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HF capability at the Framingham Amateur Radio Association‘s club station, W1FY has recently been improved, according to FARA’s Sumner Weisman, W1VIV.

Weisman says a new 40/80 meter trap dipole was erected on the roof by he and W1JSS. The trap dipole complements an existing 10/15/20 meter yagi.

“All bands operate very well,” comments W1VIV. “The sunspot cycle is growing nicely, and there are even good 10-meter openings for the first time in a while.  Members are invited to come on down and get on the air any Saturday morning.”

The Minuteman Repeater Association has begun work on a new 440 MHz repeater in Lowell.

According to MMRA officials, the repeater “would provide additional coverage along the north end of I-495.” It will be situated at the Saints Medical Center in Lowell. The operating frequency will be 442.250 output/447.250 input, with 88.5 PL CTCSS. The hardware was donated to MMRA by K1ST.

–Thanks, KA8SCP and The Minuteman, Nov. 2010

A nagging problem with the Drupal Agenda Calendar module has caused this site to display EMA events with the incorrect date. Even though events were entered in local EST/EDT, club meetings beginning on or after 0000 GMT (7:00 PM ET) were being displayed on the following day (GMT date) rather than the expected local date. An upgrade of the Agenda module has fixed this problem.

We apologize for the issue, and encourage all club contacts to review the calendar to ensure that their club meeting dates and times are correctly displayed.

You can view the summary version of the EMA event calendar in the right hand column of the EMA ARRL home page, or the full calendar at http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=7cfp0coduepuile63ivihhlq78%40group.calendar.google.com. A shorter version of this link is: http://tinyurl.com/37kk64y.

Jim Ussailis of National Wireless, Inc. will present on software defined radio on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at a meeting of The Consultants Network at 6:30 PM. The meeting location is at Foley Hoag LLP, Emerging Enterprise Center, Bay Colony Corporate Center, 1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000, North Entrance, Waltham, MA.

The meeting is free and open to the public. For further details, see http://is.gd/h84NO.

—Thanks, BARS-W1HH list

Please see the following as received by MEMA Public Information Officer Peter Judge:

MA, NH, SEABROOK STATION TO CONDUCT NOV. 10th SIREN DEMONSTRATION 
                     

On Wednesday, November 10th, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of New Hampshire, in conjunction with Seabrook Nuclear Power Station, will conduct an audible demonstration of all 121 of the Public Alert and Notification System (PANS) sirens that are located within Seabrook Station’s 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ).  There are 27 sirens located in Massachusetts, within the communities of Amesbury, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and West Newbury, with 94 in New Hampshire.

This demonstration is a public information endeavor designed to increase public awareness of what the sirens sound like and what to do if they are ever sounded due to a declared emergency. The siren demonstration will begin at 12:30pm, lasting from 3-5 minutes, and will be ending at approximately 12:35pm.  No public action will be necessary.

While the PANS sirens can be used to notify the public of any kind of emergency (i.e. weather, homeland security event, etc.), the purpose of this November 10th demonstration is to provide the public within the 23 Seabrook Station EPZ communities an opportunity to again hear the siren tone that would be utilized by Massachusetts and New Hampshire to alert the public of an emergency at Seabrook Station. 

The demonstration is intended to complement information published annually in the Emergency Public Information Calendars for Neighbors of Seabrook Station in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  The annual emergency public information calendars advise the public that if they hear the PAN siren tone, for three to five minutes, tune to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) radio station for their state (93.7 FM, 92.5 FM, 1030 AM, 98.5 FM and 1450 AM in MA; 97.5 FM in NH) for specific information and directions.  The demonstration is intended to reinforce that message.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is the state agency responsible for coordinating federal, state, local, voluntary and private resources during emergencies and disasters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  MEMA provides leadership to: develop plans for effective response to all hazards, disasters or threats; train emergency personnel to protect the public; provide information to the citizenry; and assist individuals, families, businesses and communities to mitigate against, prepare for, and respond to and recover from emergencies, both natural and man made. For additional information about MEMA and Preparedness, go to www.mass.gov/mema. Follow MEMA updates on Facebook and Twitter.

A new 222 MHz repeater in Dartmouth will soon be operational along side the existing 927.6500 repeater. The Southeastern MA Amateur Radio Association voted unanimously at a recent meeting to allocate funds for the purchase of duplexers and related accessories. [Full story]

Curtis Wright, AA3JE writes:

Just a note to let you know that [the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association] Emergency Communications Team did us and their community a great service Friday [Oct. 29] when they participated in a Homeland Security drill at the Fuller School.

This was one of the mandatory drills that needs to be conducted to maintain our State grants, and it was attended by the Mayor of Gloucester, the Finance Chief (does our lease), and Town Administrators or equivalent and first responders from Essex, Manchester and Rockport.

It was an anxious day for me, as since I had worked on the planning, I could not participate.

The EmComm team handled communications, were professional, learned, and uniformly I heard, “I had no idea hams could do that” from table after table.

What a wonderful performance. Did us proud.

Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes:

The Lowell CERT communications team was called to action this past Sunday, October. 17th, to provide multiple communications activities for the Bay State Marathon, now the third largest marathon in New England. Communications unit leader Terry Stader, KA8SCP was contacted several weeks ago with the thought that Amateur Radio could provide a link from one of the medical groups housed in the visitor’s locker-room at LeLacheur Field in Lowell, to the incident command post located at the base of the Rourke Bridge. They were also asked, during the course of planning, if they would be able to provide a link for “accountability”, where family and friends of runners could be advised the status those runners on the course. Both medical and accountability nets were established for the race by the CERT team members. The entire ham radio operation was conducted using 2 meter simplex frequencies and after a couple of key antenna placement issues, flawless communications was established.

