Update on Amateur Radio and Flu

The following is from Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager, Mike Neilsen-W1MPN and MEMA Public Information officer Peter Judge. More information will be posted late this weekend or early next week.

All:

Just some thoughts about what is going on.  It is still early in the
public health investigation of this outbreak, and our government
officials seem to be working hard to gather as much information as
possible about the situation nationally and here in our state.  Some of
the cases in Mexico have been very serious, but the confirmed cases
from California, Texas, Kansas, Ohio and New York City have been
reported to be mild.  We don’t know yet why the cases in Mexico and the
U.S. seem to be different in severity, but answering that question will
be part of the larger public health investigation.  There is still much
to be learned from the little evidence that the world authorities have
accumulated.  The CDC has now confirmed 64 cases of swine flu in humans
in the U.S.  There have been no cases identified yet in Massachusetts,
however, like other states we are increasing our surveillance
activities to see if cases develop in the Commonwealth.  

In the coming days, patience will be the best approach to this problem.
Hams can demonstrate calm by controlling rumors and encouraging people
to stay plugged into authoritative sources. I have found information on
the media to be relevant and balanced.  Good updates are also available
on the mass.gov site, and for more information on swine flu, visit the
CDC’s new web site at www.cdc.gov/swineflu.  There is also have some
very good information on how to care for someone at home who has the
flu on the DPH web site.  MDPH and MEMA will be utilizing Mass211 as a
information center.  The goal was to have Mass211 operational by today.

Consider that if the worst scenario should materialize, widespread flu
will greatly impact already thin workforces causing supply disruptions
and real service problems, even with light casualties.  I strongly
recommend that you quietly but persistently ensure your readiness for
challenges ahead by procuring at least two weeks worth of canned food,
clean water, and other supplies for your home.  Please encourage your
relatives, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

Our ARES Team is standing by to assist in any way we can in the weeks
ahead.  ASM, Carl, N1FYM, is actively reviewing the news to see, what
if anything, is specifically pertinent to us.  Whatever we find out
will be promptly added to our website at ema.arrl.org, so please check
it often.

Best regards to you and your family.

73,

de W1MPN

Office Answering Service/FAX 978-389-0558

The Mass211 Information Line (2-1-1) and the MA Department of Public Health website (www.mass.gov/dph) are prepared to provide assistance regarding any questions concerning the Swine Flu Outbreak.

Peter W. Judge

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

Update On Amateur Radio And Flu

EMA ARRL logoARRL Section Manager Mike Neilsen, W1MPN writes:

Just some thoughts about what is going on.  It is still early in the public health investigation of this outbreak, and our government officials seem to be working hard to gather as much information as possible about the situation nationally and here in our state.  Some of the cases in Mexico have been very serious, but the confirmed cases from California, Texas, Kansas, Ohio and New York City have been reported to be mild.  We don’t know yet why the cases in Mexico and the U.S. seem to be different in severity, but answering that question will be part of the larger public health investigation.  There is still much to be learned from the little evidence that the world authorities have accumulated.  The CDC has now confirmed 64 cases of swine flu in humans in the U.S.  There have been no cases identified yet in Massachusetts, however, like other states we are increasing our surveillance activities to see if cases develop in the Commonwealth. 

In the coming days, patience will be the best approach to this problem. Hams can demonstrate calm by controlling rumors and encouraging people to stay plugged into authoritative sources. I have found information on the media to be relevant and balanced.  Good updates are also available on the mass.gov site, and for more information on swine flu, visit the
CDC’s new web site at www.cdc.gov/swineflu.  There is also have some very good information on how to care for someone at home who has the flu on the DPH web site.  MDPH and MEMA will be utilizing Mass211 as a information center.  The goal was to have Mass211 operational by today.

Consider that if the worst scenario should materialize, widespread flu will greatly impact already thin workforces causing supply disruptions and real service problems, even with light casualties.  I strongly recommend that you quietly but persistently ensure your readiness for challenges ahead by procuring at least two weeks worth of canned food, clean water, and other supplies for your home.  Please encourage your relatives, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

Our ARES Team is standing by to assist in any way we can in the weeks ahead.  ASM, Carl, N1FYM, is actively reviewing the news to see, what if anything, is specifically pertinent to us.  Whatever we find out will be promptly added to our website at ema.arrl.org, so please check it often.

Best regards to you and your family.

73,

de W1MPN

Office Answering Service/FAX 978-389-0558

——————————————————————–
ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
w1mpn@arrl.org

 

New England QSO Party, May 2-3, 2009

New England QSO PartyARRL New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI writes:

The New England QSO Party is coming soon – it starts on Saturday!    We’d sure like to see some additional activity this year – hope you can get on and make at least a few QSOs – or encourage others to do so.

