April Section News

Greetings Michigan Amateur Radio Operators,

On Saturday April 12, the Michigan Section of the ARRL held it first Youth Forum. This effort was designed to bring our younger licensed hams together in one facility to discuss what interested them in amateur radio, how they were mentored, plus what their likes and dislikes are about this hobby. Despite our moving the forum into April, some severe snow prevented several groups from attending. Still, those that were there all reported that they had an outstanding time and the sessions were very successful. We had some very frank discussion on all of the key subjects. It was exciting to see how this group opened dialog on other pertinent subject matter as well. Now the work has begun on compiling our results into a formal report for distribution to the ARRL Affiliated Clubs in the state. There is probably three times the amount of material we had expected to collect from our discussions, so the report writing will take couple of weeks. My personal regards go to all who attended. Simply put, your efforts and the time you took to participate, may well set the pace for the future of amateur radio. Thanks!

Interestingly, these youth have put forth a "Challenge" to all Michigan clubs. "Recruit 5 or more new licensees into your club and be eligible to receive an award which will be presented at the Michigan State ARRL Convention at Kalamazoo in October." We'll do a separate posting to the Section Web page with all the "Challenge" details.

Congratulations to Simon KC8ZYD upon his acceptance of the appointment as Youth Coordinator for the Michigan Section. Simon's untiring efforts in bringing the Forum together and serving as moderator have set a good example for all of us -- how we can out our faith in young hams to work, how we can mentor and how we can bring more young folks into amateur radio.

The Annual Michigan Summer Outing is in the final planning stages. We hold this event at Woodlands Campgrounds near Lupton every July. It has provided an excellent opportunity for us to get together to have fun, operate radio, have some interesting meetings, eat great cooking, and share ideas and stories. This year's dates are July 11, 12 & 13. Debbie KA8YKK is ready to accept advance registrations immediately. You may contact her at ka8ykk@arrl.net. Camp sites and cabin rooms can be reserved, but most importantly, we need to get an advanced notice of how many folks to expect for our planning purposes. We do have some excellent forums scheduled and ASM John N8ZE always insures that the Saturday Campfire is a fun adventure. This is your opportunity to meet with your ARRL Section Staff, and we often welcome Great Lakes Division Leadership as well. Please contact Deb as soon as possible to make your reservation.

*Special event coming up first weekend in May* - and it's for the Birds! Hams from Lake Effect ARC, and Eastern UP ARC are putting the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory on the air May 2, 3 and 4 celebrating the annual spring raptor and waterfowl migration. They will be operating as W8B (Birds!) on several bands and modes, including CW, and really look forward to making contacts in the region. Whitefish Point (of Edmund Fitzgerald fame) attracts a lot of attention at this time from birders and naturalists around the world, and the birding is pretty spectacular. Very attractive QSL cards and certificates will be available. There may be limited opportunities for additional guest operators - See details: http://www.LakeEffectARC.info/W8B.htm

The Chelsea ARC's newly elected officers for 2008-2009 are Pres AB8FN, VP KB8POO, Sec Treas WB8HSN. Ogemaw-Arenac ARC's 2008 officers are: Pres KD8CLM, VP KD8BNZ, Sec N8RBS and Treas AB8YG.

At the 2008 "New Hams Dinner" sponsored by the Grand Rapids ARA, The Lowell ARC and Michigan AR Alliance, the three clubs named the "West Michigan Ham of the Year". This award is in its 8th year and this year's recipient is Rich K8JX of the MARA club. Congratulations to Rich on this award.

Michigan Nets reporting for March: MACS, MiTN, MVTN, QMN, UPN, GLETN, TMN, SEMTN, Wolverine, Motor City, NLEUPN, Hiawatha, and MiARPSC. Total Operator-hours for March: 2782. To include your net's monthly activities, contact wb8rcr@arrl.net.

Station Activity Reports (SAR) for March, 2008: WB9JSR 1337, AC8AR 421, AB8SY 316, K8LJG 292, K8AMR 149, K8RDN 127, KD8AAD 124, KC8MLD 89, KD8HPF 76, W8RNQ 60, WB8RCR 57, WD8USA 26, KC8NTE 15, AB8WF 15, AC8AL 15, WA8OOH 5, KC8ZGB 2.

Public Service Honor Roll Reports (PSHR) for March, 2008: KC8NTE 577, WB8RCR 333, K8MFK 186, WD8USA 151, AC8AL 150, WB9JSR 110, K8AMR 107, AC8AR 100, K8RDN 90, KB8UIH 82, AB8SY 80, KD8HPF 54.

SARs are reports of all the radiogram traffic you have handled in the past month. PSHRs include both your net and public service activities for the month. PSHRs and SARs should be filed monthly with WB8RCR. You can access a simple reporting form at: http://www.mi-nts.org/PSHR_entry.shtml to provide your reports to WB8RCR. You can also check http://www.mi-nts.org/ for the details on all of our Michigan Section reporting nets.

March Official Emergency Station reports came in from K8COP, W8WRB and KC8NTE. Your OES reports should be filed with WA8EFK with a copy to your EC. In all cases, reporting by radiogram is encouraged. Packet messages can be routed to wb8rcr@wb8rcr.ampr.org and wa8efk@wa8efk.ampr.org .

73 until next month,

Dale Williams WA8EFK

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