[NLRS] Overview of this years CSVHF conference

[W0ZQ at aol.com]

Here is a very quick review of this years Central States VHF  Conference.   
The conference was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado,  July 28 - 30.

The hospitality suite was open after about 7:00 pm on all  thee nights; 
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (after the banquet) and, let me tell  you, lots of 
(rare) oxygen got used during eyeball QSO's.
 
Friday morning the antenna range was run from 0800 to 1200.   The  weather 
was warm, perhaps very warm, with an intense sun and not a cloud in  sight.   
The low humidity and some breeze helped keep it  reasonable.   As usual, there 
was a VHF and a UHF/microwave antenna  range that were run side-by-side.   The 
area that was used was just  off the asphalt and into the scrub, so it helped 
to be wearing some good shoes  or boot.
 
The technical conference kicked off at 1300.   Here is a list of  papers that 
were presented on Friday.
 
Introductions &  Welcome                               W0LD, Pres
Construction the big  dish                                KL6M
Using radar data to predict rain scatter paths  K0SM
Chasing LEOs with a  dish                              W0LMD
47 GHz EME - The Final Frontier  ?                VE4MA,  W5LUA
 
The flea market was then held at 1900 to 2400.
 
On Saturday, the program started at 0800 as follows:
 
Great Range (Balloon  flights)                              K5IS, N5IS
Beacon and camera controller for balloon flights  WC5Z
Considerations for 6m EME  DXpeditions              W7GJ
Software Defined Radios: The future is  now         K5SDR
Microwave contacts using  SDR                          KM0T, W0VB
Broad beamwidth 144 and 222  arrays                 K1WHS
ARHAB 101  (high altitude  balloons)                KD4STH
VHF+  Roving                                                    ND2X
Antenna  measurements                                    WA5VJB
 
During the business meeting, the following new directors were elected for a  
two year term:
K5LLL, W0LD, WA5VJB, W0ZQ, K5TTT, VE3AX, NN5DX with N0LNO as the  alternate.  
They join the current directors of K0DAS, W9GA, KF0Q, N5BA,  K0SM, KM0T, and 
W9FZ.   Bruce, W9FZ, remains Treasurer and also assume  the role of President.
 
The banquet was held at 7:00 pm on Saturday in the upstairs room (in 1995,  
it was the downstairs room) which offered an amazing view of the Colorado Rocky 
 Mountains at sunset.   We had the usual rubber chicken (that tasted  very 
good when you are hungry).   The keynote speaker provided us with  a taste of 
the Old West with cowboy poetry, cowboy jargon, and a review &  display of some 
guns of the West.   
 
Following the keynote speaker, some business was taken care of include  
announcing the top three States Above finishers.   Gary, W0GHZ,  secured a third 
place finish and should be receiving a nice plaque.    Look for a later 
announcement on the overall results and looking ahead to  2006.
 
All in all, a very enjoyable conference.   The presentations on  Software 
Defined Radios by K0SDR and KM0T/W0VB were excellent.   I  also greatly enjoyed 
Andy's talk on 10gig rain scatter and using radar to  predict paths.    
 
I'm already looking forward to next years conference here in Bloomington  and 
hope to see lots of NLRS and CVVV guys here.
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