Michigan Section News                      January, 2012

Greetings Michigan Amateurs This is my first Section News Column as the new Michigan Section Manager and I hope that you will bear with me during my learning curve.

I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Dale, WA8EFK for his 9 ½ years of service as Michigan Section Manager and to offer my best wishes for him in his new endeavor as Vice-Director of the Great Lakes Division. I know he will do well. I am excited about the Section Staff (that Dale assembled) and their work ethic and dedication to the hams of Michigan. Because the Staff is already in place and working hard, I am able to hit the ground running. What a competent group of hams they are! I am looking forward to the opportunity to visit as many hamfests as I can around the state. This will allow me to meet many of the hams of Michigan and to make new friends. I look forward to hearing your ideas and helping you however I can with any radio related problems. I won’t pretend to be able to solve all problems, but you can be assured that I will do everything in my power to assist you personally or direct you to someone who can help you.

I will make myself available as a speaker for your radio club meetings and other activities. Michigan is a pretty big state and the logistics of attending club meetings 500 miles away might be problematical, but I will try very hard to be able to accept as many speaking requests as possible. I would appreciate being placed on your club’s newsletter distribution list so I can see the activity that is taking place around the section. Newsletters are a wonderful resource and I never tire of reading them. My email address is wb8r@arrl.org. For any newsletters that are still sent by snail mail, my mailing address can be found on page 16 of QST. You can also find my telephone number there as well.

I would like to announce a new workshop that has been put together by our Assistant Section Manager for Training, Dan Romanchik, KB6NU in conjunction with Affiliated Club Coordinator, Scott Bicknell, W1BIC: Ham Radio Club Leadership. This ground-breaking workshop is Dan’s brainchild and seems to be just what the doctor ordered for the ham radio clubs in Michigan. The first session of this workshop is scheduled for March 3 at the Red Cross building in Ann Arbor from 8:30 AM to approximately 4:00 PM. Pre-registration is requested and the cost for the workshop is $10, which will cover class materials, coffee and doughnuts and lunch. You can contact Dan at kb6nu@arrl.net or at 734.930.6564 for questions or registration. We are planning a workshop in the Kalamazoo area in April or May and ultimately would like to bring the workshop to several areas in the state so that clubs and hams can take advantage of the opportunity to attend. Clubs in the target areas can look forward to an email from Dan announcing the workshop in your area. We hope to see you there.

I am pleased to announce the following election results for the Ogemaw Arenac Amateur Radio Society for the year 2012: President Dale L. Wheeler, KD8JSL; Vice-President Chris Barbb, W8COP; Secretary George R. Babcock, N8RBS and Treasurer Tyler Rosebrough, KC8JOZ. Congratulations and thank you to these hams for stepping up to serve their clubs.

MICHIGAN HAMFEST CALENDAR

February 4: HARA, Negaunee

February 11: Cherryland ARC, Traverse City

February 19: Livonia

March 17: Crossroads, Marshall

April 7: ARGYL, Lowell

April 14: Milford

May 5: Cadillac

Jun 2: IRA Swap, Hudsonville

June 20: Monroe

Oct 21: Kalamazoo

ARPSC REPORTS

Here are the ARPSC statistics for December, 2011: Number of EC’s reporting: 36. Drills, tests and training sessions: 338. Public Service events: 21. Emergency operations: 19. Total monthly operator hours: 6469. Dollar value of operator time: $117,159. Total ARES members: 2013. ARES members should check http://www.ares-mi.org/ and click on FSD-212 Results to obtain all of the details of their local county's activities. You can select various items on the page and get the full details and histories of your area's activity levels. EC’s and NM’s please remember the Michigan ARPSC State net Sundays at 5 PM Eastern Time on 3,932 kHz.

EC HONOR ROLL

Last January, WA8EFK published the first instance of the Emergency Coordinator’s Honor Roll as recognition of the dedication of individual EC’s for 100% reporting through the calendar year 2010. I will continue this recognition and it is my pleasure to do so for 2011. Thanks go to the following EC/RO’s and their group members for their 100% reporting throughout the year.

