Inside..
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Boy Scout Merit Badge Changes
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ARRL Education & Technology Program
Offers Grants to Four Schools – Ohio School one of them
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DMR
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NIMS / ICS
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Ohio Section ARES Announcements
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Getting this Newsletter
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Upcoming Hamfests
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Got Questions
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Final - Final
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Boy
Scouts’ Radio Merit Badge Requirements to Include Amateur Radio Direction
Finding Option
The
Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have updated the
requirements for
the Radio Merit Badge for 2017, although a formal announcement is pending the
publication of the 2017 Boy Scouts Requirements pamphlet. A new option for the
Radio Merit Badge is Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF). ARRL ARDF
Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, said he’s “really excited” about the move, and he
credited Jamboree on the Air Coordinator (JOTA) and K2BSA trustee Jim Wilson,
K5ND, with being the “spark plug” behind the ARDF addition.
A
first draft of the new merit badge pamphlet is anticipated later this month or
in early February. Moell said the new merit badge requirements should become
effective just in time for the July 2017 National Scout Jamboree in West
Virginia, where an ARDF course and equipment will be available to Scouts of all
ages. He also hopes there could be a role for ARDF in JOTA.
The
Radio Merit Badge ARDF option combines orienteering and foxhunting and opens a
new interactive component to this program. Other new Radio Merit Badge options
include cellular telephones and different types of radio modulation.
Key
requirement being dropped from the Radio Merit Badge include open, closed, and
short circuits, as well as schematic symbols and components, because these are
covered in the Electricity and Electronics Merit Badges.
The
BSA also made some minor editorial changes and reordered requirements for the
Amateur Radio option. The radio broadcasting option now includes Internet
streaming, regulations and power levels. A medium-wave and shortwave listening
option includes both types of listening, as well as listening via streaming
services on a smart phone.
The
BSA has posted a list of
frequently asked questions (FAQs). Scouts are encouraged to follow the new
requirements, although the guidelines may allow use of the previous
requirements in some cases.
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ARRL
Education & Technology Program Offers Grants to Four Schools
The
ARRL Board of Directors’ Executive Committee has approved Education and
Technology Program (ETP) grants to
schools in Illinois, California, Ohio, and Connecticut. The funds will help
three of the schools to establish Amateur Radio club stations by providing the
necessary equipment, and aid one school in getting its radio club off the
ground.
Zeigler-Royalton
High School, in rural Zeigler, Illinois; Sato Academy, in Long Beach,
California, and Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center, in Chillicothe,
Ohio, will receive station grants, while E.O. Smith High School in Mansfield,
Connecticut, will receive a progress grant, enabling it to build upon the
school’s burgeoning Amateur Radio program. Sponsors for all four grants are
alumni of the ARRL Teachers Institute
on Wireless Technology, who are implementing Amateur Radio as part of their
school’s curriculum.
Teacher
Miroslaw Klapyk, KC1GBT, at E.O. Smith High School took his initial Amateur
Radio license test during a Teachers Institute session this past summer and
promptly upgraded to Amateur Extra. Klapyk teaches more than 50 students in
physics, and he plans to spend a week or two toward the end of the school year
focusing on wireless communication, with an eye toward getting more students
interested in the radio club. But, he told ARRL, that interest is already
there. “I never advertised our club,” he said. “Yet since the start of the
school year, we went from one to eight members. They just keep coming.” The
school currently has some Amateur Radio station gear and the beginnings of an
antenna system.
*** The
Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center in Chillicothe, Ohio, requested
Amateur Radio station equipment to augment the school’s engineering program and
to attract other interested students into wireless and related technology. “The
establishment of an Amateur Radio station would give impetus for students to
become radio amateurs,” with a view toward getting them involved in public
service communication, teacher David Pentecost, KC8WEB, said in the school’s
application. Pickaway-Ross, he said, is “committed to helping underserved
students in the Appalachian region of southern Ohio achieve success in a
variety of technical fields.”
The
Sato Academy Amateur Radio Emergency Communication team’s project in part
focuses on establishing a demonstration station to train youngsters in using
Amateur Radio for emergency communication. The school, which received a station
grant, also wants “to help students learn to build and create circuit boards,
such as those used in the Teachers Institute,” teacher Devon Day, KF6KEE, said
in his school’s application.
At
Zeigler-Royalton, teacher Lance Newman, KD9GOY, said he’s hoping to see more
students become interested, pass their license exams, and spend time on the
radio and working with the equipment. Newman said in the school’s application
that he began the process of establishing a ham radio station at the school
this fall, “to provide an extracurricular outlet for students interested in
radio communication technologies.” But he’s hoping that Amateur Radio will
offer other educational opportunities as well.
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DMR..
Hey
Everyone on DMR – The Ohio Talkgroup Net is now set to be every Wednesday night
at 8:30pm EST and did we ever have a great net last night. There were 50
check-ins and every one of the 10 Districts in the state of Ohio was
represented!
