a field organization of the National Association for Amateur Radio®
Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, writes in the Billerica ARS Newsletter, October, 2020:
We have decided to change the day, time and location of our Volunteer Exam sessions for the next few months. The next VE session will be on Saturday, October 10, at 10:00 AM in the parking lot of Gary’s Ice Cream store, 131 Gorham St Chelmsford MA 01824.
Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes in the Billerica ARS Newletter, October 2020:
I was monitoring the local repeaters on the HT one day and I heard one of the regulars–who it turns out works at HRO in Salem NH–say that as of Monday 9/21/20 the stores are REOPENING TO FOOT TRAFFIC. See the HRO policy here:
https://www.hamradio.com/coronavirus.cfm
Limit of 5 customers inside, and all must wear masks.
This is great news. I do not know if they allow you to touch/operate the rigs at the station yet. Best to call ahead.
https://www.hamradio.com/locations.cfm?storeid=9
Salem, NH
224 N. Broadway D-12
Salem, NH 03079-2145
Store Hours: 10AM-5:30PM Mon – Sat
Closed Sundays
Telephone hours:
9:30AM-5:30PM Mon – Sat
Toll Free: 800-444-0047
Local: 603-898-3750
Fax: 603-898-1041
Email: salem@hamradio.com
John O’Neill, K1JRO, writes on the Eastern MA Hospital Net mailing list:
Due to technical difficulties, I was unable to send out a notice for the October EMHN with enough advance notice to everyone involved.
Therefore, we will not be holding a Net this month. I hope to have our email issues resolved soon.
Regards,
John O’
K1JRO
South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group
55 Fogg Rd. Mail-Stop 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190
Mike Powell, W1KU, writes on the Algonquin ARC mailing list:
Our [Algonquin Amateur Radio Club] October meeting will be Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 7:30 PM on freeconferencecall.com. The speaker will be Frank Donovan, W3LPL, speaking on The History of Transatlantic Radio.
73 de W1KU Mike
Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on the NEMass Fox Hunters List at 7:51 PM on October 2, 2020:
I set the fox loose again Friday afternoon around 5:00 pm in Westford. It should run all weekend and into Monday.
Some clues:
It is neither ingenuous nor ingenious to say that it is an area named after something that is igneous.
It is in an area with a small rocky stream.
It should be an easy non-strenuous hunt once you locate the general area.
73 and happy hunting!
Alan KD1D
09/29/2020 – Applications for the 2021 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program will be accepted between October 1 and December 31, 2020.All applicants must be FCC-licensed radio amateurs, and many scholarships have other specific requirements, such as intended area of study, residence within a particular ARRL Division, Section, or state, and license class.
Applicants should review the scholarship descriptions and check off the ones for which they are eligible. If you complete an online application, you must also email a PDF of academic transcripts from your most recently completed school year by January 11, 2021. Some scholarships require additional documents to be submitted (e.g., letter of recommendation from an officer of an ARRL-affiliated club). Applications not accompanied by transcripts and additional documents, where applicable, will not be considered.
The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee will review all applicants for eligibility and award decisions. Scholarship recipients will be notified in May 2021 via USPS mail and email. For more information, visit the ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program page.
Marcel Dumont, W1MLD writes on the SEMARA mailing list:
The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association will hold a Zoom virtual meeting on Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 7 PM.
[For Zoom conference details, contact chiefmld -at- comcast -dot- net.]
The September, 2020, Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/september-2020-section-news/.
From EMA ARRL Section News, September 30, 2020:
For almost a year now, the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles has been unable to process new “Ham Operator” special plate applications. According to one Western Massachusetts amateur who spoke to a DMV employee, “[…] the person I talked to informed me that this issue has been referred to the software company/vendor. No estimate has been placed on a resolution. She refused to tell me how many applications are being held up. I asked if there was anyone I could refer this to, she declined and said there was no one to escalate it to.”
