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• Welcome
• The Premiere of NIGHT, the Movie
• South Jersey Radio Association POTA Event
• Meriden Amateur Radio, W1NRG, Club Gets Active
• ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative
• Memorial Donation
• Submitting Info for this Newsletter
• How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention
• Important Links

Welcome to the first edition of the re-launched ARRL Club News newsletter. The last time that this newsletter was published was December 2009. Some folks over the years have made the comment that clubs are dead. That is not the sentiment of today's ARRL leadership. Clubs are an essential part of the success of our organization, and we want to help them in any way that we can. Progress is often a challenge for many folks, and the way to help them with that is most often communication. If we know what is happening, we have the chance to adjust as we go. The best way for us to move forward together is to communicate from Headquarters to the field and for the field to have a way to communicate to ask questions and get answers from us. This newsletter will highlight some of the great things that clubs are doing. We want your feedback, and we want to know how your club is dealing with an ever-changing world. Let us know. Send your feedback to [email protected]. We are listening. Thanks - Mike Walters W8ZY, Field Services Manager

During this year's ARRL Field Day, a visitor from John D'Aquino's Young Actors Workshop arrived at the Edmond Amateur Radio Society's location. Marcus Sutliff, N5ZY, talked with them and found they wanted to make a short film with an amateur radio plot, and they needed some help. They were filming in Stillwater, OK, and needed someone with film/video experience and someone who could be a technical advisor. So, they got Kevin O'Dell, N0IRW, involved, and in no time, he had assembled radios, props, consulted on the script, and was ready for a long day of filming.

The purpose of this film is to give young aspiring actors a chance to hone their craft in a real movie environment. Thanks to the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, https://okfilmmusic.org/, they filmed three short movies in Oklahoma. So, when you watch the film, you can see the improvement in the youngsters as the movie progresses.

This week the movie premiered in September and is available on YouTube as a 34-minute short at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1Q4tS32Ww

Kevin stars as the radio voice of Colonel and should be up for an Emmy for best supporting actor. Kevin says any requests for autographs should go through his agent, Wilma, W5WRO. Both Kevin and Marcus have their name in the credits, so make sure you stay through the ending!

Thanks, Kevin, for putting a great light on amateur radio!

Mark Kleine, N5HZR
ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager

K2AA POTA EVENT
By Rick Lawn, W2JAZ

Tony Canuso, N2ATB, and Rick Lawn, W2JAZ, left Cherry Hill at 10:30 AM for their first POTA (www.parksontheair.com) activation at a New Jersey Park designated as K-1629 on the Rancocas River in Hainesport. Tony had posted our activation in advance on the Parks on the Air website. Once at the park it took about an hour or more to set up the 40-10-meter MyAntennas end-fed antenna at about 20 feet, and an MFJ 22' fiberglass push-up pole that supported a new Pacific Antennas 40/20-meter trap dipole that was mounted in an inverted V configuration. It was decided that Tony would work 40-meter CW and Rick would work 20 meters using CW and SSB. Rigs included Tony's Xiegu G90, running about 15 watts, and Rick's IC-705 running 2 watts out to a Hardrock50 amplifier/tuner. For power we used two sources, an 8500Mah LiFe battery that powered the Icom radio at low power, and a large 80Ah Bioenno LiFe battery that powered both the G90 and Hardrock50. This larger battery is used for Rick's fishing boat trolling motor and is amazingly robust. It barely broke a sweat after over two hours of operation and several previous fishing trips.

Rick was first to get on the air, making a park-to-park QSO with a station on SSB in Florida (K8375). Later, when hooking up the amplifier, Rick realized he worked the Florida station on only 2 watts out since the 705 had been set up to excite the amplifier and was therefore set to only two watts out! No wonder the report was only 4 by 4, but the contact was made!

Tony caused quite a pileup on 40-meter CW, and we realized we had been spotted. Once Tony got on the air, we discovered a problem that we had anticipated might occur - crosstalk between the two rigs despite their different frequencies. Our antennas and radios were just too close. Rick decided it might be best to operate in stages, so he logged for Tony who racked up 40-meter CW QSOs.

A much-needed lunch break came at 1:30 PM when we decided to reorient the 20-meter inverted V's legs so they would be at 90 degrees to the 40-meter end fed. While that did not eliminate the cross-band interference, it was significantly improved to allow both stations to operate simultaneously. Rick fired up the 705 and small amplifier that was run at around 35 watts out. His first contact on 20-meter SSB was F4IDC in France reporting a 5-7 signal! Things were working very well. Before the afternoon was out, Rick worked five countries on 20-meter CW and SSB. All together Tony and Rick operating as K2AA worked 50 stations on two bands using CW and SSB in a little more than 2 hours.

Our first POTA experience was a complete success, and the most important thing is that it was lots of fun and proved that our gear was more than up to the task. The next time out I believe we could improve our number of contacts by using several sources to spot ourselves on specific frequencies rather than wait for others to spot us.

