[FCARC] FCARC: 2011 Year in Review

[Craig Szczublewski]

Happy New Year to everyone, I thought it would be nice to put together a "year 
in review" for the Radio Club.  It's been an interesting year filled with fun 
and successful radio events like the club Hamfest and Field Day, as well as 
somber moments when we said goodbye to some of the founding members of the club. 
  We had some challenges early on in finding a new and permanent meeting 
location, and certainly some challenges in transitioning to new club officers. I 
want to thank everyone for their continued support of the club through this 
year, and we look forward to being a great resource for Amateur Radio operators 
in this region in the coming year.

Club Officers:

Long time officers Ed Roth (wd8krs) and Jason Clingaman (kc8pcu) stepped down 
from the president and vice-president positions, replaced by Bryan Patterson 
(kb8elg) and Craig Szczublewski (kd8kbu).  Angela Infante (kb2avn) and Lu Ann 
Kuney (kb2elh) remain our Secretary and Treasurer.  We thank Ed and Jason for 
their years of service to the club.

Repeater Improvements:

This year we invested a bit of capital into the repeater equipment, adding a new 
60 amp rack mount power supply installed in May, and a new Andrews 4 bay antenna 
system installed in September 2011.  Both pieces of equipment have added to the 
overall reliability and quality of our repeater system.

Education:

KB8ELG spearheaded a Technician Class in September of this year, with 3 
attending.  With club donations, we were able to acquire several sets of ARRL 
study guides and look forward to holding another class in 2012.  The VE Team 
held 11 test sessions, with 24 new and upgrade licenses issued.

Events and Community Support:

Our Hamfest was a success this year, we saw an increase of people in attendance 
as well as individuals taking part in the swap.

We were asked to put up a booth again at the Delta Chicken Fest this year as 
well as assist with traffic control for the Grand Parade.  This year we had an 
opportunity to setup in the same tent as the Delta Police and Fire/EMS.  The 
tent also housed a piece of the World Trade Center.

Our Field Day was huge success, we continue to improve our score and QSO count 
every year.  We ran as a 7A+GOTA this year, racking up 1135 QSOs in phone, 
digital, and CW.  We claimed a score of 4,160, and finished 1st in the state of 
Ohio and 10th overall for our category and power multiplier.

The Fulton County Fair was successful again, we continue to gain interest and 
visibility within the community, plus we had running water in the booth.

We assisted with the Lockport 5k race again this past October, and had great 
weather for a change.  We had 10 club members on hand which was perfect for the 
length of the course.

Last, we assisted with Archbold Festival of Lights Parade again this year. 
Thanks to all the club members who assisted, we had a good turnout and our 
postings were a bit better organized this year.

Miscellaneous:

The club purchased three assembled and finished picnic tables from a local 
Fulton County wood shop for $150 total and donated them to Jim Roth for use at 
the Roth Family Woodlot in Tedrow.  The tables were delivered as a surprise by 
kb8elg and kd8kbu and, needless to say, well received.  We thank Jim and the 
Roth family for having out for our Hamfest and Field Day year after year.

Silent Keys:

Nelles Roth (w8upr) February 2011
Ron Cooper (ka8nsg) March 2011
Claude Cass Telles, IV (ka8rpm) September 2011
Stanley Fauver (w8zhq) October 2011

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Craig Szczublewski - kd8kbu