Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for July, 2023.
The ARRL Great Lakes Division VOTA Day.
As reported in the June edition of Dale's Tales, the ARRL officials of the Great Lakes Division are teaming up to hand out points for the ARRL Volunteers on the Air operating event. We started on July 1 at 0000 GMT and will finish 24 hours later. Operations include CW, phone and digital, focused on the 80, 40 and 20 meter bands. No skeds, it is all random, no one will have any idea of the bands or time any given person will be on.
Your Director, Vice Director and our three Section Managers are all locked in to hand out points. All of our ARRL volunteers serving in any capacity are most welcome to participate to give out points, and of course collect a few points as well.
Keep in mind it is scheduled in GMT so it has possibly started by the time this goes to press. 8:00 PM EDT or 7:00 CDT Friday evening.
I trust that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Field Day. This is traditionally the largest operating event in the US and Canada, and the premier opportunity to demonstrate amateur radio to the public and our public officials. It is the perfect opportunity to improve our operating skills, I for one, always find that after FD, I can more easily copy stations in the noise and through QRM despite these ancient ears of mine.
At my home FD station we welcomed our State Representative and his wife as visitors. Our local crew even managed to get his wife on the air at our GOTA station where she contacted a station in Puerto Rico. She was impressed, and we were likewise. She is a very good operator, now the next obvious step is to get her licensed!
I am sure there are stories like this all across the country, and it shows that amateur radio is a strong and valuable resource in times when regular communications are stretched to their limits. Our thanks to each and every one of you FD ops for your active participation.
Our ARRL Board of directors meets in July. We do face some challenges as you well know,
not the least of which is the examination of our current dues level. Our survey of the membership is now complete
and we have been reviewing that data.
Dues have not changed over the past few years and the Board and HQ staff
have done much to reduce operating expenses.
Many in-person meetings have been eliminated and thanks to various means
of video conferencing we have been able to continue these important tasks. Non-critical hiring has been frozen and other
austerity programs are in effect where we do not affect member services.
With a nominal inflation rate around 3% per year, it is still not possible to hold things at the present level.
We will look at many options offered by members through the survey as well as those used by similar organizations. Like any increase, not everyone will find it palatable. But the Board has the legal, fiduciary responsibility to insure the longevity of the organization and under its charter, continued service to our members.
Please keep your thought with us as we carefully consider these many options.
SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY. - July Edition
Hi,
I’m assuming that all of you are reading this on July
1st. If that is the case you need to
stop reading this and "Get On The Air With The Great Lakes Division
Cabinet" Yes, all of the Great
Lakes Division Cabinet is on the air today so that you can take advantage of
being able to earn some extra points in the year-long Volunteers On The Air
event.
Look for all of us somewhere on the HF Bands for sure. Oh, and we are not leaving out the Technician Class folks either. You too will be able to collect those points as well since some of us will also be in the Technician Class band on 10 meters.
Shifting Gears...
Field Day has now come and gone.
I know some of you are curious as to just how many Field Day sites I got
to. Well, like so many years before, I
didn’t get to as many as I wanted to. I
always think that I can get to more sites than is physically possible to do.
The distance between sites, traffic and just plain taking the time to visit with everyone wherever I go tends to make getting to more sites very difficult to do. However, I did get to 14 sites this year. I didn’t keep track of just how many miles I drove, but it was quite a few and well worth it to get to see and talk with all the fantastic hams throughout the Great Lakes Division!
This year was a year of a couple of firsts for me. I was escorted around one Field Day site in a
"Gator." This was my first
ride in one of those really cool vehicles.
Wow, this was a blast for sure and it also saved a lot of walking
between radio operations. Another first
for me was that I got to sit and wait for a parade that not only passed right
in front of me, but they also turned right in front of my car making a left
turn and going down past me, making me a part of the parade. At least that’s the way it felt to me. I also got to fly a drone for a few short
minutes around a Field Day site. This is
something that I had been wanting to do for a very long time.
Everywhere I went I was greeted with smiles, handshakes / hugs, and an open invitation to as much food as anyone could ever want. The Great Lakes Division folks are the "Greatest" for sure!!!
Yes, I took pictures, lots of them! But I want to get your pictures too. If you stopped by the Great Lakes booth at Hamvention this year you saw the gallery of pictures on the screen. Many of these pictures came from your Section Managers as well as what I had taken over the years. I want to keep growing this gallery with as many pictures as I can get and Field Day is a great starting point. I hope you had people taking pictures of your Field Day event this year. Oh, and it doesn’t have to be just Field Day either, hams participate in a whole bunch of other activities throughout the year that would be great to have in the picture gallery as well. Now, send them to me at: n8sy@n8sy.com
Shifting Gears once again... In a couple of weeks Dale and I will be heading up to Newington for the summer board meeting. These are 3 days of very intense meetings, but a lot of great things come from them. I know that many of you have concerns so please don’t hesitate to let Dale and I know what’s on your mind.
Shifting gears to come into the pits... Whelp, that’s going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air", at a hamfest or your next club meeting. Have a really great 4th of July and please stay safe!
Hey, don’t forget to participate in your local club’s
activities!!!!
It’s important to
be a part of your club and ham radio, and not just a reporter.
73,
Scott, N8SY@ARRL.ORG
Vice Director
Great Lakes Division
HAMFEST AND EVENT LISTING:
Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests and Special Events through September of 2023.
07/08/23 - Mansfield Mid Summer Trunkfest, Mansfield, OH
07/15/23 - GM ARC Trunk Swap, Shelby Twp, MI
07/15/23 - NOARS Fest, Elyria, OH
07/16/23 - Van Wert, Van Wert, OH
07/22/23 - Ashtabula County Hamfest, Pierpont, OH
08/05/23 - Columbus Hamfest, Grove City, OH
08/05/23 - UP Hamfest, Rapid River, MI
08/12/23 - Cincinnati Hamfest, Owensville, OH
08/19/23 - Portsmouth Hamfest, New Boston, OH
08/20/23 - WARA Tailgate Swap, Cortland, OH
08/27/23 - Seaway Trunk Swap, Port Huron, MI
09/09/23 - Letcher Co KY ARC Hamfest, Whitesburg, KY
09/09/23 - Greater Louisville Hamfest, Shepherdsville, KY
09/10/23 - Findlay Hamfest, Findlay, OH
09/16/23 - Hiawatha ARA Swap, Negaunee, MI
09/16/23 - Richmond Hamfest, Richmond, KY
09/17/23 - Adrian Hamfest, Adrian, MI
09/23/23 - CMARC Hamfest, Okemos, MI
09/23/23 - Gaylord Hamfest, Gaylord, MI
09/24/23 - Cleveland Hamfest, Berea, OH
09/30/23 - KY4ARC Hamfest, Paintsville, KY
Please post this listing in your club's newsletter and announce the swaps on your local nets. Talk them up. Let's fully support all of our hamfests in every way possible. It means success for everyone.
Be sure to invite your ARRL Officials as soon as your date is set.
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.
73,
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org
