Author Archives: Gilbert Hayes

Boston Marathon Volunteer 2021 Update

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Boston Marathon Communications Committee writes:

We hope you are all safe and healthy. We also hope you are having an enjoyable holiday season despite the impacts of COVID-19. We wanted to provide you a short update on 2021 Boston Marathon plans in light of today’s public statement from the BAA.

The BAA statement can be seen here: https://www.baa.org/2021-boston-marathon-updates 

Our team has been engaged with the BAA at both the Organizing Committee and Medical Committee levels regarding the 2021 Boston Marathon. We have also been meeting as an Amateur Radio Communications Committee over the course of the Fall to be ready for a potential Boston Marathon event in the Fall of 2021 and attempt to review some of the issues of past marathons more proactively and address them given the delay in a potential race to the Fall of 2021. 

Given the uncertainties brought about by the recent surge in COVID-19 along with how quickly a vaccine can propagate to the general populace, the BAA has pushed back their decision on a Fall race date to early 2021.

We will continue to update you as things change regarding a potential 2021 Boston Marathon race and what changes that might entail in light of the COVID-19 impacts. When the BAA is once again able to resume the Boston Marathon, we hope to see you again as part of the Amateur Radio Volunteers, presuming it is safe for you in your personal situation.  

We will keep you posted as updates occur and attempt to get updates out as appropriate in coordination with the BAA. Thanks to all for their continued support of the BAA and the Boston Marathon.

As always, we welcome your correspondence and questions on volunteering to our general mailbox: contact@hamradioboston.org.

Thank you, and 73,

Boston Marathon Communications Committee
contact@HamRadioBoston.org

Newcomers Roundtable Net Starting on the NoBARC Repeater

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North Berkshire Amateur Radio Club (NoBARC) is once again starting their Newcomers Roundtable on the Mt. Greylock Repeater.

Specifically, the net is to provide a forum for new ham radio operators to ask questions, learn how to operate in a net environment, and meet hams that have been around for a while with plenty of experience and advise to share.

The net is held on the first Sunday of the month and if proven popular may also be held on the third Sunday as well.

The net meets at 6:00 PM local time. The net meets on the Mt. Greylock repeater, 146.91/-600, 162.2 CTCSS. Also you can connect with Echolink at K1FFK-R. For more information contact Net Manager Dave Foley W1TTT.

New Amateur Licensees October and November 2020

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Congratulations to the latest new hams of Western Massachusetts:

Kimberly Lane, KC1NYK
500 Riverglade Dr
Apt E
Amherst, MA 01002-3673

Noah R Loebel, KC1NXU
77 S Maple St
Hadley, MA 01035-9736

Michael D Laferriere, KC1OCA
21 Ely Rd
Monson, MA 01057-9580

Alan R Seidner, KC1OCT
82 Thayer Rd
Greenfield, MA 01301-9630

David M Bellew, KC1OBX
95 Shawna St
Fitchburg, MA 01420-3683

Wayne D Nasiatka, KC1NYQ
123 Bickford Hill Rd
Gardner, MA 01440-2344

Sean M Walsh, KC1OCM
129 Sunny Rd
Lunenburg, MA 01462

Robert B Campbell, KC1OAB
308 Oxford St N
Auburn, MA 01501-1121

Robert V Aldenberg, KC1OAR
399 Whitney St
Northborough, MA 01532-1100

Danian Zheng, KC1OBV
1 Elizabeth Dr
Westborough, MA 01581-3833

Harrison Zheng, KC1OBZ
1 Elizabeth Dr
Westborough, MA 01581-3833

Moises Rodriguez, KC1OAY
124 Houghton St
Worcester, MA 01604-3938

Stephen Frasier, KC1OFO
10 Wildflower Dr
Amherst, MA 01002-3427

Jeffrey Smolen, KC1OEL
114 Cedar St
Sturbridge, MA 01566-1356

Lindsey A Gilman, KC1OFY
133 Glenview St
Upton, MA 01568-1219

Bren A Phillips, KC1OFZ
133 Glenview St
Upton, MA 01568-1219

Thomas Caraceni, KC1ODZ
25 Granite St
Apt 3R
Webster, MA 01570-2455

David Silva, KC1OCW
52 Country Club Blvd
Apt 112
Worcester, MA 01605-1509

Steven C Price, KC1ODA
39 Gibbs St
Worcester, MA 01607-1457

Section Manager Report December 2020

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Hello once again. Sorry I’m a little late as the new job is putting a different spin on my weekdays.

As we near the end of 2020 it certainly places a lot of “what-ifs” to the new year, so many thing’s that will drive our livelihoods and our lives, My wish is to find normalcy in all facets of it, as I’m sure you all do as well.

