Please welcome the recently licensed amateur radio operations in the WMA section!
Maxim Veremchuk, KC1SKS
44 Sprague St
West Springfield, MA 01089-3423
Eric R Schirmer, KC1SLU
226 Gray Rd
Templeton, MA 01468-1142
Willow E Nichols, KC1SMN
2 Ledgewood Dr
Boylston, MA 01505-2034
Declan T Foley, KC1SLO
3 Parker Pl
Princeton, MA 01541-1235
Hello, a busy February was in store for me with meetings, visits and planning. This seems to be the preview of what the rest of the year is going to be like.
Hamfests are firing up. We just had the Marlboro Hamfest and that was fun. Nice to see a lot of familiar faces there. The turnout was really good also. The next one is March 4 in Chicopee for the Mt Tom club, and further down the road is Near-Fest at the end of April.
I have been visiting club meetings when I can, mostly on Zoom. I did go to the Quaboag Club as I was invited to do a presentation there. I applaud their efforts in the revitalization of that group. Keep at it! Also I presented at the Mt. Tom club live. I do have other’s lined up as well.
I attended the division Town Hall meeting with our director, Fred AB1OC. He touched base on the grant program and the VOTA event. Also he talked about highlights about the board meeting and some things they are working on at the league. Looks like they have a busy year as well. Good stuff coming down the road.
One of the things I have been involved with is the NTS 2.0 project. Over 30 people in 5 groups are now working on various tasks to revitalize this time honored function and get it back to modern methods and promote it to the newer generation of hams. Trainings and on-air activities are in the works.
On March 28 The Western Mass Train and Test Group will be launching the Extra Class License Course. Much work is going into this as we need to get the program put together. As you may know, last year was our first year and it was a pretty good success. We have worked in making it somewhat unique which helps in preventing the “glassy eyes” that happens sometimes. I am looking to add some more instructors to the group. Email me at ray.aa1se@gmail.com if you are interested.
That’s about it for now. Remember to be a mentor to the new hams and get them on the air and active in your clubs.
73,
Ray- AA1SE
The Mount Tom Amateur Repeater Association is holding its annual Amateur Radio and Electronics Hamfest on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at the Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Drive in Chicopee. All amateurs and those interested are invited!
Admission is $5 for adults and children 12 and under are free. Doors open at 6:30 AM for vendors only and 8:30 AM for general admission.
The hamfest will feature:
Those wishing to reserve a table for selling, please contact Brian Mullarney N1FI.
Talk-in for the hamfest will be on the W1TOM repeater (146.940 MHz, PL 127.3).
WMA Section Manager Ray Lajoie AA1SE will be at the hamfest.
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
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Please welcome the recently licensed amateur radio operations in the WMA section!
Robert L Waring, KC1SJB
10 Skyview Dr
Millbury, MA 01527-3642
Harish Sathishkumar, KC1SIO
3 John Matthews Rd
Southborough, MA 01772-1522
The Western Mass Train and Test Team will be holding a VE session on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10 AM at the Gardner MA PD on 200 Main St., Gardner, MA.
An FCC FRN number, photo ID and 15 dollars is required in order to take the test. No appointment is necessary. Please share this to those who are interested in taking the exam.
Thank you,
Ray- AA1SE
Ed: Due to a website issue, this is posted late. Ray got this to me on time, sorry for the technical issue.
Hello, I certainly hope that January isn’t an indicator of the whole year, I’ll go hide somewhere! It all started with my primary computer going bye-bye and it’s been challenging all month since.
We were met with some back to back storms which in itself were not huge, but it created tree and power line damage which required nets to get going and monitor the situation. Thanks to those who participated in getting information passed along. Our new SEC Chuck WS1L has been busy gathering information and looking to see what and where we need to work on to get ARES back to where it should be. Needless to say, help is needed. Please consider volunteering for a position or just be active in net’s, public service, etc. New hams just getting their licenses have often expressed interest in EMCOMM, here’s your opportunity.
Clubs have been active with meetings in various forms which is good. One challenge is getting speakers and having an agenda to work with. Clubs with newsletters are content challenged. A lot of important elements for a healthy club is key to a successful club. If you are a member, don’t assume someone else will do the job. People handling multiple tasks get burned out real quick. Mentoring can help in a lot of it. Getting involved goes a loooong way!
Clubs and other groups are starting VE sessions again which is great! I do wish to ask that you have a mentoring plan and to introduce the “newbie’s” to the clubs and to someone who can get them started. Doing that consistently will pay dividends!. Also, to those conducting exams, there are resources available to promote your session. The Western Mass ARRL has a Facebook page you can post to. If you send me the information I will post it to this website as well as you can submit it to the nediv.arrl.org website. You can also post classes as well.
Another thing I wish to ask of the clubs is to promote the WMA ARRL website more. It is frustrating when I get an email or question about something that I have been mentioning or promoting on that site. It just tells me not many are reading the postings I put in. Anyone reading this, please spread the word.
It looks like the Big E will be returning this September. Larry W1AST is starting his search for volunteers. Keep that in mind as time moves on. We are definitely going to work on improving things now that we have learned what worked and did not.
Bands are really hopping right now and many stations are looking for contacts. I hope you are getting on the air and taking advantage of the band conditions. VOTA is something that can augment your radio enjoyment. Combine it with POTA and SOTA. It’s all good!
Until next month. Hope to see you a a meeting or hamfest somewhere.
73,
Ray-AA1SE
The Algonquin Amateur Radio Club will hold its Marlborough Flea Market on February 19, 2022 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the 1Lt Charles W. Whitcomb School, 25 Union St., Marlborough, MA. Talk-in is on the MMRA repeater, 147.27+ (PL 146.2). Any COVID-related updates will be carried on the AARC website at http://n1em.org.
A VE session will be held beginning at 9:00 AM. General admission is $5. Vendor tables are $15 before February 9, 2018, or $20 at the door if space is available. Each table includes one admission.
For more information, contact Tim Ikeda, KA1OS at 508-251-9317 (before 9:00 PM), email fleamarket@n1em.org or visit https://www.qsl.net/n1em/2022_flier.pdf.
This year, the ARRL is honoring volunteers with its Volunteers On The Air (VOTA) operating event. The event starts January 1 and ends December 31, 2023
Twice a year, for one week, each state will be activated as W1AW/1 (for call area 1 Massachusetts, for example). To make this happen, we need ops to get Massachusetts on the air. As of Jan 27, we have 10 ops signed up to operate as W1AW/1 for VOTA. We’re looking for more for the April 12th to 18th week-long session.
Would you like to be an W1AW/1 activator for the first session this spring? The first MA session is Wednesday, April 12 through Tuesday, April 18.
Would you like to know more? Contact Larry, W1AST, at W1AST@arrl.net.
The combined Massachusetts sections traffic report for December 2022 is available at https://ema.arrl.org/massachusetts-stm-report-for-december-2022/. This contains a recap of stats, events and traffic notes for the past year. 1901 net sessions were conducted, with 6,220 messages passed by 12,396 net participants during a total of 539 hours of net operation. These folks love what they do as they also practice for emergencies, and they welcome all newcomers. Training is always available. Just ask!