TCA Notices & Announcements

2007 TCA MEMBER MEETING Current plans are to hold the next TCA member meeting in conjunction with the Michigan Antique Radio Club's "Extravaganza" in July of 2007. More details will be availbale as they emerge.

REPORT OF 2005 TCA MEETING AT GOLD HILL   TCA's Board opened its 2005 meeting at 8:02 PM on Sept. 30, at the Old Sams Valley School, Gold Hill, Oregon. Members present were Jerry Vanicek and Ludwell Sibley (also representing Jim Cross, Hisashi Ohtsuka, and John Walker by proxy). Bob Deuel represented Al Klase. Sibley, acting for Cross as chairman, opened the meeting. Al Jones, past president, was in attendance. Minutes of the 2004 meeting (Tube Collector, Oct. 2004, p. 2) were distributed and approved. Results of the mail-in Board election that terminated June 30 were announced. Jerry Vanicek was elected for a three- year term, as a replacement for Philip Rheinschild, whose term had expired. As for elections by the Board, Jim Cross had volunteered for a third term and was reelected as Chairman. Ludwell Sibley and Al Klase were selected for second terms as president and vice president respectively. Bob Deuel continues as secretary-treasurer. The membership report prepared by Bob Deuel was discussed. The July 2005 figure was 390 (340 in North America), versus 297 at year-end 2001 or 356 at YE 2003. (Membership has since grown to 403.) Members prepaid for calendar year 2006 are 101, with 42 for CY 2007 and even one for CY 2009. U. S. membership is distributed in a manner parallel to that of the antique-radio community - 28 in New England, 72 in the mid- Atlantic area, 43 in the South, 62 in the Midwest, 33 in the Southwest, and 91 in the West. Membership outside North America has grown from 44 to 50. In the matter of finances, Deuel submitted a full analysis of the club's financial position. It will shortly be necessary to provide the Internal Revenue Service with data to support continuation of our 501(c)(3) tax status, the normal requirement after initial operation. Deuel will work with our accounting firm to supply this information. The promotion of membership growth in North America and overseas was discussed. Sibley proposed to get an updated version of the Association's introductory flyer in time for distribution ca. December. It is to go, in quantity, to other electronics-oriented groups. Advertising via QST and/or World Radio is also planned. Sibley reported on publications. The stock of material ready to use in Tube Collector remains healthy, with about 75 pages of articles ready for use (and backed-up off-site). However, contributions from members are as welcome as ever. A recent sampling survey of TCA members provided useful insight into what content is most (and least) desired in the magazine or Special Publications. The Board discussed and approved Deuel's proposed 2005- 2006 budget. Sibley proposed increasing the distribution of TCA literature to libraries of antique-electronics museums beyond the four that presently receive it, as a public-educational effort in accordance with the Association's 501(c)(3) tax status. Four to six more museums are good candidates. The idea was accepted. The location for the 2006 and 2007 member meetings was taken up. Sibley offered to host the 2006 meeting at Gold Hill, at a considerable saving in cost. The proposal was approved. The date is proposed as Sept. 29-30, pending coordination with other clubs in the West. The idea is to expand to an open house on Friday afternoon, with the meeting and accompanying sessions on Saturday. As for 2007, Jerry Vanicek proposed consideration of a meeting colocated and coordinating with the Michigan Antique Radio Club "Extravaganza," a well-reputed event which has shown strong attendance in recent years. It is usually held at Lansing, early in July. He will check with MARC as to feasibility. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.   TCA MEMBER MEETING, OCT. 1 The member meeting followed the next morning, as conducted by Ludwell Sibley and opened at 9:00. Minutes of the 2004 meeting (TC, Oct. 2004, p. 3) were handed out and approved. Results were announced as to the new Board member and reelected officers. (See the Board report for details.) Business matters covered included brief reports as prepared by Bob Deuel on the membership and financial situation of the group. The status of the publications program was covered. (Again, see the Board report for details.) The plan to use the same site next year was announced. As for certificates and awards, Abel Santoro has joined the ranks of "Ace Authors" by having a fifth article accepted for publication. The Schrader Award for collecting went to Norm Wilson, N6JV. This is the second time that the proprietor of a "virtual museum" on the Web has been recognized with this award, and reflects a new trend in collecting and public outreach. The Stokes Award for authorship went to Danial Stocks in honor of his series of articles on original topics in Tube Collector. The formal meeting was adjourned about 9:45. At that point Peter Keller gave a photo-presentation on historic and unusual cathode-ray tubes. He was followed by Lane Upton with an illustrated talk on a line of late-vintage ceramic planar triodes of extraordinary performance made at Eimac - Salt Lake City. (His talk is planned for publication in the December magazine.) Afterward, Bob Deuel gave a dual talk: showing the WL-787 classroom-demonstrator triode at work, and operating a group of Gammatron-based oscillators using specific variants of 6X5 and 6AX5 duodiodes. His concluding point was operation of an AM 'phone transmitter in the broadcast band, using a mass of 6AX5s and talking to a receiver across the room! (We plan to reveal the secrets of this rig in future.) After a lunch break, Joe Knight filled in for Will Jensby with a photo presentation on the Perham Collection (ex- Foothill Museum) as it is now being accessioned by History San Jose. Will had planned to speak but was unable to attend. The message of the talk is that the collection is emerging from its long twilight in storage and is receiving professional recording and preparation for display. Next a sale of tubes took place, thanks to Joe's auctioneering skill. History San Jose received about $1900 from the sale. Going back to presentations, Norm Wilson revealed his techniques for getting high-quality digital photos of tubes and posting them on the Web. Finally, Ludwell Sibley gave a talk on the Dowd-RCA archive of the AWA Museum and the Perham-Eimac files of History San Jose. He handed out xerocopies of letters between Eimac on one hand and Major Edwin Armstrong and Major Harold Zahl on the other. The meeting concluded with a drawing for door prizes (a new Eimac RX-21 from Lane Upton, a Canadian Osram 2A5 from Fin Stewart, a group of "Tube Collector" T-shirts - in English or Japanese - from Jim Cross). Numerous novel tubes were on-display, like Bob Deuel's 80 in a 27-sized bulb and Raytheon 6D5, or Lane Upton's Eimac tubes, among them a "Capacitron" electrostatically fired glass ignitron, a 2000T, and a 2000R. A total of nine Audions, in original or replica form, were on display by courtesy of Will Jensby, Bob Deuel, and Bob Lindsay. A small but vigorous flea market took place, including a group of superb Audion replicas brought from Germany by Heinz Trochelmann. The meeting ended about 3:30.