It runs from 2000Z Saturday May 2 until 0500Z Sunday May 3 (4pm EDT Saturday until 1am EDT Sunday) and 1300Z Sunday May 3 until 2400Z Sunday (9am EDT Sunday until 8pm EDT Sunday).
Suggested frequencies are: CW – 3540 7035 14040 21040 28040, SSB – 3850 7280 14280 21380 28380.  ** Now that the broadcast stations are mostly out of 7125-7200, try 7180 on 40m SSB.**     Digital QSOs count the same as CW QSOs

New England stations send signal report, county and state, and can work anyone, including other NE stations.

Please send in a copy of your log – certificates will be sent to those with more than 25 QSOs.

The full rules are available on the NEQP web site at http://www.neqp.org

Very 73 — Tom/K1KI

Gunstock Mountain Hopkinton Node Now Operational

Rich Zack, K1RJZ writes on FraminghamARA-L:

This evening we placed into service the southern link to the Gunstock Mountain 6M repeater which natively covers north to Franconia Notch, NH and  south to the Mass Pike.  Tonight we just placed into service the “Hopkinton Node” with the antenna height at 734ft AMSL and is one mile south of the start of the Boston Marathon.

Bottom line:  We now have continuous mobile-mobile coverage from Franconia Notch, NH to the Cape Cod Canal (max) with only two full-time linked repeaters.  This system was actually designed from day-1 to allow NOAA Grey Maine to talk to NOAA in Taunton, MA and that was a key premiss for us to obtain site access.

Sponsor:   Central NH ARC

Gunstock Mtn, NH User RX  53.77  PL 100.0
Gusstock Mtn, NH user TX  53.07  PL 71.9

Hopkinton, MA User RX  51.74  PL 100.0
Hopkinton, MA user TX  51.24  PL 71.9

Important Notes:

* The Hopkinton 6M freqs may seem odd but they are not.  All 6M repeaters below 52 MHz are at a 500KHz offset and not 1MHz offset as above 52 MHz
* To clarify, this system does not link to Mt Uncanoonuc 6M as originally planned because Gunstock all by itself exceeds Unc’s coverage
* When using Hopkinton MA, commercially converted radios with “squelch tail elimination” will have a very pleasing drop sound upon TX unkey while ham radios that just happen to cover six-meters will have a much longer noise burst.  That’s just the way that they work.

Please do join CNHARC’s regular 6M net this Thursday at 8AM so we can see how this system plays.  Freqs are above.  Thanks.

Rick Zach, K1RJZ

The Boston Marathon And Amateur Radio: A Winning Combination

N1XKB and KD1CY at NCSOver 250 Amateurs participated in Amateur Radio communications for the 113th running of the Boston Marathon. The 2009 Boston Marathon had over 26,000 official runners with over 500,000 spectators along the 26-mile route. Amateur Radio Operators assisted at the start line, course and finish line with 2-3 Amateurs staffed at each water and first aid station along the route with additional Amateur Operators at the start and finish.

“This is the largest public service event in terms of number of Amateur Radio Operators required for a one day event and we can always use more” said Marathon Amateur Radio Communications (MARC) Course Coordinator, Steve Schwarm-W3EVE. “We are glad that the weather is cool and the number of ambulance requests for this year were lower than past years where we had higher temperatures and more medical issues” Schwarm said.

“The medical tents at the finish line were near capacity by 3 PM Monday as reported in a situation report by Western Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, John Ruggerio-N2YHK, who is assisting in operations at the finish line. Hams are providing communications, status and logistical issue updates between the tents to our finish line net control as needed” said MARC Finish line coordinator Paul Topolski-W1SEX.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) was active with operations at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in Framingham Massachusetts. The operations room acted as the Unified Command Center or UCC for the operation as has been the case in the past. RACES Amateur Radio Operators staffed the communications room within the SEOC with one Amateur Radio Operator, Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager, Mike Neilsen-W1MPN, staffing the Unified Command Center to feed status reports on any issues along the marathon route into the operations room and to feed issues from the UCC to the operations room.

“This is the first time we’ve had an Amateur Radio Operator in the operations room of the UCC. We have been coordinating with the Boston Marathon Net Control and the finish line communications in Boston to provide updates into our station and to our Amateur Radio Operator in the UCC” said Tom Kinahan-N1CPE, Massachusetts State RACES Radio Officer.

The net control center is at a location with line of sight to the Boston area and to the entire 26-mile route in case simplex communication is required. Over a dozen repeaters are utilized to provide overlapping coverage to the marathon route. Karen Brothers-K1KEB has coordinated the Net Control with assistance from her husband Dennis Brothers-N1DB. Bob Phinney-K5TEC, Bob DeMattia-K1IW and Kevin Paetzold-K1KWP assisted with the technical aspects of the net control setup. The Clay Center Amateur Radio Club, Minuteman Repeater Association, Framingham Amateur Radio Association, and many other clubs in the New England area support marathon operations.

