[Wswss] Hopefully not the end of WS clubs in CALIF.

[Mark Casey]

Here's a few ideas and comments for the WS crew on the West Coast from a WS 
friend on the East Coast.

Sorry to hear that the WSWSS is going away. I've been subscribed here for 
maybe 2 years or more, just to read what's going on in WS circles in your 
area of the country. Over the last 15 years or so I've visited Southern Cal 
quite a few times to see my son's family and have operated WS from a modest 
portable setup, sometimes out of a rental car. About 10 years ago we hiked 
up Santiago Peak (Orange/Riverside County) and worked a bunch of folks with 
my portable 6n2 dipole. Hopefully your VHF nets will not all disappear. I 
enjoyed checking in to them.

N.E.W.S, our regional WS group, was started here in the northeast about 15 
years ago. There was, at that time, and are today, 2 other WS groups in 
adjacent areas, The Rochester, NY group, which serves upstate & western NY, 
PA aand Ontario, and the Packrats, or Mt Airy VHF Society, which serves the 
Mid-Atlantic from the Philadelphia area. Then, there's a group in the 
Washington DC area, a group in the Atlanta, GA-Charlotte, NC area, and a 
group in Florida also.We found that VHF+ folks do like to get together on a 
regular basis, but travel to meetings over 100-200 miles makes it a chore, 
and is expensive, so the major groups are located about 200-400 miles apart.

NEWS has meetings 6 times a year and our average attendance is about 30-35. 
We have our meetings on Saturday afternoon, and many of us get together for 
lunch before the meeting, or early dinner after the meeting. I enjoy going 
to every meeting, and we have fun at each one. But, as Bob points out, too 
many meetings can be tedious. We started out with 4 per year, and if we went 
back to that number, it would be fine, but if we went up to a meeting a 
month, we might get burned out and end up where the WSWSS is now.  We 
usually have a speaker at each meeting. Sometimes it's not always about Ham 
radio, but it's always somewhat related, and always interesting. At last 
Saturday's meeting, Mike, N1JEZ, brought a very well done presentation on 
the rebuilding of Mt. Mansfield in Vermont for digital TV and HD radio. It's 
a site many of us have operated from, on bands from 2 meters to 24 GHz. It's 
the Vermont version, albeit much smaller, of Mt. Wilson.

Nets are not a problem. We have one 2 meter net and have talked about going 
to a couple other bands, but haven't so far. The Packrats have a net on 
Monday night where they start at 50 and go up to 1296 or higher. Some of us 
in the NEWS group check in to their nets. We all get along pretty well. Most 
of the NEWS members don't check in to the net, but a core of us do, and the 
main point is that it's there if you are looking for some activity, or to 
exchange information.

I hope that you can get a new group going, or rebuild the current one. Both 
Southern Cal. and the San Francisco area certainly should have enough WS 
population to make clubs viable. You might find that, given the distance 
between the LA and SF areas, 2 clubs would be better suited than 1. Given 
similar distances, that's what we have found.

Good luck with the future. Hope to work many of you folks sometime in the 
future. So, if you hear a weak "1" call on VHF-UHF or even during the 10GHz 
contest, give them a shout. It may be one of our NEWS group members (or me) 
on vacation out your way. And, please, visit us, back here on the East 
Coast! We have several active, friendly WS groups.

73
Mark Casey, K1MAP
FN32sb
HAMpden, Mass


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Gerner" <wj6t at bak.rr.com>
To: <WSWSS at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: [Wswss] The end of WSWSS


> Hi VHFer
>
> I was one of the first of the WSWSS but have not been member for some time
> now. The group was to help keep the FM out of the
>
> weak signal part of the band. But what it turn into was net after net
> operation, net to try calling CQ to see who you could
>
> talk to get reports and look for the next stations. Also these gatherings
> all the time up and down the state. Vhf guys are
>
> (or were not) people that set and talk to one in weekly get-togethers 
> Hams.
> We like to make our station work better. Yearly
>
> VHF conferences are a very good thing.  Look at the CSVHF group it has 
> work
> for many years. They don't break up into Microwave
>
> , Six meters, 1296 groups.  One big meeting a year. Not just for CA. But 
> we
> should all join the NW group as a one West Cost
>
> West part of the 6 and 7 land state.
>
> The 1296 group net is a type net that needs to have nets. But not on 2 
> were
> most can work up down the state when the bands is
>
> good just by calling a CQ.
>
> As for the reflector try to keep it operational. Or join it with a more
> updated vhf reflector.
>
> This is just my thoughts but it works in other parts of the world.
>
> Bob WJ6T
>
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