Northwestern News, Volume 2 August 2025
Greetings fellow Northwestern Division members.
It’s been a busy few months both here in the Division and back at ARRL HQ.
Field Day 2025
FD came and went. I have not heard any horror stories so am assuming all went “as planned”, unlike that one year with a plane crash, the tent blowing away and two 80 year olds in a fist fight. (If you know you know, don’t ask)
Oregon SM Scott Rosenfeldt, N7JI reports:
Hannah, W7HER (Oregon PIO, and my daughter) and I headed over the mountains to Florence to visit the W7FLO operation as they were setting up. It was a beautiful day on the coast and the Three Rivers Casino parking lot proved to be a very good location. The COCARC club, newly ARRL affiliated, had a fun, well-run, well-attended Field Day operation.
Hannah and I headed back to the home club’s site (W7PXL at Lowell State Rec Area), arriving in time for lunch.
I stayed as part of the overnight crew. We had been planning this operation for eight months, and made almost 1,000 QSOs with a 4A, 100% solar battery powered station. I was the primary CW operator, knocking out about 250 QSOs. We made a lot of QSOs on 20m SSB using N7AQ’s restored Hallicrafters SX-150, which sounded great and consumed a LOT of solar power to make 100W of RF. It was amazing getting to use a rig that was built 9 years before I was born.
We did a fox hunt, sent messages via winlink for visitors, held an exam session, and nobody got hurt.
We have already held a “lessons learned” meeting for next year’s operation. We had about 80 people in attendance.
WWA SM Bob Purdom, AD7LJ reports:
I attended the FD site set up by the Radio Club of Tacoma. Had a great time with the club members.
Idaho SM Don Lynn, ND7L reports:
As you know, for Idaho, we were in a transition period during Field Day between outgoing SM Dan Marler, K7REX and myself. I spoke to many of our clubs and individuals who took to the air from a variety of settings whether at home, the great outdoors,or literally a club member’s field. Two of our SSC’s put on a full meal deal with a full assortment of radio activities.
Most impressive was the Magic Valley ARC’s effort – They had a state representative visit their operation; and a news reporter from KMVT-TV who not only did a great job reporting on amateur radio with a wonderful response from two of their members who were interviewed. The reporter stayed and operated 20m SSB for a few hours. Link to story (HDX note…. Magic Valley ARC has been an ARRL Affiliated Club since 1973! )
EWA SM Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ reports:
“Radio Connects” – Field Day 2025 – EWA Section Manger notes
Field Day sites visited this year in a whirlwind 785 mile loop included:
Panoramaland ARC, K7JAR, in Colville, Stevens County. They successfully set- up 4
stations and a GOTA. We exchanged site photos of the station, and shared the field with a horse and cow for a great story in their newsletter. My first and hopefully not my last to visit into northeast WA.
Spokane County ARES/ACS, W7GBU, in Spokane Valley, Spokane County. They had
two stations set-up in a city parking lot for plenty of public viewing.
KBARA in Valleyford, Spokane County. They were able to set-up in a very
accommodating public park with 3 stations. This was their first field day in several years
– the turnout was awesome!
Central Washington ARC, W7TT, in Ephrata, Grant County. They have a sweet set-up
running 1A at the White Trail Grange. A crane outside suspends their antenna along with with a full kitchen to meet all of their needs for the weekend
Lake Chelan ARC in Chelan. They reached their goal of a hilltop location with a 360-
degree view for their 1A entry and a multi-day campout enjoyed by all.
I look forward to 2026 Field Day visits, meeting new people and being inspired by
amateur radio operators showing their stuff!
ARRL Second Board of Directors Meeting:
July 17th, 18th and 19th VD Sterba and I attended the Second meeting of the ARRL Board in Connecticut. This time around Michael made it on time and I ended up only about 30 minutes late after having to spend the night stuck inside Reagan National Airport. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but flying is not as fun as it used to be. I can report the floor at Reagan is nicer than the one at O’Hare.
Full minutes of the meeting can be found here: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/Board%20Meetings/2025/ARRL%20Board%20Minutes%20Minutes%20July%202025.pdf
The board got to work on Thursday morning with meetings of the Administration and Finance (A&F) committee, Emergency Communications and Field Services (ECFSC) committee, and Programs and Services (PSC) committee. These are normally around 6 hour meetings and much work is done in committee to reduce time in the Board room.
