FRRL members voted Kermit Carlson, W9XA, "2011 Ham of the Year" by secret ballot at the December, 2011 meeting. The award was announced and presented to him during the annual FRRL banquet on January 21, 2012.

January 10, 2011 - FRRL member Dave Holdeman, N9XU, was named a Life Member of the club at the January, 2012 meeting. The club bylaws provide that hams who have been licensed for fifty years and have been members of the club for 10 years can be granted Life Member status by the Board. Dave is an active ham who serves as a net control operator for club nets, and recently organized a digital mode 'experimental' net. He has also had articles published in QST and CQ VHF magazines. Congratulations Dave!

December 13, 2011 - Elections for Club Officer and Director positions were held at the annual FRRL Holiday Party/Meeting,

The following individuals were elected:

• President:          Harry Jones K9DXA
  
• Vice-President:  Dawn Williams KC9LQS
• Secretary:         Randy Ligocki  KC9KAX
• Treasurer:         Dean Holste KC9EOQ
  
  
• Directors:          Denny Barfus W9HI
                           Jack Ekstrom K9JE
                           Neil Potter KB9RFX (1 Year term)

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all the candidates and the Nominating Committee.

November 12, 2011 - FRRL members KC9LQS, KC0GIJ, and K9ZL spent several hours at the home of AH6EZ participating in the first of the Club's Ham Shack Open House events. The group discussed and observed demonstrations of digital modes and interfaces, the directivity of a Spiderbeam antenna, 10m FM propagation, the operation of the MFJ antenna analyzer, satellite tracking, vintage gear, and all of the RF and computer connections to make it all work "any band, any mode, any time". Everybody had a great time and learned a lot. Shown above, (l to r) AH6EZ, KC0GIJ, K9ZL and KC9LQS.

November 09, 2011 - The FRRL 2011 Nominating Committee presented the names of club members who have agreed to be candidates for election to club offices.

The candidates are:

• President:          Harry Jones K9DXA
  
• Vice-President:  Dawn Williams KC9LQS
• Secretary:         Randy Ligocki  KC9KAX
• Treasurer:         Dean Holste KC9EOQ
  
  
• Directors:           Neil Potter KB9RFX
                            Denny Barfus W9HI
                            Jack Ekstrom K9JE
                            Debra Gray WX9VOR  (formerly KC9SUT)
                            Chris Farley KC9IEQ

Members of the Nominating Committee were Victoria  Pozzie  KC9PWM,  William  Capper  WB9LPW, and Chairman Kermit Carlson  W9XA. We thank them for their service.

Election rules as provided by the Fox River Radio League By-Laws as amended; May 9, 2006: 

Article VII - Election of Officers and Directors

Section 1.   Nominations: The Nominating Committee shall present, at the November meeting, a slate of candidates consisting of a minimum of one (1) name per office.  Nominations shall also be accepted from the floor at only the November meeting.  All nominations shall be published in the next issue of the FRRL Newsletter, or failing said publication, a list of same shall be sent to all members via First Class U.S. mail, a minimum of one week ahead of the December meeting.

Section 2.   Election: The annual election of all officers and the directors shall take place at the December meeting.  The balloting shall allow for write-in names.  A candidate shall be declared elected if that candidate receives the most votes cast by the members.

Section 3.   Absentee Ballots: Absentee ballots are allowed only for the election of officers and directors.  The absentee ballot shall be prepared by the voter and delivered to any officer prior to the start of the meeting at which the annual election of officers and directors is held.  All absentee ballots shall be drafted in ink.  The office being voted on with the first and last names or the callsign of each candidate shall be listed on this ballot.  The completed ballot shall be enclosed in a sealed envelope that is both printed and signed in ink using first and last name of the voter.  The ballots shall be opened and tallied at the election.

If you mail your ballot to the club PO Box you must ensure it is delivered prior to 12 noon Tuesday December 13, 2011 at which time the PO Box will be checked for any mail-in absentee ballots. Please place you ballot inside an envelope and then place that envelope in another to mail. Late ballots will not be considered.

October 22, 2011 - FRRL members spent several hours at the St. Rita of Cascia campus in Aurora to work on two projects. The first project involved the FRRL bringing internet to our meeting room. The second project is designed to help Fr. Cesar set up a 2M base station in his office. Dick AH6EZ located resources to tie in to an existing high speed internet connection point in the Parish Center, and using Canopy modules, set up an RF link to our meeting room. Dick had help from Jeff N9JZN, Larry K9ARZ, Dawn KC9LQS, Dean KC9EOQ, and Harry K9DXA. Dean used a laptop to test the system which is working well.
Larry K9ARZ (shown above) strapped on his trusty climbing belt and took off for the top of the existing tower behind the Parish Center building. He removed a rotator and TV antenna, and mounted a Ringo 2M vertical, complete with RG213 coax. Fr. Cesar should be on the air soon after the cable is routed to his office.

October 16, 2011 - Fox River Radio League member Dave Holdeman, N9XU once again has another of his excellent articles published in the ARRL monthly publication QST. The November QST features Dave's solution for those who have antenna restructions. He shows how he adapted two ten foot plastic downspouts into a stealthy 160 or 80 Meter vertical antenna.

Look for Dave's article on page 45 of the November issue of QST and enjoy four full pages of interesting writing. Congratulations N9XU on another fine article!