Operating

Hello to all…

Please see the exercise document for the Saturday 2/3/24 1000 AM-1200 PM Eastern Massachusetts ARES Exercise – Operation: Snow Globe. This includes all frequency information and activities for the drill. Please note that this document will be updated once more with final changes and updates to the exercise document. Link to the exercise document is listed below:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/EasternMA-ARES-Winter-Exercise-01-25-24-Draft-V1.4-1.pdf

While this is an ARES exercise based in Eastern Massachusetts, the exercise is open to all who would like to participate and you need not be a member of ARES or living in Eastern Massachusetts to participate. Many thanks for all those that participate.

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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

Hello to all…

Happy New Year to all! The January Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday January 8th, 2024 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. It is on the second Monday of the month due to the New Year’s holiday last Monday.

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 a number of announcements and items for this month’s net and we will continue the NTS practice message that we started doing in these nets 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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

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 Monday Jan 1 was a holiday, the RACES nets for Jan will be held on Mon Jan 8 at:

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

The HF net will start at 6:45 PM ET: 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 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.
Jeff Marden N1JCM will be net control.

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

HF 80 meters NBEMS net:
7:00 PM ET
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.
Alan Richard WA1AR 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 Jan 8 and 2400 Monday Jan 8.

We look forward to you checking in!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

John O’Neill-K1JRO, Eastern Massachusetts ARES District Emergency Coordinator – Hospital Liaison writes:

Good Evening,

On Saturday January 6, 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.

We will use the following repeaters in the order listed.
1. Plymouth​ 146.685 tone 131.8
2. Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
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 146.865 tone 103.5

Return to the Plymouth 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,John O’ K1JRO and the South Shore Hospital Group W1SSH

Hi all,

I’m sure there are other modern Mac owners who would like to join the Winlink network. As part of my work with the West Middlesex ARES group here in Massachusetts, I worked out a pat configuration that is fully functional with ARDOP and VARA HF modems, despite their being Windows-only applications.

I’ve had this working for about 6 months now, and I’ve finally gotten around to writing the instructions necessary for others to try out. They are in a blog post on my web site at:
https://www.wg1v.org/posts/2023-12-27-Winlink-and-Pat-on-M1-Mac/

It’s also the most recent blog post on my ham radio site, wg1v.org.

A caveat: Before folks get too excited, this does involve a piece of payware software called Crossover, which is a commercial version of WINE. It’s available from codeweavers.com and costs $74, but it is available as a 14-day evaluation for you to see if it’s worth paying the money. I suspect that it is now possible to make this work with the open source version of WINE, but 1) I haven’t done that, and 2) I’m happy to pay the Codeweaver folks who make running Windows stuff on Macs easier.

I’ve made this configuration work with both an Icom IC-7100 and a Flexradio 6600, so I’m pretty certain it’s adaptable to most modern radios with a USB audio and CAT interface.

I hope hams using modern Macs find this useful.
Carl, WG1V

KI1U-Mike Corey – FEMA Region 1 Emergency Management Specialist in Disaster Communications writes:

Good afternoon,

FEMA Region 1 will begin conducting monthly Winlink tests starting January 2024. The purpose of this test is to exercise the Regional PACE plan, Winlink is part of the “Emergency” category of the plan. We would like to include Amateur Radio and SHARES stations in New England in this test. Here are the details:

Testing Procedure: Each month FEMA Region 1 Disaster Emergency Communications Branch will generate a Winlink message to participating stations. The message will be sent via Winlink through an Amateur Radio or SHARES gateway. The message will contain simple instructions on how to reply – which form to use, information requested, response time, etc. The receiving stations will reply to FEMA Region 1 via Winlink with the requested information within a set timeframe. The date and time of the monthly test will vary.

Participating Stations – Open to Amateur Radio or SHARES stations in New England. Stations must have Winlink capability and a valid Winlink email address. Participating operators should be aware that this test is conducted without announcement, so it is important that Winlink messages are checked regularly.

