Operating / Public Information

“Snow Goose” Special Event Operation, So. Weymouth, August 20, 2017

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image of W1NAS QSL cardW1OD writes:

W1NAS had another successful Special Event Station yesterday. Due to the Museum being smack in the center of a major site reconstruction program at the former Naval Air Station, we were fortunate enough to be operating from the K1USN Radio Club in nearby Braintree, MA. We made more than 75 contacts on CW and phone, despite the horrible band conditions. We actually made more phone contacts than CW for a change! Visiting board members from the Shea Naval Aviation Museum stopped by and enjoyed the event and took many pictures. 

This was the 59th anniversary of the flight of the blimp Snow Goose from NAS South Weymouth to Resolute Bay, as indicated above. Next year will be the 60th anniversary and we’re already thinking about what we’ll do and how we’ll do it. We’re hoping all the site work will be completed around the Museum and that we’ll be back open to the public once again.  For those wishing a high-quality QSL for yesterday’s event, please send a SASE to Steve, W1OD.

Many thanks to all those who assisted in yesterday’s SES: K1RV, Pi; N1VH, Marty, W1VP, Larry; KA1KIJ, Bob; W1TPB, Ted; WK1D, Jeff; K1WN, Bill; N1DC, Rick; WA1TPC, Bob; and a few others whose names I forget at the moment.

[courtesy http://qrz.com/db/w1nas]
NTS

JOIN US AT THE ARRL CONVENTION – BOXBORO MA SEPTEMBER 8 – 10

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The ARRL New England convention will be held Friday through Sunday September 8 – 10 in Boxboro MA.

While we have not planned a table this year, there will be a “Meet and Greet” get-together at 1:00 PM Saturday September 9 in the Board Room for all traffic handlers and anyone interested in the handling of formal message traffic.  Meet traffic handlers from all over New England and have an opportunity to talk about your questions and concerns regarding NTS, traffic nets and message handling in general.  Hope to see you there.

73, Marcia KW1U, STM East and West Mass

Emergency Communications

Cape Cod and Islands ARES Summer Exercise #59 – Saturday 8/12/17 – 10AM-Noon – All Eastern Massachusetts ARES Participants Welcome

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Hello to all…

The Cape Cod and Islands ARES group will be having their summer exercise on Saturday August 12th, 2017 from 1000 AM to Noon. All Eastern Massachusetts ARES and licensed Amateurs are welcome to participate in the exercise. The exercise plan can be seen at the following link:

https://ema.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CCARESdrill59Doc08-07-17.pdf

Special thanks to WQ1O-Frank O’Laughlin, Cape Cod & Islands ARES District Emergency Coordinator for setting up this exercise!

Regards,

Marek Kozubal (KB1NCG)

Eastern Massachusetts ARES SEC

Rob Macedo (KD1CY)

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant SEC

All

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: AMATEUR RADIO PARITY ACT (ARPA)

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August 8, 2017

Dear ARRL Member: Based on feedback I’ve received, it seems to me that some members still don’t fully understand certain features of the Amateur Radio Parity Act (ARPA) and what it is meant to do. To make things clearer, we have developed an FAQ in the format of questions and answers. Please take a few minutes and read the FAQ to learn more about the ARPA.

Here is the direct link: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/The%20Amateur%20Radio%20Parity%20Act%20FAQ.pdf

Here is another link with additional information: http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act

Thanks to those of you who have written your Senators in support of the ARPA. If you have not done so, please do so by clicking on the link below. It only takes a minute.

https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-us-senate-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act

Thanks. Let’s keep the effort moving!

73,

Rick – K5UR
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Rick Roderick, K5UR
President
ARRL – The national association for Amateur Radio®

Public Service

Jimmy Fund Walk, BAA Half Marathon Events This Fall

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Brett Smith, AB1RL writes:

With August here and summer winding down, I’m starting to turn my attention to our fall public service events. I wanted to make sure you know about the dates and start gauging early interest.

