January, 2012

 

 

The following Amateur Radio Operators became a Silent Key: David Legg, N9RUS; Donald Stewart, K9YJW. Our condolences go out to the family. They will be missed by all.

 

 

Section Manager News

 

 

The New Year is always a busy time for each of us.  Hopefully, everyone received what they wanted over the holidays and are back to their normal routines.  We have several items of interest for this month’s newsletter, beside the Staff reports that are always here. A New Year always comes with some changes.

 

ARES members must get the NIMS Courses completed.

All individuals that send in reports to a Section Coordinator are asked to have their report turned in by the 2nd of the month. The Section Coordinators must have their reports to me by no later than the 6th of the month, so that I can have my report out by the 8th.

 

I am still in need of an Affiliated Club Coordinator. You can read more about this volunteer position here: http://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-coordinator

 

Mike Martin, WB9L, the Technical Specialist Coordinator is resigning due to health problems. This position requires someone with a great deal of technical expertise. If you are interested in this position, you can read more here: http://www.arrl.org/technical-coordinator

 

If you are interested in either of these positions, please send me a resume of your qualifications and amateur radio activities at w3ml@arrl.org.

David Berry, N9QP, the Section Official Observer Coordinator, would like to see how many amateur radio clubs are at college and university campuses. He is a Dean at Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette would like to create a contact list with all college/university amateur radio clubs in order to promote a special event operation involving all clubs.

If you are in a college/university club, or the trustee/sponsor, please send David an email with your club contact details to n9qp@arrl.net.  If you would like to start a club, he can help you with that too. At some institutions, there is number of required students before you can make it an affiliated organization on your campus. You will need to find out about that and then let David help guide you through the process.

 

OFFICIAL OBSERVER PROGRAM REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2011

 

David Berry, N9QP Indiana section OOC reported the Official Observer Program for December 2011 had 399 total hours of observation, and issued 4 advisories and 5 Good Ops report.

W3ML’s Note: Amateurs must remember that the OO program is our self-policing and based on a formal agreement between the FCC and the ARRL. It is in no manner a “band cop” position. The OOs are here to help us stay legal and prevent us from obtaining that “pink slip” from the FCC. Indiana’s OOs do a great job.

 

 

INDIANA ARES ACTIVITY FOR DECEMBER 2011

                                               

NUMBER OF LOCAL ARES NETS ACTIVE: 52                                                            

NUMBER OF TEAMS WITH NTS LIAISON: 26                                                 

                                                                       

TOTAL NUMBER OF NET SESSIONS, DRILLS/TESTS THIS MONTH: 232

TOTAL PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 1499                                                      

                                                                       

PUBLIC SERVICE EVENTS REPORTED:  20                                                                 

TOTAL PSE PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 543.75                                                       

                                                                       

EMERGENCY NETS REPORTED: 0                                                                     

TOTAL EMERGENCY PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 0                                                                                                                                              

TOTAL NUMBER OF ARES OPERATIONS THIS MONTH: 252                                              

TOTAL PERSON-HOURS REPORTED: 2042.5                                                                                                   

TOTAL NUMBER INDIANA SECTION ARES HF NETS: 3                                                      

QNI: 51                                                                      

 

                                   

SEC COMMENTS

 

ARES leadership changes during December: When Lyle Long N1LL resigned from the Kosciusko County EC appointment and accepted the District 2 DEC appointment, one of his first tasks was to find his successor. Mark Gregory, AB9ZA has accepted the Kosciusko County EC appointment. Mark recently completed the ARRL Introduction to Emergency Communication class taught in Kosciusko County. Please welcome Mark to the Indiana ARES field organization.

 

Due to career commitments, Rory Bond KC9MDX, the Delaware County EC has chosen to resign his appointment. Rory expressed confidence that one of his Assistant EC’s will take on the responsibilities and formally apply for the open EC appointment. I appreciate the personal effort that Rory spent serving Delaware County ARES since July 2010.

 

As explained in last month’s SEC report, I’m conducting phone interviews with all Indiana ARES appointees to discuss their past year progress and current year goals. From the interviews so far, I’m hearing some recurring comments.

 

1) “My county is so small; there aren’t any public service events for ARES activities”

Understandably, counties with smaller populations often have fewer opportunities for public service events and served agencies may request less involvement from ARES. Even though community sponsored activities may be fewer, this just means the ARES EC needs to be more creative in developing and scheduling training activities for the team. Where does the EC get fresh ideas for team activities? Try participating in the weekly Indiana ARES phone net at 5PM every Sunday on 3900 kHz to hear what’s happening in other counties. Ideas can be found by reading other EC’s monthly comments in this SEC report. Asking team members for activity ideas is another good option. The purpose of these activities is to improve emergency preparedness skills and build team cohesion. Don’t wait for activities to come to your team, make your team find or create useful activities to keep their skills sharp.

