Notes from the September 6th 2016 meeting of the Carter County Amateur Radio Association

Notes from the September 6th 2016 meeting of the Carter County Amateur Radio Association

September meeting had another record attendance; twenty-four people participated.  I want to thank everyone who attended.  The CCARA had five people join the club: two single memberships and one family membership. Everyone please take time to greet our new members when you have a chance (Gordon Rowland, Walt Slagle, Scott Schneider, Kurtis Schneider and Gerald Schneider).

Ron gave us a run down on the finances for the month.  There was a total of $173.67 in August expenses: (Water $24.96, Repeater Electric $15.86, Shack Electric $32.85 and Lawn Care of $100.00), this leaves us with a balance of $5,734.49 for 2016.

I also wanted to let everyone know again that the Carter County Amateur Radio Association is a 501-(c)3 organization.  All donations are tax deductible and can be itemized on your 2016 tax return.  If you make a donation, make sure you get a donation form/receipt from Ron.  As you can see, the club has expenses and dues will not support the club alone; your club donations are greatly appreciated!

Keith Morley has volunteered to help us out with QSL cards till we can get a more permanent solution.  We have a pile of them from contacts that the CCARA (WR4CC) has made. 

The CCARA is going to activate one last National Parks on the Air Station in 2016.  We are going to pack up go to the overlook on the West bound side of 1-26 near Sam’s Gap on the North Carolina and Tennessee border. This is the closest we can get to the Appalachian Trial in that vicinity.  So we will be activating TR-01 mile marker 350 on the Appalachian Trial.  Harold was able to get permission from the Tennessee Highway Department for this activation.  This event will be on Saturday October 1st 2016 and start at 8:00 AM.  The goal is to set up the station and antenna to start transmitting around 10:00 AM or earlier if setup goes good.  Please come out and participate, I hope we can make lots of contacts.  The overlook is a beautiful site and great views and elevation.  Directions from Johnson City TN are as follows…. Get on I-26 E/US-23 then Merge onto I-26 E/US-2 S 29 min (30.7 mi)  Slight right Destination will be on the right.

We are going to meet at the Shack on Saturday October 14th 2016 @ 8:00 AM to shuttle up to our Holston Mountain Repeater Site.  The objective is to weedeat and trim brush along with some electrical and building maintenance around the site.  During the winter it can be very hard to access this site because of its elevation and rough road conditions.  This activity shouldn’t take more than a few hours and will help us cleanup the area before cold weather hits.

There will be a study/test session on November 5th 2016 at the Sycamore Shoals Hospital in the meeting room near the cafeteria.  The study session will start at 8:00 AM and go to 3:30 PM, testing will start at 3:30 PM and go until completion.  We will do our best to advertise this and hope to have another full testing session like we had on February 20th 2016.  I’ve attached a Flyer if you know a place to post it for advertising. 

Joe Hopkins has a handheld Baofeng Radio for sale.  If anyone is interested let Joe know jhopkins1938@gmail.com

This year’s Christmas Party will be on Friday December 9th 2016 @ 6:30 PM at the CCARA Shack.  All members and their family are welcome to attend.  We will have our regular Club meeting at the Shack on the Tuesday before and do a little housekeeping (cleaning).  Last year’s Party was a great success and it’s a great way to end the year, make plans to attend.   There will be further discussion and planning for this event at a future meeting.

Please forgive any grammatical or spelling error.

Thank you again to everyone for their continued support!

Joe Harrison

President CCARA

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