Clubs

The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club (BARC) has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the ARRL Foundation to develop an amateur radio station at Camp Greenough to serve the Cape & Islands Boy Scouts of America.

The funds will allow the club to:

• construct, operate and maintain an Amateur Radio Station at Camp Greenough
• expose scouts, guests and leaders to Amateur Radio
• demonstrate the public and emergency capabilities of Amateur Radio
• provide Merit Badge training
• provide Amateur Radio license training and licensing exams

“BARC provided the initial commitment of funds. The club then received commitments of assistance from Eversource, Comcast, FEW LLC (general contractor), and Avery Electric.  No funding was required from the Boy Scouts of America or Camp Greenough for the project,” says BARC President Norm Cantin, WA1NLG.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to build a station at the Camp. We are meeting with the scout leadership this weekend to work out the details and to start the project.”

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will hold its September General Meeting on the Zoom Teleconferencing Platform on Thursday, September 15. The Zoom room will open at 7:00 pm for a period of socializing, and the meeting proper will begin at 7:30.

Our speaker is Clint Bradford, K6LCS, presenting “How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your HT.” You do not need 100W of transmit power nor expensive antenna arrays to work the FM voice amateur satellites! Many hams already have the necessary equipment to “work the birds.” This presentation will walk you through ALL the steps needed to successfully work several ham satellites – including the International Space Station.

Clint K6LCS has been a ham since 1994, and found his niche in the hobby: working amateur satellites with minimal equipment and telling ALL about it! He has served a liaison between NASA, the ARISS team, and schools coordinating amateur radio contacts between the International Space Station and students (and also orchestrated a wildly successful ARISS contact). Audiences have never found his presentation slides “wordy” nor dull. Trivia questions are included throughout the session – audiences are never bored.

For reference materials, Clint has created a support Web site at work-sat.com.The Web site has become a one-stop source for ALL the citations and equipment recommendations and software suggestions made in the presentation.

Professionally, Clint was sales manager for ADI / Premier Communications / Pryme, worked for a Motorola commercial two-way dealer a couple of years, and for Ham Radio Outlet a couple more. He resides in Jurupa Valley, California, with his wife, Karen, and their rescued lab, Freja (FRAY-ya).

This will be a “perfect storm” meeting, as the club President, Vice President, and Secretary will all be unable to attend, so there will be no business portion of the meeting.

73,

Joe Chapman NV1W / Secretary, Boston Amateur Radio Club

From ARRL News:

08/31/2022 – The new ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program, funded by a generous grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), has awarded $270,000 to radio clubs that participated in the first round of applications.

The Club Grant Program, introduced earlier this year, includes $500,000 to be awarded to radio clubs with projects that will have the most impact on amateur radio, the community, and the future of radio technology. The grants will fund transformative projects that encourage the growth of active amateur radio operators and training opportunities, education programs for student groups and schools, and club revitalization. A second round of applications to award the program’s remaining funding will open on September 7, 2022.

Twenty-four clubs were notified on Monday, August 29, that they are receiving grants. The ARRL Foundation received 128 applications in the first round, with requests totaling $1.74 million. The selection committee noted that it was difficult work deciding from many high-quality grant proposals considering the finite available funds. Radio clubs that did not receive grants in the first round may revise and resubmit applications in the second round.

An informational webinar will serve as an orientation to the program, providing information on how to apply. The webinar will take place on September 7 at 7 PM Eastern Time. Please register in advance to attend. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar:

Webinar: ARRL Club Grant Program | Round Two Kickoff
When: September 7, 2022 at 7 PM Eastern Time
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PezTqPKCTzuwy58FWWgJ3A

The ARRL Foundation, established in 1973 by ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio®, administers the Club Grant Program. ARRL has long recognized that it is in the best interests of amateur radio to encourage and support amateur radio clubs. Clubs historically have recruited, licensed, and trained new radio amateurs and have provided the community setting for them to continue their education and training.

The new Club Grant Program will help clubs more easily provide and expand their important services. More information about the program can be found on the ARRL Foundation website at www.arrl.org/club-grant-program.

Norm Cantin, WA1NLG, writes on the Barnstable ARC mailing list:

I just received some terrific news. [The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club] will be receiving a $25k grant from the ARRL to build an Amateur radio station at Camp Greenough for the Boy Scouts of America!  BARC is extremely pleased to have received this grant from the ARRL to use for such a worthy cause. 

I would like to thank all the folks who helped prepare the Grant submission and look for everyone’s support to execute our plan flawlessly.  Congratulations all!

The BARC Board of Directors will meet this weekend to review our plan in preparation to receive the Grant and reporting requirements from the ARRL.  We will provide an update at the September membership meeting on Monday.

73, Norm
WA1NLG

John Iwuc, KB1VXY, writes on the Framingham ARA mailing list:

We have our first hybrid meeting of the autumn season this Thursday [September 1, 2022] at 7:00 pm at the main Framingham library.  After a short business meeting we will have a presentation by Adrian Zeffert, AB2IX, on the “Test Bench.”

This is a hybrid meeting. You can view it on Zoom by registering below.  But we will also have a meeting room with AV set up at the main Framingham library in the first room on the right as you come in from the parking lot. 

