Belmont HAMsters Experiencing Ham Radio Adventures

Winn Brook HAMsters visit 06/02/06, photo #1Elementary school teacher Ms. Donna LaRoche, KB1LWY is introducing Amateur Radio to another class of eager first-grade HAMsters at the Winn Brook Elementary School in Belmont.

“In addition to all of our exciting ham radio learning adventures and QSOs that we make from our classroom shack, and all of the fabulous guests who come and share their ham radio expertise/passion with the HAMsters, Dr. Chuck Counselman and I are going to teach CW to the HAMsters this year, too,” writes LaRoche. “I’ll be learning it right along with the 6 and 7 year olds in our class!” she adds.

The HAMsters have received visits from Dr. Chuck Counselman, W1HIS, and Mr. Bill McIninch, KA1MOM, who came just before the holidays.

“[KA1MOM] was dressed in red with black boots and his fluffy white beard and the kids thought he was no other than Santa!” says KB1LWY.

Dr. Martin Bayes, AA1ON, is one of the class’s special friends who sends the children post cards from the “four corners” of the world. LaRoche hopes that Bayes will be back to visit the HAMsters “in between his frequent visits to Hong Kong.”

ARRL Headquarters surprised the HAMsters with a recent gift of a 2007 Handbook. To thank the staff, the children created and sent a home-made “thank you” note.

The Winn Brook program is officially a part of the League’s Amateur Radio Education and Technology Program; a.k.a. “The Big Project.”

Shown here: a past visit by Mr. Phil Temples, K9HI and Dr. Ariel Cohen, K9ERA.

Clay Center Weather Festival 10/27/07

Clay Center ARC logoThe Clay Center in Brookline will hold weather festival events in collaboration with the Blue Hill Weather Observatory and the National Weather Service on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Many activities have been planned for families and children. Admission is free, although some activities require purchase of tickets or kits.

Activities planned include: demonstrations, planetarium shows, lightning shows, kite-building, rocket launches, hands-on educational activities, educational displays and handouts for all ages. Ride a Segway! Make Instant Snow! Talk on Amateur Radio!

For additional information, see Weather Festival Public Event.

[See also: Southern New England Weather Conference]

Eastern MA Youths Featured in Youth@HamRadio.Fun

Rebecca Rich, KB0VVTTwo youths with Eastern Massachusetts connections are mentioned in the latest issue of Youth@HamRadio.Fun, an on-line forum for young amateurs on the ARRLWeb. The forum is moderated by contributing editor Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM.

Rebecca Rich, KB0VVT, of Raytown, Missouri, is currently a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She’s shown here in a 2005 photo. Rich was the winner of the 2004 ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award.

Bryce Salmi, KB1LQC is also mentioned in Youth@HamRadio.Fun. An Amateur Extra class operator, Salmi is currently a senior at Chelmsford High School. He was instrumental in helping establish the Chelmsford High School Amateur Radio Club (KB1NAY). [See also: Chelmsford HS ARC Kicks Off School Year With Outdoor Demo”.]

Photo courtesy ARRL.

K1USN To Operate In JOTA Oct. 21

Watson Library, photo courtesy K1USN RC web siteMembers of the K1USN Radio Club plan to operate W1BSA during the upcoming Jamboree On The Air on Oct. 21, according to Harold “Pi” Pugh, K1RV.

“This should be a good opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities as well as introducing people to the Thomas Watson Library and Research Center,” writes Pi. “We have made a lot of progress getting K1USN back on the air and want everyone to see how it looks.”

