January 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 NEWS THIS MONTH
* The November 2018 issue of CQ Magazine featured an article based on the Nashoba Valley ARC “Ugly Filter Project” of a few years ago. NVARC members designed a set of bandpass filters designed to minimize interference from nearby transmitters such as a Field Day set up. The CQ Magazine article “A Story about Multi-Transmitter Bandpass Filters” appeared in the Ham Notebook Column. The author of the column, Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ, built a complete set of the “Ugly Filters” which he described as a “project originally devised by Bob Reif, W1XP and Stanley Pozerski, KD1LE, of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club in Massachusetts in 2005”.
* There was a great turnout for the ARRL New England Division Cabinet meeting with the newly elected Division Director, Fred K1VR. The meeting was held in Springfield, MA on January 12. Club presidents were invited to attend to provide input on the upcoming ARRL Board meeting.
* The new Board is already making big news by withdrawing the December 18 “Petition for Rulemaking” to the FCC, which sought to amend the Part 97 Amateur Service rules to incorporate the provisions of the Amateur Radio Parity Act (ARPA). The ARRL Board of Directors decided that the organization needs to “review, re-examine, and reappraise ARRL’s regulatory and legislative policy with regard to private land use restrictions”. http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-issues-statement-on-amateur-radio-parity-act
* Is hands-free legislation coming to Massachusetts? Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker “proposed his most sweeping set of road safety rules yet, calling for Massachusetts to join 16 other states in requiring hands-free cell phone use while driving and proposing to allow police to stop motorists for not wearing a seat belt,” according to Boston’s PBS station, WGBH. <https://ema.arrl.org/2019/01/23/proposed-ma-legislation-seeks-to-require-hands-free-cell-phone-use-while-driving/>
Our Eastern Massachusetts State Government Liaison (SGL) Hank McCarl, W4RIG, quickly alerted ARRL section and division leadership about the proposed legislation. McCarl reports he has already spoken with his State Senator’s office legislative assistant about the ARRL’s concerns regarding the wording of proposed legislation on hand held cell phones while driving. They “will keep a close eye on the wording of that legislation and let us know if there seems to be any problems for our mobile operations as licensed amateurs in community service or training,” McCarl said.
* It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Ed Parish, K1EP, as an Assistant Section Manager (ASM) for Eastern Massachusetts. Ed has long served as the section Official Observer Coordinator. With the coming transition of the OO program from a section activity to a new nationwide Volunteer Monitoring program, the OO program will be retired.
I am pleased that Ed is interested in continuing his participation with the Eastern Massachusetts section. Over the coming months, Ed will be engaging in several activities ranging from technical support, mentoring and promoting the hobby.
* The Heavy Hitters Traffic Net is expanding. If your club repeater is Echolink enabled and you would like to join the local traffic network, contact Joe, W1HAI <w1hai@yahoo.com> for more details on how to join the growing network of affiliated repeaters of the Heavy Hitters Traffic Net at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
* South Shore Hospital Net
Net Control for the February 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:
Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5
Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
Plymouth 146.685 tone 131.8
Simplex 147.42
The Net will then return to the Sharon Repeater for final comments and Net closing.
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EVENTS:
February 2, 2019
South Shore Hospital Net
10:00 AM Local Time
See announcement above for repeaters and the sequence of repeaters.
February 4, 2019
First Monday of the Month ARES and RACES Nets
6:45 PM Local Time – HF Net on 3930-3935 KHz depending on QRM
8:30 PM Local Time – MMRA Network
February 9, 2019
ARES Exercise “Winter Shake Up”
10 AM – 12 Noon Local Time
The Cape Cod and Islands District Amateur Radio Emergency Service will conduct a winter operations exercise to test its capability in establishing communications with stations within its district and outside it under emergency conditions.
February 16, 2019
9 AM – 1 PM Local Time
Algonquin ARC Flea Market
1st Lt. Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School,
25 Union Ave, Marlboro, MA
https://www.qsl.net/n1em/
Sunday, April 7, 2019
9 AM – 12 Noon
Framingham Flea Market
Keefe Technical School
https://w1fy.org/flea
Monday, April 15, 2019
2019 BAA Marathon
https://ema.arrl.org/2019/01/03/volunteer-registration-for-2019-baa-marathon-now-open/
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.
In February, ARRL section manager, Tom K1TW, and ARRL Vice Director, Mike K1TWF, will be speaking at the Billerica ARS meeting in Chelmsford on February 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.
Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) is the guest speaker at the Algonquin ARC February 7 meeting. Rob will be speaking on ARES and SKYWARN. Note there is a date change for this AARC meeting. More information is seen in the club news below.
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Club News
Algonquin ARC: <https://www.qsl.net/n1em/>
Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) is the guest speaker at the Algonquin ARC February meeting. Rob will be speaking on ARES and SKYWARN. Note there is a date change for this AARC meeting. It will be held on February 7 at 7:30 PM in the library of the 1st Lt. Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School, 25 Union Ave, Marlboro, MA / Door #1 at rear of the building. The Algonquin Amateur Radio Club Flea Market will be held on February 16, 2019 at the 1st Lt. Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School, 25 Union Ave, Marlboro.
