Make sure to read the 4-page interview in the May issue of our PDF newsletter.

Participate in the discussion and go to the QRZ forum thread

In our EXCLUSIVE interview with David Sumner, K1ZZ, we talk with him about the future of amateur radio, his opinion on the current licensing structure, the 1979 WARC, and more.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

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eQRM: I am an Eagle Scout, and I learned about amateur radio from a Merit Badge class taught by our local radio club. What are your ideas on how to get more youth involved in the hobby, beyond the summer teaching academies offered by the ARRL?

K1ZZ: Needless to say, young people take connectivity for granted; it’s no longer a capability that is uniquely ours as radio amateurs. But how many of them understand how their cell phone works? Our Teachers Institutes train almost 100 teachers per year in how to give their students hands-on opportunities to develop wireless technology literacy. If we had the resources we would expand the program. Our measure of success is not the number of young people who become licensed as a result, although that’s a nice byproduct of success in a school.

Amateur Radio isn’t for everyone. If we were to attract one young person in 100 we’d be doing better than we ever have. Every generation has more people than that who are curious about how things work – not just manmade devices such as cell phones, but natural phenomena such as radio propagation. Countless contributions to science and technology have been made by people who began by using Amateur Radio as an outlet for their curiosity. Our task is to make sure that Amateur Radio continues to be there for future generations, and to make sure they know it’s there.
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Read the rest of the interview by downloading the May issue of our monthly club newsletter, the eQRM!

Stay tuned for next month’s interview, where we interview newly-elected ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN.

Check our Twitter feed for more updates.

Several months ago I posted information regarding a bill that was introduced into the House of Representatives here in Pennsylvania. The bill was designated HB-2070. This bill was designed to prohibit hand held cell phones from being used while a vehicle was in motion. Unfortunately the wording of the bill is such that amateur radio devices particularly handhelds could also be prohibited with the passage of this bill. While we have worked for the past several months to get this bill amended it has not been done at this time. I strongly urge every amateur and their relatives and friends to write, email or call their state senators and oppose the passage of this bill unless specific language is added to exempt amateur radio devices from the bill. Some legislative people feel that all our radios are permanently
installed in vehicle as part of the bill exempts devices that are
physically or electrically integral to the vehicle. This needs all of
our immediate attention to contact our local reps and oppose passage.
If you need help determining your state officials check the following
web site http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ in the upper right corner you
can enter your zip code to get the officials for your district.

A reminder to members is to be sure to check the data you have in
your member profile at the ARRL website. If you change your email
service be sure to update that info on the members only section of the
website. The new website is expected to be functional in April barring
no further difficulties. With the update many exciting new features are
being added that will help all of us to experience a more user friendly
web site. In addition to HQ staff the directors, vice-directors and
section managers have been working for the past several weeks to test
the site and many issues have been found and corrected. This has been a major work in progress and the staff has done a wonderful job handling the change over and correcting issues as they have been discovered. These people have worked tirelessly to provide the members with a functional new approach to the web. I wish to extend my personal thanks to all who have worked so diligently to make this happen.

The next hamfest is the Two Rivers hamfest on April 25.
Additional information is available at http://www.tworiversarc.com.
This is a correction of information I had last month. An area of
information for hamfest officials is that HQ has a new policy with
regard to information brochures for hamfest. The material to be sent
from HQ must be selected by the hamfest chairperson. The info is
included in your approval letter. There is a charge to the hamfest for
shipping the materials. Many of the handouts are available at no charge
except for the shipping fees. If you need assistance in what to order
contact me at n3mse@arrl.org.

Last month I had mentioned a new section traffic manager would be
announced. Unfortunately that person was not able to take on the duties of the traffic manager. For the present time I am continuing to file the monthly reports for the section but I honestly need your help to have someone take over this function. Traffic handling is a necessary service and I do not want to lose this valuable service. If you are involved and have a knowledge of traffic handling and particularly can participate in the section net please contact me if you are willing to assume these duties.

As always I encourage you to join one of the various traffic nets
and help deliver messages to individuals in your community and
throughout the country as operators struggle to keep the keep this
activity running strong. The section net is on 3983 every evening at
approximately 6:00 PM local time.

Join the nets and lets all get Radio Active.

73
John V. Rodgers, N3MSE
W. Pa. Section Manager

According to an announcement just out on the IARU website, from today contacts made using QSONet and HamSphere are now officially amateur radio contacts and can count towards amateur radio awards.

