NTS

N1WBV-Ben Jackson on the Southeast Mass Amateur Radio Association Email list writes:

Hi Everyone:

If you have ever thought about becoming involved with AREDN (https://www.arednmesh.org/) but also wondered “Well it sounds interesting, but who would I communicate with around the South Coastal MA Area?” I am happy to report that I have established an outdoor node just a touch NNE of UMass in FN41lp.

What is AREDN? AREDN is the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network which provides a way for Amateur Radio operators to create high-speed ad-hoc data networks for use in emergency and service-oriented communications. This is often done via consumer or “pro-sumer” 802.11 wireless networking gear running custom software. Currently, there are mesh networks in Rhode Island and they
reach as far as Tiverton, and there is an emerging effort on Cape Cod.

As I am always over engineering things I have also opted to make my node 100% solar powered and I’ve also put it up at 20ft AGL. Right now, I am putting it in “open Beta” and I want to let people know about it, however, I will expect it to randomly go down for testing as I am still hammering out bugs.

So if you have a 5GHz directional WiFi Access Point, please point it my way on Channel 149 of your 5GHz dial; and if you WANT to grab a 5GHz directional access WiFi Access Point, (especially if you have a tower!) please just let me know and I would be happy to point you in the right direction. I am also working out a full Bill of Materials (BOM) for what I assembled my node for.

73

Ben, N1WBV

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes:

The USCG Auxiliary combine Divisions 5 / 12 Radio Net was held on Sunday 13 OCT 2024 at 1015 AM.

Check Ins: Wilmington Radio
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G

Net Control: Waltham Radio NCS

Traffic: Radio tests were made of all radio facilities. It was announced that Flotilla elections are
forthcoming. January 10th is the Boat Show. Discussions of the Hurricane Milton and
Hurricane Helene events. Amateur Radio did a great job helping with communications.

Our Auxiliary Net held on the MMRA amteur radio network is going strong. This morning
we had 17 check ins. K1UVH Mike from Holbrook, a retired firefighter gave an account of
his assistance with Hurricane milton. Mike was on scene in the area at a IAFF convention
and volunteered his time working with their fire departments. He worked there for a week.
In addition to rescues they had several large working building fires to deal with.

Florida has a very progressive state and local government system and they did a great
job. It seems they were on top of everything and the fatality count was low. I saw a news
clip of the USCG Helo working a rescue. A gentleman’s boat went down during the storm
and the survivor was able to cling to a large ice cooler. He stayed afloat all night through
the storm until spotted by the USCG and rescued the following morning.

The D7 USCG Auxiliary COMMS. Team assisted the USCG and State government with
radio communications assistance throughout the storm. Hopefully we will continue on
through the month of November with NO more storm activity. I think it will show that the
tornados did more destruction and caused more loss of life than the hurricanes.

Emergency Ham radio communications for the hurricane are still on Broadcastify APP.
Use the N2GE repeater network on the APP.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

KB1PGH-Dean Burgess, Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association (CAARA) ARRL/ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

There will be an ARRL/ARES Emergency communications planning meeting for the Cape Ann area at the CAARA clubhouse at 6 Stanwood street in Gloucester on Saturday November 2nd at noontime. This meeting is open for all those who are interested in attending. This will be a first in a series of informal meetings as we start to plan out a ARRL emergency communications group on Cape Ann. The meeting will be run by ARRL/ARES emergency coordinator Dean Burgess KB1PGH and ARRL/ARES assistant emergency coordinator Bill Morris W1WMM.

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes:

The combined Divisions 5 / 12 Radio Net was called on the Roslindale repeater 6 OCT 24 at 1015 hrs.

Check Ins: Radio Wilmington
Radio Roslindale
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G

Net Control: Radio Waltham NCS

Traffic: Stations were able to radio check their equipment. I spoke to the Comms people in D7.
D7 Florida area will be implementing their Emergency Communications Nets starting on
this Tuesday. Another hurricane will be hitting Florida on Wednesday. They have noticed
how we have had good luck using Ham radio assets in D1N. They will in addition to USCG
Auxiliary channels be using the Florida SARNET a robust Amateur Radio Network that
covers their whole state. The D7 area Auxiliary has one high site Auxiliary repeater in
Stuart Florida. This is a wide area coverage repeater.

