Notes on Feb 5th, 2000, NOGA Meeting

By Sam Billingsley, AE4GX
Edited by Mike Boatright, KO4WX
Photos by Sam Billingsley, AE4GX, and James Daniel, AE4HS

The February 5, 2000, NOGA meeting surpassed all expectations with standing room only as we began at 11AM on Saturday. Sam, AE4GX, gave the group an update on the NOGAPIG project and congratulated the club on selling over 100 units and kitting an additional 100 the previous week. Thanks to Russ, AE4NY, Pickett, AD4S, and Paul,K4HCM, for the efficient kitting effort on this round.

About 10 PIGs were sold at the meeting. It's good to know we starting to protect the rigs and batteries after all these years.

NOGA QRP Meeting, Feb 5, 2000
Click image for full-sized photo.

We had 28 sign-ins including 8 first time attendees. We hope they all will return and bring others. We have a number of our regulars out of town but the growth of the club over the last year has kept the room at capacity each meeting. I guess we'll have to find a bigger place soon. Steve Ray, K4JPN, traveled from Warner Robins, GA about 150 miles (one way). Thanks for the effort Steve we hope you can join us again next time.

Three door prizes were awarded and Arnold, KC4ZUA, a first time visitor won a neat DVM donated by the RadioShack.com store manager. Other prizes included a sports watch and a prefect sized commercial metal enclosure for the next project.

The boys from the Athens area showed complete with the four regulars from the BUBBA net on 10 meters.

Of course Dan (James Daniel), AE4HS, was leading the pack with many very funny stories as usual. Scott, KD4MSR, was given many great comments about his CW keying precision. He said he uses both the straight key and a keyer depending on the other end of the QSO.

 NOGA QRP Meeting, Feb 5, 2000
Click image for full-sized photo.

NOGA QRP Meeting, Feb 5, 2000
Click image for full-sized photo.

We discussed a wide range of interests and activities. Unfortunately we have reached the size of the group that limits Q & A somewhat in order to get around the everyone in a reasonable time frame. But after the meeting formally breaks up a big group headed to the next door hamburger spot to have a late lunch and continue the discussions.

We had a special first time visitor in the room, Gary Breed, K9AY. Everyone is aware of Gary's contributions to QRP and related ham activities and we hope he will share some time with us in the future.

To highlight the show and tell will not do the experience justice but needless to say it was the real fun part of the group's activities. It's amazing the range of activities and the volume of projects that show up every meeting. This a really busy group!

Name/Call Project Click image for full-sized photo.
Russ/AE4NY PIG in Hand Painted Altoids
He also showed a melted power cable that he did BEFORE he got a PIG to Protect him.		 AE4NY, Russ with his NOGA PIG
Tom/K4TJD AAD LC Meter K4TJD, Tom showing his AAD LC meter
Dan/AE4HS UHF transmitter chip
Ed note: It's really good to have Dan at the meeting since his surgery.		 AE4HS, Dan showing his UHF transmitter chip AE4HS, Dan
Sam/N4MAP DF Orientating Gear Fox (80mtrQRP TX and 2mtr TXbeacons) N4MAP, Sam and his Fox Finder N4MAP, Sam and direction finding kit
Mike/W3IRZ Georgia Sierra
W3IRZ, Mike with his Georgia Sierra (HB)
Mike/W3IRZ HB Hand Key
HB Dummy Load/Watt meter
Mike brought many free resistors to give away and also gave away a key kit.		 W3IRZ, Mike with homebrew straignt key
Pickett/AD4S PIG in Altoids
Pickett had the phase 2 K1EL keyer section working, also.		 AD4S, Pickett and NOGA PIG with K8 keyer mod installed
Jim/KT4A OHR Power Meter KT4A, Jim showing his OHR QRP wattmeter
Jerry/W3CDE Resonant Speaker
From Home Security System (700-800 Hz peak)		 W3CDE, Jerry displaying his resonant speaker built from home security system parts
Sam/AE4GX Partial GA Sierra
main board and one 10 mtr plugin
He also showed his Altoids DummyLoad/Diode detector I/F to 30 year old Transistorized Voltmeter (analogue meter)		 AE4GX, Sam with partial HB Georgia Sierra
Sam/AE4GX GibsonGirl 500KHz Rescue Beacon Transmitter
(Hand crank/generator power 2 tubes circa 1940)		 AE4GX, Sam's GibsonGirl Resuce Transmitter AE4GX, Sam demonstrates operation of his GibsonGirl Resuce Transmitter
Steve/AA4BW Beautiful 2N2222/40
This was worth the trip (Operates as good as it looks)		 AA4BW, Steve shows his beautiful 2N2222/40 Xcvr AA4BW, Steve's 2N2222/40 Xcvr AA4BW, Steve shows his 2N2222/40 to curious NOGA members
Steve/K2ZPF Bull Dog Key
Miniature keyer with his K2		 K2ZPF, Steve and his Bull Dog paddle
Chuck/AF4PP St. Louis Vertical w/ W6MMA mod Kit AF4PP, Chuck showing his SLV antenna with W6MMA mod
Chuck/AF4PP Wilderness Sierra AF4PP, Chuck
Carl/K4GZZ TunaTin 2 K4GZZ, Carl with his Tuna Tin 2 transmitter
Phil/K4PQC Prize Winning Norcal 40A and his Altoids Norcal 49er No picture available.

Everyone was invited to join the NOGA Tuesday night nets: 2 mtrs FM at 9PM EST 145.41- and 3.6864 kHz slow speed CW informal net. Both these nets are to just get together and have fun.

I apologize in advance to any errors or omissions. Hopefully the pictures of the meeting will help refresh your memory.

Sam Billingsley AE4GX Atlanta, GA
personal web page at http://ae4gx.home.mindspring.com/