a field organization of the National Association for Amateur Radio®
Margaret Gaffney, KA1BZE, writes on the BCRA mailing list:
This month we will meet on Skype. With Skype we will be able to run the meeting for longer than 40 minutes. As usual the meeting will be held tomorrow June 1 at 7:00 PM.
Use the following link: [email mmgaffney -at- comcast -dot- net for meeting information.]
Note: one of the items to be discussed is field day from home.
From ARRL Web:
A recent in-person “social-distancing” amateur radio exam session in Indiana and a “drive-in” session in California are representative of those that are relieving some of the pent-up demand for testing. As the COVID-19 pandemic lumbers on, in-person exam sessions have begun to resume across the US and elsewhere in the world.
“With in-person sessions starting up again around the country, we are hearing the same story from volunteer examiner (VE) teams everywhere,” said ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) Maria Somma, AB1FM. “Large numbers of candidates who have been waiting to test are contacting teams and are thankful for the opportunity to sit for an exam. So far, we’ve heard mostly positive results; candidates are very prepared as they’ve had extra time to study. VE teams and candidates are following CDC and state guidelines for social distancing.” [Full story]
The May, 2020, Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/may-2020-section-news/.
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 participation in other modes used traditionally in the section including Echolink and IRLP. A high-level Eastern Massachusetts section plan has been generated and is available here:
RedCross-Eastern MA-ARES Exercise 1.7 05-28-20
Section wide frequency and Echolink/IRLP plans are in the section plan. For local frequency information, please reach out to your ARES DEC/ADEC or EC for this info and their contact info is available at the following link:
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Page
As Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC, I can also be reached for questions as well as needed but we would like to drive interaction with other ARES leadership as part of exercise preparation.
We realize we have posted this exercise information on fairly short notice. Part of that is intentional to simulate a scenario where a potential ARES activation could occur with just a few days notice. We have also built the preparation process for the exercise in a way to push ARES member to ARES EC/ADEC/DEC leader interaction ahead of the exercise.
Also occurring on Saturday May 30th is the WX4NHC On-Air Communications Test done annually prior to each Atlantic hurricane season. We encourage all Amateurs to participate in this test as well and we may get WX4NHC operators to participate briefly in our exercise as well. Details on the WX4NHC On-Air Test can be seen at the following link:
WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020 9 AM-5 PM EDT Information
Many thanks to folks that can participate and thanks for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box
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]
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 rule waiver for 2020 allows Class D stations to count contacts with other Class D stations for QSO credit.
2) In addition, for 2020 only, an aggregate club score will be published, which will be the sum of all individual entries indicating a specific club (similar to the aggregate score totals used in ARRL affiliated club competitions).
Ordinarily, club names are only published in the results for Class A and Class F entries, but the temporary rule waiver for 2020 allows participants from any Class to optionally include a single club name with their submitted results following Field Day.
For example, if Podunk Hollow Radio Club members Becky, W1BXY, and Hiram, W1AW, both participate in 2020 Field Day — Hiram from his Class D home station, and Becky from her Class C mobile station — both can include the radio club’s name when reporting their individual results. The published results listing will include individual scores for Hiram and Becky, plus a combined score for all entries identified as Podunk Hollow Radio Club.
The temporary rule waivers were adopted by the PSC on May 27, 2020.
ARRL Field Day is one of the biggest events on the amateur radio calendar, with over 36,000 participants in 2019, including entries from 3,113 radio clubs and emergency operations centers. In most years, Field Day is also the largest annual demonstration of ham radio, because many radio clubs organize their participation in public places such as parks and schools.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many radio clubs have made decisions to cancel their group participation in ARRL Field Day this year due to public health recommendations and/or requirements, or to significantly modify their participation for safe social distancing practices. The temporary rule waivers allow greater flexibility in recognizing the value of individual and club participation regardless of entry class.
ARRL is contacting logging program developers about the temporary rule waivers so developers can release updated versions of their software prior to Field Day weekend. Participants are reminded that the preferred method of submitting entries after Field Day is via the web applet. The ARRL Field Day rules include instructions for submitting entries after the event. Entries must be submitted or postmarked by Tuesday, July 28, 2020.
The ARRL Field Day web page includes a series of articles with ideas and advice for adapting participation this year.
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 about a million spectators along the 26.2-mile course.”
—
The BAA (“Boston”) Marathon is one of the largest Amateur Radio public service events in the country. Approximately 350 hams, organized by the Boston Marathon Communications Committee, are positioned with buses, the starting line in Hopkinton, along the 26.2 mile course, at a remote Net Control location, and the finish line in downtown Boston.
The next back-up launch opportunity is on Sunday, May 31, at 1900 UTC. The Demo-2 is the final major test for SpaceX’s human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station, SpaceX said.
Launch video from the Kennedy Space Center will be available on the SpaceX website.
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. The sessions get filled quickly! When reading about an exam session, make sure it does not say “This session is full! “
– Once a session is found, register. You will receive a PIN. Write the PIN down, it will be needed for the exam. There should be directions on how to proceed. Also, how to pay. Each group is doing the remote exam differently. Follow the VE instructions.
