Youth

Youth activities in the section

Operating / Youth

Northeastern University Wireless Club Active in 2021 ARRL CW Sweepstakes

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The Northeastern University Wireless Club (W1KBN) in Boston was QRV in this past weekend’s ARRL CW Sweepstakes Contest.  YCCC member Marty Sullaway, NN1C, spent “a few hours playing around between homework assignments and such.”  He adds, “[It was] fun to try out our new JK Antennas MidTri-40. Considering we are located in downtown Boston, we seem to hear okay, and I felt loud.”

Marty worked a total of 265 stations and 84 sections for a score of 44,520. 

Operating / Youth

ARRL School Club Roundup, Runs Through October 22, 2021

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Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, writes on the Yankee Clipper Contest Club mailing list:

We can encourage new hams and budding contesters right now by working them in the School Club Roundup presently underway.   I coached a 5th grader through more than 50 QSOs Monday night at the New England Sci-Tech station, W1STR.

The roundup started Monday and runs through through 2359 UTC Friday.     W1STR will be active again Friday at 6 PM local, and CW counts for double points.    If you hear them on phone, consider asking for a CW QSO also – the kids there are interested in CW.

Please consider tuning around the bands and spotting all the school clubs you can find.

de KM1P Joe

Public Information / Youth

New England Sci-Tech ARS Crew to Participate in JOTA, Lexington, October 16, 2021

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JOTA-JOTI logoTate Aldridge, K1MKD, writes:

With Bruce [N9JBT], Mindy [KM1NDY], and Marc’s help (and flyers from Rusty and Bob), we are hosting a Jamboree On The Air for scouts in Lexington. We will have several radios out and will be making contacts and educating scouts about amateur radio. We would be very happy to see you there!

https://www.jotajoti.info/
Lexington Visitor Center lawn, Lexington, MA
Saturday Oct 16
Scouts are coming from 1-4 and we start set up around 11 – STARS friends are welcome any time!

73,
Tate, K1MKD

Operating / Youth

Possible JOTA Effort at Southeastern MA ARA, October 15-17, 2021

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Southeastern MA ARA logoDoug Belcher, KC1NFL, writes on the Southeastern MA ARA mailing list:

This coming weekend 10/15-17 is the Scouting World Wide Jamboree On The Air and Internet. There will be scouts from all over the world tying to connect with each other. Are there any members who would be able to help me get the Scouts on the Air this Friday from 5-8 at the club?  I will also be having a Zoom session with Rob Macedo to go over SKYWARN, ARES, and RACES. I’m hoping to get some new hams out of this by offering HT Baofengs to any scout who gets their Tech license.

73!
Doug Belcher
KC1NFL

Operating / Youth

W0MXX Balloon Launch, Cummington, MA, October 2, 2021

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Seth Kendall writes on the STARS mailing list:

Max [W0MXX] and family are tentatively targeting a launch of our latest high altitude balloon on:

Saturday, Sept. 25th  October 2, 2021

TENTATIVE launch location: Around Stafford, CT Cummington, MA

Note: This will change on the morning of launch, so keep an eye out for posts!
Launch prep begins at 9:30 am with a launch time at around Noon.

(If Saturday is scrubbed, we will shoot for Sunday, and if that’s scrubbed, then next weekend. We will try to keep this thread updated.)

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Pick and choose from…

  1. Come to the Launch!  

    1. We start our prep at 9:30 am and aim to launch by noon.

    2. Keep an eye on our posts on the morning of launch for an updated location.

    3. Stream the prep and launch action for those that can’t make it using your phone.  We’ve never done this before, but always been interested, since most people aren’t able to come in person.  Our discord server has a Voice Hangout section that could be used for this, though we’re fine with any platform. (this is not expected if you show up haha, just a fun idea)

  1. Track the balloon online!

    1. https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FW0MXX-11&timerange=3600&tail=3600 

      1. This gives live updates directly from the transmitter.

    2. https://tracker.habhub.org/

      1. This is very useful for us, because it will give a predicted landing location.  As it gets close to landing, we can really benefit from people tracking it here, and letting us know where to look.  You can post locations here on groups.io, or if you are tracking it live and able to talk, give us your phone number to keep in touch while we’re on the road.

