Section Manager Report October 2022

Hello! What a month! As most of you know, a lot of us has been immersed in the Big E Project and in a few days it’s all over. This has been a long time in the making and even though there were a couple of hiccups, the majority of us consider this a huge success. The ARISS event went off without a hitch and received great reviews, and still is! There were key people who contributed an enormous amount of time, resources and energy and each one of us should give them thanks for a fine job! That goes without saying all those who contributed in some ways, the people who manned the booth. The behind the scenes planning and the multitude of Zoom meetings, our director and his wife and our vice director, the production and stage crew, New England Sci-Tech, and so many more and those I may have missed, a huge thank you!!!! Amateur Radio thanks you!

Now to plan next year??? Maybe? We will be looking for a LOT of feedback to see. After years of silence, Western Mass stepped up big time!

During this time, I have also been working with our Train and Test group to plan and prepare for our Tech Class License Course. This will kick off on October 18th. Any one you know wishing to take the class can email me or to backhoeken@yahoo.com. We have been and continuing to work on improvements to provide a quality course for the students.

After 9 months if not more, it looks like my aa1se@arrl.org is now fixed! Just as an insurance and test, if you email me keep using ray.aa1se@gmail.com and cc the .org address.

As September rolled in, I am happy to report all the WMA clubs are back to live meetings. Some are continuing to do hybrid meetings with Zoom. As I mentioned before, GO to the meetings. Don’t go on zoom with a bowl of popcorn on the couch. Bring the popcorn with you!

A special shout out to the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club in Warren, MA. The club has revitalized and restructured themselves and is also a recipient of one of the ARRL/ARDC club grants. It was also great to see them participate at the booth. Congrats to them! Keep up the good work!

When things quiet down a little I will be back to visiting the clubs. I like in-person but will also do Zoom on occasion. Remember, keep me informed as to what’s going on in your club. I think we gained a lot of momentum from the Big E so let’s build on that.

I hope everyone has a great month. Again thanks to those who contributed to the Big E.

73,
Ray AA1SE