NTS

John O’Neill-K1JRO EMA ARES – DEC Healthcare Liaison writes:

Hello Everyone,

Net Control for the January 2023 Eastern MA Hospital Net scheduled for Saturday 1/7/23 at 10 AM will be Nicholas Rondeau from the Mansfield Emergency Management Agency. The net will commence at the usual time of 10AM using the following repeaters in the order listed. 

1. W.Bridgewater 146.775 DCS 244
2. Attleboro 147.195 Tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
3. Dartmouth 147.000 Tone 67.0
4. Sharon 146.865 Tone 103.5 

We will not be conducting a DMR test this month. 

The Net will then return to the W.Bridgewater Repeater for final comments and Net closing

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check-in procedure which is:  Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name. 

We extend an invitation to any health care facility or EOC of any city or town that is served by one of the participating hospitals to join the Net. We also extend an invitation to any RACES or ARES member to check in during the NET. 

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested in giving Net Control a try please let us know. We can be reached by sending an email to ssharg@outlook.com. The goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many individuals and groups as possible.

South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Group is seeking licensed Amateur Radio Operators to join our group. For information on joining us please contact us at ssharg@outlook.com.

We thank the repeater trustees for their continued generosity in allowing us to conduct the monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event. The following list of repeaters is available for our use. Only a few systems are used each month with the selection of those used made by Net Control for that month. More systems are being added to the list on a regular basis. 

Analog Repeaters
Attleboro 147.195 tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
Belmont 145.430 tone 146.2
Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
Dartmouth 147.000 tone 67.0  
Fall River 146.805. tone 67.0
Falmouth 147.375 tone 110.9
Mansfield EMA 446.925 tone 100.0
Mansfield 147.015 tone 67.0
Marshfield 145.390 tone 67.0
Norwood 147.210 tone 100.00
Plymouth 146.685 tone 131.8
Salem 146.88 tone 118.8
Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5
Weymouth 147.345 tone 110.9 (South Shore Hospital)
W. Bridgewater 146.775 DCS 244
Wrentham 147.09 tone 146.2

Digital (DMR) Repeaters.

We have the ability to utilize a TalkGroup on some of the repeaters that are part of the NEDECN Network. Boston, Hingham, Bourne, Dennis, Walpole, and Martha’s Vineyard.

We look forward to hearing you all on the Net. 

Respectfully,

John O’Neill K1JRO
President, South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group
EMA ARES – DEC Healthcare Liaison

Hello to all…

Happy New Year to all and thanks for all you do for RACES/ARES/SKYWARN in our commonwealth. A reminder that Monday 1/2/23 will be the observed state holiday for New Year’s Day for 2023 so the Massachusetts RACES and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Nets will be held on the second Monday of the month due to the holiday on Monday 1/9/23. We hope everyone enjoys the New Year holiday and will catch everyone on next week’s nets. Thanks to all for their support!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator & SKYWARN Coordinator

Mike Leger-N1YLQ, MEMA Region 2 RACES Radio Officer writes:

Hello to all,

      This email is a reminder that this evening, December 5^th, 2022 is the first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, is our RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night. We will be holding our sector nets on the normally assigned frequencies. This is our last RACES/ACS Preparedness Net for 2022.

      As always, I am looking for Net Control stations to staff our sector nets for the evening. This month I plan to be able to run the Sector 2A net, but if anyone is interested in trying it out, please let me know.  I am looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) nets. Sector 2D has already arranged for an NCS operator for this month’s net and Sector 2C is a Winlink only net on a monthly basis.

           The 6-meter net has generally been a very informal net. We have received an update that repairs have been implemented on the repeater. Please report any comms testing on the repeater so that those repairs can be verified.

              For any operators interested in performing the duties of Net Control Station (NCS), there are materials available to make the task fairly simple and straight forward. The net pre-amble and role call lists are available at http://wc1mab.org/RACES_R2_Interim_Preamble.pdf and http://wc1mab.org/Month.php with the role call lists on the left column near the bottom. If anyone is worried that they mess up running a net, please remember that, in many cases, a less than perfect net is WAY better than no net at all! At the conclusion of any net, any operator that acted as Net Control Operator should send a note to WC1MAB@gmail.com letting me know who ran the net and who checked in so that the proper numbers can be reported to our served agencies. We can not always count on our normal net control operators to be available in the event of a large scale emergency, so every RACES operator should be prepared to act as NCO if needed when disaster and emergency strikes!

Winlink Net Instructions From Don Rolph – *** NOTE THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS!! *** : 

See https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Winlink_NTS_Traffic_for_December_2022_Net_How_To_Guide.pdf for these instructions.

I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to check into sector nets from near-by sections. This will allow our Net Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments in the event that a single repeater is out of service. 

