David Minster, NA2AA, the new ARRL CEO, was the featured guest on the DX Engineering’s Weekend Special podcast, live streamed on December 18, 2020. It’s available on YouTube.
Organization
ARRL Headquarters Closed Tomorrow for Winter Storm Bailey
Central Connecticut, along with much of New England, will be impacted by winter storm Bailey tonight into Thursday and beyond. Estimates have varied widely, but have consistently indicated a major impact. The latest forecast is calling for 11-15” of snow beginning this evening going through tomorrow afternoon.
ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, has announced that the Headquarters building in Newington, Connecticut will be closed for business on Thursday, December 17, 2020. Employees will be encouraged to work from home; many already are, or are equipped to.
In advance of the storm, ARRL staffers removed some antennas from one of the towers on the HQ roof that was in poor condition.
Minster anticipates that Headquarters operation “will be back to normal” by Friday.
73,
Fred Hopengarten, K1VR
ARRL Director
New England Division
Phil Temples, K9HI
ARRL Vice Director
New England Division
Maine ARRL Section Web, Facebook Pages
December, 2020 Western MA Section Manager Report Now Available
The December, 2020 WMA Section Manager Report is now available at https://wma.arrl.org/blog/2020/12/05/section-manager-report-december-2020/.
November 2020 Eastern MA Section News Now Available
The November, 2020, Eastern Massachusetts Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/november-2020-section-news/.
Tom Walsh, K1TW, Declared Elected to a Two-Year Term As Eastern MA Section Manager Beginning January 1, 2021
SB QST @ ARL $ARLB037
ARLB037 New York City-Long Island Section Manager Re-Elected in Fall
Balloting
ZCZC AG37
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 37 ARLB037
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT November 25, 2020
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB037
ARLB037 New York City-Long Island Section Manager Re-Elected in Fall Balloting
New York City-Long Island Section Manager Jim Mezey, W2KFV, has been re-elected in the Fall election cycle. Mezey, of Carle Place, received 527 votes to 136 for challenger Donnie Katzovicz, W2BRU. The race for NYC-LI SM was the only contested election. Mezey begins a new 2-year term of office on January 1, 2021. He has served as New York City-Long Island Section Manager since 2013.
In the West Central Florida (WCF) Section, Michael Douglas, W4MDD, of Wauchula, Florida, will become Section Manager starting on January 1, 2021. He was the only nominee for the post. Douglas is currently Affiliated Club Coordinator, a Technical Specialist, and an Official Emergency Station. Incumbent WCF Section Manager Darrell Davis, KT4WX, did not run for a new term after serving for the past 6 years.
These incumbent Section Managers were the only candidates for re-election and will begin new terms of office on January 1: Tom Walsh, K1TW (Eastern Massachusetts); Cecil Higgins, AC0HA (Missouri); Matt Anderson, KA0BOJ (Nebraska); Thomas Dick, KF2GC (Northern New York); Marc Tarplee, N4UFP (South Carolina); Tom Preiser, N2XW (Southern New Jersey), and Joe Shupienis, W3BC (Western Pennsylvania).
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Maine ARRL Section Board Meeting Notes
We had our first Board Meeting last night virtually, using freeconferencecall.com and it worked well for its intended purpose; video and audio quality was good, screen sharing worked well.
The biggest issue was attendance. 43 people were invited, 10 were in attendance. We are open to suggestions on having a better day/time of the week. 6PM on a Saturday may not be the most convenient. We used the entire hour and a half scheduled which means we have plenty to discuss.
Bob Gould (N1WJO) would like to have these meetings every two weeks for a while until we can get some plans in motion and then look at scaling it back in the future.
Introductions were done by everyone in attendance. The biggest topic was Recruitment and Retention: How can we get people involved in the hobby. It was mentioned that we should have both a Facebook page for social media since that is the way of the times and also a webpage for those who do not use social media. The discussion was that Joy, K1SEW and I would likely head up these formats since Joy does a wonderful job maintaining the League page.
We also discussed having a virtual ham radio convention in early/mid January. Joe, W1SK and I have been talking about this idea for a little while. We would have talks, group meetings and an area for “eyeball QSOs.” The benefit of a virtual conference is there is no travel time involved so it can be a great opportunity to get some stellar talks from people anywhere in the world!
I mentioned the newsletter that was started in September, called the Maine Telegraph which is open to receiving an articles or items from people around Maine, what they may be doing with the hobby, any club activities, articles people may want to write. I suggested adding a “Show Your Shack” section to the newsletter, people could send in a picture of their shack. As hams, we take pride in our shack, so why not showcase it in the newsletter? The suggestion was well received.
I talked about ongoing nets and time changes due to conditions changing. I encouraged people to get on nets when possible.
Next meeting Sat December 5th at 6 pm unless a better day/time is more suitable
November, 2020 Western MA Section Manager Report Now Available
The November, 2020 WMA Section Manager Report is now available at https://wma.arrl.org/blog/2020/12/11/massachusetts-traffic-report-for-november-2020/.
Eastern MA October 2020 Section News Now Available
The October, 2020, Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/october-2020-section-news/.
Purchases via AmazonSmile Provide Dividends to ARRL
Those who use Amazon for online purchases can automatically donate to ARRL by opting to use AmazonSmile and designating American Radio Relay League (ARRL) as their charity of choice.
The AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible AmazonSmile items to whichever charity you choose. Product and Marketing Specialist Jackie Ferreira, KB1PWB, reports that the benefit of AmazonSmile to ARRL for 2018 was $8,676, up from $8,022 in 2017.
Family and friends can select ARRL as their charity of choice too. There is no difference between Amazon and AmazonSmile in terms of making purchases.