On Thursday, July 28 at 8:00 PM EDT, Radio Relay International will be conducting class TR-008 entitled “Basic Radiotelephone Net Procedures.”
This class covers basic voice procedures that are applicable to both traffic nets and tactical nets. The class runs about 2 hours and is interactive in nature. One will also learn about training tools that can be implemented on local ARES/EmComm nets to improve their training value and better prepare rank-and-file volunteers for an important supportive role in emergency response.
Meeting ID: 809 767 0691
Passcode: Vibroplex
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Meeting ID: 809 767 0691
Passcode: 278063179
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
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 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
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, 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.
Are you a newly licensed Technician, or a General or Extra and have never been on the air or built a station? Are you a prospective ham but would like to learn more about Amateur Radio activities? Are you an experienced Ham who would like to help your club enhance its mentoring programs? The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding another online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday, May 14th, 2022 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern time. Ham Bootcamp will be held via Zoom web conferencing.
The morning sessions will be focused on VHF and UHF activities for all license classes and the afternoon sessions will focus on building and operating an HF station.
Registration is required for this program. More information including the agenda and the registration link can be found at https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/.
Please share this with friends and family members who are interested in getting an Amateur Radio License.
The Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club (NVARC) is offering a free amateur radio licensing course beginning on May 16th. The eight night course will prepare students for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technician licensing exam that will be offered at the completion of the course. The Technician level radio operator’s license is the first of three amateur licenses offered by the FCC. Each license has increased levels of operator privileges.
The course consists of twice weekly sessions beginning on Monday, May 16th, and meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays for four weeks (May 16th through June 8th ). The course will be held at the Pepperell Community Center, 4 Hollis Street, Pepperell, MA 01463. Sessions will start at 7 PM and last for 2 hours. An FCC license exam will be scheduled for the end of the sessions. The course is free, but there will be an FCC required $15 testing fee if you take the exam. The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, Level 1, Technician, 4th ed, will be the study guide used for the class. A limited number of study guides may be purchased from the instructor for $20 or online from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) or Amazon.
This course is open to all, there are no age limits. Pre-registration is required, no walk-ins will be allowed. To register you must contact the instructor, Bruce Blain at (508) 341-5124 or via email at bruce.blain@charter.net.
Mitch Stern, W1SJ, will offer his live Technician video class on Saturday, April 16 from 10 AM – 3 PM. This is a full live Zoom class with lecture, demonstrations and review.
Students should pre-study on the web site ahead of the class, but those in the process of studying would be good candidates. According to Mitch, “If you don’t do this class, it will cost you $35 more after this weekend!”
W1SJ will also be conducting a General class course on April 23, 2022. He indicates that attendees of the General course will also be exempt from the $35 fee.
Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, writes on the WMA ARRL Members list:
Hello everyone, I am pleased to announce that the WMA Train and Test Group will be conducting a General License Class starting on May 3rd on Zoom. The classes will run for 6 weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9 PM with a live VE session in Gardner, MA afterwards.
We are also looking for volunteers who would like to join our group and teach part of the classes.
The FCC released a Public Notice on March 23, 2022, stating that the amateur radio application fees, including those associated with Form 605 application filings, would become effective on April 19, 2022. The Federal Communications Commission’s authority to impose and collect fees is mandated by Congress.
The $35 application fee, when it becomes effective on April 19, will apply to new, renewal, and modification applications that request a new vanity call sign. The fee will be per application.
Administrative updates, such as a change of name, mailing or email address, and modification applications to upgrade an amateur radio licensee’s operator class*, will be exempt from fees. (*this new information was just confirmed by FCC staff on Tuesday, March 29.)
VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not have to collect the $35 fee at exam sessions.
Once the FCC application fee takes effect, new applicants will pay the $15 exam session fee to the ARRL VE team as usual and pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC by using the CORES FRN Registration system. VEC and VE team licensing procedures will not change.
When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it will email a link with payment instructions to each qualifying candidate. The candidate will have 10 calendar days, from the date of the application file number being issued, to pay. After the fee is paid, and the FCC has processed an application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with a link to their official license or, in very rare instances, an explanation for why the application was dismissed or denied. The link will be valid for 30 days.
Per usual procedures, examinees that pass multiple exams at one session, will have one application transmitted to the FCC reflecting the highest-level license class earned. Again, our procedures will not change. The new license candidates will have an extra step before the license is issued. VE teams can point candidates to our FCC Application Fee webpage. Our new ARRL VEC CSCEs also include information about the application fee and points candidates to the webpage. The FCC rule pertaining to CSCEs will not change. CSCE credit will continue to be valid for 365 days, starting from the date of issuance.
