Hello, the celestial odometer has clicked off another number! I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Now the question is, will it be boring or exciting. As they say, time will tell.

First off, I received the news that Steve Boyson N1VLG passed away. He was the State Government Liaison for Eastern Mass. He also assisted WMA as that position could not be filled. The SGL position is described as such:

The section’s State Government Liaison is the primary contact for all governmental affairs having the potential to affect amateur radio. The SGL helps inform legislative and regulatory entities of the importance in amateur radio considerations in each bill, and potentially helps muster a section wide amateur radio publicity campaign to bills as needed. Requires full ARRL membership. The WMA SGL will be expected to work in lockstep with the EMA SGL as they would both be working to the same goals with the same state government.

If there is anyone interested in this please contact me. Ideally, both Massachusetts ARRL sections could have their own SGL. EMA had graciously assisted us and I appreciate that. That voice representing us is important!

As January 1 approaches we also have a changing of the guard in our division director as Tom K1KI takes over once again. I wish to thank Fred AB1OC for his three years of dedicated, hardworking service. I know one item on Tom’s agenda is to get the Tech class HF privileges that the FCC has sat on for years finalized, approved and placed in operation. This can be a huge step in getting more techs on HF to keep them active and advancing themselves in the hobby.

Usually, I look at the New Year and look at what kind of mayhem I can cause this year. 😊 I am still continuing to run license classes with a General class course coming soon. One thing is my club visits has fallen off largely due to my mother’s health issues and did not want to stray too far. Hopefully I will be able to get out and see you again.

One thing I am going to work on is increasing activity with traffic handling. I am asking nets to look at generating traffic to other hams and taking messages and delivering them. Many nets call for check in’s and ask if there is any traffic. This does have the potential to wake up the nets as there is more activity. Traffic can be within the net, between clubs, even section and country-wide. I have been presenting and hosting Zoom sessions on traffic and NTS and am planning more. I do have training materials available on the nts2.arrl.org website under training and documentation. The ema.arrl.org has a section worth looking at under National Traffic System. Contact me for any questions or for more information.

The next thing is the continuing saga of the practice of mentoring. (yah! That same ole rodeo) I continue to see where mentoring has had positive effect on that new ham. I have interacted with some new hams that have passed the exam at my session. I see firsthand the level of interest when you take an interest in them. Ok, it’s a little effort and with persistence it WILL pay off for your club. There is more to a club than going there to gulp down coffee and treats! Be an important part and participate to help the club grow with members and activity. Remember who taught YOU when you were a newbie.

Ok, the soapbox is creaking a little so I need to get off of it! My hopes are we can work together in raising the needle and keep the momentum moving. Thank you to all the participants in 2024 and hope we have bigger numbers in 2025! You know where I’m hiding.

73,
Ray AA1SE