Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Ohio Section Journal - August 2014 Edition..




In this issue:
-> 2014 OHIO SECTION NEWSLETTER AWARDS RESULTS
-> AFFILIATED CLUB COORDINATOR REPORT
-> FROM THE SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
-> FROM THE PIC
-> SOUTHWEST OHIO HAPPENINGS
-> FROM THE TECHINCAL COORDINATOR
-> FROM THE SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER
-> OUT AND ABOUT IN SOUTHEAST OHIO
-> LET'S TALK
-> SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS IN OHIO
-> OHIO HAMFEST CALENDAR
-> OHIO SECTION LOGO

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2014 OHIO SECTION NEWSLETTER AWARDS RESULTS

Hi All,

Here's the results of the Twenty-Second Annual Ohio Section Newsletter Awards..

Honorary Mention..
• Monday Morning Message – Alliance Amateur Radio Club - John Myers, KD8MQ editor
• Monday Morning Memo – Highland Amateur Radio Association - John Levo, WA8KIW editor

Third Place..
• The QSO – Marion Amateur Radio Club - Lynn Lovell, W8MLL editor
• NODXA Rag – Northern Ohio DX Association - David Autry, WD8IOU editor

Second Place..
• The Radiogram – Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) - Tom Parkinson, KB8UUZ editor

First Place..
• The Mike & Key – Greater Cincinnati Amateur Radio Association - David Self, K8SSN editor..

Also..
The twentieth recipient of the Allan Severson Award was announced and it was none other than Frank J. Piper, KI8GW.

Jackie Piper, KC8ESO was given the Ohio Section Manager’s “Special Recognition Award.” In recognition for her many years of patience and understanding and willingness to put up with all of us that demanded time from her family.

And there you have it all..

Thanks go out to everyone that came and had good fun and fellowship at this year’s Columbus Hamfest / Ohio Section Conference..

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AFFILIATED CLUBS COORDINATOR REPORT

By: John Myers, KD8MQ - ACC

Hi everyone, what a great summer this has been.

I attended my first Hamfest in my “official” capacity. The folks at the Portage Hamfair were extremely friendly. I had a great time.

The XYL & I took off on vacation earlier this month, and we managed to visit some of the southern OH clubs on the way out of state.

The Zanesville ARC meeting was great. The program included a Ham quiz straight from “Ham Test Online”. Sad to say, I’d have to study up a bit if I were to retake my Extra exam today. The next day, we stopped for lunch near Wilmington, with members of the Highland, and Clinton County clubs. What a great time we had. My only regret was having to get back on the road again too soon. I was amazed at what the Wilmington area Hams are doing in regards to working with the National Weather Service.

Let’s give a warm welcome back to our newest affiliated club, the Silvercreek ARA. They were originally affiliated back in the early 80’s. It’s good to have them back. I’m looking forward to visiting one of their breakfast meetings.

The Leagues policy on affiliated clubs is “once affiliated; always affiliated”. However, if the annual report isn’t received for a period of time, the club is marked as inactive. This seems reasonable, since a lot can change in just a couple years. Contact persons, officers, even meeting locations can all change. So, there’s this month’s reminder to update those club reports.

Club Happenings from Around Ohio..

The common thread in most newsletters this month has been, of course, the posting of Field Day results. There seems to have been a lot of active groups in the OH section this year.

Congratulations to PCARS president, WB8LCD for being asked to do a presentation at the ARRL Centennial convention last month. The subject was “Building a Successful Club Program”. I’m in favor of any event that enhances the social side of Ham Radio, and (with apologies to EMike, KC8YLD) Gets us “out of Meeting Mode”. Summer is the time for club picnics & get-togethers.

The Cincinnati FM Club had their picnic in June, at the Butler County Regional Airport. PCARS, and OH-KY-IN had theirs in July. A lot of other clubs have plans in the works.

A lot of groups are gearing up to do a club effort for the Ohio QSO Party on August 23rd. Some that I’ve noticed making plans include PCARS, Delaware ARA, and Cincinnati FM Club. I’m sure there are a lot more. How about your club? A group operating event, such as operating a contest or Special Event station is a great club social event. Even if you’re not contesters, combine it with a club picnic, or corn roast. The successes of this type of event aren’t always measured by the number of QSOs, but rather the amount of fun that’s had, and the stories that are told afterwards.

On September 6th, there is another opportunity for a club operating event. That is the “Ohio State Parks On The Air” Contest, also known as OSPOTA. It’s run by the Portage County ARS (PCARS). Whether you make a ton of contacts, or not, I’ve found this to be a really friendly contest. Based on the advance reports coming in on the reflector, a lot of you know exactly what I’m talking about, as you’re already making plans.

Here are some highlights from various clubs around the state...

OH-KY-IN participated in the Cincinnati Museum Centers 1940’s weekend, by setting up Amateur Radio Displays. Speaking of OH-KY-IN, they set up to sell beer at this years Red White, and Blue Ash celebration. No, that’s no typo. It’s held in Blue ash, OH. For manning one of several beer booths, the club netted almost $1400. How’s that for a fundraiser?

The Delaware club is moving their 2 meter repeater to a new location. Also, it looks like they are making great strides into the world of MESH Technology.

The West Park Radio Ops recently held a “Test Your Antenna Tuner” Night.

I’m beginning to receive more newsletters from around the state. Thanks to everyone who has added me to their list. Also to the rest of you, here’s your reminder.

Also, as the summer begins winding down in another few weeks, I’d like to remind everyone check those club websites. Information on club websites seems to get outdated very fast, so it’s important to stay on top of your “online Presence”.

Here’s a short list of things to check periodically.

  • Meeting times, and locations – Is all the information current?
  • Newsletter – If you are archiving your newsletters on the web, make sure that the most recent issues are there. It’s real easy to forget this.
  • Links – The average page has a lot of links. Links to other pages, links to other sites, and links to files. Check them once in a while. Make sure they are still active, and pointing to the proper place.
Here’s another tip for you. The busier I get, the harder it is to keep track of things. So, I use an online task list. It gives me reminders of various things such as when to update something on one of the websites. It’s made my life a lot easier.
And that wraps up my column for this month. Everyone stay cool, and remember to have fun!


Till next time, 73 DE KD8MQ

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FROM THE SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

By Stan Broadway, N8BHL

The FEMA / ARRL Memorandum of Understanding – and why it’s important..

One of the hallmarks of the 100th ARRL celebration was the signing of a new MOU between FEMA and the ARRL. I see this as a critical step to regain some of the ‘official’ recognition for amateur radio that has been lost since 9/11. FEMA came riding in to take over pretty much all the disaster response organizations - local EMA’s and safety forces were quickly brought into conformance with the federal way of organizing and responding to large scale emergencies. Not that it was a bad thing to be consistent and well organized, but in the process amateur radio (as well as other formerly recognized volunteer groups) was told to wait in the hall. A few years ago, Congress directed FEMA and others to re-explore the value of amateur radio as it could play a more vital role in emergency preparedness. Given the money, FEMA did just that. And lo, someone began to realize the value of having a strong backup system in place!

In 2003, FEMA and ARRL signed a MOU that looked good, but was very basic: We’re good people, you’re good people; have a nice day. It was a baby step, but we were still out in the hall. Thanks to work by the ARRL, and to the wisdom of FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, things have significantly changed to put amateur radio’s “resilient” abilities back in the operations room.

“Radio is one of the most resilient communications technologies we have,” Fugate said. “When the power is out and telecommunications are down, the Amateur Radio community can serve as a vital resource in support of emergency responders and survivors during a disaster. This MOA will strengthen FEMA’s partnership with ARRL and build upon our work to expand emergency communications capabilities and the use of Amateur Radio in emergency management.”

The ARRL news release goes on to summarize the content of the agreement: “The new agreement will allow FEMA and ARRL to work together to provide resources, services and personnel, as available, in order to strengthen capacity in areas of emergency communications, mass care and emergency assistance, disaster preparedness, response and recovery, while also raising public awareness about the use of Amateur Radio as a public safety resource. The pact also outlines the ways in which FEMA and ARRL will cooperate to carry out their respective responsibilities, with respect to disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery operations in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.”

Here are some key excerpts from the agreement itself:
  • Engage in joint preparedness and mitigation activities to support community resilience…
  • Encourage development of operating plans within FEMA regions such that communication services, equipment, and facilities of the Amateur Radio Service may be suitably utilized
  • Share relevant information (daily operations information, GIS disaster products, community demographics, resources and other information)
  • Share reports, guideline manuals, lessons, best practices and training
  • Alert ARRL to disaster declarations
  • Assist ARRL when it is engaged in providing relief during and after a major disaster or emergency
  • Consider ARRL resources in catastrophic planning…to emphasize realistic planning and communications for complex disaster scenarios.
Nice, but it means what to me??

