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ARRL Illinois Section (IL)Section Manager
Thomas T. Ciciora, KA9QPN 1887 Irene Rd Sandwich, IL 60548-9329 815-498-4929 ka9qpn@arrl.org |
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Monthly Summary for October 2008
News last updated: Sun, November 9, 2008 at 9:34 PM ET
SM--Tom
Ciciora KA9QPN
SRM/ASM--Ron Morgan, KB9NW; ASM--Brad Pioveson, W9FX
ASM for Youth--Neil Gebhardt, KB9ZGZ
ACC--Eric Redimacher, K9KQB
SGL--Charles Richey, K9DUE
STM--Harold Dunn, K9CNP
PIC--Fritz Bock, WD9FMB
TC--John Dinella, WA9IL
OOC--Tim Childers, KB9FBI
SEC--Pat Ryan, KC6VVT
ASEC--Pat Stowell N9PN
DEC: Central--Terry Jones WT9J, Northeast--Bob
Cockream, AB9EE, Northwest--Jim Conrad, W8MQ, Northern Border--Wayne
Hansen KA9IMX, Southern--Bruce
Talley, WA9APQ, Southwest--Curtis Williams, W5DTR, Eastern Border--John Van
Sandt N9YRX, Cook County/Chicago--Neil Ormos N9NL, Illinois Medical
Emergency Response
Team Liaison--Don Wright, KB9ZDM
From the top...
**Some tragedies just tend to resonate
louder than others. On 15 October, an Air Angels medical helicopter crashed in
Aurora IL after striking a radio tower and/or its associated guy wires. Of
immediate concern to me was the fact that the final leg of the ill-fated flight
originated from our local hospital. A toddler from a neighboring town and three
good people
who
were trying to help her died a horrible death that night. That's not the end
of the story. The WBIG radio tower, which was struck, underwent immediate dismantling
over the next few days due to instability. Over one thousand folks were kept
from their homes until the tower was made safe. Along with WBIG's signal went
the
analog
repeaters
of
the
Fox
River Radio
League, which shared space on the tower. The club has co-located their analog
boxes with their D-STAR machines in Elburn until the other situation is rectified.
My heart goes out to the families of those who were lost just doing their jobs
that night, and to the family of the little girl who was with us for all too
short
of a time. Sleep well, guys. No person stands so tall as when they stoop to help
a child.
**I was only able to visit one JOTA site last month due to a day job conflict.
Watched the Starved Rock RC and about a hundred scouts engage in good times,
fellowship, and radio on a lovely fall day. No ISS contact, but fun for all who
participated. Gene Stankiewicz KA9BOD, sends pictures and a summary of the Rockford
ARA JOTA effort. Gene says: "RARA operated JOTA from Alpine Park Shelter
in Rockford,
IL on Saturday, October 18 from
10AM to 4 PM. We set up the following stations:
Robert KC9ICH, operated PSK31, RTTY and slow
scan TV on 20M using a dipole, Kurt NE9J, and
Steve K9LLI, operated 40M and 20M phone and
Dave W9MG, provided a vertical for them, Chuck
AB9KA, demonstrated APRS, Don W9DRR, and
Joe K9PJJ, operated 2M/440, Rich K9PK,
demonstrated Fox hunting and had some
keys/oscillators for CW, Carl W9TQ, was there (with)
general info and training, John KC9IED was
available to discuss ARES, Bob WB9NTT took pictures and Dick KC9BCB monitored
the refreshment area of coffee, lemonade and cookies. There were about 7 scouts
and 3 scout leaders that
signed our log representing 3 different troops."
**Now that the elections are behind us, we can move on to the Priority
Project for next year: a PRB-1 for Illinois. More as it develops.
**Newly appointed as Assistant Net Manager of the famed Hurricane Watch Net
is our own Brad Pioveson W9FX. Congratulations on becoming one of the Prime
Movers of one of the Service's most public operations, Brad.
**I was informed by several folks that the referenced links do not work in
the emailed Monthly Summary. And, you are right. It's an evil plot to get you
all to look at the Section page at http://www.arrl.org/sections/?sect=IL. There,
you get to see my pithy prose in vivid HTML, plus the stuff that I have to cut
out to meet the electron rationing limit of the emailed Monthly Summary. Plus,
you
can peruse the pictures that are being submitted by your peers to help document
these
events. All of this in the hopes that the sight of such things inspires you
to submit your own happenings to add to this mix and become Momentarily Famous
on the Intarwebs.
Get
informed...
**After my comments on a 2m AM net last month, I received
this message from Don Hlinsky N9IZU "VHF AM is alive and well closer
to your QTH! John (N9HRT) has been running the "VHF AM Enthusiasts" nets,
Wednesday evenings at 19:30 local for quite a few years. We start on 50.4 megacycles
(the vintage gear doesn't emit megaHertz - HI!!) and QSY to 144.144 megacycles
(no typo) at about 20:30 to get the 2 meter crowd. While the nets were started
to give us an excuse to clean up and fire up vintage gear we have more than
a few ops who are using new stuff -- just had to blow the dust off the AM mode
position." I did notice that the TS-700 driving my 220 transverter
also has an 'AM' position.