A few items worth repeating here from the meeting:
Min. 13 By law 46 passed after a full year and a half of work by the special committee.
Min. 20 The Historical Committee reported that the long awaited ARRL Museum and Research Library of Amateur gear is now live. “Radio Alpha” as it is called can be found HERE.
Min. 30 Many have asked about what the next on-air event will be coming out of HQ. The full text of min. 30 is below and spells out what to look for in 2026.
- The Programs & Services Committee moved that: WHEREAS, July 4, 2026, is the Semi-quincentennial or 250th anniversary of the United States of America, and WHEREAS, an event of this magnitude should include a special operating event for amateur radio and the ARRL, similar to the ARRL Centennial. THEREFORE, be it resolved that the ARRL Board of Directors hereby authorizes the CEO, requisite staff, and other volunteers, as deemed appropriate, to establish a year-long Semi-quincentennial USA operating event for 2026.
Min. 31 On the heels of the new DXCC Trident award, which may be applied for after working and confirming DXCC on each mode, SSB, CW, and Digital, PSC has authorized the CEO and staff to create a new 10 band DXCC award.
Min. 32 ECFSC made a motion to promote 2026 as “The year of the club”. More to follow on the details of what will be happening in 2026.
Min. 36 Club website “competition”
THEREFORE, be it resolved that the ARRL Board of Directors requests that the CEO directs staff to create a program to promote and recognize ARRL Affiliated or Special Service club websites. This program would have two aspects. The first aspect is to offer a website “makeover” to a small number chosen clubs to feature in ARRL publications. The second aspect is to seek out and choose exceptional club websites to be featured throughout 2026. Recent Division events:
Idaho State Convention: Saturday August 9th
EWA SM Whitney and I attended the convention held again this year in Post Falls Idaho. Newly appointed Idaho SM Don Lynn along with HVP Fenstermaker were also on hand.
SDXA Summer picnic: Saturday August 9th
The club (Jo and I included) had a great afternoon at the Morrisett home just out of Spokane. For those who did not know, Del, WA7AQH, passed away earlier this year and his wife wanted to still host the event. The club turned out to support Dells wife, and to share stories.
Upcoming Division events: (If your group would like to promote your upcoming event, please let me know)
Chehalis Valley ARS (Washington) is sponsoring a Fox hunt on August 16th, meet at the Law and Justice center 345 W. Main, Chehalis WA.
Upcoming ARRL sanctioned Hamfests and Conventions through October
Check the always updated webpage of Assistant Director Burlingame at n7cfo.com
August 15-17th Pacific Northwest DX Convention in Clackamas, OR
September 6th MARA 2025 Hamfest Wasilla AK (New location Wasilla Senior center)
September 13th Zero Retries Digital Conference in Everett.
October 11th ARRC Hamfest in Fairbanks, AK Bently Mall,
October 11th Pacific Northwest VHF Society Conference Wenatchee, WA
October 18th Swaptoberfest in Rickreall, OR
This list is only inclusive of those events that have applied for ARRL sanctioning. The rules for sanctioning have changed this year. If you are looking to sanction your event this year, or in the future, please review the new rules HERE.
73..
Mark J. Tharp KB7HDX
ARRL Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org
509-952-5764
And now some words of wisdom from Vice Director Sterba:
As Director Tharp pretty much covered all things from the board meeting, and since then I have not been to any events, I offer the following statistics.
Populations at the time of this writing (Lagging Indicators):
Northwestern Division Membership:
- 10,391 (Decrease from 10,503)
- 62 (New)
- 42 (Lapsed that re-joined)
National Membership:
- 131,470 (Decrease from 132,533)
License Counts:
- 72,013 (Division total)
- 171 (New)
- 0 (Upgrades) (Reporting under maintenance)
- 744,126 (National total)
(Broken record warning, but it is true) Director Tharp and I are always open to input, good and bad, (we prefer good) from members. If you have anything you would like to talk about, shoot us an email or call on the phone. In addition, we are always looking for information to share with the Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always great to hear from members.
Enjoy Amateur Radio… Be Active, Be Positive Be Safe, as your voice carries
Respectfully your servant,
Michael A. Sterba, KG7HQ
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kg7hq@ARRL.org
ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Mark J Tharp, KB7HDX
kb7hdx@arrl.org