Section news

Tom Sly, WB8LCD

Take a close look at the photo on the first page. Then scroll down to the second photo. The young, high-school aged guy in photo 1 is also one of the curmudgeons in the second photo! I want to point out that Ham Radio is considered an “old man’s” hobby. Yet many of the old guys you see today started out as young hams. Everyone in photo number 2 was licensed in their High School years and remains an active ham today. Some of the finest hams I know. The whole point here is that if we want to continue to create older hams, the best way to do it is to start making young hams. How does that happen? Well, we could start a program at the local club to bring in the youth. Personally, I think that ship has sailed. ( I did not say that ship will never return to port ) Right now I think the best way to get youth involved is one on one. That makes it everyone’s responsibility. Please, don’t miss an opportunity to become a positive factor in some kid’s life. Our world needs that today. I’ve always said that one of the ways to grow our hobby is to share the fun. Make if fun for everyone involved. I may be old – but I was young once. And one of the things I remember is that for the most part, as a kid, hanging out with old folks had a limited appeal. I wanted to be with my peers. I’m currently working with a couple of younger hams to help them set up a group of their peers to create a network of younger hams throughout the Ohio Section and empower them to get to know each other and get together both “on air” and in person. I’ll have more information coming out over the next few weeks. Keep an eye open for it! Also, In that second photo, I would like to point out that the photo was taken at Hamvention 2018. Hamvention is a “bucket list” event. If you’ve never been there, you need to get there. If you’re lucky enough to find me somewhere in the parking lot on Saturday morning, perhaps you’ll be rewarded with a Bloody Mary too! Speaking of Hamfests, following is my (so far) list of planned of events I’ll be attending: March 13 – NOARSFEST April 9 - Cuyahoga Falls April 24 - Athens May 20 - DAYTON HAMVENTION July 9 - Mansfield August 13 - Cincinnati September 25 – Cleveland Remember – check the list of OHIO Section Hamfests on the section website – www.arrl-ohio.org . If your fest is not listed there please get it submitted to ARRL to have it listed as soon as possible. Two other notable events of interest coming up later this summer – Field Day - June 25,2022 and Ohio State Parks on the Air – September 10, 2022. You want to get these on your calendar now! I’ve seen some very interesting articles in the K9YA Telegraph. Since it’s a copyrighted publication I’m not free to just grab articles of interest from it, BUT, you can subscribe for FREE! The following link will get your there: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/k9ya_telegr aph Thanks for Fred Reed – KD8SMO for recommending this to me. My March has been off to a running start and I need to make an “unplanned” trip to California to clear up some family business before the month is over. None the less, I hope to bring you all the Amateur Radio news fit for printing and wish you all GUD DX!