The original Geratol Net website many years ago was built by quoting from a previous, now out of date, version of this packet. Over the years, as I’ve updated it, I’ve had to ad-lib parts of it, especially the newer parts that weren’t in the copy I had back then.

I’m always reluctant to make things up on my own and pass them off as official policy, so I try to keep close to the official version as possible. This will help me be sure all the information on this web page is right.

Please, whether you are new to the net, or an old-timer, download the information packet and keep it for reference. Some things have changed, but most has stayed the same, and you won’t know which until you have the official word.

Did you know the Extra-class exclusive sub-band has changed four times in the history of the net? I didn’t until I read this. I earned my Geratol number on the 3.768 net, so I was around for one of the moves. The others were before I got involved with the net.

You webmaster finally got serious and earned his Directors number (731) after many years of inactivity. At one time, I had several hundred numbers collected and was going to apply for the Directors Award along with a bunch of endorsement stickers. But a hard drive crash wiped out my logs and my enthusiasm for starting over from scratch as well.

Working 100 Geratol numbers was surprisingly easy. There are so many people out there with more than one number that I felt like I was cheating. People who have moved and gotten a second number and people who have club calls with a number really helped out.

With Alaska and Hawaii both on the net in the past few nights, I’d expect there will be a bunch of new numbers and endorsements for people coming soon too. Both K7OC/KH6 and KL1V were greatly appreciated by those who could hear them. I heard no more than a whisper, so I didn’t even try to get on a work list.

The new Endorsement 38 for working all 10 Canadian Provincial Capitals should bring some more interest. Maybe some more Canadian participants too. I can see why our awards and net isn’t a high priority to Canadians, our little Extra-class only subband is meaningless to them under their license plan. But it would be nice to have our friends to the north on with us. With a Canadian officer on the Board now, I look for more participation.

I’ve been avoiding the net the past week or so. I’ve been busy with one of my projects and needed to spend time with it, both at home and out. But I did listen in as I worked at my computer. I am an advisor to a FIRST Robotics team at my local High School and the past week has been the busiest part of our six week window when we build this year’s robot. Tuesday was the Bag & Tag day, when the robot is sealed up in a large bag and cannot be worked on until it is in the pits at competition. As the lead advisor for programming as well as electrical wiring, you can imagine I’ve been busy with the students.

Thankfully, we seem to be in good shape and our robot got it’s final touches done before going into it’s bag. We compete in Rochester NY on March 8-9-10 and again in Cleveland two weeks later. You can find out more about our team at warlocks1507.com.

I’ve also been judging the web sites for those two regional competitions. The teams also compete for best web site, among other awards. So, I’ve been in front of the computers quite a bit doing that. That allows me to listen in on the net at least. Just like the Geratol Net, there are many ways the students can participate and earn awards. It’s a great program that gets kids interested in Science and Technology and has a great success rate for getting kids into college and getting scholarships.

My thanks to WR8O, AE4GH, W3ON and W0FP for their contributions.

I haven’t been totally off the air, just inactive. I retired a few years ago, younger than I would have liked and not by choice, but enjoying it anyway. It gives me more time to work with the High School robotics team I mentor.

I lost a lot of my logs a few years ago with a hard drive crash. I had worked several hundred numbers for the Directors Award and was going to submit them and get a bunch of 100 multiples stickers at once. I shouldn’t have procrastinated…

So, I’m starting from scratch and working everyone again from scratch. I don’t mind, I’m having fun doing it. The Board Award didn’t exit back then, so I’m working towards that too.

Anyway, I’ll see you on the net!

I’ve had several WordPress blogs going for quite a while and never had the problem I experienced earlier with the Geratol site, so I’m hoping it was a fluke and it will be trouble-free from here on in.

We will use the blog aspect of the site very lightly, mostly just updates from me, or if Frosty wants to do it, he could use it for his words. The content for the net will continue to be placed in static pages as you see now.

Also, the latest GNEC has been uploaded and can be found in the Files page.

So I’m starting from scratch. Please be patient until it gets back to a usable state.

- Al AE2T #1800