These are vital steps, not just on a national level, but for you inside your county’s EMA! It puts amateur radio directly into the daily planning at every level- because once we’re “OK” with the feds, the states and even counties gain legitimacy in doing what most already do- making amateur radio a key component in plans, training, drills and actual activations. A goal of every EC ought to be to maintain a partnership with their county’s EMA (as well as other agencies). EC’s and ARES members should be able to walk into the EOC without being asked, “And who are you??” We now have a formal working relationship authorized at the federal level more so than ever before. It’s now up to us to achieve a personal relationship with EMA and public safety leaders in our home counties.

My job, with help from the assistants and DEC’s, is to lend support at the regional and state level to keep amateur radio in the sights of emergency planners, to keep the door open so we can show the professional quality performance that you are capable of!

As for you personally, this should validate your time and effort, training and practice, and show that what you do is important.

We can make this fresh recognition reason to stop dwelling on those ‘personality beefs’ that should have ended 10 years ago, the “We’ve always done it that way” copout, the “Their club vs. Our Club” stumbling block, and the “I don’t need all that training junk” tantrum. First, THIS IS A HOBBY- and we are all together in one of the greatest worldwide brotherhoods there has ever been. RELAX! HAVE FUN! This renewed relationship with FEMA and emergency planners is out chance, as we have over the past 100 years, to prove our abilities. Our part of this is to be ~ready~ by taking the time now to train, practice, and encourage our fellow hams to be up to the call when it does come - with new technology, renewed skill and an attitude that directly serves our neighbors.


73, Stan, N8BHL

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FROM THE PIC

By John Ross, KD8IDJ

Last month I wrote about the 7 W's...and I received some great reaction from hams at the Columbus Hamfest on August 2. Thanks!

Notifying the media, sending them information and story ideas, is now a complicated process with the "new" forms of communications...TEXTING, TWEETING, TWITTER (ing). To me, these are just knockoffs to Morse Code and the old RTTY.

Code is, well, code. We use shortcuts, abbreviations to pass along information and TEXTING is doing the same thing. Sometimes the real meaning gets lost in the translation...and that means a story idea is lost as well. One of the other problems with TEXTING is that it's usually going to only one person and no one else can see it. So, if your TEXTEE misses the point no one else has a chance to decode the message then, again, it means the story idea is lost.

The main issue with TEXTING...and for TWITTER as well... is that most media outlets use these for different reasons than we think. They pay for the reporter's accounts and measure the number of TEXTS and TWEETS to determine the popularity of a particular reporter...NOT to routinely process story ideas!! Media management encourages reporters to TEXT and have their readers or viewers follow them or TWITTER or even FACEBOOK. Very little of this activity has anything to do with covering the news and has everything to do with increasing viewership, readership, popularity....and revenue.

The best advice I can offer, and it works for me, keep sending the printed news releases...either by email or snail mail. You can follow up with a phone call or even a TEXT to see if they got it....but never try to tell your whole story in code. If it's important for the reporter to be popular then send a THANK YOU via TEXT or a message on FACEBOOK.

I know the temptation is there to use our new forms of communications but when it comes to telling your story....tell your story in real words. It generally will show up that way in print or on the air.

By the way, Morse Code and RTTY...still great ways to talk! I have four RTTY machines chugging away every day!

73, John, KD8IDJ

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SOUTHWEST OHIO HAPPENINGS

From: Kitty Hevener, W8TDA - Assistant Section Manager (SW)

PUBLIC RELATIONS
Oh-Ky-In president Gary Coffey, (KB8MYC) reports that club members took part in the August 9-10 1940’s exhibit held at the Cincinnati Museum Center. This is the 4th year for participation in the event. Displays were set up of both vintage and modern equipment along with information about amateur radio. Always popular with the kids were the Morse code demonstrations, where they could use sheets showing the code and then spell out their names on one of the practice oscillators. A close second was the thrill some experienced when they made a 2 meter contact.

Participating in the event were:
Jerry Shipp, W1SCR; Brian Fulmer, KC8FJN; Ron Riegler, KD8VOR; Ted Morris, NC8V; Gary Coffey, KB8MYC; Susie Scott, N8CGM; Kitty Hevener, W8TDA; Robert Louie, KD8WLV; Michael Sien, KD8SOH; Ed Frambes, K8EAF and AK3Q. Special thanks to AK3Q for doing all the behind the scenes work to make it all happen.

PUBLIC SERVICE..
On Jul 27, the final leg of the Pan Ohio bike ride took bicyclists through southwest Ohio. This fundraiser for the American Cancer Society began in Cleveland and ended in Cincinnati four days later. Hams in southwest Ohio who were stationed at fixed points along the course, provided safety communications for the event. Hamilton County emergency coordinator, Aaron McKnight (KD8ILV) says that changing weather conditions, including a tornado watch, along with rider and even radio conditions made this a very different event from most. “All in all, things went fairly smoothly for what was going on.”

73, Kitty, W8TDA

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NOTES FROM THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR

By: Jim Yoder W8ERW - TC

Mark WD8KQX and I made the trip to Van Wert and enjoyed a very well organized Hamfest put on by one of the oldest clubs in Ohio. I remember my great uncle, Phil Summers the original owner of my call, talking about the Van Wert Hamfest. He was an engineer for what was the Nickel Plate RR and resided nearby in Delphos for a number of years. He was my original "Elmer" and I have many great memories of being in his shack and being thoroughly amazed by the racks of electronics comprising his station. Back in those days, when something broke or let loose of the smoke within, they fixed it including rewinding coils and replacing components, something that would be technically difficult these days for most of us. Hamfests provided the materials to do so then as they do for our needs now Phil and my aunt later moved to Fremont where I grew up and I often helped him with antenna projects and the yard work. In addition to spending time in his shack, I often got a generous sampling of my aunt's home cooking and especially my favorite, cherry pie after the work was done. Phil would make a list of things he hoped to pick up at the Hamfest and I knew, we would be engineering a new antenna or revising one or the other already up in the air between the trees when he returned. Phil was a gentleman Ham and it is easy to see why he talked about and enjoyed the Van Wert Hamfest.

Thank you to all who worked on this year's Hamfest. You did a superb job and it was a pleasant reminder for me to be there for the first time knowing how Uncle Phil had always talked about it with excitement. I wish you all success in the years to come.

It was Fair week here in Seneca County and I spent several evenings assisting with our ARES display in the Public Safety Building which is on the fairgrounds. Many of our members also helped out and it was an excellent opportunity to meet the public and answer questions about ARES and our partnership with the EMA. Unless someone happens to be a neighbor, friend or relative, we Hams often exist in obscurity and the general public rarely gets a glimpse of what we do and enjoy as a hobby. The Fair is one of those few times when we are able to demonstrate Amateur Radio to folks who might not have had an opportunity to see or hear us on the air. Many of the Hams who check in on our Sunday evening ARES net also stopped by to say. It was good to see the face of those familiar voices and spend a few minutes discussing what we Hams enjoy.

This last week has been fraught with issues in my shack. Much of what we have to use these days especially portable gear and that which we often package to be ready to go when we are includes one or more cables to operate. USB cables and adapters to provide old style serial port connectivity and the driver disk to make them work are common. Programming cables likewise and no two of those ever seem to be the same even within the same brand of equipment. Much of this looks quite similar to the cell phone charging cables that we all must now have. The weather station I have uses the same style although they are not cross compatible. You name it and it has its own flavor of cable, adapter and interface that must be used rather than the closest one you find when you need it.

I try to keep these things with the associated equipment that they are intended to work with. They are no easily marked due to their size and the relentless way they love to become entangled with whatever else they get close to. I have tried using small containers which does work, but one size never fits all. Using tags presents more to tangle and zip lock bags, although they do work rather well, sometimes refuse to open easily for me. More importantly, you need to put these things back into the correctly marked bag or container in order to retrieve the proper one when it is needed again. I no doubt failed on this one as I could not get the programming cable for my Kenwood HT to talk to the device. Perhaps it wasn't talking to the PC. I don't know which, but after spending a lot of time on it going nowhere, I realized that it must have been the wrong cable, likely the one for another HT I have. I was finally able to locate the correct cable and things went very well afterward.

A couple of things come to mind here. It's a good and prudent idea to have an organized plan and make sure that you can stick to it. Having more than one device is one way to get closer to that objective and I have done that often times. But it doesn't get to the issue or good organization. We hams often head out the door to support some public service event and when we get there, the bag full of hardware, and supporting pieces of equipment we intended to be ready to use often are not there or they decide to no longer work. I often take much more than I need while leaving something important behind.

I have a couple of canvas style bags that I use to contain a lot of this ancillary equipment. Over time, the bags have become crowded with items that I do not always need while leaving no room for some of the recent additions that are required to manage the new hardware. So after my issue with the HT cable and realizing that my organization was really a mess, I decided to look for another solution, one that may address more than my immediate problem.

