Text Box: Our club has had another good year. We started the year meeting at the Bernie Bus Facility at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Later in the year, we moved the meetings back to the Steifvater Associates facility, also at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Russ, WB2JIL, has done a fantastic job with providing programs for the meetings. We have had a number of great fantastic programs, including some technical presentations by Dave, W5IXM. We had a very successful Ham Fest in August. If you didn’t get a chance to attend this year’s, try to attend next Text Box: year’s, as it promises to be another great one. Our VE Team continues to provide monthly testing for all those that want to get or upgrade their amateur license. The team is a Bata team for the FCC. We have started a service of recording the business part of our meetings and posting them on the internet for members to listen to. This helps to provide a reminder of what went on and to allow those members that can’t attend the meetings to here what is going on. We also, as you can tell by reading this article, restarted our club’s news letter. With the fresh start, we have a fresh new format. Text Box: There was an attempt to hold a Field Day event at our club’s repeater site; however, that fell through when some of the planned participants had to change there plans at the last minute (we have all had those times). An smaller group did participate in Field Days at the home of Bill (K2GVI) and Joan (KA2TSC). Here’s to a great new year for our club—73 Text Box: 2007 Club Wrap-up Text Box: Special points of interest: Next Month’s Club Meeting will be a dinner at the Kings Buffet on January 2nd 2008 . Annual Dues are Due by The January 2008 Meeting Straight Key Night on New Years Eve—see QST for details Text Box: NORAD Tracks Santa Text Box: For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa. The tradition began on Christmas Eve in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special "hotline" included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's Text Box: operations "hotline." The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff check radar data for any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa's location. Thus, the tradition was born. Beginning at 2:00 am MTN on Christmas Eve, you can track Santa Live as he makes his historical journey around the world! To Track Santa, Text Box: go to http://www.northpole.com/NoradSanta.asp and enjoy. The site includes a wide variety of activities for kids, parents, and teachers. Have a Happy Holidays—73

ARES-RACES

2

Editor’s Notes

2

Winlink Can Be Reliable in Emergencies

3

Up-Coming Contest Calendar

3

Back to the Future

4