The Meriden Amateur Radio Club (W1NRG) is pleased to announce W1NRG & the National Weather Service, Upton, NY (OKX) is holding a FREE in-person three-hour SKYWARN Training Session.
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN
Thursday Wallingford Public Library (Community Room)
200 N Main Street
Wallingford, CT 06492
7:00 -10:00 pm
June 6th, 2024
HOW TO REGISTER:
Weather.gov/nyc
Go to SKYWARN icon in lower left corner. Click on SKYWARN Training Schedule. Chose in-person event and fill out on-line form.
This program is free and open to the public – you do NOT need to be a licensed amateur radio operator. Registration will be limited to 125 attendees.
Ed W1YSM
President, W1NRG
Wallingford Amateur Radio Group/Meriden Amateur Radio Club
ARRL CT Affiliated Club Coordinator
EC SKYWARN NH/Middlesex Counties
W1YSM@arrl.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Dan Wright
k1was@was-ct.org
Phone: (203) 293-8759
Westport, Connecticut – March 13, 2024 – The Westport Astronomical Society (WAS) and its amateur radio station, K1WAS are excited to announce its participation in the observation of the total solar eclipse along the totality line in Texas on April 8, 2024, with a grant from NASA using high-altitude balloons launched by the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven.
The K1WAS team will assist the University of Bridgeport, and the University of New Haven with their effort in the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. The amateur radio club, and many other amateur radio operator members and balloon enthusiasts, will help launch several high-altitude balloons equipped with cameras, sensors, and radio transmitters to capture the eclipse from a unique vantage point high above the Earth’s surface.
“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the scientific community’s understanding of this celestial event,” said Dan Wright N3DAW, Board Member of the Westport Astronomical Society. “These high altitude balloon missions will offer a perspective of the eclipse that is both breathtaking and informative, helping researchers study the Sun’s corona and the Earth’s atmosphere in new and exciting ways.”
“Since the University of Bridgeport (UB) began its balloon science and payload work in 2013, K1WAS/WAS members have served as mentors and instructors to both myself and dozens of our students,” said Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering, who leads the engineering teams for NASA/Montana State’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) for the central northeast. “Early on K1WAS/WAS members took the time to instruct in all aspects of high altitude balloon flight: from safe helium usage and transportation, stacking and tying payloads together, creating containers to protect the instruments, communications, launch, tracking and balloon and payload recovery. K1WAS/WAS members have been at each of our launches and served as mentors and team members for UB’s 2017 total solar eclipse team as well as our 2023 annular eclipse team and upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse team. We are particularly indebted to K1WAS/WAS members Larry Reed, AB1JC, Gary Moyher, WE1M, Mike Miciukiewicz, K1MJM, and David Schadlich, KB1LTW.”
The University of New Haven’s Texas team will include ozonesonde payloads during this eclipse to monitor the ozone levels in the atmosphere. Both traditional weather balloons and a newly improved altitude-controlled balloon will be used for this mission. These experiments will provide data analysis, and valuable information to scientists across the planet that will be analyzed after the event.
The launch of the high-altitude balloon will take place from a location near the path of totality in Junction Texas at Texas Tech, where the eclipse will be visible for the longest duration. The balloons will ascend and hover at an altitude of 80,000 feet while gathering data, providing a clear view of the earth as the eclipse’s shadow passes.
Amateur radio operators and astronomy enthusiasts are invited to join the Westport Astronomical Society’s observation efforts by following the balloon’s location which will be captured in real-time using an amateur radio system called APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), and participating in related events and discussions. Details on how to access the data and participate in the event will be shared on the Westport Astronomical Society’s website and social media channels.
The total solar eclipse, a rare astronomical event where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, will be visible across parts of North America but the sun is only 90% obscured in Westport and much of New England. The Westport Astronomical Society, known for its dedication to promoting astronomy and space exploration, is leveraging its resources and expertise to enhance the viewing experience for enthusiasts and researchers alike. Locally, WAS will have telescopes set up to safely view the partial eclipse with our partner, the Westport Library on April 8th from 2 – 4 PM.
In Connecticut, the next partial solar eclipses aren’t until 2028 and 2029 and will not obscure the sun anywhere near what we’ll see in April. For that, you’ll have to wait until the total solar eclipse on the morning of May 1, 2079.
More on WAS:
WAS opens up the Westport Observatory to the public every clear Wednesday from 8- 10 pm. For more information about the Westport Astronomical Society and its amateur radio station KIWAS, visit www.was-ct.org. Follow the Society on Facebook, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates on the total solar eclipse observation mission.
Members of the Westport Astronomical Society’s Amateur Radio Station K1WAS launching a high-altitude balloon from Bridgeport’s Discovery Museum
Total Solar Eclipse, courtesy WAS Member Carl Lancaster, KB1NTN
The Nashua Area Radio Society will be giving license classes for all levels this winter and spring. The classes will be online via Zoom web conferencing and will include an online exam session at the end of the class. Here is the schedule:
Technician Class: Saturday and Sunday, February 17th and 18th
General Class: Saturday and Sunday, March 16th and 17th
Extra Class: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 19th, 20th, and 21st.
PART of Westford (MA) President George Allison, K1IG, writes:
The Police Amateur Radio Team (PART) of Westford, MA, is getting ready for Field Day (only five months away!), and one of the things we’re doing is CW training. We’ll be running a course for CW newbies (probably using the CWOps curriculum), and our members show a lot of interest in learning.
