In December 2007, a friend of mine took over as newsletter editor for the Livingston (County) Amateur Radio Klub (LARK) and asked if I would be interested in submitting a regular column to their newsletter. Well, that sounded like work, so my first thought was to pass on that offer, but I realized that I do like writing about ham radio, so I accepted.
Then, it occurred to me that if LARK found my column valuable, other clubs might, too. So, I made up a list of newsletter editors from the ARRL Big List and e-mailed all the clubs in Michigan. When a number of them thanked me for my offer, I extended the invitation to clubs in Ohio and Kentucky, and then to any and all ham radio clubs out there. The upshot is that there are now about 350 clubs (as of June 1, 2014) who have either already started running my column or will be shortly.
The way this works is that towards the end of each month, I’ll send you 300-500 words on some aspect of amateur radio. Some columns may be edited version of blog items; others will be original material.
There’s no obligation to run a particular column. If you have room and you think the material is appropriate, feel free to do so. If you’re tight on space in a particular issue, or you just don’t like what I wrote, don’t run the column. I won’t feel offended.
To get on the distribution list, use this online form.
Dan,
Good idea…I forwarded the URL for this page onto our club newsletter editor.
I have often wondered about a clearing house for newsletter content…it seems that clubs are usually begging for good articles for their newsletters.
73, Bob K0NR
I am always in need of fresh material and have been considering writing to other clubs to interview them about the things they do to keep their membership interested and active. If you’d like to send your column to me by the 25th of the month, I’ll add it when it’s relevant and may, if you don’t mind, send some questions for an interview sometimes in the coming year.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
73 as always…
Jackie Cornwell AC0CA
http://fixnwrtr.blogspot.com
Jackie–
I’ve added you to the distribution list and forwarded the latest installment.
Bob–
That was my next thought as well. Want to correspond about this some more? There might be a way to build a website that automagically do this. You do a lot of writing, and I note that Jackie is also a writer. Perhaps among the three of us we can come up with something.
73, Dan
Please add me to your emailing list. I do the newsletter for my club; The Hampden County Radio Assoc. or HCRA for short. Our newsletter is called ZeroBeat abd here’s the link to past issues with the newest at the bottom: http://www.hcra.org/zerobeat.htm.
I think it’s a great idea and distributing it beyond your local area is exceelent. Keep up the good work and Happy New Year 2008!
73,
Larry, WB1DBY
Editor of Wavelength – the newsletter of the Scarborough Amateur Radio Club Inc.
Located at the east end of Toronto, On. Canada. Thank you very much in advance. 73.
Thanks for the generous offer, our club members and website visitors will enjoy your material.
Our club website had 211,000 page hits in 2007.
Thank you!
73
Doug KC2PCR
Bill and Doug, you’ve been added to the list. Bill, the Scarborough ARC is the first Canadian club to get my column!
Do you write a column or occasional article for your local ham radio newsletter? Are you a ham radio newsletter editor?
Amateurs who write newsletter columns or articles are encourage to subscribe and submit their work here. Not only will your local club benefit from your words of wit, but so can many other clubs who are thirsty for content!
Amateur Newsletter Editors can subscribe to this list to receive content for their club’s newsletters! Editors can pick and choose what they want to use as they see fit.
The rules are simple…
1: Be sure the person who wrote the article GETS FULL CREDIT for their work!
2: Edit only to correct grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. DON’T CHANGE THEIR ARTICLE.
Membership in the group must be approved in order to keep the spam out, but other than that, it will be open to anyone who likes to write and ALL Amateur newsletter editors! Please help spread the word!
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This list was spawned from Dan Romanchik, KB6NU’s offer to share his monthly newsletter column with newsletter editors. This list will allow MANY authors to submit material to MANY editors, giving our Amateur Radio community a plethora of interesting tidbits to share!
Thanks goes to Dan for planting the seed and all those who love to write for supplying the content!
73!
Dino Darling – K6RIX
Here’s one of the first columns I ever published:
Want to Get Your Community Involved in Amateur Radio?
Get Involved in Your Community!
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
I often hear hams lament that their communities show little interest in amateur radio. While this may be true, hams have to realize that community involvement is a two-way street. To get communities involved in amateur radio, amateur radio needs to be involved with the community.
Let me give you an example.
In early 2006, I decided to become more involved in community service. On a road trip to the Marshall Hamfest, one of the guys in our club–Jack, WT8N–mentioned that he was a member of the Ann Arbor Rotary Club. I told him that I would be interested in joining, and he agreed to sponsor me.
I joined the club in March 2006. Shortly after I joined, the executive director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum spoke to our Rotary Club. The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is a science museum that gives kids (and adults, too) real, hands-on experience with science and technology. There are, for example, exhibits that help kids learn about electricity, springs, weather, and other topics in science and technology.
As the director was speaking, the thought occurred to me that the museum would be a great place for an amateur radio station. I discussed my idea with Jack, and he agreed to work with me on the project. We then approached the museum director, who is also a Rotary Club member, and met to discuss our idea.
As we discussed the idea, he became very enthusiastic about the possibilities. Our original idea was to set up a permanent station there, but as they were in the process of remodeling, this wasn’t immediately possible. Instead, we operated a series of special events throughout the fall of 2007 and into 2008. These events were very successful, so work began on establishing the permanent station.
Working with the museum staff, we applied for and were granted a $10,000 grant from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for the permanent station. In October 2008, we moved into the station and have been operating from there ever since.
We even have a vanity call sign for the station–WA2HOM. A2 stands for Ann Arbor; HOM stands for Hands-On Museum. Look us up on QRZ.Com.
I’m sure that my involvement with the Rotary Club was a big part of the enthusiastic response to our proposal. Membership in the Rotary Club, and other community service clubs, such as Kiwanis or the Optimists, give one, if not instant credibility, at least some measure of it. There’s no doubt in my mind that my involvement with the Rotary Club was a factor in the museum deciding to become involved with amateur radio.
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Are you working on a community-service project or have questions about setting one up? Let Dan know! You can e-mail him at [email protected] or phone 734-930-6564.
Hey Dan,
Do you have an archive of your past newsletter content?
Thanks!
Ric
You know, I don’t have one, but give me a day or two, and I’ll post some of them here on the blog.
Hi Dan, I think you know that we here at the South Jersey Radio Association run your writings whenever there’s room in our newsletter and the subject is pertinent for out club. I guess I’m blessed that we have several members who don’t mind spending hours composing and sharing material for our newsletter. Thank you for all the work you do for us and other amateur radio club throughout the country. Thanks again,
Ted, W2TAG
Editor, SJRA Harmonics
You bring up a good point, Ted. Just because someone is on the mailing list, doesn’t mean that they have to use everything that I send them. Like you, they can use what I send when they need it.
Great idea sharing your bits Dan, Please feel free to grab anything of interest from my site as well… If you don’t mind, I may butcher some of your articles to make up projects or as ideas for projects for the local community here in SA
73
Are you on my mailing list, Kevin? Please feel free to make use of whatever is in those columns as you see fit.
Hi Dan/KB6NU,
I’m signed-up on your mailing list to get your op-ed articles to use in ham club newsletters. Is there any way to browse and use past articles?
Tony/N8SK
The Villages Amateur Radio Club (TVARC)
Hi, Tony. I keep threatening to put them all online, but just haven’t gotten around to that yet. I’ll post it here when I do. Is there any particular topic that you had in mind?