Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for November, 2022.
Another 61 days and this year draws to a close. Now, I take the time to look back on the recent past and think about the improvements that have been brought about at ARRL. Our new CEO David Minster NA2AA has been at the helm for a little over two years and has been recognized for his skills as leading up onto a bright future. Since becoming a ham, David has been very active in many aspects of amateur Radio. He operates; he works DX, he contests and he rag chews. He has an excellent understanding of what we need and how to bring it about. Under his leadership, our Headquarters staff is fully engrossed in the fact that our members are key to our success and everything we do has to focus on that area.
Those of us on the ARRL Board are concentrating on updating and revising how we can interact more with members, assist clubs in growing, and updating our ARRL Field Organization to match the current and future needs of ham radio. Simply put, "If you don't grow, you don't survive".
This puts a bit of a challenge upon all of us. I can carry on in this newsletter about how people should be ARRL members, but Dale's Tales is distributed to all of you who are already members. The membership message has to go to those hams who are not yet members of ARRL.
This means we all must become champions for the League and get onto the recruiting bandwagon. No one needs to grab the cymbals and a platform and stand on a street corner and shout "Join ARRL", but we all need to show our ham radio brethren the benefits of ARRL membership
Here are just a few:
Advocacy Programs
PRB-1 and Antenna Protection Legislation Lobbies for spectrum protection - Intruders and ventures wanting our frequencies Lobbies for additional bands. - WARC and VLF Represents the interests of US hams at IARU Rules Enforcement - Amateur Auxiliary and New FCC Monitoring Program
ARRL Laboratory
Technical Information Service
Tests new equipment and provides reports RFI Assistance Provides Social Media Programming
W1AW - Training and Bulletins
VEC – examinations
Free license renewal service
Publications - Technical and Operating Journals QST Monthly Journal On the Air new Bi-Monthly Magazine QEX and NCJ Bi-Monthly Journals QSL Service - incoming and outgoing
Training Courses
Technician Licensing
General Licensing
Teachers Institute
Volunteer Counsel Program
Volunteer Consulting Engineer Program
Technical Specialists
Volunteer Instructors
Electromagnetic Compatibility Committee
RF Safety Committee
ARRL Outreach Program
Youth
Schools
ARRL Foundation - Scholarships
Heritage Museum
NTS
ARES
Public Service Honor Roll
LoTW
On the Air Awards
DXCC
WAS
WAS
VUCC
A-1 Operator Club
Triple Play
Fred Fish Memorial Award
Morse Code Proficiency
Elmer Award
First Contact Award
Contests
Straight Key Night
Kids Day
RTTY Roundup
January VHF
School Club Roundups
International DX, CW and Phone
June VHF
Field Day
IARU HF World
222 MHz and Up
10 GHz and Up
Rookie Roundup RTTY
EME 23 GHz and Up
EME 50-1296
Nov Sweepstakes CW and Phone
160 Meter Contest
10 Meter Contest
Rookie Roundup - CW
Special: Board of Directors Awards
Doug DeMaw W1FB Technical Excellence Award, Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award, Knight Distinguished Service Award, Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award, Technical Service Award, Phil McGan award for outstanding PR effort, QST Cover Plaque Award, monthly for best QST article
A look at just a couple of these "bennies" should convince many that League membership is truly worthwhile.
I suppose many of who have been around a while have heard some of the comments offered by non-members, like "...the cost may be too high". I answer that with "I can cut one cup of coffee a week from my regimen and cover the cost of membership". You have to want to do it.
Then there is the unfortunate bad experience with someone at ARRL that a person had 25 years ago and the resentment still exists as a result.
Rest assured that the person that caused that issue is most likely no longer at ARRL and we do deserve another opportunity to welcome that person's membership. You have to want to do it.
So, as I drop my cymbals an step off the soapbox, I close with the request that we all become loyal Ambassadors for ARRL and encourage others to join us and become members. And do it now!
SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Scott, N8SY.
Fall has definitely arrived! The leaves have turned into a very beautiful array of colors and yes, we’ve even had some snow falling.
Now that Halloween is out of the way let’s start the really festive holidays. Oh, but before we get to shove all that great food into our tummies and gulp down grandpa’s special spiced up eggnog, we do have the annual returning to "normal" time coming up this next Sunday! Yes, you will need to set the clocks back to Standard Time this coming Sunday, November 6th.
This past month has been a very busy month with S.E.T., club meetings, hamfests including the one in Lexington Kentucky, and I dropped in on a couple of Jamboree On The Air events as well. I had a blast getting on the air with a bunch of kids during School Roundup and rounded the month of October off going to a really special celebration for the Cambridge Amateur Radio Association, W8VP here in Ohio. They were honored by the ARRL Board of Directors for being an Affiliated Club for 75 years! What a great accomplishment and congratulations to all the members of CARA.
