[NLRS] Aurora 2010

[w0zq at aol.com]

Hello NLRS land.

Many thanks to those who attended this years Aurora 2010 conference.  The weather was outstanding and Bill, K0AWU, had a great technical program put together.  Despite facing a stiff head wind from both the Minnesota fishing opener and the Dayton Hamfest, we had attendee's from VE3, Wisconsin, Iowa, and South Dakota.  Formal notes from the NLRS business meeting are pending, but here are some of the highlights:

Aurora 2011:  May 14, 2011.   This should be the weekend just before Dayton.

Elections:  The current slate of club officers was re-elected for a two year term.  W0ZQ, N0UK, and KC0IYT as pres, vice-pres, and secretary treasurer.

Club Donations:  NLRS will donate $100 to the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund, the ARRL Education & Technology Fund, and QTH.NET for a total of $300.

NLRS Shirts:  WA2VOI and W9FZ agreed to collaborate on a new group purchase of NLRS shirts.  Watch the reflector for more news.

Website:  Aaron, KA0ZOZ, has step forward to lead the effort to update our club's website.  WA0RSE, KC0IYT, and W0ZQ have agreed to help as content owners/editors.

2009 Limited Rover Award:
2009 represents the sixth year for Rovermania and the fourth year that the NLRS has sponsored the NLRS Limited Rover Award.  The NLRS Limited Rover Award is given to those ARRL August UHF contest rovers with the highest rover scores using three bands or less.  Full rules can be found on the NLRS web site at http://www.nlrs.org/Limited Rover/index.htm .   The 2nd place Limited Rover Award for 2009 goes to John Pope, WA0VPJ.  John score of 17,931 points was generated using 222, 432, and 1296.  On 222 John had 52 Q's by 23 grids, on 432 49 Q's by 13 grids, and on 1296 he had 19 Q's by 7 grids.  During the contest John traveled to 10 grids, a significant number considering that the UHF contest is only 24 hours long.  Congratulations to John for his second place finish.  The recipient of the 1st place Limited Rover Award for 2009 is Mike Metroka, WB8BZK.  Mike's score of 20,826 points was also generated using 222, 432, and 1296.  On 222 Mike had 67 Q's by 18 grids, on 432 63 Q's by 14 grids, and on 1296 he had 24 Q's by 7 grids, totaling 154 Q's by 39 grids.  During the contest Mike traveled to four unique grids.  Congratulations to Mike for his first place finish.

Wesslund Award:
The 2010 Wesslund Award winner is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the Northern Lights Radio Society. First licensed in 1968 as WN0UCU, this year’s award winner was introduced to VHF in the mid-1970’s while at W1MX, the call sign for the MIT Radio Society. In the 1980’s his shepherding of the Conference gatherings that have become Aurora helped to promote VHF weak signal activity in the Upper Mid West, provided an opportunity for like-minded VHF/UHF/uW weak-single enthusiasts to meet, and provided a foundation for what has become the Northern Lights Radio Society.  WN0UCU has been, and continues to be, one of those guys “behind the curtain” that keeps Aurora, and in part the NLRS, going. Beyond this, this years Wesslund Award winner has established and operates one of the premier VHF+ stations in the Upper Midwest in an exemplary manner that has contributed to the state of VHF and has impacted so many of us in going forward.  Although our winner is not formally a part of our family, many of us refer to him as “Uncle Charlie”. This years Wesslund Award winner is Paul Husby, W0UC. 

Again, thanks to all that attended.  

73, Jon
W0ZQ