Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for June, 2022.
HAMVENTION has come and gone, but from this ham's perspective, it was so great to have it back. Our Great Lakes Division booth inside ARRL's EXPO, drew many visitors. Thanks to all who stopped by and posted their QSL cards and signed our guest register. I'm sure there were many, many more that visited and did not have the opportunity to register. It seems everyone was enjoying the Hamvention's return, visiting the dealers, vendors and flea market and taking the opportunity to enjoy the many forums that are always a part of this experience.
Our thanks to the Dayton Amateur Radio Association for their outstanding efforts in pulling this excellent team of volunteers together to make Hamvention the greatest Amateur Radio event in the world.
JUNE brings Field Day, the biggest operating event of the year. It is time to finalize your plans. Operate with a club or on your own, but this is a great time to exercise your skills. I know that when FD is over, I am a better op. I clearly can discern calls and signal reports through QRM and QRN much better following my streak of Field Day operating. And despite the fact that my club sets up much like previous times, there is always some innovation or idea that gets tested each year. Often with success, sometimes not, but we learn from both the successes and the failures and that is just one of the fun parts of Field Day.
THIS WEEEKND, we honored our brave heroes who gave their lives in defense of freedom. I hope you all took the time to think about them and their great sacrifices. Even a short moment of remembrance, a brief thought of their time served, or a pause of respect for their families, is the least we can offer.
LAST MONTH I wrote about some changes to hamfest listings and how we will approach ARRL Sanctioning these activities. The policy revision is to offer ARRL Sanctioning to a maximum number of hamfests/swaps sponsored by a club and will be limited to two in any given year and they must be four months apart. This is done in the interest of fairness to every ARRL Affiliated club hosting a hamfest, and will allow clubs to adjust to new schedules caused by prior COVID-related cancellations.
I have received some good suggestions relating to naming conventions as they relate to "Hamfest, "Swap", Swapmeet", "Trunkswap", "Trunkfest" etc. and have been talking with my fellow ARRL Directors about how best to name these events. Listings will now be shown as either "Hamfest" or "Swap", using the sponsor's registration and a guide. In most circumstances, "Hamfests" include at least one building for housing displays and vendor tables and may offer forums or meeting rooms, while "Swaps" are primarily smaller in scale and limited to outdoor events.
Let's try to move our event listings in this direction, while allowing a little leeway as we make this migration.
SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Scott, N8SY.
Wow... I think that sums up Dayton weekend! It was so great getting out and being able to see and talk with all of you and boy, we did talk. I've had the opportunity for many years to man that booth and I will say that this year was the best. Yes, we had our booth neighbors on either side of us jealous as we had them stacked up 5 - 6 deep many times throughout the weekend. If you didn’t make it to Dayton this year. I am so sorry for you. The theme this year was "Reunion" and it really fit. It was a reunion for everyone there. Now, I have to ask, how many of you purchased new radios while you were there. It seemed like everyone that passed our booth had some sort of a new radio in a bag or under their arm. So, with all those new radios just purchased I hope to start hearing some of you on the air soon!
Shifting Gears...
Now that Dayton is over are you ready for more fun?
June 25 - 26 is Field Day. The biggest event that we all do every year that demonstrates to our served agencies what amateur radio is really all about, communications. Are you participating with a local club this year or just having some ham friends over for a great weekend? I will be out and about once again this year. I will try to get to as many of the Field Day sites as I can. I usually hit around 14 - 16 sites and I choose them from whatever direction I happen to pick from the dart that I throw at the dartboard. Have you listed your Field Day site on the ARRL Field Day Station Locator yet? Here’s a link to it... https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator
Now, my territory is large so if I don’t get to visit your site this year, please forgive me. I’ll try harder next year to get to you.
Oh, thank you in advance for all the warm welcomes and great food. Hams love to eat and they have the best food for Field Day. I even had fresh lobster one year!
OK, shifting gears again... Now, for all the contesters out there. June has contests even if you take Field Day out of that picture. If you are interested in just having some fun, here is a link to a schedule of all the contests for the month of June... https://www.contestcalendar.com/fivewkcal.html
A few folks asked me recently why my article sounds like I’m in a race car with the shifting of the gears. Well, it’s simple, I live just in front of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and many times when I’m writing this column I’m outside where I can hear the cars on the track shifting up and down and I tend to type in tune with the shifting up and down that the cars are doing. So, if sometimes my articles seem "geared" to motorsports, now you know why. Oh, by the way, Mid-Ohio is the only track in Ohio that does a NASCAR race. Just imagine how hard it is to run one of those cars on that track when it has both left and right turns! It’s a blast for sure.
That is going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air, Field Day or at a hamfest!!!"
73,
Scott Yonally N8SY, Vice Director, Great Lakes Division
HAMFEST LISTING:
Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests through August 2022. Please note that all are subject to change, so please stay current by checking the sponsoring club's web page before making your travel arrangements.
Be sure to invite your ARRL Officials as soon as your date is set.
Please feel free to reproduce and publish in your local Club Newsletter with credit to the source.
ARRL Sanctioned Hamfests through August 2022:
06/04/22 - Fulton County Swap, Wauseon, OH
06/04/22 - IRA Hamfest, Hudsonville, MI
06/05/22 - Chelsea Hamfest, Chelsea, MI
06/11/22 - Luce County Yooper Hamfest, Newberry, MI
06/11-22 - St Joseph Hamfest, Centreville, MI
06/18/22 - GM ARC Trunk Swap, Shelby Twp., MI
06/18/22 - Midland Hamfest, Midland, MI
06/19/22 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI
07/09/22 - Mansfield Mid Summer Trunkfest, Mansfield, OH
07/10/22 - Flying Beers, Ferndale, MI
07/16/22 - NORAS Fest, Elyria, OH
07/16/22 - GM ARC Trunk Swap, Shelby Twp, MI
07/17/22 - Van Wert Hamfest, Van Wert, OH
08/06/22 - Columbus Hamfest, Columbus, OH
08/13/22 - Letcher Co, Hamfest, Whitesburg, KY
08/13/22 - Cincinnati Hamfest, Owensville, OH
08/20/22 - GM ARC Trunk Swap, Shelby Twp, MI
If you club plans to request ARRL Hamfest Sanctioning,
you should do so well in advance of the planned Hamfest date, as this allows
adequate time for QST Listings. QST
announcements require a 3 month lead time.
If your swap is cancelled or the date is going to change, please notify ARRL HQ.
For the latest detail on regional hamfests, check the
ARRL web page at:
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar
73,
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org
