Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for June, 2023.

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for June, 2023.

Hamvention® and the ARRL Great Lakes Convention.  The ARRL Member Forum was the wonderful opportunity to present the Great Lakes Division Young Radio Amateur of the Year award to a very deserving Katherine Campbell KE8LQR.  Katie has been a driving force in getting other youth licensed.

She was licensed in 2019 at age 10 and within 3 months had progressed to extra class.  She has been the president of her school club for 4 years.  During the pandemic she learned CW from the Long Island CW club kids classes.  Katie is now a youth instructor for their intermediate and advanced youth classes, volunteering a few hours a week since August of 2021.

She was a 2022 YLRL presenter at Hamvention, attended Youth On The Air (YOTA) Camp at the Voice of America Museum in June of 2022.  She attended Huntsville Hamfest in 2022, and was a Carole Perry youth forum presenter in February 2023 at Hamcation.  She was also a Carole Perry Youth forum presenter at Hamvention in 2023. 

Katie is an active member of LAARA, a local club where she attends meetings, participates in fox hunts and field day operations.  Being the president of our school club, K8LPS, she teaches and encourages other students to earn their license, and is directly responsible for four new student licensees.  She mentors students in school club roundups and has lead her school club to high scores in that over the 2019-2022 school years.  You can also find her active on 20 M, adding to logbook and QSL card collection.  Katie is looking forward to attending YOTA camp in Ottawa this summer and teaching a CW session to fellow campers!  Katie is also a 5 year member of Young Amateur Communication Ham Team (YACHT) youth net that meets nightly on Echolink.  Katie attends as many hamfests as she can trying to recruit other licensed youth to YOTA and YACHT, where they will find other kids who can mentor them in any area of amateur radio they may have an interest.

In addition to the Young Radio Amateur of the Year award presented to Katie, our Hamvention ARRL Member Forum included keynote talks from our CEO David Minster NA2AA, and President Rick Roderick K5UR.  ARRL Director of Operations Bob Naumann W5OV, covered recent updates to Radiosport and LoTW, and ARRL Treasurer John Sager WJ7S, spoke regarding ARRL's current financial position and why we must consider a change to the dues structure. 

Our Division Hamvention booth, located again at the ARRL Expo area, welcomed visitors, and we had many.  In addition to Director Williams WA8EFK and Vice Director Yonally N8SY, our Section Managers were in attendance to greet visitors, answer questions and collect member comments.  Our thanks go out to KY SM Charlie O'Neal KE4AIE, MI SM Larry Camp WB8R and OH SM Tom Sly WB8LCD.  Special thanks to Janie Yonally KB8YPW and Paul Trouten W8PI for covering the booth while the rest of us were at forums.

The booth poster board was well covered with visitor QSL cards and our sign-in sheet included many more call signs.  Here is the list (any errors are mine):  AE8FP, AE8JF, AK9TX, K3GP, K3RC, K4ZLE, K8BF, K8CLP, K8CWC, K8CX, K8DP, K8DV, K8JH, K8JTK, K8NU, K8PD, K8QKY, K8SRB, K8TB, K8TS, K8VQC, K8VSY, KA8AOB, KB8RW, KB8UUZ, KC3GFU, KC8RSA, KD8VFE, KE4AIE, KE8FMJ, KE8RJU, KE8XH, KG9Z, KI8AF, KM4FO, KU4UV, KV8P, KY4EOC, N2XW, N8BZN, N8LE, N8NAV, N8QHV, N8RNK, N8SY, N8XKZ, N9CWU, NC8V, NJ2R, NK8D, NX8G, PA0GJV, PA3DZF, VA3GD, W3SML, W4FR, W8A, W8CJA, W8CTF, W8EXV, W8IJN, W8IZC, W8IZC, W8KNO, W8KOU, W8LX, W8MHB, W8MSC, W8MW, W8PT, W8RPM, W8SHF, W9TOC, WA2DHG, WA4MOM, WA8EFK, WB4ZDU, WB8FSV, WB8LCD, WB8NUT, WB8VNH, WD4FJF, WD8NVN, WE8TOM, WM8G, WW8PT.

Last month I posed the question: "Shall we consider holding a 'Great Lakes VOTA Night' where we can all get on the air and share some of our VOTA points?"  I did get a favorable response, so we are targeting Saturday July, 1st.  VOTA Night has grown into "Great Lakes VOTA Day".

We intend to have your Director, Vice Director and all three of our Section Managers on the air that day, to hand out points.  Operations will include CW, phone and digital, focused on 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.  By the way, we found out that the five of us all need to work one another to collect some points ourselves, so the plan for random operation seems most fair to all. 

SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY. - June Edition

Hamvention has come and gone and if you didn’t go this year, you really missed a spectacular event for sure.  I can’t EVER remember better weather for the biggest get together of hams in the world.  It was sunny, and the temperatures on all 3 days were on the mild side.  Most importantly of all was that there was no humidity!  It was perfect.  The crowds were 6-8 deep at the Great Lakes Division booth all day Friday and Saturday.  Sunday was much lighter, but we still had a lot of activity all the way to the end of the show.  Everyone seemed happy and excited to be there.

The ARRL Forum on Saturday was highlighted with talks from the President, the CEO and the Director of Operations for ARRL, speaking about the on-going survey and many of the concerns that have been the topics of discussion on the various Social Media outlets recently.  All of that seemed overshadowed however with the presentation of the Great Lakes Division Young Radio Amateur of the Year Award.  Dale bestowed this award to Katie Campbell, KE8LQR.  Now, don’t let her 2 x 3 call sign fool you, she’s got her Amateur Extra Class License.  As I’m sure you got the idea, she is a very talented and gifted young lady that will go far in the years to come.  We are so very proud to have been able to recognize her with this award.  Congrats Katie!!!!

 

Keeping with the Convention theme just a bit more...  Our Division’s Brag Board got quite a few QSL cards pinned on it.  Thank you to those who dropped by with their cards to post.  We enjoyed posting them and they got a lot of attention from everyone that walked past for sure.

