North Texas Newsletter June 2019
·
Ham Com a Huge
Success
·
Notes from
Katherine KT5KMF, our SYC
·
Ham of The Year
Nominations - closing date announced
·
New Assistant
SM / Ambassador John Hamilton KD5INM
·
Notes from Greg
Evans K5GTX our SEC
·
Planned ARRL FD
Site Visits
·
The 90 Days of
Danger
·
Public
Information Officer –WANTED-
Ham Com a Huge Success
Ham Com at the Plano site just seems right on so many levels,
from the large outside Flea Market area to the ease of parking and no confusing
Mix master highways to get back on the road.
What
a wonderful crowd of enthusiastic Amateur radio operators we had at the ARRL
tables, from the 9 year old to the 87 years young amateurs I got to visit with
it was indeed an honor to meet each and every one of you.
Unfortunately
on Saturday I was not often at the tables, but at one of the three ARRL forums,
presenting one personal forum “Logging & QSLing for the 21 Century” or at
the DFWCG sponsored Luncheon listening to the Guest Speaker Bryant Rascoll
KG5HVO, a 15 year old from Alabama who won the Young Ham of The Year award
(WA6ITF) this past year.
We
were honored to have many distinguished guest, from The President of the ARRL
Rick Roderick K5UR, and The CEO Howard Michel WB2ITX, to The Hudson Division
Director Ria Jairam N2RJ and neighboring Delta Division Director David Norris
K5UZ
Section
Managers from all corners of Texas and Oklahoma were also present,
Oklahoma’s SM Kevin O’Dell N0IRW, South Texas SM Paul Gilbert KE5ZW, West Texas
SM Dale Durham W5WI and your SM myself were in attendance.
The
West Gulf Director John Stratton N5AUS, Our Vice Director Lee Cooper W5LHC and myself
stayed incredibly busy visiting fellow ARRL members and either attending or
doing presentations at the Four ARRL Forums.
Greg Evans our SEC K5GTX, manned a
separate ARES booth and was assisted by John Hamilton KD5INM our newest
Assistant Section Manager and District 1 SM Ambassador.
I unfortunately, missed introducing
the New Mexico Section Manager Bill Mader K8TE, apologies.
Notes from Katherine KT5KMF Our
Section Youth Coordinator
I’m
Katherine Forson, KT5KMF, and this is my first newsletter article since
accepting the position of Section Youth Coordinator. I’m excited about this
position and am working on several ideas about getting youth interested in
radio.
After
surviving my high school final exams, I assisted members of my home club, the
Plano Amateur Radio Klub (PARK), when they did a (water) tower climb to do
maintenance on the repeater.
I also
attended HamCom in Plano this past weekend. I helped man the North Texas
Section table and the PARK table. I also visited with members from the Dallas
Amateur Radio Club (DARC), the Denton County Amateur Radio Association (DCARA),
the McKinney Amateur Radio Club (MARC), the Richardson Wireless Klub (RWK), and
the Sachse Amateur Radio Association (SARA). We discussed the possibility of my
driver (Rob, K5WFR) and me visiting some of their meetings this summer. I also
hope to visit some local clubs that were not at HamCom
While
talking to members of DCARA, I heard something I thought was very interesting.
Coppell High School is planning to set up an antenna and repeater on top of
their building, as well as offering a summer class for students interested in
ham radio. While at HamCom, I was also surprised when I heard about some
individuals that occasionally used to set up and operate behind my school,
Shepton High School in Plano, due to HOA restrictions in their own
neighborhoods.
I was
fortunate to have met a lot of people this weekend, including the ARRL Hudson
Division Director Ria Jairam, N2RJ, and Dr. Thomas Hays, KI5AIF, Assistant
Professor of Engineering Practice, School of Aerospace and Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Oklahoma.
While at
HamCom, I attended several sessions. I was especially impressed by Bryant
Rascoll, KG5HVO, 2018 Young Ham of the Year. He talked during the luncheon
about getting youth involved in contesting. I hope to collaborate with him in
the future about getting more youth involved and interested in our hobby.
The best
part of HamCom? I “won” an ICOM IC-7300 radio! Of course, I only won it after
my driver paid the nice lady from MTC. I also picked up a portable antenna. I
intend to try these out this weekend for ARRL Kids Day, and I plan to share my
opinions on them in the next newsletter.
I am
scheduled to attend several Field Day sites with my driver (backseat for that
day!) and Steve, KG5VK, including Plano, McKinney, Richardson, Garland,
Allen/Wylie/Lucas, and Sachse. I look forward to visiting with members of those
clubs!
I hope
you all have a great summer and hope to see you on the air!
Katherine KT5KMF
Ham of
the Year Nominations Closing Date Announced
I announced
the deadline for ARRL NTX Section Ham of The Year Nominations at the Section
Manager forum during Ham Com.