[See also: USS Salem RC Has A New Home At Watson Library]

Chelmsford HS ARC Kicks Off School Year With Outdoor Demo

KB1NAY announcement at Chelmsford HS ARCBryce Salmi, KB1LQC writes on the New England QRP Club web site:

“The Chelmsford High School Amateur Radio Club had its early kickoff today. We set up under an outdoor gazebo two stations. Both running Yaesu FT-897D’s (One the schools and one ours) connected to computers and running ham radio deluxe for logging. One radio was connected to the dipole the other to the 6M beam and 2M vertical. We started around 12 PM and really started operating at about 1, after lunch which was a cookout…yes it was raining out but you can’t extinguish that desire to operate! We made a few contacts on 20M voice and 6M voice, however both bands were dead…

We ended up building a 2M J-pole antenna for use at the high school this year for monitoring the ISS SSTV (Yeah its good enough for the ISS SSTV, though not circularly polarized). Many of the members got to help out and cut the copper pipe and solder it together. In the picture it is on a bench right in the center… its hard to see but its there! We came back operated a little and then played some CHSARC Football with my little brother HIHI, we were soaked by the end of it, but it was so fun!

Then we jumped back on the radio and started PSK31 on 40M. That was when we made a few more contacts, actually most of out contacts! We got Matt, one of the unlicensed members very interested in PSK and talked to someone using Flex Radio which was right up his ally since Matt is very good with computers. Gillian talked to Belgium and a few of us talked around the US. [more]

Winn Brook School HAMsters Entertain Special Ham Visitors

Winn Brook HAMsters visit 06/02/06, photo #1Winn Brook HAMsters visit 06/02/06, photo #2

The Winn Brook school HAMsters of Belmont received two special visitors on June 2–Phil Temples, K9HI and Dr. Ariel Cohen, K9ERA. The first-graders, taught by Donna LaRoche, KB1LWY, were treated to stories by Temples and Cohen about their ham radio experiences and their respective careers. Cohen spoke of her first contact by Morse code with another woman in Alaska, and her public service work during a hurricane in North Carolina. Temples described how Amateur Radio can be used by people with disabilities to communicate with others even when they may be unable to see, hear or speak. The children, in turn, treated the husband-and-wife team to a “Collection Day” show-and-tell of special objects and memorabilia.

This marks the third year the Watertown couple have visited Donna La Roche’s first grade class. Other recent ham visitors have included Dr. Chuck Counselman, W1HIS, and Bill McIninch, KA1MOM. The class is affiliated with the ARRL’s Education and Technology Program, a.k.a. “The Big Project.”

photos courtesy KB1LWY

KB1NAY School Club Round-Up Schedule

I am here to tell you that the CHSARC (KB1NAY) will be operating in the ARRL School Club Round-up! Our schedule is:

Monday 2/13/06 – 2:00-3:30 pm
Tuesday 2/14/06 – 2:00-3:00 pm
Wenesday 2/15/06 – 2:00-3:00 pm
thurday 2/16/06 – 2:00-3:00 pm
Friday 2/17/06 – 2:00-3:30 pm

We are mainly on 20M SSB around 14.249 MHz + or – but look for us elseware if you cannot find us since we may be elsewhere. During school at around 10am I will usually get on CW during lunch on 20M and around 11:30 am. Brent (KB1LQD) will as well. All of us will operate under the KB1NAY club call sign. We do have the possibility of moving to 40M but have not done it so far.
We are using a Kenwood TS-440S, 100 Watts into a Hamstick dipole up about 20 feet on a homebrew PVC telescopic mast. For the contest we can only use one radio so we decided to use this rig owned personally by us (KB1LQC, KB1LQD, KB1MGI).

After the first day today (Monday, we made about 39 or 40 contacts, the first contact was with Russia! We have talked to about 15 different states, four countries including Russia, Germany, Croatia, and Canada. We have also talked to four other schools and hope to talk to many more. Mr. Steeves (KB1MKW) did get one of his physics classes on, all of which had never even heard of Amateur Radio and they were very enthused. They made a total of five contacts in their operating time–one of which was DX! All of them were very excited to get on the radio and asked if they could do it tomorrow! I even had a few kids from that class come up to me later in the day expressing how much fun it was to talk on the radio!

Well, we hope to talk to you soon and have many kids talk on the air as well. Thanks for the excuse to get as many kids on the are as we can (especially during school, hi hi!). We hope to get more students involved with amateur radio, and this seems to be one of the ticket for the ride!