Additional Lowell CERT personnel were used on the course for various runner support activities as well. The incident command staff were pleased with the hams ability to overcome radio communications obstacles they had encountered in the past. Lowell CERT Communications Unit members are active ARES (Northern Middlesex ARES) and RACES (Region 1 RACES) members who also support the Upper Merrimack Valley MRC when needed. This is the first time the Lowell CERT unit was activated for a special event and will be more than likely be called to return to the Bay State Marathon as well as other Lowell-area events. Stader thanks all the ham that assisted as well as the Lowell public safety (Fire and Office of Emergency Management) personnel that asked for Amateur Radio support for this event and displayed their ability to communicate, when all else failed.

Terry M. Stader, KA8SCP
MEMA Region 1 Communications/RACES Officer
ARRL EMA Assistant Section Manager
NESMC Eastern Massachusetts Director
Senior Club Advisor, PART of Westford, MA – WB1GOF
WB1GOF and K1HRO D-Star Gateway Administrator
WB1GOF-R (Node 380799) Echolink Administrator
(978) 692-2069 Home
(978) 490-8150 Nextel
180*262823*22 Nextel D/C

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club has been informed that it is the recipient of a $500 Harvard Pilgrim Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant. WARC’s Elayne Tovet, KB1IKH, a Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare employee, submitted the application for the grant on behalf of the WARC.

In the letter, Laura S. Peabody, Chair, and Karen Voci, Executive Director of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, respectively, wrote: “The Foundation gives you this grant to support and enhance your community program. We greatly appreciate the work you do.”

The Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grants Program was created by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to commemorate the first anniversary of September 11, 2001 through a special contribution to its Foundation. The Foundation administers this special fund and distributes the Mini-Grants to non-profit organizations that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Health Plans Inc. and Dell Perot employees nominate.

WARC will use the funds to help construct an emergency communications “Go Kit.”

Congratulations to the Whitman Amateur Radio Club in securing this special funding to help further their service to the Whitman community!

–Thanks, Whitman ARC Spectrum (“The Voice of the Humble Electron”), October 2010

Paul Laconto, W1NP writes:

On October 16, 17, 2010 the Cape Cod and Island Council of the Boy Scouts of America is sponsoring the annual Jamboree On The Air scouting communication event at Camp Greenough along with fellow ham radio operators to communicate with scouts in the United States and the world. The event is an international undertaking and will be held at the pavilion near the administration building at the camp. Barnstable Amateur Radio Club amateurs and others along with Cape Cod Explorer Post 73 amateurs will be operating the stations [under the call sign W1EXP]. The event will begin on Saturday Oct. 16 at 9:00 AM and continue into the evening. On Sunday Oct 17 the event will begin at 9:00 AM and continue to about 3:00 PM. This event is opened to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Explorers and Venturers.

During the event ham radio operators will establish a contact with other JOTA stations or individual ham stations and allow our scouts to have conversations with other scouts or radio amateurs in various parts of the country and the world. The ham radio operators will also demonstrate various modes of communication that they use.

The modes of communication planned are as follows:

HF communication via voice contacts on the 6, 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80-meter radio frequency bands where the scouts will communicate with each other throughout the United States and the world.

VHF communication via voice contacts on the 2-meter radio frequency band through repeaters. Scouts will be able to talk to other scouts in the New England area in this mode.

PACKET communications via Radio and computer together connecting to other packet stations to relay messages directly or into their station mailbox. Winlink connection will able scouts to send emails through the radio to their families and friends.

APRS communications (automatic positioning reporting system) With the use of VHF radio, computer and GPS units, this mode of operation allows ham stations to send beacons which get displayed on a map and from this map messages can be sent from station to station. Mobiles with GPS units and radios in their vehicle will have their signals transmitted to the map as well at a predetermined interval. Therefore you can watch the vehicle travel on the map to its destination.

PSK31 communication is a digital mode with the use of HF radios and computers to connect to ham stations throughout the world. This mode requires less power to connect and the conversations are through a computer keyboard.

ECHOLINK communications is a computer to computer or a computer to radio mode, which connects to the Internet where you can select a station who you wish to talk to from a list. This mode of operation, stations listed are from all over the world.

CW mode also known as Morse code. At this mode you can have communication with stations over the world and was one of the first modes that ham operators needed to learn and is still popular today.

SLOW SCAN TV MODE This mode of communication allows for sending pictures between stations through radio and computers combined.

There are additional modes we may demonstrate depending on equipment availability.

You will be able to see and experience the equipment needed that ham operators use such as different types of radios, power supplies, antennas and other misc. equipment.

We will also have other related activities during the event for participation.

We will have literature available and we will have a limited amount of 100 aniversary of scouting JOTA patches for distribution to the scouts for those who participate.

Boy scouts who plan on working toward their Radio merit badge can achieve some of their requirements at this event.

We will also have a signup for any youth or adult wishing to take a class to to get his or her ham radio license which will be given on the Thanksgiving weekend at the Marconi museum in Chatham, MA. and after the class will take the Technician license exam.