December 8 , 2007
Catfish Restaurant and Steakhouse, Martin, TN
It was a foggy night in the city by the bay ... oops, hang on, wrong town [rewind]. It was pea soup in Martin, Tennessee 
where our intrepid group of radio amateurs and family met at the Catfish Restaurant and Steakhouse for the annual Christmas holiday gathering.
A great group of us gathered for the festivities - Glenn N4MJ, RARC President and XYL
Linda; Bob K9IL, RARC Vice-President and XYL Rose W9DHD; Ray N4SLY and XYL Dolly KN4SLY; Stan W4RB and his daughter Heather N4SIS; Jamie WB4YDL with XYL June, daughter Caitlin, and son Patrick ; Harold N4HAR; Phil N4PWG; Chris KI4TRM and XYL Jamie; Larry KI4UNT and XYL Linda; Tracy N4IL and Frene; and Ottis K5BSE and Rhelda. Also on hand was a special guest, Lucile Sharrock KB4CJS who was able to attend.
Rose W9DHD again showed off her artistry and brought several beautiful door prizes that were heavily sought after. There were several teddy bears in box sleds carrying tower sections as well as a penguin on a sled carrying another tower section. Looks like Bob had towers on his mind ... again ! There was also a locomotive choo-choo with another tower section. 
There was also a beautiful country winter scene with a lit "shack" and tower and beam. Jamie WB4YDL also added an ARRL World Map, a laminated large poster map for amateur radio operators. In addition, Glenn N4MJ's XYL Linda provided all of us a loaf of homemade sourdough bread. Yum !
There was no formal business meeting as we were all too busy enjoying ourselves ! We all celebrated all that was accomplished by Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club over this year. There was much to proud of and Glenn N4MJ reviewed with us some of those things. These included a successful Technician Class license course, continuing successful VE sessions, the start of technical workshops, the establishment of a Winlink Telpac Gateway WB4YDL-10,
and a visit from our Division Director, Henry R. Leggette WD4Q. Also there was the extraordinary library display which ended up being featured in QST. We all had humorous stories to tell about our most recent successful Field Day, particularly in regards to a severe squall which nearly blew us away that Sunday morning. There were many firsts such as HF email messages and successful satellite communications that occurred as well as integrating with folks from the Dyer County Amateur Radio Club. There was also a very successful emergency communications test, TNCAT, which was an earthquake emergency drill.
This next year, the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club will add further to its list of firsts with a planned Hamfest scheduled for March 15th and a General Class license course. The Field Day site will be relocated to the fairgrounds and a Winter workshop is being planned.
The next regular scheduled RARC meeting will be on January 24, 2008. A time for delivery and presentation of the ARRL book set to the Weldon Public Library in Martin, TN will be discussed. The Net Control Station and Refreshment assignments will be posted soon. Many thanks also to Glenn N4MJ and XYL Linda for their hospitality and dessert after the gathering. Until next time ...
Have a Very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Good DX! 
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