Saturday, February 22, 1992 AfterHOURS |’ HAVE WE MISSED YOU? If you have an upcoming event or a regular meeting and you want it listed in AftetHOURS, let us know. Call us at 365- 7266, fax us at 365-3334, or drop us a line at © DEADLINE Deadline for listings in AfterHOURS is Friday at 5:p.m. What’s on around the West Kootenay CLUBS CASTLEGAR Banjo’s Pub San Jose West Tonight 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. to midnight Budweiser Talent Search Mondays, 9 p.m. 365-6933 Brewskies Pub Double Exposure Tonight 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Exotic Dancers Mondays to Saturdays 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Karaoke Talent Search Every Monday 9:30 p.m. 365-2700 Dexter’s Pub Vertigo Tonight 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m Karaoke Tuesdays, 9 p.m. 365-5311 Marlane Hotel Exotic Dancers Monday to Saturday Noon to 12:30 a.m. 365-2626 ROBSON Lion’s Head Pub Karaoke Wednesday 8 p.m. to midnight 365-5811 .- TRAIL Crown Point Pub Eastern Breeze Wednesday to Saturday 9:30 p.m. to 1:30.a.m. 368-8232 ROSSLAND Powder Keg Pub 8750 Tonight 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. 362-7375 NELSON Boiler Room Nightclub Comedians Wednesdays 9:30 p.m. 352-5331 ART GALLERIES CASTLEGAR National Exhibition Centre Living Factories: Science Exhibit on Biotechnology Until Feb. 25 - 365-3337 NELSON Nelson Museum Exhibition of Paintings by Artist Helen Friesan Feb. 3 to Feb. 29 352-9813 GRAND FORKS Grand Forks Art Gallery Siddiq Khan: Still Life Drawings and Drawing the Line: Children’s Drawings To Feb. 29 442-2211 ~ MOVIES CASTLEGAR Castle Theatre Grand Canyon Tonight through Thursday 7&9p.m. 365-7621 TRAIL Royal Theatre Freejack Tonight through Thursday 364-2114 NELSON Civic Theatre FreeJack Saturday, 7 & 9 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. 352-5833 Beta Sigma Phi (Exemplar) 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. Various locations Next Meeting: Mar. 4 365-3114 Beta Sigma Phi (Preceptor) 1st Wednesdays , 7 p.m. Various locations Next meeting: Mar. 4 365-3401 Beta Sigma Phi (Ritual of Jewels) 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Various locations Next meeting: Feb. 26 365-6892 Canadian Cancer Society (Castlegar Unit) 2nd Monday of every other month 7:00 p.m. Castlegar Health Unit Next meeting: Mar. 9 365-6498 Castlegar and District Senior : Citizens Action Committee 1st Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Next meeting: Mar. 3 365-8237 or 365-0085 Castlegar City Council Regular meetings 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Council chambers Next meeting: Feb. 24 365-7227 Castlegar Hospital Auxiliary 3rd Mondays, 7:30 p.m. Hospital board room Next meeting: Mar. 16 365-6587 Castlegar Hospital Board 4th Thursdays Hospital board room Next meeting: Feb. 28, 7 p.m. 365-7711 Castlegar School Board 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m. School board office Next meeting: Mar. 16 365-7731 Castleview Care Centre Auxiliary 4th Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m. Castle View Next meeting: Feb. 26 365-3754 Christian Women’s Club 2nd Thursdays Fireside Inn Next meeting: Mar. 12, 7 p.m. 365-7728 David Thompson Stamp Club 2nd Mondays, 7:30p.m. ~ St. David’s Undercroft Next meeting: Mar. 9 365-5496 4-H Meetings 3rd Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Kinnaird Junior Secondary Next Meeting: Mar. 19 365-2352 Grief Support 3rd Monday of every month - hHome Support Office Next Meeting: Mar. 16, 7 p.m. 365-2148 Hospice (Palliative Care) Last Monday of every month Next Meeting: Feb. 24, 7 p.m. Castlegar Hospital Conference Room Kinnaird Women’s Institute 3rd Thursdays, 1:30 p.m. Next meeting: Mar. 19 365-5441 Kiwanis Club Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Fireside Inn Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-2151 Knights of Pythias — Twin Rivers 1st and 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m. Masonic Hall t Next meeting: Mar. 2 365-6149 Kootenay No. 9 Oldtime Fiddlers Monthly 2:30 p.m. Senior Citizen’s Hall Next meeting: Feb. 23 359-7621 Kootenay Temple #37 Pythian Sisters 2nd and 4th Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Masonic Hall Next meeting: Feb. 27 365-5282 Lions Club 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Sandman Inn Next meeting: Feb. 25 Regional District of Central Kootenay Various Times Nelson Next meeting: Mar. 7, 9 a.m. 352-6665 Rotary Club ‘Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Sandman Inn Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-2780 Selkirk Toastmasters 2nd and 4th Mondays, 7 p.m. Selkirk College, Room B17 Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-6442 or 367-6549 Selkirk Weavers and Spinners Guild 3rd Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. Castlegar Doukhobor Museum Next meeting: Mar. 18 365-5918 SHSS Parent Advisory Council 4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m. SHSS Library Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-7735 Strokers Club 2nd Wednesday of each month 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Senior Citizen’s Hall Next meeting: Mar..11 359-7480 or 365-3540 TOPS Club Tuesdays, weigh in 6 to 7 p.m., meeting follows Next meeting: Feb. 25 Back of Health Unit 365-3114 West Kootenay Family Historians 1st Monday of every month Next meeting: Mar. 2, 7:30 p.m. Downstairs, Castlegar Library 365-6519 West Kootenay Flyfishers - Club Next meeting: Mar. 10, 7 p.m. Aasland Taxidermy 365-8288 West Kootenay Naturalists Association Last Monday of every month Selkirk College, 