Author: k9hi

All

International Museum of World War II in Natick Abruptly Closes

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

The September 3, 2019 Boston Globe published a story reporting the International Museum of World War II in Natick “closed down abruptly over the weekend amid a legal battle with billionaire Ronald S. Lauder, with whose help the museum had planned to relocate eventually to Washington, D.C.

“’This was sudden and very unexpected,’ director Kenneth W. Rendell, who founded the museum 20 years ago, said Monday. ‘I’m extremely disappointed and bewildered.’

“In May, Rendell had revealed that he was working with donors to move the museum to Washington. At the time, however, he did not disclose that he had sold Lauder the core of the museum’s holdings for $25 million in March 2018. The contract called on both parties to keep the deal secret.

“The thousands of purchased artifacts, owned by Rendell and his wife, Shirley McNerney Rendell, range from a Sherman tank and a Higgins landing boat to Hitler’s uniform and mustache trimmer. They made up more than 65 percent of the museum’s collection, Rendell estimated.”

—

The Museum was popular among radio amateurs and featured exhibits on specialty radio gear as well as displays describing women of WWII, the resistance, Enigma machines, etc. It was the topic of an ema.arrl.org story (“International Museum of World War II, Natick“) in November, 2018. 

Youth

ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program is Now Accepting Applications

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

From ARRL Web:

Applications for the 2020 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program will be accepted between September 1 and December 31, 2019.

All applicants must be FCC-licensed radio amateurs, and many scholarships have other specific requirements, such as intended area of study, residence within a particular ARRL Division, Section or state, and license class. Applicants should review the scholarships and check off the ones for which they are eligible. [Full story]

All

SMS Callbook Service

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Gerry Hull, VE1RM/W1VE, writes on the YCCC reflector:

I’m doing SMS work for clients, so for fun, I built an SMS callbook service. It started out with just the US callbook, but I found a better data source — HamQTH.com, which offers most of the world.

There are three numbers you can access it from:

+1 (475) 275-7373  (475-CQL-7373)   * a Connecticut number*
+1 (782) 828-0001 
+1 (530) 482-0101

You can enter callsigns with phonetics — so you can use Siri, Cortana or Google hands-free to do the SMS for you.  Great when mobile and wanting to find out who is in front of you on the highway!

Totally free, unless your carrier is charging for SMS 🙂

Licensing Education & Training

Licensing Classes, Fall 2019, Martha’s Vineyard

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A group of Martha’s Vineyard amateurs plan to offer license class courses in the fall to local residents on the island, according to Christopher Knowles, N1CAK.

“Initially, we will be offering only the Technician class course.  We are searching for students from everywhere from the Boy and Girl Scouts through the elementary and high schools to social and fraternal organizations and the Island’s four senior centers.  Should interest persist, we have a teacher who has taught through Amateur Extra courses and we are all Amateur Extras with VE certificates so we can administer exams through the Amateur Extra.”

Knowles adds the actual starting dates and times will be determined upon  availability of the students and teacher.

There will be the customary charge of $15 to take the exam.  Persons who are interested may email cknowles@tiac.net.

Foxhunting / Operating

Westford Foxes on the Loose, September 1, 2019

- by k9hi - 1 Comment

Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ, writes on the foxhunting list on September 1, 2019 at 11:24 AM:

The KB1OIQ 2m and 80m foxes have been deployed.  I will leave them out until Tuesday evening around 6 PM.  I’m 99% certain the 2m battery will last.  The lifetime of the 80m battery has been improved but only experimentation will  show me how long it will last.

The 2m fox frequency is 146.565 MHz. The 80m fox frequency is the TV color burst frequency:  3.5795 MHz.

Subtract 1 character from this encoded message to get the clue as to where the foxes are hidden.

Example:  TEXAS becomes UFYBT

DJEFS NJMM QPOE NVMUJQMF FOUSBODFT

KB1MGI: I still have your 80m fox receiver.  Please contact me so I can get it back to you.

