The following is the ARRL Pacific Section Manager report for December 2012 and January 2013 by Bob Schneider (AH6J).
Of course, the first thing is to wish everyone a Happy New Year. This last month or so has been quiet however there were several earthquakes around the ‘Pacific Rim’ but fortunately none were strong enough to cause a Tsunami. There was a 4.4 South of Kilauea on the Island of Hawaii and there was a 7.5 on January 5th in the Queen Charlotte Fault in the Southern part of Alaska. This is another reminder that we must always be prepared.
On Oahu under Nimitz Highway there was a fire that damaged fiber optics cables. This caused extensive communications outages throughout the State of Hawaii. This last week vandals damaged cables again (probably looking for copper). You can read the stories on the news outlets for the details but this shows that there are still ‘pinch points’ in the commercial communications systems. It shows the need for backup systems such as that provided by Amateur Radio.
One of our former Pacific Division Directors Chuck McConnell [W6DPD] has purchased a brick in memory of Paul Lieb [KH6HME]. Steve Ewald [WV1X] of the headquarters staff, has promised to send a picture this spring, hopefully as it is being put in. The picture will be put on the Pacific Section webpage. It should be similar to the picture on the Pacific Section Webpage picture section. The temperatures in Newington, CT have been as low as minus seven degrees. The ground is just too hard to work. Bricks may be purchased as a memorial in the Diamond Terrace at ARRL Headquarters for $250. See the donation part of the main ARRL webpage for details. A special thank you to Chuck for this gift.
Ron Hashiro’s webpage always has a good collection of news of local happenings. Start here and branch out from there. Especially look at the 2013 events calendar.
Hawaii’s Official Amateur Radio Repeater Coordination Site is www.hawaiirepeaters.net. It has many pages including maps with extensive information about repeaters in Hawaii. Contact Rick Ching [KH7O] for any questions not answered on these pages.
Below are a few websites for clubs in the Pacific Section of ARRL. Most clubs have had their elections and it is time to pay this year’s dues for most clubs. Please let your SM know of coming events and news in your area. Please note the changes in e-mail address for your SM. This information is updated on the Pacific Section Webpage:
http://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/pacific-section
Kauai ARC
The Kauai ARC announced that President will again be Randy Blake [WH7ZI]. VEEP is John Montalbano [KH6JMM]. Secretary is Richard Olsen [KH6DO] and Treasurer is Robert Anderson [KH6AS].
Monday, February 4, 2013, 7:00 PM, is the Kauai ARC Monthly Meeting at KIUC Main Office, 4463 Pahee Street in Lihue.
The next testing session will be on Saturday February 23, 2013. We’ll be presenting a study session and license exam at the KIUC Conference Room. Study session begins at 08:00, with hourly 10-min breaks and an hour break for lunch. The exam registration starts at 15:00. Entrants can go for their first license (Tech) or upgrade through Extra Class. Check the club web site for registration forms and further information. They test about every three months.
Volunteers are needed for the MS Walk. KARC helped these folks last year, and they really appreciated it and have asked for assistance again this year. The event is on Saturday April 27 at Kapa’a Beach Park. Check in 15:30 to get checked in get assignments, etc. They would like 2-meter simplex communications help at 3 to 4 locations along the walk. Please call 320-3897 for more information.
Honolulu ARC
The previous Honolulu ARC website is not working so use the generic ARRL website for now. John Peters [K1ER] was president last year and reports elections will be held at the next meeting on March 16.
The HARC newsletter reports that the South Sudan became an all-time NEW DXCC Country in 2011 and ST?R put this new one on the air. Since it was new for everyone, the DXCC desk had to shut down (briefly) all other DXCC processing and concentrate on ST?R to allow everyone who worked this all-time NEW ONE to get credit in the annual DXCC listing. In 2012 Dxers are once more rewarded by a major expedition to MALPELO ISLAND and HK?NA. The early crew is setting up the stations are operating now to give this new one to the deserving. The major activity (constant multi-band and multi-mode) will begin in a few days with 4 stations on the air at all hours. WORK IT NOW WHILE YOU CAN. It may be decades before it comes on another time. Propagation has been good so now is a good time to get on HF.
