Several things have been floating around in the grey matter so I’ll just do a memory dump and you can sort it out.

I was reading thru QST and spotted the article about mobile installs and mobile distractions. The article discusses equipment placement in today’s ultra-safe cars, you know – airbags, seat sensors, crush zones. Used to we mounted the rig under the dash, found a “hot” wire, stuck an antenna on the trunk lid and away we went. The rest of the article reminded me of our need to pay attention. Pay attention when driving and talking. Hands free cell phones are all the thing, I haven’t seen a hands free ham rig and it’s great holding a microphone hasn’t been equated to holding a cell phone when the rule makers are busy. So let’s be extra vigilant and pay attention to driving when transmitting. And that goes for checking radar, quick looks at a text, etc. So let’s practice noise abatement, A good practice is to find a safe place to pull over and do those things so we don’t drive into a place where sheet metal or some other object already exists; that gets noisy.

We have a couple of things going on to raise funds. First the WX radio raffle. In cooperation with GCARC we are attending several community events, promoting Emergency Preparedness and Amateur Radio. Our sponsor for the radios is PREMIERE ROOFING. John Morgan funded the radios completely, thanks John! The funds raised will be split 50/50 between the club and ARES. Tickets will be $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 and sold at Van Alstyne Fall-der-all, Denison Main Street Festival and Collinsville Night Out. It should be a good time to promote our hobby, educate the public and have a good time helping our communities raise awareness about severe weather and family safety planning. Also, there was a work party out here at Brushy Creek a few days ago. We sorted thru several boxes of donated equipment, cleaning, testing, and preparing items for sale at the Ardmore Hamarama. We have several books and pieces of equipment that will be available and priced to move. No trade ins, just cash with free pick up on site. Come join in the fun at any of these events and help raise some cash to fund our expenses and equipment needs.

And lastly, we have a face to face training session coming up Tuesday, September 27th, 7 pm. The location will be at the Courthouse, 2nd floor in the DDC. The DDC is that special room accessed thru the door right beside the Elevator. You will get to see it as well as a presentation on a large scale emergency operation that we might experience in Grayson County. The subject will be a wildfire but can translate to any large scale, multiday event we might encounter. You might recall over the past few years there have been several of these fires in Texas — Smithville and Possum Kingdom to name a couple. ARES teams worked these events, so as a way to educate our team, Our EOM team will share some of what we might be asked to deal with. It should be an informative evening.

Ok gang, be safe out there, come join in the fun over the next several weeks and let’s enjoy some cooler weather.

73
Rick
K5ECX