Author: k9hi

PART of Westford members will operate special event station K1P in Concord on Patriots’ Day weekend in Massachusetts, a state holiday which commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord–the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Look for K1P on the bands April 16-17 on 80 through 10 meters as conditions permit. More details are available at http://www.wb1gof.org/K1P/K1P.html.

The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Rado Association has placed its new 224.800 repeater on the air, along with a temporary APRS station (W1AEC-1) on 144.390 MHz.

A short exercise was held March 20, 2011 to test communications readiness involving the newly established South Coast Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio (HEAR) Network.

Ham help is needed for the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races, Sunday April 17, 2011.

The BAA 5K & 1 Mile Races start and finishes in Boston’s Back Bay the day before the Marathon.

The 5k race starts around 8:00 AM just forward the marathon’s finish line and heads down Boylston St. to the Boston Common, around the Common, down Beacon Street to Arlington St to Commonwealth Ave down Commonwealth Ave to Hereford ST then to Boylston St ending at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The Mile Races start after the 5k race. The mile races use the marathon’s finish line as the start and finish points. The 1 mile races start just after the finish of the 5k race. This is another excellent event for Hams new to public service to gain experience. Ham support for these races starts around 7:00 AM and ends around noon. (Note that this is the day before the Boston Marathon, but no logistical interference is expected between these events, and the Ham communications will be independent of the Marathon.)

Ham support for this event is straightforward, however, our communications support will make the day safe and smooth for all. For those who are new to ham public service, this event is a good introduction and we need your help. For those who have done this before, your help is needed more than ever.

A 2-meter, 5 watt hand-held is satisfactory the assignments at the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races. A dual-band radio is desirable, but not required. The “rubber duck” antenna that came with your radio should all you need for this event, but if you have a better antenna for your radio take it with you. It will be helpful. Be sure you charge the radio’s battery before the event. If you have extra batteries for your radio take them as a back-up.

Ham public service is interesting and offers fun experiences. The communication load for this event light, but safety and support for the participants are always our primary concern.

If you can help with the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races, Sunday April 17, 2011, please reply to me with all of the following information as soon as possible. If you have already volunteered, bear with me and reply to this message, also. Reply by email is the best method.

Full name
On-air name
Call sign
Postal mailing address (including 9-digit ZIP code)
Evening phone
Day phone
Cell phone
Email address
Does your 2-meter radio have CTCSS (PL)?
Do you have a dual-band radio?
Do you have a magnetic mount antenna?
T-shirt size

Let me know if you have volunteered for this event before and want the same assignment. While I cannot guarantee the same assignment, I will try my best to give you the assignment you want. Note that we cannot assure you that all preferences can be granted. Try to get back to me as quickly as you can.

If you know other hams who would like to volunteer, ask them to send the above information to me. If you are new and want to get more public service experience, this is an excellent event to get your feet wet. As significant as our communications will be, this event is a low impact opportunity to learn the ropes.

Your assistance is valuable. Please let me know promptly if you can help. I will get the assignments and more details to you as soon possible. If you have already volunteered, bear with me and reply to this message, also. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or would like to recommend another ham to join us.

73,

Tom Bertolino, KB1P
kb1p@arrl.net
781-608-6186

Brockton Emergency Management is sponsoring a ham radio class each Saturday in April from 1:00 to 5:00 PM at the VA Medical Center, Building 22, in training rooms 1 and 2.

Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes on PART-L:

A heads-up to all our D-Star and Echolink users….

As everyone knows, Japan has been under the influence of a horrific situation as a result of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. There are rolling blackouts and complete loss of power as well as major breaks to communications infrastructure throughout the country.

Many of the “ancillary” communications portions of Amateur Radio in Japan are also suffering from power and internet connectivity loss as you can probably understand. Only vital communications support is being provided in and out of the country.

Please do not initiate any Echolink or D-Star connections to JA stations. Because of the way D-Star and Echolink function in Japan, it is possible that you could interrupt an important communications link in progress by blindly calling in to a link.

If a Japan station is functional and they wish to initiate connections, that is of course their prerogative, but we do ask that you do NOT initiate those connections inbound at this time.

Thanks for your understanding.

Terry

Ron Silvia, WB1HGA writes:

If you all don’t already know, QRP Amateur Radio Club International is currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary (Golden Jubilee) this year. I been a member of this club since 1980. Our goal is to promote (discover) and encourage QRP activity. The club holds as many radio ‘tests as ARRL does and are very popular and well attended. There are also QRP calling frequencies on each bands. Awards are also provided, such as the 1000 miles per watt, QRP WAS, etc. To celebrate this anniversary, they are having one state represented each week. The club call is issued to that state and for one week, make as many QSOs as possible.

I have volunteered to be the point of contact for MA. I have two tasks to perform in preparation: To select a week to represent MA, then gather ops to use their stations with the club’s call.

I would like to select a week that can be both radio related or historically related to MA.

