The following BGMRC members attended tonight’s meeting:
Eddie K4UN
Jim AE5M
Kevin AK4MC
Chris KL0UD
George W4IW
Bill K4WPM
Keith W4KTR
Bill KB2VRP
KB2VRP was a member previously some 15+ years ago, and rejoined tonight. Welcome back, Bill.
K4UN sought more people to volunteer for Powers Crossroads; most of those present signed up for at least some time during the festival. Anyone still wanting to sign up can e-mail .
W4IW will investigate what is needed to set up radio control links for the club’s 2m repeaters to replace the phone lines currently being used. The phone lines cost the club more than $700 each year. Besides the control links they are also supposed to provide autopatch capability, but it has been noted that this capability is not used enough anymore to justify the expense.
Coweta County 911 has asked whether BGMRC would like to set up a booth next to the mobile command post again at this year’s county fair. The fair runs Wednesday, Sept. 17 to Saturday, Sept. 27. The club will not be expected to man a booth every night of the fair, but volunteers will be needed for those nights the booth will be open.
K4WPM reminds BGMRC members of the need for volunteers to help with the Grizzard bike race on Sunday, Oct. 5. Three hams will ride with SAG wagon drivers and there will also be a command post. Contact .
K4UN mentioned the Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air coming up October 18 and 19. It will be held at Mcintosh Reserve Park outside of Whitesburg. See this message for details and contact information.
It’s time to elect a new slate of officers for 2008-09. KL0UD said she is willing to serve another term as treasurer. AK4MC said he does not wish to continue as secretary. Persons interested in seeking election to a club office—president, vice-president, secretary or treasurer—may contact .
K4WPM raised the question of reorganizing BGMRC to become more flexible in the face of changes in members’ interests. Ideas discussed by those in attendance included changing the governing structure of the club, making club functions less formal and having more social functions as opposed to business meetings, and encouraging members to align into groups within the club to pursue their diverse interests relating to amateur radio, while still keeping these groups under the BGMRC banner.
Washington DC: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves to revoke frequencies used exclusively by amateur radio operators for over one hundred years. In a move today that some said was coming for years Federal Communications Director Unammit announced that his commission has voted to reallocate frequencies that have been the domain of amateur operators for over hundred years.
When asked why make this move? Director Unammit said that “ham radio is just a hobby” and that “it has been declining for years” sighting study numbers of operators reflecting the fact that hams are passing due to old age. “Hams,” he said, “have been dying off at a high rate in recent years and it is time to move on.” He went on to indicate that the Internet and cell phones capable of talking around the world had take the place of radio. He went on to say that the presents of text messaging was actually better than Morse Code used by only older hams. He also noted that there was no need to maintain the spectrum just so Hams could pass the time of day.
Hams across the nation will soon receive official notification in the mail from the FCC providing notice that they will have only until the end of the year to cease operations and that then the frequencies will become public domain. He announced that the FCC will accept bids and RFPs for access to the spectrum to be granted to commercial organizations. “Amateur Radio is a dinosaur.” Director Unammit said in closing his press conference today.
Hams across the nation are expected to resist this move but with numbers of licensed hams so low it is unlikely that their objections will have much effect.
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FCC Head: ‘Amateur Radio Is a Dinosaur’
How would you feel if this headline, or one like it, hit our paper? Now is the time to get busy and help interested young people and new adults learn about Amateur Radio.
On October 18th 2008 the Boy Scouts in our area are having a Radio Merit badge training day. It is hoped that the scouting merit badge day will lead to boys earning their Ham ticket. This local event will be held at Macintosh Reserve just outside Whitesburg, GA on the weekend of Jamboree On The Air. The annual event is supported by the ARRL and Boy Scouts of America.
You and other licensed Hams are needed to teach classes and operate radio stations for over two hundred boys and even more scouting adults. The event known as Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) weekend is held so hams all over the world can work together promoting radio and introducing radio to youth.
Please help support this effort for our youth by contacting Jay Langley, N4NRL at or and volunteering to help teach these youth. Talk with a friend and come as a team.
If you would like to show how hams provide communications without the need for a cell phone now is the time. Further in support at every opportunity take the time to talk about this JOTA on the air with other hams. Please plan to be part of the solution and let’s get a new crop of boys and adults interested in radio. This is a once a year opportunity and if hams don’t step up and participate we may not have another opportunity like this for years, if ever.
Learn more about Jamboree on the Air at the ARRL website. Let’s keep that fake news article fake.
In the last few weeks participation in what had been the regular Sunday 9:00 net on the 145.13 repeater, has fallen off dramatically. Given the low activity and the fact it’s no longer an ARES net, last Sunday I decided to try something different. Ultimately the only thing that was different about it is that, by keeping check-ins open for almost twenty minutes we got twice as many on-air check-ins as we had been getting: two.
As promised here I’ve uploaded a revised script in case anyone else wanting to try their hand at running a net would rather have something in hand to refer to.
Ultimately the future of this net is up to the hams.
Five members gathered at the Newnan-Coweta Public Safety Training Center tonight for our July meeting. They were:
Chris McGehee, KL0UD—BGMRC Treasurer (presiding)
Kevin McGehee, AK4MC—BGMRC Secretary
George Peck, W4IW
Bill Merritt, K4WPM
Jay Langley, N4NRL
Jay, N4NRL, talked about his upcoming Boy Scouts project, Jamboree On The Air, which will be held at Mcintosh Reserve Park near Whitesburg, third weekend in October. Scouts from several counties will be pursuing their radio merit badges with training and on-the-air operation. About 200 Scouts are expected to participate. Jay said he is keeping in touch with BGMRC members who were involved in last February’s teaching and testing event in Newnan.
Bill, K4WPM, reminded the members about the Lewis Grizzard bike race October 5. Bill says “three or four” hams will be needed to ride in SAG wagons (they will not be asked to drive their own cars for this) using mobile power and mag-mount or similar antenna, to help out.
Powers Crossroads is practically upon us and this is a very important activity for the BGMRC’s revenue stream. If you would like to help with preparations or during the event, but don’t know whom to contact, feel free to post to the reflector for information.
And of course, we need people willing to serve as club officers for 2008-09. If we don’t get volunteers, we’ll have to draft somebody.
Most of the BGMRC website has been migrated from static HTML pages to the ExpressionEngine Core content-management system—including all future BGMRC announcement posts like this one. EE Core is the free version of the CMS I use on much of my own website.
Over the next few days I’ll complete the page migration of the main site, and then I’ll work on the look of the announcement site. I was never satisfied with what I was able to do with the Wordpress version as far as emulating the look of the main site. I’ll have better luck with EE Core, mainly because I have several years’ experience with it.
Update: I always overestimate how long it’ll take to copy-and-paste design information into a CMS template…
