Northwestern NewsVolume Two, December 2025(2025 report from Division)

Hello Northwestern Division and welcome to the end of 2025.
This will be the final newsletter of the year and will also serve as our
yearly report.

Division Staff:

Section Managers:
These hard-working folks continue to lead Field Services operations in
our six sections. Section reports, if submitted, are included below.

David Stevens, KL7EB (Alaska)
Kevin Kerr, W1KGK (Montana)
Don Lynn, ND7L (Idaho)
Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ (Eastern WA)
Bob Purdom, AD7LJ (Western WA)
Scott Rosenfeld, N7JI (Oregon)

Assistant Directors:
Daniel Stevens, KL7WM
Delvin Bunton, NS7U
Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO
Dave Cole, NK7Z
Steve Aberle, WA7PTM
Steve McKeen, W7QLO
Bill Balzarini, KL7BB

Advisory committee members:
Jim Cassidy, KI7Y CAC, Contest advisory committee
Dick Swanson, K7BTW DXAC, DX advisory committee

5-9 Hamfest and convention list keeper extraordinaire, Lynn Burlingame,
N7CFO http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

Member input and communications:
Member input has been, for the most part, positive this year. Member
input on the by-law changes made in July were few and far between. I
feel that was mainly due to the posting of the changes in 2024 and
everyone had already commented. Those changes were needed, and I am glad
that they are now behind us. I am aware of a few minor changes to be
discussed at the upcoming January Annual meeting of the board. One topic
in particular had to do with election material and where it can be
posted. The current wording can be interpreted as too restrictive and
that will be addressed.

With the division email system back in service, Michael and I have been
putting out “regular Division newsletters” albeit not every month. I
do miss the short period when we were able to include photos and other
formatting, however that was a time-consuming matter for HQ staff to do
all the processing. I can assure you Michael and I, along with others,
are pushing for a more robust mail system than what we currently have.

Much of the fall communication pertained to the current HOA bill. If you
have not yet made the 30 second effort to send your letters, please do
so. Visit https://www.arrl.org/current-legislation click the Send your
Letters link, plug in your callsign, hit send and you are done. Even
though we are at the tail end of the year, these letters are still
important and will be hand delivered to your legislators.

Division statistics and some thoughts:
Division statistics at the end of November show a total membership in
Division of 10,244, down from 2024 where we had 10,904. A 6% decrease.
This decline in membership is pretty much the same across all Divisions.
Nationally the decrease shows -5.7% I will not go into the weeds with
each statistic for each section in our Division, but this ongoing
decline in membership is very concerning. I can assure you the ARRL
board discusses this regularly. This trend is not just limited to ARRL.

Other organizations are seeing a similar decline. Information on all
hobbies is readily available via the internet, training classes are
online for free, (i.e. no need to join or even visit a local club) and
what was once a feeling of “belonging” by attending in person
meetings is slowly being replaced by online chat rooms and other social
media platforms. Encouraging new hams to join the hobby should
everyone’s goal, and what I mean by “join the hobby” is to get new
Hams to embrace the culture of Amateur Radio, join a club, and join the
league. When I was licensed as a novice, I joined my local club,
primarily as they put on the license class and ran the testing. No one
ever said, “hey you need to also join the ARRL”, but it was strongly
implied. I joined the league and a few years later I was president of
the club and we had close to 150 members. (not because of me) I seem to
remember we ran close to 75% or better ARRL membership. That trend
continued until just a few short years ago, again, not due to any one
person or action, just a steady decline in both numbers.

Encouraging newly licensed hams to join local clubs and the league
should be top priority for every member. If you are a member of your
local club, you should encourage others to join. If you are a member of
the league, you should do the same. Some of our clubs are doing an
outstanding job of this.

From a national perspective, the Northwestern Division has 71539 total
licensed Amateur Radio operators. Nationally that number is 738701 as of
December 6th , 14,432 of which, nearly 2% , are club callsigns. Our
Division represents 9.6% of the total Amateur population. Looking at
ARRL membership, The October total ARRL membership was 129455 and our
Division represents 7.9% of that total with 10244.

In comparison, the Southeast Division is the largest by population with
10.5% of ARRL membership and 10% of the total number of Amateurs. The SE
Division had 78125 total amateurs and 13020 ARRL members.

The Northwestern Division is currently the fourth largest in ARRL
membership behind Roanoke with 10927, Atlantic with 10455, and as
mentioned the Southeastern with 13020.

Club Updates: (A reminder):
It is getting close to the end of the year, and most clubs are starting
or have finished the election process for officers. Remember to update
your information on the ARRL web for your group. The listed contact
person should have access to edit this information. If you run into
trouble, your club officers can contact your Affiliated Club
Coordinator, Section Manager, or myself and we would be glad to help. A
new page has been created to help clubs at:
https://affiliatedclubs.arrl.org/

Club Milestones:
Congratulations to the following ARRL Affiliated Clubs for reaching the
milestones listed.
Central Washington ARC (Eastern Washington) 50 years
Hellgate Amateur Radio Club (Montana) 75 years

New Affiliated Clubs:
Congratulations to the following clubs for becoming ARRL Affiliated this
year
Salem Amateur Repeater Group, K7ATV – Salem Oregon
Oregon Youth Amateur Radio Club, K7OYA – Albany Oregon
Oregon Coast Emergency Repeater INC, W7FLO – Florence Oregon
Central Oregon Amateur Radio Emcomm Team, K7HWY – La Pine Oregon
Shoreline Auxiliary Communications Service, W7AUX – Shoreline
Washington

Upcoming Board meeting and Division election results:

As of this writing, I am not aware of any controversial motions for the
board to address.

At the January meeting we will elect Officers of the ARRL, the
President, 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents, Treasurer, Secretary, CFO, and
International Affairs VP. We will also elect a new slate for the
Executive committee.
The 2026 financial plan will be reviewed and approved.
Standing committee reports and motions will be addressed.

Elections this year were in the Southeast Division, where Director Baker
will be back after a 4-way race. Director Baker received 1596 of a total
of 3827 cast ballots. In the Southwestern Division, Director Norton
received 1392 of a total of 2780 cast ballots. (yes a difference of 4
votes). In the Pacific Division, Director Litz was held his position
with 1270 votes to his challenger, past Director Bob Vallio who earned
960 votes. We had no other contested elections for Directors this year.
In the Rocky Mountain Division, Director Ryan ran unopposed as well as
Director Stratton in the West Gulf division.

January will bring a few changes to the board room “back row”. In
the Southwestern Division, VD Ned Sterns decided not to run for office
and we will be joined by John Kitchens, NX6S. John is the current Santa
Barbara SM. In the Rocky Mountain Division, Mel Parkes, NM7P who ran
unopposed will be joining us. From the Pacific Division we will be
joined by Carol Milazzo, KP4MD who was appointed early this year and ran
unopposed in the election. The Atlantic Vice Director is now Marty
Newingham, AG3I, after being appointed this year as well.

Attention Montana members, your section, and the ARRL, needs you!
As no nomination petitions were received at HQ for the Section Manager
position, it will be posted again in QST. Kevin, W1KGK decided not to
run for another term. A formal notice will be coming out from ARRL HQ
about this. If you are interested, or if you know someone that might be
interested, let me know and I can help you, or them, through the
process. The Section Manager terms are two years in length and more
information can be found here: Section Manager I would like to thank
Kevin for the years he served and wish him the best.

HAMFESTS and Meetings:
This year I attended;
The Mike and Key swap
N7YRC tailgate
Kamiah Hamfest
Seapac (Division Convention)
Wenatchee Hamfest
Idaho St. Convention
Spokane Hamfest (Washington State Convention)
PNW DX Convention (hosted by the WVDX Club)
And I managed to get into the parking lot for Swaptoberfest only to find
it had been canceled early that morning due to a major water leak. Many
were disappointed about this but nothing could be done.
I look forward to seeing fellow amateurs at most of these events again
in 2026.

I also attended a number of club meetings both in person and virtually.