Now,
I want to report that there is another new DMR Net starting up, and last night
was its first night! This net will meet every Wednesday night after the Ham
Nation program. They will meet on the nationwide 311 Talkgroup. If you have
questions about this new net, or would like to be a Net Control for it, contact
Andrew Kahn at andrew.l.kahn@gmail.com
Want
more information about DMR? Here’s a link to get you started..
http://arrl-ohio.org/digital/digital.html and also located there is Andy, K4AWC’s
newest Ohio Codeplug. You can download it while you’re on this same page.
Hey
Gang.. Kitty Hevener, W8TDA sent this to me, she has a small DMR radio that has
a speech synthesizer built in to it. This is great for those who are sight
restricted, or if you just don’t want to take your eyes off of the road while
driving. The rig is make by Atlantic Technology and you can read more about
this little rig on their website http://www.atlantictechco.com/tekk-d-30.html Wow, is DMR really growing or what!!
There’s
lots more information about DMR on the Ohio Section DMR webpage. Go take a
look.
NIMS / ICS
Training
Wow..
what a response I’ve gotten from my first call-out on making sure that your
NIMS/ICS certificates are turned into the state database. It’s been great, but
I know that there are a lot more of you that need to check out the roster that
posted on the website http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/special/nims_roster.html to make sure that you have your certificates
into us.
At
last count, which was a day or so ago, we now have 528 members, 332 ICS complete, 3,392 courses taken and I
know that this number has grown since then!
I’m
pushing hard on all of you to not only get this training, but to get those so
valuable certificates turned in to me so that we can get you added to the
database as well. Yes, we have a lot of folks in there, but we know that we
don’t have yours. How do we know that? Everyone that has the 4 basic courses
(IS 100, 200, 700 & 800) and has shared those certificates with us are now
listed on the Ohio Section NIMS Roster.
If
you don’t see your name on the list we don’t have all 4 of your needed certificates,
and we definitely need and want them! This list shows those who have all 4
certificates turned in. If you don’t see your name on the list, send them to
me n8sy@n8sy.com Now even if you haven’t gotten all 4 of
these courses in, we still need you to get what you do have turned in to us so
that we can get you started on your way.
I’ve
had a lot of folks ask me why this training is so important. The answer is easy.
In 2014 the ARRL signed a MOU with FEMA to help them when needed. This puts
ARES in direct contact with FEMA now, this is a relationship that we didn’t
have before. The agreement indicates that we are to be a TRAINED corps of
communicators. With that stated, FEMA’s expectations are that we have the 4
basic courses – ICS 100, 200, 700 and 800 completed so that we can properly
operate within their Incident Command System that ALL emergencies now operate
under. So you see, we’ve now agreed to get this training, and that’s why we
need to fulfil our part of this MOU as best as we can.
The
Ohio Section has taken a lead in the country with this and really dug its heals
in and has done a great job of completing this training. Let’s keep it going
for 2017!!
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Ohio Section ARES
Announcements
Hey
Gang.. Mark your calendars for the
following dates.
The
Second Annual Ohio ARES VHF Simplex
Contest! January 14 – Just about
a week away on this one.
The
Ohio ARES Conference is now
scheduled for April 01 at Marion
Technical College/ OSU Marion Campus. Anyone and everyone that is interested in ARES is invited. This is always well
attended, and it’s theater seating! Easy for everyone to see and hear the
speakers. Yes, I’m planning on video recording this as well, for those who just
can’t make it, but you’d better have a really good excuse. More details will be
forth coming on this as well.
NVIS Day will be April
22 – This has always been a really big hit with everyone, and it’s so easy
to participate. More news on this event will be forth coming.
As you can see, 2017 is going to be a really
busy year for sure!
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Heck,
just send me an email: n8sy@n8sy.com and let me know
that you want to be added. It’s really just that easy. We have over 2,500
persons on our Ohio Section Mailing List now and growing.
Are
you passing this newsletter on to others? Please, if you know of anyone that
would be interested in this information, feel free to pass it on to them. You
don’t have to be an ARRL member or even a ham to receive these emails.
You
can always “Opt-Out” at any time if you feel this is not what you
were expecting.
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01/15/2017
| Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation Hamfest
Location:
Nelsonville, OH
Sponsor:
Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation
01/29/2017
| TUSCO Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Location:
Strasburg, OH
Sponsor:
Tusco Amateur Radio Club
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Want
to sit and just chat awhile? I’m available, Heck, I’ll even buy!!
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Finally.. As
Phil Esterhouse of the acclaimed Hill Street Blues used to say.. “Hey,
let’s be careful out there..” this
holds true for all of us as well, but have FUN
doing it!!
73,
Scott,
N8SY..
eof..
