************************************************************************ SECTION REPORTS: 2024 Oregon (OR) Section Report Scott Rosenfeld, Section Manager (SM) December 7, 2024 Overview In November, 2024, the Oregon section had a total of 3,098 ARRL members (2,922 Full and 176 Associate members). This number was ~9% below the November, 2023 membership tally. This is a continual and worrying trend. Oregon has over 20,000 ham radio operators, representing nearly 0.5% of the total state population, which ranks in the top 3 in the nation. However, only 16% of Oregon’s hams are ARRL members. Oregon’s licensing tallies show that the number of hams is relatively stable, with about 50 new hams and 50 licenses expiring every month. The fact that Oregon ARRL membership numbers are in decline means that we are not doing a good enough job recruiting new members. Our field organization has been working hard to maximize and expand the benefits provided to the Oregon section. We have worked to expand the reach of Oregon’s ARES programs, helped clubs rebuild and become newly incorporated, held three ARRL-affiliated hamfests and a Division Convention, named five new technical specialists, two Public Information Officers, and two Volunteer Counsels, and worked to implement youth development programs. Oregon section members are engaged and enthusiastic, and eager to volunteer given opportunities to do so. I ran unopposed for the position of Oregon section manager in the spring, and my term runs until June, 2026. In September, I was privileged to attend Section Manager training at ARRL HQ in Newington, CT, my first visit to ARRL HQ since 1994. I learned a great deal about the duties and responsibilities of my position and the resources I can call upon for assistance, and met many people I have worked with for the past year, hopefully allowing me to become a more effective SM. In May, we asked for and received a proclamation from Oregon’s Governor, Tina Kotek, that the week of June 17-23 (culminating with Field Day) would be Amateur Radio Week in Oregon. We plan to do this again in 2025. It was a very busy year in our section, and I hope to keep the momentum going into the future. Item #1 - Building ARES / EmComm Our primary goal for 2024 was to begin rebuilding the presence of Oregon ARES. Oregon’s 36 counties are divided into 6 ARES districts, and range from urban to suburban to rural to very sparsely populated. County populations vary from 1,400 to over 800,000, and the number of licensed amateurs in each varies just as widely. Many individuals and served agencies had grown weary of working within ARES over the past few years but were still interested in EmComm, leading to a patchwork of grassroots organizations providing EmComm services to local agencies, including ARES, AUXCOMM, ACES and other groups. Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, Oregon’s SEC, has done an excellent job in serving as a liaison between Oregon’s ham radio-based EmComm groups and Oregon’s Department of Emergency Management. Many ARES and AUCOMM units have a SHARES license and participate in the SHARES nets with FEMA and Oregon Department of Emergency Management (ODEM). ODEM had an open house recently for the amateur radio community to view their radio room and to meet with the Communications Officer. ARES® has been reintroduced in several counties where it had largely ceased to exist. The most notable of these is Lane County, with a population of over 380,000. West Lane ARES has been active for many years, serving the coastal areas of Lane county, but the coastal communities are over 60 miles west of I-5 and separated from the remainder of the county by mountains and thick forests. Lane County ARES will serve Lane County east of the Coast Range, including the Eugene metropolitan area, which is the home of the University of Oregon. The organization is being led by Kathryn Catherwood, KI7RNU, with support from local clubs, EmComm groups, and municipalities. Bonnie has worked and met regularly with our five ASECs on training, creation of emergency tests, planning, interoperability, Winlink, and other topics. Five of our six DECs positions are staffed, we are actively coordinating efforts with OEM, and we have a robust mailing list for hams who are in charge of their EmComm-related units, including both ARES and non-ARES units. Regular communications with and between the ARES® and non-ARES EMCOMM leadership has been key in revitalizing the program in Oregon. It has been many years since there have been any statewide simulated emergency tests (SETs). We had a statewide SET in May, a county-to-county drill in November, and in October, many county ARES and AUXCOMM units participated in the IronOR functional exercise organized by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management (ODEM), which brought together state, local and tribal, and public, private and non-profit partners throughout Oregon to practice a response to a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake scenario. Since the Beaver State Net (BSN), which has been operational for decades in Oregon, and connecting to the NTS system, did not fully fit into the NTS hierarchy, a decision was made that they would be ARES traffic net and would be prepared to provide an outlet for health and welfare traffic in the event of a major ARES activation, so ARES can focus on emergency traffic for their served agencies. We had EmComm meetings at both Rickreall hamfests (February and October) as well as the SeaPac convention. All of these meetings were very well attended. We continue to update our database of county ECs, and to cancel and make appointments as necessary. The following is our list of Oregon district and section level EmComm appointees as of November, 2024: • SEC – Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ • ASEC - Mitch Bayersdorfer, W7MDB • ASEC - Thomas Noel, KF7RSF • ASEC - Larry Clark, N7LJC • ASEC - Ed Bodenlos, W7EWB • ASEC - Pat Roberson, W7PAT • D1 EC - Kurt Roth, W9ERT • D2 EC - vacant (Bend / Redmond / Prineville) • D3 EC - Stuart Bottom, K7FG • D4 EC - Steve Duck, KW7S • D5 EC - Joe Stodola, AA7JS • D6 EC - Cyndi Albro, KK7AZD Item #2 - Affiliated Clubs Max Sabo, K7MAX, VP of the Portland Amateur Radio Club, was appointed as our ACC in December, 2023. We have held quarterly Zoom meetings for officers of affiliated (and yet to be affiliated) clubs from all over the state. These meetings have typically been attended by 20-30 people, and have been an excellent venue for discussion of best practices. The Oregon section welcomed The Umpqua Valley Amateur Radio Club back to an active state, bringing Oregon’s tally up to 48 active ARRL-affiliated clubs. We have also been assisting in the creation of a new club in Lakeview. Max and I have been working together to ensure that the club information database is up to date. With the lack of ability to send emails to all members within the Oregon section since the IT catastrophe in May, our club officer mailing list has been helpful in getting information out to ARRL Oregon members. We encourage all clubs to update their information on the ARRL and their own websites. We encourage clubs that have significant community outreach and wide-ranging programs and activities to apply for the distinction of becoming a Special Service Club. Our four Special Service Clubs are: • Radio Amateurs of the Gorge (RAGS) • Valley Radio Club (Eugene) • Oregon-Tualatin Valley Amateur Radio Club (OTVARC) • Hoodview Amateur Radio Club In December, 2023, we began developing an initiative to engage Oregon’s affiliated clubs in the development of young hams within the section. Clubs would look for members interested in working with schools and Scout troops, along with those interested in engaging young hams in club-sponsored programs within their geographic areas. This program was rolled out during the September all-hands clubs meeting, and has been met with moderate success, with roughly 30 hams identified as interested in participating in youth development to date. Item #3 - Youth and Educational Activities Ham radio is a powerful teaching tool for STEM. This is a key to developing young hams in Oregon. Oregon has two Section Youth Coordinators (SYCs), Frank Gruber, KB7NJV, and Russ Mickiewicz, N7QR. Frank is focused on introducing ham radio in schools, while Russ is focused on Scouting. Last December, they noted that they actually didn’t coordinate very much, instead working directly with youngsters. They proposed that clubs should have youth coordinators. This program was rolled out in September, 2024, and had nearly immediate results. In October, I was contacted by a 6th grade science teacher in Ione, Oregon, stating that she was very interested in incorporating amateur radio into her classroom curriculum. She already had a budget for her project, as well as buy-in from the administration. After emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings, we found several willing volunteers, both of whom are affiliated with the Hermiston Amateur Radio Club. As of November, equipment has been purchased, volunteers have met and talked with the students, licensing has been discussed, antenna installation is being planned, and everyone is very excited. In October, Russ, N7QR, coordinated a Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) station at Camp Meriwether on the Oregon coast. The event was attended by about 500 scouts, with about a dozen getting on the air and making contact with a half-dozen stations and other scout camps on the west coast. In November, the Valley Radio Club (Eugene), Salem Amateur Radio Club, and Ducks on the Air Radio Club (University of Oregon) cooperated to present ham radio to a crowd of 1,700, including nearly a thousand Girl Scouts, at a STEM fair at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. I asked if the ARRL could provide printed copies of the Girl Scout Amateur Radio Patch flyer for this event, and was informed that the marketing department was going to update the Scouting flyer, and send us 200 copies. Most of these flyers were distributed at the event. Over 200 Scouts were given the opportunity to make QSOs with local hams, with each receiving a “first contact” award. Hundreds more Girl Scouts learned (some) Morse code and made a LOT of noise. Others got to learn and practice spelling with the ITU phonetic alphabet. A large number of various ARRL publicity flyers were handed out at this event. Its coordinator, Laura, KA7LMC, is creating a write-up summarizing the event with the intention of sending it to ARRL HQ. Item #4 - Technical Services We started the year with a small technical group. Over the year, we added five additional technical specialists. In order to increase visibility, we started including the technical group in our section email updates. We also created a technical group mailing list using groups.io, called ARRL OREGON TECHNICAL GROUP. We now have nearly 100 subscribers, and topics covered range widely. In July, Technical Specialist Ken Check, W6SKI, did a live two-hour Zoom presentation about Astron RS-series linear power supplies. This presentation was attended by nearly 50 people. We look forward to increasing our TS ranks and continuing growth of the technical mailing list in the coming year. Item #5 - Volunteer Counsels and Engineers In late 2023, Mike Ritz noted that both Oregon VCs were no longer functioning as VCs. I put out a request for attorneys who are certified to practice in Oregon, licensed amateurs, and ARRL members. Oregon now has two VCs, Althea Ender, KE7OOJ, and Russ Garrett, KD7MPK, who also serves as Oregon ASM. Russ has answered questions for at least two ARES groups regarding their bylaws. We are still looking for Oregon Volunteer Engineers. Item #6 - Traffic Management Oregon STM David Bogner, W7EES, and NM Carl Clawson, WS7L, are very involved in Oregon’s traffic handling programs. We continually try to grow the ranks of