EMCOMMWEST 2005 is now in the history books, but the memories will be slow to fade from our thoughts. This year’s event was held at the Holiday Inn in Reno, a larger and more comfortable venue than we have had in past years. The hotel offered us 3 ground floor meeting rooms (two of which were combined for larger sessions), and the Skyroom at the top where the new Saturday night banquet was held with it’s spectacular views of the city below.
As the crowd grows every year, early reports were that we topped 200 hams in attendance this year. The distances traveled increased too, with registrants from as far away as Louisiana and Iowa.
A major highlight was our featured banquet speaker, Gordon West WB6NOA who
brought his motorhome
comms vehicle up from Southern California. Gordon’s presentation at the
Saturday night banquet
kept everyone’s attention, as he used audio tapes to poke fun at a few of
our locals and with
the prudent use of some electrical experiments, fried a pickle before our
very eyes! Thanks
Gordon for being so enlightening and entertaining (but I’ll stick to the
BBQ, thank you)!
Our featured guest speaker from ARRL in Newington was Mark Spencer, WA8SME,
who was truly
inspirational with his keynote address about the ever changing world of ham
radio around us,
and the roll we play in it’s future. Honoring us with return performances
were Rick Lagerstrom,
KN6FR from Monterey, Jerry Wellman, who is now SEC in Utah and Dan Miller,
K3UFG from Newington,
who have all been big crowd pleasers 2 years in a row! Thanks guys.
Many of our early risers were greeted and treated to the Hamswap, as hosted
by the UNR Radio Pack
and SATERN members. A few good buys were to be had, and the sellers I talked
to personally said
that they “unloaded” some gratefully received items.
It is noteworthy that this year all but 2 of the Pacific Division Section
Managers were in attendance, in addition to our Division Director and Vice
Director (which gave Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG the opportunity to call a
cabinet meeting). Additionally, there were SM’s from Utah and Idaho on hand
as well. With so many in attendance, it made for an exceptional Sunday
morning ARRL Forum, which touched on a wide variety of topics including BPL
concerns and “The Big Project”, which is attempting to lure in more young
people to the hobby through education in schools, among other subjects.
Once again this year we were treated to a visit from the Red Cross ECRV from Marysville, CA. This time the guys gave us a more personal glimpse of this marvel, with a full seminar on its equipment and functions. We are grateful for their time and travel to enlighten us even more.
Another topic of high interest to those who attended was “Winlink 2000”, from Vice Director, Andy Oppel, N6AJO and supported by our own Andy Munoz, KD7ZEV.
The media who came were also very curious as to how we can send emails through the air, using ham radio, without exclusive use of the Internet. We were featured in a 2nd page article in the Reno Gazette-Journal, and hosted reporters from channels 2 and 4 who came out to shoot a little video and do an interview on us.
Bob Miller, WA7MTY’s presentation on how to use Microsoft’s “Streets and Trips” software for ARES logistics drew great enthusiasm, as many of our out of town guests would like to study this further once they get home. Bob: I’m sure your email-box will be getting busy with questions.
Max Cornell, K0MC, had everyone’s mouth watering, as his wife Annie (who
passed her Technician
license at EMCOMMWEST) prepared some “tasty goodies” during his personal
preparedness class.
I’m sure we’ll see some of their MRE’s popping up in some of the local
bistros … NOT!
In conclusion, we would like to especially thank Tony Marcin, N7ACM for a
stellar job of
chairing this year’s EMCOMMWEST. Tony, you made it happen! To our SM, Dick
Flanagan, K7VC, who’s
behind the scenes coaching was invaluable; and especially those who put in
long hours doing
every kind of job imaginable, which really put us on the map this year. We
are so grateful and
proud. I know that we will see the results in future years as the “word of
mouth” effect takes
over. And last but not least, a huge thank you to all who attended this
year’s event. Your
attendance, your input to those of us who organized it, and enthusiasm made
this a year to
remember. We all have much to be proud of.
Thank you one and all, and 73!
Don Carlson KQ6FM
(...and thank you, Don! - w)
After putting forth a magnificent effort you all put on a beautiful event!!! Congratulations on setting an ever-higher standard for future EMCOMMWEST events to aim for.
The last time the Pacific Division Convention was held in Reno at what is now the Hilton, we entertained over 2,000 attendees. While we aren't there yet, this weekend proved that anything is possible with the right people and the right leadership. If you aren't proud of what you accomplished this weekend, well, you must not be paying attention. :)
Outstanding job!
73, Dick
Dick Flanagan K7VC NV SM
E-mail: k7vc@arrl.org