Author: admin

Throughout the year [the Boston Amateur Radio Club] coordinates numerous public service events. Most of these are open to hams who are new to helping at such events as well as experienced hams. Here is a general look ahead at some of the events in 2007 that we will be asked to support. Formal recruiting will not take place until closer to each event. Feel free to contact Bob Salow, WA1IDA, if you have any questions – wa1ida@arrl.net or 508.650.9440.

* Bikes Not Bombs – 3 June – Triple bicycle rides in Boston and suburbs.

* WGBH Ice Cream FunFest – September – Logistics management; ham radio public awareness in Boston.

* BAA Half Marathon – 7 October – 13.1 miles; 98% in Boston, 2% in Brookline.

* SKYWARN Recognition Day – 1 December – at Blue Hill Observatory, Milton.

Other events may jump in on short notice. Among our skills is the ability to apply our technical, organizational and staffing quickly and proficiently. Join our team and join in the fun and learning.

–Thanks, Boston ARC The Sparc, May 2007

The Harvard Wireless Club was the subject of an article and accompanying photo in the on-line edition of The Harvard Crimson campus newspaper.

Pictured is Clayton M. Nall, NF1R, a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and W1AF station manager.

The article covers some of the early history of the Harvard Wireless Club, including radio experimenter Professor George Washington Pierce. In addition, it describes the pioneering SETI efforts of Prof. Paul Horowitz, W1HFA. Also quoted in the article is New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI.

Members of the Wellesley Amateur Radio Society are planning a tour of ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut this fall. The trip is scheduled for September 22.

“ARRL staff will be opening up the station for us if we can get enough visitors,” writes Rich Kumpf, WF1V. “Please let Dan [W1DAN] or me know if you’re interested in a road trip to Headquarters.”

–Thanks, Wellesley ARS Sparkgap, May 2007

The Framingham Amateur Radio Assocation has begun an innovative “HF School” to help newcomers master the ins and outs of high frequency operation. According to FARA’s Leo Cantin, WA1HAM, the project is the brainchild of Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, with assistance from Ed Weiss, W1NXC.

“We want to get more of our members–the new ones in particular–to use our airways with the correct procedure. Ed [W1NXC] is offering to teach them the proper way to conduct themselves while in contact.”

Cantin adds that W1NXC plans to hold several informal classes for those who want to perfect their abilities. “This includes contesting, and just plain old calling ‘CQ.'”

The Framingham ARA holds radio shack open houses every Saturday morning at the Danforth Museum on Lexington Street in downtown Framingham. For more information, or to become involved in the HF School activities, email Ed Weiss, W1NXC at: w1nxc at arrl dot net.

Roland Daignault Jr., N1JOY writes on the BCRA-club mailing list:

“Just a reminder that the Fall River club (and friends) will be operating portable May 5-6, 2007 from adjacent the Gay Head lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard this weekend for the 14th consecutive year. We’ll be operating during the New England QSO Party, and also working IOTA (Islands on the Air), and as much casual rag chewing as we can possibly squeeze in. The weather looks promising, and I hope to hear many of you on the air this weekend!

“We’ll be using the Fall River club call sign: W1ACT/P. Look for us on all bands and modes! (Sounds easy, right????)”

The Southeastern MA Amateur Radio Association in Dartmouth has undertaken the arduous task of replacing its aging Quonset hut housing the W1AEC club station.

According to club historical records on its web site, SEMARA “purchased three acres of land at the present location (54 Donald Street) in South Dartmouth, MA in 1955. […] The original Quonset hut club house formally was a restaurant called “Wally’s Hut” on Rockdale avenue just east of Dartmouth Street. It cost more to move it than to buy it!”

Club members recently pitched in at several work sessions to move all of the material from the hut to a storage trailer and the club’s main building housing its meeting room. A temporary W1AEC station has been set up in the latter facility.

According to SEMARA’s Buildings and Grounds Chairman, Mike Miller, N1ITQ, “The club should be realizing substantial savings in heating costs … the vents and ductwork had been repaired, and the heat had been shut off to the hut now that it is empty.”

New Building Chairman Dave Dean, K1JGV estimates that it will cost the club approximately $3400 for total removal of the hut and permits needed. Dean says he “has a commitment from a contractor to knock down and remove the debris from the property for $2500.” The rest of the expenditure would be for fees, and environmental inspections. The estimate for the total demolition of the buildings standing would be $9300.

SEMARA has held numerous discussions and special meetings to consider all opinions from the membership. Committee members stress that “no demolition would be actually undertaken” until the membership had voted on which proposal it wishes to ultimately pursue. A full proposal is expected to be presented to SEMARA members at its May meeting.

