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On Friday evening, December 5 and Saturday morning December 6, 2008, Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)  operators from the Northeast US participated in the  Operation Snow Shoe ’08 exercise. The scenario was a major Nor’easter with 24 inches of snow and heavy ice. The weather results in catastrophic damage and disaster area declarations. Operators from Virginia to Maine to Illinois participated. Multiple communication modes were used including HF voice, military VHF frequencies, Winlink2K, MT63, and phone patches.

A drill objective was to practice station survivability with operations using emergency power and back-up antennas. “Severely austere” conditions of no phone, internet, and commercial power were practiced in some locations.  Message traffic from coastal areas with major damage was passed as far west as Iowa.  Mike Neilsen, W1MPN provided  the point of contact for the MA State EOC for the drill in MA. Reports were also collected from Carl Aveni, N1FY at the SKYWARN desk at NWS Taunton. Reports from Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS members in MA were collected, formatted as “spot reports” and forwarded. This fulfilled another drill objective of sending the disaster assessment reports to provide military and civilian federal response planners with “ground truth” that they may not be receiving from any other source. It was a challenge to co-ordinate the drill around the Skywarn  Recognition day activities!

–Thanks, Phil McNamara, N1XTB

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for November is Larry Coyle, K1QW, of Needham, MA, for his article “A Modular Receiver for Exploring the LF/VLF Bands.”

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award — given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue — is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the December issue by Wednesday, December 31.

Congratulations, Larry!

–ARRLWeb

Bruce Hayden, NI1X writes:

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club conducted a two-day special event from the Plimoth Plantation over the weekend following Thanksgiving.

Paul Burbine N1VTI, President of the Whitman Club reports that 22 area amateur radio operators set up six base stations and portable antennas at the re-creation of the 17th century Pilgrim settlement and Indian homesite and exchanged contacts with 216 other amateur radio operators in 32 States, 8 foreign countries and 3 Canadian Provinces.

The HAM operators spread the word of Plimoth Plantation over the airways, explaining about the living museum and how they found the visitors, especially the children, amazed by the actors, dressed as Pilgrims and trained to speak in the language of the time and who did not acknowledge the existence of any of our modern technical wonders as they explained about the harsh reality of early Pilgrim life.

The crew operated using both voice and Morse code and made a special contact linking the Hams in Plymouth, Massachusetts with a HAM,  Laurie Hummerstone M0VRT, in Plymouth England. The crew found amateur radio operators from all over the world eager to make contact with Plimoth Plantation. Each amateur who contacts the club station WA1NPO is entitled to receive a certificate, suitable for framing, which includes a picture of  Mayflower II, docked in Plymouth harbor, and confirms the date and time of the two way radio contact.

The adults visiting the Plantation were encouraged to send a radiogram message free of charge to friends and relatives via amateur radio. We were able to explain how amateur radio operators practice sending routine messages, via radio to amateur radio operators in the local neighborhood who pick up the phone and deliver the message free of charge. We also explained how these routine messages could quickly change to priority or emergency messages in times of National emergencies.

The licensed operators who were able to participate in this special event were: Roy Logan KB1CYV and Pete Carlson N1POO of Bridgewater; Paul Burbine N1VTI of East Bridgewater; Ron Smith N1PXX of Bryantville; Al Drollett W1SM and Bob Loring K1REL of Carver; Jeff Lehmann N1ZZN and John Murphy KB1PHN of Hanson; Matt Paine KB1OSV of Mansfield; John Coombs WQ1L of Marshfield; Mark Loring KC1ML of Plymouth; Dave Polk N1YIA of Quincy; Bruce Hayden NI1X of Raynham; Neal Harrington KBLXL of Rehoboth; Byron Piette K1YCQ of Somerset; Don Burke KB1LXH, John Miller N1UMJ, Jim Tynan KC1JET of Taunton; Bill Hayden N1FRE, Mike Supple KB1OEP, Paul Moss KB1MTW and Ron Stundze KB1OEQ of Whitman.

Left: Plimoth Plantation 2008 certificate; right: Plimoth Plantation ops Jeff Lehmann, N1ZZN and Mark Loring, KC1ML

Donald A Rosinha, WA1BXY writes on the SEMARA Discussion List:

“I will be starting the weekly 80 meter cw night again starting 12/08/08 at 8:00pm (0100z) will be on 3.545 +/- QRM. This will not be a QRS (slow speed) “net” but a comfortable speed; but will QRS for anyone who wishes. I hope to hear more local/club members this time around.

73’s

Don, WA1BXY

A Technician licensing course will be offered in October by the Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education program in conjunction with the Colonial Wireless Association. The course will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from February 10 to 26, 2009 at the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School L-Building in Concord. The fee is $20.

For more information contact Fred Harrington, KB1EMV at fharrington@concordscientific.com or to enroll, please visit http://www.ace.colonial.net/fmi/xsl/Keyword.xsl, and enter the keywords “ham radio”.

The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association will hold a 24-hour “winter” Field Day exercise beginning at noon, January 24, 2009, according to CAARA’s Briggs Longbothum, AB2NJ.

