‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM AUGUST 2006 QST  PAGES 73, 74 AND 96‰ 

THE WORLD ABOVE 50 MHZ CLUBS REDUX THIS MONTH THE LEAD ARTICLE WILL BE
RATHER BRIEF BECAUSE AFTER A RELATIVELY QUIET SPRING, THE VHF BANDS HAVE
BEEN VERY EXCITING THIS MAY.  MY CORRESPONDENTS HAVE BEEN VERY GENEROUS
THIS MONTH AND I WANT TO LEAVE ENOUGH SPACE TO DO JUSTICE TO SOME REAL
EXCITEMENT ON BOTH THE VHF AND MICROWAVE BANDS.  HERE I WANT TO REVISIT THE
SUBJECT OF CLUBS THAT SPECIALIZE IN WEAK SIGNAL VHF.  LAST MONTH I TOLD YOU
ABOUT A TOOL ON THE ARRL WEB THAT COULD BE USED TO FIND CLUBS RELATIVELY
NEAR YOUR QTH THAT HAVE AN INTEREST IN VHF.  THE PROBLEM WITH THIS TOOL IS
THAT VHF IS EQUATED TO FM REPEATER OPERATION FOR MANY OF THESE CLUBS.
THERE ARE CLUBS, HOWEVER, THAT ARE DEDICATED TO VHF SSB AND CW.  MY SECOND
COLUMN, IN JANUARY 2003, WAS DEVOTED TO SUCH CLUBS.  IT CONTAINED A VERY
USEFUL TABLE OF 25 SUCH CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS.  TIME PASSES IN THIS CASE
ABOUT 3 1/2 YEARS AND THE INFORMATION STARTS TO GET STALE.  WEB SITES
CHANGE, THE APPROPRIATE CONTACT PERSON CHANGES AND THE ORIGINAL CONTACT
PEOPLE GET NEW E MAIL ADDRESSES.  THIS MONTH I HAVE UPDATED THE ORIGINAL
TABLE.  I CHECKED ALL WEB URLS AND MANY OF THE CONTACT E MAIL ADDRESSES
‰  FROM PAGE 96  ‰
N7NG/364 N7RO/360 N7RT/359 N7TT/374 N7US/352 N7UT/348 N8AA/364 N8GZ/385
N8JV/341 N8JX/346 N8RF/345 N8TR/343 N9AB/360 N9AF/364 N9GK/348 N9MW/347
N9NS/351 N9RD/342 N9US/350 NA0Y/378 NA1I/341 NA4M/356 NA5C/345 NB8B/343
‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ
WHERE I WAS UNSURE OF THE ADDRESS SEE TABLE 1.  THE NEXT STEP WILL BE TO
PUT THIS INFORMATION ON THE WORLD ABOVE 50 MHZ WEB SITE AT WWW. ARRL.  ORG/
QST/ WORLDABOVE/.  WHILE I HOPE THAT THE INFORMATION IS ALL CORRECT, THERE
IS OFTEN A CHANCE FOR ERROR.  IF YOU SEE AN ERROR AND SEND ME AN E MAIL AT
THE ADDRESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE, I WILL BE ABLE TO FIX THE TABLE THAT
WILL BE ON THE ARRL WEB.  HOW WOULD YOU USE THIS INFORMATION?  FIRST, LOOK
FOR A GROUP THAT COVERS YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL AREA.  THEN GO TO THE WEB AND
LOOK AT ITS WEBSITE.  NOTICE THAT CLUBS HAVE WIDELY DIFFERENT FEATURES.
SOME MEET REGULARLY, SOME A FEW TIMES A YEAR AND SOME ONLY ONCE A YEAR AT A
CONVENTION.  WITH OR WITHOUT REGULAR MEETINGS THEY CAN COMMUNICATE BY
NEWSLETTER OR ON THE AIR ACTIVITY NIGHTS.  A FEW COMMUNICATE ALMOST
ENTIRELY BY INTERNET REFLECTOR.  THE CRITICAL FEATURE IS THE PERSON WHO IS
THE CONTACT POINT.  THAT PERSON CAN LEAD YOU TO LOCAL VHF ENTHUSIASTS WHO,
HOPEFULLY, WILL ACT AS YOUR ELMERS AND BE ABLE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT
‰  FROM PAGE 96  ‰
NC9T/341 ND6G/341 NE8Z/356 NI0G/344 NJ2D/341 NN2Q/341 NN4T/347 NN7X/341
NO2R/345 NQ1K/344 NQ6N/341 NQ6X/343 NR1R/351 NS6C/352 NW7O/344 OE1ZL/351

AFTER A RATHER SLOW START THE BANDS OPENED WIDE AT MID MONTH AND EXCELLENT
CONDITIONS PREVAILED AS JUNE APPROACHED.  WHILE NONE OF THESE OPENINGS WERE
EARTH SHAKING, IT IS RARE TO FIND SO MANY GOOD THINGS HAPPENING AT ONE
TIME.  TROPOSPHERIC DUCTING SPRING IS TH
‰  FROM PAGE 96  ‰
OH5LP/341 OH5NZ/366 OH5VT/357 OH5WW/339 OH6RA/368 OH8KN/350 OH9RJ/348
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‚