NTS – Page 14 – Eastern Massachusetts ARRL

Marcia Forde, KW1U, Commended For Field Day Message Origination Assistance

July 10, 2019July 11, 2019 - by k9hi - 1 Comment

Section Manager Tom Walsh, K1TW, received a commendation letter from ARRL Special Service Club PART of Westford acknowledging the efforts of Eastern MA Section Traffic Manager Marcia Forde, KW1U, “for her professionalism and patience … in preparing members of PART for Field Day 2019 National Traffic System messaging.”

PART President Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ, writes, “[Marcia] worked with two of our members over the course of several weeks to advise on software and protocols.” KW1U’s knowledge and expertise allowed PART to earn an additional 200 points for message handling.

Stewart added, “her dedication to the Amateur Radio art reflects great credit on the Eastern Massachusetts section.”

NTS

JIM WARD N1LKJ SK – JULY 8, 2019

July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 - by kw1u - Leave a Comment

We very much regret the passing of Jim Ward N1LKJ on Monday July 8, 2019. Jim had been active in amateur radio for many years, serving in various capacities including Net Manager and Section Traffic Manager prior to your current STM. He was also very active in the region and area sideband nets. Jim used to host the annual traffic handlers picnics in Raynham. He was a good friend and all around great guy and will be greatly missed.

His obituary can be found at https://www.ccgfuneralhome.com/obit/james-t.-ward
Visitation will be Thursday July 11 from 4:00 to 8:00 at the Prophett-Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 98 Bedford St, Bridgewater MA.

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR APRIL AND MAY

Greetings all,

My apologies for not getting the April report out sooner, but it is included here along with the May report, both compiled by Greg KC1CIC with many thanks.

The nets have been humming with new check-ins the past few months, especially the 2 meter nets. Of particular note we welcome Doc KE1ML who is a new ORS (Official Relay Station) appointee and also NCS on EM2MN Wednesday nights. Morgan KB1ZFP has also begun handling traffic and is interested in trying out NCS. Scott KE1CN of the CITN reports Al N1MF has also been putting into practice the things he has been learning through their training sessions on the net and is handling traffic. We are also happy to hear other new regulars and hope to hear them handling traffic in the future. With that in mind, if any folks are interested in training in message handling on the Boston repeater let me know. We would like to help you get some confidence in taking part in this important aspect of the hobby.

Upcoming events include Field Day June 22-23. Field Day sites can be found on the section website ema.arrl.org. See the Field Day tab.

There will be summer picnic get-togethers for both East and West Mass. The West Mass folks will have a picnic at Mt Greylock on Sunday, July 14. Contact Peter KD2JKV for details. The East Mass picnic will be in Concord at the KW1U QTH on Sunday August 4. Of course any traffic handlers from other sections are invited to this event. More information will be forthcoming in July.

The annual ARRL New England Division convention will be held in Boxboro September 6-8. Our own Greg KC1CIC will be one of the speakers. I know it will be a very interesting presentation. Greg gave a very informative presentation last year.

I hope all have a great summer. See you on the nets.

73, Marcia KW1U

MA STM REPORT

April 2019

NET

SESSIONS

QTC

QNI

QTR

NM

FREQ

Net Time

WMTN C1

30

1

234

189

KD2JKV

146.91

10:00 Daily

WMTN C2

24

7

228

195

N1YCW

146.91

13:00 Daily

MARI

30

103

135

413

KW1U

3565 KHz

19:00 Daily

EM2MN

30

96

223

586

KC1CIC

145.23

20:00 Daily

CM2MN

25

29

158

214

KK1X

146.97

21:00 Daily

MARIPN

13

40

47

153

N1LAH

3978 KHz

18:00 Tu,Th,Sa

CITN

17

13

77

231

AC7RB

147.375

19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa

HHTN

18

39

154

300

W1HAI

MMRA Rptrs

22:00 Su,M,W,F

WMEN

4

0

93

78

W1JWN

3944 KHz

08:30 Su

WARPSN

4

8

67

NA

N1IQI

147.225

08:30 Su

SAR

ORG

REC

SENT

DEL

TOTAL

BPL

BPL = 500 Points

N1IQI

0

189

581

4

774

X

KW1U

0

307

304

1

612

X

N1LAH

0

45

49

0

94

W1RVY

0

78

13

2

93

N1TF

0

35

44

1

80

WA1LPM

0

20

34

1

55

KC1CIC

0

25

22

4

51

KD2JKV

0

22

0

44

KC1HHO

0

7

10

6

23

WA1VAB

0

6

3

6

15

W1PLK

0

4

5

2

11

KE1ML

0

1

3

W1JWM

0

1

3

PSHR (Min 70 Points)

1

2

3

4

5

6

TOTAL

KD2JKV

40

30

110

0

220

W1RVY

40

30

80

0

190

KC1CIC

31

40

30

35

0

10

146

KW1U

40

30

0

20

130

N1TF

40

30

5

0

115

N1IQI

40

10

0

10

110

N1LAH

40

20

0

100

KC1HHO

30

23

10

25

0

88

WA1LPM

36

40

10

0

86

DRS

RCV

FWD

TOTAL

KW1U

745

1302

2047

N1IQI

189

581

770

KC1CIC

21

12

33

W1RVY

1

0

1

MA STM REPORT				May 2019

NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	30	3	401	309	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	25	4	210	200	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	31	64	119	336	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	31	89	246	657	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	21	17	143	173	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	13	20	46	112	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	17	12	82	283	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	18	31	173	286	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	4	0	99	71	W1JWN	3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	4	8	71	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su

SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL	BPL = 500 points
N1IQI	0	85	391	4	480
KW1U	0	232	235	2	469
KC1CIC	0	46	28	0	74
W1RVY	0	52	9	0	61
KD2JKV	0	17	17	0	34
KE1ML	1	8	17	5	31
N1LAH	0	13	16	0	29
KC1HHO	0	6	13	6	25
NV1N	0	6	17	0	23
W1PLK	0	8	4	7	19
WA1LPM	0	1	14	0	15
WA1VAB	0	2	4	2	8
W1JWM	0	1	1	1	3

PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	33	40	30	35	0	20	158
KW1U	40	40	30	10	0	20	140
KD2JKV	40	34	30	15	0	0	119
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
KC1HHO	32	25	10	30	0	0	97
N1LAH	40	29	20	0	0	0	89
KE1ML	40	31	0	10	0	0	81

DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	595	898	1493
N1IQI	85	391	476
KC1CIC	31	11	42

MARCIA KW1U STM GREG KC1CIC ASTM EMA PETER KD2JKV ASTM WMA

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for Monday June 3 at 8:30pm

June 2, 2019June 2, 2019 - by kc1cic - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

The June ARES Net is Monday June 3, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.
The July ARES net will be Monday July 1, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety), interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: <https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA>. A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: <https://www.vatsim.net/pilot-resource-centre/general-lessons/understanding-atis>. We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation.

Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at <https://ema.arrl.org/ares>. Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Rob Macedo, KD1CY

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Emergency Messaging Demonstration for Red Cross, FEMA is a Success

May 31, 2019 - by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Courtesy ARRLWeb:

With Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials monitoring, dozens of radio amateurs along the US east coast on May 23 demonstrated Amateur Radio’s ability to deliver messages without commercial power, infrastructure, or permanently established stations. The event took place in coordination with ARRL. The demonstration was a mock response to a simulated disaster scenario — a major hurricane with mass casualties. During the event, radio amateurs at portable stations from New England to the Carolinas delivered message traffic to W1AW, which coordinated and delivered the information to officials attending a joint Red Cross-FEMA meeting in Baltimore. [Full story]

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

WX4NHC Annual On-The Air Station Test – Saturday June 1st, 2019 – 900 AM-500 PM EDT (1300-2100z)

May 30, 2019June 16, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

Please see the following information from WD4R-Julio Ripoll, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator on the 2019 WX4NHC On-Air Communications Test which will be held this Saturday June 1st, 2019 from 9 AM-5 PM EDT (1300-2100 UTC) across various bands and modes on Amateur Radio. We encourage Amateur Radio Operators in our region to participate. See link below:

Special Announcement: WX4NHC Annual On-The Air Station Test – Saturday June 1st, 2019 – 900 AM-500 PM EDT (1300-2100z)

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Local Amateurs Participate in Joint American Red Cross, FEMA Exercise

May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 - by k9hi - 1 Comment

Amateurs in Eastern Massachusetts along with dozens of hams along the US East Coast demonstrated Amateur Radio’s ability to deliver messages without commercial power, infrastructure, or permanently established stations for officials of the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

[Story, courtesy KC1CIC]

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR MARCH 2019

As April showers bring May flowers, I have been enjoying watching the daffodils and other spring flowers bloom and the buds on the trees begin to open up. I’m also anticipating the erection of a new tower and getting the antennas atop that tower in good working order. I suspect some of you are also looking to upgrade your antennas. This is an exciting time of year.

