Subj : Other Ham Radio News
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Nov 16 2018 11:15 am

  With either having Volunteer Examiners (VE's) and no examinees...or
vice versa...at test sessions in 2018, I am making CHANGES..in truth,
REDUCTIONS...to the ham radio license exam sessions that I have been
doing in Benton and Sherwood, Arkansas, on selected Saturdays. These
changes will be as follows:

1) The tests will begin at 10am Central Time. Pre-Registration will be
REQUIRED (no walk-ins). The registration deadline is 10am on the Thursday
before the test session. If no one contacts me by then, the session will
be CANCELLED...and I will contact the facility and the VE Team, to release
it and them for the day. The early start time allows VE's and examinees to
have the rest of their Saturday, once testing is completed...which should
be by 11am.

2) Testing will alternate with the even months at one location, and the
odd months at the other. Testing will NOT be done from November through
February, due to the holidays, and both winter weather and severe weather
potential (sometimes, the spring Tornado Season in Arkansas starts early).

  Unfortunately, I can NOT schedule the testing in Sherwood until sometime
in December, 2018. And, I don't know what testing I can do in Benton,
although the facility (the University Of Arkansas At Little Rock (UALR)
Benton Center) doesn't have "competition" for events on Saturday, as does
the Amy Sanders Library in Sherwood. If I can't get the Amy Sanders Library
for sessions (all of them fill up fast), I'll try another Central Arkansas
Library System (CALS) location...but if all of them are filled up as well,
testing in Sherwood will end. I do NOT want to have to go to a place where
there is an exhorbitant fee for just maybe a 1 to 2 hour usage window.

  On a personal note, with my elderly Mom in a nursing home in Lonoke,
Arkansas (about an hour east of Little Rock), my involvement with ham
radio, and my other hobbies, has been curtailed a bit. But, if I can get
some sort of monetary settlement after she dies (she's 92, and not doing
well), then I may try to plan one final trip to a big hamfest...but, at
this time, I can NOT make any such plans, due to the following "red flags":

1) Money. You can't travel if you don't have the funds. As Robert Heinlein
noted, "TANSTAFFL" -- there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

2) Health Concerns. I never know when I'll have another kidney stone or
other illness attack...and I'd like to be near home to get care quickly,
if needed.

3) Security. Even with an ADT Alarm System, and a Neighborhood Watch
Program, if I go out of the area, I can't just "drop what I'm doing"
to get home quickly, if something happens.

4) Holding Mail. Numerous times in past years, the Postal Service has
IGNORED the "Hold Mail" request. I don't want mail sitting in the
mailbox, giving the impression that "no one is here".

5) Logistics. No matter the mode of travel, one also has to consider
how one will get from the airport, train station, or bus depot, to the
hotels, then to/from the event venue...and lastly, reversing the process
on the way home.

6) Bedbugs. Unfortunately, this pest is becoming more and more common in
hotels, etc. The ONLY way to get rid of them is INTENSE HEAT...by either
washing EVERYTHING you have in hot water, or burning them up with fire.

  So, there's a possibility that my travel days outside of central
Arkansas, are over. However, I hope the same does not apply for my
doing ham radio license exams...especially considering for every 3
out of 4 years, one of the ham radio licens class question pools, and
resulting exams, changes.

  I hope to post an update sometime before Christmas, 2018.

Daryl Stout, WX1DER, UALR Ham Radio Club VE Team Liaison
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