[Fourlanders] FourLanders INFO

[Bob Lear]

Gentlemen,

First let me thank you all for stopping by our trailer at the Stone
Mountain/Lawrenceville hamfest and showing interest in the FourLanders
and contesting.   I also apologize for not getting this message out to
you sooner.  As we told you there, we do need some more members for our
group who are interested in going with us for one or both of the two
major VHF contests in June and September and operating on the various
bands with us.   Those who can come along to help set-up will also be
greatly appreciated.  We are currently at an all time low level of
active contest participating members and operators.  Several items about
our club for your consideration:

STRUCTURE:
The FourLanders is an incorporated club.  This was done so that we would
be an official entity and obtain liability insurance coverage for the
members.  We have a President, Jim Worsham W4KXY, VP Bob Lear K4SZ,
Secretary Brian McCarthy NX9O and Treasurer Neal Sulmeyer K4EA
currently.  The main official meeting of the year is usually in March
when we elect new officers (or railroad the old ones again).  Anyone may
nominate any member (themselves included) for any office in the club at
the meeting.  We are not a closed 'clique' group.  We'd love to see some
new volunteers and new blood in the group.  The core group of members
continue to serve as needed to keep the group going as long as there is
interest.  Also at the March meeting we usually have the first planning
meeting for the June contest.   Speaking of meetings, we usually only
hold one or two a year for contest planning (and the election).  Most
everything else is done via e-mail on the reflector including most of
the contest planning.   The 'Band Captains' take most of the
responsibility for each contest, with someone volunteering (usually one
of the officers) to coordinate all the efforts.   A band captain
volunteers and is responsible for getting together all the equipment
needed for his band:  Radio, transverter, amplifier, cables, sequencer,
computer, antennas, feedlines, rotator, tower trailer, etc.  He doesn't
have to own all the stuff, just be able to get it together and make sure
it gets to the contest.  We do have considerable borrowing of
equipment.  We also have plenty of equipment available and new members
will not be expected to furnish a station or any equipment unless that's
what they want to do and we are also open to that possibility.  We have
laptop computers available to the group and networking cables etc so
that is not a problem at all.   The band captain is also responsible for
finding second (and third) operators and scheduling operating time for
his band during the contest.  Also directs the set-up and take down of
his station and antennas.   We use WriteLog for logging and it is an
easy learn.  I should also mention that we are open to anyone from
anywhere who wishes to come contest with us.  We have members all around
the metro area (Cumming, Buford, Canton, Alpharetta), North Georgia
(Dahlonega, Lula), Huntsville AL, Nashville TN, Maggie Valley NC among
others.  

YOUR TIME:
We are a very flexible organization and can accommodate almost any level
of commitment on your part.  If you are able to come for the entire
contest activity beginning with the trip up on Friday morning, setting
up on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, operating from Saturday
afternoon until Sunday night and taking down and returning home on
Monday morning then that would be most welcome.  But, if you can only
commit to a shorter period of time on the weekend, only operating one or
both of the days, etc. then that is also of great help to us.  With our
current equipment available, especially the tower trailers, we are able
to set up quite efficiently with a smaller number of folks, but of
course more help is always welcome and helps spread the load.  Of
course, the "load" now really only involves putting some antennas
together, mounting them on the masts and cranking up the towers after
the trailers have been leveled and the rotators installed, rolling out
the hardline and connecting it all up.  We typically can get all the
antennas up and operable before dark on Friday evening and usually have
several of the stations 'on the air' Friday evening.  This also depends
on how many people we have and whether we are doing four band 'limited
multi' or full multi-op with our microwave equipment to also set up.  We
do our best to get it all on the air by the contest start time of 2PM on
Saturday.  Sometimes it happens, sometimes not.

EQUIPMENT:
Equipment wise, we are also flexible.  Our current members have gear for
all the bands 6m through 10GHz.  We have 1500 W amps for 6, 2, 222 and
432 belonging to and brought by various club members.  Some members have
800W amps for 6 and 2 that we have also used at times.  We have 150W
brick amps that we have also used at various times depending on what we
finally ended up deciding to do for the contest as a group.  This is
dictated by how many members (with equipment) volunteer for a particular
contest.  The September 2004 contest was a unique experience as we went
four band limited multi with only four folks (one of whom was a first
timer with us and contesting) and four trailers pulled up.  We did have
some operating help from a fifth member during the contest.  This was a
case where we decided to go with the self contained 800W amps on six and
two and bricks on 222 and 432 for the ease of setting up with a small
crew.  We also mostly used single yagis instead of the stacked pairs
that we usually like to put up on each of the four low bands.  Anyway,
we don't need you for your gear, BUT if you want to volunteer to bring
equipment for a station then we will certainly do what we can to
accommodate your desires.  The same goes for antennas.  The club does
own some of the antennas we use and we are always open to other ideas. 
We recently changed from using a long (30-40' boom) yagi on 6m to a
stacked pair of five element 17' boom yagis that have so far (two
contests) performed better in the experience of the 6m operators than
the single longer yagi.  We have also recently experimented with a
stacked pair of shorter yagis on 2m, however for September we went with
a single longer yagi belonging to the club.  

