a field organization of the National Association for Amateur Radio®
Radio clubs
Marcel Dumont, W1MLD writes on the SEMARA mailing list:
The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association will hold a Zoom virtual meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 7 PM.
[For Zoom conference details, contact chiefmld -at- comcast -dot- net.]
Topic: Framingham Amateur Radio Association Oct.1 Zoom Meeting
Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, is inviting you to a scheduled Framingham Amateur Radio Association Zoom meeting.
Our speaker this Thursday evening will be Neal Lipson, K1NDF, of Framingham, an extremely active ham who has been blind since birth. He will speak on the subject of Radio Propagation, and on what an excellent location we live in for getting out. During the talk, I will screen share pictures of Neal with his various radios, as well as his tower and antennas.
Special Request: Your name will appear under your picture on Zoom. Please change it so that it provides your name and call letters. Just right click on your name, and you will be able to change it. Thank you.
Time: Oct 1, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
If you are not on the Internet, you can join by phone.
[For conference information, email Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, at w1viv.radio -at- gmail -dot- com]
Dan Brown W1DAN, writes:
After guidance from park rangers, Leandra set up her VHF Moxon beam antenna for 2m and a 20m Hamstick vertical; Rob set up his new Wolf River vertical with twelve 40-foot radials that Steve made, and Steve set up his home brew 6m beam he presented to WARS last week. Started operating around 3:30PM.
All in all, Rob and Leandra made around 60 contacts on 40M, 20M, and 2M, and one contact on 6M, which was absolutely dead.
The gang said it was good fun. Leandra wanted to do a POTA sometime, and when Rob invited she jumped at the chance. Leandra brought her Yaesu FT991 40AH battery, mini masts for the Hamstick and 2-meter Moxon antenna. Rob brought his Icom 7300, 20AH battery, and a Wolf River Coils antenna (https://www.wolfrivercoils.com). However there was a set of 50-foot radials with this antenna, which were all tangled up like a ball of twine. This took a frustrating hour to untangle, but once set up, the antenna was excellent on 40M.
Steve’s new 6-meter beam seemed to work, but the band was pretty dead as he found only one station in Manchester NH. The new beam was found to be directional–a good sign. In the meantime, Leandra worked Bill, N1WEN on 146.52.
On 20M, AF1R found another POTA station in CO, Rob said that that station later told them they were the strongest POTA station with the Wolf River antenna. Rob had a lot of success on 40M SSB with the antenna, which was stronger than the Hamstick.
Each station needs ten contacts to be “activated.” Leandra had nine with the hamstick, so she moved to the Wolf River antenna. Spotted on POTA website, then worked stations during a pileup that lasted for a half hour. During the last 30 minutes, Rob and Steve were taking gear down, as Leandra used the Wolf antenna, made 30 more contacts in 30 minutes. Leandra made about 40-50 contacts, while Rob made 32.
Rangers stopped by and said it was time to shut down as the park closes at 7 PM, so they ended operations about 6:30 PM.
Leandra noted they learned how to cooperate in making contacts more efficiently and that spotters on the POTA website helped.
This is a test run for a bigger WARS club COVID-safe event planned for this fall. Cochituate State Park closes on Columbus Day October 12 (https://www.mass.gov/locations/cochituate-state-park), so maybe we can do Callahan State Park in Framingham.
Photos courtesy Steve, NQ1F
From K1USN Radio Club Happenings, September 25, 2020:
The next meeting of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club is scheduled for October 7 at 7 PM. It will be a hybrid meeting via Zoom as well as in-person at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Route 18, just south of the Abington line. Physical attendance is still limited to 25 persons, per the state guidelines.
The Norwood Amateur Radio Club will hold its next club meeting online on Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 7:30 PM via Zoom. Club meetings are usually held on the fourth Thursday of the month from January through June.
Eric Horwitz, KA1NCF, writes on the NSRA mailing list:
The North Shore Radio Association will hold its next online meeting on September 21, 2020 at 7:00 PM.
Zoom conference information will be sent via the NSRA groups.io mailing list. Contact Eric, KA1NCF at ka1ncf -at- nsradio -dot- org to be added to the groups.io list.
Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes:
The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s September meeting is TOMORROW, Thursday, September 17th at 7:30 PM. This meeting will be conducted via WebEx. Meeting details are below. Thanks to Jim Hein N8VIM and Medtronics for the WebEx conference.
The September meeting will feature Phil, W1PJE, speaking on “A history, and an Inside Tour, of NIST Station WWV”. This is sure to be an interesting talk.
Thanks and 73. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Bruce, K1BG
978-772-2773 or bruce.blain@charter.net
[Contact Bruce, K1BG, for WebEx conference meeting details.]
QRA September online meeting: “CW Academy” by Bruce Blain, K1BG, September 17, 2020 at 7 PM.
Bruce will talk about this very successful program and how it is introducing large numbers of hams to the joys of CW. If you have wondered about getting into CW, thought “I can never do that!”, or know someone who might be interested in learning Morse code, this presentation is for you!
Meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month, September through June. All are invited and holding an Amateur Radio license is not required. [For Zoom meeting details, email Bob Reiser, AA1M at aa1m -at- yahoo -dot- com.]
