[LeArc] Congratulations

[Tony Coniglio]

I received this from  Pat Ryan KC6VVT, our Illinois Section Emergency
Coordinator, ARRL, regarding my reflector message on the opening of the
US/67 Bypass around Roseville, and thought I would pass it on.

Tony KB9NAB


> Tony,
>
> I monitor the activities of LEARC and their reflector, and enjoy your
> club activities on the reflector that are promoting amateur radio
> emergency service to your communities.
>
> Glad to hear about US 67 and the great route you folks will have to the
> I-80 corridor. The Good Hope improvements may soon follow as well. We are
> also proud of our I-39 link from Bloomington south of us to Wisconsin
> border, crossing I-80 and I-88 as well. We hope it makes travel easy for
> your folks as well as it did for our area. Alas, business does not always
> follow where there is high property taxation, such as here in LaSalle
> County, so good luck there. Hopefully you can help in that area for your
> county. It is a tough business, but worth it.
>
> We are losing our one ham on the local LaSalle county board due to
> redistricting and an election loss, and we shall miss his good counsel in
> the change. We seem to have a "retired board" with mostly day meetings,
> and that system helps guarantee the status quo of some old politicos,
> good or bad, otherwise.
>
> Unfortunately, we moved our repeater, as we had to vacate the county seat
> and its good location with a 300 ft. tower this year. Our collocated ham
> repeater at our County complex is gone, and with the changes in the wind,
> we are no longer as prepared to render the good amateur radio volunteer
> service as we once were with our  ESDA folks. A pity, but access was
> always a problem with the local security changes brought by the brand new
> jail, and the claimed interference to the Sheriff 's radio continues.
> Often blamed for interference even after we quietly moved miles away, we
> enjoy the consternation as the complainers now face their real problems.
> And some happily point out it wasn't us after all, and they are now
> hopefully busy straightening our their own communications. A pity but it
> was time to leave the professionals.
>
> The Starved Rock Radio Club W9MKS repeater on 147.120 is now installed in
> our clubhouse in Leonore, IL, and with a taller tower someday, would
> better cover the "golden triangle" contained between  I-80, I-39 and
> I-55. Although we do not have the best countywide coverage we enjoyed, we
> make do for now here in North Central Illinois, trying to provide the
> best amateur radio service to the area that we can.
>
> Hopefully, we may even be able to restore our packet BBS and add an APRS
> digipeater that will cover this location consistently. Maybe even monitor
> the repeater input for APRS location packet preambles for digipeating on
> 144.390 APRS simplex someday. It is doable, but real progress is slow in
> digital modes here yet.
>
> We wish your county board there great success, and we wish your club
> continued success in emergency preparedness. Hope to hear more from you
> folks, and keep up the Fine Business.
>
> vy 73 de Pat Ryan KC6VVT
> Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator, ARRL
> P. O. Box 24
> Tonica, IL 61370-0024
> kc6vvt@arrl.net
>
>