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Eastern MA Section Manager Art Greenberg, K1GBX writes via the ARRL Members Only Web site:

Hello, everyone.

I know this is short notice, but I would like to notify everyone that there will be an open-style meeting (to a point) this Saturday, January 27, 2007, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Boxboro Woods Holiday Inn & Convention Center.

I want to meet and hear from all ARRL members — as well as those who are not League members — in Eastern Massachusetts. Please bring your friends that are radio amateurs, too.

As many of you know, I am the new Section Manager for ARRL in Eastern Massachusetts. I would like to hear about the many good things (and also the complaints) why you support or why you may not support the only Amateur Radio organization that speaks and represents your concerns to the FCC and Congress.

I hope representatives of MARS, ARES, RACES and others will be able to attend.

The meeting will be held at the Boxboro Woods Holiday Inn and Convention Center. (Their phone number for directions is 978-263-8701.) While on Route 495, take Exit 28 to Boxboro. The center is fairly close to the exit.

Also, please bring typed or written questions with your call sign, e-mail address and phone number on a sheet of paper to hand to me.

I will try to answer all your questions, but because of time constraints, I may not be able to get to all of them on Saturday. So, with this information, I will reply afterwards by e-mail or telephone.

Refreshments will be served.

73,

Art, K1GBX

The New England QRP Club will hold a luncheon/meeting on February 24, 2007 at the Holiday Inn, Nashua, NH (Exit 4) at Kilarney’s Pub at 12 o’clock noon:

“Shake off the winter blues with your newest QRP radio, albeit from scratch (homebrew) or right out of the box…kit! Show-N-Tell what you have been doing and let others see your “good work!” Full, partial or vapor-radios are always fun to see! Bring’em on.

“Open agenda, however, post-comments on the SCAF filter, W1AW receiver up-date, zero-beat LED are up for discussion. NEW ideas, new club projects, the latest opinion of NO CODE as offered by the FCC and the QRP’s newest community bull dog…Straight Key Club membership, FISTS membership, no-code Extra, and more! Bring a friend and show how ‘our gang’ operates!
See you there!”

–via caaramail mailing list

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 16, 2007 — President George W. Bush has written the ARRL to recognize the just-ended Hello Amateur Radio public relations campaign and to extend “greetings to all those celebrating 100 years of voices over the airwaves.” The president said the centennial of Reginald Fessenden’s landmark Christmas Eve 1906 voice broadcast “opened the door for technological advances” that improved the lives of people around the world.

“I appreciate all who work in radio, and I am grateful to the Amateur Radio operators who provide emergency communications that help make our country safer and more secure,” President Bush wrote. “Your good work strengthens our society and represents the American spirit.”

ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, conceived and developed the Hello campaign. He says that while that initiative is formally over, ARRL public information coordinators and officers will take advantage in the new year of the momentum it generated.

“As we begin launching the new Emergency Communications campaign, the friendships and goodwill developed in Hello will aid in future promotions of Amateur Radio,” Pitts commented. “For 100 years, radio in its many forms has saved lives and aided in crises. We have a great legacy and a bright future.”

The grand finale of the Hello campaign December 29-30 involved special event operations from W1AW, W1F at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, and GB1FVT in Scotland.

The theme of the ARRL’s 2007 public relations initiative is “Ham Radio . . . Getting the Message Through for your Family and Community.” It will focus on Amateur Radio’s capability to provide reliable emergency communication when traditional systems fail or become overloaded.

Robert Reif, W1XP displays his homebrew matching circuit in a bucket for matching a 50-foot PVC vertical antenna (also homebrew) for 40, 80, and 160 meters. Members of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club displayed various homebrew projects, including 2m and 440 MHz satellite antennas, a six-port antenna switch, a modified battery charger, and an active antenna for 600 (yes, 600!) meters.

–Thanks, Nashoba Valley ARC Signal, January 2007

Public Service Volunteer Opportunities in the New England Division

January 10, 2007

PSLIST

Listing public events at which Amateur Radio communications is providing a public service and for which additional volunteers from the Amateur Community are needed and welcome. Please contact the person listed to identify how you may serve and what equipment you may need to bring.

