Clubs

The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s May meeting is Thursday, May 18th at 7:30 PM at the Pepperell Community Center (in Pepperell). We start gathering at 7 PM to socialize before the meeting starts.

May’s speaker will Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, who will speak to us regarding “The BIG E.” The BIG E (short for the Eastern States Exposition) is the largest agricultural event on the eastern seaboard and the filth-largest fair in the nation. The BIG E represents all six New England States and features entertainment, unique foods, competitive livestock shows, shopping, a circus and much more. In 2022, Amateur Radio got top billing at the BIG-E, and plans are underway for 2023. I’m sure this will be an interesting talk. Please join us.

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

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society will meet on-line and in-person on May 9, 2023 at 7 PM and feature: “FlexRadio – Not Your Grandfather’s Superhet Radio” by Michael Walker, VA3MW.

Mike, from FlexRadio Systems, will spend about an hour showing how today’s HF radio is not only better than yesterday’s super-het radio, but you get more performance for your dollar. He will show how your radio now ‘scales’ towards the future and does not grow old beginning the day you buy it.

Bio: Mike has been active in amateur radio since 1974 and loves every minute of it – from repeaters, HF, HF Contesting, satellites, and tinkering in EME digital modes and 10 GHz microwave. As well as being a GA Pilot, he loves HF station integration and remote HF operation. Mike currently represents FlexRadio Systems with its Marketing and Education team. He is very well versed in FlexRadio technology and he is someone for whom technology is genuinely his hobby.

Doug Bruce, N1WRN, writes on the Billerica ARS web site:

Our guest speaker for the May 2023 [Billerica Amateur Radio Society] club meeting will be Dennis Boye, AH2O, from Syosset, NY. Dennis will be sharing a presentation on POTA (Parks On The Air), which is fast becoming very popular, especially now that Spring has finally come after a long cold winter.

Here is a list of parks that Dennis has activated recently:

K-2152: Trail View State Park, NY; K-2014: Bethpage State Park, NY; K-2013: Belmont Lake State Park, NY; K-8628: Caumsett State Historical Park, NY; K-0480: Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge, NY; K-0856: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, NY; K-5224: Old Westbury State Forest, NY; K-2150: Taughannock Falls, NY; K-2098: Lodi Point State Park, NY; K-2023: Buttermilk Falls State Park, NY; K-2114: Nissequogue River State Park, NY; K-0761: Valley Forge National Historic Park, PA

Please come join us for a very interesting and informative presentation on a very popular activity in our hobby that experienced and new hams alike can enjoy and have fun with! This activity emphasizes our commitment to being a GOTA (Get On The Air!) club!

BARS 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.

We are looking forward to “seeing” many of you on Wednesday 5/3 here at 1900.

Terry Stader, KA8SCP, will present on Emergency Communications at the next meeting of the Framingham Amateur Radio Association.

This meeting is hybrid, meaning on Zoom and in person, and will be held at the Framingham Library McAuliffe Branch starting at 7 pm. Members will receive a zoom invitation. Non-members may request an invitation by sending an email to John at president@w1fy.org.

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society will meet on-line and in-person on April 25, 2023 at 7 PM and feature: “Dual Band Antennas” by Ed Fong, WB6IQN.

Description: Ed Fong, WB6IQN, is the inventor of the DBJ-1 and DBJ-2 antennas that were featured in the February 2003 and March 2007 QST. His most recent antenna is the TBJ-1, a tri-band base antenna that was published in the March 2017 QST. The DBJ-1 is a highly effective dual band VHF/UHF base station antenna and the DBJ-2 is the portable roll up version.  The DBJ-2 won the QST Plaque of the Month Award. Both of these antennas are featured in the ARRL VHF antenna Handbook and also in the ARRL Antenna Classic Handbook. There are over 40,000 of these antennas in use today.  About half are used by hams and the other half by government and commercial agencies. Ed will give a history on how these antennas were developed and the theory on how and why they work so well.  

Bio: 

Ed obtained BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Univ. of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. from the Univ. of San Francisco. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, he has 12 patents and over 40 published papers and books in the area of communications and integrated circuit design. Presently, he is employed by the University of California, Santa Cruz as an instructor teaching graduate classes in Antenna Design, RF design and high speed interface. In his 35 year career, he has done work for Stanford University, National Semiconductor, Advanced Micro Devices, and numerous startup companies in Silicon Valley.

Alan H. Martin, W1AHM, reposts on the PART of Westford mailing list:

From: Friends of the J.V. Fletcher Library

MIT Haystack Observatory Visit

Thursday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Meeting Room

Join us for part of our Earth Month celebration as we host the MIT Haystack Observatory, a radio science & technology research center located right in our hometown of Westford! A representative from the Observatory will be on hand to discuss what the Observatory does and what exciting projects they are working on. This program does not require registration and will be offered in a hybrid format. Attend in person or virtually.

Please contact Justin Liberti for the Zoom link at jliberti@westfordma.gov.

This program is hosted in conjunction with Westford Climate Action.

Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes:

The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s April meeting is Thursday, April 20th at 7:30 PM at the Pepperell Community Center (in Pepperell). We start gathering at 7 PM to socialize before the meeting starts.

April’s speaker will be Tom Frenaye, K1KI, whose presentation is “The New England QSO Party Today and Yesterday”. The NEQP has become one of the most popular regional ham radio operating events, gathering worldwide attention. Personally, it’s my favorite local event. Held May 6 – 7 this year, it’s fast approaching. Old timers and new hams alike will get a lot out of this presentation. Please join us.

April is also when NVARC holds our annual elections. Please consider running as an officer or a director!

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

Gary Sutcliffe, W9XT, will give a presentation “Antennas – The Third Dimension” [at the Billerica Amateur Radio Society meeting on April 5, 2023 at 7 PM.]

Gary was licensed as WN9FRG in 1970. Other calls he has held: WB9FRG, WB9FRG/6W8, W0XT. He also has an FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License (Commercial). He has achieved number one on the DXCC Honor Roll, 5BDXCC, with over 100 countries confirmed on each band 160-10M (except 60M) His main radio interests include contesting, experimenting, designing, building equipment and antennas, so he is well versed in what makes a great antenna system for your QTH.

Topic: April 5 BARS meeting Gary Sutcliffe, W9XT, “Antennas – The Third Dimension”
Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every month on the First Wed
April 5, 2023, 07:00 PM

The next meeting of the Waltham Amateur Radio Association will be this Wednesday [March 29, 2023] at 7:00. (Zoom opens at 6:30.) The meeting will be held on-line with no in-person gathering this month. (zoom links below). After a short business meeting, Fred/W6BSD will be giving a presentation providing an overview of the various Digital Voice Modes: Digital Voice Modes for Amateur Radio.

You don’t need a General or Extra class license to enjoy QSOs with people worldwide. All amateur license classes can use Digital Voice (DV) modes such as Fusion, D-Star, DMR, and many others to connect with people throughout the US and other countries using digital repeaters or amateur hotspots. During his presentation, Fred will discuss the differences between the DV modes and how the backend infrastructure works.

The New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society will meet on-line and in-person on March 21, 2023 at 7 PM and feature: “Management of AMSAT Orbital Elements Resources” by Ray Hoad, WA5QGD and Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P.”

Description: This presentation describes the history, format, preparation, and distribution process for Two Line Elements (TLE) satellite tracking data by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). This process supplies TLE on a weekly (or daily) basis to be used by radio amateurs to track and communicate via radio amateur satellites to other amateur radio stations. The source of TLE data is the U.S. Air Force SpaceTrack.org website.  

Bios: Raymond F. Hoad received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1971 and 1973, respectively. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, he joined what is now ONCOR Electric Delivery, Fort Worth, Texas in 1977 as a System Protection Engineer. He retired as Consulting Engineer-Relay from the ONCOR System Protection Group in August 2014. He is currently a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas. He is a life member of ARRL and AMSAT-NA and currently serves as AMSAT-NA Orbital Data Manager. He holds an Amateur Extra License.