What about your club? Has it reached a milestone like this yet? Many clubs around the Great Lakes Division were started before World War II and became ARRL Affiliated not long after. So, your club might have already gotten to that milestone of 50, 75 or even 100 years of affiliation. Yes, we actually do have one club in the Great Lakes Division that has already reached that 100-year milestone!
Shifting gears... I am happy to inform you that the scholarship application process is now open. There is a link on the ARRL homepage in addition to the link on the scholarship page. More than 100 scholarships ranging from $500 to $25,000 will be awarded in 2023. Hey, this is FREE money! How many kids do you know that couldn’t use a helping hand with their college tuition? All applicants must be active, FCC-licensed amateur radio operators and all applicants must submit a completed online application no later than January 4, 2023, at 12pm. Go to: http://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program
Shifting gears again... Did you notice in the November issue of QST in the Silent Key listings that they have now started identifying those SK’s that were also veterans. This is just one of the changes that our EC&FS Committee had initiated and has now been put into place. If you didn’t notice it, do yourself a favor and go back and take a look at all the veterans listed.
Speaking of QST, how many of you noticed in the October issue the listing of all of the "current" Special Service Clubs. Yes, the list looks long, in fact there are 97 clubs listed. The real truth of the matter is it’s actually very short compared to what it should look like, well over 300. Why do I say that? What you are not seeing is a list of literally hundreds of clubs that "used to be" a Special Service Club that, for whatever reason, just didn’t update their SSC record.
Now, we realize that some won’t meet all the requirements from year to year. But I’m afraid that this list is short simply because no one from the club bothered to update the record. In the past, the Special Service Club record needed to be renewed just once every 2 years. Thus, making this update very hard to remember. This is something that the EC&FS Committee also changed just recently. To make it easier for the Special Service Clubs to remember when they need to renew, the renewal date will now be on January 01 of each year beginning on January 01, 2024 and will need to be renewed every year on January 1st. Now, if things go as planned, (keep your fingers crossed) there will be new forms to use that will make renewing a breeze. Oh, here’s one other stat that you need to know about that SSC listing, 22 of those 97 are in the Great Lakes Division. Yes, the Great Lakes Division has over 22% of all the SSCs in the country! How’s about making that number grow simply by renewing your club’s SSC today!
Shifting gears again... QST’s newest column, "Club Station," is a space for clubs to share their practical ideas about what has helped lead them to their success. If your club has developed a creative way to get around common challenges, the ARRL wants to hear from you! They have published author guidelines that are geared toward "Club Station."
Want more information on how to submit an article? Go to:
https://www.arrl.org/qst-club-station-guidelines-and-profile-form All clubs are welcome to participate. Also, have you noticed in the ARRL ARES E-Newsletter that they are now publishing news from many of the Section Emergency Coordinators from around the country? Got an interesting ARES news story? Send it to: Rick Palm, K1CE at k1ce@arrl.net
OK, shifting down to come into the pit... Don’t forget the ARRL Sweepstakes (CW and Phone) as well as the ARRL EME contest. All of these are really great fun to do. Oh, I should mention that there are a few more contests as well but there’s just too many to mention here, so here’s the link to see them all... https://www.contestcalendar.com/
I hope that you can see that we ARE moving in a positive direction!
Yes, sometimes it takes longer than any of us would like, but we are listening to you and are working very hard every day to try to make things better for YOU, the member!
Okay, that is going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air, at a meeting or hamfest!!!" But most of all... Have FUN!!!!
73,
Scott, N8SY
Vice Director
Great Lakes Division
n8sy@arrl.org
HAMFEST LISTING:
Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests through the end of 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 January 2023:
Please note there are no ARRL Sanctioned Hamfests in the Great Lakes Division scheduled for November.
12/03/22 - Fulton County Winterfest, Archbold, OH
12/04/22 - Lanse Creuse, Troy, MI
01/15/23 - SCARF Hamfest, Shade, OH
01/22/23 - Hazel Park Hamfest, Royal Oak, MI
If your ARRL Affiliated club plans to request Hamfest Sanctioning, you should make that request well in advance of the scheduled Hamfest date, as this allows adequate time for QST Listings. QST announcements require a 3 month lead time. To be fair to our Division's clubs, the Great Lakes Division policy is to offer a club ARRL Sanctioning for a limit of two hamfests/swaps in any given calendar year, and they must be four months apart. 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
Just a brief final, 10 meters has been hopping the past few days, timing it right opens it up locally and also world-wide. Nice to see the band so active again. Hope to catch you there (while you are also recruiting for ARRL).
73,
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org
