THE FIRST CLASS C.W.

OPERATORS CLUB

NEWS SHEET 636

(http://www.firstclasscw.org.uk)

Editor: G4BUE

October 2002

A man should keep his friendship in constant repair - Samuel Johnson (1755)
(3525, 7025, 10120-10125, 14025, 18080-18085, 21025, 24905-24910 and 28025kHz)

BANDS OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER ARE 80 & 17 METRES

If you receive a yellow paper with your October News Sheet, it means your subscription for 2003 is due by 31 December. Rates - UK 15 Europe 17 or 29 Euro Non Europe 19 or $30 Have you paid yet? 13th ANNUAL FLORIDA DINNER by K4EFZ
Location and Rates: the beautiful Holiday Inn Select near Orlando International Airport (approximately one mile north of the airport directly on Highway 436, also called Semoran Boulevard) will again be the venue for our Florida Dinner on 7 December. The management has again offered us a block of rooms at our special rate of $65 for one to four people per room (nearly half normal rate). Each room has a coffee maker, ironing board, iron, hair dryer, a data-port on each phone, king size bed (with fold-out couch) or two double beds. You can specify a smoking or nonsmoking room. Our special rate is available for three days prior and two days after the Saturday, subject to availability, so make reservations early. Cutoff date for the special rate is 8 November 2002. The hotel provides a free shuttle service for members flying into Orlando International Airport and to the huge Florida Mall. There are several popular restaurants within easy walk of the hotel: Dennys (24 hours), Chilis Bar and Grill, TGI Fridays, Tony Romas Ribs and others in the airport itself. The hotel is providing us with a complimentary Hospitality Suite / radio room for W4FOC and private dining room. Thursday 5 December: informal dinner at Charleys Steakhouse. This has become a regular event for those arriving early with exceptional food (steak lovers will be hard pressed to find a better meal). Let me know if you plan to be there so I can arrange enough reservations in advance. The restaurant provides a free shuttle bus from the hotel at 6.30pm. Friday 6 December: Shirley and Ink, N4OO, will open the Hospitality Suite on the fifth floor in the early afternoon. Pick up your folders with all the weekends information enclosed. 5pm: informal dinner at Tony Romas Ribs within walking distance of the hotel and where there is something for everyone on the menu. Let me know if you plan to arrive early so reservations can be arranged. The dinner time is a little early, but that is the only way they can accommodate us in a private area prior to the busy dinner rush on Friday. Saturday 7 December: 7pm: our Annual Banquet will be served in our private dining room. You may choose one of the following entrees: Roast Prime Rib of Beef, Salmon Filet, Chicken Duxelle, or Vegetarian. All entrees include choice of soup du jour, Caesar salad or tossed garden salad, Chefs choice of accompaniments, assorted rolls with butter, Chefs dessert presentation, iced tea and coffee service. Wine served with dinner may be added to your room tab. The cost of the dinner is $48 per person, which can also be added to your room tab when making your reservation. We have the dining room for the entire evening, so we can socialise and have our drawings after dinner. Sunday 8 December: Ellen, W1YL, and Bob, W1CW, have decided not to hold their Open House this year. Ellen says, I think I have to face some of the realities of life; namely a greatly diminished energy level. Thus, albeit reluctantly, I have to say nay to an Open House this year in Seffner. Those lucky enough to have enjoyed the Whites hospitality for many years will always carry the fond memories with them. Thank you Ellen and Bob for all you have brought to FOC, our hobby, and our friendships.