    3. Join our discord server for the most frequent updates.  We’d love to have you there in general as we work on weather balloons and try to troubleshoot problems!  It’s especially useful on launch day though.

      1. Step 1 – Make a Discord account:  http://discord.com/app 

      2. Step 2 – Join our server.  This invite will expire in 7 days:

https://discord.gg/fQRpHG8n 

  1. Watch this thread on groups.io, or better yet, track the balloon and contribute to it!

  2. Come track the landing beacon!

    1. Bring your 2m mag mount antenna, SDR, and laptop (with wifi access – we use our phone as a mobile hotspot), and try to pick up those final beacons just before (or after) it hits the ground (read: tree).  This can really help us to pinpoint where it actually landed.

    2. Max will post tomorrow with more details about using HDSDR and Direwolf to receive, decode, and publish the GPS data online.

    3. Keep up to date on the predicted landing location using tracker.habhub.org (above) or just tuning into others’ posts on our Discord or groups.io.  I’m not sure where people will post, but we find Discord easier for these kinds of things. 

  1. Come help us physically search for and recover it.

    1. Keep up to date on landing location via groups.io

    2. We’ll agree on a meeting point from which to conduct the search.

    3. Bring some basic survival stuff

      1. Boots, bug spray, water, etc.

    4. Bring your handheld to maintain contact during the search!

    5. We have a slingshot, and are trying to grab a fishing reel in time in order to try and fish it out of a tree should the cutdown system not work.  If you have any other tools you think could help with that, bring em!

    6. If you are a tree climber, bring your gear!  We’ll put you to use!

 

 
We’ve seemed to zero into a final launch location:
 
William Cullen Bryant Homestead
207 Bryant Rd
Cummington, MA 01026 
Youth

JOTA Volunteers Requested in Chelmsford, October 15-17, 2021

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JOTA-JOTI logoGeorge Allison, K1IG, writes on the PART of Westford email list:

The JOTA is an annual event in which Scouts and Guides all over the world connect with each other by means of amateur radio, and this year will be held October 15-17. The Scout troop in Chelmsford is interested in participating, and is looking for hams who could host a few scouts at their home station, set up a portable station at the Scouting site in Chelmsford, or organize a fox hunt. The number of Scouts is estimated at 10-15, but could be more. If you want to host just a small number of Scouts at your home station, that can be arranged. Activities conducted indoors will require masks.

If you’re interested in participating, reply directly to me (k1ig (at) arrl dot net) by September 26.
—

George  K1IG
PART President
WB1GOF.org

Operating / Youth

Jamboree On The Air, October 15-17, 2021

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JOTA-JOTI logoFrom the JOTA-JOTI website:

JOTA-JOTI (Jamboree-on-the-Air-Jamboree-on-the-Internet) is the world’s largest digital Scout event taking place on October 15-17, 2021, on the Internet and over the airwaves. Held every year in October, the event connects millions of young people around the world for a full weekend of online activities that promote friendship and global citizenship. JOTA-JOTI enables young people and volunteers to participate in fun and engaging group activities over the Internet and amateur radio focused on developing 21st century skills through Scouting. 

JOTA-JOTI 2020 took place from 15 to 17 October. The dynamic program comprised a variety of non-formal education activities, including webinars, global campfires, talent shows, live shows, fun challenges and more through an interactive 3D campsite. JOTA-JOTI aims to support young people of all ages to learn about communications technology, the values of global citizenship, and their role in creating a better world.

Clubs / Youth

AB1OC: “Programs Helping Hams and Young People to Develop New Skills and Get on The Air” at New England Sci-Tech ARS Meeting, August 31, 2021

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 New England Sci Tech logoOn Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 7:00 PM, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, will present “Programs Helping Hams and Young People to Develop New Skills and Get on The Air” at the New England Sci-Tech ARS (STARS) meeting.

For Zoom conference information, email Bob Phinney, K5TEC, at bobphinney -at- nescitech -dot- org or call 508-720-4179.

Clubs / Youth

KC1US: “Amateur Radio Public Service” at Sci-Tech ARS, August 24, 2021

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New England Sci Tech logoComing Tuesday, August 24, 2021 at the Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society: “Amateur Radio Public Service” by Bruce Pigott, KC1US.