Joe Fitzgerald was originally licensed as KA1EMW in 1980 and is an active member of the HF contesting and amateur satellite community. His interest in amateur satellite telemetry has led him through two engineering degrees and he presently works managing the telemetry and control of electric grids around the world.

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

To All PART Members and Friends,

The March PART meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, 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.

We’ve got several topics for the meeting. Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ, will give a short 20 minute talk about “Digital Voice using M17,” and there will be a live demonstration.  For more information about M17, click on this link: http://www.m17project.org. In preparation for Field Day, Ryan Leary, N1RL, is starting a CW course, and he’ll talk about the course and how you can become proficient enough in the next three months to make some CW contacts at the event. Speaking of Field Day, planning has begun and we’ll talk about what’s happening so far.

If your ARRL membership is going to run out in the next three months and you need to renew your membership, or if you’re not a member of ARRL and want to join to get all the benefits, fill out this application and bring it to the PART meeting along with your ARRL dues payment. Joining ARRL or renewing ARRL membership through PART helps support our club, and renewing early doesn’t penalize you in any way.

All members are encouraged to bring donations of non-perishable food for the Westford Food Pantry.

See you Tuesday!

73,
George, K1IG
President, PART of Westford

The March Algonquin Amateur Radio Club meeting will feature Ray LaJoie, AA1SE, Section Manager for Western MA, speaking about the Amateur Radio display at The BIG E in the fall. Ray will talk about booth display planning as well as ARISS space station contact and how it all came together for the seventeen-day event.

The meeting will be held in­ person March 9, 2023 at 7:30 pm in the library of the 1st Lt. Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School, 25 Union Street, Marlboro, MA. Enter from Agoritsas Drive next to police station and use Door #1 at rear of building.

The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club will meet in-person on March 6 at 7:00 PM 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,  Ed Moxon, K1GGI, will present “Cape Cod’s Fabulous Radio History.”

After a fantastic President’s day weather and excellent 10M propagation, it is time to think about Charlie WA3ITR’s talk on FT8 Tuesday night!

Topic: Wellesley Radio February Meeting!

Time: Feb 21, 2023 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

[Contact WARS President Dan Brown, W1DAN, for Zoom meeting invite link.]

Next meeting is Wed Feb 22nd at 7:00 pm
(zoom opens at 6:30)

The next meeting of the Waltham Amateur Radio Association will be this Wednesday [February 22, 2023] at 7:00. The meeting will be held on-line with no in-person gathering this month. (zoom links below). After a short business meeting, Fred, W6BSD, will be giving a presentation providing an overview of the various Digital Voice Modes:

Digital Voice Modes for Amateur Radio

You don’t need a General or Extra class license to enjoy QSOs with people worldwide. All amateur license classes can use Digital Voice (DV) modes such as Fusion, D-Star, DMR, and many others to connect with people throughout the US and other countries using digital repeaters or amateur hotspots. During his presentation, Fred will discuss the differences between the DV modes and how the backend infrastructure works.

Northeastern University Wireless Club President Marty Sullaway, NN1C, writes on on the NUWC mailing list:

Tonight was the Super Bowl. Unfortunately the Patriots did not make an appearance, but nonetheless, I am sure people tuned in to watch. While our Super Bowl for Wireless does not involve parties, TV ads, and millions of people, our soldering workshops are our next best thing.

The staple of our workshop series are our soldering workshops. This week we are offering the same workshop twice. Join us at 7 PM in Dodge 050 on Monday 2/13, or in our club space (503 Hayden) at 7 PM on Thursday 2/16. We will be building a revised version of our popular traffic light project. Both sessions are expected to fill up, so be sure to arrive on time to make sure you get a seat. If for some reason we are filled up, have no fear, we will work you in.

For those who might already know how to solder, take the time during the workshops this week to pay our club space a visit, pay your door code dues and solder up a small project; study for a ham radio exam. We just restocked the club space, and plan to do so again soon.

Here’s to soldering week!