PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE for APRIL 2022

Good morning all: as I sit here ready to write this message, I find myself dealing with Covid-19. I have no idea where it came from but I do understand its seriousness. I am weak, sore and very miserable. I have a very heavy cough that is bringing fluid off my chest, and it hurts to do so. I have spent so much time and effort to protect everyone else that somewhere along the line, I let my guard down. I have sent messages to everyone that was around me that I can think of so they can get tested. Hopefully, no one dies from this exposure.

Ok, so much for that – There will be a Flea Market on June 4th, 2022. I have seen notes that say we are not having one, but that info is wrong. All sellers are encouraged to get in touch with John Bignell to reserve tables with or without power requirements: John needs to know what to prepare for. This is an excellent time for new hams to acquire radio gear, antennas and accessories to establish their new station. As a bonus, there is so much expertise on site that day to answer questions and provide help to the new ham.

News on the Museum of the Atlantic operation is in discussion mode right now with senior staff as to how we can be there safely and effectively. It’s been a long time since we have been there, and we have many volunteers to want to know what is happening. Everyone involved should be prepared to hear from Dick, VE1AI as early as next week as meetings are scheduled.

Ladies and gentlemen, in order for the following events to occur, we need leaders: the events are the ARRL Field Day and the HARC 90th Anniversary.

The field day coordinator is for the June 25th weekend, where he/she will coordinate with the station manager and the safety officer to provide all equipment, generators towers and so on and to do all of this safely. Team captains for cw/ssb and GOTA ARE REQUIRED AS WELL.

Our 90th is a much larger project that requires a dedicated person to organize and set in motion this historic event for the club. We need volunteers for each project, and the club is depending on you to make it happen.

We are still short team members for the Take-15 net on Sunday nights at 2030: as of now, there are basically 2 net control operators. This puts a lot of stress on these 2 folks who take time out of their schedule to do this for club members. Please step up and let Bill, VE1MR know you are interested in doing this event.

The Station 50 fold-over tower is up finally after a 2-year struggle with covid and access. We now need to load the tower with the satellite antennas, and do the cabling down to a breakpoint where the cables will enter the building. So there is still a lot of work to do. This holds true for the Cowie Hill antenna work and now that the weather is getting better, we should soon be able to make that project a go. This entails pulling new cables, changing out connectors, putting up new antennas and other prep work, so Malcolm will be putting out a call for help on this.

We will be providing a climbers course/fall arrest course sometime in May so that we have climbers to meet our current program. I have just heard from John, our instructor, that he is available in May to do this again for us. PLEASE CONTACT Malcolm, VA1MMD if you are interested in taking this course and a practical part to follow.

Folks, I’m done in for now; THANK YOU FOR READING this edition of your Reflector; everyone, take care and be safe as this is bad stuff I would not want anyone to get.

Good dx as always – 73, Brian Allen, VA1CC – President HARC