Friday, July 29, 2016

Dale's Tales for August 2016

Greetings everyone, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for August, 2016.

NEWS FROM THE DAYTON HAMVENTION®: The Dayton Amateur Radio Association

(DARA) regrets to inform our many vendors, visitors and stakeholders that, unfortunately, HARA has announced the closing of their facility. We have begun execution of our contingency plan to move Hamvention® 2017 to a new home.

DARA and Hamvention® have enjoyed many successful years working together with HARA Arena and we wish the Wampler family the best.

DARA and Hamvention® have been working on a contingency plan in the event HARA would become unavailable. We have spent many hours over the last few years evaluating possible locations and have found one in the area we believe will be a great new home! Due to logistics and timing issues, we will make a formal announcement introducing our new partner.

This information will be coming soon. We all believe this new venue will be a spectacular place to hold our beloved event. Please rest assured we will have the event on the same weekend and, since it will be in the region, the current accommodations and outside events already planned for Hamvention® 2017 should not be affected.

We look forward to your continued support as we move to a new future with The Dayton Hamvention®.

Signed:
Ron Cramer
General Chairman
Dayton Hamvention 2017

The Mad River Radio Club hosts another one: the upcoming Ohio QSO Party. It will be held August 27, 2016.  Full details, rules, links and forms are at http://www.ohqp.org/ For those among us who are not familiar with the MRRC, it is a regional club of contest enthusiasts who really enjoy putting counties (and people!) on the air.  You can check the MRRC web page at http://www.madriverradioclub.org/

Welcome to the new hams that have joined ARRL recently.   The number of members in the Great Lakes Division has continued to grow somewhat this year while we had expected a slight downturn.   Division membership stats stand at 12,796, making us one of the larger of the 15 Divisions in the ARRL.  We do encourage members to occasionally review and update their Personal Web pages by logging into ARRL.org and looking at their personal profile.   There is also the opportunity to view and select your various e-mail subscriptions ARRL offers under "Edit your Profile".  Check it out!

TOM'S COMMENTS:  Comments from our Vice Director Tom Delany W8WTD Is there a busy season for ham radio?  Maybe, but we also seem to find a lot to do any time of the year.  If anything tips the balance toward summer being the busiest, it’s probably the public service events. 

Nice to see so many people taking part in helping with communications for bike rides, runs, parades, etc.  What we do is always appreciated. It’s a good time for newer hams to take part, and learn what goes on with nets and remote operation.  Good training for emergency work.

There are lots of hamfests coming up in the next couple of months.

I’ll be at Columbus, Lawrenceburg, KY, Cincinnati (OHKYIN), as well as Greater Louisville and Findlay. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and talking about what is going on in your part of ham radio

I’m always encouraged to see youth in ham radio.  There are lots of good programs throughout the Division, and lots of plans to help get and keep youth involved.  Speaking of involvement, it was nice to meet Chris, KD8YVJ, this year’s winner of the Hiram Percy Maxim award. I wish his enthusiasm for ham radio would rub off on everyone!

73, Tom W8WTD Vice Director, Great Lakes Division

AMATEUR RADIO PARITY ACT:  Congress is currently in recess, due back in early September.  When this happens, we will be getting information to you so you may contact your elected representatives encouraging their support of the Amateur Radio Parity Act. You can find the latest information at http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act

ARRL SANCTIONED HAMFESTS:  Here is the current Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned Hamfest Schedule covering the next few weeks.  These swaps have received their sanctioning approval from ARRL HQ at the time of this publication.  We have approximately 65 hamfests each year in the Great Lakes Division.  I do encourage each Hamfest Chair to register early for ARRL Sanctioning.  It is never too early to register your hamfest with Headquarters.  Be sure to invite your ARRL Officials as soon as your date is set.  Help avoid date conflicts, do it early!

Aug 6 - Columbus Hamfest - Columbus, OH
Aug 6 - UP Hamfest - Escanaba, MI
Aug 7 - Seaway Trunk Swap - Port Huron, MI 
Aug 14 - Central Kentucky - Lawrenceburg, KY 
Aug 21 - Cuyahoga Falls Tailgate Swap - Stow, OH 
Aug 21 - Warren Tailgate Swap - Cortland, OH 
Sep 10 - GMARC Trunk Swap - Shelby Twp, MI 
Sep 10 - Louisville Hamfest and KY ARRL Convention - Sheperdsville, KY 
Sep 11 - Findlay Hamfest - Findlay, OH 
Sep 17 - OHKYIN Hamfest - Cincinnati, OH 
Sep 18 - Adrian Hamfest - Adrian, MI 
Sep 24 - GRAHamfest - Wyoming, MI 
Sep 24 - Richmond Fall Hamfest - Richmond, KY 
Sep 25 - Cleveland - Cleveland, OH 
Oct 1  - Vette City - Bowling Green, KY 
Oct 8  - Thunder Bay - Alpena, MI 
Oct 15 - Muskegon Color Tour - Muskegon, MI 
Oct 16 - Conneaut Hamfest - Conneaut, OH 
Oct 16 - Kalamazoo Hamfest - Kalamazoo, MI 
Oct 23 - Massilon Hamfest, Massilon, OH 
Oct 29 - Hazard Hamfest - Hazard, KY 
Oct 30 - USECA Swap - Madison Heights, MI

Be sure to check your Section's news pages for the latest local happenings, club and net information.

73, See you on the bands,

Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division

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ARRL Great Lakes Division
Director: Dale R Williams, WA8EFK