Great meeting of the ERARC

The May meeting of the Eagle Rock Amateur Radio Club was great in many ways.  First off, it was well attended and a majority of those present came early to talk with one another.  Second, the meeting was held in a room that contained a lot of radio equipment.  We don't know the usage or backstory on all that technology but it certainly wasn't a sterile room. Third, the meeting started on time and the business end of the meeting was delightfully short and sweet.  The club has a total treasury of $6500 and appears willing and able to support worthy radio-related projects.  Fourth, the featured presentation was precisely and exactly what I was hoping to learn: How to Program a Han Held Transceiver (HT).  Bob S. (KB7VWC) the presenter really knew his stuff and passed it on to the group in an enjoyable and memorable way.  Fourth, the followup presentation was exciting stuff--the Bone & Back marathon and DSSTV.  In a nutshell, you can interface an HT with a netbook and send really high quality digital photos over the radio airwaves from a remote location to any given enabled recipient location.  Club members will be doing it at the Bone event. The club and one of its very active members, Terry T. (KK7Q) is helping members grapple with the learning curve during a weekly one hour net on 146.94.  THANK YOU, TERRY! We will be chattering more about this intriguing topic here soon.  Lastly, about half of the members stayed around after the meeting's close to exchange more thoughts, ideas and tech tips.  Bob S., The HT program presenter, helped me one-on-one to FINALLY learn how to properly program my Icom IC V-8 HT.  I have been extremely frustrated with my lack of success in this aspect of the HT's operation.  I was expertly coached to prepare a 3x5 card with specific instructions in my own words on how to leap this hurdle.  I came right home tonight and converted the card into the learning aid below.  It was a great gift of HAM Elmering tonight and I am most appreciative of the assistance.  THANK YOU, BOB!
Terry (left) and Bob (right) are shown in the photo above during Bob's HT programming presentation.  I can hardly wait to dive into the DSSTV functionality.  Many Cheers & 73, jp