0630z - 0730z UK - Anzo Net on 14293, Long Path.
0637z - EA5ALK David from Moraira 5/8 came to my rescue with a good signal. Got much qrm. Heard John G4HMG ??
0639z - VK5CV Bill 4/5 from Waikerie. Came up to 5/7 later on his dipole. Bill's log-periodic better on receive but crackly on transmit.
0649z - G4FTA Tony 5/5 from Oxford. Got "really good" report from Bill 5/7, also got 5/8 from David.
0656z - GW4KVJ John from near Cardiff, only 2/1 here, but got a thin contact with VK5CV.
Much contest qrm but mostly they were very good and did qsy.
Bill had not heard further from Alex ZL4TB's daughter Joyce.
Bill going into Adelaide Hospital on Thursday for a check-up. Hope it will be only a one-day job. Good luck Bill and thank you for coming on the radio !

0800z - 0900z UK 80 metre Net on 3695.
Chairman John G4HMG/p in charge from his RV at East Runton, Norfolk. Only 5/5 down to 4/3 here in falling conditions.
Tony G4FTA 5/9 and helping out with qsp's for John.
Much sadness expressed at the passing of Alex ZL4TB. Chairman John sent a message of condolence to daughter Joyce.

1130z - 1230z International Net on 14293. I missed this one but Tony G4FTA did the honours and reports as follows : -
W1QUO Jim from Leominster MA controlling with a good signal as always.
VO1 NP Nate was there from St. John's NF.
LA5JB Tore with a good signal from Hamar.
VK5CV Bill not heard by Tony but working into USA quite well.
Secretary Noel WD8QHD from Flint MI was heard.
Also former Secretary Joe W0TBC from Stillwater MN.
Again much sadness about the passing of Alex and many condolences to his family and friends.

1800z - 1900z UK evening 80 metre Net on 3695.
Tony's report again : -
There were six on the net in variable conditions.
The net included Tony and Chairman John still /p in Norfolk, also his xyl Diana G4MVV, John GW4KVJ in S.Wales, Derek G0SQH from Hampshire and his XYL Marie G7WGJ.
Both the ladies are now full members of ROAR in their own right having made their applications and paid their dues - as approved at the recent AGM of ROAR in San Antonio.
The ladies had a direct QSO on this net.
This may be the first time two lady members of ROAR have had a QSO .
Maybe they were making history !

Message Received.
From Joyce Campbell, daughter of Alex ZL4TB on Friday morning.
Dear Bill,
It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of my Dad, Alex Campbell's death.
He had inoperable pancreatic cancer diagnosed on 16 August.
He underwent surgery on 21 August in an attempt to alleviate the jaundice that had been troubling him for 4 weeks, but it was found that his liver was seriously involved and in the event nothing could be done.
He was in critical care for 2 days while they stabilized him after the operation, then he went to the hospice near the hospital, where he died early this morning.
We are holding his funeral at 1.30pm on Mon 3 September in Invercargill and he will be buried beside my mother in the Woodlands cemetry, about 12 miles from Invercargill.
Yours
Joyce Campbell

Greetings to you all,

With the production by Noel of the latest roster of members, I have been able to collect in my address book a group for all of you who are helping in the running of our fellowship. Thank you on behalf of the membership for all your efforts.

Don will be producing the next issue of the Communicator in time for Christmas and I know he will appreciate contributions from you as soon as possible. He has already put a shot across my bows!! I think you will all agree that his efforts so far have been excellent. That will, however, only continue if we get interesting raw material to him.

As always, with organisations such as ours, much of the burden falls on the Secretary. The maintaining of membership records, in particular, is a major task and as can be seen from the new roster, is one on which Noel has been working very hard.

We still suffer from the general Rotary problem of old age. If ROAR is to go on as a worthwhile Fellowship for the future, it is vital that we find more and younger members. At the AGM in San Antonio we resolved to admit Rotaractors who hold Amateur licences; also the spouses of Rotarians who are active in the hobby. It is sad that we have lost some keen members, who for various reasons have retired from Rotary. We agreed that they should, if they wish, be able to retain membership. I would be grateful if you could pass on details of these changes to those in your area who may be able to take advantage of them.

Our regular nets are what the Fellowship is all about.

In the last year or so, with stirling efforts by our net controllers and not a little help from the sun, levels of participation have been pretty good. In particular Bill G4YZE and Jim W1QUO have proved great anchor men on the North Atlantic nets.The loss of Dr David Portley was a great blow but our remaining friends "down under" have been working hard to fill the gap. I note with great pleasure that the Sunday North American and UK nets involve several members as controllers on a rota basis. The more members we can involve actively, the better.

The next Convention and hopefully our next AGM, is to be held in Barcelona. Diana and I have visited the city a couple of times in the recent past and can recomend it as a great and vibrant place in which to stay. How very nice it would be if we could all manage to get together there next June.

Diana and I are currently touring again in our motorhome, RV to you Yanks. I have just aquired a new lap top which I can use to collect and send Emails so you can expect more of this sort of thing when we encounter rainy days!! I have collected quite a large number of paid up members who are on Email, in groups in my address book and intend to send a letter to them shortly. If any of you have matters you would like included, please let me know.

No Don, we shall still need the Communicator!! Incidentally the regular Email reviews of the weekly nets prepared by Bill are great in keeping up the level of interest and are a credit to his efforts.

Again thank you all, best wishes and Rotary Greetings,

John Betts G4HMG
Chairman ROAR

PS I Have just learned the sad news that our old friend Alex ZL4TB has succumbed to cancer after a very short illness. As you will no doubt all be very aware Alex had made stirling efforts since the death of Dr David Portley, to keep our contacts with VK/ZL working well and was appearing regularly on the nets until very recently. We shall I am sure, miss him greatly. For any of you who may wish to contact her, his daughter Joyce is receiving Emails on Alex's Email address

Click here to return to home page