I attended a Zoom meeting with the Hampden County Radio Association along with fellow invitees Fred, K1VR, our New England Division Director and Vice-Director Phil, K9HI. This was actually their virtual Holiday party. Fred gave us some information and fielded some questions from the group. It was a fun time and appreciate Fred and Phil for joining in.

Here is a little bit of breaking news. We are working on a new website and this is actually going to combine the crusty, dusty ARES website into our new website which is under a new host. The revamp also will remove the singular owner/admin and place it with a group that will share control and adapt to personnel changes as years go on. This will also be a huge improvement on how ARES is accessed. It will be much easier to apply, report, and maintain databases. Huge thanks go to Gil WK1H, Grant KC1KCE, and Aaron, KF1G for their collective web talents for putting it together. Also, thanks to Bob K1YO for instigating this! Hi-hi. Stay tuned, more to follow.

I hope that everyone has a safe, healthy, fabulous Holiday season in the best possible way. Take some time and warm up your shack and get on the air for a while.

Stay well and 73!
Ray KB1LRL

HCRA Remote Licensing Class Starting February 2021

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The Hampden County Radio Association will be running an Online Technician Licensing Class starting this February.  The classes will be conducted over Zoom.

The class will run weekly for 5 weeks on Wednesday evenings from 7 PM to 9 PM.  The class will start on February 3 and conclude on March 3.

For more details or to register for the class, please see the sign up form on the HCRA website.

Please spread the word!

SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2020

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Hello to all..

**We hope all SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators had a very Happy Thanksgiving. On behalf of the NWS Boston/Norton forecasters and the entire WX1BOX Amateur Radio Team, we are fortunate to have such a strong and vibrant program with the support of all of you in the field and we appreciate another tremendous of year of service in weather spotting for the community particularly given the COVID19 pandemic and its impacts to everyone in our community. Thanks for all you do for us and the community!**

**SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 will occur this year but modified due to COVID19 and the fact NWS offices are not allowed to have volunteer Amateur Radio Operators at any NWS office due to COVID. In addition, a social media component will be added to engage non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters more with 2020’SRD. This initial announcement gives information on 2020’SRD and the plan for further updates.**
Due to COVID19, typical WX1BOX Amateur Radio Operations will not occur at NWS Boston/Norton. The WX1BOX Amateur Radio team will be operating remotely via their home stations. In addition, the Boston Amateur Radio Club has cancelled their operations from Blue Hill for 2020. The NWS Gray Maine office cannot be active at the office due to the same restrictions on volunteers at NWS offices nationwide but will likely have some form of SRD operation for 2020.

For WX1BOX Amateur Radio operations, we will cover the typical SKYWARN repeaters on VHF/UHF as well as simplex and be on HF via the various remote home stations along with our WX1BOX social media pages. In addition, contacts with other Amateur Radio SKYWARN stations will count towards NWS certificates. Further, there will be a social media component to engage non-Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotter alike. The current set of information is available and additional information will be made available on the SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) web site via the following link:
https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

There is also a SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) Facebook group open to all SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators. The Facebook group link is listed below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/skywarnrecognitionday

On the web, the following link on the WX1BOX home page will feature all SRD updates for WX1BOX operations as well as social media efforts that can include SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators alike:
http://wx1box.org/2020/11/27/srd20/

We are working through the details of the VHF/UHF repeater and simplex schedule. It will likely be similar to prior years but there could be some changes based on remote operator availability and how their home station can cover the area repeaters and simplex. The schedule will be published in another update issued over the weekend.

The VoIP Operations on the *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system will still take place for 2020’SRD. An update on the stations participating will also be posted in the next SRD update for this weekend.

The next update on SRD’2020 operations will be posted no later than Sunday Evening 11/29/20. Thanks to all for their continued support of the NWS Boston/Norton SKYWARN program!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Section Manager Report November 2020

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Hello everyone, it’s been kind of quiet out there lately, even the crickets aren’t saying much. The only thing that has been happening is some of our staff has resigned their post’s for various reasons. Some of it is that there has been little progress in plans and activities, etc. in the ARES department. Remember, we have been building our ARES group from ASHES- nothing! Bob, K1YO has been working many hours on many facets along with getting the staff together and along with some on board who have been contributing to put the program to functionality. Without volunteers who are willing to participate to get the movement moving better, it will be slow as snails. I have been continuously seeking people to help and I hear the deafening silence all the time. Keep in mind, we could get a blizzard this year of epic proportions with huge power outages and people seeking shelters and stranded in their homes. Ask yourselves this, Are we ready? The help wanted sign is out. To those who have been working hard with our group, again, many thanks for your efforts.

Earlier, I posted a member Ken, WB8PKK is putting together a venue where we will have tech classes and VE sessions during the months of January and February. The Masonic hall in Gardner has provided their dining hall with a new air filtration system to conduct the sessions. We have a number of people signed up for the sessions and am looking for volunteers to assist in teaching or conducting the testing. Give Ken a email at backhoeken@yahoo.com for more information. Additionally, the Boston chapter is expressing interest as well in getting something together and have invited the Eastern Mass section partners as well.