Thanks es 73’s
Bryce Salmi
KB1LQC
Co-Founder KB1NAY
KB1LQC@ARRL.NET

Townsend Middle School Makes ARISS Contact!

ARISS crew at Hawthorne Brook School in TownsendMembers of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club helped facilitate a contact between astronauts aboard the International Space Station and youths at the Hawthorne Brook Middle School in Townsend, Massachusetts on November 29.

Shown here: Marilyn Richardson, N1CSH (left) and her twenty student ARISS participants. KD1LE photo

[See also: ARRL Web, ARISS release, (archive.org copy of “ARISS release”),The Community Journal: “Hawthorne Brook Middle School makes contact”, Nashoba Valley ARC newsletter, ARISS contact at Hawthorne Brook Middle School]

Kuss Middle School Makes Successful ISS Contact!

Roland Daignault, N1JOY writes on BCRA-club list:

For those of you who did not hear yet, yesterday we had an absolutely perfect radio contact between the [International Space Station] and the Kuss Middle School (Fall River, MA) students. The entire pass was just under 10 minutes long, and the kids were able to ask 22 questions, and we lost signal right at the end of John Phillps’, the astronaut operating NA1SS, 22nd answer.

Ham Radio got plenty of local press too! TV channels 6, 10, & 12 were there, along with Comcast, and FRED TV (Fall River Educational TV), Fall River Heald News, and The Spirit weekly newspaper. The Herald News gave us front page coverage! We also had nice TV spots on channels 6 & 10. (Did anybody see a spot on TV 12 yet?)
We were set up in the Kuss library with about 50 people present, including Mayor Lambert, and Senator Menard who presented a citation to the Kuss students for their work. Frank Bauer, the ARISS coordinator, also flew into town to see our event. We had 12 students lined up with 2 questions each to ask, so almost every kid got 2 chances at the microphone. We also set up an ATV link to the church hall across the street where about 50 more people were watching our live video feed of the event projected onto a large screen.
Kuss Middle School ARISS contact, photo 1
Needless to say, there were plenty of smiling faces at the end of the event. To show how seriously the Kuss faculty took this event, our contact began at 2:24 PM, and school let out at 2:30, about half way through our ISS pass. You would never had known there was anybody else in the school at 2:30! The school bells did not ring, the kids were asked to be quiet, and were only let out of the exits at the opposite end of the school. Security guards kept the front of the school clear of kids, and the Fall River PD had Rock street closed down! It was definitely an effort in noise control that worked perfectly! No outside noise was heard even though we had most of the library windows open to let some cool air inside.

We used the schools equipment, which consisted of a Yaesu FT-847, Mirage 180 Watt brick amplifier, and an M-Squared 22 element 2 Meter cross Yagi. The antenna is turned by a Yeasu AZ/EL rotor, which we controlled with a laptop running Nova for Windows. There was also a backup station on hand, and luckily not needed. This consisted of an Icom IC-2100H 2 Meter mobile, my RF Concepts 170 Watt brick amplifier, and a Diamond X-500HNA vertical antenna. The school antenna is normally run into Joe Cote’s (KB1LJG) classroom on the 5th floor, but are easily extended to the library 2 floors down by attaching my portable satellite antenna umbilical cord as an extension for the coax cables and rotor control cables, which were conveniently wired with the same style connectors just for this reason.
Kuss Middle School ARISS contact, photo 2
I want to thank everybody who helped to make this event possible and gave me unconditional support. Of course W2DAN, who has been there every time for the last 2 years. N1RHS & WA1ESO who were there Thursday night until 9:30 PM helping to set up the equipment. Also KB1CNA and WB1HGA who were there to assist on Friday. Also I cannot forget N1DU who donated some very cool commerative patches that were designed by the school, and he was able to embroider on short notice.

(See also: Fall River ARC, Bristol Co. RA Featured in Herald News Story.)

