RAPPAHANNOCK CHAPTER PVRC MEETING, 31 OCT 2005 NOTES

Frank K4EC called the meeting to order at 11AM 31 Oct 2015

Old business - none

New business - Steve NR4M spoke to the requirement for members to participate in contests to qualify as chapter members, specifically two of the 5 milllion award contests per year. On a little different slant, to wear the Goat Farm Contesters tee shirt, members should work at least two contests from NR4M.

New members K4JK and KV4JK were voted in. Welcome to PVRC James and Dave. (Applications in the works)

With the business meeting complete, we began around room allowing  attendees to introduce themselves and briefly state what they had been doing in regards to our hobby in recent months.

K3ZM Peter - Has finally operated his Chesapeake Bay station remotely from Charlottesville VA. He had fun working 16 Europeans with the remote set up. His bay location flooded, but the flooding did not reach his home. The good news is that the salt water under all his antennas has been vastly refreshed!

NN4RB Rick - Says he did enough BIC time during the CQWWSSB that his B is sore!

N4KCB Kay - Is NN4RB's xyl and is active with the Lynchburg club.

K4KJ James - Moved to the area 5 years ago from Washington DC. He's new to contesting, likes DXing and operates 90 percent CW.

KS4Q Skip - When not fighting with turkeys, has been working to get 100 ft of Rohn 45 in the air. His cattle have found that they guy wires are great for scratching, so he now has fencing around each where it is anchored. He has a multiband Optibeam on a shorter crankup tower that will be put on the higher 45. A 2 el 40M beam will go up on the crankup.

N4CF Mike - Got back into the hobby in 2011. He's getting his feet wet in qrp contesting.  He found qrp ssb to be painful so runs 100W on that mode.

KC4D Bill - Stated that he has been active in the bigger CW contests from NR4M for about 10 years. He also spoke to his activity in the CWOPS CWT mini-contests on Wednesdays. He encourage those with time to get active during the CWTs. Now that DST has gone away the CWTs running an hour each begin at 8AM, 2PM and 10PM.  Bill has gotten the second SteppIR on the tower to acompany the MonstIR.

K4DFH Gary - Came to learn about contesting as he has become interested in it.

N4DXS Steve - Has been enjoying a newly errected F12 C4E in chasing DX. He says he now needs to get antennas up for  80 and the WARC bands. He is refurbishing an Alpha 76. He enjoys RTTY and has been operataing that mode in contests from NR4M.

KA4RRU Mike - Helped Kyle WA4PGM get some tower and a Skyhawk up in the air.

K8EI Lloyd - Has two 40ft towers up, one supporting a  Skyhawk and the other a F12 C3S. He used to teach ham radio classes with the Mt. Vernon radio club in northern VA. He has an M2 4 el 40 ready to put back up and has replaced the broken reed switch in his M2 rotator.

K3UI Richard - Contests from the Goat Farm. Was doing the CW Academy until a change in jobs. His cat wiped out his cw paddles!

N3UA Sejo - Has been a fixture during contests at the Goat Farm for several years. He's also active with the Central VA contest club. He won the local club category in the ARRL 160 contest.

K4EU Steve - Is  a charter Goat Farm Contester. He operates primarily CW. He reported that in the last CQ WPX CW contest that in the M/M category NR4M finished number 1 North American and number 3 world-wide. He's been working some dx and says that 160 has come to life. He's a sorter for the Zed section of the dARRL QSL Buro.

K0OO Pat - Likes contests all modes. He was qrv a K3P from Wash DC for the Papal visit.

W4JVN Dave - Lives in North Springfiled. For the past 15 years he has been qrl proving care for his elderly parents. He has a station with decent antennas in the bay.

K3ZO Fred - Says that Ken who is visiting his new grandson in Korea sends regards to the group. Fred will be operating CQWWCW once again with the group using his Thai call HS0ZAR. He had fun in CQWWSSB and is happy to report his prop pitch has been repaired so he can once again swing his big 80/20/15 meter yagis.

NG4Q Bob - Has done a litte contesting. He reports that he was at ground zero for ten days during 9-11 and spent some time in the gulf during Katrina as well. He had a stroke while riding his motorcycle in the Blue Ridge. He has worked 47 countries and is active with the Lynchburg club.

KV4JK Dave - Is putting up a tower with a TH-11. His contest experience has been Field Day.

W4JAM John - Reports that Susan W0MAN has been in poor health so he hasn't been getting much use of his 100ft tower with the SteppIR.

K4UQ Charles - Moved to Lynchburg after retiring. He has a tower on order and has worked several CW contests.

K4GMH Mike - Talked about the antenna project that he and NR4M have been working. They built four Moxons for 40 meters. Two to replace Mike's F12 shorties and two to go up at the farm for domestic contests and as multiplier antennas. He comments on the number of teams from the Rappahannock chapter provided points for the NA QSO PARTY.

K7SV Larry - Talked further about the Moxons and about the two F12 C3S clones that he built during the summer.

N7TY Bruce - Lives in an MD townhouse. He has an inverted L fed with a remote tuner that is drive with a K3 with a P3. He plans on adding one of the Elecraft 500W amps as well. He likes CW and RTTY and not so much for fone. Bruce is retired Navy. He was nervous about joing the NR4M team. He was sked for a late eve shift to get acclimated but when another person did not show up, he was put on 20M which he operated until 3AM.

N2GTS Gabby - is Bruces wife. She operates some from home.

K4DJG Bob - Got involved with contesting ias part of the W1AW/ effort. He likes RTTY and says he's antenna challenged with a wire loop and Zepp.

K4EC Frank - Is also a charter member of the Goat Farm Group.

K4IA Buck - Was proud to announce receipt of his Honor Roll plaque. He worked the Chesterfield group. On Nov 10 he will be teaching a technician class at the Salem Church in Spotsylvania. For in see k4ia @arrl.net

The meeting adjourned at noon. Brats and burgers were served.