Northwestern News Volume 3 July 2026
Hello fellow Northwestern Division ARRL members.
Vice Director Sterba and I attended the ARRL Board of Directors meeting
in Connecticut a few weeks back. This was another long week of travel,
committee meetings, the Thursday night study session, and of course the
actual Board meeting. Early work by fellow board members allowed the
meeting to roll along at a great pace, and we managed to finish up all
business Friday late afternoon. An occurrence that does not often
happen. As a result, we were able to have some one on one time with each
other discussing ARRL matters and a few of us “asked nice”, which
means we called Steve Ewald, WV1X, to see if he would open up W1AW for
us and went over to HQ to operate a few hours on Saturday. Conditions
were not the best, and it was a bit early for those out here on the West
coast, but I did manage to work a few NW members. Michael and I also
made a visit on Wednesday to HQ for different reasons and both of us had
productive conversation with a few staff members. More on the Board
meeting below.
I would like to re-visit the Email delivery problems that are ongoing
with a few members. Plans are in place to replace the bulk email
provider we are currently using and change it later this fall or the
first of the year. We are under contract with our existing provider
until that time. If you are receiving email news and updates from ARRL,
i.e. this newsletter, please check with your fellow Amateur friends and
bring it up at your local Club meeting. If folks are not receiving
email, and feel they should be, we (ARRL) need to know. Members can call
member services at 860-594-0200 and they will be glad to help. Possible
reasons and solutions I discussed before can be found in the last
newsletter (May) which you can find in the archive at:
http://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log and select Northwestern
Division from the dropdown.
SEAPAC, the Northwestern Division Convention, was another success thanks
to all the volunteers that worked hard to make it such a great event.
President Rick Roderick, K5UR, 1st VP Kristen McIntyre, K6WX and I,
along with VD Sterba and most of our Division Section managers were on
hand to talk to members about anything Amateur Radio related and a few
things that were not. EWA SM Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ, and ARRL “First
Lady” Holly Roderick along with Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R from HQ staffed
the membership table and set a record for renewals and new members in
the League from this event.
This past weekend, I attended the Chehalis Valley ARS swap meet at the
fairgrounds in Chehalis, WA. This is a great swap meet if you have never
attended. The building was stuffed full of folks with a large selection
of equipment for sale. While I was in Western Wa, I ran up to the
Western Washington DX Club picnic later that afternoon and caught up
with that group. It was a perfect day, weather wise, although there was
a lot of driving.
Highlights from the ARRL Board meeting.
We welcomed new Board members, including Marty Newingham, AG3I, who took
over the Director position of the Atlantic Division in January; Ray
Sokola, K9RS, as the newly appointed Vice Director of the Atlantic
Division; Joshua Long, W9HT, who moved up from the Vice Director
position after past Director Walls stepped down, as Director of the
Central Division; Christian Stallkamp, KI0D as the newly appointed Vice
Director of the Dakota Division; John Mark Robertson, K5JMR, who was
appointed Vice Director of the Delta Division in December 2025, and Rick
Niswander, K7GM, who was elected Second Vice President at the January
2026 Annual Meeting.
The Programs & Services Committee, chaired by Director Bill Lippert,
AC0W, submitted motions to the Board recognizing members for established
ARRL awards, which were unanimously approved. These and other awards
bestowed during the Board meeting will be announced soon after awardees
are contacted.
The Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (EC FSC),
chaired by Director Scott Yonally, N8SY, proposed motions, all approved
by the Board to:
Create a new ARES Award;
Publish new ARRL members in our online media outlets;
Update the Club Commission program;
Create an incentive program for those sections submitting timely and
consistent ARES reports.
The Administration and Finance committee (A&F) chaired by myself,
Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX, approved a new program to allow the ARRL
VEC department to offer a reduced-price membership in the ARRL for those
non-members that contact the ARRL for assistance in renewing their FCC
license which would include the 35-dollar FCC fee.
The full board approved a By-Law modification submitted by Director
Tharp, to allow the CEO to offer a reduced-price membership for onetime,
special programs or services approved by the A&F committee.
The full board approved holding the next ARRL National Convention in
conjunction with Pacificon in 2028.
The full board approved a motion brought by Vice Director Milluzzi,
KK4LWR, who sat in for Director Baker who could not attend, to re-align
the Southeastern and Delta Divisions to move the Alabama section into
the Delta Division contingent on a positive outcome from a member survey
to be done in Alabama.
The board received updates and reports from our friends to the North,
Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), the IARU, and the ARRL Foundation along
with reports from CFO Middleton, Treasurer Sager, CEO Minster, Counsel
Siddall and the other officers.
Full minutes of the meeting will be available on the ARRL webpage as
soon as they are approved by the Board.
Upcoming ARRL sanctioned events in Division:
Arctic Amateur Radio Club Hamfest September 9th Fairbanks, AK
Kitsap County ARC Hamfest on October 10th in Bremerton, WA
ARRL National Convention: https://hamfest.org/
Our League holds a National Convention every two years and this year it
will be held in conjunction with the Huntsville Hamfest on August 22nd
and 23rd at the Von Braun Center. I might note NASA has a huge presence
in Huntsville so you can check off two bucket list items by attending.
Go to a great Convention and spend an extra day or two and take in all
the NASA offerings. (Yes that was a shameful plug for NASA)
For other events visit http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm
I hope your summer is going well.
Michael and I are always available to talk Amateur Radio and welcome
those conversations. Email is one of the better ways to communicate with
us.
Mark J. Tharp KB7HDX
ARRL Director, Northwestern Division
Populations at the time of this writing (Lagging Indicators):
Northwestern Division Membership: July 30
- 9,997 (Decrease from 10,101)
- 81 (New)
- 67 (Lapsed that re-joined)
National Membership: - 121,310
ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
kb7hdx@arrl.org