Clubs

The next general meeting of the Boston Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, November 17, at 7:30 PM. Rob Steenburgh, ADØIU, will be the guest presenter. Rob worked for the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center and will discuss Space Weather and how it affects Amateur Radio.

A link will be published in the upcoming issue of The SPARC and will appear on www.barc.org on the day of the meeting.

Greetings All,

Whereas the section Simulated Emergency Test (SET) in Eastern Mass will be taking place this Saturday November 12 from 10 AM to 12 PM;

Whereas the ARRL has taken a renewed interest in emergency communications capabilities including preparedness of the National Traffic System in nationwide emergency communications during infrastructure failures; and

Whereas the FCC has given Amateur Radio a multitude of frequencies available for use based in part for it’s availability for public service;

I am therefore encouraging all traffic handlers and participants in NTS nets to show support for the SET this weekend. The exercise plan can be found at https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/EasternMA-ARES-SET-11-12-22-V1.8.pdf and special note can be found regarding NTS participation on page 8. In addition to what is noted there, the Eastern Mass 2 Meter Traffic Net will hold a special session on the Boston 145.23 repeater tomorrow, Saturday Nov 12 from 10 AM to 12 Noon with Net Manager Peter KC1HHO as Net Control. Anyone regardless of NTS or ARES affiliation is welcome to check in, pass traffic or listen to see how an NTS net is conducted and traffic is passed. Traffic handlers are encouraged to list a radiogram addressed to Section Traffic Manager Marcia Forde KW1U in Maynard MA, stating your participation in the net and information about the equipment you are using. Others are encouraged to ask questions and participate at whatever level they chose. While we will be using standard radiogram format for messages for this exercise, it is important to note that NTS leadership has begun training in use of ICS formats, generally used by emergency service groups.

For those unable to make the Boston repeater, feel free to check into the net  running on the Minuteman repeater network with Joe W1HAI as NCS as mentioned in the link noted above.

I apologize for short notice. We hope to see as many there as can make it. Thanks for your participation.

73, Marcia KW1U
Section Traffic Manager

You are invited to the next Framingham Amateur Radio Association meeting to be held on November 3, 2022 from 7 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. via Zoom and at the at the Costin Room in the main Framingham Library, located on Lexington Street. There is a parking lot next to the building. 

• • a 2m voice repeater
  • 2m DMR repeater
  • a 220 repeater
  • a 440 repeater
  • a general purpose digipeater
  • an APRS digipeater
  • a Winlink RMS Packet node, and 
  • an APRS Igate

Members will receive a zoom invitation.  Non-members may request an invitation by sending an email to John president@w1fy.org.

Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, writes on the Billerica ARS mailing list:

Topic: Speaker Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID of Heil Sound

Time: Nov 2, 2022, 07:00 PM Eastern Time

This month’s guest speaker will be Dr. Bob Heil K9EID. He is CEO Emeritus and Founder of Heil Sound, which has provided many microphones, headsets, booms, shock mounts, and radio accessories. This talk is sure to be a great one that you won’t want to miss.

BARS leadership elections are held at the November meeting. Be sure to take a look at the newsletter for the list of candidates. There’s still time to get your name in the running if you’d like to run for office in 2023. Nominations will be accepted during the November meeting. Voting is for the leadership for the upcoming year. Be sure to join us to make your vote.

On October 22, 2022, members of the New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society and the Wellesley Amateur Radio Society went on a field trip to the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMMC). 

According to its website, the “CMMC is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002. The Center occupies two buildings on the 11.3-acre, ten-building campus which comprised the former Marconi-RCA Wireless Receiving Station, once the busiest ship-to-shore station in the United States and a significant military installation during World War II.”

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (NEST) will meet on-line and in-person on October 25, 2022 at 7 PM and feature: “Overview of FT8” by Yuri Botnar, KC1LNQ. 

Description: This presentation will provide an overview of FT8 with a focus on Yuri’s experience setting it up on a Windows computer with two radios, the IC7300 and the µBITX.  FT8 can be an extremely effective mode for operating for individuals in housing situations with limited options for antennas, such as condominiums, as is the case for Yuri. FT8 is one of eleven different protocols of modes offered by WSJT-X V2.5.  WSJT-X is a popular computer program designed to facilitate basic amateur radio communication using very weak signals. The first four letters in the program name stand for “Weak Signal communication by K1JT,” Joseph H Taylor, Jr. while the suffix “-X” indicates that WSJT-X started as an extended branch of an earlier program, WSJT, first released in 2001. Bill Somerville, G4WJS, Steve Franke, K9AN, and Nico Palermo, IV3NWV, have been major contributors to development of WSJT-X.

Bio: Yuri became interested in radio at age 13 in the city of Orgeev, Moldova.  His interests were in building/repairing receivers and transmitters rather than in QSOs. Yuri graduated with a Master’s in Radio Communication in Odessa, Ukraine. He started his career as an electrical engineer at a power distribution company in Chisinau and worked his way up to senior positions there.  Since 1994 Yuri has worked as an Electrical Design Engineer for a company in Beverly, MA designing power supplies for numerous industrial/scientific applications.  Yuri was granted a patent for developing a “Precision Voltage Regulator for Capacitor-Charging Power Supply.”

The next Wellesley Amateur Radio Society Zoom meeting on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 7:30 PM will feature Derek, AK1WI, who will introduce us to filters! STARS folks will join us too!

[WARS President Dan Brown, W1DAN, will email a Zoom meeting invite link before the meeting.]

The next general meeting [of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club] will be held on October 20, 2022, in person at the Pepperell Community Center, 2 Hollis Street, Pepperell, MA 01463. No Zoom simulcast is scheduled.

The guest speaker will be Thaire Bryant, W2APF. The title of presentation will be “DXing from the Other Side of the Pile-up”. You are cordially invited.

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (NEST) will meet on-line and in-person on October 11, 2022 at 7 PM and feature “Cybersecurity for the Radio Amateur” by John Tarbox, WA1KLI. 

Cybersecurity is a hot topic with many companies being hacked and personal data being exposed. Hams can help protect themselves by taking simple precautions and being diligent. Particular concerns for hams are radios that they put on the internet for remote operation and Wi-Fi enabled devices. The unique needs of hams will be addressed. STARS members are encouraged to share their own approaches to ham cybersecurity in the meeting and to come prepared with questions about ham-specific cybersecurity.

John has been a ham since the 1960s and holds an Amateur Extra license. He has an MS in Computer Information Systems with a concentration in Cybersecurity from BU and has been Adjunct Faculty at York County Community College. John’s email address is WA1KLI@arrl.net.