[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] FW: Virginia Section Manager email letter for October 2018

[Rick Bunn]

-----Original Message-----
From: ARRL Members Only Web site <memberlist at www.arrl.org> 
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2018 3:01 PM
To: N4ASX at cox.net
Subject: Virginia Section Manager email letter for October 2018

Your ARRL SECTION MANAGER’s Report to All Virginia Hams 10/04/2018

Well, the time has come for me to send another email letter update to all hams including all ARRL members in Virginia. My personal feeling is that I can get more feedback from the field by my letters than by the normal ARRL Section headquarters web site.

The following is personal opinion and I am aware that this format is not to be used for political purposes. However, I do implore everyone to take your important personal time to understand the actual reasons you are voting, be it US Congress or ARRL. The media today in conjunction with the candidates do great job of smoke and mirrors on issues.
Personal opinions are just what the word says, personal. Read, listen, really understand what the issues are in question, not just others opinions. Look for the meat of the issue, vote with your heart and your brain, not with your ears.

We here in the Middle Atlantic area have experienced some very bad weather crises including Hurricane Florence, in the last couple of months. WE have spent many hours preparing  both personally, and publicly for these storms. In some areas, many hours and much money was spent on preparing by localities for opening shelters, getting emergency foods, etc. set in place. ARRL HQ sent HAM AID kits and other support items which were previously used in Puerto Rico, to Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolina's by way of Georgia. At this time North and South Carolina are still working with FEMA because of lingering flooding and other emergencies. We here in Virginia definitely dodged the bullet at the last minute. While we had some areas with some storm related emergencies, but these were minimal by the grace of mother nature. Mike Corey the Manager of ARRL Emergency Services was interviewed by CNN and talked of amateur radio support of emergency communications in the affected states. Http://www.arrl.org/2018-hurricanes 

As reported earlier and in ARRL’s monthly letter, many changes are being undertaken by ARRL leadership. These changes are critical to our future. From the way the league runs our organization to the updating and upgrading our ARES operations as well as other programs such as changes in the OO program in conjunction with the FCC, etc.. This comes at a time when the Federal Government is pursing upgrades in the use of Amateur Radio in a more organized, trained fashion. The use of the Incident Command System (ICS) has been refined and grown over the last several years and has really become “The Standard Emergency Management System” utilized by local, regional as well as national emergencies.
While in the past ARES has recommended the use of ICS training and the ARRL had some emergency courses. Now, with the full scales changes of required training, and updated online reporting system, ARES is falling in line with Federal Requirements. This will now allow trained ARES members to be immediately utilized in declared emergencies under ICS controlled operations. All of the new training and management of ARES
will level the emergency communications playing field across country.   


“SET” is coming up later this month and John Roberts, our SEC is putting plans together as I am writing this letter.  Please check with your local “EC’s” for upcoming information. The SET will be run under the ICS system and we hope to get as many local government EC agencies involved to enhance their exercise experience.

For our hams interested in contesting, there are over 30 contests being run worldwide in October.
I trust this letter is helpful and interesting for all ARRL members as well as all hams in Virginia. I realize there are many interests and opinions and views on ham radio operations, ham radio laws and the manner in which our organization takes care of all of us. Just remember, the ARRL is our organization.

Dr Joe Palsa
Virginia Section Manager
K3WRY at ARRL.ORG

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ARRL Virginia Section
Section Manager: Dr Joseph G Palsa, K3WRY k3wry at arrl.org
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