June Section News

Greetings Michigan Amateur Radio Operators,

Well, Field Day is finally upon us, the biggest operating event of the year. With some slight revisions to "The Rules", we are encouraged by this opportunity to gain some valuable publicity for the activity. Please insure that arrangements have been made for public officials to visit and that your Official Welcoming Committee is in place. Keep in mind that most visitors will be completely overwhelmed by what they see and someone needs to be your spokesperson to explain what all the antennas and equipment are really doing -- and explain it all in easy to understand terms. That is, no ham radio buzzwords, but in language the visitors can relate to. Good luck everyone.

I am pleased to announce that Simon Boehme KC8ZYD of Kalamazoo has accepted the appointment as Assistant Section Manager for Youth. Simon has been working diligently to help the ARRL Michigan Section determine where Michigan hams stand in terms of having a solid growth plan for young entry-level hams and to initiate a process to insure bring more young people in this hobby. Formalizing this appointment will offer the recognition that is appropriate for these responsibilities. We will be hearing more and more from Simon as these next few weeks progress. In the interim, you can establish contact with him at kc8zyd@arrl.net.

With one change comes another, it seems. After 10 years as our Official Observer Coordinator and 15 as an OO, Don N8NJE is preparing to step down. "It's time," Don said. His retirement date is August first and over the next few weeks, Don and I will be working on the list of candidates under consideration for his replacement. Our cadre of OOs has accomplished much under Don's capable leadership. Our relationship between the Amateur Auxiliary and the FCC continues to be very high and N8NJE deserves much of the credit for that excellent association. Did you know that the OO position is the only ARRL Field appointment that requires applicants to pass a test before they are appointed? Keeping these high standards is paramount for members of the OO/AA program and this is not taken lightly. Don always interviews each applicant for the program and is very diligent to insure that the applicant follows ARRL and FCC guidelines. My sincere thanks as well as the combined thanks of the members of the ARRL Michigan Section go to Don for his many years of service.

Just a reminder for all of us, please take some time to update your records at the ARRL Members Only Web Page. I have noted that many phone numbers and similar information are out of date. This is important contact data and I ask that you take the time to insure that we have everything correct. Home, work and cell numbers often change and this database is my first reference point if I need to contact you. Thanks.

Newly installed officers for the Hazel Park ARC are: Pres. KE8UM; 1st V Pres K8ABZ; 2nd V Pres. K8TRF; Treas. K8UP; Dir. KC8WPW; Sec. W9NPI; Parlamentarian, WD8S. Congratulations to these new club officers. Last month I "fat fingered" the call sign of the Livingston ARC's Program Director. KC8VAB is the LARK's new Program Director.

Here come the monthly reports. I do sincerely wish to thank each and everyone for doing an outstanding job of reporting monthly. To our ECs and DECs, our Net Managers, and our OESs: I truly appreciate all that you do. These reports are collected by WB8RCR and are posted on our Section ARPSC Web Pages for your review. The ECs' FSD 212 reports are also seen by our State's Emergency Managers, so they have a good idea of the services we are performing. Keeping this information flowing is truly vital to our success. We can only impress those whom we serve by reporting what we are doing and how vital these efforts have become. Keep up the good work.

Station Activity Reports (SARs) for May, 2008: WB9JSR 629, AC8AR 434, AB8SY 327, K8LJG 228, KD8AAD 128, KC8MLD 99, K8KV 95, K8RDN 80, AB8WF 76, K8AE 75, KD8HPF 53, WB8RCR 51, W8RNQ 50, KC8BMV 18, WD8USA 16, KD8FNN 15, KC8NTE 12, AC8AL 7, WA8OOH 4, KC8ZGB 4, KC8LXS 4. SARs are reports of all the radiogram traffic you have handled in the past month.

Public Service Honor Roll Reports (PSHRs) for May, 2008: WB8RCR 242, AC8AL 238, KC8NTE 237, WD8USA 201, K8RDN 175, WB9JSR 135, K8MFK 130, AC8AR 125, K8AE 98, AB8SY 80, K8KV 80, K8VFZ 75, KD8FNN 53, KD8HPF 50. PSHRs include both your net and public service activities for the month.

May Official Emergency Station reports came in from N8HA, K8COP, and KC8NTE. Your OES reports should be filed with WA8EFK with a copy to your EC.

Michigan Nets reporting for March: MTN, MVHFTN, MACS, QMN, UPN, TMMTN, WSSBN, NLEUP, GLETN, Motor County ARC Net, Hiawatha, MIARPSC, Chelsea ARC Net. Total Operator-hours for March: 2468. To include your net's monthly activities, contact wb8rcr@arrl.net. All nets are encouraged to report and this especially includes your local ARES and RACES nets. Here is a way to way everyone know your net is active. Complete monthly net report details are at http://www.mi-nts.org/netreport.php.

PSHRs and SARs should be filed monthly with WB8RCR. You can access a simple reporting form at: http://www.mi-nts.org/PSHR_entry.shtml to provide your reports to WB8RCR. In all cases, reporting by radiogram is encouraged -- let's keep the NTS busy. Packet messages can be routed to wb8rcr@wb8rcr.ampr.org and wa8efk@wa8efk.ampr.org .

73 until next month.

Dale WA8EFK

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