Photos: Left: Senator Joan Menard and Mayor Ed Lambert present Shantae Martins (KB1LKW) a citation recognizing Kuss’s achievments. Right: Kathryn Cooper from Central Park Middle School in Schenectaty, NY, takes a turn asking her question. Next in line is Evan Darmondy, who was interviewed by TV Channel 6. Sitting are (left) Thalita Xavier (KB1MJP) and (right) Jennifer DeLeon (KB1MNK).

Mansfield QRV For JOTA, Oct. 15-16, 2005

Radio scout logoA Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) station will be operational at the Mansfield Emergency Operations Center, writes Allan Cox, K1VQ on the Sturdy Memorial Hospital ARC mailing list. “Exact staffing and hours of operation are not known at this time, but we plan to be open,” writes Cox.

K1VQ asks if anyone has information on local events or knows activities at scout camps (such as Camp Norse) to contact him.

“If you know of Scout Leaders looking for a local JOTA station, you may provide them my e-mail address.”

JOTA is an annual event in which about 500,000 Scouts and Guides all over the world make contact with each other by means of Amateur Radio. The next JOTA event is scheduled for October 15-16, 2005. For additional information on the event, visit https://www.scouting.org/jota/  http://www.scout.org/wse/jota.shtml.

USS Salem Radio Club K1USN QRT

USS Salem RC QSL card PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, August 07, 2005 Quincy, MA

Members of the USS Salem Radio Club were allowed to remove their radio equipment from onboard the Heavy Cruiser, USS Salem yesterday. An agreement was reached with United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum Board Chairman, James Sheets, six weeks after being denied access to their equipment by the current Executive Director.

Twenty-five club members from around the South Shore spent several hours dismantling, packing and removing their club station, K1USN, which had been onboard since 1997. During the past eight years club members had spent thousands of volunteer hours demonstrating Amateur Radio to several thousand visitors enabling many Scouts to speak with stations as far away as McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Club members also originated the International Museum Ships Weekend. This annual radio event takes place during mid July and has grown to include participation from more that 80 other Museum Ships from around the world. Radio Amateurs activate the radio rooms onboard to help bring much deserved recognition to these vessels, their crews and current volunteer staff. Some clubs will even transmit using original WWII vintage transmitters. The club was unable to participate during this year’s event.

Members of the Battleship New Jersey, NJ2BB, Radio Club, in Camden, NJ
( www.nj2bb.org/ ) have now volunteered to sponsor the International Museum Ships Weekend.

Club members would also activate the K1USN club station during Veterans Day, Memorial Day and other patriotic celebrations. Members also manned a display booth at the Marshfield Fair and had distributed USS Salem informational literature to operators throughout the world in addition to maintaining a club website ( www.qsl.net/k1usn ).

Terms of the agreement with the USNSM call for the club to relinquish use of the name “USS Salem”. The club will be renamed the K1USN Radio Club.

Information about future club activities can be obtained by contacting the Club Trustee at haroldpugh@verizon.net

Harold Pugh Trustee K1USN RADIO CLUB
78 Temple St.
Abington, MA 02351

Fall River ARC, Bristol Co. RA Featured in Herald News Story

Kuss Middle School/Fall River ARC newspaper photoMembers of the Fall River Amateur Radio Club and Bristol County Repeater Association received kudos in a feature article published in the Herald News on Sunday. The Fall River paper ran a half-page story accompanied by photos describing the hams’ efforts in working with students at the Kuss Middle School.

The hams have conducted licensing classes for the students at Kuss and set up a ham club station. The school hopes to receive permission for a scheduled contact with the International Space Station and NA1SS–perhaps as early as this summer.

The school is a participant in NASA’s explorer program. Rosemary Millham, NASA’s education liaison to Kuss, is quoted in the article, saying, “The Fall River ARC has provided invaluable service to Kuss. Not only do members come to school every week to work with students and help them prepare for the licensing test, but they also serve on the steering committee for the [explorer] program.”

Club member Roland Daignault, N1JOY, commented in the article, “The momentum is really building now… Now that we have enough kids who are licensed, they bring other kids into it to talk on the radio.”

