The 15 Divisions of the ARRL are arranged into 71 administrative Sections. Each Section is headed by an elected Section Manager (SM). The states of Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon each only have one Section Manager that handles the entire state. The state of Washington is divided into two ARRL Sections, Eastern Washington, (EWA), and Western Washington, (WWA). These six Division Section Managers are your first point of contact within the Division.
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Northwestern Division Section Managers
Alaska Section Manager-
David Stevens, KL7EB
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David Stevens, KL7EB, was first licensed in 1977. He is now an extra class Amateur, and 40 plus years a Life Member of the ARRL. David’s first term as Alaska Section manager ran from Jan 1984 to Dec 1985, then again from Jul 1998 to Jan 2000, followed by Feb 2002 to Dec 2007, and now elected again to serve starting Jan 2020.
David’s father worked at Boeing Aircraft repairing radios, and that sparked David’s interest. David took a college course about Amateur Radio to get his license, and has taken six more electronic courses since. It was in 1984, while he was in his first term as Alaska Section Manager, that the state was granted the special voice band on 40 meters by the FCC. Since then he has seen the Official Observer program, the elimination of morse code as a licensing requirement, and the Volunteer Examiner program all come into existence. He is looking forward to getting more digital radio expanded, and used more.
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Eastern Washington Section Manager-
Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ
Jo Whitney’s mentor into amateur radio was W7GZN (SK). After she finished working the swing shift, they would meet to talk about radio and practice code. Licensed in 1981 at the FCC office in Seattle, Volunteer Examiners (VEs) signed her advanced class CSCE in 1990.
Interest in public service communications led Jo to join Yakima Search & Rescue’s communications team in 1987. In 1991 she accepted appointment as Yakima County ARES EC. Working with Yakima County Office of Emergency Management and the Sheriff’s Department, she strives for proficiency in the incident command system to structure volunteer response and effectiveness. As one of the CERT trainers for Yakima County since 2012, the role of communications is never out of the picture. Each year Jo coordinates radio operators for several community service events utilizing amateur radio to ensure the health and safety of the participants. She completed the Level 1 ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course in 2003.
Jo is a life member of the ARRL as well as a member of the Diamond club and Maxim Society. She has been an active VE since 1993 with the ARRL (50 credited sessions).
Jo operated in 2014 as W1AW/7 from her home station and was a guest operator at WX7P (SK). She is working on her DXCC with a current count of 80 (mixed).
She is a founding and current member of Yakima County Radio Amateurs and a member and previous officer in the Yakima Amateur Radio Club.
Jo continues to work as a Registered Nurse promoting the health and safety of the vulnerable and elderly in community living settings.
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Idaho Section Manager –
Dan Marler, K7REX
Dan was first licensed in as KN7REX in 1961 and has been an ARRL member for well over 50 years. He holds an Amateur Extra Class license and can be heard on the HF, VHF and the UHF bands. Amateur Radio has taken him on an enjoyable journey through a wide range of digital (including CW) and voice operating modes and he is currently active in promoting digital text and voice communications. He has served as an ARRL EC, DEC, and SEC in years past, and in April he will become Idaho’s next ARRL SM. He served eight years with the US Navy as a Radioman, followed by several years in Information Technology (IT) working for both fortune 500 companies, and in the government sector. He retired as an IT Administrator for FLSmidth, a global engineering company. Dan also holds an FCC Commercial Radiotelephone license, and an FAA Commercial Pilots license.
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Montana Section Manager-
Paul Stiles, KF7SOJ
.Paul became Montana Section Manager on October 1, 2019.
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Oregon Section Manager-
David Kidd, KA7OZO
David was first licensed in 1981 as a Novice and stayed that way for a long time, enjoying the challenges of that class in a time of great propagation. He later upgraded to Tech+. Eventually, he was involved in establishing ARES in Clackamas Co., Oregon, and became the EC for Clackamas Co in 2003. (Which he remains today.). David also at one time held the D-1 DEC position for 5 yrs.
David was appointed OR Section Manager in July 2018. During his ham career, besides ARES, he enjoys county hunting, DXing, QRP & QRPp and trying out other aspects of our fine hobby. David is a United States Marine until the day he dies, is a combat veteran, and is now retired with 14 yrs active Marine Corps duty. He also served 16 yrs in the Army Reserves and OR National Guard. David is heavily involved in the art of bonsai, where he helps teach, and spends a lot of time working on his own trees.
David is married, has a grown son and daughter, and six wonderful grandchildren. His son-in-law brought a great kid into the family when he joined them.
David also has raised and shown St Bernards for a long time, but is now blessed with three rescues.
David is looking forward to continue working with the amateur radio operators in OR, and helping to make our hobby better.
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Western Washington Section Manager-
Monte Simpson, W7FF
Monte Simpson, W7FF, has served as the ARRL Western Washington Section Manager since 2013 and values the trust placed in him to represent the five thousand plus members who comprise the third largest section in the ARRL. He earned his Technician class amateur radio license in October 1992. During his 14 years as a Technician he earned the VUCC Award on Six Meters by contacting 33 states and stations in Canada and Mexico. Monte passed the General class exam in the June of 2006. He then advanced to Extra class in April 2015. Monte has served in appointed positions in the ARRL including AEC, EC, DEC, OO, ASM, and SM. Monte is a retired public safety communications manager serving 47 years. He also served 36 years in the Navy and Coast Guard Reserves with active duty in both services. He retired from the Coast Guard Reserve as a CWO4 (Communications). Following the Coast Guard Reserve, he served six years in the Washington State Guard finishing there as a CW5. He is a volunteer at the Washington Emergency Management Division where he is the State RACES Officer. He feels that our Affiliated Clubs, license class instructors and VEs are a critical part of bringing new members into the ARRL and new hams into our great hobby. We have so many talented hams in our section that are subject matter experts in contesting, DXing, antenna building, building DMR repeater systems, enjoying programs like FT8 and many other aspects of our hobby. We need mentors to help new hams of all ages to become engaged in the hobby and to encourage young people to join us.