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Christmas Party

Christmas Party Tickets
De Jim Riley W9JPR

Sales of Christmas party tickets continued at the October meeting. As of this writing, we have 15 sold. Be sure to stop by and get yours at the November meeting.

This year’s event will be at Bartolini’s, 14420 Pulaski Rd. in Midlothian. Doors open at 6 p.m. on Friday December 6, our regular meeting night. Unlike years past, we will have our own room and we won’t have to contend with any loud parties on the other side of a less-than-soundproof partition.

If you can’t make the meeting, you can order tickets online via our website or send a check to me at my roster address. Tickets are $25 each. Tickets not sold at the meeting will be held until the evening of the party and handed out there unless other arrangements are made.

If you missed the November meeting, you missed a great time. Thank you once again to Steve Cooper and his band members for a great evening of big band music.

On behalf of my fellow Hamfester’s Officers and Board members, I wish to thank the members of our club for their vote of confidence and it is our honor to serve the Club for another year.

In addition to that let us all take time to remember those members who passed on this year. Thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends just as well for sure.

HEALTH AND WELFARE: Best wishes and prayers go out to any members who are not feeling well and struggling with your health matters. We are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers.

NEW MEMBER: Ernest Ilarde, KD9NYP. He’s just getting started, so reach out to him at the next meeting. Welcome to Hamfesters!

JANUARY MEETING: Our guest speaker will be Mark Thompson, who will talk about Fusion Radio. As always, we ask you to keep an eye on the website for the most current happenings in our club. Remember to Like us on our Hamfesters Page on Facebook and spread the word about our great club too! We are a fun place to have a good time of fellowship at all of our events!

Lastly, on behalf of my fellow board members, Don and myself, we wish you great blessings on the upcoming holiday season. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Hanukkah season!

73,
Nora Pointer KC9MLV
President of Hamfesters Amateur Radio Club of Crestwood
P.S: If you need to reach me, please email me at: npointer92@gmail.com

Secretary’s Beat – Meeting Minutes

Hamfesters Amateur Radio Club Meeting Nov. 1, 2019 7:15 pm

Roll: Nora KC9MLV, Jim W9JPR, Ed WA9EOL, Patti KC9LYE
Steve Cooper played the “Star-Spangled Banner” on his trumpet.
Steve W9KXT, read a prayer to honor soldiers, & veterans.

Visitors: Welcome all. The Whelan family Sue Jim & Chris, W9HE Randolph, Tammi Sherd,
KD9NYP Ernest,

New Member: KD9NYP, Ernest Ilode Welcome to Hamfesters!

Health & Welfare: Gregg ABMZ, is here tonight, he’s recovering from eye surgery.
Good to have you here Gregg.

Don Sommmerfield’s wife Nancy, has passed away. Our thoughts and prayers for the
Somerfield family.

Minutes: The August board minutes were approved by Jim W9JPR, & Don KC9EQQ. There was NO board meeting in September.

Treasurer’s Report: By Ed WA9EOL, club purchases: donuts, cups, Hamfesters Plaque, Christmas party venue, 15-25 so far are going to attend our Christmas party. The party is the first Friday in December. See Jim W9JPR, for Tickets tonight.
See Hamfesters.org for party details. Our club has an account at another bank, First Midwest.

Programs: Tonight Steve Cooper, music, Dec. Christmas party, Steve Cooper will play corals,
Jan. 2020 DMR Fusion radio, Feb Gregg AB9MZ, will present a program (stay tuned for details).

Publicity: By Jim W9JPR, publicity for tonight’s program.

Old Business: On Nov. 8th at 10:00 am at the Walmart Store in Bridgeville there will be
a program to honor veterans.

Dave N9KPD, thanked everyone who volunteered last month for the run at College of Dupage.
There’s another run on Thanksgiving Day if you can volunteer to contact Dave n9kpd@ARRL.com

Cindy N9CAS, will find a company to provide us with club hats, shirts, and jackets.

Adjournment: Ed WA9EOL, & Gregg AB9MZ, @ 21:02pm.

Split the Pot Winner:Michael KC9OPV, he gave it back to the club. Thanks Michael!
Door prize winners: Connie AC9CK, KD9NYP Ernest, & Jim Whelan

Field Day Results

De Jim Riley W9JPR

The 2019 Field Day results are in and here’s how we did. We logged 622 contacts. With multipliers and bonus points, our final score was 2758.

Overall, we ranked 538 out of all 3112 entries which put us in the top 17 percent. This includes checklogs. In our 3A category, we were 129 of 309 or 42 percent. In the Central Division we came in 55th out of 237, or the top 23 percent. In Illinois, we were 26th of 96 or 27 percent.

