Hello HWC:

Greetings:

There was a fine turnout for the first meeting of the fall semester. Attending: N2MSW, KB1DSM, K1XQ, W1HFA, K1VR, S53ZO, S55OO, and N1EXQ. We were pleased to have Geoffrey King, '01, KB1DSM join HWC as a new member. Simon, S53ZO, and Goran, S55OO, attended as guests of Fred, K1VR.

Enthusiasm for the October 2 & 3 Special Event is growing. This is going to be an exciting weekend at W1AF. Mike, K3UOC, will be running and coordinating this event. Email Mike with your availability for operations at the station .

Publicity for the event was mentioned. Mike: can you get someone from the Gazette to stop in at the event and give us a little write-up?

There was a review of the turnout for last Sunday's flea (dismal), and a reminder that next month's flea, the last one until April, needs to be well attended by HWC workers. Only 5 1/4 hours of an estimated 70 or 80 hours total will count for W1AF for September. We can do better. Mark your calendar for October 17th.

We are looking for new student members this semester. Paul Horowitz has agreed to mention W1AF and ham radio at Harvard in his classes. Current student members are encouraged to look for other students that are already hams or would make good prospective hams. If anyone has any ideas for boosting the membership, please post your suggestions to this list.

Mention was made that we need to hold officer elections soon. We also need to address the station management question: there are things that are tough for Mike to do from PA.

We can hold a license class and exam this semester. The two biggest questions are when and who. When is the best weekend in the semester to ask students to give up two days to prepare for and pass the FCC examination? We hope that our present student members can help us choose the best weekend. Who will be in the class? There has always been interest in a class, but we need to have students signed up before we can hold a class.

The idea of obtaining the domain for the club was brought up again. Owning and using the domain can only increase the chances of students finding the club. Paul Horowitz has generously offered space on his Web server for the club. Having space and a presence at both and will increase our visibility and security.

This just in: Paul has registered w1af.org and _paid_ for our first two years. Thanks for the donation, Paul! Web Surfers: This means that our Web site will not look different, but there will soon be two ways to get to W1AF on the Web.

Fred revealed that Harvard has approved a push-button combination door lock for use within the University. Switching to a combination lock for our spaces would save us money and prevent frustration for those needing new keys. Fred will provide us with the details soon.

Other minor topics were brought up and will doubtless show up in these notes as they develop.

The light refreshment was sampled by some at the meeting. Cupcakes were provided to honor Mike, K3UOC, whose birthday falls on September 21. Congratulations Mike.

Next week: more on the Special Event (Look for W1AF on the cover of the next issue of CQ!) and many other topics.

Please post your comments and questions to this list . (Your question may help someone else.)

73,
David, N1EXQ