[MSham] Introduction and Request.

[Mike Olbrisch]

Good afternoon.

	I am Mike - KD9KC - in El Paso, Texas.  The 9-call is from Chicago,
where I was born.  The /5 status is from the United States Army, Fort Bliss
Texas, from which I retired some time ago.  Upon retiring from the Army I chose
to make Texas my home.

	I have recently been appointed to the position of Association Manager
for SOTA, USA Zone-5.  US Zone 5 is of course - Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.  For those of you not familiar
with SOTA, I direct your attention to the following web site.

http://www.sota.org.uk/

	This is a very popular program in Europe, and is expanding in the United
States.  Call zones 1, 2, 3, and 6 are already activated.  I am working on call
zone 5, and I know call zone 0 is also being worked on.  Call zone 5 has been a
very daunting task so far.  I have completed Texas with 447 summits meeting the
requirement.  I am about 25% finished with New Mexico, with 1063 summits meeting
the requirements.  I have not gone beyond this point yet.  In addition, I must
also write a document called an Area Reference Manual, or ARM.  I can do this
too.  But I do need some help.  

	I know very little about Mississippi.  I traveled though several times
in my Army career, but I never had time to stop.  I remember a police officer in
Meridian that I would chat with late at night on the CB while I was passing
through, but that was in the late 70s.  

	What I am hoping for is one or more volunteers from Mississippi that
have either outdoors, hiking, or topographical knowledge, and thinks SOTA would
be fun.  I am willing to do the hard work, but I need help in identifying
mountain ranges and summits in your state.  Of course, if someone wants to
volunteer to take up the state, I will be happy to get you started.  Eventually
I will need state association managers to manage the state list.

I do realize that there may be NO SUMMITS in Mississippi that qualify.  Even
just getting that data from a reliable source would be a great help.

	Please - anyone.....  even the smallest help would be most appreciated.
The parent association has said I can start up with only two states listed.  But
I would like to include all states in the ARM from the start.  I cannot do it
all alone.  If you are willing to help - please reply.  Even if it is only
pointing me to a site to gather the data on my own - it would be a help.

Thanks for reading.

Mike - KD9KC.
El Paso, Tx. 
M.A.R.I.E.
w5dpd.org