Greetings fellow ARRL North Texas Amateur Radio OPS
I took office on April the 1st, 2019
During my Campaign to be your Section Manager
I pledged I would be a visible Section Manager,
I hope you feel I have done that and much more.
Before taking office, I gladly took many phone calls, and emails with questions and comments, I continue to talk with fellow ARRL members on a weekly sometimes daily basis.
While I have not solved everyone's concerns. I have always listened and followed up with answers to questions that I may not have had at the time of initial contact.
I have been publishing a Monthly Newsletter since my appointment as your Section Manager, this is a small part of the process of staying in touch with the members I serve.
Some highlights of our Section Management Team accomplishments:
- Appointed a Section Youth Coordinator, which is one of Youth.
Katherine Forson KT5KMF should, by now be well known to any ARRL NTX member.
She was highlighted in QST the same year she was appointed with a full page article
and continues to serve us proudly by sharing what Ham Radio is with both young and old.
- Asked and Received Nominees for an ARRL North Texas Ham Radio Operator of the Year 2019/2020. Appointed an award committee from the Section Management team to vote on the nominees. I presented the Award to Jim Erickson KB0DBJ president of MJARS at their September 2019 club meeting.
- We have continued to Award a North Texas ARRL Ham of the Year Award every year, since I took office in 2019.
- Within the First Seven months of taking office as your Section Manager
I attended Nine Ham Fests, Seventeen Different Club Meetings, Two JOTA events and a visit to the EOC at the Plano Balloon fest. I also appeared at Eleven different ARRL FD sites. - I have attended the Belton Ham fest every year since taking Office (with one exception in 2023), this is significant because the ARRL members from that area had for several years been in pursuit of being realigned by the ARRL with South Texas, until I showed them the support they deserve.
- Began Monthly ARRL NTX Section Management Team Staff meetings, held virtually with Teleconferencing tools.
- October 2020 we began conducting Quarterly Zoom conferences with ARRL NTX Affiliated Club officers and the ARRL NTX Section Staff members. These meetings came from a suggestion received by one of the club officers during a recent round table conference with myself and John Robert Stratton N5AUS our ARRL West Gulf Division Director.
- I continued to attend club meetings on a Virtual basis with those clubs that are having Virtual Meetings during this time of COVID19 Social Distancing.
- Post COVID I still use Zoom conferencing tools to attend virtual club meetings as well as in person meetings Monthly.
- Built a strong working relationship with Section Managers and their Staff near and far from our Section, doing so betters our readiness to respond to neighboring Sections that need our assistance with ECOM and allows them willingness to assist us in times of need. I feel we can always learn from others and therefore maintain contact with all the fellow Section Managers within the ARRL West Gulf, and Delta Divisions, as well as several Section Managers beyond those borders.
- We have assembled an outstanding team of assistants, from Greg Evans K5GTX our Section Emergency Coordinator, to all the other Assistants on the Section Management team. Our team works as a cohesive unit for the betterment of our fellow ARRL members which we serve.
- As of early 2024 our Team has awarded Five ARRL NTX HOY Awards, Five Section manager Certificate of Merit Awards, and seen Two ARRL North Texans awarded the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Youth Award. In addition Jo Ann Keith KA5AZK of 7290 Traffic NET Fame was awarded the George Hart Distinguished Communicator Award from ARRL Headquarters.
Early in 2021
Thanks to Greg Evans K5GTX and Aaron Hulett K8AMH for many hours of work and planning, our team unveiled the new ARRL North Texas website https://arrlntx.org
Our Section Management Staff Team continues to work for each and every North Texas ARRL member, if you feel you would like to be a part of our team, please drop me an email of what you would like to contribute, we presently have over 18 staff members.
Thank you for your time and your service as an ARRL member!
Steve KG5VK
KG5VK@ARRL.ORG
