Tag: licensing

Preview: April 30, 2019

At our next meeting, Shaun Halstead will tell us about recent changes and trends in amateur radio licensing.

Shaun is 41 years old, and has been licensed since April 1993.  Formerly NØWHG, he upgraded to General and changed his call to KØPER in 2013, then upgraded to Extra in 2014.  In 2015, the Wichita Amateur Radio Club decided to form a VE team under the Laurel VEC, and he joined the team under Frank Blake, AA4FB (formerly ADØNA).  With Frank moving to Florida, Shaun took over as team leader in 2016.  He is currently chair of the WARC Field Day Committee and owns MSI Tech Services, a computer services company.

Minutes: February 27, 2018

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1907.

The minutes of the December 19, 2017, meeting and treasurer’s report were approved as printed and e-mailed.

New business: Discussion about sending a memorial in memory of Sharon Minor, KDØXW, and about raising the amount of memorial contributions our chapter sends to the QCWA Scholarship Fund. We have been sending $20.00 for many years. Bryon Cannon moved that we increase the amount to $30.00. There was a consensus to send a memorial and to raise the amount to $30.00. Motion passed. In memory of Sharon, XYL of John Minor, WDØEDK, we will send $30.00 to QCWA Scholarship Fund.

President Childress asked us to think about a way we could estimate how many people would be at our dinner meetings, so as a courtesy, we could let Spear’s know a week ahead of the meeting how many to set up for.

Old business: President Childress asked for a list of Chapter 79 members and a list of former members.

Business meeting adjourned at 1918.

Program: Shaun Halstead, KØPER, presented an interesting program about the history of amateur radio licensing. He told about new changes to radio application forms that the FCC announced August 7, 2017, that includes adding a felony question, effective September 7, 2017.

Our next meeting will be April 24, 2018.

Preview: February 27, 2018, meeting

Our trusty president, Harold Childress, WBØLFH, has wrangled another interesting program for our first meeting of 2018. Shaun Halstead, KØPER, will be presenting our program. Here is his ham radio autobiography.

I was first licensed in April 1993, as NØWHG. I passed my Novice written element at a hamfest in late 1992, and then the Tech written element at a hamfest in April ’93. I pursued my license initially as part of the Boy Scouts Radio merit badge, but also out of a genuine interest in electronics and radio. I upgraded to General in April 2013 (and took my current call, KØPER), then to Extra in December 2014.

In mid-2014, I was approached by Frank Blake, AA4FB (previously ADØNA) about helping stand up a Laurel VE team, under the auspices of the Wichita Amateur Radio Club. I agreed to help, and today, I am the team leader of the WARC’s Laurel VE team. While I don’t have totals for the life of our team, I can say that in 2017, we had 91 applicants, 76 of whom earned new or upgraded tickets; 42 people earned their Tech, and 7 jumped the line and went straight to General.

I’ll be talking about licensing changes over the past 25 or so years, the felony question, and, time permitting, Laurel VEC.

As a side note, I tried joining QCWA, but their PayPal link is broken, and I couldn’t pay.

–Shaun Halstead, KØPER

Bring a friend, and if you see a former Chapter 79 member ask him or her to join us again. If you have an idea for a program for one of our meetings, let Harold know.