ARRL NTX Section Manager June News Letter

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 22^nd 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