Dayton Hamvention is coming up in May and I’ve heard of several folks heading to Ohio for one of the biggest ham events of the year. Field Day in June will be here before we know it, and the convention at Boxboro in September as well and it is time already to make plans for those.

Not to be forgotten is the annual traffic handlers picnic which will again be held in Concord at the KW1U QTH on the traditional first Sunday of August. Set aside August 4 and plan to join us. Details will follow later.

Nets are going well. Conditions on 80 meters have got past the long skip of winter and signals have been much improved. Do join us on the HF nets. HHTN has seen a big boom in check-ins especially with the availability of Echolink. Speaking of Echolink, the West Mass 2 meter nets are also now accessible via Echolink. Look for the K1FFK repeater. The Boston 145.230 repeater has been experiencing some rough times during inclement weather but the EM2MN folks are a hardy group and deal with the uncertain conditions. I’m told the folks who maintain the repeater will be making some adjustments as soon as it is possible. CITN has also seen new check-ins and it is good to see that net doing well. Thanks to all for your support.

Below is the traffic report for March, again with thanks to Greg KC1CIC ASTM.

73, Marcia KW1U STM

MA STM REPORT	MARCIA KW1U / STM			March 2019


NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	31	6	321	275	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	29	8	258	195	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	31	81	121	396	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	31	97	163	476	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	25	12	143	189	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	13	14	42	126	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	17	4	64	178	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	18	47	120	314	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	5	0	123	74		3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	5	10	73	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su

SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL	BPL = 500+ pts
N1IQI	0	105	390	4	499
KW1U	0	211	171	1	383
N1TF	0	33	61	2	96
W1RVY	1	57	26	0	84
KD2JKV	0	35	35	0	70
N1LAH	0	31	38	1	70
KC1CIC	0	40	19	2	61
WA1LPM	0	12	35	0	47
KC1HHO	0	5	19	3	27
WA1VAB	0	8	6	3	17
NV1N	0	2	11	1	14
W1PLK	0	5	1	2	8

PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	40	40	30	15	0	20	145
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
KD2JKV	40	40	30	10	0	0	120
N1TF	40	40	30	5	0	0	115
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
N1LAH	40	40	20	0	0	0	100
WA1LPM	40	40	10	0	0	0	90
KC1HHO	32	27	10	10	0	0	79

DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	880	1157	2037
N1IQI	105	390	495
KC1CIC	16	16	32
W1RVY	14	12	26

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 2019

Greetings All. Below is the February Traffic Report, just in time before we start on the March reports. Your STM was distracted by a vacation, a computer hack while on vacation and a period of post vacation catch-up. This traffic report was submitted to ARRL March 15 but due to an early QST deadline it will have to wait to make the next QST.

Just a word about the use of pro-words and non pro-words. Here is a link to our section website where you will find a list of common prowords and introductory words/phrases: https://ema.arrl.org/prowords-and-introductory-words-phrases/. You will notice it is introduced with a quote from the “Methods and Practices Guidelines (MPG) available on the ARRL website.

“Do what the trained receiving operator expects and confusion and errors will be minimized.” As our local and section nets are for training, let me stress that we are all learning and do not expect perfection. Remember the goal is to learn how to do things better, more accurately and more efficiently. I encourage all to refer to the information in this article.

Also in the interest of good practice and efficiency we strive to eliminate extraneous and unnecessary words or phrases, such as “check of”, “going to”, “break for text”, “and the signature is” , and perhaps most widely used “how copy”. We should know the order of the format and shouldn’t need to introduce each part of the radiogram. At the end we say “end no more” or “end more”. If the receiving station needs fills he/she will ask. If no fills are needed, he/she will respond with “roger”.

