEMA SOC was able to receive emails from KK4Z by getting them from the internet. It would have been nice to try a direct link with GEMA from KK4Z.

Other issues: Need to work more closely with the CAP COM officer as far as set up and interoperability. In this instance we were on opposite sides of the building making it difficult to coordinate efforts. To remedy this I asked that the next time we are invited to participate that we could get a mission brief as soon as possible and set up our mission profile prior to arriving at their mission base.

We need to develop protocols for tactical message handling and receipt and acknowledgement of Airmail traffic. I would like to invite Tom KG4VUB and Lowry KM4Z to help me with this. Hopefully this will be a relatively short document that can easily be appended to other units SOP's.

I would like to thank all those who participated in this exercise. The success of this mission was solely based on everyone working together and working through the issues. Even though we had our troubles it was still a mission complete with a completely satisfied served agency.

Scott J. Royle, KK4Z
District Emergency Coordinator
ARES-MAT, Georgia
kk4z@bellsouth.net
770-843-7195

*** Announcement from WX4NHC Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center

WX4NHC Hurricane Season 2006 On-The-Air Station Test Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 from 9 AM - 6 PM EST (1300z-2200z)

The purpose of this annual Station Test is to test all of our radio equipment, computers and antennas using as many modes and frequencies as possible. This is not a Contest or simulated Hurricane Exercise. RFI monitoring is also done to NHC equipment. Some operator training will also be conducted.

WX4NHC will be On-The-Air on HF, VHF, UHF and 2 & 30 meter APRS. We plan on using the following phone frequencies +/- QRM 7.268mhz, 14.325mhz, 21.325mhz, 28.525mhz. CW will be on 14.035, 21.035 and 28.035. PSK31 on 14.070.

Need to find us on HF, try using one of the DX Spotting Networks, Such as the DX Summit Web Site: http://oh2aq.kolumbus.com/dxs/ Select "DX-Spots" 50, 250 or 1,000 or select "Spot Database Search" and enter WX4NHC.

We will also be on VoIP Hurricane Net 1pm-3pm EDT (1700z-1900z) (IRLP node 9219 / EchoLink WX-TALK Conference). http://www.voipwx.net/

South Florida area VHF & UHF Repeaters & simplex.

Report your Call sign, Signal Report, Location and Name. Short Weather Report ("Sunny", or "Rain", etc.)

Non-Hams are invited to submit their actual weather using the On-Line Hurricane Report Form at http://www.wx4nhc.org/WX-form1.html

QSL Cards are available via WD4R. Please S.A.S.E. (Please do not send QSLs directly to the Hurricane Center.)

Due to security measures, NO VISITORS will be allowed at NHC during this test.

Thank you for your participation in this TEST.

WX4NHC Amateur Radio Station At the National Hurricane Center www.wx4nhc.org

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:
A tool for testing the tensile strength on everything you forgot to disconnect.

ARES REPORT DE STAN EDWARDS, WA4DYD, DSEC

The following is reported for March 2006:

Membership: 1,178 Change since last month: 36

Total Net Sessions: 113
Drills, Tests, Training Sessions: 91 Man-hours: 952
Public Service Events: 29 Man-hours: 427
Emergency Operations: 6 Man-hours: 73
Misc. Events: 23 Man-hours: 153

Total Events: 149 Total Man-hours: 1,605

Reporting by District:

West Central 100.0%
Metro Atlanta 72.7%
Northeast 33.3%
Northwest 30.8%
Southeast 28.6%
Southwest 25.0%
Central 20.0%
East Central 0.0%

Total Reporting 27.0%

The following jurisdictions reported for April: Baldwin, Bartow, Carroll, Charlton, Chatham, Clarke/Madison, Clayton/Hentry, Cobb, Decatur, DeKalb, Dodge, Evans, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton-North, Gilmer, Glenn, Grady/Thomas, Gwinnett, Hall, Haralson, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Morgan, Muscogee, Newton, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Rockdale, Toombs, Towns, Ware, and Worth.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:
Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new disc brake pads,
trapping the jack handle under the bumper.

