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Connecticut Section News August 2016
#1

Section Leadership:
Section Manager (SM) Betsey, K1EIC
Assistants (ASMs): Emeritus Al, W1FXQ; Jim, KD1YV; Larry, K1HEJ
Official Observer Coordinator (OOC) Chuck, K1DFS
Public Information Coordinator (PIC) Dana, KA1WPM
Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) Wayne, N1CLV
Assistants (ASECs): Rod, N1FNE; Brian, K1BRF; Art, AF1HS; Ron, K1VSC;
Bill, W1GTT
State Government Liaison (SGL) Jon, WF1H
Section Traffic Manager (STM) Anne, K1STM
Section Youth Coordinator (SYC) Douglas, WA1SFH
Technical Coordinator (TC) Steve W1SMS


Hamfest season is starting once again. It was great to see many of you
at the Western CT Hamfest sponsored by the Candlewood Amateur Radio
Association this weekend. Congrats to John W1JGM on chairing this
event—it was his first year and he did a very fine job.
It’s always fun to talk to friends I haven’t seen in some time.
Don’t forget the New England Division Convention September 9-11
Boxboro, MA. Sure hope to see you there. Come to the ARRL Forum and
support me as I retire as SM.

Last week, I had my last cabinet meeting as leader at Paradise Pizza in
New Britain. Our guests were Director Tom Frenaye K1KI, CEO Tom
Gallagher NY2RF, and Supervisor Steve Ewald WV1X. I was pleased to
present an engraved plaque to ASM Larry Buck who has been on my cabinet
for just under 25 years serving as STM for most of that time. Larry has
been very active training digital ops, active in traffic handling,
always ready to be generally helpful, submits his activity report every
single month with at least 10 items, and continues to send out letters
to new hams. The plaque reads: “Presented to Larry Buck K1HEJ
In recognition of outstanding leadership and service to the ARRL CT
Section for 25 years.” Thank you Larry.

SEC Wayne Gronlund, N1CLV will be retiring with me as SEC on October 1.
Wayne will receive an engraved plaque at the CT Section ARRL Forum at
the Nutmeg Hamfest October 16. Wayne has been SEC for an incredible
eight years—he started on January 1, 2009. He has accomplished much
during that time. He participated in the State’s two storm
panel—the “snowtober” and Irene storms—which resulted in his
appointment to the State interoperability committee. He also chairs
the State Region 4 ESF2 Committee which handles logistics and
communications. Indeed, Amateur radio is well represented to State
emergency communications. The Section, under his leadership, has been
placed in the top five in SET for his entire tenure as SEC. And you
all know about the DMR network which he and others have encouraged
which, over a short time, has resulted in 30 repeaters in the State.

He and I have kept the SEC/SM net running each Sunday night and now we
have the DMR net which also operates each week. These nets give
volunteers the chance to report on work done, recruit and be in touch
with each other. Thank you Wayne; we have had lots of fun working
together. Hope you’ll all come to the ARRL Forum in October; hear
our new SM Chuck K1DFS speak and congratulate Wayne as he receives his
well-deserved plaque.

All cabinet members were specially recognized by me. The group is
thoroughly engaged and a great team. We enjoyed reports from cabinet
members on their programs and updates by both Director Frenaye K1KI and
CEO Tom Gallagher NY2RF.

ASEC Bill Covey, W1GTT will also be retiring on October 1. Bill has
been ADEC and later ASEC for Wayne these last eight years and served as
ADEC for many years in Region 4. Bill and Wayne have spent many hours
traveling the Section giving workshops on various digital modes. Bill
has served as administrator of the W1SP Winlink nodes and spent many
hours doing the training and technical work. He also installed the
communications equipment into the Region 4 communications trailer and
regularly brings the trailer to our hamfests. Bill is a technical
specialist in the CT Section. Many thanks Bill—stay active; we need
your skill and expertise.

I was privileged to give a talk to QCWA at their summer luncheon on the
subject of my experiences as Section Manager over these last 25 years.
We sure had a lot of fun remembering good times. I was thrilled to be
able to present an engraved plaque to ASM Emeritus Al Cohen W1FXQ who
was a real mentor for me while serving as Public Information
Coordinator and later Assistant Section Manager. Al, 98 years of age,
is still full of ideas, often calls me to see how things are, has
trained PIOs, still recruits for speakers, gets the word out about
activities to many other ops, always encourages us and just a
wonderfully positive influence on all of us. The plaque reads:
“Presented to ALEXANDER COHEN W1FXQ In recognition of your
extraordinary service to Amateur radio operators in the Connecticut
Section ARRL over many years.” A huge thank you to you Al.

I was very surprised when QCWA presented me with a gift of thanks and
appreciation. Thank you all.


FYI: Governor Malloy has announced a CT emergency alert mobile app.
See
http://portal.ct.gov/Departments_and_Age...obile_App/.

Our CT Section Youth Coordinator (Douglas WA1SFH) encourages anyone who
is engaged in working with youngsters to contact him
(ConnecticutSYC@gmail.com), and let him know about youth activities
that are in progress or planning. For example, at the August Hamfest in
Newtown he learned of two separate initiatives to promote the new Girl
Scouts “Radio and Wireless Technology Patch” program at the local
level.

Also, the Boy Scouts annual “Jamboree On The Air” (JOTA) is fast
approaching (Oct. 15), and takes place on the same weekend that many
Boy Scout Districts are holding their Fall Camporees. This is a great
opportunity for Clubs and individuals across the state to bring GOTA
stations to introduce multiple groups of boys to Amateur Radio and
“spark” their imaginations laying the foundation for future hams.
Right now, he is reaching out to Clubs and Individual Hams to build
teams that will be able to provide JOTA GOTA activity stations for this
event. He is simultaneously contacting Councils and Districts to find
out which groups will be holding Fall Camporees on that weekend and if
they would like to have a JOTA GOTA activity. The Housatonic Council
has already said: YES!

If you or your Club would be willing to bring a wonderful experience to
Boy Scouts on Saturday, October 15th, please contact Douglas WA1SFH
(ConnecticutSYC@gmail.com). Let’s make BSA JOTA 2016 a memorable
experience for Boy Scouts across Connecticut.

Here’s a note from Mike N1QLN, president of The Charter oak Radio
Society. The Charter Oak Radio Society will be starting a CW course in
Sept 2016. This course will take approximately 8 to 10 weeks. The course
will be limited to 15 students, and will be on a first come first served
basis. Preregistration is required and can be done by sending an email
to Mike at n1qln@n1crs.org. The mission of the Charter Oak Radio
Society is education and mentoring.

DEC Paul WB2JVB is coordinating a unique public service event. Region
1 ARES has been asked to assist with the communications for the 2016
Lighthouse to Lighthouse paddling/rowing race on September 17. The
proceeds from the event support Achilles International, an open water
kayaking team for those with disabilities. The race starts at 10am,
and ends by 2 or 3pm. Ham radio operators will be positioned in
multiple positions along the course in support boats, on Sheffield
Island, at the USCG station and at race control. ARES members
interested in helping out might consider writing Paul wb2jvb@arrl.net
to see if there are volunteers needed or to get more information. It
sure sounds like fun!


In September, the Insurance City Repeater Club members will participate
in communications for the Bristol Mum parade. The Middlesex Amateur
Radio Society will help out with comms for the Cystic Fibrosis Ride for
Life. Both of these clubs do these events annually. Thanks for your
time.

The 2016 Museum Ships Weekend coordinated by Harry, N1FAM and sponsored
by The Battle Ship New Jersey Amateur Radio Club was a successful event.
The operation took place during the weekend of June 3-5 in CT at the
Submarine Force Library and Museum on Crystal Avenue in Groton.

An operating station was set up in the NAUTILUS parking lot inside the
Snack Building. One station was operational on 20 and 40 meters and
logged 192 contacts using the call N1S. Four different museum ships
were contacted. Contacts were made with 33 States, three of the
Canadian Provinces as well as Puerto Rico. Operators were: Brian
KA1OMR, Dick KF6UX, Harry N1FAM, and Mike NC1V. Thanks to the
Tri-City ARC for the use of their call sign and for the use of their PO
Box for domestic QSL requests. This was the fifth year the group
participated in this event.

Here’s an interesting talk for club meetings. The Meriden ARC had a
talk by Dave K1WJL entitled Everything you ever wanted to know but were
afraid to ask on Cubical Quad Antenna's which included plenty of
pictures on an array of various antennas that were utilized in between
Quad rebuilds. Gosh, it’s a long time since I’ve heard talk about
cubicle quads.

Here are some more historical tidbits. The ARRL Field Organization did
not always have all the appointments we have now. That change took
place in early to mid-1980. Before that time, there was the Section
Communications Manager (SCM) who did much of the work himself. Of
course, everything was done by US mail. John McNassor (Mac) W1GVT (sk)
was one such SCM and Pete Kemp KZ1Z (sk) was SCM during the time of the
Field Organization transition. The SCM’s mostly answered
correspondence by mail, signed badge request forms, appointed net
managers, a Section Emergency Coordinator, and emergency coordinators.
VHF local nets started in the middle ‘70’s but before that time,
there were just two net managers—one for the phone Section net and a
“route manager” for the CW net. My twin sister K1EIR was route
manager of CN and I was net manager of CPN at one time. Bill Baldyga
K1YGS (sk), former net manager of the CT Phone Net, started the first
VHF net in the Section, the Nutmeg VHF Traffic Net on 146.880 MHz and
Joe Stofko W1AIU started WESCONN in response to the blizzard of ’78
which operated solely on 147.180 MHz. The Section Communications
Manager took all the traffic reports and all the reports from the
EC’s and SEC. Messages to ARRL Headquarters were in abundance as
were messages from campers to their families during the summer months.
There were lots of messages from the Naval Training Recruit Center K9NBH
in Great Lakes, IL and K1FAJ at the Westover AFB in Westover, MA. For
years, all of the “long-haul” (thru) traffic was handled on c.w.
although there were some independent daytime phone nets. It was an
interesting time in Amateur radio.

Before I close this month’s column, I need to remind you all to
change your address for me. If you are using k1eic@arrl.org, please
change it to k1eic@arrl.net because as of October 1, the arrl.org
address will go away. I’ll remind you again next month when I write
my last letter. See you then.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Connecticut Section
Section Manager: Betsey M Doane, K1EIC
k1eic@arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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