Month: December 2008

The Norwood Amateur Radio Club assisted the Town of Norwood with its annual Festival of Lights celebration on November 30, 2008. Amateurs helped in providing radio communications, hay-ride escort, and most importantly–synchronized tree lighting.

The communications effort was a joint endeavor with the Commonwealth REACT team. According to newsletter editor Barry Devine, K1BPD, “Many of the REACT members are also licensed hams, and several are members of NARC.”

Despite inclement weather, everyone enjoyed the festivities. “We all received a big thank you from Bernie Cooper for helping to make the 2008 Festival of Lights a resounding success.”

–Thanks, K1JMR Newscarrier, December, 2008

The Algonquin Amateur Radio Club has voted to augment  the Marlborough City Library’s collection of ARRL library books with the new title, “Hands-on Radio Experiments.” The book has been purchased and will be donated sometime in early 2009. AARC donated the League’s book set consisting of fourteen titles to the library last year. It intends to supplement the collection with a new book each year.

–Thanks, AARC QRZ, December 2008

Members of the Framingham Amateur Radio Association will operate in the upcoming ARRL Kid’s Day event on Saturday, January 3, 2009 in the FARA club shack from 10:00 a.m. until 12 noon.

“Bring your kids or grandkids to the FARA radio shack for Kids Day! We have done this before, and it’s good fun both for kids and for adults,” writes Sumner Weisman, W1VIV. “It’s a great way to introduce a kid to Ham Radio. We will put every kid on the air, and they will enjoy talking to other kids,” he adds.

Refreshments will be served. And a colorful certificate, suitable for framing, will be sent to every kid who operates.

Please RSVP to Sumner, W1VIV, at w1viv@rcn.com.

(Dec. 16, 2008) As a major ice storm — accompanied by freezing rains, flooding and strong winds — severely impacted New England on Thursday evening into Friday morning, ARES®, RACES, SKYWARN and MARS operators worked together to respond to calls for assistance from served agencies and to participate in the recovery phase of the storm. As the storm progressed into the weekend, ice accumulations up to 1.5 inches were common throughout a very large area of Western, Central and Northeast Massachusetts, as well as parts of New Hampshire and Maine. [Full story]

The Town of Whitman’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and amateurs from the Whitman Amateur Radio Club assisted at the recent Winterfest festival in the Town of Whitman on December 7, 2008.  According to Bill Hayden, N1FRE, fifteen CERT and ham volunteers assisted in the activities. Seven of the 15 were Whitman ARC members. Bob Schmitt, KB1MTY, Whitman Emergency Management Agency (WEMA) Director, and Chief Grenno coordinated activities from ground level at the hot chocolate factory and distribution center.

The WEMA Emergency Operations Center (EOC) radio communication center was activated and manned by Bill Hayden, N1FRE and Frank Hayes, N1OGP during the event. WEMA Motorola public safety radios were assigned to each volunteer team. The WEMA frequency of 484.250 PL 203.5, was used through out the event for two-way communication.

Members assisted the public at the hayride, a trolley ride, a Moonwalk attraction, face painting, pie eating, and rock climbing events. They also operated the CERT  mobile re-hab unit. Others provided additional eyes and ears for security personnel.

During the event the Whitman police and fire personnel were tied into the WEMA radio frequency via their radio systems as part of the “interoperability test” and thus were able to communicate directly with the EOC and WEMA volunteers during the event. This big step forward for the town’s “interoperability test” was coordinated by Bob Schmitt, KB1MTY, WEMA Director and Whitman ARC member. The EOC, located on the 2nd level of the Fire Rescue station, monitored the Whitman police and fire frequencies as well, so as to be aware of any of their normal activities that may affect the volunteer’s mission as “helpers”.

The Whitman ARC two-meter repeater was also monitored by hams on the scene as well as at the EOC. All of these modes of communication were available at the EOC on a priority basis.

–Thanks, Whitman ARC Spectrum, December, 2008

Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes:

The 146.625 MHz, K1KKM repeater located in W. Newbury (formerly Haverhill) has changed its PL to 131.8. Please update your communications equipment and records accordingly.

On Friday evening, December 5 and Saturday morning December 6, 2008, Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)  operators from the Northeast US participated in the  Operation Snow Shoe ’08 exercise. The scenario was a major Nor’easter with 24 inches of snow and heavy ice. The weather results in catastrophic damage and disaster area declarations. Operators from Virginia to Maine to Illinois participated. Multiple communication modes were used including HF voice, military VHF frequencies, Winlink2K, MT63, and phone patches.

