All

The Harvard Wireless Club is in the process of establishing a “Centennial Business Plan” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its existence with on-air events and activities throughout 2009, according to HWC President Zane Wruble, W2YL.

As part of the festivities, former HWC members would be encouraged to use their callsigns with the suffix “/100” or “/100HWC”. Non-HWC amateurs would be encouraged to contact “/100” stations who would transmit their graduating class year and calls sign while attending Harvard. Non-undergrads and alumni would send their affiliation. Certificates would be issued to anyone contacting 100, 50, 25 or ten “/100” stations.

Wruble plans to work with ARRL and FCC in the hopes of obtaining a special “W100AF” call sign for use during 2009. She also plans to establish operating schedules for HWC members to ensure that the club station is on the air “at least a few hours every week” during 2009.

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 February 12, 14, 26, and 28 at the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School L-Building in Concord. The fee is $20. At this time, the course has openings.

For more information contact Fred Harrington, KB1EMV at fharrington@concordscientific.com or to enroll, please visit http://www.ace.colonial.net/Default.html, then “Browse” for “Communications and Speech” courses, then select “Concord Ham Radio Class”.

Members of the Southeastern MA Amateur Radio Association have some interesting improvements to their repeater to look forward to.

According to SEMARA’s Rick Cabral, W1RJC, new “voice-overs” are being produced by WBZ radio anchor/reporter Greg Jenson. “Once we have them, voice IDs, upcoming events and top of hour announcements will be added to repeater once again.”

Also in the works is a single “boop” courtesy tone will let repeater users know that the IRLP & EchoLink node is idle. “The traditional 3-tone musical ‘stardust’ courtesy tone will let you know that the node is connected,” adds Cabral.

“We will be installing a 2nd computer at the repeater site to remotely control and upload voice messages to the repeater, as well as stream the repeater audio live eventually,” says W1RJC.

Lastly, the club has a long-term goal of installing a 16-channel Motorola remote base radio on the repeater to allow linking to the Minuteman Repeater Association repeaters for the monthly ARES net and to other systems.

–Thanks, SEMARA Zero Beat, December 2007

To: New England Division Section Managers, Assistant Directors,
Advisory Committee members and Affiliated Club Presidents

Subject: New England Division Cabinet Meeting – Saturday, January 5, 2008

I’d like to invite you to the winter ARRL New England Division Cabinet meeting on Saturday, January 5, 2008 – in Springfield MA.

We usually have 35+ people attending from clubs across New England – this will be an opportunity for you to provide direct input to the ARRL on policy issues. The meeting will run from 9:00am until 4:30pm, with coffee/snacks at 8:30am and a break for lunch at noon – and as in the past we’re asking for your contribution of $15 to help cover some of the cost for breaks and for lunch.

There is an ARRL Board meeting scheduled for January 18th and 19th – this meeting will give us a chance to talk about issues you think the Board should be considering. What would you like to see on the agenda for our meeting?

The meeting will be at the Sheraton-Springfield Hotel (800-426-9004) at One Monarch Place, Springfield MA. You can view a map and get driving directions here:

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/area/map.html?propertyID=989

If you park in the hotel garage, we’ll cover the parking charges as part of the meeting cost.

Please let me know by December 30th (earlier is better!) if you will be coming so we can plan for a big enough room and enough food. Vice Director Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, and I are looking forward to seeing you there!

Very 73!
— Tom

PS: Sometimes the ARRL database hasn’t been updated with current information about your club. If you’re not the current club president – please pass this on to the right person! You can make updates or corrections to your club’s listings by selecting your club from this page on the ARRL web site, then submitting updated information:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml

Tom Frenaye, K1KI ARRL New England Division Director k1ki@arrl.org
P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF ARRL New England Division Vice Director k1twf@arrl.org
85 High Street, Chelmsford MA 01824 Phone: 978-250-1235

Members of the Billerica Amateur Radio Society will contribute food for the club’s annual food drive to benefit the Billerica Food Pantry.

According to BARS’ Secretary Cathy Evans, KB1EET, “the Billerica Food Pantry donation will be collected at the [BARS] December 5th meeting. Non-perishable items are what they are still looking for.”

Billerica ARS has provided food for the Billerica Food Pantry now for a number of years.

