Remember to reserve Saturday, December 7^th for the CVARC Holiday Party.   No regular meeting.

  CVARC will have a VE session on Sunday, December 8 at 8:30 a.m. at the East County Sheriff Station on Olsen Road (near the Reagan Library).  Exam Fee is $10 (cash preferred). There will be testing for all license classes including the code element. Those wishing to upgrade must bring the ORIGINAL and a photocopy of their FCC license.  All candidates must bring a government issued photo ID.   No reservation is necessary, walk-ins are welcome.

class cost of $20.00 includes this book along with a three ring notebook, class schedules and all other materials needed to study for the Technician Class License. Students who already have the 4th edition of "Now You're Talking" may be charged $5.00 to cover other class materials depending on availability of donated materials from several local merchants.
  The recommended "Independent Study" program uses the same materials with assistance from the class instructor and other "elmers" (ham radio mentors) who are willing to help. Computer aided learning, videotape instructions, and home reading programs are just as likely to produce a passing score on the FCC exam if the student is dedicated and follows the home study course outline.

  The present CVARC amateur radio course (the last for this year) for the Technician Class license will end November 19^th and the next formal class will not begin until the second or third week in January 2003. Anyone interested in the self-study program before the new class starts may contact KE6WVZ "Karl" at (805) 523-0622 any evening before 10:00 p.m. Anyone interested in signing up for the next formal class may also call and pre-register at this time. These future radio operators will then be notified of the exact date and time the new class begins.
  The class will use the Fourth Edition of "Now You're Talking" as the classroom text. Students need not purchase the book in advance. The

The next 2 Meter ARDF meet [T-Hunt] is scheduled for Saturday, December 7^th at Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks. This hunt is being put on by Dean Dods, KD6I. We will gather down there about noon with one practice T on the air, and the real hunt will start at 1:00 PM. There will be a $1 charge for the map. You can email Dean at  ddods@iolwest.com  for more information.
  I am also putting on an ARDF meet at Vermont Canyon (Griffith Park area) on Sunday, January 12^th that will be sponsored by the Los Angeles Orienteering Club (LAOC). There will be an entry fee of $4 for LAOC members, and $6 for non-members. A regular full color Orienteering map will be provided to all competitors. Besides the ARDF meet, we plan on several Beginners Courses (White and Yellow, possibly Orange). LAOC policy is to not charge for additional courses unless another map is needed. Registration will open at 9:30 AM with the first start time at 10:00 AM, start times ending at noon, and the course will close at 3:00 PM. A training session is tentatively planned at 9:00 AM. More details
will be forthcoming as soon as they are available.
  The US ARDF Championships will be held on July 30 - August 3 near Cincinnati, Ohio. More information appears on the HomingIn web site

and the US ARDF 2003 Championships web site at http://w3.one.net/~bfrey/ 
  If you are interested in competing on the US Team at the next World ARDF Championships (Czech Republic in 2004), you won't want to miss out on these events as US Team members are chosen on past performance.
Marvin, KE6HTS

[Rob Hanson W6RH suggests that CVARC participate in this as a club event.  -ed.]

  The Western States Weak Signal Society (WSWSS) has donated a copy of The Proceedings of the 8th Annual Conference of the WSWSS, to be used as a "door prize" at the November meeting of the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club.
  The Annual WSWSS Conference was held October 11 - 13 in Cerritos, CA.
  Norm Pedersen, KB6KQ, a very active VHFer, says: "Most define weak signal activities as interest in 50 MHz and above, non-FM mode of emission, largely SSB and during poor conditions CW. The goal is to take advantage of the various propagation conditions that develop from time to time. Some of these conditions include: line of sight, tropospheric ducting, sporadic-E, aurora, and meteor scatter to name a few. If you are presently active in FM operation, you are spending most of your time doing line of sight communications - it works but why not experiment with some of the others?"
  The Proceedings includes papers on: Meteor Scatter Basics, 7 Decades of VHF Contesting in North America, Digital Primer for Weak Signal Operators, Western States Weak Signal Nets and
Propagation Beacons, 432 MHz Low Noise Preamplifier for Moonbounce Operation
and Weak Signal Reception, & Getting Started on 2-Meter EME.
  (Additional copies of the Conference Proceedings, Publication Number 284, are available from the ARRL at a cost of $20)

Pete Heins, N6ZE