- Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas
- They went Phishing
- How to Raise Money for Your Club
- Nominations Open for Dayton Hamvention Awards
- New Amateurs Listed
- A&F Meeting Notes
- Great Lakes Division Elections this Coming Fall
- Further Results of the Recent Division Member Survey
- Engineer Volunteers offer Advice to Radio Amateurs
- This Month's Final
- Tentative Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule
+++ Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas +++
I wish each of you and your families a very happy Hanukah and merry
Christmas. I hope you have a very joyful and holy season.
+++ They went Phishing +++
If you received or receive an E-mail identified "Mailbox Manager
Report! Attention: American Radio Relay League Email User!" Ignore it.
It is not from ARRL HQ and has nothing to do with any changeover in
ARRL websites. It represents a Phish for information you do not want
to disclose to the sender (whoever this is). Sent by a Worm program
that infected an innocent, unprotected host computer?
+++ How to Raise Money for Your Club +++
Michigan ACC Scott Bicknell, W1BIC reminds me to mention that ARRL
Affiliated Clubs can receive money from most ARRL members without
costing them a penny and with only minimal effort. This can be done
simply by paying ARRL dues through an ARRL Affiliated Club. Affiliated
clubs can retain $15 of each new ARRL membership made through it and $2
of each ARRL membership renewed through the club. This is just one of
the benefits to clubs that affiliate with ARRL.
The membership commission program should be an excellent way for a club
to add to its treasury while strengthening Amateur Radio at the same
time. Each new ARRL member strengthens the ability of the League to
promote and to defend Amateur Radio. Encouraging amateurs to become
ARRL members is a function that local clubs are highly suited to
perform -- and they gain $15 for each of these new members they
recruit. Similarly, taking ARRL renewals from club members should be a
very simple, easy-to-perform service that will also benefit the club.
To learn about the benefits of being an ARRL Affiliated Club, go to
arrl.org/affiliated-club-benefits. Information on the club
commission program is found by clicking on the Club Commission Program,
To obtain the forms to process Club Commissions and memberships paid
through clubs go to arrl.org/files/file/Clubs/rebate.pdf.
+++ Nominations Open for Dayton Hamvention Awards +++
Nominations are open for 2011 Dayton Hamvention(TM) Awards. In the
words of Hamvention Awards Committee Chairman Frank Beafore, WS8B, the
awards are the “Academy Awards of Hamvention.”
New in 2010, the Hamvention Awards Committee introduced a new award --
The Club of the Year -- with great success: Beafore stated “Because
of the number of great clubs nominated and their big contributions to
the growth of ham radio, we elected to make this award a permanent
addition to the Hamvention Awards event.” The four Hamvention awards
therefore now are: The Amateur of the Year Award -- given to the
special person who has made a long term commitment to the advancement
of Amateur Radio, the Technical Excellence Award -- given to the person
who has made an outstanding technical advancement in the field of
Amateur Radio, the Special Achievement Award -- given to honor someone
who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Amateur
Radio and the Club of the Year Award -- given to recognize the
accomplishments, activities and public service of an Amateur Radio
club.
Recipients of the awards are selected by the Awards Committee, based
partially upon the information received, not the number of nominations
submitted.
Documentation of achievements of nominees is beneficial. Magazine
articles, newsletters, newspaper clippings, videos are examples of
documentary evidence that will support a candidate's accomplishments.
Materials submitted with nominations become the property of Hamvention
and cannot be returned. Nominations may be sent via e-mail (please
scan all supporting documents and send them as attachments) or US Mail
to Hamvention Awards, PO Box 964, Dayton, OH 45401-0964. Nomination
forms for both the individual awards and the club award are available
in PDF format at hamvention.org/awards.php#nominations. If
you send a nomination by E-mail, the Awards Committee asks you to put
your name in the subject line of the message.
+++ New Amateurs Listed +++
Certain Affiliated Club officers may access listing of newly-licensed
amateurs in their areas from the ARRL website. This is done by going
to arrl.org/affiliated-club-benefits and clicking on the New
Amateur Reports for Clubs link near the bottom of the list of Affiliated
Club benefits. Lists may be seen, downloaded and printed as
comma-separated or tab-separated formats. The HTML format is not yet
available.
+++ A&F Meeting Notes +++
The ARRL Administration and Finance Committee (A&F) met at League HQ in
Newington, CT on Saturday, November 20 for an intense discussion of many
topics. These ranged from government-mandated business issues to
changes in communications between Staff and the Board and the status of
the new website project. Results of this and other committee meetings
will be reported to the Board of Directors at the January Board meeting
for action.
