• The Amateur's Code
• Winter Field Day
• ARRL Speakers Bureau
• ARRL Volunteers On the Air
• Two Simple Tricks to Expand Club Membership
• Amateur Radio Club Donates to Local Food Center
• Winlink Invitation
• Club Commission Program
• Submitting Info for this Newsletter
• How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention
• Important Links

The radio amateur is:

CONSIDERATE...never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL...offers loyalty, encouragement, and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio Relay League, through which amateur radio in the United States is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE...with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach.

FRIENDLY...slow and patient operating when requested; offers friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kind assistance, cooperation, and consideration for the interests of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED...radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school, or community.

PATRIOTIC...station and skills are always ready for service to country and community.

--The original Radio Amateur's Code was written by Paul M. Segal, W9EEA, in 1928.

This was written over 90 years ago and should be applicable to every operator today. If we're operating on the air or working to mentor a new operator, are we living up to this ideal and passing it along to others?

Winter Field Day (WFD), sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association, is coming again. This year, the dates are January 28 and 29. Clubs around the country are activating for this event. Complete rules can be found on the WFD website, at Home - Winter Field Day. Combining this with ARRL's ongoing Volunteers On the Air operation is a great way to make contacts and get new operators on the air.

WFD is a communications exercise and is held on the last full weekend in January. It can be worked from the comfort of your home or in a remote location. You can participate by yourself or get your friends, family, or whole club involved. WFD is open to participants worldwide. Amateur radio operators may use frequencies on the HF, VHF, or UHF bands, and are free to use any mode that can faithfully transmit the required exchange intact. Like the ARRL Field Day, bonus points are earned in several ways, including for using non-commercial power sources, operating from remote locations, making satellite contacts, and more.

The Winter Field Day Association passionately believes that ham radio operators should practice portable emergency communications in winter environments, as the potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operational concerns. WFD is formatted to help increase your level of preparedness for disasters and improve your operational skills in subpar conditions.

Hamfests and conventions are looking for forum speakers. Both are a challenge to find in today's world of tighter budgets and travel restrictions due to Covid-19. One way to overcome this challenge is with the ARRL Convention Speakers Bureau. True to today's technology, it is a combination of in-person speakers, virtual-meeting speakers, and pre-recorded presentations.

In conjunction with the ARRL Learning Network, a variety of presentations are available for clubs to use at their meetings and events. Information on the Speakers Bureau can be found on the ARRL website, at www.arrl.org/speakers-bureau. This web page provides details and a request form, as well as links to the ARRL Learning Network. You'll be required to log in to the ARRL Learning Network and must be a member to access it. The ARRL Learning Network can be found directly at learn.arrl.org.

If your club or event is looking for presentation assistance, this is a great place to start!

As announced in the January 2023 issue of QST, ARRL is holding the year-long operating event, Volunteers On the Air (VOTA), honoring all ARRL volunteers.

In similar fashion to the 2014 ARRL Centennial QSO Party and the 2018 International Grid Chase, this event will be exclusively driven by contacts uploaded to Logbook of The World (LoTW).

Highlights of the event include:

Earning points for contacting W1AW portable stations: There will be week-long activations of portable W1AW/# stations in all 50 states, and in several US possessions/territories, which will generate on-air activity to earn points. Each state will be activated twice. The schedule of when each state will be activated will be updated as changes and additions occur. See the Points Table at vota.arrl.org for the full list of points.

Contacting ARRL volunteers or members on the air: ARRL Officers, Directors, Section Managers (and their appointees), staff, and even domestic and DX members, can be contacted for points.

Using LoTW (http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world) as the contacts data source, the VOTA event features W1AW activations from all 50 states (twice) and several territories throughout 2023. Weeks will begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday. Some weeks will be shown as off-weeks to avoid other major operating events.

Participants will work W1AW portable stations and ARRL volunteers to earn contact points.

Participants do not need to upload to, or participate in, LoTW. Uploads to LoTW by W1AW portable stations and the volunteers will feed the points scoring system.

A leaderboard will be activated after the event ramps up, and certificates will be available during the event and after it concludes. Once the year is completed, an annual summary will be released.

If you review the state activations list and notice your state is not yet indicating a host, and you have interest in activating your state, consider reaching out to your Division Director to express your club's interest.

For information and continued updates, visit the VOTA website, at vota.arrl.org.

As an ARRL official, I talk with hundreds of hams each year, many of whom are newly licensed or returning to the airwaves after a long absence. I ask them if they belong to a local club. To my surprise, many reply no, and cite two reasons why they don't join. First, no one responds to a call from them on the club's repeater, and secondly, they feel awkward at club meetings because few members wear badges to identify themselves. Both situations can easily be remedied.