We’ve also made a bulk purchase of Morserino kits for our members. If you haven’t seen a Morserino, it’s quite a gadget, incorporating a keyer, display, code reader, touch paddles, speaker, CW trainer, and LoRa transceiver. It’s about the easiest kit you’ll ever build; one hour is all it took me, and it worked the first time!
If bought individually through the Morserino website, these keyers are about $100 with free shipping (very slow, through the post office with no tracking), or about $130 with DHL shipping (about 5 days from Austria, with tracking). Since we ordered 20 kits, Morserino gave us a bulk discount, so the kits, with DHL shipping, cost $94 each. Shipping in bulk accounted for much of the savings: shipping one kit via DHL is $30, shipping 20 kits was $72. PART has a kit-building fund that subsidized some of the cost, so we offered the kits to members for $50 each, and they quickly sold.
Other clubs may want to make a bulk purchase. It takes at least 14 to get a discount, and I found that corresponding directly with the head of Morserino (info@morserino.info) about a bulk purchase is more effective than ordering through the website. If one club can’t get enough orders, perhaps several clubs can get together.
I was surprised by the interest in CW, especially among the newer hams and the “no-code Extras,” and I’m looking forward to fights in the Field Day CW tent for operating time!
Kudos to John Grubmuller, K1XF, Vice President of the Granite State (NH) ARA, for his story in “Celebrating Our Legacy” in the January, 2024 issue of QST. Thanks Bill, W1WRA.
L-R: Phil Temples, K9HI; Cameron Lu, KC1LZI; Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Photo courtesy Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB.
ARRL New England Division Director Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI, recently visited the W1AF club shack on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massaschusetts, and awarded a 50-year ARRL affiliation plaque to HWC Vice President Cameron Lu, KC1LZI. The ARRL Board of Directors recognized the club in the form of an official motion at its July, 2023 meeting in Windsor, Connecticut.
The club has a distinguished history, and is one of the oldest radio clubs in the country. It was founded in 1909 as “The Radio Society of the Institute of Geographic Exploration at Harvard” and changed its name to the Harvard Wireless Club a year later.
Kudos to members of the Providence Radio Association in Johnston, RI, Wrapping up 2023, the PRA completed a challenging project: providing additional long term storage at the W1OP clubhouse.
A foundation was carefully measured and constructed by volunteers. Then a multi-purpose container and was delivered to the site and installed on the foundation.
Writes PRA President Dave “Tess” Tessitore, K1DT, “Thanks to all who worked on this project for several weeks, especially our House Chair [Bob Hart], KC1NAB!”
Doug Bruce, N1WRN, writes in the Billerica ARS November newsletter:
I am pleased to announce that our guest speaker for the November 1, 2023, club meeting via Zoom will be none other than Rick Roderick, K5UR, the current President of the ARRL!
Rick will give a talk on what’s new at the ARRL and will share valuable insights on our great hobby. You will definitely want to make sure and attend this Zoom Presentation to be given by a true pioneer in ham radio!
[For Zoom conference details, email Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, at w1lus -at- hotmail -dot- com.]
Seth Kendall, KC1PZY, writes on the stars-radio mailing list:
We are looking for mentors/volunteers to help out with the new Wireless Engineering Club on Saturday mornings 10:00-11:30am. Please let us know if you have any interest in participating!
The “Wireless Engineering Club” is a new club at New England Sci-Tech meant to attract youth and prospective hams into the hobby of Ham Radio. The club will meet every other Saturday morning, a time that tends to work well for families, and will be focused around build workshops and practical, hands-on radio activities. We’d like to use this club to bring in new hams, especially youth, and further grow the amateur radio community here at NEST.
We are interested in three kinds of volunteers:
Helpers
Workshop Leaders
Outreach
For Helpers: Pick one or more workshops to come in and help out for. If we get lots of members, we’ll need lots of Elmers to help people troubleshoot, experiment, and have fun.
For Workshop Leaders: Pick one of the topics from our brainstorm list and volunteer to lead a 90 minute workshop on that topic. The more hands on, the better. We’re looking for activities over lectures. Even better, volunteer your own workshop. We need content, so anyone who’d like to put together one or more activities/workshops, please let us know. They’re meant to be beginner level. This is an ideal chance to help grow the ham radio community and bring in youth, but it’ll only work with participation from us in the community.
Outreach: Know any recently licensed youth or youth with a general interest in electronics and science? Spread the word about the club to communities you know! Adults are welcome and encouraged to join in the workshops and builds as well. Many of them could be of broad interest. I’m attaching a flyer. It looks like this, but if you download the attachment, it will be print resolution.
If you’d like to volunteer, you an either post here or send me an email at sethlkendall@gmail.com. Thanks all.
AGAWAM, Mass. (WWLP) — “Radio Lovers came together for the 75th anniversary of the Hampden County Radio Association with a picnic at the School Street Park in Agawam Saturday afternoon.
“People were encouraged to bring their radios, antennas, and power sources to ‘Tune the World’. This gave amateur radio operators a chance to receive their license to transmit on HAM radios. There was a demonstration provided on how to use their portable radios as well. By the end of the classes, people were able to make unofficial contact with emergency services.” [Full story]
The Meriden Amateur Radio Club (W1NRG) is pleased to announce W1NRG & the National Weather Service, Upton, NY (OKX) is holding a FREE in-person three-hour SKYWARN Training Session.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
PART of Westford (MA) President George Allison, K1IG, writes:
Kudos to members of the Providence Radio Association in Johnston, RI, Wrapping up 2023, the PRA completed a challenging project: providing additional long term storage at the W1OP clubhouse.
From ema.arrl.org:
AGAWAM, Mass. (WWLP) — “Radio Lovers came together for the 75th anniversary of the