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Clubs

N1DC: “Logbook Of The World” and “Ham Radio Deluxe” at the K1USN Radio Club Online Meeting, August 18, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
“Pi” Pugh, K1RV, writes in the K1USN Radio Club newsletter:
 
Rick, N1DC will be speaking [on August 18, 2020 at 7:30 PM] about using Logbook of the World (LOTW) as well as Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) to keep track of your HF contacts.
 
Logbook of the World is a web-accessed database provided by the American Radio Relay League to implement a contact verification service among amateur radio operators. Using LoTW, radio amateurs can claim and verify contacts made with other amateurs, generally for claiming credit for operating awards, such as DXCC.
 
 
Ham Radio Deluxe is an amateur radio software suite that includes five ham radio apps. … It includes most everything an amateur radio operator needs to automate their ham radio station.. These applications are all built to work together.
 
 
After Rick’s presentation we should have ample time for some Q & A
 
If you would like to receive an invitation to next Tuesday’s K1USN Zoom session be sure to send an e-mail to me ( k1rv@arrl.net ) to be added to our growing Zoom list. It is not necessary to re-register if you have already been receiving invitations to our previous Zoom sessions!
Foxhunting / Operating

KD1D Fox is On the Loose in Westford

- by k9hi - 1 Comment

Alan Hicks, KD1D, writes on the NEMass Fox Hunters List at 3:34 PM on August 14, 2020:

The KD1D Fox is out again with a new battery from Electronics Plus!  I expect it to last for 4 -5 days.

In consideration of the warm weather (and the chiding I got for the last location’s altitude), the new location is easily accessible from the parking area at the end of Trails End Road in Westford.  

Happy Hunting!
73 de KD1D

Emergency Communications

“Communication is Key as MARS Auxiliarists Refine Skills”

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photo of participant in recent MARS nationwide exerciseFrom army.mil:

“…The MARS Auxiliarists were tasked with collecting three different kinds of reports,” said English. “They collected county status reports from across the U.S. by interfacing with the amateur radio community; airport weather reports, called METARS, from select airports across CONUS and finally road closure reports.  In total, MARS Ops collected 1,400 city and county status reports; 424 METARSs [Meteorological Terminal Air Reports]; and 190 road closure reports.” [Full story]

Clubs

Zola ARC Virtual Summer Reunion, August 15, 2020

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Frank Ventura, N1FMV, writes on the Middlesex ARC mailing list: 

Due to the Covid-19 situation [the Zola ARC] won’t be holding a Summer luncheon this year. However, we can still get together and catch up and share our stories about how each of us has been doing and what radio related projects we have been working on. So order yourself some good takeout food for lunch and we’ll go around the virtual room and share our latest happenings.. Please see the meeting information below my name.

[Contact Frank Ventura, N1FMV,  at frank -at- littlebreezes -dot- com for Zoom conference details.]
Clubs / Licensing Education & Training

Nashoba Valley ARC to Offer Technician Class in November, 2020

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Edited: October 8, 2020:

Bruce, K1BG, will be conducting on-line technician classes beginning on Monday, November 2nd. Classes will run twice weekly for four weeks, on Monday and Wednesday nights. Each class will be two hours long and run on Zoom. The class will be limited to 15 students, and preference will be given to family and friends of NVARC members. Cost of the class will be $30 and will include textbook material. For more information, please contact Bruce, K1BG, at 508-341-5124. -NVARC Signal, October 2020

“Nashoba Valley ARC to Offer Technician Class in September, 2020”

Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes in the August issue of NVARC Signal:

Beginning sometime in September, the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club will offer Technician license classes the first time in over 20 years.

I will be coordinating a four-week class schedule, with two-hour sessions taking place twice weekly (eight sessions/16 hours total). A detailed schedule will be made available during the August club meeting webinar, and I’ll be looking for several volunteers to help with the classes.

