Harvard Wireless Club Annual Report 1998-1999

n April 1989, at the end of my first full year as Trustee of the Harvard Wireless Club, I put together a summary of the year's activities entitled "What Needs to be Done." At that point in time we were in the midst of a major renovation and although the future looked very bright, there were literally dozens of projects underway, few of which had reached completion. In the fall of that year we took another long look at how far we had come and I put together a second report on club progress over a six month period. I suggested in that second report that some officer(s) of the club (Trustee, Station Manager or President) should continue to take a look at the club's activities and accomplishments on an annual basis as a tool for charting the course of the club over the coming school year. However, as things sometimes go, that was the first and last Annual Report issued by the HWC. Now, ten years hence, I would like to take the opportunity to consider our accomplishments and constraints for this year and then suggest some club goals for the 1999-2000 School Year. I present these points within the three subheadings and in no particular order.

Accomplishments:

1. Membership—We all recognize that attracting undergraduates to amateur radio is a tough sell for most collegiate clubs. However we should consider the positive side of this membership issue and not forget that this year we have attracted new members from the staff, alumni and graduate school. Additionally, all members have paid their dues this year which is certainly a plus for any group or club. Our bulletins now go out to 15 people and I expect that number will continue to grow.

2. The 90th Anniversary—As you know, this is not just one event but a whole series of events and activities over the course of calendar year 1999 including contests, public relations, newspaper articles, a magazine cover, the club refurbishment and renovation, a new QSL, and a special event operation coming the first weekend in October. The better collegiate clubs take time to honor the past and celebrate the present, as we are doing. W8SH at Michigan State just celebrated their 80th anniversary with a special event operation and rededication ceremony and K3TU at Temple University recently did likewise for their 40th.

3. Renovation and Refurbishment of the HWC—1998-99 was a good time for this to take place. Over the past 10 years, little major work has been done on our 6 Linden Street facilities. And when the university began renovating the building it became clear that we stood to lose some if not all of our resources unless we could defend what was ours and take it even one step further—undertake our own renovation. And that we have done. We have cleaned out piles of accumulated debris, turned our storage area into a comfortable clubroom, remedied countless problems in the shack, purchased new equipment and software, installed a new HF antenna system, and remodeled the outer office. We have put nearly $13,000 into this effort over the past six months which I see as money well spent. Our space at 6 Linden Street is now secure. As a consequence of the university's renovation, we benefited in other ways as well: interesting new neighbors, a high-speed data line, the leaks in the roof have been patched, the rat's nest of electrical cabling in the outer room has been moved, we have new access to the roof, new handy bathrooms, a building security system, and bona-fide building maintenance. All in all, it was the right course for us to pursue at the right time.

4. New Equipment— An IC-736 transceiver that replaced the ailing IC-735; an AEA keyer and Bencher paddle; Yaesu communications headphones; Heil footswitch; two HP 712C DeskJet printers; a Visioneer 7600 flatbed scanner; a clubroom refrigerator; Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner; Marantz Surround Sound Stereo and Power-Mite speakers; a Kodak slide projector; a computer keyboard. In addition, we have purchased the latest versions of CT, TRLog, and DX4WIN logging programs.

5. New Antennas—A Cushcraft X-7 triband beam; an A-50-5 6 Meter beam; a Hy-gain TailTwister rotor; a Rohn 25 tower with all plates, mounting brackets and cables. In addition, the log periodic was realigned and pinned to the mast; all cables were sorted out and old runs removed; all old antenna hardware was removed and disposed of; the R-7 was installed on the roof; the 40 sloper was replaced and repositioned; the 80 inverted vee was repaired and repositioned; the VHF array was repositioned; all cabling was tie wrapped and the scaffolding came off the room. The X-7 has produced no RFI calls from the neighborhood. Positioned 90' to the west of the big tower it is more than a reasonable distance from the buildings on Plympton Street.

6. The HWC web site—We are all proud of our new site and K9HI, the WebMaster, should be congratulated for his superb work over the past months. We believe our site now ranks among the best collegiate sites in the nation of which there are nearly 200 on line. Our site serves as an information source for members as well as a resource for the amateur community at large. The strongest point of our site, I believe, is that it emphasizes content over mere links to other sites. The HWC site is much more a destination than simply a spot to surf through. Interesting and unique areas include the complete club history, an expanding archives section that contains the 1912 Amateur Callbook authored by the HWC, two QSL collections, three picture galleries, HWC bulletins, a site search engine and much more.

