All
Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net for Saturday 10/6/18
Hello to All,
Net Control for the October 6, 2018 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH, The South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club. The net will commence at the usual time of 10:00 AM using the following repeaters in the order listed and last approximately 1 hour.
1.Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5
2 Marshfield 145.390 tone 67.0
3.Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
Simplex 147.42
The Net will then return to the Sharon 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 yours 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. If you are interested please contact us at the email address listed above. Our goal is to rotate Net Control throughout the year 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.
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,
South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club – W1SSH
55 Fogg Road, Box 42
South Weymouth MA 02190
W1HFN Fox Deployed, Littleton, October 4, 2018
Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the foxhunting list at 12:52 PM on October 4, 2018:
At 12 noon today, Thursday, Oct 4th, I deployed the fox in the George and Lucy Lapp Conservation land off Newtown Road in Littleton. The frequency is 146.565, constantly running, and a voice ID of 20 seconds every minute. NO PI within a 100 ft diameter circle of the hide.
Good luck!
“Chip” Cohen, W1YW, To Receive RCA’s Lee de Forest Award
Belmont inventor and entrepreneur Nathan “Chip” Cohen, W1YW, of fractal antenna and cloaking technology fame, will receive the Radio Club of America’s Lee de Forest Award for “significant contributions to the advancement of radio communications.” The award’s namesake, de Forest, is credited with inventing the Audion vacuum tube as an amplifier in radio circuits. De Forest also popularized the word “radio” in the US, in favor of the European term “wireless.” [Details]
New England Sci-Tech Technician Course, Natick, October 13-14, 2018
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 more information and to register, visit <https://www.nescitech.org/product/weekend-technician-class/>. For questions, e-mail bobphinney at nescitech.org or call 508-720-4179.
New England Sci-Tech General-Class Course, Natick, December 8-9, 2018
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.
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.
New England Division Election Ballots Mailed
Ballots for the upcoming ARRL New England Division Director election were mailed from Newington on October 1st. If you’re an ARRL member, please make sure to vote and return your ballot so it arrives by noon on November 16th. If you do not receive your ballot by mid October, contact ARRL for a replacement.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net for October – Monday 10/1/18 at 830 PM on MMRA Network
Hello to all…
We will be continuing our monthly ARES Net in October. The monthly ARES Net for October is Monday the 1st, 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 http://ema.arrl.org/ares
Thanks for your continued support of ARES!
Rob Macedo, KD1CY
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Operation Equinox – Portable HF Ops Event Update – 9/28/18
Cape Ann ARES Emergency Coordinator KA1BTK-Gardi Winchester II, writes:
All:
‘Operation Equinox’ is definitely taking on a life of its own! From it’s humble beginnings as a suggestion that we try setting up a CAARA member’s new portable antenna mast to an event almost as big as Field Day itself, it has blossomed in just five days! The ideas have come down so fast that I just can’t keep up with administering it! With the numbers of people who are informed and planning to attend, I doubt making many QSOs are going to be likely.
But that is not what it’s all about!
As of right now, the basic plan is for a portable equipment test and set-up practice of our (your) remote emergency communications response plans, on a more individual level, as opposed to Field Day exercises that run more at a club level. We’ve been ‘dodging the bullet’ as of late, and the latest hurricane, Florence, was certainly a big Red-Flag. There are still areas of the Carolinas and Virginia that are relying on Amateur Radio communications for life support.
Are YOU ready?
So, come and bring your Go-Kits and exercise your emergency operations plans and test your equipment for readiness, Check out the plans of other Hams and maybe get some new and fresh ideas. Help us show the public what Ham Radio can do for their safety and well-being, and show newer Hams what the craft holds with higher license grades.
While there has been very little time to plan for this event, we’re sort of ‘winging-it’ this year. But, that works a bit in our favor, as a real emergency will give very little time to prepare and may give a more accurate assessment of our responses. Plans and possibilities for future events are endless!
Hope to see you there!
Operation Equinox:
Sunday, September 30th
12:00 Noon until 5:00PM +
Hospital Hill, Top of Summit Ave.
