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The Massachusetts – Rhode Island STM report for September 2024 can now be found here. Note a link to the NTS2.arrl.org website with information on what’s happening with the NTS 2.0 project. Particularly find at this site a link to the NTS Letter archive and instructions on subscribing to receive this newsletter in your email mailbox monthly. Also note information on the Radiogram Portal, a web-based means to send messages via the National Traffic System without checking into a net or accessing the Digital Traffic Network. This is available to non-hams and hams alike. We also acknowledge the passing of …

Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes: The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s October meeting is TOMORROW, Thursday, October 17th at 7:30 PM at the Pepperell Community Center (in Pepperell). We start gathering at 7 PM to socialize before the meeting starts. For October, our guest speaker will be Phil Gladstone, N1DQ, author of PSK Reporter. PSK Reporter is an amateur radio signal reporting and spotting network which allows hams to see where their radio signals are being received. The platform works by collecting digital signal reports from software clients like WSJT and FLDIGI, then mapping them to show which stations are being …

N1WBV-Ben Jackson on the Southeast Mass Amateur Radio Association Email list writes: Hi Everyone: If you have ever thought about becoming involved with AREDN (https://www.arednmesh.org/) but also wondered “Well it sounds interesting, but who would I communicate with around the South Coastal MA Area?” I am happy to report that I have established an outdoor node just a touch NNE of UMass in FN41lp. What is AREDN? AREDN is the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network which provides a way for Amateur Radio operators to create high-speed ad-hoc data networks for use in emergency and service-oriented communications. This is often done …

Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes: The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club (NVARC) is offering a free amateur radio licensing course beginning on November 4th. The eight night course will prepare students for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technician licensing exam that will be offered at the completion of the course. The Technician level radio operator’s license is the first of three amateur licenses offered by the FCC. Each license has increased levels of operator privileges. The course consists of twice weekly sessions beginning on Monday, November 4th, and meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays for four weeks (with a break on Thanksgiving …

Jon N1ILZ writes We will be holding two Zoom sessions to help people get familiar with FLDIGI using NBEMS to pass formatted messages (Radiograms, ICS-213s, etc.); and net operations, specifically how to check-in to and interact with the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Digital (NTS) Net (MARIDN).  Thursday October 17, focused on the NBEMS programs FLMSG, FLAMP for message passing, and  Thursday October 24, focused on how to interact with a digital NTS Traffic Net, specifically, the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Digital Net (MARIDN).  Both sessions are 7:00 PM – ~8:30 PM or until finished. Zoom coordinates (below) are the same for both sessions.  A PREREQUSIITE for …

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes: The USCG Auxiliary combine Divisions 5 / 12 Radio Net was held on Sunday 13 OCT 2024 at 1015 AM. Check Ins: Wilmington Radio Vessel 323088 Mobile 5F Mobile 5G Net Control: Waltham Radio NCS Traffic: Radio tests were made of all radio facilities. It was announced that Flotilla elections are forthcoming. January 10th is the Boat Show. Discussions of the Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene events. Amateur Radio did a great job helping with communications. Our Auxiliary Net held on the MMRA amteur radio network is going strong. This morning …

The Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society will meet on-line and in-person on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 7 PM and feature: “Lessons Learned as a Ham for Broadcast RF and vice versa” by Doug Evans, K3DRE.   Description: From broadcast radio into ham radio and back. Doug will share with us lessons learned in professional radio and how they led him into ham radio. From there, he’ll move to the things he learned as a ham that helped his career. Doug’s been to a lot of places and has seen some very interesting things, but found that the basics of RF always apply. …

KB1PGH-Dean Burgess, Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association (CAARA) ARRL/ARES Emergency Coordinator writes: There will be an ARRL/ARES Emergency communications planning meeting for the Cape Ann area at the CAARA clubhouse at 6 Stanwood street in Gloucester on Saturday November 2nd at noontime. This meeting is open for all those who are interested in attending. This will be a first in a series of informal meetings as we start to plan out a ARRL emergency communications group on Cape Ann. The meeting will be run by ARRL/ARES emergency coordinator Dean Burgess KB1PGH and ARRL/ARES assistant emergency coordinator Bill Morris W1WMM.

Adam Smith, AA1N, writes on the PART of Westford mailing list:Hi PART’ers –    I took some time to read through the POTA web site again.  Under the rules we can either do multiple individual activations, or a club/group activation.  As a group, all activity from a single callsign from the same park in the same (UTC) day would count toward the activation (but it’s possible to log the operator for each QSO under a shared call – and ops get some credit).   If we wanted to do this (for this or future ops) then we’d want to register a …

Mike “Sparky” Leger, N1YLQ, ARES DEC – MEMA Region 2 RACES Radio Officer writes:   Hello to all,   This email is the typical monthly message to let everyone know that Monday evening, October 7th, 2024 is our first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, will be the next RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night.   Due to the news reports and reports from operators out of the North Carolina area and other  Areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, I would like to highlight our WinLink net and I would Like to encourage operators to learn about and try to check in via …