+++ Great Lakes Division Election this Coming Fall +++
The tri-annual election for Director and Vice Director of the Great
Lakes Division will take place this coming fall. Even so, now is a
good time for GLD members to begin to look around to see if they know
of amateurs who they believe should be nominated for one of these
positions. Eligibility requirements for Director and Vice Director
candidates are stated in the ARRL Articles of Association as follows:
"Article 11:
"No person shall be eligible for the office of Director, Vice Director,
President, Vice President, or Treasurer who has not been a Full member
of the League for at least four continuous years immediately preceding
nomination and throughout the subsequent term of office, nor shall any
person be eligible who has not held continuously during that period a
valid authorization as a radio amateur in accordance with the
applicable laws and regulations of the United States. No person shall
simultaneously hold the office of President or Vice President and
Director. No person shall be eligible for, or hold, the office of
Director, Vice Director, President or Vice President whose business
connections are of such nature that his or her influence in the affairs
of the League could be used for his or her private benefit or would
materially conflict with the activities or affairs of the League. The
primary test of eligibility under this portion of the Article shall be
full compliance with the Articles, By-Laws and Rules and Regulations of
the League relating to ethics, elections and conflicts of interest."
Directors and Vice Directors are elected to terms of three years each.
Director-Vice Director elections occur in five Divisions on a rotating
basis each year.
Watch for a call for nominations in the July and August, 2011 issues
QST. Vote counting will occur next November and winning candidates
will take their positions at noon on January 1, 2012.
+++ Further Results of the Recent Division Survey +++
The following are a few more of the results of the recent Great Lakes
Division Survey.
To the question concerning a possible new 470 kHz band, 37% stated no
interest of operating on this band, 29% would get on after commercial
equipment becomes available, 15% would be among the first to get on and
17% said they do not have sufficient space for an antenna for the band.
A good majority (61%) of respondents knew that the ITU is An arm of the
United Nations that holds periodic meetings of world governments to
develop and oversee international telecommunications treaties.
The counterpart question to the one about ITU was correctly answered by
59% who said IARU is An International coordinating organization of
National Amateur Radio Societies.
Seventy five percent said they know who their ARRL Director and Section
Manager are, and are familiar with the tasks these elected officials
perform.
Of those who took the survey, 70% voted in the last elections.
Incidentally, the Board is reviewing means through which voting can
become simplified and one hopes will gain additional membership
participation.
To a question similar to the one on 470 kHz, 43% expressed no interest
in operating on 60 M, 36% do not now operate on 60 but will likely get
on the band provided planned FCC rules changes for it are adopted and
12% currently operate on the band and expect to use it more. Four
percent use the band now and would probably not increase their usage if
the FCC proposals are activated.
There were a number of interesting and useful comments made to the
questions that were asked, as well as on different topics. I greatly
appreciate the time and thought that were put into taking the survey.
There are more to come. In the meantime, feel free to E-mail or
telephone me if you would like to discuss your likes, dislikes and
suggestions.
To see the results of the survey in greater detail, go to the Great
Lakes Division website at arrl-greatlakes.org. The answers and
comments are posted here.
+++ Engineer Volunteers offer Free Advise to Radio Amateurs +++
Several years ago, the ARRL established an appointment for engineers
who are willing to provide initial, free advice to amateurs with
engineering issues related to Amateur Radio. These Volunteer
Consulting Engineers (VCEs) are available to help hams address
structural requirements set forth in local zoning authorities.
An up-to-date list of VCEs in the Great Lakes Division can be found on
the GLD website -- www.arrl-greatlakes.org. Click on the Staff icon at
the left of the home page and then on Volunteer Consulting Engineers to
reach the lists.
Engineers who would like to consider becoming a VCE are invited to
click on the To Become A Volunteer Consulting Engineer link at the
bottom of the right-hand column of the VCE list. Here, one can review
details of this position and apply for an appointment if they choose.
+++ This Month's Final +++
It is no secret that the new ARRL website has had a rough time at
birth. The status at this time, to continue the analogy, is that its
head and shoulders have been delivered and the hips can be seen. The
birth is nearly complete.
Completing the birthing process will not mean the end of work on the
new site. Actually, it will continue to evolve over time. What the
completion of the process will mean is that work on the site will be
turned over completely to the ARRL IT group and ARRL staff. If one
uses the site reasonably often, it becomes obvious that there are a
number of tweaks and modifications needed to make its functioning more
intuitive and ham friendly. For one thing, there are few instances
when a website user should be directed to click on a link to accomplish
an action only to be taken to a different page where the instruction,
again, is to click on a second link to accomplish the same action.
