Committee Reports: Treasurer – Chuck KJ4RV told us we have a balance of $1498.99. Repeaters – Bill KU4W said the 2 meter repeater was down Saturday but is back in operation now. The 220 machine is down and may not be repaired. The 440 machine is down and has cavity problems. The 6 meter machine is up and running. Health & Welfare – Sandy KC4TBQ reported Daryl KD4QNG is getting radiation treatment. He may be back to work in 6 months. Art WB4WZH is not doing well. Graham K4MN is still in a rest home. Advertising – Van N4ERM reports that Radio Shack is our newest advertiser. Net Manager – Chuck KJ4RV reports that check-ins are up but we need more net control stations. If you can help out with the net contact Chuck. Membership –Property Audit – Bob KC4RSZ is looking for the Gin Pole that belongs to the club. If you know of its location please let us know. Emergency Coordinator – Bob KL7NL talked about the EOC and passed out an ARES newsletter. He is working on a core of personnel for disasters. We are in the process of being our own area of Skywarn. Newsletter Editor – Mike KN4XP discussed the newsletter showing the new format to the membership. Due to the cost of printing the newsletter we will try to send it out electronically. People who need a printed copy will still be able to get it. VE Testing – Bob KL7NL let us know we had a great turn out for the last test session. Our next test session will be held May 13^th at the science building at Methodist College. ARRL Bulletins – AJ W4EK discussed the rf exposure and restructuring bulletins.

Old Business – Dr. Elton Hendricks, Methodist College President, has been inducted into CFARS and hopefully will be at the next meeting for a formal induction. Bob KL7NL asked for volunteers for a walk a thon. Bob KC4RSZ needs 15 volunteers for the March of Dimes Walk to be held May 13^th . David KR4OE told us we need to increase our membership. Our number of members is declining. David challenges us to get the old members back into the club and to invite potential new members to join us.

New Business – David KR4OE passed out flyers about John W4CC our new ARRL NC Section Manager. Dick WB7OND was presented a T-shirt.

New Members – Bonnie KF4LVF introduced Carl KF4WQH and DJ KG4FKM. A motion was made by Bill KU4W, seconded by Bill KE4DER, to accept Carl and DJ as CFARS members. The motion passed. Welcome to CFARS.

Program – Reed AB4W, the current ARRL NC Section Manager, gave the program. Reed talked about amateur radio and its importance. He told of many changes that have occurred over the years. Emergency service is a very important part of amateur radio…get involved.

Door Prize Drawing – Kelly N4EWG held the door prize drawing. Rocky W4DGL won an emergency home tool kit. Pete W4TBO won a DC volt meter donated by Russ W4SKW. William KD4DCR made a motion, seconded by Billy KF4IKS, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. There were 34 members and 4 guests present.

So where do I begin? Any suggestions? Well to begin with I would like to thank all of those for attending the March meeting. It was nice to see a few old faces and some new faces as well. For those of you who were unable to attend you missed an excellent program as our guest speaker was Reed Whitten, AB4W, our outgoing North Carolina Section Manager. Reed has done a lot for amateur radio in North Carolina and amateur radio as a whole and it was nice of him to come down at my invitation and speak to the club one last time before leaving office March 31. I encourage you that the next time you see Reed to thank him for all he has done and accomplished during his multiple terms as Section Manager. If you like you could also e-mail him and I am sure he would appreciate it. As of April 1 the new Section manager is John Covington, W4CC. John was born and raised here in Fayetteville and his mother continues to live here. John is a

Life Member of CFARS, an Extra Class license holder, and a ham since the age of thirteen. Lets all do what we can to support John in his endeavors as Section Manager and wish him well in all he does in his new role.

As I began typing this the North Carolina Evening Net had just begun at 6:30pm. This is followed at 7:00pm with the Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society Two Meter Evening Net and the Carolinas Net which is a cw traffic net. At 7:30pm there is the Tarheel Emergency Net, the North Carolina Section ARES Net on 3.923mhz. At 8:00pm there is the Southeastern Traffic Net on the Lumberton wide area coverage repeater. Also at 8:00pm there is the Carolina Slow Net, a cw traffic net which runs at around five to eight words per minute. There is definitely not a shortage of nets to participate in during the evening hours. I would like to encourage each of you to support these nets, especially our own evening net. If you have not checked in lately I encourage you to do so on Wednesday night as Bob, KL7NL, calls the net and conducts ARES training and discusses topics in this area. Bob is doing an excellent job as our Emergency Coordinator so please support him in all he is trying to accomplish.

I would like to thank all of those who participated in providing communications for the MS Walk on April 1 and to Bob, KL7NL, for being in charge of this public service project. CFARS was able to provide seventeen operators for this event and as usual this group of volunteers waved the flag for amateur radio and CFARS proudly and professionally.

By the time you read this the Raleigh Hamfest will be a memory and I hope I had the pleasure of seeing you there. I attended the Kinston Hamfest on April 2 and I must tell you that this is by far the most friendly hamfest I attend and I usually attend nine or ten a year. It is a small affair as compared to Raleigh but the folks there are great and the barbecue is even better. There is no charge for tailgating and I had an absolute wonderful time parked beside my friend, Doug, K4ROK, who lives in Fountain, North Carolina just outside Greenville. I encourage you to mark it on your calendar next year.

The date of our next meeting is April 17 and I sure hope you are able to attend. Among the topics we will discuss will be planning for the VE test session on May 13 as well as another walkathon which will take place the same day. Field Day is also not to far off so will also need to begin our planning and strategies for this most exciting event.

That’s all for now folks. As I my friend Claude, K4CWZ, who lives in Moore County always says on the Tarheel Emergency Net, I would like to thank all of you for doing what you do. c u l es 73, de David, KR4OE

The MS walk fund raiser was held on 1^ST of April and you could not have asked for more wonderful weather. The CFARS volunteers day started at 9am at Honeycutt Park located near FTCC campus. Eighteen (18) Amateurs showed up to provide communications for the walk, with three (3) rest stop, Start/Finish point, rovers, SAG vehicle and numerous critical monitor positions along the route kept those folks busy. The walkers got started around 10:20 am and the last walker finished around 12:40 p.m. The communications network provided via vhf simplex channel on 146.55 MHz. This was a great chance to practice/train providing communications support in locations other then our homes and use non-repeater operations. Additionally, we managed to capture the public’s awareness of the Amateur Radio Service in the local area. The walk’s staff was impressed first with the quality off support and 2ndly with the quantity of amateurs that showed up to donate their weekend time.

The following Amateurs donated their time and equipment: William KD4DCR, Chester KE4GYV, Bill KU4W, Gene N4ANV, Pat KC4TBS, Dick WB7OND, Sandy KC4TBQ, Van KA0ZKV, Carl KF4WQH, DJ KG4FKN, Fred KN4SS, William KF4QBI, Bob KC4RSZ, Roger WB0NDN, Donnie AD4TZ, Bonnie KF4LVF, and Chuck KJ4RV. Let me take this time to say thank you for your support in making this club activity a huge success. 73’s Bob, KL7NL

Install some ground radials. Most people find that 20 or so radials around the base of a vertical antenna greatly improve its operation. You will probably find that your vertical is even better than you thought. Note that your SWR will probably change when you add radials. And, you will find that the antenna isn't as flat across the entire band as you thought. – The Old Timer