Presidents Award presented to Tad Cook, K7RA
In March it was my great privilege to present the ARRL Presidents Award
to Tad Cook, K7RA from Seattle. For those who recognize the call, Tad
wrote the ARRL solar reports for QST over the course of 36 continuous
years, never missing a single month. Tad retired from writing the report
due to health issues, and sadly passed away on April 13th. On behalf of
the entire Division, I would like to thank President Roderick, the ARRL
Executive Committee, CEO Minster, and HQ Staff for expediting the
process for this award. It showed on Tads face how much it meant to him.
(See more in December QST, page 63)

As I also serve as a Director of the ARRL Foundation, I am looking
forward to the upcoming Scholarship season. This is one of the most
rewarding aspects of Amateur Radio to me. It is a ton of work, but it is
truly a pleasure to do. If you are looking at additional funding for
college or trade schools, or have Harmonics that are (children) look at
(or have them look) at the scholarships offered by the ARRL and ARDC.
They still have a few days to be in the running for next year’s
awards. http://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

That’s a wrap
This will be the last newsletter until after the January Board meeting.
Michael and I are always available for questions, comments, or concerns.
I hope this finds you well, and I wish you the best for this holiday
season and a great upcoming 2026. It is a privilege to serve as your
Director.

73..
Mark J. Tharp – KB7HDX
ARRL Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org
509-952-5764

A few yearend words from Vice Director Sterba.

Hello Northwestern Division!

Wow, this year has flown by! With the large input from across the
division provided from Director Tharp, I’ll keep this to the point.

There has been an impact to our division wide license counts due to the
shutdown of the FCC offices and website. Our Northwestern Division
membership numbers have had a strong correlation to these suggesting
that we may witness matching reductions. We hope this doesn’t result
in long term impact, but will be closely monitoring as we prepare for
the 2026 Annual Board Meeting. Thankfully, the FCC has announced the
restoration of services and is working through the reestablish full
operations soon. The FCC also has extended the filing deadline to March
5, 2026, for amateur radio licenses that otherwise were due to expire
from October 1, 2025, to March 5, 2026. For more information, please
visit:
https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-vec-ready-to-file-2-500-ham-radio-license-applications-fcc-extends-renewal-filing-deadline

Annual Activities:
I attended the Administration & Finance Committee Meeting (12/13/25)
where we stepped through the upcoming challenges for the League and
amateur radio. Future decisions needing to be made will not be easy ones
as we balance member needs versus organizational health in reference to
a lowering ham license count. Updates will be provided in the coming
months.

Committee Attendance:
ARRL Annual Board Meeting
ARRL 2nd Board Meeting
Administrative & Finance Committee Meeting (Committee Member)
EC FSC Clubs Subcommittee Meeting (Sub-Committee Member)
Executive Committee Meeting (Visitor)
EC-FSC Clubs Subcommittee (Visitor)
Programs & Services Committee (Visitor)

Event Attendance:
Salem Hamfair
Mike and Key Swapmeet
Stanwood / Camano Island Swapmeet
SEAPAC
Wenatchee Hamfest
MARA Hamfest
Multiple club/organizational member meetings

Effort Summation YTD in hours:
Meeting Hours: 73
Tasking Hours: 178
Public Service Hours: 143

(Canned Reminder) 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.

From my radio shack to yours, I hope you and yours have a wonderful
holiday upcoming. 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

SECTION REPORTS:

Oregon Section, submitted by Scott Rosenfeld N7JI
2025 Oregon (OR) Section Report
Scott Rosenfeld, Section Manager (SM)
December 7, 2025
Overview

In September 2025, the Oregon section had a total of 2,969 ARRL members.
(2,757 Full and 212 Associate members)
This number was 4% below the November, 2024 membership tally. This
continues to be a worrying trend.

Oregon still 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 15% 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.
Even though we have improved our recruitment efforts as a section, we
are apparently still not doing a good enough job recruiting new
members.

Our field organization continues to work to maximize and expand benefits
provided to the Oregon section. Lane County now has an ARES program. We
have helped clubs rebuild and become newly incorporated. Oregon hosted a
hamfest, a regional DX conference, and a Division convention. We now
have a third Public Information Officer, and continue working to
implement youth development programs by encouraging clubs to identify
club youth coordinators.

We are working to improve participation in Oregon section volunteer
activities by our ARRL members.

In April, we asked for and received a proclamation from Oregon’s
Governor, Tina Kotek, that June would be Amateur Radio MONTH in Oregon.
We plan to do this again in 2026.

