Eastern Massachusetts ARRL

Fall River area hams and RACES members will host a display at Public Safety Day on Saturday, May 31st. A display table at the Heritage State Park will feature literature and information about State RACES, ARES and the Fall River Emergency Management Agency. Additionally, 2-meter and APRS stations are planned along with an emergency management agency truck. The group invites on-air contacts and assistance from all who are interested and available to help. —Thanks, KB1FGI.

The Southeastern Mass ARA continues to make steady progress on the erection of a new tower at its club house.

SEMARA Club treasurer Scott Szala,W1EV reports that the first 20-foot section of tower was recently mounted on the base; the section was leveled and torqued. Szala added that ground rods and a grounding loop must be added, and hard line cables need to be measured and cut. Additionally, a telephone pole will be placed between the tower and club house to help support the cables.

Plans call for the remainder of the tower to be raised by crane within the next two weeks.

The Billerica Amateur Radio Society has always placed a premium on good food and fellowship. Shown here is one candid shot from a recent BARS breakfast, courtesy K1LJN.

The Police Amateur Radio Team of Westford will conduct code classes at the Westford Police Station in their main conference room at 53 Main Street. (The room is where the monthly meetings are held.) The classes will be held on Tuesdays most weeks, but will meet on Monday for the first class and on Mondays on the weeks of club meetings.
The following is a preliminary schedule:

Monday 5/26/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 6/03/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 6/10/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Monday 6/16/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 6/24/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 7/01/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 7/08/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Monday 7/14/2003 – 6:30 -8:30pm
Tuesday 7/22/2003 – Possible test night – Possible Test Practice session
Tuesday 7/29/2003 – Possible test night – Time to be announced
Tuesday 8/05/2003 – Possible test night – Time to be announced

Please contact AB1CW or ka8scp@wb1gof.org if you are interested in participating.

Bob Burns, K1RB has nominated Jeff Lehmann, N1ZZN for the ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Award!

Jeff, N1ZZN has been active with many other amateur radio groups in the area and supporting letter of recommendation were sent by Bob Burns, K1RB, Pi Pugh, K1RV, Bruce Beaman, K1HTN, Jed Barton, N1JBC, Bob Callahan, W1QWH, Stephen “HO” Johnson Jr., KC1HO and Don Benecchi, K1DC along with a letter of recommendation from Bruce Hayden, NI1X representing all the Officers and members of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club, an ARRL Affiliated Club.

Jeff N1ZZN was a graduate of the 1997 Fall Classes of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club and joined the Whitman Club in December 1997 at 13 years of age. Jeff N1ZZN was first active helping promote amateur radio and operating at the Whitman Club’s annual Plimoth Plantation Special Event in 1997 and he has been active ever since.

Over the past five (5) years Jeff, N1ZZN helped promote Amateur Radio and develop amateur radio communication skills by participating in Field Day, Fox Hunting, SKYWARN training, getting active with the Whitman Amateur Radio Public Service Net and the Cape and Islands Traffic Net, helping with the Boston Marathon and participating with the USS Salem Radio Club—helping to put this Museum Ship on the air. Recently Jeff and the other members of the USS Salem Amateur Radio Club have been introducing Amateur Radio to thousands of Boy Scouts with their weekend activities.

Jeff Lehmann first created the Whitman Amateur Radio Club Web Page in the fall of 1998 and has been maintaining it ever since. This past year Jeff has added the monthly newsletter as a feature to the Web page which has further encouraged over half the club members to retrieve the club newsletter in electronic format. This initiative by Jeff makes the newsletter available to all the friends of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club. (See: www.qsl.net/wa1npo)

It was also reported that Jeff is a Vice Director of the New England Spectrum Management Council and publisher of a computer New England Repeater Directory.

We all know that Jeff’s involvement with the Whitman Amateur Radio Club is only a small, but significant part of his overall growth and development that balances family, school, work and Amateur Radio. At the last meeting, Jeff, N1ZZN reported that he plans to enter the Electrical Engineering program at U. Mass. Dartmouth this fall. Jeff is a valued member of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club and of the Amateur Radio community in Southeastern Massachusetts. We wish Jeff all the best in his future endeavors.

—The WARC Spectrum

Photo courtesy W1MPN (Press on the photo to see larger version that includes Glenn Field)

Story contributed by Bill Ricker, N1VUX

Rob Macedo, KD1CY, EMA DEC for SKYWARN and Southern New England Ham Coordinator for NWS WFO BOX’s 4-state SKYWARN program, was awarded one of only 36 nation-wide NOAA Environmental Hero awards for Earth Day 2003. The award was presented by Glenn Field, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS BOX, with the assistance of Robert Thompson, M.I.C., and Mark M. Mahoney, New Bedford Emergency Management Director. Presentation was made as a surprise at the annual Hurricane Workshop, at New Bedford High School, only a few miles from Rob’s home in New Bedford. Also congratulating Rob was the keynote speaker, Max Mayfield, Director of the NWS Tropical Prediction Center & National Hurricane Center.Of the 36 nation-wide awards, only 9 were NWS sponsored, and of those, only two others were SKYWARN volunteers (Alabama & Michigan); the rest are government EMD or related staff and a broadcast meteorologist. Of the 36, 5 were posthumous and one was institutional.

