Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for April, 2020.
What a difference 30 days have made. The entire Great Lakes Division is now pretty much on "Hold" for the next month or so. Cabin fever abounds and like virtually every non-essential business, even the ham bands are closed.
NUTS!
I have heard from many of our Division members and everyone seems to be geared up to endure this radical change in lifestyle. Even my now-faint recollections from what our parents and grandparents went through in WW II don't really compare. I remember the rationing and the blackouts, but never was there a need to hole-up at home and not associate with friends, neighbors and family.
Travel by your Director, Vice Director and Section Manager is quite limited under the current crisis. We are assuming that everyone will be back on the proverbial road when our club meetings resume. It that point, we all will extend some extra effort to make up for those missed, cancelled and rescheduled meetings.
Importantly, we radio amateurs should not declare ourselves as essential workers and self deploy. Continue close contact with your local ARES Emergency Coordinator to confirm your availability if you are needed.
Any activation of our services should come through the appropriate agency and based upon their specific need. We can all do our part by being properly prepared and ready to activate IF that call should come.
We can be thankful now for Amateur Radio and even the non-ham technologies that let us communicate today. That takes some of the edge off. Let's use it, get on the air, try some new modes, work some new stations, fill up the log. If you don't have WAS, get it; if you don't have DXCC, get it; try some meteor scatter; try FT-8 or FT-4, MFSK, PSK-31, CW, AM, SSTV, moonbounce, Digital Phone, - okay, I've only got about 75 more modes to name....You can check into some new nets, make some new friends. And there are several interesting new nets in the Great Lakes Division, all taking advantage of those who folks are now available during the day. Join in.
Hamfests are still being postponed and cancelled, much to the disappointment of many of us, but it remains critically important for all of to continue the lock-down vigil until the Covid-19 crisis passes.
Taking this action now will give us the best chance of avoiding contact while affording the medical profession to get a leg up on the test kits and materials they sorely need to treat the victims of the virus. Stay the course; we will get back to normal, even if it is a different normal.
TOM'S TOME, Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Tom W8WTD.
So much has been written about the pandemic that I don’t need to say much more than to comment on what I have seen hams do in reaction. Many clubs have been meeting via video conference or chat, and that is a good thing. The repeaters are busy –well, busier than they usually are—so people are trying to stay in touch. This thing will eventually pass, and we need to continue to make plans, be prepared, and improve our capabilities. Not to mention that we need to check up on each other and support those who are lonely or need help in some way. So with all the electronic means at our disposal, it’s good to see that we are finding creative ways to communicate.
There are also projects, for people who are staying at home and not working. Some projects are just “catch up,” and others are in the nature of new modes or something else never tried before. New hams will miss out on some in-person mentoring, but the new On the Air magazine can help with some detailed illustrations of projects. And someone they know can always talk them through it. For those who have been around a while, QST always offers a few challenges, and there are other places to find worthwhile projects. The mail and the delivery services are still working, so parts are available.
It’s nice to see that someone came up with a contest idea to replace the “in-person” adventure of Hamvention. I suspect that we’ll be hearing of some other contests or operating events to help us stay in touch and keep our skills going.
For this part of the country, spring is welcome in that it brings warmth and sunshine, but it also brings the threat of severe weather. Let’s hope we don’t have to respond to those kinds of disasters along with the one we’re in. But we can be ready, and we’ll figure out what to do if and when we need to.
Here’s hoping that some breakthroughs are made soon, and that some of this present trouble will pass quickly. In the meantime, stay strong, and get on the air!
73,
Tom
--73, Tom W8WTD Vice Director, Great Lakes Division
HAMFESTING: This is a moving target. Essentially, most hamfests in the Great Lakes Division planned through the first of June, are either cancelled or postponed. If you swap is cancelled or the date is changed, please notify ARRL HQ. We work together with the HQ staff to verify all new date selections in the hope of mitigating date conflicts.
For the latest detail on cancelled hamfests, check the ARRL web page at:
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search/page:5/keywords:Canceled/model:Event
4/4/20 Lincoln Trail Elizabethtown, KY CANCELLED
4/11/20 Crossroads Kalamazoo, MI CANCELLED
4/11/20 Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Falls, OH CANCELLED
4/11/20 Letcher County Whitesburg, KY CANCELLED
4/18/20 Chassell Hamfest Chassell, MI CANCELLED
4/18/20 Portsmouth Hamfest Portsmouth, OH CANCELLED
4/19/20 GMARC Tech EXPO Madison Hgts, MI CANCELLED
4/26/20 Athens Hamfest Athens, OH To Be Determined
5/2/20 Cadillac Hamfest Cadillac, MI CANCELLED
5/17/20 Dayton Hamvention Xenia, OH CANCELLED
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.
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.
73, All the best to you and your family. Ham it up!
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Great Lakes Division
Director: Dale R Williams, WA8EFK
wa8efk@arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
