All

Clubs / Operating

YCCC SIG: FT4-FT8 Contesting Talk, June 10, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Dennis Egan, W1UE, writes on the YCCC mailing list:

Please join us Wednesday evening [June 10, 2020] at 7:30 PM.  Our concentration this week will be on operating FT4/8 in digital contests.

Coverage will include WSJT-x, but it won’t include any of the other variations (JTAlert, MSHV, etc.) as I have no experience with them.  If someone wants to cover them, please let me know and I’ll allot time.

Setup, what boxes to click, and how to operate will all be covered.  See  you then!

Clubs / Technical / Youth

New England Sci-Tech 20-Meter WSPR Beacon Project

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Charlie Bures, WA3ITR, writes in the Wellesley ARS Spark Gap newsletter, June 2020:

New England Sci-Tech WSPR Board

Derek, AK1WI started a NEST group in January to work on a 20-meter WSPR beacon project he is leading. Foolish me signed up to write the construction manual.

The goal was for the group to eventually build it for around $25 per kit – – Stu, W1SHS; Bruce, N9JBT; Mark Seltser; Nicole Deshone; Mindy, KM1DY and others from New England Sci-Tech were part of it, but then it all kinda shutdown in March due to COVID-19. Derek is up to revision 1.6 on his custom PC board and software and supplied me with some parts to try building the older version 1.5 board. He put together a small kit, and last week and this, I soldered the parts, sockets, LED, etc.

Derek designed the board from scratch and wrote the software, which gets loaded into the Espressif ESP microcontroller.

Search for WA3ITR on 20m then click UPDATE. You’ll see where 3 watts in Natick reaches.Tuesday afternoon, I went to Derek’s house and he made the last mod and at 17:45 PM, we turned it loose with his dipole strung around his study area. It has been running ever since, using my callsign, WA3ITR.

https://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map

Licensing Education & Training

New England Sci-Tech General Course Online, June 13-14, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

New England Sci Tech logoFor junior high and high school students, homeschool students, and adults who already have a Technician level license, this fast-paced, two-day course will get you ready to take the GENERAL license exam. Topics range from the science of radio electronics to the FCC rules governing the radio spectrum.  Some preliminary reading may be helpful to get the best results from this course. Material will be sent approximately a week before the course.

The GENERAL level course runs Saturday, 8:30 am to 5 pm and Sunday, 8:30 am to noon, followed by the FCC General exam at noon, at New England Sci-Tech, 16 Tech Circle, Natick.

Included with course fee: printed handouts, lecture study guide, license fee if tested at our location, a guest pass to the NEAR/STARS Radio Room and radio club meetings for 2 months, and free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate during the course. Up to 2 members of the same family may take this course for the price of one. Please let me know if there will be two of you attending.

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

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

June Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net Canceled

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

John O’Neill – K1JRO writes:

Good Evening Everyone,

My apologies for the late notice. I was hoping that one of the members from the SSHARG would be able to take the net this month. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Therefore, the June 6 EMHN is cancelled.

I believe that with the next phased re-opening on June 8th, Massachusetts health care facilities will be asking their locked-out volunteers to return. Once this happens, we can all get back into our shacks. If all goes well, SSHARG will be able to include Winlink and DMR testing in the monthly net soon.

73’s Stay Safe,
John O’Neill – K1JRO

South Shore Health Amateur Radio Group – W1SSH
55 Fogg Road, Box 42
South Weymouth, MA 02190

All

Socially-Distanced Ham Radio Breakfast, June 6, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Jim Whelan, KX1M, writes:

Where:           IHOP
 
Location:   4102 Shops Way, Northborough, MA 508-393-1222 
 
When:  Saturday, June 6, 2020 … The Breakfast starts at 7:00 AM

Talk-in: Many going to the breakfast as well as those at the breakfast may be listening on the following repeaters:              

W1BIM – Paxton, 2 m repeater (146.970, PL 114.8)
W1MRA – Marlborough, 2 m Repeater (147.2700, PL 146.2)
AE1C – Southborough, 2 m DMR Repeater (145.27, Timeslot 2,   TG # 3125 Mass State Wide, Color Code 7 )
AE1C – Southborough, 70 cm DMR Repeater (448.375, Timeslot  2, TG # 3125 Mass State Wide, Color Code 1 )
W1WNS – Westborough, 70 cm Repeater (448.775, DCS  D244, P25 NAC 353)  
WA1NVC – Framingham, 33 cm Repeater (927.01250, PL  131.8 )
WB1CTO – Framingham, 1.2 cm repeater (224.24, PL 103.5)

Spread the word to all the ham’s you know. Much fraternalism and friendships to be had! 

