President's Corner
by... H.O. Townsend - WA5MLT

May brings a busy month for our club -- Texas QSO Party and planning for June's ARRL national Field Day exercise. Walter - KK5LO and George - K5VUU are leading the charge. Have you been contacted to join in or help out with any of the preparation? If not, pickup that phone and call in your pledge.

Last month I mentioned that participation was a keyword in the life of our club. And, it is. A club like NARS doesn't run itself. It needs you pitchin' in to sustain itself and maintain a healthy infrastructure to keep the ball rolling. NARS isn't a 2-meter repeater club, or a Monday night, or lid net club. Thank goodness. It's a great group of amateur radio operators who believe in a commitment to public service and furthering the state of the art of amateur radio through the use of current technologies and who, on occasion, advance the state of the art.

The variety of interests in NARS is the envy of many a ham club. But as good as this fact is by itself, it is not enough to sustain itself and ensure long term growth without your participation.

When I joined NARS a few years ago, I couldn't wait to be checked in to the Wednesday night net. It was the only way I could join in the fun on the air while living in an apartment. The net started right on time and had a large rotating series of net control Ops. Yep, we had a trivia question and someone to jump in and read an ARRL bulletin here and there. What's the health of the net now? Well, ... let's put it this way, it needs our participation. OK, maybe we need to look at the objectives of the net; maybe they have changed a little. We can adjust. The real point is that the Wednesday night net is not the only place the club needs our participation.

The club needs an on-going program and net control committee. Other committees may include Public Service, contests, DX, QRP etc. The same members cannot keep taking on more and more tasks without getting worn out at some point. Gettin' more members involved is a first-line strategy at heading this off and ensuring sustained growth while maintaining a top quality club.

Ask yourself "why belong to a club" like NARS. See if it's not worth your participation. When you see a need, contact one of the board members.

I'm proud to tell you that Coy Day - N5OK - will be speaking at our May meeting. As you know Coy is our ARRL Vice Director for the West Gulf Division. See you at the meeting.

Meeting Announcement
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DX News
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