2003 SUBSCRIPTIONS

Hotel reservations: be sure to identify yourself as an FOC Member to obtain the special rate. Do not use the generic Holiday Inn reservation numbers, but use the following: FAX to 407-438-7297 Attn: Mary Myers Mail to Mary Myers, Holiday Inn Select Orlando International Airport, 5750 T. G. Lee Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32822, USA. E-mail to <mmyers@bristolhotels.com>, please be careful to spell everything correctly because last year there was some confusion! All reservations need: Attn: Mary Myers FOC (First Class CW Operators Club) for weekend of 7 December 2002. Name of party in which room will be held. Arrival and departure dates. Preference smoking or non-smoking room. Preference king sized or two double beds. Form of payment for the deposit. If using a credit card please include the card number, expiration date, type of card and the way in which the name is printed on the card. The Holiday Inn will e-mail the confirmation number. You may pay for your Banquet Dinner by adding it to your room charges at the same time, but specify your entree choice for each person. This year, members can secure their room reservations and banquet payments directly through the Holiday Inn Select by credit cards, or other pre-payment options. This will be especially helpful for our overseas members. Members may alternately send their cheques for the banquet meal, made payable to Holiday Inn Select OIA to me. Airline ticketing: there are two airports serving Orlando: the largest is Orlando International Airport near the Holiday Inn Select and the other is Sanford Airport about half an hour drive from the hotel. There is no shuttle service from Sanford and very few services are offered there, although there are hire care agencies there. GW3KGV G3NOH, G3WGV and G4BUE at, tended a Committee meeting at GW3KGVs QTH on 12 September. Progress had not been made on the project to define the role of FOC but will be made now, possibly with narrower terms of reference. The possibility of the Club having a facility to accept subscription payments by credit card has been examined and discounted. The 2003 subscription rate will remain the same as for 2002 but payment can now be made in Euros as well as Sterling and Dollars (details to be included on the Subscription form to be mailed with the October News Sheet). The suggestion from several members to only receive the News Sheet by e-mail was deferred to a future meeting. Some Committee responsibilities will need changing following GW3KGV and G4BUE leaving Committee. G4BUE will continue as Edi-

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION by G3MXJ

Starred List
2. G3PDH (Malcolm): G3LIK, GADE, G4YNU, G3MCK, G8VG, YV1NX, K1JD, W4LZ, WCGR, KT4P.

Invitations will be sent to G3HJF, DU3NXE and GWKJ.

Additional Nominations

6. G3OWO (John): F5VHC. 6. GGKH (Dave): G3LPN, GJWB. 4. K1DG (Doug): S5A, N6NT, N2AA, KC7V. 4. N9RV (Pat): K8MFO, N2AA. 4. W4CI (Dave): K5DQ. 3. DJ1YFK (Fabian): PA5XM, YO4PX, K1JD, DJ5ZN. 3. DL1BUG (Red): DL7AKC, PA5XM, DL6TQ, DJ5ZN. 3. K6TA (Ken): K6TS, N6NT 2. DK7VW (Joe): KT4P GJWB, DL7AKC, DJ5ZN. , 2. N2JZ (Mike): N4UB, K5DQ. 2. K5ALU (Red): W1WEF, WCGR, AA4Z, K5AX, VA3LK, K5CA. 2. G4GZG (Larry): G3LPN, G3MCK. 2. G3ILO (Steve): N3RS. 1. W3EF (Maury): G3NOH. 1. WA2RUE (Phil): W4PM.

Amendments

DF5JT (1747): new address - Fuerbringerstr. 3, D-10961 Berlin; tel - 170 816 0137; add YL - Julia. DK4AN (1750): new address - Sturzelbacherstr 15, D-57639 Rodenbach, Germany; tel - 2684 957868. F5NZY (1737): new address - 16, Boulevard Soult, 75012 Paris, France. N8DCJ (1707): new address - 310 St Rt 314 South, Mansfield, OH 44903, USA. S57NW (1733): new name - Jelka H Sarnec; OM - Gabor (YU7WJ). TL8DV (1787): correct address - GBIM, Box 588, Winona Lake, IN 46590, USA. WL7E/7 (1695): new address - PO Box 692, Burley, WA 98322, USA; new callsign - N7CQ. tor of the News Sheet, FOCUS and the Call Book but a new Secretary will need to be appointed. GW3KGV will collate the entries for the 2002 Windle Award and pass them to the new adjudicator (to be decided) and will also collect the 2003 subscriptions. Membership objections and collection of 2004 subscriptions will be done by somebody new. Planning for the Annual Dinner at Greenwich were going well and arrangements for speeches, presentations, menus, raffle, G4FOC station etc were discussed and made. A suggestion for an alternative Annual Dinner venue from G8VG was considered and a decision deferred until the next meeting when the experience of the new venue at Greenwich will be known. The proposed new W6WAS award by W4CK was approved. Details of the Morse Proficiency Programme are being published in FOCUS 52 and will be progressed at the next meeting. Following comments from members about the new style tick-sheets introduced in 2002, the

