President's Corner
by... Joe Sokolowski - KD5KR

Did somebody say November? Where did the other ten months go? When I was a kid, life seemed to progress at a snail’s pace. As I grew older, time began to accelerate at a logarithmic rate, and now, I am close to breaking the sound barrier! Some mornings back, on the “info-repeater,” we were reminiscing the days of when milk came in glass bottles and ice was delivered to your home to replenish the reefer. (K5LBL still doesn’t buy that bit about walking three miles to school in the snow- uphill, both ways!)

But that was yesterday, and today’s events will be soon be archived into the past. Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going. Tomorrow is where all the excitement will be. Just think of it. A 2 meter rig built into your wristwatch, a 40 meter beam the size of your briefcase, QRP on a Popsicle stick… All this, and more, is just around the corner. Al Jolson once said, in the first talkie movie, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, folks!” What an understatement!

Did somebody say November? You know what that means to us Nartians. Yep, Election Day. It’s time to elect a new group of leaders to guide us into the next millennium. Wait a minute, I’m not referring to the “shell game” going on in Washington, I’m talkin’ NARS elections, dudes and dudettes! This is big stuff. Be sure to make this important meeting. And, of course, after the election comes the installation of new officers at the annual NARS Banquet in January. Dianna, KC5VSF, has come up with a super location to host this event. The food promises to be outstanding, even for you hard-nosed Texans, (sorry, Tex, no Bar-b-que this time…). We’ll have more details on this event soon.

Meeting Announcement
by... Keith Dutson - WD5DXL

November Meeting on CQ WW DX Contest

The CQ Worldwide DX Contest does strange things to people. For some reason it causes people to travel to obscure places from which to operate the contest. Last month four of the Houston area's finest fell to the attraction of travel to strange places. Led by Mike Hance, K5NZ, the group included Joey Clements, K5BAK, Roy Hradilek, AD5Q, and Bob Perrin, N5RP. These four intrepid DXers traveled north to Labrador City where they operated VO2WL in Zone 2. They will tell us of their experiences whereby they broke the contest record for Zone 2, and possibly describe other interesting facets of their little DXpedition. Rumor says some of these stories may even be true! In any case it should be a fun evening.

Soapbox
by... Keith Dutson - WD5DXL

Bill Gary K8CSG has graciously accepted the post of newsletter editor beginning in 1999.

My first issue of NARS News was published … well; it’s been so long ago that I forgot the date. I think it was in May 1995 that Ken Harlan came over to my place and officially passed the baton. The experience has been rewarding and wonderful. It has given me the chance to meet just about every NARS member, and to participate in many of our events while being a News reporter.

Thanks to all those who have contributed articles and information these past four years. Special kudos go to those of the “breakfast bunch” who faithfully helped with the monthly mailing chores.

So now it is time for a fresh approach to the Editor’s job. Please give Bill your support in the coming year.

DX News
by... Bill Gary - K8CSG

DX Notes --
To see the world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And seek DX by the hour . . .

It was a warm Fall afternoon and the Old Timer was dozing in his chair under a tree when he was awakened by the approach of a group of local QRPers. As usual, their questions followed quickly. "How come it seems so much easier to work these DX countries than it is to get their QSLs," one asked in his typically abrupt fashion. "Where can I find their mail addresses or their QSL managers?" The Old Timer gathered himself and straightened up in his chair a bit. Clearly it was not going to be an easy afternoon. "Well, Call Book CDs are available fairly readily," he replied to the question. "Yes," snapped the beady-eyed QRPer, "but where does it show their QSL managers?" Realizing that the usual quick answers were not going to enable him to get back to his nap, the Old Timer launched into his practiced speech. "Well, if I work a brand new country I try to get his QSL route during the QSO. If not then, I listen for a while and he generally will give it out. For those, I go direct, either with a green stamp, an IRC, or with postage from his country on an SASE. If I can't find his address or manager and I really want his card, I send it to Les Bannon in Midland. Takes a little longer, but Les is pretty effective. If it is a routine DX QSO I just send the card via the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau. Patience, remember?" Son of a gun! What more could be said on the subject? As the QRPers retreated back down the hill, the Old Timer slouched back in his Lazy-Boy to doze off again . . . and to dream of Scarborough Reef and North Korea.

October opened with good propagation numbers, accompanied by moderately good DX. The numbers for the first weekend were 115, 2 and 0, which brought prety good conditions for the contests in operation that weekend. The California QSO party was chewing up big sections of the bands, stateside. The RSGB contest provided lots of good contacts with UK stations, and the VK/ZL test promoted good alternative activity. During the first full weekend of the month the A index fell all the way to zero, enabling folks to find excellent openings on ten meters -- up into the bedtime hours. The onset of Fall has demonstrated what ten meters can do at this time of the year. Most of the spots during the daytime and up into the evening are on 10, 12 and 15 meters. Ten has become a real fun-band. On October 12, with the SFI at 115-119, 10m and 12m were wide open most of the day and into the evening. A minor solar storm messed things up on October 19, restricting the DX activity. By October 21 things had improved and good