Organization

UPDATE: Town Hall video recording added

The first of three 2023 New England Division Town Hall meetings was held on February 23. Registrations for the Town Hall meeting set an all-time record with 204 registrants. 

Director Kemmerer reviewed the accomplishments from the January, 2023 ARRL Board of Directors meeting, and discussed his committee work as did Vice Director Temples. Three of the division’s assistant directors recapped their recent activities and accomplishments.

In addition, Kemmerer fielded questions on a variety of topics, including: possible HOA bylaw wording from ARRL favoring Amateur Radio antennas; malicious interference on 75 meters; help with Logbook of The World certificates; moving toward radiogram support for ICS-213 format; bandwidth versus baud rate, and so forth.

Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) can be viewed, below. The video presentation will be posted soon.

 

 

  

ARRL New England Division Town Hall 2023-02-23 video recording

We surely cannot complain so far, about the winter we’ve had. Some weather people are saying that this is the kind of winter that we can expect in the future. I’m sure that many folks in RI who are skiers are not happy to hear that but for myself, this sounds great. There’s still plenty of time for a good old fashion snow storm and we could get one in the remaining weeks of winter and early spring. But the days are getting longer, Red Sox are in spring training at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers. Any bad stuff we get now will go away quickly. 

Just as I was preparing this report, the sun took our attention and popped a number of sunspots. The Solar Flux reading read an incredible 343!  A week ago, the index was about 140. A 200 point jump in a week is something I have never seen in my 70 years as a ham. The HF bands are jumping. The ARRL CW DX Contest weekend is going as I write this. I can imagine that participants will score very highly with these extraordinary conditions. Many have never seen 10 meters so wide open to so many parts of the world at the same time. The SF index dropped back to normal levels, about 160, within 24 hours, but the HF bands remain in super condition. 

The Volunteers on The Air or VOTA activity is rolling along. I have made several contacts with stations across the country. Rules and detailed information may be found at https://www.arrl.org/volunteers-on-the-air. The scoreboard at https://vota.arrl.org/leaderboard.php will show you how many contacts you have made. It doesn’t show your point score yet however. Maybe that’s one of the features under construction. 

Virtual Ham Expo will be held on March 25-26. See https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/?mc_cid=cfa50a6bb8&mc_eid=d3e32f2624 for details. There are lots of forums and presentations offered but you must register. 

The second most wanted DX entity in the world, Bouvet Island, was active for a few days this month. It was a far cry from an easy relaxing vacation type of operation. In fact, it was downright dangerous and miserable. See https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/?mc_cid=cfa50a6bb8&mc_eid=d3e32f2624 and read the latest news at https://www.dx-world.net/3y0j-by-wd5cov/. Their goal was to log more than 200,000 QSOs but they realized fewer than 20,000. Conditions were severe and tested the 13 participating operators to their limits. Happily, no one was hurt or worse. Bouvet will likely remain the second most rare on earth, second only to North Korea. 

ARRL Foundation Accepting Applications for Grants in February, until the end of the month. Go to http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-accepting-applications-for-grants-in-february for details. 

Our Air Force may have shot down a ham radio balloons in the recent Chinese balloon incident. See https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a42952566/air-force-shoots-down-hobby-balloon-ufo/.

I recently submitted the necessary forms and signatures required to permit me to run for re-election as Section Manager. If no one runs against me, I’ll receive a phone call and/or an e mail note from HQ informing me that I’m signed up for two more years. At my age, I hope I can fulfill that commitment, but I shall try. I was appointed to fill the remainder of K1FLD’s term as SM. That was in January, 2002. I honestly never intended to keep the job past the end of K1FLD’s term in 2003, but somehow I stayed. I’ve submitted the necessary papers every two years since then because many of you told me that you wanted me to stay. You should think about my successor because I can’t live forever. My Ass’t SM is Marc, W1MCX. He is a very good ham and will make a very good SM if he wants the post when I’m finished. That time might be years down the line.  73 and see you next month,

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ARRL Rhode Island Section
Section Manager: Robert G Beaudet, W1YRC
w1yrc@arrl.org
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Phil Temples K9HI, our Assistant Directors, and I will hold our next New England Division Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, February 23rd, at 7 pm ET. The purpose of the meeting will be to provide you with an ARRL update, get your thoughts on what we should be focusing on, and answer any questions you might have about the ARRL and what we are doing on behalf of ARRL members here in New England.

