February 2019: EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS (EMA) SECTION NEWS
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Welcome to the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL section newsletter.
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To see the complete monthly section news, which is updated regularly,
visit <https://ema.arrl.org/>.
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UP FRONT THIS MONTH
ARRL Mission
The ARRL has a simple and comprehensive mission. The mission of the
ARRL is “To advance the art, science, and enjoyment of Amateur
Radio.” When I speak at club meetings, often I like to start with
this. This mission statement captures the essence of ARRL and is good
for all members to keep in mind.
South Shore Hospital Net
Net Control for the March 2,2019 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH,
the South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club. The net will commence at
the usual time of 10:00 AM using the following repeaters in the order
listed:
Attleboro 147.195 Mhz tone 127.3
Boston 145.230 Mhz tone encode 88.5 decode 100.0
Plymouth 146.685 Mhz tone 131.8
Simplex 147.42 Mhz
The Net will then return to the Attleboro Repeater for final comments
and Net closing.
Registration for Teacher’s Wireless Institute open until May 1, 2019
Each summer the ARRL offers multiple sessions of the Teachers Institute
on Wireless Technology, an expenses paid professional development
seminar, in locations through the U.S. Information available at
<http://www.arrl.org/teachers-
Operation Shake Up
Members of the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association/Cape Cod ARES
participated in ARES drill “Operation Shake Up” on February 9 with
surrounding Amateur Radio clubs and home stations.
The purpose of the drill was to test the capability in establishing
communications with stations both within and outside of our district.
The drill also tested communications capabilities with our hospital
station, primary stations, EOC, shelters, and other ARES members’ home
stations. Various field sites participated across Cape Cod, including:
Falmouth, Sandwich, Harwich, Joint Base Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard,
and Nantucket. In addition, home stations participated from as far away
as Acushnet, Massachusetts.
Communications utilized 2-meter and 70 cm FM, 75 and 40-meter SSB, and 2
meters PAC digital. ARES field teams were instructed to bring their own
equipment. “Served agency” equipment was not used at any time. The
Incident Command System (ICS) was assigned prior to the start of
operations and used during the exercise.
Falmouth did a great job establishing operations at the Falmouth
Hospital, the Falmouth EOC at Falmouth Fire Rescue Headquarters, and the
Falmouth Field Site at Falmouth High School. Stations made use of
various mobile transceivers, batteries, generators, amplifiers, and home
brew antennas. Net control at the Falmouth Hospital did a great job in
directing the operation. A lot was learned.
Drills and exercises like “Operation Shake Up” are very important in
encouraging participation among Falmouth Amateur Radio Association
members and are an important part of FARA’s continuing commitment to
community service.
Information from Matthew Trott, KB1MLP, Falmouth Amateur Radio
Association Public Relations Office.
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EVENTS:
March 2, 2019
South Shore Hospital Net
10:00 AM Local Time
See announcement above for repeaters and the sequence of repeaters.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
9 AM – 12 Noon
Framingham Flea Market
Keefe Technical School
<https://w1fy.org/flea>
April 13, 2019
8 AM – 12 Noon
Seacoast Amateur Radio Flea Market
Hampton, NH
<http://www.w1wqm.org/flea/Fly
Monday, April 15, 2019
2019 BAA Marathon
https://ema.arrl.org/2019/01/0
April 21, 2019
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Flea at MIT
http://web.mit.edu/w1gsl/Publi
April 27, 2019
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
The USTNR club will be operating from the Battleship USS Massachusetts
BB59, from Fall River, MA. They will be on the air as W1BSA.
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CLUB VISITS
Several EMA section staff members are available to speak at your club.
Please let us know if you’d like to include this in your club meeting
programs.
ARRL section manager, Tom K1TW, and ARRL Vice Director, Mike K1TWF, will
be speaking at the Billerica ARS meeting in Chelmsford on March 6, 2019
at 7 PM. Topics will include the recent ARRL Board of Directors meeting
and the proposed hands-free cell bill now in the MA Legislature. (Note:
this talk was rescheduled to March when a dangerous ice storm forced
cancellation the original February meeting).
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Club News
Algonquin ARC: <https://www.qsl.net/n1em/>.
KD1CY presented on ARES and SKYWARN at the club’s February meeting.
AARC held another successful Marlborough Flea Market on February 16.
Billerica ARS (BARS): <https://www.w1hh.org/>.
BARS cancelled its February meeting; a dangerous ice-storm descended on
the area that evening. BARS has recently begun a club newsletter.
Framingham ARA: http://www.w1fy.org.
FARA featured N1CPE who spoke about the Military Auxiliary Radio System
(MARS) at its February meeting. Tom’s talk was followed by a short
presentation on NTS traffic handling by Fred, NV1N.
Nashoba Valley ARC (NVARC): <http://www.n1nc.org>.
