[InHam] Section Manager Nominee

[J Poindexter]

Hello,

Sorry I could not be at the Indianapolis Hamfest, I was told that I would help my son move into their new rental place.

I was first licensed in 1979 as KA4HWX, and currently hold an Extra Class License. I also held KA2JP, while stationed in Japan. I am a Certified W5YI VE, the RACES Officer for Starke County, have held appointments as an Assistant Emergency Coordinator, past President of Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association, and I re-established the Starke County Amateur Club; and for the past three years was President of the Starke County Club. I am looking forward to serving Indiana as the next Section Manager.

Personal Information: I grew up in West Terre Haute, Indiana and married my high school sweetheart in 1970 and then entered the Air Force in 1972. I am a former Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, a graduate of Indiana State University, and currently teach High School English in Knox.

Amateur Radio Operating Activities: DXCC; active DX chaser; HF contester; active in public service communications; and an early packet radio user; enjoys BPSK 31 and RTTY; manages the W9JOZ.org web site and am the Newsletter Editor for the Starke County Amateur Radio Club.


If elected as Indiana Section Manager, I plan on working on the
following areas:

Emergency Communication Capabilities
Recruitment of young people
Amateur Radio Education
Expansion of PRB-1 to lift restrictive covenants
Support FCC rules enforcement

Emergency Communication Capabilities

EmComm has become the number one activity in amateur Radio today.
More and more community leaders are recognizing that Amateur Radio
Operators are not just amateurs, but experts in the field of
emergency communications.
This has to be our main issue in Indiana. Just this past spring, the
flooding showed that we are needed to assist local governments with
their communication needs.
I will work with Tony, W9AL, the SEC to assign ECs in every county
that want to work Emergency Communications, not just hold the title.
We need an EC in each and every county to develop the ARES program.
We also need a communication network to where each county can
communicate with every county, be it SSB, PSK, or even Packet Radio
as ARES is trying to get going.


Recruitment of young people

The average age of ham operators is nearing 60 years old. We need
to find ways to introduce and recruit young people into Amateur
Radio. Digital communication should be the key element to draw in
the younger Indiana youths. I will work toward active recruitment of
our youth. As a school teacher, I push Amateur Radio to my students
all the time and I know that this is a hard task trying to convince
them to give up their cell phone texting and use Amateur Radio. We
can't stop trying, so I will be asking all Hams to talk to the youth
and show them your station. Maybe this way we can start dropping
that average age here in Indiana.

Amateur Radio Education

This does not stop when the individual passes the Technician test.
They need an Elmer to show them all there is in Ham Radio. Help them
to build antennas, program their radios, and even interface a
computer. Just getting them through the exam is not enough; too many
become discouraged because they don't understand how to accomplish
some facet of our hobby. As recently stated in an ARRL letter, there
are a lot hams that can not program their radios to quickly change
frequencies or set a tone access. In an emergency they need to have
this knowledge.

Expansion of PRB-1 to lift restrictive covenants

More communities are putting a stop to towers and antennas. If this
continues there will be large areas where only HTs will be allowed
to transmit. This makes all areas of Amateur Radio suffer. I plan on
supporting David Spoelstra, N9KT, the SGL, and his idea of expanding
the Marion County law on tower height to the whole state. We all
need to help with lobbing for the expansion of PRB-1 here in Indiana
to lift all covenants.

Support FCC rules enforcement

As you read in my Bio above, I am a former Special Agent. I strongly 
believe in our self-enforcement program as well as the support the FCC
in rules enforcement. I believe it is our duty to inform the FCC when 
blatant violations are occurring in order that we can have Ham Bands 
that are not being abused.


Feel free to email me any questions or comments that you may have about Amateur Radio and I will do my best to answer them or get you an answer.

73
John
W3ML
www.w3ml.com