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Season’s Greetings!
Hard to believe it’s already December…seems like I just got through with the January Newsletter. It’s been a month of ups and downs, with the Fish Fry coming in right on top.
Sixty folks got in line for some good eating, with catfish, mullet, and shrimp as the main items. The sides were also plentiful, as was the desserts. Our thanks go to everyone who stood in front of a hot stove to make all this happen.
John, Wally, and William put in a lot of time at the deep fat fryers helped by a number of other folks, and the results were great!! Dan was also busy with a Fry‐Daddy cooking shrimp. Seminole Wind helped out again by providing the cooking oil, which saves the club a good chunk of change.
A few people who were supposed to be there didn’t show, but the tables were still full and afterwards showed heavy use, particularly the dessert table, which was almost bare.
One of those folks missing was Bobby, N4KXL, who got sick and spent that evening, and several days afterwards in a room at Archbold. The doctors finally got him straightened out and back home, though he will have to play it careful for a while. He’s already told me how bad he hated missing those catfish filets…
The meeting afterwards was brief due to everyone being REALLY FULL, but we got several things out of the way. First, John and the Nominations Committee presented their recommendations for the Officer Corps for 2013, and there were a couple of changes from the present group.
Wynona indicated that she needed to step aside due to work and other things keeping her from performing the duties as she wanted to. Dana agreed to take her place as VP –Events, which left the Secretary position open. The Committee approached Leann, KK4HYB, about taking it and she agreed, so the 2013 Officers are: President – Mike, KE4FGF, VP – John, KE4RWR, VP‐Events – Dana, KJ4GWB, Secretary – Leann, KK4HYB, Treasurer – Bobby, N4KXL, and Newsletter Editor – Buddy, WD4CJI.
That business aside, we turned to the Annual Awards presentations. The “Golden Mic” for Ham of the Year was not presented because the recipient was not present, so we moved on to the Military Vet of the Year.
Over the years, the recipients of this award served during World War II and Korea, but this year’s award winner did his stint during Vietnam. Congratulations to Walter, N1QJ for winning this award for 2012!
I’ll be doing a back page on Walter in the near future to better detail his service with the US Air Force.
That moves us on to the December Meeting, which will also be our Christmas Supper. We decided a few months back that we’d try this instead of going to a restaurant, as we’ve done in past years. We also moved the meeting back a week to December 8th.
The club will be providing the main dish, a combination of turkey and ham, and we’ll need side dishes to fill out the table (just like the Fish Fry). Please RSVP to this event as soon as you can to [email protected] or to me directly at [email protected]. As Wynona is busy with holiday mail, I’m taking this load off her shoulders.
As always, the whole family is welcome to attend, so get them in the car with you and we’ll all share a bit of “Christmas Cheer.”
So, for the moment, that’s enough from me, and I’ll be back later on the back page with this year’s “Fireside Chat.”
I’ll see YOU and your family at Morningside on December 8th!
Merry Christmas!!
Mike
December Birthdays The following members of our Radio Family have December Birthdays!
Roberta Maddox – Dec. 1st
Dan Farnsworth – Dec. 10th
Nirmal Singh – Dec. 11th
Pat McCloud – Dec. 15th
Wayne Lambert – Dec. 15th
Wally Guynn – Dec. 16th
Stephen Tyre – Dec. 17th
Carol Wetherington – Dec. 20th
Pete Donovan – December 28th
Larry Bostic – Dec. 29th
Don’t see your birthday? Let us know at [email protected]
December Test Session by Appointment! Yep…time to start thinking about the holidays, and the first thing for us to consider are the monthly test sessions.
Because the Session in December is in close proximity to Christmas, it is our usual policy to make this session available by appointment only, and we’ll follow that again this year.
If you do want to take a test, we will make ourselves available, but if no one contacts me at [email protected] and says “I’m coming”…there will be no VEs there to give you a test.
Our VEs make themselves available every month of the year so it’s only fair that they don’t come out during the holidays and then have no one show up to take a test.
The test date will be December 15th, 10 am, at the Thomas County EOC, and again if no one makes an appointment, WE WILL NOT BE THERE!
Contact me by December 13th to make an appointment. I can be reached at [email protected] or 229‐224‐5185.
Thanks and Happy Holidays!! Mike
Are YOU the TARC Ham of the Year!
The Golden Mic was not presented in November because the honoree was not present…
Could YOU be that person?
Better come to the meeting on December 8th and find out!!