These sessions have become a controversial subject not just here but across the country. There are those that hold a very traditional approach to teaching and testing and expresses their opinion loudly of that. I, myself do like to embrace the traditional methods but understand there is also a need to adapt with the times. Remote testing and learning and other forms are getting to be the “norm” to get people taught and licensed. My take on this is to look at the other traditional method of making active hams. That’s Elmering! This was also embraced in times past and has since gone away. The way I see it, regardless of how we get people interested and licensed under the FCC guidelines, Elmering and Mentoring those to become grounded in the hobby will be the key in the success in the hobby. Those who participate in this can actually teach those traditional methods they embrace so tightly.

That was a mouthful this month. I really hope you give things a thought and see about doing something which can get a lot of positives and growth in this great hobby for all!

I hope you all have a safe, healthy Thanksgiving in the best way you can.

73,
Ray KB1LRL

WMA ARES Section Upcoming Activities

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WMA ARES

There is a substantial amount of work underway in the WMA Section for activities upcoming in the near future. I’m certain most of you are unaware of these since they are still in the planning stage, but I wanted to give you a quick update.

I’m planning for a local Section Emergency Test (SET) to be conducted soon … likely in the mid to late December timeframe. What we’d like to do with this is (of course) exercise our voice net capabilities to give us a bit of needed practice in handling and forwarding messages to / from agencies that would likely require the same in the event of a disaster. …. But additionally, to come up to par with what ARES sections are doing across the nation, we need to also develop the capacity to handle messages digitally – and by that I mean via WinLink and NBEMS / FLDigi. Updates will appear here as things progress.

There has been a LOT of activity in this vein across ARES nationally in the past month or two. WinLink training videos (along with many other excellent and useful topics) are now available for free via Vimeo (video) to be viewed at users’ convenience. Also, you’ve all seen the offerings going on right now from the New Hampshire Training Academy … which have produced some great feedback!

But while training is great, PRACTICE is the key determinant of our abilities. To this end, our plan is to setup additional nets for practice handling digital messaging, and some additional exercises (beyond just check – ins) for voice nets.  To do this we need participants … which we have a good share of for our HF voice nets, but to a lesser extent for UHF / VHF repeater and simplex nets. MUCH testing has been done recently to determine our capacity for cross – county communications on HF, and VHF digital operations (digital VARA FM via 6 meter repeater, for ex.) and for simplex on VHF. Work will continue in these areas. The VHF / UHF repeater capacity should be back to its original capabilities in the near future also, so hopefully the VHF/UHF net participation will increase.

If you have digital capability already ( HF and / or VHF ) and would like to become part of the proposed digital messaging networks, please let me know (k1yo@arrl.net) . If you don’t have the experience but would like to get involved, that’s great !   We have some pretty good startup documents to help you and will offer short Zoom classes to finalize your capabilities …. even one on one if needed !

Anyone with solid digital messaging experience would be welcome to help train others to come on board!  Those with traffic handling expertise are also needed to get users up to speed on how messages should be passed to existing NTS traffic nets as that would be a probable conduit in a large scale disaster.

Simply, there has recently  been much work done  towards reviving the ARES capabilities of WMA. I believe we are now ready to start moving forward – simply at first – but engaging additional capabilities and technologies as we ready ourselves to meet the needs of our healthcare partners, agencies, and communities

The only thing missing is you !

Vy 73
Bob – K1YO
SEC WMA ARES

P.S. .  Several Worcester area stations have already volunteered for helping with additional testing … my apologies but due to an email error I have lost the specifics on  those of you who already contacted me!  Please resend – thanks.

Calling all VE’s and Teachers

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Hello, the Western Mass section needs your help! As you know COVID has squashed most of the classes and testing sessions this year. I have been informed by Ken Burstall WB8PKK that the Masonic Hall in Gardner has a new air filtration system and is allowing us the use of their dining hall to host a Tech-in-a-day course and an open and walk in VE session. We need volunteer teacher’s and VE’s to assist in conducting the testing and teachings. There are also 25 Boafeng radio’s preprogrammed for those that have passed.

This will be in compliance with the guidelines of the Board of Health and testing materials will be sterilized using UV-C process and heat-sealed bags. Ken has provided the materials for sterilization and has provided the means to get this off the ground. 
Session dates are open and can be either a Saturday or Sunday in January or February. We need to know who can participate to do what and when in order to secure the date to advertise. Please contact Ken at backhoeken@yahoo.com. This invitation will also be open to our EMA neighbors as well.

Thank you, Ken, for your generous effort and donation. Please pass this along to anyone interested. And please let’s not let this opportunity pass by.

Thank you,
Ray KB1LRL