Mike “Sparky” Leger, N1YLQ, ARES DEC – MEMA Region 2 RACES Radio Officer writes:
Hello to all,
This email is the typical monthly message to let everyone know that
Monday evening, September 9th, 2024 is our first non-holiday Monday of the month
and, as such, will be the next RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night.
An item of note for this month is an upcoming exercise by members in conjunction with the Walpole EMA/CERT team. Walpole EMA and CERT are sponsoring an amateur radio field exercise on Sat Sep 21 from 9 AM – 2 PM at Adam’s Farm in Walpole. This exercise will be utilizing 2-Meter frequencies as well as multiple HF bands and will be testing and demonstrating various off-grid power systems for emergency communications. As I get more information on the planned frequencies, modes and times, I will be passing them along to the group.
For any operators interested in performing the duties of Net Control
Station (NCS), there are materials available to make the task fairly simple
and straight forward. The net pre-amble and role call lists are available at
the bottom. If anyone is worried that they may mess up running a net, please
remember that, in many cases, a less than perfect net is WAY better than no
net at all! At the conclusion of any net, any operator that acted as Net
in so that the proper numbers can be reported to our served agencies. We
cannot always count on our normal net control operators to be available in
the event of a large scale emergency, so every RACES operator should be
prepared to act as NCO if needed when disaster and emergency strikes!
Winlink Net Instructions From Don Rolph:
*Winlink Net*
To participate:
– create a check-in form using the Winlink standard checkin form
– send via Winlink after 6 AM EST Mon. August 5th and before midnight EST August 7th
(any mode, but include mode in check-in form) to KF1D
I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to
check into sector nets from near-by sectors. This will allow our Net
Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and
will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments
in the event that a single repeater is out of service.
For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to
remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into
your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of
participation. I am continuing to work on a graphical map based report to
show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may
need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide
back-up communications in an emergency.
I appreciate you all answering the call to help our communities remain
prepared. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that
we remain a consistent source of communication capability to the
Commonwealth. This net provides a monthly reminder to our communities and
served agencies that we stand ready with a quiet professionalism prepared to
serve as a voice to whomever needs one to get help and resources to where
they need to be.
If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have
add them to this distribution. Thank you all!
If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or
cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to
hearing back on who can participate this month.
Sincerely,
Michael Leger (N1YLQ)
MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer
C: 508_995_0203
The 
From NVARC Signal, VOL. XXXIII No.9:
KF0INO
Meg Johnson writes on the the Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society mailing list:
Interested in NTS and Traffic Handling? Join us Monday, October 14 at 7:00 PM via Zoom. This training will incorporate videos and open discussion to get you started in an exciting aspect of the hobby that’s been around for over 100 years!