The Emergency ARC
http://www.earchi.org/index.html
EARC in Honolulu announced President Wayne Greenleaf [KH6MEI], Vice President Chris Colquhoun [NH7QH], Secretary Gloria Hall [KH6GLO], Treasurer Steve Hall [NH7ZD]. Their next meeting is: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the Fleet Reserve Association Branch 46 (891 Valkenburgh Street Honolulu, HI 96818-4400). The topic is a Hurricane Sandy Presentation by Clem Jung [KH7HO]. For the potluck, contact Gloria wh7bte@yahoo.com and let her know what you are bringing. See you there!
The Koolau ARC
KARC (Koolau) officers for 2012-2013 are President Kimo Chun [KH7U], Vice President Kevin Bogan [AH6QO], Treasurer Al Kaopuiki [AH6PT], Secretary Mike Tuggle [WY3B]. They meet on the second Saturday at 9:30 AM. At Ho?omaluhia Park in Kaneohe. The next meeting is Saturday, February 9, 2013 9:30AM Kaneohe Ho’omaluhia Park.
Big Island ARC
They elected President Barbara Darling [NH7FY], Vice President Doug Wilson [KH7DQ], Secretary Leigh Critchlow [WH6DZX] and Treasurer Milt Nodacker [AH6I]. Doug Wilson well be acting president for the next couple months. They meet on the second Saturday at 2PM. This coming meeting on February 9th there will be a special board meeting at 1PM.
BIARC member Lloyd [KH6LC] reported that while conditions actually didn’t seem that good, we enjoyed a great Kids Day with seven young operators using three stations on 20, 15 and 10. We had a total of 324 contacts in 46 states and 11 countries. See his picture at the bottom of the Pacific Section Webpage.
Your SM has nominated John Bush [KH6DLK] for the 2012 International Humanitarian Award. (See John’s picture on the Pacific Section Webpage.) The ARRL selection committee should meet very soon. John has been working in Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and was able to promote badly needed resources for the area. John is an active BIARC member and the club has also been active in supplying material and expertise. In addition John is a member of Volcano (Hawaii) Rotary club and has worked with them to help supply the Volcano Charter School of Arts and Sciences with computers for the school then individual class rooms later. He has always been a tireless and selfless worker for the kids and the schools. He then transferred this energy to Federai (an island in FSM) and working with Rotary clubs and Rotary International to secure a grant in the amount of nearly $22,000.00 to furnish a dispensary. This is a developing story.
The Maui ARC
This is a reminder the Maui RACES repeater on 147.02+ MHz now requires a sub-audible tone of 103.5 Hz for access. MARC (Maui) officers for next year are President Diane Bryant [KH6PO], Vice President Joe Bommarito [AH6RQ], Secretary Kent Carlson [KH6CJJ] and Treasurer Steve Tenney [KH7SWT].
Amateur Radio License Examination Schedule for this year: Saturday, April 6, 2013; Saturday, August 3, 2013; Saturday, December 7, 2013.
Persons planning to take an Amateur Radio license examination should pre-register at least two weeks before the scheduled exam date. Send email to kh6h@arrl.net or call Mel [KH6H] at 250-4591 and leave voice mail, including your email address. If no one pre-registers, the exam session will be cancelled. Maui VE (volunteer examiner) sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Maui County Civil Defense Emergency Operating Center, 200 S. High Street in Wailuku. Exam dates and location are subject to change. Pre-registered candidates will be notified of changes in the exam date or location. Before the exam, you will receive a confirmation email with more information, including directions to the exam site. The 2013 ARRL/VEC exam fee is $15.00. Bring a check or cash.
The Kona Amateur Radio Society
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~veillet/hwars.html
The 2013 KARS officers are President Joe Crable [KH7DAH], Vice President Stuart Johnston [AH6KW], and Secretary/Treasurer Van Malan [NH7IT]. KARS meets on the third Sunday from 2-5PM at Wawaloli Beach Park at NELHA.
The Kohala Hamakua Radio Club
http://www.hamradioandmore.com/khrc.htm
Their 2013 officers are President Steve Milner [WH6N], Vice President Bill Wiecking [KH6BI], Secretary/Treasurer Norm Cohler [NH7UA], and Technical Advisor John Buck [KH7T].
Eric Grabowski, KH6CQ, DEC for North Hawaii, has been sending out periodic reports on the North Hawaii repeater project and other happenings in his area. Eric lives in Waikoloa and the repeater will be located on the northwestern slope of Mauna Kea at a Parker Ranch Pump site. The frequency 147.84/24 has been coordinated but is not published since the repeater is not yet in operation. In his report Eric details the hardware he already has and what he needs. He said Bill [KH6BI] has sent the proposal to Parker Ranch and is waiting for their final decision in writing. For those of you unfamiliar with how to put up a repeater, this planning, permission and general paperwork part of the process can be harder than actually putting up the machine.