   For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of participation. I am continuing to work on a graphical map based report to show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide back-up communications in an emergency.

The Region #2 and State Net Schedule for this evening is as follows:

    I appreciate you all answering the call to help our communities remain prepared. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that we remain a consistent source of communication capability to the Commonwealth. This net provides a monthly reminder to our communities and served agencies that we stand ready with a quiet professionalism prepared to serve as a voice to whomever needs one to get help and resources to where they need to be.

 If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have them contact me at   WC1MAB@gmail.com and I will add them to this distribution. Thank you all!

      If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to hearing back on who can participate this month.

Sincerely,

Michael Leger (N1YLQ)

MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer

C: 386-566-7666

Hello to all…

The December Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday December 5th, 2022 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will have several announcements for the net including our best wishes for a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holiday season.

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
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AB1PH-Don Rolph – Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

The MEMA RACES nets are held on the first Monday of the month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, when it is delayed one week,
For Dec, the RACES nets will be held on Mon Dec 5.

The Races nets will be held on Mon Dec 5 at:
********************************************************************************
The HF net will start at 6:45 PM ET: using the following frequency plan:
We will start at 3930 KHz moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency,

Marc Stern WA1R will be net control.
*********************************************************************************
Region 2D VHF net:
7:30 PM ET VHF net on 146.865 MHz PL 103.5 (Sharon Repeater)

We will have a general call up of any RACES, ARES, or other interested stations. If there is time, we will have a simplex test.
Jeff Marden using N1JCM will be net control.
********************************************************************************
HF NBEMS net:
7:00 PM ET
Dial Frequency: 3584.5 MHx
Center Frequency: 1500 Hz
Initial mode: THOR22

We will have checkins, followed by an ICS-213 format message using FLMSG.
Don Rolph AB1PH will be net control.
*********************************************************************************
Winlink Net:

We will do something different this month as a test in preparation for functional use of the National Traffic System. See the following link for detailed instructions:
https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Winlink_NTS_Traffic_for_December_2022_Net_How_To_Guide.pdf
*********************************************************************************

—

Good evening,

On Saturday December 3, 2022, the South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group will hold an Eastern MA Hospital Net commencing at 10AM. We realize that the usual locations for some individuals and groups are still unavailable due to ongoing COVID restrictions. We encourage everyone who is affected by these restrictions to utilize their home or mobile stations to check into the net.

We will use the following repeaters and NEDECN DMR system in the order listed.

1. Boston Repeater 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
2. Simplex 147.420
3. Plymouth Repeater 146.685 tone 131.8
4. DMR – EMHN Talkgroup 8851 Time Slot 1 on select NEDECN repeaters:
Boston 449.175 CC1, Hingham 146.430 -1.5M CC1, Bourne 145.200 CC10, Dennis 146.470 -1.5M CC11, and Martha’s Vineyard145.180 CC10, Walpole 145.380 -0.600 CC12 repeaters
5. W. Bridgewater Repeater 146.775 dcs 244
6. Return to the Boston Repeater for Net closing.

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check-in procedure which is: Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name. We extend an invitation to any health care facility, EOC of any city or town as well as RACES or ARES members to check in during the NET. We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested in trying your hand at Net Control please let us know. We can be reached by sending an email to ssharg@outlook.com or replying to this message. The goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many individuals and groups as possible. We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct these monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event.

We hope to hear you Saturday.

Jeff N1SOM, Secretary, and the SSH group
N1SOM – W1SSH

South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group
55 Fogg Rd. Mail-Stop 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190

N1YLQ-Mike “Sparky” Leger – MEMA Region 2 RACES Radio Officer and  Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator writes:

Hello to all,

      This email is a reminder that this evening, November 7^th, 2022 is the first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, is our RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night. We will be holding our sector nets on the normally assigned frequencies.

      As always, I am looking for Net Control stations to staff our sector nets for the evening. This month I plan to be able to run the Sector 2A net, but if anyone is interested in trying it out, please let me know.  I am looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) nets. Sector 2D has already arranged for an NCS operator for this month’s net and Sector 2C is a Winlink only net on a monthly basis.

           The 6-meter net has generally been a very informal net. We have received an update that repairs have been implemented on the repeater. Please report any comms testing on the repeater so that those repairs can be verified.

For any operators interested in performing the duties of Net Control Station (NCS), there are materials available to make the task fairly simple and straight forward. The net pre-amble and role call lists are available at http://wc1mab.org/RACES_R2_Interim_Preamble.pdf and http://wc1mab.org/Month.php with the role call lists on the left column near the bottom. If anyone is worried that they mess up running a net, please remember that, in many cases, a less than perfect net is WAY better than no net at all! At the conclusion of any net, any operator that acted as Net Control Operator should send a note to WC1MAB@gmail.com letting me know who ran the net and who checked in so that the proper numbers can be reported to our served agencies. We can not always count on our normal net control operators to be available in the event of a large scale emergency, so every RACES operator should be prepared to act as NCO if needed when disaster and emergency strikes!

