All

Roland Diagnault, N1JOY writes:

Members of the Bristol County Repeater Association and Team HAMCOW will be on Martha’s Vineyard Island for our annual DX-Pedition. The HAMCOW trailer will be set up at the Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah Circle operating from 160 Meters through 1296 MHz. Work W1ACT for NEQP Dukes County, IOTA, Gay Head Lighthouse, or the Spring Microwave Sprint on 903 & 1296 MHz on Saturday 5/7 from 6AM to 1PM.

Follow the event with regular web updates and photos at http://hamcow.net and check if you are in our logs by clicking on the green ONLINE button to search our contest logs in near real time. This page is also a good place to see what frequencies we are currently operating on.

The Cape Ann Amateur radio Association is offering a Tech-in-a-Day Course on Saturday, May 7th at the Lanesville Community Center on 8 Vulcan Street in Gloucester.

The course, led by CAARA President Stan Stone, W4HIX starts at 8:00 AM with sign up and will consist of six study periods throughout the day until 4 PM, with an hour for lunch and breaks in-between. Attendees can bring their lunch or visit one of several nearby restaurants. A volunteer exam session will be held at the end of the day.

The course fee is $20.00 which covers course materials, testing fees and snacks. Space is limited. Register via email to stan@lanescove.us to reserve your spot. Please bring two forms of identification. One must be a picture ID; the other must include your Social Security Number to process your FCC license application.

“This course will provide a quiet place to study and prepare for the test,” according to CAARA Clerk Dean Burgess, KB1PGH.

Hello to all..

While this may be a bit off topic for some SKYWARN Spotters, Amateur Radio Operators and Red Cross volunteers, many of which are SKYWARN Spotters, will be involved in the Boston Marathon on Monday April 18th. To reach out to the highest level of Amateur Radio Operators involved in the event, this coordination message is being sent out to the SKYWARN email list and posted to the various Amateur Radio lists. We appreciate everyone’s patience with this message. This is likely to be the only coordination message on the Marathon unless a significant change in the weather forecast occurs. See information below:

Eastern Massachusetts ARES members not participating in the Boston Marathon should be in a heightened state of awareness for marathon activities on Monday April 18th from 7 AM-7 PM for any significant issues outside of the Boston Marathon that may require Amateur Radio Emergency Communications support and for any unexpected issues on the Boston Marathon route. With over 300 Amateur Radio Operators staffing the Boston Marathon route, the start line and the finish line, if an issue arises needing Amateur Radio support outside of the Marathon route or an unexpected issue arises in marathon operations, it is important that any ARES members not involved in the marathon can help with any response that is required. There will be two backup operation centers including the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net Control Center at the town of Bridgewater EOC.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) UCC (Unified Command Center) at the SEOC (State Emergency Operations Center) will be active for the Boston Marathon. Amateur Radio Operators will be at the SEOC to support backup operations while many agencies will be there performing primary operations for the marathon. A Press Release from MEMA can be seen at the following link:

http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/News_Release_MACC_2011.pdf

The weather outlook for the Boston Marathon is one that should be favorable for volunteers and favorable to slightly warm for the runners. The Weather Forecast across the Boston Marathon is for partly to mostly sunny conditions throughout the day. There will be a 15-20 MPH breeze with gusts of 25-30 MPH along the route. Temperatures will range in the mid to upper 30s early in the morning warming to around 50 degrees by mid to late morning to the upper 50s to around 60 degrees by afternoon. This means that conditions for the runners should be reasonable with an ‘average’ amount of ambulance requests along the route versus some prior years where warmer weather conditions resulted in some of the highest amounts of ambulance requests since Amateur Radio Operators have handled the event. It is noted that conditions this year are about the same to slightly warmer than last year so ambulance requests should be similar to or slightly higher than last year’s marathon.

For Amateur Radio, Red Cross and all other volunteers along the route, it is recommended that you dress in layers for this event so that you can put on or take off clothes as needed for comfort. Be sure to drink liquids and eat properly during the event and that you are self-sufficient so that you can be of full help to the function and not distract everyone from the main purpose of supporting the runners by having a health issue on your end that can be avoided. No rain is expected at this time so there should be no need for rain gear.

