Category Archives: New England Division

Announcing the NE and Section Ham of the Year Awards

Posted on by

The New England Division has created a new Ham of the Year award to recognize and honor those that have made notable accomplishments for Ham Radio. The awards will be given out at HamXposition. This is going to be an annual event. Any member in Western Ma. can recommend an individual by sending me an email describing why and the accomplishments he/she achieved to aa1se@arrl.org. Read the press announcement below:

ARRL NEW ENGLAND DIVISION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NEW ENGLAND AND SECTION HAM OF THE YEAR NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

July 23, 2025—The ARRL New England Division is pleased to announce the results of the 2025 Ham of the Year Awards. The nominating committee and judges consisted of Section Managers:

  • Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH, Connecticut
  • Jon McCombie, N1ILZ, Eastern Massachusetts
  • Phil Duggan, N1EP, Maine
  • Pete Stohrer, W1FEA, New Hampshire
  • Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, Rhode Island
  • Paul Gayet, AA1SU, Vermont
  • Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, Western Massachusetts

New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, participated as non-voting members.

The judges considered one nominee from each New England ARRL Section. Criteria included, but were not limited to, achievements in the areas of:

  • Club leadership
  • Ham class instruction / volunteer exams
  • Emergency Communications / ARES
  • Technical accomplishments
  • Youth activities

In The Western Ma, Section, Larry Krainson, W1AST was nominated for this prestigious honor.

Larry has taken on many roles for Amateur Radio including a presidency with the Hampden County. Radio Assn, building the club to over 125 members. For 2 years planned the Big E promoting Ham Radio to over a million people. Currently with the convention committee responsible for the increase in vendors and prize value. He is also the WMA Affiliated Club Coordinator. He is also the state manager for the annual 13 colonies special event in July.

For his service to Amateur Radio in Western Ma, Larry Krainson, W1AST has earned the honor of Western Ma. Ham of the Year.

The New England Ham of the Year awardee will be announced in the near future. This individual, along with the Western MA. Ham of the Year, will be acknowledged at the New England Division (“HamX”) in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in late August. For additional information, contact Ray Lajoie AA1SE (aa1se@arrl.org

Volunteers Needed at HamXposition

Posted on by

Calling for Volunteers for HamXposition in August 2025!
Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers who make HamXposition possible! Your
smiling faces and eagerness to help make a difference to the attendees.
I’m reaching out to invite you to volunteer (again) this year! Here is the link to the form.
https://registration.hamxposition.org/volunteer/
We have a big need for help this year and have a number of positions for volunteers—
they won’t be assigned in advance, but if you have preferences/restrictions, please note
them on the form.
Examples of volunteer activities:

  • Registration/ticket sales throughout the convention timeframe
    o The convention itself
    o Comedy show on Thursday evening
  • Technical troubleshooting
  • Set-up (Thursday)—some of this is outside
    o Video Equipment in each room
    o Signage
    § Inside the hotel for each room
    § Outside
  • Cones
  • Speaker section
  • Handicapped section
  • Direction Finding
  • Take-down (Sunday afternoon)-some of this is outside
    o Equipment
    o Signage that we have put up, inside and out
  • Limiting access to vendor area as needed when area isn’t open to attendees
  • Flea market
    o Set up
    o Selling tickets
  • Way-finding, for example
    o Forum rooms
    o Tech in a Day
    o Flea market
    o GOTA station
  • Ticket prep for drawings
  • Resource/answering questions
    Time slots?
  • 2 hr time slots available
    o Thursday Aug 21 8-10am, 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8pm
    o Friday Aug 22 8-10am, 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8pm
    o Saturday Aug 23 8-10am, 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-8pm
    o Sunday Aug 24 8-10am, 10-12, 12-2, 2-4pm
    Perks?
  • If you work 2 x 2 hr shifts
    o Free admission (or)
    o Lunch voucher for Friday or Saturday (no lunch on Thursday or Sunday)
    (or)
    o Another ticket for the Sunday drawings
  • If you work additional 2 x 2 hr shifts, you can get one additional lunch voucher-if
    you haven’t taken the admission option
    Please reach out with questions. I look forward to seeing you there!
    73 Barbara KC1KGS
    kc1kgs@hamx

ARRL New England Division Director Elections

Posted on by

Greetings all,

As you know, we have an election for the division director to serve the next three years here in New England. Fred Kemmerer AB1OC is the incumbent and Tom Frenaye K1KI is the challenger. Below I have an message from Phil Temples K9HI as to the elections with instruction on voting as it will be electronic with a mail option. Please read.

Your vote counts and I urge you to do your research in your selection for New England’s Director.

Thank you!

73,
Ray AA1SE
WMA Section Manager

Within the next week or so, you should be receiving voting instructions for the ARRL New England Director election. ARRL has contracted with Election Services Corporation (ESC) to conduct the election, and for the first time we’ll be able to vote online. ESC will send postcards to eligible members with the instructions on how to use their online voting site to access candidate statements, photos, and the electronic ballot. The postcard will also have instructions for requesting a paper ballot if preferred. Members with an email address on file with ARRL will receive the postcard and an email message from ESC. Members without an email address on file will receive only the postcard.

ESC provides the online voting website, collects and processes electronic and paper ballots, and computes the election results. If you require assistance or have questions, ESC will provide help. You can contact ESC at (866) 720-4357, or via email: ARRLElection@ElectionServicesCorp.com.

