[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” specialty=”off”][et_pb_fullwidth_image _builder_version=”3.0.91″ src=”https://calcoara.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CCARA-Christmas-Party_0005.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”||0px|”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.91″ use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.91″ background_layout=”light”] Well… this may be a CCARA club first as the day before this year’s Christmas party, Central Alabama was at first possibly going to get snow. At first it was a (few) flurries, then upgraded to up to 1/2″, then up to an inch, but in the end it was snow-ma-geddon 2017!!! Many people saw 4″ on average, and others shared they had 10″ of snow!!! Now in case you are a visitor reading this and are not from or have lived in the south, this kind of snow is NOT a normal thing!! Many of the southern states also do not have the machinery or the man power to handle this type of storm, so all we can do is ride it out, and hope for the best. Luckily the day after, it was warm enough for the roads to melt and allow drivers back out (as many of the central counties officially declared city streets and roads closed). So onward and upward with the Christmas party!!! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.91″ use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off” custom_padding=”0px||0px|”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.91″ background_layout=”light”]
So my sincerest apologies to all, since someone (me!!) got busy socializing and did not get pictures of the food, and for the most part, the only one taking pictures this year as our other photographers were in other areas for the party. But at least I got some of the dirty Santa pictures.
As is custom to our club, there is NEVER a shortage of food at the party, and this year was no exception!! We had ham, chicken fingers, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casseroles, and even some chicken fried rice (has to be a first :o)
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Before we got the main event of the evening (presents) going. I had found a Ham Christmas poem on the web by Gary Pearce (KN4AQ) written in 1996, (and who truly is a ham after reading his work 😉 and shared it with the group.
‘Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through two-meters,
Not a signal was keying up
Any repeaters.
The antennas reached up
From the tower, quite high,
To catch the weak signals
That bounced from the sky.
The children, Technicians,
Took their HT’s to bed,
And dreamed of the day
They’d be Extras, instead.
Mom put on her headphones,
I plugged in the key,
And we tuned 40 meters
For that rare ZK3.
When the meter was pegged
By a signal with power.
It smoked a small diode,
And, I swear, shook the tower.
Mom yanked off her phones,
And with all she could muster
Logged a spot of the signal
On the DX PacketCluster,
While I ran to the window
And peered up at the sky,
To see what could generate
RF that high.
It was way in the distance,
But the moon made it gleam –
A flying sleigh,
With an eight element beam,
And a little old driver
Who looked slightly mean,
So I though for a moment
That it might be Wayne Green.
But no, it was Santa,
The Santa of Hams,
On a mission this Christmas
To clean up the bands.
He circled the tower,
Then stopped in his track,
And he slid down the coax
Right into the shack.
While Mom and I hid
Behind stacks of CQ,
This Santa of hamming
Knew just what to do.
He cleared off the shack desk
Of paper and parts,
And filled out all my late
QSLs, for a start.
He ran copper braid,
Took a steel rod and pounded
It into the earth
Till the station was grounded.
He tightened loose fittings,
Resoldered connections,
Cranked down modulation,
Installed lightning protection.
He neutralized tubes
In my linear amp…
(Never worked right before –
Now it works like a champ).
A new low-pass filter
Cleaned up the TV.
He corrected the settings
In my TNC.
He repaired the computer
That wouldn’t compute,
And he backed up the hard drive
And got it to boot.
Then, he reached really deep
In the bag that he brought,
And he pulled out a big box.
“A new rig?” I thought!
“A new Kenwood? An Icom?
A Yaesu, for me?
An Elecraft, TEN-TEC
Or Flex, could it be!”
(If he thought I’d been bad
It might be QRP!)
Yes! The Ultimate station!
How could I deserve this?
Could it be all those weekends
I worked Public Service?
He hooked it all up
And in record time, quickly
Worked 100 countries,
All down on 160.
I should have been happy.
It was my call he sent.
But the cards and the postage
Will cost a month’s rent!
He made final adjustments,
And left a card by the key:
“To Gary, from Santa Claus.
Seventy-Three.”
Then he grabbed his HT,
Looked me straight in the eye,
Punched a code on the pad,
And was gone – no good bye.
I ran back to the station,
And the pile up was big.
But a card from St. Nick
Would be worth my new rig.
Oh, too late, for his final
Came over the air.
It was copied all over.
It was heard everywhere.
The Ham’s Santa exclaimed
What an old ham expects:
“Merry Christmas to all,
And to all, good DX.”
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