Author: admin

Hello to all….

The two announcements on WinLink 2000 have been added to a separate link under Departments/Programs called Winlink 2000. In addition, a Power Point presentation on Winlink 2000 that was done at the Boxboro Hamfest in 2006 has also been added with updated frequency information for those that want a larger overview of the Winlink system. The file is 5.5 to 6 MB so those with low bandwidth connections may want to save the file to the hard drive before viewing it.

Phil McNamara-N1XTB has also prepared a document on how to view WinLink 2000 Bulletin messages and how to view lists of bulletins known as catalogs. This has been added to the WinLink section.

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Hello to all….

***UPDATED FOR CALL-SIGN CHANGE OF N1YHR-10 to N1RCW-10. REMAINDER BELOW UNCHANGED.***

From Tom Kinahan-N1CPE, Phil McNamara-N1XTB and Gil Follett-W1GMF, here is some important information on Packet and WinLink RMS-Packet stations in the region:

Gil W1GMF has assembled a group of RMS-Packet stations in Eastern Mass that are available to all:

KK1X-10 AYER,MA 145.07
N1OTX-10 WOBURN,MA 145.09
W1GMF-10 ABINGTON,MA 145.09
N1XTB-10 MIDDLEBORO,MA 145.01
N1RCW-10 FORRESTDALE,MA 145.01
KE1AB-10 CRANSTON,RI 145.05

In addition to:

WC1MA FRAMINGHAM, MA. 145.75
N1CPE-10 MILFORD, MA 145.75
WC1MAA-10 TEWKSBURY, MA 145.01
N1OTS-10 GREENFIELD, MA 145.05

The following link provides additional information on the Packet system across Eastern Massachusetts:

http://www.powersrvcs.org/EMAPACKET/

As we move into the active part of Hurricane Season, now is a good time to try technologies such as WinLink and Packet to add to your Emergency Communications capabilities.

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://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

Hello to all….

WinLink is becoming a popular way to utilize digital communications over radio despite the low speed of which digital traffic can flow on VHF and UHF. John Ruggerio-N2YHK and Tom Kinahan-N1CPE demonstrated this technology at the last Western Massachusetts ARES Meeting. The following are instructions they have provided that I modified slightly to be more generic.

If you haven’t tried Winlink 2000 out yet, give it a shot. Winlink 2000 is E-mail for ham radio, where regular Internet E-mail is extended from the Internet by radio and can be used to get E-mail into an area without Internet access by radio from an area with Internet access. You can access Winlink 2000 via the Internet, via VHF packet to a RMSPacket station which is connected to the Internet or via HF (Pactor III preferred, but will work with Pactor I and Pactor II). The network also continues to function locally if Internet access is lost.

To get started, go to http://www.winlink.org, click on Downloads, go to the Airmail web page, download the program and run it. Answer all of the usual Windows installation questions – You don’t need to install the PTC-II drivers if you’re not using HF. Then run the program.

When you run it for the first time, click Cancel when it starts popping up the Setup dialog boxes to get to the regular “E-mail” screen. Then click on Tools – Options – Settings and enter your callsign. Click on Modules and make sure Internet Access (Telnet) is checked off. If you’re using VHF Packet, also check off VHF Packet Client and click Setup.
Choose your TNC, Com Port and Baud Rate. Click twice to get back to the “E-mail” screen. Then click Modules – Internet Access – Settings. Enter
these:

Remote Callsign: WL2K
Remote Host: server.winlink.org
Port: 8772
Timeout (sec): 120
Local Callsign:
Password: cmstelnet
Protocol: B2
Include in Auto-check: checked

Then click OK and click the Green Circle and you should see the connection made in the window, ending with an FF, FQ and disconnect.
Then click close.

To connect using VHF Packet, click Modules – Packet Client. Enter the call-sign of the Telpac you want under Connect to:. Your callsign should be in Connect As:. Dial your radio to the frequency of the Telpac you want to connect to and click the Green Circle. You should see the connection made in the window, ending with an FF, FQ and disconnect.
Then click close.

Click on File – New to start a message. Click Cancel when the address book pops up. Enter the call-sign or email address you want to send the message to in the To: field. Enter a subject and some text, then click Message – Post to prepare it to be sent. Then open up Modules – Internet Access and click the Green Circle. The E-mail should go out.

Once you connect to a RMSPacket station, you are automatically registered for 90 days. Just login once every 90 days to keep your account active. If it goes inactive, mail to you will bounce. Just login again to reactivate it. Your E-mail address is callsign@winlink.org. All E-mail coming from the Internet to your Winlink account is automatically blacklisted with a notice to you. To allow mail to come through, first send a message from your Winlink account to the address you wish to whitelist. You can also sign up for Webmail access by clicking the Webmail tab on http://www.winlink.org. You can also control your whitelist from there. To send a message to the Internet from Winlink, just enter the E-mail address in the To: field. Mail to other Winlink users only needs a callsign – You don’t need to enter @winlink.org after it.

