![\"Chatter](\"https:\/\/k6bj.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/chatter-300x239.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Our January club meeting was held in the Red Cross building on the frontage road across from Dominican Hospital.\u00a0 ARES used to meet there a couple of times per month for training.\u00a0 The room we had was adequate but in the front part of the building at the main entrance.\u00a0 The new room is a bit on the plush side, by comparison with the side door entry (softer chairs!).\u00a0 Plentiful parking is in back and closer. Ron, W6WO, put on a highly informative (of course!) presentation using the Red Cross overhead projector.\u00a0 Like all good presenters, he checked out the power first and ran a test with his computer hookup.\u00a0 All was well until he was ready to use the gear \u2013 then, there was, naturally, a loss of power. Most speakers would have given up, but not Ron. \u00a0He and we all scurried around looking for alternate sources of power.\u00a0 Dedicated hams don\u2019t give up!\u00a0 Finally, about six of us held K6TG Tom Ginsburg\u2019s legs as he stood on a rotating office chair with wheels.\u00a0 He was the tallest among us so could plug in Ron\u2019s 100\u2019 extension cord.\u00a0 It was strung directly from an across-the-room source to the overhead projector.\u00a0 No OSHA reps were present to object. \u00a0Everyone was happy to enjoy Ron\u2019s lecture.\u00a0 We were also treated to a display of 1920s ham gear including a for-real crystal set.\u00a0 The coil was about the size of a Quaker Oats oatmeal box.\u00a0 I think my high school crystal set had a coil wound around a toilet paper roll, but it worked fine.\u00a0 I used to listen to Oakland and SF stations (from Hayward) without a problem. I still had the earphones until recently when we discarded a bunch of unneeded \u201cstuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rich Hanset, KI6EH, was our DEC for over a decade, maybe two.\u00a0 We trained well and frequently.\u00a0 I remember when we met in a conference room down in Rich\u2019s old business building across from COSTCO, perhaps 1982ish. \u00a0Bruce, AC6DN, was one of Rich\u2019s employees.\u00a0 (He operated the wave solder machine, I think.) \u00a0One of our elderly ARES members complained that Rich\u2019s training sessions lasted nearly until midnight<\/span><\/span>, but there was a lot to cover.\u00a0 Rich even developed a general EC guide, which he dubbed the Gray Book.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what happened to it, but it was geared for general ARRL distribution.\u00a0 There may be a copy or two still around.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking early to mid-1980s.<\/p>\n Dave Taylor K6GHA (SK) was our Red Cross\/ham coordinator.\u00a0 He and Jamie Finch, WI6F, worked together for years. I think we met every week. In the Red Cross building, Dave had a closet set up with ham gear, both HF and 2 meter.\u00a0 He also had an emergency power generator at hand, fully fueled and tested regularly and a few fully charged 12 volt batteries. I haven\u2019t been in the Red Cross building for the past decade but it was good that Bruce, AC6DN, made arrangements for the club to meet there again. Thanks Bruce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our January club meeting was held in the Red Cross building on the frontage road across from Dominican Hospital.\u00a0 ARES used to meet there a couple of times per month for training.\u00a0 The room we had was adequate but in …<\/p>\n