Director’s Field Day Message

by
Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC

Hello everyone,

I know that many folks are preparing for and looking forward to Field Day 2024. I very much enjoy visiting Field Day sites throughout New England to talk with friends, meet new hams, and to see what everyone is doing. Unfortunately, I have had surgery on my foot and, as a result, I am unable to do much walking at this time. I hope to be back on my feet by the end of July. This means that I will not be able to make my usual Field Day visit tour this year. I hope that you can understand my situation and I wish everyone a safe and fun Field Day 2024.

Best and 73, 

Fred Kemmerer,  AB1OC
 (603) 413-5400
Mail: ab1oc@arrl.org

ARRL New England Division Director

 

ARRL logo

Robust Lineup of Vendors and Speakers at the 2024 Northeast HamXposition

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HamXposition BannerNortheast HamXposition Press Release
 
ROBUST LINEUP OF VENDORS AND SPEAKERS AT THE 2024 NORTHEAST HAMXPOSITION
June 1, 2024
 
For more information, visit:  <https://hamxposition.org/>
https://hamxposition.org
 
Plans are shaping up for the 2024 Northeast HamXposition and New England
Division Convention on August 22-25, 2024 in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
 
This year's convention will be held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel &
Trade Center, 181 Boston Post Road W, Marlborough, MA 01752. This venue is
located off of I-495 on Route 20 west. It offers many amenities and lots of
nearby family-friendly attractions and dining options.
 
The festivities kick off on Thursday evening, August 22 with entertainment
provided by nationally known comedian Juston McKinney. Seating is limited to
250 people. Tickets are just $35, and also available as part of the
"Convention Plus" package.
 
Join your fellow hams for a delicious DXCC/Contest Banquet on Friday night
with Yuri Onipko, VE3DZ, as he recaps his 50 years of DX and contesting
activities and shares his operating experiences from a variety of locations
around the world.  
 
Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, will present the keynote on Saturday morning. Steve
leads ARRL's Education and Learning Department. He has a passion for youth
outreach, and works constantly to find ways to engage more youth in wireless
technology and help teachers ELEVATE their STEM programs.
 
The Saturday evening Grand Banquet will feature special guest Dr. Tamitha
Skov, WX6SWW. Known as "Space Weather Woman" in social media, Dr. Skov
forecasts and analyzes space weather processes - in the heliosphere and
exosphere.
 
Several new vendors will have their wares on display at the convention this
year: FlexRadio, Elecraft, and SteppIR Communications Systems. We'll also
feature Halibut Electronics, Club Gear Online, Reliance Antennas. Remote Ham
Radio, VE2DX Electronics, Gold Medal Ideas, AG Custom Gifts, and others.
 
New for 2024 is "Mini-Contest University," based on K3LR's popular Contest
University. CTU has been featured at the Dayton Hamvention since 2007 and
has been presented in 15 countries to over 10,000 participants. Mini CTU is
a series of contest-oriented talks and presentations offered at HamXposition
all day Friday.
 
HamXposition is pleased to offer a Parks On The Air (POTA) track featuring
presentations designed for both newcomer and experienced POTA operators
alike. There will be a functioning portable station operating on the hotel
grounds designed to show beginners how to "chase" POTA contacts. In
addition, an actual POTA activation will occur in a nearby state park
following the prize drawing and closing ceremony.
 
This year, volunteers will staff a special "Get On The Air" station, W1XPO,
to mentor and assist newcomers in making their first HF contact.
 
Our popular EmComm track will be back for 2024. Veteran emergency
communicators will share their knowledge and experience to help others to
"up their game." In addition to talks and presentations, convention goers
will get to see operational emergency communications vehicles on display in
the parking lot.
 
As always, the Northeast HamXposition will feature a robust flea market,
open to tailgaters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 
 
No major convention would be worth its salt without great prizes. Along with
hourly drawings, we're pleased to announce that one lucky person will
receive the grand prize-an Icom IC-705 QRP all-in-one transceiver. Second
prize will be a Xiegu X6100 QRP HF/6m transceiver. The third prize will be
an Icom ID-50A VHF/UHF/D-Star handheld.
 

Tickets can be purchased in advance by visiting
<https://ticketing.hamxposition.org/> https://ticketing.hamxposition.org.
 
The ARRL Diamond, The National Association for Amateur Radio, Amateur Radio
Emergency Service, ARES, ARES logo, National Traffic System, NTS, and NTS
logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of American Radio Relay
League, Inc. Parks On The Air and POTA are registered trademarks belonging
to Jason Johnston, W3AAX.
(c) 2024 Northeast HamXposition(tm) -
<https://hamxposition.org/privacy-policy> Privacy Policy

2024 ARRL Club Grant Program Applications Now Open

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From the ARRL Facebook page:
 
Attention Amateur Radio Clubs:
 
The ARRL Foundation is pleased to announce the return of the Club Grant Program for 2024!
 