With so many Amateurs displaced along the marathon route, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, Rob Macedo-KD1CY, placed Eastern Massachusetts ARES on stand-by in case something goes wrong along the marathon route or another major incident occurred coincident with the marathon. “This is standard operating procedure for ‘Marathon Monday’. We want our people to maintain a heightened state of awareness during the event” Macedo said. Macedo was stationed at the net control center providing liaison between the net control center and the State Emergency Operations Center and finish line, provided status reports to the SEOC and assisted with any logistical issues as they occurred.

Shown above: N1XKB and KD1CY at BAA Marathon Net Control, W1M in Brookline, MA

Eastern Massachusetts ARES On Stand-By for Monday April 20th 7 AM-7 PM/Boston Marathon Coordination Message

Hello to all..

While this may be a bit off topic for some SKYWARN Spotters, Amateur Radio Operators and Red Cross volunteers, many of which are SKYWARN Spotters, will be involved in the Boston Marathon on Monday April 20th. To reach out to the highest level of Amateur Radio Operators involved in the event, this coordination message is being sent out to the SKYWARN email list. We appreciate everyone’s patience with this message. This is likely to be the only coordination message on the Marathon unless a significant change in the weather forecast occurs. See information below:

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be in Stand-by Mode from Monday April 20th from 7 AM-7 PM for any significant issues outside of the Boston Marathon that may require Amateur Radio Emergency Communications support and for any unexpected issues on the Boston Marathon route. If this message is not updated during the day on Monday, the stand-by mode will expire at 7 PM once marathon activities are completed. With over 300 Amateur Radio Operators staffing the Boston Marathon route, the start line and the finish line, if an issue arises needing Amateur Radio support outside of the Marathon route or an unexpected issue arises in marathon operations, it is important that any ARES members not involved in the marathon can help with any response that is required. The Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net Control Center at the town of Bridgewater EOC will be active to backup any issues at marathon net control and monitor any events within the marathon and outside of the marathon. A second backup to marathon operations will be in Walpole as done in years past.

ARES Stand-By mode means ARES members should monitor the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site for any updates and potential mobilization and have their go-kits ready in case a deployment is required. Do not self-deploy. Please wait feedback from appropriate ARES leadership before deployment and be ready in case deployment is required. In past years for the marathon, no deployment has been required but it is an honor to be prepared in case one is required and good practice for future operations where a stand-by mode becomes an actual deployment as was the case in the December 2008 ice storm.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) UCC (Unified Command Center) at the SEOC (State Emergency Operations Center) will be active for the Boston Marathon. Amateur Radio Operators will be at the SEOC to support backup operations while many agencies will be there performing primary operations for the marathon. A Press Release from MEMA can be seen at the following link:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/old/local/News_Release_UCC_2009.doc

The weather outlook for the Boston Marathon is one that should be favorable for the runners but a bit cool for the volunteers participating in supporting the marathon. The Weather Forecast across the Boston Marathon is for mostly sunny conditions from morning into a portion of the afternoon followed by increasing cloudiness. There will be a 10-15 MPH breeze with gusts of 20-25 MPH along the route. At this time, rain is expected to hold off until Monday Night with most of the rainfall expected to occur late Monday Night into Tuesday Morning. Temperatures will range from the upper 40s to around 50 degrees. This means that conditions for the runners should be reasonable with an ‘average’ amount of ambulance requests along the route versus some prior years where warmer weather conditions resulted in some of the highest amounts of ambulance requests since Amateur Radio Operators have handled the event.

For Amateur Radio, Red Cross and all other volunteers along the route, it is recommended that you dress in layers for this event so that you can put on or take off clothes as needed for comfort. Be sure to drink liquids and eat properly during the event and that you are self-sufficient so that you can be of a full help to the function and not distract everyone from the main purpose of supporting the runners by having a health issue on your end that can be avoided. Rain is expected to hold off until Monday Evening but it may be wise to bring ‘light’ rain gear in case the rain moves in sooner than expected. It is likely that as the sun is dimmed by increasing clouds conditions may feel cooler than when the day starts and conditions are sunny.

Barring a significant change in the weather forecast, this will be the only coordination message on the Boston Marathon. We appreciate everyone’s support in this event and hope those that volunteer enjoy themselves and feel the self-satisifcation of supporting this historic event and those that are monitoring the Marathon or events outside of the Marathon realize that the monitoring is an important function as well and is a testament to being able to scale other incidents beyond the marathon if required. Thanks to all for their support!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://ares.ema.arrl.org

http://www.wx1box.org

Massachusetts QRP Convention

MassCon logoThe first Massachusetts QRP Convention (MassCon) will be held March 12-13, 2010 in the Westford Regency Inn Conference Center in Westford, Massachusetts. The event is made possible by a generous contribution from Buddipole Antennas, and the Police Amateur Radio Team of Westford, Massachusetts, host of the event, and also a major contributor.

