Dave Watrous WD2K was the recipient of the Eastern New York ARRL Section “Grand Ole Ham of the Year” at an Awards Dinner in Paramus, NJ, November 8, 2002.

Dave, who has been licensed since the early 1980s, has served the RVWARS in many capacities including President, Rip’s Report Editor, Field Day Chairman, Public Affairs Chairman, and many other duties. He has been an Elmer and mentor to many new Hams and Hams-to-be over the years. His vigilant monitoring of the 147.21 repeater has helped countless Hams through emergency situations.

Although his self-professed title of “Curmugeon” on the air and in his writings is well known, he really is an “old softy” at heart. His wit and wry sense of humor are qualities known to those who have worked with him.

Pete, KC2YJZ accepted the award on Dave’s behalf.

The regular monthly meeting of the Rip Van Winkle Amateur Radio Society, Inc., will be held at 7:00 p.m., Monday November 18, at the John L. Edwards Elementary School, State Street at Fourth St. in Hudson, NY. Talk-in will be on 147.21.

Dues are now “overdue” and anyone not paid up runs the risk of being deleted from the Club’s roster and may not receive future mailings of this Newsletter!

Dave WD2K acting as Net Control for a 10K foot race at Columbia-Greene Community College. The RVWARS provides communications for several of these events every year as a public service.

In addition to the regular business meeting there will be an ARES meeting following adjournment of the regular Club meeting.

KL7JCQ Ken our SEC and KB2YUR Frank our DEC, will be at the meeting to discuss our Club’s responsibilities and emergency response under ARES.

It was a clear, warm day. Slight breeze from the west and the fall colors were just beginning to show their stuff. The participants were anxious to get on the trail. After a complimentary lunch provided by the event sponsors, the simplex frequency was chosen, the repeater was being monitored in case of emergency traffic and the sponsor’s GMRS frequency was programmed into one of the spare HT’s. All communications units were in place and last minute radio checks were made. Then came the announcement from Net Control that the first team was on the trail. The 6th Annual Saratoga Drivers Association marathon program was underway.

My thanks to all who helped with communications for this event. A tip of the RVWARS hat to N2USM, N2PEN, N2POS, KC2AGM, KC2FXE, WE2G, N2LDR and WB2DUW. And a big pat on the back to Don N2USM for an excellent job as Net Control! It was not only a good PR for RVWARS, but for Ham radio in general. I fielded several questions from participants and officials as to what we were all about. Of course me being the shy one (yeah, right!) it took me a while to loosen up and talk up Ham radio. (Is this a fiction piece this month?) The new ARES/RACES communications vests not only worked well for holding all of our stuff, but they made us very visible in the woods and provided some extra warmth when the wind turned chilly. If anyone else would like a vest, check with Bob WB2DUW.

I would like to encourage all RVWARS members to participate in public service events and ARES/RACES activities. Events will be publicized in the newsletter and announced on the Tuesday evening net. It is the service aspect of Amateur Radio that allows us to keep all of our spectrum and gives us the opportunity to make ourselves known to the public. It was this aspect of Ham radio that helped WA2MMX get permission to put up a tower in a VERY restrictive environment. It is this aspect of Ham radio that has given us a seat on county, state and regional Home Security committees and response teams. We need to keep our skills current and honed to maintain this public attention and respect. If you would like to learn more, consider enrolling

in one of the ARRL Emergency Communications on-line courses. If you would like to increase your participation, volunteer to help with one of the public service events.

ARES/RACES is alive and well and living in Columbia and Greene Counties! Some things have been put into motion that will require your participation in the near future. Stay tuned for more information and to volunteer your services.

Thanks to everyone for your vote of confidence at the October meeting. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you, but I was attending the annual New York State Grange convention in Batavia. The Grange is one of the other community service organizations that I belong to and there are several Grange members throughout New York and the US who are HAM’s. All of your officers promise to do whatever is in our power to support you as members and HAM radio in general.

Congratulations to John KC2KKV for becoming a new licensee! For various reasons, John was unable to attend a VE session, so we took the VE session to John! It was a nice fall drive over Route 23A into the Catskills. Thank you again Dana for the nice lunch. Thanks to Dana N2KN and Marty N2LDR for assisting me with the VE session. I know John is very happy with his new hobby and he is looking forward to chatting with more RVWARS members. His QTH is not in a real good position for the 147.210 machine, but with Dana’s and Ron’s assistance I can already envision the antennas that will be rising from John’s apartment. When you hear John on the air, please make him feel welcome!

73 for now….K2WG AR SK