No candidates came to the August VE session. 

The VE's that attended and ready to serve were VE Liaison Ted Bertrand, KI4PWX, Tom Parsons, W4TEP, Murray Merner, K4MHM, Thomas Styron, KB7L, and Dave Langley, W4YDY. 

The next regular VE session will be October 15, 2010.

WA4MOK presented SEC Leadership Award plaque

Bernie Nobles, WA4MOK, was presented a plaque "In Appreciation for Outstanding and Dedicated Leadership as Section Emergency Coordinator for the North Carolina Section 2003 - 2010".  The plaque was presented to him at the Down East Hamfest in Kinston on June 19 by Bill Morine, N2COP, ARRL North Carolina Section Manager.

Click on pictures for larger version.

W4EHF receives BARC Life Membership

Dave Pulver, KG4CZV, presents Honorary Life member plaque to Bill Finch, W4EHF, at the Down East Hamfest in Kinston on June 19.  Bill was inducted at the April BARC meeting. Click on picture for larger version.

W4EHF receives BARC Life Membership

Dave Pulver, KG4CZV, presents a certificate to Bill Finch, W4EHF, while Honorary Life members Brother Simon Jaworski, KQ2V, left, and Dave Langley, W4YDY, look on.  (W4WTM photo) Click on picture for larger version.

Bill Finch, W4EHF, was surprised when he was bestowed an Honorary Life Membership by the Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club.  There was a unanimous vote by the club members before he arrived at the meeting.  Bill was probably wondering why his son, Bill Finch, Jr., AI4TN, was so slow getting him to the meeting. 

W4EHF Honorary Life Membership certificate. Click on picture for larger version.

Bill was honored for his 75 years of  contributions to Amateur Radio including serving as North Carolina ARRL Emergency Coordinator (EC) in the 1970's.   Bill got his license in 1935 when he was 23 years old.  He is one of the most active BARC club members and hardly ever misses a monthly meeting.  For more about Bill, see the July 2000 issue of Ham Chatter when he was featured in the Meet the Member column.. 

John Prokop, N8MPX, holding awards, presents QCWA 75th Anniversary Award and QCWA Life Member awards to Bill Finch, W4EHF.

75th Anniversary Award

Life Member Certificate

Bill Finch, W4EHF, was presented a 75th Anniversary Award by the Quarter Century Wireless Association for 75 years as a Licensed Amateur Radio operator.  He was licensed in 1935.  Bill also received a certificate for Life Member in the QCWA.   Chuck Walbridge, K1IGD, QCWA General Manager, requested the awards be given to Bill at the March BARC meeting.  John Prokop, N8MPX, BARC President, gave the awards to Bill at the end of the business meeting.

Click on the pictures for a large version.

Pitt County ARES Net

Beginning Monday, March 1, 2010, the Pitt County ARES net will begin at 8:30 PM instead of 9:00 PM. 

The main reason for the change is to reduce the amount of time between the BARC Ragchew Net at 8:00 PM.  This is expected to help some of the folks who get involved in other activities in between nets from losing track of time and missing the ARES net. 

We also have a need for more people to step up and become a net control operator.  Everyone who is an ARES member should be able to run a net if needed during an activation.  The time to learn to run a net and become comfortable with it is during the Monday night net.  

There is a new Pitt Co. ARES net script posted on the BARC web site that will be used starting March 1.

If you would like to volunteer to run a net or have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at kg4czv@gmail.com.

Pitt County ARES Net Script:  http://www.w4amc.com/ares/pitt_county_ares_net_script.pdf Updated 3/2/10

KG4CZV

Membership dues for BARC are due January 1.  Those who have not paid their dues will not be listed on the roster and will be removed from the Ham Chatter mailing list starting in April. Membership dues are the same as they were in 2009 and are as follows: 

Please mail your dues, along with the member application form to: Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club, P.O. Box 8387, Greenville, NC 27835. We are requesting that you send the application form in so that we can have your correct information on file. The form can be downloaded from http://www.w4amc.com/application.pdf. If anyone has any questions concerning their membership status or their dues, please call Dave Pulver, KG4CZV, BARC Treasurer, at (252) 353-7161 or e-mail   kg4czv @ gmail.com.  Thank you for your support and participation in BARC.

Ham Chatter and BARC photos on CD

A CD with the first 103 issues of Ham Chatter edited by Dave Langley, W4YDY is available.  They are from June 1997 to December 2005 in the PDF format and Adobe Reader Ver. 7 is included on the CD for those that do not have it installed. 

Also, 10 years of photos and commentary for BARC Field Day operations from 1996 to 2005 are on the CD along with several special event station operations.  The menus and photo pages are in the HTML format and it will use your browser. 

Other features of the CD are some Amateur Radio software for CW training, PSK, RTTY, SSTV and logging.  The 2005 ARRL video with Walter Cronkite narrating is also included.

Cost was $5.00. PRICE CUT! It's cheaper now.  It will be used for a small fund raiser for BARC.  Anyone who may be interested may contact Dave Pulver, KG4CZV, BARC Treasurer, kg4czv @ gmail.com or pick up one at the club meeting or email barc (at) w4amc.com.