I agree with your assessment of the inquiry sent to me. He simply appears to be an ARRL member
as well as a MARS member who would like to see the two organizations work (as
he sees it) more closely together.
Tnx,
Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director
Great Lakes Division, ARRL
5065 Bethany Rd.
Mason, OH 45040
Tel.
513-459-0142; E-mail k8je@arrl.org
-----Original
Message-----
From: Joel Harrison
[mailto:w5zn@arrl.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006
1:53 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:14408] Re:
Trip Report - New England Division Convention
I really
didn’t know where he was coming from as I thought we gave MARS as much
attention as any other “similar” organization related to amateur radio.
Obviously, he
was of a different opinion. He wasn’t rude…was very polite, but expressing his
opinion.
Joel
From: Jim Weaver
[mailto:k8je@arrl.org]
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006
9:48 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:14408] Re: Trip
Report - New England Division Convention
Joel,
Interesting
Foxboro report. One point I found interesting is the fellow who
complained about coverage of MARS in QST, etc. Of course, I realize MARS
isn’t a ham radio service which is all one needs to know about his complaint,
but neither is RACES. But, I digress . . .
The
interesting part is that yesterday I received an E-mail from a GLD member
asking why ARRL doesn’t seem to want to associate more closely with MARS.
This was in response to a report he’d read by Mary Hobart about developing
close ties with different organizations. I suggested he write to Mary or
to NN1N with his thoughts.
Incidentally,
I for one appreciate the effort you take to keep the Board, et al, informed of
your activities.
Jim
Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director
Great Lakes Division, ARRL
5065 Bethany Rd.
Mason, OH 45040
Tel. 513-459-0142; E-mail k8je@arrl.org
-----Original
Message-----
From: Joel Harrison
[mailto:w5zn@arrl.org]
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006
10:00 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: FW: Trip Report -
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