Author: kc9wwh

As I sit here looking forward to spending some time in Dayton for the Hamvention®, I’ve been reflecting on my first couple of months as the Chairman of WAR.

We’ve already changed a few things (for the better, I think). One of the things that was done in the past was hold a quarterly board meeting, where the board members would discuss executing the things that the membership has asked of them, as well as deal with the general health of the organization.

We had our first one a few weeks ago, and it was a doozy. It took several hours and covered a myriad of topics. At the end, I felt that we weren’t able to cover any of them very well – the old “inch deep and mile wide” syndrome.

So we decided that it was a much better idea to have more frequent, shorter, and focused meetings. Our next one is May 16th, where we will finally clarify the membership definitions and membership levels. I have set a time limit of 60 minutes to these meetings – not to rush through them, but to make sure we stay on task. Of course, if we need a few extra minutes to finish up, we’ll use them.

I think the other benefit of more frequent meetings is to keep you at the top of our minds. Four times a year (in my opinion) spreads things apart and allows us to get “out of sight, out of mind” with the organization, and good ideas eventually get forgotten. We don’t want that.

As an aside, Dave Karr and I represented WAR at the Illinois Repeater Council’s annual meeting last month. It was very helpful to see how they operate, and hear about their challenges. It’s become clear that now more than ever, the work we do is important, and that neighboring states need to work together. I was excited to find that they elected a new Chairman down there who is an old friend of mine, Greg Buchwald, K9QI. I look forward to working with him in an entirely different capacity than we had in the past (we’re both broadcast Engineers).

So, even though things seem quiet, rest assured that we are working hard to not only improve our service to you in our primary job of coordination, but also in a few other ways that may help the hobby in general. While we don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we exist to coordinate repeaters, we
acknowledge that times are changing and we have the unique position of being able to provide some technical education as well. We want to make sure that you’re getting some value from your much appreciated dues.

That’s all for now. As I’ve said before, please feel free to email me about any compliments or criticisms at any time, my address is chairman@wi-repeaters.org. I promise that you will get a prompt reply from me. After all, I work for you.

Thanks and 73,
-Chris, W9JOL

Welcome! “Humans are allergic to change. They love to say “We’ve always done it this way.” I try to fight that” 

-Grace Hopper

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Greetings!

I’d like to start out by thanking our current board, as well as our past Chairman and Vice Chairman, Dave KA9WXN, and Pete AB9PJ for their service. I’d also like to congratulate Jim on his election as Vice Chairman. As I was kind of thrown in to the position, they’ve all extended offers of help which I’ll be gladly accepting.

The reality is that spectrum coordination is more important today than it’s ever been. The barrier-to entry to becoming a repeater owner has never been lower. It’s very easy to buy an inexpensive repeater online and have it up in the air in no time. While we should welcome those who want to put
these resources on the air, there is no doubt that coordination challenges come about with all the new modes and technologies available.

We are extremely lucky to have, in my opinion, the best frequency coordinator in the hobby with Dave Karr. Other states look to him for his guidance, leadership, and knowledge, and it leaves us well positioned to meet the coordination challenges that will likely arise in the future.

I do believe that it’s time to really focus on the road ahead. We’re often reminded that coordination isn’t mandatory, and nobody needs WAR’s permission to put something on the air. They’re right. However, there are many benefits to coordination – by being coordinated, you can be assured that you’re protecting other systems, and that your system is being protected. Uncoordinated systems almost always bear the burden of resolving interference issues.

In my opinion, we need to continue to do our best to work with everyone who wishes to have a system coordinated. We need to be transparent about the benefits of coordination, as well as the challenges that exist in coordinating with our neighboring states. When we are unable to coordinate a system in the configuration that the applicant requests, we should be able to offer to work with the applicant to find options. I know that Dave does an excellent job with this – we just need to make sure
that everyone knows that those options exist, and that we want our role to be seen as helpful rather than adversarial. I want potential repeater builders to automatically want to work with us to reach a common goal, rather than see us as a not-always-necessary evil.

I strongly believe that we, as an organization, should exist to serve as a resource to repeater owners – current and potential – from coordination, to interference assistance, to even connecting those who need technical help to those who may be able to offer it. We are not a governing body, rather we are a service organization.

I know we have some work to do. It’s a big job, and no person can do it alone. We’ve had some very smart and passionate people hold positions in the association. It’s easy to get burned out, and it’s also easy to get a good bit of inertia going.

The rising tide lifts all boats. We need your help to do that.

The members at the annual meeting recommended that we put together a few working groups to come up with some educational information for the website, perhaps cover some topics on repeater building, best practices on installation, etc. In addition, I’d like to hear some ideas on what WAR can
be doing for our members.

I would then like to take the ideas that these groups come up with and present them to the board for approval. While it’s easy to suggest changes, it takes many hands to implement them. To that end we’d then solicit the help of the groups to get these ideas implemented.

Most of all, I just want to hear from you. What can we do better? What are we doing well? What are your thoughts and concerns?

My email address is chairman@wi-repeaters.org. I promise to reply to any email that you send me, even if it’s just to let you know that I’ve read it. I’d especially like to hear from you if you’d like to help shape the future and become a member of one of our planning groups.

Nothing would please me more than to see that in a year from now we have a strong, vibrant organization that can be passed on to the next “caretaker”.

Thanks and 73,
-Chris, W9JOL

There are two new members of the WAR Inc. leadership team. Our new Chairman is Chris Tarr W9JOL, and our new Vice-Chairman is Jim Westover KB9KBK. Both volunteered to serve our association and will continue to help you, the Wisconsin repeater owner/builder. Please welcome our new leadership members!