The position of ARRL Section Manager (SM) is truly the one I found to be the most interesting, exciting and rewarding. I was able to select excellent people to serve in the various leadership positions in my Section, and give them the full opportunity to succeed in developing and growing their programs. Each of could innovate, collect the best ideas from our fellow Section leaders and apply them locally. It also gave me personally some great lessons-learned when something bombed out and didn't work as expected, but those experiences are the very best opportunities for learning.
With the Section Manager job now about 10 years behind me, I still maintain it to be the most rewarding leadership position in ARRL. That being said, the following five paragraphs are directed to our fellow hams in the Kentucky Section:
As our Kentucky Section is currently without a Section
Manger and the normal election cycle for that position has started, the door is
open for all qualified candidates to place their name into the ARRL election
process. This affords a fair and
equitable position for every potential candidate as there is no advantage given
to an incumbent office holder.
Here are some rules excerpts about the SM election cycle which is currently opening:
"The Rules and Regulations of the ARRL Field Organization require that any candidate for the office of Section Manager must be a resident of the Section, a licensed amateur of Technician class or higher, and a Full member of the League for a continuous term of at least two years immediately preceding receipt of a petition for nomination and throughout the subsequent term of office. A Section Manager shall not simultaneously serve as an Officer, Director or Vice Director. A person who is removed from the office of Section Manager by a recall election or by action of the Executive Committee shall not be eligible to be a candidate for Section Manager in the next election following removal from office. Further, any person who is removed from the office of Section Manager by action of the Executive Committee must receive the consent of the current Executive Committee to be eligible to run for that office again.
"Each candidate for Section Manager may submit a 300-word statement for inclusion with the ballot. With this statement, the candidate may submit his or her black-and-white photograph not larger than 3 inches high and 2 inches wide to likewise be included with the ballot. The submission of this statement and photograph shall be filed as elsewhere required, and must be truthful, and not misleading, which matters will be conclusively determined by the Election Committee. The standard of truth applies to all mailings by a candidate."
For Section Manager terms beginning April 1, as is
Kentucky: 1st notice; October QST, (It is already out). 2nd notice; November QST. Closing date for nominations; the Friday PRIOR or CORRESPONDING
to December 10, at 4 PM. Ballots are
mailed January 2. Deadline for returns;
the
Friday PRIOR or CORRESPONDING to February 20, at 4 PM, and are counted the following Tuesday.
Interested persons may visit https://www.arrl.org/section-terms-nomination-information for the complete details and application material.
SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Scott, N8SY.
Wow! Are you ready for fall??? It looks and feels like fall around here for sure. I’ve seen the pumpkin spice latte coffees, pumpkin spice cookies and even some pumpkin spice liqueur on the shelves lately. But I do have to say, I walked into a Lowe’s the other day, and they are all decked out for Christmas!! Now that’s going a bit too far for me. We do need to get Halloween and Thanksgiving out of the way first!
Shifting gears... I’ve got a new item to tell you about from our EC&FS Committee, this time it affects all ARRL Affiliated Clubs. In the past your annual club update to the ARRL was always due no later than your anniversary date. If you are a Special Service Club the same held true, but it only renewed once every 2 years, making it all that much harder for everyone to remember when to update their records. So, in order to make things easier to do and to remember, all ARRL Affiliated Clubs will renew their Annual Report on January 01 of each year, starting in 2023, thus eliminating the need to remember the anniversary date. It will just come due by the first of each year. Now, to make it easier for the Special Service Clubs on their renewal we did the same thing. The renewal date will be on January 01 of each year. Since SSCs were originally a 2-year renewal, we changed that as well. It’s now going to be a 1-year renewal starting on January 01, 2024. To make it even easier for clubs to update their records, the forms to update your club records are getting a makeover so that they will be much easier to complete as well. If things go as planned, (keep your fingers crossed) they will also automatically email you once you’ve completed the forms to let you know that they have gotten submitted!
Shifting gears again...
This past month was a very busy month for me. I not only went out and visited with some clubs, but I
also got to a number of hamfests as well, including one in Kentucky! I did get to spend some time in Newington
this month as well. I was one of the
presenters at the latest Section Manager Workshop. This is a mandatory class for all new Section
Managers and there were 22 of them there this time around. The reason for so many is that they really
hadn’t done any in-person training since before 2020. So, this was the largest class of Section
Managers ever to go through this training.
My portion of this was to present them with "What does it take to
be a successful Section Manager." I
had a blast going over all the various items that a Section Manager is
responsible for. YES, Les and Tom were
both in my class! It wasn’t all
classroom material either, in the afternoon we did get to play a little at
Headquarters, getting a brief tour of the main facility as well as visited
(operated) W1AW. It
was a great weekend and I do believe that many of the new Section Managers had a notebook full of ideas that they might try in their Section. Watch out for things to come, I know that Les and Tom both took a lot of notes! Want to see some of the pictures from the Workshop?
Go to: http://arrl-ohio.org/sm_training_2022/
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 c
hallenges, 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... This weekend is S.E.T. weekend. Are you ready to participate? For all E.C.s, your reporting form is (Form A). Net Managers your reporting form is (Form B)... This year we have great news for you. You have new on-line forms to complete. They bring this reporting up to the 21st century in that these forms will auto-calculate your raw data. Once submitted, the forms go directly into Headquarters and anyone that you have added with a proper email address. Yes, you can even add as many people to the emailing as you wish. Each email needs to be separated by a comma only.
There is even an additional Form for you to attach your supporting documentation, pictures, etc... which really brings things into today’s world. Here’s the link to all the forms... https://ares.arrl.org/aresSET/As I hope you can see, we ARE moving in a positive direction! It sometimes takes longer than we’d like, but we are listening to you and are working very hard every day to try to make things better for not only the Field Appointees, but you, the member as well!
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, N8SYVice Director
Great Lakes Division
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 December 2022:
10/01/22 - Gaylord, Gaylord, MI
10/08/22 - Central Kentucky, Lexington, KY
10/15/22 - Portsmouth, New Boston, OH
10/15/22 - Muskegon Color Tour, Muskegon, MI
10/16/22 - Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, MI
10/22/22 - HARA, Negaunee, MI
10/30/22 - Massillon, Massillon, OH
12/03/22 - Fulton County Winterfest, Archbold, OH
12/04/22 - USECA, Troy, 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.
73,
Dale Williams WA8EFKDirector
Great Lakes Division