(NEQSO Party week has been selected by another state)

The purpose of this email is to solicit input from everyone regarding a good week to put MA on the map.

Please Email suggestions to wb1hga@arrl.net.

Afterwards, there will be an announcement as to which week MA will be represented in the QRPARCI web site.

The next phase will be seeking ops to volunteer their time to op that week using the QRPARCI club call. (Of course, you will be using 5 watts or less.) This is a fun event.

For more information about the club including the scheduled states, go to:

http://www.qrparci.org

Thank you,

Ron, WB1HGA

Former Harvard Wireless Club member Jacob Chambers, K4JQV, of Lexington, KY has received permission from the HWC to operate as W1AF/Aeronautical Mobile on a trans-Atlantic flight from Kentucky to Belguim beginning Sunday, March 13 at 0730 ET. Chamber’s jet will refuel in Bangor, Maine prior to beginning the international leg of the flight.

“I’m sure I will make it on the cluster,” said Chambers. “I don’t have an operating plan–just get QRV as the workload and other conditions permit.”

Look for W1AF/AM on the DX clusters, and possibly, the 20 meter band. QSLing instructions are expected to be posted on W1AF’s page on QRZ.com.

Thanks, W1PL and K4JQV

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club and the South Shore Fox Hunters remind everyone that there will be a fox hunt on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 10:00 AM.

KB1CYV has agreed to be the fox. He will be hiding in one of the three “Bridgewater” towns. The fox frequency will be 146.535 MHz simplex. Coordination will occur on the Whitman, 147.225 repeater (PL 67.0 Hz).

-Thanks, NI1X

The Southeastern MA Amateur Radio Association has been invited to participate in the Original 13 Colonies Special Event on July 1-5, 2011, according to SEMARA’s Radio Events Chairman Bob Kelley, K1KVV.

[Full story]

Greg Glynn, W1VFB writes:

The Taunton Area Communications Group is proud to present Vadim Afonkin, KB1RLI from Amateur Radio Direction Finding and Orienteering to give us a presentation on the many facets of Foxhunting and ARDF.

Please follow the attached link to find out more about Vadim.

http://www.arrl.org/news/ardf-update-foxhunting-fun-in-the-blue-hills-of-boston

This presentation will be at the TACGroup’s regular meeting of March 21, 2011 starting at 7:00 pm. We meet at Morton Hospital and Medical Center, 88 Washington St. in Taunton, MA in the Margaret Stone Conference Room. A short business meeting will precede the presentation.

If you have ever wondered about foxhunting or participated in an event this will be a great time to find out more of the finer points and techniques form a master of the sport.

Please pass this email along to all your club members and associates. This is not just for amateurs. This presentation is for anyone interested in foxhunting and direction finding.

We look forward to seeing you March 21 @ 7:00 p.m. at Morton Hospital and Medical Center, 88 Washington Street, Taunton, MA. 

Attention EMA ARRL Members:

The following is an important message from Dan Henderson, N1ND, Regulatory Information Manager at ARRL Headquarters:

“As you may have read, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has introduced the ‘Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011’ and the bill has been assigned HR 607 as its number. The full story about the Bill’s introduction can be found on the ARRL web at

http://www.arrl.org/news/spectrum-management-bill-threatens-amateur-frequencies

As you will read, while the ARRL supports spectrum for the Public Safety needs, we oppose HR 607 in its current form because of the inclusion of the 420-440 MHz spectrum (most of the Amateur 70-cm UHF allocation) as part of a spectrum swap.

At the request of ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, we are asking ARRL members to contact their local Representative asking them to oppose HR 607 in its current form. Members should be directed to http://www.arrl.org/sample-letters for resources tools to assist them in their letter writing. These include:

• A sample letter opposing HR 607 in its current form
• A link to the ARRL Webpage that gives the ARRL member the contact information for their Members of Congress
• A link to information sending their letters to our Washington lobbyist to hand-deliver to Capitol Hill

A couple of key points to remember when discussing our opposition to HR 607:

• We understand and support the principle that Public Safety and First responders should have the D-Block frequencies.
• Our opposition to the bill stems from the inclusion of the 420-440 MHZ Amateur allocation as part of the proposed “frequency swap”.

Time is of the essence on this request, as the bill is gathering steam in Congress. So please make your membership contacts as soon as possible. Finally, please include my address n1nd@arrl.org in what you distribute to the ARRL membership (for our records here at HQ.)

Thanks for stepping up to the plate to assist with the direct threat to our Amateur Radio spectrum. What you bring to the table helps us keep this ship heading in the right direction. Please contact me if you have any problems or questions with this request.

73

Dan Henderson, N1ND
Regulatory Information Manager
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio(tm)
860-594-0236
dhenderson@arrl.org

Rob Macedo, KD1CY writes on MRAS list:

We have confirmed a site for an Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Workshop at the Concord Academy in Concord Massachusetts for Saturday March 5th, 2011 from 9 AM to 4 PM. [Full story]