[HCRA] September Zero Beat is on the web.

[Jim - KK1W]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're taking advantage of a beautiful Labor Day weekend. After all
the parties and picnics remember to mark your calendar for the first HCRA
meeting of the new season. It is this Friday, September 7th and we have a
treat for you. More about that later in this message.

First, if you want to see your Zero Beat in beautiful color than point your
browser to: http://www.hcra.org/zerobeat/sep07.pdf and there you go. An
interesting issue with a little something for everyone.

Don't forget the beginning of the season starts our renewal drive. In order
to keep supporting your favorite amateur radio club you will need to
'freshen up' your membership. The good news is that nothing has changed! The
dues are still only a mere $15 (cheep), family members are free, we still
have an excellent meeting hall and with your support have been able to have
an outstanding holiday party, great speakers and a fantastic Field Day.
Believe it or not your $15 goes a long way. There will be a bonus for early
(by the end of the October meeting) renewal and this will be announced at
this Friday's meeting.

Speaking of this Friday's meeting we have an outstanding guest speaker for
you. Steve Ford, WB8IMY will be coming to tell us all about 'operating
digital'. Steve has been a long time amateur and has always been involved in
ham radio technology outside of the usual SSB/CW operating. Steve is editor
of the ARRL's flagship publication "QST" as well as author of the monthly
"Short Takes" and "Eclectic Radio" within QST. I'm sure you will leave the
meeting with some great ideas on how to try new things with your hobby.
Don't miss out; get there early for a good seat.

There will be a few special raffle prizes too at the meeting. Going along
with our digital mode presentation the main raffle prize will be a
Rigblaster Nomic from West Mountain Radio. Worth $90 you could go home with
all the hardware you need to get on PSK31 that evening. We will also be
raffling off a certificate for a signed copy of WB8IMY's 4th edition "HF
Digital Handbook" due out later this month.

So you can see there are exciting things happening at HCRA. The summer is
almost over, propagation should be on the upswing so get ready now for a
great year in ham radio.

Don't forget to support the club that keeps you on top of amateur radio by
renewing before the end of the October meeting. If you want to save some
time at the meeting for the show why not fill out your application early?
You can download a printable copy of the application here:
http://www.hcra.org/zerobeat/HCRA_Application%20Form%202002.pdf. Please try
to take the email version of Zero Beat if at all possible. After the church
rental the Zero Beat is our second largest expense. Lets all take electronic
delivery if possible and besides saving HCRA money you will be contributing
to a cleaner environment. An added bonus is the electronic copy is usually
there first and in COLOR too!

What's on the agenda for the October meeting? Our very own Bob Laflamme,
W1SQ, will be on hand to talk about VMware. What the heck is that you say?
Well I KNOW there are a lot of hams out there still clinging to their old
DOS programs but upset they won't run on their new PC's. The end result is
you have an old clunker PC in the ham shack just for those applications.
With VMware you new PC can do it all. Bob will show you how and the best
part of it is? It's pretty inexpensive, like free, to do it. If you want to
learn more plan on being at the October 5th meeting.

As always thanks for your support of HCRA

Jim, KK1W