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to drop by, we also had a rolling photo gallery with over 1,200 pictures of hams in action from the Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky Sections.  I can’t tell you how many folks just casually walking by and looking yelled out "hey, I know that guy, it’s me..!!"  It was a blast for sure.   

Shifting Gears again...  Field Day is fast approaching (June 24/25).  Is your club making plans to have Field Day this year?  If they are, don’t let them forget to get signed up on the Field Day locator http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator  Hey, if you can, meet with your local government officials and ask them for a Proclamation for Amateur Radio that weekend.  Most local governments will be happy to do this and don’t forget to invite the news media to be there as well.  Amateur radio groups are encouraged to share a copy of their proclamations with ARRL via pr@arrl.org so don’t be lazy, send it to them!  ARRL will often share these proclamations to advance legislative efforts, creating additional support of awareness for amateur radio among lawmakers...  This is great PR for everyone. 

Oh, and one more thing...  This isn’t mentioned much but is so very important to make sure you do.  Have someone assigned to take pictures!!  Lots of them.  Just about everyone nowadays has a phone with a camera built into it, so there’s really no excuse anymore for not taking pictures, and.... send them to me at:  n8sy@n8sy.com  I will add them to the gallery that we already have started.  And, like Alan Funt used to say...  "Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!"  

I will be out and about again this year visiting as many of the Field Day sites as I can get to on Saturday and Sunday.  There are a lot of great sites to visit and I’ll do my best to try to get to yours! 

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" and don’t forget to participate in your local club’s Field Day!!!!

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 August of 2023.

06/03/23 - Fulton County, Wauseon, OH

06/03/23 - IRA, Hudsonville, MI

06/04/23 - Chelsea, Chelsea, MI

06/10/23 - Luce County, Newberry, MI

06/17/23 - Midland Hamfest, Midland, MI

06/18/23 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI

070/8/23 - 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

08/12/23 - Cincinnati Hamfest, Owensville, OH

08/20/23 - WARA Tailgate Swap, Cortland, OH

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

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for May, 2023.

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for May, 2023.

May brings Hamvention® and this year the ARRL Great Lakes Convention.

Our Division Hamvention booth, located again at the ARRL Expo area, will offer the opportunity for everyone to meet and greet our Division Officials and our Section Managers of Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Like last year, we are encouraging everyone to bring along one of your QSL cards for posting in the booth. We are doubling the size of our QSL bulletin board for 2023. Last year's QSL posting event was so successful we ran out of room! It was really interesting to see the wide variety of cards and some were from DX visitors.

Our Hamvention ARRL Member Forum will be held at 1:15 PM on Saturday and will include keynote talks from our CEO David Minster NA2AA, and President Rick Roderick K5UR. In addition, Director of Operations Bob Naumann W5OV, will cover recent updates to Radiosport and LoTW, and ARRL Treasurer John Sager WJ7S, will detail ARRL's current financial position and why we must consider a change to the dues structure. And on the really good side of the fence, the Division leadership team, your Section Managers, Director and Vice Director, will present our Great Lakes Division Young Amateur of the Year award to a very deserving amateur.

ARRL Members take note, ARRL Headquarters will be conducting a membership survey the entire month of May to gather your input about how our membership can be bundled. There are about 13 questions, covering what member services you and like, the value received from your membership, your favorite parts of ham radio, what you feel to be a reasonable annual dues rate, and how our monthly publications should be distributed. The survey also includes opportunities for members to offer additional thoughts that may not adequately covered by the survey questions.

In preparation for the survey, during April, ARRL HQ asked everyone to verify their ability to access their Personal Member page on the ARRL web site to insure the survey would be accessible. Those individuals having problems are to contact HQ for assistance in getting the connectivity resolved. Following the announcement, it was found that many members had not accessed their page since the server upgrade and more stringent password requirements went into place. Over the following days, ARRL HQ received more than 1000 requests for password assistance. Be sure to check your member page access soon and call HQ if you have any questions. 860-594-0200.

By the way, the Volunteers on the AIR (VOTA) has been going really well and I am having a great time giving out my 225 points as a Director. My effort has been to call "CQ VOTA" and make as many contacts as time allows. I think I surprised a few folks with the level of points they received. So if you are playing VOTA, I'll be glad to make a contact.

Look for me on the HF bands plus 6 and 2, both SSB and Digital. For complete details, including the listings for the number of contact points provided by each ARRL Volunteer, check https://www.arrl.org/volunteers-on-the-air. There is a Dashboard accessible that will show your current score based upon your request.

Shall we consider holding a "Great Lakes VOTA Night" where we can all get on the air and share some of our VOTA points? Let me know your thoughts. WA8EFK@ARRL.ORG.

SCOTT'S STUFF:
Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY. - May Edition

Spring has sprung and it is finally May. With it comes better weather and a whole plethora of hamfests springing up everywhere!! Hamvention is less than 3 weeks away, have you gotten your reservations locked in?

If you haven’t, you’re most likely too late to get anything closer than Columbus or Cincinnati to stay at.

Shifting gears... I’m sure by now you all have seen the ARRL membership notice about the questionnaire that has just come out.

What’s it all about? We want your thoughts on a number of questions that have come up over this past year that most likely will affect every ARRL member in one way or the other. Dues are always the most talked about subject, and we want your opinion on them. YES, this is your opportunity to tell us how you feel. So, take advantage of this opportunity and tell us what’s on your mind in responding to the questionnaire. Be honest answering these questions on how they already have or could affect you in the future.

Shifting Gears again... Field Day is fast approaching (June 24/25). Is your club making plans to have Field Day this year? If they are, don’t let them forget to get signed up on the Field Day locator http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator Hey, if you can, meet with your local government officials and ask them for a Proclamation for Amateur Radio that weekend. Most local governments will be happy to do this and don’t forget to invite the news media to be there as well. Amateur radio groups are encouraged to share a copy of their proclamations with ARRL via pr@arrl.org so don’t be lazy, send it to them! ARRL will often share these proclamations to advance legislative efforts, creating additional support of awareness for amateur radio among lawmakers... This is great PR for everyone.