Because we are avoiding group gatherings, classes will be held using the WebEx on-line webinar services generously offered by Jim, N8VIM, and Medtronic, his employer. Plans are to follow up the classes with a VE session to get the students licensed (and we will have to plan for dealing with social distancing at that session). Additionally, if there is enough interest, we will offer classes leading to a General class license sometime later in the fall. Stay tuned for more details.

If you have questions, feel like volunteering for either classroom instruction or the VE session, know of someone who wants to participate, etc., please contact me at K1BG.Bruce@gmail.com, or call me at 508- 341-5124.

MASSACHUSETTS TRAFFIC REPORT FOR JULY 2020

Greetings all traffic handlers and would-be traffic handlers. I hope you are all staying safe and cool. My apologies for not hosting the annual traffic handlers picnic this year, but the current pandemic situation was a primary factor. I hope to be able to have one here next year.

I have mentioned in the past that the Public Service Enhancement Working Group of the ARRL was turning their attention to NTS this year. Unfortunately that has been on hold due in part to the search for an emergency communications manager, one who would also be overseeing the role of the NTS. Yesterday August 12 the hiring was announced on the ARRL website and quoting in part:

“In his new role, Gilbert (KE5ZW) will manage a team responsible for supporting ARRL Emergency Communications (EmComm) programs and services, including the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and National Traffic System (NTS), as well as lead the continued modernization of those programs in consonance with the future emergency communications needs of the public and ARRL’s key partners.”

The role of message handling is still very much needed so we wait to see what comes next.

Meanwhile the nets are doing a great job handling traffic and training new folks. EM2MN now has three “graduates” from net manager KC1HHO’s training program and another is in the process of training.  MARI CW net now has a regular check in from Rhode Island, John AJ1DM, and we are very happy to have him especially after a long period of no representation from that state. John has been involved as a mentor for the CWOPS CW Academy and has become interested in handling traffic. We welcome and thank John for his participation.

MARIPN, the section phone net has picked up participation since it’s move from 6:00 to 5:00. It seems to be a better time for most folks. Net Manager Ralph N1LAH would welcome more participation from any folks on HF. The net meets Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on or about 3978 Khz.

Below is the traffic report for both Eastern and Western Mass for the month of July. Thanks to all for your support.

73, Marcia KW1U STM

MASSACHUSETTS STM REPORTS 2020 Jul-20    
               
NET SESSIONS  QTC QNI QTR NM FREQ Net Time
               
WMTN C1 30 8 358 235 N1YCW 146.91 1300 Daily
WMTN C2 30 4 292 282 KD2JKV 146.91 1700 Daily
MARI 31 145 157 544 KW1U 3565 KHz 1900 Daily
EM2MN 31 135 331 932 KC1HHO 145.23 2000 Daily
CM2MN 15 1 76 89 KK1X 146.97 2100 Daily
HHTN 18 41 243 428 W1HAI MMRA Rptrs 2200 Su,M,W,F
CITN 18 7 98 240 AC7RB 147.375 1930 Tu,Th,F, Sa
MARIPN 12 24 72 165 N1LAH 3978 KHz 1700 Tu,Th,Sa
WARPSN 4 8 81 NA N1IQI 147.225 0830 Su
WMEN/HF 4 0 88 80 N1CPE 3944 KHz 0830 Su
WMEN/VHF 4 0 80 47 N1PUA 146.91 0900 Su
  197 373 1876 2995      
               