Winlink Net Instructions From Don Rolph: 

*Winlink Net*

To participate:

– create a check-in form using the Winlink standard checkin form

– send via Winlink after 6 AM EST Mon. Nov 7^th  and before midnight EST Nov 8^th (any mode, but include mode in check-in form) to KF1D

   I continue to ask that any operators who have the time, please try to check into sector nets from near-by sections. This will allow our Net Control Operators to practice fielding nets with a strong check-in count and will also serve to help practice with relays or modified sector assignments in the event that a single repeater is out of service. 

   For those operators who serve as Net Control Operators, please try to remember to send me a list of the stations and communities that check into your nets. The numbers are reported to MEMA to show them our level of participation. I am continuing to work on a graphical map based report to show which parts of our section have strong coverage and which areas may need a more targeted recruitment campaign to improve our ability to provide back-up communications in an emergency.

The Region #2 and State Net Schedule for this evening is as follows:

    I appreciate you all answering the call to help our communities remain prepared. Thank you all for helping us keep things on track and prove that we remain a consistent source of communication capability to the Commonwealth. This net provides a monthly reminder to our communities and served agencies that we stand ready with a quiet professionalism prepared to serve as a voice to whomever needs one to get help and resources to where they need to be.

 If you know someone who would benefit from being on this list, please have them contact me at   WC1MAB@gmail.com and I will add them to this distribution. Thank you all!

      If anyone has any questions or comments I can be reached by e-mail or cell phone. Thanks for being a part of our team and I look forward to hearing back on who can participate this month.

Sincerely,

Michael Leger (N1YLQ)

MEMA Region #2 RACES Officer

C: 386-566-7666

Hello to all…

The November Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday November 7th, 2022 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will focus our announcements on the Eastern Mass ARES Simulated Emergency Test set for Saturday 11/12/22 from 1000 AM-1200 PM EST. See https://ema.arrl.org/2022/11/06/update-eastern-massachusetts-ares-simulated-emergency-test-set-saturday-11-12-22-1000-am-1200-pm-est/ for the SET info.

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – https://twitter.com/wx1box

Hello to all…

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be doing its Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Saturday 11/12/22 at 1000 AM-1200 PM coincident with the national Winlink exercise. Our scenario will be customized from the ETO National Winlink exercise. The following is the Eastern Mass ARES SET document that we wanted to deliver by this weekend. See Eastern MA ARES SET 11-12-22 V1.8 Document for all of the pertinent info. We look forward to everyone that can participate and we will also mention this on the monthly Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Net on the MMRA Repeater network for Monday 11/7/22 at 830 PM. Thanks to all for their continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org

AB1PH-Don Rolph – Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:

The MEMA RACES nets are held on the first Monday of the month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, when it is delayed one week,

For Nov, the RACES nets will be held on Mon Nov. 7.

********************************************************************************
The HF net will start at 6:45 PM EDT: using the following frequency plan:

We will start at 3930 KHz moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency,

Marc Stern WA1R will be net control.
*********************************************************************************
Region 2D VHF net:
7:30 PM EDT VHF net on 146.865 MHz PL 103.5 (Sharon Repeater)

We will have a general call up of any RACES, ARES, or other interested stations. If there is time, we will have a simplex test.

Don Rolph using WA1PLE will be net control.
********************************************************************************
HF NBEMS net:
7:00 PM EDT
Dial Frequency: 3584.5 MHx
Center Frequency: 1500 Hz
Initial mode: THOR22

We will have checkins, followed by an ICS-213 format message using FLMSG.
Don Rolph AB1PH will be net control.
*********************************************************************************
Winlink Net:

To participate:
– create a checkin form using the Winlink standard checkin form
– send via winlink after 6 AM EDT Mon. Nov 7 and before 0000 EDT Nov 8 (any mode, but include mode in checkin form) to Bryan Marcotte KF1D
– Tues I will create the checkin report and send to all of you
*************************************************************************************

We look forward to you checking in to any or all nets!

—

73,
AB1PH
Don Rolph

Good evening,

On Saturday November 5, 2022, the South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group will hold an Eastern MA Hospital Net commencing at 10AM. We realize that the usual locations for some individuals and groups are still unavailable due to ongoing COVID restrictions. We encourage everyone who is affected by these restrictions to utilize their home or mobile stations to check into the net.

We will use the following repeaters and NEDECN DMR system in the order listed.