It was a very busy year in our section, and I hope to keep the momentum
going into the future.

My term runs until June, 2026, and I am planning on running again this
spring for another term.

Item #1 – Building ARES / EmComm
Our primary goal for 2025 was to continue 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.

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
AUXCOMM units have a SHARES license and participate in the SHARES nets
with FEMA and Oregon Department of Emergency Management (ODEM).

ARES was reintroduced in Lane County in 2025 and is now a functioning
entity, with working agreements with the cities of Eugene and
Springfield as well as Lane County. Lane County ARES now participates
and cooperates with West Lane ARES, which serves the coastal areas of
Lane county. Lane County ARES now serves Lane County east of the Coast
Range, including the Eugene metropolitan area, which is the home of the
University of Oregon. Lane County ARES is led by Kathryn Catherwood,
KI7RNU, with support from local clubs, EmComm groups, and
municipalities. Training classes were held from April through August.
The organization has over 30 members, holds an on-air net every Monday
evening, and holds in-person meetings once a month. A new radio room is
being constructed for use by ARES.

Under the leadership of Joe, AA7JS, Josephine County ARES has
implemented a training program that incorporates a “clubhouse” as
well as training nights where prospective ARES members are invited to do
hands-on activities with more experienced members, resulting in
organizational growth to over 60 members.

Oregon now has four Assistant SECs, and four of our six DEC positions
are filled (districts 2 and 6 are vacant). Bonnie has worked and met
regularly with our ASECs, DECs, and ECs on training, emergency tests,
planning, interoperability, Winlink, and other topics. Our groups.io
mailing list serves to connect hams in charge of 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.

Oregon’s traffic nets remain active, although the number of traffic
handlers has been continually declining over the years.

EmComm meetings were held at the Salem Hamfair in February and at the
SeaPac convention, and they were well-attended. HF ARES nets continue to
be very popular and with high levels of attendance. 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
D1 EC – Pat Roberson, W7PAT
D2 EC – vacant (Bend / Redmond / Prineville)
D3 EC – Stuart Bottom, K7FG
D4 EC – Steve Duck, KW7S
D5 EC – Joe Stodola, AA7JS
D6 EC – vacant (Klamath Falls / Lakeview / Burns / Hines / Ontario)

Item #2 – Affiliated Clubs
Max Sabo, K7MAX, VP of the Portland Amateur Radio Club, continues as our
ACC. We hold quarterly Zoom meetings for officers of affiliated (and yet
to be affiliated) clubs from all over the state. These meetings continue
to be attended by 20-30 people, and have been an excellent venue for
discussion of best practices.

The Oregon section welcomed Salem Area Repeater Group and Oregon Youth
Amateur Radio Club as new affiliated clubs. New clubs are being formed
at Chemeketa Community College, Portland State University, and George
Fox University. We are very, very happy to see new college-level clubs
forming.

In the scouting arena, Michael, N7PEA, has worked to form a
radio-specific, regional, Venturing Crew. This group seeks to become an
ARRL-affiliated club.

We are still working to ensure that the club information database is up
to date. We encourage all clubs to update their information on the ARRL
and their own websites.
We also 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

We continue to encourage Oregon’s affiliated clubs to develop young
hams within the section by working with scouts, schools, and students.

We also promote the idea of incentives for new hams to join our clubs.
As VP of the Willamette Valley DX Club, for example, we have inducted
several new members under the age of 25. We have also implemented a
policy of giving free membership to licensees 25 and under, thereby
removing financial barriers to membership. Similar membership policies
have been rolled out by other clubs, including a free handheld radio and
free membership for any new member 18 years of age and under.

Item #3 – Youth and Educational Activities
Ham radio is a powerful teaching tool for STEM, and is 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. They have proposed that
clubs should have youth coordinators, and we have continually pestered
clubs to do this…but it has been a slow process.

The radio club project within the Ione school system has hit a bit of a
slowdown, but has a promising future.

Russ, N7QR, continues to work with Jamboree on the Air (JOTA)
operations.

New university clubs are being formed, as mentioned in the previous
section.

Existing university clubs within Oregon continue to be active.

