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ARRL Club News

Published by the American Radio Relay League ********************************************

May 24, 2022

Editor: Michael Walters, W8ZY <[email protected]>

IN THIS ISSUE

- Club Grant Program
- Club Commission Program Update
- Lewis and Clark Trail on the Air
- An Idea on New-Ham Mentoring
- Richmond Amateur Radio Club in the News for Student-ARISS Contact
- Project Big E Seeks Volunteers
- Submitting Info for this Newsletter
- How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention
- Important Links

CLUB GRANT PROGRAM

The ARRL Club Grant Program is now accepting applications. Your club,
whether it's an ARRL Affiliated Club or not, can apply for a grant of
up to $25,000. Details about the program were discussed in an online
seminar that aired on May 4, which is now available on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx42qAFknOw&t=70s>. Additional
information is also posted on the ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program
web page <https://www.arrl.org/club-grant-program>. If your club has a
project they'd like to pursue, or if they have another need for
funding, you're invited to explore the Club Grant Program. Questions
may be directed to [email protected]. The application deadline is
June 30 at 7:00 PM Eastern.

CLUB COMMISSION PROGRAM UPDATE

One of the benefits of being an ARRL Affiliated Club is that you can
receive a commission for recruiting new ARRL members and securing
timely ARRL membership renewals. The commission structure for this
program has been updated, and the process has changed to make things
easier for the clubs. The new procedure involves all membership dues
being sent to ARRL for processing, prior to the club receiving a
commission payment directly from ARRL. The complication of adjusting
funds around credit cards, checks, and cash has been eliminated. ARRL
is now responsible for all of the processing. As a result, your club
could earn money while promoting the many benefits and programs of
ARRL, to help ensure that the amateur radio hobby is protected and
continues to grow.

Additionally, the commission rate has changed. Now, clubs will receive
$15 for each new membership or lapsed membership (of 2 years or more).
For renewing members, clubs will now receive $5. There is no limit to
the amount that a club can earn in this program.

Club leadership is encouraged to let their membership know that the
club can benefit from this program. Only regular memberships are
eligible for commission. Life, International, Family, Blind, and
Student memberships are ineligible for commission.

The new Club Commission Program is available for all ARRL Affiliated
Clubs and goes into effect on June 1. Additional information, as well
as FAQs, can be found on the Affiliated Club Benefits web page <http://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-benefits>.

LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL ON THE AIR

The Lewis and Clark Trail on the Air special event is scheduled for
June 4 - 19, 2022. The Clark County Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring
the inaugural event, and we hope to make it a yearly occurrence. There
will be at least one club on the air in each of the 16 states covered
by the trail, and the clubs are as excited as we are about the event.
The operating modes are SSB phone, FM phone (2 meters only), CW, and
FT8. Those that contact all 16 states will receive the Expedition
Partner Certificate, and those that contact 1 - 15 states can receive
the Trail Companion Certificate. Check the website, https://lctota.org <https://lctota.org/>, for certificate examples and additional
information. Our committee is working hard to make this a top-notch
event. Be sure to mark your calendars!

--Thanks to the Clark County Amateur Radio Club

AN IDEA ON NEW-HAM MENTORING

Each year, the Tamiami Amateur Radio Club (TARC) in Venice, Florida,
takes in 10 to 20 new, first-year club members following their
Volunteer Examiner testing with TARC. And each year, we lose 80 to 90
percent of them. We hope that establishing a formal mentoring program
will help to retain many of these new hams, not necessarily as
dues-paying members, but as hams looking to grow and learn more about
their new hobby.

In April, TARC began offering the following:

In the hour before each monthly club meeting, one or more experienced
club members is available to answer questions about the hobby or to
help program handheld transceivers with local repeater frequencies. We
ask that you please use our email address ([email protected]) to
give us a heads up about your question or problem, so that we can be
better prepared to help you.

On the third Saturday of each month (excluding July and August), one or
more experienced club member hosts an outdoor portable operating event
of some type to help new hams learn how to establish and operate an HF
radio station. Anyone is welcome to come get hands-on experience with
the equipment and with making contacts.

Contact Paul Nienaber, KN4BAR, at [email protected] for more
information about mentoring at TARC.

--Thanks to the Tamiami Amateur Radio Club

RICHMOND AMATEUR RADIO CLUB IN THE NEWS FOR STUDENT-ARISS CONTACT

Alexandra Perry, a science teacher at Carter G. Woodson Middle School
in Hopewell, Virginia, was searching for ways to get her sixth-grade
classes more engaged, when she found an opportunity from ARISS to have
a "space chat" with an astronaut on the International Space Station
(ISS).

The ARISS team told Perry she needed one or more FCC-licensed Amateur
Radio Service operators for this contact, because it was done via ham
radio. She reached out to the Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC), and
they accepted the challenge. The students contacted NASA Astronaut Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC, on February 28, 2022. RARC instructors taught three
classes before the contact and one afterward.