“CAARA will exercise and demonstrate our capability to deploy and communicate under emergency conditions using portable/battery power. This event is similar to the ARRL’s well-known Field Day event held every June but will be conducted in January inside our club house but using non-permanent equipment and off-grid power,” says Briggs.

“Many will remember what a good time it was last year and with that experience to build on, we can plan for even more fun this time around,” AB2NJ adds. “It’s only 24 hours but there’s room for everyone to log some Q’s for the team effort.”

The November 26, 2008 issue of the ARRL Contest Update newsletter carries this interesting item about the MIT Radio Society, W1MX and other old school club stations:

In the last issue, W1MX’s Sweepstakes check of “09” was projected to “lap the field” next year as the new 2009 licensees discover radiosport. Steve W3HF points out that the first actual licenses were not issued until 1912, so “a strict interpretation of the Sweepstakes rules would therefore say that the oldest check would be ’12’.” Checking further (so to speak), Steve found 1MX in the 1916 call book, but listed as “Calley” – MIT came later in the 1922 edition. Stations associated with educational institutions were considered “Special Land Stations” in 1913 and received call sign suffixes beginning with Y. There were ten: 9YI, 8XA, 3ZH, 9XB, 1YH, 9YN, 6YL, 2YN, 3XJ, and 9YC. The station holding its call continuously since the 1913 call book, at least, is present-day W0YI at Iowa State. Then 9YI, the W was likely tacked on in 1928 and the number converted to 0 in 1947 when the tenth district was formed. It would be great to hear some of these seminal calls on the air!

Rich Zack, K1RJZ writes on FraminghamARA-L:

W1KAB and the Algonquin Amateur Radio Club were helping with [the City of Marlborough’s] Health Dept flu shots today. What makes it really interesting was that this was actually a training exercise for a city-wide pandemic inoculation protocol. Hospital staff, hams, The Lions Club and city employees all participated. The fact that the hams had portable radios was inconsequential. The fact that the ham club was THERE to produce bodies and volunteers in quantity was the key for today anyway. Staff and volunteers clearly outnumbered those in need of flu shots.

This was exceedingly well organized to handle a civilian population volume much larger than today’s exercise. I was impressed. Something to think about.

The Boston Center for the Arts announces artist Cindy Bernard’s exhibition entitled “Silent Key”–“photographs and pigment prints inspired by the artist’s grandfather Bill Adam’s experience as a ham radio operator from 1923 until his death in 1999.” [Bill Adams was W6ANN.]

Bernard uses the “concept of sound as subject, exploring the communication between her grandfather and other ham operators across time and space.”

The exhibition will be on view at the Boston Center for the Arts from December 12, 2008 until February 15, 2009. The Center is located at 527-551 Tremont Street in Boston’s South End. It is easily accessible via MBTA subway and bus lines.

To schedule a group tour of a Mills Gallery exhibition, email Nova Benway at nbenway@bcaonline.org two weeks in advance. The BCA will contact you to confirm your reservation. Tours are free and are led by Visual Arts interns. All ages are welcome.

Mills Gallery Hours of Operation: Wednesday: 12 – 5 pm; Thursday – Saturday: 12 – 9 pm; Sunday: 12 – 5 pm. For more information about programming at the Boston Center for the Arts visit http://www.bcaonline.org.

Members of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club held their annual QSL sorting party last month to support the W1QSL Bureau.

Club members sorted 18-20,000 QSL cards at the meeting in less than two hours. “We have been keeping to that schedule for several years and it seems to be working fine.”

After the cards were sorted and collected from the sorting boxes, everyone had an opportunity to look through all the cards in the appropriate letter for their own incoming cards, saving wear and tear on the letter sorters. Afterward, the sorters enjoyed pizza and drinks.

Participants included: K1LGQ, K1LK, K1YTS, KB1KEF, KA1VOU, KB1ESR, KB1JKL, KD1LE, KD1SM, N1PQ, N1SV, N1ZRG, W1JMM, W1LTN, WA1TAC, KB1LRL, N1MGO, KT1I, K1BG, KB1JZU, W1AHM, N1UZ, K1NKR, WA1GON, W1TRC, W1LLB,
W1BYH, and W1HFN.

Photo courtesy KD1SM. Thanks, NVARC Signal, November 2008

According to Falmouth Amateur Radio Association‘s Ralph Swenson, N1YHS, the club is considering holding a Tech-In-A-Weekend course “around the end of the year” in response to the tremendous interest generated by the club’s Boy Scout Jamboree-On-The-Air activity October 18-19 in Yarmouth.

–Thanks, FARA Newsletter, November 2008

Jim Ward, N1LKJ, Eastern MA Section Traffic Manager writes:

If you like CW or want to improve your Morse Code Skills, the NTS Traffic Nets is a great place to do it. We are looking for operators to join us on the East MA. & Rhode Island CW Net (EMARICW).

The Net meets daily at 7:00 PM on 3.565 MHz. If you think it is too fast, just send QNS and they will slow down to anyone’s speed. Try it and enjoy the fun of sending and receiving traffic. Help is available for all who want to learn.

73,
Jim Ward N1LKJ STM-EMA

[For more information about the National Traffic system and traffic nets, please visit http://nts.ema.arrl.org]