Oh, and one more thing... This isn’t mentioned much but is so very important to make sure you do. Have someone assigned to take pictures!! Lots of them. Just about everyone nowadays has a phone with a camera built into it, so there’s really no excuse anymore for not taking pictures, and.... send them to me at: n8sy@n8sy.com

I will be out and about again this year visiting as many of the Field Day sites as I can get to on Saturday and Sunday. There are a lot of great sites to visit and I’ll do my best to try to get to yours!

Shifting gears to come into the pits... For those of you who have just gotten licensed or even those of you who have been licensed for some time now but never used your privileges, here’s a really great webinar for you to sit in on... It’s the 2023 Online Ham Bootcamp - https://www.n1fd.org/

The Nashua Area Radio Society's spring 2023 online Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, May 13, from 10 AM to 6 PM Eastern Time. Access to the session will be provided via Zoom.

Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help newly licensed Technician-, General-, and Extra-class license holders get on the air. Ham Bootcamp is also a great opportunity for hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer.

The online Ham Bootcamp program is available to all licensed and prospective amateur radio operators. You can register for the next Ham Bootcamp session at: https://www.n1fd.org/register-ham-bootcamp/ For additional information, contact Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB, of the Nashua Area Radio Society at ab1qb@arrl.net

Whelp, that’s going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air" and don’t forget to "Catch me at the Dayton Hamvention" as well!!!

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 July of 2023.

05/06/23 - Wexaukee ARC Swap, Cadillac, MI

05/07/23 - Lucas County ARES Trunk Swap, Toledo, OH

05/13-17/23 - RV Radio Network Spring Rally (SP Event), Millersburg, OH

05/18-21/23 - ARCI Four Days in May, Fairborn, OH

05/19-21/23 - Dayton Hamvention & Great Lakes Convention, Xenia, OH

05/27/23 - Scioto Valley, Piketon, OH

06/03/23 - Fulton County, Wauseon, OH

06/03/23 - IRA, Hudsonville, MI

06/04/23 - Chelsea, Chelsea, MI

06/10/23 - Luce County, Newberry, MI

06/17/23 - Midland Hamfest, Midland, MI

06/18/23 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI

07/8/23 - 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

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

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for April, 2023

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for April, 2023.

The sudden and tragic loss of Michigan Section Manager Les Butler W8MSP stunned us all and now our thoughts go out to Karen KB8AKC in this very trying time.  Les was a familiar visitor at Michigan hamfests and meetings, both as Section Manager and as a very active QSL Card Checker.

 His enthusiasm, smile and eagerness to assist and promote amateur radio and ARRL will leave a huge void in our lives.

                           W8MSP - SK

Stepping in and offering to serve as Section Manager is Larry Camp WB8R who held the Michigan SM post only a few years ago.  Larry has been officially appointed by ARRL Field Services Manager Mike Walters W8ZY to serve Les' unexpired term.

Upcoming ARISS Space Station contacts include a scheduled event in Grand Rapids, MI at the West Michigan Aviation Academy.  These dates are always tentative as they are dependent upon activities taking place upon the International Space Station, but we have been advised that the planned date currently falls between April 17 and 22.  A total of 9 of the submitted proposals during the recent proposal window have been accepted to move forward in the processes of planning to host a scheduled amateur radio contact with crew on the ISS and the West Michigan Aviation Academy was among those selected for this year's January to June time period.  The primary goal of the ARISS program is to engage young people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) activities and raise their awareness of space communications, radio communications, space exploration, and related areas of study and career possibilities.

As your ARRL Director, I have been privileged to attend four of these events and I must report that watching the faces of the students and the other attendees when the contact with the Station is established is truly over-the-top exciting and amazing.  The room goes from dead silence and apprehension to hushed thrills and near bedlam when the ISS answers.  "Hushed" because everyone is asked to be a quiet as possible during the contact.  Ten to 14 students are selected to speak with the Astronaut and ask challenging questions about the ISS, space and the space program.

These ISS Contacts are made possible through outstanding efforts by local radio clubs. Cooperating clubs install antennas, tracking rotators, transceivers, back-up equipment and ties into auditorium PA equipment to make the contacts so effective.

ARRL Members take note, Headquarters will be conducting a membership survey the entire month of May to determine your input about how our membership can be bundled.  Rising costs in every category of our operation (and life) affect how we continue to support our members.

Interestingly, we have some options for how we can support membership with digital, vs printed publications as they are included as part of membership.  Your direct input regarding some of these options is needed and valued in this survey, look for the survey to appear on the arrl.org web page in early May.

SCOTT'S STUFF: 

Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY

First let me say that March 8th was a very sad day for all of us here in the Great Lakes Division with the loss of Les Butler, W8MSP the Michigan Section Manager. He was a friend to everyone that he met. His smile and great love for people and ham radio will always be in our hearts and minds. Rest in Peace my good friend.

Well, it’s April 1st so, let the jokes begin!!! Mother Nature looks like she’s the first in line with this strangely odd weather pattern that seems to keep repeating itself over and over this year. And of course, Spring has sprung for sure and so have a bunch of hamfests.

I’ve had the privilege of attending quite a few of them lately and there’s a full calendar of them looking ahead! It’s great getting back out and being able to talk to everyone once again. I’m so looking forward to May and better weather. And, speaking of May, that really signals the beginning of lots of warmer weather coming and of course, the Dayton Hamvention. Have you gotten your tickets and rooms reserved for Hamvention yet? You know it’s only 49 days away, so you’d better get on the stick quickly, as room reservations are going fast! Oh, if you haven’t noticed this yet, the Hamvention is also going to be the ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention this year as well!!! With our Division Convention comes the tradition of awarding some very special folks for their contributions over the years. Now, before anyone can receive these awards, we will need your nominations for them. Please, take a look at the details for all of these special awards and complete the nomination form to nominate a deserving person.  Go to: http://arrl-greatlakes.org/awards_criteria.html for all the award details and nominations form.