To ensure you get a ballot, you should review the email and mailing addresses associated with your ARRL membership by going to www.arrl.org/myARRL. You must be logged in to the ARRL website to view your account.

Ballots (paper or electronic) must be received by noon on November 15, 2024.

73,
Phil Temples, K9HI

ARRL New England Town Hall on February 23

Posted on by

ARRL New England Division Director Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC writes:

Phil Temples K9HI, our Assistant Directors, and I will hold our next New England Division Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, February 23rd, at 7 pm ET. The purpose of the meeting will be to provide you with an ARRL update, get your thoughts on what we should be focusing on, and answer any questions you might have about the ARRL and what we are doing on behalf of ARRL members here in New England.

We plan to spend a good deal of our time together answering your questions. If you’d like to send us a question in advance, you can do so via an email to ab1oc@arrl.org, or you can just plan to ask your questions during the Town Hall Meeting.

We will hold our Town Hall Meeting via a Zoom Webinar. You can get your personal link to join the Town Hall Meeting via the following link (paste the link in your browser to register) –

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-4QVGZj_THG1VXImuTnazQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

We hope to see you on February 23rd!

——————————————————————–
ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

New England Division Town Hall Meeting

Posted on by

Hello Everyone,

We are planning our second New England Division Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, June 15th at 7:30 pm ET. All ARRL members in the New England Division are invited to attend. Our planned topics for this meeting include:

  • An ARRL Update – Fred AB1OC and Phil K9HI
  • Updates from our Assistant Directors – Anita AB1QB, Cory KU1U, Dan N0HF, and Rob K1UI
  • Q&A

We are planning 90 minutes for this meeting. Please register via the following link and we’ll send you a link to join our Town Hall Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zfiGGX_CTIK7xvq9vmuXzw

This is the second of our planned three Town Hall Meetings in 2022. You
can view the recording from our last meeting here –

https://nediv.arrl.org/2022/02/17/new-england-division-town-hall-meeting-deemed-a-success/

We hope that you will join us on June 15th!

Best and 73,

——————————————————————–
ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

New England QSO Party

Posted on by

The New England QSO Party will be held on May 7th and 8th.  Now’s your chance to be the sought after stations instead of the other way around!

The NEQP is a great time to check out antenna systems and offers a moderately paced opportunity to work new states and countries. You’ll find a wide variety of participants, from newcomers to experienced contesters, all interested in making contacts with New England stations.

We’re working to make sure that all of the New England counties are active again this year and would appreciate your help. Get on for at least an hour or two and join in on the fun. Please let me know if you can put in any time at all so we can work on activity from the rarest counties. Will you be QRV? Let us know by email which county you’ll be on from.

Oh yes, the NEQP is also lots of fun when mobile. Every time you cross a county line the action starts over again. It’s amazing what a 100w radio and mobile whip can do.

The QSO Party is 20 hours long overall, in two sections with a civilized break for sleep Saturday night. It goes from 4pm Saturday until 1am Sunday, then 9am Sunday until 8pm Sunday. Operate on CW, SSB and digital modes on 80-40-20-15-10 meters. For each QSO you’ll give your callsign, a signal report and your county/state. Top scorers can earn a plaque and everyone who makes 25 QSOs and sends in a log will get a certificate.

The full NEQP rules are here.  The 2021 results are posted and the results since 2002 are also available here.

NEAR-Fest XXXI

Posted on by

ATTENTION….. Two weeks to go!   New England’s premier radio hobby event……Both days ….huge flea market, forums,  ARRL officials in attendance.  Friday:  AMers W1IA Celebration, “HamJam,” Saturday: VE Exams 10:00 AM. ……… Big door prizes both days (Two Yaesu FT-891s, two SDRplay radios, one each day)……Fun for all!  NEAR-Fest XXXI Friday April 29th and Saturday April 30th 2022, Deerfield NH Fairgrounds Highway 43, Deerfield NH. 

. Last chance NOW to get advance tickets and save $5.   Advance admission tickets $10  ($15 at the gate), Inside parking (flea market) $10.  Mail by Wednesday April 20th in order to get them in time.  PLEASE ENCLOSE SASE!   Mail to W1RC, 316 Atlantic Avenue, Marblehead MA 01945. More info www.near-fest.com.  Camping passes available onsite. 

RFI teams forming.

Posted on by

Rob Leiden K1UI is a newly appointed Asst. Director and is spearheading a New England wide program to get teams together to train and operate equipment to find, report, repair noise interference. See below for his invitation:

One of the biggest problems faced by amateur radio in this era of new technologies is the growth of noise that interferes with nearly every aspect of our hobby.  Solar panels, LED (including pot farm grow lights) power supplies, dimmer switches, computers and many other devices generate interference as do power line failures, cable TV leakage and other service malfunctions.


The New England Division is creating RFI teams, trained and equipped to help hams find and fix noise problems.  One has started up in the EMA section and our goal is to have at least one in every section.
If you have both the background and interest to lead or join your section’s team, I encourage you to contact your section manager who will work with Division Leadership to establish RFI teams throughout New England.
73
Rob k1ui

New England Division Assistant Director

Spectrum Protection and Utilization

Anyone interested contact Rob directly or myself

Thank you.

73
Ray Lajoie AA1SEWestern Mass Section Manager