The deadline is 2359 Local time on the 22nd of
this month, details on submission of
nominations may be found in the prior News Letter, On the ARRL NTX Groups.IO
reflector, The Face Book Groups page “ARRL – North Texas Section” and on my
Blog…. http://sdxa.blogspot.com
Or
simply email me for instructions kG5VK@ARRL.ORG
New
Assistant Section Manager, Ambassador
appointed
I appointed John Hamilton KD5INM who is our
current Technical Coordinator
John remains our Technical Coordinator and is
now also a SM Ambassador for district 1.
He will be making many ARRL FD visits in
District 1 on my behalf.
John was and is a valued asset
to our members, he proved so during HamCom, even though he had a full plate
with the MARS program HamCom week-end John spent much time assisting myself and
Greg Evans at the ARRL and ARES tables, thanks John !
Greg
Evans K5GTX SEC
Summer Field Day is a
great opportunity to practice your problem-solving skills. I had never
participated in a field day where something didn’t go wrong. Maybe it is
RFI or QRM from a neighboring station. Maybe a cable end went bad while
stored in the shed from the last Field Day. Or worse yet, an amplifier,
tuner or radio failed. There are always new challenges during field day;
it’s how you choose to handle them that is key.
Situational Awareness
is key for our ability to respond. In the past month, I asked the Section
to go into Standby twice. The first time was due to the Potentially
Dangerous Situation (PDS) notice issued by the NWS for the panhandle of Texas.
For the following 48 hours since that notice, most of the weather was north of
our section. The second Standby request was due to the potential for
severe weather throughout the Section. NWS reported eight confirmed
tornadoes. On Sunday, June 9, winds exceeding 70 MPH hit the DFW
area. The storms occurred earlier than expected. One Dallas
resident lost their life due to a crane accident. While the NWS does an
excellent job predicting the weather, unexpected events do occur.
Maintaining our vigilance of situational awareness helps us be prepared to
serve our communities in their time of need.
Planned
ARRL Site Visits
Several
members of the Section management staff and I, will be out and about
on
ARRL Field Day week-end visiting the sites.
Katherine KT5KMF
Section Youth Coordinator, myself and her dad will visit....
Plano K5PRK, McKinney W5MRC,
Richardson K5RWK, Garland K5QHD,
Allen/Wylie/Lucas W5AWL and Saches K5S
I will visit....
K5RKW in Rockwall, Grayson County (Sherman) and Paris WB5RDD
on the way back home if I can catch about four hours of sleep Saturday evening
in
Plano
Ken Mitchell KD2KW SM Ambassador
LAARK
DCARA
LARA
Army Curtis AE5P
Nacogdoches W5NAC and
Rusk County N5RCA in Henderson
Ken Hansen N2VIP SM Ambassador
KB5A Metrocrest ARC
and Coppell Hams W5CPL
John Hamilton KD5INM
Section Technical Coordinator & New Assistant SM Ambassador District 1
John will be visiting
FD sites within District
One (North West of Ft Worth) and down
into Districts 2 and 4
John is
looking at visiting Six sites,
possibly a few more
Greg Evans K5GTX SEC
DARC (Dallas ARC)
Ham Association of
Mesquite (HAM)
Ellis County Amateur
Radio Club
Mansfield Johnson Amatuer
Radio Service (MJARS)
Tri County ARC
Northeast Tarrant
Amateur Radio Club
Public Information Officer
Wanted
We need a Public
Information Officer for our Section.
If you have the skill to help me get the word out to our members using
different Media Tools,
please contact me and let’s talk.
You must be a current ARRL member to hold any position in section management
and willing to spend a few hours each month on this project,
Giving a little of your time to our fellow ARRL members is very rewarding, the
team could use some help, so call or email me now. Steve
KG5VK@ARRL.ORG
Telephone 318-470-9806
The 90 Days of summer can be
deadly
Summer is a lot of fun,
kids are out of school and there are a lot of outdoor activities.
We have ARRL Field Day with
a lot of inherent risk, especially the heat, stay hydrated !
Keep an eye on those around you and pay attention to the Heat and its effect on
your body and others, know the signs of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke.
Watch out for kids near water, it only takes a minute for a child to drown
being distracted with your nose in a cell phone when you should be monitoring
children in or near water is cause for disaster. Do you know CPR, you should – you may save
the life of a stranger or a Loved one.
Parking lots are probably the most dangerous place any of us travel
I am amazed every time I enter and leave any parking area that I escape alive.
If your shooting a line
over a tree with a projectile for ARRL FD, please consider where that
projectile may land, especially if the line comes untethered.
Have Fun but be Safe and a reminder ARRL
Kids Day is today
15 June 2019
Steve
KG5VK