Tommy’s in QST!! Our own Tommy James appears in the December 2012 issue of QST. The editors were looking for a good shot for their announcement of the 2013 ARRL Kid’s Day event. A picture of Tommy at his radio station filled the bill perfectly.
We’re all proud of the way Tommy has gotten the TARC kids involved this year; remember how many kids were running around and operating radios at Field Day? He also got the Kid’s Net off to a rousing start in January. That’s resulted in several kids getting their licenses!
Tommy, you’re a real asset to our group and we’re all proud of you!!
December Wedding Bells…
Congratulations to High School sweethearts Zach Chandler and Cassidy Duncan, who will walk down the aisle on December 15th. We wish you joy and happiness in your new life together!!
“The man or woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the bowed frame of years,
you will always see the dear face and feel the warm heart union of your eternal love.”
Don’t Forget the Holiday Nets!
Christmas Eve Net – 9pm, Dec. 24th, 147.195 Repeater
New Year’s Eve Net – 9pm, Dec. 31st, 147.195 Repeater
Weather Center
December is the designated month for the annual Skywarn™ Recognition Day started by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. Hopefully you found the time to participate in this year’s event held on December the 1st by making contact with NWS
offices across the country. Amateur radio operators play an important role in relaying ground truth reports during severe weather events. To those of you who actively participate in Skywarn™, thank you for your commitment in making this program a success!
As I am writing this, the 2012 Hurricane season is drawing to a close. The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane season produced 19 named storms, 10 hurricanes and one major hurricane. NOAA has classified the season as above normal when compared to thirty year averages with the exception of major hurricanes which was below the average.
The divesting impacts of “Super Storm” Sandy served to remind us all that a storm does not have to be a major hurricane to leave a trail of major destruction and death in its path. Being prepared, having a plan and exercising that plan promptly when requested by officials could be the difference in a person being a storm survivor or a storm statistic.
Current Historical Averages
Number of named storms……12
Number of hurricanes…………6
Number of major hurricanes…..3
The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season in 4.5 Minutes
An animation of the entire 2012 Tropical season can be viewed at the following link. Just copy and paste
it into your browser for a neat perspective of the active season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLYjs0kwnc&feature=youtu.be
Merry Christmas to all, and may the season bring joy and blessings to you and your family!
73’s
Stewart Chandler KJ4GOJ
The Carolina Windom and Other Off-Center Fed Antennas
What it is
The Carolina Windom is an antenna that is a half wavelength at the lowest frequency of use, fed 1/3 wavelength from the end through a 4:1 voltage balun, with a vertical coax drop of approximately 1/12 wavelength from the 4:1 balun to a current choke, and then coax from the choke to the antenna tuner or HF rig with an internal tuner. Here's an image of one cut for the 40 meter band.
How it works
The main problem with using a half wave dipole on higher frequencies is that the the even harmonics will show extremely high impedance at the center of the antenna. So for an 80 meter antenna used on 40, the swr on 40 meters might be 25 to 1 or so. SInce coax gets very lossy at high swr this causes most of our power to turn into heat in the coax and can stress antenna system components to where they will fail.
If we move the feedpoint away from the center, the impedance increases and at around the one third point from the end the antenna impedance will be in the neighborhood of 150 to 400 ohms on both even and odd harmonic bands. This is close enough to use a 4:1 balun at the feedpoint and bring the impedance down to a level that can be matched with coax. If we stop right there and run coax all the way to our shack antenna tuner we have an Off Center Fed dipole, hereafter known as an OCF. But there is one problem with an OCF. There is always some mismatch at the feedpoint, so some of our power is going to come back down the outside of the coax shield and create an unwanted third leg for our antenna.
The Carolina Windom takes this unwanted third leg and purposefully makes it a part of the antenna by placing a current choke in the coax feed at about 1/12 wavelength below the 4:1 balun, which isolates this unwanted 3rd leg and effectively makes it part of the antenna. This choke can be a store bought 1:1 current balun or more simply an "ugly balun." The ugly balun is
just 20 to 25 feet of coax close wound on a 4 inch pvc form, cheap to make especially if you already have the coax.
So the Carolina Windom works like any dipole except that it also includes a third leg, the vertical coax drop. Theoretically the antenna radiates a combination of horizontal and vertical polarization. It is often described as an upside down vertical, because it looks like one, though it really doesn't work like one. That is because in a vertical we don't want the radials to radiate at all, while in the Carolina Windom the unequal horizontal sections are designed to radiate.