Keeping with the Convention theme just a bit more... The Great Lakes Division will once again have a booth at Hamvention inside the ARRL area, just like last year. We are asking everyone to bring a QSL Card with them to post on the Division’s Brag Board. We were overwhelmed last year with the amount of great QSL Cards that we got. This year we are making sure that you know well in advance so that we can have even more cards on display. And, we WILL have a much larger Brag Board to display all the great cards we get! Be sure to stop by... and don’t forget to bring your QSL card with you to post!

Shifting gears... I want to congratulate my old friend, Larry Camp, WB8R for being willing to step back into the arena by once again taking on the role of Section Manager for the Michigan Section. Yes, Larry has agreed to complete Les’ term that ends at the end of this year. Who knows, he may even be coerced into sticking around and run for a term or two of his own!

Shifting Gears again... World Amateur Radio Day is coming up on Tuesday, April 18th. Is your club doing any kind of special event or operating that day? If not, it’s not too late to put something together and have a blast doing it. Remember, World Amateur Radio Day is to celebrate all the contributions that amateurs have made to their communities and citizens around the world.

Field Day is fast approaching (June 24/25). Is your club making plans to have Field Day this year? If they are, don’t let them forget to get signed up on the Field Day locator

http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Hey, if you can, meet with your local government officials and ask them for a Proclamation for Amateur Radio that weekend. Most local governments will be happy to do this and don’t forget to invite the news media to be there as well. Great PR for everyone, and you get extra points for your efforts too! Amateur radio groups are encouraged to share a copy of their proclamations with ARRL via email at:  pr@arrl.org ARRL will often share these proclamations to advance legislative efforts, creating additional support of awareness for amateur radio among lawmakers.

Shifting gears... Have you found time to get on the air and work any of the stations for the Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) Contest? It’s been a blast the few times that I’ve had a chance to get on and just working a few here and there.

Shifting gears to come into the pits... Hey club leaders, are your meetings been hybrid (ie... Zoom, Teams, Go-To-Meeting) as well as in-person? Doing a hybrid meeting does take a little extra effort on the clubs’ part, but for those who don’t travel well at night, or just can’t make the meeting because of distance, this is really a great thing for them. Like I said, it’s a little more work for whomever sets the equipment up, but it means so much to those who just could not attend the meeting any other way. It also opens the door for acquiring new members too. Yes, I have been told by a few club leaders that they have seen an uptick in membership from people outside of their area/state since starting their hybrid meetings. Having hybrid meetings also opens doors for a whole new world of programs and guest speakers for your club as well! You might consider one of the great recorded webinars that are listed in the ARRL Learning Center or even a live presentation from a guest that’s hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Hybrid meetings doesn’t mean that you don’t show up in person when you can. It’s more for those who just can’t attend but would really like to. There are many great recorded webinars out there from folks all over the world that are informative and fun. Most of these webinars are around 30 minutes or so, which is just the right amount of time.

Remember the posterior rule... The brain can only absorb with what the butt can withstand!

Whelp, that’s going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air"!!!

73,

Scott Yonally, N8SY
Vice Director
Great Lakes Division

n8sy@arrl.org

HAMFEST LISTING: 

Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests and Special Events through June of 2023. 

04/15/23 - Cuyahoga Falls, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

4/22/23 - Tusco, Dover, OH

04/22/23 - St Joseph, Centreville, MI

04/30/23 - Athens, Athens, OH

05/6/23 - Wexaukee ARC Swap, Cadillac, MI

05/7/23 - Lucas County ARES Trunk Swap, Toledo, OH

05/13-17/23 - RV Radio Network Spring Rally (SP Event), Millersburg, OH

05/18-21/23 - ARCI Four Days in May, Fairborn, OH

05/19-21/23 - Dayton Hamvention, Xenia, OH

05/27/23 - Scioto Valley, Piketon, OH

06/3/23 - Fulton County, Wauseon, OH

06/3/23 - IRA, Hudsonville, MI

06/10/23 - Luce County, Newberry, MI

06/17/23 - Midland Hamfest, Midland, MI

06/18/23 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI

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

"Dale's Tales" for March, 2023

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for March, 2023.

December and January are traditionally light months for hamfests, so the arrival of March means a return to swaps and more socializing - post Covid.  Some clubs have experienced venue losses, location and date changes and outright swap cancellations.  For many clubs, hamfests are major revenue generators, allowing these groups to continue their many services to members and their communities.  Please, let's all step up to assisting wherever possible, by helping at the swap, or most importantly, by attending. 

A note for ECs, ARRL Form 2 for EC reporting was planned for introduction at the end of February.   The ARRL is in the process of updating its servers at HQ and in discussion with the Form 2 Developer and ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston KE5MHV, it was an easy decision to not implement these two items at the same time.

Once the server project is complete, ARRL HQ will roll out the on-line Form 2 for ECs to use in filing their monthly reports. 

A word about nets.  Not an admonition, instead, sincere thanks.  Truly we have a lot of nets operating these days.  Traffic nets, emergency nets, weather nets, technical nets, social nets, mobile nets, club nets, DX nets, scientific nets, and a hundred others that come to mind.

Please forgive me if I failed to mention your favorite.  Each has a(n) NCS, most have a Net Manager, and all have you and me as net participants.

Perhaps ranking right up there with amateur radio clubs, nets insure camaraderie among ham operators.  The true unsung heroes to honor here are the NM and NCS who manage to keep their nets energized with up-to-date schedules, ensuring the net is ready to roll on time with a net control station and fulfill its stated mission.  At that same instant, the net is bringing together a wide range of interests from its participants, who can share for a brief moment, part of their operating experience.  Our thanks go out to the gals and guys who work diligently in the background (and sometimes the foreground) to keep all of our nets operating. 

By the way, I am sure we all can recall our first experience as an NCS, I certainly do (and to those of you who have not been an NCS or are about to give it a shot, remember we all went through it).  I could not hold my pencil, the mike nearly dropped from my sweaty hand and my 21-year-old voice was cracking like I was 13 again.  But I got through it and few knew my plight.  Now today and few years later, I can't find the pencil, the mike weighs too much to hold and my voice cracks because of those few years.

So now, as a net regular, I encourage you to help your net out a little, offer to take a time slot as net control and give your NCS a day off.

