Requirements: Novice class license or higher class; Full ARRL membership
Responsibilities:
The ASM may serve as a general assistant to the Section Manager or as a specialist. That is, the ASM may assist the Section Manager with general leadership matters as the Section Manager’s understudy, or the ASM may be assigned to handle a specific important function that does not fall within the scope of the duties of the Section Manager’s other assistants.
At the Section Manager’s discretion, the ASM may be designated as the recommended successor to the incumbent Section Manager, in case the Section Manager resigns or is otherwise unable to finish the term of office.
The ASM should be familiar with the “Guidelines for the ARRL Section Manager,” which contains the fundamentals of general section management.
The Western Massachusetts (WMA) ARRL field organization serves American Radio Relay League (ARRL) members in the western part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, comprised of Worcester, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Berkshire counties.
Founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim, ARRL is the national association for Amateur Radio in the US, serving members by protecting and enhancing spectrum access and providing a natural resource to the public. Today, with more than 161,000 members, ARRL is the largest organization of radio amateurs in the world. ARRL’s mission is based on five pillars: Public Service, Advocacy, Education, Technology, and Membership. If you haven’t already, be sure to visit ARRL Headquarters’ World Wide Web.
For general questions or information regarding the ARRL locally within the Western Massachusetts Section, feel free to contact the WMA Section Manager: Ray Lajoie AA1SE
245 Leominster Rd
Lunenburg, MA 01462
The website is run using the WordPress running on DreamHost hosting service. For any website related issues, contact the website team: Gil Hayes WK1H
Aaron Addison KF1G
For information on the ARRL nationally, contact League HQ directly: ARRL National Headquarters
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
Phone: 860-594-0200
First licensed as WN1JXR in 1967. Amateur Radio lead me to pursue a career in Electrical Engineering, earning BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Univ. of R.I. I have worked for Raytheon Co. on RADAR Systems for 39 years, currently as a Senior Principal RF/uW Design Engineer.
I’m not a Contester or chase DX, but just a “Rag Chew” QSO operator. I’m mostly a CW Operator, enjoy QRP Operation. One of the founding members of the NE QRP Club. I also enjoy refurbishing and operating the old “hollow state” boat anchor tube rigs from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.
Enjoy teaching ham radio license classes and giving talks and seminars on Antennas, Transmission Lines, and Antenna Modeling, Circuit Modeling and Vector Network Analyzer antenna measurements.
Enjoy exposing new Ham operators to CW. The first digital mode! 73’s Greg WA1JXR dit dit
Requirements: Novice class license or higher class; Full ARRL membership
Responsibilities:
The ASM may serve as a general assistant to the Section Manager or as a specialist. That is, the ASM may assist the Section Manager with general leadership matters as the Section Manager’s understudy, or the ASM may be assigned to handle a specific important function that does not fall within the scope of the duties of the Section Manager’s other assistants.
At the Section Manager’s discretion, the ASM may be designated as the recommended successor to the incumbent Section Manager, in case the Section Manager resigns or is otherwise unable to finish the term of office.
The ASM should be familiar with the “Guidelines for the ARRL Section Manager,” which contains the fundamentals of general section management.
Contact Info: 245 Leominster Rd
Lunenburg, MA 01462 aa1se@arrl.org
My Radio experience started at a young age when as a kid I would spend hours on a National RBJ style Military receiver swapping coils and tuning the bands.
Set the Wayback machine to 2004 at Hosstraders where I got my license. Since then I have been involved in public service events including the Boston Marathon. I am a member of the Montachusett ARA where for the past ten years have been president. In 2012 I was one of the site managers of WRTC 2014.
My professional career has been with Comcast for the last 20 years. 13 of which was a field tech and now a Business product support tech.
My interest in radio has been primarily the digital modes, lately the FT8 mode. I also work some of the RTTY contests and dabble in the occasional SSB contest. I would like to learn and use CW. The great thing with this hobby, always evolving.
Section Manager Description
The Section Manager is accountable for carrying out the duties of the office in accordance with ARRL policies established by the Board of Directors and shall act in the best interests of Amateur Radio.
The SM recruits, appoints, and supervises section-level staff to administer the Field Organization’s principal areas of responsibility in the section. These areas are emergency communications, message traffic relay, technical activity / problem solving, volunteer monitoring, government relations, public relations in the general community, information services for amateurs, and cooperation with affiliated clubs.
Appoints qualified ARRL members in the section to other volunteer positions in support of Field Organization objectives, and may authorize section-level staff to make such appointments.
Keeps well informed concerning matters of ARRL policy so as to administer the Field Organization in accordance with current policy and to provide correct information in response to members’ inquiries.
