[CQ-Contest] Thank You WJ9B!

[Nat Heatwole]

Fellow Contesters,
I'm currently going to school at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. I
was walking to class one day last semester and I noticed a HF tribander
on a building on campus. My later inquiries about the antenna led me to
Physics professor Rex Adelberger. Through Rex I learned that the antenna
is a Mosley CL-36-M and that it is attached to a station with two linear
amps and two HF radios. I also learned that there have been several ham
clubs at Guilford in the past and Rex agreed to be the faculty advisor
to another if I could get a club established.

I don't think I've ever seen a station in greater disarray but in the
months that followed I set about rebuilding it. But I soon hit an
obstacle. All of the students at Guilford are stuck in the satellite TV,
cell phone, Internet, DVD, computer, PDA era. In other words, bulky
analog gear that's 30-40 years old, is not computer controllable, and
that can't work RTTY/PSK would not attract sufficient interest for a
club. I sent messages to the PVRC and CQ-Contest reflectors begging for
donations of newer gear but to my dismay I got *NO* offers.

Later, Carl Willis, KF4KIG (the only other known licensed ham at
Guilford) dragged me to the Raleigh Hamfest. I have been a member of
PVRC for years and PVRC-NC had a booth there so I stopped by to meet
some of the NC crowd. One of them was Will, WJ9B, a professor at
UNC-Greensboro, which is just down the street from Guilford. The day
after the hamfest Will e-mailed me and offered to donate some gear in
exchange for a tax deduction. A few days later he arrived at Guilford
wielding an Omni C and an Argonaut II. While the Omni C is a step down
from computer control it is ten steps up from the rigs currently there.
The fair market value of this donation was $1150(!).

This was the inertia we needed. I am more confident now than I have been
at any other time that a working station and functioning club will be
present on campus very soon, hopefully soon enough to get the station on
the air for SS (go PVRC!). I would like to publically extend my personal
thanks to Will, WJ9B. He is a fine individual, a great friend, and an A1
ham. He could have gotten more money had he chosen to sell these rigs on
the open market but he instead decided to donate them. Fine business! He
did not ask that I send this thank you; it's an expression of how truly
grateful I am.

I know his generosity is paralleled in the contesting community and I
hope that others will follow in his footsteps. If anyone reading this
can donate money or equipment of any magnitude to our efforts it would
be *GREATLY* appreciated and I can arrange all of the specifics for a
tax deduction. Please e-mail me if you can help in any way. Thanks
again, Will! Hopefully you are the first of many.

73, Nat, WZ3AR
<nat at ajheatwole.com>