At the request of Western MA Section Manager Ray Lajoie, KB1LRL, MA State Government Liaison Hank McCarl, W4RIG, contacted MA State Senator Bruce Tarr’s office to inquire. A legislative spokesperson from that office informed Hank that all special series and vanity license plates that have specific letter-number requests are currently impacted. However, plates for which numbers are sequentially assigned; e.g., 0001 through 9999, are being processed.
How many other amateurs in Massachusetts have been affected by this snafu at the DMV? Please write and let us know at <k1tw@arrl.org>
Topic: Framingham Amateur Radio Association Oct.1 Zoom Meeting
Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, is inviting you to a scheduled Framingham Amateur Radio Association Zoom meeting.
Our speaker this Thursday evening will be Neal Lipson, K1NDF, of Framingham, an extremely active ham who has been blind since birth. He will speak on the subject of Radio Propagation, and on what an excellent location we live in for getting out. During the talk, I will screen share pictures of Neal with his various radios, as well as his tower and antennas.
Special Request: Your name will appear under your picture on Zoom. Please change it so that it provides your name and call letters. Just right click on your name, and you will be able to change it. Thank you.
Time: Oct 1, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
If you are not on the Internet, you can join by phone.
[For conference information, email Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, at w1viv.radio -at- gmail -dot- com]
Rusty Moore, K1FVK, is offering a new six-week code course on Wednesday evenings, 7:30-8:45 PM ET, beginning September 30. No code key is required but we have suggested oscillator kits you can buy or build.
Dan Brown W1DAN, writes:
After guidance from park rangers, Leandra set up her VHF Moxon beam antenna for 2m and a 20m Hamstick vertical; Rob set up his new Wolf River vertical with twelve 40-foot radials that Steve made, and Steve set up his home brew 6m beam he presented to WARS last week. Started operating around 3:30PM.
All in all, Rob and Leandra made around 60 contacts on 40M, 20M, and 2M, and one contact on 6M, which was absolutely dead.
The gang said it was good fun. Leandra wanted to do a POTA sometime, and when Rob invited she jumped at the chance. Leandra brought her Yaesu FT991 40AH battery, mini masts for the Hamstick and 2-meter Moxon antenna. Rob brought his Icom 7300, 20AH battery, and a Wolf River Coils antenna (https://www.wolfrivercoils.com). However there was a set of 50-foot radials with this antenna, which were all tangled up like a ball of twine. This took a frustrating hour to untangle, but once set up, the antenna was excellent on 40M.
Steve’s new 6-meter beam seemed to work, but the band was pretty dead as he found only one station in Manchester NH. The new beam was found to be directional–a good sign. In the meantime, Leandra worked Bill, N1WEN on 146.52.
On 20M, AF1R found another POTA station in CO, Rob said that that station later told them they were the strongest POTA station with the Wolf River antenna. Rob had a lot of success on 40M SSB with the antenna, which was stronger than the Hamstick.
Each station needs ten contacts to be “activated.” Leandra had nine with the hamstick, so she moved to the Wolf River antenna. Spotted on POTA website, then worked stations during a pileup that lasted for a half hour. During the last 30 minutes, Rob and Steve were taking gear down, as Leandra used the Wolf antenna, made 30 more contacts in 30 minutes. Leandra made about 40-50 contacts, while Rob made 32.
Rangers stopped by and said it was time to shut down as the park closes at 7 PM, so they ended operations about 6:30 PM.
Leandra noted they learned how to cooperate in making contacts more efficiently and that spotters on the POTA website helped.
This is a test run for a bigger WARS club COVID-safe event planned for this fall. Cochituate State Park closes on Columbus Day October 12 (https://www.mass.gov/locations/cochituate-state-park), so maybe we can do Callahan State Park in Framingham.
Photos courtesy Steve, NQ1F
From Boston Area DXers mailing list:
From K1USN Radio Club Happenings, September 25, 2020:
Greetings to all. I hope you had a great summer in spite of all the pandemic restrictions. Now that we are getting into fall perhaps there is time to consider some why’s and wherefores of handling message traffic on voice nets.
