The ARRL Club News
ARRL Club News for June 2007
ARRL Club Newsletter
June 8, 2007
____________________________________________________________________
Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, Editor
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ One Size Does Not Fit All
+ That's Using Your Web
+ Field Day Doesn't Have to be Stone Aged
____________________________________________________________________
One Size Does Not Fit All
The traditional view of a ham radio club and its meetings, is one
where meetings are held monthly and members discuss old and new
business and other issues that affect the club. There is usually a
coffee break and then a presentation or guest speaker. The members
pay annual dues and the club runs a hamfest or other fund raising
event. While this may be the structure used by many radio clubs,
quite a number of ARRL-affiliated clubs operate differently.
Clubs can affiliate with ARRL in one of four categories.
1. Local Amateur Radio clubs
2. Regionally- or nationally-organized Amateur Radio groups
3. Local school or youth groups, or Amateur Radio clubs in homes for
the elderly or disabled
4. Club councils (clubs of clubs)
Over three quarters of ARRL affiliated clubs are category one clubs
and a large majority of them follow the model that we mentioned at
the beginning of this article. Clubs should be organized to best
suit the membership and meet the mission of the club.
Some clubs may not require regularly scheduled meetings where other
may meet more frequently to discuss club business or activities.
Other clubs don't have formal meetings but they may have regularly
scheduled social gatherings such as luncheons, or volunteer periods
at Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) or Red Cross facilities.
Contest or other special interest clubs whose members are spread out
over a large geographic area may meet on the air or on the internet
in a chat room.
There are also quite a number of virtual clubs that meet this way.
Because the mission of the club is to share information or
participate in an on-the-air activity, this format readily fits their
needs.
Often repeater organizations or clubs that have a large investment in
capital assets will be structured in such a way to protect the assets
and the officers of the organization. It's not uncommon for a club
to hold business meetings separately from general meetings; However,
business meetings should be open to all members who wish to attend.
The organization of any club is spelled out in its constitution and
by-laws. This is why it is so very important to take some time and
devote plenty of thought when drafting these documents. All clubs
that apply for ARRL affiliation have their constitutions and by-laws
reviewed by our regulatory specialist, Dan Henderson, N1ND. It is
not uncommon for ARRL to ask a club to fine-tune their documents for
a number of reasons. Of course, any documents that violate any State
or Federal laws are immediately sent back for the club to review.
Sometimes ARRL will suggest that a club look beyond the horizon and
try to prevent any potential issues by addressing possible situations
in their constitutions or by-laws.
You may find this hard to believe but some squabbles have turned into
very expensive court battles all because nobody ever gave any thought
to the possibility of a situation arising in their club. In the end,
everyone loses in these situations.
There are numerous "what-ifs" in any organization and for this reason
a lot of careful thought should be put into drafting of your club's
constitution and by-laws. Dan Henderson offers suggestions and
points to consider when drafting your club's constitution in the
document "What Is A Constitution?" This document is on the web at
www.arrl.org/club. Although the ARRL shows a sample constitution for
people to use as an example of the verbiage and structure of this all
important document, the example should not be used as is. After all,
you wouldn't be foolish enough to enter into a contract using a
standard stationery store-type document. At least I hope that you
wouldn't do that. Most clubs fit the traditional model but each one
is unique and each constitution and set of by-laws needs to be
drafted to fit the mission of that club.
*Note: Because laws of incorporation vary from State to State, ARRL
suggests that you contact an attorney in your area who is familiar
with corporate law. If you do not already have a relationship with
an attorney, you may use the ARRL Volunteer Counsel Program to locate
an attorney in your area.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/local/vci.html
____________________________________________________________________
That's Using Your Web
Jay Harrison, KC0CNB of the Benton County Radio Operators in Arkansas
reports that attendance for their hamfest increased substantially
because of an informative website and other marketing efforts by the
club.
ARRL Hamfest listings on the web and in QST include web URL so that
readers can be directed to more information than can be provided in
the listing. Jay's club had success by providing detailed
information about the hamfest.
____________________________________________________________________
Field Day Doesn't Have To be Stone Aged
If your club is not already using computers to log your Field day
contacts, perhaps you may want to look into the possibility of doing
so. With a surplus of cheap PCs available to hams, along with
inexpensive or free logging programs, computer logging is within the
limitations of most clubs. Using computers is a great way for a team
to run a single operating position. A "Y" adapter on the headphones
allows both the operator and the logger to listen to the receiver.
This way one person can send the exchange information and the other
can log the information of the station being worked. Mutiple
operators using one radio in this way can learn oeprating techniques
from each other and help with phonetics on phone and make fewer
mistakes on CW.
The computer will quickly check for duplicate contacts (dupes), can
generate CW with canned messages and key the transmitter, keep track
of time, keep track of the operators, and many other useful
functions. Because Field Day rules allow for QSOs to be made with
the same station once on each band and mode there is no need for
complicated networks. What happens on the 20 meter CW station has no
bearing on the 75 meter phone station. All that you need to do is
designate a logging captain to collect the logs and merge them
together at the end. Even the simplest program that I have inspected
has the provision to export an ADIF file that can be imported into
another log or create a contest log entry in the proper format.
Many of the popular logging programs, like those advertised in QST,
have provisions for ARRL Field Day and some programs are written just
for Field Day. A search on the internet will yield logging programs
that will vary from the plain and simple to fancy varieties.
A lot of the logging programs are able to send CW via a port on the
PC eliminating the need for a memory keyer or other peripherals.
Computer to radio CW keying interfaces are cheap to buy or you can
roll your own for less than a few dollars and about 30 minutes of
bench time, depending on your soldering skills. (Tip: The CW keying
interface can make a great club meeting project.)
Here are a few tips if your club is going to use computers for
logging during Field day.
1. Set up your PCs or laptops in advance. Now is the time to start.
2. Pre-load all software and become familiar with its operation.
3. Have a training session for your operators. Most logging software
is straight forward: type in the call and exchange information then
hit the return key. Make sure that your team is familiar with basic
operation and entering contacts.
4. Back up data regularly. Thumb (flash memory) drives are great for
this.
5. Monitors don't like sun glare. Make provisions to shade the
monitors so that operators can see the screen during the day.
Experiment with this before the event.
So, even if your Field Day accommodations are primitive your
operation doesn't have to be stone aged. (Yes, even a caveman can do
it.)
Complete rules for ARRL Field Day can be found on the web at:
http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/fd.html
Be sure to order your 2007 Field Day t-shirts, pins and other
goodies.
http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=NO-9742#top
These t-shirts make excellent gifts to those who help make your
club's event a fun time for all.
______________________________________________________________________
ARRL Affiliation Milestones for May 2007
Believe it or not, there are no clubs celebrating affiliation
milestones in June 2007.
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Questions and Answers
Do you have any vexing club operation issues or questions for which
you or your club needs assistance? Please write to us and we may be
able to place such requests for help or information before the eyes
of thousands reading this newsletter.
=============================================================================
The ARRL Club News is published on the first Wednesday of each month by
the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur
Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259; www.arrl.org. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.
The ARRL Club News is an e-mail digest of news and information of
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Page last modified: 03:09 PM, 15 Nov 2006 ET
Page author: clubs@arrl.org
Copyright © 2006, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
