Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, writes on YCCC mailing list:
I have secured the use of the NE1AR callsign for WPX this weekend, and will be training brand new operators of the Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society at the New England Sci-Tech Makerspace in Natick, MA from 9 AM to 5 PM on Saturday [March 25, 2023].
Operation is intended to get newly licensed hams contesting on the air and having fun. If you know of some ham that wants to dip their toes into the HF contesting waters, have them contact me via e-mail off list or text 617 922 8549 to coordinate.
Tim Miranda, W1MWS, writes on NEMassFoxHunters at 12:59 PM on March 5, 2023:
Finally got my first fox transmitter. It’s somewhere in the Bill Edge Deep Brook Conservation Land, 124 Dunstable Road, North Chelmsford MA. You can hear it from the parking lot on 146.565 MHz, transmitting every 35 seconds or so. It should last through Friday.
Mike Leger-N1YLQ-Region 2 RACES Radio Officer writes:
Hello to all,
This email is a reminder that tomorrow evening, March 6th, 2023 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 will be on my assigned shift for Acushnet EMS and will be unable to run the Sector 2A net reliably. If anyone is available and interested in covering the net, please let me know. I am looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) net. 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. Mar 6th and before midnight EST Mar 7th (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:
Net
Frequency/Offset
Time
Sector 2A
147.00 /+0.60 PL
19:30 Local
Sector 2B
145.39/-0.60 PL 67.0
20:00 Local
Sector 2C
Winlink Net Check-In
6AM-Midnight Local Time
Sector 2D
146.865/-0.60 PL 103.5
19:30 Local
6-Meter State Net
53.31 / -1.0 PL 71.9
Note: 53.31 has been reported as being repaired and back online. Please report tests on this repeater so that we can verify the repairs/improvements made to the repeater.
19:00 Local
MA RACES HF Net
3930 KHz LSB moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency
18:45 Local
MA MEMA NBEMS Net
Frequency: 3584.5 MHx, Center Frequency: 1500 Hz, Initial mode: THOR22
19:00 Local
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.
The March Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday March 6th, 2023 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 Monday evening.
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
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Don Rolph-AB1PH-Norfolk County 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 Mar. 2023, the RACES nets will be held on Mon Mar. 6. The RACES nets will be held on Mon Mar. 6 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 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.
Bryan Marcotte KF1D will be net control.
*********************************************************************************
Winlink Net:
Between 0600 ET on Mon Mar. 6 and 2400 ET on Mar. 6, please send a Winlink checkin form to Bryan Marcotte KF1D
Jeff-N1SOM-Secretary of South Shore Hospital Group:
Good evening,
On Saturday March 4, 2023, 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. W. Bridgewater Repeater 146.775 dcs 244
2. Bridgewater Repeater 147.180 tone 67.0
3. Boston Repeater 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
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. Return to the W. Bridgewater 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
Don Rolph-AB1PH – Walpole Area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes:
We held an NCEP Digital training net on Sat Feb. 18 at 10 AM EST.
The purpose of this net was to try to smooth out some issues which surfaced during the Feb SET.
The participants were:
AB1PH Don Walpole MA NCS
WZ0C Michale Maynard MA
K1HRV Dave Millis MA
KF1D Bryan Blackstone, MA
The net was called at 10 AM EST and closed at 10:25 AM EST
We were a strictly directed net: no station transmitted unless called on. This appeared to work smoothly and appears to address some of the race conditions we saw during the Feb 4 SET NBEMS net.
We will continue with the formal directed net with stations only responding when called on for a bit and ensure that it is stable.
We passed an original message and three replies during the 25 minute net. The messages took about 1 1/2 minutes each to send.
We had a round of comments.
In addition to the four direct attendees, the following had their station on frequency but unattended and successfully copied the messages:
– Alan WA1AR
– Phil KB1CYO
The ability of the digital systems to receive messages while unattended provides a flexibility for the FLDIGI stations which we dont have with voice nets
My thanks to all who participated in this training session. I believe it clarified the situation regarding the need for strictly directed nets.
On Saturday February 11, 2023, 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. 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
3. Falmouth Repeater 147.375 tone 110.9
4. Sharon Repeater 146.865 tone 103.5
5. Return to the 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
South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group
55 Fogg Rd. Mail-Stop 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190
The February Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday February 6th, 2023 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 this evening.
This email is a reminder that this evening, February 6th, 2023 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, however, iff anyone is available and interested in covering the net, please let me know. I am looking for NCS operators to lead the Sector 2B (Plymouth County) net. 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. Feb 6th and before midnight EST Feb 7th (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:
Net
Frequency/Offset
Time
Sector 2A
147.00 /+0.60 PL
19:30 Local
Sector 2B
145.39/-0.60 PL 67.0
20:00 Local
Sector 2C
Winlink Net Check-In
6AM-Midnight Local Time
Sector 2D
146.865/-0.60 PL 103.5
19:30 Local
6-Meter State Net
53.31 / -1.0 PL 71.9
Note: 53.31 has been reported as being repaired and back online. Please report tests on this repeater so that we can verify the repairs/improvements made to the repeater.
19:00 Local
MA RACES HF Net
3930 KHz LSB moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency
18:45 Local
MA MEMA NBEMS Net
Frequency: 3584.5 MHx, Center Frequency: 1500 Hz, Initial mode: THOR22
19:00 Local
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.
Don Rolph-AB1PH-Norfolk County 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 Feb. 2023, the RACES nets will be held on Mon Feb. 6.
The RACES nets will be held on Mon Feb. 6 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.
Don Rolph using WA1PLE 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:
Between 0600 ET on Mon Feb. 6 and 2400 ET on Feb. 6, please send a Winlink checkin form to Don Rolph AB1PH
We look forward to you checking in!
