Month: August 2020

Clubs

Guest Presentation: Remote Communications in Peru, PART of Westford Meeting, August 18, 2020

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PART of Westford logoGeorge Allison, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

Our guest speaker for the PART meeting on Tuesday, August 18, will be Daniel Fernandez-Davila, who will give us a presentation about his with local villages and remote radio communications in Peru.  Mr. Fernandez-Davila is an active archaeologist (BA Archaeology and Diploma of Anthropological Studies from Catholic University, Peru; MA in Archaeology and Ancient Heritage from University of Leicester, England) who has conducted excavations and mapping projects in the Andes and continues doing independent research in the north cloud forest of Peru. Daniel has served as an historical advisor for the BBC and Discovery Channel in the production of Ancient Civilization documentaries and has 25 years of experience teaching World History, Latin America, Archaeology and World Geography. 

He co-founded Loose Change, an NGO (non-governmental organization) that brings  school supplies and books to very remote villages in the Andes. He has also been teaching local Peruvians about radio communications and how to deal with emergencies using handheld radios. Recently he tested new radios and he is planning to create a web of communications in the area that can benefit isolated villagers.

He currently lives in Stow with his family and has been teaching Social Studies at Wayland Middle School since 2005.

The meeting will be conducted via Webex, and will start at 7:30 PM.  Those who wish to check out their connectivity or just rag-chew will be able to log on as early at 7:00 PM.  Login information will be sent to those on the PART mailing list by Monday evening.

Emergency Communications

Annual Cape Cod ARES Summer Communications Exercise: “Operation Windbreaker,” August 8, 2020

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Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, writes on Facebook:

Cape and Islands conducted its annual summer field communications exercise on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Exercise #68 “Operation Windbreaker” had three primary field sites, several individual field ops and several home stations. The main sites were: outside the Sandwich Human Services Building, outside of Falmouth Hospital, and in Eastham near Larry, K1LRJ, home area.

VHF signals were excellent. The HF voice operation went quite well with our Cape/Islands stations as well as the off-Cape stations that hosted a 75-meter net over 75 miles away in another part of MA. Digital modes on HF had mixed results due to some glitches, but a couple of stations did well.

In Sandwich we had a crew of five including a couple of our new folks, Jermy, KC1NGL, from Sandwich Fire; Dennis, N1RDN, from Sandwich CERT; and Jason, KC1MLQ, from Yarmouth. Our 440 MHz simplex backchannel (was diplexed off our main dual band antenna to two radios) with the Falmouth field site worked even better than expected.

My thanks to all of our people who participated and special thanks to those off Cape stations that conducted the net, as well as stations that contacted us from various locations.

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[Show slideshow]
Licensing Education & Training

Two New England Sci-Tech General Courses Online In August-September, 2020

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New England Sci Tech logoFor anyone interested in wireless communications and electronics, this ON-LINE course will get you ready to take the second level Amateur Radio license exam, GENERAL. Geared toward adults, as well as junior high, high school, and home school students.

Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary preparation is necessary to get the best results from this course.

This is a FULL course taught by a 40-yr veteran teacher, not a discussion group or video service. You will learn so much more than just watching a video.

Current offerings:

Two day course: SAT-SUN Aug 29-30, 2:00-8:00 pm Eastern Time each day.

Four day course: Mo-Tu-W-Th Aug 31 – Sept 3, 3:00-6:00 pm Eastern Time each day.

The FCC General test will be scheduled for an upcoming weekday evening or weekend, as an online test, run by our VE team which has authorization to run online tests.

System Requirements: Computer or Chromebook capable of running ZOOM Meeting, either by Zoom app or through a browser, a built-in camera/mic, and a color printer.

Included with course fee: downloadable lecture study guide and charts, free access to our weekly Online Radio Shop Talk sessions, and a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Rooms and radio club meetings for 3 months once the facility reopens.

Note that the standard $15 license exam fee is NOT included and must be registered separately; our VE team is authorized to give ONLINE exams, so you can schedule an exam within a week of the course. (Price is $15 across the country.)

One additional member of the same family may take this course for the price of one, if sharing one computer, video screen, and materials.

A few hours before the session you will receive an email with a Zoom link and ID. If you don’t see the email, check your spam filter. If you still don’t see it, call 508-720-4179 for help.

For questions, e-mail bobphinney at nescitech.org or call 508-720-4179.

Foxhunting / Operating

W1HFN Fox Deployed in Littleton, August 8, 2020

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Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the NEMass Fox Hunters List at 1:01 PM on August 8, 2020:

Sorry for the time lapse since deployments,  medical stuff, surgery, etc. Deployed the fox today at the Hartwell reservation in Littleton.  Transmits on 146.565 with a voice ID every 30 seconds.  In a typical (for me) senior moment, I forgot to leave the sign-in log behind.  If you say you found it, I will believe you.

