The TARA News is extremely proud to announce that Richard Sandell, WK6R, will be returning to TARA on the evening of September 16, starting at 7:30 PM. This will be Mr. Sandell's first return trip in a little over a year and we're sure he'll have a lot to share with us. Mr.Sandell is the past director of the ARRL Hudson Division and presently is the editor of the Hudson Division Loop.

Mr.Sandell's in depth knowledge of the FCC's rule-making , ARRL's services, plus his love and devotion to our hobby all make for a most interesting visit. You'll love his "honest" and "up front" style presentation.

Please do your best to give Richard Sandell a very warm welcome by attending. Keep in mind that the last time Richard visited us it was before a packed house, standing room only! Please make plans to arrive early.

On the evening of August 20th an estimated crowd of 75 members and guests converged on Green Island's Village Park for TARA's first ever "Picnic Night." Many of these people arrived early just to relax in the beautiful sunshine. Some enjoyed the absolutely beautiful view from the park benches as they watched the river traffic pass through the Federal Lock. Others like Rudy, N2JZK, and his son Teddy Ault took advantage of this time to do a little fishing. We can't recall seeing any fish, but we're sure both of them had a few tales of the "big one" that got away.

The turnout for this event far exceeded any other meeting night in TARA's history but Karen, KB2UUC, and her assistants handled the crowd with ease. Plus we were fortunate enough to have Mac, KB2SPM, and June, KA2VEK, handling the job of grilling all the food for this hungry gang. We can assure you they went through a lot of food and fast! Karen told us that many of our member/guests brought items such as pizza, salads, assorted fruits, snacks, soft drinks, and some pretty scrumptious desserts. Karen further explained that she had so many individuals who brought something to this picnic that it was impossible to get all the names. But she would diffidently like to thank everyone on behalf of TARA.

This night also marked the first meeting night that we had our club owned HF radio on-the-air using the N2TY callsign, thanks to Steve, KF2WA. While we didn't work any DX Joel, KA1PRT, did work a few here in the states on CW. It was really great to see the interest the station generated amongst the crowd, especially on an evening when there were so many things to do.

We definitely owe kudos to Phil, KB2WVO, for all the work he did on trying to get the Fox Hunt going. Unfortunately the memory got cleared in the fox radio preventing it from working properly. But you can bet he'll have it ready for the September meeting!

We also owe our deepest gratitude to Dave, N2TJQ, for his "first class" display of working antique radios. Dave had a complete table all set up with these impressive radios and took the time to talk with everyone and anyone that wanted to know more about them. Some of these radios were even older than Earl, KB2SLE. Now that's old!

Well as we told you earlier this year you don't want to miss a single TARA meeting or you'll miss a lot! Hope you enjoyed the night. Maybe next year we can arrange for a "Picnic Night" for both July and August!