In addition D7 will be utilizing the SHARES network. DHS has not activated the SHARES
net for Hurricane helene. D1N HF stations will be able to assist D7 on their 14 meg nets.
Any SHARES station is authorized to activate a SHARES net when needed. The SHARES
ALE network will also be in play on Tuesday.

D1N stations are reminded to continue to monitor the 5 Mhz 60 meter channels for any
distress calls. 5 Mhz is clearly heard in New England during the evenings.

The Auxiliary net is going strong on the MMRA network. We had 17 stations checked in today.
Anyone using a police scanner radio can tune us in on 146.82 or 146.69 Mhz to hear the net.
Again we are asking all members to consider getting their Amateur Radio License to be able
to participate.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

The Sunday morning Divisions 5 / 12 Combined Radio net was held on Roslindale repeater – 29 SEP 2024 at 1015 hrs.

Check Ins: Radio Wilmington
Radio Roslindale
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G
Radio Harvard

Net control: Radio Waltham NCS

Traffic: Radio tests were conducted. Flotilla elections are coming up. Hurricane
Helena is threatening the Southeast coast of the country. The Florida
Governor has reported that up to 1.2 million homes and businesses are
without power.

The Hurricane Net on 7.268Mhz was very busy handling emergency
requests and health and welfare radio traffic. HF assets are reminded
If the USCG is quiet and the Auxiliary is not needed please join in on
the Hurricane Net, Salvation Army Net (SATERN) or the Red Cross
activated nets.

Even though you reside in New England, HF covers the world and you
will be appreciated for helping these nets handle and move traffic. As a
reminder during Hurricane Katrina the SATERN radio Hams handled
over 50,000 Health and Welfare messages. A number of these messages
were for people in need of emergency rescues. I counted over 100 calls
for rescue that came to the SHARES HF network.

We operate a valuable resource that can be of real assistance in times of
emergency. At the least perform increased monitoring of the 5 Mhz 60M
channels for emergency calls.

The Auxiliary Net is held on the MMRA Minuteman Repeater Association
and is going well. We had 17 check ins this morning. The Auxiliary Net
starts at 1100 hrs every Sunday morning. Scanner radios can receive the
Net on 146.82 or 146.67 Mhz. Tune in or get your Ham Radio Technician
license and join us. A question came up on the Net as to joining RACES,
the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. RACES is a federally spon-
sored and authorized Ham radio Network. RACES is locally managed by
Emergency Management Director of a city or town.

When and if the president of the United States were to impose the War
Powers Act, Amateur Radio or Ham radio as we know it would be shut
down. The only Ham radio stations allowed to operate and transmit would
be RACES stations. RACES stations have to be designated and authorized
by EM Agencies for Official Business Only. Federal stations such as the
Auxiliary would continue to operate as usual for official business.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

Hello to all…

The October Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday October 7th, 2024 at 830 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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will have several announcements for the net including training announcements in the areas of NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System), NTS training and the date for the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Simulated Emergency Test (SET).

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
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Don Rolph, AB1PH, Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

The MEMA RACES nets are held on the first Monday of the month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, when it is delayed one week, For Oct 2024, the MEMA RACES nets will be held on Mon Oct 7 at:

********************************************************************************
80 meter Voice net
No 80 meter voice net this month: No NCS.

*********************************************************************************
Region 2D VHF net:
7:30 PM ET 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. If there is time, we will have a simplex test.

Jim WJ1R will be net control.

********************************************************************************
HF 80 meters NBEMS net:
Dial Frequency: 3584.5 MHx
Center Frequency: 1500 Hz
Initial mode: THOR22
We will have checkins, followed by an ICS-213 format message using FLMSG.

Don AB1PH will be net control

*********************************************************************************
Winlink Net:
Bryan Marcotte KF1D will be net control.
Send a winlink checkin form to KF1D, copy AB1PH, between 0600 Monday Oct 7 and 2400 Monday Oct 7.

We look forward to you checking in!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

Terry Stader-KA8SCP – Region 1 RACES Radio Officer & ARES District Emergency Coordinator for Region 1 RACES writes:

We are still looking for volunteers….

This year’s Baystate Marathon and Half Marathon race is scheduled for Sunday October 20, 2024.

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
https://www.baystatemarathon.com/course-map-description

Please contact me if you can 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

Terry M. Stader – KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 RACES Officer
ARRL ARES Eastern MA District Emergency Coordinator for Region 1 RACES

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes:

Check Ins: Radio Wilmington
Radio Roslindale
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G

Net Control: Radio Waltham NCS

Traffic: Radio tests were conducted. Signals were fair / readable. Still unable to receive
Amesbury and Event repeaters at this station.

