Earlier this year, during one of the regular HamXposition meetings, Bruce, K1BG, and I were talking about doing some sort of club-centric meetings From that discussion came the Clubs forum which occurred Friday at the 2024 HamXpo.
Most of us know that clubs are the backbone of a healthy and active ham radio community. An active club most often has a newsletter that members get every month informing them of club activities and ham radio events. From this, we created the Club Newsletter Award.
Any club in New England could enter and was encouraged to do so. Newsletters would be ranked on design, layout, and information. The judge would be someone outside of New England. The top three newsletters would then be able to post the appropriate logo on their newsletters for the next year. The newsletter had to be from the second quarter of 2024 and submitted by July 5th.
The top 3 club newsletters would then NOT be able to submit again the following year, giving other clubs a chance to win the award.
I would like to thank the following clubs for submitting their newsletter this year:
Club
Newsletter
State
Algonquin Amateur Radio Club
QRZ
MA
Androscoggin Amateur Radio Club
the A.C.O.R.N.
ME
Billerica Amateur Radio Society
BARS
MA
Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club
Messenger
RI
Candlewood Amateur Radio Association
CARA Capers
CT
Central NH Amateur Radio Club
Communicator
NH
Franklin County Amateur Radio Club
The Communicator
MA
Hampden County Radio Association
Zero Beat
MA
Housatonic Amateur Radio Club
Direct Currents
CT
K1USN Radio Club
K1USN HAPPENINGS
MA
Meriden Amateur Radio Club
KEYKLIX
CT
Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association
SQUELCH TALES
ME
Minuteman Repeater Association
The Minuteman
MA
Wellesley Amateur Radio Society
The Spark Gap
MA
From this list, I’d like to congratulate the following clubs:
#3 – Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club from Rhode Island
#2 – Billerica Amateur Radio Society from eastern MA
#1 – Hampden County Radio Association from western MA
I would like to thank Bob, WA3PZO, our outside New England judge and Nels, K1UR, for his award design.
We’re going to do this again next year. I hope you will urge your club to submit your club’s newsletter.
Submit your club newsletter for the possibility of being named either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd best club newsletter in all of New England for the 2024-2025 year starting September 1st, 2024.
The ARRL Foundation is pleased to announce the return of the Club Grant Program for 2024!
This is an opportunity for clubs to apply for grants up to $25,000 to fund projects in their community with an emphasis given to projects that are of a “transformational” nature, or a club that has a plan to improve the community through education, recruiting, training, and promotion of amateur radio.
Stephen Jonn writes on the Meriden ARC Facebook page:
There’s a now a place for new hams to key up and chat without the fear of making a mistake. In the spirit of the rookie roundup, Stephen Rygiel, KC1QWH, along with the Meriden Amateur Radio Club has started a new weekly net called the “Just push the button” net.
This gathering takes place on Wednesday evening’s at 1900 eastern time on the W1NRG repeater. Found at 147.36 with a PL of 162.2 and via EchoLink at W1NRG-R.
It’s not only for new hams though, all licensed hams are encouraged to join in, it’s a great place to Elmer the newbies.
Please join us for newbie tips and good old camaraderie on this rag chew type directed Net.
Any questions can be directed to Stephen via email at KC1QWH@gmail.com.
Club newsletter from the 2nd quarter of 2024 (April, May, or June)
Email newsetter to: cq-newsletter@hamxposition.org
Deadline to submit: Friday, July 5
Judging by someone impartial who resides outside of New England on the following:
Layout design
Content
The top three get a digitial sticker they can use on their newsletter for the next 12 months showing that they are #1, #2, or #3 best club newsletter in New England for the period September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025.
The top three winners for the 2024 HamXposition will be ineligible to participate in the 2025 HamXposition competition to allow other clubs to win.
The Meriden Amateur Radio Club (W1NRG) is pleased to announce W1NRG & the National Weather Service, Upton, NY (OKX) is holding a FREE in-person three-hour SKYWARN Training Session.
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Thursday Wallingford Public Library (Community Room)
200 N Main Street
Wallingford, CT 06492
7:00 -10:00 pm
June 6th, 2024
HOW TO REGISTER:
Weather.gov/nyc
Go to SKYWARN icon in lower left corner. Click on SKYWARN Training Schedule. Chose in-person event and fill out on-line form.
This program is free and open to the public – you do NOT need to be a licensed amateur radio operator. Registration will be limited to 125 attendees.
Ed W1YSM
President, W1NRG
Wallingford Amateur Radio Group/Meriden Amateur Radio Club
ARRL CT Affiliated Club Coordinator
EC SKYWARN NH/Middlesex Counties
W1YSM@arrl.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Dan Wright
k1was@was-ct.org
Phone: (203) 293-8759
Westport, Connecticut – March 13, 2024 – The Westport Astronomical Society (WAS) and its amateur radio station, K1WAS are excited to announce its participation in the observation of the total solar eclipse along the totality line in Texas on April 8, 2024, with a grant from NASA using high-altitude balloons launched by the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven.
The K1WAS team will assist the University of Bridgeport, and the University of New Haven with their effort in the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. The amateur radio club, and many other amateur radio operator members and balloon enthusiasts, will help launch several high-altitude balloons equipped with cameras, sensors, and radio transmitters to capture the eclipse from a unique vantage point high above the Earth’s surface.
