In February 2023 when I sent the ARRL WWA Section membership an email
regarding the section’s VOTA slot in March I received comments from
members asking where is the opportunity for Technician Class Amateur
Radio Operators? The members making the point were correct there were
few, if any, opportunities for V/UHF equipped Technician hams.
We can see that approximately 60% of the amateur radio community are
Technician Class Licensees. These valued members of our hobby may be in
one of the following categories:
- Own V/UHF handhelds and participate in repeater dependent
opportunities. - May or may not have a radio and do not participate in the hobby.
- Have gone the full 10 years of their license not being engaged in
our great hobby. - Become EMCOMM volunteers
I realize there are General and Extra Class Operators in the same
situation. How many of these hams who get lost in the shuffle do not
know about the ARRL and our outstanding Affiliated Clubs?
To answer the question where is the opportunity for Technician Class
Amateur Radio Operators, as well as the General/Extra Class Operators,
who not in engaged in our hobby, the ARRL and Affiliated Clubs I am
pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Grover, N7POV, as the new
Assistant Section Manager for Opportunity Coordination/Development. I
have asked Doug to collaborate with our affiliated clubs to determine
the feasibility of developing a section effort to provide opportunities
to hams that only have V/UHF equipment. We need to encourage and
motivate them to become involved in the ARRL, an Affiliated Club and our
great hobby.
Here is Doug’s short biography.
Doug became interested in radio after being a member of the very
secretive USAF NSA Command, Security Service. Learning about radio
propagation and antenna systems while intercepting messages from
“countries of interest.”
A graduate of the University of Minnesota (UMD) with a bachelor’s degree
in Economics helped to prepare him for a 25 year career as Vice
President of Marketing for a large Lumber and Building Material
retailer.
Licensed since 1967, family and career building kept him off the air
until retirement and subsequent reignition of the hobby brought him back
around until recently, 2020, he brought his General Ticket up to date as
N7POV. Since then, he has been an active member, Treasurer and a Board
Director in the Olympia Amateur Radio Society (OARS). He is also an
active member in TC ARES (Thurston County Amateur Radio Emergency
Service) where he serves as New Member Focal and is Liaison for HOA
Groups. He is an ardent DX’r and belongs to the Western Washington DX
Club (WWDX).
Doug looks forward to assisting the efforts of his Section Manager and
to serving the membership of the ARRL.”
Amateur radio operators with comments or who would like to be a part of
this work group are requested to send an email to Doug at
dtgrover4975@gmail.com
ARRL Western Washington Section
Section Manager: Monte L Simpson, W7FF
w7ff@arrl.org