Author: k9hi

The next meeting of the Waltham Amateur Radio Association will be this Wednesday [March 29, 2023] at 7:00. (Zoom opens at 6:30.) The meeting will be held on-line with no in-person gathering this month. (zoom links below). After a short business meeting, Fred/W6BSD will be giving a presentation providing an overview of the various Digital Voice Modes: Digital Voice Modes for Amateur Radio.

You don’t need a General or Extra class license to enjoy QSOs with people worldwide. All amateur license classes can use Digital Voice (DV) modes such as Fusion, D-Star, DMR, and many others to connect with people throughout the US and other countries using digital repeaters or amateur hotspots. During his presentation, Fred will discuss the differences between the DV modes and how the backend infrastructure works.

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society will meet on-line and in-person on March 21, 2023 at 7 PM and feature: “Management of AMSAT Orbital Elements Resources” by Ray Hoad, WA5QGD and Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P.”

Description: This presentation describes the history, format, preparation, and distribution process for Two Line Elements (TLE) satellite tracking data by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). This process supplies TLE on a weekly (or daily) basis to be used by radio amateurs to track and communicate via radio amateur satellites to other amateur radio stations. The source of TLE data is the U.S. Air Force SpaceTrack.org website.  

Bios: Raymond F. Hoad received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1971 and 1973, respectively. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, he joined what is now ONCOR Electric Delivery, Fort Worth, Texas in 1977 as a System Protection Engineer. He retired as Consulting Engineer-Relay from the ONCOR System Protection Group in August 2014. He is currently a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. He is a life member of ARRL and AMSAT-NA and currently serves as AMSAT-NA Orbital Data Manager. He holds an Amateur Extra License.

Joe Fitzgerald was originally licensed as KA1EMW in 1980 and is an active member of the HF contesting and amateur satellite community. His interest in amateur satellite telemetry has led him through two engineering degrees and he presently works managing the telemetry and control of electric grids around the world.

George Allison, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

To All PART Members and Friends,

The March PART meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, beginning at 7:30 PM at the Cameron Senior Center, 20 Pleasant Street, Westford, MA, and via Webex video conference.  For those attending via video conference, a meeting link is below; just click on the green button to join in.  You can join the conference any time after 7:00 PM to check out your gear or just rag chew until the meeting starts. Bear in mind that internet connectivity from the senior center may be unreliable.

We’ve got several topics for the meeting. Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ, will give a short 20 minute talk about “Digital Voice using M17,” and there will be a live demonstration.  For more information about M17, click on this link: http://www.m17project.org. In preparation for Field Day, Ryan Leary, N1RL, is starting a CW course, and he’ll talk about the course and how you can become proficient enough in the next three months to make some CW contacts at the event. Speaking of Field Day, planning has begun and we’ll talk about what’s happening so far.

If your ARRL membership is going to run out in the next three months and you need to renew your membership, or if you’re not a member of ARRL and want to join to get all the benefits, fill out this application and bring it to the PART meeting along with your ARRL dues payment. Joining ARRL or renewing ARRL membership through PART helps support our club, and renewing early doesn’t penalize you in any way.

All members are encouraged to bring donations of non-perishable food for the Westford Food Pantry.

See you Tuesday!

73,
George, K1IG
President, PART of Westford

The March Algonquin Amateur Radio Club meeting will feature Ray LaJoie, AA1SE, Section Manager for Western MA, speaking about the Amateur Radio display at The BIG E in the fall. Ray will talk about booth display planning as well as ARISS space station contact and how it all came together for the seventeen-day event.

The meeting will be held in­ person March 9, 2023 at 7:30 pm in the library of the 1st Lt. Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School, 25 Union Street, Marlboro, MA. Enter from Agoritsas Drive next to police station and use Door #1 at rear of building.

The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club will meet in-person on March 6 at 7:00 PM at the Brewster Police Department Community Room, 631 Harwich Road (Rt 124), Brewster, MA 02631. In addition we will provide a Zoom link to the meeting. This month,  Ed Moxon, K1GGI, will present “Cape Cod’s Fabulous Radio History.”