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Newport County (RI) Radio Club POTA Activation, Black Farm K-6989, November 27, 2020

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Parks On The Air logoNancy Austin, KC1NEK, writes:
 
For my second [Parks On The Air] at Black Farm this morning, I was able to easily set up my 20m ham stick per Bob’s [Newport County Radio Club] presentation and make contacts with hams from Devon, England to Calgary and all in between. GREAT FUN!!! Definitely still learning how to hear the call sign as second nature plus jot down all the contact info for the logs. (Logs?? Next learning curve.) But it’s clearly easy to get going and learn, especially with such an enthusiastic and supportive NCRC community. Really a fun way to learn HF skills and get out & about this Covid winter. 
 
Thanks so much to John [K1JSM], Wily [W1LY] and Bob [WB4SON] for making this happen and welcoming new hams. You guys are the best.
 

Tom Walsh, K1TW, Declared Elected to a Two-Year Term As Eastern MA Section Manager Beginning January 1, 2021

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SB QST @ ARL $ARLB037
ARLB037 New York City-Long Island Section Manager Re-Elected in Fall
Balloting

ZCZC AG37
QST de W1AW 
ARRL Bulletin 37  ARLB037
From ARRL Headquarters 
Newington CT  November 25, 2020
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB037
ARLB037 New York City-Long Island Section Manager Re-Elected in Fall Balloting

New York City-Long Island Section Manager Jim Mezey, W2KFV, has been re-elected in the Fall election cycle. Mezey, of Carle Place, received 527 votes to 136 for challenger Donnie Katzovicz, W2BRU. The race for NYC-LI SM was the only contested election. Mezey begins a new 2-year term of office on January 1, 2021. He has served as New York City-Long Island Section Manager since 2013.

In the West Central Florida (WCF) Section, Michael Douglas, W4MDD, of Wauchula, Florida, will become Section Manager starting on January 1, 2021. He was the only nominee for the post. Douglas is currently Affiliated Club Coordinator, a Technical Specialist, and an Official Emergency Station. Incumbent WCF Section Manager Darrell Davis, KT4WX, did not run for a new term after serving for the past 6 years.

These incumbent Section Managers were the only candidates for re-election and will begin new terms of office on January 1: Tom Walsh, K1TW (Eastern Massachusetts); Cecil Higgins, AC0HA (Missouri); Matt Anderson, KA0BOJ (Nebraska); Thomas Dick, KF2GC (Northern New York); Marc Tarplee, N4UFP (South Carolina); Tom Preiser, N2XW (Southern New Jersey), and Joe Shupienis, W3BC (Western Pennsylvania).
NNNN

Rhode Island Winter Field Day

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RI Section Emergency Coordinator Paul J Silverzweig, W1PJS, writes:

The last weekend in January is Winter Field Day… this is more for emergency communications practice than Summer Field Day, or at least is supposed to be… RI ARES will be sponsoring some activity for this event… mark your calendars for the Last Weekend in January… due to CoViD guidelines, it won’t be a mass group activity, so may be more like our NVIS exercise in nature… more to come…

Paul Silverzweig, W1PJS
RI Section Emergency Coordinator
All Hazards, FEMA/RIEMA ComL
MARS
RI Association of Emergency Managers
     Chair, Amateur Radio Committee
Portsmouth RI EMA
Trustee NB1RI Repeater Network
646-522-2262

Rhode Island ARES Foundation Announcement

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RI Section Emergency Coordinator Paul J Silverzweig, W1PJS, writes:

First I’d like to wish you all a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. CoViD guidance makes this year unusual and for many of us we won’t be able to spend time with family… so enjoy the best you can, but stay safe!

Some other things:

RI ARES has successfully created a non-profit 501c3 charity, called the RI ARES Foundation, a distinct organization from the communications group. The main focus of funds raised by this Foundation will be to fund the NB1RI repeater network, with some funds being used to actually support the Foundation itself, namely tax filings and web services, credit card fees, bank fees, other state filings, and in some cases programs or trading for RI ARES membership.

