Tag: #mema

On behalf of all the Eastern Massachusetts (EMa) DEC’s and EC’s, I would like to extend a cordial invitation to play in our annual Winter Communications Exercise, scheduled for Saturday February 21st. As most of you know, we are entering our “Nor’easter” season, so it is our annual opportunity to formally evaluate our winter emergency communication skills and readiness. This message will be the first in a series of messages about the exercise.

The goal of the exercise is to respond effectively to a storm driven massive power outage affecting the entire section. Among various objectives that will be emphasized include local response with an inter-district communication element. Please contact your DEC to coordinate your efforts on this year’s exercise.

The ARES Leadership is reminded to keep a detailed roster and/or logs of those stations participating in the exercise.

s/Michael P. Neilsen
Michael P. Neilsen, W1MPN
Section Emergency Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts Section

From: Telsey, Steven
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:26 PM

Subject: ARECC Exams Offered

The Eastern Massachusetts Section ARES is sponsoring an ARECC exam session:

Date: Saturday, February 28, 10:00am

Location: State Emergency Operations Center (MEMA HQ)
400 Worcester Road(Route 9 eastbound), Framingham, MA 01702-5399
(508)-820-1428

Directions: See
http://www.mass.gov/agency/documents/mema/MEMA_Headquarters_Directions.doc.

Note: This is a secure facility. Pre-registration by Monday, February 23 is required. Please contact Mike Neilsen at w1mpn@ema.arrl.org. You must bring a photo ID to be admitted.

Exams Offered: Exams for Levels I-III will be offered.

Exam Format: Multiple choice. Open-book, but no collaboration
permitted.

Cost: The cost is $10.00 per exam, $30.00 to take all three levels. You may retake a level once if necessary without additional cost if you do not pass with 80% or better. 73,

Exam Coordinator: Steve Telsey, N1BDA
40 Pine St.
Concord, MA 01742
978-369-7366 Evenings
n1bda@arrl.net

Hello to all…from W1MPN, SEC

Training Cycle Dates for all districts are as follows*:

EMa Winter Communication Exercise, everyone, 2/21
ARECC Exam, MEMA Hdqtrs 2/28 (Reservation req’d)
EMa Workshop; Hingham, 4/3
Standby mobilization for Boston Marathon, 4/19
Hurricane communications exercise, for everyone, TBA 6/2?
Assist Democratic Convention? (July)
HamFest (“Boxboro”) ARES booth and presentations, weekend 8/14
EMa “Advanced” Workshop and CEMARC BBQ; SEMARA Club, 8/28
EMa Workshop; Ipswitch, late Oct
EMa annual SET for everyone, early Nov

* – CCARES may exercise more frequently. Please contact DEC for details

ZCZC AG03
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 3 ARLB003
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT January 20, 2004
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB003
ARLB003 ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access

The ARRL will ask the FCC to create a new entry-level Amateur Radio
license that would include HF phone privileges without requiring a
Morse code test. The League also will propose consolidating all
current licensees into three classes, retaining the Element 1 Morse
requirement–now 5 WPM-only for the highest class. The ARRL Board of
Directors overwhelmingly approved the plan January 16 during its
Annual Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut. The proposals–developed by
the ARRL Executive Committee following a Board instruction last
July–are in response to changes made in Article 25 of the
international Radio Regulations at World Radiocommunication
Conference 2003 (WRC-03).

[Please press ARRL FAQ’s to learn more about this proposal – W1MPN]They would continue a process of
streamlining the amateur licensing structure that the FCC began more
than five years ago but left unfinished in the Amateur Service
license restructuring Report and Order (WT 98-143) that went into
effect April 15, 2000.

”Change in the Amateur Radio Service in the US, especially license
requirements and even more so when Morse is involved, has always
been emotional,” said ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN,
in presenting the Executive Committee’s recommendations. ”In fact,
without a doubt, Morse is Amateur Radio’s ‘religious debate.”’