How to Sign Up – Stations wishing to participate can sign up online at https://forms.gle/sTibzJjZhftHXR4J9

Please feel free to share the above information with those who may be interested in participating. Any questions, let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike Corey
Emergency Management Specialist | Disaster Emergency Communications
Response Division | FEMA Region I

Hello to all,

     I hope the Thanksgiving Holidays were enjoyable for everyone! This email is the typical monthly message to let everyone know that Monday evening, December 4^th, 2023 is our first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, will be the next RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night. I would like to thank all stations that participated in last month’s Section Emergency Test as well as Skywarn Recognition Day this last weekend.

      As always, I am looking for Net Control stations to staff our sector nets for the evening. This month I am planning to be able to run the Sector 2A net. As always I am looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) net. Sector 2D has already arranged for an NCS operator for this month’s net and Sector 2C is a Winlink only net on a monthly basis.

              For any operators interested in performing the duties of Net Control Station (NCS), there are materials available to make the task fairly simple and straight forward. The net pre-amble and role call lists are available at http://wc1mab.org/RACES_R2_Interim_Preamble.pdf and http://wc1mab.org/Month.php with the role call lists on the left column near the bottom. If anyone is worried that they mess up running a net, please remember that, in many cases, a less than perfect net is WAY better than no net at all! At the conclusion of any net, any operator that acted as Net Control Operator should send a note to WC1MAB@gmail.com letting me know who ran the net and who checked in so that the proper numbers can be reported to our served agencies. We cannot always count on our normal net control operators to be available in the event of a large scale emergency, so every RACES operator should be prepared to act as NCO if needed when disaster and emergency strikes!

Winlink Net Instructions From Don Rolph: 

*Winlink Net*

To participate:

– create a check-in form using the Winlink standard checkin form

– send via Winlink after 6 AM EST Mon. December 4^th and before midnight EST December 5^th (any mode, but include mode in check-in form) to KF1D

   I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to check into sector nets from near-by sections. This will allow our Net Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments in the event that a single repeater is out of service. 

   For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of participation. I am continuing to work on a graphical map based report to show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide back-up communications in an emergency.

The Region #2 and State Net Schedule for this evening is as follows:

    I appreciate you all answering the call to help our communities remain prepared. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that we remain a consistent source of communication capability to the Commonwealth. This net provides a monthly reminder to our communities and served agencies that we stand ready with a quiet professionalism prepared to serve as a voice to whomever needs one to get help and resources to where they need to be.

 If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have them contact me at  WC1MAB@gmail.com and I will add them to this distribution. Thank you all!

      If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to hearing back on who can participate this month.

Sincerely,

Michael Leger (N1YLQ)

MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer

C: 508_995_0203 

Hello to all…

The December Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday December 4th, 2023 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 a number of announcements and items for this month’s net and we will continue the NTS practice message that we started doing in these nets in October 2023. Also, the first ARES Net of 2024 will be Monday January 8th, 2024 due to the New Years holiday falling on the first Monday of the month.

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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

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, The RACES nets for Dec will be held on Mon Dec 4 at:
********************************************************************************
The HF net will start at 6:45 PM ET: 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 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.
Jeff Marden N1JCM will be net control.

********************************************************************************
HF 80 meters NBEMS net:
7:00 PM ET
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 Rolph 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 Dec 4 and 2400 Monday Dec 4.
We look forward to you checking in!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph
_._,_._,_

Hello to all…

Please see the final SET Document for the 11/11/23 1000 AM-1200 PM Eastern Massachusetts ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test). This includes all frequency information and activities for the drill with 6m Net time information, additional simplex component and slight change to the NTS NBEMS frequency to the exercise. Link to the exercise document is listed below:

EasternMA ARES SET Regional Prep 11-11-23 V2.0

While this is an ARES exercise based in Eastern Massachusetts, the exercise is open to all who would like to participate and you need not be a member of ARES or living in Eastern Massachusetts to participate. Many thanks for all those that participate.