7. Contests—Contesting had declined in recent years at the HWC. The HWC has a contest tradition going back at least five decades so it would have been a shame to continue to ignore this particular part of our club tradition. Additionally, contest activity gives us a chance to showcase W1AF, an important goal during our 90th anniversary year. During 1998-99, HWC operators worked the CQWW CW Contest in November, the ARRL DX SSB Contest in February, the School Club Roundup also in February, the WPX SSB Contest in March, and the Mass QSO Party in May. We covered nearly the entire 20 hours of the MAQP and keep our fingers crossed for a multi-op victory! The completion of our second position HF radios and antennas helps make multi-op contesting that much easier from W1AF.

8. VHF—We now have capabilities for 50Mhz, 144Mhz, and 440Mhz SSB, FM and CW. The three VHF antennas are all new within the last year and all are excellent performers. With the improvement in the sunspots, VHF DXing is a distinct possibility for HWC members who are patient. DX4WIN also logs VHF and a dozen or so contacts were made in the recent MAQP.

9. Articles & By-Laws—We have, as you know, undertaken the lengthy process of rewriting our charter documents. With the able assistance of a former club president (K9HI), a future lawyer (KC6TAH) and a former government teacher (K3UOC), our constitutional process is nearing completion. We are confident that our documents will be ratified either before we adjourn for the summer or early next fall.

10. External Relations—Actively cooperating with CE Floyd Construction, the Casali Group project managers, Peter Rose Architects, Bent Electric, FAS, and HRE (among others) has helped to solidify our position as a worthy and substantive campus organization. Further, we were all pleased with the informative article that Al Powell wrote about us for the Gazette this past March and we look forward to the October 1999 issue of CQ Magazine featuring W1AF and its operators on the cover. We are now just starting to make our presence known again among the community of collegiate radio clubs. Our web site and increased visibility through contesting and articles will help toward that end.

Constraints:

1. We failed to convince the Undergraduate Council of the need for their assistance in helping finance the replacement of the 2nd position HF antennas and tower. In the end, they came through with $350, well short of what our grant application requested.

2. We failed to convince the university project manager that replacing and relocating our antennas was worth more than $1,000 compensation. In the end, their contribution covered only 25% of the total cost of the project.

3. On the flip side of the membership issue, we were disappointed not to have enlisted any new undergraduate members this year. We all recognize this as a major shortfall for the club.

4. We went through too many revisions and had to put up with unnecessary delay from the company that printed our new QSL cards. This put us in a backlog situation with incoming QSLs.

5. We were disappointed when the owner of a HF radio (that we earmarked for a new project) pulled out of his agreement to sell the radio to the HWC.

6. We suffered a temporary setback when a newly installed sprinkler pipe burst in the clubroom this past February. The sprinkler company replaced a sodden keyboard but the main computer evidenced unstable operation for weeks after the flood.

7. We lost the battle of the sprinkler installation in the radio room. Our insurance company originally determined not to cover any sprinkler damage but were later persuaded to do so.

8. We just couldn't scare up the enthusiasm or operators to work Sweepstakes this year. With SS being sandwiched between the CQWW, it was too much to operate in all the contests. HWC has a long history in the SS and holds most of the Ivy League collegiate records, so it was a shame to have passed on the contest this year.

9. We were somewhat disappointed not to have attracted more walk-in candidates for our license exam session this month. Then again, without having an active recruitment and training program, we didn't really know if any candidates would show up or not.

10. Our undergrads were under academic constraints and could not participate in club activities as much as they would have liked.

Suggested Goals for the 1999-2000 School Year:

1. Plan and carry out a successful special event anniversary operation this coming October

2. Devise ways of involving HWC alumni in the club again; institute a development campaign with HWC alumni

3. Plan and carry out a yearlong training and member recruitment program

4. Establish a quarterly VEC exam schedule

5. Encourage more actual on-the-air activity from W1AF

6. Encourage more active participation by members who seldom attend meetings

7. Implement additional measures to promote the club web site

8. Successfully cover the duties of the HWC Station Manager

9. Plan and carry out Sweepstakes and Field Day operations

10. Erect a 160 Meter antenna

73,
Mike Manafo, K3UOC
Trustee, W1AF