Rockport, MA, 01966
Semper Paratus! & 73’s ___________________#\____
Gardner H. Winchester II, KA1BTK, ARRL EC Cape Ann
“The most important tool for disaster recovery is communication”.
gardiw2@gmail.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/gardiw2
SEMARA Flea Market, October 6, 2018
The SEMARA Flea Market 2018 will be held on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at the SEMARA Clubhouse located at 54 Donald Street, Dartmouth, MA. The event will be held rain or shine from 9:00 AM to 12 noon, with vendor setup beginning at 8:00 AM. There is handicapped parking and access available. Over the air talk-in will be on the SEMARA 147.000 repeater. We will also be conducting a VE exam session inside the clubhouse at 10:30 AM for anyone interested in obtaining or upgrading their amateur radio license.
For more information, please contact us at (508) 997-7070 or hamfest [at] semara [dot] org.
September, 2018 Section News
The September, 2018 Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/september-2018-section-news/.
MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR AUGUST 2018
Earlier in September we saw a nice NTS presence at the ARRL Convention at Boxboro MA. At an NTS Forum we had a good turnout and some good discussion with traffic handlers from all over New England, as well as some ARES folks. We also had an excellent presentation on digital messaging for both NTS and ARES by Greg KC1CIC. Anyone who missed that can contact Greg for more information. On Sunday there were two presentations by W1YSM of CT on how to be an effective net control as well as some of the “nuts and bolts” of formal message traffic.
It is also encouraging to note in the new ARRL Strategic Plan reference to how NTS and ARES can work together. I encourage all to read this plan which can be found on the ARRL website, keyword Strategic Plan, and refer any comments by October 31 to K1TW or KD1CY in East Mass or to KB1LRL or N2YHK in West Mass before this plan becomes finalized. Note too that in East Mass Greg KC1CIC, our Assistant Section Traffic Manager, has been appointed as District Emergency Coordinator for NTS on our Section Emergency Coordinator’s staff.
Happy fall to all. Time to get those antennas ready for winter. See you on the nets.
73, Marcia KW1U
| MA STM REPORT | AUG 2018 | ||||||
| NET | SESSIONS | QTC | QNI | QTR | NM | FREQ | Net Time |
| WMTN C1 | 31 | 5 | 200 | 80 | KD2JKV | 146.91 | 10:00 Daily |
| WMTN C2 | 31 | 10 | 268 | 133 | N1YCW | 146.91 | 13:00 Daily |
| MARI | 31 | 95 | 120 | 429 | KW1U | 3565 KHz | 19:00 Daily |
| EM2MN | 31 | 121 | 196 | 601 | KC1CIC | 145.23 | 20:00 Daily |
| CM2MN | 24 | 8 | 116 | 155 | KK1X | 146.97 | 21:00 Daily |
| MARIPN | 13 | 19 | 43 | 134 | N1LAH | 3978 KHz | 18:00 Tu,Th,Sa |
| CITN | 19 | 1 | 75 | 254 | AC7RB | 147.375 | 19:30 Tu,Th, F,Sa |
| HHTN | 18 | 18 | 57 | 181 | W1HAI | MMRA Rptrs | 22:00 Su,M,W,F |
| WMEN | 3 | 0 | 59 | NA | W1JWN | 3944 KHz | 08:30 Su |
| WARPSN | 4 | 8 | 70 | NA | N1IQI | 147.225 | 08:30 Su |
| SAR | ORG | REC | SENT | DEL | TOTAL | BPL | |
| KW1U | 0 | 295 | 283 | 1 | 579 | X | |
| N1IQI | 0 | 112 | 257 | 4 | 373 | ||
| KC1CIC | 3 | 107 | 37 | 12 | 159 | ||
| N1LAH | 0 | 58 | 49 | 0 | 107 | ||
| N1TF | 0 | 33 | 48 | 7 | 88 | ||
| WA1LPM | 0 | 28 | 34 | 1 | 63 | ||
| W1RVY | 0 | 15 | 24 | 0 | 39 | ||
| KC1HHO | 0 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 36 | ||
| NV1N | 0 | 12 | 19 | 1 | 32 | ||
| W1PLK | 0 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 | ||
| W1JWM | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| PSHR (Min 70 Points) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | TOTAL |
| KC1CIC | 22 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 20 | 142 |
| KW1U | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 130 |
| N1TF | 40 | 40 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 115 |
| N1IQI | 40 | 40 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 110 |
| N1LAH | 40 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 105 |
| W1RVY | 40 | 39 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 99 |
