Rhode Island Section Manager Robert G Beaudet, W1YRC, writes:
Greetings ARRL members and friends:
May is a special month in the Amateur radio calendar. In addition to normally nice weather, it marks the start of sporadic E openings. Our friends down south see May as the start of the active tornado season but here in New England, we see it as better antenna weather and the “get ready” month for Field Day which is only a few weeks away.
ARRL sent out a survey recently asking questions about a dues increase and your views about it. If you filled it out and submitted it, thank you but if not, please do so. It is important and will only take a few minutes of your time. Surveys must be completed by May 31st.
Dayton Hamvention takes place this coming weekend. 33,000 of your best friends will be there. If you’re going, best advice I can give is to hang on tightly to your plastic cards. Temptation to exercise them will be everywhere.
HF band conditions are improving slowly. Six meters opened for a short while to tease us. I managed to snag one new entity. Watch the bands, they are improving. Read about stormy geomagnetic space weather at https://www.space.com/sun-reverse-sunspot-auroras-supercharge. Are you puzzled by the SFI, K and A indexes? You aren’t alone. G3YWX explains them in a 2002 QST article. See Understanding Solar Indices (arrl.org).
As of this writing on May 16th, I do not know if I have been re-elected or Nancy Austin, KC1NEK was elected to replace me. Either way, I thank you for your trust and support. You did vote, didn’t you?
FCC’s ruling on RF exposure takes effect May 3, 2021 with a two year transition period was implemented to allow existing amateur licensees to conduct evaluations and make any changes necessary to ensure that their station complies with the exposure rules. On May 3, 2023, the transition period ended. All licensees must now conduct evaluations of their current station and reassess compliance when making changes to their stations that would affect exposure going forward. An on-line calculator is available so you can determine your compliance. Go to ARRL Helps Radio Amateurs Comply with New RF Exposure Evaluation Rules and select http://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure to access the tools. Chances are good that you are compliant but you must check according to the FCC ruling.
ARRL publishes monthly magazines to address special interests of new hams, more advanced hams and contesters. QEX, NCJ, and On The Air are available in digital format on the www.arrl.org website. New hams in particular find On The Air very useful since it usually targets topics that are most interesting to them.
Members of the Blackstone Valley ARC participated in a Business Expo hosted by the Bellingham, MA Public Library on April 29th. Most of the exhibits were commercial and aimed at business in the community, Amateur radio captured a great deal attention. The club attracted several new members including a 14-yea-old who already holds a Technician license and wants to work lots of countries. His mother seemed fairly interested herself asking if any women are members of the club. The normal BVARC area includes northern RI and the border communities of MA to the north and east. So, setting up an exhibit over the state line in Bellingham is quite normal.
Field Day is June 24-25. As your Section Manager, if I am re-elected, I shall try to visit your Field Day site. The Field Day locator shows a location for four groups. I shall try to visit each of these groups on Saturday, June 24th. Good luck to all, including those who choose to operate from their comfortable air conditioned ham shacks.
Thanks and 73,
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ARRL Rhode Island Section
Section Manager: Robert G Beaudet, W1YRC
w1yrc@arrl.org
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