[LCC] LCC meeting @ Pineville Hamfest

[Mark, K5ER]

Hi Guys,
	We have an LCC meeting scheduled for this Saturday, October 9th, at the 
Pineville hamfest . This is about as centrally located as you can get, so 
its a good chance for many club members to show up and meet/visit. We had a 
really nice presentation planned, but a scheduling conflict arose and we'll 
have to postpone it until the next meeting. A backup was planned, but that 
too fell victim to other issues. In addition, as fate would have it, the 
hamfest sponsor informed us that they do NOT have access to the break-out 
room that we had last year, so we will be in the big room with everybody 
else, just over toward the back corner. I'm told the ARRL forum was 
cancelled, and we will be pretty flexible on time, so lets plan to gather 
at about 10:00. There has been little business activity for the club, so 
that part of the meeting will be very short. However, its October and this 
will be the last time many of us see each other before the start of this 
year's contest season.

	Some of the reasons for forming the Louisiana Contest Club were to help 
each other, and encourage more contest activity in the state. I'd like to 
have an informal forum on what you have changed/modified/upgraded, in 
preparation for the upcoming contest season. We all know that Pat and 
various guest ops post huge scores at the flagship multi op station, W5WMU. 
We also have several other multi-op stations that each have their strong 
points, including K5UA, W5RU, KG5VK, and now W5WZ, who made a decent run at 
Nov Sweeps last year as a first time effort with only 4 operators. Scott 
has implemented numerous upgrades, and has asked several to participate as 
a true multi-multi, in order to critique the station so he can incorporate 
systems that work well, and eliminate those that don't, in order to improve 
to the next level. There are also several single op stations, mine 
included, who are making positive steps to become more competitive.

	So, jot down some notes about what you are doing, and any questions for 
others about what works (or doesn't) for them and lets share the 
information. How did you pick the height for your 20 meter antenna? What 
are you using (and why) for the low bands. If you could make just one 
improvement, what would it be? The interest in contesting has definitely 
risen in the past couple of years, and as Steve, KG5VK noted, the 
intra-state competition is getting more intense. Yep, we are pushing each 
other and all getting better because of it. In talking to Sean, KX9X and 
Dave, NN1N at Dayton this year, they say that many are noticing the 
increased activity level in our state. For CQ WW 2009, two 1st place 5th 
call area certificates came from Monroe, and the LCC had 3 teams in the top 
twenty. Lets keep it up, keep having fun, and inspire others to join us!

	See you in Pineville this Saturday!

73!
Mark, K5ER

k5er.com