Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Some of My Goals as your new ARRL North Texas Section Manager, if elected




  • Fix a few things......

    1. The Broken or Incomplete Profiles on the http://ARRLNTX.org website
    2. The Broken NTX Feeds to the Division website  http://arrlwgd.org/sections
    3. More Active Communication from SM to members with a request that they provide feedback, emphasis on the routine of a Monthly Section News Letter


      • Create some new tools to promote Active communication

        1. Monthly Pod Casts
        2. Quarterly Emails, Pod Castings and / or Face Book postings of...
        State of The Section Reports

        • Education of members to the tools at hand to solve problems and communicate with the Section Manager and his Station level appointees
          aside from the ARRLNTX.org website for example use of the NTX Email reflector http://www.arrlntx.org/
        • Insure that fellow North Texans are aware of the many programs that are in place for our Section and Division members. Such as....

          1. Scholarships
          2. Encourage nominations to the Division Awards program for Young Ham of the Year, Ham of the Year etc.
          3. Seek Nominations for ARRL NTX Section Ham of the Year
            and provide the award to one of those nominated once a year per my term in office.
          4. ARRL special club of the year award for the club that recruits the greatest number of new ARRL members within the last 12 months
            I will obviously have to work out some details on this one so it is fair to lower populated clubs as well as large member clubs.

            •  Ensure that the ARRL Section Table is Manned on both Friday & Saturday at Cowtown & HamCom, not just Saturday

              These are just a few of the things that I want to do and see done better, others will come once in office if elected to serve

              Cheers!
              Steven Lott Smith
              KG5VK


My ARRL NTX Section Manager Campaign stop at The Garland Amateur Radio Club

Last night myself (KG5VK) and Ken KD2KW were at the Garland ARC meeting
we were invited by the GARC Club to introduce ourselves as the current Candidates for your Section Manager (ARRL NTX) and take questions from the members.

We received many great questions !

One question I had for the members was...
When was the last time a North Texas ARRL member was awarded Ham of The Year ?
Unfortunately,  no one could recall
To me that means it has been way to long ago and I expressed that
Maybe it is because none of the recent SM's have asked the members to nominate someone ???
I found nothing on this in the current NTX section searches I did,
why, could be many reasons.

I do plan on if elected to seek Nominations for a section Ham of the year from our section
and award one accordingly each year I am in office, if elected.

I also encourage members of North Texas to submit a nomination to our Division
This is easily done by following the instructions found at the following link...
http://arrlwgd.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WGD-Awards-Full-Nominating-Package.pdf
We have Many deserving Hams in our section that have been over looked for far too long !

I have another question for those reading this..........
Can you name Ten great things that have happened in our Section in the last year and a half ?
Now how many of those things were generated at the Section manager level ????
Regardless of the answer, those numbers (both of those answers) needs to be much higher 
and that is but One of my goals if elected as your Section Manager

As always you can contact me with questions via email
KG5VK@ARRL.net
Tele 318-470-9806

Cheers!
Steve
KG5VK

Thursday, January 10, 2019

My Campaign Journey for ARRL Section Manager

When I decided to run as the new Section Manager for the North Texas Section of the ARRL
I was faced with the question of how do I get the word out to the Forty Four Thousand plus fellow North Texas ARRL members

My Game plan became to do a small limited Mail out to approximately a fourth of the members,
The first week of this month One Thousand Letters were mailed
both letting members know who I am and why I am running as well as asking for their Vote.

I wish I could have mailed a letter to every member in North Texas
but my budget could not support that.

How to spread the word to an even wider audience?
I decided to give Jason KC5HWB of Ham Radio 2.0 a call
and I asked if he could help spread the word that there was actually an Election this year
for a new NTX section manager

He agreed and was all in, and in fact did an interview a few days later with Jay Urish the current SM
and this past week-end did an interview of both myself and Ken KD2KW the other Candidate

I received a lot of emails and even a few phone calls after that interview.
Every one of those contacts were positive and several had some great ideas on how to improve our section.

We have 68 counties in the North Texas ARRL Section
it is a big area and I will need lots of help, to make our section a roll model for other sections.
So keep the ideas and phone calls coming !

Telephone 318-470-9806
Email KG5VK@ARRL.net
I can also be reached on FB & Messenger
My FB ID is Steven Lott Smith KG5VK

Here are the links to the interviews that Jason of Ham Radio 2.0 did.........

Jason's Interview with Jay Urish W5GM our current Section manager

Interview with 2019 Candidates of North Texas Section by Jason of Ham Radio 2.0

The Closing Statements from the Interview of Candidates

You will be receiving Section manager Ballots from the ARRL
soon, please educate yourself on both Candidates and Vote
for who you feel will do the most work for all ARRL members in North Texas

I hit the ground on this campaign with a sprint to get the word out
Before the first of the year I attended two Amateur Radio Club Christmas parties
one in Paris Texas (RRVARC) and one in Atlanta, Texas (LETARS)

Then it was the RRVARC club meeting (Paris, TX),  The MJARS club meeting (Atlanta, TX),
Ham Radio 2.0 Interview at the Hunt County EOC in Hurst, Texas  and The Dallas Amateur Radio Club DARC meeting  Tuesday the 8th of January.
Tonight I will be at the MARS Club meeting in Carrollton, Texas

Cheers!
Steve
KG5VK