The 2018 FCARC Banquet will be on Saturday February 17 at the Darboy Club.
Cost for the banquet is $20 per adult and $8 per child. Please make your reservation with Donna and pay her with a check, cash or via PayPal. If you do send a check in the mail, drop her a note so that she can update the headcount.

Social Hour 5:00 pm
Supper: 6:00 pm
Awards: 6:45 pm
Ham of the Year Presentation 7:00 pm

Note that there is no February General Membership meeting.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the banquet.

FCARC exams dates for 2018 are:
January 27, March 24, June 2, July 28, September 29, and November 4 at the FCARC Swapfest.

Exams are at the Fox Valley Technical College, room B142. Registration is from 8 to 9 am. See the January Exam Notice article on this website for details.

If you have questions concerning the FCARC exams please email me at rick@kosiorek.com.

Rick Kosiorek, W9RIC

The next FCARC VE Exam will be Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Fox Valley Technical College, 1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Appleton, 54912-2277.
The room number is B142 and the closest entrance is door 12 located on the west side of the building. You can view a floor plan of the College at the following website.
http://www.fvtc.edu/appleton. Walk-ins are welcome. Registration is from 8 to 9 am. We only have the room until 11 am so we will not be able to accommodate late arrivals.

It's that time of year again. Membership dues are now due. If you didn't pay before December 31st, your account is marked as expired.

Renewals are easy to do.

The price is $15 for regular memberships. $5 for additional family members living with you. $10 for retired memberships.

You can pay online from the FCARC home page. The button is in the left column. You may also pay at our meetings. You can also send us a check.

Beginning with the 9 AM EST fast code practice on Tuesday, January
2, 2018, W1AW will add 6 meters - specifically 50350 kHz - to its
regular CW code practice, and CW, digital and phone bulletin
transmission schedule.

Prior to late 1989, W1AW had a presence on 6 meters for all its CW
practice, and regular bulletins. Since that time however, the
station was absent on 6 meters, with the exception of regular
visitor operations and contests.

The next FCARC VE Exam will be Sunday, November 5, 2017 at the FCARC Swapfest in the lower level of Monarch Gardens, 2311 W. Spencer St. Appleton. Walk-ins are welcome. Registration is from 9 to 10 am only! You must show a photo ID when you register for an exam.
If you will be upgrading it is important that you bring a paper copy of your current license. We can not provide copies for you!
Our VEC, the ARRL, sets the fee at $15 cash or check. Checks are to be made out to the ARRL VEC. A failed exam can be retaken, time permitting, but you will be charged another $15.

The next FCARC VE Exam will be Saturday, September 30, 2017 at Fox Valley Technical College, 1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Appleton, 54912-2277.
The room number is B142 and the closest entrance is door 12 located on the west side of the building. You can view a floor plan of the College at the following website.
http://www.fvtc.edu/appleton. Walk-ins are welcome. Registration is from 8 to 9 am. We only have the room until 11 am so we will not be able to accommodate late arrivals.

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Jim Wierzba, WB9OJE.

James W. Wierzba, age 68, of Appleton, passed away on August 26, 2017. He was born July 30, 1949 in Milwaukee, son of the late Joe and Ceil (Borlik) Wierzba. Jim was a proud veteran, having served in the U.S. Army. He enjoyed Ham Radio and spending time “up north”. He was a friend of Bill W.

Jim is survived by his sister, Kathy (Tom) Wallace; niece Kristy (Jason) Kolpack; nephew Tom (Kristin) Wallace; and other relatives and friends.

I have compiled a summary of our operations for the W9ZL 2017 EAA Special Event
Station operations at EAA Airventure 2017. In spite of poor radio band conditions the Event had a successful operation for 2017, logging 937 total contacts. The majority of these contacts (693) where made on the 20-meter radio band (14.260 MHz) again due to band conditions causing poor propagation for the 40-meter band (7.250 MHz). A bonus this year was openings on the 6-meter band occurred daily starting on Thursday afternoon.

Here is a summary of the stations daily numbers:

Fond du Lac ARES has been granted the use of the 146.76 repeater from 6 am to 3 pm this Sunday, August 13 for the Race the Lake event. Please avoid the use of the repeater during that event.

The 145.33 and 443.65 repeaters are available as well as the 442.175 for your communication needs.

Thanks,
Rick, W9RIC