NET REPORT DE JIM HANNA, AF4NS, STM

PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL:

STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS:

Traffic handled (QTC):

*****NOTE: Don't forget the South CARS net, which meets every day from 8 AM until 10 AM and again from noon until 2PM, on 7.251 MHz. A friendly, welcoming group of folks. Especially great company while on the road. I understand that a Trader's Net meets on this same frequency on Wednesday mornings at 10 AM.

***** Other GREAT nets:
QCWA: Saturdays at 9AM on 3857.5 MHz
SE 6M SSB Net: Sundays at 9 PM on 50.145 MHz
SE AM Net: Tuesdays at 7:30 PM on 3885 kc (AM nets ALWAYS meet on kcs...)
Hole in the Wall Net: Wednesdays at 9 PM on 50.135 MHz

"In days of old, when ops were bold and sideband not invented,
the words were passed by pounding brass,and all were quite contented." Anonymous

SECTION NOTABLES

**RON MCDANIEL, W4ALJ, was recognized by QCWA recently for hitting the milestone of FIFTY years as an amateur radio licensee. CONGRATULATIONS, Ron!

**SK BILL FISHER, who held the callsign W4AN, (which is now, in his honor, the callsign for the SE Contest Club) was posthumously inducted into the CQ Hall of Fame at the 2006 Contest Dinner held this year at the Dayton Hamfest.

**Lotsa HIGH SCORING Georgia stations to applaud this month:

In the 2005 ARRL Phone Sweepstakes, the SOUTHEAST CONTEST CLUB royally kicked some contesting butt, with the top score of 3,901,726 in the affiliated club category. (boggles the mind, doesn't it?) PAUL NEWBERRY, JR, N4PN, came in number one in the single operator, low power class, and the GA TECH ARC, W4AQL, placed number five in the school club category, earning both Paul and the Tech club a plaque. A plaque will also be going to LEWIS DENNIN, WW4LL, in the multi-op phone category.

In the 2005 ARRL 160 M Contest, JIM STAFFORD, W4QO, took the honors as the Southeastern divisional leader in the QRP category, and placed fourth in the SE Region (SE, Roanoke, and Delta divisions). The SOUTHEAST CONTEST CLUB placed in the top ten (#6) for affiliated clubs. (with "only" 1,253,776 points) CHARLES RAUCH, W8JI, living up to his reputation as one of the top 160 M operators in the country, took top honors for both the division and the region, operating single op, high power. And number one for the SE multi-op category was HARRY FREEMAN, NK9R.

RESULTS for this year's GA QSO Party are already posted (Talk about FAST!) at http://gqp.contesting.com/index.htm (Check it out for a full accounting of the scores.) Among GA competitors, the overall top scorer was PAUL NEWBERRY, N4PN, who operated as a rover, low power, mixed mode station. The COASTAL ARS was the top GA club. Other GA winners: SOUTHEAST CONTEST CLUB, W4AN; (No surprise there, huh?) BILL BARR, N4NX; BOB WILCOX, NA4BW; HAROLD KENNEDY, N4GG; ROBERT HIGGINS, K4LW; MATTHEW LEE, K4AQ; and CHARLES SANDERS, NO5W.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4:
Used for levering an automobile upward off a hydraulic jack handle.

ATTENTION ALL SCOUT SUPPORTERS!!!

This message comes to you from our ASM for Scouting, DAVID PEARCE, ABØNG:

Volunteers recognized for Scouting and more volunteers needed.

There are many Hams out there supporting both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Your Georgia Section Management would like to know and recognize the work you do with scouts. We are also trying to develop a better relationship with all Georgia Scouting programs and need your help as well as the help of other interested hams.

Please Provide your name, Callsign and a list of activities you do with scouts and other youth organizations. Indicate any activities that relate to amateur radio. Please indicate if you have an ongoing connection and or rapport with any scouting or youth organizations. We hope to identify some of your activities in future newsletters.

