Month: June 2023

One hundred people registered for last night’s second New England Division Town Hall Zoom meeting of 2023.

A webinar panel consisting of Director Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI; Assistant Directors Jack Ciaccia, WMØG; Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB; and Rob Leiden, K1UI presented updates to the attendees and fielded questions on a range of topics. You can view the updates and the Q&A via the video and presentation below.

Slide presentation (in PDF format).

KQ1L Memorial Service

You probably heard that one of Maine’s most well-known hams passed away recently, Dave Hawke KQ1L, from Augusta.  Dave’s Celebration of Life is scheduled for June 17 at 1 pm at North Monmouth Community Church, 151 N Main St, North Monmouth. Finger sandwiches, sweets & drinks to follow at the church.

LD-697 Update

The effort by many of Maine’s amateur radio operators to get an exemption for amateur radio and public safety communications in LD-697: “Resolve, to Study the Effects of 5G and Other Non-ionizing Radio Frequency Radiation-emitting Technology on Bird, Bee, Insect and Other Wildlife Populations and the Effects of Long-term Exposure on Children” unfortunately failed. 

However, the bill is currently tabled, and because of its far-reaching objectives and fiscal requirements, may stay tabled until the January legislative session, or it could be taken off the table and be voted on by the full legislature in the next few days. Since all of amateur radio transmissions are categorized as “non-ionized” radio frequency emissions, it is in our best interest, in many hams’ opinions, that this bill not be approved. It couldn’t hurt if each Maine ham wrote a short polite email to their Maine state representative and state senator asking them to oppose LD-697. If it were to pass and the “independent” commission determined that RF emissions affect birds, bees, wildlife and children, then legislation would likely follow that would restrict and regulate all wireless communication services, including ham radio. Maine ARRL State Government Liaison Peter Hatem, KC1HBM, and I have both talked to legislators in the past couple days who feel there is not the appetite to pass such a broadly written bill at this time, but you never know!

You can find out who your state representative and senator is and their contact info here: https://legislature.maine.gov/.

Field Day 2023!

Yay! Field Day is just about here! June 24-25 is the Field Day weekend.  Some clubs will setup on Friday. You can check out the Field Day Locator on the ARRL web site here: https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator. Hopefully all Maine clubs/groups have listed their FD here so folks can find them.

Clubs/groups can send the section manager/section emergency coordinator message (100 bonus points) to N1EP or KE4UCW on the Maine Seagull Net Saturday at 5pm on 3940 kHz or on the Maine Public Service Net same frequency Sunday morning at 9am. If N1EP or KE4UCW are not on the net (may be traveling to different FD sites) then another designated ham will take the traffic for them. Alternatively, you can send the messages via Winlink as long as it leaves the FD site via RF.  n1ep@winlink.org or ke4ucw@winlink.org. If you can find a packet radio path Downeast, then you could also send it to me that way, my packet mailbox is n1ep-1.

Field Day DMR.  Even though QSO points are not awarded for repeater/internet contacts, it doesn’t mean we can’t link up on Sunday, June 25 at 10am and check into the Maine Dirge DMR Net and see if we can link up hams at FD sites and other locales from Fort Kent to Kittery! Let’s break the net’s record!

VE Exams

Even though it is not required, all Volunteer Examiner groups in Maine that are scheduling ARRL VE sessions should post the info on the VE session locator https://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session and also share that info with N1EP so that it can also be posted on the Maine ARRL web and Facebook pages. It is very frustrating to a person who travelled quite a distance to take an exam only to find out one had just been given in their area but the clubs/VE teams do not publicize it for some reason. This actually happens quite a bit in Maine. Everyone benefits if the sessions are posted and promoted.

——————————————————————–
ARRL Maine Section
Section Manager: Philip W Duggan, N1EP
n1ep@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

Greetings ARRL members and friends:

This will be my final monthly report to you after about 250 of them since 2002. Challenger Nancy Austin KC1NEK received more votes than I in the recent  election, so now I may truly retire on July 1st. It has been an honor to serve you and I hope that I was able to represent you well and make your ARRL membership fruitful. Thank you for your support of ARRL. They cannot function without it. 

As your current SM, I shall try to visit as many of our club Field Day sites as I can since my term ends at the end of June when I can truly retire. I was appointed to serve the remaining term of SM K1FLD who became a Silent Key in office and as his Assistant SM, ARRL tapped me to serve his remaining 18 months. I had never expressed any wish to be an SM. At the time, I had just retired after 42 years at Raytheon and my wife was concerned that she would trip over me if I was in the house all day with nothing to do. No one ever ran against me. So now, I can really retire. Thank you all. 

ARRL Bulletin ARLX005 reports that Phillip J. Beaudet, N6PJB, of Burney, California was fined $24,000 for jamming a net and failing to identify.  He has my last name but is not related to me as far as I know. He violated a major rule and must pay the fine. Details may be seen at http://www.arrl.org/news/licensee-hit-with-24-000-fine-for-jamming-net-failure-to-id-fcc.

A major player in ham radio became a Silent Key unexpectedly. Chip Margelli, K7JA of Garden Grove, CA touched many lives in his 60 years licensed. Like hundreds of others, I knew Chip personally and admired his skill on the air. He was a GREAT CW operator and a winning contester. Read http://www.arrl.org/news/he-touched-so-many-lives-chip-margelli-k7ja-sk for his extensive bio. When he was a VP at Yaesu, he talked me out of buying their just released and highly promoted FT-1000 Field HF radio and getting their FT-1000D instead. He knew that I would be happier with the older 1000D which was a ten year old design at the time. He was totally right and I still have the radio 21 years later. 73 my friend and I hope propagation is good where you are now. 

While on the subject of Silent Keys, I want to let you know that I shall continue my long time practice of reporting all Silent Keys who come to my attention, whether I know them personally or not. The form that ARRL wishes us to use may be accessed at https://www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/SK_Report%20a%20Silent%20Key_Interactive%202023.pdf. Since I won’t be able to do it, when my time comes, I would appreciate very much for someone to take the time to report my passing to the SK desk. Anyone may do it, ham license not required. You should have the obit from the newspaper or other source. I truly would appreciate it and thank you. In my opinion, doing that shows our respect for the person as well as for our great hobby. It’s OK to duplicate, so don’t worry about sending in multiple reports. 

Complying with RF exposure regulations is now mandatory for all amateurs. See details at http://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator . You must check your station to assure that you are not endangering yourself or others close to your antenna. No amateur is exempt. I checked my station and it complies on all bands. 

Applications for grants from the ARRL Foundation until June 30. More details may be seen at http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-accepting-applications-for-grants-in-june . Many club programs and ideas could have merit for consideration.  Please review the Foundation and see if your inspiration might win. 

I plan to remain active on the HF bands mainly using FT8 and CW but occasionally using SSB. Thank you again for your support over the last 21 years. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve you. I know that you will support our new Section Manager, KC1NEK. 

73,

——————————————————————–
ARRL Rhode Island Section
Section Manager: Robert G Beaudet, W1YRC
w1yrc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–