Upcoming Western MA Public Service Events

Alan Dove, AB1XW, writes in the Hampden County Radio Association making list:

Our friends in the Franklin County Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) are providing communication for several upcoming events. As I’ve mentioned, these types of events are ideal training for emergency communication.

If you have at least a Technician license and a 2-meter FM rig, you probably have everything you need to participate. Here are the dates and contacts:

1. Volunteers for the Greenfield Triathlon (Aug 4) (KB1AKU) (groy773@gmail.com)  only about 10 days away.

2. Volunteers for the D2R2 (Aug 17) (N1AW),  (aswoodhull@gmail.com)

3. Volunteers for the Green River Marathon (Aug 25) (KB1NEK), (camyers@protonmail.com)

4. Volunteers for the annual Food Bank’s Will Bike 4 Food event on Sept 22 (KB1AKU) (groy773@gmail.com)

Comments from Chuck, KC1CHA: “All are welcome to volunteer. Its a great time to see everyone and get some time on the air. Please give some time and help out, we have always made these events a success in the past. Thank you and hope to see you there.”


 –Alan

Alan Dove, AB1XW
President
Hampden County Radio Association
hcra.org

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Barnstable and Falmouth Clubs Team Up at Advanced Studies and Leadership Program

The Barnstable Amateur Radio Club (BARC) and Falmouth Amateur Radio Association (FARA) teamed up the evening of July 15 to introduce amateur radio to several hundred students at the Advanced Studies and Leadership Program held at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne on Cape Cod.  Antennas were set up outside of the conference center to enable live demonstrations of on-the-air operation.  Contacts were made by the students as far away as Europe and local repeater operation was also demonstrated.  The club repesentatives were: Norm, WA1NLG, Lem, W1LEM, Chris, WA1CMR, Ralph N1YHS and Rob, K1UI. 

The equipment setup included HF and VHF transceivers, a multiband HF vertical and a 2M vertical as well as HF and VHF transceivers, an AMSAT Cubesat demonstrator and an ARES “Go-Kit.”

Lem, W1LEM, Chris, WA1CMR, Bruce, WA3SWJ and Rob, K1UI Setting up for the presentation.

Bruce, WA3SWJ, demonstrated cubesat construction and operation using an AMSAT simulator.  Norm, WA1NLG, outlined the many technical branches of amateur radio including its integration with personal computer operation.  Chis explained the role of ARES in amateur radio and its importance to the community.  All the speakers emphasized the benefit of amateur radio in preparing for a scientific and engineering career.

The process of getting a license was addressed and the availability of local courses at both clubs was highlighted.

After the presentation,  a question and answer session was followed by an opportunity for the students to operate the HF and VHF equipment themselves.

Bruce, WA3SWJ, demonstrating Cubesat operation

Chris, WA1CMR, and Ralph, N1YHS, answering questions about ARES and repeaters

Lem, W1LEM and Rob, K1UI demonstrating 20 meter SSB DX’ing.

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K1W White Island Special Expedition, Rye NH, July 27, 2024

White I., Rye NHMark Pride, K1RX, writes on the Port City ARC mailing list and K1W QRZ page:

Special Expedition by the Port City Amateur Radio Club (W1WQM) for 2024

White Island, Isle of Shoals, Rye, NH

Plan is to arrive Saturday, July 27, 2024 by 8AM, setup stations, operate until Evening. One Day event. Primarily IOTA contest plus POTA and 6 M.

IOTA NA-217

POTA US-8006 (White Island NH State Park & Historical Site)

Lighthouse ARLS USA 406

 NH022S White Island  US Islands Award Program

FN42qx

 

QSL via K1RX

ADIF upload to POTA and other sites as needed  

Parks On The Air “Code Buddy” Hunter Event, Manchester NH, July 21, 2024

Parks On The Air logoTimothy Cates, KC1QDK, writes on the Granite State ARA mailing list:

SUPPORT YOUR PARKS POTA CODE BUDDY HUNTER EVENT

  • Sunday, July 21, 2024
  • 10:00 AM  4:00 PM
  • Manchester, NH, 03104United States (map)

Attention Code Buddies and friends:

Come join us at Derryfield park in Manchester for support your parks weekend POTA event Sunday July 21st 10am until 4 pm.  We will be code hunting park activators from the top of the hill. This is a great opportunity to make on-the-air contacts because there will be lots of people activating parks. Parks on the Air gives an activator award for activating this day and it would be fun to get one for activating CW.

