The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radio Society (W1MX) and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) are hosting a series of public lectures on “everything radio,” presented by academics and industry professionals. The series begins on Tuesday, January 8, at 5:30 PM ET in Building 3, Room 270.
Each self-contained talk will address a different facet of radio, ranging from modulation, propagation, and Amateur Radio, to radar, radio astronomy, space-based applications, and cellular and 5G technology. [Full story]
Well known contester Tim Duffy, K3LR, will present Contest University via Skype at the Minuteman Repeater Association meeting on January 16 at 7 PM. The meeting will be held at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.
Duffy is a well know contester and the owner of the multi-multi contest superstation K3LR. He will discuss the following topics, followed by a Q&A session:
What is a contest?
What do you need to get started at contesting?
Where can you find resources to help you be a contester
What are the benefits of contesting?
The workshop is intended for hams who are new at contesting or want to improve their skills.
New England Sci-Tech is offering ongoing Amateur Extra study sessions for high school students, homeschool students, and adults who already have a General level license. This slower-paced course will get you ready to take the Amateur Extra license exam. You may jump into this course at any time, pay one course fee, and take nine weeks worth of classes. A different topic group is covered each week; all topics covered in nine-week intervals. Take the exam whenever you are ready.
The course runs most Thursday evenings, 6-9 PM from November, 2018 until March, 2019 as a combination “study group” and keynote presentations by experienced instructors. Study group meets 6:00-6:30, presentations run 6:30-8:15 approximately, and remainder of time is Q and A with instructors or more study group time. Regular homework reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. [Full description]
New England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 21, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-5>.
New England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 20, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-4>.
New England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 19, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-3/>.
There’s a Facebook Group called “Ham Radio – New to the Hobby”.
I’ve seen many posts in this group with people stating “I’ve had my General or Extra for a while. However, I’ve never had an HF QSO.”
Reasons?
– Don’t know how to use the radio. – Don’t know the procedure for making a QSO – Mic fright. – Don’t want to screw up and get in trouble with the FCC.
Lots of these guys are outside any club territory.
So, I created a poll on that site this morning. Here’s what I got for responses:
More than 56 people interested in getting into an online QSO — in less than a day. However, Jim, K1IR, pointed out it would be a much better process to combine some needy hams with some Elmers. We can do this virtually. A really good use of Internet technology.
So, I registered the domain virtualelmer.org I’m going to use that to gather people and co-ordinate.
To be an Elmer, you’d need to have some form of Video Chat (Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc). and some time. You could help the new ham understand how to use their rig. How to connect an antenna. How to choose what band to get on.
And most importantly, get on the air and help them with a First QSO — with you. If you are interested, send me an email and tell me of your interest. I’ll get you hooked up with some of these folks. You set the date, time with them.
A Technician class course will be conducted in January, 2019, spanning three 3-hour sessions on January 2, 16, and 30, 2019 at the Middleton Council on Aging, 38 Maple Street, in Middleton.
Those interested can sign up and pay at the Senior Center. The deadline is December 16, 2018. The class is intended for “scouts and citizens ages 15 and up.” The cost is $35 and includes all training materials. The FCC Technician exam session will be offered at the conclusion of the course for an additional $15.
For junior high and high school students, homeschool students, and adults interested in wireless communications and electronics, this fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the Amateur Radio TECHNICIAN license exam.
Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent a few days before the course.
The TECHNICIAN level course runs on Saturday, 9 am – 4 pm and Sunday, 9 am to noon., followed by the FCC Technician exam at noon, at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.
Included with course fee: printed handouts, lecture study guide, license fee if tested at our location, a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Room and radio club meetings for 2 months, and free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate during the course. Advance registration and payment required.
For junior high and high school students, homeschool students, and adults who already have a Technician level license, this fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the GENERAL license exam. Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent approximately a week before the course.
The GENERAL level course runs Saturday, 9 am – 5 pm and Sunday, 9 am to noon, followed by the FCC General exam at noon, at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.
Included with course fee: printed handouts, lecture study guide, license fee if tested at our location, a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Room and radio club meetings for 2 months, and free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate during the course. Advance registration and payment required.
The Whitman Amateur Radio Club is currently conducting a Technician training class at the Whitman police station at 20 Essex Street on Tuesdays until September 27, 2018. Ross Hochstrasser, W1EKG, and Paul DeLory, W1GTX, are instructing. The class will culminate in a volunteer exam on October 2, 2018. For details, visit http://www.wa1npo.org/training/training.htm.
The South Eastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (SEMARA) will host a presentation entitled Contest College @ SEMARA on September 9, 2018 at approximately 12 PM.
This hands-on presentation will cover:
* different styles of contesting
* achieving a respectable score with 100 W
* operating various modes during a contest
* home-brewed antennas for contests
There will also be on-air operation, listening and/or making contacts during the Worked All Europe SSB contest.
The organizers request an approximate head count, so lunch time pizza can be ordered. Email Don if you are interested and plan to attend at: wa1bxy [at] hotmail [dot] com.
The SEMARA club house is located at: 54 Donald Street, S. Dartmouth, MA 02748; club phone number for messages: 508-997-7070
The Boxboro-ARRL New England Division Convention will again feature a Tech-in-a-Day™ program, sponsored by instructors from the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association. The day-long technician study course will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2018 from 9 AM to 5 PM. After the end of the class, there will be a special VE Exam for course attendees. There is a small fee to cover course materials, along with an FCC established $15 exam fee.
“Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent approximately a week before the course.
