Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

UPDATED: Eastern Massachusetts ARES to Participate in National Red Cross Exercise and WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020

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Hello to all… **SECTION EXERCISE PLAN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL FREQUENCY INFORMATION – REMAINDER BELOW IS UNCHANGED** Eastern Massachusetts ARES will participate in a National Red Cross exercise on Saturday May 30th, 2020 from 1000 AM-1200 PM (setup time starting as early as 900 AM). The exercise is split into two parts with Part A being the ARES component and Part B being handled by a small number of ARES members who are also part of Red Cross. The exercise has been adapted to allow for a partial weather scenario to encourage Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters to participate and to allow …

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Affiliated Clubs

WB2HTO: “Stories From the Shop,” at Billerica ARS Online Meeting, June 3, 2020

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Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes on the Billerica Amateur Radio Society website w1hh.org: “I’m very happy to announce that our next virtual speaker will be David Kruh, WB2HTO, with his talk entitled Stories from the Shop. David enjoys repairing antique radios – ones using vacuum tubes – and has learned a lot about how they function and also about why they were designed and produced the way they were. I have enjoyed David’s blog posts immensely and he does a great job connecting the dots between the cutting-edge electrical engineering work of today and the heritage that came before. [Full story]

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Field Day

Temporary Rule Waivers Announced for 2020 ARRL Field Day

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From ARRL Web: With one month to go before 2020 ARRL Field Day, June 27 – 28, the ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the event: 1)      For Field Day 2020 only, Class D stations may work all other Field Day stations, including other Class D stations, for points. Field Day rule 4.6 defines Class D stations as “Home stations,” including stations operating from permanent or licensed station locations using commercial power. Class D stations ordinarily may only count contacts made with Class A, B, C, E, and F Field Day stations, but the temporary …

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Public Service

Boston Marathon Cancelled

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WBZ BOSTON (CBS): There will be no Boston Marathon this year. Initially the race was moved from Patriots’ Day to September 14 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but on Thursday the in-person event was canceled. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said the city and Boston Athletic Association will work to hold the event virtually. The race had never been canceled or rescheduled in its 124-year history until this year. The marathon brings in more than $200 million to Boston’s economy each year, according to Walsh, and raises $36 million for charities. About 30,000 people run the Boston Marathon each year with …

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All

Historic SpaceX Launch Carrying Radio Amateur, Fellow Astronaut, to ISS is Scrubbed

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From ARRL Web:   05/27/2020 – NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley will have to wait a few more days to see if the can make US space history, as human spaceflight is poised to return to the US for the first time in almost a decade. SpaceX and NASA scrubbed the launch, which was set for 1833 UTC on May 27. It has been reset for Saturday, May 30, at 1922 UTC.   “Standing down from launch today due to unfavorable weather in the flight path,” SpaceX tweeted minutes before its Dragon spacecraft was to head off into …

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Licensing Education & Training

Signing Up for Remote Volunteer Exams–One Ham’s Experiences

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Ray Cord, K2TGX, writes on the Study Memorial Hospital ARC mailing list: Fo those who are interested in remote license exams, Kevin, KM1KEV, has put this together. -Ray —–Original Message—– From: Kevin Murray <kevin.murray21@verizon.net> To: raycord@aol.com <raycord@aol.com> Sent: Tue, May 26, 2020 11:28 am Subject: Remote Exam Ray,  How to Sign Up for a Remote Exam       – Register at https://hamstudy.org/    – Take a practice test and pass.    – Click Find a Session    – Look for an open Remote or Online Exam Session              – There are a number of Groups doing Online Exams. …

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Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES to Participate in National Red Cross Exercise and WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all… Eastern Massachusetts ARES will participate in a National Red Cross exercise on Saturday May 30th, 2020 from 1000 AM-1200 PM (setup time starting as early as 900 AM). The exercise is split into two parts with Part A being the ARES component and Part B being handled by a small number of ARES members who are also part of Red Cross. The exercise has been adapted to allow for a partial weather scenario to encourage Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters to participate and to allow participation in other modes used traditionally in the section including Echolink and IRLP. …

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Affiliated Clubs

Nantucket Amateur Radio Association Web Page now on ema.arrl.org

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New Affiliated Club Service Offered: Your Club on the Web:   “We understand it’s difficult to recruit and retain a webmaster for your club. In fact, some clubs’ web sites have fallen into disrepair.  That’s why we’re excited to offer this new service to ARRL affiliated clubs—a hosted page on the EMA ARRL web site. The address is of the form, https://ema.arrl.org/<Your Club Name>. The pages would be maintained by our webmaster, with input from your club officers.” We’re pleased to announce the Nantucket Amateur Radio Association has accepted this service for its web presence. To view their new site, visit …

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Affiliated Clubs / Youth

Northeastern University Wireless Club Special Presentations

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    Adriana Knouf Art Talk: On May 26th (Tuesday!) at 11am, our faculty advisor Adriana Knouf (KC1EKK) will be presenting live online her art project that was recently flown to and returned from the International Space Station! She will be speaking about the project itself, named TX-1, and the audacity of thinking about transgender people in space. For more information about the project itself, see the link below: https://tranxxenolab.net/projects/tx-1/ The details of how to connect to the livestream will be released on May 26th on the below page: https://bioartsociety.fi/activities/fragile-life-and-celestial-matter-s Satellite Communications Seminar: Are you interested in learning how to …

