HWC Shield Harvard Wireless Club Bulletin May 18, 1999
Hello HWC:

The turnout was low for the meeting this evening. Tonight, we saw slides from your trustee's several recent DX operations. There's only one meeting left, ladies and gentlemen, and the ARRL New England vice-Director will be presenting, so I hope you can work this into your busy schedules: Tuesday, May 25 at 7:00PM. Bring a friend! Last HWC conclave until September! Here's the news:

  1. This evening, K9HI, K1XQ & K3UOC worked on DX4WIN, practicing and learning how to modify import filters. So far, we've successfully imported two logs into our new W1AF log program and there are three to go in order to be current with the year. We're having some problems importing CT.bin files, but we should figure this out shortly.

  2. Speaking of logs, I spent several hours today organizing all the W1AF contest and non-Contest logs. Former station manager AA1JA had started a log numbering/referencing system several years back. I simply brought that up-to-date and also rebound some of the earlier logs. You will now find all contest/special event logs, from 1974 to present, in chronological order on the third shelf of the shack bookcase (31 total) and all non-contest logs, from 1950 to present (33 total) on the fourth shelf. While we may have lost several smaller logs to the great Everex crash of 1997, I am convinced that we have a record -- on paper -- of 99% of all W1AF QSOs over the past five decades. I believe this is a worthy accomplishment.

  3. I also spent quite a bit of time putting our club files in order. I culled out old paper of no historical value, deleted a number of file headings and started several new ones. HWC members should spend some time perusing the files to get familiar with what paper we catalogue and under what heading. All equipment manuals are now in the files rather than split between the shack shelves and the files. If you are unfamiliar with a piece of equipment, your first stop should be to the files rather than to the equipment itself. Read about it and *then* use it. In addition, all log software and manuals are on the new shelf between the VHF and HF rigs.

  4. The Flea this past weekend was a great success -- even up against Dayton as it was. Five of six HWC who volunteered to work the flea showed up and I estimate we put in @20 man-hours. This was easily a thousand-dollar-day for the HWC. Let's keep it up over the summer! I was pleased to finally meet-up with N2JWQ and talk about HWC matters with him. Unfortunately, his brutal work schedule keeps him away from HWC activities but, as he tells me, he'll do a "cameo" at the June flea. Thanks, Conway! And thanks also to N1EXQ, N3OQB, and K9HI for working the flea. Let Phil know if you can work the June flea.

  5. President N3OQB couldn't make the meeting this evening due to a work commitment, but he tells us that he has the UC grant check and will drop it off at the club ASAP. I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there is something convoluted about a grant process that is initiated during the first week of second semester and then fails to make an award until the semester is over.

  6. No word from KO1O about our packet installation. Bill, any progress?

  7. I have set up a bin in the outer room for outgoing bureau QSLs. If you work DX and fill out a new QSL, drop it in the outgoing bin. When we have a stack, we'll forward them to the ARRL Outgoing Bureau. For direct mailings, there is a roll of stamps in the top drawer of the red cabinet in the outer room.

  8. Our web site continues to grow and expand. This week, you'll find a story on Armed Forces Day (K9HI worked a number of cross-band QSOs this past Saturday), an interesting SETI story and a brand-new Activities Calendar. Check the "Changes" page for a shorthand summary of new daily items.

  9. I snagged two "surplus" bookcases for the clubroom. One is set up with our QST collection and the other will soon be set up with all other amateur periodicals. These shelves make it much easier to pull back issues and to catch up on the radio news of yesteryear.

  10. We need to find out when Freshman tabling is in the fall so that we can plan our recruitment strategy. Frank, what can you find out about this?

  11. K9HI was not able to crank out another draft of the Articles & Bylaws so, for all intents and purposes, a final vote on our charter documents will wait until the fall.

  12. I called our insurance carrier this week to find out when the next premium comes due. Seems it will be September 1 with a payment deadline of September 30. The bill will be in the neighborhood of $530 this year (ouch!).

  13. This past Wednesday, I sent out the HWC Annual Report. Probably most important in this report are the 10 goals I outlined for the 1999-00 school year. This evening we talked "development" and reaching the alumni base again in the coming school year. It can be done and it really should be done. We need their support. And with the club web site, there are many opportunities to involve alums in club activities. I see this as important to the well-being of the HWC.

  14. I've been toying with the idea of reinstituting the position of Faculty Advisor for the club. In going through the files over the past couple of days, I found no opposition to having one or more faculty advisor. In 1995, both advisors names were simply dropped from the membership roster. I believe this was an oversight. Does anyone object to us asking Paul Horowitz (W1HFA) to be the HWC Faculty Advisor again? Any other nominations? Speaking of club rosters, I now have 90 years' worth pulled together in one file. This will be an invaluable resource for future development initiatives. In fact, rosters from the years 1965-1999 appear to be complete now.

  15. I had a long talk with Scott Haywood, our property manager, about such things as getting a doorbell, a sign out front, and replacing the old electrical wiring in the outer room. Scott advises us that this is an appropriate time for HWC to table such ideas until VES is firmly entrenched in the building. We have always been "good neighbors" to whomever has gravitated through 6 Linden, so I agreed that we will lay low on these requests until sometime in the fall, after VES is up and running here.

    I think that should do it. Again, I hope to see you all here for Mike Reisback's presentation to the HWC next Tuesday.

    73, Mike
    K3UOC

    ARRL Logo Harvard Wireless Club is Affiliated with the American Radio Relay League, Inc.

    © 1999 The President and Fellows of Harvard College.