Sitting at the radio, left to right: Megan DeSouza, KB1LJH; John Nery, WA1ESO; and Shantae Martins, KB1LKW. –Herald News photo

USS Salem RC: “Very Few Volunteers” At Present

K1USN QSL cardBill O Hara, N1EY, writes:

We need people to help out the Scouting Program. We have very few volunteers. I have only three persons scheduled including myself. Radio Room 5 shall be open at the bare minimum on April 9th.

Anyone welcome to checking out the radio room and its operations should come by on the 9th. Pi K1RV shall be giving tours.

We require help every weekend. This should not be news to any club members. I shouldn’t even have to put an email in the manner that JC did every week.
I think that people should hold themselves accountable and be responsible. Other individuals arrive every week and work to man other stations such as CIC, sickbay, gunnery, engine rooms, or act as tour guides.

If we are truly interested in maintaining this ship, then people should be showing up.

April 9th – 225 scouts
April 16th – 85 scouts
April 23rd – 50 scouts morning; 155 scouts afternoon
April 30th – 203 scouts
May 7th – 170 scouts
May 14th – 225 scouts
May 21st – 225 scouts
June 4th – 177 scouts
June 11th – 210 scouts

This is the primary source of revenue to pay for badly needed repairs to the ship. Few club members are helping out. W1BT works very hard and is at the ship many times during the week to keep the juice running.

We also have not handled other club tasks such as getting the transmitters in RR 2 up to sniff and scratch standards. Nor we have done anything like getting a working teletype circuit.

USS Salem Scouting Program “In Danger Of Collapse”

K1USN QSL cardThe scouting activities aboard the USS Salem in Quincy are in danger of collapse. This, according to Harold “Pi” Pugh, K1RV, in the wake of the resignation of USS Salem Scout Coordinator “JC” Cunningham, W1AI.

Despite numerous pleas for ham assistance, Cunningham and company have been unable to recruit any new volunteers. Wrote Cunningham, “I received zero volunteers, so I have cancelled all K1USN activities on the USS Salem for tomorrow (3/12/2005). I hereby resign as Scout Coordinator!”Pugh, who coordinated the program prior to Cunningham, praised W1AI’s efforts. “I want to personally thank J.C. for all his hard work during the past several years maintaining this program! …I know how difficult it can be to keep up the momentum.”

“We have had a wonderful time during the past eight years running the International Museum Ships Weekend and other K1USN operations,” added Pugh. “These have helped draw much deserved attention to the USS Salem, but those activities may not be enough to keep K1USN ‘afloat.’ On more than one occasion we have been threatened with eviction from the ship if we can’t find a way to regularly assist the Overnight Scouting Program.”

Pugh stated the group now has an “immediate need” for someone to step forward to become the new Scouting Coordinator. He added that the group can give the next coordinator all the training he or she needs to get started.

“As J.C. has stated in the past, the Scouting Coordinator does NOT have to live nearby the ship. All the main duties can be handled by e-mail and phone.”

Concluded K1RV: “We need to find a way to get some more of the hams in Eastern Massachusetts to want to help save this program.”

Amateurs in Eastern MA are encouraged to forward this message to anyone who might be interested in salvaging the USS Salem’s Overnight Scouting Program.

USS Salem Scouting Schedule

USS Salem ARCJC Cunningham, W1AI writes:

I sent a message last week asking whether we should shut down the K1USN scouting program. The responses were quite underwhelming. I got responses from about 10 people, including 2 who actually volunteered to help with the scouts. We lost about 4 subscribers to the list as a result of my message.

Everyone – if you want to see this program continue, email me this week volunteering to help with one or more of the following sessions. If you really want to see the scouting program continue, also forward this message to other hams in Eastern Mass.