Joseph Fratto-K1UN – FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License writes: The combined Divisions 5 / 12 Radio Net was called on the Roslindale repeater 6 OCT 24 at 1015 hrs. Check Ins: Radio Wilmington Radio Roslindale Vessel 323088 Mobile 5F Mobile 5G Net Control: Radio Waltham NCS Traffic: Stations were able to radio check their equipment. I spoke to the Comms people in D7. D7 Florida area will be implementing their Emergency Communications Nets starting on this Tuesday. Another hurricane will be hitting Florida on Wednesday. They have noticed how we have had good luck using Ham radio assets in D1N. …

Hello to all… The October Eastern Massachusetts ARES section net will be Monday October 7th, 2024 at 830 PM on the MMRA Repeater system. 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: https://mmra.org/repeaters/repeater_linking.html (Click the ARES box to see the repeaters and other systems linked) We look forward to your participation and remember, we are always looking for Net Controls to run the ARES Net. We will have several announcements for the net …

Don Rolph, AB1PH, Walpole area ARES Emergency Coordinator writes: The MEMA RACES nets are held on the first Monday of the month, unless the first Monday is a holiday, when it is delayed one week, For Oct 2024, the MEMA RACES nets will be held on Mon Oct 7 at: ******************************************************************************** 80 meter Voice net No 80 meter voice net this month: No NCS. ********************************************************************************* Region 2D VHF net: 7:30 PM ET VHF net on 146.865 MHz PL 103.5 (Sharon Repeater) We will have a general call up of any RACES, ARES, or other interested stations. If there is time, …

Ben Jackson, N1WBV, writes on the Bristol Co. Radio Association mailing list: If you have ever thought about becoming involved with AREDN (https://www.arednmesh.org/) but also wondered “Well it sounds interesting, but who would I communicate with around the South Coastal MA Area?” I am happy to report that I have established an outdoor node just a touch N/NNE of UMass in FN41lp. What is AREDN? AREDN is the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network which provides a way for Amateur Radio operators to create high-speed ad-hoc data networks for use in emergency and service-oriented communications.  This is often done via consumer …

Don Rolph, AB1PH writes: We will be holding a Zoom session to help people get configured with FLDIGI: Thursday October 10 7:00 PM – ~8:30 PM or until done    We will go through the configuration of FLDIGI/FLMSG/FLAMP to work on your amateur radio station.  You will be attending a Zoom session from the PC controlling your station.  We will then check to ensure that your configuration is working.  If there are failures, we will work to debug them via screen sharing during the zoom session.   In some cases, issues will be resistant to debugging during the session and we will deal with these individuals in one on …

John Iwuc, KB1VXY, writes on the Framingham ARA mailing list:   Please register for our October 3 meeting. We will forgo our usual business meeting and start promptly at 7 pm at the McAuliffe Library and on Zoom. Tom Frenaye, K1KI, who is one of the contenders for the New England Division Director of the ARRL, will talk for the first 10 minutes or so. After that Kay Savetz, K6KJN, will talk about  “Twenty Things I’ve Learned While Curating the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications” We are planning on having Fred Kemmerrer, AB1OC, current New England Director of the …

Billerica ARS President Doug Bruce, N1WRN, writes: We are pleased to announce that Terry Dennison, K9TAD, will be our Guest Speaker via Zoom on Wednesday Night, October 2, 2024. Terry will give a talk on Sunspot and Radio Propagation. Here are some biographical details about Terry: FCC Extra Class Amateur Radio License (2010), First Licensed in 2007 Callsign: K9TAD. Memberships: American Radio Relay League (ARRL); Volunteer Examiner (VE) – authorized to participate in Amateur Radio License Examinations, Accredited to the Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group (GLAARG) VEC, VE # 3208E. Associated with: the AD4VE team Southern California DX Club; …

Welcome to the September 2024 EMA Section Update! I am publishing this update to the EMA Section and NE Division websites. The email-blast-to-all-section-members function is still down, a casualty of the cyber-attack on ARRL HQ; there is currently no ETA. I’m publishing the Update on the EMA website and sending it to all the clubs I have email addresses for, with a request to distribute it widely. Please spread the word.     It’s now officially Autumn. That means the population of our Cape Cod communities has reverted to mostly normal. Many businesses have shuttered for the season, with many more planning …

From The Foxboro Reporter, September 26, 2024: A local woman found a unique skill to be helpful to the community and beyond. Joanne McLaughlin of Foxboro, a retired teacher, has been a licensed amateur radio operator since October 2000 when the Federal Communication Commission issued her call sign, KB1FVN. McLaughlin said she started the hobby because she saw first hand some family members who are licensed amateur radio operators. Amateur radio operators can talk across town or across the world without a phone or internet. “It also allowed me to learn something new and share a hobby with my husband …

Michael Powell, W1KU, writes on the Algonquin ARC mailing list: I’m planning on activating Hopkinton State Park on Sunday 9/29 in the morning and early afternoon.  Joe KA1GDQ is planning to join me around 10:00. I plan to field-test some of my own radio, antenna, and power equipment.  I expect to set up for SSB and FT8 on bands between 10m and 40m, depending on conditions.  My plan is to set up at picnic tables in this area of the park — https://maps.app.goo.gl/zJ1fNgyazpv5giQD6 — but that is subject to change.  If you are interesting in “activating” the park yourself,  you are welcome …