For VE teams holding exam sessions the weekend before April 19, the FCC advised that applications not received by the FCC before April 19 will be subjected to the fee. The ARRL VEC urges teams to upload sessions via our documents upload page to get your sessions to us as quickly as possible. Assuming the FCC electronic batch filing (EBF) system is functioning properly on Monday, April 18, the VEC staff will work to get these to the FCC before April 19. Email the VEC department at VEC@arrl.org for the upload instructions.
Additionally, the FCC stated that the fee for applications processed and dismissed will not be refundable. This includes vanity requests where the applicant does not receive the requested call sign. However, returned applications that are missing information will not require an additional fee, if the missing information is submitted to the FCC within the proper amount of time.
Youth Licensing Grant Program
Anticipating the implementation of the fee in 2022, the ARRL Board of Directors, approved the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program in July 2021. Under the program, ARRL will cover a one-time $35 application fee for license candidates younger than 18-years old for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC). Qualified candidates also would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC. ARRL is finalizing details for administering the program.
Further news and instructions will follow as the FCC releases them. Details for the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program will be posted when available. For additional information, visit the resources below.
ARRL will offer four sessions of the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology in June and July as part of its educational outreach to schools through the Education & Technology Program. The Teachers Institute (TI) is an expenses-paid professional development program intended to provide teachers with tools and strategies to introduce their students to basic electronics, the science of radio, space technology and satellite communications, weather science, microcontrollers, robotics, and amateur radio. The curriculum is designed for motivated teachers and other school staff who want to learn more about wireless technology, gain hands-on experience, and bring that knowledge to their students. Class sizes are limited to 12 teachers. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2022.
“I invite you to apply and to share this incredible opportunity with schools and teachers,” ARRL Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, said. Goodgame said to contact him via email with any questions.
Sessions this summer will be held in Newington, Connecticut, and in Dayton, Ohio. There are two levels — TI-1 Introduction to Wireless Technology, and TI-2 Remote Sensing and Data Analysis. TI-1 is a prerequisite for TI-2.
TI-2 focuses on the basic electronics of sensors (temperature, pressure, position, humidity, etc.), converting analog sensor data to a digital format, programming the microcontroller to read and interpret the data, and using radio to send the sensor data to the user. After learning the basics of remote sensing, teachers assemble a sensor package to collect environmental data remotely.
Program
Location
Dates
TI-1
Newington, Connecticut
June 27 – July 1
TI-2
Newington, Connecticut
July 11 – July 15
TI-1
Dayton, Ohio
July 18 – July 22
TI-1
Newington, Connecticut
July 25 – July 29
A 2022 brochure is available from the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology web page. An explanatory video is also available.
The ARRL Teachers Institute recognizes that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction must focus on the connection among these fields. Because it is the teacher’s role to make these connections for students, teachers need to know the science and math content and understand, in sufficient detail, the technologies used in order to make the connections for their students.
The Teachers Institute is only the beginning of a participant’s exploration of wireless technology. The goal of the TI program is to equip each schoolteacher with necessary foundational knowledge and, through hands-on learning, generate the inspiration for teachers to continue to explore wireless technology and adapt relevant content into their classroom instruction.
This training serves as an excellent foundation for schoolteachers interested in including classroom learning about radio communications and wireless technology as part of student preparation for participation in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.
This in-service training program is supported entirely by generous philanthropic donations. TI opportunities are virtually free for participants. The grant to attend a TI covers transportation; hotel; a modest per diem to cover meals; instructional resources for the electronics, microcontroller, and robotics segments of the course, and a resource library of relevant ARRL publications. The primary out-of-pocket expense is a $100 enrollment fee.
Graduate credits are available through Fresno Pacific University upon completion of the TI-1 or TI-2 programs. These credits can be used to satisfy professional growth requirements to maintain teaching credentials. The class is self-contained, and participants are expected to be able to complete all requirements during the class time.
Qualified applicants must be active teachers at an elementary, middle, or high school, at a college or university, or in a leadership or enrichment instruction role in an after-school or collective homeschool program. An amateur radio license is not required for the introductory workshop (TI-1) but is required for the advanced TI-2 program.
Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, writes on the Rhode Island ARRL Members List:
Upgrade Opportunity!
Newport County Radio Club will be offering online (Zoom) upgrade classes the week of April 18th. Many hams have successfully upgraded to General or Extra after taking the class in the past. For General and Extra, your classes begin at 6:30 PM on Friday April 22.
If you happen to have a family member or friend interested in becoming a ham we also have a Technician class that beings on Tuesday April 19th at 6:00 PM.
All classes are free. There will be a total of six classes with about 15 hours of live instruction time. There will be a VE exam session the following week as well in Middletown, but you could take your exam anywhere. Pre registration is required. Click a link below to Register:
Bruce Blain, K1BG, writes:
Important Message from ARRL VEC
From ARRL Web:
Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, writes on the Rhode Island ARRL Members List: