This month we decided to hold off writing until after the social event. For the last few months almost everything in our organisation has been leading up to this, and now that it is a fresh and vibrant memory, we have a lot to write about. Thus this edition will serve both the months of February and March...

This is the special QSL card commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Israel Amateur Radio Club. The printing was sponsored in part by the Israel Government Medallions Corporation. If you work 4X/4Z stations this year, no doubt you're going to receive a lot of these cards.

THE 5OTH ANNIVERSARY IARC GALA EVENING

Israel's snazziest auditorium, the spanking brand new Tel-Aviv Centre for the Performing Arts was the scene. The radio amateurs, families, dignified guests et al began assembling at 6:30 PM on Thursday Feb. 12th in the vast foyer of the building.

Two chartered busses, from Haifa in the north and Beer Sheba in the south conveyed those from farther afield.

No one was to be left hungry or thirsty with the hors-d`oeuvres and liquid refreshment served. In cocktail party atmosphere all mingled. Indeed the number of people that showed up was amazing, and it was touching to renew eye-to-eye contact with so many old and new radio friends.

1100 was the number of tickets issued to the event.

At 8:00 PM we entered the auditorium, found our seats, and the formal part of the evening got underway. The well-known television personality Daniel Pe`er (brother of Rami 4X4LE) was master of ceremonies, was well-prepared for the evening and entertained us with anecdotes like when his brother Rami, who had set up his hamshack in the family's balcony, hysterically shushed the whole household, announcing he had contact with DX... a station in Kfar Saba!

Both King Hussein JY1 and King Juan Carlos EA0JC, who both were unable attend, sent greetings. The presidents of the Radio Society of Great Britain and the German DARC as well as the Belgian Amateur Radio Society AAA section addressed the assembled. The Minister of Communications, Mrs. Limor Livnat, Mayor of Tel-Aviv Mr. Roni Milo, and Israel Defence Forces Signal Corps Commander General Herzl Halali took the podium and delivered short addresses.

A most touching moment was the granting of plaques of recognition to those amateurs with us who were founding members of the IARC 50 years ago: 4X1AH Yankele Yitzhaki, 4X1AS Shlomo Menuhin, 4X1AT Ahron Kirschner, 4X1BM Moshe Breslav, 4X1CC Yoel Salomon, 4X1DF Amnon Bar Giora, 4X1FN Yuval Zeira, 4X1FQ Aaron Slonim, 4X4AB Moshe Baal Koreh, 4X4AD Yaacov Rovner, 4X4AF Efraim "Froike" Begun, 4X4BL Tzvi Pressman, 4X4BO Yair Burla, 4X4BR Eli Friedman, 4X4CL Shimon Volpe, 4X4DC Yehuda Crystal, 4X4DK Ami Shami, 4X4FL Miki Yonash, 4X4GT Tuviah Greengroz and 4X4RE Egon Ron. Monia Adam, veteran radio technician and "ZC6" operator in the pre-State days was granted an award of recognition.

Yankele Yitzhaki, speaking on behalf of the veteran amateurs, said that the term "radio amateur" is really a misnomer, as there was nothing amateurish about the work they did, with all the important developments in technology made by "amateurs" tinkering away in their attics and creating inventions that changed the face of the world.

The mayor of Tel-Aviv announced, making if official, that the cellular telephone company "Cellcom" had earmarked half a million sheqels for the renovation of the youth centre at the site of Old Tel-Aviv's water tower on Nahmani Street. The condition for this gift is that an amateur radio station be on the location, and this will be integrated into the site, such that this will become the long-awaited Israel Amateur Radio Club's very own home.

Two very young ladies, students in the amateur radio classes at the Katzenelson school in Holon, read together an item they had written for the evening, telling about their experiences learning about our hobby. Students from the same school were present that evening as ushers and usherettes, all sporting special white tee shirts with the emblem of the Israel Amateur Radio Club stencilled on.

When the Minister of Communications spoke, she related that her only involvement with communications as a child was making a "telephone" with two tin cans and a string. She also recalled that just over a year ago she had participated in the opening ceremonies of the International Amateur Radio Region I Conference in Tel-Aviv. Thus she was already acquainted with us, and should she continue on in her present capacity, she would be happy to open our next big function.

An 88 page book was distributed to all present. Along with the evening's program it was chock-full of photographs of old equipment, events of the IARC, QSL cards, commemorative certificates, postage stamps, articles about amateur radio in Israel, ads, etc. etc. It was printed in full colour on glossy paper and will no doubt be a collectors item. Another item given to each participant was a special phone-card commemorating the IARC's 50th anniversary and good for 5 minutes of overseas calls until June 1st.

After the intermission, the artistic part of the evening took place... Eitan Haberman 4Z7EEE conducting the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, which first played the overture to the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" with two arias sung by the soprano Dana Belzer. Afterwards Eitan conducted the orchestra playing Mozart's symphony no. 41, "Jupiter". It must be admitted that all us hams are not regular concert-goers, so there was a lot of applause between the symphony's four movements!

The conclusion of the evening was the drawing of door prizes... VHF and UHF radios from Icom, Kenwood and Motorola, cell-phones, 3 round-trip tickets from Air France to Paris, Beepers, Software and Internet subscriptions, and a satellite receiving station. But the biggest prize of all was one that every participant won... to be at this special evening that gave honour to amateur in Israel and see so many dear friends. May we all remain in good health to be present for the 75th birthday party for the IARC.

Click here for some photographs of the memorable evening!

NEWS SNIPPETS

It's almost impossible to get on the air here without creating a pile-up. Interest world-wide in the Israel 50th Anniversary certificate is running high, so all 4X/4Z stations are being sought after. And there's plenty of us to be worked, as on this end hams are spending hours daily on the air to make contacts for the award, which requires Israeli stations to make close to a thousand contacts apiece, depending on how many multipliers they can muster. If you hear a station with a call like 4X4--/SK, it's someone who has been authorised to put a silent key's callsign on the air. It's worth extra points... see the contest rules in our December issue or the IARC web site: www.iarc.org

The special IARC 50th anniversary QSL's have been printed and distributed to the members. A second printing is planned, but a new design will be used, as we don't want it to be said, "One country - one QSL." HI.

Last issue, we reported that the R4 repeater in Mount Canaan was down. But as soon as the ink had dried, the resourceful IARC repeater crew had found a temporary alternate location, and the machine is up and running as before, including its link to R1 in Jerusalem. Note: All other CTCSS (PL) tones have been discontinued. One and only one tone - 91.5 Hz - is guaranteed to open all our repeaters.

The regular meetings at the IARC headquarters in Tel-Aviv continue with technical lectures and demonstrations. The last few meetings have been devoted to Slow-Scan Television, the building, connecting and operating of a simple interface between the computer and the HF radio. 4X4GT has been lecturing on the practical side of it, with 4Z1PF the guru of the theoretical end.