Or volunteer to help your Net Manager do some scheduling.  Above all enjoy the various nets we have, share some of the ideas, cross some of the barriers, steal the best ideas and continue to improve what we have.

Give a really close listen to how the nets operate, see how an HF net may differ from a VHF net or how similar an ARES net may be to a NTS Traffic net.  Check in to your local nets and don't miss out on State, Section and Regional HF nets as well.

Just don't miss dinner.

 

SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY.

Have you had enough of this crazy weather yet??  While the folks in Michigan were battling it out with ice, falling trees and power lines, we here in Ohio were having it just as rough breaking out the suntan lotion and shades and trying to find our summer shorts as that most of Ohio was in the middle to upper 70’s with huge amounts of sunshine!  I have to say this winter has been really weird for sure.

Hey, it was really great to see so many of you at the Livonia Hamfest the other week.  I couldn’t believe the turnout.  It was a packed house. At one point, folks were stacked up 4 and 5 deep at the tables.

I haven’t seen that in several years.  Let’s hope that trend continues throughout the rest of the hamfest season!   

Now, speaking of hamfests, have you gotten your tickets and rooms reserved for the Dayton Hamvention yet?  You know it’s only 79 days away, so you’d better get on the stick quickly, as room reservations are going fast!  Oh, if you haven’t noticed this yet, the Hamvention is also going to be the ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention this year as well!!!  YES, we are in the planning stages for some very special programs including the infamous Royal Order of the Wouff Hong ceremony, as so many of you have requested.  I’m working with the folks at Hamvention on just where and when it will be held, so stay tuned for more details.  We also traditionally have some very special awards that are only given out during the Great Lakes Division Convention as well.

Go to:  http://arrl-greatlakes.org/awards_criteria.html for all the available awards that can be given out.  But, for anyone to receive these awards we will need nominations for them.  Please go and take a look at the details for all of these special awards and nominate a deserving person for one of them.   

Ok, now I’m sure that some of you newer hams are asking "what’s this Wouff Hong stuff all about??"  Here’s a little synopsis for you... 

The Royal Order of the WOUFF HONG...

This event can be one of the highlights of a new ham’s experiences.

The Wouff Hong initiation ceremony was written by "The Ol' Man" himself and has been a ritual for over 100 years.  It's performed by a cast of characters, and boy, they usually are a cast of characters for sure!

The various roles will have little to no rehearsal and there’s almost always some adlib thrown into it as well, just to make it even more fun.

 The performance takes about 30 minutes or so, so it won't take up much of your valuable Hamvention time.  The requirements...  Only licensed amateurs who are members of the ARRL may attend the ceremony and be initiated as members of the R.O.W.H.  So, if you're not already a member of the ARRL, let this be an incentive for you to join now.  Stay tuned, as there will be more information forthcoming.

Keeping with the Convention theme just a bit more...  The Great Lakes Division will once again have a booth at Hamvention inside the ARRL area and just like last year, we are asking everyone to bring a QSL Card with them to post on the Division’s Brag Board.  We were overwhelmed last year with the amount of great QSL Cards that we got and this year we are making sure that you know well in advance so that we can have even more cards on display!!  We WILL have a much larger Brag Board to display all the great cards we get so be sure to stop by... and don’t forget to bring your QSL card with you to post!  

Shifting gears...  Have you found time to get on the air and work any of the stations for the Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) Contest?  It’s been a blast the few times that I’ve had a chance to get on and just working a few here and there.  The other night I got on and worked a few and the next thing I knew I was in the middle of a pileup.  I guess someone put out on one of the reflectors that I was on and worth 200 points!  That’s all it took.  I felt like I was on some rare island or something.  I wrapped up after working folks for several hours and finally went QRT.  Wow... what an experience for sure.  If you haven’t worked me, you can usually find me floating around on 75, 40 or the 10 meter bands.

Shifting gears to come into the pits...  Clubs, have your meetings been hybrid (i.e. Zoom, Teams, Go-To-Meeting) as well as in-person so that everyone gets to partake?  Have you been searching for a good program to present to your club?  You might consider one of the great recorded webinars that are listed in the ARRL Learning Center or even a live presentation from one of the ARRL staff.  What better way to see just what some of your dues go to!  There are also many great recorded webinars out there from other folks too and they are just as informative and fun as well.  Most of these webinars are around 30 minutes or so, which is just the right amount of time to be informative, yet not so long that they get overly boring or hard on the posterior.

That is going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air"!!!

73,

Scott, N8SY@ARRL.ORG
Vice Director
Great Lakes Division

HAMFEST LISTING: 

Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests through April of 2023.  It has been truly unfortunate that some clubs have been forced to cancel their swaps.  The swaps on this list are confirmed as indicated. 

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.

ARRL Sanctioned Hamfests through April 2023:

03/04/23 - Cave City Hamfest, Cave City, KY

03/11-23 - MOVARC Hamfest, Bidwell, OH

03/11/23 - Crossroads Hamfest, Kalamazoo, MI

03/12/23 - NOARS Winter Hamfest, Elyria, OH

03/19/23 - Toledo Mobile Radio Assn, Perrysburg, OH

03/26/23 - CANCELLED USECA Hamfest, Troy, MI

04/15/23 - Cuyahoga Falls, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

04/22/23 - Tusco, Dover, OH

04/22/23 - St Joseph, Centreville, MI

04/30/23 - Athens, Athens, OH

05/06/23 - Wexaukee ARC Swap, Cadillac, MI

05/07/23 - Lucas County ARES Trunk Swap, Toledo, OH

05/13-17/23 - RV Radio Network Spring Rally (SP Event), Millersburg, OH

05/18-21/23 - ARCI Four Days in May, Fairborn, OH

05/19-21/23 - Dayton Hamvention, Xenia, OH

05/27/23 - Scioto Valley, Piketon, OH


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

"Dale's Tales" for February, 2023

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for February, 2023.

The Annual ARRL Board meeting was held from Jan 18 through the 22nd.

