SM: Susan Swiderski, AF4FO; ASM/South GA: Marshall Thigpen, W4IS;
ASM/Legal: Jim Altman, W4UCK; ASM/Webmaster: Bob Smith, K4PHE; ASM/Youth Activities: Brittney Hancock, KI4WNY; ASM/Youth Advisor: Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM; ASM/ Scouting: David Pearce,ABØNG; SEC: Jim Cote, N4PJR;
STM: Charles Pennington, K4GK; OOC: Mike Swiderski, K4HBI; TC: Jim Worsham, W4KXY;
PIC: Norm Schklar,WA4ZXV; SGL: Bill Cherepy, WB4WTN; ACC: Robin Cutshaw, AA4RC

Greetings, All.

It was nice to see a little bit of the white stuff (snow!!!) here last evening. And it was just as nice to see that it's almost gone this morning. That was enough winter for me.

This past Saturday was the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society (GARS) Tech Fest.

Tell you what, if you missed it, you missed a fantastic event. LOTS of people there. Our new SE Division Director GREG SARRATT, W4OZK, even made the trip, and like everyone else, he seemed to like what he saw. For the first time, the SE DX Club offered a couple of forums on DX-ing, and both forums were packed. I mean PACKED. SRO. And also for the first time, there was a VE session, and a number of people took advantage of the opportunity. This session was supposed to be offered by the W5YI team of HOWIE GOULD, W9HG, but that dear man became a silent key the week before. Anyone who knew Howie knows that he was a force to be reckoned with. Served as president of the club for three terms in the mid-90's, and under his strong leadership, the club membership soared to over 300. Failure was never an option for him. If he needed volunteers for something, he had no problem with locking the door and saying that no one was leaving until he GOT those volunteers. Know what?

He always got 'em, too. For more than 50 years, he was an outspoken active advocate for amateur radio, and a much-respected Air Force MARS member. And he was my friend. He will truly be missed. After Howie became an SK, the Alford Memorial ARC's ARRL VE team led by BOB VARONE, W4ETN, graciously offered to host the VE session at Tech Fest, even though they were already handling another session earlier that morning in another location. Many thanks to Bob and his team for their service. When clubs pull together and help each other like that, it truly makes you proud to belong to the ham community. Tech fest, as always, was a great event. More info on it in the February newsletter.

There are a lot of unsung heroes in this hobby, but it's time to sing about one of them. (Cue up the music... something nice like "Stardust"...) This man served a term as SM, and became an Assistant SM under SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU, who's now our favorite Director of Vice. He graciously agreed to continue as ASM after I took office, and continues to serve today as our ASM/Legal. That man is JIM ALTMAN, W4UCK. (music should segue to something rousing and patriotic now) He's been instrumental over the years in working with various county and municipal authorities to insure that ordinances governing amateur radio towers and antennas are fair and reasonable. Always goes the extra mile, and always pays attention to the legal details that you or I might overlook. Georgia truly owes him a debt of gratitude. He's been working his magic in the city of Norcross for the past few months, and as a resident of that city, I sincerely thank him for all his efforts. Because of him, looks like the good guys are gonna win again. (that's us!) We're not popping the champagne corks yet, but we got it on ice. Thanks, also, to each ham who has attended all of the city meetings, some of whom stood up and said a few words on behalf of the amateur radio service. It was, to some extent, a team effort, but it was Jim who deserves the accolades. So, thank you, Jim.

Coming up on January 26 is our statewide ARES meeting, to be held at the GA Public Service Training Center in Forsyth. ALL are welcome to attend. If you have any interest in emergency communications, that's the place to be. Not an ARES member? Doesn't matter. We'd love to have you RACES members there, too.

You can tell us about RACES, and we can learn from each other. In addition to some great presentations, there will also be time set aside for you to share your success stories and problems, and gain insight from some of the other ARES members from around the state. See our www.gaares.org website for additional information.

Did you know that you don't have to send your QSL cards off to ARRL HQ to have them checked for awards? We have a great group of volunteers right here in GA who can do that for you. I'll remind you who they all are in the February newsletter, but I do want to CONGRATULATE and welcome our newest awards manager, MIKE WEATHERS, ND4V, who serves that function on behalf of GARS, one of our Special Service Clubs.

Does your club offer a VE session? Is the info about your sessions accurate on our www.arrl-ga.org website? People all over the state rely on our website to provide them with accurate information when they're ready to take a test, so please check it to make sure your sessions are included and the info is accurate. (Click on "Exam Sites" at the top of the homepage.) If you need to add your sessions, or make any changes to the information provided, please send that info to our esteemed webmaster BOB SMITH, K4PHE, at k4phe@arrl.net.

Thank you.

SILENT KEYS: CHUCK FAIRBROTHER, KA4ARB and HOWIE GOULD, W9HG. Sincere condolences to their families and friends. Both of these fine men 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

QTC December: K8GA-148; K4GK-110; WA4UJC-54; K4BAI-34; WB4BIK-34

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

ARRL Georgia Section
Section Manager: Susan K. Swiderski, AF4FO af4fo@arrl.org