By Sam Billingsley, AE4GX
Again the North Georgia QRP club (NOGA) had a record breaking attendance of 26 on Saturday April 3, 1999 at the TechAmerica store on Buford Hwy in MetroAtlanta. This was a surprise since it was a holiday weekend and that usually slows things down. The NOGA club had members traveling up to 130 miles to attend from Cochran, Athens and Braselltown. This active QRP group now covers the entire upper half of Georgia. We had 8 first time attendees at this meeting including the big group from Athens. The training room had standing room only and many show and tell items were displayed including: HW-8 w/MODs, TIXIE,ONER,SW80+, SW30+,HB Z-match,Coke Can HB xvcr and matching power supply, NC20 and a real neat HB dual paddle with PK-2 keyer from Phil/K4PQC.
The highlight of the meeting was the demo of Ken Evans/W4DU's K2 outside in the parking lot from the tail gate of van using the AE4GX/Parking Lot Vertical (PLPV) on 20/15/10 meters. Signals were booming in on all bands and using the K2's speaker the group heard Ken catch a Chilean station on 10 meters using 500 mw. The filter options demoed were very interesting. Needless to say many of the spectators in the group were thinking about how to get one. Mike Boatright/KO4WX showed his Norcal20 and boy is it packed into the tiny space. The K2 looked barren in comparison. So anyone building an NC20 should have no trouble with the K2. Tom Dooley/K4TJD setup his version on the PLPV with MODS for improved bracing. We attracted quite a crowd in the parking lot.
Next meeting is the 1st Saturday in June at the Atlanta Hamfest where NOGA will be hosting a club table with a variety of gear and a remote BONEYARD QRP station sporting solar and lemon juice powered rigs to enable QSOs between the two stations. Special QSO cards for these special event contacts will be made available to participants.