Portland State University students presented their RF-focused
engineering projects at Sea-Pac.

Zeke, KJ7NLL, made a presentation at Sea-Pac about the ISS contact
project that he led for his school.

Ethan, KK7UXY, made a presentation at Sea-Pac about OYARC, the
youth-focused radio club he formed.

Several young Oregon hams participated in significant DXpeditions in
2025.

In November, Salem Amateur Radio Club, Chemeketa radio club, and other
groups cooperated to present ham radio to a crowd of 2,000, including
nearly a thousand Girl Scouts, at the STEM fair at Oregon State
Fairgrounds. We had obtained the W7G special event callsign and printed
1,000 W7G cards which could be given to scouts who participated by
making a contact with “the ham on the other end of the radio.” Over
200 Girl Scouts made QSOs with local hams, with each receiving a card.
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.

Item #4 – Technical Services
Our technical group is stable at eight people with KO7V as the technical
coordinator. We have a groups.io mailing list called the ARRL OREGON
TECHNICAL GROUP. We still have about 90 subscribers, with a wide array
of topics covered.

Amy Haptonstall, AG7GP, joined as an expert in portable and SOTA
operations.

Our technical experts continue to solve problems for hams in Oregon, the
most common of which is RFI.

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
Oregon now has two VCs, Althea Ender, KE7OOJ, and Russ Garrett, KD7MPK,
who also serves as Oregon ASM.

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. 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 routing of inter-sectional traffic at the local
level has not been completely resolved. Oregon Section traffic nets
continue to follow recommended procedures found in the Methods and
Practices Guidelines manual that adhere to Section, Region and Area
Boundaries.

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 2025, we continued to develop our Public Information Outreach. We now
have three PIOs.
Hannah Rosenfeld, W7HER, PIO
Nelson Farrier, NF7Z, Section webmaster
Matt Laubach, K7EPW, PIO

We are looking for a PIC (Public Information Coordinator) to run the
show.

Hannah focuses on social media including our brand-new Instagram feed,
“OregonARRL”.

Our section website is now found at www.oregonarrl.org.
It is updated with section news as it happens.
We hope that it becomes a central location for section information.

In the lead-up for Field Day, after receiving our governor’s
“Amateur Radio MONTH” proclamation, we contacted newspapers, radio
stations, TV stations, and any other media outlets we could think of.
We did several interviews on the radio, including OPB and JPR.
PARC had a booth at the very well-attended Portland Rose Festival and
used the W7R special event call.

Field Day sites all over the state received many, many visitors.

We participated at the Oregon State Fair by presenting ham radio through
a number of exhibits to the public for FIVE days, 10 hours each day.
This was a very well-attended event with many thousands of visitors.
Volunteers came from all over western Oregon and Vancouver, WA to help,
and State Fair management was very happy with the results. We plan on
repeating this effort in 2026.

In conjunction with the State Fair, hams all over the state of Oregon
used the W7O special event callsign to make contacts all over the world
over a period of 10 days.

Section Manager Event Participation
February – ARRL SM presence at Salem Hamfair in Rickreall, OR.
May – ARRL SM presence at Hamvention in Xenia, OH..
June – ARRL SM presence at SeaPac NW Division Convention.
June – Arranged representation for ARRL’s Collegiate Amateur Radio
Project (CARP) at SeaPac.
June – ARRL SM visited Field Day sites in Florence, OR, and Lowell, OR.
August – ARRL SM presence at Pacific Northwest DX Convention in
Portland, OR.
September – ARRL SM presence at ROADS club meeting in Dallas, OR.
September – ARRL SM presence at Peak Radio Association (PRA) picnic &
POTA event in Monmouth, OR.
September – ARRL SM presence at ROADS club meeting in Dallas, OR.
October – ARRL SM participation in PARC club meeting via Zoom.
October – ARRL SM participation in FW5K DXpedition including joining
WVDXC meeting via Zoom..
I continually offer to be able to attend club meetings and events.

Other items
We continue to recommend that people go to www.send-a-letter.org/hoa and
do their legislative part. We also continue to recommend that clubs do
their part, and GMRS users do their part.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oregon, as a section, is always looking for motivated individuals who
would like to be a part of the field organization to serve the amateur
radio community. I also 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.