Making one
Other than normal dipole components, you're going to need a 4:1 voltage balun at the feedpoint, and enough extra coax to make the ugly balun. The antenna length is generally determined by the 468/F formula we learned for our licensing tests, so for 80 meters that would be 134 feet. The 1/3 feedpoint is not critical and really neither is the lantenna ength if within a foot or so, so we will use 45 feet from one end for the feedpoint and make the other side 90 feet long. For 80 meters the 1/12 wavelength for the coax drop gives us slightly longer than 22 feet ‐ (468/6/3.5) ‐ so we'll just use the 22 feet for the vertical coax drop to the current choke.
The 80 meter version will match well on 80, 40, 20, 17, 12, 10, and even 6 meters. A line flattener type tuner as provided in many newer HF rigs will generally be all that is needed. If you don't have an auto‐tuner in your rig, most any external antenna tuner will have an easy time matching it on these bands. But the other bands, 60, 30, and 15, have extremely high SWR and it would be best to use a different antenna if you need to be on those bands.
The 40 meter version (illustrated above) is half the size for all dimensions, and it will match easily on 40, 20, 12, 10 and 6 through an antenna tuner.
Buying one ready made
RadioWorks (which owns the Trademark for Carolina Windom) sells quite a few different models. Other vendors do as well. You can find both the antennas and the various components on eBay. Since the antenna is not difficult to build and the store bought ones a very expensive, you can save a considerable sum of money by building one.
Why you might want to try this antenna
In a nutshell this is one coax fed antenna that can work on several bands fairly well, without the expense of using traps, and it will have some gain on those frequencies which are higher than the design frequency. It is simple to make once you have the 4:1 balun for the feedpoint. The balun also functions as the feedpoint insulator so you won't be doubling up on the cost of both. If your HF rig has a fairly decent internal antenna tuner in it there may be no need for an external tuner.
Putting One Up
The antenna is easiest to install as an Inverted Vee due to the off center feed and the weight of the balun. You can bring the ends down close to the ground to save horizontal span as long as the feedpoint is high enough for the vertical coax drop. A separate support line for the center insulator/balun is often run for those who want to hang it as a flat top. Of course higher is always better and antennas in the clear are going to work better than those close to ground surrounded by RF absorbing objects, so try to get it as high as possible for best results.
The OCF antenna
There are two basic differences between the OCF antenna and the Carolina Windom. The first is that a current forcing/impedance transforming balun (instead of a voltage balun like the Carolina Windom) is used at the feedpoint. The second is that there is no current choke on the feedline drop and the coax feedline runs straight from the feedpoint to the rig or antenna tuner. Buckmaster and MFJ make an antenna like this, as do several other antenna makers.
The problem with this antenna is that, despite the current choke at the feedpoint, on most bands it WILL have RF coming back on the outside shield of the coax because the feedpoint is reactive to varying degrees on the different bands. There is no current choke to stop this current from coming all the way back to the shack, so RF feedback in microphones, speakers, computers, and even in auto antenna tuners is a real possibility. While some people get lucky and don't have these issues, the additional expense of a quality current balun (they cost more than the voltage baluns) to make this antenna work correctly doesn't really pay in my opinion, as it often exhibits these problems even with the expensive balun at the feedpoint.
In OCF antennas I have made for portable situations I shortcut the RF feedback problem by feeding the antenna at the offset feedpoint with ladder line which goes all the way to a 4:1 current balun close to the shack window, then coax to a rig that had a good internal tuner. This antenna was a 67 foot version fed at 22 feet from one end, hung as an inverted Vee and it worked quite well on 40 and 20 meters. Because it was fed with the ladder line it would load easily on all bands 40 through 10.
An antenna like this makes a great quick field day or portable antenna as it works without traps or heavy feedline so is easy to hang and take down vs the heavier weight of the coax fed Carolina Windom. The advantage over the standard center fed antenna remained, which was that the antenna was very easy to tune on the even harmonics. This antenna is not my idea, it is shown in many of the older Handbooks, though with balanced feed all the way back to the transmitter (which is what they used back in the day.)
Q and A
1. Should I buy one of the commercial versions or make one? That depends on you. You can make one for a fraction of the cost of the commercial version.
2. If I want to make one where can I get the 4:1 voltage balun? See the resources at the end of the article.
3. Do I really need the balun(s) to make it work? Yes, at least to make it work the way it was designed.
4. How well does it work? Like a dipole of similar length hung at similar height, though it is said that the pattern is less directional due to the vertical component. Many wild claims are made for different types of antennas. The Carolina Windom is no exception.
