New club rooms

The long awaited new club rooms are geting closer! After a clean up of the site on Saturday 19 and 26 February. Generators were running (a good test with the John Moyle Contest coming up) and angle grinders were used, clearing the concrete slab of the left overs of the steel columns, and other bolts. This in anticipation of a concrete saw to re-allign the concrete edges with the dimensions of the new building. All the melted and twisted left overs of radios, computers, antennas and other goods which we had kept in case of further investigations and insurance claims, were removed. Also the antenna tower was cleared of obsolete and damated coax cables.
The materials for the new building were delivered on Friday 25 February. Actual setup of the structure is planned for the week of  6-10 March. What we then will have is only an empty shell. Then we will be able to assess further work such as the setup of deviding walls, electricity, plumbing, insulation and lining of the walls and ceilings (with a higher fire resistance than previous!) and so on. All in all quite a bit of work, but nothing we cannot manage with a number of working bees.
For those who have in the previous months offered equipment or other goods, please hold off a bit longer, until we have sorted out the building. What we do need in the next month or so are items such as tables and chairs. No, don't bring that old chair or table that you had sitting in the shed or garage, unless you want to sit on it at the next meeting. But you will have to take it back home! We will be looking for ex company or government furniture, so if you know of something, contact Peter  VK3TE or Craig VK3JCH, or mention it on one of theforthcoming VHF nets on Wednesday evenings.

FAMPARC News and E-Mail

As E-mail and the Internet now have come within reach for most of usm a further attempt will be made to reduce copying and mailing cost of FAMPARC News by  using E-mail. Please submit your e-mail details with your membership fees, so we can add you to the address book. The plan is to start with text only documents, but as Peter (VK3TE) is looking for a scanner, more can be expected soon.
At the same time the plan is to make the text of  FAMPARC News  available on Packet radio. Packet is currently available to most FAMPARC Members via VK3DSE in Berwick on 144.975 MHz 
If you don't know what packet radio is, talk to you committee members, as this is one of the subjects of the plans for workshops for amateur radio and computers, to be organised when our clubrooms will be rebuilt
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FAMPARC Club Net

Next Meeting

Every Wednesday 20.30 hrs EST. 146.425 Mhz and also now on 3.580 +/- QRM Mhz after the VHF net.

HF start time 21.00 hrs EST
The club freq on 70cm is discontinued until further notice only 2 users are using it.   We hope to get it more up todate very soon, but until we fix the problem the club freq will only be on 2mtr and 80mtrs only.

As the weekend of 11/12 March, followed  by Labour day on Monday 13/3, is for most people a long weekend, many of you will take the opportunity to go away. Also as our new building still has no been built, the FAMPARC comittee has decided to CANCEL the March Natter night which was scheduled for Friday 10 March.

FAMPARC News March 2000  Page 3