We plan to spend a good deal of our time together answering your questions. If you’d like to send us a question in advance, you can do so via an email to ab1oc@arrl.org, or you can just plan to ask your questions during the Town Hall Meeting.

We will hold our Town Hall Meeting via a Zoom Webinar. You can get your personal link to join the Town Hall Meeting via the following link (paste the link in your browser to register) –

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-4QVGZj_THG1VXImuTnazQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

We hope to see you on February 23rd!

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ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
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The January, 2023 Eastern MA Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/january-2023-section-news/.

The New England Division will conduct two experimental “New England Information Nets” to provide Section Managers, Section Emergency Coordinators, and Section Traffic Managers the opportunity to provide information and updates on activities in their respective sections that may be of interest New England-wide.

The first net will be held on January 8, 2023 at 10:00 AM on 3985 kHz; the second will be on Sunday, February 12 on Echolink New England Conference Room 9127.

There will not be a call-up for general check-ins. I understand that each section may have other commitments and not be able to participate. I look forward to hearing from as many of the section field organization leaders as possible.

73 DE KU1U
Cory

Mike Walters, W8ZY, writes on the Connecticut ARRL Members List on January 3, 2023:

Subject: New Section Manager

Hello,

I am pleased to announce that Bud Kozloff, W1NSK, is appointed to fill the role of Section Manager in Connecticut. Bud is currently the president of Candlewood Amateur Radio Association in Danbury and lives in Redding CT. Bud is also a member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and likes to operate CW.

I would also like to thank Betsey Doane, K1EIC, for filling in as Section Manager while the search continued. Betsey is of course well known in Connecticut and graciously agreed to help when needed.

Bud comes to this appointment with many years in the business world and the ham radio world.

In kicking off the ARRL Year of the Volunteers, this is a strong message that any ham can be a part of the ARRL and there is always something that a volunteer can do. Let’s all give Bud the support and assistance that a good Section Manager needs.

Thanks

Mike Walters, W8ZY
ARRL Field Services Manager

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ARRL Connecticut Section
Section Manager: Nicholas S Kozloff, W1NSK
w1nsk@arrl.org
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The January, 2023 Western MA Section Newsletter is now available at https://wma.arrl.org/blog/2022/12/31/section-manager-report-january-2023/.

The January, 2023 Western MA Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/december-2022-section-news/.

Dave Tessitore, K1DT, President of the Providence Radio Association (W1OP) writes in a December 27 email:

“…Under our Christmas tree, from my XYL, was the hot-off-the-press 100th Edition ARRL Handbook.  After our family and friends had all gone home, I sat at my desk and cracked it open.

“There on the title page, under the impressive words, One-Hundredth Edition, is the list of Contributors.  Among them are two PRA Members:  Frank Donovan, W3LPL and Rick Rosen, K1DS.  What an honor to have these two giants in their fields as members of our club!

“I next turned to the middle of the Handbook, to the full-color 100 edition retrospective, and there is a 2-page interview with friend and former PRA member Skip Youngberg, K1NKR, who recently spoke at our 100th anniversary dinner!

“What other radio club has three members contributing to the definitive publication on Amateur Radio?

“But wait, make that four members, for let us not forget our Secretary Domenic Mallozzi, N1DM, who contributed to both the 1986 and 1999 Handbooks!

“Congratulations to Frank, Rick, Skip, and Dom! You make us Proud.”

Well, Dom, N1DM (who will be speaking at the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club’s (NVARC) January meeting) is a member of Marlborough’s Algonquin Amateur Radio Club (AARC).  So that makes two AARC members in the 100^th Handbook.

And as far as NVARC is concerned, Phil Erickson, W1PJE, is listed on the title page as a contributor and an article by Joe Dzekevich, K1YOW, is in the Handbook’s supplemental files.  That’s three for NVARC.

Also on the local front, Doug Grant, K1DG, has a title page listing and copious acknowledgements throughout the book.  Club members remember Doug from WRTC2014 and probably a few talks at meetings over the years.  Plus, Jim Idelson, K1IR, and Bob Clarke, N1RC, (whose affiliations are unknown to me) have Handbook title page listings.

