Christmas Party 2011
Westminster Presbyterian Church
730 S. Florida Avenue
Lakeland, FL

Patrick will be collecting the money for this event at the October and November meetings. Please bring the exact cash amount, change may not be available. Payment must be received by Patrick no later than the November meeting. Please contact Patrick if you have any concerns.

WILLIAM MASON
STROUD, 80
Surveyor

LAKELAND – Mr. William Mason Stroud, age 80, died of heart failure Wednesday (September 21, 2011).
Born in Bradenton, FL, on May 13, 1931, William came here from Bagdad, FL, in 1944. He was a retired surveyor for Edward-Panter Engineering. William was a volunteer at the Van Fleet Trail and a ham radio operator, number WB4DUN.
He is survived by his wife Shirley Stroud, stepson Maurice, stepdaughters Marlene and Shelley, sister Joanne Gill, nieces Laura Mango, Susan Surratt, nephews Phillip Lynn, Tommy Stroud, Michael Stroud and Ricky Stroud, all of Kathleen.
Lanier Funeral Home.

There will be a memorial service Sunday at 3:00 PM at the Mango residence located at the North end of Stroud Rd.

map to the Stroud residence

The picnic scheduled for this Saturday at the Circle B Bar will be posponed due to weather. It will be rescheduled at a later time. When it is, you will receive an announcement.

Patrick did an outstanding job presenting his safety story at the September club meeting. Unfortunately, all too often, safety is something we don’t think about, until there is an accident. The time for attention, however, is before. Prevention is usually better than the cure.

Some of the topics covered were climbing safety, tower maintenance, proper electrical grounding, lightening protection, wiring, power strips, and how not to use them, fire prevention, and just in case, the various kinds of fire extinguishers and their uses.

Presentations like this require a lot of prep. Next time you see Patrick, let him know you appreciate his effort.

James Crennea is congratulated by Bill KJ4IAI and Jimmy AI4LE.

Jimmy AI4LE and Bob WA4YFM congratulate Martin Goff. Nice Job Martin. You did good!

Also present, but not pictured, were John Thompson who also received his Technician’s license today, Ernie KG4YNI, and Bill KI4ZMV.

A special thanks to Bob and Jim for helping out with this session.

On rare occasion the LARC VE team has a candidate deliver a perfect score, but today was exceptional. Not one, but two perfect scores! Roberta passed her General, and Blaine Hall got his Technician Grade License. Good going! It pays to study, and our two aces prove the value of hitting the books before the test. Both breezed through in record time.

Roberta WA2FRW and husband Mort WA2ARS hail from Apopka. From time to time, both find themselves on the high seas with friends where cell towers are nonexistent, and where amateur radio is the way to stay in touch with friends. Good sail’n. We landlubbers will be a listen’n for ye!

This month, Don Jeerings presented his story on “The Instruments Every Ham Should Know and Love.” Well, maybe not every instrument he showed. Most of us recognized the familiar VOM and even the signal generator and scope, but few of us have had a chance to use a Wheatstone bridge since high school Physics. Just goes to show how things have advanced over the years. Thank you Don.

This month was a first for the club, due in no small part to the efforts of Don and Bob. Together they were able to cook up a procedure for projecting live images during presentations. I am sure this technique will be incorporated in many future presentations.

Getting involved with club presentations takes a lot of time, hard work and planning. Next time you see Don and Bob, make sure you thank them. And, if you have the desire, an idea, and some expertise you think might be of interest to the members, let Patrick know. He is always looking for good ideas for club presentations.

Click here to view

Because Monday happens to fall on the Fourth of July, there will be no meeting this month. The next meeting will be August 1, 2011. Enjoy the Fourth!

Now, I know some of you just hate to miss a meeting for any reason whatsoever. I can understand that this may be disconcerting for some, but I have some good news. Since 1900 the the Fourth of July only fell on Monday 16 times, including this year. The next time this will happen will be in the year 2016. Ample time to plan. And, for those really really interested, the Fourth of July will also fall on a Monday in the years: 2022, 2033, 2039, 2044, 2050, 2061, and 2067. By this time most of us will be well into our hundreds. 🙂

Now that I have convinced most of you that I need to get a life, once again, Enjoy the Fourth! Bill KI4ZMV