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Licensing Education & Training / Youth

New England Sci-Tech General Class Course, Natick, March 16-17, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

New England Sci Tech logoFor 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 1 pm, 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.

For more information and to register, visit <https://www.nescitech.org/product/weekend-general-class/>. For questions, e-mail bobphinney at nescitech.org or call 508-720-4179.

 

Operating

Gloucester 440 Repeater on Wolf Pack Network

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Brian Gudzevich, WO1VES, writes on the Cape Ann ARA mailing list:

 
I am happy to announce that I have the long awaited link from the Gloucester 443.700 Fusion repeater to the Wolf Pack Network up and running.  This network currently features four repeaters that are either part time or full time linked.  This includes:
 
Stoneham 147.075
Gloucester 443.700
Farmington NH 147.240
Methuen 443.825
 
There is also a YSF Reflector available for use with hotspots.  You can connect your hotspot to “US WolfDen”.  Echolink works as well; you can connect to “WO1VES-R”.
 
Note, this link is still in testing.  Expect issues, and let me know if you encounter any problems.
 
I hope to be at the meeting on Saturday if anyone has any questions about the link.
 
Thanks, everyone.  Comments are always welcome.
 
 
Operating / Public Information / Youth

W1BSA Special Event Operation, USS Massachusetts, Fall River, April 27, 2019

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NE1PL QSL cardUncommon Service to Nautical Radio  will host a special event operation W1BSA aboard the USS Massachusetts in Fall River, on Apr 27, 2019 from 1000-1600 ET.  Look for W1BSA on 14.259 and 7.259.

“The Scouts stay overnight on the ship Friday and on Saturday nights,” writes Rick Emord, KB1TEE.  “We have been doing this event since 2015 and have tried to showcase Amateur Radio.” Rick adds, “we have put some of the Scouts on the air and we look forward to seeing them and other visitors to Battleship Cove.”

Stations may QSL via USTNR c/o Rick Emord, 135 Wareham St., Middleboro, MA 02346.

 

Clubs / Technical

W1DYJ to Present FT8 Talk at Minuteman Repeater Association, March 20, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

MMRA logoThe Minuteman Repeater Association will feature Larry Banks, W1DYJ, who will present “FT8: Not a Prefix, a Powerful New Mode” on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 7:00 PM. The meeting location is the Microsoft Technology Center, 5 Wayside Rd, Burlington, MA 01803.  (Directions)

“FT8 showed up on the ham horizon in August 2017, and has since become the ‘hot new mode.’ Larry will discuss its history and how to set up your station. He will also introduce a supporting application called JTAlert and highlight some reporting web sites. He will end with his personal experience using FT8 to chase DX.”

 

Public Service

EMA Public Service List

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

photo of Start line, Walk for HungerThanks to input from: Chris Winczewski, K1TAT; the Cape Ann ARA; Eric Horwitz, KA1NCF; the North Shore RA; Brett Smith, AB1RL; PART of Westford; and the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association we’re pleased to present a comprehensive list of public service events in Eastern Massachusetts. 

If your club is sponsoring a public service event and would like to be listed, please contact Phil Temples, K9HI, at <k9hi@arrl.org> for inclusion.

Licensing Education & Training

Cape Ann ARA “Tech In A Day”, Gloucester, March 30, 2019

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See Cape Ann ARA Tech In A Day Session Cancelled

The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association is conducting one of its highly successful Tech In A Day®  review sessions at the Lanesville Community Center in Gloucester on March 30, 2019.

“Interested people can sign up by sending a message to techinaday@caara.net,” writes Stan Stone, W4HIX. The cost is $5, which includes materials and snacks. Testing is $15.

Stone indicates they have room for 25 students.

Emergency Communications / Licensing Education & Training

ARRL Launches Intro to Emergency Communications Courses for 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

ARRL’s Lifelong Learning Department is excited to announce the launch of the recently revised Introduction to Emergency Communications (EC-001) course. As part of this new initiative, the course has been updated, beta-tested by a group of course mentors, and transferred into a new online learning platform.

With the closing of the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) in mid- 2018, EC-001 lost its virtual home and was taken offline. At that point ARRL’s Emergency Preparedness staff started working with the new Lifelong Learning team to explore short and long-term alternatives for offering the course. After a period of careful evaluation and review, the decision was made to move the course from the previous Moodle platform to a more modern Learning Management System called Canvas, which will be used while the new Lifelong Learning Initiative program is being developed. The EC-001 course will eventually become part of this new, comprehensive online learning environment.