5. How do I know if I am getting a Carolina Windom or an OCF? As explained above, the difference is the current choke placed on the coax feed. Most vendors use Windom to mean OCF in order to stay away from the trademark owned by Radioworks. Some vendors consider the current choke an option. If you find one of these without the choke you can wind the ugly balun type choke with some coax.
6. What is the history of this antenna? Originally designed in the late 1920s by Loren Windom 8ZO (before we had prefixes in ham radio) the antenna originally had single wire feed. Later it was shown in the Handbooks with a twin lead feed. Adapting it to coax feed with the vertical radiating element was the work of three hams in the Carolinas, hence the name Carolina Windom. Now Radioworks owns the trademark for that name for commercial use, which is one reason you see these Carolina Windoms called all kinds of other names in advertisements.
Resources
N4ETA ‐ Pete made one of these a few years ago and is very happy with his. You will hear him on the HF weather net using it.
For the 4:1 voltage baluns: Search eBay for N9HRP or try this link:
http://myworld.ebay.com/n9hrp/ Click on "items for sale." He has the correct center insulator /voltage balun for $29.99 plus reasonable shipping.
Unadilla also sells a 4:1 voltage balun available at many ham stores.
As always, if you have questions send them to [email protected]
73 de Lowell, NY4D
TARC Minutes – November 10, 2012 1) Welcome and Announcements
• The Midmonth Breakfast will be canceled if there is no test session.
• The Test Session for Nov. 17th at the EOC at 10am will be by appointment only. Contact Mike by the 14th if you want to take a test.
• No Nets on Thanksgiving night.
2) Minutes and Treasurer’s Reports‐ There was no treasurer’s report due to Bobby being sick. The minutes passed as presented.
3) Old Business:
John has called Bill several times with no response about working on the 147.195 repeater. Wynona thanked the following stations for helping with the Boston Mini Marathon:
KF4HSM, KJ4GWB, KJ4KUJ, KJ4GON, KK4HYB, KW4EF, KK4DZB, KJ4UKR, KE4RWR, KJ4HVN, KC4LYC, KJ4KUK, WK4WK, Matt, WD4CJI, KA3FZO, and KE4FGF
Dana and Theresa reported that the Cook Book is underway and presented what they have done so far. There is a need for more recipes to fill it out.
The 145.17 machine will be down for a few days while tower work is being completed. The tower will be painted and the repeater will receive a new antenna array.
4) New Business:
The 2012 Nominations Committee, made up of John, Brian, Lawrence and Chantal presented their recommendation for Officers for 2013. They are as follows:
President: Mike, KE4FGF, Vice President: John, KE4RWR, VP‐Special Events: Dana, KJ4GWB, Secretary: Leann, KK4HYB, Treasurer: Bobby, N4KXL, Newsletter Editor: Buddy, WD4CJI.
Wynona has asked to step down due to her increased workload at the Post Office. The assembled members closed the nominations and voted to place this list in office for 2013. Motion so carried.
The Christmas Supper and Meeting will be held on December 8th. The club will provide turkey and ham and the rest of the table will be filled out with side dishes brought by those attending. Mike will be handling the sign‐up to help Wynona out because of her busy holiday period at work.
The TARC Military Veteran of the Year is Walter Childs, N1QJ, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. Mike indicated that he will do a column on Walter’s service in an upcoming newsletter. The recipient of the Ham of the Year award was not present, so that award will be presented at the December Meeting.
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned with 55 members and 7 visitors present.
Respectfully submitted,
Dana Swicord, Secretary
The Fireside Chat As I slump back in the chair, overstuffed from a big Thanksgiving meal, I’m feeling the call of the keyboard to get started on a few final thoughts before 2012 is officially over.
I’ve called these final thoughts the “Fireside Chat” for a few years now, as someone in the past referred to my long run as President to be akin to that of Franklin Roosevelt’s term in office. I passed his tally a few years back, but the comparison remains.
During his years, he’d use radio to talk to the country in what he deemed a “Fireside Chat” to let everyone know what was going on, and help set their mind at ease…thus the basis for what you’re about to read.
I’d hope you are already at ease with what the club is doing, so this is just a summary of my own thoughts as to what happened during the year and where our present course is likely to lead…
First off, if you told me way back in 1995, when I first stood before you as President, that I’d still be there 18 years later, I’d have laughed and said “no way will they put up with me that long!” Yet, just a couple of weeks ago, there was my name being announced again for year 19, and the vote carried.
