Month: October 2021

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Report – September Through Early October 2021

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

This is the second in a series of monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES reports that we have published on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES web site and will redistribute via the ARRL Section News provided we can meet the Section News deadline with our report. In the future, we plan to include additional statistical information on number of SKYWARN and ARES activations, total number of ARES members in the section as well as a narrative report in key happenings in Eastern Massachusetts ARES. We hope everyone finds these reports informative.

As this ARES report is being written, the 125th running of the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday 10/11/21. We thank all Amateur Operators and those that are Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters and ARES members for their participation in race day despite COVID and dealing with the COVID precautions. We wish everyone a great and fun race day on Marathon Monday. Also upcoming for public service events are the Baystate Marathon and the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES has lost a key member of its staff. Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, K1BTH-Blake Haskell is now a silent key along with his wife Deb Haskell. Eastern Massachusetts ARES honored Blake with a last call on the October Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net and on many of the RACES nets that took place. The ARES Net and Sector 2 RACES Net last calls were recorded and can be heard here:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Sector_2C_RACES_Net_K1BTH-Blake-Tribute.mp3

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Eastern_Mass_ARES_Net_K1BTH-Blake-Tribute.wav

The Eastern Massachusetts ARES staff will review his vacancy and announce a replacement over the course of the next 1-2 months. Our sincerest condolences are extended to the friends and family of Blake and his wife Deb and to all in the Amateur Radio and Public Safety community that knew them.

The month of September after Labor Day was a bit less active from an ARES-SKYWARN perspective as the weather pattern changed allowing for less activations. Nonetheless, the weather pattern remained fairly wet across the region with 6 self-activations for SKYWARN during the period mostly for heavy rainfall events but also for isolated severe thunderstorms on 3 of the self-activation for SKYWARN. More information on the larger activations with post storm reports and photos from the 2021 tropical and severe weather season will be posted on wx1box.org over the course of the next week.

ARES/SKYWARN members from across the country including Eastern Massachusetts support the VoIP Hurricane Net as Hurricane Larry made landfall in Newfoundland Canada. Details on this activation can be seen here:

https://ema.arrl.org/2021/09/16/voip-hurricane-net-lauded-for-efforts-during-hurricane-larry/

As we go through the month of October, the threat of direct impacts of tropical systems to our region is less as water temperatures cool but strong hybrid coastal storms become a potential concern. Given the continued very wet weather pattern of the last few months, we will need to monitor this potential for both SKYWARN and ARES activations.

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will conduct its Simulated Emergency Test (SET) coincident with the national Winlink exercise on Saturday 11/13/21 from 1000 AM-1200 PM. Further details will be posted on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES/ARRL section web site towards late October.

Thanks to all for their 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
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Flea markets & Conventions

NEAR-Fest is October 15-16, 2021

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Michael Crestohl, W1RC, writes:

NEAR-Fest logoAttention All Units!  NEAR-Fest XXX is Next Weekend… We Are Back Live and Online!

We are pleased to announce that NEAR-Fest XXX will begin at 0900 on Friday, October 15, 2021.  It will be a hybrid event both live at the Deerfield (NH) Fairgrounds and online worldwide via Zoom.  
 
For more information follow these links:
 
General Information:  https://near-fest.com/
 
Don’t miss our “Town Meetimg” candidates for ARRL New England Director forum!
 
 
 
Divisive issue to be sure but let’s all respect each other’s wishes to keep everyone safe.  
 
It has been a long two years…
 
73,
 
MisterMike, W1RC
Benevolent Dictator,
New England Amateur Radio Festival, Inc.
Foxhunting / Operating

K1MJC Fox is On the Loose in Waltham, October 8, 2021

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Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the Waltham ARA list and NEMassFoxHunters list at 2:40 PM on October 8, 2021:

Yes, the K1MJC Fox is out yet again!

Got out of work early, so it’s out early.

Well, I checked the weather and decided to take a chance it’s looking OK, perhaps maybe some sprinkles Sunday afternoon.

The fox is in somewhere in a conservation area within the city limits of Waltham, MA.

I don’t want to give away the  store, but it is within one I have placed it before!

As usual, it will be retrieved before sundown Sunday; if raining, sometime Monday. Maybe the batteries will last until at least Monday morning.

One of the maps on this page would prove useful!

https://walthamlandtrust.org/trail-guides/

Happy hunting!

Mike C. K1MJC 73

p.s. — If the clue is way too vague, I can usually be found on the Waltham UHF repeater,  input 444.0750, output 449.0750, tone in 88.5, tone out , none.

Public Service

Boston ARC Repeaters to Support Boston Marathon

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Boston ARC logoJoe Harris, N1QD, writes on the Boston ARC mailing list:

On Monday October 11, 2021, both the 145.23 and 449.175 repeaters will be in use supporting the Boston Marathon. The DMR repeater will not be connected to the standard NEDECN network during the event. Please defer to Marathon traffic throughout the day.
 
