Virginia Section of the ARRL May Section Manager’s Report (Covering April)

++Safety Note++

Do you know what the safest place in your house is in the event of Derecho (straight-line wind), tornado, or severe thunderstorm? What about at work? Your community center or place of worship? Take a few minutes and find out. With the exception of hurricanes, severe weather gives you little advance notice, and seconds count. Practice gathering up your family and pets and getting to your shelter. Make sure that if your radios have a weather radio alarm function, that you have them set up and turned on. Also, get a Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) capable All Hazards (Weather) radio, and set it up for your area.

++Affiliated Club Coordinator++

Mike WA8AHZ, our Affiliated Club Coordinator provided the following information about the Volunteers On The Air W1AW/4 activation here in VA:

W1AW/4 – VA VOTA event.  Twenty-five operators, from 13 ARRL VA Section Affiliated Clubs participated in the April 15-21st W1AW/4 VA event.  Over 124 hours were logged celebrating Volunteers on the Air (VOTA).  2,095 contacts were logged.  Thanks to the operators, and to the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club for hosting the event.  Virginia will celebrate VOTA for a 2^nd week-long W1AW/4 VA event on Oct 25-30th, hosted by the Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service.

Many thanks to all the all the operators who made this happen, and a special thanks to Mike and Evan

++Get On The Air For Life (GOTA For Life) Initiative++

Ed KW4GF continues the hard work for the GOTA For Life Initiative, and it’s something that he has a true passion for. I have received many positive calls about aspects of this, and I can tell you that this, even though still in development, is having a huge impact in VA and our neighboring States. Please see his report below:

The VA Section GOTA For Life Design Team will meet with members of a Senior Citizen residence to learn about the special challenges that golden age amateur radio operators face. Contrasting this, Steve Goodgame K5ATA ARRL, manager of the Education and Learning Department, will visit with the team in August to discuss ways to keep the young hams operating into their adult years. Ed Gibbs KW4GF will present the two (2) year findings of the team and report these to the Section Manager, VA Section clubs, and others outside the Section to learn of strategies to keep hams engaged from the day they get their tickets to the day they become Silent Key.

Thank you Ed for all you and your team are doing for all of us.

++Upcoming Events++

Field Day! 

June 24^th and 25^th

Field Day is our “open house”. It’s our time to show the public what we can do, not just when it comes to making contact with each other over the radio, but also how we can help our communities with training, education, advocacy, and public service. Put on your best face, and smile! Set up in a public place and welcome people to see what we can do. And of course, have fun!

+++Hamfests+++

W4OVH Ole Virginia Tailgate 06/03/2023

Location: Field Across from Signal Hill Park
9300 Signal View Dr. Manassas Park
Manassas Park, VA
Website: https://w4ovh.net/tailgate/
Sponsor: W4OVH Ole Virginia Hams
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Talk-In: 146.970
Public Contact: Don Meyerhoff , WA2SWX
14014 Betsy Ross Ln. Centreville, VA 20121
Phone: 703-597-3211
Email: wa2swxdm@gmail.com

 Roanoke and Berryville are scheduled for August 5^th and 6^th, respectively.

Also, The Tidewater Hamfest and Swap Meet (formerly the Virginia Beach Hamfest) will be held on August 12th, 2023.  The Hamfest will be located at The Ambassador Club of Portsmouth. There will be tailgating and indoor spaces available.  The hours will be from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Visit http://VirginiaBeachHamfest.com

For more information see: https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search

We currently do not have a Section Convention host, and there are currently no other hamfests or conventions in the Commonwealth. Please submit any requests for an ARRL sanctioned event, go to http://arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events and follow the instructions there. Remember that all of the requests go through the Section Manager and the Division Director, so allow for plenty of time for these to be reviewed. Please reach out to me if you’d like to get your club (or combination of clubs) to host the Section Convention.

+++Contest Calendar+++

May 2023 (no ARRL Contests) - don't forget our year-long Volunteers On The Air Event
https://vota.arrl.org

June 2023

3-4        International Digital Contest   http://www.arrl.org/arrl-digital-contest 
10-12   June VHF  http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf
17         Kids Day  http://www.arrl.org/kids-day
24-25   Field Day  http://www.arrl.org/field-day

July 2023

8-9   IARU HF World Championship http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-world-championship

The calendar can also be found at https://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar

++Section Traffic Update++

From Carl W4CAC, our Section Traffic Manager:

Va Section Traffic News

Station Activity Report (SAR) and Public Service Honor Roll (PSHR) Reports for April

Kk4PUX – SAR – 38, PSHR – 225
N3SW – SAR- 67, PSHR – 90
W4CAC – SAR – 38, PSHR – 190

Net Reports for April

Va Sideband Net – QTC – 22/11, QND-219,  QNI – 205
VN – QTC-38, QND-321, QNI-133
Ports ARC – QTC – 0, QND-58, QNI – 33
NVTN – QTC – 1/0, QND – 1060, QNI – 633
Floyd ARS – QTC-0, QND-66, QNI-32

The VN is a CW net and we just recently changed frequency.  The VN can now be found on 3553 kHz every evening at 7 PM local time.