You can find the foundation’s  website at http://www.RIARESfoundation.org and are welcome to donate, whether as little as an automatic $1 per month to as much as you wish… Jeremy K1JST is the lead on this, the Treasurer, and has done all the leg work… if you have questions please ask him.

The Directors and Officers include:

Paul W1PJS
Jeremy K1JST
John N1ZO
Sandy Hodell KA1RXB
Jim KB1MAO
Chief Aaron KC1EPX
Teri W1PUP

I hope you all can help.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Paul Silverzweig, W1PJS
RI Section Emergency Coordinator
All Hazards, FEMA/RIEMA ComL
MARS
RI Association of Emergency Managers
     Chair, Amateur Radio Committee
Portsmouth RI EMA
Trustee NB1RI Repeater Network
646-522-2262

Ham Radio University Online, January 9, 2021

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Ham Radio University 2021 logoWith Covid19 restrictions precluding an in-person gathering, the Ham Radio University (HRU) educational conference will be held as a virtual event Saturday, January 9, 2021 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm  as a GoToWebinar on-line video conference.

HRU 2021 will feature 14 informational presentations by local experts in a broad range of Amateur Radio activities including:

  • Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
  • Basics of HF Operating
  • Communicating Through Amateur Radio Earth Satellites
  • Remote Station Operating Over the Internet
  • Software Defined Radios
  • HF and UHF Digital Communications
  • Using RaspberryPi Computers in Amateur Radio

In addition to viewing the presentations, on-line attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of the presenters.

Presented in memory of Ham Radio University’s founder, Phil Lewis, N2MUN, who passed away in March, HRU 2021 also will be the on-line convention of the ARRL’s NYC-Long Island Section.

As in years past, participation in HRU 2021 will be free of charge, with an optional suggested donation of $5.00 but advance registration–that starts December 15, 2020–will be required for each presentation.

Further information, including the schedule of forums and advance registration starting December 15, 2020, is on line at: <http://www.HamRadioUniversity.org>.

Maine ARRL Section Board Meeting Notes

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Maine iconCory Golob, KU1U writes:

We had our first Board Meeting last night virtually, using freeconferencecall.com and it worked well for its intended purpose; video and audio quality was good, screen sharing worked well.

The biggest issue was attendance. 43 people were invited, 10 were in attendance. We are open to suggestions on having a better day/time of the week. 6PM on a Saturday may not be the most convenient. We used the entire hour and a half scheduled which means we have plenty to discuss.

Bob Gould (N1WJO) would like to have these meetings every two weeks for a while until we can get some plans in motion and then look at scaling it back in the future.

Introductions were done by everyone in attendance. The biggest topic was Recruitment and Retention: How can we get people involved in the hobby. It was mentioned that we should have both a Facebook page for social media since that is the way of the times and also a webpage for those who do not use social media. The discussion was that Joy, K1SEW and I would likely head up these formats since Joy does a wonderful job maintaining the League page.

We also discussed having a virtual ham radio convention in early/mid January. Joe, W1SK and I have been talking about this idea for a little while. We would have talks, group meetings and an area for “eyeball QSOs.” The benefit of a virtual conference is there is no travel time involved so it can be a great opportunity to get some stellar talks from people anywhere in the world!

I mentioned the newsletter that was started in September, called the Maine Telegraph which is open to receiving an articles or items from people around Maine, what they may be doing with the hobby, any club activities, articles people may want to write. I suggested adding a “Show Your Shack” section to the newsletter, people could send in a picture of their shack. As hams, we take pride in our shack, so why not showcase it in the newsletter? The suggestion was well received.

I talked about ongoing nets and time changes due to conditions changing. I encouraged people to get on nets when possible.

Next meeting Sat December 5th at 6 pm unless a better day/time is more suitable

W1A Contacts, 2020 HamXposition

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Dennis Egan, W1UE, writes on the HamXposition.org list:

Below is a recap of the W1A operation by band and mode for the virtual convention on November 6-8, 2020:

W1A QSO Breakdown

For the Northeast HamExposition Virtual Convention this year, W1A was set up to be operated by various operators using their own stations. Seven operators volunteered to operate: W1RM, AJ1DM, W2NR, K1EIC, AI1G, W1FJ, KB1TBU, and KC2LSD.