Supervises the activities of the section-level staff, monitors the performance of the Field Organization volunteers, and provides guidance as necessary to ensure that appointees act in the best interests of Amateur Radio and in accordance with ARRL policies.
Maintains liaison with the Division Director; makes periodic reports to the Director regarding the status of Section activities; receives information and guidance pertaining to matters of mutual concern and interest from the Director; serves on the Division Cabinet and renders advice as requested by the Director.
Conducts correspondence and other communications with ARRL members and affiliated clubs in the Section; makes personal visits to clubs, hamfests, and conventions; responds to members’ questions and concerns or refers them to an appropriate person or office in the League organization; maintains liaison with representative frequency coordinator(s) having jurisdiction in the Section.
Writes, or supervises preparation of, a monthly “Section News;” uses electronic communications, such as the Internet, to distribute information about Section activities and to encourage member participation in the Field Organization.
Promotes recruitment of new amateurs and new ARRL members.
Encourages attitudes and actions which welcome new radio amateurs and integrate them into League and club activities.
Each new Section Manager shall be required to participate in a Section Manager orientation training session that is conducted by ARRL Headquarters.
I’ve been a ham since 1983. I started with 2 meter FM, then the DX’ing bug bit and I got hooked, hard. That led me to CW as a preferred mode, then to DXCC and finally to Honor Roll. I also contest a bit. The photo above is me at the K1TTT Superstation in Peru, MA during a recent multi-multi contest effort. I’m on the air most every day. You can find me on the low end of 80 meters rag chewing on CW between 5 and 7 AM. In the evenings I tend to be on 20, 30 or 40 depending on where I can find other stations.
My public service began in 1980, as a part-time summer officer with the Plymouth Police Department. That turned into a full-time position in 1985 and I retired in 2005 at the rank of Captain. My wife Stacie and I moved south and by 2006 I was a lieutenant with the University of Southern Mississippi Police Department, where I served until I retired in 2020 at the rank of Assistant Chief of Police.
My career has involved me in a large number of critical incidents and events, and I have served in a number of ICS roles including Operations and Planning Section Chiefs and Incident Commander. I’ve been a part of responses to things like NCAA Division I FBS football games, NCAA Baseball Regional Championships, Category 4 hurricanes, EF4 tornadoes, and incidents of civil unrest and major criminal incidents. For most of those we used an ICS command format integrating multiple agencies across all disciplines.
Since retiring and moving back home to W1-land I have been volunteering in the radio gang aboard the museum ship USS Slater in Albany, NY. Our last big effort was operating Museum Ship Weekend using all WWII-era gear from the key to the ships wire antennas. I’ve also been working part-time as a crime analyst with the Williamstown Police Department.
The SEC is the assistant to the SM for emergency preparedness. The SEC is appointed by the SM to take care of all matters pertaining to emergency communications and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) on a sectionwide basis. The SEC post is one of top importance in the section and the individual appointed to it should devote all possible energy and effort to this one challenging organizational program for Amateur Radio. There is only one SEC appointed in each section of the ARRL Field Organization.
Requirements: Technician class license or higher; Full ARRL membership
Responsibilities:
Encourage all groups of community amateurs to establish a local emergency organization.
Advise the SM on all section emergency policy and planning, including the development of a section emergency communications plan.
Cooperate and coordinate with the Section Traffic Manager so that emergency nets and traffic nets in the section present a united public service front, particularly in the proper routing of Welfare traffic in emergency situations.
Cooperation and coordination should also be maintained with other section leadership officials as appropriate, particularly with the State Government Liaison and Public Information Coordinator.
Recommend candidates for Emergency Coordinator and District Emergency Coordinator appointments (and cancellations) to the Section Manager and determine areas of jurisdiction of each amateur so appointed. At the SM’s discretion, the SEC may be directly in charge of making (and canceling) such appointments. In the same way, the SEC can handle the Official Emergency Station appointments.
Promote ARES membership drives, meetings, activities, tests, procedures, etc., at the section level.
Collect and consolidate Emergency Coordinator (or District Emergency Coordinator) monthly reports and submit monthly progress summaries to the SM and ARRL Headquarters. This includes the timely reporting of emergency and public safety communications rendered in the section for inclusion in QST.
Maintain contact with other communication services and serve as liaison at the section level with all agencies served in the public interest, particularly in connection with state and local government, civil preparedness, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Red Cross, Salvation Army, the National Weather Service, and so on. Such contact is maintained in cooperation with the State Government Liaison.
Section Emergency Coordinators are encouraged to complete ARRL Emergency Communications training Introduction to Emergency Communications (EC-001) and Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs.