traffic handlers, and there have been small gains here and there. In general, Oregon’s CW nets are shrinking in number, participation, and volume of traffic other than “congrats on passing your exam.” Oregon’s phone- and CW-based traffic nets still have issues with the willingness of operators to actually handle traffic, resulting in most traffic being handled by a very small group. The Digital Traffic Network handles the majority of Radiogram traffic in the Oregon Section. We are concentrating on last mile operations by encouraging the development of local area nets for distribution, delivery and reply Radiogram services for the civil population. The impasse regarding inter-sectional traffic at the OR/WWA border was never completely resolved. Rather, each section would handle traffic as each saw fit. We have also discussed the fact that traffic handling and EmComm functions may sometimes overlap, although there are significant issues using Winlink forms to inject messages into the traffic handling system, leading to friction, confusion, and lost traffic. We strive to recruit new traffic handling operators and teach new hams of the uses and functionality of traffic handling. We hope to see reinvigorated publicity from ARRL increase the number of Net Managers (NMs) within the section, and see that many issues with NTS are addressed by NTS 2.0. Item #7 - Public Outreach In 2024, we pushed to develop our Public Information Outreach as well. We now have two PIOs. • Nelson Farrier, NF7Z, PIO • Matt Laubach, K7EPW, PIO We are looking for more PIOs and a PIC to run the show, and a PIO who is interested in running our social media department. We are in the process of retooling our section website, changing from the www.arrloregon.org domain to www.oregonarrl.org. We are moving to a web hosting service provided by one of our PIOs at greatly reduced cost to the section. This new service allows us to have many large-capacity mailing lists, eliminating the 100-user limit imposed by the free groups.io mailing lists we are presently using. In the lead-up for Field Day, after receiving our governor’s “Amateur Radio Week” proclamation, we contacted newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, and any other media outlets we could think of. • June 10 - Nelson, NF7Z, did a live 15 minute radio interview on KPNW during their morning program. • June 17 - Charlie Boening, K7AKT, and Cyndi Albro, KK7AZD, did a 20 minute interview on JPR. • October 14 - Doug Jimenez, W7DMJ (State Communications Officer for Oregon Dept. of Emergency Management), Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, and several others from Oregon OEM, did a 20 minute interview on KLCC about the Great Shake-Out, and the role amateur radio plays in disaster communications. In October, 13 year old Portland area ham Zeke Wheeler, KJ7NLL, led a group of students in a perfectly- orchestrated contact with astronaut Sunita Williams onboard the ISS. I am not sure why I only heard about this the day before it happened. I am a very involved ham radio operator, and if I didn’t find out until the day before it happened (via an ARISS press briefing), we need to do better at communicating. Section Manager Event Participation • February - ARRL SM presence at Salem Hamfair in Rickreall, OR. • May - ARRL SM presence at Emerald Amateur Radio Society meeting in Springfield, OR. • June - ARRL SM presence at SeaPac NW Division Convention. • June - Arranged representation for ARRL’s Collegiate Amateur Radio Project (CARP) at SeaPac. • July - ARRL SM presence at Coos Bay hamfest. • September – Attended SM training in Newington, CT. • October – ARRL SM presence at Swaptoberfest in Rickreall, OR. I continually offer to be able to attend club meetings and events. Other items I send out “welcome to ham radio” letters to all new hams in the Oregon section, introducing myself and welcoming them to join ARRL, and urging them to find and join their local radio clubs. I have mentioned to members receiving my section news emails that every ham in Oregon knows at least one other ham who is not a member of ARRL. I have minimal ability to make anyone join ARRL through my SM emails, as everyone on the list is already an ARRL member. However, a recommendation from an ARRL member who is a personal friend has added weight. Outreach by ARRL members is the most significant activity needed for our section to increase its membership. There are many reasons to join ARRL, and our members need to convey that to non-members. I estimate that nearly 1,300 ARRL Oregon members are not receiving SM emails. I encourage those who do receive SM emails to ask their friends if they receive these emails, and encourage them to opt-in. I plan to continue attending conventions and hamfests, and continue to contact Oregon’s ARRL-affiliated clubs (as far as email permits) to offer visits to club meetings and events, either in-person (when practical) or remotely. I always provide SWAG in the form of pens, stickers, books, and the like, when visiting clubs, including mailing books to those who may win raffles when visits are done remotely. I will encourage other appointees within the section to, when appropriate, make in-person visits, which can be reimbursed from my SM budget. I believe that every appointee needs to work to identify his or her replacement in the interest of seamless transitions and continuity within the section’s field organization. Oregon also has a rapidly growing AREDN presence, linking areas of the state together with a high-speed, alternate data network. The growth of this network should continue to be supported, as it can be utilized as a high-speed information backbone in times of emergency. I greatly appreciate your support and faith in my abilities to carry out the duties of this position. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or complaints. Scott N7JI, ARRL Oregon SM 541-221-2475 ars.n7ji@gmail.com | 
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