The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (NEST) will meet on-line and in-person on February 8, 2022 at 7 PM and feature “National Traffic System (NTS) & Message Handling” by Marcia Forde, KW1U.Description: In this talk, Marcia Forde, KW1U will be discussing message handling in general, how the National Traffic System came to be, how and why we do what we do, and a brief glimpse into the future.
Bio: Marcia was first licensed as KA1GBS in 1980. She was introduced to ham radio when her son Dale (now K1WU) was 13 years old and attended a summer school class in Morse code taught by a local ham. Dale and friends went on to get licensed in 1973. It took seven years for Marcia to get up the courage to take the Novice exam but she has been hooked ever since. She upgraded to General in 1982 and Extra in 1984. She has been an active traffic handler in the ARRL’s National Traffic System since 1981, participating at all levels from local and section to region, area and Transcontinental Corps (TCC) on both CW and SSB. She operates a 24/7 scanning Pactor 1, 2 and 3 MBO on HF and a connecting VHF Packet station for the Digital Traffic Network (DTN), formerly NTSD. She recently added VARA HF capability as of November 2021. She is a registered Winlink user and can accept Winlink traffic for import into the DTN, and is working to help coordinate use of the NTS with ARES for handling long haul messaging. Marcia’s station consists of a Kenwood TS590SG, a G5RV multi-band antenna up around 45 to 50 feet, a 160 meter dipole, and a tri-bander at 45 feet, which currently needs a tower climber and a tree trimmer to make it functional again. She has a PTC IIe Pactor modem, and a Yaesu FT 7900 and Kam plus modem for packet into a 13 element two meter beam up around 50 feet. She also has an Ameritron AL811H amplifier. Around 2011 when appointed Section Traffic Manager for both Eastern and Western Mass, Marcia re-activated a combined section CW traffic net (MARI) which meets on 3565 Khz daily at 7:00 PM ET. CW is still her favorite mode and she is happy to see increasing interest in this mode. Marcia operates a hub station on the RRI Digital Traffic Network (DTN) and scans multiple bands on HF accessible via Pactor 1, 2, and 3 and VARA. Message traffic can be moved via her MBO to anywhere in the US and Canada and also internationally wherever it is permitted. Check with Marcia at kw1u@arrl.net for frequency information. Her VHF Packet station sits on 145.09 and is available to feed messages into the DTN. Marcia can also be reached at kw1u@winlink.org.
Come meet at NEST! We usually have pizza! (Face masks still required, please.)
5:00-7:00: radio room open; informal radio activities.
For Zoom conference information, email Bob Phinney, K5TEC, at bobphinney -at- nescitech -dot- org or call 508-720-4179.