Clubs

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club will hold its January  monthly meeting on a different date this month–Wednesday, January 8 instead of the first Wednesday of the month–to avoid a conflict with New Year’s Day.

WARC holds a winter flea market,  conducts licensing classes, and participates in a number of high-profile public service events. Meetings are held at the Whitman Knights of Columbus Hall on route 18 just south of the Abington line. The meetings start at 7:00 PM.

The Framingham Amateur Radio Association will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, January 2, 2020. The meeting will feature, “show and tell, CW with left foot.” Also, a video of the VP8ORK DXpedition to the South Orkney Islands will be shown.

FARA meets the first Thursday of the month (except in July and August), 7:30 pm at the Framingham Police Station, 1 William Welch Way (corner of William Welch Way and Union Ave) in the first floor training room. Enter through the front door on Union Ave. and the room is to the left.  All area hams and those not yet licensed but interested in amateur radio are welcome to attend.

The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club will hold its next monthly meeting on Monday, January 6, 2020  in the Dennis Police Department conference room. Entrance to the meeting area is to your right after entering through the main entrance.  The meeting begins at 7:00 PM. All radio amateurs and people interested in amateur radio are welcome to attend. 

The Bristol County Repeater Association and Fall River Amateur Radio Club will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, January 6, 2020 from 7 to 9 PM at the Stop and Shop, 816 Grand Army Highway, Somerset, MA in the Community Room (2nd floor).

(Enter on the Fall River side near the Dunkin Donuts in the store. The stairs and elevator will be on the right. Go left on second floor.)

Ray Cord, K2TGX, writes:

Just a reminder that the December meeting of [the Sturdy Memorial Hospital Amateur Radio Club] will be held this coming Tuesday, December 17th in Conference Room D&E at the hospital. The ARES EmCom Team will meet at 7:00 PM; the business meeting will start at 8:00 PM.

Nominations and elections of officers will be held that night. A reminder that dues are due. The new dues structure is $25.00. Retirees may pay $20.00.

Ray K2TGX
Secretary/Treasurer SMHARC

Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes in the Billerica Amateur Radio Society December, 2019 newsletter:

I would like you to think back to the time you first had interest in ham radio. Who got you involved? What did you see (equipment) or heard (QSOs) that fascinated you? How easy – or difficult – was it for you to get into this wonderful hobby? And then, what kept your interest and motivation to stick with it?

Your Board has met several times to brainstorm how we can capture some of the people who are newly licensed. Anyone who gets a ham license and already has a cadre of friendly people in a club leading him or her down the path of enjoyment is blessed. What is tragic is someone who attends a VE session, passes, and then buys some kind of radio and is frustrated with the results of trying to do things alone. The term Elmer is passé and we like to use the word “mentor” instead. BARS is full of mentors! It really is.

So the Board’s idea was to enlist a volunteer to reach out to newly licensed hams and send out a mailing. We have to do this via U.S. Mail, because licensing lists do not show email addresses. It turns out that this database is available through the ARRL to club presidents. Tom, K1TW, told us that other Eastern MA clubs have independently decided to do this sort of outreach. Tom and I have looked at these lists over the past several months and the complete list for Eastern MA is well under 50 licensees/month. This is disappointing when you want to see growth in the hobby, but it also makes our outreach a smaller task.

We have come up with the design of a postcard for mailing. It will look like a QSL but has a greeting on the reverse explaining why it was sent. A postcard appealed to us because it looks less like “junk mail” and postage is less. And having it look like a QSL will capture a new ham’s attention. See the pictures below for what your team has come up with.

The back text reads “Welcome to ham radio! Your name appeared on the latest FCC roster as a newly licensed amateur radio operator. When starting any new hobby, it helps to connect with people who can mentor you and help build your enjoyment. You will have more fun and know more of what you can do by being in a club! Please check out our club at www.w1hh.org. You can also explore other ham clubs in the area by visiting: www.arrl.org/find-a-club Greetings from everyone at the Billerica Amateur Radio Society!”

We are having a trial run of cards printed, and will sort out the decision process about which locations will be in our area of coverage. Our first volunteer for sending out cards will be John Fisher, KC1FTJ. I hope you’ll agree with us that our message sends a positive “Join a Club” statement, allowing the person to find the club that appeals to them. That may not necessarily be BARS but hopefully our goodwill can bear fruit in new membership too.

A number of Eastern Massachusetts clubs are holding holiday dinners and informal parties in lieu of their December meetings. 

The Waltham Amateur Radio Association will hold a festive holiday dinner at Sichuan’s Garden in Waltham on December  18.

The Middlesex ARC/Zola Center ARC will also converge on Sichuan’s Garden on December 10 for their annual holiday get-together.

On December 7, Wellesley Amateur Radio Society will gather with members of the New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (STARS) for a holiday gathering. They plan to invite members of the Natick High Robotics Team, the Olin Collegiate Amateur Radio Club and the Framingham Amateur Radio Association.

PART of Westford will hold its annual holiday dinner and gift swap on December 17 at the Yangtze River Restaurant in Littleton.

The Pentucket Radio Association has announced it will hold its annual Christmas Dinner on December 19 at the China Buffet in Methuen. 

Algonquin Amateur Radio Association members will meet on December 12 for their annual club banquet at Linquine’s restaurant in Marlborough.

The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association holds its Christmas Party at the club house in Gloucester on December 14 . According to CAARA’s W1WMM, “We need a group effort to help clean the main meeting room and tables  before and after the party . We also need a group effort in the kitchen to heat and serve the meal.” 

KB1NYT writes on the bcra-club list on December 1, 2019 at 8:12 PM:

 

Tomorrow night’s meeting is cancelled due to the weather.

The Bristol County Repeater Association and Fall River Amateur Radio Club will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, December 2, 2019 from 7 to 9 PM at the Stop and Shop, 816 Grand Army Highway, Somerset, MA in the Community Room (2nd floor).

(Enter on the Fall River side near the Dunkin Donuts in the store. The stairs and elevator will be on the right. Go left on second floor.)

The Genesis Amateur Radio Society will hold its next meeting on Monday, November 25, 2019 at 7 PM in the Plymouth Airport Community Room, 246 South Meadow Road, in Plymouth.

The club thanks the Plymouth Municipal Airport for their many years of support for allowing the use of their facilities for monthly meetings and annual Field Day events.