It is time for the Spring Hamfest. The date for this event is Mach 15th at the Scottsdale Community College. This is one of the three (3) big events here in Arizona so you do not want to miss this opportunity to buy/sell your treasures. Our Southwestern Division Director, Art Goddard, W6XD, will be at the Radio Society of Tucson club meeting on the 14th of March (Friday night prior to the hamfest). He will do a presentation to the club members. Other area clubs members will also attend the meeting so if your night is free, stop by and hear what is new with the ARRL. I plan to do a presentation for the Green Valley ARC on 13 March 2003 and then the Kachina ARC in Show Low on the 14th of March. Again, if you want me to do a presentation to your club, please call and we can come to an agreement and a date. Tucson has already had two (2) community service events with more to follow. Each community has various local events that can be supported by Amateur radio. Are you doing your best to help your community? If not, then maybe we need to look closer and see what we can do to help. We get our frequencies from Public Service. If we loose our Public Service image, then we will most likely loose frequencies. Don't forget the International DX convention on 2-4 of this year. It will be held in Visalia (as usual) with lots of good speakers and programs. Also the Arizona Amateur Radio Association (AARA) will host its yearly hamfest on 12 April 2003 at DeVry School in Phoenix, and then CARA will host the Sierra Vista hamfest on 02 May 2003. In the March QST we had another good article on emergency communications. We have had our fair share of QST support in the last year. This is very unusual since most of the articles go to the East or West Coast clubs. Have you completed the Communications Level 1 Class? This class is very good and it teaches the basic art of emergency communications. If you are not presently taking this class and want to do so, call ARRL Headquarters (Dan Miller) and get all you questions answered. Course cost is $45.00 and is normally refunded after completion. During an emergency condition we want to be prepared and have the necessary training skills to help. Training must take place prior to emergencies, not during the emergency. Many RACES organizations across the country are requiring its members to take this course as part of their membership requirements. Check with the ARRL for the next course starting date. This article does not appear in the QST magazine but it can be found on the ARRL Web site www@arrl.org/sections/index/html; and on the state web site www@qsl.net/arrlaz, and www@hamsrus.com. If you want me to e-mail you a copy then just drop me a note and I can add you to my e-mail list.

Clifford Hauser, KD6XH; E-mail is kd6xh@arrl.org