That’s humbling to know what you do is appreciated that much, and I hope that I do fill the position as you want it to be filled. We’ve been through a lot of stuff in 18 years, and I’m happy to look out and see that we have indeed become a real Radio Family over the course of those years.
The meetings in those early years were mostly “guy things” though a couple of wives, notably Shug Carroll and Ruth Krebs, would show on occasion. The other ladies would be present for the suppers of Field Day and the Fish Fry, and that was about it. Licenses among them?...uh…that would be none.
About the only licensed kid we ever saw was John Godbehere, and that was pretty much only at Field Day. John has since grown up and is a US Navy helicopter pilot.
I thought about this after receiving an email a few weeks back, commending me on getting the large number of kids we have involved in club activities. For the record, that task fell on younger shoulders than mine. What I did do was realize that the best way to call them forth was for them to have a leader close to their own age…enter Tommy, KJ4SWI.
I’d known Tommy for a while, and in those earlier days, he was rather shy, and if spoken to, would usually smile back at you and turn a couple of shades redder in the face. He did attend most club meetings in Moultrie with his dad, and though unlicensed, did listen to the goings on.
I was pleased when he showed up for our Tech classes, and he’s now risen to General Class. I saw him work through a pile‐up during the Georgia QSO Party, and the object of the pile‐up was Tommy himself. Everyone wanted to work that young operator!
I started talking to him about starting the Kid’s Net about this time last year. There was no pressure, and it was up to him to set up all the parameters. What better way to gain other kid’s interest than having a Net designed by someone their own age?
The Net has done well and accomplished its goal, getting the kids less shy about picking up a microphone. How do I know that? Did you see how many kids were running around (and operating) at Field Day? That’s ALL Tommy’s doings…and he did (and does) a great job!
The women started coming more often when we changed our meeting venue to the Plaza, as it became a “night out,” and not just a meeting. After they found out that we weren’t using the meeting to study schematics and talk high technology, their interest bloomed and low and behold, licenses began appearing.
You note that the Officers have been a good mix of men and women for a few years now, as well as having a 10‐year old Secretary (Tom Danner) for a couple of years.
Wynona has played a large part for a number of years, in various positions, and I hate to see her step aside, though I understand she needs to due to the demands on her time.
She’s been the club VP as well as handling the events position, and she started the “Tailgate Breakfast” concept for some of our events. That first breakfast was actually in her kitchen, before a Boston Mini Marathon and it was great, though we were all so full that we didn’t feel like handling the event afterwards.
Virgil has also stepped aside from the Public Information Officer position, citing increased demands on his time, and we’ll miss him from that position.
This newsletter has also been a force in our growth over the years. When I started, the Reflector was a “one sheet,” with a few dates everyone needed to know, and the real splurge back then was printing it on colored paper. Technology has helped the growth of what is now a large monthly labor of love.
In particular, the past few months have had newsletters in excess of 20 pages…imagine the ream of paper to print out a newsletter that size? Let alone, the amount of ink to print it, and postage to mail it.
The Reflector allowed us to streamline some things, notably the time that it used to take to read the minutes at the meeting. Having them printed beforehand also gives everyone a chance to read over them before a meeting and be better prepared to discuss them when the time comes.
It’s also allowed us to recognize people when good things have happened to them. Everyone likes to see their name in print, and due to the large circulation, you never know who will “read all about it.”
A good case in point is the picture of Tommy on page 89 in the December QST. Several ARRL staffers read this newsletter and saw the picture of Tommy at his station. They realized it would be a good shot for their 2013 Kid’s Day announcement…the rest is history.
We’ve also gotten a lot of positive publicity due to our website and Facebook page. Lowell has done a yeoman’s job in getting our website into a place of prominence. This past week, he’s changed the “theme” around a bit and we have a new look there. It’s cleaner and more spacious looking, which allows announcements to be a bit larger and easier to read than in the past.
The Facebook page has also added a lot of people into the mix. If you look at the “Friends “list, you see people from all over the country, a few who are in other countries, and again, several ARRL staffers. In a real sense, a lot of people are watching what we do as a group…don’t know about you , but I find that rather flattering, as well as proof we are doing things right.
The real plus there is that we can play the website and the Facebook page off one another, driving readers back and forth. Increased viewership helps with increased interest in what we’re doing.
Our group has also grown in the emergency communications area this year, and one of the biggest things was the addition of antennas at the Fire Stations in Grady County. That credit falls on one man…the EC.
