Greetings all.
As we look forward to summer, many of us welcome the warmer weather. Yet folks leaving on vacations and poor summertime propagation on our HF nets has become a challenge. In the month of May however there were 1054 check-ins who handled 529 messages. Thanks to all for your continued participation and support.
There are some special upcoming summertime activities I hope you will keep in mind. Sunday August 7 I will host our annual traffic handlers picnic in Concord beginning at 12 noon. Any traffic handler or anyone interested in message handling is welcome. More details will be upcoming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
Our annual New England Division HamXposition, which will be shared this year with the Hudson Division, will be held in Marlboro MA August 26-28. I plan to host a traffic handlers Meet and Greet on Saturday Aug 27 where we can meet folks we talk with on the nets and also discuss topics of interest concerning message handling and the NTS. There is a lot going on with regard to the revitalizing of NTS and more information will be forthcoming there.
Don’t forget the Big E coming to Springfield MA September 16-October 2. Ham radio will have a major presence there and volunteers are being sought now to help out. Keep tuned to this website as well as ProjectBigE on groups.io for more information and to see how you can help. It sounds like a lot of exciting things going on but many hams are needed. Should we offer radiograms to the Big E visitors to send to family and friends? If so we would need time and planning and a lot of help with that. Anyone up to the challenge?
Do you know of any folks who are curious about the traffic nets but fearful about checking in? Or perhaps they have checked in but have not had the courage to handle messages. How about those interested emergency communications but need to be prepared to handle record messages in case of emergencies? There are training programs on our nets and information on the ema.arrl.org website. However I am also planning training sessions on formal messaging and net participation on Zoom. I already have a few interested folks in Western Mass. If anyone is interested please let me know.
Especially new hams, as well as not-so-new, are excited about digital communications. There are lots of modes out there to play with, but have you thought about using digital means to relay messages throughout the country and even to international destinations? The Digital Traffic network or DTN uses the sound card mode VARA as well as Pactor and Packet to relay radiograms throughout the US and Canada as well as international destinations. This is different from the Winlink Network and involves RF all the way. There is a great need for more digitally equipped stations to handle formal message traffic especially at the local and regional level. See kw1u@arrl.net for more info.
Happy summer to all and see the May STM report below.
73, Marcia KW1U