North Carolina
ARRL
Section News Letter

January 10, 2022

Greetings from the High Country.

We have had some bitterly cold weather in the past week but this week we expect milder temperatures, less wind and some snow flurries   On January 7, near Tweetsie Railroad, we had a wind chill of -5 degrees.  Winter certainly has arrived and the ski slopes have a good coverage of man-made and natural snow on their slopes.

MONTHLY SECTION TRAFFIC NET REPORT

Here is an abbreviated version of the monthly Section Traffic Report submitted by Dave Roy, W4DNA, STM for North Carolina.   The ARRL email system makes it very difficult to include Word or Excel files so the report is truncated.  A complete copy of the December 2021 STM report is posted at the NCARRL.org web page.

BULLETIN – NATIONAL TRAFFIC SYSTEM TRAINING

Dave Roy, W4DNA, Section Traffic Manager, asked me to include information on a set of Zoom training sessions covering NTS procedures that will be useful to new operators and those who wish to brush up on their NTS skills.   John, N4CNX, will lead three sessions running from 7:30-9:30 p.m. on January 17, 24 and 31. If you wish to register for this training, John asks you to send an email to 232trull@gmail.com advising your call sign, email address and a valid phone number.  John will reply to you with a link and password to the Zoom sessions.  Certificates will be issued to operators who complete the course and its assignments.

CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW HAMS

The Five County Ham Radio Enthusiasts VE Team, led by Richard Hall, K7RLH, held a test session on this past Saturday which resulted in five new Technicians, one person who passed both Tech and General, one person who upgraded to General and one person who upgraded to Extra. Congratulations go out to the new and upgraded hams and to Richard and his team for making the test session possible.

ARRL MATTERS

The ARRL Board of Directors will meet on January 21-22. 2022.  The Board Agenda can be found at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ODV/Board%20Meeting%20Jan%202022/01%20Agenda%20January%202022.pdf Newly elected Directors in the New England and Roanoke Divisions will be seated and elections will be held for various ARRL Officers.  Committee reports will be reviewed and acted upon by the Board.

Volunteer Monitoring Program Report.  Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, head of the ARRL Volunteer Monitoring program, posted the December 2021 report which can be found at https://www.arrl.org/news/the-volunteer-monitor-program-report-for-december-2021. You are encouraged to read the report to see that the volunteer monitors are doing a good job in identifying rule violations as well as examples of good operating practices.  This month, monitors identified operators who were operating outside their licensed privileges and for excessive bandwidth.  A notice from the VM program is not an action by the FCC against the operator but it does give the operator a heads up that they may be unwittingly violating rules.    Commendations were also issued for good operating practices.  Prior to the initiation of the Volunteer Monitoring Program in 2020, numerous hams felt that the bad actors were taking over the ham bands.  Thanks go out to the volunteers and to Riley for their work in keeping ham radio enjoyable for all of us.

Emergency Management Director Hired at ARRL HQ

Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, formerly Director of the Johnson County (Arkansas) Department of Emergency Management, where he served for sixteen years, has joined the Headquarters Staff as the ARRL Director of Emergency Management.  John is an Extra Class ham and will take over leadership of the ARES® program along with further enhancement to the ARES Plan which has been under reiew by the emergency Management and Public Service Committee that the ARRL Board created at its July 2021 meeting.  Information about Josh can be found at https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-welcomes-new-director-of-emergency-management.

ARRL Survey of 2020 and 2021 Field Day Participants

The ARRL Programs and Services Committee is conducting a survey of individuals and groups that participated in Field Day on 2020 and 2021.  The Committee is gathering data prior to making recommendations for Field Day Rules for 2022.  Information about the survey and a link to the survey can be found at https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-surveying-field-day-participants .  The Committee has set a deadline of January 17, 2022 for persons who wish to offer opinions and input to Committee.

New Question Pool Released for Technician Exams – Effective July 1, 2022

The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators has released the 2022-2026 Question Pool for Technician Exams beginning on July 1, 2022.  Information about the changes in the question pool can be found at https://arrl.org/news/new-technician-question-pool-released-effective-july-1-2022

HAMFEST INFORMATION

The following hamfests have been scheduled for 2022.

Orlando Hamcation will be held on February 11-13, 2022 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park.  Information about the Hamcation can be found at https://www.hamcation.com. The Orlando Hamcation is reported as being the second largest hamfest held in the United States (second only to the Dayton Hamvention held in May). 

The ARRL will hold its National Convention prior to the Orlando Hamcation.  ARRL will have several morning and afternoon training tracks and its luncheon at the DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld on February 10.  Information about the ARRL National Convention and the training program can be found at https://arrl.org/arrl-expo

The Mecklenburg Amateur Radio Society will hold the Charlotte Hamfest on March 11 and 12 at the Cabarrus Arena and Events Center which is located at 4551 Old Airport Road, near Concord NC.  Information about the hamfest can be found at https://charlottehamfest.org.

The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society will hold its RARSfest on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at the Jim Graham Building at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.  Information about RARSfest can be found at https://www.rarsfest.org/

The Waynesville Hamfest is scheduled to be held at the Smoky Mountain Event Center (Haywood County Fairgrounds) which is located near Lake Junaluska.  The date is July 23, 2022.

EMCOMM TRAINING

NCEM postponed several EmComm courses that were scheduled for January 2022.  The Auxcomm class has been postponed until late March or early April at the Caldwell County EOC in Lenoir, NC.   Persons who wish to take the course are urged to use the time between now and March to complete or upgrade dthe four on-line ICS courses (100c, 200c, 700b and 800d) which can be completed in about one hour each (and at no cost) at https://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx. You are reminded that persons who travel 50 miles from home to attend the Auxcomm course are eligible to be reimbursed for mileage, meals and lodging in accordance with NC State Government Travel Policies.  The Auxcomm course plus upcoming CommEx events will be listed here as well as in TERMS (https://terms.ncem.gov/TRS/). 

BALLOTING UNDERWAY FOR NC SECTION MANAGER

Numerous persons have reported receiving their ballots for the NC Section Manager Election.  Ballots must be received at ARRL HQ no later than February 18 in order to be counted on February 22.

SILENT KEY REPORTING

A sad but important part of the job of Section Manager involves advising ARRL HQ about the passing of hams so that their name and call is listed in QST.  For example, I was advised of the passing of two hams in the past week or so and word has been sent on to ARRL HQ. 

One was Jeff Blythe, KA4WYC, who was serving as the President of the Charlotte Amateur Radio Club, W4CQ.  If you have ever been to the Charlotte Hamfest you likely saw and spoke with Jeff near he ticket counter or while he moved around in the hamfest.  A second Silent Key that I learned of was Bill Turner, W4WNT, who lived near Waxhaw and was known as a Champion DX’er and past President of the Carolina DX Association.  He was an on-the-air presence from Waxhaw and from Oak Island.

Both these gentlemen made significant contributions to ham radio and will be recognized in QST.

One of the more active clubs in the state recently posted a video tribute to its members who had passed away in 2021.  I noticed that I had not been informed of the passing of several of the hams and as a result word had not been sent to ARRL for their calls and names to be listed in QST.

If you know of a ham passing away, please drop me a line, including a link to a published obituary, so that appropriate recognition can be given in QST.

CLOSING COMMENT

ARRL HQ has asked me to request that each club designate someone to check on the accuracy of information on the ARRL webpage about your local club.  Visitors and new hams use the club information at ARRL to know where and when club meetings are held and who the local officers are when seeking advice on local activities.

Marv, WA4NC

Boone