Tag: VEC

Minutes: April 30, 2019

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1840.

Minutes of the February meeting and financial report were approved.

Old business: None

New business: There has not been a policy of paying for the meal of a Chapter 79 member who presents a program for a meeting. The Chapter has been doing that for non-members. Harold asked for thoughts about doing that for Chapter members who present a program. After discussion, Jerry, ACØRL, moved that Chapter 79 pay for meals for Chapter 79 members who present programs. Second by Henry, WØIE. Motion passed.

President Harold Childress said he needs to step down as president at the end of this year and won’t serve for another term. Secretary-Treasurer Larry Cannon said he needs to step down from that office at the end of this year, too. So, next October, we need to elect another president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer.

Harold asked that we all introduce ourselves.

Lloyd McCombs, KØLM, mentioned that his wife, Jeanette, passed away March 18. Our sincere condolences to Lloyd.

Shaun Halstead, KØPER, presented a very interesting program about ham radio testing. He started with some amateur radio statistics that showed that there are more licensed amateur radio operators in the United States today than at any time since 1912 when licensing began. As of January 2019, there are 755,952 licensed ham radio operators.

Shaun talked about Laurel Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC). Laurel doesn’t charge a testing fee. Wichita Amateur Radio Club (WARC) has a Volunteer Examiner team associated with Laurel VEC. Shaun is the Team Leader of the VE team.

Shaun also gave information about the felony question on the license application form.

Meeting adjourned at 2020.

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.