On The Bands - by Ron Klimas WZ1V, FN31mp

It's been awhile since I've done a column, and a lot has happened 
since then.  I got to operate again this past September contest 
at the NC1I Limited Multi from FN32, and had a blast.  What a thrill 
to work into Michigan on tropo on 222!  We traveled down to the 
PackRats VHF Conference and Hamarama in Eastern PA with some of the 
gang in October, and I must say it was the best PackRats conference 
I've seen.  (The fact that half of their speakers were from our club 
couldn't have hurt).  

What happened to the F2 we were supposed to get on 6 meters by now? 
I've only caught one DX opening, back on November 8 down to 
TI5KD and HP2CWB.  Better luck to us all in '99 I hope. 

The November Leonids meteor shower on Nov 17 provided some fun, 
thanks to many longer than normal burns.  I really had no time 
to operate, but managed to easily work AG4V in EM55 on 144.210 
one morning before work.  Del K1UHF FN31 managed to work W7XU EN13 
on 222 for a new grid and state.  Congrats, Del. 

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season.  I took advantage of 
some of the nicer than normal weather days to get my antennas and 
tower mounted electronics in good shape for the upcoming January 
VHF Sweep Stakes Contest. I'll be on all bands 50-2304 MHz and 
possibly even 3456, and hope to work many of you.  The contest 
period is January 23, 1999, 1800 UTC to January 25 at 0300 UTC. 
This is the contest where club members get to support their club's 
aggregate score, so please remember to mark your entry for the 
N.E.W.S. Group before you send it in to the ARRL.  The last gavel we 
won was for Medium Category club back in 1997.  We can win again if 
everyone gets on the air and pitches in, so don't think about it, 
just do it!  Matt KB1VC and I will collect scores on the internet 
again, so check out contests.html 
from time to time after the contest. 
 
Support your local activity nets: 
Roger K2SMN FN20 runs a Sunday morning net 10:30 A.M. EST on 144.250.
And don't forget to check into our N.E.W.S. Group Thursday night net on
144.250 starting around 8:30 PM EST, K1UHF net control (W1COT alt.) 
This is a good place to check out everyones upcoming contest plans! 

OK gang, keep checking the bands and looking for those openings. See
you at the January 2nd N.E.W.S. Group meeting and on the bands!  
And Please Send reports of DX or Expeditions to me, Ron Klimas, 
458 Allentown Rd., Bristol, CT 06010 or call 860-589-0528 if you have 
something you'd like to share about an unusual contact, etc.
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-73 and good DX, Ron WZ1V, internet email: wz1v@ntplx.net 
-50 through 3456 MHz.