Members of the NVARC were themselves the program this month with the
theme, “Members Short Subjects.”
NVARC once again provided support for the annual Girl Scouts “Thinking
Day on the Air” event. Members worked with troops from Tyngsborough
and Westford as well as Raymond, NH.
New England Sci-Tech: <https://www.nescitech.org> and Sci-Tech Amateur
Radio Society (STARS): <https://www.stars.radio>.
During February, NE Sci-Tech held a weekend Technician class license
course, Amateur Extra study sessions, and weekly open house activities.
PART OF WESTFORD: <http://wb1gof.org/>.
PART of Westford featured guest speaker K1QAR. Ted gave a fascinating
talk about magnetic loop antennas.
PART members are conducting a poll to see how many members might be
interested in a one-day road trip to the top of Pack Monadnock “for
sightseeing and radio fun” later in the summer.
Quannapowitt Radio Association (QRA): <http://www.w1ekt.org/>.
QRA President Don Melanson, KA1MAP, has proposed club members visit
nearby schools that have electronic labs and give short presentations
about ham radio.
Wellesley ARS: <http://wars.krl.com/>
Harold Chase, WA1VVH, gave a presentation on shortwave station HCJB in
Ecuador at the WARS February meeting.
Future meetings:
– March 19: Dinner meeting at Agostino’s
– April 16: Public Service N1ZCE
– May 21: Radio for the visually impaired, Frank N1FMV
– June 18: Elections and Field Day planning
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EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS ARES
Local Communities looking for RACES Officers
By Rob Macedo, KD1CY.
A few months ago, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
conducted a survey for all local community emergency management
directors across the Commonwealth. The survey was specifically about the
use of amateur radio and RACES locally within their community, whether
each emergency manager has an appointed RACES Officer, and if not, if
they would like to find one.
Read the full story at
<https://ema.arrl.org/2019/02/
Monthly Nets
The first Monday of every month is a test of the Massachusetts RACES and
ARES communication capabilities. The monthly ARES VHF Net is at 8:30 PM
on the MMRA Repeater system.
Marc Stern, WA1R, reports difficult propagation conditions recently for
the monthly HF RACES net. He may try the backup frequency of 7245 kHz in
March. Let’s hope with the return of evening daylight things will
improve on 75-meters.
To see all the recent news on Eastern Massachusetts ARES please visit
<https://ema.arrl.org/category
maintained with the latest happenings by our EMA SEC, Rob, KD1CY.
To find out more about EMA ARES visit <https://ema.arrl.org/ares/>.
If you are interested in joining Eastern Massachusetts ARES, visit
<https://secure1.ema.arrl.org/
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Section Traffic Manager (STM), Marcia KW1U reports:
Find the list of all NTS daily nets in Massachusetts here:
<https://ema.arrl.org/national
To see news on Eastern Massachusetts Traffic Handling and Nets visit
<https://ema.arrl.org/category
NTS RECOGNITIONS:
Details on these recognition programs is found every month in QST Field
Organization column along with a listing of the nationwide recipients.
• Public Service Honor Roll (PSHR):
Congratulations to the folks who qualified for the Public Service Honor
Roll (PSHR) in January 2019: KC1CIC, KW1U, N1TF, W1RVY, KD2JKV, N1IQI,
N1LAH, WA1LPM, KC1HHO.
• Brass Pounders League (BPL):
Congratulation to Marcia, KW1U, who qualified for the Brass Pounders
League (BPL) in January 2019.
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NET REPORTS
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FIRST REGION NET (1RN) REPORT (CW)
Eric, W1RVY, manager of 1RN Cycle 4, the evening CW net reports that in
January there were 59 sessions, 48 pieces of traffic handled and 166
check-ins.
FIRST REGION NET (FRN) REPORT (SSB)
Betsy, K1EIC, manager of FRN Cycle 2, the daytime SSB net reports that
in January there were 62 sessions, 122 pieces of traffic handled and 292
check-ins.
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SILENT KEYS
We are sad to learn that David Earle, N1GSC, is a Silent Key
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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT RADIO CLUB?
Please visit
<https://ema.arrl.org/affiliat
send any information you might have to our Assistant Section Manager
(ASM) Phil Temples, K9HI, at <k9hi@arrl.org>.
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Section website:
<https://ema.arrl.org/>
Section Facebook page:
<https://www.facebook.com/east
Section Leadership:
<https://ema.arrl.org/organiza
Section Speaker List:
<https://ema.arrl.org/2018/04/
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FINAL WORD
ARRL SSB International DX Contest is the first weekend in March. CQ
Worldwide WPX contest is the last weekend in March. You could say that
March comes “roaring in like a Lion” and in amateur radio goes out
like a Lion as well. March is one of my favorite ham radio months. I
hope you all enjoy it, too.
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73 until next month.
Tom, K1TW
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ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Thomas D Walsh, K1TW
k1tw@arrl.org
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