Have fun and 73,

All

QSL Bureau Services at Northeast HamExposition @ Boxboro, September 7-8, 2019

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Eric Wililams, KV1J, writes on the YCCC mailing list:

Next weekend [September 7-8, 2019] we have a QSL Bureau booth at the HamXposition/Boxboro show. Our booth will be next to the ARRL booth.

You can fund your Bureau account and get answers to your questions about the Bureau.

We will be accepting cards for the ARRL Outgoing Bureau at the booth. Please see the instructions on the ARRL web for sending your cards and the fee structures.  

There is also a simple form to submit with your cards found on the ARRL web. Fee payments can be done by check or exact change cash.

We are just collecting the cards for the ARRL so please give them to us with the funds etc. as if you were mailing them to Newington.

Also, we will be hosting the DXCC card checkers.  You will need to do the application process online before the show.  There will be a checker at the booth Saturday from about 11 AM to 3 PM and all morning Sunday. You can also leave cards with us for checking when the Card Checkers are not there.  You can authorize someone to pick them up for you or work with me for another way to get them back to you

73,  Eric  KV1J

W1 QSL Bureau Co-Manager

Foxhunting / Operating

KD1D Fox Out for the Weekend in Westford

- by k9hi - 1 Comment

Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on the foxhunting list on August 30, 2019 at 4:24 PM:

The KD1D Fox transmitter is OTA as of 1600 EDT on Friday Aug 30. 

Since it’s a holiday weekend, I made it fairly easy to find in the  Nutting Road area [of Westford]. Very little bushwhacking should be required.

I am working on some new enclosures that allow the use of a bigger  battery, but for now, I expect it to run for at least 2 days.

Happy Hunting and a great Labor Day Weekend to all!

73 de KD1D

Youth

Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) Station Registration Now Available

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From ARRLWeb:

Registration now is open for stations to register for Scouting’s 2019 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). JOTA will take place October 18 – 20. JOTA is Scouting’s largest event in the world and always takes place over the third weekend of October. Click on “Sign Up Now” and register using your free Scout.org user id.

Use the same site to register for the 2019 Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI).

Bill Stearns, NE4RD, has been named the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) National Jamboree on the Air Task Force Chair. He has activated a number of JOTA and Scout Camp stations from the Montana Scout Council and served on the 2017 National Scout Jamboree K2BSA and 2019 World Scout Jamboree NA1WJ staffs.

The NA1WJ Amateur Radio operation at the 2019 World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia reported that more than 3,000 Scouts took part in the ham radio demonstrations, logging more than 4,000 contacts in 86 DXCC entities.

Clubs

Billerica ARS Special Program: QSL Sorting, September 4, 2019

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Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes on the BARS website, at https://www.w1hh.org/next-bars-meeting-wednesday-september-4-2019-at-700pm-eric-kv1j-qsl-sort-and-free-pizza/:

Everyone, I am pleased to announce that yet again we will have our annual QSL sort and pizza party!

Eric Williams, KV1J, is a volunteer for the W1 QSL Bureau, sponsored by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club.

http://www.w1qsl.org/

http://yccc.org/

The W1 QSL Bureau is a service which accepts incoming QSLs from overseas and redistributes them to U.S. hams in the W1 call district – 100,000 of them per year! Each card coming in must be sorted by first-letter-after-the-1 to prepare them for their final destinations to hams who have paid the small sum required for stamps and envelopes for the Bureau to mail them.

Eric is always happy to have Clubs’ help when it comes to sorting and it is a fun event too! Since BARS is doing this in September it is perfect timing because Eric will be bringing these cards to the Northeast HamXposition @ Boxborough for September 6/7/8 where hams can stop by his booth to pick them up and save mailing delay! And if you discover cards destined for you in the sort, you may pick them up immediately also.

