2010 marks our second year of introducing Amateur Radio to neighborhoods around the San Francisco Bay Area, by way of National Night Out.

National Night Out takes place on Tuesday evening, August 3, 2010.  Neighborhoods all across America will take part in this fun event,  The task: Get together with your neighbors, share some refreshments, have some laughs, and talk about how you can work together as neighbors to stand up against crime, and be prepared for emergencies.

In 2009 we sent 23 Amateur Radio Operators to National Night Out block parties in Fremont, Newark and Union City.  In our first annual National Night Out Amateur Radio Net, we took 50 NNO block party check-ins from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Amateur Radio is a perfect addition to any National Night Out block party.  During the party, you can tell your neighbors about how FRS radios can save their lives in real emergencies, when CERT volunteers are performing house-to-house searches - and they are unable to get to the door.  CERT volunteers talk to each other on FRS radios.  You can tell your neighbors how an Amateur Radio license will give them the ability to talk to people all over the city and beyond, when land-line phones, cell phones and Internet are not working.

Our neighbors need to know this.

How many times have you (the Amateur Radio Operator) felt like your neighbors perceived your antennas as an ugly blight on the neighborhood?  How many times have you heard of TVI complaints, when you were away from home on a trip with your family.  Amateur Radio is often perceived as a neighborhood annoyance.  What most neighbors don’t know (because no one tells them this), is that one day, Amateur Radio will save their lives!

So this is your chance, readers.  Find out where your nearest National Night Out block party is taking place.  Get there on time, and bring a rig that is capable of reaching the N6NFI repeater (145.230 MHz, PL 100 Hz), meet your neighbors, tell those interested about Amateur Radio and FRS, and at 7:00PM, check-in to our National Night Out Net.

If THAT doesn’t sell them on how important it is to know who their Amateur neighbors are, simply tell them this…

In a real, catastrophic emergency (something much worse than the Loma Prieta Earthquake), you can guarantee that there will be neighborhoods where they may not see Police, Firemen or paramedics for 2 to 3 days!  In those cases, radio may be their only hope.

If that doesn’t get across to our neighbors that they need our help - then we’re not doing our jobs as Radio Amateurs.

We hope to see you at the 2010 National Night Out Amateur Radio Net on N6NFI.

73 DE KI6BEN

For more information about the 2010 National Night Out Amateur Radio Net, or if you’re looking for an NNO block party in Fremont, contact John Vargas at ki6ben@arrl.net

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Tate, N6WM, as Assistant Section Manger for DX and Contesting.

Chris is well known in the bay area as an avid contester and DX chaser.  Originally licensed as KI6LGJ in 2007, Chris has eclipsed  his brief 3 years in the hobby through his enthusiasm, energy and dedication.

Locally Active in the East Bay Section in the Livermore Amateur Radio Klub (LARK), previously as a board member and activities coordinator, he currently writes a monthly article for contesting and DX chasing in their newsletter.  Chris has expanded his participation and leadership beyond the local club level, and is now Vice President and Contest Chairman for the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) after serving a year on the board of this regional organization.

Chris is an extremely active contester and DX chaser.  He is a member of the “big gun” and world known contest team of CQ Contest Hall of Fame member and East Bay resident Ken, N6RO as well as a founding member and contest coordinator for the newest big gun station to go qrv in the bay area, the K6LRG contest station in Livermore.

Active on CW, RTTY and SSB, Chris regularly participates in multi-op and single op amateur radio contest efforts from these stations, and has won numerous awards over the last several years in both collaborative multi-op efforts as well as single op competitions, most recently winning the Pacific Division for mixed mode (CW/SSB) in the 2009 ARRL 10 meter contest, Placing in the top 10 box in the NCJ North American QSO Party RTTY, and achieving the position of 3rd place, World in the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest(first place Pacific Division, Second place North America) amongst many others.

Chris’s DX awards include membership in the DX Century Club (DXCC# 43,293) as well as multiple Worked All States awards, including the newly introduced Triple Play Worked All States(TPWAS #417) that required working all states on CW, SSB and Digital modes, all confirmed via the ARRL Logbook of the World.

Please join me in welcoming Chris to his new role as ASM.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of David Haycock, KI6AWR as Assistant Section Manager (ASM) for Education and Training.

David has had a life long interest in radio beginning in his high school days many years ago. He currently holds an Extra Class license and lives with his wife Elizabeth (K0EAH) in a small HOA compromised town house in Alameda . Lack of space and HOAs are not enough to enforce radio silence however. He is fortunate to have a balcony large enough to squeeze in a Buddipole so operations on all bands (including 80m!) are possible. His first grandson Kyle was born on Field Day 2004 which he considers a great omen for keeping radio interests in the family.

David is currently President of the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) and an active VE.  He is a passionate Elmer and together with Paul Bailey Gates (KA6GEM) has put on many classes to help newbies get their license and just as importantly get on the air.  He is very excited about the opportunity to help expand Elmering throughout the Bay area.

David’s roles and responsibilities as ASM will include:

• Coordination and publicity for license classes, VE sessions and educational events in the East Bay
• Resource for class training materials
• Instructor training
• Special training classes
• Assistance in designing classes for new training / educational needs

Please join me in welcoming David to his new role as ASM.