EC-001 is designed to provide basic knowledge and tools for any emergency communications volunteer. We hope this course will be the starting point for you in your service to your community as radio amateurs and inspire you to think outside the box and look at new and useful ways the radio amateur can lend a hand to the public that has given us the trust of our spectrum of skills. With the online format, students can access the course at any time from anywhere during a 9-week period, so you may work according to your own schedule.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer Introduction to Emergency Communications EC-001 once again” states Kris Bickell, ARRL Lifelong Learning Manager. “The Emergency Preparedness staff at ARRL has been incredibly helpful while we’ve worked together to get the course back up and running. And the input from previous EC-001 mentors has been an invaluable part of the testing phase. The timing is right to put the course back online.”

As in the past, students will be able to register and take the course entirely online. The Canvas platform is also mobile-responsive, meaning that students can view the course materials, interact with fellow students, and complete assignments from any mobile device.

Each course will run for nine (9) weeks, with a group of up to 30 students who will be supported by an experienced mentor. There will be no cost for the course, although students must meet certain pre-requisites to be eligible to participate, which are listed on the registration page.

To view the 2019 course schedule and to register: http://www.arrl.org/online-course-registration.

Licensing Education & Training / Youth

New England Sci-Tech Amateur Extra Course, Take Any 9 Sessions

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

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 February 28, 2019 until May 30, 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]

Emergency Communications

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for Monday March 4 at 8:30pm

- by kc1cic - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

The monthly ARES Net for March is Monday the 4th, at 8:30 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: http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety), interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: <https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA>. A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: <https://www.vatsim.net/pilot-resource-centre/general-lessons/understanding-atis>. We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation.

Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at <https://ema.arrl.org/ares>. Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Rob Macedo, KD1CY
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Operating / Youth

NN1C Featured on Newsline: “Young Contesters of Team Exuberance Live Up to Their Name”

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Newton teen Marty Sullaway, NN1C, was featured in the March 1, 2019 Amateur Radio Newsline broadcast in a segment entitled, “YOUNG CONTESTERS OF TEAM EXUBERANCE LIVE UP TO THEIR NAME.” He’s interviewed by the anchor about a group of youths working together as a multi-operator contest team for CQ WPX later this month. 

Marty was also mentioned for the lead-in to the next story announcing nominations for the 2019 Amateur Radio Newsline logoYoung Ham Of The Year Award:

NEIL/ANCHOR: A team of young hams is being assembled for the CQ Worldwide WPX contest March 30th and 31st. Co-leader Marty Sullaway, NN1C tells how it all started.

 

MARTY: The idea for this project came from Violetta, KM4ATT. Violetta was the one who approached Tim Duffy, K3LR, the owner of the K3LR superstation, to make this a go. She was inspired by her operations from PJ2T as part of the Dave Kalter Youth DX project, and wanted to continue her operating career.

 

NEIL: Planning is a major undertaking, but the team is fulfilling that role as well.

 

MARTY: Part of multi operator contesting is working together as a team to build the contest plan, as well as figuring out all the logistics for the actual contest operation. So as a youth team, we are internally handling all the logistics regarding flights, hotels, meals, contest scheduling, operator scheduing, station information and handbooks; and really making this a comprehensive effort. We are taking this extremely seriously, and we hope our diligent planning will pay off, all of this being handled by fantastic youth. So we’re really looking forward to that.

 

NEIL: Marty also talked to me about the goals of this event.

 

MARTY: We really view this as an excellent opportunity to get youth involved in amateur radio contesting, youth that already know how to contest get more experience, work together as a team, have fun (because we do this to have fun, right?), and gain skill. So this is an activity in skill building, team building, networking, having a lot of fun on the radio contesting… Hopefully this is the start of some bigger work to engage youth in contests in North America.

 

NEIL: To provide funding for some of the young hams to get to the K3LR superstation, a GoFundMe page has been set up. You can find it at TeamExuberance.org.

