Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service, Ltd.

On Saturday April 10th, Floyd Amateur Radio Society met at Floyd Professional Center in suite 9 of the Village Green--

We re-did the ARRL affiliation, so we are now able to get grants for education and cheaper books and a whole lot of other perks -- it didn't cost anything but some time. :) We went over Field Day preparations and decided to hold it at club station N4USA. We're awaiting proofs via Rick the SignMan's email related to our Society badges, I have sent him the overlay that Luis KJ4MHZ made up, which was approved at the March meeting. I ordered a 2x3 inch badge and hat for myself and when he (Rick the sign man) gets the proofs to me I will send it out to all of you. The badges are inexpensive and the hats are reasonable--there is no "mandate" on these. You can purchase them if you wish. We talked a little about digital PSK-31... as soon as I get a cable made up for the new radio I will give a class for those interested. I will try to give 2-3 weeks notice. To the BIG news of the meeting, Howard W4DUM has offered the use of his tower and garage (with emergency power, by the way) for use as a repeater site. This area of the County, over in the Willis area, is in need of good coverage, also we should be able to get to the North,South,East, and West with very good coverage. Now comes the hard part: it will take ALL OF US to do this. It's a commitment that we as a Club needs to understand. I am in the process of making a shopping list so that all of us may start looking for items. As soon as I get it together, I will send it out to you. A digipeater at that same site will cover a wide area - hopefully the whole County. Dave Potter W4RPI did an assessment and it seems to be a really good site. John K4JKA has offered us 2 GE radios for making up the repeater (we are grateful to him for this), and he also offered a 4 cavity thingy (duplexer) for our use. We need a cabinet and coax (which, by the way, we have been offered some hard line for this also- it might be too big, but we will see). Russ KG4MAV will get letters to the Town for a 2 week variance so we can put up a 80 meter and 40 meter dipole in town for 2 events coming up. The two events are Kids day on the 19th if June and we need a lot of help with this. The kids have a blast at doing this and hopefully by then I will have the digital stuff going. :) The next weekend is Field Day. Now Field Day is a really fun activity! You don't need to be licensed to operate and we have enough General and Extra operators in the Club to really have fun. Then there is the getting to know everyone and having fun. While we won't be able to have a camp fire, we can still have a table to gather around and get to know everyone. The next meeting is going to be the cleanup day of our spot on route 8. Please wear long sleeves and pants, Gaynell KK4WW said that there a lot of biting bugs and chiggers around there. :) Also, bring a pole with a nail in the end or a "grabber thing" so you don't have to bend so much. DON'T FORGET GLOVES either. Dave KK4WW went over the emergency food and "jump kits" which are stored both in suite 9 and at FAIRS headquarters ECC. Russ KG4MAV is going to teach a Technician Class in the very near future. It will be on either 2 Saturdays or at night after work for a couple of hours over a few days. I would like some input on this please. kg4mav@gmail.com or kg4mav@arrl.net.
Thanks to all of you who make our County and area safer and more fun with Amateur Radio.

73
Russ Abbey
KG4MAV
Secretary; Floyd Amateur Radio Society

**Formatted for www.fairs.org