By now you have heard of the ARRL dues increase. Yes, the ARRL board voted to increase dues to $39.00 for regular membership and $34.00 for seniors. This increase will take effect on 01 July 2001, so if you renew before this date you can get the old price. One of the many volunteer areas of amateur radio is SKYWARN. Steve Sipple, KB7QHP, is the Phoenix area SKYYWARN coordinator and he is looking for amateur radio operators to help in this public service area. This is not limited to just Phoenix. Volunteers are needed throughout the state. So if you are interested in weather and would like to be a part of this area of public service, You can contact Steve at 602-275-7002 (ext. 537) or by e-mail at steve.sipple@noaa.gov. As a volunteer spotter you will receive the basic training and all information that will help you in observing and reporting certain weather types. Carl hayden did a great job for Kid’s Day with stations showing radio operation and morse code. The stations were set up in such a way that each person was given hands-on operation. Great job Allan Cameron, N7UJJ. The Green Valley ARC have supplied electronic kits to several local schools and are busy helping kits learn about amateur radio. I hope many will become licensed operators. Our 2-meter/440 repeater systems throughout this state are really good. Many clubs go to great lengths to operate and maintain their systems. If you are a regular user of a repeater system, I am sure the owner or club maintaining the system would appreciate a little financial help if you are not already helping. These systems cost many dollars and maintenance money is getting hard to come by. The next hamfest is the Arizona Amateur Radio Club DeVry swap meet on 07 April 2001. This event will start at 0600 hours and is normally a good event. Please support all these events and your local amateur radio club. In May, The Cochise Amateur radio Association will hold their semi-annual swap meet on 05 May 2001, on the local site, Green Acres. The Arizona web site is alive and doing well. Tom Fagan, WB7NXH, has developed this web site for the Arizona section and is always providing new material and updating it every day. The address is "www.qsl.net\arrlaz\ ". At this time it has the recent club listings, hamfest information, and a few other items along with several links to other clubs and special web sites. As this web site progresses, we will add more items of interest, to include the list of volunteers. If you have questions or ideas on how to improve this web site, contact Tom at wb7nxh@arrl.net or myself. Next year the ARRL SW Convention will be in Riverside at the Holiday Inn. Starts reserving this time slot and make the necessary arrangements before you forget. My e-mail address is "kd6xh@arrl.org", (see page 12 of QST under Arizona) and my home telephone number is 520-744-9095. I have started school, so every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon (1600 hours to 1900 Hours) I will be attending Pima Community college to learn AUATOCAD 2000. So if you call and I am not home, please leave a message and I will call you back. There have been several times my son has lost messages, so if I don’t call within 2 days, call back. 73’s Clifford Hauser, KD6XH