Author: k9hi

Members of the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association and others provided communication support for the Sixth Annual D. W. Field Park Triathlon on Sunday, September 19, 2010. The weather cooperated wonderfully; 129 participants registered for the triathlon which consisted of a 14 mile bike race followed by 1.7 mile canoe/kayak race, and a 4 mile road race. The event was situated in a beautiful park setting, complete with swans and great blue herons nearby. The park was closed to all but race participants.

—Thanks, NI1X and Whitman ARC “Spectrum”

Amateur radio volunteers (L-R): Bob Keene, N1LCY; Paul Moss, KB1MTW; Carl Aveni, N1FY; Paul Burbine, N1VTI, kneeling; Karen Trask, KB1UBX; Bob Loring, K1REL; Phil McNamara, N1XTB with his son Philip, SWL; Roy Logan, KB1CYV; and Bruce Hayden, NI1X. Not present when the picture was taken: Allan Cox, K1VQ and Bob Azanow, KA1KIJ.

Dave Steeves, KB1MKW writes:

“The [Chelsmford High School ARC] N1CHS should be on the air after school from 2:00 pm for an hour or so each day if schedules permit. Being on the East Coast we lose out on contacting schools on the West Coast do to the time zones. A possible idea is to have the CHSARC students and parents meet for a couple hours one evening during this contesting week at the school to operate in the [School Club Roundup] to make some contacts to other schools on the west coast and also to meet the Amateur Radio Club adviser and teacher, Dave Steeves, KB1MKW.

“This is a fun event for all kids in the school club to be able to get together and socialize and be able to speak with other students on the air. We have seen an increase in use of PSK31 during this contest, I think the kids like this mode because it is like texting to them. But phone is great just to just to hear the voices of other students. We are hoping that the members of the Police Amateur Radio Team will be able to make a contact with the CHSARC during the contest week. In the past this event has been successful. An operating schedule could be posted on the PART-L list or look for N1CHS on the DX clusters. In the September, 2010 issue of QST, page 62 there is a story about the past School Club Roundup success.

“The school’s radio is a Yaesu FT-897D, 100 watts only, and the antenna is a Cushcraft vertical R6000, 6 through 20 meters. The antenna is mounted on the school’s roof. You can see this antenna from Route 3. At this time we don’t have coax to run to the roof (250ft) to install a VHF antenna. The club room is located on the ground level and there are three stories above to the roof. The club does have one old computer that is connected to the Yaesu FT-897D; it is running Ham Radio Deluxe for PSK31 etc.

“The CHSARC is looking forward to meeting our new members this fall.”

Thanks PART “PARTicles,” September, 2010, and Senior Physics Teacher and CHSARC Adviser Dave Steeves, KB1MKW

A prominent Eastern MA amateur has been published in QST. Tony Brock-Fisher, K1KP’s work on page 43 of the October, 2010 issue entitled, “Is Your Tower Safe?” describes “galvanic corrosion — what it can do to underground structural tower components, and ways the problem can be avoided.”

Brock-Fisher is trustee and treasurer of the Philips Amateur Radio Club in Andover, MA. He’s worked at Hewlett-Packard, Agilent and Philips Electronics for 32 years in the field of diagnostic medical ultrasound. K1KP is an avid contester and DXer.

Sept. 16, 2010–The World Radiosport Team Championship Sanctioning Committee has announced the US — specifically, New England, led by two prominent New England contesters, Doug Grant, K1DG and Randy Thompson, K5ZD — has won the bid to host the next WRTC in 2014. [Details]

On Saturday, 2 October 2010, members of the Boston Amateur Radio Club will participate in the Blue Hill Observatory Fall Open House, helping them to celebrate their 125th anniversary by setting up a HF station to greet and demonstrate for the visiting public. The station will operate from 0900 to 1500 weather permitting. The plan is to send out a CQ announcing the 125th anniversary of the oldest continuous weather recording observatory in the USA. BARC will log each contact and send them a special eQSL card.

The club is asking for volunteers to help set up, staff the station, and tear down. Set up will begin at 0800 and hopefully send out their first CQ at around 0900. Staffing will be for at least three hams at a time: one to log, one to operate and one to answer questions about Amateur Radio for the public visitors. Tear down will be about 1500 for departure no later than 1600. If you can make it for a few hours while your family visits the Open House, let the club know when you can assist. You do not have to sign up for the whole day.

This is a low pressure fun event which offers the opportunity for Technician Class hams to operate under supervision on bands that they are not normally authorized. If you are interested in participating, please contact Tom, KB1P at kb1p@arrl.net or phone 781.608.6186.

—Thanks, Boston ARC “The SPARC” and WA1IDA

There have been some new naval related Amateur Radio Clubs in this area. One is the Nantucket ARC, W1NLS aboard the Nantucket Lightship tied up to a pier in East Boston. The club call trustee is Mike Rioux, W1USN. Mike and a small crew were operating in the International Lightship/Lighthouse Weekend during August. (See Nantucket Lighthouse Operation Featured in Boston Globe.)

The original call for the club was KB1UPQ but was changed to a vanity call as soon as the original license was granted.

Another naval related club recently started is the USS Essex CV-9 Memorial ARC with the call of WW2CV. Club call trustee is Bob Reiser, AA1M. The USS Essex was an aircraft carrier that was sold and scraped many years ago.

Of course, most of you know of the USS Cassin Young DD-793 ARC with the call of WW2DD. USS Cassin Young is a decommissioned US Navy destroyer under the custody of the National Park Service in Charlestown and is currently in the dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard being refurbished.

–Thanks, QRA News, Sept. 2010, Volume 50, Issue 1

Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes on PART-L:

[This came in on another mail list; some good stuff for D-STAR users.]

“There are some items of interest to the D-Star user community worth making you aware of.

First and foremost, the 2 meter D-Star machine in Salem NH K1HRO port C has changed frequencies this morning (Wednesday , 8/25/2010 ), to 145.310.

Second, the N1HIT port C repeater has had a tremendous amount of work done, and is performing much better. It remains local only, no internet available yet, but we are checking a possible new source on that too. Please try it as much as possible, there are a few RF issues still, but it is about as good as possible. Reminder of the frequency: 145.320 on Mt Uncanoonuc in Goffstown on the WMUR tower.

Third, the Police Amateur Radio Team of Westford using WB1GOF C on 2 meters is about to go live any day now, hopefully prior to the Convention. Their frequency is 145.330.

Note that this was the frequency K1HRO had been on, and certain radios will attempt to reprogram the RPT 1 and RPT 2 settings automatically, so brush up those programming skills! Also note that this represents fairly close proximity and New England Spectrum Management Council coordination on 10 KHz channel spacing at 145.310, .320 & .330 all within a 30 mile triangle.

The folks at Minuteman Repeater Association are working hard to get the Prudential Boston repeater 145.160 W1MRA C up on their internet gateway server which will broaden their presence.

Finally, there are lots of activities on the experimental side – in Hudson NH Jim WA1SOT has added mixed mode on 449.975 call sign KB1UAP B. This is on a seperate trust server, very active in the Toronto area, and in Europe. N1FCC is close to deploying the KB1TIX B 446.725 and C 145.400 repeaters in Kensington NH.

These are noteworthy because there is a very aggressive trend to add an application on the gateway servers (called ircDDB) that allows full callsign routing and repeater callsign routing like the early days of D-Star (prior to D-Plus) across both the traditional US-Trust/K5TIT in Texas, and the international trust (Multi-Trust network), and even onto IRC, if that is the best path! Both WB1GOF and K1HRO are running the ircDDB addon. (Read more at http://www.ircddb.net)

To summarize:

Look for K1HRO port C now on 145.310;
Try N1HIT port C as much as possible on 145.320 and announce power and location;
Watch for WB1GOF port C on 145.330, and brush up on the programming, callsign routing, repeater to repeater calling if you want to cross trust to trust among those systems that have the ircDDB add-on installed.

Stan Stone, W4HIX writes on CAARA Mail List:

The next Tech-in-a-Day will be on October 9th at the Lanesville Community Center. If you know of anyone who would like to attend or has questions, have them contact me at stan@lanescove.us.

All Volunteer Examiners are encouraged to help out for the testing phase in the afternoon. Let me know if you are available.

 

Steve Schwarm, W3EVE writes:

Hams are needed for the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk. It will be on Sunday, Sept 12. There are hams needed at the medical station, at each “refueling station” and on the medical buses. It is a whole day event but there is some flexibility in start and end times for medical stations. You will need a 2 meter HT with extra batteries. This is a low key event and a good first public service event for a new ham.

If you can help or have a question, send an email. Make sure it has Jimmy Fund in the subject. Feel free to call me if you would like to talk about it.

Steve, W3EVE
cell: 508-922-9688
w3eve at earthlink dot net

Today’s Boston Globe carried a feature story about Amateur Radio and the Nantucket Lightship operation in conjuction with the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend. Globe correspondent Sydney Lupkin quoted Mike Rioux, W1USN of Boxford, MA, along with Robert Mannino of South Hampton, NH, who acquired the lightship for $1 in October 2009 from the National Lighthouse Museum.

Amateurs from the USS Cassin Young Amateur Radio Club staffed the lightship for the special event operation, using the callsign N1N.

Amateur Radio and wireless history are proudly on display on Cape Cod with the dedication on August 1, 2010 of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMCC) in Chatham.

CMMC will be open this year for a preview of its exhibits until just before Labor Day. The Grand Opening will be in 2011.

The Center, situated on the receiving site of former Marconi/RCA coast station WCC features “numerous exhibits of radio receivers, teletype machines, a directional antenna, and a diorama” of radio station WCC. Morse code keys for interactives, videos and slide shows are being integrated into the exhibits.

During its heyday, the receiving station used six rhombic antennas supported by poles on 18 acres of land to communicate to and from ships all over the world. In addition to its commercial value, WCC was used by the military to intercept German communications during World War II. The station was the subject of the Mooncusser Films documentary Chatham Radio: WCC the Untold Story, narrated by Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD (Silent Key).

Amateur radio figures prominently at the Marconi Maritime Center. “Since Amateur Radio is the link between the station’s past and the present, it can show visitors what communication via radio was like in the midst of artifacts from the station’s past,” comments WCC Amateur Radio Association’s Rob Leiden, K1UI.

Prior to the Center’s renovation/rededication this month, WA1WCC was an active enterprise. “WA1WCC operated during the 100th anniversary of Marconi’s first transatlantic transmission. We’ve also been on the air for special anniversaries, like Marconi’s birthday,” adds Leiden.

WA1WCC features two complete HF stations, including a linear amplifier. At present, it sports a 70-foot loaded zepp and a 40 meter dipole, and more antennas are planned. Although the station isn’t regularly accessible to the public during business hours, Leiden says it is open to visitors “by appointment.”

Many local hams have contributed to the station’s efforts through their labor and donations of equipment. Membership in the WCC ARA currently numbers around a dozen members–many of whom are former WCC operators.

–Thanks, K1UI

Boston College – On Thursday, August 5, students from the St. Columbkille Summer Camp at Boston College participated in a unique demonstration of an old technology that is still new today – Amateur Radio.

Phil Temples, K9HI, a staff member in the Boston College Computer Science Department, and Eric Falkof, K1NUN, an employee of the Hewlett-Packard Company explained some basic principles of radio theory to the 5th, 6th and 7th graders in attendance. The presentation was one of several activities comprising the Camp’s Science & Technology curriculum.

Falkof used a Slinky toy to demonstrate the basic concepts of frequency and wavelength. He also demonstrated an operational shortwave station complete with a vertical antenna mounted on a stepladder, and Morse code telegraph keys made from paper clips, a doorknob, and a block of wood. The campers then completed a fun quiz in the Morse code and the international spelling alphabet.

Several lucky campers had the opportunity to speak directly over the radio by voice to a local ham operator in the Boston area. Later, the group spoke with an individual who was driving in his car near Huntsville, Alabama.

Although ham radio is as old as radio itself, amateurs have made great strides in modernizing the hobby service. Temples described and demonstrated how computers and the Internet are reshaping what we define as radio. Temples connected – by radio linked via the Internet – with nodes in the Midwest and Ireland.

The campers were excited to learn the Morse code, and talking to a stranger a thousand miles away seemed a bit weird, but the excitement of a practical use of science for personal fun is a memory that will not fade quickly. They learned about the many aspects and uses of ham radio – including first-hand that it’s a party line of excitement, learning, and friendships over the air.

For information about teaching Amateur Radio in the classroom, see <http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-in-the-classroom>. Information about the St. Columbkille Summer Camp can be obtained by contacting the Boston College Office of Governmental & Community Affairs at (617) 552-4787.

[See also: St. Columbkille Summer Campers Explore Amateur Radio as Part of Sci-Tech Curriculum]