Barring a significant change in the weather forecast, this will be the only coordination message on the Boston Marathon. We appreciate everyone’s support in this event and hope those that volunteer enjoy themselves and feel the self-satisifcation of supporting this historic event and those that are monitoring the Marathon or events outside of the Marathon realize that the monitoring is an important function as well and is a testament to being able to scale other incidents beyond the marathon if required. Thanks to all for their support!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator        
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

Bob Kelley, K1KVV writes on SEMARA discussion list:

CQ CQ CQ

If you’ve been licensed for three years or less (or you know someone like that) then give the ARRL’s Rookie Roundup a try on April 17th. It’s a contest in which the Rookies (that’s you) are sought after by the experienced stations instead of vice versa! This is the Phone version – there will be an RTTY and a CW version later in the year! Try web-based logging at In The Log. Stay tuned to the ARRL Rookie Roundup page for more information about on-line logging and certificates.

PART of Westford members will operate special event station K1P in Concord on Patriots’ Day weekend in Massachusetts, a state holiday which commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord–the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Look for K1P on the bands April 16-17 on 80 through 10 meters as conditions permit. More details are available at http://www.wb1gof.org/K1P/K1P.html.

The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Rado Association has placed its new 224.800 repeater on the air, along with a temporary APRS station (W1AEC-1) on 144.390 MHz.

Hello to all..

The National Weather Service Taunton Massachusetts forecast office in coordination with the National Hurricane Center will be hosting the P3 Hurricane Hunter Aircraft, part of the NOAA/National Hurricane Center Hurricane Awareness Tour, on Monday May 2nd, 2011 at the Otis Air Force Base (AFB) in Falmouth Massachusetts. Public tours will be open from 230-530 PM. School tours will occur between 930 AM-130 PM. This is similar to what was done in 2007 at Quonset State Airport in Rhode Island. A flyer on the Hurricane Awareness Tour can be seen via the following link:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box//HAT_tour.shtml

In addition to the P3 Hurricane Hunter Aircraft, there will be numerous information booths from numerous agencies at the base for the Hurricane Awareness Tour. This will include a ‘special event’ Amateur Radio Station to make contacts via Amateur Radio nationally and internationally and will include making contact with the National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio Station in Miami Florida, WX4NHC. Amateur Operators will also be providing event communications for National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center personnel. The list of other Information booths for the Hurricane Awareness Tour is shown below:

National Weather Service Taunton
Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC)
Two HAM stations (One sponsored by the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association with a second sponsored by Cape Cod Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES))
URI Hurricane: Science and Society
Mass Military Reservation
Stellwagen Bank
Radio Station – WQRC
UMass Lowell – AMS/NWA
Cape Cod Medical Reserve Corps
Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) – Region 1

We ask for wide distribution of this announcement and are looking forward to a great turnout for this event. This announcement will be retransmitted and updated with any changes as we draw closer to this special event.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator        
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

A short exercise was held March 20, 2011 to test communications readiness involving the newly established South Coast Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio (HEAR) Network.

Ham help is needed for the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races, Sunday April 17, 2011.

The BAA 5K & 1 Mile Races start and finishes in Boston’s Back Bay the day before the Marathon.

The 5k race starts around 8:00 AM just forward the marathon’s finish line and heads down Boylston St. to the Boston Common, around the Common, down Beacon Street to Arlington St to Commonwealth Ave down Commonwealth Ave to Hereford ST then to Boylston St ending at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The Mile Races start after the 5k race. The mile races use the marathon’s finish line as the start and finish points. The 1 mile races start just after the finish of the 5k race. This is another excellent event for Hams new to public service to gain experience. Ham support for these races starts around 7:00 AM and ends around noon. (Note that this is the day before the Boston Marathon, but no logistical interference is expected between these events, and the Ham communications will be independent of the Marathon.)

Ham support for this event is straightforward, however, our communications support will make the day safe and smooth for all. For those who are new to ham public service, this event is a good introduction and we need your help. For those who have done this before, your help is needed more than ever.

A 2-meter, 5 watt hand-held is satisfactory the assignments at the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races. A dual-band radio is desirable, but not required. The “rubber duck” antenna that came with your radio should all you need for this event, but if you have a better antenna for your radio take it with you. It will be helpful. Be sure you charge the radio’s battery before the event. If you have extra batteries for your radio take them as a back-up.