My family did a lot of camping when I was much younger than I am now. One of the handy things that my Dad made early on was our "Grub Box". All of the kitchen related items including plates, utensils, cups, glasses and the like where there in one place. There was also room for some of the staples found in any kitchen such as salt, pepper, tooth picks, matches and a can opener that worked. It also had a fold down door that served as a handy work area. That box is hanging on my garage wall still and will be the model for my next project.

I would enjoy hearing what others have done towards the same objective. Feel free to drop me a line with your own ideas.


73, Jim, W8ERW

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FROM THE SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER

By: David Maynard, WA3EZN - STM

The Voice of Aladdin Amateur Radio Club Columbus Hamfest and Ohio Section Convention has come and gone. The forums went well and were well attended. It was nice to see the ARRL forum well attended and to hear from the new Great Lakes Director Dale Williams WA8EFK and Vice-Director Tom Delaney W8WTD. It was also nice to see Universal Radio at the hamfest. It was unfortunate that the showers predicted by the weatherman turned out to be downpours which caused an early exit of the flea market.

The Ohio Single Sideband Net had their fall meeting at the hamfest again this year. At the meeting Larry KB8HJJ was announced as the recipient of the Garlock – K8BYR Memorial Merit Award in recognition for all that he does for the OSSBN. Larry is the Assistant Manager, a net control, a representative to the Eighth Region Net and the Eastern Area Net. Congratulations Larry and thanks for everything you do.

Looking back into my records I checked to see how the OSSBN was doing in the Month of July compared to previous years. Here are the statistics:

JULY 2014     QNI 1112        QTC 524         QTR 2413       92 SESSIONS
JULY 2013     QNI 1243        QTC 618         QTR 3052       93 SESSIONS
JULY 2012     QNI 1461        QTC 533         QTR 2830       93 SESSIONS
JULY 2011     QNI 1609        QTC 634         QTR 2857       93 SESSIONS


I received the following email requesting information on message delivery:

>>>><<<< 
David: I received three messages yesterday from (Call withheld by WA3EZN) dated July 29. In them he/she states the following information.

My messages 2582 and 2583 were delivered to answering machine with no delivery date shown. These messages were given to the 8RN rep on EAN on April 27, 2014.

My message 3047 phone no longer in service. This message was given to the rep on May 19.

My message 3049 delivered to answering machine. This message was given also to the rep on May 19.

A delay of three months for the first two and nearly two and an a half months for the other two. Can you explain or find out why this happened. Typically, if a routine message cannot be delivered within 48 hours a service message should be generated advising the originator of this fact.

73
Glenn (VE3GNA)
>>>><<<< 

The call of the station mentioned as sending him the messages is not familiar to me so I have no way of contacting them to find out what happened. I assume the station is on a local traffic net. It would seem feasible that this could happen if the station handling the traffic had equipment failure or the operator became sick. However, stations should not receive traffic for relay or delivery if they know they will be unable to do the job that is needed quickly.

To that end, here are Instructions on how to originate a Service Message.

Messages encountered anywhere in the NTS system that cannot be relayed or delivered are NOT discarded.  A service message back to the originating station must be generated without delay. Other than originating your own message there are only three things that an operator can do with a message:

1. Relay it
2. Deliver it
3. Service it back to the station of origination, not the place of origin.

Generating service messages is the responsibility of the station holding the message.

Please keep messages for your records for one year. You do not need to advise net control what you did with the message. This information is for your records only. Once you accept a message, it’s yours to do one of the three things above. As you can see by the email above you may have to account for the disposition of a message that you handled some months earlier.

The following is a typical service message from a message with an HXC that could not be delivered:

SVC 26 R WA3EZN ARL 11 HILLIARD OH AUG 5
LOREN S. PIMENTEL N1IQI
5 EVAN RD.
PEMBROKE MA 02359  (or the address of any one else that sent the message)
781 293 3861
BT
ARL SIXTY SEVEN 3214 PHONE
NUMBER 614 555 1212 DISCONNECTED
73
BT
DAVID WA3EZN

End No More

Why do we include the phone number? This is important so that the originating station knows that you received the correct phone number with the message you are servicing.

The following is a typical service message from a message with an HXC reporting your delivery.

SVC 27 R WA3EZN ARL 9 HILLIARD OH AUG 5
PATRICA A GARVIN WB5NKD
3409 SW 20TH
OKLAHOMA CITY OK 73108
405 681 0926
BT
ARL FORTY SEVEN 3216 SMITH
AUG 5 0200 73
BT
DAVID WA3EZN

End No More

Note that the time does not include the letters UTC, L for local or Z. The ARL Forty Seven already designates that the time is in UTC and the time should always be reported in UTC time.

It should go without saying but I will say it anyway. Please insert you own call instead of mine and your city instead of Hilliard… Thank you.

That’s it for this month.

73, David, WA3EZN

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OUT AND ABOUT IN SOUTHEAST OHIO

By Connie Hamilton, N8IO ASM

I made a recent trip to Ironton as to the meeting, I was welcomed very graciously as always. They are a great group of people!

The Section Conference at the Aladdin Hamfest was a high spot to start my day! After it was over, I picked up some OH Repeater Directories to pass out to Clubs locally then was going to Monroe County for a picnic at 5:00. Running a little late, and over the hills & valleys, I made it 30 minutes late but for any Masonic Members reading this I was presented a Widow’s pin, which I treasure.

I went up to Cambridge to help with VE testing and no candidates showed up so spent the rest of the day visiting friends and family.

The Marietta ARC had a Rest Stop at the Rest Area near here and I worked the midnight shift on Saturday/Sunday. This was the best one so far but the downside was I was very cold and should have taken out my winter clothing in August.


Hope to see some of you at future Hamfests.

73/88, Connie, N8IO

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LET'S TALK

From: Scott Yonally, N8SY - Section Manager

Hi Gang, or should I say Hi Yawl..  I’m here in Myrtle Beach soaking in some sun and sand on a long overdue vacation. I love this area to visit. Yes, just visit, I’m an Ohio boy and that’s all there is to it. Ohio is my home, but I love to visit where there’s an ocean for a bit as well. Yup, there’s a bit of sailor in me. Janie and I started coming here back in the mid 1980’s and we just don’t seem to ever get tire of coming back to visit. We have friends here as well. It’s a very nice place to visit for sure. If you've never experienced it, I highly recommend coming down and seeing this area. The ocean right now is 86 degrees. And no, I haven’t seen a shark either. We have collected a lot of neat looking sea shells however. 

I was glad to see so many folks that made it to the Columbus Hamfest/ARRL Ohio Section Conference. It was great meeting all of you that attended! It ended up being rainy, but the weather inside was fantastic!

Congratulations to all of those Newsletter Award Winners. You’ll find the winners listed in another section of the OSJ. And, if you didn't hear, Frank Piper, KI8GW was the recipient of the Allan Severson Memorial Award. Jackie Piper also received the Section Manager’s “Special Appreciation” award..

Make sure that you've signed up to receive emails from the Section Manager and Great Lakes Director. It seems that some of you may not be receiving the special news releases that Dale or I have been doing lately. If you want to keep apprised of what’s going on in the state or within the Division you need to be registered with the League to receive these special emails. You’ll need to log onto your account with the League and mark the box that states “receive email from the Section Manager / Director” and that’s all there is to it. You’ll now get those special emailing’s.

Now, for those of you who may not want to go to all that bother, or you are not League members, you still have a chance to get these important emails. All you have to do is to “Opt-In” on the Ohio Section website.. Here’s the link:  http://arrl-ohio.org/forwarder/forwarding.html. You can also find this link on the bottom left corner of the main page of the Ohio Section website. I urge you all to make sure that everyone, regardless of whether they are a League member or not, knows that they can always “Opt-In” at any time. 

Oh, didn't know that the Ohio Section had a website?? We do.. You can find it 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. I would recommend that you check into the website at least 3 times per week.

U.S. House Bill - HR 4969 has been introduced. This is the “Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014” was introduced on June 25th at the request of the ARRL, which worked with House staffers to draft the proposed legislation. The bill’s sponsor is Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). It has initial co-sponsorship from Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT). If the measure passes the 113th Congress, it would require the FCC, within 120 days of the Bill’s passage, to amend the Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply PRB-1 coverage to include homeowners’ association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs). Presently, PRB-1 only applies to state and local zoning laws and ordinances. If this Bill does pass, it will significantly change all CC&R’s that restrict or prohibit Amateur Radio antenna’s around the country. Now maybe it should be said that what this Bill will do is give the Amateur equal rights afforded us by PRB-1, that is to say “Reasonable Accommodations” would have to be granted the Amateur to be able to use his/her Amateur Radio station. This will not mean that if you live in a high rise condo that you can construct a large tower on the building, but what it will mean is that the HOA or governing body will have to give you some sort of “reasonable” accommodation to be able to use your amateur station and have an outdoor antenna. 

