I did a little research on what plaques the club membership has agreed to sponsor. This list has no bearing on what plaques we are actually paying for now, but is an expression of the club’s past desire to sponsor certain plaques. It gives us a baseline from which we can make future financial decisions. For each plaque I’ve included the last year I could verify our sponsorship, according to the various sponsors’ results articles/rules, and the cost, if known.
For reference, please see messages #7105 and #5044 on the CTRI Yahoo! Group site. I can’t find reference to specific sponsored plaques in any minutes of the meetings for which I found records.
73,
Pat, NG1G
ARRL DX Phone #181 (New England SOLP) – last sponsored in 2011 ($75)
ARRL RTTY Roundup #28 (New England SOLP) – last sponsored in 2012 ($75)
NEQP (RI SO) – currently sponsored ($40)
CQ WPX RTTY (M2 USA) – last sponsored in 2012 ($65)
ARRL SS Phone #104 (New England SOLP) – last sponsored in 2009 ($75)
NAQP January SSB (New England SOLP) – no historical info on NCJ web site, but we are not currently a sponsor ($75?)
CQ WPX SSB – I can verify that we have not sponsored this plaque since at least 2005, perhaps before then. ($65?)
CTRI Intra-Club Contest ($50 ea.)
Pat,
Thanks for doing this research. It will proved helpful. Mike, K1DM
Pat thanks for the research. Our sponsored plaques have changed over the years. We have done SS, CQWW, CQWPX, New England Qso Party, etc. At one point, it was recommended that we only sponsor NE area plaques (Highest NE SSB for Contest X, Highest NE RTTY for Contest Y, etc). We have picked up sponsorship and dropped sponsorship over the years. So right now I for one really don’t know what we are sponsoring and it would be a great topic to raise at the next meeting. I believe it is our largest expense. However we always wanted to sponsor plaques (especially for the major contests) to increase our visibility and ideally draw in new members.
On a related note, Randy K5ZD is looking for sponsors for a number of CQWW plaques. See http://www.cqww.com/plaques.htm
Jim KS1J
Jim,
Unless Chuck, KA1CQR has records to indicate otherwise, I think my list tells the whole story except for where the sponsor’s data isn’t up to date (my list also doesn’t include the plaques he recently wrote checks for, as I forgot to write them down). I also think that rather than what plaques we are currently sponsoring, what is most important is what the membership now wants to sponsor, if any. It’s good to revisit this issue periodically, as our membership and financial situation changes pretty regularly.
Money is the issue, and how to get it is the answer to the problem.
73,
Pat, NG1G
All good info Pat and Jim. Chuck KA1CQR, our treasurer, has details from ‘the books’ that aligns with Pat’s recent contesting plaque sponsorship info. I concur, this is a year-to-year issue, with future sponsorships and changes always open for discussion.
**At present**, the club has just funded the 2013 WPX RTTY M2 USA plaque. In addition, we’ll likely be asked to continue sponsoring the ARRL RTTY RU (New England SOLP) and the NEQP RI Single Op plaques during this year…thus one confirmed and two anticipated CTRI CG plaque sponsorships at this point in 2013. Our annual ‘in-house’ Intra-Club competition plaques awarded to club members are, of course, expenditures in addition to these other sponsored contest-specific plaques.
The January 2013 meeting confirmed we presently have club funds to support all these plaques in 2013. Plans for 2014 (and beyond) are up for discussion at future meetings.
Bill W1WBB