 

2) “This county is a RACES county” (implying only RACES is accepted by the EMA)

There is no easy answer to this problem because each situation is unique depending on the EMA Director’s style of leadership and personality. The root cause for this attitude may be based on personality conflicts between the EMA and ARES leaders, misperception based on a previous negative incident, or a demanding/controlling leadership style. This environment can de-energize your ARES team if they have little expectation of using their training to help their community. Long-term diplomacy with the EMA and maintaining the team’s readiness through self-designed exercises that earn respect may open the door to a stronger working relationship with the county EMA.

 

3) “I can’t get my team members to volunteer to help with …”

Lack of volunteerism most often occurs when the task isn’t well-defined or the stakes of failing are perceived to be too high. If the bar is set too high or the hazard is too wide, even the best equestrian team (horse and rider) will balk at the challenge. Break down any request for volunteer help into manageable well-defined tasks with clear expectations and you’ll find more willing and eager volunteers to complete the task. Local ARES team nets are good practice to share the net control responsibility between members. Rotate the assignment so every team member gets some practice running directed nets. When an EC accepts the appointment, that doesn’t mean he agrees to do all the work himself. Delegation is a skill that every EC must develop and team members must be willing to share the load.

 

Speaking of sharing the load, IDHS Communications Director Don West W9DEW has requested help from ARES teams in counties that don’t have a standing RACES team to represent their county in the January 21 state-wide RACES drill. Don emailed all county EMA Directors to explain the goal of having amateur radio support in all counties. Don requested feedback on this plan from the EMA Directors by January 5. Let’s be very clear, this request is ONLY for counties WITHOUT a RACES team. So far, no EMA Directors have objected to Don’s request. I will be sending drill instructions to county EC’s that are affected by this request shortly.

 

Thanks for all your efforts in the service of your communities and Indiana ARES.

 

Joseph Lawrence, K9RFZ

ARRL Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator

 

 

 

SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER SUMMARY – DECEMBER 2011

 

PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL (PSHR)  –  DECEMBER  2011:   NA9L  112,   N9WLW  158,   

W9BGJ  100, W9LW  74, W9MBT  90,   W9WXN  114,   WA5LOU  120,   WB9FHP  237,   WB9YBI  300.

 

Our Public Service Honor Roll continues to be OUTSTANDING!  Everyone take a look at page 102 in your January 2011 QST Magazine for the monthly published results. 

The Public Service Honor Roll (PSHR) recognizes the efforts of those Amateur Radio Operators who are active in Public Service and qualifies with 70 points each month, in several areas of their Public Service.

The PSHR Group total is:  1305 Points, with 9 stations reporting!  See all the numbers in our full report on this web page:  http://www.inarrl.org/stmreport.pdf.  For further information on the PSHR Program, go to http://www.arrl.org/public-service-honor-roll

 

BRASS POUNDERS LEAGUE (BPL) – DECEMBER   2011:   WB9FHP  2494  Points!  W9WXN  797   Points!  This is OUTSTANDING work gentlemen.  Thank you!

 

The Brass Pounders League is open to all amateurs in the US, Canada and US possessions.   For further information on the Brass Pounders League and how to count traffic, go to 
http://www.arrl.org/chapter-ten-counting-net-traffic

OFFICAL RELAY STATION (ORS) RESULTS – DECEMBER  2011:  Our ORS Group and our Section Activity Report (SAR) stations totaled out at 3796 message handling, with l5 ORS stations, and 3 others providing a SAR, this month.  OUTSTANDING,  FOLKS!  Thanks!

 

Our ORS & SAR reporting station numbers are totaled from messages they originate, receive, send, and deliver.  See all the numbers in our full report here:  http://www.inarrl.org/stmreport.pdf

 

SECTION & LOCAL NETS FOR DECEMBER  2011:  35 nets reporting 291 sessions, 4418 check-ins, and 235 messages handled.  OUTSTANDING, FOLKS!!  Thank you!

 

Check out the full report, at  http://www.inarrl.org/stmreport.pdf,  to see how your particular net is doing.  This is a tough time of the year, on the radio, but yet your numbers are GREAT!

 

You all did an incredibly AWESOME job in 2011!  We have grown in every category of reporting!  You all make it very easy to say:

 

“WE ARE ACTIVE!”

