JANUARY 2003 DARC NEWSLETTER
President: Dan Farwell W8EQA V.P.: Casey Lofthouse KD7HUS Treasurer:Travis Lofthouse KD7FRN Secretary: Chuck Hardy KD7RZF
Board of Directors: Al Mott, Ron Sappington, Duane Beecher
Congratulations to all the new DARC club officers and
board members!
Many thanks to the outgoing officers
and board members for a job well done in 2002!
With the New Year comes the time to renew your support for
the DARC. Club membership and dues are
still only $15.00 yearly.
Please mail your checks payable to “DARC”
And mail them to our club address:
Dixie Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 433
Santa Clara, UT 84765
DARC Christmas Party
New Officers and Board
Members
On December 6th the DARC had their annual Christmas dinner and club meeting to elect the officers and board members to serve during 2003.
The following members were elected and will serve in the coming year.
President: Dan Farwell (W8EQA) Vice President: Casey Lofthouse (KD7HUS) Treasurer: Travis Lofthouse (KD7FRN) and Secretary: Chuck Hardy (KD7RZF)
The DARC Board Members are:
Al Mott (K7WAM), Ron Sappington (WI7Z) and Duane Beecher (W7BN)
The following won prizes at the dinner party:
Grand Prize: Dan Hale (KC8TEN) Icom V8000 2 meter base station.
Chuck Hardy (KD7RZF) Yaesu VX-150 HT
Chuck Hunt (N6MKR) Cobra FRS HTs (2)
There were a dozen members who won prizes and some nice Poinsettias were given as door prizes.
Many thanks to all that attended and helped do the ground work for this yearly event.
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Dixie Amateur Radio Club
Bank Balance: $514.85
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Travis Lofthouse was born January 18, 1968 and was first licensed in June of 1999.
Travis was born in Paradise…….Paradise, Utah that is, and now currently resides at 444 E. Sunland Dr. #69, St George, Utah.
Phone 435-652-8552 and e-mail kd7frn@infowest.com
Travis is a General class ham radio operator and grew up with his father (K7OA) as an amateur radio operator. His dad always tried to promote ham radio within the family, with his wife and 8 of his 13 children receiving licenses, but the final motivation for Travis to get licensed was his involvement with Boy Scouts and frequent trips to remote areas. It only seemed natural to have a ham radio with him for emergency communications.
Field Day is the favorite event for Travis and his favorite Ham radio software is “Ham University”
Travis and Kim Lofthouse have three wonderful children:
Cody – 6, Brenna – 4 and Tommy – 1year.
Travis has worked for Ence Construction for 7 years and is currently a purchasing agent.
His current equipment consists of an Icom 2100H and a Yaesu VX-150.
His future dreams for Ham Radio include: More CW, PSK-31, Packet, Satellite, IRLP and Fox hunting.
Travis served on the DARC board of directors in 2000, was the President of the DARC in 2001 and continues to support the club in his second year as Treasurer.
The DARC club meeting will be the third Wednesday of January the 15th at 7:00 PM in the old Harmon’s building at 55 S. and 900 E.
There will be a VE session before the club meeting at 6:00 PM.
The VE test fee will be $12 for 2003.
If you are a VE and would like to help please contact Ron Sappington, WI7Z at 673-4552 or 467-4552.
Dan Sadler, K3RKW will present the sport of Geocaching- what it is, how it works and how you can get involved.
You can get a preview from their web site at:
We will also discuss the role of the Dixie Amateur Radio Club in our community and highlight some of the club events.
Please direct any questions or desires about this newsletter to:
Dan Farwell W8EQA – 688-1609 – w8eqa@infowest.com
THE BEGINNING PART ONE
MOMMY!
MOMMY! What is that thing?
Well,
Honey I don’t know let’s go to the front door and ask.
Hello,
my son here is really curious. What is that thing up there?
Oh,
that’s my ham radio antenna.
Ur,
well, what do you do with it?
Well,
I can talk to people all over the world wanna see?
WOW,
look at all that stuff on his desk!
Have
a seat right here son.
K4CDC
this is W8AHM do you copy?
W8AHM
this is K4CDC, loud and clear here in Sarasota, Florida.
My
name is Bill what’s yours – over.
MOMMY
he’s talking to Florida!!
Very
fine business Bill you’re 5 X 9 near Youngstown, Ohio and my name is Dave. I
have some visitors in the shack and I’d like to have them say hello.
Ur,
well. HELLO …. my name is Danny…….
Good
afternoon Danny, glad to meet you and hope you’re having
fun!
The
seed was planted and I was awestruck. It would be several years later when a
local commercial painter was working on our house that ham radio would surface
again.
That
same painter would lead me into ham radio. First I visited his house for dinner
and a demonstration. Then when I showed real interest he loaned me his WWII
instructograph to help learn the code.
My
first rig was all borrowed. A crystal controlled Globe Scout and a
WWII
BC-348 receiver to a dipole antenna.
I’d
work on my cw daily but I just couldn’t seem to get passed 5 wpm.
One
day my ham radio Elmer took me to a friend’s house and sat me down in front of
a real receiver. I marveled at the beautiful knobs on that old HRO-50. I found
the cw band and began to copy. After a few minutes the station owner came by
and said:
“OK,
now put away that pencil and paper, close your eyes and just try to see the
code in your mind.”
He
was right and with a little practice my code speed and confidence soon
skyrocketed. I was on my way……………
Dan
W8EQA
Don’t Forget the DARC Sunday
evening net:
146.91- at 7:00 PM