The September meeting of the Tennessee Contest Group took place at the Old
Country Buffet on Saturday 7 at 3 P.M. The following members were present and
accounted for.

Jeff     NY4N
John     WA4JA
Gordon   KA1DWX
Kevin    W1KLM
Kirk     K4RO
Dan      N7DLS
Tom      K1KY

First order of business was to meet the newest member of the TCG, 
John Ammon, WA4JA.

The vote was tallied on the issue of the ARRL 175 mile zone -- Full section
territorial region for ARRL contests. After one member changed his vote
before the deadline approached, about 40 TCG members took advantage of the
e-mail vote. It was an unanimous decision, all votes going for the full 
Tennessee section region.

After the vote was tabulated, Tom mentioned that all TCG members should make
sure that they have met all the ARRL requirements to participate in their
contests, including two meetings and two contests, especially those who now
will be able to play, in east and west Tennessee.

A suggestion was made to have an east and west director (facilitator) and
members in those regions should schedule a meeting, either a called gathering
or hamfest, to help meet the ARRL requirement. Also, try to participate in
one of the upcoming contests to meet qualifications if you are short. The
Constitution specifies:

B. Full membership. Full membership is open to all licensed amateurs after
fulfilling the following requirements: a. attend at least two meetings per
calendar year

b. Contribute to at least two club/team composite scores in TCG, ARRL, CQ
Magazine or National Contest Journal sponsored contests in that same calendar
year. Hosting a TCG guest operator, guest-operating at another station or
participating in a multi-operation constitutes score contribution as long as
the score is credited to the TCG.

It was suggested that the Group will go to the Full Tennessee Section as soon
as the ARRL allows us to do so, which should be around the first of November.
The talk at the meeting was to hit the Sweepstakes in November hard.

Other topics, Dan and Jeff had just got back from the Louisville Hamfest
after being presented with the KY QSO Party Club trophy. The trophy will be
housed at W4CAT, for all to see. Thanks to Tom for allowing the Group to keep
it there for its one year term. Consensus of the Hamfest by Dan and Jeff was
not good, only one dealer and miles of old junk, which may be OK for other
operators!

Discussion of e-mail QSL's. Gordon advised that K4TCG had some e-mail QSL
cards online from past contests, but since the ARRL does not recognize this
type of QSL'ing at this time, may be more trouble to research and gather
needed information that to just go ahead and answer paper QSL's. There were
no plans to answer the e-mail cards at this time.

After several e-mails on the subject of the TCG merging with the KCG, the
Group discussed the merger and advised that it is a dead deal at this time.
All agreed that Tim, N4GN, from the KCG, did an excellent job on his
presentation. However, the timing was not good, with the Full section vote
for the TCG well underway. At this time, a vote on the measure will not take
place at the time.

The Tennessee QSO Party will be taking place on the 15 September. All Group
members are urged to play. A couple of possible mobiles will be on the air,
with NY4N and K4LTA could be on the road. The Cat House will activate the
K4TCG flagship station, they will be worth a 100 point bonus for every
contact made.

Jeff advised his and Becky's excellent Ohio QSO Party mobile adventure was
not so excellent. Looks like Jeff will finish fourth out of five mobileers in
the Buck Eye State. Jeff advised no excuses, but was "under the weather," but
had some new equipment introduced that worked fine.

The meeting ending around 4:30 PM

Jeff  NY4N  TCG EA