The ARRL Michigan Section maintains our own web page at http://arrl-mi.org/ Please check it often for the latest information .

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

NEW MICHIGAN ASM for YOUTH: Simon Boehme KC8ZYD our Assistant Section Manager for Youth Activities leaves this post to pursue studies at the U of M this fall. We wish Simon well as he moves on to this new adventure, and thank him for his excellent service as ASM for Youth. Stepping into this position is Corey Bulock KD8BOQ. Corey has been very active in the Lansing area and brings his enthusiasm to the Michigan Youth program. Clubs can expect to hear news from Corey and begin to share in those facets of ham radio that attract younger individuals to this hobby. Our sincere congratulations go out to Simon and Corey.

Attention Michigan Hams, family and friends:

Announcing the 12th Annual
"Michigan Summer Outing" to be held JULY 8, 9, 10, and 11, 2010
At the WOODLANDS CONFERENCE CENTER AND CAMPGROUNDS
318 S. Sage Lake Road, Hale, MI 48739

The Michigan Summer Outing is a 4-day fun-filled event hosted by your ARRL Michigan Section Staff and paid for totally from donations, involving fun events for the whole family! Camping, RVing, Canoeing, Horseshoes, Polish Horseshoes, Frisbee Golf, Volleyball, Softball, Boating, Swimming facilities are available all day every day of the outing for your pleasure.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

First, a special note from James French W8ISS:
Hello everyone.

The Maker Faire is scheduled for July 31st and August 1st at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. I am sending this out to see if I can generate interest in SE Michigan radio clubs for helping out and manning a booth at one of this year's biggest opportunities to publicize Amateur Radio and the hobby in the great State of Michigan.

To quote a comment from the main Maker Faire web page and to sum up what the Maker Faire is: "Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It is for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. There is so much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!" Additional details can be found at http://makerfaire.com/.

For Immediate Release:

(Lansing, MI, June 9, 2010) — Governor Jennifer Granholm has issued a proclamation recognizing the public service contributions of Michigan's Amateur Radio Operators, as they prepare for their annual emergency communications exercise.

Amateur Radio (or "ham radio") operators from throughout Michigan will be joining Hams across the nation, attempting to talk to people around the world using an amazing variety of differing methods. These range from the tried and true Morse code to voice and digital communications, even to using amateur satellites as they demonstrate their unique dedication to public service during Amateur Radio Week, June 20 - 27. Michigan's local ham radio clubs will be active in their communities to raise awareness about Amateur Radio in preparation for the week's culminating event, an annual emergency preparedness exercise called "Field Day." Field Day is a 24-hour marathon event where the object is to contact as many other stations as possible during the contest, which will occur over the weekend of June 26 and 27. Field Day is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association for Amateur Radio.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

Field Day: As we approach one of ham radio's biggest events, we all should look at the wonderful Public Relations opportunity that is before us. This is a time to make contact with the local media, both print and broadcast to let them know how ham radio is involved in your community. Ask your public officials to visit, alert the media that they will be there and of course, let the public officials know the media will attend. A display for visitors to view and perhaps a chance to "talk on the radio", might afford a chance to enlist some more into the ranks of amateur radio. Your clubs Public Information Officer (PIO) should be well entrenched in the PR aspect right now. There is enough lead time to make the press contacts and meet with the reporters in advance of FD and clue them in on the outstanding aspects of what they will see on their visit to your FD site. If you do not have a club PIO, now is the time to have one appointed. PIO information and training are available from ARRL HQ. You may contact our Michigan Section Public Information Coordinator, Pat Mullet KC8RTW and get the ball rolling. kc8trw@arrl.net Pat can get your PIO started with some excellent guidelines and information. Do not forget to make use of the Michigan Governor's proclamation of the week of June 20 as Amateur Radio Awareness Week. Pat has Adobe PDF copies of the proclamation and can forward one to you for display at FD.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

