JUNE 2014 SECTION NEWS

ARRL EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS SECTION  

Section Manager (SM) - Phil Temples, K9HI 
Assistant Section Manager (ASM) – Tom Walsh, K1TW
Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC) – Arthur "Bo" Budinger, WA1QYM 
Official Observer Coordinator (OOC) - Ed Parish, K1EP 
Public Information Coordinator (PIC) - Bob Salow, WA1IDA 
Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) - Rob Macedo, KD1CY 
Section Traffic Manager (STM) – Marcia Forde, KW1U 
Section Youth Coordinator (SYC) – Jeremy Breef-Pilz, KB1REQ 
State Government Liaison (SGL) – (open) 
Technical Coordinator (TC) – Dan Brown, W1DAN


JUNE 2014 SECTION NEWS

After over two decades of service to Massachusetts ARRL members, Shawn
O'Donnell, K3HI, of Framingham, has decided to step down as State
Government Liaison. Says Shawn, "It's been a good ride. A couple of
quashed bills here and there, a couple of proclamations now and then,
assisting Tom Carrigan, NE1R to get PRB-1 into Massachusetts law, and
then helping a number of hams with the legal citation for their zoning
boards." Shawn has performed a superb job of keeping his finger on the
pulse of Beacon Hill, and of warning the amateur community of potential
legislation that might have an adverse impact on our hobby service.
He'll be missed.

We welcome aboard as a new Assistant Section Manager Tom Walsh, K1TW. A
native of Quincy, Tom lived in California's Santa Clara Valley Section
for a number of years where he also served in an ASM role. Tom is an
ARRL Life Member, and currently holds an Assistant Director
appointment.

Amateurs in the Plymouth area assisted with a medical emergency over
the Memorial Day weekend. Ron, N1PXX radioed over the 146.685 repeater
that he needed help; Ron had pulled over on the side of the highway
after he experienced a medical issue. K1KOD responded. Obtaining
N1PXX's cell phone number, Kevin used both the radio and the cell phone
to keep in contact with Ron. K1KOD then called 911 and gave Ron's
location to the State Police. He informed Ron when the police and an
ambulance were in route. However, the police drove by N1PXX's vehicle
without stopping. N1EA also assisted, placing additional calls to the
police. Eventually, emergency services located Ron, and he was
transported to South Shore Hospital. The word is, N1PXX is on the road
to recovery. Thanks, KB1EVY.

The US Amateur Radio Direction Finding Championship returns to the
greater Boston area, at the Blue Hills Reservation on June 5-8, 2014.
According to the organization's web site, "Radio-orienteers of all
skill levels and from many countries will gather for four days of
intense competition. The events will be open to any fan of on-foot
hidden transmitter hunting, with or without a ham license. Classic
five-transmitter competitions will take place on the weekend, two
meters on Saturday and 80 meters on Sunday. Prior to that will be
optional competitions in sprint and ‘fox oring' on Thursday and
Friday." 

[What's "fox oring," you ask? Wikipedia defines it as: ‘A variation
of the sport of Amateur Radio Direction Finding. Fox oring is a timed
race in which individual competitors use a topographic map and a
magnetic compass to navigate through diverse, wooded terrain while
searching for radio transmitters. The term is derived from the use of
the term fox hunting to describe recreational radio direction finding
activity and an abbreviation of the word orienteering.']

For more information on the ARDF competition, see
<http://tinyurl.com/npr6vhh>.


K1MGY and KB1ZHX worked with the Oak Meadow School in Littleton to
construct, launch, and track a high altitude balloon May 29. Launched
from Jaffrey, New Hampshire, "SpaceCat-II" carried APRS and a MicroFox
transmitter, in addition to an onboard audio beacon at 2600 Hz and two
bright LED anti-collision beacons to assist in recovery. Numerous area
hams participated in tracking the payload.

Although initial plans called for the balloon to be aloft for just two
hours, it was airborne for a much longer period of time. Malfunctions
with the GPS caused its exact whereabouts to remain a mystery for most
of the entire flight. However, APRS data provided valuable clues as to
the payload's trajectory. 

"Though we lost critical positional data late in the day, we've been
able to infer more of her progress from the foxhunt and from indirect
radio data," writes Bob Vogtli, KB1ZHX. "The likely scenario is that
SpaceCat-II remained at 'neutral buoyancy' above 75,000 feet, neither
ascending nor falling, until at least 1900 hours last night." Bob says
that's a pretty rare feat; other clubs have toiled to achieve the same
effect. 

KB1ZHX believes the package eventually moved out to sea, heading east
and picking up speed. The last contact was an overwater radio "burst"
at 1829 hours received by a ground station in Kingston, NH.  