If you get on the system, feel free to send a message to me at KD1CY at winlink dot org or send a message to Tom-N1CPE at N1CPE at winlink dot org. For Western Mass Hams, send a note to N2YHK-John Ruggerio. Let me know if you have any questions.

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://www.wx1box.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org

       PSLIST                                                 August 5, 2007

    Public Service Volunteer Opportunities in the New England Division
Listing public events at which Amateur Radio communications is providing

a public service and for which additional volunteers from the Amateur

Community are needed and welcome.  Please contact the person listed to

identify how you may serve and what equipment you may need to bring.
The most up-to-date copy of this list is maintained as

http://purl.org/hamradio/publicservice/nediv
   **** Every event listed is looking for communications volunteers ****
Date    Location      Event                       Contact      Tel/Email
Aug 18  Mt WashngtnNH Mt. Wash. Bicycle Hill Climb Cliff N1RCQ

                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org

Aug 19  Mt WashngtnNH Mt. Washington Century Ride  Cliff N1RCQ

                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org

Aug 19  Oxford     MA New England Ride for Kids    Wayne NH6XW   508.735.0807

                                                   wayne.anderson@verizon.net

Aug 26  Lakeville  MA Cranberry Triathlon          Tony  N1XRS   508.889.1174

                                                         tdduarte@comcast.net

Sep 16  Boston     MA Jimmy Fund Walk              Steve W3EVE   508.922.9688

                                                               w3eve@arrl.net

Sep 29  Bristol    NH NH Marathon                  Cliff N1RCQ

                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org

Oct  6  Hollis     NH Applefest Half Marathon      Jim  WD4JZO   603.889.4429

                                                              wd4jzo@arrl.net

Oct 19  Cambridge  MA Head of the Charles Regatta  Jeff  K1EMS

                                                          RWJeffA@comcast.net

Oct 20  Cambridge  MA Head of the Charles Regatta   Jeff K1EMS

                                                          RWJeffA@comcast.net

Oct 21  Cambridge  MA Head of the Charles Regatta   Jeff K1EMS

                                                          RWJeffA@comcast.net
This list is published periodically as demand warrants by Stan KD1LE

and Ralph KD1SM.  Our usual distribution is via Internet mail to the

arrl-nediv-list and ema-arrl distribution lists, and on the World Wide

Web (see address above).  If other mailing list owners wish us to

distribute via their lists we will be happy to oblige.  Permission is

herewith granted to republish this list in its entirety provided

credit is given to the authors and the Web address below is included.

Send comments, corrections, and updates to:
KD1SM@ARRL.NET.
We make an attempt to confirm entries with the coordinator unless the

information is from another published source.  We very much appreciate

the assistance we have been receiving from our 'scouts'; everyone is

welcome to send us postings.
Refer to http://purl.org/hamradio/publicservice/nediv for the most

recent version of the PSLIST.

		

K1VV and N1DT plan again to activate Dumpling Rocks (USA 1321) and Historic (USA 247) Lighthouses in Buzzard’s Bay on Saturday, August 18, 2007, 2007 from 7:00 AM EDT (1100 UTC) until about 2:00 PM EDT (1800 UTC).

The two were to originally activate Dumpling Rocks and Historic Lighthouses on July 7, 2007 but a family illness caused a last-minute cancellation.

The W1AA operation coincides with the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society‘s (ARLHS) National Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend, August 18-19, 2007. According to the ARLHS web site, the event is “to promote public awareness of ham radio and lighthouses; to contribute to the recognition that lighthouses, lightships, and their keepers deserve; to foster camaraderie within the ham fraternity; and to provide fellowship amongst the members of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society.”

Guidelines for the event can be found on-line.

Briggs Longbothum, AB2NJ writes on the CAARA mailing list:

Just an FYI to give you the “heads up” on an interesting night of radio coming up this Thursday, August 2, 2007. The “BAD GUYS” of the Boston Area DXers (BADX) club will be convening at Woodmans in Essex for their annual DX Clams dinner at 5pm. Following that, the gang will repair to Granite Pier in Rockport for an evening of MW DXing. This you gotta see! These guys are very accomplished and sophisticated SWLers (most are also hams) and they really know how to deploy and use antennas to haul in and log the far away AM broadcast band stations from all over. With their high-end Drake receivers (and a new SDR-1Q black box radio will be there too) and Beverages (antennas, of course), loops, and whips along with phase controllers and preamps, they’ll be logging TAs (Trans-Atlantics) from Europe to Africa as well as Carribbeans and SAs (South American stations). And you thought WLS in Chicago was a good MW catch?

Anyway, you’re all welcomed to stop by and look in and listen in on the action. If you can’t catch up with us at Woodmans, we’ll be the gang under that cobweb of whips and wires out on the pier after 7pm. Remember, you can’t work ’em if you can’t hear ’em and this crowd really has the “hearing ’em” part down pat. Hope to see some of you there Thursday night on the pier.

The Foundation for Amateur Radio (FAR) has announced the 2007 winners of 56 scholarships it administers. Two of the recipients hail from Eastern Massachusetts.

Bryce Salmi, KB1LQC, of Chelmsford, MA was the winner of the QCWA’s Donald and Phyllis Doughty Family Scholarship.

