Archives September 2012

On Saturday evening the VARC held its September club meeting. The meeting started with everyone present enjoying a meal and then a very informative session on the clubs progress for the year and upcoming events.  The club also gained three new members K4HVR, KK4LOC and KK4JJH.  The following is the agenda for items discussed at the meeting.

Valdosta Amateur Radio Club

Agenda for September 29, 2012 Club Meeting

Meeting Place – Airport Church of Christ Annex

Start meeting with finger foods/meal and fellowship – 6:30 PM

Start Meeting 7:00 PM

1. Club financial report
2. September Disaster Preparedness Month
3. October 6^th  Honey Festival Planning/support
4. October 20^th  Boy Scout  JOTA Planning/support
5. October 27^th  Moody Appreciation Day – Recruiting New Hams
6. New repeater room report – Complete by end of year!
7. Hamcram report and results for 2012
8. VARC community support projects report for 2012
9. Amateur Radio Exam Sessions Report for 2012
10. D-Star/Allstar/Ecohlink projects report for 2012
11. Online dues/donations payment – Complete by end of 2012
12. Lowndes County Emergency Management – Request
13.  Club Officers for 2013 – Nominating committee
14. VARC Projects for 2013:
    1.  Growth: Youth and Amateur Radio
    2. Development: learning and training sessions
    3. Design and Install Amateur Radio station at EOC
    4. Century and Honeybee bike rides and Field Day
    5.  Other Ideas presented from members

Other Comments – End of Meeting 8:15 PM – Thank you for your support – Time to Socialize

On Tuesday September 25th members of the VARC attended a free presentation provided by the Science Cafe’ at the Thomas University Hawk’s Nest in Thomasville.  This month’s speaker was Sir Harold Kroto the director of the chemistry department at FSU.  Sir Kroto’s presentation was on the accomplishments of leading scientists through history and the importance of language of math for one to really appreciate the beautiful mysteries of the universe.   The presentation was very informative and entertaining.  For more information on Professor Kroto and his work go to google.com and conduct a search.

Since ICOM revealed the new IC-7100 transceiver there’s been much speculation on price.

Given that it’s an updated replacement to the IC-7000, and that it includes D-STAR, we know that the street price in the US will exceed the $1300 price tag on the 7000. But the question remains, how much more?

There are few clues.

One source in the Far East has put the price at 158,000 yen which equates to about $2000 US. That seems more than reasonable for a brand new HF/6M/VHF/UHF and D-STAR transceiver in this class.

We don’t yet know when it will be approved by the FCC for sale in the US, but when it is, I imagine it will be in hot demand at $1,899.

How about you, what do you think the price tag will say when it finally becomes available?