Understanding it is short notice, Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be doing an ARES exercise for Saturday 2/4/23 at 1000 AM-1200 PM. Our scenario will be customized from the Cape Cod ARES district. The following is the Eastern Mass ARES exercise document that we wanted to deliver before this weekend. See Eastern Mass ARES Exercise – Winter Wipeout document for all of the pertinent info. We look forward to everyone that can participate understanding the short notice but also understanding given the extreme cold conditions forecast for Saturday, what could be better than “warming up” by the Amateur Radio and participating in the exercise where we will also be looking for some real world weather data reflective of the extreme cold conditions. Thanks for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!
The Barnstable ARC (BARC) held its first Winter Field Day (WFD) at Boy Scout Camp Greenough in Yarmouth, MA this weekend. The Club and the Boy Scouts are working together to put a permanent amateur radio station at the camp. As part of the close relationship being forged with scouting, BARC (W1MA) set up a 2O station in the camp and manned it around the clock with a dozen volunteers. Since the Administration building was winterized with no heat or water, it was an ideal location for an outdoor experience including temporary heaters and bringing in water. Although the effort was smaller than BARC’s summer Field Day, setting up the antennas and operating in cold weather gave both old timers and newer operators valuable experience. Don, KT1OK (foreground) and Lem, W1LEM were finishing the operation on Sunday afternoon, logging a few last-minute contacts on 15 and 40 meters.
665 contacts were made on 5 bands using emergency power with stations as far away as Hawaii. BARC is taking every opportunity to showcase amateur radio at Camp Greenough that hosts camp outs to scouts from all over Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Winter Field Day continues this effort that began with Jamboree on the Air last Fall and continues with WFD and the removal of trees in preparation for Eversource to install three donated poles for the permanent radio station antenna supports.
This coming Saturday is the first Saturday of the month during which we usually hold the Eastern MA Hospital Net.
Given the weather forecast for Saturday morning with severe and dangerously cold temperatures, we decided it best to postpone the Net until the following Saturday, February 11 @ 10AM.
Stay warm
Regards,
John O’Neill – K1JRO
W1SSH Group
New England Sci-Tech will participate in Winter Field Day and also host a number of fun and educational activities on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 2:00 to 9:00 PM at 16 Tech Circle in Natick, Massachusetts. “We will stay warm and take a points loss but still have fun! Non-licensed adults and children can get on the air with one of our control operators.”
In addition, NEST will feature maker activities from 4 to 6 PM for children of members and visitors, and hands-on activities led by volunteers. “Make a meteorite necklace, make 3-D paper art, make an electronics gadget, make a laser-cut art project, make a woodworking project, and more.” Also planned are thirty-minute planetarium shows at 5 and 7 PM, a pot luck dinner from 6 to 8 PM, and a ham radio “movie marathon” from 7 to 9 PM.
VOTA Massachusetts is looking for more ops. As of January 27, 2023 we have 10 operators signed up to operate as W1AW/1 for the Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) and are looking for more for the April 12th to 18th week-long session.
If you are interested in learning more or becoming an operator, please contact Larry, W1AST, at W1AST@arrl.net.
Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list:
This morning, as I often do, when, listening to various things with my RTL-SDR, I sometimes go to the “SondeHub Tracker” website to see if there are any weather balloons I might be able to hear using my RTL-SDR.
This morning, I was surprised to see a balloon tracking north eastward over Millis, MA, and heading directly overhead where I live in Waltham MA.
I decided to zoom in on it, and follow it, and to my surprise, it had it landing somewhere in Lexington MA.
As it descended and got closer to the ground, I zoomed in on that area and realized it was just a short drive from where I lived. So I decided to get my 70 cm meter Yagi, jump in the car and head in that direction more precisely Pretty close to the location. It predicted it would be on the ground.
To my surprise, when I got in the area, I could hear the Radio-Sonde loud and clear, and I proceeded to an address that I had put in my GPS, got out of the car with the Yagi in one corner of the parking lot, (it was the horseshoe type, which will go behind the building and come out to the street on the other side of the property) and discovered that it was more towards the street.
Looking in the trees and over the roof of the building, I couldn’t see it, but the signal was strong. Having gotten that far and figuring it could be on the flat roof of the building and it being cold and drizzly outside I decided to head home.
To my surprise, on the way out of the driveway, what do I see? An orange parachute laying across the lane, I immediately jumped out of the car, went around to the front of the building, and there hanging on a string was the Radio-Sonde. Seeing nobody was around, I tugged the Radio-Sonde down out of the bush, wrapped it up and jumped in my car. (I hope nobody will be upset with me for grabbing the Radio-Sonde).
Radio-sonde
After I got in the car, I noticed it was an on off switch, turned it off, read the label, and this particular Radio-Sonde requests that you do not send it back to the national weather service.
Well, I have a parachute and Radio-Sonde what to do with it? I don’t know, perhaps, just keep it as a souvenir, and toss the plastic parachute, which I cannot seem to find any kind of use for.
All in all, a fun and interesting new kind of hunt for me!
This year, the ARRL is honoring volunteers with its Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) operating event. The event starts January 1 and ends December 31, 2023
Twice a year, for one week, each state will be activated as W1AW/1 (for call area 1 Massachusetts, for example). To make this happen, we need ops to get Massachusetts on the air.
Would you like to be an W1AW/1 activator for the first session this spring? The first MA session is Wednesday, April 12 through Tuesday, April 18.
Would you like to know more? Contact Larry, W1AST, at W1AST@arrl.net.
Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, writes on YCCC mailing list:
Rob Leiden, K1UI, writes:
Larry Krainson, W1AST, writes:
