First, I will plainly state that this web page is not associated in any way with the SouthEastern Repeater Association (SERA) or any other organization. I originally set up these domains (RepeaterJournal.org and RepeaterJournal.com) as a test bed for use in conjunction with my activities as co-Editor of The SERA Repeater Journal. I paid for this facility, personally, and have never been reimbursed for the expense of this--- I never asked to be reimbursed, so the money isn't an issue here. The point of mentioning this is to make it plain that this platform, in particular, is mine personally and that I'm not "hijacking" it in any way, shape, or form. I began this solely on a "donation" basis for the betterment of Amateur Radio.

If you came to this web page, you might be wondering why Jean Marie and I are no longer Editors of The Repeater Journal. Your bewilderment might increase as I tell you that, when we began this task in 2006, we made a pretty substantial investment in what it would take to do the job well--- a couple of copies of Adobe Creative Suite 2 for the graphics and composition software, a pair of twin computer systems to run it on (CS2 is pretty resource-hungry), and a few other odds and ends along the way. All told, the total is up in the thousands--- really, more than I've spent on actual radio gear over my entire life! The investment continued with such minor costs as postage and such, which might not seem like much but still totals hundreds of dollars per year. Jean Marie and I are, in reality, of quite modest means, but the R-J was a project that we were committed to. To make the meaning of the word "committed" plain in your mind, imaging a plate of ham and eggs: the hen was "involved," but the pig was "committed." We took on the job as co-Editors with a vision of the long haul, and wanted to do the job the best way that we could.

All-in-all, we're pretty proud of the job we did on the R-J, and for the most part we enjoyed it . Most every issue we put out has been on-time, and the issues where we missed our deadline we fixed the cause--- even if it meant severing a longstanding relationship. We cleaned-up some of the messier aspects of the book, improved the readability, and tightened-up the standards for graphics and photos. 

So, why did we quit? Simply put, we don't take kindly to being kicked and stomped on while we try to do folks a favor. It started back in 2008, when I had what I thought was the wonderful idea of running an extensive, detailed list of hamfests in and around the SERA territory. I saw all sorts of ways this could benefit the Amateur Radio community. Hamfest sponsors would get detailed, widespread exposure in the south east US. Hamfest dealers and traders would get a description of shows as they planned their "circuit" for the year. Hamfest attendees would learn about hamfests beyond their immediate area. By having a first-of-the-year deadline, it would nudge hamfest sponsors to plan a bit ahead. By making the "gateway" into this feature a requirement that hamfest sponsors contact the regular Hamfest Calendar Editor, I could make that job easier and more hassle-free; as Editor, I lost a couple of Calendar editors to the poor manners of hamfest people. Finally, by increasing the value of the Repeater Journal to the readers, it might increase SERA membership a bit, and reverse what's been a slide in membership totals for the past few years.

So, we announced plans for the 2009 February Hamfest RoundUp in the August 2008 issue of the R-J under what, in retrospect, was probably a deceptive heading: "Attention Hamfest Sponsors" (I apologize for the sarcasm.) Looking back, I might see how a hamfest sponsor might overlook that announcement (I might, but I don't....). We ran the announcement again in November 2008. In November and December 2008, we collected the data via e-mail using a "fill-in-the-blank" form that was distributed via e-mail to every electronic address that originated an e-mail to the Hamfest Calendar Editor.

As so often happens in life, stuff happened about then. Jean Marie's son, Aaron, who lives in Chicago, discovered that he was going to need some surgery that was going to have him laid-up for a couple of weeks. Since he lived in a third-floor walk-up and stairs would be pretty painful for him to navigate, was going to need someone with him for grocery-fetching, cooking, laundry, and all. After Jean Marie and I had settled on plans for going to Chicago in mid-December, 2008 and returning in time to get the February 2009 issue of the R-J out, yet another bit of bad luck came our way. Jean Marie's widowed sister in Phoenix, Arizona was diagnosed with a GBM brain tumor in mid-December, 2008. For reference, this condition is invariably terminal and as I write this (March, 2010) Jean Marie's sister is in the last few weeks of her life. So, plans were re-arranged: Jean Marie went to be with her sister in Phoenix, and I went to take care of Aaron in Chicago. After Aaron recovered from his procedure, had his follow-up examination, and was pronounced good-to-go by the doctors, Jean Marie called me to be with her in Phoenix--- if you thought that you saw me running through the Omaha, Nebraska or Denver, Colorado airport terminals on Christmas Day, 2008.... yep, that was me!

So, in the three weeks leading up to the active production cycle for the February 2009 R-J, I was living out of a suitcase. As I stated above, Jean Marie and I were committed to producing the R-J on time, so when it came time to get the February issue out I bid good-bye to my wife in Arizona and returned to North Carolina. I knew that, with half of the production team thousands of miles away and the production process starting late, there would be a slip-up or two. I wrote an explanation and an apology for this and published this on page 63 of the February 2009 issue. However, I'll point out that even with the late start and all the associated mayhem, with the help of all the R-J contributors that issue of the R-J actually made it to the post office early! This included the six-page Hamfest Roundup.