Both Vice Director Scott N8SY and I attended.  The meeting's official minutes are currently being prepared for approval and they will then be published. But here are some of the meeting highlights:

Among the items decided include some changes offered by the Programs & Services Committee to the Field Day rules. They are giving more emphasis to the "Get on the Air" stations by allowing a single op to make more than 20 contacts and evening out the points for various modes.

The Board gave approval of minor changes to the structure for how our 71 ARRL Sections are administered. The Board also reaffirmed the established guidelines for recognizing anniversaries of ARRL Affiliated clubs at 25 year intervals and established a Special Board Meeting to nationally acknowledge those clubs and their anniversaries by an open video broadcast to be called the "Annual Awards Recognition Day". 

ARRL National Conventions are held every two years, so looking ahead, we selected the next two events to host our upcoming National Conventions in 2024 and 2026.  The Board authorized Headquarters staff to begin negotiations with the Dayton Amateur Radio Association to host the 2024 ARRL National Convention in conjunction with the 2024 Dayton Hamvention and to start similar negotiations with the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club to host the 2026 Convention at the Huntsville Hamfest.

In consideration of the value and benefits of Logbook of the World and the age of the current program, the ARRL Administration & Finance Committee provided a motion to begin the upgrade process for Logbook of the World through a new Radiosport Platform Committee.

The Ethics & Elections Committee submitted a number of proposals, the key of which is to insure that Board Members are familiar with their fiduciary responsibilities under Connecticut Law for non-profits, such as ARRL.

We elected new officers for the ARRL Foundation, and the ARRL Executive Committee.  There was a proposal put forth to evaluate why many newly licensed hams do not become active on the air, and the Board formed a Survey Development Working Group to evaluate those underlying causes.

From those and other actions will come an "Amateur Radio Bootcamp" with live interactive on-line video.  This package is proposed to include skill development, license training with exams and continuing education programs.

The long-awaited solar cycle 25 with the expected improvement in propagation on 10 and 6 meters, provides the opportunity to promote activity of Technician licensees on those bands.  To that end we will offer a series of articles on QST, On the Air and other ARRL publications introducing new hams to DXing, contesting, and propagation on those bands.

Appointments to the four ARRL Standing committees are being made at this writing and will be announced soon. Those committees are Administrations and Finance, Programs and Services, Ethics & Elections and the Emergency Communications & Field Services Committee.

SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY.

What a wild week that Dale and I had in Newington at the annual Board of Directors meeting recently!  We both were locked in on the EC-FS Committee meeting that lasted into Thursday afternoon.  The Board meeting started bright and early on Friday morning and it came to an end around noon on Saturday.  We got a lot accomplished, and you’ll be hearing about those accomplishments soon.  Many of the items that we passed will benefit the membership and your club.  Stay tuned for more information about the Board meeting.

I’m assuming that you are reading this column on Wednesday, February 1st, and as such, I just want to say that tomorrow is Groundhog Day...

Yes, Groundhog Day!  You know, the day we all get up before the crack of dawn and grab a little worthless varmint that does nothing but make a mess out of our garbage cans, yet we celebrate whether he can see his shadow when the sun rises.  Here in Ohio, we have Buckeye Chuck doing the forecasting.  He’s been right only slightly more than wrong, but what the heck, it’s fun just to see if that little critter really does predict it accurately or not.  Personally, I think he’s no better than a coin toss.  But, what the heck it’s something fun to do in the middle of winter.  February is also known as the month for lovers, as that it’s Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, February 14th.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve found the best way to keep my YL happy is to take her out for that special dinner, if not on Valentine’s Day, somewhere close to it, especially if you want to drop the news that you’ve just purchased a very expensive, but absolutely necessary piece of ham equipment that you just couldn’t live without.  So, do yourself a favor, make dinner plans now for that special day!

Switching gears for a bit...  We have a couple of great ARRL contests coming up this month, School Roundup on February 13th - 17th, and International DX / CW contest on February 18th - 19th.  Hey if you’re not a contester I get it, but you still can have some fun and make a kids’ eyes light up if you do decide to participate in the School Roundup.  Oh, and don’t forget that we now have VOTA as well.  You know, Volunteers On The Air!  Just look around on the airwaves, you’ll find them I’m sure, and if you catch Dale on, he’s worth 225 points and I’m worth 200.  That ain’t hay guys, it’s a lot of points and they’ll add up quickly for sure, especially if you catch more than just Dale or I on. 

Switching gears again...  Do you have all of your NIMS courses completed yet?  You know those troublesome little Incident Command courses that everyone has been nagging you about for several years now to get.  The weather outside is frightful, and theirs nothing good on TV to watch and the bands aren’t cooperating for you to play radio much.  So, isn’t this the perfect time to get that training in before the weather and the bands start turning nice again?  Trust me on this, take advantage of the spare time that you now have and get that all important training in now!

 All the classes that are suggested in the ARES Plan, including ICS-300 and 400 can be found on-line.  Yes, you may have to look around a bit to find an open on-line class for ICS-300 and 400, but they are out there and just ready for you to get started on!

Oh, and don’t forget your first aid, CPR and AED as well as those all-important "Stop the Bleed" classes too.  They are sometimes the ones that we forget about the easiest and become the most important classes we could ever do.  Don’t be one of those folks that say, "I don’t need this training because nothing ever happens here!"  It does - and it will!  The better that we are prepared, the better we will be at assisting our served agencies and even possibly our own families when that time comes, and like I said, it will come!

Clubs, have your meetings been hybrid (ie... Zoom, Teams, Go-To-Meeting and in-person) so that everyone gets to partake?  Have you been searching for a good program to present to your club?  You might consider one of the great recorded webinars that are listed in the ARRL Learning Center or even a live presentation from one of the ARRL staff.

I’ve sat in on many of the live presentations from the staff and they are the best.  It’s really fantastic to be a part of a live presentation from ARRL Headquarters while being able to sit in your comfy easy chair at home!  What better way to see just what some of your dues go to!  They have many great recorded webinars that are really good and informative.  Most of these are around 20 - 25 minutes long. Just the right amount of time to be informative, yet not so long that they get overly boring.

That is going to do it from here this month. Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air"!!! Remember, I’m worth 200 points in for the Volunteers On The Air event...

