Director’s Update for 2Q-2022

I’ve been quite busy the last few months with a combination of ARRL Board work, New England Division projects, Mentoring, and some time on the air. I am pleased to report good progress on many fronts. Here’s more about what I’ve been up to.

Club Grants

Mike Walters, W8ZY, and I, as part of an ARRL Foundation Committee, put together the application and decision process for the ARRL Foundation Club Grant program and rolled it out. Thanks to a generous donation by ARDC, the ARRL Foundation is making $500,000 available to Amateur Radio Clubs.

ARRL Club Grant Program at a glance:

  • Clubs do not need to be ARRL-affiliated clubs to submit proposals
  • Looking to fund projects that create significant impact beyond the applying club: transformative impact on Amateur Radio; create public awareness and support for Amateur Radio; educational and training impact.
  • Examples of projects include, but are not limited to: get-on-the-air projects; ham training and skills development through mentoring; STEM and STEAM learning through Amateur Radio; station resources for use by the ham community; emergency communications and public service projects that emphasize training; club revitalization projects.

The response to the first round of this program has been tremendous. We received 127 applications for Club Grants! The first round of grants will be awarded by the end of the summer, and the second tranche of applications and awards will commence in the late summer/early fall.

Board Projects and Meetings

I am working along with other ARRL Board Members and leaders as part of several ARRL Board Committees. First, I am a member of the Administration and Finance Committee, where I am chairing a subcommittee that is looking at ways to grow ARRL membership and increase active participation in Amateur Radio.

I’m also leading a subcommittee within the Emergency Communications and Field Service Committee that is working on a plan to create the next generation of the National Traffic System (NTS). I am working closely with Marcia Forde, KW1U, and other traffic handlers to create a plan for NTS 2.0. We are planning a series of briefings for Traffic Handlers here in New England as well as across other ARRL divisions on the NTS 2.0 project.

Finally, I have been appointed to be one of the ARRL Board members on the newly formed Investment Management Committee. The Investment Management Committee provides oversight of ARRL’s external investment manager and advises ARRL’s Administration and Finance Committee and the Board of Directors on investment policies and portfolio management.

Field Day

Our 2022 Field Day Visit Tour

Anita, AB1QB, and I had a great time during Field Day, visiting clubs all over New England. We covered about 1,000 miles during a three-day tour on Field Day weekend. I especially enjoyed meeting folks in person during Field Day and seeing what everyone was doing. It was great to see all of the different ways that clubs across New England approached Field Day. Anita took many great photos during our tour, and you can view those and read more about our Field Day travels here. We operated as AB1OC/M from the mobile HF station in our truck during the trip and had a ton of fun on the air as well.

Assistant Director Teams

Phil Temples, K9HI, and I continued working with our division Assistant Directors as they continued to set up their teams and began sharing information and projects across our division.

  • Cory Golob, KU1U – Assistant Director, Emergency Communications and Public Service Activities
  • Rob Leiden, K1UI – Assistant Director, Spectrum Protection and Use
  • Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB – Assistant Director, Mentoring and Ham Development
  • Dan Norman, N0HF – Assistant Director, Youth Outreach and STEM Learning

A great deal of good work is getting accomplished by our Assistant Directors, and each team has projects underway that will benefit hams across New England. Our second quarter 2022 newsletter features articles about what our ADs are doing.

BIG E Space Chat

International Space Station

New England school students will be making live radio contact with an astronaut on the International Space Station from The BIG E during the week of September 26th – September 29th. The “BIG E Space Chat” is part of a program to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) educational activities and Amateur Radio learning activities for young people.

We brokered the creation of this project through a partnership between The BIG ENew England Sci-Tech (a STEM education group in New England),  Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), and Black Helicopter Creative LLC.

You can learn more about The BIG E Space Chat and how students can sign up to be part of the planned education program here.

Folks are also planning an Amateur Radio booth at The BIG E, and you can learn more about that project and how your club can be part of it here.

Communications, Club Meetings, and Hamfests

We continued with our work to improve communications this quarter. There are three parts to our activities in this area:

  • Quarterly Division Cabinet Meetings with Club Presidents, Section Managers and Field Staff Members, and other leaders
  • Triannual (every 4 months) Division Town Hall Meetings with all ARRL Members in New England
  • Frequent attendance at Club Meetings (at least 6 times a quarter for each DVA team member) 

We held our second Cabinet Meeting on April 16th (see what was discussed here). Our next Cabinet Meeting is scheduled for August 13th. We are inviting members of the HQ Staff to these meetings so that they can share information on what they are doing and receive feedback directly from division leaders.

We held our second Town Hall Meeting on June 15th. Attendance was excellent again, with over 140 in attendance. We provided an update on ARRL and New England Division activities and answered questions from the folks who attended. You can see what was discussed, including a recording of the event, here. We are planning to hold our next Town Hall Meeting in November.

We held an ARRL Forum at Spring NEAR-Fest in Deerfield, NH, where we provided an update on ARRL and New England Division projects and answered questions. We joined Peter Stohrer K1PJS at NEAR-Fest to talk with folks and answer questions.

 

Western MA Section Manager Ray, AA1SE and Assistant Director Anita, AB1QB discuss Licensing and Mentoring with Gordon West, WB6NOA at Hamvention
Western MA Section Manager Ray, AA1SE and Assistant Director Anita, AB1QB discuss Licensing and Mentoring with Gordon West, WB6NOA at Hamvention

We also attended the Dayton Hamvention, where we helped to staff the ARRL Clubs booth and answer questions about the ARRL Foundation Club Grant program.