I thought that I had pulled off a minor miracle and settled back into my usual life until I received a telephone message from Mary Hunt, N4MH, of the Mecklenburg (County, NC) Amateur Radio Club. As I spoke with Mrs. Hunt on the telephone, she made it very clear that she was upset that the Charlotte Hamfest didn't make it into the Hamfest Roundup. (you may translate that as "she reamed me a new butthole.") Since she obviously wasn't going to make any allowances for the extraordinary circumstances under which we produced the February 2009 issue, I promised to investigate the circumstances which caused the omission. Here's what I found:
                   - The Charlotte Hamfest didn't make it into the Hamfest Roundup because
                       I didn't have data for it, sent in reply to my e-mail form.
                   - The Charlotte Hamfest sponsor didn't send in the e-mail form because it never received a copy. 
                   - A Hamfest Roundup form was never sent to a Charlotte HF rep because their
                      e-mail address wasn't in the list compiled from Hamfest Calendar submissions.
                   - The Charlotte HF rep wasn't on the list because, in all of 2008, they never submitted
                      information to the Hamfest Calendar.  
                   - Further investigation revealed that, since 2006, the Charlotte Hamfest sponsor never once 
                      troubled themselves to send an e-mail to the published e-mail address to get a listing in the
                      R-J Hamfest Calendar. Basically, the HF Calendar Editors have been covering for
                      their slip-ups for years!

When I got back to Mary Hunt to apprise her of my findings and to call her attention to the established way to get hamfest listings in the R-J, so that her organization could avoid problems in future years, she made it plain that following established R-J  procedures was too much of a burden for her organization. Furthermore, she stressed that the Mecklenburg Amateur Radio Club expected me to assure the promotion of their hamfest. Frankly, I don't do volunteer work for any organization whose "official representative" has berated me for a mistake that was not mine.

Throughout 2009, any communication from the Mecklenburg club made it clear that they expected me to take special care of them, on the basis of their "big" advertisement placement, which they appear to believe is so very beneficial to SERA's finances. I won't beat any possible reader of this over the head with a bunch of figures, but I'll share this: for the August 2009 issue, it cost SERA $140.14 to produce and deliver each page. The per-page ad rate used to be $160.

Essentially, for less than eighty bucks a year of net income for SERA, the Mecklenburg club felt privileged to extra services from me, as a volunteer, and official representatives of that organization felt that they were free to harass and berate me for what amounts to their screw-ups. Upon assessing that situation, I was more than willing to assure my own piece of mind by pulling out of my own wallet the "big financial loss" (about $80) that SERA would "suffer" without the Mecklenburg club's ad revenue..... but wait! I already had done that, many time over!  So, in the fall of 2009, when Mary Hunt and Jerry Malin presented a request for an ad placement I declined the request, based on their demand for additional services that I could not guarantee, and which would involve the expenditure of a precious resource (time) which would be detrimental to both myself and SERA.

Well, this account has gone far longer than I intended. To quickly wrap this up, Jerry Malin and Mary Hunt brought in their club president, Jodie Rowland, who proceeded to scream to everyone that her club had been horribly wronged, and that I needed to be straightened out. I spent far, far too much time on this Mecklenburg club mess than I should have (really, I should have spent zero time on it). One thing led to another, and when we clearly saw that the hassle was going to vastly outweigh the benefit, Jean Marie and I offered our resignation as Editors.

I offer, if you would consider, a few observations that you can make yourself regarding the personalities running the Mecklenburg club's hamfest: First, for years they held the hamfest at a venue which caused hamfest attendees to pay a considerable sum for parking. The parking fee was almost as much (if not more than) what folks would pay for admission to most hamfests. Now, my own club held a hamfest at a site which usually had "for fee" parking, but our folks sat down and negotiated an arrangement where our hamfest patrons would not have to pull cash out of their wallet just to leave their car somewhere. Sure, we had to pay for that, and lost a few dollars off of our net, but for the good of Amateur Radio that's what we did. Next, you might have noticed that the "Roanoke Division Convention" for 2010 wasn't listed in QST. I've dealt with Gail Ianonone at ARRL for years with my own club's submissions, and I found here to be one of the most scrupulous people I've encountered in the past fifty years. I don't think it's her that dropped the ball on that listing. Finally, in a city the size of Charlotte the should be an appropriate site for a hamfest, but the Mecklenburg club can't seem to work with the folks who run those venues in Charlotte. Nor do they seem to be able to work with any venue operators in all of Mecklenburg County. Sadly, they've moved clear up into Cabarras County....

And, just for the record: I did, indeed, offer to produce the February 2010 issue on-time. However, the leadership of SERA declined that offer, and as a result the February 2010 issue will not reach SERA members until at least late March.

nuf  sed.