Ham public service is interesting and offers fun experiences. The communication load for this event light, but safety and support for the participants are always our primary concern.

If you can help with the BAA’s 5k & 1 Mile Races, Sunday April 17, 2011, please reply to me with all of the following information as soon as possible. If you have already volunteered, bear with me and reply to this message, also. Reply by email is the best method.

Full name
On-air name
Call sign
Postal mailing address (including 9-digit ZIP code)
Evening phone
Day phone
Cell phone
Email address
Does your 2-meter radio have CTCSS (PL)?
Do you have a dual-band radio?
Do you have a magnetic mount antenna?
T-shirt size

Let me know if you have volunteered for this event before and want the same assignment. While I cannot guarantee the same assignment, I will try my best to give you the assignment you want. Note that we cannot assure you that all preferences can be granted. Try to get back to me as quickly as you can.

If you know other hams who would like to volunteer, ask them to send the above information to me. If you are new and want to get more public service experience, this is an excellent event to get your feet wet. As significant as our communications will be, this event is a low impact opportunity to learn the ropes.

Your assistance is valuable. Please let me know promptly if you can help. I will get the assignments and more details to you as soon possible. If you have already volunteered, bear with me and reply to this message, also. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or would like to recommend another ham to join us.

73,

Tom Bertolino, KB1P
kb1p@arrl.net
781-608-6186

Brockton Emergency Management is sponsoring a ham radio class each Saturday in April from 1:00 to 5:00 PM at the VA Medical Center, Building 22, in training rooms 1 and 2.

Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes on PART-L:

A heads-up to all our D-Star and Echolink users….

As everyone knows, Japan has been under the influence of a horrific situation as a result of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. There are rolling blackouts and complete loss of power as well as major breaks to communications infrastructure throughout the country.

Many of the “ancillary” communications portions of Amateur Radio in Japan are also suffering from power and internet connectivity loss as you can probably understand. Only vital communications support is being provided in and out of the country.

Please do not initiate any Echolink or D-Star connections to JA stations. Because of the way D-Star and Echolink function in Japan, it is possible that you could interrupt an important communications link in progress by blindly calling in to a link.

If a Japan station is functional and they wish to initiate connections, that is of course their prerogative, but we do ask that you do NOT initiate those connections inbound at this time.

Thanks for your understanding.

Terry

Ron Silvia, WB1HGA writes:

If you all don’t already know, QRP Amateur Radio Club International is currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary (Golden Jubilee) this year. I been a member of this club since 1980. Our goal is to promote (discover) and encourage QRP activity. The club holds as many radio ‘tests as ARRL does and are very popular and well attended. There are also QRP calling frequencies on each bands. Awards are also provided, such as the 1000 miles per watt, QRP WAS, etc. To celebrate this anniversary, they are having one state represented each week. The club call is issued to that state and for one week, make as many QSOs as possible.

I have volunteered to be the point of contact for MA. I have two tasks to perform in preparation: To select a week to represent MA, then gather ops to use their stations with the club’s call.

I would like to select a week that can be both radio related or historically related to MA.

(NEQSO Party week has been selected by another state)

The purpose of this email is to solicit input from everyone regarding a good week to put MA on the map.

Please Email suggestions to wb1hga@arrl.net.

Afterwards, there will be an announcement as to which week MA will be represented in the QRPARCI web site.

The next phase will be seeking ops to volunteer their time to op that week using the QRPARCI club call. (Of course, you will be using 5 watts or less.) This is a fun event.

For more information about the club including the scheduled states, go to:

http://www.qrparci.org

Thank you,

Ron, WB1HGA

Former Harvard Wireless Club member Jacob Chambers, K4JQV, of Lexington, KY has received permission from the HWC to operate as W1AF/Aeronautical Mobile on a trans-Atlantic flight from Kentucky to Belguim beginning Sunday, March 13 at 0730 ET. Chamber’s jet will refuel in Bangor, Maine prior to beginning the international leg of the flight.

“I’m sure I will make it on the cluster,” said Chambers. “I don’t have an operating plan–just get QRV as the workload and other conditions permit.”

Look for W1AF/AM on the DX clusters, and possibly, the 20 meter band. QSLing instructions are expected to be posted on W1AF’s page on QRZ.com.

Thanks, W1PL and K4JQV