Please get your May reports to me early enough that I can turn in to ARRL by the 6^th of May.

 This way the reports can be published in QST!

73, Carl, W4CAC, w4cac@cox.net

 ++Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)++

We received a request for support from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) Volunteer Coordinator and from the Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VA VOAD) on Friday, 30 April to support the funeral and memorial service for Chief Lauck (K4CTL) who died in the line of duty on the 24th. We sent this out to the field and received outstanding support from across Virginia. Dave KG4BIR acted as our point person in Winchester, and coordinated with Team Rubicon, VA VOAD, and other agencies on the ground. The quick reaction and positive response by all were very well received, and will pay off with yet more requests for support. Below is an excerpt from recent communications from the VA VOAD President, Vladimir Tomashiro-Loma.

“Chief Lauck Funeral

Thank you to the American Radio Relay League and Team Rubicon for being able to send volunteers to support Chief Lauck's funeral in response to VDEM's request. The volunteers synced in well and did a great job which took a load off of Emergency Managers' minds.” 

This was shared with every volunteer group in the state, as well as every local government volunteer coordinator.

 

+++ARES April Report+++

Total number of DECs/ECs appointed in section:                     68

Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month:                           21

Total number of ARES members:                                     690

Member total change from last report:                               1

Number of ARES net sessions held:                                  95

Number of ARES net sessions held with NTS liaison:                 12

Number of participants in nets:                                     0

 

                                     Number  Person-Hrs

-------------------------------------------------------

Exercises this month:                   80      961.11

Training events this month:              0        0.00

Public service events this month:        0        0.00

Community service events this month:     3       63.00

Emergency events this month:             1       56.00

SKYWARN events this month:               2       16.00

Meetings this month:                     0        0.00

Unclassified events this month:          0        0.00

 

Call signs of DECs/ECs reporting:

----------------------------------

DAVID ELKINS KN4LQN, MARK ROBINSON N4MDR, ALLAN MAY WD4ITE

 

MIKE MOORE K4MVM, SCOTT LARIMER KN4RPA, STEVE BOWMAN KN4AOB,JOHN NORMAN WA4JN

 

MIKE MCPHERSON KQ9P, DAVID TANKS AD4TJ, BRYAN DANIELS K4RMY, G.P "GEEP" HOWELL WA4RTS, MANNY RODRIGUEZ K4MSR, RORY GRIFFIN W4RJG

 

WILLIAM SIEFERS KM4YSI, WAYNE ROGERS N1WR, RICK ROSS KG4TAX

 

STEPHEN PRESTI W4SVP, HOWARD WOOD WA4PGI, JERRY MOATS WD4ITN, DARRELL LITTLE KI4LLA, HAROLD DE VUYST K4YNO

 

RICHARD BUNN N4ASX, DAVID LANE KG4GIY, RICHARD CORRIGAN KH7RC

 

Activity Details:

----------------------------------

District 5 Lancaster:  We run our weekly training nets on VHF and HF.  Added one new member this month.  Set up SHARES Station at Lancaster EOC (Kilmarnock Rescue Squad) and checked in to the SHARES Northeast Regional Net.  We supported CERT exercise on sheltering with radio com.

 

District 7 Alexandria: The city of Alexandria, VA held a drill on April 25th simulating a tornado in Alexandria. ARES provided support both the EOC and to Fire Station 203 for this event. Traffic was passed using both installed equipment at the EOC and portable equipment at Fire Station 203.

 

District 7 Prince William, Manassas Park, City of Manassas:  April is the 24 hour run in Prince William Forest Park. PWCARES members supported Woodbridge Wireless ARC and provided safety for the 60 runners traveling the course during heavy downpours and chilly midnight temperatures.

 

Administrative and Other Comments:

----------------------------------

- Training and Exercises combined at local level. Restructure in progress.

- Net Participants not tracked at the local level. Restructure in progress.

- Meetings not tracked at the local level. Restructure in progress.

- Public Service and Community service combined at local level.  Restructure in progress.

- Meetings not tracked at the local level.  Restructure in progress.

- Unclassified is new. Still trying to figure this one out.

 

COMBINED TOTAL HOURS: 1040.11

 

Thanks, Marty KE4KEW and team!

 

++Section Manager Close-out++

This has been an incredibly active time for hams in Virginia, with the W1AW/4 activation, the VOTA special event, and calls for assistance at the State and local levels. This is unprecedented, and something that I have not seen since I’ve been in Virginia. In fact, I’ve rarely seen this level of activity in other states. It is operators like you who make this happen.

The member dues survey is open now, and I encourage you to participate in helping the league navigate the challenges of inflation, while keeping up with the vital services that we all want. You can find more information at https://www.arrl.org/take-dues-survey

With Field Day coming up, make sure you tout your local achievements, and when possible, the achievements of the Section as a whole. Things like the Montross Middle School ARISS event, or the NOVA hams support of the Marine Corps Marathon and other events. By showing what they have done opens up discussions on “Can you do something similar for us?” And please, take pictures and share your planning documents. Things like this help us all out by giving ideas that we can all put to good use.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me.

73,

Jack KE4LWT