N4HCI, Bob Goodwin, Candidate for Secretary/Treasurer in Dec 2017 Election
Name:
Bob
Goodwin
QTH:
Newport News, VA
ECARS History:
-
Member Since:
2014,
LIfetime member #4891
-
Previous Offices / Duties:
Net Manager since Jan 2016, Temp Webmaster Jul 2016-Mar 2017,
Nomination/Election Committee member in 2016 & 2017
-
Current Net Control Operator:
Yes, three times weekly plus some
fill ins, also Net Manager
Other Amateur Radio History:
Ham since 1982.
Extra Class.
Long time member of ARRL. WAS and DXCC
(20 mtrs, Phone, and Combined). Working to update the TenTec Omni
VII remote operating software to vb.net.
Community Activities:
None
Personal Comments:
If elected to be Secretary/Treasurer, I propose to work with the Webmaster and the
Board to accomplish the following
goals:
1. Migrate the master membership database from a stand alone
Access database, on the Secretary/Treasurers home computer, to be on-line
SQL database hosted at the ECARS website. This would have the benefit of eliminating the need for
future Secretary/Treasurers to have a specific software package, and the
skills to use it, to
maintain membership records. It would also eliminate requiring the
Secretary/Treasurer to periodically upload a copy of the Access database to the
website to support the membership lookup
functions, and would allow the Secretary / Treasurer to maintain and
update the master membership database on-line by means of tools
developed in cooperation with the Webmaster. Instead, membership
records would be updated directly to the on-line SQl database.
This endeavor will
require working with the Webmaster to ensure adequate security and
backup practices are developed to protect the integrity of the
membership database. Access to this SQL database will be limited
to the Secretary/Treasurer and a backup as approved by the Officers and
Board.
2. Develop software tools using the SQL membership database that would notify members by email
approximately 30 days before their membership ended, to allow them to
avoid inadvertant failure to renew membership by oversight or
forgetting the date one's membership expires.
3. Develop software tools using the SQL membership database that would permit ECARS
Officers/Directors to easily develop emails to the ECARS members to
discuss matters of collective interest with the membership.
I saw a T-shirt the other day that was emblazoned with the
statement "I thought growing old would take longer." That
seems to sum up my life. Along the way I obtained an Electrical
Engineering degree, worked for TRW as a sub-contractor to NASA in
Houston Tx for Apollo 11 & 12, was a Submarine officer ending my afloat
assignments as Commanding Officer of the USS James Monroe (SSBN 622),
retired from 25 years of naval service after instructor duty at the
Naval War College, and spent 15 years at Newport News Shipbuilding as an
engineering design manager. I retired in June 2013 and have been
filling my days since then doing home and car maintenance, learning to
program Arduinos and in HTTP and VB.net, ultimately developing some
personal and ECARS software. In late 2015, I started development of an
Access based Check In management program for Net Control Operators,
which was operational in mid-2016. I then repeated the project,
independent of Microsoft Access, as an executable program using vb.net
and Visual Studio 2017. Three or four of the Net Control Operators
now use this latter program. During my period as Temporary
Webmaster, I developed the website based ECARS Grant Application form,
the Membership data update form, and a Member Lookup by ECARS Number
utility. Because I operate remotely when away from home, I built an
Arduino project that emails me my external router IP address whenever it
changes so that my remote operation will not be impeded by an ISP
assignment of a different IP address. Hobbies include Photography,
reading, and kicking back.