We have some very good training programs on the nets but I would also like to call attention to the Methods and Practices Guidelines (MPG) available on the arrl.org website (http://www.arrl.org/files/file/NTS_MPG2014.pdf) with link also on the ema.arrl.org website (https://ema.arrl.org/national-traffic-system/nts-resources/) under NTS Resources. This is not meant to be a training manual but rather a resource document covering various topics regarding message handling. It is not a set of rules but rather guidelines based on best practices, derived from many years of experience during a wide variety of propagation and band conditions particularly on HF. It is what has been found to help get messages through accurately and efficiently even in the worst of conditions. It was compiled by some of the most experienced traffic handlers. While those who handle messages on a VHF voice net may not experience such conditions it is good to practice in the event you may some day be called upon to pass traffic when there is atmospheric and man-made interference which often exist on the HF bands.
I call your attention especially to Chapter 2 on ‘Sending Messages on Voice’. This chapter is 58 pages long, but it is certainly not necessary to know it all before participating. As you participate however and get more practice you can apply more and more of these “tricks of the trade” and become an expert traffic handler, feeling a real sense of accomplishment when you successfully relay a message during particularly difficult band conditions.
I think the folks in our section are doing a fantastic job handling messages. I am proud of you all. We can however all (including your STM) work on learning more and improving our skills. Thanks to all you great folks for your support. Below is the August traffic report.
73, Marcia KW1U
| MASSACHUSETTS STM REPORTS 2020 | Aug-20 | ||||||
| NET | SESSIONS | QTC | QNI | QTR | NM | FREQ | Net Time |
| WMTN C1 | 24 | 1 | 277 | 175 | N1YCW | 146.91 | 1300 Daily |
| WMTN C2 | 25 | 6 | 270 | 239 | KD2JKV | 146.91 | 1700 Daily |
| MARI | 31 | 134 | 165 | 555 | KW1U | 3565 KHz | 1900 Daily |
| EM2MN | 31 | 121 | 351 | 884 | KC1HHO | 145.23 | 2000 Daily |
| CM2MN | 18 | 5 | 66 | 114 | KK1X | 146.97 | 2100 Daily |
| HHTN | 18 | 33 | 281 | 489 | W1HAI | MMRA Rptrs | 2200 Su,M,W,F |
| CITN | 17 | 7 | 100 | 200 | AC7RB | 147.375 | 1930 Tu,Th,F, Sa |
| MARIPN | 13 | 21 | 74 | 170 | N1LAH | 3978 KHz | 1700 Tu,Th,Sa |
| WARPSN | 5 | 10 | 84 | NA | N1IQI | 147.225 | 0830 Su |
| WMEN/HF | 4 | 0 | 83 | 80 | N1CPE | 3944 KHz | 0830 Su |
| WMEN/VHF | 4 | 0 | 62 | 53 | N1PUA | 146.91 | 0900 Su |
| 190 | 338 | 1813 | 2906 | ||||
| SAR | ORG | REC | SENT | DEL | TOTAL | BPL | BPL = 500+ points |
| N1IQI | 0 | 58 | 471 | 4 | 533 | X | |
| KW1U | 0 | 267 | 237 | 0 | 504 | X | |
| N1TF | 0 | 42 | 53 | 11 | 106 | ||
| W1RVY | 1 | 66 | 25 | 0 | 92 | ||
| KC1HHO | 0 | 45 | 17 | 4 | 66 | ||
| WA1LPM | 0 | 20 | 44 | 0 | 64 | ||
| KC1KVY | 0 | 23 | 34 | 4 | 61 | ||
| N1LAH | 0 | 22 | 22 | 1 | 45 | ||
| KE1ML | 0 | 12 | 24 | 2 | 38 | ||
| NV1N | 0 | 7 | 21 | 1 | 29 | ||
| KD2JKV | 0 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 28 | ||
| WA1VAB | 0 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 24 | ||
| W1TCD | 0 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 21 | ||
| KC1MSN | 0 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | ||
| W1JWM | 0 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 19 | ||
| W1PLK | 0 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 19 | ||
| AJ1DM | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 10 | ||
| KC1NBI | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||
| AB1ZS | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | ||
| PSHR (Min 70 Points) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | TOTAL |
| KW1U | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 130 |
| N1TF | 40 | 40 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 115 |
| N1IQI | 40 | 40 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 110 |
| KD2JKV | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 |
| W1RVY | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 |
| N1LAH | 40 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| KE1ML | 40 | 36 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 96 |
| KC1HHO | 31 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 91 |
| KC1KVY | 40 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 |
| WA1LPM | 38 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 88 |
| NV1N | 34 | 29 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 73 |
| DRS | RCV | FWD | TOTAL | ||||
| KW1U | 799 | 714 | 1513 | ||||
| N1IQI | 58 | 471 | 529 | ||||
| W1RVY | 1 | 6 | 7 | ||||
| W1JWM | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||||
Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on the NEMass Fox Hunters List at 3:36 PM on September 25, 2020:
The Fox attempted to go out last week, but was seized by a fever* and went home.