SAR ORG REC SENT DEL TOTAL BPL BPL = 500+ points
               
KW1U 0 283 268 1 552 X  
N1IQI 0 44 239 4 287    
N1TF 0 40 61 3 104    
W1RVY 1 58 16 1 76    
KC1KVY 0 24 40 5 69    
WA1LPM 0 29 35 0 64    
N1LAH 0 30 31 0 61    
KC1HHO 0 39 13 4 56    
WA1VAB 0 16 12 14 42    
KE1ML 0 12 26 3 41    
KD2JKV 0 20 20 0 40    
KC1MSN 0 17 15 7 39    
NV1N 0 15 22 1 38    
W1TCD 0 9 8 7 24    
KC1NBI 0 11 10 0 21    
W1JWM 0 4 4 0 8    
AJ1DM 1 2 2 1 6    
W1PLK 0 1 2 1 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
KC1HHO 32 40 20 0 5 0 97
KE1ML 34 40 10 0 0 10 94
KC1KVY 40 40 10 0 0 0 90
WA1LPM 40 40 10 0 0 0 90
NV1N 27 38 10 0 0 0 75
KC1MSN 35 39 0 0 0 0 74
               
DRS RCV FWD TOTAL        
               
KW1U 1204 1610 2814        
N1IQI 44 239 283        
W1RVY 2 3 5        
W1JWM 4 0 4        
Emergency Communications / Technical

WK4 – Winlink Radio Soundcard Interface Workshop, August 13, 2020

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Please plan to attend the Thursday, August  13 ARES Zoom session. 

9:00 PM AST / 9:00 PM EDT / 8:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM MDT / 6:00 PM PDT / 5:00 PM AKDT / 3:00 PM HST

Topic: WK4 – Winlink Radio Soundcard Interface 
Speaker:  Kevin Custer W3KKC

Thursday’s meeting will be OPEN for all to attend. Please feel free to invite others. Please note that we have a Zoom participate limitation of 500.  Let us know if you can’t get in so that we can send you the video link. 

  • This meeting will be recorded. By participating you consent to being recorded. 
  • Please change your display name to Your FirstName, CallSign and Location, e.g. Dan K7REX Idaho
  • Please stay muted until ready to speak. Your space bar works like a PTT for unmuting
  • To be fair to everyone, there will be a three minute limit for each person during Q & A
  • You may ask questions in chat; please stay on topic while using chat.  

[For Zoom conference details, email Tom Walsh, K1TW at k1tw@arrl.org or Phil Temples, K9HI, at k9hi@arrl.org.]

Emergency Communications / Organization

ARRL Hires Paul Z. Gilbert, KE5ZW, as Director of Emergency Management

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

ARRL logoFrom ARRL web:

As another step in ARRL’s increased focus on strengthening its emergency communications capabilities and long-standing working relationships with federal and state agencies and private emergency response organizations, ARRL has hired Paul Z. Gilbert, KE5ZW, of Cedar Park, Texas, as its first Director of Emergency Management.

Gilbert brings more than 30 years of experience in public service in both his professional and amateur radio endeavors. Beginning with his appointment as Emergency Coordinator in 1987, he has held multiple positions in the ARRL Field Organization. Currently in his second term as South Texas Section Manager, he has also served for more than a decade as the West Gulf Division’s Assistant Director for Public Service, acting as liaison between Division leadership and local, state, and federal emergency management organizations.

Professionally, Gilbert most recently was Radio Officer, HQ Staff, for the Texas State Guard, where for the past 6 years he has been responsible for planning and implementation of the organization’s communications capabilities. Previously he was a Public Safety Radio Coordinator for a Texas agency, charged with overseeing that organization’s large-scale disaster communications response and identifying and eliminating in-state interoperability issues.

Gilbert, who has an Amateur Extra-class license, is a member of Army MARS, and holds numerous DHS certifications, including COML, COMT, COMT Instructor, and AUXCOM Communicator. He is a member of the FEMA Regional Emergency Communications Coordination Working Group (RECCWG), a graduate of the FEMA Emergency Management Institute’s Exercise Design Course, and was a founding member of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Communications Coordination Group.

In his new role, Gilbert will manage a team responsible for supporting ARRL Emergency Communications (EmComm) programs and services, including the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and National Traffic System (NTS), as well as lead the continued modernization of those programs in consonance with the future emergency communications needs of the public and ARRL’s key partners.