Saturday morning 5 March….(24 scouts expected) [1 volunteer so far; 1 more would be nice]

Saturday afternoon 5 March….(158 scouts expected) [1 volunteer so far; 3 more needed]

Saturday morning 12 March…(40 scouts expected) [2 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 12 March…..(154 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday morning 19 March…..(100 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 19 March……(164 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 26 March…..(24 scouts expected) [2 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 2 April…(215 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 9 April….(225 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 16 April….(85 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday morning 23 April….(50 scouts expected) [3 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 23 April……(155 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 30 April….(203 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 7 May…(170 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 14 May …(225 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 21 May…(225 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 4 June….(177 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

Saturday afternoon 11 June….(210 scouts expected) [4 volunteers needed]

All morning sessions are from 9:30am to 10:30am on Saturday. All afternoon sessions are from 3pm till 6pm on Saturday. Volunteers should plan on arriving 30 minutes early to help with setup, and staying a few minutes late to help with cleanup.

No experience is necessary. Our experienced volunteers will show you what needs to be done. There are jobs for no-code Techs and even unlicensed individuals!

Here’s the deal. This message is going out to almost 100 subscribers. If I get 30 or more person-session signups as a result of this message, I will assume that there is still interest in this program, and I will commit to acting as volunteer coordinator until June 30. If I do not, then I will resign as volunteer coordinator and shut down the program until such a time as someone else decides to start it up again.

Your response to this message determines whether we introduce 2656 scouts to amateur radio over the next 4 months, or shut down the K1USN scouting program.

You decide.

JC, W1AI
W1AI@hamtestonline.com

USS Salem Volunteers Needed, Feb. 12, 2005

USS Salem ARCJ.C. Cunningham, W1AI writes on K1USN@YahooGroups.com:

What if we had an opportunity to demonstrate amateur radio to 73 youngsters – the potential next generation of hams – and nobody showed up?

I still need volunteers for Saturday, 2/12/2005, from 3pm to 6pm, to demonstrate amateur radio to scouts visiting the USS Salem.

Please email me at W1AI@hamtestonline.com if you can help! If I do not have at least 3 more volunteers by Friday morning, I will be forced to cancel again! We’ve been doing that a lot recently! Let’s not let another group of scouts down this weekend!

No prior experience is necessary. We can train you!

Live too far away from Quincy, MA? You can still help! I’m looking for someone to take over the task of volunteer coordinator. No prior experience on the USS Salem is required. We can train you! All you need is reliability and good people skills!

JC
W1AI@hamtestonline.com

USS Salem ARC: QRV For Scouting!

K1USN QSL cardJC Cunningham, W1AI writes:

The USS Salem K1USN radio club is going to be busy with the scouting program in the coming months:

* Sat Jan 22 – 25 scouts in the afternoon
* Sat Feb 12 – 73 scouts in the afternoon
* Sat Mar 5 – 68 scouts in the morning and 160-190 in the afternoon
* Sat Mar 12 – 40 scouts in the morning and 172 in the afternoon
* Sat Mar 19 – 100 scouts in the morning and 119 in the afternoon

What are you going to do to help?

Several people have expressed disappointment that the scouting activities are always on Saturdays, when they are unavailable for a variety of reasons. Well, there’s one activity that needs to be done during the week (either days or evenings). That’s the job of volunteer coordinator. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now, and I’m ready to pass the torch. I plan to stay active with the scouting program, but primarily in the role of occasional volunteer.

What you need to do this job is:

* Good organizational skills
* Good communication skills
* The ability to get along with people

What the job entails:

* Find out from the ship what scouting events are coming up
* Send emails (and/or make phone calls) to get volunteers
* Send more urgent emails (and/or make phone calls) if your first email doesn’t raise enough volunteers
* Make sure that enough people, with sufficient USS Salem experience, have volunteered to get the job done
* Letting the ship know by Friday morning what our participation will be
* Send a final email letting everyone know what will or won’t be happening

The volunteer coordinator does not ever have to go to the ship. In fact, this is a job that could just as well be done from Hawaii as Massachusetts! (Know that would be my preference!) That makes it perfect for people who want to help out, but who live a long ways from Quincy!

Please contact me to volunteer, or if you need more information.

JC Cunningham, W1AI

Outgoing USS Salem K1USN Radio Club Scouting Program Volunteer Coordinator

http://www.hamtestonline.com
W1AI@hamtestonline.com