DUES:  We currently have dues set at $30 yearly for each member.  This
is based on the yearly costs for incorporation registration and
insurance.  If we had a larger membership base, this could come down,
based on passage of a motion.  We do have a policy of allowing a
prospective member to participate for a contest season without having to
pay dues (your option) to "try us out".  There have been times where we
have voted on and approved a special purchase and a resulting assessment
of current members for the cost.  Most recently it was the purchase of a
pair of 6m antennas for the club as we did not have a reliable antenna
available to borrow.  A special assessment has only happened this once
in the past six years or so.

CONTEST COST:  For each contest, we split the cost of the campground
spaces and generator fuel among all (even 'try outs') participating in
the contest.  Of course just like with dues, the more members we have
participating in a contest, the less it will cost each of us. 
Typically, the camping spaces at the campground and fuel would be around
$30 per person maximum, collected at the contest.   We reserve from
three to six spaces depending on how many are with the group for a
contest and how much extra space we need.   We don't waste extra spaces
and there is plenty of room for camping, whether in your vehicle like
most of us do, a tent, RV camper or motor home.  There are some
'primitive' cabins available at the campground, basically a closed door
and cots.   These would be up to the individual.  They are at the bottom
of the hill near the campground office and the contest location is at
the top.  

FOOD AT THE CONTEST:  Sometimes we have a volunteer cook and at those
times our policy is to pay for his food for the contest for his service
in cooking and procuring the food.  When we have a cook, we tell him how
many folks will be there for each meal from Friday to Monday, he  makes
up a menu and purchases food appropriately.  Before we leave for the
weekend, we divide the total up among all participants (minus the cook)
and pay up.  Typically on the order of $25 or 30 dollars.  We try to eat
well and all suggestions are welcome.  The meals are pro-rated for those
not able to help on Friday or Monday (or whatever time they can come),
so you only pay for what you eat.   In the event we don't have a cook
then typically someone brings a gas grill or a portable stove for the
group and each person is responsible for bringing and cooking his own
food.  Of course, if you wanted to do all your own food and cooking,
that is OK with the group and it has happened with others in the past. 
We are flexible!!

RESULTS:  We have consistently placed seventh or eighth nationwide for
the past several years, whether limited or multi class.  We have been
first in the SouthEastern region many times and have even been in the
individual band listings for some contests.  There is not much chance of
placing higher from our present contest location in North Carolina.  The
FourLanders did place First nationally once (1987 I think) but from a
mountain-top location where they could get into the northeast population
corridor on the higher bands.  Numbers for recent contests are on the
FourLanders web page http:/www.w4nh.org

HISTORY:  Being myself (K4SZ) a relative newcomer to the group, having
only been contesting with the club since about 2000 when we started
going to MileHigh Campground between Cherokee and Maggie Valley NC, I
don't have all the necessary information about our history.   The group
has been around since the late 60's I know.   The club has contested at
many different locations around the Southeast and tried many 
mountain-top locations.   We still have a couple of the members from the
70's active with us.  I will try to get a better history together with
their help and maybe get it on the web page sometime in the future. 
Prior to our obtaining the W4NH club call sign, members alternated using
their own call signs for the contests.

REFLECTOR:  We encourage all of you to join our e-mail reflector, 
FourLanders at contesting.com
as it is our official communications medium.  It is not a busy
reflector, typically we might have several messages a week for the few
weeks before a contest, but no traffic this time of year so you won't be
overloaded.  To subscribe, go to
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/fourlanders and fill in the
subscription form.  This is the best way to keep on top of the club's
activities.

VIDEO:  We had a video available at the hamfest, but I don't think
anyone watched it.  It is three 20 minute segments from three different
contests, giving you an idea of what goes on during a contest on the
mountain.  If any of you would like to borrow it to watch, just let K4SZ
know and I can send it to you and you can send it back or on to the next
requester.  It is a standard VHS tape.

FURTHER QUESTIONS:  Any member should be able to give you further
information and Jim W4KXY (w4kxy at bellsouth.net) and Bob K4SZ
(k4sz at alltel.net) are specifically available to answer your questions.

73 and we hope to have you with us at the next contest.   Bob

Bob Lear K4SZ  VP