We will be ordering our breakfast by phone after 7:00 AM when they open. We then drive to a designated parking space for pickup and IHOP will bring the food out to the car!

Once we pick up our food, we can select another parking space where we can park near each other, then we can then hang out on an analog simplex channel of 146.550 (open carrier).

Hey, something new to try! I’m tired of being home a lot I’m sure you are as well! We can get an eyeball on our fellow hams!

 

Licensing Education & Training

North Shore Radio Association to Resume In-Person VE Sessions at New Location

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

The North Shore Radio Association will resume in-person volunteer exam sessions beginning this month, according to NSRA VE Coordinator Rick Savage, KB1LYJ. 

“NSRA has a new location for our June 27 exam session–the American Legion lower level, 31 Hermon Street, in  Winthrop.” Rick adds that reservations will be required, and the number of individuals will be limited to 10 but “multiple times may be used.” 

This meeting location will be used for all NSRA exams through the end of the year. 

Clubs

N1DM: “Introduction to FT8 and FT4” at Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society Online, June 16, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment
2nd Tuesdays Lectures Series (on the 3rd Tuesday of June 16th!)
Introduction to FT8 and FT4 by Dom Mallozzi, N1DM
 
“The talk is Introduction to FT4 and FT8. It covers some info on both modes and than shows numerous screen shot of the setup of a FT station and also shows example of actual QSO’s and explains what many of the buttons and pull downs in the software mean. It is intended to help newcomers to the mode to have a gentle introduction.
 
“As for me, I retired from Raytheon last year after 38 years as an electrical engineer specializing in measurement equipment. I have been a ham for 48 years starting my ham career as WN1RFT in RI. In addition to FT4 and FT8 over the years I have done various things such as RTTY, PSK31, Packet and OSCAR satellites. Currently I do some contesting and DXing on CW and am also very active on DMR. I still do quite a bit of homebrewing and also act as the Radio Engineer for the Natick Fire and Police Depts. I don’t collect many awards but proudly hold a 160M WAS that was done all at low power.”
All

Phishing Email Scams Hitting Amateurs in the Region

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

A series of phishing email scams targeting amateurs have been showing up across the region. These schemes involve persuading the intended victim to purchase gift cards on behalf of a known acquaintance. 

Assistant Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI, received one such message this afternoon purporting to be from a Western MA section staff member asking, “I was wondering if i can get a quick favor from you. Is there any grocery store around you?”

PART of Westford club president George Allison, K1IG, wrote to the PART membership:

“Emails are being sent from bogus ham email addresses to the PART website info address and to individual hams using callbook or QRZ.com addresses.  The emails look like they came from a ham since they have a call sign as the originating address.  The emails ask for info on local stores, probably to scam you into buying gift cards. I got one today and checked with the real ham (whose email address I had) and he verified that it wasn’t from him.”

If you receive one of these messages, be sure to send it to the junk mail folder.

Clubs / Youth

Framingham Amateur Radio Association Awards Two Scholarships

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Framingham ARA logoThe Framingham Amateur Radio Association scholarship committee announced the club has awarded the 2020 Bev Lees Memorial Scholarship to  the following two individuals: 

  • Victoria Anderson just finished her sophomore year at University of Massachusetts Amherst, majoring in Business
  • Rebecca Weisman just finished her freshman year at Westfield State University, majoring in Earth Science

Anderson and Weisman will receive  $500 scholarships.

The  Bev Lees Memorial Scholarship was created in 2015  to honor the memory of FARA member Bev Lees, N1LOO (SK) . Lees was a former club president, and was active on the nominating committee, Field Day, and organizing the club flea market.  Her passing was a great loss to FARA.

Clubs

SEMARA Meets Online, June 4, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Southeastern MA ARA logoMarcel Dumont, W1MLD, writes on the SEMARA mailing list:

Hi Everyone,

Well, it looks like we [the Southeastern MA ARA] are going to have another ZOOM meeting for the month of June. If anyone is interested in attending the meeting, please forward to me your email address. This is the only way I can make sure that your address is correct. We must have a minimum of ten members present to conduct a meeting. This type of meeting will assure that you will not get the Corona virus from the club. Please respond to the following address.

President@semara.org   or   chiefmld@comcast.net

Thanks for your cooperation.

