|
ARRL Illinois Section (IL)Section Manager
Thomas T. Ciciora, KA9QPN 1887 Irene Rd Sandwich, IL 60548-9329 815-498-4929 ka9qpn@arrl.org |
Section Links
|
|
 |
|
|
ALERT: Fri, August 29, 2008; 7:57 PM ET As of this writing, TS Gustav is expected to intensify into a hurricane and affect portions of the Gulf Coast on Tuesday. Obviously, this area is sensitive to any hint of a repeat of the events of 2005. Consequently, the residents of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are preparing for a serious event. Any prognostication of Gustav's landfall area or strength at this time is no more than an educated guess. With this in mind, I would urge all Amateurs to monitor this situation and be prepared to assist as requested. |
News last updated: Sat, August 23, 2008 at 6:47 PM ET
SM--Tom
Ciciora KA9QPN
SRM/ASM--Ron Morgan, KB9NW; ASM--Brad Pioveson, W9FX
ASM for Youth--Neil Gebhardt, KB9ZGZ
ACC--Eric Redimacher, K9KQB
SGL--Charles Richey, K9DUE
STM--Harold Dunn, K9CNP
PIC--Fritz Bock, WD9FMB
TC--John Dinella, WA9IL
OOC--Tim Childers, KB9FBI
SEC--Pat Ryan, KC6VVT
ASEC--Pat Stowell N9PN
DEC: Central--Terry Jones WT9J, Northeast--Bob
Cockream, AB9EE, Northwest--Jim Conrad, W8MQ, Northern Border--Wayne
Hansen KA9IMX, Southern--Bruce
Talley, WA9APQ, Southwest--Curtis Williams, W5DTR, Eastern Border--John Van
Sandt N9YRX, Cook County/Chicago--Neil Ormos N9NL, Illinois Medical
Emergency Response
Team Liaison--Don Wright, KB9ZDM
From the top...
**I apologize for the timing and length
of
this
month's
news. Made another trip west which wrenched up my schedule.
**The 2008 State Convention was again ably hosted by the Bolingbrook
ARS. Congratulations to the BARS crew for a job well done. The venue, a local
high school, was top-notch.
**Another unprecedented windstorm/tornado producing weather system swept across
the northern part of the Section on the evening of 4 August. The wind damage
was widespread, causing many lengthy power outages. Again, the SKYWARN nets
were a pleasure to listen to as data passed to NWS. Very few injuries reported
despite some notable damage and four (I think) confirmed tornadoes. In my neighborhood,
there wasn't a property owner without either tree or structural damage. I have
a Volkswagen-sized pile of brush waiting to burn to prove it.
**The hamfest season rolls on. It's kind of concerning to see the obvious drop
in attendance at most events. Gas prices are relaxing somewhat, but it seems
like people are taking the lessons of $4/gallon gas to heart. Maybe it's time
for clubs to start talking to their neighbors about consolidating hamfests? What
would you rather have...several large, well attended and staffed events, or many
little events with sparse attendance? Granted, there'd have to be talk up front
about sharing the load and the revenue, but we're hams. We can do anything.
Get
informed...
**What ever happened to W2NSD? Wayne Green folded 73 Magazine
back in 2003, but that doesn't mean that he's been idle. For those of you who
don't know him, W2NSD was Amateur Radio's prototype curmudgeon in the sixties
and seventies. He held forth in editorials monthly, critizing
everything from the League to Dick Bash and everything in between. He also
proposed solutions to those perceived ills. Wayne helped popularize FM repeaters,
RTTY, personal computers, the music compact disk,
and other innovations. He famously challenged
a fellow radio columnist to a pistol duel when the other columnist publicized
the practice
of 'unlocking'
ham gear. I greatly admired Wayne at one time, as a lot of his prophecies about
Amateur Radio have come to pass, especially those that involved clubs that
didn't welcome newcomers and how that would hobble the Service. Sadly, Wayne
aligned himself with Art Bell and other wearers of the tinfoil hat, which finally
drove
me
and thousands
of reasonable
others away. A current article in
Computerworld magazine gives a concise description of W2NSD's career.
**The National Weather Service and Department of Homeland Security are again
teaming up to distribute NOAA All-Hazard Radios to public and private schools.
Please be aware that these schools *may* be seeking programming assistance
for these SAME-capable radios. As we did during the last distribution, please
make yourself and your talents available through your local EMA/ESDA or Citizen
Corps if requested. More to be posted soon at www.arrl.net.