Steve, KJ4UKR, is a relatively new member of TARC, but is a mainstay now. He agreed to take on the position of EC in Grady and has done really well in the position. A retired firefighter from Tampa, Steve used his background to work more closely with the Fire Departments, both city and county, and succeeded in getting the county to buy antennas and coax for seven of the stations around the county.
Due to that, all an ARES member has to do is show up at the fire station with a radio, and the antenna is waiting, so it becomes “plug and play.”That’s a real plus when you’re deploying in a hurry. In addition, he set up a deal with Arrow Antennas for special pricing on their J‐Pole antennas, so a number of club members have new antennas at a great savings.
One of the biggest changes of the year came a few months ago, when we decided to make a change in meeting places and left the Plaza. The prices had continued to grow, while at the same time, the service was sinking lower and lower.
I soul searched this decision for a while because having supper available had gotten a lot of folks involved with the club who might not have been otherwise. We met at Morningside Methodist after a particularly bad evening, and everyone decided it was time for a change. We voted that night to make the church our new home.
I was happy to receive a number of emails afterwards that said they were glad of the change and wished we’d have done it a long time ago.
We moved the time up to allow folks to have supper afterwards at a restaurant of their choosing, and that has worked out well.
Field Day this year also went pretty well. There were a good number of folks in attendance and in particular, the kids were running around everywhere.
Philip, KA4KOE, had brought along a military radio with a crank generator (crank one minute for one minute of operating time) to use for our “Natural Power” contacts. We got the kids started cranking, following some candy from Theresa’s Youth Activity table, and the “sugar‐high” made the cranking go quickly. There were also a number of Boy Scouts visiting that morning, so they also took a turn on the crank.
We had a brief meeting before supper, and that was mainly to present Billy Joe Lewis a plaque honoring his many years of service to the club, and naming him “President Emeritus.” At the time he stepped down as an officer, he’d been the Treasurer for 48 years.
Despite some poor band conditions, the on‐air operation went along OK, but at the same time, a tropical storm was brewing in the gulf, and at 10am on Sunday morning, the County asked if we could stand down to allow them to use the EOC for a weather briefing that afternoon.
That’s far more important than an exercise, so we broke camp early. Still, when the final results came out, we were still the #3 station in class 4F nationally. That’s not too shabby!
Our classes have done well again this year, and the session in August offered up a milestone…Kyle Swicord won’t be in the Tech class anymore. On his third attempt, Kyle passed the test and is now KK4LIJ. That means he moves on to the General class, taught by Lowell and Thomas, and I understand that he is asking for a General Study guide to get started…warms my heart!
In the February session we also had another moment of triumph. Jim Anderson, W4FAO, from the Madison area made the trip to take our Extra class. When he took his test, he passed, and when I called him up saying “you need to fill out your CSCE,” he looked funny for a moment and excused himself.
It turns out that he has a medical problem that makes it hard to retain large amounts of information, and he’d really given up hope of ever passing the Extra test. Hearing that he’d made it really shook him up. He had high praise for the help he’d received from us in getting ready.
I can tell you that moments like these are what make it worthwhile to be an Instructor and a VE.
Our list of folks who have been sick has also been up and down all year. Folks have been in and out of the hospital, such as Joe Carroll and Ken Lanter, and of late, both my mother and Stewart’s have undergone serious operations, though thankfully both have come through very well.
Bobby also has continuing problems, which were foretold by a doctor years ago when he initially had the accident that put him in the wheelchair. Not being able to walk around and get some exercise does weird things to one’s body, and that’s what makes Bobby’s problems keep cropping up.
He called me last night and indicated he might be going back in the hospital again, and that proved to be the case. While I don’t want him there any longer than necessary, I hope they keep him long enough to get a true handle on his problems and fix them for good. This time, it was again, an overnight stay.
Thankfully, though there has been sickness, we haven’t lost anyone this year, and that’s always a blessing.
So what does 2013 have in store for our group? Time will tell. Plans are already in progress for the Tailgate and the Radio Reunion, and if you’ve checked the calendar on the website, you can see the first 6 months are already booked and busy.
A number of new “wannabe” hams have asked when our next classes will be. Folks want to become a part of what we are and join in the trek forward to what we’ll be…
That’s as it should be. Though we never sought to become the example, we have become just that. It’s not rare to hear folks say “wish our club had all that going on!”
It’s been a privilege to be a part of that for 18 years now…how far can we go?
Join me and let’s find out together…
Merry Christmas!!...Mike
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