Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for March
2019.
HAMVENTION® AND MENTORING: This year, the Dayton Amateur Radio Association
(DARA) will host the ARRL National Convention at Hamvention in Xenia, OH. The general theme this year is
"Mentoring". I am one among
many who feel that we fall far short of really fulfilling that task as new hams
enter this great hobby. DARA is right on
the mark for presenting this emphasis.
There are forums planned to help us all be better at
mentoring and I think we all need to take this truly to heart. Far too often we are too busy or otherwise
occupied to lend extend a warm greeting to a newcomer at a club meeting. We are too busy to ask if they need help
getting on the air. We are too busy to
ask if they need help selecting a radio, or installing an antenna. Does this seem familiar?
What we really need to do is get off the dime and learn a
little about the best ways to mentor and recognize those who may require a
little help, even when they have been reluctant to ask for it. I can remember being in that spot, those
experienced OTs scared the daylights out of me.
And not I find those positions reversed, and I really need to remember
that. DARA will open those doors and a
few eyes to be sure.
So if you are reading this issue of Dale's Tales as a
Great Lakes Division ARRL Member, you are close enough to make the trip to
Xenia and take advantage of what this year's ARRL National Convention and DARA
Hamvention offers. Plan it now, BE THERE
and enjoy the fun!
TOM'S COMMENTS: What’s on my mind this month? Education.
We’ll be seeing more programs and advances coming from ARRL headquarters
and the Lifelong Learning office soon.
And, throughout the Division, people are gearing up for classes this
spring, everything from Extra to Tech.
It’s great to see the enthusiasm that everyone has.
Please list your classes with ARRL and with your Section,
so those who might be searching can find what you are offering. And, as many of you already do, reach
out. Find other ways to publicize your
work. Check with some of the people who
were in your last class, or the one before that. How did they hear about the class? Maybe there’s a group out there with a few
individuals who might have an interest in ham radio.
It’s worth trying to find them.
And, as a few of us were discussing recently, getting the
beginning license is just that – a beginning. You know, it really doesn’t do someone any
good to hold a ham license if they never do anything with it. Mentoring and training must be a part of what
we do to complete the process of getting someone into ham radio. I encourage each club that has a license
class to find a way to follow up on that class.
It could be some additional sessions to help individuals with their new
radios.
It might be encouraging them to come to an operating
event. It might even be inventing an
operating event just so they can take part.
Some of this may even start during the initial
phase. If your sessions run more than a
few weeks, have you set aside time for people to actually pick up a microphone
and talk on the radio? A good control
operator can provide encouragement, and having club members out there waiting
to talk, sets up the exercise pretty well. Sometimes just overcoming mike
fright, or making an interesting contact, provides an extra incentive for
students to keep going in the class, and for them to make plans for how to get
on the air once they get that license.
Here’s hoping that by mid-spring we have more licensed
hams in the Division, and that by summer and Field Day, we have more active
hams in the Division.
--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.
If you plan to request ARRL Sanctioning, please be sure
to do it well in advance of your Hamfest date, as this allows adequate time for
QST Listings. Be sure
to invite your ARRL Officials as soon as your date is set. With 52
weeks and 70+ hamfests, things do double up a little.
Plan ahead for requesting your ARRL Officials to attend.
3/2/19 Cave
City Hamfest Cave City, KY
3/3/19 NOARS
Winter Fest Elyria, OH
3/16/19 Gallipolis Gallipolis, OH
3/16/19 Crossroads Kalamazoo, MI
3/17/19 TMRA
Hamfest Perrysburg, OH
4/6/19 Lincoln
Trail Elizabethtown, KY
4/7/19 GMARC
Technology EXPO Madison Hgts, MI
4/13/19 Letcher
County Whitesburg, KY
4/13/19 Cuyahoga
Falls Cuyahoga Falls,
OH
4/20/10 Portsmouth Portsmouth, OH
4/27/29 Ashland
Tailgate Ashland, KY
4/28/19 Chassell
Chassell, MI
4/28/19 Athens Athens, OH
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:
Be sure to check your Section's news pages for the latest
local happenings, club and net information.
73, Let's go light up the bands!
Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
