ARRL EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS SECTION
Section Manager (SM) – Tom Walsh, K1TW
Assistant Section Manager (ASM) – Phil Temples, K9HI
Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC) – Arthur “Bo” Budinger, WA1QYM
Official Observer Coordinator (OOC) – Ed Parish, K1EP
Public Information Coordinator (PIC) – Bob Salow, WA1IDA
Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) – Mike Neilsen, W1MPN
Section Traffic Manager (STM) – Marcia Forde, KW1U
Section Youth Coordinator (SYC) – Jeremy Breef-Pilz, KB1REQ
State Government Liaison (SGL) – Hank Mc Carl, W4RIG
Technical Coordinator (TC) – Dan Brown, W1DAN
February 2015 SECTION NEWS
As this edition of the EMA Section News is sent out, I will have
finished my first month as ARRL Section Manager (SM) for Eastern
Massachusetts. This past month started quietly enough but it certainly
has proved to be anything but quiet during the final week as the section
experienced yet another great Blizzard. I have witnessed first hand our
well organized Section Emergency staff in action. Their skillful
response is a tribute to the many dedicated Section Emergency staff.
Rob Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton
Massachusetts, provides this summary of the response to the blizzard.
WX1BOX, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Weather Service in
Taunton, completed a 27 hour activation for the Blizzard of 2015. The
station handled several hundred reports of snowfall, coastal flood
reports and damage reports from around the region. Widespread snowfall
of 15-30″ with higher amounts up to 36″ (3 feet) occurred in the
Eastern Massachusetts section and surrounding ARRL sections. Eastern
Massachusetts ARES was placed on stand-by and Cape Cod ARES led by
District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, were active
staffing 6 shelters for communications and Amateurs on Nantucket Island
were active when the entire island lost power and for a time lost
landline and cell phone communications. ARRL HQ picked up the story as
well and a complete story can be seen at the following link:
<http://www.arrl.org/news/ares-skywarn-volunteers-stand-down-in-wake-of-massive-east-coast-winter-storm>
Congratulations to Marcia Forde,KW1U, EMA Section Traffic Manager
(STM)for attaining Brass Pounders League (BPL) recognition in December
2014. Marcia’s total of 885 BPL points for December far exceeds the
minimum needed. Marcia also reports regularly on the activities of
Massachusetts traffic nets and the dedicated traffic handlers in our
area. You can find her reports and lots of other interesting material
on the Eastern Massachusetts NTS webpage at <http://nts.ema.arrl.org/>.
There is a new registration process to volunteer as an amateur radio
operator for the Boston Marathon. The deadline to signup as a volunteer
for the 2015 Boston Marathon is February 10.
This year, the Boston Athletic Association is requiring all volunteers,
including the hams, to register on their website.
More information about registering as a volunteer can be found at
<http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/event-information/volunteer-information/volunteer-registration.aspx>.
Following that you can proceed to the MMRA site at
<http://www.mmra.org/marc/> and provide additional information.
One of my first duties as the new Section Manager was to represent our
Section at the January 10th gathering of the ARRL New Division Cabinet
hosted by Tom Frenaye, K1KI New England Division Director. Tom holds
these twice-yearly meetings to share information about ARRL, and to
gather input on subjects of concern to New England hams for the ARRL
Board meetings. Invitations are also sent to ARRL affiliated clubs in
our section to send a representative. This is one of many mechanisms
that K1KI employs to stay well informed prior to an ARRL Board meeting.
For me, this afforded an opportunity to talk with leaders from EMA
clubs and also to meet with other New England Section Managers.
Another important aspect of the SM role is to support our ARRL
affiliated clubs. I hope to visit as many of our clubs as possible
over time and I welcome clubs getting in touch with me to arrange a
formal visit to a club meeting or other activity such as Field Day.
It was my pleasure to visit the PART of Westford meeting on January 20
featuring three mini talks on auto rallies, the Boston Marathon, and
the third one from me. PART is a general interest radio club that has
served the Town of Westford and surrounding communities for over 30
years. PART operates the WB1GOF repeater on 146.955 and members engage
in frequent fox hunts year round.
