testmainpage

Hello to all,       We are finally exiting hurricane season and now we move toward the winter weather season! This email is the typical monthly message to let everyone know that Monday evening, November 6th, 2023 is our first non-holiday Monday of the month and, as such, will be the next RACES/ACS/Preparedness Net night. This month also will play host to a winter Simulated Emergency Test by Eastern MA ARES. This test is currently scheduled to occur on November 11th, 2023 and has been designed by Frank, WQ1O. More information should be forthcoming on the Eastern MA Section ARRL …

From the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Facebook page on November 4, 2023: What an incredible day! MEMA celebrated the 60th Bunker Birthday with more than 600 people from around the state. Thank you for celebrating with us and many thanks to our partner agencies for showing off unique equipment that provided education and entertainment for many visitors.

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, The RACES nets for Nov will be held on Mon Nov 6 at: ******************************************************************************** The HF net will start at 6:45 PM ET: using the following frequency plan: We will start at 3930 KHz moving up to 3955 KHz until there is a clear frequency, Marc Stern WA1R will be net control. ********************************************************************************* Region 2D VHF net: 7:30 PM ET VHF net on 146.865 MHz …

N1SOM-Jeff – Secretary of the South Shore Hospital (SSH) group writes: Good Evening, On Saturday November 4, 2023, the South Shore Hospital Amateur Radio Group will hold an Eastern MA Hospital Net commencing at 10:00AM. We realize that some locations, individuals, and groups may be subject to COVID restrictions. We encourage everyone who is affected by these restrictions to utilize their home or mobile stations to check into the net if possible. Even if you cannot reach all the systems being used, please check-in on those you can. We will use the following repeaters in the order listed. 1. Attleboro …

From Radio World, October 27, 2023: FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says the FCC plans to “incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands” by getting rid of outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions. The commission at its November meeting is expected to take action on a Report and Order that would eliminate the baud rate limitation and establish a bandwidth limitation in the amateur radio bands below 29.7 MHz. [Full story]

Doug Bruce, N1WRN, writes in the Billerica ARS November newsletter: I am pleased to announce that our guest speaker for the November 1, 2023, club meeting via Zoom will be none other than Rick Roderick, K5UR, the current President of the ARRL! Rick will give a talk on what’s new at the ARRL and will share valuable insights on our great hobby. You will definitely want to make sure and attend this Zoom Presentation to be given by a true pioneer in ham radio! [For Zoom conference details, email Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, at w1lus -at- hotmail -dot- com.] Bruce Anderson, …

The Falmouth ARA FARA Fest is held annually at the Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational School. The Fest provides and opportunity for local hams to buy, sell, or swap items of interest to amateur radio operators. VE license exam sessions are also held as part of the Fest. Flyers are distributed and available on this site prior to each annual FARA Fest. The Board of Directors has set the following official guidelines for FARA FEST. Outside Spaces are $10.00 per space. All vendors will be given a placard to display, bring your own table. Indoor spaces are $10.00 per TABLE, …

From K1USN Radio Club Happenings, October 27, 2023: The K1USN Radio Club will once again be on the air Saturday, November 11, 2023, to celebrate Veterans Day to show their appreciation for those who have served. This year we plan to activate K1USN from our club station on the HF bands using SSB, CW and FT8 beginning at 1300 UTC, Nov 11 and ending at 2100 UTC. Our Club station is located at the Watson Museum & Research Library, 85 Quincy Avenue in Braintree. K1USN QSL cards will be available for all contacts with K1USN. Send # 10 SASE to …

Join us at Elm Bank Reservation off of Route 16 at the Wellesley/Natick line on Sunday, October 29, 2023 for our first Parks on the air (POTA) operating event! Mindy KM1NDY will get us started along this path of fun and radio adventure. We will start at 11:00 A.M. and go to 2:00 P.M. Bring your rig, antennas, tables, and chairs and whatever else you may want. We will be using the W1TKZ 2-meter repeater for talk-in (147.030MHz, +600 split, PL123Hz). Once you enter the park, look for our WARS “Field Day” sandwich boards to find where we are. Also, …

Hello to all… Eastern Massachusetts ARES will conduct a Simulated Emergency Test, Section Exercise: “Regional Prep” on Saturday November 11th, 2023 from 1000 AM-1200 PM EDT. The exercise will test the ability of several home stations, EOCs, possible field sites and other stations to communicate. The exercise will attempt to build upon the lessons learned from our past operational exercises. This exercise will be held on the same day as the National Winlink ETO (EmComm Training Organization) exercise. A document on the exercise including frequencies for nets and activities that will be completed on the exercise will be posted by …

