New England Director Candidates Night at K1USN Radio Club Meeting Online, September 28, 2021

k1usn qsl card“Pi” Pugh, K1RV, writes on the K1USN mailing list:

I want to remind everyone of our upcoming “Candidates Night” Zoom session @ 7:30 PM on Tuesday, September 28th with the three candidates for ARRL New England Director: Fred Hopengarten, K1VR (current Director); Tom Frenaye, K1KI (former Director); and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC.

This “Candidates Night” will be an opportunity to learn more about each candidate and to ask them questions about their view for the future of Amateur Radio in New England.

We want to see a good turnout for this Zoom session and hope that you will have some questions for the candidates.

Questions should be addressed to all three candidates. Please forward any questions to Pi – K1RV ( k1rv@arrl.net ) as well as to Thaire – W2APF ( thaire.w2apf@gmail.com ), who will be acting as moderation for the evening. Preference will be given to written questions submitted in advance and we also hope to take live questions via the Zoom chat window during the session as time permits.

[If you would like to join our rapidly growing list of K1USN Zoom attendees then send me an e-mail ( k1rv@arrl.net ) to be added to the master Zoom list which is separate from the K1USN member list.]

Amateur Radio To Be Discussed on WBZ 1030, September 18, 2021

Due to a scheduling snafu, Fred Kemmerer will not be appearing on the Morgan White show on September 18.  A new date is currently being negotiated.

 

WBZ 100th anniversary logoAmateur Radio will be the topic of discussion on the Morgan White show on Boston’s WBZ radio 1030 kHz, on Saturday, September 18 between the hours of 10 PM and midnight.

“With thanks to Cory Golob, KU1U [Sabattus, Maine], he put me in touch with another ham who has us on the Morgan White show–right in the middle of our WBZ special event operation,” writes Hampden County Radio Association President Larry Krainson, W1AST.

The Morgan White interview was organized in conjunction with a special event commemorating the 100th anniversary of WBZ radio. From September 17-19, New England amateurs will use the 1×1 callsigns W1W, W1B, and W1Z, in addition to the Hampden County Radio Association’s club callsign, WB1Z. 

The 50,000 watt, clear channel station is the oldest commercial radio station in New England. It began operations on September 15, 1921 at the Westinghouse Works building on Page Boulevard in East Springfield, Massachusetts broadcasting with just 100 watts. 

The special event is a joint effort of the Billerica Amateur Radio Society and the Hampden County Radio Association (HCRA). It’s being coordinated by W1AST. [See <https://nediv.arrl.org/wbz100>.]

Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, President of the Nashua Area Radio Society, has been invited to speak on the show along with prominent Boston-based radio historian Dr. Donna Halper from Lesley University in Cambridge.

Topics to be discussed will include the history of WBZ, the WBZ ham radio special event, and Amateur Radio in general. At this time, it is not known how many minutes of air time will be alloted to Kemmerer and Halper.

“Fred is an excellent speaker. He’ll be a great representative of the ham community,” adds Krainson.

Youth On The Air 2021 Camp Makes Successful ARISS Contact

YOTA logoFred Kemmerer, AB1OC, writes:

“I had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS contact moderator for the Youth On The Air (YOTA) 2021 Camp’s contact with the International Space Station (ISS) using Amateur Radio today. Young Hams spent the week at the Voice of America Bethany Relay Station in West Chester, OH engaging in a variety of Amateur Radio Activities. Ruth Willet, KM4LAO, was the host for YOTA 2021 and provided an excellent pre-contact program. The West Chester Amateur Radio Association partnered with YOTA 2021 Camp group to help them with YOTA 2021 activities and their ISS contact. You can view a video of the YOTA 2021 Camp’s contact with astronaut Aki Hoshide, KE5DNI, on the International Space Station (ISS) by clicking on the video above.

Working with a school or group to help young people make contact with an astronaut on the ISS using Amateur Radio is a great way to build a lasting relationship around Amateur Radio with young people and their teachers and mentors. In my role as an ARISS Mentor and Ground Station, I have had the pleasure to help with nine of these contacts around the world over the last several years. In every case, local Ham Radio clubs partnered with the school or group to provide STEM learning experiences based on Amateur Radio. Helping a school or group make contact with the astronaut on the ISS provides a memorable experience for everyone involved.

You can learn more about the ARISS contact program here or contact me at ab1oc@arrl.net.