What is good to see is that in the short time since management of the
project was shifted to our CEO, and the ARRL IT group became involved
more deeply in the project, much progress has been made.
Incidentally, if you run into a problem or an
it-doesn't-make-sense-to-me situation with the new site tell HQ about
it. Go to the very bottom left of the home page and click on the
Contact ARRL link. In the space for a message, please describe the
situation briefly, but in sufficient detail to allow another person to
know what you experienced and where you experienced it. By this I mean
tell what the problem is, where it is (the URLs involved), what you were
trying to do and any message errors you received, Address the message
to Website Support.
+++ Tentative Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule +++
Hamfests in the following list have received ARRL sanctioning as of
press time. Hamfests and other events for which a Great Lakes Division
representative is scheduled to attend are identified with the
representative's name. The schedule can be expected to be fine-tuned
from time to time.
Patronize ARRL-sanctioned hamfests. Hamfests, conventions, symposia
and similar events sponsored by ARRL-affiliated clubs may be eligible
to be sanctioned by the League. For information on sponsoring and
sanctioning a hamfest or convention, go to
arrl.org/hamfest-sponsor-support. To have your hamfest sanctioned,
go to arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application to apply on
line. Hamfests are already being sanctioned for 2012!. Please be sure
to read the requirements for having an event sanctioned before
submitting a request.
Hamfest Chairmen, please remember to order your free handouts that are
available from ARRL. These handouts are to be displayed on the ARRL
table you provide. These replace the box of assorted goodies HQ
previously sent automatically. The reason for the change is to allow
you to select only the materials you believe will be of value and
interest to your attendees.
2010
5 Dec: LCARC Swap/Hamfest, Harrison Twp., MI
2011 Happy New Year!
16 Jan: 45th Hazel Park Hamfest, Hazel Park, MI - Jim*
16 Jan: SCARF Hamfest, Nelsonville, OH
20 Jan: A&F Meeting, Newington, CT - Jim
21-22 Jan: ARRL Board Meeting, CT - Gary, Jim
30 Jan: Tusco ARC Hamfest, Strasburg, OH
6 Feb: NOARS Winter Hamfest, Lorain, OH
12 Feb. Cherryland ARC Swap-n-Shop, Traverse City, MI
13 Feb: IARC Mid-Winter Hamfest, Mansfield, OH - Jim*
20 Mar: TMRA Hamfest/Computer Fair, Perrysburg, OH
20 Feb: Livonia ARC Swap-N-Shop, Livonia, MI - Jim*
19 Mar: Crossroads Hamfest, Marshall, MI - Jim*
2 Apr: ARGYL Hamfest, Lowell, MI - Jim
9 Apr: 55th Cuyahoga Falls ARC Hamfest, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
16 Apr: Milford Swap and Shop, Milford, MI
14 Jul: Committee Meeting, Newington, CT
15-16 Jul: ARRL Board Meeting, CT - Gary, Jim
17 Jul: Van Wert Hamfest, VanWert, OH
31 Jul: Portage Hamfair 11, Randolph, OH
6 Aug: Voice of Aladdin Hamfest, Columbus, OH - Jim
21 Aug: Warren ARC Hamfest, Cortland, OH
28 Aug Cambridge ARA Hamfest, Cambridge, OH
17 Sep Richmond Hamfest, Richmond, KY
*Driving conditions permitting.
- Ohio State Parks on the Air, 2010
- Cover Plaque Awarded to former Division Member
- Kentucky QSO Party in November
- The New ARRL Web Site
- Ohio Section Manager Frank Piper, KI8GW Elected to Own Term
- What's On The Air
- This Month's Final
- Tentative Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule
+++ Ohio State Parks on the Air, 2010 +++
The annual Ohio State Parks on the Air contest will be Saturday,
September 11, 2010, from 1600 UTC to 2400 UTC. The prime purpose of
the contest is to promote public awareness of ham radio. I suspect the
second purpose is for everyone who enters to nave fun.
Portable and mobile stations, individual or club will operate from as
many of Ohio's 75 state parks as possible. Forms and all official
information, are on the OSPOTA web page.
OSPOTA is sponsored by the Portage County (Ohio) AR Service.
+++ Cover Plaque Awarded to former Division Member +++
Jim Garland, W8ZR has been voted to receive the QST Cover Plaque award
for August The award resulted from his construction article, “The
StationPro Master Station Controller.” These awards are made based
upon the vote of ARRL members via the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page on
the ARRL web site.
