ENTERPRISE AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY PO BOX 310034 ENTERPRISE, AL 36331-0034 Pres - WA4YQT barefeet@alaweb.com VPres - KD4FNI gbarnes@isiglobal.net Sec/Treas - N4JAG rickpal@snowhill.com PIO - KD4KT leobet@snowhill.com Newsletter - N4RYC geleam@snowhill.com OCTOBER 2002 NEWSLETTER The meeting will be held at 7:00 PM, Thursday October 17th in room S-100 of the Enterprise State Junior College. DUES REMINDER The following members annual dues of $20 ($5 Associate) are due. August - KE4AYM, KG4IXC. September - W4FOS. October - N2BVO, WB5OMW, KD4KT, KD4FNI, WA4YQT, K4HKR, KE4ITU. Please remember that after you are three months overdue, you will be dropped from the club roster. If you can't attend a meeting, please mail your check, payable to EARS, to the club address. Thanks for your support. EVENT CALENDAR EARS meeting - 17 October Hamfest - Montgomery - 9 November EARS meeting - 21 November EARS Christmas Dinner - 14 December Boll Weevil Net on 147.24+ each Tuesday at 8 PM. Wednesday lunches at the Deli in Daleville at 11:00 AM. Amateur Exams following EARS meetings. Contact Tom, WA4YQT, at 763-0532 at least 24 hours in advance to schedule a test. ROSTER UPDATE Please welcome three new members this month. Gary Beam, KG4VBL, Josh Beam, KG4VBJ, and Justin Beam, KG4VBK. They're from Jack, Alabama. (Hmmm... I wonder if they're related?) We'll print and send out a new roster next month. FROM THE OVAL OFFICE Election of officer's will be held at this month's meeting. The following people have been nominated - President: Glenn, KD4FNI; Vice President: Sonny, KD4IDG; Sec/Treas: Rick, N4JAG; PIO: Jim, KL0LN. Article II of our Constitution provides that these persons be elected for a term of one year "by ballot of the members present, provided there be a quorum, at the regular meeting in October." In case there is not a quorum, all members not present and able to vote at the October meeting will automatically enter an absentee vote of "yes" for all positions unless said member has notified any currently elected officer in advance of the October meeting that she/he desires to vote "no". Gary, KG4VBL, has volunteered to take over as Newsletter Editor, which is not an elected officer position. CHRISTMAS DINNER It was decided at last month's meeting that our annual Christmas dinner will be again held at Po Folks in Enterprise. It will be Saturday, December 14th; arrive around 6:30 PM and dinner at 7:00 PM. We'll firm up the menu and price as soon as possible, but I think it's a safe bet it will be pretty much the same as last year. BREAKFAST Have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than sleep? Well, get your lazy butt up and come to breakfast! We show up around 7 AM at the Enterprise Restaurant on North Main Street for breakfast or just coffee or just a good time talking. If 7 AM is too early, try 8 AM at Ann's just off of Hwy 231 in Ozark. Same idea: good food and fellowship. -------------------------------------------------- ELECTRONIC EDITION A few things I either forgot or didn't have room for in the printed edition: I've got two Kenwood 941A Tri-band radios for sale. 2 m, 440, and 1.2 gig. $400 each or both for $700. == Remember there will be no meeting in December, only the dinner, so there will be no testing. Please get your RSVP in as soon as possible to one of the club officers. Last year the food was great and everyone had a great time. It isn't just for EARS members. Any area Ham is welcome. Spread the word. == The following is from the ARRL Newsletter. I thought it was worth sharing. "GOOD AMATEUR PRACTICE" MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth has endorsed a list of several points that he feels help to define the concept of "good amateur practice." Section 97.101(a) of the Amateur Radio Service rules refers to "good engineering and good amateur practice"--considered to refer to maintaining the highest standards of engineering and on-the-air comportment. But the rule lacks specifics. "Good amateur practice is a hard thing to define," Hollingsworth conceded. "I'd have to say it's operating with the realization that frequencies are shared, that there's going to be occasional interference and that's no reason to become hateful and paranoid." Hollingsworth says amateurs have to realize that more people than ever are listening in, especially since September 11, 2001, and that amateurs always need to remember that "our rights end where another person's begin." A Michigan Amateur Radio club has been credited with distributing a list of "Riley-isms" culled from Hollingsworth's various talks at conventions and hamfests and club meetings around the US. Hollingsworth--who verified that he had been cited accurately--says his various comments represent an effort to flesh out what "good amateur practice" consists of for the considerate Amateur Radio operator. According to Hollingsworth, good amateur practice means: * giving a little ground--even if you have a right not to--in order to help preserve Amateur Radio and not cause it to get a bad name or hasten the day when it becomes obsolete. * respecting band plans, because they make it possible for every mode to have a chance. * being aware that we all love Amateur Radio, and there's no need to damage or disgrace it just to save face. * keeping personal conflicts off the air. Settle your arguments on the telephone, the Internet or in person. Just keep them off the air. * cutting a net or a contester a break, even if you don't have to and even if you have no interest whatsoever in nets or contesting. * realizing that every right carries responsibilities, and just because you may have a right to do certain things doesn't mean it's right to do them in every circumstance. * you don't "own" or get preference to use any frequency. * not operating so that whoever hears you becomes sorry they ever got into (or tuned in on) Amateur Radio in the first place. Hollingsworth notes that the list "doesn't touch on a lot of other technical issues, such as using 1500 W when your signal report received is 40 over 9." Good amateur practice, he said, "just means a lot of things that can't always be quantified."--thanks to Riley Hollingsworth == Here is a note from WA4MZL about the Peanut Festival: We need help on Saturday, Nov 9th with the parade. (It is the same date as the Montgomery Hamfest.) If anyone is not going to Montgomery, and would be willing to help, we could sure use the assistance. For the past couple of years we have not had enough hams to cover every corner of the parade. We do have a small thank you from the National Peanut Festival. They will give any ham that helps with the parade two passes to the fairground (good on any day) and they pick up the tab for breakfast at Burger King for our meeting on the parade day. If anyone will help, give me a holler either at wa4mzl@arrl.net or they can call me at 334-333-5017. I have had a lot of irons in the fire lately, and I have not been on the radio much. Thanks for spreading the word. 73, George WA4MZL == That's about it for this month. Hope to see you at the meeting. N4JAG Rick Violence is the result of the wolves learning the sheep have no guns. Personal Home Page & PGP Public Key at: http://www.snowhill.com/~rickpal Visit the Enterprise Amateur Radio Society at: http://www.snowhill.com/~rickpal/ears.htm Visit "The Best Mix" - WKMX Radio at: http://www.wkmx.com