Another excellent meeting at the HWC last evening. I guess this was the storm before the lull as spring break comes to the university next week. But, I expect we'll have a good turnout of OTs on the 30th. Attending last evening were N3OQB, K1XQ, KO1O, K9HI, K3UOC, and Mary Ellen Nagle who works over at the Law School and is a Harvard alumna, class of '90. Mary Ellen is very interested in learning the code and getting her ticket. We fixed her up with a copy of Look Who's Talking, some code software and the ARRL code tape. We look forward to Mary Ellen passing her exam and becoming a HWC member soon. We all had a chance last night to see the W1AF slide show (most of it anyway). It was fun to review US1A, the Russian visit to W1AF, PJ1A, Jay Apt's visit and other HWC activities over the years. Prior to showtime, we discussed a number of club issues including the following:

1. The lead item this week is certainly our new and improved W1AF web site. Phil has done a marvelous job with the layout, text and graphics. If you haven't been there yet, do yourself a favor and surf on by . We printed out a hard copy of the entire site and all agreed last evening that it looks fabulous. Of course this is a work in progress and if you have good suggestions for Phil or would like to author a section of the page yourself, let him know.

2. Close on the heels of the web site item is the Gazette article on the HWC coming out tomorrow (3/25). The reporter spent quite a bit of time writing the article and then Frank, Nick & I had a chance to proof it and give him some feedback. I'll grab a stack of Gazettes for the club tomorrow in case you don't have a chance to pick one up this week. The article is definitely written for the non-amateur general public and, of course, has a strong promotional or PR angle to it. Basically the themes are the 90th club anniversary, the kind of things we do at W1AF, the changing landscape of communications, and the relationship/interface between ham radio and the Internet. There will be a roof photo accompanying the article along with a mention of our URL and contact information. I think the article will work well for us. KYFC.

3. I sent notes this week to everyone that owes the HWC money. Frank is following the UC Grant proposal closely. I'm still waiting for checks from MIT and the Casali Group. K3USC will have money for us shortly from the sale of 800+ IRCs. All are on notice that I am calling in funds for the antenna project.

4. Speaking of that, XX Towers will be here this coming Monday to begin tower work. I've let the construction people know this and they will be off the roof by then. I also informed Scott Haywood (the new university property manager for the building) that Matt will be working on the roof on Monday. Stop by and watch a master tower guy do his thing!

5. Speaking of Matt, he sent us down a copy of CT V.9.39 and I have installed it on both shack computers. You won't notice any differences between this and the last version other than it scores the WPX contest correctly.

6. Speaking of the WPX (yet another smooth transition) we discussed doing some operating this weekend in the WPX SSB. Unfortunately, Frank will be gone over spring break and Bill is under time constraints. So Dave and I settled on a casual effort -- come in and work when we can -- as opposed to a semi-serious effort (ARRL DX CW) or a training exercise (ARRL DX SSB). I plan to do maybe three hours each morning and Dave will work when he can. Phil expressed some interest in working the contest as well. We'll shut the rig off when we leave (rather than leaving it on for the next guy) but we'll keep the computer on and CT running. Remember, you can work anyone in this contest, multipliers are prefixes and count only once although you can work the same station on multiple bands. Everyone exchanges reports and serial numbers.

7. Speaking of Scott Haywood (Ibid #4, not a smooth transition) I find him to be a very pleasant guy with (get this) a long interest in ham radio and communications! We talked CQ, QST, QSLs, Heath, Hammerlund, National, Icom & the monthly flea. Scott is into all of this! I invited him to join the HWC and he may just do that. We also talked building matters, electrical panels, maintenance and other physical plant things. He offered to make sure that we get the fiber optic data link in a timely manner.

8. Coming up the May 1 & 2 is the MA QSO PARTY. You may recall that we won this contest M/S in 1990 and 1994 and finished third in 1997. This is definitely a prime operating event for the HWC and I hope all of you can carve out time in your busy schedules to do some operating. Working this contest fits very nicely into our 90th agenda, so let's consider a good effort in the MA QSO Party as part of our anniversary activities. The rules will be in the next CQ. Stay tuned -- this could be another big event for us.

9. There is now a QSL table in the clubroom with all the tools for printing out labels for cards. I've set up an old laptop with CT and the recent club logs so that we'll be able to knock off cards in a timely manner now.

10. Recent purchases: Visioneer 1200x600 dpi flatbed scanner and a small cube refrigerator for upstairs. We'll attempt to stock the fridge with soft drinks before meetings. Phil needs the flatbed for scanning documents and photos for the web site. I also picked up an active FM antenna for the Marantz. It works much better than the factory supplied dipole.

11. Did you know that the first-ever callbook of radio amateurs was published in 1912 by (who else) the Harvard Wireless Club? We have a copy in the shack and an original is in the university archives. Look for this very interesting document on our web site soon.

12. Frank worked a little technical wizardry on the TV and the amplifier and now we have bona fide *Surround Sound* for the television. Wow! Let's show movies, charge admission and make some money! I'm only half-kidding :-I

13. One of the Harvard telephone workmen must have killed our old telephone jack in the shack. The new jacks in the outer office & upstairs work fine, but not the old hardware. I've got a call in about this. For the time being, I have a modular extension running from the new jack in the outer room into the shack.

14. I worked a sked yesterday with N2COP and his class of 5th graders down in Wilmington, NC. Bill had tried to get my attention in the School Club Roundup but the pileup was just too deep. We had a great chat for over 20 minutes and I answered a number of questions for the kids! It was fun! I've been doing this stuff for years and, believe me, it's always a kick for the kids involved.

15. The lock on the clubroom door has to be changed. The building inspector nixed our hatch lock as violating building code. CE Floyd, the construction company, will install a new dead bolt lock and turn the key over to us. Then (once again) we'll get copies made and distributed to all. I sure hope this key thing settles down soon.

16. I met with Tom Murray from Casali group. A lot of the items we talked about have been mentioned above and resolved. We're still working on mailbox placement and moving the electrical panel. Neither may happen very quickly. However, compared to the rest of what we've been through, these remaining issues are minor.

17. QSL Cards. Ten days to two weeks. I spoke with the printer yesterday. I've been assured that all requested changes have been made and that things are moving right along.

18. Phil has volunteered to organize all the W1AF photos and get them into albums, eventually. I've gathered together all HWC photos and have a big box for he and I to go through. Initially, we need to identify good shots for the on-line photo gallery and then try to put names and call signs with faces. There are some really interesting photos here taken by many members over the years. We'd like to put the W3EF-JY1 photo on the site Maury, if that's OK with you.

19. I've saved one of the big items until the end. I confirmed with CQ that the HWC cover will run in the October issue. This was after a bit of negotiating, suggestions and counter-suggestions on months. October is CQ's #1 newsstand issue, so this is an added benefit for us. Dick Ross also wants to connect the photo and the blurb that accompanies it with the upcoming CQWW, which is not a bad idea. Now that the month is settled, I went ahead and scheduled our 90th Special Event Operation for October 2 & 3. That givers us plenty of lead time to organize among ourselves and to get some good announcements out to the radio media. This will be our premier operating event of 1999 and linking it to the CQ cover should insure that the pileups never stop!

Next meeting, Tuesday, March 30, 7:00PM. CU there.