**As
a part of their new relationship with the Transportation Safety Administration,
Army MARS personnel will be assisting TSA in support of the Democratic and
Republican National Conventions. TSA does not have the best reputation with
our population. What better way to help raise them up than to associate them
with a class act like Army MARS. As an aside, I'm soooo glad that I visited
the
Denver area last week and then got out of Dodge...
**Don't forget the 27th annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communication Conference
which will be held in the Chicago area on 26-28 September. The recent purchase
of a D-STAR HT is going to ensure that I show up. More here.
**Club elections are drawing near. Please remember that if 'somebody' has to
do it, we're all 'somebody'. Please help share the load.
Around the
Section...
**The July issue of the Chicago Suburban RA was devoted
to remembering Frank Jackowiak WY9U, a long-time member of the club. Folks,
we share your loss.
**From Tom Lower K9GPC, EC of Ogle County, comes the following: "On July 31,
2008, 8 members of the Ogle County ARES® Team once again provided Traffic Control
and Parking Management for the Ogle County Fair held just west of Oregon, Illinois.
At the top Thursday's venue was the Tractor Pull Event - which I believe sparked
an all time record attendance for this Fair. By 7:30 PM Fair Officials closed
the main entrance to the Fairgrounds and had our team direct incoming vehicles
to the freshly cut hay field across the road - something that has never happened
at the Fair or any other event held at this location. The gang
of eight endured hot weather, high humidity, and absolutely no breeze from 4:00
PM until
9:00 PM. ARES® members that could be found by the Fair Board
Members attending were each thanked personally for their hard work in managing
this record crowd. I as EC for Ogle County would also like to congratulate
the 7 Ogle County ARES® Members who gave of themselves in such a professional
manor for such a worthy event. The Members present were (in no particular order):
Dave
Lewis - K9VFS,
Mark Miller - N9MKI,
Debbie Lower - KC9FSC,
Jim Conrad - (DEC Northwest Illinois) W8MQ,
Charlie Anderson (AEC Ogle County) N9QDJ,
Brenda Anderson - KA9DHX,
John Sorensen - WA6UCA,
Tom Lower (EC Ogle County) - K9GPC."
**The Kishwaukee ARC held its Special Event Station W9S from 14-17 August in
conjunction with the Sycamore Steam Show and Threshing Bee. This event is a wonderful
collision of old and new technology and a great showcase for the Service. Over
300 contacts were made and over 100 non-KARC hams signed the guestbook.
**As the last of the Field Day reports trickled in, I note that a new
feature of many FD events is a VE test session. This is a great trend. Additionally,
congrats to BARS for providing both VE license and ARECC testing at the State
Convention.
**Lake County ARES® provided communications from the Health Dept, EOC in Waukegan
and to Central Distribution Points at the Grant Township Highway Dept and the
Ela Township Highway Dept.. They also provided communications at St Peter's Church
which is a public dispensing point in Lake Zurich.
**Whither the fox hunt? Maybe I'm not reading enough, but the fine art of hidden
transmitter hunting seems to be fading save some notable exceptions in Rockford,
Kankakee and the western part of the Section.
These
last
weeks
of
summer
and
the
first warm weeks of fall are perfect for fox hunts. Did you know that t-hunting
is
a
sanctioned sport with its own world
championship?
Just
remember
to
consider the physical capabilities of your targeted participants when planning
a t-hunt.
After
a certain
age, some folks cease to consider trooping around in the woods as fun. However,
a rural area has some fun possibilities for teams of participants of varying
skill levels. The old guys can read the signals, but the kids can still climb!
Ye Olde Traffic
Report...
** IL ARES®
Net -- QNI xx -- QTC 0 -- 2 Sessions KC6VVT
** Lake County ARES®/RACES Phone Net --QNI 135 -- QTC 0 -- 5 Sessions K9DRW
** IL Emergency Net -- QNI 54 -- QTC 5 -- 5 Sessions K9HEZ
** IL Phone Net -- QNI 126 -- QTC 27 -- 27 Sessions K9HEZ
** North Central Phone Net -- QNI 92 -- QTC 9 -- 19 Sessions K9HEZ
Responsibility for content of all posted material above rests
exclusively with the item author. ARRL staff assumes no responsibility
for errors, omissions, and accuracy of items appearing on this page. All
questions and comments should be directed to the item author.