Hear Ye!

The Official Newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club

An AMA Gold Leader Club

March, 2002
No. 418

From the President,
Warren Barrick

The March 12th general membership meeting is the last date for dues
collection without penalty. Make an effort to pay your dues and avoid the
$10.00 late fee.

The March meeting will attempt to get our instructional efforts off to a
good start. If you are new to the sport and the club, it is a must that you
attend to sign up for instruction and to gain some specifics about what will
be expected for you to "solo." VP Pat Taggart and Joe Pasquini will have
important tips as well as schedules for dates of instruction.

Evening instruction will not begin until Daylight Saving Time begins on
April 7th so sign up now so that you will be able to avoid the rush. As
soon as favorable weather arrives, daytime and weekend instruction will
begin. Get to know your instructor and maintain contact with him so as to
speed your instructional process. Do not abuse your relationship with your
instructor.

Experienced pilots are needed as instructors. Please volunteer; remember we
need to give all the help we can to the novices. They are the future of our
sport, our hobby.

Thanks to all that came to the Awards Banquet at the Camelot on February
12th. We had a great meal and a lot of fun. We had more than 90 in
attendance. Ron Strobel had a terrific video presentation, "Going Up IV"
and as M.C., I was able to get in a few "zingers" at several members. The
list of award recipients is elsewhere in this edition.

Ron Strobel has videos of past years' activities on sale for $10.00. You
can also purchase this year's video for $5.00. Contact Ron at Video Net
to make a purchase.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KWIK CONNECTOR SAFETY

If you are a fan of Kwik Connectors, but have some reservation about them
coming off the servo output arm, try this suggestion sent by Sean Tolan, Del
Haven, New Jersey.

Sand the rounded side of the plastic retainer flat enough so that when
snapped in place, a Sullivan safety connector clip can be slid under to
retain it. Simple and easy, huh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANNUAL BANQUET
by Dee Messina

If you missed our club banquet, you missed seeing a great group of people
assembled as Americans do, just to further life as we know it.

Aside from the good food and drink, we laughed with each other, and at each
other. We honored past members and our present ones. The club video 2001
is the best yet.

As a famous comic strip illustrator always said, "A tip of the hat" to our
president, our committees and our membership. It all works. It was a fine
time. Many thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TWO WIN DOUG DAVIDSON AWARD

Alex Primas and Metrus "Dee" Messina are the 2001 recipients of the "Doug"
Davidson Award, the most prestigious award offered by the Valley Forge
Signal Seekers. At the Awards Banquet, Warren Barrick cited these two
individuals as very worthy of their honor and "very special" examples of
what good club citizens represent.

The late Frank Morris was awarded the Technical Achievement Award. Two of
Frank's sons, Frank and Stephen, accepted the award in their father's name.

Good Guy Awards were given to Joe Yalove, Sam Fitzgerald, Harry Charnock,
Nathan Marks, John Bragitikos, and Carl Sutton.

Other awards and their recipients were as follows:

Britney Spears (Bellybutton) Award to Charley Swope

Lead Tailwheel and Saddam Hussein (No Fly Zone) Award to Jim Campana

#64 Rubber Band Awards to Mrs. "Jo" Klopp, Mrs. Ellie Pasquini, Mrs. Al
Campana, Mrs Rom Boutin, Mrs Mike Estock, and Mrs. Pat Taggart

Gourmet Lunch (Shore Dog) Award to Bob Dolan

Mr. Clean Award to Rick Bruce

Dawn Patrol to Sam Fitzgerald

Stormovik Award to Harry Charnock

Fireball Awards to Al Campana, Bud Klopp, Joe Pasquini, and Charlie Swope

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE
DOUGLAS DAVIDSON MEMORIAL AWARD

Presented to the Member of the Valley Forge Signal Seekers for Outstanding
Services and Devotion to Club and Hobby:

1964 Dan McClain
1965 Joe Krush
1966 Bob Lamey
1967 Lou Laux
1968 Bob Lamey
1969 Norman Evans
1970 Fred Vankeuren
1971 Jack Salmon
1972 Tom Knerr
1974 Joe Weizer
1975 Joe Bouchard
1976 Joe McDermott
1977 Joe Weizer
1979 Jerry Cavanaugh
1980 Jerry Cavanaugh, Brent Sickles
1981 Bill English
1982 Martha D. Thomale
1983 J. Gilpin Allen, Donald W. Handley
1984 Jeff Troy
1985 Tom Kozel
1987 Fran Oli
1988 Don Klopp
1989 Dave Schlie
1990 Ed Casson
1992 Chuck Beelby
1993 Rom Boutin, Ed Snead
1994 Bob Suderman
1995 Chuck Karr, Walt Pierzchala
1996 Charles Swope
1997 Warren Barrick
1998 Joe Pasquini
1999 Al Campana
2000 Dennis DiBonaventura
2001 Alex Primas, "Dee" Messina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEWSLETTER ONLINE SEARCH
by Michael Myers

Good news! The online archives of the Hear Ye newsletter is now searchable.
This means that you can look up that old article from several years ago in
seconds.

Every Hear Ye from July 1995 to the present is stored online, and the index
page now has a box at the top to type in what you are looking for.

For example, if you want to install Fowler flaps on that new plane, just
type "Fowler" into the text box, and up come four articles including one by
Rob Caso from August 1995 and one by Russ O'Brien from November 1998. Very
convenient.

You can look up who won the Doug Davidson award in 1997 (type in: davidson
1997), or even which newsletters have your name mentioned. The search box
is a free service and another reason for kudos to the internet.

To find this new tool, just go to the Official Signal Seekers Home Page
and click the link to the Hear Ye newsletter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MARCH RAFFLE
by Joe Yalove

The following items are included in the March Raffle:

1. Craftsman 12-piece ratchet set USA
2. Craftsman 12-piece ratchet set METRIC
3. 4-piece precision mini pliers set
4. 4-piece mini-micro ratchet clamp set
5. 3-piece pliers set

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GREETING FROM ACROSS THE SEA

The following message was received by the membership chairman. It lends
some insight into how far the Club's influence is felt.

Hi Rudy....

Regrettably I will not be renewing my membership for 2002. We have
transferred back to England and this is where I will be for the foreseeable
future. I am sorry I have been so long in communicating this but in the
move we "lost" our old email and have only just got back on line.

I very much enjoyed my 3 years with the Club and am particularly
appreciative of my long suffering, patient and calm instructors, Jim Campana
first and then Frank Butta. Between them, they finally managed to keep me
in the air long and competently enough to earn my wings. I will miss the
beautifully situated flying field, the camaraderie and helpfulness of the
members, and the great flying weather (compared to rainy England).

I am not sure when I will ever get a chance to visit Philadelphia, or Valley
Forge, again and my best wishes for the future to the Club and its members.

Regards,
Peter Scott

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLUB CALENDAR

Tuesday, March 12th -
General Membership meeting at the church at 8:00 PM. Instruction Night: sign
up for instruction, meet your instructor, learn what is needed to "solo."
Show-N-Tell, Raffle.
Membership renewal deadline!!!

Tuesday, April 2nd -
BOG Meeting at 7:00 PM.

Tuesday, April 9th -
General Membership meeting at the church.


Feedback or comments to: Marilyn Ayres , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster


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