“The TECHNICIAN level course runs on Friday, August 10 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 11 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by the FCC Technician exam at 3:00 p.m., at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.
The course fee covers exam fee, drinks and snacks, sandwich lunch, and course materials. Advance registration and payment required.
“This fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the GENERAL license exam. Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent approximately a week before the course.
“The GENERAL level course runs Friday evening, August 24, 2018 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 25, 2018 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by the FCC General exam at 3:00 p.m., at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick. The course fee covers exam fee, drinks and snacks, sandwich lunch, and course materials. Advance registration and payment required.”
Robert Paknys, VE2JBP/W1 checks out 20m SSB from special event station N1P at the 2018 IEEE AP-S Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts
07/13/2018
ARRL was on hand in Boston July 8 – 13 for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antenna and Propagation Society (AP-S) Symposium, held jointly held with the US National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). The ARRL exhibit included an Amateur Radio special event demonstration station, N1P, and more than a dozen volunteers staffed the ARRL exhibit.
“We had a very attractive booth in a great location,” said ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Assistant Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI. “Engineers and scientists in the fields of antennas and propagation who attended from all over the world stopped by the ARRL table to see and learn about Amateur Radio.”
Temples said ARRL Headquarters provided supplies for the booth as well as display copies of publications, “which doubled as door prizes for drawings,” he added. Complementing volunteers from the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section were radio amateurs attending the conference who donated their time between talks and seminars to assist with the booth and greet fellow attendees.
“It was clear to me that our presence at the symposium meant a great deal to the IEEE AP-S/URSI leadership,” Temples said. “It’s difficult to have a ‘live’ Amateur Radio station in an exhibit area of a major hotel, so we were indeed fortunate to have access to one of the premiere contesting stations in New England through a remote internet HF setup, courtesy of Yankee Clipper Contest Club member Greg Cronin, W1KM.” Temples said YCCC president Dennis Egan, W1UE, supplied an Elecraft K3 to use on site.
In addition, ARRL Volunteer Examiners conducted separate Amateur Radio licensing exam sessions over two days at the conference thanks to the efforts of the Eastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Group and Lou Harris, N1UEC. More than a dozen attendees took advantage.
“The IEEE AP-S/URSI hams who will organize next year’s event hope to secure the call sign N4P and recruit local volunteers when the symposium moves to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2019,” Temples said. He expressed gratitude to Dave Michelson, VA7DM, an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia and who chaired the IEEE’s AP-S/URSI Joint Meetings Committee, for his help in coordinating the Amateur Radio display. “Thanks also go to San Diego Section Manager Dave Kaltenborn, N8KBC, and Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, who advised us following the 2017 ham radio effort.”
The newly revised pool, released in January 2018 (updated and re-released February 12, 2018) by the Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the NationalConference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC), must be in use starting July 1. There are three graphics required for this pool and 423questions in this pool, down slightly from 426 in the previous pool.
With the Technician class exam questions changing July 1, new test designs must be used effective that day. Previous ARRL VEC supplied Technician class exam booklet versions (2014 series) and computer-generated Technician class exams created from the 2014 question pool are only valid until midnight June 30, 2018. At that time VE Team leaders should destroy or throw away the old versions of the Technician exams (do not return them to VEC).To avoid a mix-up at the session, do not save old exam versions!
Eric Horwitz, KA1NCF writes on the North Shore RA mailing list:
Here is a good refresher (perhaps better to have been sent BEFORE Field Day) for the club membership (some of who are not DXers). This came from the FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Comm group that I’m on and was sent for widest dissemination. Please forward to the club as a whole, to include the FD distro list, and anyone else you think appropriate. Thanks.
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Greetings,
The COMET Program is pleased to announce the publication of the new lesson, “Radio Wave Propagation“. As a society we have become dependent on satellite communications, but satellites fail with alarming frequency. Before the advent of satellites, long distance communications were carried out with high frequency (HF) radio transmissions. This 1-hour lesson examines the factors that control long-distance radio communications, with an emphasis on refraction in the ionosphere, frequency selection, and the effects of solar radiation.
The intended audience for Radio Wave Propagation is any potential radio operator who communicates across long distances using HF frequencies. This can include members of the U.S. DoD, emergency management, and amateur radio operators.
We welcome any comments or questions you may have regarding the content, instructional approach, or use of this lesson. Please e-mail your comments or questions to Alan Bol (alanbolATucar.edu). For technical support, please visit our Registration and Support FAQs .
On Wednesday, June 20, the Natick HS High-Altitude-Balloon Group launched their platform at 4:07pm from the Hatfield Elementary School, near Northampton in the middle of Massachusetts. The APRS tracking device used Charlie’s callsign (WA3ITR) with a dash-7.
From the APRS track shown below, the HAB was up to 45,000 feet over Worcester traveling east at over 85 pmh! It circled over South Natick & Framingham, reaching up to 91,953 feet before it burst. It continued toward the Atlantic as it parachuted back to the ground. Although the plan from the simulations was to land in the Natick area, that wasn’t going to happen as it sped to the east.
The chase team couldn’t go that fast ! The last APRS point was in East Weymouth at about 500 feet above the ground (AGL) at 6:38pm . The Natick group hoped to find it, since the 3 GoPro cameras were only recording photos to their internal micro-disks. Luckily, they spotted it around 7:10pm in a farmer’s field in Hingham and he gave them permission to recover it. Now, we will be checking the 3 cameras to see if there are any photos and, if so, making a short video or photo album.
From www.ARRL.org:
