ARRL EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS SECTION Section Manager (SM) – Tom Walsh, K1TW Assistant Section Manager (ASM) – Phil Temples, K9HI Assistant Section Manager (ASM) – Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC) – Arthur "Bo" Budinger, WA1QYM Official Observer Coordinator (OOC) - Ed Parish, K1EP Public Information Coordinator (PIC) – Joe Weisse, W1HAI Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) – Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG Section Traffic Manager (STM) – Marcia Forde, KW1U Section Youth Coordinator (SYC) – Jeremy Breef-Pilz, KB1REQ State Government Liaison (SGL) – Hank Mc Carl, W4RIG Technical Coordinator (TC) – Dan Brown, W1DAN To contact section staff members simply address an email to their call sign at arrl.net or visit http://ema.arrl.org for additional contact information. FEBRUARY-MARCH 2016 SECTION NEWS February 29, 2016 LEADING OFF: New Dates for Boxboro! 2016 The ARRL New England Division Convention, often referred to informally as Boxboro, is now an annual event. The Boxboro Committee recently announced the convention dates will move from August to September. The new dates are September 9-11, 2016 which is the weekend after Labor Day. A Call for Speakers has been issued along with a form to sign up as a Convention presenter. Those interested in being on the program can find more detail at http://boxboro.org/2016/index.html. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS TO THE EMA SECTION STAFF: Public Information Coordinator: We are pleased to announce and welcome Joe, W1HAI as the new PIC for the section. Assistant Section Manager We are pleased to announce and welcome Andy, KB1OIQ as an ASM. Andy will focus on affiliated club coordination issues working closely with the ACC, Bo, WA1QYM. STAFF NEWS: SEC Marek, KB1NCG requests anyone interested in joining Eastern Massachusetts ARES visit http://ares.ema.arrl.org. A sign-up link is available in the left sidebar. Monthly ARES nets are held the first Monday of the month at 8:30pm on the MMRA system. Cape Cod ARES held its winter exercise on January 30. Operations were based out of the Sandwich, MA EOC and run by Cape Cod ARES with support from Sandwich emergency management. Over 30 stations were contacted on VHF and HF bands, with the furthest VHF direct contact being the South Shore Hospital (40.3 miles) in Weymouth and into Maine on HF. Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software was utilized during the exercise. Operations were conducted utilizing a backup portable emergency generator. If your club participates in public service events or emergency communications, please drop the SEC a note with a brief detail of your group at kb1ncg@arrl.net. STM Marcia, KW1U reports in January: - N1IQI and KW1U earned BPL awards; - KW1U, KC1CIC, N1IQI, N1TF, KB1WXC, N1LKJ, and AC7RB made the Public Service Honor Roll (PSHR). ACC Bo, WA1QYM says now is the time to plan for Field Day. The first thing is to appoint a Field Day Chairman. This person has overall charge of Field Day but should not have all the responsibilities! The Field Day chairman should be able to appoint a staff of club members who each have an individual portion of the Field Day responsibility. The other important component of Field Day is the Field Day site. Securing a site now may eliminate a lot of grief before Field Day takes place. FLEA MARKETS March 6, 2016 - 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon New England Antique Radio Club Westford Regency Hotel, 219 Littleton Road, Westford MA Information at http://www.nearc.net/swapmeetinfo.htm April 10, 2016 - 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon Framingham ARA Annual Spring Flea Market Keefe Technical School in Framingham. Details may be found at http://www.fara.org/flea Following the FARA flea market, the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) will have a special program in the Keefe auditorium from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM. There is no charge for the afternoon meeting, and you don’t have to be a YCCC member to attend. See Announcements below for more detail. GENERAL LICENSE CLASS March 19-20, 2016 Nashua Area Radio Club in New Hampshire Pre-registration is required. Info at <http://www.n1fd.org> Contact: 603-321-6115 or by email ab1qb@arrl.net ANNOUNCEMENTS Sunday, April 10, 2016: Joint FARA/YCCC Collaborative Event 9 AM to Noon: FARA Flea Market 12:30 to 4 PM: YCCC Meeting and Presentation From 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon, The Framingham ARA Annual Spring Flea Market will be held at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham. Contact Eric, KB1PJN, at 