This presentation will cover procedures, resources and clubs involved with public service events. Items discussed will include typical tasks, recommended equipment to use and communications protocols. Information about training as well as the groups and agencies that need radio support are also presented. Bruce has been doing events since 1989. He has been an operator, leader at large activities and a ham planner and organizer for various Public Service events. Bruce has maintained repeater systems, done many Field Days, participated in VHF contests, and built APRS tracker boxes. He has held a number of engineering positions, such as component engineer and test engineer for assembled boards and IC wafer trim and test.

[For Zoom conference information, email Bob Phinney, K5TEC, at bobphinney -at- nescitech -dot- org or call 508-720-4179.]
Clubs / Technical / Youth

New England Sci-Tech QRV on WSPR

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New England Sci Tech logoDerek Rowell, AK1WI, writes in the Sci-Tech ARS newsletter:

As promised last week, I have installed one of the New England Sci-Tech (NEST) WSPR (“Weak Signal Propagation Reporter”) beacons in the Radio Room and have had it running since on 80m, 40m, 20m, and 15m using the OCF dipole during periods when the room has been idle. My plan is to build filters for the other bands that are covered by the OCF (17m, 12m, 10m), one per day, and have them available later this week.

The results so far have been excellent. On separate days both 20m and 40m have had over 300 unique spots over a 24 hour period. (For those unfamiliar with WSPR jargon a “spot” is a report of a beacon being heard, and a “unique spot” is the first report from an individual reporting station) We were heard from Central Europe, South America, Antarctica, across the US, and down through the South Pacific.
 
The map shows the 306 unique spots on 40m over 24 hours on July 30. The results from 20m look very similar. We are still collecting initial data on 80m and 15m.
 
Last year we distributed 21 kits for the WSPR beacon and had two kit building sessions at NEST before Covid shut us down. Right now I am out of parts and cannot supply additional kits. However, if there is interest, I am willing to gear up and hold additional in-person building sessions at NEST. The parts cost is approximately $50 for the complete kit. This is a kit that can be assembled by first-time kit builders with no soldering experience, and takes about one morning to build the PCB and another shorter session to build a filter for a particular band and do some on-air testing.
 
After the this week’s meeting I’ll be available in the Sci-Tech ARS Radio Room to demonstrate the unit and discuss what’s involved in building it. For those attending by Zoom, I’ll set up a groups.io discussion (with hashtag #WSPR) where interested folks can chat about the project.
 

Derek, AK1WI 

World Map showing New England Sci-Tech WSPR spots

Clubs / Youth

N8ZRY: “Repair and Restoration of Antique Radio Equipment” at Sci-Tech ARS Meeting, July 20, 2021

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New England Sci Tech logoComing Tuesday, July 20 at the Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society: “Repair and Restoration of Antique Radio Equipment” by Greg Charvat, N8ZRY. Greg operates SSB equipment that he has designed/built from scratch and vintage gear that has been restored. His work has been featured in QST magazine, on Hackaday, and many others. Licensed amateur since 1993, member of ARRL, Senior Member of the IEEE, and avid reader of Electric Radio magazine. For more information about his amateur radio activities, please see Greg’s webpage and his youtube channel.

[For Zoom conference information, email Bob Phinney, K5TEC, at bobphinney -at- nescitech -dot- org or call 508-720-4179.]
Licensing Education & Training / Operating / Youth

Youth On The Air 2021 Camp Makes Successful ARISS Contact

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YOTA logoFred Kemmerer, AB1OC, writes:

“I had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS contact moderator for the Youth On The Air (YOTA) 2021 Camp’s contact with the International Space Station (ISS) using Amateur Radio today. Young Hams spent the week at the Voice of America Bethany Relay Station in West Chester, OH engaging in a variety of Amateur Radio Activities. Ruth Willet, KM4LAO, was the host for YOTA 2021 and provided an excellent pre-contact program. The West Chester Amateur Radio Association partnered with YOTA 2021 Camp group to help them with YOTA 2021 activities and their ISS contact. You can view a video of the YOTA 2021 Camp’s contact with astronaut Aki Hoshide, KE5DNI, on the International Space Station (ISS) by clicking on the video above.

