BSA to Offer Amateur Radio Operator Rating Strip

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has approved an Amateur Radio Operator rating strip for Scouts and Scouters to wear on their uniforms. According to BSA Communication Services Director Jim Wilson, K5ND, the strip recognizes the Scout or Scouter’s availability as an Amateur Radio operator for communication services for events and activities, as well as emergencies. All registered youth members and adult leaders who also hold a valid FCC-issued Amateur Radio license of any class are eligible to wear the rating strip.

Any Scout or Scouter who holds a current Amateur Radio license issued by the FCC is eligible to wear the Amateur Radio rating strip on the right sleeve of their uniform. The strip signifies to Scouts and the public that the wearer is a radio amateur who is capable and prepared to assist in providing communication services for events and activities, as well as emergencies.

“Last year, the BSA Awards and Insignia Committee introduced the Morse Code Interpreter Strip upon the recommendation of the BSA’s National Radio Scouting Committee,” Wilson told the ARRL. “We are always looking for ways to promote Amateur Radio, both within Scouting and to the world. The National Radio Scouting Committee thought this new Amateur Radio rating strip was a wonderful way to do exactly that, as it readily identifies to everyone that the wearer is a licensed radio amateur, prepared to be useful and to help others.”

Wilson, who heads up the National Radio Scouting Committee, said that the Amateur Radio Operator rating strip is similar to the Amateur Radio Operator badge offered as a proficiency badge by Scouts Australia, as well as the badge recently introduced by Scouting Netherlands. It follows in the footsteps of the Scout Radioman personal interest badge for Senior Scouts and Explorer Scouts that was offered by the Boy Scouts of America in the 1940s. The strip is worn on the right sleeve.

Article from ARRL.org

ARRL January VHF Contest - Perfect for ARES Practice, Too

Article posed from ARRL.org ARES E-Letter, January 15, 2013

To receive all articles, sign up at www.ARRL.org.



ARRL January VHF Contest - 
Perfect for ARES Practice, Too

The ARRL has added a new "FM Only" category to ARRL VHF contests, starting with the January VHF Contest, which begins this Saturday, January 19. The contest starts at 1900 UTC and runs until Sunday night at 0359 UTC. You'll find lots of "weak signal" VHF operators using high power and sensitive antennas working hard to work your station on FM. No special gear, no big expense -- you can operate in this contest and possibly win a certificate using just the radios you already own.

It's also a perfect opportunity for ARES, SKYWARN, RACES and CERT teams to test their ability to communicate without using a repeater, just as you might have to in an actual emergency. Want to have even more fun? Drive or hike to a local hilltop and you can exercise your deployment capabilities -- it's like "Field Day In the Cold!"

You'll find lots of VHF operators hoping to work YOU! Try transmitting a "CQ Contest" on the following frequencies: 146.550 MHz simplex; 146.580 MHz simplex; also 52.525 MHz (6 meters); 223.5 MHz (1.25 meters); and 446.0 MHz (70 cm band). Remember under the new rules, you're limited to 100 watts or less, but that means you'll be on equal footing with a lot of small stations. A gain antenna (like a beam or Yagi) can really help, and a high location is a big plus, too. You'll need to know your "grid square" as that is part of the exchange of reports with other stations. 

- Les Rayburn, N1LF, Birmingham, former Alabama SEC [See more discussion in this issue (posted below), from ARRL Contest Update Editor Ward Silver, N0AX and from Rayburn. - ed.]

**********

As the previous Section Emergency Coordinator for Alabama, I understood that FM simplex capability translated to a greater level of capability during an emergency. Amateurs who improved their stations on simplex, also benefited by being able to reach more distant repeaters, which is a huge advantage during severe weather. Some "lessons learned" from cross-promoting FM activity during VHF contests were:

1. Tailor your message to your audience. I didn't try to pitch it as a "contest" as much as an exercise when talking to ARES, SKYWARN, and CERT groups. We encouraged them to test their ability to communicate without the aid of a repeater, as they might have to do in an emergency. We also encouraged Field Day-type operations from high locations.
2. Concentrating activity in a three- to five-hour period is going to be more successful than just putting out the dates and times for a two-day long contest. Nothing is less interesting than "dead air" to a non-contester. (It's not all that interesting to a contester, either - N0AX.)
3. It's vital that weak-signal operators monitor the FM simplex channels and participate during those concentrated activity periods. I tried to utilize the afternoon hours on Saturday, when conditions are poorest---so that operators didn't miss out on a lot of contacts on SSB and CW but that doesn't work well in June when six meters is liable to be open.                                                                   The point is that weak-signal operators often turn their nose up at FM - and this hurts the effort. If you give a new operator a taste of DX, they may become hooked for life. The best way to accomplish this is to get those "monster signals" active on FM. If your local big gun doesn't support FM contesting, then try to change their mind on the topic.                                                                                      You should hear some of the reactions you get from newcomers when they discover they can communicate 75-100 miles or more on their FM rig without a repeater. This is easily possible with a high-performance weak-signal station on one end of the contact.
4. Talk up the event on your local FM nets, club meetings, etc. Tailor the message to the crowd. A DX club isn't going to respond to the same "pitch" as your local ARES team.
5. Poll your club and see who has 222 MHz FM capability. I always make it a point to schedule contacts with those operators on 223.5 MHz simplex.
6. In the last few days before the contest, make a lot of calls on 146.52 MHz and talk to operators there about the contest. They understand the concept of simplex and use it often. They're your best candidates for participation in the contest. Nothing in the rules forbids promoting the contest on 146.52 prior to the event!
7. Don't get discouraged by the naysayers. The FM-Only category is a great idea, but it needs the active support of the weak signal community to work! 

- Les Rayburn, N1LF, reprinted from the January 2, 2013, issue of the ARRL Contest Update