The general citation is:
http://www.noaa.gov/earthday “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this year presented its Environmental Hero Award to 35 individuals and one organization from across the United States and around the world. Held in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations, the award honors NOAA volunteers for their “tireless efforts to preserve and protect our nation’s environment.”

The short-form of Rob’s citation http://www.noaa.gov/earthday/#macedo reads: “Robert Macedo, a full-time senior engineer with Works at EMC Corp. in New Bedford, Mass., has been the SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS-Taunton since 1994. He has helped the program grow from 800 weather spotters in southern New England (1994) to 3,500 (2003). He drafts and distributes his own e-mail newsletter to more than 700 key spotters and emergency managers, organizes NWS training sessions and uses his personal time to promote the NWS mission. Because of Macedo’s efforts, the NWS receives more real-time reports than ever before, thus having a direct, immediate and positive impact on NWS warning operations. He has also assisted NOAA in surveying storm damage and the implementation and testing of the new high frequency tower/antenna now in place at NWS-Taunton.”

NOAA Press Release: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2003/apr03/noaa03044.html
NOAA EarthDay homepage with award list: http://www.noaa.gov/earthday/
Hurricane Workshop: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/box/hurrHunter.shtml

And, there may be more story to follow … Rob is, as I type this, once again with our friends from NWS BOX, attending the Greater Boston Federal Executive Board http://www.boston.feb.gov/
Public Service Recognition Week “Execllence in Government Awards” Luncheon ($40 rubber chicken) at JFK Presidential Library in Boston, where he will be introduced as a finalist for Volunteer of the Year. (3 staff members of NWS BOX are finalists in other categories: WCM Field for Customer Service, SOO Dave Vallee for Science, and their Admin for Admin.)

So check
http://www.boston.feb.gov/newfeb/hotnews/hotnews.html tonight / tomorrow to see who won! [Regretfully, nobody won – W1MPN]

May 7, 2003 – EXCELLENCE IN GOVERNMENT AWARDS – The Greater Boston Federal Executive Board will sponsor this government-wide event to recognize outstanding the public service of local Federal employees. This year’s event will not only recognize outstanding public service among the local Federal ranks but also be a unique celebration of freedom and public service while remembering those who are fighting for our country. It will be chaired by US Army Brigadier General Craig A. Peterson, Commanding General for Homeland Operations in New England and will feature a performance by the USO.
http://www.boston.feb.gov/newfeb/hotnews/PUBLIC%20SERVICE%20RECOGNITION%20WEEK%20ACTIVITIES.pdf

Rob Macedo – KD1CY, EMA DEC for SKYWARN and Southern New England Ham Coordinator for N.W.S. W.F.O. BOX’s 4-state SKYWARN program, was awarded one of only 36 nation-wide N.O.A.A. Environmental Hero Awards for Earth Day 2003. [Full story]

N1YCQ writes on brca-club:

The Armed Forces Day military-to-amateur cross-band communications test is this weekend May 10 and 11. This is the only opportunity for amateurs to contact other non-amateur stations as permitted by the FCC under Part 97 rules. All 2-way contacts will be split-freq and may be split-mode. Split-freq meaning that the military station will, for example, transmit on a frequency of 6.913 MHz and announce that he is listening on say 7.245 MHz. This is a common practice for DX pile-ups. Split-mode meaning that you might receive the military station in USB but transmit to it in LSB. The military stations will also transmit an Armed Forces Day message via various digital modes. I have included a link from the ARRL website that has the Armed Forces Day schedules for the participating military stations. Let me know if you have any questions.

73 de N1YCQ
Wheat

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/af-day/armdfrcs-2003.html

Hello everyone!

I’m looking for a few volunteers for a public service event in Wellesley on May 18th from 10am to 3pm. It’s the Wellesley Veterans parade. I need operators with 2m or UHF handheld radios to help organize the parade, and to help keep the parade together.

If you can help, drop me a note at n1cpe@amsat.org

Thanks!

-Tom Kinahan N1CPE

N1LOO writes:

“I am looking for a couple of people to help Sunday (April 27, 2003) on the March of Dimes walk. It is in Framingham beginning at 10AM. You will need to be available for about 3 hours and have a walkie. No real experience is necessary. It will be an informal net relaying the status of the walkers on the course.

So far I have:

Nancy KB1HIX
Marc WA1R
Brian N1JFO

One or two more will be great!! In the past the March of Dimes have given us shirts and food.

Please let me know if you are interested in helping on Sunday. Thanks.

I’ve placed photos from today’s Council of Eastern Mass. Amateur Radio Clubs meeting for your viewing pleasure.