by Bill Carroll, KC9CIK
We are just about a full 1/3 of the way through this year. How time flies! Are any of you still working on your ham radio related resolutions for this year? I am still just barely working on getting my general license. I really do need to put more effort into it. Well, if any of you have had the resolution of getting more involved with ham radio, I just want to remind you there are community service events coming up this summer along with ways to directly serve the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club.
I will deal with the list of events that I know are coming up. There are three bicycle rides that also use amateur radio as their primary forms of communication. The first is the American Diabetes Association’s Tour De Cure. This ride is based out of Alton, IL on June 2nd. You can get more information on their website at http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TourAdmin?pg=entry&fr_id=12324. You can also contact Al Guise via his email of gatewaysag@gmail.com. The second ride that I am aware of is the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Bike MS. This ride is scheduled for September 8th and 9th out of the Godfrey, IL area. The communications contact for this ride is Rebecca Carroll at kc9cij@gmail.com. There is another ride that occurs between these two, but it has not been finalized yet on if they will be using radios.
I also want to remind you that during this time of year we are going to see more storms come through our community. This gives the trained ham radio operator the ability to report to Skywarn, and let the meteorologists have up to date information on storm conditions in various areas. I mentioned training because there have been plenty of chances for people to attend the Skywarn training classes. While it is not required, it is very helpful to know what the folks at the weather station are looking for in the way of reports. You can find more information on their website. http://www.stlskywarn.org/
Now, on to how you can serve the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club. We need more volunteers. We need people to step up and help with our activities that the club participates in. The ARRL Field Day is coming in June. We will be having more education courses like the Technician Class and Back to Basics. Our Social group can use more help with planning events like the Holiday party and participation in our Field Day. We also have a very big need for help with our Winterfest. Not only do we need help with our 2019 Winterfest, but we need a group to investigate options for locations to have the 2020 Winterfest. Doing Winterfest right means we have to plan early, and the time has come to really start planning.
I hope that if you are still looking for ways to use your radio license for good, (as opposed to evil?) that you will consider some of the things listed above. If you know of another need for radio outreach, shoot me an email. I would love to hear it. Also, if you are still looking for something to do with your hobby and none of these things look to be your cup of tea, then let’s get together and see if we can come up with a way for you to be able to expand your roll in the hobby. I look forward to seeing you at one of our meetings or hearing you on the air.