73,

Scott, N8SY@ARRL.ORG 

Vice Director

Great Lakes Division

 

HAMFEST LISTING: 

Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests through March of 2023.  It has been truly unfortunate that some clubs have been forced to cancel their swaps.  The swaps on this list are confirmed as planned. 

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.

ARRL Sanctioned Hamfests through March 2023:

02/11/23 - Cherryland, Traverse City, MI

02/18/23 - Livonia Swap, Livonia, MI

03/05/23 - Cave City Hamfest, Cave City, KY

03/11-23 - MOVARC Hamfest, Bidwell, OH

03/11/23 - Crossroads Hamfest, Kalamazoo, MI

03/19/23 - Toledo Mobile Radio Assn, Perrysburg, OH

03/26/23 - USECA Hamfest, Troy, MI

04/15/23 - Cuyahoga Falls, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

04/22/23 - Tusco, Dover, OH

04/22/23 - St Joseph, Centreville, MI

04/30/23 - Athens, Athens, OH

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

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for January, 2023.

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for January, 2023.

I hope your New Year exceeds all your hopes and expectations.

Well, getting off to a new year isn't too bad.  It's a time for me to clear the slate and build "The List" anew.  Close anyway, I have a few items that dragged over, like paint the fence, which I failed to do last spring, and to rebuild a trellis, which got postponed by rain, or was it wind?  The rest of the things on the 2022 list - which I lagged on - probably weren't too important anyway, so unless a certain someone spots them, I am good...at least until April.

ARRL's Year of the Volunteer kicks off now and the special operating event Volunteers on the AIR (VOTA) associated with it means a lot of us will be hitting the airwaves for this fun event.  Check the VOTA web page at https://www.arrl.org/volunteers-on-the-air for the latest information.  Everyone who holds an ARRL Volunteer position, including League membership, carries a point value in the VOTA event.   A contact with the ARRL President gives you a whopping 300 points, for example.

Your local District Emergency Coordinator (DEC) gives you 30 Points and your EC will offer 12.  ARRL Volunteers will be sending their contacts to log to Logbook of the World (LoTW) which then handles the scoring automatically.  Regular participants are not required to use LoTW, but are encouraged to do so.  Updates will be posted regularly.  There is also a VOTA Points Table accessible on the web page so you can see the points given by each appointment holder.

The ARRL Kentucky Section welcomes a new Section Manager on January first.  Charles O'Neal KE4AIE of Glasgow, KY takes office at that time to lead the KY Section into the future.  This is the right time for pulling together to support Charlie's efforts.  He will need to both renew and make new appointments to fill vacancies.  With 2023 being ARRL's Year of the Volunteer, I ask everyone to consider how they may step up to serve by filling a needed slot.  Offer your services.

Charlie has already been working with current appointees to update records and assure everyone to continue working with all appointees.

Charlie can be reached at   kysectionmanager@gmail.com   Charlie plans a forum at the upcoming Cave City Hamfest on March 4, and ARRL Vice Director Scott, N8SY and I will both be there to extend our support to everyone.

SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY.

Happy New Year to You and Yours!!!

Every year at this time we all go through that phase where we reflect back on the year past and think about all the things that we wanted to do but didn’t.  It’s something that keeps us on track and gives us the ability to look forward to the new year with a positive attitude and willingness to improve and make things in your life better.  Have you thought about this new year and what you’re going to change?  ARRL has set this new year as the "Year of the Volunteer."  Have you thought about how you will "volunteer" this year?  As we decide on our New Year’s Resolutions, I want you to consider adding "volunteering" to that resolution as well.  Even if you are already volunteering now, can you give just a little more? There are many different ways that you can volunteer.  Have you ever thought about running for one of those positions that never seems to have a person available to fill it in your local club?  I know many clubs that would just love to have that position filled by someone that could give of themselves just a little.

How about volunteering to become a weather spotter, or a member of your local ARES team?  Yes, these are commitments of time.  The one and only item in life that none of us knows exactly just how much we have of it.

But can you imagine what life would be like if none of us volunteered?  I’d really hate to think of that alternative for sure.  So, how’s about it?  Can you find a little bit of time to volunteer this year?   

Shifting gears...  Things have gotten super busy for Dale and me right now getting things ready for the upcoming Board of Directors meeting in January.  I never thought I would be so involved in so many Zoom meetings, but as the Board meeting is coming up in mid-January, finalizing all those plans and making sure that everything is precisely worded as we want, takes a lot of meetings. 2023 will be amazing for ARRL.  There are so many projects that everyone on the Board has been working on over 2022 and now will be coming to the forefront.  We ARE moving things in a positive direction and are focused heavily on making things better for YOU!   

Shifting up through the gears...  Hey!  I want to say that if your student hasn’t applied for a college scholarship by now, they’d better get busy, they only have until this coming Wednesday, January 4th at 12 noon to get their application in.  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.  This is FREE money for your kids to go to college on!  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.  Go to:  http://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program  

OK, shifting down to come into the pit...  This month we start the month of January off with Straight Key Night - January 1st, and it also starts the Volunteers on the Air (VOTA) that will be going throughout the year.

 Then on January 7th it’s Kids Day, along with the RTTY Roundup running on the 7th and 8th and following that is the January VHF Contest on the 21st - 23rd.  This is just a few of the many contests that are scheduled for this month.  Here’s the link to see them all...  https://www.contestcalendar.com/

Okay, that is going to do it from me this month.  Stay safe and "Catch Me On The Air, at a meeting or hamfest!!!"  But most of all...  Have FUN - and get on the AIR!!!!

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 March of 2023.  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 March 2023:

01/15/23 - SCARF Hamfest, Shade, OH

01/22/23 - Hazel Park Hamfest, Royal Oak, MI

02/11/23 - Cherryland, Traverse City, MI

02/18/23 - Livonia Swap, Livonia, MI

03/05/23 - Cave City Hamfest, Cave City, KY

03/11-23 - MOVARC Hamfest, Bidwell, OH

03/11/23 - Crossroads Hamfest, Kalamazoo, MI

03/19/23 - Toledo Mobile Radio Assn, Perrysburg, OH

03/26/23 - USECA Hamfest, 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

In closing, Judy and wish you all the very best this Holiday Season.  May 2023 bring Peace, Health, Happiness, and Prosperity to us all.