Please e-mail to: ab0ng@arrl.net 
or mail to:
David Pearce
P.O. Box 5213
Marietta GA, 30061

With Jamboree on the Air coming on October 21 and 22 this year, your GA Section management would like to help make this year's JOTA the best ever. To accomplish this, we want to make sure as many Scouts, both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as possible are made aware of JOTA. We have seen that while Hams take an active role in promoting JOTA, many Local Scout Organizations do not have JOTA listed on their calendars. We want your help to make sure that JOTA is included in this and future years' calendars. We would like to have hams volunteer to connect with specific Scout organizations see if JOTA is on their calendar and if not, to add JOTA to their calendar. We would also ask that you become a Point of Contact for those specific organizations you volunteer to call-on. David Pearce - ABØNG- will be the coordinator of this effort.

To Volunteer for Calendar Duty, please e-mail to David Pearce, ABØNG at the above e-mail address.

And for all those amateurs running JOTA stations this year, please include your information on the ARRL Website at
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/youthskeds/ and if you would also send the specifics to David Pearce, we will list the info in the October newsletter.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing splinters.
(which, of course, you get from that 2X4 you used to get your car off of the jack handle...)

GEORGIA PIGLETS (AKA YOUNG HAMS)

**Twelve year old JORDEN LAWSON, KI4NBW, will be joining Thomasville ARC president MIKE BROWN, KE4FGF, in an interview for radio station WPAX, to talk about Field Day. Jorden is also a club president, for the Jefferson County Hamsters, a club made up of young hams and young hams-to-be.

*** GET READY! Here comes another KIDS DAY!!!

When: Saturday June 17th, from 18:00 to 24:00 UTC (2pm EDT until 8pm EDT)

Frequencies: 28.35 to 28.4 Mhz; 21.38 to 21.4 Mhz; 14.27 to 14.3 Mhz; and 2 Meter repeaters (with the owner's permission)

Please observe 3rd party traffic restrictions when making DX QSOs

Suggested exchange: Name, age, location, favorite color

Call "CQ Kids Day"

Please visit www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kids-day-survey.html
To fill out the survey and download a certificate.
Or send a 9 inch by 12 inch SASE to:
Boring Amateur Radio Club
PO Box 1357
Boring, OR. 97009

MORE on KIDS DAY, from ANDREA HARTLAGE, KG4IUM, our ASM for Youth:

Hello, Everybody! In Georgia this Kid's Day, we want to encourage your participation. That's right---you! Instead of having a localized event like in the past, which limits the number of people able to participate, we're going to give you the tools to plan your own event.

We're going to have a contest to see who can have the most youth come to their ham shack to operate for Kid's Day. Invite your children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends, and any other youth that you know. Then, see how many contacts they can make!

And, attention radio clubs and repeater managers! We'd like to encourage you to open up your repeaters for Kid's Day contacts. As you're listening to your local repeater on January 6th, put out several calls for any youth who may be monitoring. And, for those of you who invite youth to your shack, remember to let them get on the local repeaters, as well as HF.

In fact, just like it is for the Alford Memorial Radio Club Hamfest, the Georgia Kid's Day calling frequency will be 147.555 simplex.

So, see how many other Georgia youth you can contact using simplex and repeaters, and then see how many other states you can contact using HF, if you have that capability.

To further encourage participation, a number of prizes will be awarded to Georgia hams and youth who are particularly dedicated to Kid's Day. Special recognition will be given to:

*The ham who has the most youth in their ham shack on Kid's Day
*The Georgia youth who contacts the most youth in Georgia
*The licensed Georgia youth (under 18) who makes the most contacts
*The unlicensed Georgia youth (under 18) who makes the most contacts
*The Georgia youth who has the most interesting QSO
*The Georgia radio club or repeater manager who supports the most Kid's Day contacts on their repeater
*The Georgia youth who contacts the youngest youth
*The ham with the most creative setup/ most interesting activities for youth

After your Kid's Day event, be sure to send us a report and pictures of what happened. That's the only way we'll know who to give the above awards to. And, we'll post especially good pictures and Kid's Day reports to the Georgia Section webpage. Send your Kid's Day reports to kg4ium@arrl-ga.org by February 12th; winners will be announced towards the end of February.

And, be sure to check out the ARRL Kid's Day website, http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kd-rules.html, for official rules and HF calling frequencies. In addition to submitting your Kid's Day report to me, be sure to fill out the ARRL Kid's Day survey and print certificates for the youth in your shack.