The first is the Jimmy Fund Walk on Sunday, September 24. This is the Jimmy Fund’s annual fundraising walk along the Boston Marathon route. There are positions available to work with a medical team at each rest stop along the route, so there’s a variety of locations and volunteer times available. Tell your friends, too—we’re really eager to build up the team size for this year, especially along the earlier parts of the route. If you’re interested, all you have to do is let me know by e-mail, and I’ll get you on the roster.

The second is the BAA Half Marathon on Sunday, October 8. As usual for BAA events, we’ll work with medical teams at different points along the route to provide them with any necessary communication, including EMS dispatch requests if necessary. Volunteer registration for this event will be through the BAA’s web site, and it will open up on Tuesday, August 15. You’ll get an announcement from them, and me, when that happens.

Your work at these events really makes a difference. At both of these events in recent years, we’ve handled emergency dispatch calls to get participants, and sometimes even spectators, prompt treatment. Those calls wouldn’t be as quick or as effective without the communications expertise you bring by showing up. Please join us to make a couple more events that much more successful.

If you have questions about either event, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be on vacation next week, so I might be slow to respond, but I will get back to you.

Thanks for all that you do, and 73,

If interested, please contact:
Brett Smith, AB1RL ab1rl-pubserv@brettcsmith.org
Public Service Coordinator, Boston Amateur Radio Club

Emergency Communications

MARS Exercise

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MARS will be holding an exercise starting Sunday (7/23/17) at 11:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. on Thursday (7/27/17).

ARES and general amateur radio operators should expect that at some point during this period, MARS members may be tasked to obtain information from the Amateur Radio operators in our areas.  Most likely, this will be the same type of infrastructure reporting we have done in the past and is done on the Sunday morning WMA HF net. We will only be looking for real, actual conditions; nothing simulated.

MARS communicators might try to obtain this infromation duing various scheduled nets including NTS messages nets, club nets, etc. They may also try to obtain information via the various SKYWARN and ARES/RACES partnered repeaters.

In addition to infrastructure reports, MARS is often interested in relayed reports from the avaiation automated weather systems (ASOS). Report weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, time, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.

A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA

A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: https://www.ivao.aero/training/documentation/books/PP_ADC_ATIS.pdf

A more detailed introduction to ATIS/ASOS can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/ASOS-book.pdf  [ALT LINK]socidoc.com_ppadcatis.

Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG

EMA ARES SEC

Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly EMA ARES Net 7/10 8:30pm

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*** Please note the 1-week delay this month due to the 4th of July weekend ***

Hello to all…
We will be continuing our monthly ARES Net in June. The monthly ARES Net for July is Monday the 10th, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the MEMA Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html


Make this first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety), interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.

A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA

A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: https://www.ivao.aero/training/documentation/books/PP_ADC_ATIS.pdf
A more detailed introduction to ATIS/ASOS can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/ASOS-book.pdf

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG
EMA Section Emergency Coordinator

Emergency Communications

July 1,2017 Eastern MA Hospital Net

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Good Afternoon Everyone,

 

Net Control for the July 1, 2017 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be W1SSH, The South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club. The net will commence at the usual time of 10:AM using the following repeaters in the order listed.

 

1. Plymouth 146.685 tone 82.5

2. Salem 146.88 tone 118.8        
3. Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5

 

Simplex 147.42

 

The Net will than return to the Plymouth Repeater for final comments and Net closing.

 

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check in procedure which is:   Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name.

We extend an invitation to the EOC of any city or town that is served by one of the participating hospitals to join the Net. We also extend an invitation to any RACES or ARES member to check in during the NET.

Any hospital wishing to join the net that needs assistance with equipment or personnel should contact us at ssharc@gmail.com. We can assist you with getting your location on the air.

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested please let us know. Our goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many groups as possible.

We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct the monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event. The following list of repeaters are available for our use. Only a few systems are used each month with the selection of those used made by Net Control for that month.  More systems are being added to the list on a regular basis.

Attleboro 147.195 tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
Belmont 145.430 tone 146.2

Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0

Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
Dartmouth 147.000 tone 67.0  
Fairhaven 145.490 tone 67.0    
Fall River 146.805. tone 67.0
Falmouth 147.375 tone 110.9

Mansfield EMA  446.925 tone 100.0

Mansfield 147.015 tone 67.0

Marshfield 145.390 tone 67.0      
Norwood 147.210 tone 100.00
Plymouth 146.685 tone 82.5
Salem 146.88 tone 118.8        
Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5    
Weymouth 147.345 tone 110.9 (South Shore Hospital)

W. Bridgewater 146.775 dcs 244 
Wrentham 147.09 tone 146.2

We look forward to hearing you all on the Net.

Respectfully,
John O’
K1JRO

Public Service

“Finish At The Fifty” Amateur Radio Help, July 3

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The Finish at the Fifty is a unique event on the public service calendar. It’s a combined 5K and 10K on the evening of July 3. The finish line for both races is the 50-yard line of Gillette Stadium, and there’s a free fireworks show after. It’s got a lot of energy, and particular challenges for runner safety (they go up and down the ramps of the stadium!). Given the size of the course, the medical team relies on amateur radio volunteers for communications support and to keep extra eyes on runners.

Recruiting for this event is always a challenge because of the date. A lot of people have travel plans, which I understand. Because of that, please join our team if you’re able. Chris Troyanos is the medical coordinator for this event. He would always like to have more coverage, and he would love to have our support especially.

To sign up, just write me back with your call sign, cell phone number, and t-shirt size. Plan to be there from around 4:30 to 8:30 PM. All you need is a dual band handheld and any accessories that will keep you comfortable. Further instructions will follow.

If you have questions about the event, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by e-mail or phone (859) 466 5915.

Thank you, and 73,

Brett Smith, AB1RL
Public Service Coordinator, Boston Amateur Radio Club

All

Boxboro 2017 Tickets Now On Sale

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Boxboro/New England Division Convention logoBob Di Mattia, K1IW writes:

Hello All,

Just a quick note that we have opened ticketing on the Boxboro website. Boxboro! The ARRL New England Convention is held annually at the Boxboro Regency, just of I-495, in Boxborough, Mass.

This year, the convention is on September 8, 9, and 10. Friday the 8th is special forum day with emergency management, SKYWARN, and other special-topic forums. Friday wraps up with the DXCC/Contesting dinner where this year our speaker is Jeff Briggs, K1ZM. He will be telling us all about the 7O6T DXpedition to Yemen.

The convention gets into full swing on Saturday and Sunday when the exhibit hall and flea is open, along with an excellent set of forums, VE exams, License-is-a-Day, and other goodies.

Our Saturday Grand Banquet features Paul Stoerzer, N8HM, of AMSAT. He has racked up all sorts of awards based on a small apartment-based station and will be letting on about his tricks or the trade.

Learn more about the convention, and purchase general admission, flea spaces and banquet tickets at http://www.boxboro.org.

General admission tickets (only) are also available at Ham Radio Outlet in Salem, NH, and at Electronics Plus! in Littleton, MA.

73,
Bob – K1IW
Boxboro 2017! Publicity Chair

Public Information / Regulation & Advocacy

MA Governor, Senate & House Issue Amateur Radio Proclamations

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Proclamations have been sent to ARRL Eastern and Western MA Section Managers from the Massachusetts Governor’s Office, the State House of Representatives, and the MA Senate, respectively. These proclamations coincide with the annual ARRL Field Day event on June 24-25, 2017.

The proclamation from the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declares June 24th, 2017 to be Amateur Radio Day:

“WHERE AS, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has approximately 14,000 amateur radio operators, who continually demonstrate their value in public assistance;”

“Therefore, I, Charles D. Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim June 24th, 2017 to be, Amateur Radio Day , and urge all the citizens of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance”

A Resolution of the Massachusetts Senate states in part:

Senate Resolution Title: “Celebrating the National Amateur Radio Field Day of the American Radio Relay League”

Excerpt from the resolution: “WHEREAS, The American Radio Relay League Serves more than 725,000 Licensed Radio Amateurs in the United States and will hold its Annual Field Day on June 24 and June 25, 2017;”

“WHEREAS The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has approximately 13,000 Amateur Radio operators that dedicate their, time, equipment and knowledge to assist their communities and the American Radio Relay league has provided a free public communications service to the communities during disaster for more than 100 years;”

