[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARC Shorts - Volume 53, Number 1

[Art and Deanna]

ARC Shorts 
The newsletter of the Alexandria Radio Club - Celebrating over 50 years of
amateur radio! Serving the city of Alexandria, VA and the general Northern
Virginia area. 
http://w4hfh.org/

In this issue of ARC Shorts:

* Have You Paid Your Membership Dues?
* License Upgrade Options
* Growing the Club by Rick Bunn N4ASX
* Club to Benefit from Shirt Sales 
* Coffee Mugs and Hats Still Available

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The next meeting of the Alexandria Radio Club is Friday February 9th at 7:30
at the Fire Training Center in the rear of the Nannie Lee Community Center.
As always, there will be an informal gather for dinner at Chicken Out on
Washington Street in Old Towne about 6:15. Directions to the meeting are
available on the club web page http://w4hfh.org/
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Membership dues are due!  While increased to $20 per person this year, it is
still one of the best deals in town. Your continued support helps us to
maintain the repeaters, conduct licensing classes, promote community
awareness, participate in Field Day, celebrate at our annual Holiday Party,
and so much more! Don't miss out on all this fun - Dues are accepted at any
regular club meeting or you may send payment to Alexandria Radio Club, PO
Box 30721, Alexandria, VA 22310. 
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In support our friends and associates at LARC, BARC and MVARC, the club will
not be holding a VE session for members who have a valid CSCE and wish to
upgrade. You are encouraged to attend one of the sessions detailed below.
Please remember to bring with you your current original license, your
original Certificate of Successful Completion Exam(s) indicating the
credit(s) earned and a photo ID.

BALTIMORE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB FREE PAPER UPGRADE SESSION
On Saturday, February 24, the BARC VE team, coordinated by the LARC VEC,
will hold a paper upgrade session from 1 PM until 3 PM. See above for what
to bring to: Baltimore ARC Meeting and Training Facility 
12360 Owings Mills Blvd
Owings Mills, MD
For directions please go to:
http://n3wke.home.comcast.net/VEreport/directions.html

LAUREN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB UPGRADE SESSION
On Saturday, February 24, the Laurel Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Volunteer
Examiner team, coordinated by the LARC VEC will hold a special paper upgrade
session for amateur radio operators who have completed the General and/or
Extra Class written license exam. The certificate must be dated no earlier
than February 24, 2006. The Session will be from 9 AM until 12 Noon in a
room at the Laurel Municipal Swimming Pool. Details at http://larcmd.org/

DIRECTIONS 
>From Washington:
Take 495 (Washington Beltway) to I-95 North towards Baltimore; exit on Route
198 towards Laurel; continue on Route 198 for approximately 2 miles, make a
left on 7th Street (Seven-Eleven is on the corner); at traffic light, turn
left onto Main Street.  Follow Main Street until it becomes a dead end.  The
pool will be located on the right.

>From Baltimore-Washington Parkway:
Take Route 198 Exit (Laurel); Follow Route 198 for approximately three
miles, make a right onto 7th Street (Stanley Memorial Library is on the
corner); at the traffic light, turn left onto Main Street.  Follow Main
Street until it becomes a dead end.  The pool will be located on the right.

MOUNT VERNON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB REGULAR TESTING SESSION Saturday, March 10,
the MVARC will be conducting their regular monthly testing session at The
First Christian Church, 2723 King Street, Alexandria, VA . For details
please visit http://www.mvarc.com/ 
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Growing the Club

It is very important to the Alexandria Radio Club and to all it's members
that we continue to grow the club and the hobby of Amateur Radio.  The life
blood of any club is the number of members who actively participate.  Not
that we don't appreciated fully those members who drop by when they can but
are not very active.  There will always be a percentage of members who are
unable to commit the time to become fully involved.

The Alexandria Radio Club failed to follow the idea of bringing in new
members and also failed to provide good reasons for members to meet back in
the 80's and as a result we almost became the club that was and not the club
that is.

We do and need to continue to do may things to keep the club viable. First
is our classes. This brings new folks into the hobby,  provides a great
activity in which our Extra Class hams can exercise their teaching skills
and a structure for members to move up from Tech to General to Extra.  Our
Chief Instructor has done a great job over the years with preparing and
continuously improving the classes.  What members can do is find students.
We all know folks who have expressed interest, so talk up the classes, bring
new folks to the classes who might then become new members.

The second item is making all of our newer members feel welcome when they
come to meetings.  I have talked to hams who dropped into one of our
meetings and for some reason or another, NO ONE bothered to greet them or
make them feel like part of the club.  They NEVER come back!  When you see
someone new at the club meeting or at a club event you don't know,  make the
effort to introduce yourself.  

Lastly,  many new hams are somewhat confused or feel a little behind the
power curve when they first get into the hobby.   Those of us who have been
around for a while, need to be more proactive in stepping up and offering to
be "Elmers".  I have been doing that for a while and I know that we have a
few others.  One of our newest members recently spent a not so small amount
on an IC-706MkIIG, but because he's new to the hobby did not have any junque
box materials for making up an antenna.  I had an old MFJ dual band antenna
(cheap thing with three radials and a bracket) and a few other items in my
junk box that I wasn't using and that small amount of "stuff" allowed him to
get up on the air on the repeaters and to set up a wire antenna to listen on
HF.  Not a great investment and my XYL is happy to have some of the stuff
out of the house.  We need to keep our new hams engaged and need to make
sure that when we get new hams that someone is there to help them get
started.  We have many good Elmers in the club, but all of us who have been
in the hobby for a few years or more should be proactive in this effort.

The last item in growing the club is activities and programs that make you
the members want to come to meetings.  If you have a subject you want to
learn more about, PLEASE let our VP, Don KI4FON know.  This hobby has many
diverse interests.  Want to hear more about OSCAR satellites?  Tell Don.
Amateur fast scan TV, sound card interfaces... make the request.

The club officers are not responsible for putting on a good show for the
membership, but the members are all responsible for the quality of the club
and what each member puts into the club is multiplied by all of the members,
so consider becoming more active.

73 Rick
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We are shamelessly selling a really neat T-shirt to help raise money for the
club. This shirt is designed for those who wish to wear their love of CW on
their sleeve, (or in this case across their chest!) Visit http://www.dids.us
and click on Shop. 100% of the proceeds are being donated to the club. Check
back for other ham radio related fundraisers as they become available. Thank
you for your support and be sure to sign the logger!

73 Art K5DID and Deanna K7DID 
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Club hats will be available for $16.00 at club meetings along with coffee
cups at $8.00. 100% of the profits from all sales go back into the club.
Thank you for your continued support! 
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ARC Shorts is always interested in hearing what you have been doing in the
area of ham radio. If you would like to contribute an item for the next
issue of ARC Shorts please send your email to ARCShorts at W4HFH.org