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, AB0NG;
ASM/ARES database: Steve Garrison, N4SEG; SEC: Gene Clark, W4AYK;
STM: Charles Pennington, K4GK; OOC: Richard Turner, WB4A;
TC: Jim Worsham, W4KXY; PIC: Norm Schklar, WA4ZXV; SGL: Bill Cherepy,
WB4WTN; ACC: Robin Cutshaw, AA4RC
Greetings, All.
Well, this was originally going to be a standard run-of-the-mill
mid-monthly summary, but you know what they say about the best-laid
plans of mice and men. In case you haven't noticed, we're kinda past
the mid-monthly mark. Not that that's a big deal, but the summary is
also supposed to be limited to a certain number of lines, and I'm
afraid this is gonna surpass those limitations a couple times over.
So let's just call this a mid-monthly hybrid... later and longer
than a summary, but earlier and shorter than a newsletter.
First off, I want to THANK all of those wonderful
people who are listed at the top of this page. I reckon you could
call them our GA "cabinet".
You could also call them fantastic. They, and
every other volunteer who has served in the cabinet or in one of our
field service positions with me over these past eight years, have
all contributed so much toward making my tour of duty an enjoyable
experience. So thank you all.
Hats off to RICHARD TURNER, WB4A,
who assumed the OOC position as of the 15th of this month, replacing
my better half MIKE, ("That's Meeee"), K4HBI. I
know Rich will do a super job. And Mike. What can I say about Mike?
Without a doubt, I could not have served as your Section Mom without
his enthusiastic support and encouragement. He has truly been the
wind beneath my wings. Still is. (We just won't be "flying" to quite
so many ham functions now...)
Thanks to all of you who've sent such nice
congratulatory notes my way about the Joe Knight Distinguished
Service award. (It's GORGEOUS!) There was a little blurb and picture
about it in the October QST, but unfortunately, there was also an
error in QST. That picture of me was, indeed, taken by A Mike, but
it wasn't taken by MY Mike. Apologies to MICHAEL CROWDER,
AA4BA, who actually took the picture that was printed in
the magazine. He did me a tremendous favor by taking the picture,
and I'm very sorry that he wasn't given the proper acknowledgement
in the magazine. But I wanted y'all to know. Mike is the Hall county
EC, an all-around good guy, and fine photographer. I'm truly sorry
for the mix-up.
RECENT ARES APPOINTMENTS: Taking over from
BILL CHEREPY, WB4WTN, the new DEC for GEMA is
TOM HOLCOMB, K5AES. In the Central district,
JAMES BURGAMY, SR, WB4NFG, is taking the reins from
OTIS MURPHY, W4OY, as the EC in Wilkinson county;
ROBERT HEAD, JR, KI4YNZ, is taking over as EC in
Peach county, replacing TIM HARDY, AF1G, who is now
one of the ADECs for the district; long-time Putnam county EC
TONY NUETZI, KF4EOH, has extended his
responsibilities to include Greene county, as well; and CARL
GILBERT, JR, WB4NKU, is the new EC for Crawford county.
Changes in the SW district have ROBERT GRABOWSKI, KJ4HII,
as a new ADEC for the district, and ZACHARY CHANDLER, KJ4LOO,
as a new ADEC for NWS/Tallahassee. CONGRATULATIONS and sincere
thanks to all of these fine gentlemen.
TALKING ABOUT ARES, as you know, there will be
big changes afoot on October 1, when GENE CLARK, W4AYK,
our current SEC, takes over as SM, and MIKE BROWN, KE4FGF,
steps up to the SEC position. The following message comes to you
from Mike, who wanted to give y'all an early heads up regarding next
year's statewide ARES meeting:
I wanted to let you know we have begun working on
the agenda for the ARES Meeting in Forsyth in January 2010. In the
past, the DECs have met in a smaller room at 10am, and the ECs and
other ARES members join in at 1pm in the auditorium. The meeting at
1pm was mainly for presentations from invited speakers, awards, and
door prizes. For 2010, we're changing things up a bit.
