Public Relations

NEWINGTON, CT (WFSB) – Newington is home to the American Radio Relay League, thee ARRL, and a destination from Ham Radio operators from all over the world.

The organization’s headquarters is in Newington.

“Really, the purposed of Newington in 1938 was to overcome the flooded station at Brainard field. The founder of the organization, Hiram Percy Maxim, found a great piece of property here in Newington and we’ve been here ever since,” said Bob Interbitzen, Product Development Manager at ARRL.

The National Organization for Amateur Radio, or ham operators, has been around for more than 100 years. It was founded on the premise that this budding radio community of amateurs from all over the United States would relay messages wirelessly from location to locations.

“An in the beginning, it was like, ‘let’s get a message from Hartford to Springfield,’ and then all of a sudden, it’s Hartford to Cleveland, and before you know it, we’re all across the country. And then this network of radio amateurs is around the world communicating with each other,” Interbitzen said. [Full story]

Boston Globe reporter Gabriella Gage writes this nice human interest story in the May 22, 2012 issue of The Boston Globe:

“On a rainy October night during the pandemic, my husband, David, searches for a faint voice in the distance. He doesn’t know who’s calling, but he knows he wants to speak to them. David adjusts the tuning knob on the decades-old transceiver ever so slightly, as if cracking a safe. Outside, a homemade antenna bobs in the wind. On his computer, pulsating lines tell him the voice is one of hundreds calling out on this busy night. The voice gets clearer: ‘CQ,’ the magic letters he’s been awaiting — the amateur radio operators’ invitation for a response — followed by a call sign. David jumps on his mic, repeating the stranger’s call sign and adds: “This is KB1TOY, Kilo-Bravo-1-Tango-Oscar-Yankee. You’re light but I can hear you!”  [Full story]

From ema.arrl.org:

Perched atop the MIT Cecil and Ida Green Building (Building 54), MIT’s tallest academic building, a large, golf ball-like structure protrudes from the roof, holding its own in the iconic MIT campus skyline. This radar dome — or “radome” for short — is a fiberglass shell that encases a large parabolic dish, shielding it from the elements while allowing radio waves to penetrate. First installed in 1966, it was used initially to pioneer weather radar research. As the years passed and technology evolved, the radome eventually fell out of use for this purpose and was subsequently slated for removal as MIT began a major renovation and capital improvement project for the building. That’s when the student-led MIT Radio Society, who had found creative new uses for the radome, sprang into action to save it — and succeeded. [Full story]

ARRL New England Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, will be the featured guest on Ham On!, simulcast on Pittsfield (MA) Community Television and WTBR-FM 89.7 on March 10, 2021 at 9 AM. The early morning program is produced and moderated by Western MA Assistant Section Traffic Manager Peter Mattice, KD2JKV. Phil will speak on ARRL matters and other wide-ranging topics.