Members of the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL staff met on Thursday, February 12, 2004 in Burlington for their quarterly-annual staff meeting. Those present were: Phil Temples, K9HI, Section Manager; Bob Salow, WA1IDA, Assistant Section Manager; Elaine Chase, N1GTB, Assistant Section Manager; Mike Neilsen, W1MPN, Section Emergency Coordinator; Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator; Frank Murphy, N1DHW, Affiliated Club Coordinator; Mike Ardai, N1IST, Bulletin Manager; Mike Goldberg, K1LJN, Official Observer Coordinator; Shawn O’Donnell, K3HI, State Government Liaison. Those staff members who were unable to attend: Stan Laine, WA1ECF, Assistant SM; Jim Duarte, N1IV, Public Information Coordinator; Jim Ward, N1LKJ, Section Traffic Manager.
The meeting was called to order at approximately 6:40 pm.
Phil announced the resignation of Technical Coordinator Greg Richardson, N1QLS. Phil indicated that a potential candidate for the vacant position has already been in contact with Phil. K9HI will consider other qualified applicants as well.
Mike Goldberg, K1LJN reported that he attended the retirement party of outgoing FCC New England Engineer-in-charge Vince Kajunski. Mike mediated a reported interference case involving an FM simplex EchoLink node. He also forwarded a malicious interference case in Southern California to Riley Hollingsworth. K1LJN reported that many OO appointees have not been filing monthly reports. KlLJN also announced that he is seeking an assistant to help with OOC matters.
Frank Murphy, N1DHW reported on his affiliated club activities. He attended six meetings in the recent past. Frank has been very involved with Salvation Team Emergency Radio Network communications activities. N1DHW presented about SATERN as a guest speaker at the Boston ARC. Discussion ensued about the CEMARC Youth Net. The Youth Net was suspended to lack of activity. With the activation of an MMRA EchoLink Node it is thought that the Net might enjoy greater success.
Phil Temples, K9HI reported on several recent items, including: a possible letter-writing project in support of the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act (H.R. 713, S. 537) and the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Consistency Act (H.R. 1478); potential funding of Eastern Massachusetts emergency communications projects from Citizens Corps; a recent ARRL financial grant (The “Big Project”) to a Cambridge elementary school; attendance at the recent ARRL New England Division Cabinet meeting in Springfield; the EMA ARRL Speakers List; efforts by PIO KA1MOM to be featured on a talk-show on WBZ radio. Phil passed out the latest list of EMA section field organization appointments. Some list corrections were given to Phil from WA1IDA.
Shawn O’Donnell, K3HI reported that there has been no movement on the “hands-free” cellular telephone legislation on Beacon Hill. He reminded all that there is almost 11 months before these bills will expire. Shawn distributed a well-written document with “Do’s and Don’ts” for communicating with legislators. (This document will soon be posted at http://sgl.ema.arrl.org.) Discussion ensued on a plan to construct a web page that might allow users to select “canned text” to “painlessly” produce a letter to their respective legislators to comment on pending congressional bills.
Mike Neilsen, W1MPN and Rob Macedo, KD1CY jointly reported on the multitude of ARES-related activities in Eastern Massachusetts over recent months.
Those activities included: an emergency communications workshop in Littleton; ARES presentation to the Genesis ARS; annual Section Emergency Test (SET); SKYWARN activation for strong winds; Plymouth and CC ARES Districts self-activation due to a widespread power failure; major Nor’easter SKYWARN activation report; New Year’s Day limited ARES activation for Red Cross and Salvation Army for Boston First Night; Red Cross and ARES Communications Committee update; ARES leadership meeting; Cape Cod ARES drill; SKYWARN leadership meeting. Upcoming ARES and SKYWARN events include: ARES exercise on 2/21/2004; ARECC test at the SEOC in Framingham, February 2/28/2004; numerous SKYWARN Training Seminars; NTS-ARES Coordination meeting; Emergency communications workshop in Hingham, 4/3/2004; future Red Cross/ARES Communications Committee meetings. (A comprehensive list can soon be found on the EMA ARES web site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org).
Discussion ensued about Citizen Corps funding opportunities, and whether the monies available for Amateur Radio via Citizen Corps and those for cities and towns for CERT were one-in-the-same.
Mike Ardai, N1IST reported on his recent listserv activities.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.