All on our nets are doing a great job and it is much appreciated. These are just a few tips that can help us to do even better.

Thanks for your support and 73,

Marcia KW1U STM

MA STM REPORT				February 2019

NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	28	3	235	161	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	19	0	154	117	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	28	106	120	534	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	28	102	164	518	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	19	21	111	164	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	12	10	36	103	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	16	3	52	180	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	16	27	108	233	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	4	0	113	80		3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	4	8	71	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su

SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL = 500+ pts
N1IQI	0	157	470	4	631	X
KW1U	1	263	251	2	517	X
N1TF	0	33	46	5	84
KC1CIC	0	46	22	3	71
W1RVY	0	53	16	2	71
WA1LPM	0	26	37	0	63
KD2JKV	0	21	21	0	42
KC1HHO	0	12	23	6	41
N1LAH	0	20	19	0	39
WA1VAB	0	13	6	11	30
NV1N	0	4	13	0	17
W1PLK	0	2	4	4	10
K1BML	0	2	0	1	3

PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	40	40	30	10	0	20	140
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
N1TF	40	40	30	5	0	0	115
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
KD2JKV	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
N1LAH	40	39	20	0	0	0	99
WA1LPM	40	40	10	0	0	0	90
KC1HHO	28	40	10	0	0	0	78

DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	1011	1338	2349
N1IQI	157	470	627
KC1CIC	30	42	72
KC1EGK	0	1	1
W1RVY	0	0	0

Marcia KW1U STM; Greg KC1CIC ASTM EMA; Peter KD2JKV ASTM WMA

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for Monday April 1 at 8:30pm

March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 - by kc1cic - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

The monthly ARES Net is Monday April 1, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

We had an issue with last months net but that has been resolved.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety), interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: <https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA>. A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: <https://www.vatsim.net/pilot-resource-centre/general-lessons/understanding-atis>. We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation.

Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at <https://ema.arrl.org/ares>. Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Rob Macedo, KD1CYEastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

March 2, 2019 Eastern MA Hospital Net

February 28, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

Net Control for the March 2,2019 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH, The South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club . The net will commence at the usual time of 10:AM using the following repeaters in the order listed.

1. Attleboro 147.195 Mhz tone 127.3
2. Boston 145.230 Mhz tone encode 88.5 decode 100.0
3. Plymouth 146.685 Mhz tone 131.8
4. Simplex 147.42 Mhz

The Net will then return to the Attleboro Repeater for final comments and Net closing.

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check in procedure which is: Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name.

We extend an invitation to any health care facility or EOC of any city or town that is served by one of the participating hospitals to join the Net. We also extend an invitation to any RACES or ARES member to check in during the NET.

Any hospital wishing to join the net that needs assistance with equipment or personnel should contact us at ssharc@gmail.com. We can assist you with getting your location on the air.

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested please let us know. Our goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many groups as possible.

We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct the monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event. The following list of repeaters are available for our use. Only a few systems are used each month with the selection of those used made by Net Control for that month. More systems are being added to the list on a regular basis.

REMINDER: The BARC Repeater is now using split tone. Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0

Repeaters
Attleboro 147.195 tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
Belmont 145.430 tone 146.2
Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
Dartmouth 147.000 tone 67.0
Fall River 146.805. tone 67.0
Falmouth 147.375 tone 110.9
Mansfield EMA 446.925 tone 100.0
Mansfield 147.015 tone 67.0
Marshfield 145.390 tone 67.0
Norwood 147.210 tone 100.00
Plymouth 146.685 tone 131.8
Salem 146.88 tone 118.8
Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5
Weymouth 147.345 tone 110.9 (South Shore Hospital)
W. Bridgewater 146.775 dcs 244
Wrentham 147.09 tone 146.2

We look forward to hearing you all on the Net.

Respectfully,

John O’
K1JRO

—

South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club – W1SSH
55 Fogg Road, Box 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

New ARES Plan Approved by ARRL Board of Directors Press Release

February 23, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

The ARRL Board of Directors at their last board meeting approved the new ARES Strategic Plan and on Tuesday 2/19/19 put out a press release on the strategic plan and a link to the finalized ARES plan. Details can be found at the following links:

New Plan Aligns ARES with the needs of served agencies
ARES Strategic Plan

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be following these plans and will make adjustments to the ARES workshop materials to reflect the new ARES structure and strategic plan.