The most up-to-date copy of this list is maintained as http://purl.org/hamradio/publicservice/nediv.
**** Every event listed is looking for communications volunteers ****

Date      Location     Event                       Contact        Tel/Email

Apr 16  Hopkinton  MA Boston Marathon              Steve W3EVE   508.922.9688
         to Boston MA                                          w3eve@arrl.net
         please register via http://www.amateur-radio.net/marc

This list is published periodically as demand warrants by Stan KD1LE and Ralph KD1SM. Our usual distribution is via packet to NEBBS, via Internet mail to the arrl-nediv-list and ema-arrl distribution lists, and on the World Wide Web. If other mailing list owners wish us to distribute via their lists we will be happy to oblige. Permission is herewith granted to republish this list in its entirety provided credit is given to the authors and the Web address below is included. Send comments, corrections, and updates to:

(via packet) KD1SM@K1UGM.#EMA.MA.USA,
(via Internet) KD1SM@ARRL.NET.

We make an attempt to confirm entries with the coordinator unless the information is from another published source. We very much appreciate the assistance we have been receiving from our ‘scouts’; everyone is welcome to send us postings.

Refer to http://purl.org/hamradio/publicservice/nediv for the most recent version of the PSLIST.

-30-

The South Shore Fox Hunters have had a lot of fun over the past 10 years chasing the elusive fox. They’re currently discussing a one-day hidden transmitter hunt, or “fox hunt” involving members of the Whitman ARC, Massasoit ARA and the Taunton Area Communications Group to “rekindle the flame” and introduce new hams to the fascinating hobby of directional finding.

According to Bruce Hayden, NI1X, “One member will be assigned to be the fox and he or she will transmit on 146.565 MHz simplex for about 30 seconds every five minutes between approximately 10:00 a.m. and noon on a Saturday morning. The Fox will be hiding in a public place.”

The boundaries used in previous hunts were Route 44 on the south, Route 138 on the West, Route 128 on the North and Route 3 on the East. Hayden says the group would probably pick a smaller area “to save on gas.”

The fox hunters coordinate their activities on the Bridgewater repeater on 147.180 MHz, PL 67. Amateurs are invited to monitor from the home QTH or mobile and to check in at 10:00 a.m. at the start of the hunt to report if you can hear the fox–or just as important–if you can not hear the fox from your location. You never know when the fox will be hiding in your back yard!

[Pictured here: Bruce Hayden, NI1X presenting on fox hunting at a Taunton Area Communications Group meeting, December 2006.]

–Thanks, Whitman ARC Spectrum, January 2007

Amateurs in Concord, MA are closely monitoring plans by the Town’s electric utility to implement a Broadband over Power Line (BPL) system supplied by PowerGrid Communications of Meridian, Idaho.

“We’ve had meetings with them, with Ed Hare, W1RFI and we’re also working closely with [Concord Municipal Light Plant],” says Steve Telsey, N1BDA of the Colonial Wireless Association.

Telsey notes that there are currently no BPL operations in Concord at the present time, and that any pilot program would not commence “until at least February or March.”

“[PowerGrid’s] Chief Technology Officer has met with us and he brought samples of the equipment to demonstrate.” N1BDA describes their relationship with the company as “cordial and very cooperative.”

“They know the hams are very concerned about this system. They’re willing to notch out the ham bands. This won’t address problems faced by shortwave listeners and users of time signal stations, however.”

Ed Hare, W1RFI, is Laboratory Manager at ARRL Headquarters. He is also considered by many in the telecommunications industry as an expert on BPL.

According to Hare, “This is a DS2-chipset system made by Corinex. Such a system has been recently installed in Houston, Texas, operated by CenterPoint, the electric utility. Although there was one complaint to a home Amateur station, it was quickly resolved by notching the Amateur bands. At this point, in Houston the Amateur bands are notched in the entire system. I evaluated the Houston system a few months ago and found that with good communication between hams and the BPL operator and careful operation and notching, it is possible to operate DS2-based BPL system without major interference problems. The same cooperation exists in Concord.”
The BPL database indicates that the system will include “the entire community with some overhead and underground installation.” Approximately 130 nodes would be deployed.