COMMITTEE REPORT by G4BUE

format will revert to the old style for 2003. The current active membership was 501 plus seven Permanent Associate and three Temporary Associate members. An idea from KZ5D to promote activity published in the August News Sheet, together with the format of the 2003 Windle Award was considered and deferred. A suggestion from G3PQC for a Straight Key Evening was considered and the possibility of extending it to include bugs will be explored. The next meeting will be held on 27 October at G3LIKs QTH. DJ6SI: Baldur was QRV in the middle of September from Burundi as 9UX. DK4AN: Wang bought a new house in March, on the west side of a hill 360m ASL. He has wire antennas up at the moment but better antennas will follow. F3OA: Mike will be QRV 5/11 October as CN2OA (see page 49 of FOCUS 52) from the ARRAM club station in Rabat. F5NZY: Steph has moved to a new apartment where he was born and spent his first 20 years. He will put up a G5RV and an eight band vertical on the roof of the apartment block. GIHM: Lee, G3XNG, wrote on 15 September, Lovely surprise this afternoon to have a telephone call from Ursula who says she is trying hard to get herself back on the key, and sounded so bright and cheerful. G2DPY: Sadly I have to report that Stan is a Silent Key. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on 4 September. Stan was Secretary of FOC between 1952 and 1956 and took over from G3JZ at a very difficult time for the Club. In those days the Secretary also edited and produced the News Sheet. See chapter 3 of Sixty Years of FOC which concludes by saying Stans contribution to the Club was substantial and he was honoured by a Vice Presidency in 1957. He was also presented with an autographed Certificate in recognition of his valuable service by the new President, Bill Craig, G6JJ, at the 1956 Annual Dinner. G2FFO: Thanks to Dick for pointing out that the name of the hotel in Greenwich where many members are staying for the London Annual Dinner is the Ibis Hotel and not the Orbis Hotel as published in the September News Sheet! G2JL: Mort made 82 QSOs, including 55 with members, with his 4W QRP operation from SV5. They included just one USA QSO (W4QM) , Baldur, 9UX on 10m, two Augies, a new country (A2) and a dabble in Greek code with an SV on another island. G3IY: Jim reports a mini-dinner on 28 September in the Ribble Valley for ZL1AH, who is staying in the area. GJWB, G2FFO, G4PKD, Jim and their ladies are planning to be present. G3LCS: Our best wishes go to Des who has to go into hospital for a major operation to his stomach on 2 October causing him to miss the

