In This Issue:
º November Meeting: GeoCaching
º Volunteer Exam Test Opportunity
º December Holiday Dinner Banquet
º Election of 2006 Club Officers
EDITORIAL:
Interesting response back from
Congressman Jim Matheson:
[Note:this
is a Adobe PDF
file]
Please see the Library page of the DARC web
site to
view the original letter mailed by 2005 DARC President Gary Zabriskie,
N7ARE, on behalf of the
Club to each of the three Utah Congressmen.
Obviously the staffer
who responded to the letter, does not quite get "it". The PROBLEM
is the fact that
the issues "ARE" being
addressed "LOCALLY" usually to the detriment of Amateur Radio
operator's abilities to provide communications. The bill simply levels
the playing field. Does the Congressman NOT know that the FCC (the
Federal Government) is the legitimate and appropriate agency to make a
declaratory ruling of federal pre-emption of CC&R's that preclude
ANY reasonable accomodation of Amateur Radio operation? This
legislation would simply mandate that they do so - in FAIRNESS!
Links of Interest:
ARRL
Rainbow Canyons Amateur Radio Club
Amateur
radio club in the
Amateur
Electronic Supply
The closet place to
home to spend
money on what drives our habit
Utah VHF Society
Link to current
repeater news and
directories
| Contact DARC:
|
Dues for 2006 are now being solicited. Dues are $15.00 per member ($20.00 per family for multiple ham families). Check the Club's membership ROSTER to see that you are shown as current. We will even accept your tardy dues for 2005 if you feel the slightest bit of guilt. If you are shown as current (2005) (2006) or know you haven't paid yet, please make your check payable to "DARC" and bring it to the meeting or mail it to the club address:
P.O. Box 422
Santa Clara, UT 84765
|
The Club Callsign of
the Dixie Amateur Radio Club is:
 |
Club member Dan Sadler, K3RKW, will be
providing the club members in attendance with an educational primer on
the fascinating sport, hobby and adventure known as GeoCaching. This
presentation was originally scheduled for last month but was postponed
until this month because of time constraints. GeoCaching is an
entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache
hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and
capability of a GPS unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and
organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations
of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location
coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the
visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do
is if they get something they should try to leave something for the
cache.The November meeting will be held at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at the St. George City Community Arts Building which is located at 86 South Main Street. The meeting will be in Room B on the north side of the building.
Also on the agenda will be:
- Nominations opened to general membership for 2006 DARC Board/Report from the Nominating Committee
- Solicitation of Person(s) to assist with Programs/Activities
- Discussion and vote on setting Sunday Night DARC Net at a fixed year-round time.
- Refreshments
Volunteer Exam Session
There will be
a ARRL Volunteer Exam
Session held at 6:00 P.M. at the same location as the Club Meeting.
If you
are a person desiring to take an Amateur Radio test or a currently
licensed ham wanting to upgrade this month, or are a Volunteer Examiner
who would like to help out at a session, please contact please contact
V.E. Coordinator Ron
Sappington, WI7Z, via e-mail or telephone (435)
673-4552; or Board Member Dan Farwell,
W8EQA, via
e-mail or telephone at (435) 668-1609. Please contact no later
than Tuesday, November 15th.
December
Holiday Dinner
The Dixie Amateur Radio Club holds an annual dinner during the month of
December. This year’s dinner will be held at 6:30 P.M. on Friday,
December 2, 2005. The location is in the Garden Room of the Cottontown
Village which is located at 300 West Telegraph Street in Washington
City. The cost for the dinner will be $10.00 per person. The buffet
style dinner menu includes Turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes and
gravy, vegetable, roll, tossed salad, dessert and beverage.
Please note
that you do NOT need to "pre-pay" for the banquet. You simply
need to bring to the Banquet either cash or a check payable to "Staheli's Catering". An
RSVP of the number in your group for the dinner- prior to November 23rd
- would be appreciated to w7drc@arrl.net.
This year
everyone in attendance who purchases a dinner will be entered in the
grand prize drawing for a brand new Alinco DJ196T 2 meter handheld
transceiver. We will draw the grand prize before dinner and seal it in
an envelope until the completion of the remaining drawings. All grand
prize (dinner) drawing tickets except the selected one will be placed
in with the additionally purchased drawing tickets which will be
available for $1.00 each.
We are soliciting donations from local/regional merchants and will have
a selection of items to win during the prize drawing.
Election
of 2006 Board of Directors
During the December Banquet an election is held to elect the Board of
Directors for the Dixie Amateur Radio Club for the upcoming year. All
members of the Club are invited to participate in the election and are
encouraged to volunteer their skills, time and services to the Club.
Nominations will be solicited at the November 16th Club meeting and
will again be opened at the December 2, dinner banquet.
Special Guest Speaker
“Ranger Bart”
Anderson, also known to us as fellow Dixie Amateur Radio Club member
Bart, K7EDU, will again
entertain,
enlighten and educate attendees at this year’s banquet when he presents
a talk following dinner.
The topic of Bart’s presentation will be announced either at the
November Club
meeting or in a reminder e-mailing to Club Members for Dinner.
If you are new
to the area and have not yet had the opportunity to attend a Ranger
Bart history presentation, especially make plans to attend this year's
banquet.
This month's message
will be short but complementary. I am extremely proud of
the local area Amateur Radio operators who have participated this
fall in the St. George Marathon as well as the Huntsman World Senior
Games. The comments and critique we have received from those agencies
and organizations we have assisted are a reflection on the
"professionalism" of Our Club's "Amateurs".Carrying forward from our public service communications I believe the next step that MUST occur is to become a more formally recognized organization in regards to Emergency Response Communications. Representatives from our Board will be meeting with others in the Virgin River area (i.e. Mesquite area, Moapa, etc.) to discuss a unified approach to this. My goal as an Amateur Radio operator and an active member of this organization is to see this come to fruition.
I have enjoyed serving as your President this year. If there is anything I can do in the last month or so of my term, or if you have any concerns or complaints, please fell free to contact me and discuss them.
73,
Gary , N7ARE