N1BDA says that the light company is still exploring a possible business model. “It’s possible the whole thing might get canceled.”

Although Concord Municipal Light “technically doesn’t need permission” from other Town governmental entities, Telsey doubts whether an operational BPL system would go forward without approval from the Town’s Board of Selectman and Town Manager.

For now, Colonial Wireless Association officers are requesting that the matter be kept “low key” so that negotiations can move forward in a spirit of cooperation.

[To learn more about Broadband over Power Line and Amateur Radio, visit http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/index.html.]

A Technician licensing course will be offered in March by the Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education program in conjunction with the Colonial Wireless Association. The course will meet each Tuesday and Thursday night from March 20 – March 29 at the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School L-Building in Concord. The fee is $20. At this time, the course still has openings.

For more information and to enroll, please visit http://www.ace.colonial.net/Default.html, then “Browse” for “Communications and Speech” courses, then select “Concord Ham Radio Class”.

The ARRL Foundation announces a number of scholarships available to students in Eastern Massachusetts and elsewhere who hold a valid ham radio license. Many generous private individuals and clubs sponsor these scholarships to allow fellow hams the opportunity to further their educational goals. All ARRL Foundation-administered scholarships are intended exclusively for educational use, to provide assistance with costs of tuition, room, board, books and/or other fees essential to the advanced education of the recipient. Some are available in certain regions; others are available to candidates nationwide.

Please remember to mail both your completed application and transcripts to:

The ARRL Foundation, Inc. Scholarship Program
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111

NOTE: CURRENT ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED. Applications without transcripts or otherwise incomplete will not be considered.

The deadline for each year’s ARRL Foundation Scholarships is February 1.

Your transcripts and application must be postmarked no later than February 1. No exceptions.

Thanks, American Radio Relay League

For those of you with video editing capability, please
consider submitting a ham-related video to the
following contest.
——
“If you had 15 seconds to tell the world whatever you
want to, what would you say? Well, now’s your chance
to be seen and heard on national television, courtesy
of CBS Interactive. Post your 15-second video on
YouTube, and CBS Interactive will select one to be
broadcast on TV.” The first selection might air on CBS
Sunday, February 4, 2007.

The instructions, Official Rules, and the Release
Waiver & Assignment Agreement are available at

http://www.cbs.com/originals/15_seconds/

Shown here is a snapshot of the old Eastern MA ARRL web site circa December, 1998. At the time, our site was hosted by QSL.NET. The site consisted of static HTML pages. Elaine Chase, N1GTB served for many years as the site’s webmaster.

Today’s EMA ARRL web site content is served up via a content management system from a MySQL database.

One may view archives from other dates of this site–or any other internet site–by visiting http://www.archive.org.

The Framingham Amateur Radio Association‘s Technician License in a Weekend Course will be held March 16-18, 2007 in the basement of the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA. The cost is $40 and includes all materials, snacks and lunches and exam fee.

There are limited FREE open seats to boy and girl scouts. For more information, contact Ed Weiss, W1NXC at W1NXC@arrl.net or call 508-881-2301. The deadline to register is February 15, 2007.

Seven operators from six US States–led by Scott, Andersen, NE1RD of Acton, MA–will travel to the small island of Montserrat in late January, 2007 to activate that island in a most unique way. Instead of big antennas and tons of equipment, this DXpedition will instead focus on lightweight gear and portable operations. According to the group’s web site, “Even at the bottom of the sunspot cycle we anticipate reaching every corner of the globe.”

The DXpedition plans to operate from beaches, hilltops, and the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. In addition to CW and SSB, data modes such as PSK31, RTTY, and even slow scan TV will be active on all bands 160-6m. Each DXpedition member will be using their own Monstserrat-issued call sign.

—http://dxpedition-vp2m.com/