HCRA Health and Welfare Net – Closed for Now

Over the past 2 weeks check-ins to the HCRA Health & Welfare net have tailed off considerably. After discussing this with Rich KC1AEO, we’ve decided the net has served its purpose as people get back to a more normal life. Therefore, we will close the net for now with the idea that we will begin again if or when a need arises.

We want to thank HCRA for the use of the W1NY club callsign we used on the net over the last 2 months and for the club’s support. We also want to say thank-you to W1BR for his support and the use of the 146.715 repeater. Finally, we ask that everyone keep the residents, their families and the staff of the Holyoke Soldier’s Home in mind as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Respectfully,
Richard Laviolette, KC1AEO
Marcel Lapierre, AA1WH

Ham Radio Saving A Life Locally!

On Tuesday, June 15, Alden Sumner Jones IV, KC1JWR, was hiking on the southern part of the Appalachian trail in Vermont (it’s also been reported as being on the Long Trail) with his cousins at around 12:30 PM. Alden started feeling light headed, his pulse was racing and the next thing he remembers is waking up with an EMT named Dave, from AMR out of Springfield, MA, who was hiking and saw Alden go down. Alden had suffered seizures. It was later determined that this was caused by low blood sugar. Dave attempted to call 911 on his cell phone. He could connect, but the 911 operator couldn’t understand him. At this point, Alden pulled out his HT ham radio, a BaoFeng.

He made contact through the K1FFK repeater. This repeater is located on Mt. Greylock on 146.91. The repeater is owned and maintained by the Northern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club. The initial call went out just before the Cycle 1 of the Western Massachusetts Traffic Net. Ron Wonderlick, AG1W, took the call. Alden initially asked if the 911 call went through. Ron began an eight hour process of acting as a relay between Alden, the emergency crews and various others.

The Traffic Net was truncated and the frequency was cleared by Peter Mattice, KD2JKV, who also stood by as a backup for Ron. KC1JPU, Matthew Sacco, was also monitoring and after a short consultation with Ron & Peter, proceeded to head to the staging area where the Fire and EMS crews were going to come from.

In Matthew’s own words, this what happened when he arrived at the staging area:

As I arrived at the staging point set up by the Fire Department, I met up with Fire Chief Scott Moore (95-C1) of the Wilmington Fire Department who was Incident Command. I told him how I heard about the incident and offered my services. I then got to work attempting to make contact with Ron over the 91. We were in a bit of a shadow as far as coverage went from the 91 and my first attempt to make contact with my HT was to no avail. I then went to my truck to try my mobile radio which also failed to open up the repeater. Running out of options, I went into my radio bag and was able to construct a roll up J-Pole out of some 450 ohm ladder line, a short length of coax, and male UHF connector. In that bag I keep some basic soldering equipment and a power inverter for the truck. Once it was constructed and tested, I grabbed my fishing pole from the back seat, put a weight on the end, and cast the weight into the highest branch I could find. I tied the J-Pole to the end of the line and reeled it up about 20′ into the tree with the help of a barrel connector and about another 24′ of coax. I tried that antenna plugged into the back of my mobile radio and we were up and running! I was then in contact with Net Control!

Now the struggle was to find the hiker. Alden’s (KC1JWR) status was communicated between the EMT on site through the ham radio and impromptu net set up through Ron (AG1W) and Matthew (KC1JPU). The information passed through the net was used to determine what type of rescue equipment would be necessary. Finding the location based on landmarks was proving too difficult. One of the people on site had a cell phone with a GPS unit and they were able to get a location in Google Maps Plus Code. That was converted into latitude and longitude. At this point, it was 4:30 in the afternoon.

On site were members of the Wilmington, VT Fire Department, Wardsboro, VT Fire Department, Deerfield Valley Ambulance, and Rescue Inc., all served through the ham radio net being operated on the K1FFK repeater.

Once the rescuers were getting close to Alden’s location, it was determined that they were not going to be able to get an ATV to the location for an evacuation. So, the determination was made to contact New York State Search and Rescue for a helicopter. Again, this need was relayed through the ham net. Almost all the communication, all day, was through the ham net, or, relayed to the phone by Ron (AG1W) or Peter (KD2JKV).

Meanwhile, Alden is conscious and spending time talking to the EMT and the rescuers about ham radio and how to get their licenses.

An area is cleared by another hiker as a place for the helicopter to lower it’s basket. The GPS coordinates are relayed through the ham net to the helicopter crew. The rescuers took Alden through the woods to the clearing and the helicopter arrived at around 7PM. While the rescuers were talking the helicopter in on their radios, they were having trouble making contact through their rubber duck antennas. So, Alden, who had a better antenna for his HT, lent it to the rescuers for better communication. Alden was initially flown to Woodford Mountain for evaluation and treatment. He was then flown to the hospital in Albany NY. During the flight, Alden again talked to the pilots and the other rescuers about ham radio.

During the rescue, one fire fighter from Wilmington was injured. This forced part of the team to stay the night with him in a shelter along the trail. He was brought out safely and is doing well. Alden is suffering from a number of injuries from the seizures, but he is also recovering.

Neil Van Dyke (N1TNC), the Search & Rescue Coordinator for the Vermont Dept. of Public Safety was the one who called in Search and Rescue. When asked about the event, Mr. Van Dyke said “Ham radio was a key part of the incident and played a major role in the rescue”. Alden said it even better, “Ham radio saved my life last night and I am very thankful for how everyone helped me.”

