Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for
January, 2020.
Well, here we go, off to a brand new year. Without doubt some interesting and exciting
things will come to Amateur Radio. New
equipment, advancing technologies, more products and features in a single
package will arrive this year. (Who
would have expected the arrival of a NANO-VNA vector network analyzer for $50
to appear in 2019? See the review in QEX magazine for January).
Your League is looking at preparing a different version
of a proposal to offer some antenna installation relief to those living in
areas where antennas are restricted by Homeowners' Associations. ARRL Continues to support changes to FCC
rules regarding symbol rates for digital communications, changing some band
plans to limit Automatically Controlled Data Stations to certain sub-bands. Both issues have associated consequences and
your Board of Directors continues to work within its several committees to
reach satisfactory conclusions in each situation. Both topics are scheduled to be discussed at
the January Board meeting.
So let me ask you a serious question: Are you going to be an Ambassador for Amateur
Radio in 2020? Opportunities await as we
enter this year.
As a leader in this hobby - and you are if you are an
ARRL Member - we all must be prepared to tell others about ham radio, how we
serve our communities, how we enjoy DX, how we enjoy contesting, Fox Hunting,
construction projects, VHF/UHF operation, satellite operating and (insert your
favorite facet here).
Each of us bears the responsibility to do what we can to
insure the future of Amateur Radio. By
keeping our friends and neighbors aware of what we do and keeping our community
leaders apprised of the service ham radio provides, we are able to secure the
niche that ham radio has.
ARRL Headquarters staff cannot do it alone, each of us
needs to "sell" our individual part of ham radio to those we know. Let's not keep ham radio a secret.
Tell the world about us.
Together, we can insure a bright future for both us and those that follow.
OUR GREAT LAKES DIVISION web page does carry news from
some of the recent events in the Division, useful links and information as well
as some neat photos supplied from around the Division. Check it out: http://arrl-greatlakes.org/
Be sure to check your ARRL Section's news pages for the
latest local happenings, club and net information.
At the request of our neighboring ARRL Midwest Division,
we have the following special announcement:
Greetings from St. Louis!
St. Louis & Suburban Radio Club's annual hamfest, Winterfest, is January
24th & 25th, 2020. This year we are
the Midwest Division conference and expanding to a two day hamfest with lots of
activities including the W9DYV Symposium, DX/ARRL Banquet and Contest College. We are also putting together an Education
Alley on Saturday to feature the local First Robotics team, maker spaces, STEM,
ARISS, YOTA and other fun events like kids texting vs CW, a CW speed test and
kit building.
Winterfest boasts 30K sq. ft. of indoor space with 3
forum rooms running all day, 100+ vendors and over 1500 attendees for the two
day event. We are looking at a bigger
event with becoming the division conference.
Our website can be found at http://winterfest.slsrc.org if you want
to check out all the events. We would
love for you to come and attend for the weekend, as we have lots of activities
planned!!!!!
73
Kyle Krieg
AA0Z
SLSRC President
For those involved the Fox Hunting, this announcement may
be of
interest:
Active Attenuator Construction Bee: Stan Briggs K8SB,
will be conducting a Construction Bee to satisfy the many requests to build his
universal active attenuator. The
attenuator is a powerful tool for use in radio direction finding and amateur
radio "Fox Hunts" and will work with any radio receiver.
Date: Saturday February 1, 2020. Time: 9:00 am to noon. Location:
Trenton Faith United Method Church, 2530 Charlton Rd,
Trenton, MI 48183
All parts and components to build the attenuator,
including the enclosure, will be provided ready for attendees to solder and
assemble their own units. Each unit will
be tested / demonstrated to verify correct operation at the conclusion of the
program. Note: Attendees must bring
their own soldering equipment (Soldering Iron–15 watt, solder, needle nose
pliers, etc.
Registration / Order is required by January 15, 2020, via
the Motor City Radio Club website at: http://www.w8mrm.net/event-3603333 where full project details are available.
TOM'S TOME
Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Tom W8WTD.
Greetings and Happy New Year! Some people like to take this time to reflect
on the past year. I prefer to look
forward. For instance, this year we have
our Great Lakes Division Convention. And
it will be here soon. The dates are
March 14 and 15th in Toledo, Ohio. Hope
you’ll make plans now to attend.
A lot of planning has gone into this event. There are lots of forums on all sorts of
topics, so if you want to learn more about a particular aspect of ham radio,
you should find what you want. Plus, the
hamfest and flea market on Sunday is worth attending. The website is now
active: www.toledoglc.org.
No matter where you live in the three states of the
Division, you should consider coming to Toledo this spring. It’s a way to meet other hams from the
Division, share what you know, and find out new things in ham radio. I hope to see you there.
On another topic, we hear lots of discussion about the
future of ham radio. A lot of us are
concerned, and ARRL is responding with a new magazine (On the Air) and other
initiatives. And many are doing what
they can in their local communities.
Another round of introductory classes will be held in many places around
the three states. Thank you to all the
volunteers.
Here is a question for new hams. Have I gotten on the air recently?
And for those licensed for a while—what can I do to help
someone enjoy ham radio? For the new
person, it may mean just overcoming mike fright and actually trying to get
on. Or, perhaps reaching out to someone
from the club to ask that question about the antenna you need.
For seasoned hams, maybe you can welcome someone to the
local repeater or wherever else you hang out.
Perhaps you can find an article to share about antenna building, or
better still, show someone how it’s done.
Ham radio can continue and will grow, depending on our
efforts. Resolve to do something today.
--73, Tom W8WTD Vice Director, Great Lakes Division
ARRL Hamfest Sanctioning offers hamfest sponsors the opportunity
to take advantage of some offerings from ARRL.
Your Division Director is pleased to make this Sanctioning available to
ARRL Affiliated Clubs who have a history of holding regular swaps. One successful swap normally qualifies! ARRL will provide prize certificates, QST
will publish the announcement for the swap, post it on-line at the ARRL web
site and supply requested hamfest handout material. The club, in exchange, shall provide ARRL a
table for "meet and greet" at the hamfest. Consult the hamfest pages on the ARRL web
site for the application form.
If you plan to request ARRL Hamfest Sanctioning, please
do so well in advance of your Hamfest date, as this allows adequate time for
QST Listings. QST requires a 3 month
lead time. It should be noted that there
has been a change in the way ARRL contributes to your hamfest efforts. Please carefully read the e-mail from ARRL
Headquarters confirming your sanctioning as IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT DETAILS
REGARDING PRIZES. Be sure to invite your
ARRL Officials as soon as your date is set.
With 52 weeks and 70+ hamfests in the Great Lakes Division, things do
requires some advanced planning.
HAMFESTING: Here
is the current Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned Hamfest Schedule covering
the next few months. These swaps have
received their sanctioning approval from ARRL HQ at the time of this
publication.
1/19/20 SCARF
Hamfest Nelsonville, OH
1/19-20 Hazel
Park Madison Hgts, MI
1/26/20 Tusco Strasburg, OH
2/1/20 HARA Negaunee, MI
2/16/20 Mansfield Mansfield, OH
2/23/20 Livonia CANCELLED for
2020
3/7/20 Cave
City Cave City, KY
3/21/20 Gallipolis Gallipolis, OH
73, Ham it up!
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