7:30 p.m. Next meeting: Feb. 24 365-4933 Women’s Aglow Monthly Next meeting: Mar.4,10 a.m. Legion Hall 365-3279 SPECIAL EVENTS Kootenay No. 9 Oldtime Fiddlers Garage and Bake Sale Saturday, Feb. 22 10. a.m. to 2 p.m. Seniors Hall 359-7621 4-H Club Public Speaking Friday, Feb. 28 6:30 p.m. Community Complex 365-2352 OUR ACTION AD PHONE NUMBER IS 365-7266 @ Saturday, February 22, 1992 OurPEOPLE Hamming it up Tom Metcalf |S one dial away from the world Glen Freeman NEWS REPORTER thes: Tom Metcalf likes to keep in touch. And, thanks to his hobby as an amateur radio operator, he can reach out and touch people all over the world. Metcalf, bétter known to his fellow ham radio enthusiasts as VE7GCR, spends about two hours everyday chatting it up, often with people he has never met. “I’ve spoken to people in countries as far away as the Honduras, Norway, and Japan,” said Metcalf, adding that language usually isn’t a barrier. “Even if you don’t know their language, chances are they know yours,” he said. No doubt about it, amateur radio operators belong to a world-wide family. Take Thursday, for example. While discussing the merits of hamming it up, Metcalf was momentarily interrupted by Henry Traue, a fellow operator from Rossland. Traue remembers how he once helped a \homesick exchange student from Argentina. “I contacted some people, set some times, and got the student over to my house,” he said. “She was pretty excited to be able to talk to her parents for as long as she wanted.” And she didn’t mind that there was no B.C. Tel phone bill to glue in her scrapbook. Neither does Peter Zibin, who often finds occasion to talk to ham operators in his mother land — Russia. “[haven’t spoken to anyone in Russia for two weeks,” said Zibin. “But I know I can when I want too, at no cost.” “That’s another nice thing,” said Metcalf. “We talk to my brother-in-law from Victoria every week, and speak for free.” Speaking may be free, but the equipment isn’t. In fact, the sky is the limit when it comes to spending money on new radio technology. “But I think it would cost about $500 to get set up with basic ham equipment,” said Metcalf. “And that’s not bad for a hobby. It costs that much to get set up in skiing, and then you have to buy lift tickets.” Indeed, Metcalf’s habby has him looking more like a T.V. whiz-kid than a 71 year-old retired Cominco worker. Electronic parts, knobs, dials, and tools all have their place in his cozy attic. And, as often happens to whiz-kids, Metcalf was once guilty of stirring up the neighborhood: “I was working with some new equipment when it accidentally set off all of the (Robson) fire ,” recalls Metcalf. “That’s something I wouldn't like to do again.” Metcalf has been a licensed ham radio operator help during desperate situations. From the comforts of his Robson home, Tom Metcalf is in touch with the world, thanks to his ham radio. But it’s not all from and games for Metcalf and fellow radio operators who'll can be called upon at any moment to News photo by Glen Freeman since 1987,.after passing an intensive exam regulated by the Department of Communications. “This is not something you can just pick up and do,” said Metcalf. “You have to study the theory of radio, radio waves through space, and so on.” And study he did. Hampered by a learning difficulty and a bout with cancer, Metcalf enlisted the assistance of his brother-in-law and passed his exam. “I used to have a feeling that I couldn’t accomplish,” said Metcalf. “But becoming an amateur radio operator has taught me differently. “Friends and family helped me to get my cere cenot and I’ll never forget that,” said e z Another thing Metcalf won’t forget is why he originally got interested in radio. While driving down a remote B.C.road, Metcalf came upon a terrible auto accident. At the scene was a woman who was critically injured.:A helpless Metcalf could only watch her die. “T believe that if I would have had a CB radio or some kind of communication, I could have saved her life,” Metcalf said with regret. He learned the importance of amateur radio that day, and still holds that ham operators can assist a multitude of people. “Any natural disaster, any search and rescue, any catastrophe — amateur radio plays a major role,” said Metcalf. “Often we work hand-in-hand with the police or local authorities, and communicate’messages that they sometimes can’t,” he added. But surely in this the age of fax machines, car phones and Cable News Network, ham radio is taking a back seat to modern technology? “That’s not so,” said Metcalf. “Actually, it’s playing a greater role today. There are times when phone lines are down or systems are messed up, and our mobile rigs and home bases are the only means of communication with the outside world.” And if Dave Dudley, a teacher at Stanley Humphries Secondary School, has his way, his students may soon be using ham radios. “If nations such as Brazil can get their school- kids set up in amateur radio technology, I think we should be able to as well,” he said. Dudley has been a ham operator for about 12 months. As the role of amateur radio grows, so does the number of operators. “There are about. 30 to 40 members in our club,” said Metcalf, “and our numbers are growing.” The Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Club, of which Metcalf is president, meets again Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at the Selkirk Learning Centre in Trail. “And visitors are welcome,” insists Metcalf. So if you like chatting with people in foreign lands, or just want to reach out and touch a ham operator, join the club. Tom Metcalf did.