Our ADSO-CM PTT Ben Wechsler passed his General Class Amateur Radio
license and is now studying to pass the Extra exam. Our congratulations for a
job well done.

The Auxiliary Net on the MMRA Minuteman Repeater Association Amateur radio
is going strong. We had 11 check ins this morning and discussed radio mainten-
ance.

The winter months are coming quickly. This is a good time to get those radio repairs
done before the cold weather. Antennas, connections and wiring need constant
attention. Microphones needs to be checked out and coiled cords replaced if it is
necessary. Clean all contacts as needed.

We discussed cable ties this morning. Black cable ties should always be used outside
instead of white or translucent cable ties. The Black ties hold up better with the UV
Rays shining on them. Clear and white ties disintegrate very readily from UV Rays.
Be neat and always trim cable ties down to the locking mechanism to prevent some-
one from getting cut and injured from sharp edges.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes:

The USCG Auxiliary combined Divisions 5 / 12 radio nets were held this Sunday 15 SEP 2024.

Check Ins: Annisquam Radio
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G
Roslindale Radio
Vessel 213226
Mobile 5W

Net Control: Waltham Radio NCS

Traffic: Radio tests were made. Discussion from DSO-CM on the recent call with National Leadership. There was talk of interfacing a device to make access to the repeater from the internet. Raytheon makes such a device. It is tied into a remote radio and receives internet access from anywhere. Charlie Rosseau, who is CC on this report from USAF MARS RADIO owns such a unit. These units are old technology and there is probably a new and inexpensive remote device available today.

Today on the MMRA “Auxiliary Net” at 1100 hrs we had a total of16 stations check into the net. A number of topics were discussed. The Auxiliary Net seems to be growing weekly.

Members who listen on their scanner radios can tune to 146.820 or 146.670 MHz to pick up the Auxiliary Net. The trend of auxiliarists becoming licensed Amateur radio operators or Hams are happening across the country. This is just another tool in the toolbox for us to work with.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

Don Rolph, AB1PH, Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

Our article in Home Town Weekly got printed! The article can be seen here: Adams Farm Exercise Sep 21!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

Don Rolph, AB1PH, Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

On Saturday, September 21st from 9 AM to 2 PM at Adam’s Farm at 999 North St, Walpole, MA, Walpole Emergency Management Agency and Community Emergency Response Team will be sponsoring an exercise by amateur radio operators to deploy and test their communications capabilities in the field. A variety of antennas, radio transceivers and power systems will be tested to understand the functionality and behaviors of the various options. These include sending test messages across Eastern Massachusetts and, if the equipment is successfully deployed, across the continental US.

We would love more participants (contact don.rolph@gmail.com to participate), visitors, and also amateur operators willing to work the event from their home stations.

The operating schedule will be

9 AM arrive and begin setup
9:30 Walpole EMA on air with monitoring/net on Walpole Repeater: 146.895, pl 123.0
11:00 80 meter voice on 3930 KHz moving up to first free frequency
11:30 80 meter NBEMS on 3582.5 KHz MARIDN net: pass NTS traffic
12:00 60 meter voice on channel 1 dial 5330.5 KHz
12:30 20 meter NBEMS with Transcontinental NBEMS net: 14,068 KHz
1:00 40 meter voice on 7200 KHz

We would love to have you join us!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

Sincerely,

Michael Leger (N1YLQ)
MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer
C: 508_995_0203 

Hello to all…

The September Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday September 9th, 2024 at 830 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:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will have several announcements for the net and if a NTS practice message is made available, we will have a NTS practice message sent over the net as we started doing those messages in these nets starting in October 2023.

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
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Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator Writes:

The USCG Auxiliary Radio Nets for Divisions 5 / 12 were held on 8 SEP 24 at 1000 hrs
on the Roslindale repeater.

Check Ins: Radio Roslindale
Vessel 323088
Mobile 5F
Mobile 5G
Radio Wilmington

Net Control: Radio Waltham NCS

Traffic: Routine radio checks and no official traffic.

The “Auxiliary Net” was held at 1100 hrs on the MMRA Minuteman Repeater
Network. We had 15 stations checked into the net. On a training note we discussed
that September is National Preparedness Month under the EPA. We mentioned using
portable generators and the need for safety precautions.