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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

Hello to all…

Please see the SET Document for the 11/11/23 1000 AM-1200 PM Eastern Massachusetts ARES SET (Simulated Emergency Test). This includes all frequency information and activities for the drill. Please note that this document will be updated once more with 6m Net time information and an additional simplex component to the exercise. Link to the exercise document is listed below:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/EasternMA-ARES-SET-Regional-Prep-11-11-23-Draft-V1.8.pdf

While this is an ARES exercise based in Eastern Massachusetts, the exercise is open to all who would like to participate and you need not be a member of ARES or living in Eastern Massachusetts to participate. Many thanks for all those that participate.

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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

Hello to all…

The November Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday November 6th, 2023 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 a number of announcements and items for this month’s net including our announcement on the Eastern Massachsusetts ARES SET Drill set for Saturday 11/6/23 from 1000 AM-1200 PM EST.

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
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box
Subscribe on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wx1box-nwsboston-amateur-radio

Hello to all,

      We are finally exiting hurricane season and now we move toward the winter weather season! This email is the typical monthly message to let everyone know that Monday evening, November 6^th, 2023 is our first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, will be the next RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night. This month also will play host to a winter Simulated Emergency Test by Eastern MA ARES. This test is currently scheduled to occur on November 11^th, 2023 and has been designed by Frank, WQ1O. More information should be forthcoming on the Eastern MA Section ARRL web page: https://ema.arrl.org/category/emcomm/ please check with your EC or DEC for more information. I do recommend any RACES members that are able to participate please do! Exercises planned by Frank (WQ1O) are usually VERY robust and do a great job of testing participants skills and equipment very well.

      As always, I am looking for Net Control stations to staff our sector nets for the evening. This month I will be able to run the Sector 2A net, but due to a possible conflict with town meeting, I may be left to run the net from my vehicle in the parking lot of our meeting place which may make the simplex test less than awesome. I am looking for someone to take over the Sector 2A NCO duties if anyone is available and interested. I am also looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) net. Sector 2D has already arranged for an NCS operator for this month’s net and Sector 2C is a Winlink only net on a monthly basis.

              For any operators interested in performing the duties of Net Control Station (NCS), there are materials available to make the task fairly simple and straight forward. The net pre-amble and role call lists are available at http://wc1mab.org/RACES_R2_Interim_Preamble.pdf and http://wc1mab.org/Month.php with the role call lists on the left column near the bottom. If anyone is worried that they mess up running a net, please remember that, in many cases, a less than perfect net is WAY better than no net at all! At the conclusion of any net, any operator that acted as Net Control Operator should send a note to WC1MAB@gmail.com letting me know who ran the net and who checked in so that the proper numbers can be reported to our served agencies. We can not always count on our normal net control operators to be available in the event of a large scale emergency, so every RACES operator should be prepared to act as NCO if needed when disaster and emergency strikes!

Winlink Net Instructions From Don Rolph: 

*Winlink Net*

To participate:

– create a check-in form using the Winlink standard checkin form

– send via Winlink after 6 AM EST Mon. November 6^th  and before midnight EST November 7^th (any mode, but include mode in check-in form) to KF1D

   I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to check into sector nets from near-by sections. This will allow our Net Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments in the event that a single repeater is out of service. 

   For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of participation. I am continuing to work on a graphical map based report to show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide back-up communications in an emergency.

The Region #2 and State Net Schedule for this evening is as follows:

    I appreciate you all answering the call to help our communities remain prepared. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that we remain a consistent source of communication capability to the Commonwealth. This net provides a monthly reminder to our communities and served agencies that we stand ready with a quiet professionalism prepared to serve as a voice to whomever needs one to get help and resources to where they need to be.

 If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have them contact me at  WC1MAB@gmail.com and I will add them to this distribution. Thank you all!

      If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to hearing back on who can participate this month.

Sincerely,

Michael Leger (N1YLQ)

MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer

C: 508_995_0203