SECARS will be sponsoring a foxhunt Sunday, September 4 at 1 PM – with a rain date of Monday, September 5 at 1 PM. We will be at the Preston Community Park – (10 Lincoln Park Rd Ext, Preston, CT 06365 – Hike the Trail — Tri Town Trail Association).
This will be an on-foot foxhunt. We will have 6 fox boxes running. Frequencies are listed on the SECARS website – we will be running foxes C, H, I, J, K at https://secars.org/foxhunting/. The additional fox frequency for the 6th box will be added later this week, so look for another announcement with the parameters for Fox L. Please let me know if you need any additional information. Talk in will be available on 146.730 MHz PL 156.7 Hz. I look forward to seeing you there!
Shawn Takatsu, NR1T, writes on the Greater Bridgeport ARC mailing list:
Tomorrow [August 21, 2022] at 10 am we’re hosting our monthly fox hunt by Shawn, NR1T.
As always, all are welcome to join in the fox hunt, both members and non-members as well as non-licensed operators as you don’t need to transmit to direction find.
Many thanks to Mark (K8LSB) who shares the following announcement: Sharing POTA/SOTA with the Public Greetings POTA/SOTA activators, This year the BigE (exposition)—a “combined” state fair for the six New England states (CT MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)—will run for 17 days: from September 16 to October 2. In the past, 1.5 million people […]
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On Sunday, July 31, SECARS [the Southeastern Connecticut Amateur Radio Society] will be holding a fox hunt at the North Stonington Fairgrounds located at 23 Wyassup Road, North Stonington, CT 06359.
This event is being held in conjunction with the New London County 4-H Fair. Some of the foxes will be within the fair event itself, while others will be around the perimeter. The fair charges $3 admission.
SECARS will have an HF amateur radio station setup near the fair office and flagpole at a member’s travel trailer. At the trailer, you will find a list of all the boxes and associated frequencies that are deployed around the fair.
If you join us, please recognize this is intentionally being held at a public, youth focused event. As such, please expect to get asked some questions and provide outreach to generate interest in amateur radio. Our fox boxes will be out between 10 AM and 1 PM.
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.
Newport County Radio Club (RI) Parks on the Air (POTA) Activity
When: Saturday July 30, 2022 at 0930 EDST
Where:Ft. Adams State Park: POTA K-2874
Who: All club members and license classes welcome
All members are welcome however those with a General license are especially encouraged to attend.
Optional: bring your own HF radio, microphone and the radio’s manual. We’ll try to use it to get on the air. POTA experienced members will provide help you might need to further your understanding of your own radio. In addition, batteries, antennas, turners, other HF radios, etc. will be provided.
Club members can participate in this POTA activity in two ways:
1. Operate on the air as an “activator” at the park using call sign W1SYE.
2. Operate from home and contact W1SYE as a “hunter” on the day of the event. Activators are listed on the following POTA web site:https://pota.app/#/
Call the W1SYE activators!
Club members are encouraged to come out to our activation to share knowledge or learn about portable setups and operations, different modes of operation (CW, phone, digital), how to manage/work pileups, and even operate HF bands with a control operator in a relaxed environment.
Ft. Adams is in Newport. We will setup on the bluff behind the Eisenhower House. Turn left as soon as you enter the park.
On Sunday, July 17, 2021 at 11 am we will have our monthly fox hunt and this month we will have a special treat for all with an easier fox hunt. All members and non-members are invited to attend and this should be a family friendly event. The purpose of the fox hunt is to track down a hidden transmitter and find some information, then relay that information according to the instructions on a sign where the fox is located. For more tips, see below the map. The hunt will be mainly in a square area Fairfield from Southport north to just north of the Merritt Parkway east to Sacred Heart University and south to Captains Cove.
ARDF Coordinator writes on the ARDF-USA mailing list:
The name Radio Orienteering has been around for a very long time and has frequently been applied to the sport of ARDF, but it hasn’t been recognized in any official sense. Because Radio Orienteering is more descriptive of our sport (especially to the orienteering community), and because Amateur Radio Direction Finding is often confused with other radio direction-finding activities (like mobile t-hunting), the ARRL ARDF committee has decided to officially favor the use of the term Radio Orienteering. We believe that a transition to that name will result in less confusion, and perhaps, quicker acceptance of the sport by orienteers and others who will more readily grasp the essence of the sport.
The name-change decision will impact certain websites, documents, social media, and other communication media that the ARRL ARDF Committee uses. Notably, the annual championship event that the ARRL sponsors will be titled the USA Radio Orienteering Championships going forward.
We hope that Radio Orienteering will gradually gain universal acceptance. But we recognize that the IARU, and others will likely continue to use the term “ARDF” for the foreseeable future. And, for now, even the committee’s name will remain the ARRL ARDF Committee. The transition may be gradual, but we believe that the change will be beneficial to the sport in the long run.
Look for more references to Radio Orienteering going forward, and don’t be confused: it is the same radio navigation sport we all enjoy, but with a more descriptive name.
Shawn Takatsu, NR1T, writes on the Greater Bridgeport ARC mailing list:
Many thanks to Mark (K8LSB) who shares the following announcement: Sharing POTA/SOTA with the Public Greetings POTA/SOTA activators, This year the 