Attention, clubs and groups across Eastern Massachusetts: as you
finalize your plans for this year's ARRL Field Day on June 28-29, be
sure to put some effort into public relations. Send in a press release
to your local news outlet. Post flyers on bulletin boards of local
businesses. Arrange to have on hand suitable ham radio promotional
material for visitors. Also, don't forget to assign volunteers to "meet
and greet" the general public who stop by. For additional information,
be sure to visit <http://fd.ema.arrl.org>, and
<http://www.arrl.org/field-day>.

Algonquin ARC members and other area amateurs mourn the loss of Bruce
E. Rickard, KB1WTO (SK), of Northborough.

Cape Ann ARA members are gearing up for the Thirteen Colonies special
event operation on July 1-6. This year, for the first time, operation
is being encouraged on the WARC bands.

PART of Westford members and other area amateurs were saddened to hear
of the passing of David W. Calkins, W1ZSG (SK), of Westford.

The South Shore foxhunters held a mobile foxhunt on May 10. The search
area included the Towns of Whitman and Abington.

The Minuteman Repeater Association reports that it is participating in
the Yaesu System Fusion test, operating a Yaesu DR-1 repeater in Weston
on 146.79. The repeater is dual mode; it will repeat conventional analog
FM, as well as Yaesu's new C4RM digital mode transmissions. Signal
reports are welcomed.

K1USN RC members recently pitched in to help move the club stations to
more permanent "digs" in the same building at 85 Quincy Street in
Braintree.

Boston ARC members and other area amateurs mourn the loss of Francis X.
Murphy, N1DHW (SK), of Cambridge.

KA1NCF is seeking volunteers to assist with public service events on
the North Shore. A complete list of events can be found on the North
Shore RA web site at <http://nsradio.org/events>. 

The Framingham ARA had a "DX visitor" to the W1FY shack on May 3--Edwin
van Mierlo, EI2HEB, of Dublin, Ireland. Edwin was in town on business,
and stopped by to say hello.

Metro Boston District ARES conducted an "All Hands" meeting on May 17
in Brighton.

The Eastern MA ARRL staff met on May 21 in Hopkinton.

The Quannapowitt RA gang heard an informative talk about antennas,
courtesy AF1T and W1MKY, at a recent QRA meeting.

The Boston ARC UHF repeater has returned to the airwaves after a
two-year hiatus, according to trustee N1QD. Look for it on 443.550 MHz,
+5 MHz offset, PL 110.9 Hz. According to Joe, PAVE PAWS restrictions
limit the repeater to just 5 watts into the feed line. He adds, "Early
reports are that it hears exceptionally well in the Boston area, even
if it does not have the strongest output signal."

Boston ARC will conduct public service communications for the BAA 10K
event in Boston on June 22. To volunteer, contact Brett at
<ab1rl@arrl.net>.

Overheard: foxhunter KC1AJJ of North Chelmsford remarks, "Just figured
out that Toyota must have designed the upper glove compartment of my
car to hold a 70 cm tape measure yagi!"

YCCC member W1FV of Maynard reports that he and others have been
detecting audio signals from WCVB-TV Channel 5 in the six-meter band. A
second FM signal was also detected about 40 kHz apart from the first
one. "The frequencies were 50.1 and 50.06 MHz. The two signals were
carrying different audio modulations of a broadcast nature, but both
were peaking from exactly the same heading." John adds, "they were on
only at night, so I did not get a chance to go on a fox hunt during the
day.  I also tuned from 48.0 MHz to 54.0 MHz and did not hear any
evidence of video signals." 

During the month of May, Algonquin ARC members staffed the annual
School Watch operation at Marlborough High School.

Genesis ARS President KB1EVY reports that another successful Technician
class, taught by Chris Johnson, N1IR, produced five newly licensed
amateurs this past month.

The Southeastern MA ARA named Dartmouth High School graduate Drew
Tinsdale as the recipient of this year's SEMARA Scholarship. A $500
cash award was presented to Tinsdale at the club's May business
meeting. Tinsdale will begin studies this fall at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, majoring in Interactive Media and Game Design.

The Waltham Wranglers Swap Net that meets each Wednesday at 9 PM ET on
the Waltham 146.64 repeater is looking for a new Net Manager. If you
can help, contact John at <kb1fqg@yahoo.com>.

The 145.39 repeater is now QRV from the WATD transmitter tower in
Marshfield, according to N1ZZN. Jeff adds that the machine can operate
in "IDAS/NXDN digital mode as well as normal analog."

Connecticut Public Radio station WNPR featured Amateur Radio and the
ARRL on May 23 as part of its "Where We Live" program, hosted by John
Dankosky. The broadcast can be heard at <http://tinyurl.com/lvlfls9>.

This SM will do his utmost to visit as many Eastern Massachusetts Field
Day sites as possible over the long Field Day weekend. I hope to see and
talk with many of you, as you and your friends enjoy one of Amateur's
Radio's most important pastimes!

73,

K9HI

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ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Phillip Temples, K9HI
k9hi@arrl.org
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