Even if you plan to come live, please consider registering as it helps with the head count.

John KB1VXY

Now that you know what it isn’t, come to the next Billerica ARS meeting and hear what it is from HamXposition Program Chair Phil Temples, K9HI.

Phil will highlight some of the exciting talks and presentations lined up on the three-day program, as well as discussing some of the less-known activities that will occur at the Convention on August 26-28, 2022 at the Best Western Royal Plaza & Trade Center in Marlborough.

(By the way, it’s okay to forget and call it “Boxboro.” Phil does it occasionally, too!)

Phil Temples is ARRL Vice Director for the New England Division and a former Eastern MA Section Manager. A ham for over fifty years, he’s a Life Member of the ARRL and QCWA.

[For Zoom conference details, email Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, at w1lus -at- hotmail -dot- com.]

The Barnstable Amateur RadioClub will meet  in-person at the Brewster Police Department Community Room, 631 Harwich Road (Rt 124), Brewster, MA 02631. In addition we will provide a Zoom link to the meeting.

This month, Jon, N1ILZ and Lem, W1LEM will review and demo EmComm tools, including NBEMS, WinLink, NTS.

George Allison, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

The July PART meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, beginning at 7:30 PM at the Cameron Senior Center, 20 Pleasant Street, Westford, MA, and via Webex video conference.  For those attending via video conference, a meeting link is below; just click on the green button to join in.  You can join the conference any time after 7:00 PM to check out your gear or just rag chew until the meeting starts. Bear in mind that internet connectivity from the senior center may be unreliable.

The meeting agenda includes a presentation on end-fed wire antennas by Bob, W1IS, and the famous Field Day wrap-up, complete with maps and awards.

Attendees are reminded to bring donations for the Westford Food Panty. Items such as canned soups and Dinty Moore beef stew are always appreciated.

Congratulations to the Great Hill Gang for securing the club call sign, K1GHG!

Next BARS Zoom meeting:  July 6 at 7:00 PM on Zoom

“The History of Radio in New England” by Donna Halper

Historian and radio personality Donna Halper will join us to describe the early days of radio in New England, from its modest beginnings to what has become a multibillion-dollar industry. Donna was born here in Massachusetts and began working in the broadcasting field in 1968 as a DJ and music director. In 1974, while at WMMS in Cleveland she “discovered” the progressive rock band Rush. She has written several books, including the first book-length study devoted to the history of women in American broadcasting, Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting. She also has taught college-level courses in broadcasting, media criticism, media history and radio programming and has a PhD from UMass Amherst.

[For Zoom conference details, email Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, at w1lus -at- hotmail -dot- com.]

Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes:

The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s June meeting is Thursday, June 16th at 7:30 PM at the Pepperell Community Center (in Pepperell). Doors will open at 7:10 PM.

We will also “simulcast” this meeting via Zoom (details are below), giving people who live outside the local area or who have concerns about meeting in person an opportunity to participate. 

This month’s guest speaker will be George Allison, K1IG, who will talk about Giant Antennas of the Navy. For its worldwide operations, the U.S. Navy has need for very large antennas and powerful transmitters. The sizes of these systems are measured in miles, not meters, and power is in megawatts. George will show you three of these; if you’ve got a few hundred square miles of land, maybe you’d like to build one yourself! 

This is sure to be an exciting and interesting presentation.

We will also have a quick discussion about Field Day plans and Field Day budgets. 

Need directions? Click here and put your own address in box “A”.

Thanks and 73. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Bruce, K1BG

978-772-2773 or bruce.blain@charter.net

PS. Thanks to the Pepperell Community Center for the use of the building, and thanks to Jim Hein, N8VIM and his employer, Medtronics, for the use of the Zoom account.

John Iwuc, KB1VXY, writes on the Framingham ARA mailing list:

Where: IHOP

Location: 4102 Shops Way, Northborough, MA 508-393-1222

When: Sat June 4th 2022. The Breakfast starts at 7:00 AM

Talk-in: Many going to the breakfast as well as those at the the breakfast may be listening on the following repeaters:

W1BIM – Paxton, 2 m repeater (146.970, PL 114.8)
W1MRA – Marlborough, 2 m Repeater (147.2700, PL 146.2)
AE1C – Southborough, 2 m DMR Repeater (145.27, Timeslot 2, TG # 3125 Mass State Wide, Color Code 7 )
AE1C – Southborough, 70 cm DMR Repeater (448.375, Timeslot 2, TG # 3125 Mass State Wide, Color Code 1 )
W1WNS – Westborough, 70 cm Repeater (448.775, DCS D244, P25 NAC 353)
WA1NVC – Framingham, 33 cm Repeater (927.01250, PL 131.8 )
WB1CTO – Framingham, 1.2 cm repeater (224.24, PL 103.5)

The weather looks great for Saturday!

Spread the word to all the ham’s you know.

Next BARS Zoom meeting:  June 1 at 7:00 PM on Zoom

“Troubleshooting Gear,” Tony Brock-Fisher, K1KP

Tony will speak on the often arcane art of finding and repairing problems with equipment. Often, a methodical approach, a bit of knowledge, and a few useful pieces of test equipment are all you need to put things right again.