Brenton Salmi, KB1LQD, Chelmsford, MA was the recipient of the QCWA’s Edwin P. Woodruff, W3SX, Memorial Scholarship. Both prizes are $1000.

Congratulations to all the scholarship recipients, and especially to the Eastern Massachusetts student winners.

Members of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club along with area amateurs are invited to visit the Museum of Antiquated Technology on August 4, 2007 at 10:00 a.m., with a rain date of August 11.

The proprietors, Mark and Helen Vess, house this private museum in a 19th century barn at 303 High Street in Hanson, MA. The museum features old radios, phonographs, Victrolas, televisions, cameras, model planes, and much more on display. Outside the barn, the couple also have on display old engines that are in working condition.

Additionally, N1PXX and KB1KVL will operate a club special event station, WA1NPO, on the Whitman ARC repeater on 147.225, MHz (PL 67) which will also serve as the talk-in frequency. WA1NPO will check-in on other local repeaters to give out contacts commemorating the special event.

According to the Vess’, the Museum of Antiquated Technology’s mission is “to educate today’s kids about America’s technological past.” The couple give a few select tours of the collection every year to school groups. This amateur radio tour is being dedicated in the memory of “Silent Key” Glenn Howard, K1GVM.

–Thanks, Whitman ARC Spectrum, July 2007

The Sturdy Memorial Hospital Amateur Radio Club has been busy revamping its communications capabilities, writes SMHARC member John Benson, N1FLO. Benson reports that club members have upgraded some of the radios in the radio room, installed new antennas, and added an uninterruptible power supply to the APRS digipeater. “The HF radio is next,” Benson adds.

The club just completed an “Airmail” project which allows SMHARC to send electronic mail via radio. Experiments with the Airmail system have begun. “[For] those of you with working TNCs and laptops, it makes a great shelter item to bring along; the program is easy to use.”

Benson acknowledged the valuable assistance rendered on the project by KA1EWN, W1TW, N1DPY and KB1KA.

“We now have a full-fledged emergency communications room in the hospital.”

RACES operators provided communications for the Town of Carver during a Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station drill on July 14, 2007. The drill is mandated and graded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As outlined in official emergency plans, Town of Carver officials will operate a transportation staging area, utilizing buses and vans, to evacuate the population near the nuclear plant in the event of an actual emergency.

The drill participants and observers included the Town of Carver Emergency Manager and staff, the Civil Air Patrol, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and observers from the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Department.

Hams participating in the drill in Carver included: W1SM, N1IQI, and N1XTB; N1NJE operated at the Plymouth Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Shown here: W1SM, N1IQI at Carver EOC. Photo courtesy N1XTB

Members of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club and the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association supported the Town of Bridgewater for their annual Fourth of July Parade.

Amateurs were stationed along the length of the parade route, which started at Bridgewater State College and lasted for forty minutes.

“The event was quite a production,” writes volunteer Phil McNamara, N1XTB.

Fire apparatus from four towns, along with a marching band from New Bedford were featured in the parade. The event was televised on the local community cable channel.

Shown: N1FY, second from right, giving out assignments to: KB1MOC, W1GMF, and KB1CYV. Photo courtesy N1XTB.

If you or your club would like to recognize someone for their mentoring accomplishments send your request for an Elmer Award to clubs@arrl.org. Please include:

* The name and call of the person who will receive the award
* The name and call of person or club presenting the award
* The address where the award is to be sent.

ARRL offers the Elmer Award mounted on a beautiful walnut plaque.

Please call 860-594-0230 for details and cost of this service.

Amateur volunteers from across New England are once again providing a valuable public service by giving their time and energy in assisting in the seven-day New England Classic on July 14-20, 2007. The bicycle ride raises approximately $250,000 each year for the American Diabetes Association.

“On this 550-mile ride I put on between 1500 to 2000 miles for the week,” writes one Eastern MA volunteer, Mike Goldberg, K1LJN. “We usually have eight vehicles all with hams aboard. All riders have numbers and are checked in at each rest stop and finish.” The ride covers portions of MA, NH, ME and VT.

“We’re out six nights staying at four college dorms and two motels. And we are on duty as long as riders are out each day.” Adds K1LJN, “It’s a well-supported ride.”

ARRL section and division appointees and affiliated club leaders attended the summer New England Division Cabinet Meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire on July 7, 2007. The cabinet meetings precede ARRL Board of Directors meetings by 1-2 weeks.

Approximately 32 people from six of the New England Division ARRL sections attended the day-long meeting, co-chaired by Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI and Vice Director Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF. The meeting encompassed a wide-ranging discussion covering numerous issues, including the impact of recent FCC rule changes, publicity and new ham recruitment.

Frenaye and Raisbeck took the opportunity to brief those assembled on the status of the PAVE PAWS situation, as well as an update on NEARFest and Boxboro, and legislative and League actions.

Numerous items were auctioned at the conclusion of the meeting; $150 was raised for donation to the ARRL Education Project.

Minutes of the meeting are available for viewing. Photo courtesy KD1SM