Volume 1    Number 7                                 December 5, 2004                                   Published Monthly

Lenoir, North Carolina
"Dedicated to Public Service" Happenings!
The December meeting will be an "eating meeting" at Captain's Galley Restaurant on Hwy 321 South on December 9th at 7:00 PM.  Come enjoy the food and fellowship!
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The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Lenoir ARC is set for January 13th (Thursday), 7PM , at the Caldwell County Public Library.
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Winston-Salem will host a "new" hamfest this year on January 8, 2005 and is in addition to the one in June.
The Caldwell Amateur Radio Emergency Services (CARES) Net is called every Sunday night at 8:30 PM on the 147.33 (Hibriten) repeater. This is a formal directed net and is sponsored by the ARES. Its' purpose is to train, and keep in readiness, a pool of qualified emergency radio operators in the event of a local and/or regional emergency.  Net checkins will be called by alpha groups and, unless you check in & out, you will be called again during the informal portion to offer any comments, etc.  The 147.33 repeater has a tone of 141.3 mhz. Satellite & APRS by
Rick, N4WYK
    ??   Did you know...  ?? As late as 1890, nearly 75 percent of Americans had to fetch their mail from a post office.  A community had to have at least 10,000 people to be eligible for home delivery, and most people lived in towns or on farms.
(Reprinted from Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts, 1981 Ed., Pg. 173). Whew!  This year's Bike Ride was, as expected, a bit on the chilly side!  But, again as expected, we (LARC) pulled off our commitment as commnications specialists without a hitch...well, except for a couple of operators that had minor rig problems (corrected) at the beginning of the ride.  A special page is being added to this newsletter. Click on Bike icon above for more...
KF4WOD - 147.195 (N4NIN) For the first time, APRS was incorporated into the Bike Ride!  Two trackers (one in the lead vehicle...which worked quite well...and one in the sweep vehicle...degraded slightly due to the terrain) allowed us to keep tabs on both vehicles with a computer display at the Meadows net control/base station location.  With GPS coordinates that were obtained at each aid station this year, next year should prove to be an improvment in keeping up with our mobile-tracking vehicles.  The Chamber of Commerce and EMS were quite impressed with the APRS operation to the extent that interest, on the part of the Rescue Squad folks for a possible ham class early on into next year, has been piqued!  For next year, a possible ATV station at one of the aid stations would allow
visual monitoring as the bikers come by!
http://www.lenoir-arc.org
Don't forget to add that new gizmo (GPS unit, ham rig, and/or accessory) to your "wish" list!   I gots to know!   -Santa
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