If you have any questions or need suggestions about where to start, feel free to e-mail me at kg4ium@arrl-ga.org. So, start inviting youth, make as many contacts as you can, and submit those reports. And, don't forget to have fun!!

Good luck with your event!

NOTE: Andrea served as hostess for the Youth activities at the Dayton Hamvention this year, and she reported that SEVENTY-FIVE young people stopped by at the booth up there this year. They also had a well-populated Youth Lounge and the biggest Youth Dinner ever. CONGRATULATIONS to Andrea for her rousing success. (We aren't surprised, are we?) She sported her new GA Piglet tee shirt at the Youth Dinner, and it was met with appropriate oohs and ahs. (You can order YOURS soon! Watch for information on our section webpage.) Also, look for the kick-off for this year's competition for the 2006 GA Section Piglet of the Year (to be awarded at the Lawrenceville Hamfest in November.)

*** CREW 73 is a co-ed Scout group, for youngsters 14 to 21 years old, who enjoy lots of fun high adventure activities and what else? Amateur radio. Sponsored by the Gwinnett ARS, these young people are enthusiastic operators at Field Day every year, and support many of the club's public service activities. These young people are highly motivated and as they mature, they continue to demonstrate their dedication to serving their community. AARON KLINECT, KG4UJM, recently graduated from the Gwinnett County Fire Academy and is now working as a Norcross firefighter. ZACH BENNETT has already graduated as an EMT, and is returning to school to become a paramedic. And let us not forget CRYSTAL FLOREA, KG4PYL, (pretty young lady) who has joined the US Marine Corps. (And I hear that her grace and incredible dancing abilities have her running circles around her fellow recruits!) RAY BACK, KI4GRJ, an Eagle Scout, has chaired the Gwinnett club's Tech Fest for the past two years, and will be doing so again next year. Each and every one of these young people are exemplary models of what we hope to see from our youth. As they reach the magic age of 21, they are reluctant to leave the Crew, and some remain on as adult leaders. But what they need now are some new members. If you're between the ages of 14 and 21 and are interested in joining this great group, please contact STEVE BACK, WB2OGY for more information, or see their link on the www.gars.org website. Wb2ogy@arrl.net

PRY BAR:
A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket
you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

UPCOMING EVENTS

JUNE 2-4 --- Special Olympics GA Summer Games, Emory University Campus, Atlanta. More volunteers needed!!! If you can help, please contact STEVE GARRISON, N4SEG, at n4seg@arrl.net

JUNE 3 --- ATLANTA Hamfest, Jim Miller Park, Marietta. 8:30AM- 3:30PM. $5 entrance fee, and FREE ADMISSION for kids 17 and under. ARRL Forum @ 10:00AM DAN HENDERSON, N1ND "What's Happening On Main Street ARRL". Talk-In: 146.82(-)PL 146.2. (Stop by the ARRL booth and say "Howdy!")

JUNE 3 --- National Hurricane Center on-the-air test 9AM- 6PM (See additional info under "ARES NEWS")

JUNE 10-12 --- VHF QSO Party 1800Z June 10- 0300Z June 12

JUNE 17 --- KIDS DAY (more info under "PIGLETS")

JUNE 18 --- HAPPY FATHERS' DAY

JUNE 24-25 --- FIELD DAY!!!!!!

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.

PAULDING POSER ANSWER

[The reference to "Encryption" is a bit devious......as the key to the answer is the resistor color code....Brown Black Red Orange Yellow Green, etc]

Answer: Violet
All the colors listed in those mathematical operations are a part of the Resistor Color Code. Blue (6) + Gray (8) = 14 and divided by Red (2) = 7 (Violet).

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war,
the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive
parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.

SILENT KEYS

VIVIAN CARTER, KI4HLD
ERNEST CHURCH, W4DWE
RAY KENT, KB4C
BRUCE MONTGOMERY, W4BFR
LEONARD POSUSTA, AI4KO
HANK RHODES, KG4UJO

Heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of each of these special people. They will truly be missed.

Well, folks, that's about it for now. Until next time, this is AF4FO, signing clear. Take care of yourselves. And each other.

73, Susan af4fo@arrl.org   (Send me your news and tech tips!!)
ARRL Georgia Section Manager

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However,
a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

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