Additionally, the DMR repeater will be disconnected from the NEDECN network starting this weekend to allow for Marathon communications testing. The Monday night DMR net will be also taking a week off and will be back on the 18th.
 
Thank you for your continued support, and thank you to all volunteers who are working the event! 
 
73 
Joe Harris, N1QD 
W1BOS Repeater Trustee 
BARC Vice President 
Clubs / Foxhunting

KB1CNB: “Fox Hunting” at Boston Amateur Radio Club Meeting Online, October 21, 2021

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Boston ARC logoPlease note that this month’s General Meeting of the Boston Amateur Radio Club will take place at the usual date and time on Thursday, October 21, at 7:30 pm on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. Our speaker will be Skip Denault, KB1CNB, from the Bristol [County] Repeater Association, who will give a talk on fox hunting, equipment and set up.

Further details will be forthcoming in this month’s issue of The SPARC.

73,

Joe Chapman NV1W / Secretary, Boston Amateur Radio Club

Clubs

K1KI: “New England QSO Party” at Algonquin ARC Meeting, October 14, 2021

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AARC logoJust a reminder that the October Algonquin ARC meeting is next Thursday, 10/14, at 7:30 p.m.  We will be meeting both in the school library and on Zoom.  Zoom link will follow closer to the meeting.

Our guest speaker for the October meeting will be Tom Frenaye, K1KI, speaking about the New England QSO Party.  

[For Zoom information, email mdpowell -at- dmpowell -dot- net.]
Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

Baystate Marathon/Half-Marathon support Sunday October 17, 2021

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

KA8SCP-Terry Stader, MEMA Region 1 RACES Radio Officer & ARES District Emergency Coordinator writes:

I apologize for this late notice on this.

Amateur Radio operators have been asked once again to support the Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon. This year the event is on Sunday, October 17th. Our operational time period is from approximately 0700 until event completion (estimated 1400). Our assistance has been requested by Lowell Office of Emergency Management and Lowell Fire Department. The communications team will be employing Amateur Radio to provide this communications asset.

Amateur Radio will be used for:
* Accountability net: the purpose of this net is to coordinate with a race public information booth the status of runners who are unable to complete the race for any issue to any one is seeking this information.

Race info may be found at http://baystatemarathon.com. Course map is found at https://www.baystatemarathon.com/course-map-description-spectator-info

Please contact me if you are able to assist or would like more information.

Please share with others that may be interested. This is a pretty laid back event and suitable for first time public event participation.

Terry-KA8SCP

Terry M. Stader – KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 RACES Officer
EMA District Emergency Coordinator

Public Information

KM1NDY Featured on Pittsfield Community TV, WTBR-FM, October 13, 2021

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
Mindy Hull,  KM1NDY, South Boston, will be the featured guest on Ham On!, simulcast on Pittsfield Community Television and WTBR-FM 89.7 on October 13, 2021 at 9 AM.  The early morning program is produced and moderated by Western MA Assistant Section Traffic Manager Peter Mattice, KD2JKV.
 
Mindy will speak on a wide variety of topics including: Summits On The Air (SOTA); Parks On The Air (POTA); her work with New England Sci-Tech in Natick, MA; and operating in Winter Field Day. 
 
The show will also be available as a podcast.
 
Clubs

KC2G: “Propagation Website” at YCCC Meeting, October 6, 2021

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YCCC logoKen Caruso, WO1N, writes on the YCCC mailing list:

The formal meeting time is [October 6, 2021 at] 7:00PM – 9:00PM.

YCCC Member Andrew – KC2G will be giving a presentation on the propagation website he developed:

Prop.kc2g.com <https://prop.kc2g.com/>

Additionally, you may find the presentation by Jose – CT1BOH from the 2021 Spring Contest University interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-esob7BPtc

Check out Jose’s presentation that starts at the 5hr:39min mark and see how he used the data presented on Andrew’s site to improve his analysis/prediction of potential DX paths.

73,

Ken – WO1N

[Contact Ken at wo1n -at- arrl -dot- net for Zoom information]
Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net – Monday October 4th, 2021 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater Network

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

The October Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday October 4th, 2021 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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. For this month’s ARES Net, we will be doing a “last call” for Metro Boston ARES District Emergency Coordinator, Boston Amateur Radio Club member, town of Hull RACES/Communications Officer, friend and Amateur Radio Operator, K1BTH-Blake Haskell who became a silent key Thursday 9/30/21. We will also announce our plan to conduct our Eastern Massachusetts ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test) drill for Saturday 11/13/21 from 1000 AM-1200 PM along with several other announcements.