“RESOLVED, That the Massachusetts Senate hereby commends the American Radio Relay League’s National Amateur Radio Field Day;”

MA Governor proclamation 2017MA House proclamation 2017MA Senate proclamation 2017

Emergency Communications

Reminder: Monthly EMA ARES Net 6/5 8:30pm

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Hello to all…
We will be continuing our monthly ARES Net in June. The monthly ARES Net for June is Monday the 5th, at 8:30 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. This is after the MEMA Nets earlier in the evening. For frequencies that will be linked into the ARES Net on the MMRA Network, please see the following link from the MMRA web site detailing the repeaters that will be linked in through Hub 1:

http://www.mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_index_by_linkstate.html


Make this first Monday of the month, “Emergency Communications Night” and check into your local RACES Net and then check into the ARES Net on the MMRA Repeater System. We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net.

As part of our relationship with MARS and our own situational awareness gathering we will be asking for any known infrastructure issues that you are aware of. The information must either be personally observed, or obtained “over the air” via amateur radio. Items considered to be infrastructure include but are not limited to: electrical power, water, medical facilities, sanitation, communications, and transportation. Examples of failure would be: small or large area power failure, water main breaks, hospitals’ ER closed, sewage issues, TV/radio station off the air (including public safety),  interstate highway or major road closed. No known issues are just as important as reporting failures.

Additionally we are interested in relay of any weather information from airport ATIS/ASOS stations that you can directly receive via radio. These stations broadcast continuously in the 120.000 – 138.000 MHz frequency range using amplitude modulation. Information from the ATIS should include airport, temperature, altimeter (barometer), wind, precipitation, and visibility.

A list of stations with their frequencies and a map can be found at: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MA

A brief introduction to ATIS can be found at: https://www.ivao.aero/training/documentation/books/PP_ADC_ATIS.pdf
A more detailed introduction to ATIS/ASOS can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/ASOS-book.pdf

We will have several interesting announcements for the net that evening and we look forward to everyone’s participation. Updates will be posted via email and on the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Web Site at http://ares.ema.arrl.org

Thanks for your continued support of ARES!

Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG
EMA Section Emergency Coordinator

All / Emergency Communications

Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net – Saturday June 3rd, 2017 at 1000 AM EDT

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Good Evening Everyone,

Net Control for the June 3, 2017 Eastern MA Hospital Net will be KB1JJE, Mansfield Emergency Management Agency. The net will commence at the usual time of 10:AM using the following repeaters in the order listed.

1. Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
2. Falmouth 147.375 tone 110.9
3. Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5
Simplex 147.42

The Net will than return to the Bridgewater Repeater for final comments and Net closing.

NET Protocol: Please wait for Net Control to ask for Check-ins. When asked to check in please use the standard net check in procedure which is:   Here is.., un-key, wait 3 seconds to check for doubling, then give your or your facilities call sign, your first name, and your facility’s name.

We extend an invitation to the EOC of any city or town that is served by one of the participating hospitals to join the Net. We also extend an invitation to any RACES or ARES member to check in during the NET.

Any hospital wishing to join the net that needs assistance with equipment or personnel should contact us at ssharc@gmail.com. We can assist you with getting your location on the air.

We are always looking for groups or organizations to try their hand at Net Control duties. If you are interested please let us know. Our goal is to rotate Net Control practice and the experience among as many groups as possible.

We thank the repeater trustees for their generosity in allowing us to conduct the monthly nets and the use of their systems in an actual event. The following list of repeaters are available for our use. Only a few systems are used each month with the selection of those used made by Net Control for that month.  More systems are being added to the list on a regular basis.

REMINDER: The BARC Repeater is now using split tone. Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0

Attleboro 147.195 tone 127.3 (Sturdy Memorial Hospital)
Belmont 145.430 tone 146.2
Boston 145.230 tone encode 88.5 tone decode 100.0
Bridgewater 147.180 tone 67.0
Danvers 145.47 tone 136.5
Dartmouth 147.000 tone 67.0 
Fairhaven 145.490 tone 67.0   
Fall River 146.805. tone 67.0
Falmouth 147.375 tone 110.9 
Mansfield EMA  446.925 tone 100.0
Mansfield 147.015 tone 67.0
Marshfield 145.390 tone 67.0     
Norwood 147.210 tone 100.00
Plymouth 146.685 tone 82.5
Salem 146.88 tone 118.8       
Sharon 146.865 tone 103.5   
Weymouth 147.345 tone 110.9 (South Shore Hospital)
W. Bridgewater 146.775 dcs 244
Wrentham 147.09 tone 146.2

We look forward to hearing you all on the Net.