As a member of the ARRL Michigan Section, you have the opportunity to give ham radio a boost. Michigan is the 5th largest ARRL Section in terms of members and one of the most active. That is because of people such as you who take an active roll in securing ham radio's future. Whether it is because of your technical or operating skills and habits, participating with clubs, helping get new hams licensed or serving on a ham radio board, working group or committee or any of a gazillion other attributes. Your skills can be a valuable asset to all of us. You can look at the new ARRL web pages http://www.arrl.org/field-organization to see what areas may be of interest to you. In particular, we are in need of Public Information Officers (PIO)– every club and ARES organization should have some appointed to this position. Your PIO is often the key to insuring that your organization gets fair and honest publicity when you are supporting local events or holding Field Day. Local Government Liaison (LGL)is another appointment that should be assigned within every local radio club. Your LGL can be a person affiliated with your community government who can monitor local ordinances that may affect ham radio and/or otherwise insure that ham radio is viewed as a valuable community asset. If you have an interest, let us know. Training is available to further assist in each of the available categories. Please look them all over and click on the "On line applications form" if you want more information.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

2010 MICHIGAN QSO PARTY April 17-18, 2010. All Michigan amateurs are invited to mark their calendars for Saturday, April 17, 2010 for the 2010 Michigan QSO Party (MiQP). This is the one weekend a year when Michigan amateurs are in the limelight, as amateurs from across the USA and around the world are looking for QSOs with us. This is a great opportunity develop HF operating skills, represent the great state of Michigan and last but not least, have a bunch of fun. Even if you don't consider yourself a contest operator, you'll probably find it's a blast to jump in to work the throng who will be looking for Michigan QSOs. If you've ever operated on Field Day, you'll certainly be ready for MiQP.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

MICHIGAN HAS NEW TRAFFIC NET: The Michigan Digital Traffic Net (MIDTN) was called for the first time Feb 9, 2010. Mode: Olivia 500 Hz / 8 tones - Frequency within the Waterfall of 3583 USB. The schedule: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 2100 hrs local. At the present time, the net is operating in a training phase. The mid range goal is to join QMN, MACS, MiTN and GLETN as a Section Level NTS Net. To do will complete a threesome of CW, Voice and Digtal as means to provide public service communications. It is always nice to have all the tools in one's toolbox.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

NEW AWARD. A few weeks ago, I had announced a new award program for the Michigan ARRL Section. That is the Honor Roll for Emergency Coordinators/Radio Officers and their counties who had achieved a full calendar year of 100% monthly reporting. We owe a great deal to these individuals and their groups' efforts. They all have worked diligently to insure that their local programs are in place and effective. It is not an easy task to effectively manage a volunteer program. It requires true leadership to keep everyone motivated, interested and willing to donate many hours of time, while receiving only the reward of: "Thanks, your have done a great job". Importantly, these new awards apply to the local teams as well. It takes the support of every organization member to make the team fully effective.

Greetings Michigan Amateurs:

NEW AWARD. For years we have recognized the efforts of our traffic handlers with the Brass Pounder's League award, DXers are acknowledged by the DXCC Awards program, while many other groups receive similar kudos for their efforts. But little has gone into officially recognizing the efforts of our Emergency Coordinators / RACES Radio Officers and their local organizations. Yet, this group remains constantly active in training and preparing us to activate in an emergency. Therefore, the Michigan Section is taking the step to create and award for these ECs to be known as the Amateur Radio Public Service Corps (ARPSC) Honor Roll. A key part of each EC's commitment is to report monthly on the activities of his group. These reports let us know that the program is alive and well, how many participants there are, and how many operator hours have actually been devoted to public service in the community. Our Section Emergency Coordinator / State Radio Officer (SEC/SRO) WB8RCR consolidates these reports monthly and provides them to the State Police Homeland Security/Emergency Management Division and local Emergency Managers to document the public service activity levels in each county. There are number of ECs who are very consistent in fulfilling this important obligation, setting a performance quality example for their peers and they deserve to be recognized. So I am pleased to announce those EC/ROs whose counties have achieved 100% reporting for the year will become members of the new Michigan ARPSC Honor Roll. A full report will appear here in January.