Dennis W1UE,

W1A Coordinator

2020 K1USN Veterans Day Special Event Wrap-Up

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2020 K1USN Veterans Day CertificateFrom K1USN [Radio Club, Braintree, Massachusetts] Happenings, November 19, 2020:

I want to extend my thanks to everyone who helped us make this a success. Obviously we would not be able to conduct our usual in-person activation at K1USN on November 11th due to the pandemic. We had some discussions back and forth and decided that a 31 hour operating event might just work providing we could get commitments from enough operators to get on the HF bands and give us coverage on SSB, CW and FT8/4. As things evolved we even had our first contacts on the 630 meter band using WSPR thanks to Dave – AA1A.

As I said, there were quite a few people who made this a success. We thought that a downloadable certificate commemorating Veterans Day would be a cool idea. Yes it is, but it meant that we had to create one (Tnx WA1MAD, N1VH & W1VP) and then create the ability for stations to submit an online certificate request (Tnx W1VP).

Oh, yeah, what if we make a certificate but nobody even works us? Well, we really had a good turnout of operators, some who covered multiple shifts!

Thanks to this crew of operators:

AA1A – Dave
K1EBY – Frank
K1RV – Pi
K1VUT – Dave
K1WCC – Henry
KC1G – Mike
N1DC – Rick
W1TJL – Tom
W1XD – Lou
WA1MAD – Mike

We need to give a special thanks to Rick – N1DC for the outstanding job he did compiling all our log data. This was quite a task, but the results are attached below and show the great results.

I’ve already received approximately 75 QSL requests via snail mail so far and Larry – W1VP said that we have at least 180 downloadable certificate requests so far. BTW, Randy – KB3IFH is updating our K1USN QSL card and I hope to receive our new order for 500 more cards soon.

If you managed to work K1USN during the 2020 Veterans Day event I urge you to at least submit a certificate request.

If you make contact with K1USN during Veterans Day and would like a certificate emailed to you, please fill out the request form here.

Here is Rick’s summary:

Rick Pendleton
Nov 16, 2020, 11:32 AM (4 days ago)

Hi,

Thanks to everyone that participated in this event. The K1USN team did an outstanding job this year. We had operators using CW, SSB, FT8, FT4 and WSPR. For the first time we had QSO’s on 630M using WSPR thanks to Dave AA1A.

After working through some issues with the logs, I was able to create a master log in N1MM+ that combined CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4. Thanks to Mike KC1G and Lou W1XD for the extra effort sorting out some adif issues. The WSPR log could not be imported since it wasn’t in ADIF format. However, the QSO data was included in the summary.

I will investigate WSPR log file conversions further.

There were a LOT of QSO’s completed using FT8, FT4 and WSPR providing many with QSO’s that might not have happened otherwise.

Overall results : 1,690 QSO’s , 53 DXCC countries, 20 CQ Zones
The were 500 FT8, FT4 and WSPR QSO’s accounting for 30% of the total.

In addition, there were 157 QSO’s made during the 1300, 1900 and 0300 UTC CWops CWTs by K1VUT, N1DC and K1RV. This was not actually part of the event but K1USN was on the air using “Watson” and MA as the exchange.

Attached are pdf files showing the Results and supporting details.

The Master ADIF and LOG files have been sent to Pi and Larry.

73,
Rick N1DC

Propagation Data Collection During December 14 Eclipse

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HamSCI (www.hamsci.org) is looking for amateur radio operators around the world to help collect propagation data during the December 14 eclipse across South America. Data collection requires an HF radio connected to a computer.
 
There will be 24-hour practice runs on November 21 and December 5. The main data recording will run from December 9-16, to ensure an abundance of control data.
 
Details of the experiment may be found here:
 
Instructions are also available in Spanish and Portuguese. 
 
Interested operators should sign up at this link (https://forms.gle/C9PFSTeLf7xvCQDYA) or directly contact Kristina Collins at kd8oxt@case.edu.