A drill objective was to practice station survivability with operations using emergency power and back-up antennas. “Severely austere” conditions of no phone, internet, and commercial power were practiced in some locations.  Message traffic from coastal areas with major damage was passed as far west as Iowa.  Mike Neilsen, W1MPN provided  the point of contact for the MA State EOC for the drill in MA. Reports were also collected from Carl Aveni, N1FY at the SKYWARN desk at NWS Taunton. Reports from Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS members in MA were collected, formatted as “spot reports” and forwarded. This fulfilled another drill objective of sending the disaster assessment reports to provide military and civilian federal response planners with “ground truth” that they may not be receiving from any other source. It was a challenge to co-ordinate the drill around the Skywarn  Recognition day activities!

–Thanks, Phil McNamara, N1XTB

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for November is Larry Coyle, K1QW, of Needham, MA, for his article “A Modular Receiver for Exploring the LF/VLF Bands.”

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award — given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue — is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the December issue by Wednesday, December 31.

Congratulations, Larry!

–ARRLWeb

Bruce Hayden, NI1X writes:

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club conducted a two-day special event from the Plimoth Plantation over the weekend following Thanksgiving.

Paul Burbine N1VTI, President of the Whitman Club reports that 22 area amateur radio operators set up six base stations and portable antennas at the re-creation of the 17th century Pilgrim settlement and Indian homesite and exchanged contacts with 216 other amateur radio operators in 32 States, 8 foreign countries and 3 Canadian Provinces.

The HAM operators spread the word of Plimoth Plantation over the airways, explaining about the living museum and how they found the visitors, especially the children, amazed by the actors, dressed as Pilgrims and trained to speak in the language of the time and who did not acknowledge the existence of any of our modern technical wonders as they explained about the harsh reality of early Pilgrim life.

The crew operated using both voice and Morse code and made a special contact linking the Hams in Plymouth, Massachusetts with a HAM,  Laurie Hummerstone M0VRT, in Plymouth England. The crew found amateur radio operators from all over the world eager to make contact with Plimoth Plantation. Each amateur who contacts the club station WA1NPO is entitled to receive a certificate, suitable for framing, which includes a picture of  Mayflower II, docked in Plymouth harbor, and confirms the date and time of the two way radio contact.

The adults visiting the Plantation were encouraged to send a radiogram message free of charge to friends and relatives via amateur radio. We were able to explain how amateur radio operators practice sending routine messages, via radio to amateur radio operators in the local neighborhood who pick up the phone and deliver the message free of charge. We also explained how these routine messages could quickly change to priority or emergency messages in times of National emergencies.

The licensed operators who were able to participate in this special event were: Roy Logan KB1CYV and Pete Carlson N1POO of Bridgewater; Paul Burbine N1VTI of East Bridgewater; Ron Smith N1PXX of Bryantville; Al Drollett W1SM and Bob Loring K1REL of Carver; Jeff Lehmann N1ZZN and John Murphy KB1PHN of Hanson; Matt Paine KB1OSV of Mansfield; John Coombs WQ1L of Marshfield; Mark Loring KC1ML of Plymouth; Dave Polk N1YIA of Quincy; Bruce Hayden NI1X of Raynham; Neal Harrington KBLXL of Rehoboth; Byron Piette K1YCQ of Somerset; Don Burke KB1LXH, John Miller N1UMJ, Jim Tynan KC1JET of Taunton; Bill Hayden N1FRE, Mike Supple KB1OEP, Paul Moss KB1MTW and Ron Stundze KB1OEQ of Whitman.

Left: Plimoth Plantation 2008 certificate; right: Plimoth Plantation ops Jeff Lehmann, N1ZZN and Mark Loring, KC1ML

Donald A Rosinha, WA1BXY writes on the SEMARA Discussion List:

“I will be starting the weekly 80 meter cw night again starting 12/08/08 at 8:00pm (0100z) will be on 3.545 +/- QRM. This will not be a QRS (slow speed) “net” but a comfortable speed; but will QRS for anyone who wishes. I hope to hear more local/club members this time around.

73’s

Don, WA1BXY

A Technician licensing course will be offered in October by the Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education program in conjunction with the Colonial Wireless Association. The course will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from February 10 to 26, 2009 at the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School L-Building in Concord. The fee is $20.

For more information contact Fred Harrington, KB1EMV at fharrington@concordscientific.com or to enroll, please visit http://www.ace.colonial.net/fmi/xsl/Keyword.xsl, and enter the keywords “ham radio”.

The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association will hold a 24-hour “winter” Field Day exercise beginning at noon, January 24, 2009, according to CAARA’s Briggs Longbothum, AB2NJ.

“CAARA will exercise and demonstrate our capability to deploy and communicate under emergency conditions using portable/battery power. This event is similar to the ARRL’s well-known Field Day event held every June but will be conducted in January inside our club house but using non-permanent equipment and off-grid power,” says Briggs.

“Many will remember what a good time it was last year and with that experience to build on, we can plan for even more fun this time around,” AB2NJ adds. “It’s only 24 hours but there’s room for everyone to log some Q’s for the team effort.”