**The newsletter of the Chicago Suburban RA carries details of their successful
Special Event station from the caboose at Santa Fe Prairie Preserve on 4 October.
It also has a quick blurb about club stalwart Scott Childers W9CHI's upcoming
book on the glory days of radio station WLS. To those who grew up in the Midwest
during the sixties and early seventies, WLS is an indelible part of their formative
years. I'm a sucker for all things documentary and historical of those old
days, as my interest in broadcast radio was one of the focal points
at the beginning of my 'radioactive life'. (How many other kids got up early
on Monday mornings to hear what the engineers did during test periods?) Having
just finished Clark Weber's (W9FFB) tome on
his long career in Midwest Top 40 radio, I'm all set for more. (No financial
interest in either entity: just an old radio nut.)
**Danny Pease NG9R sends the Western Illinois ARC Newsletter and a brief report
on the Illinois QSO Party. "The 2008 Illinois QSO Party is past and there
was a good turnout, both by local club members and throughout the state. Out
of
state activity was very good and the logs are still coming in. If you did get
on and have not sent a log in yet, please remember to do so soon as the deadline
for logs is November 20." I hope that we can all appreciate the hard
work that WIARC puts in every year to give us a weekend of playtime on the
air. I personally extend my deepest thanks to the club for pulling off this
great event.
**Field Day results have been posted. After last year's debacle, there ain't
no way in Perdition that I'm going to call out individual clubs for their efforts,
as someone always feels slighted and not bashful about expressing it. So, in
keeping with our Nation's new Spirit of Inclusion®, I invite you to visit
http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/2008/fd.pdf and
I congratulate all who participated on their efforts. Seriously, we had eighty
entities file results for scoring with the League. I consider that an outstanding
turnout and a tribute to our emergency preparedness efforts. I am dismayed
at the thin showing in EOC sited stations. That tells me that our Served Agency
partnerships aren't all that they should be. Let's start now to fatten up that
part of the list for next year.
**In another response to one of my random comments last month, Leif Ericksen
(no, not that one: N9SRW) reports that he has recently conducted license classes
for Lake in the Hills CERT. Some of his students tested on 25 October with
several successes. The experiment continues. Interestingly, Leif admits that
it was his first time in that kind of a setting. Speaking in front of a group
is usually second on peoples' lists of things to avoid (right after having
the servers in a restaurant assault you with their rendition of 'Happy Birthday').
However, one of the greatest personal ego trips is to be able to speak ex
tempore or
without notes and be well received. I learned my public speaking skills in
front of seventy-five screaming Cub Scouts and their families. A tough room
every Pack Night for three years. Seriously, we should all be able to speak
well enough in front of folks to help to evangelize this wonderful Service
to strangers. Nice
work, Leif!
Around the
Section...
**Will Sperling K9WSS reports that members of the DuPage
ARC provided communications support for the South DuPage CROP Walk on 19 October.
Participants were N9IZU (Net Control), NB9R, WD9AYR, N9HRT, KB9ODL, WB9UGX,
K9WSS, K9EW, & N9SHC. Will comments: "Comms were held on the DARC
UHF repeater
(442.550; PL 114.8). The event went very well, with one minor "casualty;" a
female walker fell and split her lip. NB9R provided immediate first aid, and
the Downers Grove Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene. The walker
elected not to go to the hospital. The DuPage Amateur Radio Club has been providing
community service for this event for several years. Although the turnout by walking
participants was somewhat
lighter than in the past years, it was still well-represented by local area
community residents."
**The Bolingbrook ARS repeater nightmare is coming to an end, with activation
of their 440 machine atop Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. The 220 box will
follow shortly. Pics at k9bar.org. The lesson: gentlemans' agreements over
repeater sites won't hold (or repel) water in case of a problem. Make certain
that everyone understands who is responsible for what if something goes amiss.
It will save on the kind of scrambling that the BARS folks ended up doing.
**From the Central Illinois RC newsletter submitted by Norm Huber N9ZKS
comes word that the club is endeavoring to be included in McLean County EMA's
disaster planning. This requires the completion of the appropriate NIMS courses
(surprise!). Despite some of the comments in other forums, hams need to understand
that we have to provide service in the fashion that the Served Agencies want
to be served. That means an understanding of Unified Command to FEMA's requirements.
The days are long gone when we can just show up and expect people to recognize
our obvious
awesomeness. There are plenty of other 'communications people' around these
days, albeit without our talent and depth of tools/skillz. We need to serve
our customers
(Served Agencies) their way.
Ye Olde Traffic
Report...
** IL ARES®
Net -- QNI xx -- QTC 0 -- 2 Sessions KC6VVT
** Lake County ARES®/RACES Nets --QNI 78 voice/10 Packet-- QTC 0 --
4 Sessions K9DRW
** IL Emergency Net -- QNI 59 -- QTC 3 -- 4 Sessions K9HEZ
** IL Phone Net -- QNI 194 -- QTC 17 -- 24 Sessions K9HEZ
** North Central Phone Net -- QNI 69 -- QTC 6 -- 21 Sessions K9HEZ
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