A local reporter attended the chat and met the RARC instructors. The
article about the student-ARISS contact, published in The
Progress-Index, is available at www.progress-index.com/story/news/2022/03/01/hopewell-va-middle-school-chat-astronaut-space-station/6974346001.
Additionally, NBC12 broadcasted their interview with the teacher and
two of the students, integrating parts of the contact recorded by
ARISS. The news broadcast is available at www.nbc12.com/2022/05/06/hopewell-students-call-international-space-station/?fbclid=IwAR3suWzXa1RsZHh_9gbxuyOnVNeDfm6inyrLQVwYFnXqGHguRZiuXYQBq3c
<http://www.nbc12.com/2022/05/06/hopewell-students-call-international-space-station/?fbclid=IwAR3suWzXa1RsZHh_9gbxuyOnVNeDfm6inyrLQVwYFnXqGHguRZiuXYQBq3c>.
The entire contact is on the RARC YouTube channel, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSqOxU0OYE4 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSqOxU0OYE4>.

RARC has over 40 years of teaching and testing for license exams, so
there was a cohort of half a dozen experienced instructors to teach the
sixth graders. The club also led an ARISS contact at the Science Museum
of Virginia <https://smv.org/> in 2016 to celebrate the club's 100th anniversary. Besides their teaching experience, RARC had the experience necessary to help the school's staff with filling out ARISS and NASA
paperwork.

PROJECT BIG E SEEKS VOLUNTEERS

Project Big E is a 17-day amateur radio exhibit set to be held at the
2022 Big E, from September 16 - October 3 in West Springfield,
Massachusetts. Western Massachusetts ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator
and Hampden County Radio Association President Larry Krainson, W1AST,
is the Project Big E General Chairman.

The Big E, formerly known as The Eastern States Exposition, is the
largest agricultural event of the eastern US, and is the fifth-largest
fair in the country (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eastern_States_Exposition).

Planning for Project Big E is under way. An impressive ham radio booth
will showcase the many aspects of modern ham radio, and provide an
avenue for people to sign up for information and courses in their local
area.

Features proposed for Project Big E will include:

� An EmComm display

� DMR and/or other digital mobile mode demonstrations

� Digital HF modes on a big screen

� A special event station (N1E) with unique QSL cards

� SSB, CW, and digital modes

� Demonstrations of portable stations for field operation

� A live ARISS contact

Project Big E can only succeed if there is a sufficient number of
volunteers and radio clubs who agree to participate in the event. A web
page has been created at https://nediv.arrl.org/ProjectBigE <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnediv.arrl.org%2FProjectBigE&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cbe284f8eb0d147db48fe08da377417fe%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637883269014106818%7CUnknown%
7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oRR%2BF600Z6ehgr0%2BWloyOqGhnY8FMyoLysD80XZ%2Fmik%3D&reserved=0>.

Also, a special Groups.io mailing list has been established. To join,
send an email to [email protected] <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fview%3Dcm%26fs%3D1%26tf%3D1%26to%3DProjectBigE%2Bsubscribe%40groups.io&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cbe284f8eb0d147db48fe08da377417fe%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%
7C1%7C0%7C637883269014106818%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YqmRVn%2Bee6qqp0Ky7jixZQsQ80CQsGnuh6uJW3Uex9o%3D&reserved=0>.

Register at the special Google form signup sheet <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2Fe%2F1FAIpQLSd9_iH1ZucHuCFCNwreEuVPWnmLOT5D_s92vHPuEUASS78Tew%2Fviewform%3Fusp%3Dsf_link&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cbe284f8eb0d147db48fe08da377417fe%
7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637883269014106818%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=lhqPaVXUDkrq1aIZA9yQ73B7G6L7DHYHRM1ADfaWv%2F0%3D&reserved=0>
to volunteer for specific days and hours.

--Thanks to Larry Krainson, W1AST

SUBMITTING INFO FOR THIS NEWSLETTER

ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to showcase how they are working in
the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio. If your club
works on a project, supports an event, completes 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 receive them as
text or Word files (please no PDFs). If you have pictures, please
submit them with a caption, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer. We want to highlight the good work being done by clubs
and showcase their work to others in the community. Think of this as a
chance to show off your club and your programs.

HOW TO PLAN AND APPLY FOR AN ARRL HAMFEST OR CONVENTION

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 <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events>.

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

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

IMPORTANT LINKS

ARRL Home: www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>

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

Find your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections
<http://www.arrl.org/sections>

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

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

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

Email ARRL Clubs: [email protected]

ARRL Club News is published every month (12 times each year). ARRL
members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member
Data Page as described at http://www.arrl.org/club-news.

Copyright (c) 2022 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated.
Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is
permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution.
All other purposes require written permission.

<http://www.arrl.org/>

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