It's always easy to tell when you folks
have been busily teaching amateur radio classes around the state, because that
always results in a large number of new hams. You guys have been really busy,
because we got FIFTY-SEVEN new hams in Georgia in the past few weeks. That's
awesome, even if it does give me a bit of "writer's cramp" from writing out all
of those post cards to welcome them to the hobby. THANK YOU to all of you who
continue to teach classes to bring new people into the hobby, and to help those
already in it to make the transition to higher class licences. You instructors
are our unsung heroes.
Some great news on the BPL front for
Georgia. GLENN PURCELL, of GrayStone, the company that has been doing a pilot
test for BPL in the Douglasville area, has informed ED HARE, W4RFI, of
the ARRL, that the company has decided NOT to pursue BPL as a commercial
service. Furthermore, they will NOT conduct pilot testing in any other areas.
(YEE-HA!) Overhead units have already been shut down, and shutdown on all
underground units will begin in November. In his letter, Mr. Purcell also
mentioned how much he enjoyed working with our BPL Team Leader in the area,
LES WILDING, K4OL, and said that he learned much from him. Many, many thanks
to Les for his great work.
Once again, y'all came through for us when
it got down to the wire. It's a pleasure to report that we received five
terrific nominations for this year's GA Youth of the Year award, (AKA Golden
Piglet) and our panel of judges is now in the process of making the decision as
to who will be this year's worthy winner. This fine young ham will be named at
the Youth Forum (noon, on November 4) at the Alford Memorial ARC's super duper
Hamfest in Lawrenceville. We have a great group of sponsors who have once again
donated prizes for this year's winner: Kenwood, HRO, MFJ, and the Alford
Memorial ARC. Graciously serving as a new sponsor this year is the Gwinnett ARS,
who generously donated money to be used for providing snacks and door prizes for
our many young attendees. Heartfelt thanks to our fine sponsors, our terrific
panel of judges, and to each of you who made a nomination this year. (Maybe next
year we could maybe convince y'all to get those nominations in a little
EARLIER?? We were really sweating it this year...)
Another note on the Lawrenceville Hamfest:
they're never content to rest on their past laurels, and are always adding
something NEW. New this year is the open invitation to all ARES groups to bring
their comm trailers... and maybe win a prize. ROBERT TYLER, KF4VBR, said
that they'll line 'em up, side by side, and allow the crowd to judge them on a
variety of different categories.
Here's your chance to let everyone "ooh"
and "ah" over your pride and joy.
Robert says, "Bring your ARES banners,
your tall antennas, and all of your equipment. Electricity should be available
upon request". For more info, you can contact Robert at
kf4vbr@arrl-ga.org. Another "coup" for
the Hamfest this year is that STEVE WATERMAN, K4CJX, will be conducting a
seminar on WinLink at the ARES forum. (11 AM) Here's your opportunity to get
information straight from the brains behind this communications tool.
Talking about Hamfests, Georgia had two of
'em this past weekend: the Augusta Hamfest, sponsored by the ARC of Augusta, and
the Al Brock Memorial Hamfest, sponsored by the NW GA ARC, and held in Rome.
Alas, since we still haven't figured out how to be in two places at one time, we
went to Augusta and had a fine time there. We missed seeing the fine folks in
North GA, but TONY KING, W4ZT, reported that the Rome Hamfest was a
success, as well. More on both Hamfests in the November newsletter.
Coming up this weekend is JOTA, Jamboree
on the Air, the great opportunity for Scouts all over the world to talk to other
Scouts all over the world. From preliminary reports, it sounds like more GA hams
may be involved with this than ever before. Don't forget that AO-51 will be in
operation, using 145.88 as the uplink frequency, and 435.150 as downlink, and
JOTA participants are encouraged to take advantage of this satellite to wow the
kids with this fascinating aspect of the hobby. JIM STAFFORD, W4QO, came
up with a super suggestion that we establish a time and frequency for GA
participants to meet on the air, and as soon as I hear back from DAVID
PEARCE, ABØNG, our ASM for Scouting, I'll pass the details on to y'all. It'd
be kinda cool if we had a "net" of sorts, with all of our GA Scout groups
checking in, and giving info on their location, set-up, and how many kids they
have participating, that sort of thing, wouldn't it? At any rate, as soon as I
have more info to share with you on this, I'll ship out another email. At any
rate, I hope that you ALL have a successful JOTA experience this year. May the
propagation be with us.
CONGRATULATIONS go out to our two newest
ARRL Affiliated clubs: the Newton County Radio Club, and the Walton County
Emergency Radio Club. We (SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU; ROBIN CUTSHAW, AA4RC;
MIKE SWIDERSKI, K4HBI; and yours truly) had the pleasure of meeting with
the Newton county club last night, where we presented them with their charter of
affiliation, and tried to "WOW" 'em with a little program, as well. And we're
looking forward to visiting with the club in Walton county next month. It's
pretty exciting that we're continuing to see new amateur radio clubs forming
here in Georgia, and continuing to have more of our clubs achieve ARRL
affiliation; and we're very proud of both of these recent additions to our fine
list of active affiliated clubs.
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
September QTC: WB4GGS-437; N4VAD-180;
AF4NS-83; K4GK-52; WB4BIK-45; KR4JI-31; K4BEH-28; K4WKT-23