 

** IN SEARCH OF NOMINATIONS FOR THIS YEAR’S YHOTY AWARD

 

NEIL: Youthful exuberance is, in fact, one of the core criteria we look for in candidates for Young Ham of the Year. We just heard from Marty Sullaway NN1C who was Amateur Radio Newsline’s Young Ham of the Year for 2017. Last year’s winner was Bryant Rascoll, KG5HVO, of Montgomery, Alabama. We have opened up the nomination period once again and are in search of candidates who, like Marty and Bryant, have offered the amateur community the best of their talents. All information is available on our website, arnewsline.org, under the YHOTY tab. You’ll be able to download a nomination form which is due back to us before midnight on May 31st.

Clubs

K1USN Radio Club Shack Closed, March 2, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

USS Lawence/ K1USN QSL card“Pi” Pugh, K1RV, writes on the K1USN Radio Club mailing list:

“It looks like we will be hit with some nasty weather in the morning and we’ve decided not to open up K1USN [in Braintree] in order to allow the town trucks access to the rear parking lot for snow removal.
 
“Perhaps you all might want to stay indoors with some hot coffee, tea or chocolate and have some fun on the HF bands.”
Clubs / Organization / Regulation & Advocacy

ARRL Leadership Talk at Billerica ARS Meeting, March 6, 2019

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Billerica ARS logoThe Billerica Amateur Radio Society will feature presentations by Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Manager Tom Walsh, K1TW, and ARRL New England Vice Director, Mike Reisbeck, K1TWF, at its monthly meeting in Chelmsford on March 6, 2019 at 7 PM. Mike will discuss the ARRL Board of Directors meeting; Tom will describe the proposed hands-free cell bill now in the Massachusetts Legislature. Additional information and directions can be found on the club’s web site.

[This talk was rescheduled to March when a dangerous ice storm forced cancellation of the original February meeting.]
All

FCC Universal Licensing System Will Be Down for Maintenance Beginning March 1, 2019

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

FCC sealThe FCC has announced that the Universal Licensing System (ULS), which processes Amateur Radio license applications, will be offline for scheduled maintenance from 0300 UTC until 1300 UTC on Saturday, March 2 (starting late on Friday, March 1, in continental US time zones).

The FCC said all applications submitted on Friday, March 1, and Monday, March 4, will be processed on Tuesday, March 5.

The outage will affect ULS Application Search, License Search, License Manager, Tower Construction Notification System, E-106 System, Antenna Structure Registration, ASR Application Search, ASR Registration Search, Application GeoSearch, 800 MHz, and Ownership Information Search.

Thanks, ARRLWeb

Operating

WRTC 2018 Movie Now Available Online

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
photo of WRTC 2018 event
photo courtesy K5KG

The official 2018 World Radiosport Team Championship documentary is now available for viewing online at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwf-2f0cbjk&t=807s>. It is narrated in German and contains English captions. You’ll want to download this and show at a future club meeting.

“Many thanks to DM6WAN and his team for producing this beautiful piece of documentation of an unforgettable event,” writes WRTC 2018 President Chrisian Janen, DL1MGB.

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

March 2, 2019 Eastern MA Hospital Net

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone,

Net Control for the March 2,2019 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH, The South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club . The net will commence at the usual time of 10:AM using the following repeaters in the order listed.

1. Attleboro 147.195 Mhz tone 127.3
2. Boston 145.230 Mhz tone encode 88.5 decode 100.0
3. Plymouth 146.685 Mhz tone 131.8
4. Simplex 147.42 Mhz

The Net will then return to the Attleboro 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.

Any hospital wishing to join the net that needs assistance with equipment or personnel should contact us at ssharc@gmail.com. We can assist you with getting your location on the air.

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested please let us know. Our goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many groups as possible.

We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct the monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event. The following list of repeaters are 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.

REMINDER: The BARC Repeater is now using split tone. Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0

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

We look forward to hearing you all on the Net.

Respectfully,

John O’
K1JRO

—

South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club – W1SSH
55 Fogg Road, Box 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190

Emergency Communications / NTS / Public Service

New ARES Plan Approved by ARRL Board of Directors Press Release

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

The ARRL Board of Directors at their last board meeting approved the new ARES Strategic Plan and on Tuesday 2/19/19 put out a press release on the strategic plan and a link to the finalized ARES plan. Details can be found at the following links:

New Plan Aligns ARES with the needs of served agencies
ARES Strategic Plan

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be following these plans and will make adjustments to the ARES workshop materials to reflect the new ARES structure and strategic plan.