The League has a special area within their site just for HR-4969, go take a look..  http://www.arrl.org/hr-4969 

Ohio's Speaker Bureau.. I know that this has been said a million times before, but it’s always worth repeating, don’t forget to invite one of the Ohio Section Cabinet members to your next club meeting. The entire Cabinet is Ohio’s Speaker’s Bureau. We are all very well versed on League matters and a few of us have some additional specialties that go beyond just what the League is doing. If you’d like any of us to come and be a speaker at your function for FREE, please feel free to give any of us a call, we'll do our very best to be at your function.

That’s going to do it this month from here. The sun is out and the beach is calling.. I hope to see all of you at the various hamfests or meetings soon and who knows; maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones to get a “mug” on me.

Have a question? Feel free to give me a call or write to me.. Oh.. by the way, I’ve come up with a new surprise for the mugs.. You may just fine an extra surprise inside the cup!! 

My email and phone number are always listed on the Ohio Section Website http://arrlohio.org
as well as on page 16 of QST..


73, Scott, N8SY

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SPECIAL EVENTS STATIONS IN OHIO

08/22/2014 | D-Day Reenacment Conneaut,Ohio -- 70th Anniversary of Normandy Landing
Aug 22-Aug 23, 1300Z-1900Z, W8BHZ, Conneaut, OH. Conneaut Amateur Radio Club.
14.240 7.240.
QSL. CARC ARS W8BHZ, PO Box 661, Conneaut, OH 44030.
The largest annual D-Day Reenactment in the US.
The Conneaut Amateur Radio Club in conjunction with D-Day Ohio is operating a special event station during the weekend reenactment of the Normandy Landing. 2014 marks the 70th anniversary of this historical landing.

Commemorative QSL cards will be printed for the event. It is now the largest annual event in the United States commemorating D-Day-June 6th 1944 . Please see visit www.ddayohio.us for on the reenactment event. www.qsl.net/w8bhz

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08/29/2014 | 20th Anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption movie
Aug 29-Aug 31, 1400Z-2000Z, KD8KWV, Bellevue, OH. Harold R. Wolfe.
14.250 7.250 3.850 146.940.
QSL. Harold R. Wolfe, KD8KWV, 358 High St, Bellevue, OH 44811.
Celebrating the filming locations of The Shawshank Redemption. Historical sites include The Ohio State Reformatory, as well other locations on the historical Shawshank Trail located in Mansfield, Ohio.

08/29/2014 | The Shawshank Redemption 20th Anniversary
Aug 29-Aug 31, 1200Z-1600Z, W8WE, Mansfield, OH. InterCity Amateur Radio Club.
14.250.
QSL. IARC, PO Box 713, Bellville, OH 44813.
Times and frequency may change. Check out the club website for up to date information. www.w8we.org  

10/18/2014 | 75th Anniversary of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
Oct 18, 1300Z-2300Z, W8E, Loveland, OH.
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
7.234.
QSL. Dave Stroup, 6138 Misty Creek Dr, Loveland, OH 45140. cgaux8@yahoo.com

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OHIO HAMFEST CALENDAR

08/24/2014 | The Cuyahoga Falls ARC's 6th Annual Tailgate Hamfest
Location: Stow, OH
Sponsor: Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club

09/07/2014 | Findlay Hamfest
Location: Findlay, OH
Sponsor: Findlay Radio Club

09/21/2014 | OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Society Hamfest
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Sponsor: OH-KY-IN ARS

09/28/2014 | CLEVELAND HAMFEST AND COMPUTER SHOW
Location: Berea, OH
Sponsor: Hamfest Association of Cleveland, Inc.

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THE OHIO SECTION LOGO



The Ohio Section Logo has been out for more than a year now and with it now starting to appear on more and more items I think now is a good time to let you all know that it’s more than just a logo, it has a lot of symbolism built into it. It’s truly the heart and soul of the Ohio Section. Yes, Amateur Radio is rich in traditions and symbolization that we’re all very proud of. So, it shouldn't surprise you to find out that the Ohio Section Logo also has a lot of symbolism in it as well.

Here are the real reasons for our Ohio Section Logo. And yes, this comes from the person who created the logo, so you can be sure of the symbolism described are the true reasons for the logo. I know, I created it.
  • First off we need to look at how the League Diamond is placed “proud” of everything else. Did you notice, the stem of the leaf isn't touching the diamond? This stands for the American Radio Relay League as our stand alone national organization. Proud and true to form. The one and only national organization that represents ALL amateur radio operators.
  • The written “Ohio Section” just to the right of the League Diamond. It indicates that the Ohio Section is not only part of the League, but standing on the right side indicates that we are the “right hand” of the League. Ohio is proud to be not only a leader in the nation in new innovations, but we are also the largest of all the seventy-one Sections represented by the League.
  • The five Buckeye leaves.  This represents the five Assistant Section Managers that represent the five quadrants of our state. North-east, north-west, south-east, south-west and central.
  • The green leaves represent the “green” polyester jacket that one of our most beloved Section Managers Joe Phillips, K8QOE always wore. He wore this jacket to every function that he attended. As Joe often reminded us, his jacket was like those of the “Masters” golf tournament. Only the best of the best ever got to wear this special jacket, and this represents the excellence in everything we do in Amateur Radio, and honors Joe for all of his hard work and dedication to not only Amateur Radio, but especially to the Ohio Section.
  • The Buckeye in the shell. This represents the newest Amateurs. Those who haven’t come out of their shells yet. If you notice, the shell is partially opened up. This signifies that the Buckeye has obtained his/her license, but just hasn't come out of their shell yet.
  • The un-shelled Buckeye. This represents the seasoned Amateur. Proud of his accomplishments and standing beside his newest candidate to be “Elmered.”     
  • And finally the stem of the Buckeye leaf. It’s long and straight symbolizing the very long history that the Ohio Section has enjoyed within the ARRL, dating back to Howard Storck, 8BYN our first Section Manager in 1926 to the present.
Now you know, and hopefully understand that our logo symbolizes a great heritage that we are charged with keeping and assuring that it will continue on, and be passed along to future generations to come.

Be proud to display and/or wear this logo. It’s truly Ohio’s Amateur Radio heritage!!

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eof..

Friday, July 18, 2014

Ohio Section Journal - July 2014 Edition..

 
In this issue:

-> AFFILIATED CLUB COORDINATOR REPORT

-> FROM THE SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

-> FROM THE PIC

-> SOUTHWEST OHIO HAPPENINGS

-> FROM THE TECHINCAL COORDINATOR

-> FROM THE SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER

-> OUT AND ABOUT IN SOUTHEAST OHIO

-> LET'S TALK

-> SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS IN OHIO

-> OHIO HAMFEST CALENDAR

-> ODDS & ENDS

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AFFILIATED CLUBS COORDINATOR REPORT

By: John Myers, KD8MQ - ACC
kd8mq1@gmail.com   

Hi everyone, I’m John, KD8MQ, and welcome to my first column as Affiliated Club Coordinator. I'm a big believer in clubs, and the idea that we can accomplish so much more as a group than we
can individually.

You’ve likely read my bio in last month’s Ohio Section Journal, so I won't bore you with it again. This appointment was a great honor, and definitely the last place I expected to be. I’ll do my best to maintain the high standards of those who came before.

In the near future, my plans are to begin visiting some clubs here & there, to introduce myself.

I love reading newsletters. That’s where I get some of my best ideas. So, if you’re a newsletter editor, please add me to your mailing list.

Reading your club newsletters are one of the best ways for me to keep up with what a club is doing. As my predecessors have done, I’ll continue posting highlights from your newsletters both here, and on my Ohio Section Clubs Blog (http://kd8mq-acc.blogspot.com/).

I’d like to give some thanks to the previous Ohio Affiliated Club Coordinators. Being pretty active in my home club, I’ve met, or exchanged e-mails with most of the folks on this list.

• JoAnne Solak, KJ3O
• Brenda Krukowski KB8IUP
• JoAnne Solak, KJ3O
• Scott Yonally, N8SY
• E. Mike McCardel, KC8YLD
• Sandy Mackey, N8YS

Field Day..

Field Day 2014 is over. How did you do? Field Day is one of the best club activities there is. Whether your Field Day activities are from the ”out for blood”, or the more “laid back” schools of thought, it is still the most Ham Radio Fun you and your members can have outdoors. It can also be a great recruitment tool for new Hams.

I spent Saturday afternoon travelling, and visited several Field Day sites. Thanks to everyone, for your hospitality.

File Those Annual reports..
One of the first things I did was to get some numbers together. According to ARRL.org, We have 94 affiliated clubs on the books in the Ohio Section. Around 44 of you are up to date on your annual reports, and that’s great.

For the rest of you, it’s time to update your club information. The league has a great tutorial available online to walk you through the process. It can be found at
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Clubs/ClubUpdateprocedure_20120313a.pdf .

Take a second, and check your club profile on the leagues website. This should be done once a year. Right after elections is a good time to do it. This ensures that your club’s profile on the league website is always up to date.

Congratulations..
Let’s congratulate the following clubs on some milestones this month.

The Independent Radio Association Inc. (Springfield) Affiliated 25 Years

North Coast Contesters (Chesterland) Affiliated 25 years

We also have a new affiliated club to welcome aboard. Let’s give a big welcome to the West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association. They are based in Dayton, and just became affiliated at the end of May.

Notes from All Over..
The Log, published by the West Park Radio Ops notes that their club meeting on July 4th is cancelled, but for their program night on July 18th, they are holding a “Test Your Tuner Night”. Sounds like a great idea for a club program.

According to the Q-Fiver, it looks like the OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Society has a busy summer planned. Their Hamfest will be September 21st. It also looks like they have developed a relationship with hive 13; a local makers group.

They have a “Brunch bunch” who meets on the second Saturday of each Month at various restaurants. This sounds like a great way to network outside of the club meetings, and nets.

The Radiogram from the portage County ARS (PCARS) is its usual size this month, at 33 pages. It has a full report of the club Field Trip to the K3LR contest superstation in NW Pennsylvania.
They’ve received a Yaesu DR-1 repeater, and have wasted no time putting it into service. Their club picnic is coming up in a few weeks, followed a few weeks later by their annual Cruise-in.

Now for the shameless plug for the Alliance ARC via their newsletter; the Zero Beat. I have to warn you that I’m the editor of that one. On July 19th they’ll be having a NAQP-RTTY Picnic. This one is aimed at developing some new RTTY contesters. New ops are enticed with promises of food.

I’ll post more as newsletters come in, which is all the more reason to put me on your mailing list. Another issue of the Wave Bender arrived recently. This is the newsletter of the Western Reserve ARC. They recently had a field trip to the K3LR contest superstation, and are scheduling license classes starting September 10th.

Bob, K8TQK will be presenting his weak UHF/VHF signal program at the next Scioto Valley ARC meeting on the 17th. (This comes from the Monday Morning Memo, put out be the Highland ARA)

Final Word..
What do you do for club programs this time of year? I’ve heard of some clubs who don’t even bother with meeting in July, much less programs.

Here in Alliance, we usually forgo the club program, since attendance is down anyway. But, I like the way Massillon does their July meetings. July is the month for their Ice Cream Social.

If anything will get club members out to a meeting in July, it’s gotta be Ice cream!

I’m anxious to hear how your club is doing. How about dropping me an e-mail? Better yet, add me to your mailing list.

That’s about it for this month. Remember to check out my blog, http://kd8mq-acc.blogspot.com/. I will be posting there regularly. I am also on Twitter, though I admit to being lower on the
learning curve than I should be.

Till next time, 73 DE KD8MQ
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FROM THE SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

By Stan Broadway, N8BHL
broadways@standi.com 

ARES is Alive and Well..
Greetings, and thank you all for your encouragement as we change ARES leadership in Ohio. My first goal is to try to match the performance of the classy people we have in place! From my very first meeting as a rookie EC, I have been amazed at the excellent, experienced people in ARES, and I plan on learning a lot from all of you.

I learned some time ago that it does no good to go running into a situation with all the ‘answers’ before anybody even asks a question. And asking is what I’ll be doing a lot in the near future. I want to learn from you, your counties and your people- what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and what you need to do your job. Each county is different; it’s the individual EC who’s responsible for face time with local partner agencies, for upholding the value and meaning of amateur radio as a regular player in their plans. I believe it’s up to us as District and above leaders to support you.

I am retired from the fire service and I have been for most of my life a volunteer firefighter (I still am) so I understand the pressures that take our focus away from our volunteer time – things like faith, family, oh yeah- jobs. I get really excited when I think about the role our ARES organization can play in serving our families and our neighbors! Public safety communications backbones are sturdier than they’ve even been…but they will fail. There will be occasions when communications beyond system scope are necessary. If we are engaged now in meaningful ways, it will only be natural to call ARES when the time comes. The thing that keeps me enthusiastic is that what we do can have meaning! I believe we can raise the profile of ARES on the state level and keep it a viable backup emergency service. I am a big fan of the ARESMAT concept, and I hope to see that program flourish.

Into the Frying Pan..
I’ve had a busy first few days. We were saddened to receive reports of the collapse of Clair Church, W8KF, while serving the Willard, Oh, parade. I was really proud of the way the Huron County club stepped in to support one of our own! We’re glad to hear positive reports from the hospital, and we continue to pray for his recovery. A few days later, we received reports of tornado hits in Medina County. ARES folks were ready as EMA staff worked to evaluate the situation. Quick response, solid capabilities! Notifications per OSERP were flawless and fast.

Schedule Changes..
We have talked about the burden of time required of you by these important positions you hold. We need to reduce the redundancy and pull back on the amount of time we require. In return, our job will be to make meeting and training time very worth your while! I would like to cancel our fall meeting plans, both the Newark event and the fall conference in order to drop back to one larger meeting per year. Our spring conference was so well attended and we got a lot of work done! I want next spring to be even better! For this initial season of rebuilding, I will be in contact with DEC’s to set up convenient meetings to learn from all of you how we can make ARES better. Please email your ideas and comments any time! In the meantime, I sincerely thank you all for your time and effort! What we do is important!


73, Stan, N8BHL

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FROM THE PIC

By John Ross, KD8IDJ
john.ross3@worldnet.att.net 

Public Information - the 7 W's!
When it comes to crafting news releases and media advisories the 7 W's are the golden rule.

Wait...thought there were only 5? Well, times change and the way we think about how to notify the media has to change as well.

Yes, the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY have served us well but here's how to punch things up a notch and have a better chance of getting noticed.

The "6th" W is now WOW! If you just stick with the normal, your news release ends up looking like every other one the media sees...and could wind up as recycling or in delete heaven. Adding a WOW factor to your press releases make them stand out, stand up and stand apart of the other droll newsrooms get every day. To add a WOW to your release...be very specific about what you want to say and word a leading intro line...headline... very carefully. Look for a different, but true and accurate, statement what will make your release jump.

"The regular monthly meeting of our ham radio club will be Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.", is NOT going to get you much traction. Instead..."The 100th meeting of the Purple County amateur radio club..." adds a little WOW factor to the message. Telling the media that a club of ham radio operators is having a regular meeting translates into a bunch of old geezers sitting around shooting the bull about something we don't understand! I'm sure with a little practice and outside the box thinking you can come up with even catcher headlines. Adding WOW will make your release jump of the page and into the local news!

Now, the "7th" W is a little trickier...but it stands for "WHAT THE........???" If you include a long winded and poorly written load of...stuff...in your release, every news director, reporter and editor will eventually come to the same conclusion..."What the.....??? is this person trying to say"? When that happens you're in real trouble.

Usually the "7th" W appears following a long run on sentence that could be as many as four paragraphs long and continues to say nothing but continues on talking about things are not important and hard to understand let alone makes even the simple things seem complicated to a point where even your computer has trouble processing the information and begins to fight you on typing in the right information so all you really get is a bunch of words that run on and bring the media to their knees yelling and screaming...WHAT THE.....IS THIS CRAP!! STOP! STOP! STOP!

Get the point? Avoid the "7th" W whenever you can. It will make your job and the media's job easier...and will help get you noticed in the right way.

Honestly, as I travel around the country talking to corporate communications departments and executives, you would be surprised how little they know about the art of communicating with the media. If you fail to make that connection...then your chances of getting your story published is very small. Worse yet, you'll end with media's interpretation, not yours, and the story will be lost...no matter just how important it might be.

Finally, as we move to communicate more with tweets, twitter, Facebook, text and other forms of what I call "the New Morse Code", there are a ton of good tips that can help you tweet better...or is it better twitter...and help make your Facebook friends help you even though they may not know it!!! More on that next month


73, John, KD8IDJ

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SOUTHWEST OHIO HAPPENINGS

From: Kitty Hevener, W8TDA - Assistant Section Manager (SW)
w8tda@arrl.net 

CONGRATULATIONS..
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you probably know that southwest Ohio’s own, Tom Delaney, W8TFD, has been selected as the new Great Lakes Division Vice Director. We are so lucky
to have Tom in this position as he is one who definitely goes above and beyond. During the 30 plus years that I have known him, we have taught technician licensing classes and worked both public service events and disasters. I have also seen him lend a helping hand to local hams, who, for physical reasons, are unable to put up the simplest antenna or make an adjustment to their radio gear to make operating easier and more enjoyable. Tom’s concern for others goes beyond ham radio. He and his wife, Helen, helped me find my current house while I was still living in California.

TEACHER SEEKS GUIDANCE WITH BALOON LAUNCH PROGRAM..
In June, the Dayton Amateur Radio Association hosted an ARRL Teacher's Institute-1 session at their clubhouse. One of the teachers who participated in this class wants to develop a balloon launch program for her 8th grade science class at Valley Farms junior high school, in Farmersville. She is in need of someone with experience or knowledge to provide some guidance on putting this program together. What a unique opportunity to potentially bring some youth in to our hobby! If you can help, please contact Joe Brassard, KA8C at jbrassard@woh.rr.com   

LICENSING CLASSES AND EXAM OPPORTUNITIES..
The DIAL RADIO CLUB will offer a six-week technician licensing class beginning August 20. Each session will run from 6-9 pm and will be held at the Verity Lodge, on the Middletown Campus of
Miami University. Class will conclude September 24 and be followed by an examination session on Wednesday, October 1. For more information or to register, contact Beverley Taylor n8gge@arrl.net  513-423-3165 or Carl Morgan k8cm@arrl.net  513-422-9384.

On Wednesday July 23, 2014, at approximately 7:00 PM the DARA VE team will host a no fee license exam session at 6619 Bellefontaine Road, Huber Heights, Ohio 45424. For special testing accommodations or additional information, contact David A. Crawford, kf4kww@arrl.net
(937) 689-6894

The Butler County Amateur Radio Association (BCARA) will offer amateur radio operator's license examinations, beginning at 9 am, on Saturday, July 26, at the Fairfield Township Police Department, 6485 Vonnie Vail Court, Hamilton, OH. License exams are free and no test fees will be collected. Additional information may be obtained from Thurl Golden, KD8VLU, (513-939-4891) or Carl Morgan, K8CM, (513-422-9384) Talk-in will be available on W8WRK/R 146.700 - 123 Hz PL.

TRUNK SALE AND HAMFEST..
The annual trunk sales sponsored by the Champaign-Logan Amateur Radio Club is scheduled from 8-12 PM on Saturday, July 26. It will be held outdoors at the Lions Club Community Park located
approximately 1/2 mile East of the intersection of SR68 and SR245 in West Liberty Talk-in will be on the 147.000 W8FTV repeater. There is NO CHARGE for admission or for sales. Just show up
and open your trunk or tailgate Two things to note --West Liberty is north of Springfield on State Route 68. And the repeater, which has good coverage, uses a PL of 100 Hz. It’s back for 2014! no, the “it” doesn’t refer to the upcoming football season! To find out what I am talking about, visit http://www.ohkyin.org/hamfest.php

FIELD DAY MEMORIES..
I visited Hamilton County ARPSC, QCEN, and Oh-Ky-In field day sites. I arrived at Hamilton County ARPSC just in time to see the crew carbo loading in preparation for raising their antenna and setting up equipment. They were not alone! QCEN and Oh-Ky-In members, including yours truly, were known to have inhaled several “chefs delights” to keep them on their “A game” for the duration of the operation. W8NFM reports that QCEN (Queen City Emergency Net) ran as a "3F station from W8VVL. Operations were continuous with a total of 19 operators.

Eric, N8YC, Oh-Ky-In ARS’ field day chair reports that this year’s field Day was an astounding success. He said that the setup team was one of the largest the club has ever had. All stations were aptly manned almost the entire time with plenty of operating time for new and seasoned hams alike as well as many non hams. The late night aroma of steaks on the grill and a bonfire along with QSO'S in one ear and crickets in the other undoubtedly made memories that club members won’t soon forget.


73, Kitty, W8TDA

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NOTES FROM THE TECHNICAL COORDINATOR

By: Jim Yoder W8ERW - TC
w8erw@arrl.net  

We are in the heat of the summer and my AC has been spinning the electric meter like a gyroscope here in Tiffin. Perhaps I ought to look into a solar solution to give me some relief.

I suppose too, that I could turn off some of the electronics that are powered up everywhere. We hams seem to have a penchant for things that need a wall wart and charging. I am certainly no exception. AEP reminds me in their monthly news publication that my usage is well above normal for similar homes. Also mentioned is the draw all these devices use even when not fully operational. So I have gone about methodically looking at everything powered and deciding that many of these really do not need to be pushing that aluminum disk in my meter into hyper speed.

We had a great Field Day this year in Seneca County. The Seneca Radio Club again hosted our event which was well planned and executed. Dan AC8NP is working on our submission and should have
our final score calculated shortly. Mike KC8WH organized the SSB station setups along with antennas. Gregg WJ8Y handled the CW station and along with his excellent fist, racked up a pile of
contacts. Overall, the bands this year were not a lot of help and the number of contacts was a bit shy of what we had hoped for. On the upside, we had many visitors and youngsters come out to see what we were doing and they got in some operating time alongside one of the many Elmers who eagerly assisted and coached. Our County EOC was also well represented by Director Dan KC8PBU and his assistant Mike KC8BUJ. Both are a very active and integral part of ARES in the county.

Our N3FJP logging software performed very well and without a hitch while supported by our MESH network. Jeff WB8REI also deployed a Raspberry Pi configured as an FM broadcast transmitter which allowed nearby receivers to listen to the several recorded audio clips he made during Field Day. Our local newspaper, The Advertiser Tribune also covered us well with a nice picture in the Sunday edition.

Jeff is now working on a VOIP application to run on the MESH utilizing the Raspberry Pi as the PBX. We have both been accumulating the hardware etc. to put this into operation. Our target is to have this all working for use during the Cross Country Carnival, an annual ARES supported event later this fall. We have used a dedicated RF video arrangement in the past which provided event officials with real time observations of the course. This year we will add several IP cameras running on the MESH network along with VOIP communications and keyboard to keyboard capability. Time permitting; we may have a look at a D-Star implementation also.

I am again making good progress on the ARES training database after losing the hard drive on one of my computers. Adding data from the many submissions I have received involves several lookup procedures and coordination of all the elements being included in the data. I am now back in business with three screens to work from. For those of you who are taking courses either from FEMA or ARRL, be sure to save your certificated electronically and forward to me for inclusion. The data is being entered into an MS access database and will provide some useful data to our ARES leadership including statistics and documentation on our readiness.

Thanks to everyone who has already taken the time to forward their information to me.

I think I have Mark WD8KQX talked into a visit to the Van Wert Hamfest this month. If we both work at it, we may get our “Kitchen Pass” stamped to be in Elyria for the NOARS fest as well.

If you see us, Mark loves to talk as much or more than I do. Flag us down and we’d both be glad to talk up some good conversation with you. There is always something exciting going on in the Ohio Section.


73, Jim, W8ERW

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FROM THE SECTION TRAFFIC MANAGER

By: David Maynard, WA3EZN - STM
wa3ezn@att.net 

Some Tips for Checking Into a Net and Message Handling - Rule number one: listen, listen, listen.

I don’t advocate multi-tasking while traffic handling, but during the sending of a message – stop and listen. It allows the receiver a chance to interrupt and clarify or confirm part of the message. Sometimes, it prevents an entire message from being sent again in error. Sometimes, it allows confirmation of a message sooner.

If we just take those few seconds to listen between our transmissions we can detect interference on frequency, hear someone trying to interrupt, or get confirmation that the message is getting through precisely as it should. Yes, you can learn a lot just by listening. At the very least, it’s a good idea to listen between the preamble and the addressee, at the first break (just before the text), and at the break at the end of the text. As for those technical problems, just going from transmit to receive a few times in the course of the message will pay off.

The more we can listen, the better we will be at doing what we do. If using push-to-talk operation when transmitting a message, un-key the microphone often so the receiving station may break in if necessary.

In listening to the traffic on the OSSBN I have noticed an increase of stations talking over other stations or what is called doubling. This is not only a nuisance but causes the net to go into a spastic mode and wastes a lot of time. Although some of this may be caused by propagation a lot of it is simply one station not listening to the other station. Here are some examples of the type of doubling that I hear.

Nuisance: a person, thing, or situation that is annoying or that causes trouble or problems.
Lets pick on the net control stations first. A station tries to check in to the net and the net control asks for a relay because the station checking in is not heard well. A station offers to relay and does relay the station call and that the station has traffic. Because the net control station is too quick on the microphone button they ask the relaying station to find out if the station checking in has traffic. With a little patience the net control station would not have talked over the station doing the relaying and would know there is traffic to be listed.

