Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Let's Talk - October

Hi Gang,
 
Wow, fall has definitely arrived!!!  The Leaves are falling fast and furious and it won’t be long now that we will be in winter. Yes, I said that ugly word, but let’s face it, some portions of our state have even seen some “snow”..

I wanted to pop into your email boxes just for a quick update.. As some of you know the scores are out for “Field Day.” Yup, and Ohio did really great this year.

In the overall scoring throughout the country with all classes figured in, Ohio’s own DELARA scored in the top 10 stations with a whopping 15,766 points. They were 2nd in the county for (4A) stations losing out only to the Huntsville Alabama group K4BFT who had 17,038 points.  All in all, Ohio did really GREAT and everyone should be proud, not because of your rankings (yes, that’s always something to show-off about) but moreover, the weather was absolutely terrible, the bands were terrible and yet, even though all these things were factors, the public got a chance to learn something about us. We also got a learning lesson from it. Yes, it was raining, but guess what, when that time comes and we get the call to help in a disaster, the sun most likely won’t be shining. It won’t be the greatest of temperatures, and the band conditions won’t be the greatest either, yet throughout all of these adversities, we’ve shown the public (and ourselves) that we can do it. We can get the messages through “when all else fails..”     

Within Ohio here’s how the rankings went..

1 K8ES      15,766     4A     DELARA
2 N8BC      11,044    6A     Lake County ARS (LCARS)
3 W8DXA   9,162     2A     Northern OH DX Assn (NODX)
4 K8BF        8,990    4A      Portage County ARS (PCARS)
5 K8PI          7,826    3A     Dial RC

Now quickly onto another couple of subjects..

** Are you getting those emails from the Great Lakes Director or Section Manager? Now, for those of you who may not want to go to all the bother of checking your account with the League, or you are just not League members, you still have a chance to get these important emails. All you have to do is to “Opt-In” to receive them. There’s a link to do this on the Ohio Section website, it’s on the bottom left corner.. For your convenience, here’s a direct link to it: 
http://arrl-ohio.org/forwarder/forwarding.html   I urge all of you to make sure that everyone, regardless of whether they are a League member or not, get signed up for one of these options. You can always “Opt-Out” at any time if you feel this is not what you were expecting. But, who in their right mind would want to miss out on anything coming out of the Great Lakes Director or the Ohio Section Manager?




** The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 bill in the US House (H.R. 1301) now has 108 cosponsors with Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania just signing on! ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, credited ARRL members “who understand the importance of the legislation” with making it possible to reach that milestone. Remember - a big bag of letters from the constituents is always more impressive than ones trickling in day after day.




The Ohio Section Website.. You can find the Ohio Section Website at: http://arrlohio.org  If you don’t have this website set as your home page, I urge you to do so. This website is one of the exceptions to the rules.. It changes all the time. It’s never stagnating, and I would highly recommend that you check into the website at least 3 times per week or more if you can. Yes, it does change that much! Now, how do I know so much about the website?? I’m the webmaster for it!

** HEY, did you see that there’s another NEW – one question – questionnaire on the Ohio Section Website. I’ve been changing the questions about once every couple of weeks or so. It only asks one question and it will take all of about 2 seconds for you to answer it, and you can see how your answer stacks up with others instantly. If you haven’t done it yet, please do.. I really want to hear from you.



** Are you a member of the ARRL?? If you aren’t a League member, this is a great opportunity to become one. Want more information on how to join? Here’s the link: http://www.arrl.org/membership-levels. There’s even a 90 day FREE trial that you can apply for if you’ve never been a member.. Got questions about being a member or what the League is all about? Send me an email.. n8sy@arrl.org   I’ll be happy to call or write to you or even call you if you’ve given me your phone number.






** Hey, and don’t forget to turn your clocks back one hour this Sunday, November 1st.. This is when we get to gain that hour back that we lost early last spring.. and it’s a really neat birthday present for me.. I get to sleep in an extra hour!!

73, for now..

Scott..

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