Presentations from leading figures in the QRP world will be made in a comfortable, modern classroom setting from 8 AM through 5 PM on Saturday (March 13). Speakers expected to present include Allison Parent (KB1GMX), Dave Siegrist (NT1U), Bruce Beford (N1RX), Michael Rainey (AA1TJ), John Sexton (KO1H), and QRP Hall of Fame members George Heron (N2APB), Joe Everhart (N2CX), and Dave Benson (K1SWL). Attendees will receive a conference proceedings, CD, and other gifts at registration.

In addition to the Saturday seminar, a Friday evening gathering will be held on March 12, 2010 for attendees to meet the speakers, browse through vendor offerings, and do a little show-and-tell of their own. Vendors tables will continue to be available through Saturday evening.

Finally, a banquet will be held at the conclusion of the conference in the Westford Regency Inn. Steve Galchutt (WG0AT) will keynote the event showing movies and talking about operating portable QRP and hiking the peaks of Colorado with his pack goats Rooster and Peanut. Ticketing for the banquet is separate from the conference and attendees are invited to bring their friends and family to the event.

Registration for the conference is $25 in advance, $35 at the door. Seating will be limited. Details about how to register, obtain hotel reservations at the conference rate, and banquet reservations will be published on the conference web site later this summer.

Further information for the event may be found on the event web site http://www.masscon.org archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20110917111621/http://www.masscon.org/

902 MHz Band, Equipment Presentation at PAWA

If you are interested in exploring the 902 MHz band and equipment, don’t miss the upcoming presentation on the topic by John Frye, N1OTY at the next Pilgrim Amateur Wireless Assocation meeting on April 17 at 7PM. PAWA meets in the Stone Conference Room at the Morton Hospital on Washington Street in Taunton.

Frye has also presented on the subject at recent meetings of the Minuteman Repeater Association and the Boston Amateur Radio Club.

Volunteers Needed For Good Friday Walk, Hingham MA

Harold “Pi” Pugh, K1RV writes on the K1USN reflector:

Anne, WB1ARU is looking for an additional 1-3 ham operators for a Good Friday Walk. The Good Friday Walk is held on a 20-mile course in Hingham to raise money for Sharing Inc. She could use from 1 to 3 more operators in the morning and/or early afternoon for shifts of 3 to 4 hours.

“A two meter hand-held or mobile radio is needed; we use the Weymouth repeater. We have not had much in the way of problems over the years, most of the communication is routine and infrequent. It’s a great bunch of people dedicated to a good cause.”

If anyone would like more information, they can contact Anne at enoaru at gis.net.

Kuss Middle School Ham Radio Class Needs A Volunteer

teach logoRoland Daignault, N1JOY writes on the BCRA-club reflector:

I received a message from Joe Cote, KB1LJG who is the instructor at Kuss Middle School in Fall River, MA]. Joe will be out the last seven weeks of school due to shoulder surgery and is looking for a volunteer to pick up the ham radio class for that time. There will be a substitute instructor, but they will not have the ham radio background. The ham radio class is part of the regular Kuss curriculum, and the classes will be 3 days a week on Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday. Wednesday is from 12:30-2:00 PM, Thursday from 2:00-3:30 and Friday from 7:40 AM -9:00 AM. Wednesday April 29th would be the first class and it will end Friday June 12th.

Anybody interested? Maybe a couple of people could split the duties?

Joe can be contacted directly at: joecotekms at yahoo.com.

 

Eastern MA Amateurs QRV For Maritime Radio Day

This year’s Maritime Radio Day on-air operation will occur on April 11-12, 2009 and several Eastern MA amateurs who are former maritime radio operators will be QRV. According to Robert “Whitey” Doherty, K1VV, it’s an excellent way to collect rare and unusual QSL cards.

The event runs from April 11 at 1200 UTC until April 12 at 1200 UTC. This an all CW special event. Former maritime radio operators will be calling “CQ MRD”. The exchange will be the operator’s name and their last ship call sign; for example, “Op Bob last ship NEGX NEGX”. The ship and shore operators will adjust their CW speed for the slower CW operators.

N1EA/WAKL QSL W1QWT/NEGX QSL W1AAX/WFQB QSL K1VV/NJPJ QSL

 

Reminder: Monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for April 2009

Hello to all…

A reminder that the monthly ARES Net for April is rapidly approaching. The monthly ARES Net for April is Monday April 6th, 2009, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the RACES Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site and the repeaters that will be linked in will be through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/map.html

In addition, if the Echo-IRLP node on the MMRA hub is available, we will likely link that to the New England Reflector system on IRLP 9123/Echolink Conference *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123.

Make the first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org