Where we did best was in participation. Including operators, loggers, setup, takedown, meals, and visitors, 51 people signed in. That put us in the top five percent overall with 136 of 3112. It also ranked us second in Illinois and the Central Division. The top-ranked unit had 85 participants.

Thanks to everyone who makes Hamfesters Field Day a great time. I’m looking forward to working with all of you on June 27 and 28, 2020.

New FCC Standard

November 1, 2019

WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission  (FCC) today published the much-anticipated update to the phonetic radio alphabet. With English as the un-official language of amateur voice communications, the updated alphabet is meant to encourage easier global communications.

“This state-of-the-art enhancement will increase efficiency with regard to radio communications,” said FCC Assistant Administrator Bailey Edwards. The new alphabet will go into effect on 01 January 2020 as follows:

• A – April
• B – Bdellium
• C – Czar
• D – Django
• E – Eye
• F – Fool
• G – Gnat
• H – Hour
• I – Inside
• J – Joke
• K – Knight
• L – Lima
• M – Mnemonic
• N – Nancy
• O – Oedipus
• P – Pterodactyl
• Q – Quran
• R – Romeo
• S – Sucker
• T – Tsunami
• U – Uniform
• V – Victor
• W – Wreath
• X – Xylophone
• Y – Yankee
• Z – Zulu
• LOL!

Hamfesters Dues

Hamfesters Radio club values your participation in the club. We need your dues to support to keep the club running. Standard dues are $20/yr. And $10/yr for spouse or other family member. Current members will remain on the mailing list which announces the availability of HamGab and other important club news. In the early spring of the year, I remove those members who are delinquent from the list. Contact Brian, W9HLQ, if you are not getting the monthly HamGab announcements.

With the number of new members (and old members who forget!) here is a review of the dues process for Hamfesters. The final date for dues is the 31st of December which pays for the following year’s dues. To facilitate the collection of dues I set up a table to make it easy for you to pay your dues. I set up the table for the October and November meetings. I appreciate if you are going to pay in person, to pay your dues at either the October or November meeting. Thank you. I will not collect dues at the December Christmas dinner.

If you can’t attend either of these meetings, feel free to mail in your dues; payable to “Hamfesters Radio Club”. Send to Brian Davis, W9HLQ. When paying in person, we are equipped to accept your Visa or Master card if you don’t have cash handy. Don’t forget that you can pay your dues online at our web site:

www.hamfesters.org/main/club-information

You can check your dues status by going to the Hamfesters web site and clicking on the “Members Only” link on the left side of the page. The years that you have paid for are shown as a two digit number for the years you have paid. You will need a password to access this information. If you are a paid member, contact any Hamfesters officer to get the passcode.

Thank you and 73,
Brian Davis, W9HLQ, Membership Chmn.
w9hlq@hamfesters.org

VE Testing

Hamfesters VE Testing Report for HamGab
Al Bukowski N9ZD – VE coordinator

Hamfesters Amateur Radio Club VEs offer Amateur Radio License Testing for those who want to get their first ham license, or Amateur Hams who want to upgrade to a higher class license. Examination sessions are available on the second Saturday of each month. We will assist you with all necessary paperwork prior to taking your exam. Please make sure you are studying the latest question pool that can be found on the internet, through ARRL publications or Gordon West books. The Exam fee is $15.00 (CASH ONLY – Please NO Checks or Credit Cards.) Also please bring a photo ID with you to the exam. If upgrading, bring your original signed Amateur License and a photocopy we can send with the test results.

If you need information on how to print your FCC License, please go to this url for information. http://www.arrl.org/obtain-license-copy

The exam sessions are held at the Oak Forest City Hall 15440 S. Central Ave. Oak Forest, Il 60452. Please arrive by 9:00 AM. We begin testing promptly at 9:15 AM. Please enter through the marked Police door entrance at City Hall and look for the ARRL Amateur Radio testing signs for directions.

Future VE Exam dates are as follows:

• December 14th, 2019
• January 11th, 2020
• Feburary 8th, 2020

*******New General Class License Exams were implemented on July 1, 2019. You will need to study the new General Class Question pool found here. >>> http://www.ncvec.org/downloads/2019-2023GeneralClassQuestionPool.pdf

Please, it would help the VE Team to pre-register and/or if you have any other questions regarding our test sessions, please contact Al, N9ZD via e-mail at: N9ZD@arrl.net

A Special ‘Thank You’ to All the VE’s volunteering there Saturday morning to assist me at the Exam sessions.

Club Information

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Pics from Last Meeting

The Funnies

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