Serving ARRL members who reside in the New England sections
Two items of note, per HamXposition General Chairman Bob DeMattia, K1IW:
The July, 2022 Section Newsletter is now available at https://ema.arrl.org/july-2022-section-news/.
ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio. If your club completes a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation, or activates a park, we want to hear about it. You can submit your newsletter article to us at clubs@arrl.org. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of PDFs. If you have pictures, please submit them with caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer. We want to highlight the good work being done by clubs and show others in the community. Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs.
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 – October 1st. 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.
New England Sci-Tech is sponsoring a 12-month STEM education program free of charge to all students grades 4 through 12 and Scouts in New England as part of the contact program. The program will provide hands-on learning about Space Science, Radio Communications, Electronics, Satellites, Rocketry, Astronomy, Amateur Radio, and more. Ten students participating in the Sci-Tech educational program will be chosen to make contact and chat live with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from the BIG E.
The contact and the associated educational program are a result of a partnership between The BIG E, New England Sci-Tech (a STEM education group in New England), Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), Black Helicopter Creative LLC, the New England Division of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and local Amateur Radio organizations.
Execution planning has been underway for some time, and we are pleased to announce the addition of Ray Lajoie AA1SE, ARRL Western Massachusetts Section Manager, to the contact leadership team. Ray will be responsible for working with the BIG E team and our content production partner Black Helicopter to set up, test, and facilitate the development and delivery of a pre-contact program.
Ray joins and rounds out the existing BIG E space chat planning team consisting of:
The BIG E planning team is being assisted by Dylann Keaney, President of Black Helicopter Creative LLC, Barbara Irby, KC1KGS, Dan Norman, N0HF, and Larry Krainson, W1AST, in planning what expect will be a major Amateur Radio event in New England. You can learn more about the BIG E space chat here.
Fred Kemmerer AB1OC
ARRL New England Division Director
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.
Recommended Starting Location: Park & Ride Exit 44 off Merritt Parkway
Starting Time:10:00 AM Local
Fox Frequency:147.485 MHz Simplex
Fox Power:5W into a 1/4 wave antenna dropping to 1W at 11:00
Sponsor:Peter K1PCN
Check in on: 441.700 or 146.445 Repeaters or Echolink (recommended)
En-Route Communications: Contact K1PCN on the above repeaters
Rob Cichon, K1RCT, writes on the ctfoxhunter list at 12:32 AM on July 9, 2022:
Starting at 09:40 in Wallingford.
1FIAB, a 1W beacon on 145.7
3FIAB, a 12mW beacon on 145.3
4FIAB, a 1W DTMF-1 controlled txcvr as backup on 145.2
You may hear 2FIAB, 700mW DTMF-1 controlled txcvr on 145.605
All will cease at 11:00 unless someone calls me on the W1NRG repeater or 144.97 simplex to request more time.
— 73!
de Rob, K1RCT
Every new power-dependent technology has also produced an ever-increasing number of RFI generating devices. Solar generators, LED’s, power line faults, charging devices and many other sources pollute the amateur radio spectrum and impact its effective use. The New England Division, with the cooperation of Ed Hare, W1RFI and Steve Anderson, W1EMI at the ARRL Lab, has created a program to assist hams to identify and eliminate or reduce RFI in the ham shack.
The final phase of a project to provide a web-based RFI troubleshooting process is planned for the fourth quarter of this year. The web pages are in place and the teams to assist New England hams to use them have been established in each section. The pages feature:
and many other references that help hams identify RFI sources,
To use the process, a ham first performs the checks outlined in the decision tree. If that doesn’t identify the noise source, the ham then fills out a form explaining what was done and sends it to the section RFI team together with a spectrum file if available. The RFI team then works with the ham to help identify and eliminate the RFI. If necessary, the case is forwarded to the ARRL and then, if still unresolved, to the FCC.
Two RFI-related forums are planned for the Marlboro HamXposition in late August. Annette, KA1RFI and Rob, K1UI will discuss the partnership between radio amateurs and Eversource of New Hampshire to identify and correct power line – related RFI. Rob will then lead an RFI team forum where RFI team tools will be available for demonstration. Some of these were evaluated by the RFI teams at their June meeting.
The ARRL Foundation Board of Directors has approved the recipients of the 2022 ARRL Foundation Scholarships as recommended by the Scholarship Committee. Foundation Scholarships totaling $921,250 will be awarded to 139 deserving radio amateurs pursuing higher education. Individual scholarship awards range from $500 to $25,000. Several young radio amateur recipients reside in New England:
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) Scholarships:
The East Coast Amateur Radio Service (ECARS) Scholarships, $2,500 each:
The FEMARA Scholarships, $2,000 each:
The New England Amateur Radio Festival (NEAR-Fest) Scholarship, $1,500:
The RFinder LLC — Arthur L. Greenberg, W2LH, and Madeline Greenberg, W2EEO, Memorial Scholarship, $1,000:
A full list of scholarship recipients can be viewed at <http://arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-announces-2022-scholarship-awards>.
Congratulations to all the recipients, and best wishes for success in their higher educational pursuits.
Rob Mather N1XSS writes:
We are getting close to the Vermont 100, 30 hours of running and lots of radio activity. I am still looking for volunteers for aid stations and a few shuttle drivers. If you have helped in the past, we would welcome your help again. If you have new members in your club or group, please be sure to share this information with them. This is a great learning opportunity for all. If you can spare some time on July 16th or 17th, please let me know. This is a great event for a Great Cause!
Thank you
N1XSS Rob Mather
H-802-886-5478
W-858-752-1501
C- 802-591-7277
Save Some Dates!
Welcome to 2022 and Summer Activities are back and scheduled.
Please let me know if you are available to assist with our Public Service Events.
We start with the Covered Bridges ½ Marathon on June 5th a nice road course for runners starting at Suicide Six Ski Area in Pomfret continuing through Woodstock and Quechee Villages and finishing at the Polo field in Quechee VT. The Covered Bridges ½ Marathon is a benefit for local charities and youth groups in the area. July 15th is the start of the Vermont 100 a 100-mile trail course covering some of Vermont’s most beautiful trails and landscapes. We have been asked to assist with the Vermont Overland this year on August 27th, this is a 54-mile Bike event supporting the Reading/ West Windsor food shelf and Ascutney Outdoors. I am looking for someone to be the coordinator for the Vermont Overland. We finish the year on September 25th with Vermont 50 a 50-mile bike and trail run, both the Vermont 100 and 50 are Benefits for Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sport.
If you have helped in the past and are able to support the Amateur Community and these wonderful charities, please let me know.
If you would be kind enough to share this email with your groups and fiends that would be great. For all our events we get enjoy our hobby, provide a valuable service to our communities and we get to have some fun all at the same time.
Thank you
N1XSS Rob Mather
H-802-886-5478
W-858-752-1501
C- 802-591-7277
On June 25-26, 2022, New England Division Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI traveled approximately 320 miles and visited seven Field Day sites in Western and Eastern Massachusetts. He attempted to make it eight––the Algonquin ARC at Crow Island in Stow––but Murphy had other plans.
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