Working with a school or group to help young people make contact with an astronaut on the ISS using Amateur Radio is a great way to build a lasting relationship around Amateur Radio with young people and their teachers and mentors. In my role as an ARISS Mentor and Ground Station, I have had the pleasure to help with nine of these contacts around the world over the last several years. In every case, local Ham Radio clubs partnered with the school or group to provide STEM learning experiences based on Amateur Radio. Helping a school or group make contact with the astronaut on the ISS provides a memorable experience for everyone involved.

You can learn more about the ARISS contact program here or contact me at ab1oc@arrl.net.

Fred, AB1OC

 

Clubs / Youth

W0MXX: “High Altitude Ballooning: Going to the Edge of Space” at Sci-Tech ARS Meeting, July 13, 2021

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New England Sci Tech logo
Coming Tuesday, July 13 at the New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society: “High Altitude Ballooning: Going to the Edge of Space” by Max Kendall, W0MXX.  
 
This talk will introduce high altitude balloons and then describe Max’s experiences in building, launching, and recovering them.  Amateur radio transmitters play a critical role in recovery of payloads.
 
Max is one of our youth members who has achieved Tech and General licenses and is now working on his Amateur Extra license.
 
[For Zoom conference information, email Bob Phinney, K5TEC, at bobphinney -at- nescitech -dot- org or call 508-720-4179.]
Youth

Youth on the Air Camp 2021 to Activate W8Y and Stream Selected Events Online

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YOTA logoFrom ARRL News:

The first Youth on the Air (YOTA) camp for young radio amateurs in North, Central, and South America begins on July 11 in West Chester, Ohio. Among other activities, campers will be operating special event station W8Y from the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester Township, and also from the camp hotel. The camp will run until July 16.

“We are at 23 campers,” said Camp Director Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. “We are very excited to finally bring this program to the Americas. Our young people are bringing an incredible lineup of hands-on sessions for their peers. We hope this pilot gives us the information we need to replicate this camp over multiple locations for years to come. We also hope this brings a more robust community of young hams into amateur radio.”

The long-awaited summer camp for up to 30 hams aged 15 through 25 had been set to take place in June 2020, but it had to be rescheduled until summer 2021 because of COVID-19 pandemic concerns. The camp for young hams in the Americas took its cue from the summer Youngsters on the Air camps held for the past few years in various IARU Region 1 countries. [Full story]

Public Information / Youth

New England Sci-Tech “Natick Nights” with Amateur Radio on Display

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From New England Sci-Tech Leadership Team news:

Bob Phinney and Rusty Moore have cleared their schedules for summer Thursdays 5:00-7:30pm to be in Natick Common to meet families and provide educational and entertaining STEM topics. We have activities planned for kid’s nights, family nights, history nights, art walk, and more. Thank you to Steve Palmer, Greg Moore, and David Kahn as well as teens Nolan Palmer, Jonathan Godfrey, and David Camaforte for helping at various times at the last two events. We welcome more helpers, so come and see us.

NEST Natick Nights display
Above: Natick Nights on June 10 was buzzing with activity. Steve Palmer mans the paper rocket launcher. Rusty makes radio contacts all over Europe. Greg and Bob run the NEST table.

 

Clubs / Technical / Youth

AK1WI: “Adventures in Home Brew SDR Design” at New England Sci-Tech ARS, April 27, 2021

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AK1WI homebrew SDR radioAK1WI will present “Adventures in Home Brew SDR Design” at the New England Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society on April 27, 2021 at 7:00 PM. 

In this talk, Derek will describe his multi-year project to develop the hardware and software for a stand-alone SDR system using the “Teensy” family of microcontrollers from PJRC.  In particular, it uses the Teensy Audio Library structure, hence its name “AudioSDR.”   The software is now freely available from GitHub.

Derek will describe the origins of the project from a graduate course he was teaching in 2010, and how it was not initially intended for ham radio, but rather as an exercise in applied DSP (digital signal processing).   He will describe in very broad terms the structure and operation of the system.    Math will be kept at a minimum. 

The talk will also cover the associated hardware for the RF front-end and the LCD display, as well as how the system is controlled, and the software structure for the Teensy Audio Library coding.   We will look at (extremely) over-simplified seudo-code to demonstrate concepts of real-time software.  We will write such code for an SDR version of the humble crystal-set – the simplest of all radios.