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Has a New State Director – Samantha Phillips

February 23, 2019February 23, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

The Massachusetts Governor’s office announced on Wednesday 2/20 that Samantha Phillips will be the new state director of the agency replacing Kurt Schwartz after 30 years of public service in various roles in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Details on the new state director and the changes in MEMA leadership can be seen in the following state press release:

Baker-Polito Administration Names Samantha Phillips as MEMA Director

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR JANUARY 2019

Greetings All, Below you will find the January Traffic Report for the combined sections of East and West Mass, thanks to the efforts of both Greg KC1CIC and Peter KD2JKV.

I am also including here a clip from an email received concerning a response from a radiogram recipient which was received by Henry WA1VAB of the MARI CW net. I’m sure it was very rewarding to Henry and it is part of the reasons we deliver these radiograms.

“Thank for the radio gram! Most unexpected and a real treat to seeing how the network works!

I’ve just returned from a crash course at New England Sci-Tech in Natick, where I was upgraded to general class. Looking forward to getting on the air. I haven’t quite decided which frequencies and modes are best, as I’m in “low ground”, and thus may have some experimentation to do.

Would look forward to talking some time.

thanks!”

Thanks to all who have participated in helping to deliver message traffic. It can be frustrating when phone numbers don’t work, which often is the case, but as you can see from Henry’s example, going the extra mile can pay off. I know some of you have mailed messages out. Others have found email addresses (often available for hams on qrz.com). Your efforts are very much appreciated and help to spread the word about NTS nets and message handling.

Just a reminder about service messages. The NTS manual tells us there are three (and only three) things we do with radiograms we receive: 1) deliver it, 2) relay it, or 3) service it back to the station of origin if undeliverable. The station of origin is the one whose call sign is in the preamble and not necessarily the person signing the message. Using the arl numbered radiogram “arl sixty seven” is a convenient way to do this as you only need fill in the blanks. These blanks include the message number and a brief explanation of why it was undeliverable.

Another reminder, along the same lines, is to observe the handling instructions or HX_ We often see HXC in a preamble, and I for one have at times been remiss to send a message back to the originating station with the date and time of delivery. I have seen complaints from some originators that they never heard back the status of their message. That’s not necessarily from Massachusetts as I know you all know “the ropes”, but just a reminder to all since I need such a reminder too.

Happy Spring to all. It’s just around the corner.

73, Marcia KW1U

STM EMA and WMA

MA STM REPORT	MARCIA FORDE STM MA			JANUARY 2019

NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	31	2	265	191	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	28	1	209	122	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	31	78	118	466	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	31	83	193	519	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	20	19	101	149	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	14	4	44	93	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	18	8	83	274	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	17	53	130	342	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	4	0	109	78	W1JWN	3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	4	8	66	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su

SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL	BPL = 500+ pts.
KW1U	0	277	272	1	550	X
N1IQI	0	65	98	4	167
W1RVY	1	64	12	1	78
KC1CIC	0	43	18	3	64
N1TF	0	14	26	2	42
KD2JKV	0	21	21	0	42
KC1HHO	0	10	14	8	32
WA1LPM	0	4	27	0	31
N1LAH	0	12	15	1	28
NV1N	0	2	14	1	17
W1PLK	0	5	4	8	17
WA1VAB	0	4	9	1	14
W1JWM	0	1	0	1	2
K1BML	0	1	0	1	2

PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	40	40	30	15	0	20	145
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
N1TF	35	40	30	5	0	0	110
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
KD2JKV	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
N1LAH	40	28	20	0	0	0	88
WA1LPM	40	31	10	0	0	0	81
KC1HHO	32	29	10	0	0	0	71

DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	429	409	838
N1IQI	65	98	163
KC1CIC	14	14	28
KC1EGK	0	0	0
W1RVY	0	0	0

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

Local Communities Looking for RACES Officers

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

A few months ago, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency conducted a survey for all local community emergency management directors across the Commonwealth. The survey was specifically about the use of amateur radio and RACES locally within their community, whether each emergency manager has an appointed RACES Officer, and if not, if they would like to find one.