This week one more Ham made a donation, so as of Monday 21 Jan 2013, they have $2,048 in the project account. The goal is to raise at least $4,000. Please consider making a donation if you can. There are two ways you can go about doing this. First, NK-CERT has made arrangements with the North Kohala Community Resource Center (NKCRC) to help fund this initiative. The NKCRC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, so contributions are tax deductible. To make a contribution through them you can go to www.northkohala.org and follow the instructions. The project is “North Kohala CERT.” NKCRC also handles other projects so charges 8% to funnel donations through their paperwork for tax purposes. Finally, earmark your donation for the ARES Repeater Project by sending an email to info@northkohala.org and say your donation is intended to be used for the ARES Repeater Project.
If you would like to support this project but are not interested in the tax deduction, Eric will accept cash and personal checks and deposit them into the repeater account. This method actually allows more of the money to go into the project since NKCRC fees won’t apply.
Marianas ARC
https://sites.google.com/site/ah2gmarc/home
The next meeting of the Marianas ARC (MARC) will be on the first Tuesday, February 5th at the KSTO radio studio on Nimitz Hill. There is plenty of parking behind the building on the lower level. Entry to the meeting room is from the south side of the building. See Map. Contact WH2M for more information. The new MARC roster shows 59 members and friends.
Your SM visited the South Point ARC or “SPARC” near South Point on Dec 2. They meet on the first Sunday at Noon at Manuka State park. The local TV news had stated that the West side, or Lee side, of all the islands was in a “Red Flag” situation meaning it is very dry and the fire danger was extreme. We can confirm that from our visit. Since then there has been some rain but it is still very dry.
General news:
A number of members with an interest in the EMCOM network have asked how to get the instant messaging notifying of hurricanes, earthquakes, and/or tsunamis. These SMS and e-mail notifications are the first alert for emergency responders and are used by our Emergency Coordinators, Civil Defense, the ARES network, and most first responders. Here are the links to access the services:
Thanks to Elaine Albertson [AH6TA] for the Kauai information and links for EMCOM.
Please check the December issue of QST for an interview with Laura Smith at the FCC regarding the status of Amateur Radio enforcement today on pages 59 and 60. As you know QST is now available on line for members. To make it even better they have an app available so that members with Apple iOS mobile devices which are iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can now download it. This free app is available to ARRL members in the Apple App Store. This is only available to ARRL members that have registered. Further instructions are in the news article. At this time the app is only available for Apple iOS devices. It may be available using the web browser for other devices. This is a vast improvement from when before it could take over one month for QST to arrive by mail.
Now that QST is online for members, the problem of timely access to current information in QST has gone away. The best deal (especially for a younger person) is the lifetime membership. Your SM is a life member and it is one of the best investments he made. The annual dues of $39 a year may seem a little steep but it is not just for the magazine. There is a very long list of benefits beside QST. One of the most valuable (and expensive) is the advocacy and information available in CC&R cases. Over restrictive CC&Rs are by far the most serious threat to Amateur Radio survival. Your ARRL membership helps ARRL get reasonable laws considered with a legal staff. The ARRL has already submitted a detailed and lengthy response to the FCC in answer to the congressional mandate that the FCC study things that inhibit emergency communications. The ARRL continues to be a watchdog for detrimental legislation in all 50 states.
With this in mind the $39 a year membership fee is dirt cheap for the benefits received. It could also mean the survival of Amateur Radio as we know it. Please join today. As of now there are only 159,010 members of ARRL. There are 705,512 Hams in the USA. That means only 22.5% of hams are ARRL members. With more members we could do so much more. ARRL is a 501 c3 organization.
Beginning Sunday, January 27, it will cost more to mail first class letters, postcards and packages within the US. The cost to mail a first class letter will be 46 cents, while the cost to mail a postcard will be 33 cents, an increase of 1 cent for each; this is the third increase for postcard postage in less than two years. This month, the USPS will also introduce a First Class Mail Global Forever Stamp that will allow customers to mail 1-ounce letters anywhere in the world for one set price of $1.10. The cost to mail flat-rate Priority Mail packages and letters will also increase.
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