The Minuteman Repeater Association is seeking six to eight people or more to work for a few hours at its Slygo Hill repeater site on June 9, 2007 beginning at 9:00 a.m. (A rain date of June 16 has been set.)

According to MMRA president Bob DeMattia, K1IW, attention needs to be paid to the structures and landscaping around the shelter housing the equipment.

“Currently we can’t open the fence. We need to cut back vines.” DeMattia adds that the Association must also replace the door since it now has a “rusted gap that lets rodents” into the shelter.

Interested parties should contact DeMattia at k1iw at mmra dot org.

–Thanks, MMRA The Minuteman, May 2007

Mark Pride, K1RX writes on the YCCC reflector:

“Unfortunately our local radio club was broken into on Sunday morning, April 22 where several pieces of radio equipment were stolen.

After having nearly all of the ARES members in the Port City Amateur Radio Club provide vital communications assistance during the flood last week that took out the Verizon Central Office in Raymond, NH and caused 5 surrounding towns to lose all telephone service during a 3 day outage, the following Sunday morning around 4:30 AM their club station was broken into and the following pieces of equipment were taken:

1 – Astron 35A power supply – no meters
1 – Yaesu FT1000 MkV Field HF Radio – Serial No. 2H070241 – display is dim
1 – Yaesu desk microphone
1 – Heil Goldline microphone
1 – Heil ProSet headset/microphone
2 – Heil headset adapters for Yaesu radios
1 – Manual for FT1000 Field
1 – Manual for FT1000 MP
1 – Heathkit SB220 Linear Amplifier (donated to the PCARC by KF1V)
1 – Footswitch for SB220 – may be marked “K1RX” on underside
1 – Center channel audio speaker
2 – bookshelf audio speakers
1 – handmade PTT switch – identifiable by KA1GJU
2 – approx. 6 foot section of coaxial cable w/ color coded tape markers

I am asking the YCCC that if any of these items turn up on your tour of various web sites, NEAR-Fest events or related events, to kindly contact me. The Greenland NH Police Department has already collected finger print
evidence and other critical items to aid in their investigation.

Truly unfortunate that a few can spoil a good thing for some many good folks!

Regards,

Mark, K1RX

Members of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club have documented an extensive project they undertook to build sets of band pass transmitting filters for reducing the interference between HF transceivers operated in close proximity.

The “Ugly” Filter web article describes various aspects of building the filters and traces the thoughts of the team that came up with the project and designed the filters. NVARC has used these filters since 2005 in field day and they have performed very well. The club has generously made the plans available for anyone that may wish to build the filters.

Public Service Volunteer Opportunities in the New England Division

April 22, 2007

PSLIST

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

Apr 22  Worcester  MA March of Dimes                John N2YHK   508.982.0617
                                                                n2yhk@WPI.EDU
Apr 29  Boston     MA Multiple Sclerosis Walk       Bob WA1IDA   508.650.9440
                                                              wa1ida@arrl.net
Apr 29  Groton     MA Groton Road Race              Ralph KD1SM  978.582.7351
                                                               kd1sm@arrl.net
Apr 29  Needham    MA Run of the Charles canoe race Bob WA1IDA   508.650.9440
        to Boston  MA                                         wa1ida@arrl.net
Apr 29  Wellesley  MA Multiple Sclerosis Journey of Hope Bob WA1IDA 508.650.9440
        to Boston  MA                                         wa1ida@arrl.net  
May  5  Grafton    MA Grafton Gazebo Road Race      Andy KB1JRX  508.353.2738
                                               andrew.garabedian@cingular.com
May  6  Boston     MA Walk for Hunger               Bruce KC1US  781.275.3740
                                                      wfh07@amateur-radio.net
May  6  Milford    NH CROP Walk for Hunger          Russ K1TSV   603.673.9217
        Amherst    NH                                          k1tsv@arrl.net
May  6  Portsmouth NH Am Diabetes Tour de Cure     Joel KB1KBD
                                                              kb1kbd@arrl.net
May 12  Westford   MA Apple Blossom Parade         Terry KA8SCP  978.692.2069
                                                              ka8scp@arrl.net
May 19  Portsmouth NH NH Lung Clean Air Challenge  Dave KA1VJU
     to 20                                                  ka1vju@cnharc.org
May 20  Devens     MA Parker Road Race             Stan  KD1LE   978.433.5090
May 20  Hadley     MA Hadley Mem. Day Road Race    Richard KD1XP 
                                                              kd1xp@kd1xp.org
Jun 16  Mt WashngtnNH Mt Washington Road Race      Cliff N1RCQ
                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org
Jul  7  Mt WashngtnNH Newton's Revenge cycle race  Cliff N1RCQ
                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org
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
Sep 29  Bristol    NH NH Marathon                  Cliff N1RCQ
                             n1rcq@amsat.org or Dave KA1VJU ka1vju@cnharc.org

This list is published periodically as demand warrants by Stan KD1LE and Ralph KD1SM. Our usual distribution is via packet to NEBBS, via Internet mail to the arrl-nediv-list and ema-arrl distribution lists, and on the World Wide Web. 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.

