Hello HWC:

Thanks to Bill for handling the 3/2 HWC Minutes. Neither of us were able to make the 3/9 meeting (nor Frank either) so there's no report from this past week. However, that doesn't mean we're without news; there's always news! Here goes:

1. Frank, Nick, Bill & Dave Smith worked the ARRL DX SSB test last weekend from W1AF. Time was limited for all, but W1AF was in there slugging it out for DX over the course of the weekend. The guys had problems with CT acting up when entering contacts. However, now that the computer has thoroughly dried out, that problem seems to have cleared up as well. I had some problems with the machine behaving erratically earlier this week but all seems stable now. Bill had one RFI call, so he reduced power and pressed on without further problem. @300 contacts were made and both our undergrads got a taste of HF contesting. Well done! We'll submit the log next week.

2. Being stuck over in WPA during the contest and suffering with a rotten cold, I still ended up making 237 DX contacts in the contest from K3UOC -- low power, 20 meters only, homebrew dipole (low). My PA QTH is strictly bare bones and certainly not set up for contesting. So I was thrilled to have done as well as I did working 80 different DX countries over the course of 18 hours. These were my first SSB contacts from PA in many years and (if I remember correctly) my first contest entry as K3UOC since the 1965 VT QSO Party! It was fun. . .and a lot of hard work!

3. Now, back to business. I purchased a new keyboard yesterday (Mitsumi) at MicroCenter and turned the bill over to the construction people. We should have a reimbursement check soon for that. I did test out the old keyboard before buying a new one on the off chance that it had thoroughly dried out and was working. Faulty assumption. Stone dead. The shack is now back 100% since the sprinkler water damage.

4. Frank & I met with a Gazette reporter yesterday for over an hour. The guy was very professional but, unfortunately, came into the interview with zero knowledge of either ham radio or of the HWC. So, we spent probably too much time trying to educate this guy about radio. We did manage to hit the 90th theme whenever we could. We gave it our best shot and sent him away with a lot of notes and a club history to help fill in the gaps. Nick, this guy is going to give you a call as well for some of your input. Then they need to come back next week for shack photos. How about next Thursday, Frank & Nick? Can you do 2:00PM this coming Thursday? Let me know. This will be in-and-out, nothing complicated. We keep our fingers crossed that a good feature story on the HWC will bring lots of inquiries for membership.

5. Still waiting to hear from CQ when the cover will run. Time to bug them and find out for sure.

6. The color proofs of the QSL came back from the printer last week. They looked good but there were several adjustments that needed to be made (including getting us out of "red" and into "crimson" on the card). They're taking another cut at it and we should have the Final-Final proofs soon. Be patient -- we need to get this right.

7. Renovation work is winding down at the building (hallelujah!). We now have electricity upstairs in the meeting room, the temporary smoke detectors have been removed from all three rooms, water is back on in the building and the new bathrooms upstairs are operational. It is much easier to enter through the front of the building again. Of course, this is still a construction site, so use caution everywhere.

8. I came up with another folding table and office chair for upstairs. I also refurbished an old slide projector and got it running. We'll have to watch our W1AF slide show at an upcoming meeting. We have an interesting show that covers a number of events from US1A through PJ1A.

9. I hooked up the new Marantz stereo tuner and speakers this past week in the clubroom. Unfortunately, the Mitsubishi TV doesn't have the audio output to drive the new amplifier very well or else we'd have TV Surround Sound. If you're an audiophile, you'll like the capabilities of this new equipment. Music certainly enhances this space very nicely, especially with the good acoustics in the room. Squash courts are kind of like sound chambers, anyway. I'll hang the speakers soon and get them off the tables and bookshelf.

10. Clubroom wish-list: a small couch, a coffee table, 6 folding chairs, a pentium computer & printer. Perhaps you have items like this you would like to donate to the HWC :-)

11. This coming Tuesday, March 16 I'll be out of town for a job interview so I won't make the meeting. I did receive Phil & Edson's dues and have deposited same in our account. Remember to sign the station log when you come to W1AF. That's an important way of keeping in touch with each other.

12. Matters pending: UC Grant, new antenna project, inventory of the 6M beam parts, building 6M and triband beams on the roof, Harvard contribution toward antenna project, MIT Flea reimbursement, 90th special event operation, satellite station, web page. Lots to keep us busy for the rest of the year.