Greetings ARRL members and friends:
This will be my final monthly report to you after about 250 of them since 2002. Challenger Nancy Austin KC1NEK received more votes than I in the recent election, so now I may truly retire on July 1st. It has been an honor to serve you and I hope that I was able to represent you well and make your ARRL membership fruitful. Thank you for your support of ARRL. They cannot function without it.
As your current SM, I shall try to visit as many of our club Field Day sites as I can since my term ends at the end of June when I can truly retire. I was appointed to serve the remaining term of SM K1FLD who became a Silent Key in office and as his Assistant SM, ARRL tapped me to serve his remaining 18 months. I had never expressed any wish to be an SM. At the time, I had just retired after 42 years at Raytheon and my wife was concerned that she would trip over me if I was in the house all day with nothing to do. No one ever ran against me. So now, I can really retire. Thank you all.
ARRL Bulletin ARLX005 reports that Phillip J. Beaudet, N6PJB, of Burney, California was fined $24,000 for jamming a net and failing to identify. He has my last name but is not related to me as far as I know. He violated a major rule and must pay the fine. Details may be seen at http://www.arrl.org/news/licensee-hit-with-24-000-fine-for-jamming-net-failure-to-id-fcc.
A major player in ham radio became a Silent Key unexpectedly. Chip Margelli, K7JA of Garden Grove, CA touched many lives in his 60 years licensed. Like hundreds of others, I knew Chip personally and admired his skill on the air. He was a GREAT CW operator and a winning contester. Read http://www.arrl.org/news/he-touched-so-many-lives-chip-margelli-k7ja-sk for his extensive bio. When he was a VP at Yaesu, he talked me out of buying their just released and highly promoted FT-1000 Field HF radio and getting their FT-1000D instead. He knew that I would be happier with the older 1000D which was a ten year old design at the time. He was totally right and I still have the radio 21 years later. 73 my friend and I hope propagation is good where you are now.
While on the subject of Silent Keys, I want to let you know that I shall continue my long time practice of reporting all Silent Keys who come to my attention, whether I know them personally or not. The form that ARRL wishes us to use may be accessed at https://www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/SK_Report%20a%20Silent%20Key_Interactive%202023.pdf. Since I won’t be able to do it, when my time comes, I would appreciate very much for someone to take the time to report my passing to the SK desk. Anyone may do it, ham license not required. You should have the obit from the newspaper or other source. I truly would appreciate it and thank you. In my opinion, doing that shows our respect for the person as well as for our great hobby. It’s OK to duplicate, so don’t worry about sending in multiple reports.
Complying with RF exposure regulations is now mandatory for all amateurs. See details at http://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator . You must check your station to assure that you are not endangering yourself or others close to your antenna. No amateur is exempt. I checked my station and it complies on all bands.
Applications for grants from the ARRL Foundation until June 30. More details may be seen at http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-accepting-applications-for-grants-in-june . Many club programs and ideas could have merit for consideration. Please review the Foundation and see if your inspiration might win.
I plan to remain active on the HF bands mainly using FT8 and CW but occasionally using SSB. Thank you again for your support over the last 21 years. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve you. I know that you will support our new Section Manager, KC1NEK.
73,
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ARRL Rhode Island Section
Section Manager: Robert G Beaudet, W1YRC
w1yrc@arrl.org
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