Please join us for the sort. Eric will spend a few minutes explaining how the sort works and set up the mail-cubbies for filing. Then we will dig in! Literally – because we will break in the middle for pizza for all. Likely it will come from one of the fine Chelmsford pizza houses and we will try to get pies everyone will like. The cost will be covered by BARS. A treat!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Andy

KA1GTT

President, Billerica Amateur Radio Society

Clubs

MITRE-Bedford ARC Will Hold Reorganizational Meeting, August 29, 2019

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Adam Jenkins, AB1N, writes on the MITRE-Bedford mailing list:

The MITRE Bedford Amateur Radio Club will hold a meeting on Thursday, August 29, 2019, from 12-12:30 pm for the purposes of holding a special election for new officers, and voting on a proposed constitution/bylaw amendment (to remove paying dues as a requirement for membership). The club has been dormant for several years, so to the best of my understanding, all former memberships (which were based on annual payment of dues) and officers (which were 1-year terms tied to active membership) have lapsed. As a former officer of the club, I am announcing this meeting to the mbarc-list in the event that any former members would like to attend and participate. The meeting will be held in room 1M306, which is the publicly accessible conference room located off the M lobby.

Emergency Communications / Licensing Education & Training / Organization

Efforts Continue to Enhance ARES Program, Add Resources

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The ARRL Board of Directors, committees, and Headquarters administrative staff are continuing efforts to enhance the venerable Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) program. A major ARES Plan has been adopted, providing new direction going forward. In addition, a standardized training plan has been adopted and a new ARES Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book approved and published.

At its July meeting, the ARRL Board considered the report of its Public Service Enhancement Working Group (PSEWG). A “change log” was proposed for the Task Book that will highlight changes made as the document is periodically revised and updated. ARES position guidelines were posted to the online ARES Workbook and a major revision and update of ARRL’s Introduction to Emergency Communicationscourse — now designated as IS-001 — has been completed.

[Full story]
Public Service

Ham Assistance Requested, Marlborough Labor Day Parade, September 2, 2019

- by k9hi - 1 Comment
Algonquin ARC logoEd Fitzgerald, K1DIN, writes on the Algonquin ARC mailing list:
 
This email is intended for AARC members who have not participated as security observers before in the Marlborough Labor Day Parade. We usually have our members posted at 12 to14 locations throughout the Parade and connected via the repeater to Net Control. Our mission is to report emergencies or anything unusual to Net Control which is in direct contact with MPD Dispatch and has the MPD Incident Commander in close proximity. All observers have MPD Officers assigned nearby who are in touch with Dispatch. In short, an observer reports a disturbance to Net Control who, in turn, reports to MPD Dispatch which will alert the officers nearest to the observer to handle the problem. 
 
Mostly we report on causes for Parade delays, minor accidents, illnesses, and sometimes strange folks doing strange things. We also time the parade, list all reported happenings, and send our complete log to the Parade Director. We also have to be ready for a serious event and maybe even an assumption of command by MEMA. At that moment, we act as agents of Homeland Security.
 
This year we are lucky to have all our usual stations filled with experienced observers, and what we would like to do is offer members who have not previously or recently participated to “apprentice” with those experienced observers. Hopefully, this will “deepen our bench” and allow more members to have the opportunity to do some Ham Radio public service for Marlborough. It will allow us to rotate our crew so that we can have a full staffing of our stations with experienced observers when folks’ family events or other opportunities prevent them from participating.
 
Please let me know right away if you are interested in being with an observer for this Marlborough Labor Day Parade. We would love to have you try it out to see if you would be willing to be on our call list each year. 
 
All participants, of course, are welcome to the Pizza Party after the Parade in the Verizon Parking lot around Pete’s RV (Net Control 2).
 
Many thanks in advance,
Ed 
K1DIN 
Public Service

Amateur Radio Support for Baystate Marathon & Half Marathon, Lowell, October 20, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Terry Stader, KA8SCP, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

Amateur Radio operators have been asked once again to support the Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon. This year the event is on Sunday, October 20th. Our operational time period is from approximately 0700 until event completion (estimated 1400). Our assistance has been requested by Lowell Office of Emergency Management and Lowell Fire Department. The communications team will be employing Amateur Radio to provide this communications asset.