The Radio Amateurs Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is a radio service using amateur stations for emergency management communications during periods of local, regional or national emergencies. RACES is defined in law in Part 97.407 of the FCC rules. In the event the U.S. President ever needed to silence the regular Amateur Radio Service by invoking the War Powers Act of 1941, only RACES appointed stations could continue to operate and assist their appointed served agencies.

As a result of the survey conducted by MEMA, the list of communities below are interested in locating an amateur radio operator to serve as their RACES Officer.

If you are interested in any of these appointments, please inquire with that community’s emergency management director. It is also highly recommended to discuss the matter with MEMA Regional RACES Officer which services that local community’s county. We might be able to recommend you based on whatever previous amateur radio EmComm or other public service you’ve done that we’re aware of. We may also be able to give you additional insight into the role in that community.

The MEMA Regional RACES Officers are:
Region 1: Terry Stader KA8SCP
Region 2: Mike Leger N1YLQ
Region 3: Frank Morrisino K1LMY
Region 4: Gil Hayes WK1H

Communities looking for RACES Officers:

MEMA Region 1 (Suffolk, Middlesex and Essex Counties)
- Nahant
- Belmont
- Manchester-by-the-Sea
- North Reading
- Revere
MEMA Region 2 (Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket Counties)
- Rochester
- Marshfield
- Barnstable
- Yarmouth
- East Bridgewater
- Somerset
- Chilmark
- Edgartown
MEMA Region 3 (Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Berkshire Counties)
- Sandisfield
- Washington
- South Hadley
- Colrain
- Stockbridge
- Huntington
- West Springfield
- Russell
- Chesterfield
MEMA Region 4 (Worcester County)
- West Boylston
- Ashburnham
- Sterling
- Sturbridge
- Fitchburg
- Grafton
- Royalston
- West Brookfield
- Sutton

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

February RACES nets on Monday Feb. 4 HF net at 6:45 PM EST, Region 2D VHF net at 7:30 PM EST

February 3, 2019February 3, 2019 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

The first Monday of every month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, is a test of the Massachusetts RACES and ARES communication capabilities. If the first Monday of the month is a holiday, then the test is delayed one week and will be held the following Monday.

For February, the first Monday of the month is Monday Feb. 4.

********************************************************************************

6:45 PM EST HF net: using the following frequency plan:

We will start at 3930 KHz moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency,

Marc Stern WA1R will be net control.

*********************************************************************************

Region 2D VHF net

7:30 PM EST VHF net on 146.865 MHz PL 103.5 (Sharon Repeater)

We will have a general call up of any RACES, ARES, or other interested stations. This willbe followed by a SIMPLEX test..

Jeff Marden N1JCM will be net control.

********************************************************************************

We look forward to you checking in.

—
73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph
__._,_.___

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2018 AND YEAR END TRAFFIC SUMMARY

Winter is now upon us and showing not only it’s beauty but it’s challenging propagation where NTS nets are concerned. On HF, radiowave skip continues to be long many days and evenings making it difficult to hear local stations on section and region nets. We have been able to make good use of 160 meters on MARI CW net, but have to get creative where not all net participants have 160 meter capability (a 160 meter dipole is approximately 265 feet long). If you don’t find us on 3565 Khz, look on 1810 Khz.

The MARIPN continues to operate on 3978 Khz plus or minus for interference. With long skip bringing distant stations into hearing range, we have often moved up a couple Khz so look around. Local signals also have been on the weak side but we look forward to spring and better conditions and hopefully more check-ins.

The 2 meter nets are doing well although with a reduced amount of traffic due to the government shutdown which means FCC is issuing no new amateur licenses and therefore no radiograms to new or upgrading hams.

HHTN has been growing partially through the use of Echolink. They have regular checkins from as far away as Florida. Manager Joe W1HAI is working to expand their local RF coverage as well through linked repeaters.

You will find here the December report along with a posting of a traffic summary for all of 2018 with many thanks to our ASTM Greg KC1CIC. Note we conducted 2,364 net sessions, passed 3,564 messages and had 14,933 check-ins, all this over 25,741 minutes. WOW!! A more detailed year’s summary will go out via email to net participants or can be obtained by contacting kw1u@arrl.net. Thanks to all for a great job.

