Affiliated Club News

What other clubs are doing

John Myers, KD8MQ Affiliated Clubs Coordinator Hi everyone, well, another month, another few days closer to springtime.  .  .  At least according to the calendar. It’s said that only in Ohio can you go from flip-flops to mukluks in less than 24 hours. As I’m putting the finishing touches to this months column, I’m also keeping my eye on a Winter Weather Advisory that we are under for the next few days. Here at my QTH, the NPOTA withdrawal is beginning to subside, and plans are being made for my next obsession. How about yours? If you feel “stuck”, and need some direction, check out pg 14 of the March issue of the Radiogram. Tom WB8LCD has penned a pretty interesting article on what to do when your feel like your Amateur Radio pursuits are at a standstill. You can find it by going to the Newsletter page on the Portage County ARS (PCARS) website. The URL for the website is www.portcars.org. After last months OSJ went out, I got the following e-mail from Jack, W8TEE. Jack is the VP of the Milford (OH) ARC “Hi John: I've been licensed continuously since 1954 and keeping and expanding membership has always been a problem. Our club gives the FCC exams every month and, by far, the Tech license is the most common exam taken. This month, 15 sat for the exam, and all but two were Techs. Our meeting starts about a half an hour after the exam period ends and we extend an invitation to attend. Few do. I did manage to talk to one new Tech who is not going to renew or upgrade. When asked why, his response was: "It's no different than my cell phone." I think the problem is that Techs buy an HT and only use the local repeater. They never experience what HF has to offer or any of the many other aspects of our hobby. Cost is one factor, as many are EE students at the university. Indeed, one major motivation for my March, 2016, QST article was to show how you can build an inexpensive, yet viable, HF rig. Our club feels strongly enough about this that we have purchased a "loaner rig", complete with transceiver, PS, and antenna, that members can borrow to experience the HF bands. True, only 10M has a Tech phone section, but at least they can listen to what they are missing. I think our next club build will be the BITX40, a 7W SSB rig which now has an LCD display and VFO for $59. Things like this are a step in the right direction: We need Techs to experience what HF has to offer and thwart the "cell phone" analogy. If other clubs are doing things to address this issue, I sure would like to hear about it. 73, Jack” Thanks Jack, I would also like to hear what other clubs are doing about this issue. By the way, the article that Jack mentions is titled “a Modular 40 Meter CW Transceiver With VFO”, and appeared in the March, 2016 issue of QST (pg 39). I’m right between two speaking gigs as I write this. I was honored to speak to the Mahoning Valley ARA, and hear about all that they have coming up.  I spoke to the Silvercreek ARA about “Life After NPOTA”. Mahoning Valley ARA will be doing a two week Special Event with the Lake to River chapter of the American Red Cross. According to 1x1callsigns.org, they are celebrating Red Cross month. They’ve secured the callsign of W8R from March 20, through April 3rd. It’s not in the March, or April issues of QST, but by the time you read this, it might be on ARRL.org. I’ll also be including it in an upcoming issue of the Monday Morning Message (mondaymorningmessage.net). The Ohio ARES NVIS day is coming up. According to Scott, N8SY who spoke to the Massillon ARC at their March meeting, this year’s NVIS Day will occur on April 22nd. I’m betting there will be more information on this event elsewhere in the Section journal. Las month, I mentioned Tom Gallagher’s editorial “Get On The air With History” (Pg 11, March, 2017 QST). In keeping with the subject of that editorial, the Alliance ARC is talking about doing a rather unusual SES sometime this year. They are looking at commemorating the Great Alliance Squirrel Hunt of 1832. I bet most communities have some kind of quirky historical event that would make for a fun Special Event. Check with your local Historical society. Make sure to e-mail me your ideas. I just might include them in a future column. And, I think that’s about it for this month. Hopefully next month’s column will find us enjoying better weather.

From the Public Information

Coordinator

John Ross, KD8IDJ 2017 Newsletter Contest T-Minus 3 months…until the deadline for the 2017 Ohio Section Newsletter Contest…I can hardly believe it myself. Thanks for all for all of the great entries so far and there still is time. Remember we need two newsletters…from different months…for your club to be eligible. If your newsletter is web-based  we need a notification when the new editions are ready to be viewed. The awards will be presented at the meeting in August at Columbus Hamfest. Keep up the good work…it’s making a difference! Severe Weather Training Another blast from the “it’s hard to believe” department. The first three months of this year have showed us severe weather can happen anytime…even in winter! Now, we’re about ready to enter tornado season with a couple of twisters already under our belts. This year’s severe weather training from the National Weather Service(NWS) has already started…and my recommendation is you find one to attend. It’s good for  a lot reasons…just a good refresher, news of any changes at the NWS, and a lot of folks who would like to become Amateur Radio operators! I know here in Central Ohio I go every year, with my portable radio in tow, and I get questions for a lot folks how to get licensed. We are fortunate enough to have a representative from our local club address the crowd and talk about Amateur Radio’s involvement and how to get started. This is  great service the NWS offers and they take our involvement seriously. I know many clubs are active in this already…never hurts to have more. The folks who run the weather nets are truly ”weather gods” for the work they do. They are well trained, qualified and committed to gathering and sending the correct information to the NWS. The season officially get under way on March 22…two days after the start of Spring! Listen for the sirens at 9:50 AM…and join a weather net!! College Amateur Radio Clubs I’m still getting emails from my article a couple of months back about radio clubs at universities around Ohio and the country in general. It’s a big deal and a big push to help the clubs that already exist and to help college clubs that are struggling. A great success story is right here in Ohio at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland….a ham radio club with 150 members!! I’ll be on my way up there in a few days to get a first-hand look at the operation…pictures and all. Watch for great story next month! Here’s a link to the rules..  http://arrl-ohio.org/pic_page/pic.html