Greeting’s earthlings! As you may know I had formed a group back in January with 3 clubs to conduct license classes and VE testing. I am pleased to report that the Tech. class has completed and out of 12 people who took the test, 10 passed and 3 of them also took the General and passed also! I think I can call this a success. We are now planning on doing a General License Class. We had the luxury in using the ARRL PowerPoint slides for the tech class, but found there is none for the general and extra class. We are now looking to develop a course ourselves. Quite challenging since we plan on a May 3rd start. With the success of this program, I am now inviting all clubs who has anyone wish to volunteer to teach some of the classes via Zoom to give me an email. The goal for this is to be a growing program and be self sufficient to provide opportunities for growth in new hams for our clubs. I also want a group of teachers to share the task so as not to burn out others causing the program to collapse.
Earlier in March I attended the Mt. Tom Hamfest in Chicopee and I think there was an air of excitement that we are now getting out and seeing friends face-to-face again. It was great to see everyone there. My hopes are that some clubs who are still shut out of their meeting places get open again, or possibly a new venue becomes available. Remember, GO to the meetings where you can, don’t rely on Zoom all the time. There is so much benefit to being there!
So, April and warmer weather brings the thought of Field Day. It’s coming faster than you think. One thing to keep in mind is with new hams getting licensed, the first thing you need to do is mentor them right at the beginning. What a way to enhance that and invite the new hams to Field Day. They can use the club callsign and work HF and learn great skills. That is how I got into it, on top of Mt Wachusett. Do something different, hold a class on a mode, antenna, etc. Try a different approach to Field Day. QRP, home-brew, satellites? It’s not all about the scores, it’s having fun! (I’m sure some may argue that point!)
While I’m in the neighborhood, here is the list of new hams. Each club should look at this and reach out to them and welcome them and introduce them to your club and mentor.
That’s all for me for now. What have you got going on? Let me know.
Report for 2022-03-02
Ralph B Cerreta, KC1QND
PO Box 749
Cheshire, MA 01225-0749
Michael Leo, KC1QKM
110 Pearl Hill Rd
Fitchburg, MA 01420-2004
Evan Hollander, KC1QKB
70R Milk St
Blackstone, MA 01504-1216
Mozart M Telles, KC1QMR
30 Douglas Hill Way
Douglas, MA 01516-2257
Howard Shpegel, AC1MN
98 Mary Catherine Dr
Lancaster, MA 01523-2958
Nichole R Anderson, KC1QMD
164 Leicester St
North Oxford, MA 01537-1006
Garret Bratica, KC1QJM
2801 Windsor Ridge Dr
Westborough, MA 01581-2358
Christopher P Pinto, KC1QKI
58 Wildrose Ave
Worcester, MA 01602-1123
Benjamin L Antupit, KC1QMU
100 Institute Rd
# 1213
Worcester, MA 01609-2247
Noel H Nieves, KC1QLQ
143 Beacon St
Apt 1
Worcester, MA 01610-1583
73, Ray-AA1SE