Kathy, KB1LPW, and Rick, KB1LYJ, will be running a CERT (Citizens
Emergency Response Training) on January 31, plus four evenings
(February 11 & 25, March 4 & 18) at the Winthrop EOC. Guest lecturers
for the training include Brittany, KB1ZPS, and Jim, KB1KQW. More
information can be found at <http://www.region4bvolunteer.org>.
NEWS FROM EMA CLUBS
MMRA is reporting that on December 27th, the crew of W1BRI, KG1H, N1DDK
and K1IW installed the club’s second D-STAR repeater at Sligo Hill in
Marlborough. Rob Macedo, KD1CY, gave a talk to the January meeting of
MMRA on New Roles for Amateur Radio in Public Service and Emergency
Communications.
The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association (CAARA) has completed the
acquisition of its club site. After almost 35 years, CAARA has
purchased the building that has been its home from the City of
Gloucester. The property had been owned by the City of Gloucester since
1867.
Almost everyone knows about the ARRL Field Day in June, but word from
CAARA is they were gearing up to participate in the SPAR Winter Field
Day held for 24 hours from 1700 UTC (noon EST) Saturday 1/24 thru 1700
UTC (noon EST) Sunday 1/25 using the call sign W1GLO. Kind of puts a
nice “GLO” on a winter’s day!
The January meeting of the Framingham ARA was their annual “Show and
Tell”.
The Boston ARC has installed a new antenna (since October) on its
145.23 repeater and is seeking signal reports from the community.
They’d also like reports on their relatively new 443.55 machine.
Please direct your reports, including your location and operating
conditions (portable, mobile, base, what antenna used, etc.) to Joe
Harris, N1QD, at <n1qd@n1qd.org>.
The Wellesley ARS enjoyed a presentation at its January meeting from Bo
Budinger, WA1QYM, on “DXing with a dipole”.
PART of Westford members during January were sure keeping the local fox
hunters on their toes in and around Westford, Chelmsford, Concord and
Carlisle.
The Billerica ARS (BARS) will feature a presentation on the Elecraft K3
by club member Erik Kramer, KE1V, as BARS tries out a new meeting
location in Bedford.
The Walpole Emergency Communications Association, (WECA), held an
NBEMS/fldigi workshop on Thursday, January 29, in preparation for
commencing NBEMS training nets starting Tuesday, February 3.
NBEMS/fldigi is a set of Amateur Radio digital communications software
supporting amateur digital communications via computer soundcard
technology. WECA plans to use NBEMS as part of their emergency response
portfolio.
UPCOMING FLEA MARKETS
The Algonquin ARC of Marlborough MA is holding its annual ham radio
flea market on Saturday, February 14, 2015. Information may be found
at <http://www.qsl.net/n1em/2015FleaFlier.pdf>
Interested in Antique Radios? Then you may want to look into the NEARC
Greater Boston Antique Radio Show XVLI to be held on Sunday, February
15, 2015 at the Westford Regency Inn, 219 Littleton Rd, Westford, MA
(Rt. 110). More information is at the following web page
<http://www.nearc.net/swapmeetinfo.htm>.
ARRL NEW ENGLAND DIVISION HAMFEST – BOXBORO 2015
To close this month’s news is a look ahead to Boxboro 2015 which will
be held from August 21-23 at the Holiday Inn, Boxborough, MA. Boxboro
deferred its usual 2014 convention until 2015 to focus on the ARRL 2014
centennial convention. The website <http://www.boxboro.org> is up and
running with new material added regularly.
The keynote speaker at the Saturday banquet is Gordon West WB6NOA. More
information and tickets are now available on the website.
Congratulations to Dennis Egan, W1UE, who is the latest addition to the
Boxboro Convention Committee. Dennis will be planning both the Friday
evening contest/DX banquet and the special event station.
The Boxboro convention website can point you to who to contact should
you be interested in becoming a convention speaker, volunteer,
exhibitor or have any other questions.
And on that look ahead to summer, while still in the middle of a New
England winter, continue to enjoy ham radio in Eastern Massachusetts.
See you next month.
73,
Tom, K1TW
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ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Thomas D Walsh, K1TW
k1tw@arrl.org
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