Inside..
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NIMS / ICS
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Dueling CQs Now Prohibited
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Getting this Newsletter
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New Survey Question
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Upcoming Hamfests
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My Final
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NIMS / ICS
Training
The
numbers just keep growing! WHY? Well, the answer is simple, our Ohio ARES folks
realize that they need to be properly trained, and you don’t get that by just
being a bystander or having an HT in your hand! It takes some effort on your
end and our folks are showing very clearly that they will make that effort
count! Just having these numbers grow every day proves that we are doing the right
thing for the right reasons. We need these courses, and we need to continue our
education. It doesn’t stop just because we got our Amateur Radio license.
Here’s
the latest count we have on everyone.. Members in the database 708. Members completing all 4 required
NIMS courses 492. Total Number of
the Courses taken by everyone in the database 4662, Here’s the link so
that you can find out if your name is on the list..
Now,
for the folks in border counties of Ohio, you may be registered in our other surrounding
Section ARES programs (Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania or
Michigan) and that’s ok.. They may, or may not require the 4 basic courses for ARES
membership, BUT Ohio does! Please send me, and your EC, copies of your
certificates, regardless of another Section’s requirements.
Also,
for those outside of Ohio in the bordering states, if you have these 4 courses
in, please feel free to send me copies of your 4 certificates and we’ll be very
happy to get them entered into our database as well. Please make sure that you
have your call sign either in the email or as part of the file name on the certificate.
For
those just starting out, we have a webpage with all the information about how
to get started.. 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!
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Same-Band
“Dueling CQs” Now Prohibited in All ARRL Contests
(from ARRL Bulletins)
ARRL has clarified its contest rules to clearly
prohibit the practice of interleaved CQs — also known as “dueling CQs” — on two
or more frequencies in the same band. The clarification is an extension of
existing rules that permit only “one transmitted signal,” and it formalizes
what had been a “gentleman’s agreement.”
“ARRL reviewed it, concurred that this is
technically occupying two channels, and in consultation with several members of
the Board of Directors — who had been contacted by concerned parties — and the
Programs and Services Committee, it was concluded we needed to ‘clarify’ our
existing rules,” ARRL Contest Branch Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, said.
An explanatory paragraph points out, “The intent of
the rules has always been that a participant would use/occupy only a single
channel in a given band, changing frequency in band from time to time leaving a
CQ frequency to work a multiplier or to change the CQing frequency as band
occupancy or changing propagation dictated, and this rules clarification will
now give the needed added clarity to that intent.”
The issue arose when a multioperator station
successfully employed in-band interleaved CQs in the last ARRL International DX
SSB event, substantially boosting their score.
The topic subsequently occupied a lot of bandwidth
on the CQ-Contest reflector, where elite contester Frank Donovan, W3LPL,
observed, “That doesn’t make it right for [a contest station] to follow this
practice that is generally understood to be unacceptable behavior by all of the
rest of us.” At the time of the event, however, ARRL rules did not explicitly
prohibit the practice, and as another top contester, Steve London, N2IC, asked,
“Falls under the ‘what is not specifically prohibited is allowed’ rule?”
Responding to a poster who said dueling CQs on the
same band was simply “innovation,” Hans Brakob, K0HB, opined, “By any
reasonable measure, running interleaved CQs on two [frequencies] in the same
band consumes two operating channels on that band. In the existing period of limited
propagation, many would consider such double-occupancy of a finite resource to
be selfish, not innovative.”
The update brings ARRL’s contest rules in line with
those of CQ-sponsored contests, which already prohibit the practice of in-band,
interleaved CQs. The IARU HF Championship Contest bans the practice for
multioperator entries.
The ARRL Contest Advisory Committee (CAC) was not
directly involved in revising the rule. The rule clarification does not
prohibit the practice of alternating CQs on different bands, also called 2BSIQ
— two-band synchronized interleaved QSOs.
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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
are always free to “Opt-Out” at any time
if you feel this is not what you were expecting. Just send me an email with the
email address that you used to opt-in on, and you will be removed. It’s that
simple.
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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Survey Question
Hey
Gang,
Have
you checked out the Newest Survey question on the website?. There is another
brand new question up there! You’ll find it on the left side of the main
page.. http://arrlohio.org Don’t forget, once you’ve voted to go back
and take a look at how your answer stacks up with everyone elses..!!
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Upcoming Hamfests
April
04/08/2017
| CFARC 63rd Annual Hamfest
Location:
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Sponsor:
Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club
Website:
http://www.cfarc.org/hamfest.php
04/29/2017
| Jackson County Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Location:
Jackson, OH
Sponsor:
Jackson County Amateur Radio Club
Website:
http://jacksoncountyarc.org/page3.html
04/30/2017
| Athens Hamfest
Location:
Athens, OH
Sponsor:
Athens County Amateur Radio Association
Website:
http://ac-ara.org/
May
05/19/2017
| Ohio State Convention (2017 Dayton Hamvention)
Location:
Xenia, OH
Sponsor:
Dayton Amateur Radio Association
Website:
http://www.hamvention.org
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My Final..
Today
is National Beer Day. It’s also National Coffee Cake Day! I guess I really have
some celebrating to do today. Oh, by the way, or for the younger crowd.. (BTW)
it’s also Friday!! Now that’s worth celebrating all on its own!
Amateur
Radio has its serious side, but it can also have a FUN side too.. So, as we go
through our training and exercises learning from our past and learning from
those who are willing to take the time to teach us, let’s remember to have FUN
too.. It’s what keeps us alive and vibrant..!!
73,
Scott,
N8SY..
eof..
