Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for March,
2020.
ARRL CEO. You may
have seen the formal announcement that ARRL is seeking applicants for the
position of Chief Executive Officer. A
detailed summary of the position is listed at http://www.arrl.org/employment-opportunities. The web page also lists the requirements for
the position and summarizes the essential job functions. Knowing the diverse nature of the radio
amateurs in the Great Lakes Division, I really feel that we do have several
well qualified individuals who can easily fit into the position. I urge everyone to look at the opportunity
and if you feel you might be interested, take the next step and apply!
All applications must be sent to: ARRL Attn: Monique
Levesque, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111, Fax: 860-594-0298, mlevesque@arrl.org.
GREAT LAKES DIV. CONVENTION. The 2020 Great Lakes Division ARRL Convention
will be held in conjunction with the Toledo Mobile Radio Association’s annual
hamfest in Perrysburg, OH on March 14 and 15.
ARRL President Rick Roderick K5UR will be there to meet
members and serve as the keynote.
Another special attendee is Bob Heil K9EID of Heil Sound who will be a
guest speaker.
Advanced registration and ticket purchase are available
now on-line. Be sure to register for the
Convention Banquet. Forums and the ARRL
Banquet are planned for Saturday, while the Hamfest is on the Sunday agenda.
Rick K5UR will present the latest information about key
events happening in ham radio and our ARRL.
Here is a sample of the current planned forum schedule:
Time Track 1 Track 2 Track 3
0800 Registration
0830 Event Kickoff
0900 ARRL Forum -
Rick K5UR
1000 TAPR Raspberry PI ARES Tabletop
1100 CompacTenna NBEMS ARES Tabletop
1200 Lunch Break
1300 Yaesu Foxhunting Soldering
1400 YLRL FT8 & FT4 Clock Kit
1500 ARISS Contesting Clock Kit
1600 Bob Heil
1700 Bob Heil
1830 ARRL Banquet
2030 Wouff Hong
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.
TOM'S TOME, Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Tom
W8WTD.
The event of the month for me was the ARISS event in
mid-February, where we put some elementary school students in contact with the
International Space Station via ham radio.
This one took place in the Cincinnati area, so I was able to help in a
number of ways. It takes a lot of time
and effort to set up one of these contacts.
The students get so excited about it. For months, their teachers work with them on
science projects designed to help them understand more about space,
experiments, and other things related to the program. They are just thrilled when they hear the
astronaut respond to their classmates’ questions.
We try to make sure they understand how they are talking
to the ISS.
That this isn’t just a phone call, but a ham radio
contact. And they get it, in some
limited way. At the end of the contact,
I was asked to stand up and acknowledge the efforts of the hams, and there was
good applause as I read off the names. I
was told I could say a few things about ham radio, and one thing I said stood
out for them. I told them that anyone
can get a license, and that some kids as young as five or six have actually
gotten their licenses. I wish you all
could have seen the reaction. Many of
them smiled and looked at each other as they realized that this was something
they could do, too. Afterward, their
teachers told us that some of them want to start a ham club. We hope they do, and we’ll help however we
can.
As I thought more about it, I wondered how we could
generate some of that same enthusiasm for ham radio in young people. ARISS is a great program, but there is only
one space station, and the crew is busy with lots of things. We’re glad they take time for ham radio, but
they can’t talk to every school. What
other things could we as hams do that would point out the “magic” of ham radio
for students?
I’ve seen some of that same spirit in things like
Jamboree on the Air, Kids’ Day on the Radio, and of course, for those who
participate, Field Day (the GOTA station is so important!) But getting them out to those events is the
hard part. We haven’t figured out if
there is anything like an ARISS contact for the whole school, or even a
classroom, that would generate the interest in ham radio as science and technology
like ARISS does.
A lot of you throughout the Division are working with
schools and students in various programs.
Keep up the good work. If you
have any suggestions for how to get teachers and students interested through
some exciting program, I’d love to hear from you.
--73, Tom W8WTD Vice Director, Great Lakes Division
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.
3/7/20 Cave City Cave City, KY
3/14-15 GL
Conv/TMRA Hamfest Perrysburg, OH
3/21/20 Gallipolis Gallipolis, OH
4/4/20 Lincoln Trail Elizabethtown, KY
4/11/20 Crossroads Kalamazoo, MI
4/11/20 Cuyahoga
Falls Cuyahoga Falls,
OH
4/11/20 Letcher
County Whitesburg, KY
4/18/20 Chassell
Hamfest Chassell, MI
4/18/20 Portsmouth
Hamfest Portsmouth, OH
4/19/20 GMARC
Tech EXPO Madison
Hgts, MI
4/26/20 Athens
Hamfest Athens, OH
5/2/20 Cadillac
Hamfest Cadillac, MI
5/17/20 Dayton
Hamvention Xenia, OH
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.
73, Ham it up!
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