Make it a club policy for members to monitor the club's designated repeater for at least 1 hour ahead of meeting times, not only for regularly scheduled meetings, but also for any informal events, such as breakfasts, lunches, or dinners. Answer unfamiliar calls, and invite the caller to your event, confirming the location. This is not only appreciated by new hams, but also operators returning to our hobby after many years. Remember that VHF/UHF FM equipment sold 30 years ago is still fully functional, so lots of returning hams still expect repeaters to be the primary conduit to communicate with members before meetings.

Many hams have gotten out of the habit of wearing a badge. While most members may know one another by sight, a visitor does not. Wearing a badge at a gathering helps associate a name and call sign with a face, and makes the visitor feel at ease. An easy way to make sure everyone is identified is to have blank adhesive name badges from an office supply store and a marker by the entrance to the meeting room. Another suggestion is to have your club work out a bulk order arrangement with an amateur radio badge maker. The club could even offer to pay a percentage of the price per badge to encourage members to buy one.

Monitoring the club's official repeater and wearing a badge are two simple ways to make nonmembers feel welcome and part of your club, with the hope they will join.

-- ARRL Roanoke Division Vice Director Bill Morine, N2COP

For the 17th year in a row, the Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) has raised funds for the local food program, the Center of Hope, a program of Family & Community Services (FCS).

This year, their contribution has made an especially significant impact, as the center faces struggles with rising food costs and increased need. The donation, which totaled $10,870, will be used to help with the center's distribution that provides toys and food for Ravenna families this holiday season.

Associate Director of Family & Community Services Anne Face; PCARS Treasurer Greg Ash, KA8TOA, and PCARS Presiden Nick Wagner, AC8QG.

PCARS President Nick Wagner, AC8QG, and Treasurer Greg Ash, KA8TOA, were present for the check presentation, which was accepted by Anne Face, Associate Director of Family & Community Services, Inc. The donations were collected from club members and the community.

Each year, the Center of Hope assists hundreds of families in Portage County by providing hot meals 5 days a week through its congregate dining center, as well as emergency groceries through its choice pantry. Services are free of charge and dependent on an individual's income.

"Our small community programs like the Center of Hope depend on local donors like PCARS. Their annual support helps make our programming possible, and we thank them for their continued generosity," said Mark Frisone, Executive Director of FCS.

Visit www.fcsserves.org/program/center-of-hope for more information about the Center of Hope, and visit www.portcars.org for more information about Portage County Amateur Radio Service.

-- This story originally appeared in The Portager

Winlink is one of the many tools that amateurs can use for fun, as well as for emergency communications situations. I live in Connecticut and have been involved with Winlink for several years now. I will not presume to know all the answers, but I would like to invite Winlink-capable operators to send me a message and tell me two things: where you're sending the message from, and whether you're using HF, VHF, VARA, or Telnet. This is not a formal survey, just my curiosity, but I will try and report on what I get in my inbox. Send your Winlink message to W8ZY, and let's see what happens.

I am happy to suggest that if you wish to participate in regular Winlink exercises, drop by the EmComm Training Group, www.emcomm-training.org, and check out their events.

One of the benefits of being an ARRL Affiliated Club is having access to the Club Commission Program. Affiliated clubs can use this program to receive a commission for promoting membership in ARRL. When you sign a new member, the club gets $15, and when a member renews through the club, you get $5.

Members can renew anytime without losing any of their membership time. Details and forms are available on the ARRL website, at www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-benefits. FAQs are also available to help explain the program. It does take some effort and a bit of paperwork, but the club reaps the reward in cash. If your affiliated club is not participating in this program, ask them to investigate it.

ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio. If your club completes a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation, or activates a park, we want to hear about it. You can submit your newsletter article to us at clubs@arrl.org. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of PDFs. If you have pictures, please submit them with caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer. We want to highlight the good work being done by the clubs and show others in the community. Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs.

If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest, tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for it to be an ARRL-sanctioned event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL-sanctioned event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest or convention, visit www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events.

To have your event sanctioned, complete the online application at www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application.

The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming events.

ARRL Home: www.arrl.org

Find an ARRL Affiliated Club: www.arrl.org/clubs

Find your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections

Find a license class in your area: www.arrl.org/class

Find a license exam in your area: www.arrl.org/exam

Find a hamfest or convention: www.arrl.org/hamfests

Email ARRL Clubs: clubs@arrl.org