[TWIAR] TWIAR UPDATE FOR JUNE 2003

[kxkvi]

This Week in Amateur Radio
Update for June 2003.

TWIAR IS IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE. FINAL EDITION IN SITE.

Hello to all our affiliates and listeners around the world. This will be our
"how the service is doing" update for first part of June 2003.  We have a few
topics to cover this time around so let's get started.

First and foremost is funding. The service is now operating IN THE RED. As
I write this, I have just finished paying the operating bills for the service
for the months of April and May. A huge section of the expenses this past
period was covered by myself. As many of you know by now, our free ride on
the web came to end this past month. We have our web site now on servers
that will cost us about $15 dollars a month. Pretty cheap considering what
we're getting, and Greg has done a fantastic job keeping the site going.
Also, Greg paid for our transfer of DNS and web hosting out of pocket.

The service is now officially $90.00 IN THE RED. It has also forced me to
close the checking account, as the bank will not allow me to keep it open
with a zero balance.

This situation cannot continue. Although our web site continues to get many
hits for audio downloading each week, and other affiliates take the service
via the C-Band satellite down link, funding for the service has literally
dropped to nothing.  All of us involved with the service derive no income
from it, it is our way to give back to the hobby.

This Week in Amateur Radio has had a wonderful ten year run. The service has
grown into what it is today though the efforts of those that have been
involved with the service each day, and also from those that have provided
funding in the past.  It is true that the service has gone though "dry
periods" before, but this year has been especially dry.  And now, with the
added expense of web site hosting, funding is critical.

I have made the decision to cover the expenses out of pocket for the month of
June. If during that time we do not come up with a way to fund this weekly
bulletin service, edition number 534 which will air on the July fourth
weekend, will be our last and final edition.  The web site will also come down
during that weekend.

I have done a little calculating. With the additional expense of web site
hosting, the amount needed to keep TWIAR afloat until the end of the year
is approximately $500.  This will cover just our operating expenses, and will
leave nothing for equipment repair or software upgrading.  This doesn't seem
like a vast amount, considering that our competitor in the ham news biz,
seems to need "thousands" each month to stay up and running.

This Week in Amateur Radio has never attempted to find corporate funding.
For example from ICOM or Yeasu. We have always been a "listener and club"
supported operation.

We may need to change this. If you work for or own a amateur radio related
business and would like to fund either our on air bulletin service, or place
an advertisement on the web site, please get in touch soon.

Remember, as we say each week on the service, "you keep us on the air".
All of us involved with TWIAR would like to see it continue, but it cannot
without your support.

Secondly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Greg Williams, K4HSM,
our web guru, for the fantastic job he did in relocating our web site with
new host. The transition was almost transparent to the end user.

Greg got us a great deal, and now not only can we continue to offer the most
up to the minute news with the "TWIARTicker", Greg has designed us the new
"TWIARForums" which will be open soon, and we can now offer you a @TWIAR.ORG
mailing address if you would like one.

We have had a few new volunteer news readers come on board in the past month.
We still need a few additional readers, and of course our on going search for
new segment producers continues.

Finally, if you air the service on your repeater, or simplex frequency, or
if you listen to our service, either on the amateur airwaves, or streamed on
the net somewhere, please check to see if the source is listed on our
affiliates page.  If it is not listed, please send me the information and I
will forward it to Greg to add to page, and see that the source gets a plug
on the air.

Well, that's all for this time. If funding begins to come in, I will have
Greg take this rant down, and we'll put up a new one, letting you know what
we have received, from whom, and how that will effect the service.

Until then, pass the hat, and 73.


George Bowen
W2XBS
Technical Director/Producer
This Week in Amateur Radio