Fred, AB1OC

 

New Group Formed to Discuss ARRL New England Division Elections

Anyone interested in the fall ARRL elections for the New England Division Director and NE Division Vice Director should considering joining a new discussion list just created at:

https://groups.io/g/NE-elect 

Description from list owners:

NE-elect is an open forum to discuss ARRL Section Manager, Vice Director, and Director elections within the New England division with a focus on issue-oriented discussions and the candidate’s views on issues. We also encourage discussion on ARRL governance.  Opinionated, spirited debate is welcome. Please keep your posts short and concise. Mean-spirited or slanderous remarks or the use of profanity or obscenity is not allowed and subject to removal.

This is an important Division election.  An informed electorate is important.  This group is only days old.   Sign up at: <https://groups.io/g/NE-elect> 

73,

Tom K1TW

——————————————————————–
ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Thomas D Walsh, K1TW
k1tw@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

Correction: Slow Speed Test (SST) Now Friday and Sunday Evenings

Note: This is a time correction to the February 2021 EMA Section News.

Normal Date and Times:
NEW: 20:00-21:00 UTC Friday; 
00:00-01:00 UTC Monday. 

 

The K1USN Radio Club sponsors the one-hour, twice-weekly Slow Speed Test (SST) every Friday and Sunday.  For those who prefer a more leisurely CW pace or are new CW operators this just might be what you are looking for!  Details can be found at <http://www.k1usn.com/sst.html>.

WB2OSZ: “Dire Wolf Software” at Waltham ARA Meeting Online, February 24, 2021

Waltham ARA logoRon Senykoff, KG1T, President, Waltham Amateur Radio Association writes:

Please join the Waltham Amateur Radio Association  at 8 PM on February 24, 2021 in welcoming John Langner, WB2OSZ, for a presentation on Dire Wolf APRS Software.

John is one of the main developers of Dire Wolf.  In the early days of Amateur Packet Radio and APRS, it was necessary to use an expensive “Terminal Node Controller” (TNC) with specialized hardware. Those days are gone. You can now get better results, at lower cost, by connecting your radio to the “sound card” interface of a computer and using software in place of the traditional TNC.

Dire Wolf is a software “soundcard” AX.25 packet modem/TNC and APRS encoder/decoder. It can be used stand-alone to observe APRS traffic, as a tracker, digipeater, APRStt gateway, or Internet Gateway (IGate). 

Some links to look at before the meeting if interested in the tech:

BEST 73 DE KG1T

Waltham Amateur Radio Association President Ron Senykoff, KG1T, has established a Google form signup page to allow non-WARA members to sign up for online meeting notifications “while giving us protection against ‘Zoom bombers.’” Please visit https://walthamara.org/meetings/ to find the sign up form.

 

KB1ZFP: “Changes and possibilities for the BARC website,” February 18, 2021

Boston ARC logoDoc Kinne, KE1ML, writes in the Boston ARC Sparc February, 2021 newsletter:

The Boston ARC will be holding a general meeting on Thursday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m. on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. Morgan Johnstone, KB1ZFP, will be highlighting changes and possibilities for the BARC website. 

[For Zoom meeting information, email Doc Kinne, KE1ML at ke1ml@arrl.net.]

Phil Temples, K9HI, Appointed as New England Division Vice Director

photo of Phil Temples, K9HI09/24/2020

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, has appointed Phil Temples, K9HI, of Watertown, Massachusetts, as New England Division Vice Director. He succeeds Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, who was elected earlier this year as ARRL First Vice President. President Roderick made the appointment after consulting with New England Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, and the region’s Section Managers.

“I want to thank all of those who forwarded their recommendations to Director Hopengarten,” Temples said. “Mike Raisbeck left some big shoes to fill. I look forward to working with Fred, and to advise and assist him with various tasks and board committee assignments. One task I’m especially eager to tackle is launching a New England Division website.”

An ARRL Life Member, Temples has been licensed for 50 years, initially as WN9EAY in Indiana. He has written articles for QST and contributed articles for the ARRL website. He also recently co-authored a chapter in the Amateur Radio Public Service Handbook.

Temples served three terms as Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager and now is an Assistant SM and an Assistant New England Division Director. He’s also held ARRL field appointments as Affiliated Club Coordinator and Public Information Officer and currently serves as program chair for the ARRL New England Division Convention.

Temples has been active in MARS, the National Traffic System, and as an Emergency Coordinator, and he enjoys CW. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University.

Temples has actively promoted instruction and licensing and is a Volunteer Examiner under the ARRL, W5YI, and Greater Los Angeles ARG Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. He’s currently involved with New England Amateur Radio, Inc. in administering remote exam sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Temples is employed at Boston College as a computer systems administrator.

From  the ARRL website

Tom K1TW
ARRL Section Manager
Eastern Massachusetts