MA STM REPORT		DECEMBER 2018			Marcia Forde KW1U STM

NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	29	1	278	200	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	24	2	157	166	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	30	111	120	507	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	31	113	183	546	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	27	22	130	206	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	12	3	25	66	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	17	14	74	263	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	18	79	119	401	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	4	0	113	NA	W1JWN	3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	5	10	80	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su

SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL	BPL = 500+ points
N1IQI	0	238	640	4	882	X	BPL = 500+ pts
KW1U	1	232	230	3	466
KC1CIC	0	94	87	8	189
N1TF	1	53	73	8	135
KD2JKV	0	61	65	0	126
WA1LPM	0	46	44	1	91
W1RVY	0	48	6	0	54
N1LAH	0	25	28	0	53
KC1HHO	0	13	15	6	34
NV1N	0	8	14	1	23
W1PLK	0	7	2	3	12
WA1VAB	1	2	4	1	8

PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	40	40	30	50	0	20	180
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
N1TF	40	40	30	5	0	0	115
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
KD2JKV	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
N1LAH	40	40	20	0	0	0	100
WA1LPM	37	40	10	0	0	0	87
KC1HHO	34	31	10	5	0	0	80

DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	877	1377	2254
N1IQI	238	640	878
KC1CIC	34	53	87
KC1EGK	0	10	10
W1RVY	4	0	4

2018 MA NTS LOCAL NETS SUMMARY


DAILY NETS	SESSIONS	TRAFFIC	CHECKINS	TIME (min)
EM2MN	364	1,543	2,446	7,559
MARI	357	1,057	1,333	5,129
WMTN C1	356	39	2,816	2,045
CM2MN	305	203	1,933	1,620
WMTN C2	286	89	2,402	2,198

SUB-TOTAL	1,668	2,931	10,930	18,551

INCREMENTAL NETS	SESSIONS	TRAFFIC	CHECKINS	TIME (min)
CITN	239	85	882	3,272
HHTN	209	270	841	2,536
MARIPN	153	176	475	1,382
WARPSN	51	102	816	NA
WMEN	44	0	989	NA

SUB-TOTAL	696	633	4,003	7,190

MA NTS LOCAL NETS TOTAL	2,364	3,564	14,933	25,741
	SESSIONS	TRAFFIC	CHECKINS	TIME (min)


MA NTS DIGITAL STATIONS
	DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
	KW1U	11,482	14,001	25,483
	N1IQI	1,039	4,334	5,373
	KC1CIC	418	361	779
	KC1EGK	0	30	30
	W1RVY	14	11	25

	TOTAL	12,953	18,737	31,690
		RCV	FWD	TOTAL


MA NTS PSHR	STATION	POINTS
	KC1CIC	1,781
	KW1U	1,585
	N1TF	1,380
	W1RVY	1,345
	N1IQI	1,235
	N1LAH	1,197
	WA1LPM	939
	KC1HHO	925
	NV1N	831
	N1SYC	512
	KD2KJV	416
	K1BML	371
	N1LKJ	77

	TOTAL	12,594

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORTS FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2018

Time has flown by and Christmas is now only two weeks away. Apologies for not getting the October Traffic Report out until now. Your STM takes the full blame for that. Thanks to KC1CIC who has consistently provided the monthly report in a timely manner.

Winter conditions on the HF nets have been creeping in requiring us to get creative. For those who have the capability we have found 160 meters to work when we’re too close to copy one another on 80 meters. The MARI CW net has as it’s alternate frequency 1810 Khz. We always begin on 3565 Khz but move to 1810 Khz as needed. Sometimes even that doesn’t work well and where possible we try to find a 2 meter repeater for passing traffic.

MARIPN has its own problems with these conditions as the more distant stations are now heard, often requiring us to call the net on a nearby frequency. If you don’t find us on 3978 Khz, look around, usually up the band rather than down.

Heavy Hitters Traffic Net (HHTN) which meets on the Minuteman Repeater Network is accessable by Echolink and has experienced checkins from New York and Florida and probably other locations. If you can’t reach one of the repeaters give Echolink a try. Information is available on this website under a listing of nets.