Over the last few years I've been in attendance,
I've noticed that the afternoon attendance has been somewhat lagging
from what I expected it would be. I'm thinking that maybe the ECs
and other ARES members have concerns and might feel like they are
lacking a "forum" to make them known. So, for this year, and into
the future if it works, the 10am meeting will be in the auditorium
and will be open to any ARES member who wants to attend and help
chart the course this organization takes in 2010.
I'm sure many of you do have questions or
concerns...I know I did when I was an EC. What I'd like for you to
do is email them to me so I can get them collated and be ready to
give you the correct answers or have another GAARES member (officer
or not) available that does have the answer. If there is no good
answer, we know it will be something the entire group may need to
look at so that we can come up with an answer.
If we get through in an hour or so, there's
nothing to prevent the DECs from taking their groups off to have a
district meeting and make sure every EC gets to meet their
counterparts face to face. After all, the ARES group in an adjacent
county will most likely be the first responders when help is needed.
We need to know each other better.
What I'm after is for GAARES to be like the cell
phone commercial where the person stands there with hundreds of
phone company workers behind him representing the network that makes
his communications work. Guess that makes me the fellow in the black
glasses saying "can you hear me now?"
I am listening...send your questions to
ke4fgf@arrl.net I look forward to seeing YOU in Forsyth in January,
2010.
73 de Mike
With this month being National Preparedness
Month, a number of ARES groups (or ham clubs) have already
participated in various preparedness activities within their
counties. And a number of others will be supporting activities
within their counties in the very near future.
All of these folks deserve our gratitude for
doing such an excellent job of representing us so well to the
public. TERRY ATHA, KG4LTL, EC of Butts county, was
kind enough to send me a flyer about the preparedness activities
planned in his county for this coming Saturday. If you're interested
in checking it out, he says that there will be a talk-in station on
444.875, with no PL. The Butts County LEPC/ CCC, along with the
Butts County Fire Department will be hosting the 2009 Public Safety
Muster for National Preparedness Month at the Butts County
Recreation Center 576 Ernest Biles Dr. Jackson, Ga. 30233 on
Saturday September 26, 2009 from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. The flyer
shows that there will be a LOT of fun activities going on. Let's
hope it doesn't rain.
Talking about rain, as you all know, parts of the
state have been hit with outrageous amounts of that wet stuff, and
flooding and water damage has some of us looking back on the drought
with fond nostalgia.
For those of you interested in getting a better
understanding of what's been happening in our waterlogged state,
here's the link to the Georgia Flood Situation Page(tm):
http://www.vuetoo.com/vue1/SituationPageNews.asp?sit=5634
(Viewing Tip: Press F11 for Full Screen)
Here is an important message from BILL
HAMPTON, W4OO, for all current and prospective GA REPEATER
OWNERS: I would like to address all Georgia repeater owners and
trustees. Many repeater owners have expressed interest in being more
actively involved in the process of getting a repeater on the air or
managing one currently in use. With newer digital technologies
evolving using less spectrum, there are new possibilities for more
frequencies and more repeaters serving clubs and public interest
while protecting existing locations. We would like to bring this
process home to local Georgia hams who want to be involved in this
organization. We are looking for enthusiastic hams to participate
from all areas of the state. This will be working with trustees and
owners to hear what they want in repeater representation.
We hope to provide online database information of
repeaters in Georgia, access to see where repeaters are located, and
monthly email newsletter. If this sounds like something you wish to
be a part of, drop me an email at
jawjabillatl@bellsouth.net. Also, repeater owners and trustees
will be receiving annual paperwork soon for validation of repeaters
on the air, be sure to make a copy for your records and the date
paperwork was mailed.
ELDEN MORRIS, N1ETN, shared some
information about upcoming activities for the Kennehoochee ARC: KARC
and American Legion Post 264 will be hosting Jamboree on the Air at
the American Legion at 6251 Ivey Road, in Mableton, operating as
W4BTI from 8AM Saturday, October 17 until noon
Sunday, October 18. He says the event is open to ALL scouts, and
they will be operating HF, VHF, UHF and PSK31. The club will also be
holding a two-day Tech class at that same location in the near
future.