Newly energized, the Fox is on the air as of 1445 EDT on Friday September 25, 2020. I expect to bring him home again on Monday morning 9/28.
CLUES:
– The Fox’s new den is on Westford Conservation Trust Land. (Check them out – they have great maps!)
– The initials of the site remind me of what broke Ralphie’s glasses in “A Christmas Story.”
– One of the parking areas bears the surname of the lead guitarist for a band whose first name is the same as a “luxury” model Cadillac (1976-1996) and whose last name is a computer famous for not being a PC.
– The same parking area also bears the name of a famous residence in the UK and the trail is located between two local residences, numbered 15 and 17.
– An alternate parking area is at 180° + the part of the candle that you light (and from which light emanates) + a symmetrical round 2 dimensional shape.
– You should be able to hear the signal from Rt. 225
Send me a private email to kd1d@arrl.net for additional hints.
Happy hunting and 73 de KD1D
*(The fever was caused by the point of the security eye screw puncturing the insulation on the power cord from the battery to the SqwalkBox module. Considerable magic smoke was emitted from the power circuit, but the transmitter survived. The screw now has a blunt end and the power cord has a 1/2 amp fuse.)
09/24/2020
ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, has appointed Phil Temples, K9HI, of Watertown, Massachusetts, as New England Division Vice Director. He succeeds Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, who was elected earlier this year as ARRL First Vice President. President Roderick made the appointment after consulting with New England Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, and the region’s Section Managers.
“I want to thank all of those who forwarded their recommendations to Director Hopengarten,” Temples said. “Mike Raisbeck left some big shoes to fill. I look forward to working with Fred, and to advise and assist him with various tasks and board committee assignments. One task I’m especially eager to tackle is launching a New England Division website.”
An ARRL Life Member, Temples has been licensed for 50 years, initially as WN9EAY in Indiana. He has written articles for QST and contributed articles for the ARRL website. He also recently co-authored a chapter in the Amateur Radio Public Service Handbook.
Temples served three terms as Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager and now is an Assistant SM and an Assistant New England Division Director. He’s also held ARRL field appointments as Affiliated Club Coordinator and Public Information Officer and currently serves as program chair for the ARRL New England Division Convention.
Temples has been active in MARS, the National Traffic System, and as an Emergency Coordinator, and he enjoys CW. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University.
Temples has actively promoted instruction and licensing and is a Volunteer Examiner under the ARRL, W5YI, and Greater Los Angeles ARG Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. He’s currently involved with New England Amateur Radio, Inc. in administering remote exam sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Temples is employed at Boston College as a computer systems administrator.
From the ARRL website
Tom K1TW
ARRL Section Manager
Eastern Massachusetts
The next meeting of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club is scheduled for October 7 at 7 PM. It will be a hybrid meeting via Zoom as well as in-person at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Route 18, just south of the Abington line. Physical attendance is still limited to 25 persons, per the state guidelines.
Rick Emord, KB1TEE, wites:
The [Uncommon Service to Naval Radio] Group, NE1PL, will be operating today on the USS Massachusetts–two HF stations and one 2-meter station on the Massasoit Amateur Radio Association’s repeater, 147.180, PL 67, from 1000-1600. Come on the air and give us a shout.