508-310-5913 to reserve flea market tables, or go to http://fara.org/flea for more information. From 12:30- 4 PM, in the same location, The Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) presents “Discover the HF Experience” which will have live, remote stations and talks about all aspects of HF operation. There is no charge for the YCCC program, and you don’t have to be a YCCC member to attend. For more info visit http://www.yccc.org. EMA CLUB NETS: Do you have a regular club net? Send us the information for listing here. Sunday: 8:00 PM: North Shore Radio Association Danvers Repeater, 145.470, (PL/136.5) 8:00 PM: PART of Westford, Westford Repeater, 146.955, (PL/74.4) Monday: 8:00 PM: Norfolk County Radio Association, Walpole Repeater, 146.895, (PL/123.0) 8:30 PM Falmouth Amateur Radio Association Falmouth repeater, 146.655, (PL/88.5), or via KC1DAD-R Echo Link node 8:00 PM: Nashoba Valley ARC Club Net Pepperell repeater, 442.900, (PL/100.0) Wednesday 8:00 PM: Billerica ARS Billerica Repeater, 147.12, (PL/103.5), except on first Wednesday (club meeting instead) CLUB NEWS: Norfolk County Radio Association: Congratulations to the Norfolk County Radio Association on the forthcoming occasion of its 3000th consecutive net. This is a truly remarkable and noteworthy accomplishment! The Norfolk County Radio Association meets each Monday evening at 8:00 PM local time on the Walpole 2-meter repeater on 146.895 (PL/123.0). All are welcome! The NCRA will be celebrating its 3,000th consecutive net on Monday, March 21, 2016. This represents over 57 years of these on-the-air meetings! Falmouth ARA: From Henry K1WCC, Falmouth ARA Club Publicist, we learn the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association elected the following club officers, at their Annual Meeting on January 28, 2016: President: Brent, W1NCH Vice President: Ralph, N1YHS Secretary: Charles, K1CB Treasurer: Doug, N1OEI Elected to the Board were: Gene, KX1C; Henry, K1WCC; Jim, WA1GPO; Geoff, W1OH; and Gerry, KB1NNH. Henry, K1WCC, also informs us about the weekly 2-meter net on the Falmouth 146.655 repeater (PL/88.5, minus offset) at 8:30 PM local time on Mondays. This is a general interest net with check-ins directly via the repeater or the KC1DAD-R Echo Link node. Billerica ARS: The Billerica ARS (BARS) continues to promote its Get-On-The-Air project and is planning to activate local National Parks On the Air (NPOTA) sites in the coming months. The March 2 meeting in Chelmsford will feature “Logbook-Of-The-World (LOTW) for Beginners”. LOTW is used to support NPOTA activations; knowing how to use LOTW will enhance your enjoyment of NPOTA throughout the year. MMRA: The March MMRA meeting date has changed from what was previously announced. Larry Banks will present on antenna modeling on Thursday March 24 at the North Reading Public Library. Details can be found on the MMRA website http://www.mmra.org . MMRA also reported high wind conditions took down the 146.82 remote receiver antenna in early February. NSRA: Word from NSRA is that meetings are moving back to the second Monday of the month at the Peabody Municipal Light Plant Auditorium, 201 Warren St Ext. The next meeting is Monday, March 14. NSRA also has a weekly club net on Sundays at 20:00 (8:00 PM) on the 145.470 (PL 136.5), Danvers Repeater. YCCC: Congratulations to the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) which informs us that its Matching Gift program for individual donations to WRTC2018 has been fully utilized. The program matched donations made to WRTC2018 through WWROF up to the program maximum of $1000. SILENT KEYS: From the Genesis Amateur Radio Society (GARS) we received the sad news on the recent passing of Judy, KB1SRO on January 21 and John, KB1EVY in February. Our sincere sympathies and condolences go out to friends and members of GARS on the loss of their Vice President and President. LAST WORD: While this year’s winter was not as severe as last year’s, there were some club meeting cancellations due to weather, particularly on Cape Cod. Among those impacted were the North Shore Radio Association, Pilgrim ARC, and Barnstable ARC. Let’s hope everyone gets back on schedule in March. This concludes our special combined February-March quadrennial leap-year edition of the EMA Section news. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: EMA Staff Contributors this month include: Phil, K9HI; Marek, KB1NCG; Marcia, KW1U; and Bo, WA1QYM. 73, Tom, K1TW -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section Section Manager: Thomas D Walsh, K1TW k1tw@arrl.org --------------------------------------------------------------------
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