Clubs

Guest Presentation: Remote Communications in Peru, PART of Westford Meeting, August 18, 2020

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PART of Westford logoGeorge Allison, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:

Our guest speaker for the PART meeting on Tuesday, August 18, will be Daniel Fernandez-Davila, who will give us a presentation about his with local villages and remote radio communications in Peru.  Mr. Fernandez-Davila is an active archaeologist (BA Archaeology and Diploma of Anthropological Studies from Catholic University, Peru; MA in Archaeology and Ancient Heritage from University of Leicester, England) who has conducted excavations and mapping projects in the Andes and continues doing independent research in the north cloud forest of Peru. Daniel has served as an historical advisor for the BBC and Discovery Channel in the production of Ancient Civilization documentaries and has 25 years of experience teaching World History, Latin America, Archaeology and World Geography. 

He co-founded Loose Change, an NGO (non-governmental organization) that brings  school supplies and books to very remote villages in the Andes. He has also been teaching local Peruvians about radio communications and how to deal with emergencies using handheld radios. Recently he tested new radios and he is planning to create a web of communications in the area that can benefit isolated villagers.

He currently lives in Stow with his family and has been teaching Social Studies at Wayland Middle School since 2005.

The meeting will be conducted via Webex, and will start at 7:30 PM.  Those who wish to check out their connectivity or just rag-chew will be able to log on as early at 7:00 PM.  Login information will be sent to those on the PART mailing list by Monday evening.

Emergency Communications

Annual Cape Cod ARES Summer Communications Exercise: “Operation Windbreaker,” August 8, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, writes on Facebook:

Cape and Islands conducted its annual summer field communications exercise on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Exercise #68 “Operation Windbreaker” had three primary field sites, several individual field ops and several home stations. The main sites were: outside the Sandwich Human Services Building, outside of Falmouth Hospital, and in Eastham near Larry, K1LRJ, home area.

VHF signals were excellent. The HF voice operation went quite well with our Cape/Islands stations as well as the off-Cape stations that hosted a 75-meter net over 75 miles away in another part of MA. Digital modes on HF had mixed results due to some glitches, but a couple of stations did well.

In Sandwich we had a crew of five including a couple of our new folks, Jermy, KC1NGL, from Sandwich Fire; Dennis, N1RDN, from Sandwich CERT; and Jason, KC1MLQ, from Yarmouth. Our 440 MHz simplex backchannel (was diplexed off our main dual band antenna to two radios) with the Falmouth field site worked even better than expected.

My thanks to all of our people who participated and special thanks to those off Cape stations that conducted the net, as well as stations that contacted us from various locations.

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117009304_10217477029492756_8553587761451727816_o
117303436_10217477029732762_3469080335312324875_o
117036418_10217477028252725_7430027067090998070_o
116879685_10217477028012719_8677308868635647359_o
116881136_10217477028332727_7505962753928665203_o
117340660_10217477025932667_7366366155544676719_o
116808953_10217477024972643_129072345903879261_o
117402536_10217477026092671_5698352785610624015_o

[Show slideshow]
Licensing Education & Training

Two New England Sci-Tech General Courses Online In August-September, 2020

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New England Sci Tech logoFor anyone interested in wireless communications and electronics, this ON-LINE course will get you ready to take the second level Amateur Radio license exam, GENERAL. Geared toward adults, as well as junior high, high school, and home school students.

Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum. Some preliminary preparation is necessary to get the best results from this course.

This is a FULL course taught by a 40-yr veteran teacher, not a discussion group or video service. You will learn so much more than just watching a video.

Current offerings:

Two day course: SAT-SUN Aug 29-30, 2:00-8:00 pm Eastern Time each day.

Four day course: Mo-Tu-W-Th Aug 31 – Sept 3, 3:00-6:00 pm Eastern Time each day.