A net control station asks for check-ins one at a time please! This means that stations checking in should wait for the previous station to be recognized before they try to check in. There is nothing wrong with this procedure because the net control station is in charge of the net and can run it however they want. If everyone would listen there would be no problems but sure enough several stations have to be first all the time to check in, they talk over each other and ignore the net control request for one station at a time. The possible result is that none of the station will be heard and recognized by the net control and they waist valuable net time sometimes trying a second time to check in. There are no special points or rewards for being the first to check-in to any net.

How about the net that isn't there. You are on 40 meters where the signals are 10 or 20 over 9. You have good copy on many station including some that are in Ohio. You get on the 80 meter net frequency a few minutes before the net is to be called. When the net is supposed to start you hear what might be you net control station but you are not sure because the station is too weak to be heard. You wait and hear what appears to be the strongest station check into the net but the signal strength is S1 or S2 and you can not hear anyone else on the frequency. You know it is not your radio because you heard stations on 40 meters. Yet you are aware that the net must be progressing because you heard that one weak station check-in. The net control apparently continues the net on the 80 meter frequency and does not even think about checking 40 meters. After several minutes you check out several frequently used 40 meter frequencies and can not find the net. The net control has chosen to continue on 80 meters even though only a few if any stations can hear the net. There is no reason to continue listening so you shut your station down and do not try to check into the net even if you have traffic.

Make a written list of traffic you need to transmit by destination, e.g. Michigan, West Virginia, or the location in Ohio, prior to checking into the net; have the traffic readily available in an orderly manner so as not to require a frantic search for it when the time comes to send it. Example: MI 2, WV 3, Cleveland 1, Cincinnati 3 etc.

Remember to send your message slow enough for the receiving station to copy your message on paper. Also have a copy of the International Phonetic Alphabet readily available The phonetics have been used and tested over the past 50 years so as to preclude any ambiguity in their meaning.

The number ZERO (0) is not the letter "O". It is pronounced as ZERO and not as OH or OWE. The letter "O" phonetically is OSCAR. Example: Amateur call sign KB0ABC is Kilo Bravo Zero Alfa
Bravo Charlie and not Kay Bee Owe Aay Bee Cee. Think of the foregoing example when seeing the number ZERO in a message and always use the proword figure(s) before sending numbers like 3, 15
or 20 etc in the text of the message. FIGURE or FIGURES identifies the next piece of information as a number or group of numbers.

INITIAL (s) or LETTER-GROUP identifies the next item as a single letter group or group of letters. The acronym ARES should always be spelled out using the International Phonetic Alphabet by say Alfa Romeo Echo Sierra and not pronounced as a word.

I SPELL identifies that the next word as having a unique spelling or is a proper name. I also use this technique when the proper name can have more than one spelling or I have trouble clearly pronouncing the word.

The net control station is always always on the net frequency regardless if it is not the normal net frequency. If you are not on the same frequency as the net control YOU are not on the net frequency.

That's enough for this month. If you are interested start by listening to the Ohio Single Sideband Net on 3972.5 daily at 10:30 AM, 4:15 PM and 6:45 PM. Who knows, If I can hear the net control you may hear me check into the net.


73, David, WA3EZN

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OUT AND ABOUT IN SOUTHEAST OHIO

By Connie Hamilton, N8IO ASM
n8io@arrl.net 

Field Day was something else this year for me.

I made it to the 5 clubs that were on the FD Locator, First was Portsmouth Club Site I was very impressed. AA8KY and guided into their site, Thanks Bill! He also sent me the article in their local news paper where I was quoted.

Next was the Athens Club site for a short visit with them. On to Coshocton, they were shut down due to the weather for awhile. Next was to Cambridge in time to hear a Radiogram was sent to me just before I walked up.

Zanesville was next and the last and visited with them before starting home. 464 total miles from home to home.

Then the problems started. I had not turned my porch light on before leaving that morning.. Coming from the carport I cross some grass then a short sidewalk where I hit the broken cement and slammed into it and landed on my nose. After 911 and a trip to the Hospital, I finally got home and in the house at 2:30 a.m.

My Son Mark was down from Maine for a week and he and his gang fixed the cement, cleaned out the carport, fixed the Hot Water Tank vent and got rid of a car of my husband had that didn’t run.

My nose is healed and will have physical therapy for additional sore places from the fall.

Looking forward to the Section Conference on the 2nd for my official 1st outing since field day.


73/88, Connie, N8IO

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LET'S TALK

From: Scott Yonally, N8SY - Section Manager
n8sy@arrl.org 

Hi Everyone,

Field Day is now in the books as well as all the festivities of the 4th of July. Speaking of Field Day, did you have one of the Cabinet members pop in on your site? A number of us were out and about. I personally put over 700 miles on the car and visited 23 different locations. I would have loved to have hit more than I did, but I just ran out of time and energy. Connie, N8IO put over 400 miles on her vehicle and I know that Bob, K3RC and Jim, W8ERW were also out and about.. All the pictures that have been submitted are now posted on the website. You can find them at: http://arrl-ohio.org/fd-pix/index.html

Ok, enough of that.. Now on to the business at hand..

LATE BREAKING NEWS..
CC&R's being looked into once again..  As announced by the ARRL HR 4969 is being introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives.

In June, 2014 with Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) as the sponsor and Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) as co-sponsor, HR 4969 - the "Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014" - was introduced
into the 113th Congress. This bipartisan effort would direct the FCC to extend the "reasonable accommodation" provisions for Amateur Radio antennas to include all types of land-use regulation, including deed restrictions and restrictive covenants.

More details on this can be found on the ARRL website at: http://www.arrl.org/hr-4969

Over the past several weeks there have been several major announcements that were made that affected the Ohio Section, but they were made through the League “reflector.” I had a number of calls from you folks complaining that the word didn’t get to them, and they had to receive the information third hand. After some investigation it was discovered that the folks complaining weren’t subscribed to the League’s reflector to receive important messages from the Section Manager or Division Director/Vice Director. Please, if you haven’t looked at your settings with the League in some time, I strongly urge you to do so. You access these settings from your account. Just go on-line to the League and submit your logon and password. From there you go to “edit your profile” at the top of your profile page is a tab called “Edit Email Subscriptions” and then read down the entire list and check all of those items that are of interest to you, including the one that states “News and information from your Division Director and Section Manager (Note: Some Divisions/Sections may not send notices.)” this will then sign you up to receive those important messages from me and the Division Director.

Now, for those of you who may not want to go to all that bother, or you are not League members, you still have a chance to get these important emails. All you have to do is to “Opt-In” on the Ohio Section website.. Here’s the link: http://arrl-ohio.org/forwarder/forwarding.html You can also find this link on the bottom left corner of the main page of the Ohio Section website. I urge you all to make sure that everyone, regardless of whether they are a League member or not, knows that they can always “Opt-In” at any time. Oh, didn’t know that the Ohio Section had a website?? We do.. You can find it 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 stagnate and it’s forever changing. I would recommend that you check into the website at least 3 times per week.

We have a new Section Emergency Coordinator – Stan Broadway, N8BHL. Stan was (is) the Emergency Coordinator for Delaware County.

Here’s the short listing on Stan’s Bio.

EMERGENCY SKILLSET

Police –

• Deputy Sheriff
• Patrol
• Jail
• Dispatch

Fire / EMS

• Volunteer firefighter, EMT/Bridged (30 years) • Technician level Haz Mat • Incident Command, long list of FEMA courses • Extensive training creation and delivery (tabletop, incident, and
classroom)
• Grant development
• Planning Communications
• Certified APCO Comm Center Manager
• Technical experience developing repeater-based systems • FCC Amateur Radio “Extra” class license (highest possible) • Built and configured console system in the early days of the Tornado Spotter Net at National Weather Service, Columbus
• Over 20 years experience as police/fire dispatcher in busy Columbus suburban departments • Familiar with newest mobile technology in radio/RF/IT/dispatching • Webmaster, fire and
emergency sites

Disaster / Tornado

• Control Operator for 14 years, member of management team Central Ohio Severe Weather Spotters Network (N.W.S. National Recognition) • Developed, wrote, and presented training seminars
across Ohio • Xenia, OH Tornado outbreak (34 fatalities) established EOC and worked on management team with National Guard
• Later consulted with Columbus on findings and results • Several other large-scale tornado outbreaks with damage and injury • Blizzard of ’78 experience • Member, Port Columbus Air Crash committee (two years)

Management
• 18 years managing, training and budgeting computer operations and groups • Extensive national awards for journalism and web applications • Extensive planning experience (1,5 and 10 year planning)

As you can see, Stan is extremely qualified to take the reins as Section Emergency Coordinator..

I’m very proud to have Stan join the Section Cabinet as our SEC..

