October 1, 2026 – We mentioned the Trench or Foxhole radio. It seems that several of the group members have built those in the past. Mike – KX4YZ shared a link from You Tube demonstrating how to build one with a few household items.

One of our group brought up the recent topic of a former Auburn football staff member who has been accused of stealing trade secrets from the Tigers and sending them to their competitors. It will be interesting to watch this case. We all seem to have encountered annoying background music in public places. Several attendees this morning shared the opinion that this is invasive. There happens to be an organization in the U.S. that is campaigning against this. The group is NOISEFREE.ORG. Somehow, we got onto the subject of chigger bites. I suppose its that time of year. We do all know how aggravating this insect is, and we always hope to avoid them whenever possible. Gail – KB4JAA shared a lovely poem with us that she wrote for her father on his 95th birthday. Gail’s dad was one of six brothers who all served in the armed forces and the poem dealt with several aspects of his family and his life. Finally, we remembered Herbert A. Philbrick who infiltrated the Communist Party in the mid 20th century at the behest of the FBI. Philbrick was later the basis of the 1950s television series I Led 3 Lives.

September 24, 2026 – We had great attendance this morning for the meeting. The big news in terms of attendance was that Gail – KB4JAA joined the Zoom call today (along with Zoom the bear). Bob – KA4PKB mentioned that a new data center is being built along West Samford Avenue. This correspondent was not aware of that. On the one hand, we sometimes don’t like to see these data centers coming into our area, but we somewhat understand the need for them. It’s a hotbed for disagreements though, so that’s about all we’ll say about that! We talked for a time about the development of small modular reactors and microreactors in the United States. This is an interesting program and we hope that it helps to solve some of the power needs that are arising for so many reasons in the U.S. Small modular reactors (“SMRs”) typically generate 50 MW to 300 MW per module which is about one third the usual output of a traditional plant and can ostensibly provide support to a regional power grid, replace coal plants, power AI data centers, or generate industrial heat. The Microreactors typically generate 1 MW to a maximum of 50 MW and could serve remote communities, military bases, mining sites, or meet emergency power needs. John – NK4N told us about the Albright Grove in the Smokies. This is a well known old growth forest and we know these are rare now in the U.S.. It is about a 10.5 km round trip hike, but could be worth it for those who are able. Richard – WA4IWD updated us on his knot tying work. He has made magnificent progress with this study, and referred us to The Bear Essentials tutorials online. Knots that he mentioned this week were Alpine Butterfly, Canadian Jam Knot, Kalmyk Knot, Falconer’s Knot, Trucker’s Knot and Sheet Bend. Boy that is a lot of hyperlinks!

September 17, 2026 – We spent some time today discussing VarAC.  There is a great deal of interest nowadays in this application. Another topic was grounding.  This is always a controversial topic.  Mike – KX4YZ got some good advice from the group.  Also, he ordered a copy of Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur by Ward Silver – N0AX.