It seems like one-land is well represented.

Background (courtesy Skip, K1NKR):

Last Spring, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, asked me about the status of my QST and Handbook collection.  The League was putting together the 100^th edition of the ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications and was looking to contact a collector.  Fred subsequently put me in contact through League Headquarters with Mark Derks (unlicensed then, now KC1RVQ), a member of the publications staff.  Mark and I exchanged phone calls in mid-April, then he and a photographer came over from Newington and visited my shack to conduct an interview.  The result in the hardcover version of the Handbook was a sixteen-page color section of radio history which included two pages devoted to the interview.

The whole exercise was quite enjoyable, with the only difficulty being that I was under a nondisclosure agreement until the Handbook came out.  I had a hard time keeping the secret between April and October!

The K1NKR collection contains every issue of the League’s monthly “QST” magazine back to 1915 (all library-style hardbound) and all but one year of the Handbook.

Technically, this year’s Handbook edition is the hundredth, not the centennial.  The first Handbook edition was published in 1926.  The years 1927 and 1928 actually had two numbered editions published per year.

As you know, the Handbook is a massive, almost 1300-page encyclopedia of electronics and communications technology that weighs in at 6.2 pounds—a pretty good pennies-per-page investment even if you only spring for a Handbook “every hundred years or so.”  And if you do, go for the hardcopy version.

73 all, and the best of the New Year,

Skip

Betsey M Doane, K1EIC, writes on CT ARRL Members list:

Happy holidays and happy first significant snow of the year. Do be careful and stay safe. Many thanks to EC Sky Warn  Ed W1YSM for keeping us up-to-date on the latest news from NWS.

I wrote previously to tell you that our immediate past SEC George Lillenstein AB1GL became a silent key. There will be a service via Zoom on Wednesday, December 14, at 4:30 PM EST. George’s family is in northern Kentucky and near Cincinnati, Ohio. If you would like to attend,  please join Zoom meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85221021153?pwd=N0NZeUp2cjZGM09oTDBTSVdaOFZsQT09 Wednesday, December 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Meeting ID: 852 2102 1153 Passcode: lillen

George was an example to us all because he was involved in so many different aspects of Amateur radio. Among them were The Newington Amateur Radio League, The Bears of Manchester, NCS on NTS nets, mentor, Division cabinet meetings, District Emergency Coordinator for many years and then Section Emergency Coordinator, various communications activities including the Manchester Road Race for 20 years and took various club officer posts including club president. His activities remind us all to stretch ourselves and learn something new—there’s so much to do in this wonderful hobby we enjoy. 

We have unfortunately lost other wonderful members of our field organization, Jim Ritterbusch KD1YV also a past SEC, and Art Fregeau AF1HS, Assistant SEC and one who ran our web site for so many years. Jim was a past Division volunteer of the year and past president of the Candlewood Amateur Radio Association.  Art maintained the ARES database and the CTARES.org web site for over 20 years. You knew when Art was at a hamfest when you saw that van with all the antennas up top—he loved his radios and scanners! May George, Jim and Art rest in peace. Each was a gift to us all.  

It was a pleasure for me to attend the Christmas party  at the Candlewood Amateur Radio Association where I was pleased to spend time with longtime friends, new ops and even one who was waiting for his call sign. Remember those days? Wasns’t it exciting when your call arrived?

Congrats to Barb K1EIR who has just been appointed by Governor Lamont to the State Independent Living Council. This involved several interviews.  Good luck Barb—k1eir@arrl.net!

The new year is upon us and we’ll need to get serious about recruiting anew full-time Section manager. If you’re wondering about the field organization, what it is, what it does and what a Section Manager does, check out the material on the ARRL Web site. You can also go to the CT Section page where there is a PowerPoint presentation with audio that I did many years ago. It’s somewhat dated but you’ll get the idea.  Of course, just write and ask. We’ll talk more about it in the new year.

I wish for each of you a wonderful holiday season. Stay well and safe.

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ARRL Connecticut Section

Section Manager: Betsey M Doane, K1EIC

k1eic@arrl.org

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