The announcement says: “There is an ever increasing use of computer and internet technology to facilitate the making of contacts between amateur radio operators. For many years use of the DX Cluster has been permitted to locate DX contacts to work and many operators now use internet sites to arrange skeds for needed contacts. We also see the development of new digital modes that can make possible contacts between stations that neither side can even hear. Permitting the use of VOIP modes to make contacts is simply an extension of the use of this facilitating technology, by removing the unreliability caused by the behaviour of the ionosphere. This move will also be welcomed by the many radio amateurs living in antenna-restricted locations who are no longer able to be active on what have traditionally been regarded as ‘the airwaves’.”

Addressing the criticism that no radio is actually used when making contacts via QSONet or HamSphere, the statement says: “Many amateur operators nowadays use laptop computers which are connected to the internet via a wi-fi router. This does, of course, involve the use of radio. Initially, therefore, only contacts made using a laptop with a wireless connection will be allowed to count under this new ruling. The frequency should be logged as 2.4GHz. This restriction will be reviewed at a later date.”

More information on this development will apparently be posted on the site at midday today.

Dear Mr Robert J De Marco,

I read on the ARRL website that you are the contact person for the Beaver Valley Area . I also noticed that many of the email addresses and names provided on the ARRL website for club contacts either do not match or are duplicated for more then one club. If this information gets to you and you are no longer the contact person for your club, would you please forward this email on to the correct person.

I am the Executive Director of The North American Center for Emergency Communications, Inc. (NACEC), a non-profit emergency communications organization, which is still based in Minnesota. This organization has been more or less dormant for about the last 10 years, but it is currently in the process of becoming very active. The mission of our organization, founded in 1992, was refocused in January 2010 to provide commercial communication support to large scale disaster areas here in the US and around the globe. We will accomplish this by providing field teams which will include commercial communications technicians who hold an FCC GROL or equivalent license and at least 5 years of experience. The field team will be equipped so they can provide commercial radio and digital communications systems to meet the immediate communications needs of the aid and relief organizations and agencies serving within the disaster area. The field team technicians, if needed, will also provide their technical skills to assist in bringing local communications systems back online. We expect this last item will be used more in developing countries.

From time to time during large disasters our field team technicians may benefit from the assistance of volunteers from the amateur radio community. We are looking for volunteers from the amateur radio community first because it is made up of individuals whose professions vary widely, from doctors and attorneys to auto mechanics and retired lumberjacks, yet who have many things in common with our commercial communications technicians and this organization. They share an interest in communications, electronics and a desire to be of service to others!

Can you bring our need for volunteers to the attention of your club’s members? I have set up a special volunteer application form for use only by licensed amateur radio operators who wish to volunteer their time and skills to help our technicians bring communications back into large scale disaster areas. This application can be found at www.nacec.org/vol_app_ars.php.

As we expand our organization and its capabilities, we hope that you and your club members will follow our progress and take an active role in our success. You can also follow us online if you wish. You will find links to our Twitter, Facebook, and email following accounts on the lower left-hand side of most pages on our website, www.nacec.org.

Should you have any questions I hope that you will contact me directly.

73

Edward Addy KEØEG, Executive Director
North American Center For Emergency Communications, (NACEC)

6 days from now a historic ceremony will be taking place! The 100th
Anniversary Volunteer Celebration is scheduled for Thursday March 18,
2010 at Heinz Field~ West Club Lounge.

This year Beaver Valley will be awarding the Silver Beaver Award to
Mark Murdoch. We will be also honoring the following District Award
recipients:

District Award of Merit
Evelyn Gower
Tom Walsh
John Onuska Jr.

Cubmaster of the Year
Jeff Knechtel
Scoutmaster of the Year
Randy Gleason

Venturing Advisor of the Year
Arletta Cruzan

Unit Commissioner of the Year
Jeff Eberle

District Board Member of the Year
Tony DiTullio

Most Valuable Scouter
John Carr

Please log on today to register for the event:
http://www.doubleknot.com/Registration/CalendarDetail.asp?orgkey=486&activitykey=703620

Irv Gable

Beaver Valley District
Greater Pittsburgh Council
Boys Scouts of America
(412) 325-7975
(412) 232-3606 [FAX]
Email: irvin.gable@scouting.org
Follow us on: Facebook – Beaver Valley District or on Twitter -GPCBVD

Grant Miller, KB3QFQ
Eagle Scout, Boy Scout Troop 405
Beaver Valley TechFest 2010 Coordinator

Grant, KB3QFQ
Eagle Scout, Boy Scout Troop 405
Beaver Valley TechFest 2010 Coordinator

Grant, KB3QFQ
Eagle Scout, Boy Scout Troop 405
Beaver Valley TechFest 2010 Coordinator