No subject

vertical contained great information about an antenna even! (Ouch, just 
realized I haven't sent the minutes out yet.) Yet attendance was still 
low. But I'll bet one thing, if we start slacking off on what happens at 
the meeting, attendance will drop further. Dennis, I'd guess that if you 
quit putting food in the feed trough, the horse eventually wouldn't want to 
come to it. We have to work together to keep sharing good stuff. The 
better it is, the more likely someone will show up. 
 
On increasing contest participation: 
-Takes more (new) members. Low numbers breeds lower participation. "If 
it's only going to be a couple of us, why bother?" In the past, whenever we 
had a larger active group, it was usually easier to find outside extras to 
fill in the gaps. Crowds attract. Fun crowds or a crowd doing fun stuff, 
attract more. 
 
On gaining more members: 
- Advertising never hurts. Contesting is a niche; very few are attracted. 
Even less are good at it and thus aren't willing to go farther. My gut 
feeling is that advertising will net very few. We "advertised" at the best 
ham exposure location we probably could at the last several (how many? - at 
least 3) FrostFests. We netted very few. Advertising also includes 
inviting an acquaintance; probably the most effective advertising. But that 
would require us to show up and participate in the first place which is 
already a problem. 
 
- Expand our horizons. DXing is the next closest fit to contesting. All of 
us like to chase DX. Our cluster attracted DXers to our club in the past. 
I think the transition of the cluster from packet radio to Internet (a 
stable transition for the good) has blurred the "support of the local club" 
to a point. Anyone can get DX spots from anywhere. One no longer needs to 
support a DX club to get spots. And like what many say about the Internet 
social media, the cluster today doesn't have the camaraderie of the earlier 
iteration of the cluster much less the old 2M spotting net. If I'm not 
mistaken, DDXG got most of its start from training. Which segways to my 
next thought..... 
 
- Instruction. I've seen the Ashland beekeeping club, of which I've been a 
member for around 3 years now, grow from around 20 to over 60. Yes 
beekeeping is a "green" thing right now due to a combination of the green 
movement and the concern about what's happening in our environment. But it 
also hasn't hurt that they offer a beginners class each year. It would take 
more effort on our part (isn't that what we're asking for in contest 
participation?); but offering to give back some of what we have enjoyed in 
this hobby all these years doesn't go unnoticed by the students. Enthusiasm 
for what you do is contagious. So what could be taught? Contesting? 
DXing? Getting/upgrading a license? All are worth consideration and to 
start, my guess is that any one of them would be better than nothing. For 
some strange reason I could see myself participating in a class more than I 
do radio. I agreed to lead a portion of our beekeeping class. ( I didn’t 
promise I'd make sense here.) 
 
Field Day: 
- See "On increasing contest participation" above. 
Personally I got burnt out on FD after co-chairing it for a number of years 
a good ways back for a different club. Not my bag at this point. If the 
club as a whole wants to do it, keep it simple and fun. Too much effort 
causes burnout and lack of interest. Sounds to me like we are there 
already. 
 
Newsletter: 
- Guess I'm old school. I don’t care for Facebook (tried it, reminds me of 
sweepstakes - too much meaningless information for the most part and takes 
too much time to deal with it), tweeting, texting, and linkedin-ing. They 
all have their good points and uses but at this point they don't fit mine. 
I prefer an email notice of the meeting coming up and what the attraction 
will be. See "Meeting attendance above. Anything past that is interesting 
reading and an opportunity to inform those who are unable to attend, all 
good but.... Content volume is directionally proportional to available time 
and input, both of which can be hard to come by. If more time, information, 
and desire is available, go for it. Otherwise, again, keep it simple. 
Puck, if I'm going to be stuck....err... elected secretary again, I 
volunteer to take on whatever becomes a newsletter (meeting notice). 
Actually, I think if I read the club constitution, the meeting notice may be

in the list of the secretary's responsibilities... ouch again. One more 
ouch and this club is going to start to hurt. 
 
Contesting: 
For those of you who haven't seen it, this may sound weird. In the NCJ 
there has been a series of (4 so far and still ongoing) articles: Game 
Design for Contesters. It is very good reading and has a lot to say about 
the interest in contesting and ham radio vs gaming, the Internet, and other 
attractions for people (especially the younger crowd) as the series 
progresses. Boggles the mind a bit to know just how much they can control a 
person via game interaction. Makes me wonder just that much more about the 
violence relationship being talked about. Nonetheless, it can make one 
think about how we as hams can make Amateur Radio more attractive, 
especially contesting. Part 1 is available on www.ncjweb.com . If anyone 
wants to read them all, I'll make a copy and bring to the meeting.... which 
means you have to be there. We have a tough road to hoe if we want to 
attract non-hams to Amateur Radio in general and then even harder to 
contesting, but this series really spells it out like no other I've seen. 
 
