I am pleased to announce that Chris Hoffman, N6QR, has been appointed to
the position of Assistant Section Manger in the Western Washington
Section. Chris’ new assignment is to work with our clubs and other
groups to grow our ARRL membership in the section. For the past few
years I’ve been watching sections that are similar in size to ours. I
have seen that the South Texas Section in the West Gulf Division has a
similar number of members. At this time they have 5,224 members with a
gain of .2% in the past year. Our section has 4,956 members with a loss
of 2.7% in the past year. We had our biggest loss of members in April
- The ARRL has much to offer the amateur radio community and Chris
will help us show the amateur radio community its value and worth.
I’d like to share with you Chris, N6QR’s bio:
Chris Hoffman (N6QR) was born in Seattle and then transplanted to
California early on. He became a No-Code Technician during his freshman
year of high school, and earned his Advanced license nine months later.
Immediately after graduating high school, he joined the Army and wound
up repairing radios and cryptography. He took full advantage of the GI
Bill benefits, and earned his B.S. in Business Administration from the
University of La Verne. For the next fifteen years Chris followed his
passion for telecommunications and the internet, earned a Master’s
degree from Santa Clara University in Computer Science and Engineering
and became a Cloud Services Engineer. Most recently, he transitioned to
the world Technical Management and, much like the coho, Chris picked up
a scent which returned him to the Pacific Northwest five years ago,
settling down in Bremerton with his wife and two dogs. Mr. Hoffman
credits the community built around Ham Radio with being one of the
strongest, most positive influences in his professional career.
Chris’ public service career started with Amateur Radio. Immediately
after becoming a licensed operator he responded to a call for volunteers
put out by the San Luis Obispo County Emergency Communications Council
(SLOECC), and would go on earn an ARRL Emergency Communications
Commendation before he could dive a car. He also joined to the San Luis
Obispo County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue while in high school. Both
during and after the Army, he continued to volunteer his time where he
could, either through work with US Amy MARS, or teaching Amateur Radio
fundamentals to prospective licensees. Soon after moving to the Pacific
Northwest, Mr. Hoffman began volunteering with the Kitsap ACS and was
later appointed EC for Kitsap County. Along with Doug (K7CDF) and Monte
(W7FF), he became a crucial part of the effort to convert the county’s
EMCOMM group to the Kitsap Auxiliary Radio Service
(KARS) that we know
today.
Mr. Hoffman is an active member in numerous organizations, including the
Kitsap Amateur Radio Club, Clam Island Rowing, Cascade English Cockers ,
and the Pacific Northwest BMW Riders Association, and his current
Amateur Radio activities center around contesting, APRS, DMR, and
portable HF operations.
“I am looking forward to my next chapter with the League. As Assistant
Section Manager (ASM) for Membership, I will be a strong contributor to
the ARRL’s efforts to build our numbers in the Pacific Northwest. I see
the League as a large and positive influence in the world of Amateur
Radio, bringing together Hams with divergent interests and backgrounds
into a cohesive body that can effectively self-advocate and continue to
practice and enhance the radio art. At the highest level, membership in
the ARRL means supporting those who support our hobby and its
communities. Focus on growing ARRL Membership in our section will mean
doing the hard work of research, outreach, extolling the benefits and
results of the ARRL and it’s actions, likely asking and answering some
tough questions, and inspiring action in our clubs and local hams.”
Feel free to reach out to Chris, n6qr@arrl.net , with your membership
questions/comments. Please remember he is new to the position and will
need time to get proper answers.
ARRL Western Washington Section
Section Manager: Monte L Simpson, W7FF
w7ff@arrl.org