73, 

Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org

Welcome to "Dale's Tales" for December 2022

 

Greetings, welcome to "Dale's Tales" for December 2022.

December is Youth on the Air Month. It is time to fire up the club station and introduce ham radio to all the kids in the neighborhood.

According to the recent YOTA News release, Amateur radio operators age 25 and younger will be on the air as special event stations around the world throughout December in celebration of youth in amateur radio. YOTA Month stations will be on all bands and modes at various times. QSL and award information is at events.www.ham-yota.com.

A couple of weeks ago I got a note from one of our members in Redford, MI. He commented that he had done a little research on some local clubs by looking at their web pages. What he found were many cases of seriously outdated pages and many links that just were not operating. I also checked, randomly sampling clubs throughout the Great Lakes Division. He is correct. Some were actually years out of date.

We all understand the people move, retire, and just plain change, meaning that these details are often overlooked. So, a reminder to all radio club webmasters and club officers: As this year ends, it would be really helpful to look at your club's web pages and make sure they contain the correct links, and the information is spot-on accurate. It is all helpful material, especially for new hams and those who would link info on your club, let's make a real effort to insure you are providing accurate and timely information.

As the year closes, it is time to recognize some unsung heroes of ham radio. These are the groups who tackle some heavy problems, sometimes controversial problems and always seemingly unending problems. They are our Amateur Radio Repeater Coordinators. Perhaps you are not familiar with their efforts, but they do their best to find an available frequency for a new repeater, ensure that those who have a coordination are truly on the air and they now struggle with the need for new channels for our influx of digital systems, and that it only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Properly coordinating repeaters means (among many other things) finding a clear frequency within a certain geographic range for repeaters thus minimizing co-channel and adjacent-channel user interference. A properly coordinated repeater according to FCC rules receives a degree of protection if it is suffering interference from a non-coordinated repeater. The rules put the responsibility to resolve the problem on the uncoordinated system.

A tip of the hat from the Great Lakes Division to these tireless groups:
For Kentucky, it is SERA, the Southeast Repeater Assn, https://sera.org/index.php/home/sera-districts/sera-districts-ky/, for Lower Michigan, the Michigan Area Repeater Council, http://www.miarc.com/index.html, for Northern Michigan, the Upper Peninsula Amateur Radio Repeater Assn., http://uparra.org/, and for Ohio, https://www.oarc.com/.

SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice-Director Scott, N8SY.

First let me say... Merry Christmas; Mele Kalikimaka; Joyeux Noël; Frohe Weinachten; Feliz Navidad; Buon Natale; Feliz Natal; Vrolijk kerstfeest; Craciun fericit; Wesolych swiat Bozego Narodzenia; God Jul; Veselé Vánoce or however you may pronounce it, Christmas is just 24 days away! Have you been good little girls and boys? I sure hope so, and I hope that you get everything on your list as well!

I do hope that you all have survived turkey day. You know... that one day above all others that you eat everything in front of you, including the dishes, tablecloth and if you’re really hungry, you’ll even go after the dog’s food bowl and then sit back with your pants unbuttoned complaining that there’s no leftovers and you’ll have to make a run to the store for some snacks! Anyway, I hope that you and yours had a wonderful day and that you remembered those in uniform that keep us safe.

Shifting gears... Things are really busy for Dale and me right now getting things ready for the upcoming Board of Directors meeting in January. It seems like I no more than get off of one Zoom meeting when I find that I have another one to go to. I do hope that you can see that we ARE moving things in a positive direction and that we are always working to make things better for YOU!

Ok, let’s really shift gears for a minute. Where is your ham shack located? Is it in the basement, garage, or outbuilding? Most generally ham shacks are not in the living room and as such, heating devices for your shack are usually some sort of a supplemental heater/furnace and that is why this next paragraph is so important to talk about now that the weather is getting colder. I want to talk to you about Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning.

First, let me describe what Carbon Monoxide (CO) is. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is the poisonous gases emitted from carbon fueled heat sources (i.e... gas or fuel oil furnaces, wood burning fireplaces or stoves, kerosene, or propane heaters). I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Carbon Monoxide is colorless, odorless and it will kill you if you breathe very much of it into your lungs. How does this gas kill?

It migrates into the blood stream and replaces the oxygen in your blood with the Carbon Monoxide. Once it invades your blood stream it will be with you for many years to come. In fact, most of your life! Just ask any firefighter about that. That is where a Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector comes into play. These little devises are inexpensive (usually around $20) and can really save you and your family’s lives. Buy one or more of them now (if you don’t already have one) and use them! Oh, if you haven’t changed your batteries in your smoke detectors lately, you really need to do that too.

Shifting up through the 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 for your kids to go to college on! 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

The ARRL Foundation will be utilizing the same Scholarship Management Platform for the 2023 Scholarships that was used for the 2022 Scholarships. Transcripts and additional required documents must be submitted WITH the application and not emailed separately. A number of scholarships require additional documents, such as a letter of recommendation from a sitting Officer of an ARRL-affiliated club.

Applications without accompanying transcripts and additional required documents (if applicable) will not be considered. The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee will review all applicants for eligibility and award decisions. Awards are mailed directly to recipients' schools.

OK, shifting down to come into the pit... This month we have the 160-meter, 10-meter and Rookie Roundup (CW) coming up, not to mention that there are a few hundred more contests that you could get involved with as well. Here’s the link to see them all... https://www.contestcalendar.com/

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 February 2023:

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

02/11/23 - Cherryland, Traverse City, MI

02/18/23 - MOVARC Hamfest, Bidwell, OH

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

In closing, Judy and wish you all the very best this Holiday Season. May 2023 bring Peace, Health, Happiness, and Prosperity to us all.


73,

Dale Williams WA8EFK
Director
Great Lakes Division
wa8efk@arrl.org

 

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