[SMCARA] PVRC On-The-Air meeting 8:00PM tonight

[Tom Shelton]

In case anyone is interested in joining the PVRC Contest Club, there will be an OTA meeting tonight at 8:00 PM.  More info below...

The only requirement for membership is an amateur radio license (any class) and an active interest in contesting.  It doesn't matter whether you have your own station, or how elaborate it is.  It doesn't matter whether your interest is HF, or VHF, or you don't even know yet. 

Otherwise, the situation is pretty simple.  You need to attend two meetings to become a member.  There are no dues for PVRC, except by voluntary donation.  Instead, we think your "dues" should be the submission of scores for the club in 2 (hopefully more) of the contests we enter as a club every year.  If you can't operate from home, we'll be glad to help you line up an opportunity to operate, either as part of a team at a multi-operator station or as a "guest op" at a member's station.  PVRC members help each other with antenna work, with technical issues, and with operating skill development.  Learn how to contest with PVRC, and you'll have the satisfaction of watching your skills (and your scores) grow year by year.
Some people tend to think of PVRC as composed entirely of "big guns."  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, the average PVRC member's station probably consists of a transceiver, a tribander, and wires for 40 and 80 meters, on a city lot.  some of our members even operate in contests with indoor antennas and QRP power.  

The OTA meeting will happen on Tonight (Monday) at 8:00PM (Eastern Time Local)...  Frequency will be 3820, plus or minus QRM. 
When I find a clean frequency I’ll send a note out on the reflector to let 
you know exactly where to find us.

>From tonight until November 11th, we’ll be meeting weekly – this to ensure 
that anyone who needs a meeting for membership before November SS can get 
one.  After November 11th, we’ll drop to a once a meeting.

The OTA meeting is meant for prospective members who can’t attend (because 
of schedule, geography, handicap, or any other reason) a regularly scheduled 
chapter meeting.  Prospective members are encouraged to attend a regular 
chapter meeting if at all possible.  That said, these meetings will count 
towards the 2 meeting membership requirement.

Prospective members should have already filled out the membership 
application at http://pvrc.org/memberapp.html.  Additionally you might want 
to join the PVRC reflector at http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/pvrc. 
Please also send a note to Rich at richnn3w<at>verizon<dot>net letting him 
know that you will check-in for membership credit.

We’ll start with check-ins and vote in any prospective members.  Given the 
nature of 80 meters, please relay stations that I can’t hear.  After that we’ll 
go into ragchew mode.

Please forward this to any prospective members or those PVRC curious.  If 
you know of someone local to you who wants membership, but might not have 
80M capabilities, offer a visit to your shack to check in.

Even though this is primarily intended to help prospective members, all 
members are encouraged to check-in – please don’t assume that we’ll have 
enough members checking in (forgive the begging, but it would be 
heartbreaking if we had a prospective member who couldn’t get voted in 
because of lack of participation).

If someone needs a meeting and can’t make these OTA, send me an e-mail and 
we’ll try to work something out for you.

Go PVRC – Bravo Zulu es 73

Tom Shelton, AB3IC
(240) 434-3811

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