I have scanned and uploaded 13 years of past newsletters, 1992-2004. The newsletters are an important part of the documentation of the clubs history. They include :
- Minutes of meetings
- Descriptions of past Field Days and other contests and operating events
- Information about past responses to emergencies
- History of our repeaters
- Information about past VE sessions
- Information about our past public service events
- Information about our interaction with served agencies
- Silent Key obituaries
- Club financial business
- Who presented what and when
- Past Foxhunts
- Donations
- New Members – when they joined
- Club Calendar
- Who held elected offices, and when
- Club Property
- Member biographies
- A record of member’s legacy (for family genealogists)
- Articles on technology and technique
- 10 or 20 Years ago today…
As many of you know, back during the changing of the guard from last years leadership to this years, I encountered 4 binders worth of back issues of the beacon and although back issues of the beacon are online back to 2005, the contents of several of these binders were not found on the website. I realized that these might be the only copies or one of a few copies remaining of these important documents. If they were lost or destroyed, the info might be gone forever. And their use is limited sitting in the secretary’s house where they are not as readily available. Taking leave of my senses, I undertook the task of scanning these beacons. And thus began a tale of fighting with bad drivers, slow software, and misfeeds caused by pages which had been folded, spindled, and mutilated.
- Newly Scanned:
- Years scanned: 1992-2004
- Total Pages: 1071
- Binders scanned: 3
- Total issues: 132
- Total files (final PDF version): 132
- Average Pages per issue: 8.114
- Total size (300dpi PDF) 883MB
- Average issue size: 6.7MB
- Format: 300dpi color or greyscale depending on original format. 600dpi raw scans saved for some years.
- Scanning time: 8 days
- Prexisting issues on website (printed to PDF rather than scanned):
- Total issues:96
- Total pages: 770
- Total size: 51.988MB
- Average issue size: 0.542MB
- Average pages per issue: 8.02
- Combined:
- Total pages: 1841
- Total issues: 228
- Total size: 935MB
- Total raw archive size: 2.8GB.
Includes final PDFs, raw scans where applicable, issues downloaded from website, and an extra copy of new PDFs grouped in a single directory for convenience. This will fit on one DVD-R disk.
Trivia: The name changed from “AARC Bulletin” to “AARC Beacon” starting with the 2000-06 issue.
Missing issue report:
"**" denotes missing issue, "<<" denotes combined issue, two digits denotes iss
ue available. "+" Denotes searchable PDF years, while "-" years not searchable
Many 1992 and 1993 issues covered two or three months.
1992: ** ** ** ** 05 << ** ** 09 << << ** - may/june, sept/oct/nov
1993: ** ** ** 04 << 06 << 08 09 10 11 12 - april/may, june/july
1994: 01 02 03 04 ** 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 -
1995: 01 02 03 ** 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +/-
1996: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 ** 09 10 11 12 +
1997: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
1998: ** 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 ** 10 11 12 +
1999: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2000: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2001: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2002: 01 02 ** 04 05 ** ** 08 09 10 11 12 +
2003: 01 02 03 04 ** 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2004: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 -
Already on website:
2005: 01 02 03 04 05 06 ** 08 09 10 11 12 +
2006: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2007: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2008: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2009: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2010: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2011: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
2012: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 +
Newsletter size distribution (scanned issues) (number of issues by size):
12 Pages: 1
10 Pages: 43
9 pages: 3
8 Pages: 48
7 Pages: 3
6 Pages: 30
5 pages: 1
4 pages: 3
Total pages: 1071.
Though I have scanned all that are in my possession, there are still more issues available to scan. And an index would be nice.
For those who want a complete set of back issues, contact me. It is very convenient having these on your hard drive.
Tech details on the processing of the pages can be found in the README file attached to this article.
Most of these issues were from the personal collection of Dr Mike KA4JJD, donated to the club. Bob Dorsey W4RQ, editor for a couple of the years, appears to have saved copies before they were mailed. Thanks to both for archiving these and past club secretaries for keeping them.