(Check the club website at
www.w4bti.org
for additional information.) Although not hosted by the club, Elden
also wanted to let people know that the sixth annual Merit Badge
University will be held at Kennesaw State University, on Saturday,
October 10, where there will be classes available for approximately
70 different merit badges, including the Radio Merit Badge. For more
information and to sign up for merit badge classes, please go to
http://www.meritbadge.info
A bunch of you have already made plans to
actively work with Scouts this year in support of the 52nd Scouting
Jamboree on the Air, better known as JOTA. PHIL NEIDLINGER,
KA4KOE, always does a fine job of heading up the efforts
down Savannah way. The Gwinnett ARS will be combining a club picnic
and fox hunt with their JOTA activities at Rhodes Jordan Park in
Lawrenceville. How about YOUR club? It isn't too late to set
something up for this important annual Scouting event.
There's nothing like being responsible for
exposing our young people to the joys of amateur radio. Try it.
You'll like it.
The North Fulton ARL wanted to end the year with
a "bang", and they've come up with a way to do just that. QST
Technical Editor JOEL HALLAS, W1ZR, will be flying
all the way down from CT just to be the featured guest speaker at
the club's November 19 meeting. And y'all are invited!
Pretty cool huh? So come on out and bring your
technical questions to this meeting, which will be held at Roswell
City Hall, at 31 Hill St, in Roswell. Talk-in: 145.470(-) PL 100.
SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS: GA will be hosting a
number of special event stations during the month of October. From
1200-2100Z on the 3rd, the Columbia County ARC will be operating
W4O, in support of the annual Oliver Hardy
Festival. That same day, from 1300-2300Z, the South GA Methodist ARS
will be operating WG4UM in conjunction with the
Hahira Honey Bee Festival. On October 10-11, the Athens ARC, NE GA
ARC, and Oconee County ARS will be operating K4UGA
for thirty hours, in celebration of the thirty years that amateur
radio operators have provided communications during UGA home
football games. And on the 17th, there will be two stations on the
air in support of the 70th anniversary of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
W4A will operate from 1400-2200Z, from Lake
Alatoona, and W4L will operate from 1400-2100z, from Lake Lanier.
UPCOMING HAMFESTS:
October 3 --- The FIRST LaGrange ARC Hamfest,
8AM- 1PM. Oakside Baptist Church gym, 1921 Hamilton Rd. TI 146.7 (PL
141.3) For more info, please see
www.lagrangeradioclub.org
October 10 --- ARC of Augusta Hamfest. Evans
Middle School. Please see w4dv.org for more info.
October 17 --- NW GA ARC's Al Brock Memorial
Hamfest and Tailgate. National Guard Armory.
www.w4vo.org for more info
November 7-8 --- Alford Memorial ARC's
not-to-be-missed Hamfest at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds,
Sugarloaf Parkway, in Lawrenceville.
www.totr-radio.org
And ONE other upcoming event --- October 19-23
--- School Round-Up. (Go, Ramblers!)
SILENT KEYS: JAMES BAIR, W4PFC,
and HUGH BEAM, K4HFB. Heartfelt condolences to the
families and friends of these two dear men.
Well, folks, that's about it. You know how it is
after spending a fabulous evening with dear friends? No matter how
late the hour, when it's time to head for home, we tend to linger at
the door, delaying that final good-bye, so we can squeeze in those
final words, get in those last laughs. Well, that's how it is for me
now. It's definitely time to go, but I'm tarrying at the door,
reluctant to leave. Thanks for the fabulous "evening". This is
AF4FO, signing clear. Take care of yourselves. And
each other. 88, Susan
QTC August: WA9WNE-400; WA4ZXV-337; K4BG-167;
K4GK-153; WB4BIK-58; K4BAI-50; K4BEH-30
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