This is an opportunity for clubs to apply for grants up to $25,000 to fund projects in their community with an emphasis given to projects that are of a “transformational” nature, or a club that has a plan to improve the community through education, recruiting, training, and promotion of amateur radio.
 
APPLY NOW
 

ARRL Systems Service Disruption Update, June 4, 2024

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ARRL logoFrom ARRL News:

Updated 6/4/2024

On or around May 12, 2024, ARRL was the victim of a sophisticated network attack by a malicious international cyber group. ARRL immediately involved the FBI and engaged with third party experts to investigate.

This serious incident was extensive and categorized by the FBI as “unique,” compromising network devices, servers, cloud-based systems, and PCs.

ARRL management quickly established an incident response team. This has led to an extensive effort to contain and remediate the networks, restore servers, and staff are beginning the testing of applications and interfaces to ensure proper operation.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as our staff continue to work through this with an outstanding team of experts to restore full functionality to our systems and services.

We will continue to update members as advised and to the extent we are able.

This story will be updated with new developments.

ARRL Service Disruption, Director Update

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Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, writes:

Hello everyone,

Many of you have probably noticed that several ARRL online services and the HQ phone system have been down. The ARRL is working as quickly as possible to restore all services, and progress is being made. You can see the current status of the restoration at this link –

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-systems-service-disruption

You can check this link periodically for further updates. It will likely take some time to get everything fully back up and running. We appreciate your patience.

——————————————————————–
ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

ARRL Systems Service Disruption Update, May 29, 2024

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ARRL logoUpdated 5/29/2024

This update includes information about the status of several services as we continue to respond to a serious incident involving access to our network and systems.

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) has resumed the processing of Amateur Radio License applications with the FCC. A more comprehensive update on the status of ARRL VEC services is available here.

There has been no interruption to visitor operating at W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station. The station resumed voice bulletins on Thursday, May 23. All other scheduled transmissions, including Morse code practice, and code and digital bulletins, will resume on Thursday, May 30. Please refer to the regular operating schedule at www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule.

After last week’s distribution of the ARRL Letter, our e-newsletter service has resumed. Current editions of ARRL Club News and The ARES® Letter have also been distributed.

ARRL Store orders have resumed shipping. Orders are being fulfilled from earliest order dates to the latest. Please allow additional time for our processing.

There has been no disruption to the @arrl.net email forwarding service, though forwarding email addresses and aliases cannot be modified at this time.

Our telephone system is unavailable at this time.

We appreciate your patience as we continue working on restoring access to affected systems and services.

This story will be updated with new developments.

NEAR-Fest Moving to Hillsborough County (NH) Fairgrounds

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NEAR-Fest logoFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phil Brooks, KA1PXZ, Chief of NEAR-Fest, is pleased to announce that, effective October 4th, 2024, the New England Amateur Radio Festival, known as NEAR-Fest, will be held at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds and Youth Center located at New Boston NH, approximately 15 miles west of Manchester.

The reason for the permanent change in venue is due to ongoing scheduling conflicts with other events at the Deerfield (NH) Fairgrounds, NEAR-Fest’s home for the past eighteen years.

The hard decision to move the popular New England hamfest was taken by a unanimous vote of NEAR-Fest’s Board of Directors on May 17th, 2024.

In endorsing the decision NEAR-Fest’s Benevolent Dictator Emeritus, Michael Crestohl, W1RC, aka “Mister Mike” commented: “This was inevitable. The Deerfield Fairgrounds is becoming more and more popular with exhibitors and, as a designated agricultural fairgrounds, they have to give priority to agricultural events. We had a fabulous eighteen-year run. I am confident that Phil and Kelley, along with their team, will take NEAR-Fest forward at our new location for many years to come.”

Other than the location nothing else will change. It is still the same NEAR-Fest we have all known and loved since 2007!

NEAR-Fest XXXVI will be held Friday October 4th and Saturday October 5th, 2024 at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds, located at 17 Hilldale Lane, (Route 13) New Boston NH. GPS Coordinates 42.9842430, -71.6793460.

See you there!

NEAR-Fest (The New England Amateur Radio Festival, Inc.)

PO Box 172, Barton VT 05822 (781) 639-9172

World Wide Web: www.near-fest.com E-mail: ka1pxz@near-fest.com

Graphical map of the Fairgrounds

 

Map of New Boston, NH area

 

 

2024 Northeast HamXposition to Offer “Mini-Contest University”

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HamXposition BannerFrom The ARRL Letter, May 23, 2024:

The Northeast HamXposition and ARRL New England Division Convention announced a major addition to its program for 2024. The event runs from August 22 – 25, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and will feature the Mini-Contest University (mini-CTU), based on Contest University. Contest University has been featured at Dayton Hamvention® since 2007 and presented in 15 countries to over 10,000 participants. A series of contest-oriented talks and presentations will be offered at HamXposition on Friday August 23. More information is available at hamxposition.org.