Recently, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which effects Amateur Radio use of the 60m band.  The FCC proposes to allocate 15 kHz of contiguous bandwidth between 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power of 15 W EIRP (equivalent to 9.15 W ERP). This allocation was adopted at the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15). The NPRM leaves open the question of whether the existing five 60m channels can still be used for Amateur Radio operation as well as if the 100w power level may still be used. The FCC has requested comments …

Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 2:50 PM on October 22, 2023: W1MJ fox now available on 147.450 MHz, in same On Demand mode as K1MJC fox; just ask it to please transmit.  This one will transmit for 1 hour, then you have to ask again. From Mike’s fox, take trail in left rear corner of Rock Meadow.  It goes to Beaver Brook North, and the direct route to my fox is no more than 15 minutes from there. Good luck finding both foxes. Eliot W1MJ

Mike Cormier, K1MJC, writes on the NEMassFoxHunters list at 10:27 AM on October 22, 2023: Well, the new K1MJC fox is out!   It was designed by Eliot W1MJ, and this one has an on-demand feature.   All you have to do, is transmit on the fox frequency for about two seconds (Say anything, but should include your callsign), and the fox will begin transmitting various messages for 30 minutes.    When the 30 minutes has expired, the last message will encourage you to make a voice request for more.  (just repeat what you did to get it started in …

Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, shared on the New England Sci-Tech mailing list: Mike Radz writes: Dear Colleagues: I have attached seven pictures from the “Geek is Glam” Girl Scout event held at WPI this past Saturday. My IQP team staffed a booth and offered the girls two STEM/HAM related activities: Morse code and Minecraft. The former activity utilized Morse code kits from NEST as well as some circuitry built by the students that enabled the Girl Scouts to see the letters associated with the dots and dashes they tapped show up on a computer screen (this shown in the pics). The …

The September STM report for the combined sections of Eastern and Western Mass and Rhode Island can be found here.  Note a history of HHTN thanks to Joe Weiss, W1HAI, and with special recognition to Scott Cassidy, N1SGB, for keeping the net’s continuity intact; how to sign up for future issues of the NTS Letter; using APRS to enter radiograms into the nationwide Digital Traffic System; getting creative with radiogram originations.

Allen Phillips – MEMA East Regional Manager writes: The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency is excited to host a Bunker Birthday celebration on November 4, 2023, marking 60 years since former President Kennedy dedicated the facility in 1963. We’ll be opening our headquarters to the public for tours and to learn about how emergency management has evolved over time. We hope you can join us to celebrate MEMA’s history. The event will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Allen Phillips, MSDM Regional Manager, MEMA East

The Heavy Hitters Traffic Net has been around since the 1970’s and continues to provide a nightly outlet for National Traffic System messages. Through repeater linking and Echolink it currently  covers most of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with outlets to the rest of the country and beyond. Former net manager Joe Weiss W1HAI has written a history of this net. Find the link here and come see what it is all about. They welcome visitors and are happy to explain the NTS and how to become involved.

Seth Kendall, KC1PZY, writes on the stars-radio mailing list: We are looking for mentors/volunteers to help out with the new Wireless Engineering Club on Saturday mornings 10:00-11:30am.  Please let us know if you have any interest in participating! The “Wireless Engineering Club” is a new club at New England Sci-Tech meant to attract youth and prospective hams into the hobby of Ham Radio.  The club will meet every other Saturday morning, a time that tends to work well for families, and will be focused around build workshops and practical, hands-on radio activities.  We’d like to use this club to bring in new hams, …

Tom Ulrich, KC1OCY, writes on the Sci-Tech ARS mailing list: During the weekend of October 21, Scouts from around the world will take part in the 2023 Jamboree on the Air, Scouting’s largest radio event promoting friendship and global citizenship. Scouts from eastern Massachusetts will be on the air on Saturday, October 21, from at least four locations in the area; this spreadsheet has information about units’ station callsigns and operating frequencies. Learn more about JOTA, and see which frequencies are popular with JOTA stations. Help our hobby grow by talking to Scouts on the air! 73, Tom Ulrich KC1OCY …

From ARISS.org: October 9, 2023—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Covenant Christian Academy (CCA) in West Peabody, MA. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS. CCA is a private school that serves over 430 students, Pre-K through12th grade. To prepare for this ARISS contact CCA integrated space-themed aspects into its STEM program and STEM-related activities. The physics …