NAQCC News

March 31, 2007	NAQCC Web Site		Issue #043

In this issue: 1. April Challenge. 2. March Sprint Results 3. Latest Bear Hunt News 4. Featured Award of the Month 5. General Club News 6. Member News

1. CHALLENGE: Our April challenge is designed with your survey input in mind. You asked for more activities on the WARC bands, so here is the WARC Band Challenge. Make as many QSO's as you can on the 30, 17, and 12 meter bands during the month. A certificate will be available for 52 cents postage to the following. The one making the most QSO's, the one working the most states, and the one working the most DX entities. To earn a Participation Award point toward the free FISTS membership, all you need do is make one WARC band QSO and report your result to us. You asked for it, now here's your chance to do what you wanted. Full Challenge info here. 2. MARCH SPRINT RESULTS: Our March sprint was very successful both in terms of logs received and number of stations participating. We had 35 logs submitted including 2 in the Gain category and one check log. In those 35 logs, 79 different stations from 29 states and 2 VE provinces were represented. Our winners were: 1st SWA - K1EV 1st Gain - WU7R Special Award (Indoor antenna) - K3WWP Top Non-Winner - K4AHO Congratulations to all including winners and non-winners. Everyone who participated and sent in a log is a winner because the listing of your results on our web site shows the ham radio world that you are interested in preserving CW on the ham bands. That's one of our main goals here at the NAQCC. We had several stations who didn't submit a log show up several times in the 35 logs we received. Here is a list of those showing up 5 or more times including the number of times their call appeared. W0UCE - 19 AA4CM - 14 WS3K - 14 N5BO - 13 N4FI - 7 K4CNW - 5 W3EQ - 5 We appreciate your participation and hope you will participate again next month AND submit your log to add more punch to your participation. Thanks. Full sprint info here. 3. LATEST BEAR HUNT NEWS: From our Bear Master Ron, K5DUZ: Full bear hunt info here. 4. FEATURED AWARD OF THE MONTH: Each month in our end-of-the-month newsletter we are going to talk a bit about one of our awards. This month it's the Spring Ragchew Award. Many members say their favorite activity is ragchewing, and they really don't care much for contests, chasing DX, and other such activities that so many other hams do enjoy. So this award caters to those ragchewers. All that is necessary is to make as many rag chews as possible during spring. And we mean precisely spring - starting at the exact moment of the Vernal Equinox and ending at the moment of the Summer Solstice. The three hams making the most ragchews (QSO's of 30 min. length or more) in that time earn a certificate at the regular cost of $3 for any of our awards. If those rag chews are with other members, they will also earn points towards our Worked Members Award. All will be 4 point QSO's since unless you send at 1 WPM, you will definitely find out some info beyond rig, wx, etc. So get on the bands and start yakking. Full NAQCC Awards info here. 5. GENERAL CLUB NEWS: We would very much like to have your comments on the new newsletter format. We have received a few so far, and all have been positive. Our Elmer Project section is now pretty much complete. We'd like to have comments from those new to CW to see if we've addressed all their concerns in the tips. We've had some good suggestions already and have incorporated those suggestions into the original material. We've got something very special coming up for our June sprint. I can't say anything more about it right now as we have decided to embargo the news until sometime in May. However I can say it is something that should make all members want to take part in the June sprint AND do well in it. We have started archiving our newsletters beginning with issue #042. So if you missed seeing that issue, you can check it out in the archives. I'd like to talk a bit about finances. There are basically three ways a club can finance its operations. 1. Charge each member a fee to join and regular dues to continue their membership. We at the NAQCC will never do that. You shouldn't have to pay to do something as important as helping to preserve and protect CW and QRP operation on the ham bands. 2. Rely on voluntary donations from the club members who can afford it and who wish to donate to help the cause. We appreciate those who have donated to the club. 3. Sell something to the members in some manner and make a SMALL profit on the sales. Currently we only have our award certificates that fit that description. At this time both donations and award applications have dwindled down to a trickle, and we have had to cut back on some of the things we had been hoping to do. I won't say what those plans were, but I would like to say what we have been able to do in the past because of your generosity. We came up with a beautiful plaque that included an actual straight key for the first non-officer to reach 1000 points in our 2X QRP Award. We have switched our sprint certificates and award certificates to color from our previous drab B&W ones. We have something very special planned for our June sprint that I am not at liberty to discuss in detail just yet. We have gotten a vanity call for our club station. There are more things, but I'll stop here. The bottom line is that if our donations and award applications don't pick up, then things like the above will no longer be possible, and after our great strides forward, we'll have to take some steps backward. 6. MEMBER NEWS: This is YOUR section of the newsletter. We want to know what our members are doing with CW and QRP on the ham bands. This will not be like the TV network newscasts that only present negative news. We will only present POSITIVE news here. So if you want to flame someone here, forget it. Instead brag about that new rare country you worked last week. Tell how you finally worked KL7 to finish your 40 meters WAS. Share your excitement in working halfway around the world to Australia with 100 mW. Tell us how you built that new little QRP rig or keyer paddle from scratch. Give us the URL to your brand new CW/QRP web site so we can all take a look. Do a review of your K1 you just finished building. I think those are enough examples to let you know what kind of news we want here. Basically anything POSITIVE that concerns CW and/or QRP. Nothing about other modes or QRO please. We've received the following news items for this issue. Is yours among them? I'm sure you've done something newsworthy that you want to share with your fellow members, so come on and send that news to our news editor Paul KD2MX at . Mike KC2EGL #1236 with the assistance of John K3WWP has installed two CW filters and a stability unit in a new Kenwood TS-480SAT. The rig was taken for a test drive by both Mike and John on March 23rd. John's drive was best - he hit Croatia on the first attempt. This will be Mike's primary rig in his shack and for use during Field Day out in the field. John K3WWP #0002 says: All my life I've wanted to have a W8FYO/Bencher paddle, but I always considered it a luxury and never bought one as there was always something else more necessary to purchase. However I now have one and am enjoying using it on the air. It was a gift from my friend Mike (above item) who didn't know that I had always wanted one. Mike brought it along to test the new TS-480, and when I mentioned I had always admired the Bencher paddles, he said I could have it. After asking if he was really serious, I thanked him and again thank him publicly here. That TS-480SAT of his is a really nice rig. The concept of the removable remote controlled front panel is an interesting one and is ideal for those with a small desktop in their shack. In using it briefly, I think its receiver is somewhat better than the one in my TS-570D. Jack W0UCE #1744 announces he is sponsoring a new QRP operating event that will debut on April 18. The Radio City Kennel Club Great Escape will be a 90-minute chase across 40 and 80 meters of two packs of eight QRP K-9s each. Bounty Hunters will attempt to capture the K-9s for fun and Bounty Points. Jack still has some openings for QRP K-9s who wish to be part of the pack. Full details are at www.radiocitykennelclub.homestead.com.

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