ARRL New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI writes:

To New England club presidents and newsletter editors:

Hope you’ve seen some new hams and a lot of upgrades to General and Extra in the last two months.

Please pass the word along to club members about the New England QSO Party on May 5th and 6th. This is a great operating event with good activity where everyone wants to work New England stations.

The full rules (and a lot more) can be found on the New England QSO Party web site at http://www.neqp.org/ and are included below.

Hope you’ll pass the word and join us in the fun!

73 Tom/K1KI for the NEQP team

New England QSO Party Rules

Object: To contact as many New England stations in as many New England counties as possible on 80-40-20-15-10m. (New England stations work anyone)

Date: First full weekend of May (May 5-6, 2007 and May 3-4, 2008).

Contest Period: 2000Z Saturday until 0500Z Sunday (4pm EDT Saturday until 1am EDT Sunday) and 1300Z Sunday until 2400Z Sunday (9am EDT Sunday until 8pm EDT Sunday).

Categories: Single operator high power, low power and QRP categories, plus multi operator, single transmitter. Use the same four categories for mobiles. Single operator stations using assistance during the contest (packet or Internet spotting nets, etc.) will compete in the multi single category.

Contest Exchange: Send signal report and state/province (DX stations send signal report and “DX”). New England stations send signal report, county and state.

Valid Contact: Work New England stations once per band/mode. New England stations work anyone(and must copy the county for New England stations worked). CW contacts must not be made in the phone band segments. Mobiles can be worked again in new counties. County line QSOs should be logged as two separate QSOs. Crossmode, crossband and repeater QSOs are not permitted.

QSO Points: Count one point per phone QSO, two points per CW (includes digital modes)QSO.

Multiplier: Stations outside of New England use counties as multipliers for a total of 67 CT/8 MA/14 ME/16 NH/10 RI/5 VT/14). New England stations use states(50), Canadian provinces(14) and DXCC countries as multipliers.

Scoring: Total score is QSO points times the multiplier. Mobiles count QSO points per county and multipliers from all counties (counted once).

Suggested frequencies: CW – 3540 7035 14040 21040 28040, SSB – 3850 7280 14280 21380 28380

Reporting: Logs should indicate times in UTC, bands, modes, calls and complete exchange. Multipliers should be clearly marked in the log. New England stations put your club’s name on the summary sheet. Entries must be submitted within 30 days and sent to NEQP, P O Box 3005, Framingham MA 01705-3005 or via e-mail to logs@neqp.org (Cabrillo format preferred). Send a large SASE for a printed copy of the results.

Awards: Certificates will be awarded to the top scorers (25 QSO minimum) in each New England county, U S state, Canadian province and DXCC country. There are thirty twenty plaques available to be awarded to top scorers, and some special awards are available to non-New England stations (check the web site for the current list).

More information: The New England QSO Party web site is at http://www.neqp.org. Check there for information on planned fixed station and mobile activity from New England counties, contest software information, county abbreviations, plaques to be awarded, and information on New England state county awards. NEQP results will be posted on the web site when they are complete. Questions can be addressed to info@neqp.org.

New England stations: We hope you will be able to get on for at least a short period of time to make some QSOs! Join in the fun!

——————————————————————————————–
New England QSO Party – May 5-6, 2007 http://www.neqp.org

Alan Martin, W1AHM writes on PART/WB1GOF list:

As we get into the thick of the public service event season, here are three sheets of information from the Crocker Public Service Group (at least two written by Bruce/KC1US, [CPSG] president):

Hints for Operating at Public Service Events (PDF)
http://transactor.amateur-radio.net/cpsg/hintscpsg.pdf

Equipment Checklist for Public Service Events (PDF)
http://transactor.amateur-radio.net/cpsg/psequipcpsg.pdf

FAQ: How long will my battery last? (PDF)
http://transactor.amateur-radio.net/cpsg/battery.pdf

Don’t be put off by the fact that they’re PDFs – they’re each only one page to read.

73’s,
/AHM (W1AHM)

The April 22, 2007 Sunday Globe carries an insightful article about Maine’s Governor John E. Baldacci, KB1NXP and his keen interest in emergency communications.

–Thanks, K1GL

Shown here: Les Peters, N1SV, presenting on “The Art of QSLing” at the March, 2007 meeting of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club. Peters’ presentation included: card design considerations, postage issues, IRCs, where to QSL, and many other aspects. N1SV has 325 countries confirmed.

–Thanks, Nashoba Valley ARC Signal, April 2007