Monthly Section News Summaries
Monthly Summary for October 2009
Greetings fellow Rhode Islanders:
This is a light month for news so this report will probably not be as long as
usual. It’s a good time to remind everyone that if you don’t report your
activities to me, I cannot include them in my summary report to the members.
So, please let me know what your groups are doing in public service and club
activities.
Last month, I was questioned because in my October report, I hadn’t promoted
the new digital repeater in Portsmouth put together by the Newport Radio
Club. Of course, as I reminded the person who questioned me, I had announced
it in the previous month’s report, just after it was first put on the air. I
don’t plan to give it a monthly plug but since it is a new D Star repeater in
RI and the only one I am aware of in our state, I shall once again report
that the W1ADD D Star Repeater is on 145.300 MHz with a 600 kHz negative
offset. All digital radio users are welcome to use it. The Newport club has
taken on a considerable obligation to create and maintain this new technology
repeater for everyone to use and enjoy, so please make an effort to use it. .
The RI EMass Traffic Net held 14 sessions in October and handled 73 pieces of
traffic with 68 stations participating. Nice work folks! They are going to
shift their schedule to Wednesday and Friday evenings on the KA1RCI repeater
network at 9PM. Drop in and say hello to these good folks.
HF band conditions have gotten a little better lately. Of course, many will
remind me that they couldn’t have gotten an awful lot worse. It seems that
we’ve been foraging along the bottom of the sunspot cycle for a couple of
years with no improvement at all. Many new hams don’t believe the old timers
who talk about working the world on 10 meters with 25 watts. If sunspots
become numerous and our ionosphere sees plenty of solar wind, those amazing
10 and 6 meter conditions could once again light up our HF activity. Some
scientists are suggesting that new Cycle 24 which has just started may never
reach the level of previous cycles. They suggest that Cycle 24 may simply
roll up a little and then go flat. Some of us may not be around for many more
sunspot cycles after this one, so we’re hoping that the scientists are wrong.
Some members may be curious why I haven’t recruited a new Section Emergency
Coordinator (SEC) to fill the vacancy left in our leadership team after Rick,
K3OQH resigned to assume his new job for the state of Massachusetts. Frankly,
I haven’t tried very hard to fill the post because it is a section level
appointment and whoever accepts it would have a nearly impossible job at the
section or state level trying to create a viable emergency communications
network involving or serving the current EMA. The leadership at EMA will not
accept Amateur radio as a service, despite it being demonstrated as their
most reliable and dependable means of statewide communications. Trying to set
up a working unit with RI EMA would not produce any benefit and being a
pragmatic sort of person, I have instead encouraged the active local EmComm
teams in RI to work to expand within their own communities and not be
concerned with state level work for the present until conditions change at
the EMA.
I was a staffing manager for more than 25 years and never believed in filling
empty chairs simply for the sake of having them occupied. They must be real
jobs with real duties and be necessary to the program.
I am aware that at least four RI hams have been contacted for schedules to
provide a RI contact to someone seeking to complete their WAS or Triple Play
Award (http://www.arrl.org/awards/). For the benefit of new hams or those who
don’t spend a great deal of time on HF bands, a contact with RI is considered
somewhat rare and often, someone in the world is sitting at 48 or 49 and
lacking a contact and confirmation with RI. I’d like to urge you to try to
accommodate our brethren with a contact from our state. There are 2,000
Amateurs here but most of them are not active at all. The remaining ones
don’t fill the need, it seems. As I said, at least four different hams were
contacted in only the last week for contacts. I was one of them. If you are
unable to provide a contact, let someone know about it who has an active
station and can operate in the mode requested. Remember, the Triple play
requires three confirmed contacts in Logbook of The World in each of CW, SSB
and RTTY modes.
Some Amateurs justifiably feel that asking for or responding to a request for
a scheduled contact is against the spirit of the competition. They have a
point which I fully appreciate. I have never gained a new entity or state
through making a schedule, but the DXCC, WAS or Triple Play rules do not
prohibit using schedules, nets, etc to make a necessary contact. Therefore,
do what you feel is appropriate.
For those who want to have some fun and improve their operating skills, next
weekend Nov 21 and 22 is the Phone weekend of the annual Sweepstakes. See
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/12/11194/?nc=1 for full details. The
exchange is similar to a message preamble. Managing the logistics of this
process for a few hours will surely give you all the action you can handle.
Remember, we are in RI, a rare state and sections/states are a contest
multiplier in the SS. Above all and anything else, go have fun.
That’s all for this month. Very Happy Thanksgiving to all and please get those
last antenna projects finished before you have to do them in a blizzard at 10
degrees. BRRRR!
73,
Bob Beaudet, W1YRC
Page last modified: 05:18 PM, 15 Nov 2009 ET
Page author: w1yrc@arrl.org
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