Jim is the retired President of Miami University in Oxford, OH. He
moved to Santa Fe, NM after retiring from MU. He is an avid designer
and builder. This is not his firs QST Cover Plaque award. More
importantly, he is a great ham and great person. Congratulations once
again to Dr. James C. Garland, aka Jim in Amateur Radio circles.
To vote for an article in QST to receive the monthly Cover Plaque award
go to the QST Cover Plaque Award Poll.
+++ Kentucky QSO Party in November +++
The 2010 running of the Kentucky QSO Party will be from 1400 UTC
Saturday, November 13 through 0200 UTC Sunday, November 14. The object
for stations in the Commonwealth is to contact as many stations in any
location as possible. Stations outside Kentucky contact as many
stations inside the Commonwealth as possible. Full rules and
additional information. Click on
2010 Ky QSO Party Rules at left of page.
The KYQP is sponsored by the Western KY DX Association.
+++ The New ARRL Web Site +++
As I mentioned last month, the new web site is coming nearer to
completion. Difficulties remain with a few features. These are being
addressed by Fathom, the web site contractor. Once these problems have
been resolved, a few tweaks will probably need to be applied here and
there as well. These tweaks are likely to include alterations in page
layout and presentation as HQ learns membership preferences.
If you run across a glitch in navigating the site, please take a few
minutes to report it to Katie Glass, KB1ULQ at kglass@arrl.org. It is
most helpful to report where you were (the internet address or page
name), where you wanted to go and specifically what you did to get
there (e.g. clicked on link XYZ) when you ran into the problem.
Include any error message (or screen shot of it) you received wherever
you ended up, and its internet address. Doing this will give Katie the
information needed to get the problem fixed by the correct person in the
shortest possible time. Saying, for example," there is a problem in
getting to the membership database" is generally not helpful.
+++ Ohio Section Manager Frank Piper, KI8GW Elected to Own Term +++
The election of Frank Piper, KI8GW as Ohio section Manager puts him in
the position of having his own term in office. Piper, who won a
strongly-contested race with Tom Sly, WB8LCD, had been appointed by
Membership and Volunteer Programs Department Manager Dave Patton, NN1N
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of long-time SM Joe Phillips,
K8QOE. The margin of victory was 91 votes.
Of his appointment as Ohio SM, Piper had said, "I had 3 goals, keep the
Section running, keep the Section smooth, and keep the Section quiet.”
In noting the closeness of the election he commented, ". . . it sends
to me (there is, ed.) a clear picture that maybe the Ohio Section does
not want the status quo."
To Frank, good luck in your full term as SM. To Tom, thanks for your
knowledgeable competition to make the election a true race. It is
through friendly competition that ARRL grows stronger.
For your information, Section Manager elections will take place for
Kentucky in early 2011 for a term beginning April 1, and for Michigan
in late 2011 for a term beginning January 1, 2012. The next elections
for Great Lakes Division director and vice director will be in late
2011 for terms beginning 2012. As a reminder, SMs serve for two years.
Directors and vice directors serve for three years.
+++What's On The Air +++
This is not a statement. It is not a question. It is the name of a
former magazine about broadcast radio in the US and Canada. It was
"The Magazine for the Radio Listener." A non-ham friend loaned me a
copy of the April, 1931 issue. This was issue No. 6 which suggests the
monthly magazine was introduced in November, 1930. It was published by
the What's on the Air Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.
What's on the Air (WOTA) magazine is interesting partly because it
attempts to cover nearly everything the listener may want to know about
. . . well . . . Listening. This issue devoted a 14" x 11" page to the
Federal Radio Commission (FRC). It was written by G. Franklin Wisner,
the chief of Press Service of the FRC. The articlediscussed
"Controlling Radio's Traffic Lanes." The FRC recognized that doing
this related to ". . . a world problem of momentous proportions"
because airwaves are not limited to national borders. Of course, Hiram
Percy Maxim, aka W1AW today, had arranged in 1925 for the founding of
the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) because he recognized the
same fact.
In 1931, NBC and CBS existed. WOTA listed their programming as well as
contained photos and articles about their personalities. The truly
interesting part of the magazine is its listing of all BC stations with
power rating of 100 watts and over. Of these, Kentucky had 5 stations,
Michigan had 14 stations and Ohio boasted a great total of 19
stations.