Well done to all involved in this event. Thank you for all you did for Alden Jones and for being great ham radio operators.

WMA ARES Looking for Volunteers for VHF Testing

The WMA ARES Section is in the process of conducting simplex communications testing on 6 and 2 meters within the section.

At this point, we are looking to test 6 meter communications between Hampden and Worcester counties and need a few volunteers with good 6 meter capabilities, particularly in the Southern Worcester County area. Time involved will be short …. approximately 15 minutes at your station’s convenience.

Anyone wishing to participate can contact me directly on email at  k1yo@arrl.net.

Vy 73 and Thanks in advance,
Bob – K1YO
Section Emergency Coordinator

New Amateur Licensees – May 2020

Congratulations to the latest new hams of Western Massachusetts:

Leo A Koerner, KC1NBP
2128 Canaan Southfield Rd
Southfield, MA 01259-9767

Raoul Sevier, KC1MZS
4 Longfellow Way
Boylston, MA 01505-1444

Dewey Sasser, KC1NBG
1 Applewood Ln
Charlton, MA 01507-1649

Jennifer O Emhoff, KC1NAY
222 Burlingame Rd
Charlton, MA 01507-5202

Neil Powers, KC1NCH
383 Brigham St
Northborough, MA 01532-2321

Emily Huck, KC1NCD
383 Brigham St
Northborough, MA 01532-2321

Kyle Root, KC1NCN
33 Grow Ln
Princeton, MA 01541-2004

Michael F Pavone, KC1NCT
37 Campground Rd
West Boylston, MA 01583-1271

Dale A Winkler, KC1NCL
35 Tanglewood Dr
Milford, MA 01757-1060

Adrian M Winkler, KC1NAH
35 Tanglewood Dr
Milford, MA 01757-1060

Section Manager Report June 2020

Hello and welcome to June…I think? I think we can safely say this is one year we would just rather forget, but history will not allow that sadly. Years past we would be coming off a fun time in Dayton and thoughts turned to tents, good BBQ, radios, mosquitos, and GOOD fellowship with one another: that of course is Field Day. Sadly, that will not be the case this year. Most clubs have decided to fold their Field Day this year and maybe a couple will go on with guidelines. One thing I wanted to highlight is the Hampden County Radio Association lost their site due to the virus and a ham couple in Wilbraham stepped up and offered their 10-acre field for their event. How cool is that!

As you know I go out on Field Day and tour the sites. With the situation, I decided to stay home and I am going to bust out the solar panels and batteries and set up in my backyard. This is good as I will be practicing my own field deployment and may try out some antennas to see how they perform. I do plan on being on 3944 kHz Sunday morning at 0830 for the WMA Emergency Net and will take traffic to get you credit for that. I will also be on the Central MA 2M Traffic Net on the CMARA repeater at 9 pm on 146.97 to receive any there.

It was pleasing to see that the League has modified the rules regarding the Field Day rules regarding 1D stations and club scoring. I do know there was a lot of members asking the league for that to adapt to the virus situation this year. With that I do wish everyone will continue to participate and even try out something different, antennas, QRP, satellite, etc.

On the ARES front, Section Emergency Coordinator Bob Meneguzzo K1YO has been busy with establishing training, protocols, standards and testing. He was also conducting Zoom meeting to get updates regarding the virus and what areas are doing what. Fortunately, nothing escalated to where we were asked to assist with communications. Things are still progressing nicely and we are moving to a more solid program.

Since February, (maybe earlier?) I have been participating via ZOOM with other section managers throughout our country and we have been discussing various topics which is been useful in a more effective communications path to the League. Some of the things discussed were the Field Day rules, band planning, remote VE testing, etc. Of course, if there is anything to relay, I will certainly pass it along.

That about wraps it up for this month. Hope you have a great field day and stay safe and enjoy the weather.

Most 73 to you all!
Ray, KB1LRL

146.94 Mt.Tom Repeater Skywarn and ARES Net Control Stations

Regularly Scheduled ARES and Information Nets

The 146.94 pl -127.3 Mt.Tom repeater has been experiencing technical problems.  These problems appear to be more noticeable generally to the South and East of the Mt.Tom repeater location. Please note that stations generally North and West seem to be operating normally at this time.The tech folks at MTARA are aware of these problems and are working to fix them. Due to circumstances beyond their control, it may be some time before these problems can be alleviated.

In the interim, ARES net control stations that are having difficulty at this time with the repeater it is suggested that they transmit  their nets on: 443.200 pl +127.3. During those nets if you encounter stations whose signals are not making the repeater suggest that they (a) up their power, (b) if portable move their position, (c) to try to change to 443.200 MHz pl +127.3.

 
If we determine that the above options are not adequate, we may have consider moving the nets to 147.000 MHz pl +127.3 Granville repeater until repairs on the .94 have been completed.

Skywarn Nets

Because most amateurs in this area are accustomed to tuning to 146.94 MHZ pl.-127.3 in times of severe weather emergencies to submit Skywarn criteria reports we will to continue to use that frequency. The .94 Skywarn NCS will advise any station that cannot make the repeater to try 147.000MHz pl+127.3 Granville repeater.  A backup Skywarn NCS will be assigned to 147.000 MHz at all times during that event to monitor and take Skywarn criteria reports and pass them on to NWS via Whats App. The NCS on the .94 can view those Whats App reports so they may aviod duplicity.

73,

Richard Laviolette 

KC1AEO
ARES District Emergency Coordinator
Hampden and Hampshire County, MA