New ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section Manager

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® announced the appointment of Tony Dowler, K6BV, of Pacifica, California, as the ARRL Santa Clara Valley (SCV) Section Manager as of 1st July 2026. Dowler succeeds James Armstrong, NV6W, of San Jose, who concluded his third term as Section Manager on 30th June after serving since 2020. 

Dowler has been the SCV Affiliated Club Coordinator. He has been an Amateur Radio Service licensee since 1981 and holds an Amateur Extra class license. His amateur radio activities include HF operating and DXing. He is also a Director of the Northern California DX Club and a past president of the San Francisco Radio Club. 

Dowler’s term as Section Manager continues through 30th June 2027. Section Managers are elected to two-year terms by ARRL members who live in their sections.

Eyeball-to-Eyeball Off-the-Air QSO Party

One of the best things to emerge from the pandemic was proof that the ham radio community had resiliency as a social network. The pandemic has ended, but one social network born during those years of isolation has remained strong. It's called the Eyeball QSO Party.

It's not a net. It's not a ragchew. It's not even on the air. The Eyeball QSO Party is a welcoming room on Zoom where hams from different countries simply show up. Once a week, they share their opinions, their experiences and even images on their computer screens. It could be a view of their treasured vintage rigs, their radio-controlled planes, astronomy gear or websites about the events in the news.

The QSO Party's host, Hugh Owen, KA3TTW, said he created the room during the pandemic to help ease isolation brought on by the cancellation of club meetings, hamfests and even social morning coffees. The concept is simple, he said: People show up. Some are as local as the Washington, D.C. area where Hugh lives. Sometimes they're dropping by from Canada, Luxembourg, Great Britain or even Argentina.

Although getting on the air is why so many hams got their licenses to begin with, this off-air QSO Party still fills a need.

“This does have the big advantage of people being face-to-face and people can share things on their screens.”

— Hugh Owen, KA3TTW

So every Monday, it happens starting at 1700 UTC between March 9th and November 2nd; and at 1600 UTC the rest of the year.

Best of all, propagation is never an issue. Everyone gets a Five-Nine.

To join the party, send an email to eyeballqsoparty@gmail.com. There is also a groups.io reflector where you can visit and subscribe: https://groups.io/g/EyeballQSOParty

Call for Nominations for ARRL Director and Vice Director

Full ARRL members in the ATLANTIC, DAKOTA, DELTA, GREAT LAKES, and MIDWEST Divisions. You have the opportunity to choose a Director and Vice Director to represent you for 3-year terms beginning January 1, 2027.

ARRL is governed by its Board of Directors. A voting Director is chosen by ballot by the full (licensed) ARRL members in each of its 15 divisions. Vice Directors who serve in the absence of the Director at a Board meeting and succeed to the position of Director should a vacancy occur, are chosen at the same time. Elections are held in five divisions per year. It only takes 10 full members in a division to nominate a candidate for either office.

More Information - http://www.arrl.org/news/view/call-for-nominations-for-arrl-director-and-vice-director-3