Billerica ARS (BARS): <https://www.w1hh.org/>.
The ARRL Board meeting and the newly proposed MA hands-free cell legislation are among topics planned for discussion at the February 6 meeting in Chelmsford.
Harvard Wireless Club <http://w1af.harvard.edu>
Douglas Maggs, KK4UHK, has been appointed as the as the station manager of W1AF. Douglas has a strong connection with the Harvard Wireless Club He joined the club during his freshman year and became its undergraduate president holding that role from 2013 to 2017. Now an alumnus he is stepping in to fill the void left by long-time respected manager Bill Collins, W1PL, following Bill’s untimely passing last November.
Nashoba Valley ARC (NVARC): <http://www.n1nc.org>.
The February meeting of NVARC is dedicated to “Member Short Subjects”. The Nashoba Valley ARC (NVARC) will again participate in “Thinking Day on the AIR” (TDOTA) in Tyngsboro on February 9, 2019, and Shirley on February 16, 2019. See this link for more information: https://ema.arrl.org/youth/#Thinking_Day_On_the_Air
New England Sci-Tech: <https://www.nescitech.org>.
New England Sci-Tech and Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (STARS) held a Winter Field Day in Natick on January 26, 2019, from 2-10 PM. The festivities included a pot luck dinner, yard sale, “Maker” activities, a planetarium show, guest speaker, and movie night.
PART OF WESTFORD: <http://wb1gof.org/>.
From the notes on the January meeting, George, K1IG, has “graciously volunteered again to be the 2019 Field Day Chairman”.
Quannapowitt Radio Association (QRA): <http://www.w1ekt.org/>.
QRA members Bob Reiser, AA1M, and Mike Rioux, W1USN, will be making their annual mini-DXpedition this year to Costa Rica. Their trip begins of February 2 and they return home on the 13th. They hope to be working all HF bands using SSB, CW and digital with some trials on the AMSAT satellites.
Wellesley ARS: <http://wars.krl.com/>
Wellesley ARS meets on February 19. The speaker is Harold, WA1VVH, who for many years was an engineer at shortwave station HCJB in Quito Ecuador. He has lots of great stories from the golden years of shortwave broadcast radio.
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EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS ARES
To see all the recent news on Eastern Massachusetts ARES please visit <https://ema.arrl.org/category/emcomm/>. This site is constantly 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/qilan/ares/EMA/ARES_about>.
The first Monday of every month is a test of the Massachusetts RACES and ARES communication capabilities. The monthly ARES Net is at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system.
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Eastern Massachusetts NTS NEWS
Find the list of all NTS daily nets in Massachusetts here: <https://ema.arrl.org/national-traffic-system/net-schedule/>.
Our Section Traffic Manager (STM), Marcia KW1U reports:
“Massachusetts traffic handlers during 2018 conducted 2,364 net sessions, passed 3,564 messages and had 14,933 check-ins. Find the list of all NTS daily nets in Massachusetts here: <https://ema.arrl.org/national-traffic-system/net-schedule/>.
To see more news on Eastern Massachusetts Traffic Handling and Nets visit <https://ema.arrl.org/category/nts/>.
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 December 2018: KC1CIC, KW1U, N1TF, N1IQI, W1RVY, KD2JKV, N1LAH, WA1LPM, KC1HHO.
* Brass Pounders League (BPL):
Congratulation to Loren, N1IQI, who qualified for the Brass Pounders League (BPL) in December 2018.
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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 December there were 61 sessions, 101 pieces of traffic handled and 191 check-ins.
FIRST REGION NET (FRN) REPORT (SSB)
Betsy, K1EIC, manager of FRN Cycle 2, the daytime SSB net reports that in December there were 61 sessions, 130 pieces of traffic handled and 254 check-ins.
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SILENT KEYS
Bob Tadgell, W1PIN, became a Silent Key on January 4, 2019, he was 89. Bob was a long-time member of QRA and served as club president, vice president, newsletter publisher and as a board member.
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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT RADIO CLUB?
Please visit: <https://ema.arrl.org/affiliated-clubs/radio-clubs-of-yesteryear/> and 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/easternmaarrl/>
Section Leadership: <https://ema.arrl.org/organization/#Section_Leadership>
Section Speaker List: <https://ema.arrl.org/2018/04/16/eastern-ma-club-speakers-list/>.
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FINAL WORD
February is here. I like that because it marks the return of more daylight and usually better HF radio conditions. Contest season really begins to ramp up again over the next few months, notably the ARRL DX CW event on Third full weekend in February (February 16-17, 2019). Thaw out your antennas and fasten your radio seat belts for a great ride! Enjoy radio!
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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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