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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Technical

Andy’s Ham Radio Linux Software Update, Version 24e

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

linux penguin logoAndy Stewart, KB1OIQ, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

I have just released version 24e of the “Andy’s Ham Radio Linux” software collection.  This is the 20th release since I started this work in 2011.  There are quite a few new pieces of software, as well as all of the other programs to which you’ve become accustomed.

To learn more: https://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/

Have fun and 73!

Operating / Youth

W0MXX Balloon Launch, Cummington, MA, October 2, 2021

- by k9hi - 1 Comment

Seth Kendall writes on the STARS mailing list:

Max [W0MXX] and family are tentatively targeting a launch of our latest high altitude balloon on:

Saturday, Sept. 25th  October 2, 2021

TENTATIVE launch location: Around Stafford, CT Cummington, MA

Note: This will change on the morning of launch, so keep an eye out for posts!
Launch prep begins at 9:30 am with a launch time at around Noon.

(If Saturday is scrubbed, we will shoot for Sunday, and if that’s scrubbed, then next weekend. We will try to keep this thread updated.)

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Pick and choose from…

  1. Come to the Launch!  

    1. We start our prep at 9:30 am and aim to launch by noon.

    2. Keep an eye on our posts on the morning of launch for an updated location.

    3. Stream the prep and launch action for those that can’t make it using your phone.  We’ve never done this before, but always been interested, since most people aren’t able to come in person.  Our discord server has a Voice Hangout section that could be used for this, though we’re fine with any platform. (this is not expected if you show up haha, just a fun idea)

  1. Track the balloon online!

    1. https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FW0MXX-11&timerange=3600&tail=3600 

      1. This gives live updates directly from the transmitter.

    2. https://tracker.habhub.org/

      1. This is very useful for us, because it will give a predicted landing location.  As it gets close to landing, we can really benefit from people tracking it here, and letting us know where to look.  You can post locations here on groups.io, or if you are tracking it live and able to talk, give us your phone number to keep in touch while we’re on the road.

    3. Join our discord server for the most frequent updates.  We’d love to have you there in general as we work on weather balloons and try to troubleshoot problems!  It’s especially useful on launch day though.

      1. Step 1 – Make a Discord account:  http://discord.com/app 

      2. Step 2 – Join our server.  This invite will expire in 7 days:

https://discord.gg/fQRpHG8n 

  1. Watch this thread on groups.io, or better yet, track the balloon and contribute to it!

  2. Come track the landing beacon!

    1. Bring your 2m mag mount antenna, SDR, and laptop (with wifi access – we use our phone as a mobile hotspot), and try to pick up those final beacons just before (or after) it hits the ground (read: tree).  This can really help us to pinpoint where it actually landed.

    2. Max will post tomorrow with more details about using HDSDR and Direwolf to receive, decode, and publish the GPS data online.

    3. Keep up to date on the predicted landing location using tracker.habhub.org (above) or just tuning into others’ posts on our Discord or groups.io.  I’m not sure where people will post, but we find Discord easier for these kinds of things. 

  1. Come help us physically search for and recover it.

    1. Keep up to date on landing location via groups.io

    2. We’ll agree on a meeting point from which to conduct the search.

    3. Bring some basic survival stuff

      1. Boots, bug spray, water, etc.

    4. Bring your handheld to maintain contact during the search!

    5. We have a slingshot, and are trying to grab a fishing reel in time in order to try and fish it out of a tree should the cutdown system not work.  If you have any other tools you think could help with that, bring em!

    6. If you are a tree climber, bring your gear!  We’ll put you to use!

 

 
We’ve seemed to zero into a final launch location:
 
William Cullen Bryant Homestead
207 Bryant Rd
Cummington, MA 01026 
Foxhunting / Operating

KD1D Fox is Transmitting, Westford, MA, October 1, 2021

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on NEMassFoxHunters list on October 1, 2021 at 4:29 PM: 
 

The KD1D Fox is on the air: 146.565 MHz FM, transmitting for about 20-30 seconds every 60 seconds

You may be able to hear it from the Westford Town Common (Boston Road and Main Street), but you may have better luck taking a bearing from the park near the top of Parkhurst Drive.

The approximate location is One of the Conservation Lands listed at:
https://westfordconservationtrust.org/trust-land/

73 and Happy Hunting from Alan, KD1D

 
Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

No Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net for Saturday 10/2/21 – Net Resumes Saturday 11/6/21

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Good afternoon Everyone,

Tomorrow October 2, 2021 we WILL NOT be holding an Eastern MA Hospital Net. The members of the SSHARG will be providing communications support for the annual Set the Pace Road Race.

https://www.southshorehealth.org/give/friends-south-shore-health/set-pace-road-race

We will resume our monthly net in November on the 6th , the first Saturday in November at 10am.

73s,
South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Group