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

2025 Eastern Washington SM report (Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ)

There are 19 affiliated clubs listed in the Big Club list for EWA.
Contact with the clubs was sporadic. When contacting each club to submit
a club letter in support of the HOA bill I found some contact
information was out of date. Approximately 25% of the clubs supplied an
annual report in 2025. I will be seeking invitations to attend club
meetings to spread the word about ARRL and the benefits of joining as an
individual and affiliate as a club. Membership numbers dropped 6.6%
between November 2024 (total; 905) and October 2025 (total; 848).

2026 is the YEAR OF THE CLUB for ARRL. It is the 100th anniversary of
the ARRL Field Organization. Join a club, get involved.

Conventions, Hamfests, and Tailgates. I enjoy the opportunity to meet
and talk with amateurs across the state at a function designed to bring
radio operators together for their hobby and encourage membership in the
ARRL. I was able to participate in the following events in 2025:

-March 8th – 43rd Annual Mike and Key Electronics Show and Swap Meet,
Puyallup
-April 12th – 7th N7YRC Tailgate Swapmeet, Yakima
-April 19th – Kamiah ID Hamfest
-April 26th – 2025 Spokane Hamfest, the Washington State Convention,
Spokane Valley.
-May 10th – Spout Springs Repeater Association Tailgate and Swapmeet,
Kennewick
-May 30-June 1st – SEA-PAC Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside
OR
-June 6-8th – 57th Annual Apple City Amateur Radio Club Hamfest,
Peshastin (Dryden)
-June 14th – Inland Empire VHF Radio Amateurs Tailgate Swap, Spokane
Valley
-August 9th – Idaho State Convention, Post Falls ID
-August 16th – PNWDX Convention, Portland OR

There were last-minute notices of gatherings I could not attend; please
let me know what you are planning and I will make every effort to attend
if asked.

Field Day June 27-28th. Traveling to club field day sites is a highlight
for me. I save the weekend for long hours of travel, 785 miles, to Field
Day set-ups posted on the ARRL locator. Posting your hours of operation
is helpful. I was able to make site visits to:

-Panoramaland Amateur Radio Club K7JAR sets up 4 stations plus a GOTA
station in and around a large field in Colville.

-Spokane County ARES/ACS W7GBU had the communications trailers set up in
a parking lot in Spokane Valley.

-Kamiak Butte Amateur Repeater Association (KBARA) set up 3 stations at
the Valleyford Community Park in Valleyford. They were very pleased to
have their group return to Field Day set-up.

-Central Washington ARC W7TT set-up again at the White Tail Grange in
Ephrata. They modify the building (replace a door) for the coax entry
from their crane suspended antenna.

-Lake Chelan Amateur Radio Club set up several stations on a flat top
high above Chelan. Arriving in the early morning, I was greeted with a
hot breakfast.

The journey was recorded in photos. I will make a point to get help to
upload them onto the EWA Section Facebook page in 2026.

Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), Frank Hutchinson AG7QP, continues
to encourage local amateur groups and EMCOMM focus groups to support
emergency communications efforts with their local agencies in EWA.
Meeting with Emergency Managers across EWA he is keeping doors open for
amateurs to use their desire to support public service. The 20 counties
of EWA are divided into Districts 7 (Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas,
Okanogan), District 8 (Benton, Franklin, Klickitat, Walla Walla,
Yakima), and District 9 (Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield,
Lincoln, Pend Orielle, Spokane, Steven, Whitman). The SEC has recruited
Emergency Coordinators for all except Garfield and Whitman. The role of
an Emergency Coordinator in the county is to work with the local
jurisdiction for preparedness. The level of preparedness depends on the
county, the number of radio operators in the county and the number of
volunteers willing to serve. Please consider service in your community
bringing your interest, knowledge and experience to an EMCOMM group.

Jo Whitney KA7LJQ
ka7ljq@arrl.org
509-952-5764

Western Washington – Robert Purdom SM (No report submitted)

Idaho – Don Lynn SM (no report submitted)

Alaska – David Stevens SM (no report submitted)

Montana – Kevin Kerr SM (no report submitted)

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Mark J Tharp, KB7HDX

kb7hdx@arrl.org

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