Division news

Dale Williams, WA8EFK

It surely is nice to see our hamfest schedule growing and some actual swaps happening. We all are well aware that many of our clubs have faced very difficult decisions in determining if their plans for a hamfest needed to be scrubbed. The rapidly changing health environment, changing rules and guidelines both from the federal and state level, combined with rules from various venues all forced postponements and cancellations. At this writing, guidelines have reached a reasonable level in most areas and now with careful planning and cooperation, the doors and gates are opening. We have juggled a few plans and rearranged our ARRL Convention Schedule to make accommodations as best we can. I took the liberty to put everything on the table. We normally plan conventions in alternate years, with individual State Conventions (3) in one year, and our Division Convention the next. A lot of planning and commitment goes into these events, each is unique and each puts a heavy load on the sponsoring group so alternating the convention types has really worked well. We all are eager to get back in the swing of meeting our fellow hams in person, so we'll hold Division Conventions both this year and 2022. We'll put a couple of State Conferences (like mini- conventions) on the calendar this year and next then return to our regular alternating schedule in 2023. Truly, the Division Conventions always get the largest attendance as they cover all three Sections in our Division, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, and because of that, we also are fortunate to receive extra support from ARRL HQ, typically in the form of guest attendees and speakers from the HQ staff. Make your plans to attend these as special forums, net meetings and training sessions are always of interest. We are all going to do our best to bring the latest in up-to-date presentations to the ARRL Great Lakes Division. A banquet, guest speakers and Special Awards are always an integral part of these affairs, times when we can honor our fellow hams for their outstanding efforts in assisting their communities and ham radio itself. Announcements containing the details of each convention will follow over the next few weeks as each forum gets confirmed. See "Scott's Stuff" below for the first announcement. SCOTT'S STUFF: Comments from your ARRL Vice Director Scott, N8SY. This past month has been really crazy around here as a lot of hard work is continuing on the committees that I’m on. The Field Organization group is one of them and in the past couple of months we put out a questionnaire to all of the Section Managers in the country. We asked them to tell us what was the most important issue that they would like to see improved (or problem resolved) that would be most beneficial to them as Section Managers to perform their jobs? We received a lot of really valuable and great comments and we are now working on getting those concerns resolved. The PR Committee that I’m also on is going through the list of candidates to nominate the next Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award recipient. Because of the pandemic last year, no one was chosen, but that’s not true this year. We have several really good candidates to choose from. Once we choose our candidate, that person’s name will then be submitted to the full Board of Directors when we meet in July for their consideration and approval. Our PR Committee has also been busy putting together a lot of information that all of the PIOs and PICs have already received to help them promote this year's Field Day. Don’t forget, Field Day is June 26 -27. If you haven’t heard, we are going to have a Great Lakes Division Convention after all! Yes, the great folks of Bowling Green Kentucky are going to host the 10th Annual Vette City Hamfest / ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention on October 2nd! As that it is only 4 months away, planning is spinning up fast, so get this on your calendars now. We want everyone in the Great Lakes Division to come out and have a blast with us. Yes, the Joseph Phillips, K8QOE, Newsletter Award is still on. For those of you in Kentucky and Michigan please get your newsletters turned in to your Section Manager and Public Information Coordinator quickly. The best newsletter from each of the 3 Sections (Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio) will be chosen by their respective Section Leaderships to compete for this very prestigious award. We want every club in the Great Lakes Division to be able to participate for this award. So, if you are producing a newsletter, be sure to send a copy of it to your Section Manager. He’ll take it from there. That is going to do it from here this month. So, “GOTA” and have FUN!!! --73, Scott Yonally N8SY, Vice Director, Great Lakes Division HAMFESTING: Here is the current listing of Great Lakes Division ARRL Sanctioned hamfests for 2021. 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. If you club plans to request ARRL Hamfest Sanctioning, they should do so well in advance of the planned Hamfest date, as this allows adequate time for QST Listings. QST announcements require a 3 month lead time. If a swap is cancelled or the date is going to change, please notify ARRL HQ. 2021 Great Lakes Div. ARRL Sanctioned Hamfest calendar: 06/05/2021 - Fulton County, Wauseon, OH 06/05/2021 - IRA Hamfest, Hudsonville, MI 06/06/2021 - Chelsea Hamfest, Chelsea, MI 06/12/2021 - Luce Co Yooper Hamfest, Newberry, MI 06/19/2021 - GMARC Trunkfest, Shelby Twp, MI 06/20/2021 - Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI 07/10/2021 - Mansfield Mid Summer Trunkfest, Mansfield, OH 07/10/2021 - Cave City Hamfest - Cave City, KY 07/17/2021 - GMARC Trunkfest, Shelby Twp, MI 07/17/2021 - NOARS Fest, Elyria, OH 07/18/2021 - Van Wert Hamfest, Van Wert, OH 08/07/2021 - Columbus Hamfest, Columbus, OH 08/21/2021 - GMARC Trunkfest, Shelby Twp, MI 08/28/2021 - Cincinnati Hamfest/Ohio Conference, Cincinnati, OH 09/11/2021 - Greater Louisville, Shepherdsville, KY 09/11/2021 - GRAHamfest, Grand Rapids, MI 09/18/2021 - Cadillac Hamfest, Cadillac, MI 09/18/2021 - Richmond Hamfest, Richmond, KY 09/18/2021 - GMARC Trunkfest, Shelby Twp, MI 09/18/2021 - CMARC Hamfest, Okemos, MI 09/18/2021 - Mound ARA Swapmeet, Miamisburg, OH 09/19/2021 - Adrian Hamfest, Adrian, MI 09/26/2021 - Cleveland Hamfest, Berea, OH 10/02/2021 - VetteCity/Great Lakes Convention, Bowling Green, KY 10/16/2021 - Muskegon Color Tour Swap, Muskegon, MI 10/24/2021 - USECA Hamfest, Madison Hgts, MI 10/31/2021 - Massillon Swap, Massillon, OH 12/04/2021 - Fulton Co Winterfest, Delta, OH 12/05/2021 - L'anse Creuse Swap, Madison Hgts, MI We work together with the HQ staff to verify all new date selections in the hope of mitigating date conflicts. Many swap dates have changed from the regular hamfest calendar and as hard as we all work to avoid it, there are now several hamfests which fall on the same weekends. For the latest detail on regional hamfests, check the ARRL web page at: http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions- calendar.