Derek will also discuss current developments and future enhancements for AudioSDR, including the addition of a transmit function to make it a true transceiver. 

If feasible we will have a demonstration of the operation, or at a minimum, pre-recorded sound clips of the output.

Technical / Youth

WØMXX Experimenting With Weather Balloons

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Shoebox containing W0MXX balloon payloadfrom WickedLocal.com:

Ten-year-old amateur radio operator Max Kendall is having a blast with his latest weather balloon project. The Medway youth has been constructing a balloon payload around a Raspberry Pi computer and camera. The microcomputer he’s programming will collect atmospheric data, and convert the temperature values to the Fahrenheit scale “because I have a better feel for Fahrenheit than Celsius.”

A fourth-grader at the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School in Franklin, Max spends many hours of his free time preparing for a spring launch of his very own weather balloon. He launched his first weather balloon from a field in Agawam, predicting it would eventually land many miles to the east in or near Halifax. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get the balloon airborne using party balloon helium purchased at Target, the apparatus went aloft but soon afterward, the tracker stopped sending signals. Max suspects it went too far out of his limited range  or “may have frozen as it drifted higher” despite the disposable hand warmer he placed in the box with it.
 
Max has founded the Medway Balloon Society, a club for youths and families who meet online and “share messages, files, chats, text messages and voice and video calls.” When the club has enough local members, he plans to hold in-person meetings and launches. Max’s mother, Jennifer Kendall, says Max is working with the Medway Public Library’s Makerspace coordinator, Diane Busa, to find interested individuals and families to participate.
 
“He would just love to have more people in the area to collaborate with him on weather balloons.” She adds, “there is just so much to love about them–the engineering and coding needed in building them, the thrill of the launch, and the adrenaline rushing when you attempt to recover them after the launch.”
 
In hopes of avoiding the same loss of contact with his second balloon that he experienced with his first,  Max studied online and earned an FCC General class amateur radio license.  His callsign is WØMXX. With his amateur radio privileges he hopes to track his second balloon and retrieve its data and images via ham radio. He’s currently studying to earn his Amateur Extra license.
 

Max is focusing on his next weather balloon. He thinks it will be ready for launch later this month, or in April. 

 
“The highest weather balloon went up 140,000 feet,” Max says. “My goal is 100,000 feet. That’s just about 63,000 feet short of the top of the earth’s stratosphere.”
 

For details about Max’s first weather balloon project, visit  https://maxkendall.wixsite.com/home/post/first-weather-balloon.

 

Public Information / Youth

“Students Talk to Astronauts in Space”, WCVB-TV

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Nashua, N.H.–Four years ago, an organization of ham radio operators in New Hampshire teamed up with a local high school so the students could learn more about the power of connecting people through the airwaves. Now that connection led the students all the way to outer space. It was an out-of-this-world experience for students at Bishop Gurtin High School in Nashua. On Friday, they make contact with the International Space Station. For members of the school’s STEM Club, it was a chance for them to chat directly with Astronaut Shannon Walker onboard the International Space Station. “It was really quite something to be able to speak to an astronaut that far away in space,” one of the club members said. [Full story]

screenshot of Nashua ARS ARISS school contact, WCVB.com

Regulation & Advocacy / Youth

ARRL Board Considers Plan to Cover New $35 FCC Fee for Some Young Members

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ARRL logofrom nediv.arrl.org:

At its Annual Meeting in January, the ARRL Board of Directors considered a motion to offer a new plan that would pay the new but not-yet-implemented $35 FCC application fee for a limited number of new radio amateurs younger than age 18 who, at the time of testing, belonged to an ARRL Affiliated 501(c)(3) charitable organization and passed their tests through an ARRL VEC-sponsored exam session. The proposal called for reducing the VEC fee for these candidates to $5. The initial proposal came from ARRL Southeastern Division Director Mickey Baker, N4MB. Other Board members offered subsidiary motions. Supporters said the purpose behind the motion was to ameliorate the potential financial hardship the pending FCC application fee posed on certain minors applying for their first license, and to encourage new youth membership. [Full story]