The FCC General test will be scheduled for an upcoming weekday evening or weekend, as an online test, run by our VE team which has authorization to run online tests.

System Requirements: Computer or Chromebook capable of running ZOOM Meeting, either by Zoom app or through a browser, a built-in camera/mic, and a color printer.

Included with course fee: downloadable lecture study guide and charts, free access to our weekly Online Radio Shop Talk sessions, and a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Rooms and radio club meetings for 3 months once the facility reopens.

Note that the standard $15 license exam fee is NOT included and must be registered separately; our VE team is authorized to give ONLINE exams, so you can schedule an exam within a week of the course. (Price is $15 across the country.)

One additional member of the same family may take this course for the price of one, if sharing one computer, video screen, and materials.

A few hours before the session you will receive an email with a Zoom link and ID. If you don’t see the email, check your spam filter. If you still don’t see it, call 508-720-4179 for help.

For questions, e-mail bobphinney at nescitech.org or call 508-720-4179.

Foxhunting / Operating

W1HFN Fox Deployed in Littleton, August 8, 2020

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Barry Fox, W1HFN, writes on the NEMass Fox Hunters List at 1:01 PM on August 8, 2020:

Sorry for the time lapse since deployments,  medical stuff, surgery, etc. Deployed the fox today at the Hartwell reservation in Littleton.  Transmits on 146.565 with a voice ID every 30 seconds.  In a typical (for me) senior moment, I forgot to leave the sign-in log behind.  If you say you found it, I will believe you.

BTW, wear your hiking shoes, its a long walk.

73,

Barry, W1HFN

Organization

Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, Awarded Knight Distinguished Service Award

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Bob Beaudet, W1YRCFrom ARRL web:

The Board named veteran ARRL Rhode Island Section Manager Robert G. “Bob” Beaudet, W1YRC, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, as the recipient of the Knight Distinguished Service Award, given to an ARRL Section Manager. Beaudet has been Rhode Island SM since 2002.

The Board cited Beaudet’s active promotion of ARRL activities in his Section, including visiting hundreds of Field Day operations; participating in many Volunteer Examiner test sessions; attending at countless club meetings; staying active as a contester, DXer, and mentor, and serving as a model to other Section Managers. The Board said “Beaudet’s leadership of the ARRL Rhode Island Section Field Organization has led to a strong working cadre of volunteers within the Section.”

Licensing Education & Training

Amateur Radio Direction Finding Seminar on ARRL Learning Network

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From the USA ARDF Championship mailing list:

ARRL members will have an opportunity to learn the basics of The Sport of Finding Hidden Transmitters On Foot. The presenter, Robert Frey, WA6EZV, will be conducting the webinar on Thursday, August 20, 2020, 12:30 PM PDT / 3:30 PM EDT (1930 UTC). There is no charge for attending the Zoom presentation. Register online at http://www.arrl.org/ARRL-Learning-Network

All

MIT Swapfest Cancelled for Remainder of 2020

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Flea at MIT signFrom http://w1mx.mit.edu/flea-at-mit/

As MIT has announced that only seniors will be back on-campus with heavy restrictions in place, we have determined that we won’t be able to hold Swapfest without excessive risk for the rest of the calendar year. Swapfest will (tentatively) pick back up on April 18 of next year, and anyone who submitted preregistration should have either recently received an email or will shortly receive postal mail returning their payment.

Clubs

New Affiliated Club: Southeastern MA REACT

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ARRL Headquarters has received an application, dated July 31, 2020, from the Southeastern MA REACT, WC1EOC, in Brockton to affiliate with ARRL as a Category 1, “Local Amateur Radio Club.” 

According to their filing,  the club specializes in digital modes, public service/emergency, repeaters, VHF/UHF, and general interest. The club’s president is John Mahon, N1PYC.

Their affiliation will become official upon approval by New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR.

Congratulations to Southeastern MA REACT of Brockton.