Marcel,  W1MLD

Clubs

Framingham Amateur Radio Association Online Meeting, June 4, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Framingham ARA logoThe Framingham Amateur Radio Association will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, June 4, 2020 via Zoom from 7:30 PM to 8:20 PM. 

The business portion of the meeting will include the treasurer and webmasters, report, the clerk secretary’s report, discussion on the Bev Lee’s scholarship awards, repeater report, and election of officers. 

Following the conclusion of the business meeting, Sumner Weisman, W1VIV, will present on Korean War radios.

 

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net – Monday 6/1/2020 at 830 PM EDT

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

The June Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday June 1st, 2020 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.

For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html

We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. For tonight’s ARES Net, we will discuss the start of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season and provide a brief COVID-19-Update as we continue to monitor this health emergency from a communications needs perspective and what you can do as ARES volunteers or general Amateur Radio Operators during this health emergency to prepare for any communications issues during this time. A link to a document that we had created for ARES awareness in April 2020 is available at the following link:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Eastern-Massachusetts-ARES-COVID-19-Update.pdf

We will also review the recent training and exercise activities during the month of May. Reports on those events will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at https://ema.arrl.org/ares. Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Clubs

Bristol County Repeater Association Meets Online, June 1, 2020

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

Margaret Gaffney, KA1BZE, writes on the BCRA mailing list:

This month we will meet on Skype. With Skype we will be able to run the meeting for longer than 40 minutes. As usual the meeting will be held tomorrow June 1 at 7:00 PM.

Use the following link: [email mmgaffney -at- comcast -dot- net for meeting information.]

Note: one of the items to be discussed is field day from home.

Licensing Education & Training

Social Distancing Exam Sessions Demonstrate Pent-Up Demand for Testing

- by k9hi - Leave a Comment

ARRL VEC logo/bannerFrom ARRL Web:

A recent in-person “social-distancing” amateur radio exam session in Indiana and a “drive-in” session in California are representative of those that are relieving some of the pent-up demand for testing. As the COVID-19 pandemic lumbers on, in-person exam sessions have begun to resume across the US and elsewhere in the world.

“With in-person sessions starting up again around the country, we are hearing the same story from volunteer examiner (VE) teams everywhere,” said ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) Maria Somma, AB1FM. “Large numbers of candidates who have been waiting to test are contacting teams and are thankful for the opportunity to sit for an exam. So far, we’ve heard mostly positive results; candidates are very prepared as they’ve had extra time to study. VE teams and candidates are following CDC and state guidelines for social distancing.” [Full story]

Emergency Communications / NTS / Operating / Public Service

UPDATED: Eastern Massachusetts ARES to Participate in National Red Cross Exercise and WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020

- by kd1cy - Leave a Comment

Hello to all…

**SECTION EXERCISE PLAN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL FREQUENCY INFORMATION – REMAINDER BELOW IS UNCHANGED**

Eastern Massachusetts ARES will participate in a National Red Cross exercise on Saturday May 30th, 2020 from 1000 AM-1200 PM (setup time starting as early as 900 AM). The exercise is split into two parts with Part A being the ARES component and Part B being handled by a small number of ARES members who are also part of Red Cross.

The exercise has been adapted to allow for a partial weather scenario to encourage Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters to participate and to allow participation in other modes used traditionally in the section including Echolink and IRLP. A high-level Eastern Massachusetts section plan has been generated and is available here:

RedCross-Eastern MA-ARES Exercise 1.7 05-28-20

Section wide frequency and Echolink/IRLP plans are in the section plan. For local frequency information, please reach out to your ARES DEC/ADEC or EC for this info and their contact info is available at the following link:

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Page

As Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC, I can also be reached for questions as well as needed but we would like to drive interaction with other ARES leadership as part of exercise preparation.

We realize we have posted this exercise information on fairly short notice. Part of that is intentional to simulate a scenario where a potential ARES activation could occur with just a few days notice. We have also built the preparation process for the exercise in a way to push ARES member to ARES EC/ADEC/DEC leader interaction ahead of the exercise.

Also occurring on Saturday May 30th is the WX4NHC On-Air Communications Test done annually prior to each Atlantic hurricane season. We encourage all Amateurs to participate in this test as well and we may get WX4NHC operators to participate briefly in our exercise as well. Details on the WX4NHC On-Air Test can be seen at the following link:

WX4NHC On-Air Test – Saturday May 30th 2020 9 AM-5 PM EDT Information

Many thanks to folks that can participate and thanks for your continued support of Eastern Massachusetts ARES!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box