September 2000 Charter Meeting
We held our first club meeting the end of September down at John Y Miguel's Cafe in Terrell, TX. After enjoying a lively chat during our Tex-Mex lunch we got down to business inspecting the QRP goodies (pictures below). In attendance were:
#1 W5USJ - Chuck Carpenter, Point
#2 K5JHP - Bill Pierrard, Richardson
#3 K5DW - Don Wines, Lindale
#4 N5JI - Rich Kapalczynski, Murphy
#5 N5ZE - Lew Paceley, Dallas
#6 W5YR - George Baker, Fairview
#7 KØLOA - Dwain Lawhon, Richardson
Dwain, KØLOA, brought his K2 collection which was a big hit. He tried stringing an indoor antenna in the restaurant but between band conditions and the wall construction of the restaurant we didn't have much luck pulling in signals. We resolved to have an outdoor operating session next meeting so we can play with the toys.
Rich, N5JI, had an OHR500 in tow. Many had not seen the OHR500...very nicely constructed and Rich had lots of praise for the rig, especially the receiver.
Someone (Bill, K5JHP? Don, K5DW?) had also brought a OHR100A...but we didn't spend much time with the cute 'lil 100A, preferring his "big brother" instead. Interestingly, of the seven charter members, three of us own OHRs of one flavor or another.
Chuck, W5USJ, wowed us with his technology for building cubical quads. Chuck brought a UHF/VHF size cubical quad model that looked better than many commercial products. He has found an interesting, highly inert material called ultra high molecular
weight polyethelene (UHMW-PE) for constructing the spreader crosspiece. It even had a tiny UHF-size experimental gamma match on the 432MHz section! Chuck has promised to write his work up for our future homebrew section.
Lew, N5ZE brought his homebrew Jackson Harbor keyer in an Altoids box with the K9LU "BullDog" Key. The little Bulldog key has to be held to be appreciated - a backpackers delight.
Hey! What happened to Don, K5DW? Fortunately for us, Don was our intrepid photo journalist for the meeting. We'll get him next time!
Bill, K5JHP, (center) inspects Rich's, N5JI, OHR500 while Rich (left) and Lew, N5ZE (right) "help"
Dwain, KØLOA, (center) tunes the K2 for the George, W5YR (grey shirt, center-left)while Chuck, W5USJ (right)explains "Mojo" to Bill (not shown). Rich, N5JI, and Lew, N5ZE, (left) keep their distance to keep from falling under the K2 influence.
Dwain, KØLOA, diligently searches for stations while George, W5YR, looks under the K2's hood. Meanwhile, Chuck W5USJ, (top-left), Bill, K5JHP, and Lew, N5ZE, listen as Rich, N5JI (not shown) explains the finer points of the OHR500.
Lew, N5ZE, (center) averts his eyes to avoid the "Mojo" influence on his credit card bill.