BTW, wear your hiking shoes, its a long walk.

73,

Barry, W1HFN

Organization

Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, Awarded Knight Distinguished Service Award

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Bob Beaudet, W1YRCFrom ARRL web:

The Board named veteran ARRL Rhode Island Section Manager Robert G. “Bob” Beaudet, W1YRC, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, as the recipient of the Knight Distinguished Service Award, given to an ARRL Section Manager. Beaudet has been Rhode Island SM since 2002.

The Board cited Beaudet’s active promotion of ARRL activities in his Section, including visiting hundreds of Field Day operations; participating in many Volunteer Examiner test sessions; attending at countless club meetings; staying active as a contester, DXer, and mentor, and serving as a model to other Section Managers. The Board said “Beaudet’s leadership of the ARRL Rhode Island Section Field Organization has led to a strong working cadre of volunteers within the Section.”

Licensing Education & Training

Amateur Radio Direction Finding Seminar on ARRL Learning Network

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From the USA ARDF Championship mailing list:

ARRL members will have an opportunity to learn the basics of The Sport of Finding Hidden Transmitters On Foot. The presenter, Robert Frey, WA6EZV, will be conducting the webinar on Thursday, August 20, 2020, 12:30 PM PDT / 3:30 PM EDT (1930 UTC). There is no charge for attending the Zoom presentation. Register online at http://www.arrl.org/ARRL-Learning-Network

All

MIT Swapfest Cancelled for Remainder of 2020

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Flea at MIT signFrom http://w1mx.mit.edu/flea-at-mit/

As MIT has announced that only seniors will be back on-campus with heavy restrictions in place, we have determined that we won’t be able to hold Swapfest without excessive risk for the rest of the calendar year. Swapfest will (tentatively) pick back up on April 18 of next year, and anyone who submitted preregistration should have either recently received an email or will shortly receive postal mail returning their payment.

Clubs

New Affiliated Club: Southeastern MA REACT

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ARRL Headquarters has received an application, dated July 31, 2020, from the Southeastern MA REACT, WC1EOC, in Brockton to affiliate with ARRL as a Category 1, “Local Amateur Radio Club.” 

According to their filing,  the club specializes in digital modes, public service/emergency, repeaters, VHF/UHF, and general interest. The club’s president is John Mahon, N1PYC.

Their affiliation will become official upon approval by New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR.

Congratulations to Southeastern MA REACT of Brockton.

All

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net – Monday 8/3/2020 at 830 PM EDT

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Hello to all…

The August Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday August 3rd, 2020 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

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

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. For tonight’s ARES Net, the focus will be on the ARES-SKYWARN response to Tropical Storm Isaias with Tropical Storm Warnings up for all of Southern New England. We will also discuss the Cape Cod ARES District Exercise for Saturday August 8th from 1000 AM-1200 PM if it is not cancelled due to impacts from Isaias and give a brief COVID-19 update.

Due to numerous SKYWARN Activations in the month of July, the Eastern Massachusetts ARES/National Red Cross Exercise report is delayed and will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at https://ema.arrl.org/ares by Monday 8/10/20. Thanks for your continued support of 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
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All

Northeast HamXposition 2020 Cancelled

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Bob DeMattia, K1IW, Northeast HamXposition 2020 Chairman writes:

Large indoor gatherings such as our convention are currently prohibited by Massachusetts state law. This is highly unlikely to change by November.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold a physical convention this year.

However, we do plan some virtual activities, all free.  We are currently working on the details for these and will keep you posted as they develop:

We plan to the operate the W1A special event station over the weekend of October 31st – November 1st. To avoid a conflict with the November Sweepstakes, we moved this to one week earlier. W1A will be operated from the operator’s home stations.  Dennis, W1UE, is coordinating the schedule.  If you would like to be a W1A operator, please contact W1UE by email at w1ue@hamxposition.org.  For those who would like to work W1A, we will be posting the operating schedule once it is ready.  Note that this will give regular attendees the unique opportunity to work W1A (something which would have been more difficult for many to do operating portable from a hotel room).

We will also be hosting a Saturday evening virtual banquet on November 7th, featuring a guest speaker. There will be no charge for this event.  Order your favorite take-out or delivery, pull up a chair to your screen and join your friends for an interesting presentation.  After the talk, virtual break-out rooms will be available for you to converse with your “table”.

The Nashua Area Radio Club will be running an online version of the “Ham Boot Camp”. This is a multisession program for hams young and old to learn about the various activities they can do with their license.  Details to follow.

From the entire HamXposition committee,  we wish you good health, be safe, and we look forward to seeing everyone in person at our 2021 convention on July 23-24-25, 2021.

73,
Bob – K1IW
Chairman, HamXposition 2020