MEMBERS NEWS by G4BUE

FOC dinner, the RNARS AGM and the RSGB DX convention. G3MXJ: Dennis found himself swept up in the army mutiny in the Ivory Coast two days after he arrived there on business. He was awoken at 3am by the sound of gunfire close to the hotel and later found out it was the execution of a man who had seized power two years earlier but lost power at a later election, plus his family. Everything in Abidjan came to a standstill (including flights out of the country) and there was a dusk to dawn curfew imposed with sporadic gunfire heard during the night. Fortunately, Dennis was eventually able to get a flight to Cameroon to complete his business and arrived safely back in the UK on 26 September. G3RFE: Tom sadly passed away on 21 September after suffering a stroke. He had been unwell for sometime. Tom was originally a member (870) of FOC between March 1966 and February 1983 and then joined again in February 1991 with his present number 1579 - thanks GJWB and G3IZD. G3XNG: Lee reported on 3 September that he was now walking on one elbow crutch outside the house, but indoors I am hobbling around like Hopalong Cassaddy (for those who are old enough to remember!). Taking the car out today for the first time in 11 weeks, so keep your fingers crossed for me please. The left wrist is kind of sore but all casts removed and holes healed where the wires were! I will be 79 on Saturday and am looking forward to another 21 years of FOC. G4UPS: Referring to KZ5Bs suggestion in the September News Sheet, Ted writes I think the idea a particularly good one as I have been haunting 30m for quite a while, but only picking up the odd member here and there! Recent new ones on 6m include G4UZN, I6BQI and OK1CZ amongst others. G8PG: Gus, who is in his 80s, fell and broke a hip on 1 September and expects to be in hospital for several weeks. G8VG: Pete reports a mini-dinner at Birdlip on 4 September to honour a visit from 9J2BO with G3HJF, G3IFB, G3JJG, G3NKS, G3TEV , himself and wives. Referring to activity, Pete writes, I think we should continue to nominate Bands of the Month. I do a regular trawl and sometimes find another member doing the same thing. The suggestion from KZ5D that we nominate two or three activity days each month is well worth considering and might encourage a few more members to appear. Finally, Pete says, I have an excellent VHF rig, the Yaesu FT-736R, with coverage on 2m and 70cms but I need a module for 6m. The retailers cannot supply and Yaesu no longer make it. Can anyone help please?. JE1JKL: Saty will be QRV as 9M6NA in the CQ WW CW Contest, 15 metres single band. QSL via his home call. Email QSL requests for bureau returns can be made to <9m6na@jsfc.

org> and he has a web page at <http://jsfc.org/ je1jkl/9m6na.html> - thanks Daily DX. JA5DQH: Aki was QRV as KH7A on 14 September - thanks K8JP. K1ZZ: Dave has just returned from ARRL business in the Balkan States. On his way back he made a side trip to Geneva where he operated from the 4U1ITU club station on 22 September. He was QRV on CW only on 10, 12, 17 and 30m making some 880 QSOs. Dave is able to confirm those QSOs direct if anyone wants the card quickly, otherwise they will go automatically via the bureau - thanks Daily DX. K5AX: Look for Tom to be QRV mobile from his new GM Truck (a 1999 Yukon) that K5NA talked me into buying. LY2PX: 4Z4KX writes, I want to congratulate my good friend Willy celebrating his 50 years anniversary this month. N3JT: Jim was QRV on 9 September as K4P to support the Pentagon commemorative operation on 40 and 15m CW. N4XR: Congratulations to Vic on also achieving #1 DXCC with 335/377 after 54 years!. N7CQ: Joe has finished most of the antennas on his new tower and is QRV all bands except 40m. He and Margot are going to Hawaii in October where Joe will be one of the operators at the KH7R CQ WW SSB Station, but he will be back in Alaska for the CQ CW Contest. S53R: Robert was due to arrive in Afghanistan about 15 September when he and ON4WW were to put up an inverted L for 160m and be QRV in their spare time with 100 watts. Activity was expected to be for two weeks before they return to Islamabad, Pakistan for a couple of days. Then the two will head back into Afghanistan for another two weeks stay before going home for a break - thanks Daily DX. S57NW: Congratulations to Jelka on her marriage to Gabor, YU7WJ, on 4 September. W1RAN: Shirley wrote, Ned came home 29 Au-