Add tables of stations and frequencies, lists of what programs were on
and where, indication of which programs are "chain" (network) programs,
and photos and articles on personalities and other topics about
broadcast radio and you have 35 pages (with no advertising) for a cost
of 35 cents per issue or a whopping $1.50 per year
+++ This Month's Final +++
Great Lakes Division (GLD) members recently received requests to
support two legislative initiatives in the US Congress. The first of
these requests was specifically related to Amateur Radio. It asked
Ohio members to write letters to Ohio's US Senator Voinovich requesting
that Amateur Radio mobile activities be excluded from restrictions under
national distracted driving laws. The request was for letters to Sen.
Voinovich, only, because of his membership on the Senate Committee that
is considering these bills. This series of requests went to each state
that has a senator on the Committee. Depending on the progress of this
legislation, we all may be asked to write to our US senators at a later
date.
The second request is not so obviously related to Amateur Radio. It
asks members throughout the Division to write their US Representative
and US Senators to include an expanded increase in tax deduction for
mileage driven while supporting the work of non-profit organizations.
Although an increased deduction would benefit amateurs as well as
non-amateurs, it is probably not the type of legislation that pops into
our mints when we think of Amateur Radio.
The point of this note is that ARRL has become much more active at the
grassroots level than in the past in advocating for legislation that
favors Amateur Radio. This is true whether the benefit is direct or
indirect. Involvement of individual members by following through on
requests for letters, for phone calls or for personal visits to
legislators is key to the ultimate success of these legislative
activities.
It is commonplace for us as individuals to be skeptical that "our"
letter will do any good. This is an understandable reaction in modern
society. On the other hand, letters from individual members in other
organizations are firmly accepted as benefiting their cause. Possibly
the best example of this is the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Highly restrictive gun laws are few in this county, partly because of
the responsiveness of individual NRA members to requests they contact
their legislators about legislation.
It is true there are more gun owners in the US than radio amateurs.
What this really means is that we hams need to work together even more
closely than larger organizations to be heard as a strong, unified
voice. When we individual hams come together for a cause we can and
will be successful.
Please join the ham chorus when you are asked to make your voice
heard.
+++ Tentative Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule +++
Hamfests in the following list have received ARRL sanctioning as of
press time. Hamfests and other events for which a Great Lakes Division
representative is scheduled to attend are identified with the
representative's name. The schedule can be expected to be fine-tuned
from time to time.
Patronize ARRL-sanctioned hamfests. Hamfests, conventions, symposia
and similar events sponsored by ARRL-affiliated clubs may be eligible
to be sanctioned by the League. For information on sponsoring and
sanctioning a hamfest or convention, go to
www.arrl.org/hamfest-sponsor-support. To have your hamfest sanctioned,
go to http://www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application to apply on
line. Hamfests are already being sanctioned for 2012!. Please be sure
to read the requirements for having an event sanctioned before
submitting a request.
Support our Division hamfests and swaps:
11 Sep: Greater Louisville Hamfest, Shepherdsville, KY - Jim, John
11 Sep: GRAHam fest, Wyoming, MI
12 Sep: Findlay Hamfest, Findlay, OH - Jim, John
18 Sep: Central KY ARES Hamfest, Richmond, KY
19 Sep: Greater Cincinnati ARA Hamfest, Cincinnati, OH - Jim
19 Sep: Adrian ARC Hamfest, Adrian, MI
22 Sep: Directors webinar - Jim
26 Sep: Cleveland Hamfest, Cleveland, OH - Jim, John
27 Sep: Adrian ARC meeting, Adrian, MI - Jim
28 Sep: Cherryland ARC meeting, Traverse City, MI - Jim
5 Oct:: OH-KY-IN ARS ARRL Night, Cincinnati - Jim
14 Oct: Mahoning Valley ARA ARRL Night, Youngstown, OH - Jim
16 Oct: Ohio Section Conference, Columbus, OH - Jim
16 Oct: Great Lakeshore Super Swap, Holland, MI
17 Oct: Kalamazoo Hamfest, Kalamazoo, MI
23 Oct: QMN 75th Anniversary Banquet, Owosso, MI - Jim
27 Oct: Directors webinar - Jim
30 Oct: Hazard Hamfest, Hazard, KY
31 Oct: Massillon Hamfest, Massillon, OH
6 Nov: Grant ARC Georgetown, (OH) Hamfest - Jim
20 Nov. A&F Committee meeting., Newington - Jim
24 Nov: Directors webinar - Jim
Weaver's Words -- Jingle, Jingle
Friday, December 3, 2010