“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the scientific community’s understanding of this celestial event,” said Dan Wright N3DAW, Board Member of the Westport Astronomical Society. “These high altitude balloon missions will offer a perspective of the eclipse that is both breathtaking and informative, helping researchers study the Sun’s corona and the Earth’s atmosphere in new and exciting ways.”
“Since the University of Bridgeport (UB) began its balloon science and payload work in 2013, K1WAS/WAS members have served as mentors and instructors to both myself and dozens of our students,” said Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering, who leads the engineering teams for NASA/Montana State’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) for the central northeast. “Early on K1WAS/WAS members took the time to instruct in all aspects of high altitude balloon flight: from safe helium usage and transportation, stacking and tying payloads together, creating containers to protect the instruments, communications, launch, tracking and balloon and payload recovery. K1WAS/WAS members have been at each of our launches and served as mentors and team members for UB’s 2017 total solar eclipse team as well as our 2023 annular eclipse team and upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse team. We are particularly indebted to K1WAS/WAS members Larry Reed, AB1JC, Gary Moyher, WE1M, Mike Miciukiewicz, K1MJM, and David Schadlich, KB1LTW.”
The University of New Haven’s Texas team will include ozonesonde payloads during this eclipse to monitor the ozone levels in the atmosphere. Both traditional weather balloons and a newly improved altitude-controlled balloon will be used for this mission. These experiments will provide data analysis, and valuable information to scientists across the planet that will be analyzed after the event.
The launch of the high-altitude balloon will take place from a location near the path of totality in Junction Texas at Texas Tech, where the eclipse will be visible for the longest duration. The balloons will ascend and hover at an altitude of 80,000 feet while gathering data, providing a clear view of the earth as the eclipse’s shadow passes.
Amateur radio operators and astronomy enthusiasts are invited to join the Westport Astronomical Society’s observation efforts by following the balloon’s location which will be captured in real-time using an amateur radio system called APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), and participating in related events and discussions. Details on how to access the data and participate in the event will be shared on the Westport Astronomical Society’s website and social media channels.
The total solar eclipse, a rare astronomical event where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, will be visible across parts of North America but the sun is only 90% obscured in Westport and much of New England. The Westport Astronomical Society, known for its dedication to promoting astronomy and space exploration, is leveraging its resources and expertise to enhance the viewing experience for enthusiasts and researchers alike. Locally, WAS will have telescopes set up to safely view the partial eclipse with our partner, the Westport Library on April 8th from 2 – 4 PM.
In Connecticut, the next partial solar eclipses aren’t until 2028 and 2029 and will not obscure the sun anywhere near what we’ll see in April. For that, you’ll have to wait until the total solar eclipse on the morning of May 1, 2079.
More on WAS:
WAS opens up the Westport Observatory to the public every clear Wednesday from 8- 10 pm. For more information about the Westport Astronomical Society and its amateur radio station KIWAS, visit www.was-ct.org. Follow the Society on Facebook, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates on the total solar eclipse observation mission.
Members of the Westport Astronomical Society’s Amateur Radio Station K1WAS launching a high-altitude balloon from Bridgeport’s Discovery Museum
Total Solar Eclipse, courtesy WAS Member Carl Lancaster, KB1NTN
The Nashua Area Radio Society will be giving license classes for all levels this winter and spring. The classes will be online via Zoom web conferencing and will include an online exam session at the end of the class. Here is the schedule:
Technician Class: Saturday and Sunday, February 17th and 18th
General Class: Saturday and Sunday, March 16th and 17th
Extra Class: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 19th, 20th, and 21st.
PART of Westford (MA) President George Allison, K1IG, writes:
The Police Amateur Radio Team (PART) of Westford, MA, is getting ready for Field Day (only five months away!), and one of the things we’re doing is CW training. We’ll be running a course for CW newbies (probably using the CWOps curriculum), and our members show a lot of interest in learning.
We’ve also made a bulk purchase of Morserino kits for our members. If you haven’t seen a Morserino, it’s quite a gadget, incorporating a keyer, display, code reader, touch paddles, speaker, CW trainer, and LoRa transceiver. It’s about the easiest kit you’ll ever build; one hour is all it took me, and it worked the first time!
If bought individually through the Morserino website, these keyers are about $100 with free shipping (very slow, through the post office with no tracking), or about $130 with DHL shipping (about 5 days from Austria, with tracking). Since we ordered 20 kits, Morserino gave us a bulk discount, so the kits, with DHL shipping, cost $94 each. Shipping in bulk accounted for much of the savings: shipping one kit via DHL is $30, shipping 20 kits was $72. PART has a kit-building fund that subsidized some of the cost, so we offered the kits to members for $50 each, and they quickly sold.
Other clubs may want to make a bulk purchase. It takes at least 14 to get a discount, and I found that corresponding directly with the head of Morserino (info@morserino.info) about a bulk purchase is more effective than ordering through the website. If one club can’t get enough orders, perhaps several clubs can get together.
I was surprised by the interest in CW, especially among the newer hams and the “no-code Extras,” and I’m looking forward to fights in the Field Day CW tent for operating time!