YA by S53R (636) 2/8 M/EI2IM/P by W4ZYT (636) 4 June & Chris, G4BUE, Party (633) 5 Annual Dinner at Greenwich (FOCUS 50) 5/11 CN2OA by F3OA (636) 6 Mauds Open House (634) 8/12 EI2IM/P by W4ZYT (636) 11/13 RSGB HF & IOTA Convention 12/14 MI/EI2IM/P by W4ZYT (636) 27 Committee meeting at G3LIK QTH 28 Deadline for November News Sheet gust after nine days in hospital. He is out of bed several hours per day and although quite weak, is making progress. Recovery will take a month or more - thanks LZ1AF. W3ABC: Hugh suffered a bad fall while fishing in Montana and broke his right wrist. He says he should get back on the bands before too long. W4PW: Ex-member (816) A Prose Walker passed away 8 August following a brief illness aged 92. He joined FOC in July 1964 and left in March 1975 and also held the calls W3BMX, W4CXA and W5KZA - thanks K8MFO and W3ABC. W4ZYT: Don will be QRV 2/8 October from Greenwich, 12/14 from Northern Ireland and 8/ 12 October from Ireland as M/EI2IM/P MI/ , EI2IM/P and EI2IM/P using a FT100-D with a random wire, CW only on 10-40 metres - thanks Daily DX. W5ZR: Bert says, Anyone using the W5ZR FOC program can send me an e-mail <bertw5zr@aol. com> and I will send an updated version of the program with new features, and a bug has been removed. W9VNE: Jim will be in the UK 2/13 October for his first trip to Europe and is looking forward to meeting members at Greenwich. He will visit Ireland after the Dinner.

October (G3LIK)

(callsign in brackets indicate G4FOC operator)

FOC CALENDAR

Score updates can be passed to G4BUE or any Committee member. An asterisk against the call indicates the score has been updated this month. Table shows the scores received by 0800z 29 September 2002. The two scores are total points and number of different members worked.
W4QM* 1045/395 W5ZR* 845/350 G3LIK* 790/345 SMCCE* 701/328 LZ1AF* 650/318 K9QVB* 619/329 SV1AOW* 607/259 G3KTZ* 600/315 YV1NX 565 W1HMD 540/310 LY2PX* 537/269 LY3BA 511/296 W3NZ 500/278 K8JP 483/303 G3RVM* 455/255 KT4P* 446/244 G4BUE* 420/277 DJ5ZN* 403/240 W6TZD* 389/227 LY5BA 385/249 K6LQA* G4BJM* G3JJG* N3JT KZ5D* K1JD* G4HZV* N3RS GJWB* K6TS* W4LZ W3MC* GORH G2JL* G2FFO OK1RR 4Z4KX* N3BB W4ZYT* WCGR 375 361/229 350/224 335/190 308/183 306/200 296/194 292/196 282/190 273/164 273/163 265/170 264/184 262/232 246/175 241 240/160 229/168 228/170 228/129 G5LP G3ZGC W4CK* W8KJP* W6CYX* EA6ACC K5DQ* ZP6CW W8LX* G4PKD* F5VEX W9GW K4EV ZL1AH F3AT* K5RC* W4PM* W8FJ* TL8DV* SM5COP* 226/158 217 210 208 206 205/161 200/146 198/131 192/122 192 180 175/138 173/136 169/147 165 164/106 163/119 162/125 161/137 156/109 G3IY* 149 G4XRV 149/119 PABW 145/111 DL8LBK 143/106 K2VCO 143 K4EF 140/118 G3MCK 139/107 VE3AR* 137/101 G4UPS* 133 W2DX* 133 ZS1EL 128/101 GW3SB* 127/109 G3KKQ 126 G3LHJ* 125 G3NOH 124/105 W8KJP/M* 123 WK2G* 122/103 VE3DZZ 122 G3LCS 120 LA8XM 112/96 G3LPN 110 G3NKS 109/102 W4YE 109/94 K9BG* 107 W1HT* 102 N1DG 101/83 KC7V 101 DK4LX 100 VE3HX 96 K4XU 95 G8VG* 92 HB9QO 89/80 GW3HCL 88 G2HKU 87 G3VTT 87 N4JT 84/69 N6FB 83/67 N4TY 82 K5CA* KY7M* K6WG OZ4FF W1FJ K4LQ VA3LK* W6RGG* OH2EA* OH2KI* N4AF LA5HE K2ZR* W1FZY AA5DX W9VNE W6IJ OZ6XT W1RM 81 81 78 78 76/62 73/61 68 62 61 57 56 42 33 33 28 28 17 8 1

THE 2002 BILL WINDLE CENTENARY AWARD