District 1  

Clinton – David Oulette, WB8MWG Lenawee – Joseph Pullen, K8YZA Livingston – Bruce Pollock, N8WWX  

District 3  

Alcona – Stanley Darmofal, W8SZ Arenac – Charles Rood, AB8SY Gladwin – Bruce Wagner, N8LYL Lapeer – Tom Oliver, KD8EBY Midland – John Wolters, W8QN Oscoda – Al Bickford, KD8CLM Saginaw – Ron Huss, KC8YVF  

District 5  

Branch – Larry Camp, WB8R/Jan Hayden, KD8CYW  

District 6  

Muskegon – James Duram, K8COP  

District 7   Benzie – Tom Schoonover, K8BTE Grand Traverse – Ernest Abel, K8RCT

District 8   Houghton – John Swift, N8WAV Luce – David Dake, KC8QZG Marquette – Richard Schwenke, N8GBA  

You will note that District 3 is leading the pack with 7 EC’s with perfect reporting. That is outstanding! At the end of 2010, we had 29 individuals on the EC Honor Roll and at the end of 2011 we have 17. This indicates that we have work to do. The EC reports are so very important in the reporting that we do to our served agencies each month. We know the counties are doing the work, now we just have to get them to report the work that they are doing. If you need help with your reporting, please ask for assistance. Your DEC or SEC can assist you.

 NET REPORTS

Net traffic for December, 2011: The Michigan Net 438, Michigan Amateur Communications System 379, Michigan Traffic Net 356, Southeastern Michigan Traffic Net 235, Michigan VHF Traffic Net 203, Upper Peninsula Net 55, Thumb Mid-Michigan Traffic Net 44, Great Lakes Emergency and Traffic Net 42, Michigan Digital Traffic Net 17, Michigan Amateur Radio Public Service Corps 8, Motor City Radio Club 2 Meter Net 3, District 3 ARPSC Net 2, Hiawatha Net 1, Branch County Emergency Net 0, West Michigan Emergency Net 0, Red Cross Net of Greater Grand Rapids 0, Chelsea ARC Net 0. Total net traffic reported: 1783. Total Checkins 4170. Total operator-hour contribution $53,058.  

STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS  

WB9JSR  994, WB8WKQ 702, K8RDN 426, KB8RCR 304, KD8CYK 246, NX8A 226, KD8AAD 172, K8OLY 168, KC8BW 127, KD8LZB 105, N5ASU 73, K8VFZ 60, W8QZ 57, WB8RCR 50, KD8QPF 43, WD8USA 37, K8ED 36, WB8TQZ 17, WB8R 10, N8FVM 9, WB8WJV 7, KD8GLN 5, N8OSL 5. PUBLIC SERVICE HONOR ROLL K8OLY 300, WB9JSR 205, K8RDN 180, WD8USA 157, WB8RCR 141, N8OSL 137, KB8RCR 125, WB8WKQ 120, K8VFZ 100, KD8CYK 95, N5ASU 90, KD8LZB 90, NX8A 90, KC8BW 80, KD8QPF 80, N8FVM 77, W8QZ 76, WB8R 75, KD8AAD 58, KD8GLN 57, WB8WJV 50, WB8TQZ 42  

BRASS POUNDER’S LEAGUE  

WB9JSR 994, WB8WKQ 702  

If you are reporting monthly to our SEC/STM WB8RCR, you can see your PSHR eligibility status at http://www.nts-mi.org/pshr-cert.php. The full details are at: http://www.arrl.org/public-service-honor-roll. This award recognizes the efforts of hams that are active in public service. Those reporting accumulate points for checking into nets, volunteering, holding a Section appointment and handling message traffic.   

Thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of the people of the State of Michigan and for filing your monthly reports. It really shows how active Michigan is in holding a leadership position for ham radio public service activities.  

73 until next month,  

Larry, WB8R