Respectfully,

John O’
K1JRO

—

South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Club – W1SSH
c/o Volunteer Services
55 Fogg Road,
South Weymouth, MA 02190

Field Day / Operating

Eastern MA 2017 Field Day Directory

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The 18th Annual Eastern Massachusetts Field Day Directory contains some of the most comprehensive Field Day resource pages of its kind.

According to Bill Ricker, N1VUX, the section Field Day pages offer detailed information on individual field day club operations along with the complete event operating rules and helpful safety tips.

“Clubs which are reactivating a previous Class A or F site can confirm to the EMA Directory by simply putting their pin in at the ARRL Locator – conveniently linked from our directory. I’ll pick that up and mark them confirmed. I would appreciate an email from new clubs in Class A or F, clubs with new sites, clubs whose details on their EMA directory need updating, or who are definitely not using the site they had last year.”

The site also links to updated information on how to handle NTS radiogram traffic, and score bonus points during the event.

“A major goal always has been helping (and encouraging) EMA Field Staff & Leadership to plan visits to nearby field day sites, as is our custom — and helping us hit as many different ones as possible.”

Email n1vux at his arrl.net address.

 

 

 

Public Service

Two SKYWARN Training Sessions in Lowell & Peabody

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SKYWARN logo The National Weather Service in Taunton is offering two SKYWARN training sessions in the coming weeks in our area:

Tuesday May 23rd, 2017 – 630-900 PM:
University Crossing – Room 158
220 Pawtucket Street
Lowell, MA
Taught by: NWS Taunton Forecaster
Registration: Required – Pre-register via email to Rob Macedo-KD1CY at rmacedo@rcn.com

 

Thursday June 8th, 2017 – 700-930 PM:
Portuguese American War Veterans Building
103 Tremont Street
Peabody, MA
Taught by: Amateur Radio Coordinator
Registration: None Required

Public Service

BAA 10K, Ham Volunteers Sought, June 25, 2017

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Boston ARC logo Brett Smith, AB1RL writes:

Volunteer registration is open for the BAA 10K on Sunday, June 25. I know, I know—as usual, it’s on Field Day Sunday. But it just takes the morning (assignments run from approximately 6:00 AM to noon), and the summer weather means we’ve usually got work to do supporting the event medical teams. Come take a break from the rush for contacts, and join us to send some substantive traffic over the air.

All you need to help out is a dual band (2m and 70cm) handheld, preferably with a gain antenna. To volunteer for the 10K, sign up with the BAA directly following the instructions below.

Go to the BAA 10K volunteer site and press the “Volunteer Now” button.

There are separate buttons for “Returning” and “First Time” Volunteers. If you’ve volunteered at a BAA event before, select “Returning Volunteer.” If you don’t know your BAA Volunteer Loyalty Number, use the button labeled “Retrieve Your Volunteer Loyalty Number” to look it up. If it returns a Volunteer Loyalty Number for you, fill that in where prompted.

If the system does not provide you with a Volunteer Loyalty Number, or if you have not volunteered at a BAA event before, go through the “First Time Volunteers” button on the first page.

Complete the personal information.

Group status: Ham volunteers don’t need to join any group. You can answer “No” to both questions.

Assignment request: Select “Ham Radios” from the top pulldown menu on the page. You are not required to make any selections on the lower menus.

Complete the remainder of the application and make note of your application acknowledgment number. Seeing a acknowledgment number on the page is your indication that you have successfully completed the online application.

If you have any questions about the event or the sign-up procedure, feel free to get in touch with me at ab1rl@brettcsmith.org or (859) 466 5915.

Thank you, and 73,

Brett Smith, AB1RL
Public Service Coordinator, Boston Amateur Radio Club