I want to wish all a joyous holiday season and good health and happiness in 2019.

Marcia KW1U STM


MA STM REPORT				OCT 2018


NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	31	6	235	204	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	19	6	175	201	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	31	90	130	438	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	31	92	171	488	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	26	11	131	179	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	13	11	36	104	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	17	4	62	222	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	18	21	75	234	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	3	0	81	NA	W1JWN	3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	4	8	65	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su



SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL
KW1U	1	358	355	1	715	X
N1IQI	0	120	363	4	487
KC1CIC	0	66	26	4	96
N1TF	3	25	42	4	74
KD2JKV	4	30	20	10	64
WA1LPM	0	22	33	0	55
W1RVY	0	22	28	0	50
N1LAH	0	17	16	0	33
KC1HHO	0	7	13	7	27
NV1N	0	9	17	0	26
W1PLK	0	10	2	3	15



PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
W1RVY	40	40	20	65	0	0	165
KC1CIC	26	40	30	15	0	20	131
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
N1TF	40	40	30	5	0	0	115
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	0	10	110
KD2JKV	40	23	30	10	0	0	103
N1LAH	40	33	20	0	0	0	93
WA1LPM	40	40	10	0	0	0	90
KC1HHO	28	27	10	0	5	0	70


DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	914	1047	1961
N1IQI	120	363	483
KC1CIC	30	15	45
W1RVY	3	1	4
KC1EGK	0	1	1

BPL = 500 POINTS EARNED

MARCIA FORDE STM MA


MA STM REPORT				NOV 2018


NET	SESSIONS	QTC	QNI	QTR	NM	FREQ	Net Time
WMTN C1	29	0	197	143	KD2JKV	146.91	10:00 Daily
WMTN C2	22	2	191	169	N1YCW	146.91	13:00 Daily
MARI	30	93	124	456	KW1U	3565 KHz	19:00 Daily
EM2MN	30	80	165	480	KC1CIC	145.23	20:00 Daily
CM2MN	26	19	159	209	KK1X	146.97	21:00 Daily
MARIPN	13	7	36	90	N1LAH	3978 KHz	18:00 Tu,Th,Sa
CITN	18	6	75	252	AC7RB	147.375	19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa
HHTN	17	28	95	231	W1HAI	MMRA Rptrs	22:00 Su,M,W,F
WMEN	3	0	83	NA	W1JWN	3944 KHz	08:30 Su
WARPSN	3	6	46	NA	N1IQI	147.225	08:30 Su



SAR	ORG	REC	SENT	DEL	TOTAL	BPL
KW1U	0	265	290	1	556	X
N1IQI	0	56	381	4	441
KC1CIC	0	50	18	2	70
W1RVY	0	55	9	0	64
N1TF	0	21	32	5	58
N1LAH	0	25	26	1	52
WA1LPM	0	12	26	0	38
KC1HHO	1	6	14	6	27
NV1N	0	7	18	0	25
WA1VAB	0	4	2	4	10
W1PLK	0	3	1	2	6



PSHR (Min 70 Points)	1	2	3	4	5	6	TOTAL
KC1CIC	40	40	30	20	0	20	150
KW1U	40	40	30	0	0	20	130
N1TF	40	40	30	5	0	0	115
N1IQI	40	40	10	10	5	10	115
W1RVY	40	40	30	0	0	0	110
N1LAH	40	40	20	0	0	0	100
WA1LPM	38	38	10	0	0	0	86
KC1HHO	28	27	10	5	0	0	70


DRS	RCV	FWD	TOTAL
KW1U	1132	1244	2376
N1IQI	56	381	437
KC1CIC	16	4	20
KC1EGK	0	2	2
W1RVY	0	0	0

BPL = 500 POINTS EARNED

MARCIA FORDE STM MA

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

November 3, 2018 Eastern MA Hospital Net Announcement

October 30, 2018November 4, 2018 - by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

John O’Neill-K1JRO writes:

Good Morning Everyone,

Net Control for the November 3,2018 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH The South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club . The net will commence at the usual time of 10:AM using the following repeaters in the order listed.

1. Attleboro 147.195 tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
2. Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
3. Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
4. Simplex 147.42