I'm through, I think. 
 
73 fellow CVCCer's! 
Ronnie 
WU4G 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: Howard Motley [mailto:w4pm at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 10:36 AM 
To: Rick AB4U; Walt K2WK; Joe K3WRY; Milt K4OSO; Malvern K4WHN; Sheila 
K4WNW; Jeff KD4QIT; Barry KF4QQY; Steve KG4QIT; Ed KG4W; Bradley KI4TOQ; 
George KJ4IPF; Jerry KJ4IT; John KJ4YKK; Frank KN4XJ; Sejo N3UA; Dennis 
N4DEN; Don N4DJ; Dave N4DWK; Tom N4ZJ; Bob NK4H; Ed NW4V; Duke W1ZA; Bob 
W4DR; Ralph W4FEG; A.C. W4HJ; Jonathan W4HZ; Bob W4MYA; Paul W4PFM; John 
W4TNX; Kyle WA4PGM; Dave WB4GVZ; Bruce WD4LBR; Bill WS4WW; Ronnie WU4G 
Subject: Future of CVCC? PLEASE READ AND REPLY 
 
 
 
I'm a bit concerned about the future of the CVCC. Participation at CVCC 
contests and events has been steadily declining. 
 
 
CVCC OFFICERS 
 
We have an election of officers coming up in April. Ronnie and Milt have 
agreed to stay on as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. The office of 
President has no takers. I have filled that office for the last 3 years and 
will not repeat. We need someone to step forward. If no one will then one 
solution, which we have used in the past, is to leave the office unfilled 
and ask for volunteers to chair the meetings, perhaps one or two meetings 
per volunteer. 
 
FIELD DAY 
We had no volunteers to chair the CVCC 2013 FD effort. Last year 
participation was down quite a bit. Are we getting burned out on Field 
Day? Do we want to have Field Day as a group this year? If so , someone 
needs to step forward to lead the effort. 
Some options: 
1. Scale back to 1A instead of 2A 
2. Go somewhere else - AC's relative's QTH on the river (picnic site) was 
discussed as a possibility 3. Do same as last year. 
4. Forget it entirely 
 
If we do Field Day of any sort we need someone to take the lead or else 
Option 4 is the only one available. 
 
NEWS LETTER 
George has decided to resign from the club due to other demands on his 
time. I have taken over the News Letter in the interim, but am looking for 
someone to take this job. If no one steps forward we will just discontinue 
it. I need any info for the February News Letter which will be my last. 
Send it to me ASAP. 
 
MEETING PROGRAMS 
We need a committee to come up with programs for the year. Right now we 
need one for February. ANY IDEAS? 
 
CONTESTS 
Jonathan says he will have his tower/rotor back in order when the weather 
breaks and will host multi-single efforts in the future BUT only if he get 
some participation. One or two folks per contest is NOT participation. If 
some of you don't come due to the fact that Jonathan smokes please be 
advised that there is NO SMOKING in the shack during any contest! 
Jonathan's shack is a great place to play contest, Nancy's waffles are 
outstanding for breakfast, and the hospitality is first class. 
 
 
Upcoming CVCC contests: 
ARRL DX CW Feb 16-17, 2013 
ARRL DX SSB March 2-3, 2013 
VA QSO Party 3rd full weekend in March (16-17) 
 
I doubt if Jonathan's QTH will be ready for the CW portion of the ARRL DX CW

but should be for the two later events. We won a gavel in the ARRL DX test 
last year. This year we need at least 10 good logs (a combo of CW and 
SSB). In the VAQP we had two multi-operations last year. Hopefully we can 
do at least one this year. 
 
FINAL THOUGHTS 
If we can't get more participation in the future perhaps it's time to start 
thinking about winding down the CVCC entirely. This would not be my choice 
but may be our only logical choice. I want to ask for volunteers to join a 
PLANNING COMMITTEE to meet at my QTH during the coming month to come up with

a plan for the future of CVCC. I'm drafting the two other club officers and 
need at least 3 other volunteers. If you want to continue CVCC volunteer 
now. 
 
PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL IF ONLY TO SAY YOU READ IT! 
or 
CALL ME AT 550-3423 
 
 
73, 
Puck W4PM