Doc Kinne, KE1ML, writes on the Boston Amateur Radio Club mailing list:
From the NUWC mailing list, September 16, 2020
Welcome Back! Fall 2020 Kickoff
Thursday September 24th, 6-7 PM on Teams
Welcome back to all of our returning members, and also to all of our new members! Despite a really unusual time for us all, especially coming into this fall, Wireless Club is starting back up. This semester we will still be having general meetings, workshops, discussions, and more!
Our first meeting is this Thursday, September 24th. We will be introducing new members to the club and sharing a few details about the upcoming semester and what events and opportunities we are preparing for you. We’ll send another email out next week with a link to join the meeting. Hope to see you all there!
Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes on the Billerica Amateur Radio Society‘s website:
Folks, I am very happy to announce we will have a distant guest speaker for our Zoom meeting [on October 7, 2020 at 7 PM].
A few weeks ago, I was thinking about trying to promote CW in our club and introduce it to members who have never tried it. Google gave me a path to David O’Farrell’s presentations Morse Code 101 and 201. Dave was first licensed as KN7YXO in 1963 (at 15). He was a telegraph operator for the Northern Pacific Railway, holds Amateur Extra and Commercial General Radio Operator licenses, and loves CW! He is also the Treasurer of the Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club in Estes Park, Colorado.
Part of the reason I think BARS should talk more about CW is some of our newer Technician members may not know how much fun they could have with it. Did you know Techs have 650 kHz of CW band space on HF in the 80, 40, 15, and 10 meter bands? (They only get 200 kHz of SSB on 10!) Did you know there are apps and online resources to learn Morse code? And that receiving and sending apps and computer programs exist to help you out? Transceiving CW can be done with much simpler equipment than SSB or even a 2m FM HT. It also cuts through interference and local electrical hash better – you’ll make more contacts. Knowing how to understand CW opens up a whole world of fun operating. The FCC dropped the CW requirement for licensing but you will have a BALL knowing it – just ask any Novice licensee!
Dave sent me a sneak preview of his presentation and it is super. He goes through some very interesting history of Morse code, and digs deep into how to learn it properly. If you already know CW, you will still learn something here. We’ll have time for Q&A and I am sure Dave will elaborate on concepts so anyone new to this world will understand what they will be in for.
Please help me show appreciation for David making time – several time zones away – to present to our club. Let’s have a great turnout for CW 101 and 201.
We will announce the link to join the Zoom meeting before the meeting, but it will be posted to the BARS email list and should not be shared outside our Club. Are you on the email list? If not, please send an email to bars-subscribe@w1hh.org and then simply reply to the robot response from the server and you will be subscribed.
Observing our Zoom meeting requires only a web browser and headphones/speakers. You do not need a webcam or microphone unless you want to speak or be seen.
Before our meeting date, please go to https://zoom.us/test and see if it will function for you. If you have problems, we can try to assist – feel free to ask questions on the BARS email list.
I am looking forward to “seeing” many of you Wednesday 10/7/20.
Andy
KA1GTT
President, Billerica Amateur Radio Society
“Pi” Pugh, K1RV, writes in the K1USN Happenings Newsletter, September 11, 2020:
Ray Cord, K2TGX, SMHARC Secretary/Treasurer writes:
Just a reminder that this coming Tuesday night [September 15, 2020] is the third Tuesday of the month. Time for our regularly scheduled ARES and Club business meeting. We will meet on the K1SMH 147.195+, 127.3 Hz tone at 8:00 PM local. Hope to hear you on the air. Tnx, 73.
From K1USN Happenings, 9/8/2020:Dan Brown, W1DAN, writes in the September, 2020 issue of WARS’ The Spark Gap:
“Our next Zoom meeting [of the Wellesley Amateur Radio Society] will be Tuesday, September 15th at 7:30PM, when club member Steve Ciavarini, NQ1F, will talk about home-brewing a 6M Yagi antenna. I will email an invite link before the meeting. Also, if you are not by your computer, you
can call in to the meeting via telephone.”
The [Norfolk County Radio Association will] conduct its Wednesday, September 8, 2020 meeting at 8 PM using Zoom in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim, WJ1R, will be our Zoom host. Thank you to Jim for agreeing to take on this role!
It will be a good opportunity to see and hear our members! We have a few business items to cover, but we will let everyone have a chance to speak.
Please note that we do need to end the Zoom session shortly after the meeting ends so please be mindful of our host asking us to end our discussion after the meeting closes. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and understanding!
73,
The September 15, 2020 meeting [of PART of Westford] will be held online via video conference, starting at 7:30 PM. Login details will be sent to members via Groups.io. The guest speaker will be Bruce Blain, K1BG, who will give a presentation on CWOPS. -PART of Westford website
“Pi” Pugh, K1RV, writes in the K1USN Radio Club newsletter:
“Remember that our next biweekly K1USN Zoom session will take place this upcoming Tuesday, Sept 1st @ 7:30 PM with Steve – WG0AT (AKA the Goat Hiker) doing a presentation on SOTA (Summits On The Air). Some of you may have worked Steve on the air or perhaps have viewed some of his Goat Hiker videos on YouTube already. This should be an interesting presentation and you will receive an invitation by this Sunday if you are already on the K1USN Zoom subscription list. If you are not already on the list then please send me an e-mail (k1rv@arrl.net) so that I can add you to our separate Zoom invitation list!”