I am also planning to host an ARRL Forum at HamXposition in Marlborough, MA. HamXposition will take place on August 26th – 28th. You can see the schedule for the ARRL forum and session hosted by our division ADs here.

Licensing, Mentoring, and Youth

Stu, W1SHS Intro to EmComm at Ham Bootcamp
Stu, W1SHS, hosts an “Introduction to EmComm” at Ham Bootcamp

I have continued work on Licensing and Mentoring programs. We taught weekend Technician, General, and Extra License classes this spring and helped 19 hams earn their license or an upgrade.

We also held a spring Ham Bootcamp program, which helps hams across the country to learn how to use their Amateur Radio License to operate, put stations together, and get on the air. We added additional Ham Bootcamp training on getting started in Emergency Communications activities thanks to help from Stu Solomon, W1SHS, and Cory Golob, KU1U’s Emergency Communications and Public Service Activities Team.

AB1OC Amateur Radio Activities

I’ve enjoyed some operating time in the ARRL June VHF Contest and the new ARRL International Digital DX Contest. We also operated as K2K New Hampshire during the 2022 13 Colonies Special Event. We have received hundreds of QSL requests from our K2K operations, and we are working through those now. Finally, the 6m Band has been pretty good this year, and I am enjoying some operating time on 6m on most days as well. 

I hope to see you soon at a Hamfest, Club Meeting, Town Hall Meeting, Cabinet Meeting, or some other event in the near future. All the Best and 73,

Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ARRL New England Division Director
eMail: ab1oc@arrl.org

My Field Day Journey–Phil Temples, K9HI

On June 25-26, 2022, New England Division Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI traveled approximately 320 miles and visited seven Field Day sites in Western and Eastern Massachusetts.  He attempted to make it eight––the Algonquin ARC at Crow Island in Stow––but Murphy had other plans. 

[Full story]

 

Jeremy Breef-Pilz, KB1REQ at New England Sci-Tech Field Day

Wellesley ARS gang posed with Amateur Radio Day Proclamation

PART's traditional Field Day cake

Amateur Radio Field Day Talk on WCAP 980 (Lowell, MA), June 24, 2022

From ema.arrl.org:

Station WCAP 980 kHz will host a talk segment featuring two Eastern MA amateur radio club presidents today (June 24) at 4:10 PM. 

Gary Frascarelli, W1GFF, President of the Billerica Amateur Radio Society and Bruce Blain, K1BG, President of the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club, will discuss ARRL Field Day on the program. 

The Class B station features a talk/oldies radio format. It covers the Merrimack Valley with 5,000 watts of power. 

Listeners outside of the area can tune in to the program on the web at <http://webcastsusa.com/wcap/player.html>.

This link seems to work:  <https://streampros.net/980wcap>

An audio recording of the program is also available

Northern Berkshire ARC 2022 Field Day Publicity: “Windsor: Ham radio club slates field day”

Berkshire Eagle Field Day storyFrom The Berkshire Eagle, June 21, 2022:

“Ham radio operators from the Northern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club in Berkshire County will participate in a national Field Day exercise from 2 p.m. Saturday, June 25, until 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at 440 Peru Road [Windsor, MA]. The public is invited.

“Field Day has been organized since 1933 by the American Radio Relay League, the National Association for Amateur Radio in the United States. The event highlights ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent, wireless communications network.” [Full story]

Governor Baker Proclaims June 25 “Amateur Radio Day” in Massachusetts

copy of MA Amateur Radio Day Proclamation in MAMassachusetts radio amateurs are being recognized for their service to the public in times of hurricanes, tornados, flood and other emergencies with a special proclamation by Governor Charles D. Baker declaring June 25, 2022 as “Amateur Radio Day” in the Commonwealth. The day coincides with the 2022 ARRL Field Day event.

The proclamation was obtained by Massachusetts State Government Liaison Hank McCarl, W4RIG, of Gloucester. McCarl contacted Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s (N1UIU) office to arrange for the issuance of the proclamation.

Copies of the proclamation will be distributed to both Eastern and Western Massachusetts Section Managers so that they may display the documents as they tour field day sites in their respective sections.

Port City ARC Special Event Station K1R at Field Day, Stratham Hill Park, Stratham, NH

2021 Field Day logoPort City Amateur Radio Club (W1WQM and NM1JY) are celebrating its 60th year at Stratham Hill Park, Stratham, NH (Rockingham County) during the ARRL FD event June 25-27, 2021 with the special event call K1R.

According to Mark Pride, K1RX, “This year we are especially  happy to rejoin, face to face on the hill.  [It is] a simple setup this year, where public facing is the main objective under CDC guidelines and showing our continued support for emergency preparedness for the local community and demonstrating the wide range of activities associated with Amateur Radio.”

K9HI to Tour Field Day Sites in New England

2021 Field Day logoARRL Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, announced his plans to tour several New England Field Day sites this weekend, June 26-27, 2021.

“I hate to divulge my actual itinerary ahead of time. Invariably one gets delayed talking to people and then misses hitting all of the planned locations,” Phil writes. “My plans are to initially swing down through southeastern Massachusetts, then head for Rhode Island. If there’s time left over, I’ll try and get to Connecticut and swing up through central Massachusetts.”

Field Day is an annual Amateur Radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the country, with over 30,000 operators participating each year.