—Thanks, Billerica ARS Newsletter, December, 2007

Tom Kinahan, N1CPE writes on mras-leaders list:

The following new courses have been added to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s training calendar:

* Community Emergency Response Team Program at Andover Public Safety Complex on January 16, 2008

* Incident Command System 300 at Swansea Fire Department on January 14, 2008

* Incident Command System 300 at Barnstable County Fire & Rescue Training Academy on January 16, 2008

* Incident Command System 300 at Worcester County Sheriff’s Office on January 29, 2008

* Incident Command System 300 at U.S. Coast Guard Base (Function Room) on February 12, 2008

* Incident Command System 400 at Barnstable County Fire & Rescue Training Academy on January 8, 2008

* Incident Command System 400 at Wellesley Police Department on January 17, 2008

* Incident Command System 400 at Saugus Public Safety Building on January 21, 2008

* Incident Command System 400 at Mirant Canal Plant on January 24, 2008

Visit our web site for more details.

Updated information on NTS nets in Eastern MA has been posted to the nts.ema.arrl.org web site. Check the “Net Schedules” and “EMA Nets” links on the home page for the most current information.

November 27, 2007–By a vote of the general membership, the Crocker Public Service Group has agreed to be acquired by the Minuteman Repeater Association. Under the terms of the agreement, CPSG members in good standing as of 11/1/2007, with expiration dates on or after 11/1/2008, who are not already MMRA members, will be offered one-year memberships in MMRA at no cost. Those members eligible will be contacted directly in the next few weeks. For more information on MMRA, visit their website.

The group’s name honored the memory of former Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager and Silent Key Dave Crocker, W1TMO. Crocker was well-known for his public service activities.

–Thanks, CPSG home web page

Bruce Alexander, KA1IG writes on w1smh list:

The North Attleborough Santa Parade is November 25 at 3 pm. The parade is staging at St. Mary’s parking lot after 2 pm, our presence is requested between 1:30 & 2 pm.

The parade frequency will be 147.420 MHz, no PL necessary. Talk-in will be on the repeater, 147.195, if you need directions.

On behalf of the Downtown Associates of North Attleborough and myself, thanks in advance for your assistance.

A Taunton-area Technician license class is slated to begin in January, according to the Taunton Area Communication Group‘s Carlos Wharton, Sr., WP4US. Wharton says he’ll start the class in or around the third week of January. Persons interested in assisting with teaching, or those wishing to take the class are requested to contact Carlos at cgwharton@wp4us.org.

–Thanks, TACG December Newsletter

November 17th was an ordinary day to most residents of Marlboro. For the senior citizens it was the annual flu clinic. For members of the Algonquin Amateur Radio Club, Marlboro Emergency Management Agency, and other town officials, it was a day to test out the ability for the city to open and run an Emergency Dispensing Site. This year’s Flu Clinic was unlike any before. It was run as a EDS complete with buses to transport people to the EDS site. AARC members rode buses and managed traffic flow, and assisted where needed.

The drill went very well and much information was obtained to fine tune it for next year, which at this time is to be run as a EDS site again.

The Taunton Area Communications Group will convene a two-meter simplex net on Wednesday evenings beginning on November 28, 2007 at 0100 UTC (8:00 p.m. EST) on 146.430 MHz.

According to TACG’s Greg Glynn, W1VFB, it will be directed net with a net control station. Adds Glynn, “This is a first time venture for the Group… I think we will do very well with it. As time goes on it should prove that there is two-meter communications beyond repeaters.”

Hello to all….

Phil McNamara-N1XTB recently presented Winlink-2000 at a Whitman Amateur Radio Club meeting. His presentation has been added to the Winlink 2000 section under departments/programs and the link to the new presentation (about 2 meg in file size) has been provided below:

Winlink 2000 presentation from Whitman Amateur Radio club

Jeff Lehmann, N1ZZN writes:

The annual Whitman Amateur Radio Club special event at Plimoth Plantation is coming up fast. We will be operating from approximately 10 AM until 3 PM on Saturday November 24th and Sunday November 25th. We will be using the club WA1NPO call sign, and operating on the HF bands, as well as 2 meters, mostly monitoring the club 147.225 (PL 67.0) repeater. Ray, KB1ODU will also have a computer set up for echolink. We may also use the echolink over the air on the 147.18 Bridgewater repeater. We would especially like to invite our many new members to come down and get a chance to operate on the HF bands.

All club members and area hams are welcome to stop by and operate, or just observe while we are there. For those who may not have been there in the past, just mention to the people at the door that you are there for the Whitman amateur radio event, and you will be allowed in for no charge. We will have a table set up for anyone who would like to send a NTS radio gram to a non ham friend or family member. This provides practice for sending messages in times of emergency.

The antenna crew will be gathering at 10 AM on Friday November 23 to set up antennas for each operating position. Please remember to bring a hand held radio, set to 147.225 simplex so we’re able to communicate on the grounds.

More information can be found at the club website: http://www.wa1npo.org.

Shown here: A special certificate from a recent Plimoth Plantation Special Event.