From: Joel
Harrison [mailto:
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 9:21
PM
To:
Subject: Trip Report -
Greetings,
This weekend I attended the New England Division
Convention in
The convention was held at the Holiday Inn - Boxboro
which is a very nice convention hotel located on I-495 just west of
Dave Sumner, K1ZZ and Linda, KA1ZD
Harold Kramer, WJ1B
Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R
Katie Breen, W1KRB
Dan Henderson, N1ND
Bill Moore, NC1L
Steve Ewald, WV1X
Rick Lindquist, N1RL and Jean N1MJC
Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG
Penny Harts, N1NAG
Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
Norm Fusaro, W3IZ
Section Managers in attendance included:
EMA SM Michael Neilsen, W1MPN
WMA SM Ed Emco, W1KT
NH SM Sterling Eanes, AK1K
RI SM Bob Beaudet, W1YRC
CT SM Betsey Doane, K1EIC
NYC-LI SM George Tranos, N2GA
AL Greg Sarratt, W4OZK
Non-ARRL “notables” attending were:
Bob, K9EID, and Sarah Heil
QCWA President John Johnston, W3BE
Chip Margelli, K7JA
I drove from
On Saturday morning the convention began and the weather
was great. The vendor area did not open until 9:00 AM so I strolled out to the
flea market with Chip Margelli. I didn’t see much of a variety of
“new” equipment in the flea market however I was impressed with the
amount of vintage gear that was available. It was probably good that I flew
rather that drove. Chip and I spent some time discussing a very nice Collins
KWS-1 that was for sale and how that would look very nice next to my 75A4. When
Chip told how nice his looked in his shack sitting beside his 75A4 I made an
attempt to tell him that hurt and he wasn’t a very good comedian!
The vendor doors opened promptly at 9:00 AM to a very
large awaiting crowd. Business at the booth was brisk. The only complaint I
addressed was a member with a zero call that was upset we didn’t slash
the zero all the time on things he receives from HQ. In order to ensure I
remained in the booth area, Tom surprised me with a very large bag of Peanut
M&M’s (my favorite candy) that was available only at the ARRL booth.
40 forums were scheduled in five separate meeting
rooms Saturday & Sunday covering every topic imaginable. Notable forums
were Bob Heil’s “It all starts at the microphone”, the YCCC
meeting, the Northeast Weak Signal Society (NEWS) meeting and technical forum, Winlink
2000, D-Star, Wire & Cable, AM, Six meter propagation, a power pole
workshop, baluns & ferrites, Skywarn and Slow Scan TV on ISS. The full
slate can be viewed at https:\\www.boxboro.org.
The highlight of the day was meeting Harold Chase,
W1EES. Harold is 90 years old, a Diamond Club Member and has been an ARRL
member continuously for 74 years. He wanted to shake my hand because he lays
claim to being the only known person to have shaken the hand of every ARRL
President (yes, including Hiram!). I tried to explain to him it was more of an
honor for me to shake his hand. Harold is a QCWA Director who is retiring this
year. Quite an interesting individual.
There are two ARRL forums at this convention, one on
Saturday and one on Sunday. The Saturday forum began at 10 AM with a crowd of
approximately 50 attending. Tom chaired the forum and made comments about a
number of items of importance we are currently involved in. Notable issues
raised during the forum were:
·
The movement by state governments
to outlaw the use of electronic devices while mobile and what impact this could
have on amateur radio, and why manufacturers aren’t producing any
“hands-free” device for amateur transceivers
·
The Hello Campaign – How
successful has it been? Are there any metrics in place to track its success?
·
I was asked to comment on my
perception of “Main Street USA”
·
How many new hams were there in
·
The Walter Cronkite Video –
Get someone younger next time. Today’s young people don’t know who
he is. Tom and Frank Fallon explained the purpose of that video was not to
recruit new hams/young people but to use as an intro to congress who does know
who he is! The point was well taken, though.
·
Don’t just focus on
recruiting young people, recruit people of all ages and don’t forget
people of retirement age that have time and money for hobbies
·
Tom presented a 75 year club
affiliation plaque to the Falmouth Amateur Radio Club
On Saturday evening a banquet was held that featured a
buffet dinner and a four piece band and a dance floor. I delivered the key-note
address on “Amateur Radio’s Crystal Ball”. Vice Director
Raisbeck was the MC and did an absolutely fabulous job of facilitating the
event. I had the pleasurable opportunity to meet his wife, Susan, as well as
their two sons Andrew and Daniel.
Sunday morning the doors to the vendor area opened at
10 AM. Before hand I had a chance to stroll through the flea market one more
time. It was much smaller than Saturday as expected. The crowd inside was good
for a Sunday and action at the ARRL booth began with a person who signed up for
a Life Membership. The second person in the door came up to me and said he had
not been a member for 36 years and wanted to renew because Wayne Green told him
it was imperative that he do so! I wanted to tell him that wouldn’t get
him a discount but instead very quickly told him
Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, stopped by for a nice chat and
another member stopped by to compliment the HQ staff. He said on occasion he
has called HQ regarding a variety of matters and he is always treated
“politely, professionally and efficiently” and even when he had to
leave a voicemail he always received a callback.
N1IN, who is very active in MARS, came by and said he
sensed that we were of the opinion that MARS is in competition with ARES and
was disappointed that MARS never seemed to get any publicity in QST.
The Sunday ARRL forum began at 12 Noon and was
attended by about 30 people. Tom again chaired the forum and began by asking
how many had attended the Saturday session. Only one person raised their hand
so this session was beneficial to those in attendance. Topics from the Sunday
forum included:
·
ARRL Emergency Communication
Courses Level I, II and III are not compliant with Department of Homeland
Security ICS. We were not quite sure of the ICS requirements but basically our
EMCOMM courses were structured toward amateur radio and not so much government
requirements.
·
There were some other questions
and positive comments about our EmComm courses
·
A question about ARES/RACES
– how do we combine the two so there isn’t two amateur radio points
of contact for the same effort
·
Comment from KB1LQC, a member of
the Chelmsford High School Radio Club (that Mike Raisbeck started), stating
that from their experience it was easy to get kids into amateur radio but they
loose interest in VHF FM quickly, but what really retains their interests is HF
activity. This supports our conclusion which was the basis for our license
restructuring proposal. It was very good to hear this from a high school
student that has had current experience in this area.
The Sunday forum concluded just past 1 PM and
convention activities, except the main prize drawing, were winding down. I
headed back to
I do not have any attendance figures (Saturday
estimate was around 2200) or results from the ARRL booth but if you’re
interested I’m sure they can be provided later.
My thanks to Tom and Mike for great accommodations and
hospitality. Mike was the General Chairman of the convention and I congratulate
him on a very successful event. It was an enjoyable weekend.
73 Joel W5ZN