Mack’s Thank You for 2009

By Mack, W4AX

This has been a phenomenal year for the North Fulton Amateur Radio League.  The club's continued success is due to our great members.  We’re now at over 260 active members, our treasury has grown 16 fold in the past three years, and we’re a Federally recognized 501(c)3 charity.  All of these accomplishments are due to the hard work and dedication you bring to the club.  The club’s board members, Walt KJ4HE, Fred N4CLA, Shelia KD4NKE, Mike W5JR, Ian AK4IK, Jim W4QO, and Tom W4UOC have all brought exceptional leadership and guidance to the club.  The path charted for the club is due to their efforts and dedication.  Thank you to the board and our great members!

Now it’s almost 2010 and it’s time turn over the club leadership to some new officers.  Chuck AE4CW will do an incredible job as your president with the support of Wes W3WL as vice president, Fred N4CLA as treasurer, and Bill K4YJI as secretary.  Please give them your full support and lots of volunteer support as they pilot the club to even greater success in 2010.

I would like to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to lead this fantastic radio club.  I treasure each and every friendship that I have with our members.  I hope you and your families have a very successful 2010 and please remember to volunteer to help when your 2010 club leadership asks.

Very 73,

Mack de W4AX

Let me tick off some of the major accomplishments your club made in 2009. (this part is long)

• With special thanks to Walt KJ4HE, we had exceptional club programs all year.  Every program was superb and special thanks go to all our guest speakers.
• Verne, W8BLA, was responsible for many VE testing sessions and a large number of new hams and upgrades were obtained.  Thank you Verne!
• The club also initiated a weekly youth net led by Francis AJ4JQ that has become very popular on Friday afternoons and now has nationwide participation.
• Our North Fulton ARES group led by Tom W4UOC continues to be very involved in community service and conducted a very successful simulated emergency test.
• Joe N7QPP, continues to lead our very successful TechNet each Monday.  It is tied to the Do Drop In Echolink conference and we now have dozens of hams participating from around the US and globe.  Great job Joe!
• Hungry Hams lunch each Wednesday continues to be a great place to gather with friends and share stories.  We generally have between 25 and 40 people attend. Good food and good company.
• Bill K4YJI also led the way with organizing our community volunteer activities including hamfests, community running events, and the Chattahoochee Nature Center walks.   Thank you Bill!
• HamCram continues to be a very well attended event and the club conducted two one day sessions this year.  Since the beginning of HamCram we have licensed over 200 technician and general class licensees.
• Let’s also always remember that we have the best ham radio club website in the Nation thanks to Bill K4YJJ.  Bill does almost daily work on the website to always keep the content fresh.  He also implemented a Mart that easily allows members to manage their own contact information and order items from the web via PayPal.  Bill, you’re the greatest!
• Jim N4SEC continues to work tirelessly for the club with community relations.  He has been instrumental in the clubs acceptance and success in the local, county, and state governments.  He personally orchestrated proclamations from Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Fulton County, and the Governor while raising ham radio awareness in the media.  Jim, no one else in the club could have done this but you.  We are so lucky to have you in our club.
• The club had been struggling for over three years on how to become a 501c3 charity when Chuck AE4CW said, “let me try”.  In three short months the club was able to lead the effort to obtain all state and federal approvals for us to become a charity.  This is a monumental accomplishment and will lead to great revenue opportunities for the club.  Thank you so much Chuck!
• In January we successfully participated in the GARS TechFest with a demonstration of ham radio old and new.  We place a Collins KWM-2 and Flex 5000 on the air side-by-side with special event call W4T.
• February highlighted the Joule Thief build-a-thon and kitting.  The club made over $500 on this project.
• In March the club participated in the Kennehoochee hamfest with a great table display and many joule thief kits were sold.  The joule thief project was lead by our youth members.
• April brought the formation of the contesting special interest group.  With special help from Verne W8BLA, this group focused on how to become better HF operators and contesters.  It paid great dividends for our field day efforts.
• During May we again supported the City of Roswell Alive After 5 monthly event under the leadership of Fred N4CLA.
• June was an exceptionally busy month with the Atlanta Hamfest, another meeting of the contesting SIG, a PowerGate build-a-thon and Field Day.  Chuck AE4CW conducted a very well organized and successful PowerGate event and many hundreds of dollars were raised for the club as people built a very useful project.
• Field Day was one of the two major events for the club in 2009.  Under the superb leadership of Ian AK4IK, the club boasted the largest field day in the Nation and we had one of the best scores in the southeast. Great job Ian!
• In July, again the focus was on the contesting SIG with a great deal of participation.  The contesting SIG participated in two major ARRL contests during the year.
• August was a field trip to Fry’s where club members discussed all the various ways to use components in that section of Fry’s.  Everyone’s eyes were opened to new possibilities.  Many club members took a drive over to the Huntsville hamfest in caravan.
• In September we were hosted by Jim AB2CD and Shelly AB1CD for a special youth oriented event to learn five ways to generate electricity.  All learning was via demonstration and hands on experience.  Everyone learned a lot and had fun.  Jim and Shelly will be presenting to the club in 2010 and you won’t want to miss that meeting.  We also conducted a very successful Boy Scout expo.  During the year the club offered the Boy Scout merit badge to dozens of scouts and two Jamboree on the Air Stations.  Our Scouting activities were led by Jon K4WIT, Wes W3WL, and Rich KB7WO.
• October featured club support for the Chattahoochee Nature Center Halloween hikes and our simulated emergency test.  Both events were very successful.
• November was a very busy month for the club with a great table at the Lawrenceville Hamfest featuring HamBay items for sale.  The second major event for the club in 2009 was the joint greater Atlanta ham clubs meeting featuring our guest speaker Joel Hallas W1ZR, of QST Ask the Doctor fame.  We had over two hundred hams at this combined meeting.
• Finally in December we wrapped up the year with our annual awards ceremony and holiday party.  Chuck Catledge, AE4CW, was named 2009 NFARL Ham of the Year at this gathering.

And now there will be a new chapter in NFARL history for 2010.  Let’s enjoy our successes in 2009 and look forward to even greater accomplishments in 2010.  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Please remember that we enjoy many shared members with the South Eastern DX Club and North Georgia QRP Club.  Please consider attending one of their meetings.  You’ll find some of the most dedicated and knowledgeable hams in the area.  SEDXC meets the third Wednesday of every month and NoGA QRP meets on the second Saturday of the month.