| WA1LPM | 39 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 89 |
| KC1HHO | 28 | 36 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 79 |
| NV1N | 25 | 32 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 |
| DRS | RCV | FWD | TOTAL | ||||
| KW1U | 1078 | 1275 | 2353 | ||||
| N1IQI | 112 | 257 | 369 | ||||
| KC1CIC | 51 | 37 | 88 | ||||
| W1RVY | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| BPL = 500 POINTS EARNED | |||||||
| MARCIA FORDE STM MA | |||||||
Portable HF Ops Event
Cape Ann ARES Emergency Coordinator KA1BTK-Gardi Winchester II, writes:
Who: All Amateur Radio Operators:
Please pass this along!
Cape Cod ARES Participates in Falmouth Public Safety Fair
Cape Cod ARES District Emergency Coordinator WQ1O-Frank O’Laughlin writes:
I felt just well enough to attend the Falmouth Emergency preparedness/Safety fair day here on Cape Cod to support my new ARES ADEC Henry Brown K1WCC who headed up the event for the Falmouth ARES area of the Cape Cod and Islands ARES District. I was pleased to see the aluminum case kit that I built for him a few years back and the cooler based kit he personally built. I only brought my small camera bag radio kit. It was well attended and organized by Assistant Falmouth EMD Kim Strohm. Several Falmouth ARES folks were there. It was nice to see Henry get interviewed by Falmouth TV. It was also great to see our partners such as CERT, MRC, CC DART, Red Cross, DCR, public safety, MEMA, NWS and many others at the public safety fair.
W1PJE Presents at 37th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference
Dr. Phil Erickson, W1PJE, was the invited banquet speaker at this year’s annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference held on September 14-16, 2018, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Erickson is an assistant director and head of MIT’s Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences group at Haystack Observatory. He holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and space plasma physics from Cornell and is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the International Radio Science Union. Dr. Erickson is an Extra class ham and member of TAPR, ARRL, RSGB, Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club and the HamSCI initiative. He is the lead principal investigator of a National Science Foundation-sponsored UHF Megawatt class ionospheric radar at MIT Haystack and has authored or co-authored over 75 articles about the ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena and radio physics.
W1PJE’s talk was entitled, “Towards A 21st Century Understanding of Earth’s Upper Atmosphere: The Value of Radio Based Amateur-Scientist Partnerships.”
Whitman ARC Offering Technician Class, September 4-27, 2018
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.
Amateur Radio Newsline Highlights Eastern MA ARES Standby for Merrimack Valley Incident, VoIP Hurricane Net Support
Barnstable ARC Presence at Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival, September 15, 2018
The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club had a presence for the second year at the Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival on September 15, 2018 from 10 AM – 6 PM. The festival featured food trucks, music, community and vendor tables, and a bicycle event.
According to BARC organizers, “excellent weather and band condition made for a good weekend.”
Sturdy Memorial Hospital ARC ARES Drill, September 30, 2018
The Sturdy Memorial Hospital ARC ARES team will conduct a drill on Sunday, September 30, 2018. They will meet after breakfast at Sturdy Memorial Hospital at 10:30 AM. The drill will last for approximately an hour and a half.
“We should be home in time for 1:00 PM kickoff of the Pat-Dolphins game.”
IPAWS National Test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
UPDATE: Due to the ongoing Florence storm activities, this test has been postponed to October 3, 2:18 PM EDT.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on September 20, 2018. The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.