Amateur Radio will be used for:

      * Accountability net: the purpose of this net is to coordinate with a race public information booth the status of runners who are unable to complete the race for any issue to any one is seeking this information.

Race info may be found at http://baystatemarathon.com. Course map is found at http://baystatemarathon.com/course-maps-descriptions.html

Please contact me if you are able to assist or would like more information.

Please share with others that may be interested. This is a pretty laid back event and suitable for first time public event participation.

Terry M. Stader – KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 RACES Officer
EMA District Emergency Coordinator

Licensing Education & Training / Youth

New England Sci-Tech General Class Course, Natick, August 24-25, 2019

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New England Sci Tech logoFor junior high and high school students, homeschool students, and adults who already have a Technician level license, this fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the GENERAL license exam. Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum.  Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent approximately a week before the course.

The GENERAL level course runs Saturday, 9 am – 5 pm and Sunday, 9 am to 1 pm, followed by the FCC General exam at noon, at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.

Included with course fee: printed handouts, lecture study guide, license fee if tested at our location, a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Room and radio club meetings for 2 months, and free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate during the course. Advance registration and payment required.

For more information and to register, visit <https://www.nescitech.org/product/weekend-general-class/>. For questions, e-mail bobphinney at nescitech.org or call 508-720-4179.

 

Licensing Education & Training / Youth

New England Sci-Tech Technician License Course, September 21-22, 2019

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NE1AR logoFor junior high and high school students, homeschool students, and adults interested in wireless communications and electronics, this fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the Amateur Radio Technician license exam.

Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent a few days before the course.

The Technician level course runs on Saturday, 9 AM-4 PM and Sunday, 9 AM-1 PM, followed by the FCC Technician exam at 1:00, at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick. [Full description]

Licensing Education & Training

Dayton Hamvention Radio Club of the Year to Hold Ham Bootcamp at New England Convention

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

From ARRL Web:

“The Nashua (New Hampshire) Area Radio Society (NARS) will conduct a free Ham Bootcamp at the ARRL New England Division Convention next month to encourage and assist new and inexperienced radio amateurs in becoming more active and engaged in the various facets of ham radio. NARS, the Dayton Hamvention® Club of the Year for 2019, operated a guest exhibit for ARRL at this year’s show. It will also sponsor a Ham Expo for Young People at the New England Division Convention, with hands-on activities, videos, and displays about Amateur Radio and wireless communication.” [Full story]

Licensing Education & Training

Falmouth ARA Technician Course, October 12-26, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
UPDATE 10/6/19: The FARA Executive Board has decided to cancel the Technician class scheduled for this month and reschedule the class during March, 2020.
 
The Falmouth Amateur Radio Association (FARA) will be offering a Technician class amateur radio license course on October 12, 19, and 26, 2019 at the Falmouth Fire Station, Main Street, 2nd Floor, EOC Room.  The fee is $50 and includes:
 
  • Nine hours of classroom instruction
  • Course Manual
  • Online test practice and tutoring
  • Refreshments
  • Access to instructors for questions & tutoring
  • License exam
  • One-year membership with FARA
  • Admission to the 2019 FARAFest, amateur radio flea market
 
The exam will be conducted on the afternoon of October 26.
 
For additional information, contact Charlie Bresnahan, K1CB, at kilo1cb (at) aol.com.
 
All

Northeast HamXposition @Boxboro 2019 Forum Schedule Now Online

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Bob DeMattia, K1IW, writes:

The forum schedule for the Northeast HamXposition @Boxboro! 2019 is now available on our website.  On it you will find a wide variety of topics – everything from antique radio to the newest technology.   There are technical presentations and speakers that will tell you about all sorts of ham activities.

All new for this year is “Ham Bootcamp.”  Just got your license, or know someone who just got theirs and doesn’t know what to do with it?  Join the bootcamp and join the fun!

Another new addition this year is Sunday morning music band and brunch.  The Millis Berfield Band will be playing in the hotel atrium Sunday from 10 AM to Noon. Bring your own brunch or buy some at the hotel restaurant breakfast buffet – then enjoy the music.