Stan can be reached at: broadways@standi.com   

Stan will be working on a number of items, but one of the most important of those items is to bring “FUN” back into what we do. Yes, there’s definitely a serious side to the emergency communications business, but there’s also got to be the “fun” side too. I remember what someone once said to me, and it has stuck with me ever since.. “If it ain’t fun, then I don’t want to do this anymore.” I do understand that statement and I have to agree. So, we’re all going to do our best to bring “FUN” back to Amateur Radio and the projects that we do.

Please welcome Stan as the new Section Emergency Coordinator for the Ohio Section..

We have a new Division Director and Vice Director. As of 12 noon on July 7th Jim Weaver, K8JE officially retired as Director. As per the ARRL By-Laws on succession, Dale Williams, WA8EFK
who was the Vice Director now becomes the Director. President Kay Craigie, N3KN has appointed Tom Delaney, W8WTD as the new Vice Director.

Are you ready for the Ohio Section Conference? This year we have teamed up with the Columbus Hamfest. It will be August 2nd at the Aladdin Shrine Temple, right across the street from Easton Mall on the east side of Columbus. The Hamfest will begin at 8am and the forums will begin at 9am.

Here’s what’s on for the forums..

09:00 – 11:00 VE Testing
09:00 – 10:00 Skywarn – John Montgomery, N8PVC
10:00 – 11:00 ARES/ARESMAT – Mark Griggs, KB8YMN
11:00 – 12:00 OSSBN Semi-Annual meeting - Mike Hayward, KC8WH
12:00 – 13:00 ARRL / Conference Awards Presentation - Scott Yonally, N8SY

This year there will be an Allan Severson (AP8P) recipient. You’ll just have to wait until the hamfest to find out just who it is. You’ll also have to wait to find out who the winner of the Annual Newsletter Contest winner is as well.. There’s lots of reasons to attend.. but the biggest one that I can think of is.. “It’s going to be FUN!!”

The City of Marietta has passed a new ordinance banning the use of all electronic devices while the vehicle is in motion. Joe Wigal, W8JTW has been in contact with the Law Director of Marietta over this new law to get a better clarification of where Amateur Radio fits in all of this. Now there’s good news to report to this story.. The Marietta City Council President contacted Joe in an email to let him know that Amateur Radio was excluded in this law. This does go to show you that if you work with your government officials, they will usually listen to you and do what is right. 

Ohio's Speaker Bureau.. I know that this has been said a million times before, but it’s always worth repeating, don’t forget to invite one of the Ohio Section Cabinet members to your next club meeting. The entire Cabinet is Ohio’s Speaker’s Bureau. If you’d like any of us to come and be a speaker at your function for FREE, please feel free to give any of us a call, we'll do our very best to be at your function.

That’s going to do it this month from here.. I hope to see all of you at the various hamfests or meetings soon and who knows, maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones to get a “mug” on me.
Have a question? Feel free to give me a call or write to me.. Oh.. by the way, I’ve come up with a new surprise for the mugs.. You may just fine an extra surprise inside the cup!!

My email and phone number are always listed on the Ohio Section Website http://arrlohio.org
as well as on page 16 of QST..


73, Scott, N8SY

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SPECIAL EVENTS STATIONS IN OHIO

07/26/2014 | German Ridge Jamboree
Jul 26-Jul 27, 1323Z-1320Z, W8GBH, Powhatan Point, OH.
Eastern Ohio Amateur Wireless Association.
17.140 14.225 7.225 3.880.
QSL. Rob Fish, 67689 Mills Rd,
Saint Clairsville, OH 43950.
j_t_mccready@yahoo.com 

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08/01/2014 | Annual Pro Football Hall Of Fame Festival
Aug 1-Aug 3, 1800Z-2000Z, W8AL, Canton, OH.
Canton Amateur Radio Club.
28.365 21.365 14.265 7.265.
Certificate. Roger Gray, W8VE, 3506 21st St NW,
Canton, OH 44708.
Send QSL and $2.00 for S&H to event Mgr W8VE www.w8al.org

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08/02/2014 | Chillicothe Ross County Ohio Fair
Aug 2-Aug 9, 1600Z-1800Z, W8BAP, Chillicothe, OH.
Scioto Valley Amateur Radio Club.
28.455 14.280 7.250 3.860. Certificate.
Don Barnhart, 31 Anna Marie Dr, Londonderry, OH 45647.

Event is to help celebrate the centennial of ARRL and to
publicly promote Amateur radio operations. Station to
operate entire week UTC 1600 to 1800 hours. EDST.
Noon to 2 PM.

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08/10/2014 | Fair Winds Alternative Energy Ham Event
Aug 10-Aug 11, 0000Z-0000Z, W8BM, Berea, OH.
Cuyahoga Amateur Radio Society. 7.250.
Certificate & QSL. CARS, PO Box 31264, Independence, OH 44131.

Operation using Solar and Wind Power at the Cuyahoga County Fair.
Talk in 146.820 PL 110.9. Full details on times, frequencies
and how to apply for custom QSL and Certificate at www.qrz.com/db/w8bm

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08/16/2014 | Commemorating Alliance, OH as the home of Ohio's State flower; the scarlet carnation.
Aug 16, 1400Z-2100Z, W8LKY, Alliance, OH. Alliance Amateur Radio Club.
14.250 14.035 7.240 7.035. Certificate & QSL.
Alliance Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 3344, Alliance, OH 44601. www.w8lky.org

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08/22/2014 | D-Day Reenacment Conneaut,Ohio -- 70th Anniversary of Normandy Landing
Aug 22-Aug 23, 1300Z-1900Z, W8BHZ, Conneaut, OH.
Conneaut Amateur Radio Club. 14.240 7.240.
QSL. CARC ARS W8BHZ, PO Box 661, Conneaut, OH 44030.
The largest annual D-Day Reenactment in the US. The Conneaut
Amateur Radio Club in conjunction with D-Day Ohio is
operating a special event station during the weekend reenactment
of the Normandy Landing. 2014 marks the 70th anniversary of this
historical landing.

Commemorative QSL cards will be printed for the event.
It is now the largest annual event in the United States
commemorating D-Day-June 6th 1944 .
Please see visit www.ddayohio.us for on the reenactment
event. www.qsl.net/w8bhz

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08/29/2014 | 20th Anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption movie
Aug 29-Aug 31, 1400Z-2000Z, KD8KWV, Bellevue, OH. Harold R. Wolfe.
14.250 7.250 3.850 146.940. QSL. Harold R. Wolfe, KD8KWV,
358 High St, Bellevue, OH 44811.

Celebrating the filming locations of The Shawshank Redemption.
Historical sites include The Ohio State Reformatory, as well other
locations on the historical Shawshank Trail located in Mansfield, Ohio.

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08/29/2014 | The Shawshank Redemption 20th Anniversary
Aug 29-Aug 31, 1200Z-1600Z, W8WE, Mansfield, OH.
InterCity Amateur Radio Club. 14.250. QSL. IARC, PO Box 713, Bellville, OH 44813.

Times and frequency may change. Check out the club website for up to
date information. www.w8we.org

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OHIO HAMFEST CALENDAR

07/19/2014 | NOARSFEST
Location: Elyria, OH
Sponsor: Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society
Website: http://NOARS.net
Van Wert County Fairgrounds

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07/20/2014 | 27th Annual Van Wert Hamfest
Location: Van Wert, OH
Sponsor: Van Wert Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://w8fy.org
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07/27/2014 | Portage Hamfair '14
Location: Randolph, OH
sponsor: Portage Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://Hamfair.com

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Aladdin Shrine Center
08/02/2014 | Columbus Hamfest/Ohio Section Conference
Location: Columbus, OH
Sponsor: Voice of Aladdin Amateur Radio Club (W8FEZ)
Website: http://www.columbushamfest.com

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Trumbull County Fairgrounds
08/17/2014 | Warren ARA's Annual Hamfest & Computer Show
Location: Cortland, OH
Sponsor: Warren Amateur Radio Association
Website: http://www.w8vtd.org

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Robert Pinn Armory
08/24/2014 | The Cuyahoga Falls ARC's 6th Annual Tailgate Hamfest
Location: Stow, OH
Sponsor: Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://cfarc.org/tailgate2014.html

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ODDS & ENDS

It’s FAIR SEASON 2014 in Ohio!

By Dave Dextradeur, W1GBA
w1gba1@sbcglobal.net 

It’s that time of year again friends and neighbors, summer is upon us which means that it’s time for fairs in the 88 counties in the Buckeye State! It is also a golden opportunity for us to show off our hobby (avocation to many) in its best light and recruit “new blood” into ham radio.

The ARRL has all kinds of promotional literature available both free and at a very nominal cost for use as handouts at the various exhibits that will make it easy for fairgoers to really understand what ham radio is all about. While I realize that the various fairs are several days in length, planning is the key to a successful evolution and I am sure that the Ohio Section Cabinet officers would be able to lend their voices and advice in order to make whatever the various clubs decide to do a resounding success!

73, Dave, W8GBB

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