December 9 , 2006
B Marcum's, Fulton, KY
The scene for the annual Christmas gathering for the members of Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club was at B Marcum's in Fulton, KY. 
Previously, B Marcum's was the scene of our post-Field Day meeting a year ago, so it was certainly pleasant to return.
A great group of us gathered for the festivities - Glenn N4MJ, RARC President; Bob K9IL, RARC Vice-President and XYL Rose W9DHD; Ray N4SLY and XYL Dolly KN4SLY; Ron W9RVR and XYL Gladys; Gary W4GT; Stan W4RB; Jamie WB4YDL with XYL 
June, daughter Caitlin, son Patrick and his friend, Vera; Harold N4HAR and his XYL; Britt KB4IBW and XYL Trisha.
Rose KB9CEX and Bob K9IL again displayed their impressive artistry 
with highly sought after door prizes they created. There was a 'Santa in sleigh with reindeer', two beautiful country winter scenes with lit 'shacks' and towers supporting antennae. There was also a sleigh with teddy bear and '6 meter beam'. There was even a 'trucker Santa' hauling tower. After everybody enjoyed a fine meal, Ros
e passed around the hat and distributed numbered pieces of paper. The Santa and reindeer went to Gladys, Glenn N4MJ won the sleigh with teddy and 6M beam, and Ray N4SLY scored the namesake 'trucker Santa'. Cleverly, Jamie WB4YDL stuffed the numbers hat with the presence of much of his family! Patrick won a lit 'winter shack' with tower that wil
l prominently reside in Dad's shack! Congratulations to all and thanks to Rose and Bob for providing such wonderful door prizes.
Not much in the way of business was discussed at this event. However, there was plenty of discussion about how 
the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club has advanced this year, especially with the designation as a Special Service Club. Despite poor operating propagation at the bottom of the present sun-spot cycle, the RARC managed a respectable 3rd in Tennessee for class 2A during Field Day, which also cracked the top 50 nationally in this class. The Baptist Memorial Hospital Emergency Operations station is now operational and certainly will contribute to community preparedness. Also, the first Volunteer Examiner session in the club's history was held successfully. The new repeater controller was put into action in Union City thanks to Alan KA4BNI, and has certainly improved the communications footprint. Next year, we have much already on our plate with continued VE sessions, a planned Technician Course, continued discussion with the youth of our community, and a planned library display in Union City. Plus, of course, we plan on continued improvement during Field Day and other emergency preparedness exercises.
The Net Control Station list and the Refreshment Committee list for the coming year will be posted soon.
It is expected that there will be club business performed on the club reflector as well as on the Sunday evening net until the January meeting of 2007. It was great to see everybody at this celebration meeting and particularly it was great to see Britt KB4IBW and his wife, Trisha. Britt is now back to work full time at Woods Communications. Also special thanks to Glenn N4MJ and XYL Linda who provided their hospitality after this event for coffee and dessert.
Have a Very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Good DX! 
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