 

73 and Happy New Year!

Lou Everett, Sr., WA5LOU

Section Traffic Manager

 

 

INDIANA SECTION TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2011

 

Thank you one and all for your reports this month! We have another 100% report! I hope that everyone had a very good holiday. Also, I would like to send congratulations to John, former KC9JPZ, who is now AC9AZ, an Extra class amateur!

 

NI9Y reported that he operated W9H Special Event Station December 10-17th.  W9H commemorated 80 years of shortwave broadcasting from HCJB, Voice of the Andes and the 25th anniversary of the HCJB Technology Center in Elkhart.  The center builds the 100K and 500K shortwave transmitters, and suitcase FM transmitters for the mission field.  The rigs were a IC-735 and FT-900 for 40 meters and a IC-751 for 15/20 meters.  The antennas were a 40 meter dipole and 4-element yagi.  The Technology Center builds 100-500 KW VFO controlled shortwave transmitters and suitcase FM transmitter for the mission field.

 

Dan also discussed the advantages of using a 40/80 quarter wave slopers with WD8AHL over dipoles for making DX contacts.  He uses a single coax to top feed both slopers simultaneously with great success.  A single braided ground wire where the coax connects to the antenna is routed down his tubular mast to a ground rod. For specific details on this design please send an e-mail to wd8ahl@gmail.com

 

 

We still need Technical Specialist. If you have training or knowledge in these areas, consider being a TS.

We need hams who can specialize in AMSAT, ATV, Direction finding, Digital modes, EME, RFI/TVI and Antennas.  The largest chunk is most likely in the area of RFI/TVI experts. Contact me if you are interested at wb9l@arrl.net.

.

Mike Martin, WB9L

ARRL Indiana Technical Coordinator

 

W3ML’s Note: This is Mike’s last report and I would like to thank him for all the service he has provided to the Indiana ARRL Section.

 

Radio Amateurs Not Affected by Narrowbanding Requirements

The FCC released a Public Notice on January 6, reminding land mobile licensees, frequency coordinators and equipment manufacturers that they have less than one year to transition to narrowband operations in the 150-174 and 421-512 MHz bands. While the latter frequency range includes amateur service allocations, radio amateurs are not affected by the narrowbanding requirement. Land mobile operation is permitted in parts of the 421-430 MHz band in the areas around Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, and land mobile licensees in these areas are among those who will have to migrate to narrowband (12.5 kHz or narrower) technology by January 1, 2013. Amateur operation is not permitted along the Canadian border (north of Line A as defined in the FCC Rules) in the band 420-430 MHz. 

 

ARRL Diamond DXCC Challenge

REVISED December 30, 2011. All 231 entities are now included on the list. Please see the revised entity list.

2012 is the 75th anniversary of the ARRL’s DXCC Award. The world’s preeminent DXing award continues to be DXCC, so reaching the “Diamond milestone” is an event that we all want to celebrate. Going back to the roots of the award, and specifically reading the 1937 DXCC List (January 1937 QST, pages 52-53) to learn what countries were counted at the onset led us to create the Diamond DXCC Challenge.

The country list we will use for the Diamond DXCC Challenge is based upon the list of 231 places shown in 1937.

As you “check off” these entities during the course of 2012 working DX (which is an achievement even today) using spotting networks, pan-adapters, 200 watt rigs and stacked tribanders, imagine how DXing was different in the early years of radio and DXCC! Working Tibet or Aldabra with 50 watts and crystal-controlled transmitters to simple wire antennas had to be a thrill like no other in that time for ham radio operators.

 

See all details here: http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-diamond-dxcc-challenge

 

 

Nomination Deadline for Dayton Hamvention Awards Approaching

 

It’s not too late to nominate individuals and clubs for the 2012 Dayton Hamvention® awards. The deadline to make your nominations for the Amateur of the Year Award, Special Achievement Award, Technical Excellence Award, and the Amateur Radio Club of the Year Award is Sunday, January 15. The winners will be recognized at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention, May 18-20.

The Amateur of the Year Award goes to an individual who has made a long term, outstanding commitment to the advancement of Amateur Radio. The Technical Excellence Award is for the person who has made an outstanding technical advancement in the field of Amateur Radio. The Special Achievement Award honors someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Amateur Radio, usually someone who has spearheaded a significant project.  The Club of the Year award goes to a club which has made a significant contribution to the advancement of Amateur Radio.

 

Until next month,

73

John Poindexter, W3ML

ARRL Indiana Section Manager

The Section website is located at http://www.inarrl.org