Monday, February 27, 2017

The Ohio Section News Update – February 27, 2017 Edition

Inside..

- Amateur Radio Balloon
- NIMS / ICS
- Skywarn Training
- Something to Think About
- Handbook Giveaway
- Getting this Newsletter
- My Final
   
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Amateur Radio Balloon to be Part of K2BSA Activities at 2017 National Scout Jamboree
(from ARRL Bulletin)
 
A high-altitude Amateur Radio balloon, K2BSA-11, will be launched from the 2017 National Boy Scouts of America Jamboree in West Virginia. The balloon is expected to reach an altitude of 48,000 feet and will transmit on 144.390 MHz APRS. An onboard GPS/computer will shift APRS frequencies based on the balloon’s location around the globe.

Carrying out the July 20 launch from the Summit Bechtel Reserve will be Bill Brown WB8ELK; Keith Kaiser, WA0TJT, and other members of the K2BSA Radio Scouting team. They are hoping that the balloon will circumnavigate Earth. 

Make sure to mark your calendars for July 20th, and keep your ears peeled that day. Since we are close, you might just be able to work them!!

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NIMS / ICS Training

Hey Gang, get those oh – so important ICS certificates in to me and to your Emergency Coordinator!!

Every Ohio ARES member has to have these 4 basic courses completed.

Why are these courses so important? The simple answer is this - we need these courses as part of our requirement for our state credentialing system. So, without these courses being completed, you won’t be able to get credentialed! If you aren’t credentialed, you won’t get into a disaster scene.

Now, just where do you get all of this information to get you on your way, that’s easy.. Here’s a link
http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/training.html. This page contains a lot of information about what is needed. Each course takes about an hour or so to take, that’s really not much to ask now is it? You spent way more than that to get your Amateur Radio operators license!

Here’s the latest count we have on everyone.. Members in the database 639. Members completing all 4 required NIMS courses 427. Total Number of the Courses taken by everyone in the database 4,201 

I also highly recommend that you get used to looking at the Ohio Section Website..  http://arrl-ohio.org as it changes all the time. You’ll also want to visit the Ohio Section Emergency Coordinators page frequently too  http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/default.html

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Skywarn Training

Hey Gang,

Have you gotten signed up for this year’s Skywarn Training yet? Get it done now, as the training sessions are already underway in some areas.

To find an open seat for the training visit our Skywarn page and select the weather office that’s closes to you. Here’s the link..   http://arrl-ohio.org/SEC/skywarn.html

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Handbook Giveaway

Hey, hey, hey.. this month is drawing to a close fast, just one more day left! Don’t forget that February this year only has 28 days in it. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, the NEWEST “Handbook Giveaway” drawing is now in progress, but not for long..  If you haven’t already registered, you’d better do it quickly!!

To enter the drawing all you need to do is fill in a couple of boxes on the form.. (your name and email). That’s you need to do to be entered into a drawing to win a 2017 ARRL softcover Handbook. There’s nothing else required (Oh.. You do need to be a resident of Ohio to win..) 

The winner will be mailed the Handbook at my cost. This is being offered just to see how many folks are really checking in on the website. Got the idea? Best of luck to you!!


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Something to Think About
(from the Monday Morning Memo)

Recently a member of the Highland ARA was asked to look at the equipment of a deceased member.  For many years HARA has provided a no-charge service to a member’s family to evaluate and assist disposing of amateur equipment.  We will also do it for non-members for a donation or a percentage of what we can sell it for. We often find the family is either surprised or disappointed about how much the equipment is worth because the deceased has never discussed it with the spouse or family. 

A fact of life is that at some point, we all will pass on. Each of us should sit down with our spouse or family members and have a discussion about what we would like to have happen to our equipment when the time comes.  And don’t fail to give them an idea of a fair market price for everything. That super doper radio bought in the 1990’s for $1,000 is almost certain not to be worth that today. 

Do you want the items sold and proceeds to survivors?  Do you want to donate the equipment to a new ham, to a local club, a ham friend or a combination of all?  If so, whom do you want to do it-your local club or a ham friend?  And please, write it down because people forget and valuable and useful equipment could find itself in a landfill. 

(ed note..  In my own experience, my brothers’ HF radio was given to me after he had passed away a few years back. I kept it for a while, but then realized that it was just sitting there, not doing anything, so I donated it to a club that I knew would give it a good home. They did, they now use it as one of their club HF stations…Now his memory lives on..)

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Are you getting those emails from me? If not, all you have to do is to “Opt-In” to receive them.

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. 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.

Also.. are you viewing the Ohio Section Website on a regular basis? You should, it changes all the time. Here’s a link to it.  http://arrlohio.org

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My Final.. 

Did you pick the right movie to win the Oscar for the Best Picture? Wow.. for a very short time I thought I had picked the winner.. I picked La La Land last week to take it all, and they were declared the winner, for at least a few short minutes!! Then, out of the blue the producers of the Oscars came on stage and announce that they had made a mistake, the winner really was **Moonlight**  Wow.. So, I didn’t pick the winner after all.. How did you do??

Congrats to Kurt Busch for winning the Daytona 500 yesterday!! Did you see that his first drink after winner was a Monster Energy drink?  I’ll bet he had some milk behind the scenes.. Hi.. Hi..

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras..  it’s also called Shrove Tuesday. It refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. My favorite part of Mardi Gras is a paczki (pronounced POONCH-key). Paczki are a polish pastry similar to a donut filled with jelly, custard or creme and covered in sugar or glazed that's generally only available this time of year. The idea was to get rid of all the temptations -- lard, sugar, eggs and fruit -- from the cupboard before the fasting season of Lent started.  

Now if you’ve never had one, don’t knock it until you try one.. You’ll be hooked for sure!!!

Remember, life is short, go have FUN..!!
 

73,

Scott, N8SY..

eof..