Our two new Auxiliary Amateur Radio Operators now have their issued Ham Radio
callsigns. Ben Wechsler is KC3ZRF and he is located in Kennebunkport Maine.
Jane Eastman KC1VHN was on the “Auxiliary Net” this morning and made a lot of
friends on the radio net.

Also on the MMRA Auxiliary Net we mentioned that we are all assigned to ESF #2.
This is the official ICS Incident Command Structure classification for Radio Ops.
ESF #2 stands for Emergency Support Function #2. ESF #2 comes under the broad
heading of Logistics Command.

At the request of Department of Homeland Security ESF #2 personel. The FCC Federal
Communications Commission approved the 60 meter five channels. These five channels
allow Ham radio operators to communicate with authorized federal stations at any time.
Federal stations come up and guard these five channels during emergencies and drills.
Hams are secondary users of these channels and are allowed to use them as they please.

During emergencies or in times of need stations with HF capability are urged to monitor
the 5 Mhz 60 meter channels for any emergency traffic.

Also please note that there is a USAF Military Auxiliary Radio Service MARS VHF Radio
Net held every Friday Evening at 1930 Hrs. This net is on the USAF MARS VHF Radio
Net on the MARS VHF Linked radio network. You have to be an authorized MARS Radio
operator to participate. The MARS network is very much alive on VHF and stations from
across the Commonwealth and surrounding states routinely participate.

Submitted: Joseph Fratto
FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License

Don Rolph, AB1PH, Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

The MEMA RACES nets are held on the first Monday of the month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, when it is delayed one week, Since Sep 2 was Labor Day for Sep 2024, the RACES nets will be held on Mon Sep 9 at:

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

80 meter Voice net
5:45 PM ET
Frequency: 3930 KHz working up to the first free frequency
Matt KC1PFA will be net control

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

Region 2D VHF net:
7:30 PM ET 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. If there is time, we will have a simplex test.

Jim WJ1R will be net control.

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

HF 80 meters NBEMS net:
Dial Frequency: 3584.5 MHx
Center Frequency: 1500 Hz
Initial mode: THOR22

We will have checkins, followed by an ICS-213 format message using FLMSG.

Don AB1PH will be net control

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

Winlink Net:

Bryan Marcotte KF1D will be net control.
Send a winlink checkin form to KF1D, copy AB1PH, between 0600 Monday Sep 9 and 2400 Monday Sep 9.

We look forward to you checking in!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

N1SOM-Jeff and the South Shore Hospital Group writes:

Good Evening,

On Saturday September 7, 2024 the South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Group will hold an Eastern MA Hospital Net commencing at 10:00AM.

We realize that some locations, individuals, and groups may be subject to COVID restrictions. We encourage everyone who is affected by these restrictions to utilize their home or mobile stations to check into the net if possible. Even if you cannot reach all the systems being used, please check-in on those you can.

Also we will be using our repeater (147.345 tone 110.9) this month as a test after having some maintenance done and I would be seeking footprint/coverage information from net check ins.

We will use the following repeaters in the order listed.

1. West Bridgewater Repeater 146.775 dcs 244
2. Weymouth Repeater 147.345 tone 110.9
3. DMR -Talkgroup 8851 Time Slot :1 on the following NEDECN repeaters: Boston 449.175 -5.M CC:1, Hingham 146.430 -1.5M CC:1, Sagamore 145.200 – 0.6M CC:10, Dennis 146.470 -1.5M CC:11, East Falmouth 145.210 -0.600 CC:9, Martha’s Vineyard145.180 -0.600 CC:10, and Walpole 145.380 -0.600 CC:12.
4. Sharon Repeater 146.865 tone 103.5
5. Simplex 147.420

We will then return to the West Bridgewater Repeater for 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, EOC of any city or town as well as RACES or ARES members to check in during the NET.

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested in trying your hand at Net Control please let us know. We can be reached by sending an email to ssharg@outlook.com or replying to this message. The goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many individuals and groups as possible.

We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct these monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event.

We hope to hear you Saturday.

73,

Jeff N1SOM and the South Shore Hospital Group W1SSH

South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group
55 Fogg Rd. Mail-Stop 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190

Hello to all…

A reminder that the monthly ARES/RACES Nets will be delayed one week to the second Monday of September on 9/9/24 due to the Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of the month. We hope everyone enjoys the long holiday weekend. Thanks to all for their continued support of ARES, RACES and SKYWARN.

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)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
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