You can bring your own gear and set it up in the park or you are welcome to use my rig and gear I will be setting up a portable station with a straight key. Lots of room for everyone. Hope to see you all there and all are welcome.  

Parking near the Gazebo at Derryfield Park in Manchester the park is near Hillside Junior High 112 Reservoir Ave, Manchester, NH 03104 off Bridge st.

Bring a comfy chair and enjoy some Sunday afternoon radio fun in the park. 

ARRL Systems Service Disruption Update, July 9, 2024

ARRL logoFrom ARRL News:

Updated 07/09/2024

As previously reported, ARRL® Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) returned to service on Monday, July 1, 2024. As anticipated, there was a significant rise in use to catch up on processing logs following the outage. It took 4 days for normal processing times to return.

The ARRL Radiosport Department has resumed processing applications for most awards. The systems for Worked All States (WAS), VUCC, and issuing credits for CQ WAZ and CQ WPX awards have returned to service. These award applications are being processed on a “first in/first out” basis.

WAS applications submitted through July 4 and VUCC applications submitted through July 1 have been processed. CQ awards applications are processed by CQ and not ARRL.

While we can process these ARRL awards and update records, the ability to print and deliver certificates, endorsements, and other material has not yet returned.

The online DXCC® application is unavailable at this time and DXCC awards are not able to be processed. Work continues to return the DXCC systems to service. All DXCC data is secure.

This story will be updated with new developments.

New Connecticut Section Manager: Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH

From ARRL News:
 

07/03/2024 — Nominations for 2024 ARRL Section Managers have been made. All nominees listed ran unopposed and returned their nomination forms by the June 7, 2024, deadline. They have been notified by mail and elected for new terms beginning October 1, 2024. 

Connecticut: Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH (new)

Idaho:  Dan Marler, K7REX

Minnesota:  Bill Mitchell, AEØEE

North Dakota:  Ralph Fettig, NØRDF

Ohio: Thomas Sly, WB8LCD

Oklahoma: Mark Kleine, N5HZR

Puerto Rico: Carmen N. Greene Rodriguez, KP4QVQ (new)

Southern Florida:  Barry Porter, KB1PA

Virgin Islands: Fred Kleber, K9VV

Western New York: Scott J. Bauer, W2LC (new)

In South Carolina, Matthew Crook, W1MRC is the new Section Manager as of July 1, 2024. Current Section Manger John Gendron, NJ4Z, is moving out of the section.

There are now two new Section Managers in both the San Joaquin Valley & San Diego Sections. In the San Joaquin Valley Section, Steven Hendricks, KK6JTB, is the new Section Manager as of April 24 ,2024, replacing outgoing Section Manager John Litz, NZ6Q. In the San Diego section, Bruce Kripton, AG6X, was appointed Section Manager on June 7, 2024, replacing Dave Kaltenborn, N8KBC, who became a Silent Key in late May.

ARRL Systems Service Disruption Update, July 1, 2024

ARRL logoUpdated 7/1/24:

Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC we will be returning Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) to service. 

As work progressed on the network, some users encountered LoTW opening briefly during which some 6600 logs were uploaded. The logs were not processed until this weekend as we tested that the interfaces to LoTW were functioning properly.

We are taking steps to help manage what will likely be a huge influx of logs. We are requesting that if you have large uploads, perhaps from contests or from a DXpedition, please wait a week or two before uploading to give LoTW a chance to catch up. We have also implemented a process to reject logs with excessive duplicates. Please do not upload your entire log to “ensure” your contacts are in LoTW as they will be rejected. Lastly, please do not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. You can contact support at LoTW-help@arrl.org.

Through the end of the year, you may experience planned times when LoTW will be unavailable. We have been using this time to evaluate operational and infrastructure improvements we would like to make to LoTW. Those times will be announced.

We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members. LoTW, just behind QST, is our second most popular ARRL benefit.  

This story will be updated with new developments.