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Affiliated Clubs / Licensing Education & Training

Yankee Clipper Contest Club Special Interest Zoom Meetings

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YCCC President Dennis Egan, W1UE, writes on the YCCC mailing list: Since we can’t meet in person for the foreseeable future, and using Zoom allows us to make some presentations that are hard to do in person, I’ve decided to offer four sessions on operating specific contest modes, as outlined below: Thur May 28   CW Wed June 10   FT4 Tue June 23    SSB Thur July 9      RTTY ??                    VHF/UHF The Zoom Sessions will start at 7 PM and plan to end at 8:30 PM, although if there is …

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Affiliated Clubs / Field Day

W1MJ: Field Day Presentation at Waltham ARA Meeting Online, May 27, 2020

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This presentation by Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, will include contesting basics, the age-old question about whether ARRL Field Day is a contest, some training for popular logging program N1MM Logger Plus, and some thoughts on goals for FD 2020. Monthly meeting are now being held online. In order to receive emails with the meeting links, do one of the following: If you are not already signed up on the WARA Yahoo Group, you may do so by sending an email request to wara64-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you only want the meeting link emails and not any other email that might be distributed to the Yahoo Group, send …

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Operating

W1HFN Fox is QRV in Littleton

- by k9hi - 2 Comments.

Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the NEMass Foxhunters list on May 22, 2020 at 4:24 PM: The W1HFN fox is out at:  https://littletonconservationtrust.org/property/hartwell-family-memorial-preserve/  No one there when I placed it. Frequency is 146.565; runs continuously with a voice ID every 30 seconds.  Batteries should last 3/4 days.  Happy Hunting!  

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Public Information

“Social Distancing? COVID-19 Made it Real. Ham Radio Made it a Hobby”

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“A close-knit culture, with separation at its core” is a story and accompanying video produced by Christian Science Monitor staff photographer Anne Hermes. It explores how Amateur Radio operators are taking COVID-19 and social distancing in stride and features interviews with Eastern MA hams. It portrays the hobby in a very positive light. Eastern MA Public Information Coordinator Kayla Creamer, W2IRY, was instrumental in working with Ms. Hermes to identify individuals and clubs for interviews and subject material.   “The Christian Science Monitor, commonly known as The Monitor, is an internationally known nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic …

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Affiliated Clubs

Nashoba Valley ARC Meets Online, May 21, 2020

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The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s May meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, May 21st at 7:30 PM . This meeting will be conducted via WebEx. Meeting details are below. Thanks to Jim Hein, N8VIM, and Medtronics for the WebEx conference. This month’s presentation is by the “Science Program Around Communications Engineering with High Achieving Undergraduate Cadres (SPACE HAUC)” from UMASS Lowell. They have an interest including some elements of amateur radio in their project and will speak about this really impressive undertaking.  See their website here:   https://www.uml.edu/research/locsst/research/spacehauc/  Thanks and 73. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Bruce, …

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Affiliated Clubs / Operating

Yankee Clipper Contest Club DMR Net, May 20, 2020

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Reminder: YCCC DMR Net When: Wednesday, 20 May 2020, 8:00pm to 9:00pm, (GMT-04:00) America/New York Where: DMR TG NETAC1 View Event Organizer: ne1b.c6awb@gmail.com Description: YCCCers! Join us every Wednesday evening at 8pm ET for contesting talk on the DMR repeater network. There are several methods to access the Net:   By RF Access via 2 meter or 70 cm DMR repeater.  See the list of 91 repeaters near you at http://nedecn.org  The frequencies are in the left menu “DMR Repeaters>New England”.  Use the NETAC1 talk group. By Dongle or Hot Spot You can use openSpot, JumboSpot, ZumSpot, MMDVM By EchoLink Get the software app on …

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Affiliated Clubs

K1BG: “CWOPs CW Academy” at K1USN Radio Club, May 26, 2020

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The next K1USN Radio Club online meeting will feature guest presenter Bruce Blain, K1BG, who will speak about CWops CW Academy.  Immediately prior to Bruce’s talk, Phil Temples, K9HI, will briefly recap his experiences in helping conduct remote VE tests with the New England Amateur Radio, Inc., VE team. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 26, 2020 at  8 PM. For Zoom conference details, contact Pi, K1RV, at k1rv -at- arrl -dot- net.

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Field Day

Field Day: “A Difference Experience in the COVID-19 Environment”

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Rick Palm, K1CE, writes in the ARRL ARES Letter, May 20, 2020: ARRL Field Day is my favorite operating event of the year. For most radio clubs and large groups, it’s going to be a different experience this year in light of the COVID-19 environment. With CDC protocols in place, many will not gather in their usual Field Day locations. ARRL offered some tips and suggestions to help you plan this year’s operation — ARRL Suggests Taking a Creative Approach to Field Day 2020. A few of them applied to my own recent operating experiences and thought I would share …

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Affiliated Clubs

North Shore Radio Association Meets Online, May 18, 2020

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Rick Savage, KB1LYJ, writes on the North Shore RA mailing list: “We have a Zoom meeting set up for our May meeting. It will be on Monday, May 18th. The link is open at 7:00 if you want any pre-meeting discussions. Please share this information with the members on any and all formats available web page, email, Facebook etc. Rick Savage is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: NSRA Meeting May 18th Time: May 18, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting [Contact kb1lyj at nsradio dot org for Zoom meeting URL] Meeting ID: …

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