Saturday, September 18 was a fine day for a POTA activation. This was my first time as a participant, and it went very well. I want to thank Dave Tipping, NZ1J, for his help and the loan of a battery and long-wire antenna to get me on the air. Eight of us showed up at Wharton Brook State Park that morning while John Kasinskas, KC1KQH, made it his second activation of the day after having already worked Sleeping Giant State Park. We had five stations going and made QSOs on all bands from 2 to 160 meters. I was happy to finish with 37 of my own, far more than I expected for my first time out. I couldn't have done it without Dave's assistance and the availability of equipment that could work bands my gear couldn't. Dave mentioned that he was approached later in the day by a park ranger who "seemed to be mesmerized by the idea of operating a radio in the park." He told the ranger about our VE sessions at the club. Never miss an opportunity to interest a new ham/member! The smiles on everyone's faces proves what a great time we all had. Rob Cichon, K1RCT, was working from the parking area above and behind what is shown in the picture, so you'll just have to use your x-ray vision to see him. --Ted Renzoni, KC1DOY

We had another fun foxhunt on Sunday, September 19, with Bob, Biancur, WB1GYZ, as guest fox. As usual, he didn't make it too easy for us and we all did our share of backtracking before locating him. This time we all stayed connected with each other (simplex) and converged on the rest area off of I-91. After much consternation and additional bearings with multiple antennas it was decided that he was West of the highway so off we went again. A vehicle train left the rest area and after a number of turns, several of them "U"s, we found him on Jobs Road. This was a very well-attended hunt. I wonder what the next big activity will turn out to be.

The club is located in Meriden Connecticut.

There's an age-old question in our amateur radio community. "Why aren't there more youth involved in ham radio?" The question, though, often comes from individuals who are unfamiliar with the places where young hams are, and have always been, active participants.

Since the earliest days of radio experimentation, colleges and universities have been a vibrant part of our community. Some campus radio clubs are as old as our ham radio record-keeping, and make up many of the oldest ARRL Affiliated Clubs. Year after year, these student clubs recruit freshman and other newcomers to join their ranks. They develop leaders to hold positions as club officers. When the annual student activities fair is held on the quad, these clubs set up alongside other campus organizations - like the chess club, cultural clubs, theater, sports and recreation groups - and invite their peers to discover radio technology and radio communications through ham radio. Campus radio clubs host licensing classes, exam sessions, and a variety of hands-on activities to introduce others to radio.

In 2017, though an endowment established by the W1YSM Snyder Family, ARRL launched the Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative (CARI). CARI supports and promotes amateur radio among students and ham radio clubs at colleges and universities. Through monthly online meetings and social media channels (Facebook and Discord), CARI helps network campus radio club participants including students, faculty, staff & administration, and alumni.

The monthly CARI meetings are held via Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Registration details can be on the CARI web page. Each meeting includes a short presentation and lots of time for networking. A typical meeting can attract representatives from more than a dozen college radio clubs. Recent meetings have included students from Old Dominion University, College of DuPage, California Polytechnic State University, Case Western Reserve University, Missouri S&T, University of Florida, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Arizona, the University of Texas at Austin, and many more.

Many campus radio clubs have also established themselves as an academic resource. For instance, some college clubs have a relationship with an engineering department to offer ham radio licensing to introduce radio electronics engineering. The club's ham shack may even double as a laboratory, extending a course to include practical instruction on antennas, propagation, and signal modes. Amateur radio and space science come together on campuses to support CubeSat amateur satellite projects.

College radio clubs often collaborate with community radio clubs. Major races like the Boston Marathon, which attract a large number of participants and spectators, draw from both local radio clubs and college radio clubs to make up the large force of needed volunteers for public service communications. Student hams also participate in local ARES^® and EmComm groups.

A recurring theme with college radio clubs is career networking. Students often share stories of how having a ham radio license connected them with ham-professionals for internships and jobs. One CARI meeting included recruiters from a major company that was looking for recent graduates for job openings as radio communication technicians and engineers. Ham radio opens doors!

If your radio club finds itself within arms reach of a college or university find out if it has an active college radio club. Even if doesn't, it may be worth finding out if there are active hams among the students and staff at the school. Introduce them to the resources ARRL has for networking college radio clubs. For more information about the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative, visit www.arrl.org/WeWantU. -- Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, Director of Public Relations and Innovation, and liaison to the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative

The High Desert Amateur Radio Club of New Mexico (HDARC) has made a donation to the ARRL Education & Technology Fund in memory of their friend Bill Firth, KE5TOB (SK). In addition to being active in HDARC, Bill also enjoyed photography, astronomy, shooting, and "G" scale model trains. We send our condolences to Bill's wife Beverly.

ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio. If your club does a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation or activates a park, we want to hear about it. You can submit your newsletter article to us at [email protected]. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of "PDFs". If you have pictures, please submit them with any caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer. We want to highlight the good work being done by the clubs and show others in the community of clubs. Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs.

If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest, tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for ARRL sanctioned status for your event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL sanctioned event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest or convention, visit www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events.

To apply for ARRL sanctioned status for your event, log on to www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application.

The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming events.

ARRL Home: www.arrl.org

Find an ARRL Affiliated Club: www.arrl.org/clubs

Find Your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections

Find a License Class in your area: www.arrl.org/class

Find a License Exam in your area: www.arrl.org/exam

Find a Hamfest or Convention: www.arrl.org/hamfests

Email ARRL Clubs: [email protected]