The entry-level license class–being called ”Novice” for now–would
require a 25-question written exam. It would offer limited HF
CW/data and phone/image privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters as
well as VHF and UHF privileges on 6 and 2 meters and on 222-225 and
430-450 MHz. Power output would be restricted to 100 W on 80, 40,
and 15 meters and to 50 W on 10 meters and up.

”The Board sought to achieve balance in giving new Novice licensees
the opportunity to sample a wider range of Amateur Radio activity
than is available to current Technicians while retaining a
motivation to upgrade,” said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. Under the
ARRL plan, current Novice licensees–now the smallest and least
active group of radio amateurs–would be grandfathered to the new
entry-level class without further testing.

The middle group of licensees–Technician, Tech Plus (Technician
with Element 1 credit) and General–would be merged into a new
General license that also would not require a Morse examination.
Current Technician and Tech Plus license holders automatically would
gain current General class privileges without additional testing.
The current Element 3 General examination would remain in place for
new applicants.

The Board indicated that it saw no compelling reason to change the
Amateur Extra class license requirements. The ARRL plan calls on the
FCC to combine the current Advanced and Amateur Extra class
licensees into Amateur Extra, because the technical level of the
exams passed by these licensees is very similar. New applicants for
Extra would have to pass a 5 WPM Morse code examination, but the
written exam would stay the same. Sumner said the Board felt that
the highest level of accomplishment should include basic Morse
capability. Current Novice, Tech Plus and General licensees would
receive lifetime 5 WPM Morse credit.

”This structure provides a true entry-level license with HF
privileges to promote growth in the Amateur Service,” Harrison said.

Among other advantages, Sumner said the plan would allow new Novices
to participate in HF SSB emergency nets on 75 and 40 meters as well
as on the top 100 kHz of 15 meters. The new license also could get
another name, Sumner said. ”We’re trying to recapture the magic of
the old Novice license, but in a manner that’s appropriate for the
21st century.”

The overall proposed ARRL license restructuring plan would more
smoothly integrate HF spectrum privileges across the three license
classes and would incorporate the ”Novice refarming” plan the League
put forth nearly two years ago in a Petition for Rule Making
(RM-10413). The FCC has not yet acted on the ARRL plan, which would
alter current HF subbands.

The ARRL license restructuring design calls for no changes in
privileges for Extra and General class licensees on 160, 60, 30, 20,
17 or 12 meters. Novice licensees would have no access to those
bands.

See ”ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access”
on the ARRL Web site, www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/, for
the specific subband allocations ARRL is proposing for each class.
NNNN
/EX

Tom Kinahan, N1CPE wrote:

We’ve spent some time updating procedures for the Massachusetts RACES program, including defining the Massachusetts Emergency Frequency Plan or MEFP, updating net operation activities requiring the usage of and defining the terms “Over”, “Out” and “Break” in the course of a controlled net to indicate what the NCS requests, a list of available VHF Simplex frequencies to pass traffic or other coordination, updated contact information on RACES, ARES, SKYWARN and MARS leadership, updated sample RACES appointment forms and updated club contact information courtesy of the ARRL.

Please download a copy and keep it with your station records.
This document is dated July 1, 2003 and approved by myself, Steve Finks W1SBF the State Communications Officer, and Stephen McGrail the Director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Accept no substitutes or previous versions at this time.

Get your copy at:

http://www.qsl.net/n1cpe/racesplan.pdf

or

http://n1cpe.dnsalias.net:81/racesplan.pdf

Please forward this message as needed for the widest distribution among Amateur Radio Operators in Massachusetts.

Thank you,

Tom Kinahan N1CPE
Massachusetts State RACES Radio Officer

Check here regularly for a summary description of new activity since you visited last!

Our new logo was designed by our PIC, Jim, N1IV.

– Workshop at the SEMARA Club in New Bedford on 8/9 announcement below
– Link (in upper left column) to Joint ARES/RACES statement concerning the Massachusetts Emergency Frequency Protocol
– Link to this year’s very robust FD site, now with wrap up articles, and picture links (see article below or press Field Day link to the left)For a list of longer term projects and goals, please press the button to the upper left “Future Additions”.