– I took my General Exam with Rexburg Ham group – N7TMS Todd was the coordinator.
– I paid using Google Pay at the link provided.
– I emailed an official copy of my Tech License to N7TMS
– I online signed a CSCE/Form 605 for the EXAM
– I setup Zoom on my Laptop and Phone
– One day prior to the Exam, I received the Zoom Meeting link
– The day of the Exam, I joined the Zoom meeting at the appropriate time
– I displayed my drivers license for identity verification
– The VEs had me scan my room to make sure there were no materials to aid the test. No physical calculators allowed, only the Windows calculator.
– I propped the phone so that the 3 VEs could watch me.
– I set the Laptop up so only Zoom and the windows calculator were running
– I shared control of my Laptop with the VEs so that they could sign me into the Exam using my PIN.
– The VEs watch you via the phone and the shared desktop screen
– I took the exam and passed
– The VEs then released control of my Laptop
– I took the Exam on a Saturday, the FCC updated the ULS database on Wednesday. Three business days later.
There are a number of groups that are doing Remote Exams that say invite only, including one out of Natick MA. I do not know how to get on the invite list. Maybe one of the club officers could inquire about getting on the invite list. The Natick group is: New England Amateur Radio – (ONLINE) by invitation only
| Notes: | THIS SESSION IS BY INVITATION ONLY – REGISTER ONLY IF DIRECTED BY NE1AR VE TEAM..DO NOT REGISTER UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD TO..EXAM CANDIDATES MUST REVIEW RULES AND PROTOCOL AT https://nescitech.org/exam/
The WPX Contest is based on an award offered by CQ Magazine for working all prefixes. Held on the last weekend of March (SSB) and May (CW), the contest draws thousands of entries from around the world. [Full rules]
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. A high-level Eastern Massachusetts section plan has been generated and is available here:
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Exercise Plan for National Red Cross Exercise
Local frequency plans are not in the current section plan though we are building a list and will update the plan one last time on Friday 5/29/20. Section wide frequency and Echolink/IRLP plans are in the section plan. For local frequency information, please reach out to your ARES DEC/ADEC or EC for this info and their contact info is available at the following link:
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Page
As Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC, I can also be reached for questions as well as needed but we would like to drive interaction with other ARES leadership as part of exercise preparation.
We realize we have posted this exercise information on fairly short notice. Part of that is intentional to simulate a scenario where a potential ARES activation could occur with just a few days notice. We have also built the preparation process for the exercise in a way to push ARES member to ARES EC/ADEC/DEC leader interaction ahead of the exercise.
Also occurring on Saturday May 30th is the WX4NHC On-Air Communications Test done annually prior to each Atlantic hurricane season. We encourage all Amateurs to participate in this test as well and we may get WX4NHC operators to participate briefly in our exercise as well. Details on the WX4NHC On-Air Test can be seen at the following link:
WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020 9 AM-5 PM EDT Information
The Eastern Mass ARES section plan for the ARES/Red Cross national exercise will be updated again on Friday 5/29/20. Many thanks to folks that can participate and thanks for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box
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 <https://ema.arrl.org/nara>.
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/
The details of how to connect to the livestream will be released on May 26th on the below page:
https://bioartsociety.fi/
Satellite Communications Seminar:
Are you interested in learning how to work with signals transmitted by satellites?
This fall, Adriana Knouf plans to give a talk about the antennas, hardware, and open source software used to schedule, track, receive, and decode those signals. She’ll also speak about how she used these techniques herself to create an art project using many recordings created through this process!
Please fill out this super quick survey to show your interest. We plan to schedule it sometime during the fall semester, and we’ll release more details then.
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 enough interest we could stay on until 9 PM.
I am looking for a moderator for the VHF/UHF session, as I don’t know enough about it to do so.
There will be some prepared material, but my hope is that members will step forward and we can make this a participatory roundtable. I, of course, have my preferences on how to set up N1MM and operate, but there are others that do it just as successfully.
Some of the topics that will be covered in the CW session:
1. Station Tune-up
2. Operating Game Plan
3. RX Tips
4. Tx Tips
5. N1MM+ Setup/Use
6. Telnet
7. How to Get to Carnegie Hall
If you are interested in preparing some material for any of the above sessions, please feel free to contact me. I hope these will become sessions with a lot of participation and questions answered.
We will also be recording the session, so you can concentrate on what’s being said without having to take copious notes. It should be available in the day or two after the session.
Log-in Info for the Zoom meetings will be sent out on Wednesday or Thursday for the CW session.
Dennis W1UE
President, YCCC
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:
Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the NEMass Foxhunters list on May 22, 2020 at 4:24 PM:
The W1HFN fox is out at: https://
“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 format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist.” -Wikipedia.
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/
Thanks and 73. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Bruce, K1BG
978-772-2773 or bruce.blain@charter.net
— Join WebEx meeting (contact K1BG for conference info)
Reminder: YCCC DMR Net
When: Wednesday, 20 May 2020, 8:00pm to 9:00pm, (GMT-04:00) America/New York
Where: DMR TG NETAC1
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:
73 and see you there!
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.