1. Plymouth Repeater 146.685 tone 131.8
2. Falmouth Repeater 147.375 tone 110.9
3. Sharon Repeater 146.865 tone 103.5
4. DMR – EMHN Talkgroup 8851 Time Slot 1 on select NEDECN repeaters:
Boston 449.175 CC1, Hingham 146.430 -1.5M CC1, Bourne 145.200 CC10, Dennis 146.470 -1.5M CC11, and Martha’s Vineyard145.180 CC10, Walpole 145.380 -0.600 CC12 repeaters
5. DMR Simplex 446.500 TG 99 both slots
6. DMR Simplex 145.790 TG 99 both slots
7. Return to Plymouth Repeater for Net closing.

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check-in procedure which is: Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name.

We extend an invitation to any health care facility, EOC of any city or town as well as RACES or ARES members to check in during the NET. We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested in trying your hand at Net Control please let us know. We can be reached by sending an email to ssharg@outlook.com or replying to this message. The goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many individuals and groups as possible. We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct these monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event.

We hope to hear you Saturday.

Jeff N1SOM, Secretary, and the SSH group
N1SOM – W1SSH

Hello to all…

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be doing its Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Saturday 11/12/22 at 1000 AM-1200 PM coincident with the national Winlink exercise. Our scenario will be customized from the ETO National Winlink exercise and the details including an exercise document will be released between 11/1/22-11/5/22 or earlier if time allows. Some of the items we will be looking to do are as follows:

• Using Winlink to send a field situation report on HF/VHF to gather reports of damage and damage to infrastructure including items such as NOAA Weather Radio based on the exercise scenario. Details will be released in the exercise document by early November.
• Voice Activities: When checking into nets, list all NOAA Weather radio stations you can hear. Give Call-Signs and frequencies of the stations heard and your location. List the signal strength of the WX Station and whether you were using indoor or outdoor antennas to monitor – can be done tactically or by NTS – this will be in addition to any other simplex testing that is done as part of the nets
• HF Nets 75m/60m – normally used HF exercise frequencies (Frequencies to be published in early November)
• Echolink 9123 node and MMRA RPTR System – use as normally used in exercises
• Localized 2m repeaters – local call up nets ARES/RACES (Frequencies to be published in early November)
• Simplex nets – simplex call-up nets or have stations do simplex to simplex on a frequency they choose and come back to the main net  (optional simplex activities)
• NBEMS activity – Optional
• NTS Operations – Pass an NTS message by voice and have it sent by digital to KD1CY (or local ARES designee, local NTS person or KW1U-Marcia – Section Traffic Manager)
• The WC1MA 53.31 PL 71.9 Hz 6-meter Mount Wachusett Repeater is now back up and running and if we have the coverage, we will look at having a 6m component as part of this exercise both on that repeater and via simplex.

Again, we will have the exercise document and further information on the SET exercise released between 11/1/22-11/5/22 or earlier if time allows. We hope many Eastern Massachusetts ARES members can participate in our SET.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org

Bruce Fant-KA1TZY Auburn RACES Officer – COMT/COML writes:

WC1MA It’s my pleasure to announce that the WC1MA 6 meter repeater 53.31 is back up and on the Air at Mt Wachusett with PL of 71.9. PL 162.2 will not work take note and change your PL if needed. The new repeater was donated in memory of Dale Thomas WA1RJC by John W1GPO. The Custom built antenna and tower work was donated by Clark N1PAH. After years of personally keeping it on the air then the Lightning strike over a year ago,  myself and fellow coworker Alex-AB1FC started talking and looking at ways to bring it back. We had some help from some other volunteers on install day Mike Girard from MEMA and our intern Joe-KC1EGK.

I’m getting reports from stations that it’s working great around the state. Give it a try and report back please.

Bruce Fant / KA1TZY
Auburn RACES officer
ComT / ComL

Hello to all…

The October Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday October 3rd, 2022 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:
https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked)

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will have several announcements on the net regarding Eastern Massachusetts ARES and fall public service events in the region. In addition, we want to include this special request from Air Force MARS from AJ1Y-Joe Rogers regarding Amateur Operators being able to hear ASOS/AWOS sites.

We in 1st AFMARS Comm Wing Information are trying to identify which airport weather broadcasts that amateur radio operators can receive over the air in New England. These broadcasts are transmitted on VHF AM. If you or your contacts visit Surface Weather Observation Stations – ASOS/AWOS (faa.gov) and put in your state, you will see the frequencies for the VHF airport weather broadcasts in your state. If you or they could check out which ones if any you/they can receive the weather information from and send a message to me at aj1y@arrl.net or aj1y@winlink.org identifying the station(s) that you/they can receive, it would be greatly appreciated. If they could include their email/Winlink address so that we reach out to you if necessary.

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wx1box
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