Still looking for Volunteers for the New England Forest Rally July 15 & 16

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Todd Rodgers, KC1SQ, writes:

The New England Forest Rally (NEFR) is a road rally conducted on logging trails in northern Maine. This year, it’s July 15 & 16 with Rally headquarters at the Sunday River Ski Resort in Bethel, Maine. The rally hosts 12-15 “stages” that run through some rough terrain, all mostly north of Bethel, some more than 50 miles north. Some 50-60 competitors are released on a stage (that might run for 10-15 miles) through totally unpopulated areas, hence the need for amateur radio communications to coordinate the release and provide communications in case something goes wrong. Two stages that are run ever year have a minor mountain in the middle of the stage that renders 2M communications unusable, so in recent years, this stage gets amateur operators that have 75 meter mobile phone capabilities and can communicate over the stage with NVIS antennae.

We’re short on 2M/HF mobile operators to support safe operations.

To read more information about the event and sign up, please read https://nediv.arrl.org/2022/05/18/ham-assistance-requested-new-england-forest-rally-maine-new-hampshire-7-15-16/

Governor Baker Proclaims June 25 “Amateur Radio Day” in Massachusetts

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copy of MA Amateur Radio Day Proclamation in MAMassachusetts radio amateurs are being recognized for their service to the public in times of hurricanes, tornados, flood and other emergencies with a special proclamation by Governor Charles D. Baker declaring June 25, 2022 as “Amateur Radio Day” in the Commonwealth. The day coincides with the 2022 ARRL Field Day event.

The proclamation was obtained by Massachusetts State Government Liaison Hank McCarl, W4RIG, of Gloucester. McCarl contacted Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr’s (N1UIU) office to arrange for the issuance of the proclamation.

Copies of the proclamation will be distributed to both Eastern and Western Massachusetts Section Managers so that they may display the documents as they tour field day sites in their respective sections.

Live Fox Hunt, Wallingford CT, June 12, 2022

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Dave Tipping, NZ1J, writes on the ctfoxhunter list on June 11, 2022:   
 
We’ll have a live Fox Hunt on Sunday in Wallingford (CT) from 9:30am until 11:00am.

We’ll be using these three frequencies:  

There will be a 1 watt signal continuously on 146.565MHz.  It will make a short beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse Code every minute.

The 10mW transmitter is on 147.475MHz and will beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse Code every minute.

The 1mW transmitter is on 146.290MHz and beeps every three seconds.

 
There is no central starting location.  Other Fox Hunters can be contacted on the W1NRG repeater 147.360 with PL 162.2
 
Good luck.

Dave NZ1J

Project Big E to Highlight Modern Amateur Radio

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Ray Lajoie, AA1SE, writes on the Western MA ARRL Members list:

Project Big E is a 17-day amateur radio exhibit to be held at the 2022 Big E from September 16-October 3, 2022 in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Western Massachusetts ARRL Affiliated Club Coordinator and Hampden County Radio Association president Larry Krainson, W1AST, is the Project Big E General Chairman.

The Big E, formerly known as The Eastern States Exposition, is billed as “New England’s Great State fair.” It is the largest agricultural event on the eastern seaboard and the sixth-largest fair in the nation.  In 2021, the Big E had 1.5 million visitors, and over 1.6 million visitors in 2019. [Wikipedia.org]

Planning for Project Big E is underway. An impressive ham radio booth will showcase the many aspects of modern ham radio, and provide an avenue for people to sign up for information and courses in their local area.

Features proposed for Project Big E will include:

·         an EmComm display

·         DMR and/or other digital mobile mode demo

·         Digital HF modes on a big screen

·         A special event station (N1E) with unique QSL cards

·         SSB, CW and digital modes

·         Demonstrations of portable stations for field operation (i.e., Parks On The Air, Summits On The Air)

·         A live ARISS contact

Project Big E can succeed only if there is a sufficient number of volunteers and radio clubs who agree to participate in the event.  A web page has been created at https://nediv.arrl.org/ProjectBigE.

Also, a special Groups.io mailing list group has been established. To join, send an email to ProjectBigE+subscribe@groups.io.

To volunteer for specific days/hours, go to the special Google form signup sheet and register.

——————————————————————–

ARRL Western Massachusetts Section

Section Manager: Raymond P Lajoie, AA1SE

aa1se@arrl.org

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Blue Hill Observatory Wireless Society (MA) Communications with Mt. Washington, June 11, 2022

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Blue Hills Observatory WS special event, June 11, 2022From ema.arrl.org:

BlueHill Observatory (@bhobservatory) tweeted at 0:20 PM on Sat, Jun 11, 2022:

We are excited to have the inaugural event of the BHO&SC Wireless Society happening today. The hams are hoping to connect with Mount Washington as communications between BHO and Mount Washington Observatory were done over 70 years ago. They are also doing a ham contest today. https://t.co/DX8CNB3eXv

Rhode Island Team Completes RFI Team Staffing

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With the addition of the Rhode Island Team of Keith, W1KJR, Scott, WX1X and Norm, W1NEP, all seven New England sections now have RFI teams to assist hams having RFI issues in their shacks.  Most sections would still welcome volunteers to serve as members or alternates if needed so, if interested, please contact your Section Manager or Technical Coordinator.  The team members and contact information for your section can be found on the New England RFI Team page.

RFI Team Equipment Tookits are Defined

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At a June 5, 2022 New Hampshire meeting of the New England RFI teams, a set of tools obtained for team use was demonstrated, along with some more sophisticated equipment available for loan, brought by Steve Anderson, W1EMI, of the ARRL Lab.  The teams evaluated these and selected those to be obtained for the use of each team, to be loaned from the ARRL or loaned from a New England division inventory as needed.  These may now be seen on the RFI Team Toolkit webpage.  Action is in progress to obtain funds to procure this equipment for each team and for sharing within the New England Division.

Rhode Island STEAM Club “Making Its Own DX”

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N1ASA APRSA Rhode Island STEAM club is making its own kind of DX. The All Saints STEAM Academy (N1ASA) in Middletown, Rhode Island, is tracking its GPS/tracker balloon using APRS. As of mid-day June 8, it was located over Canada. 
 
“N1ASA’s GPS/tracker balloon survived the night and is reporting regularly Wednesday from 24,000 feet above Nova Scotia, heading at 24 MPH to the northeast,” according to a post today on the Newport County Radio Club’s Facebook page.
 
“Tuesday’s thick cloud cover which disrupted the production of solar power has thinned out. There’s no battery on board, just a ‘super capacitor’ to store enough power to run the 0.02-watt transmitter for 110 seconds every 10 minutes.” The package uses a 35-foot dipole antenna.
 
The group hopes the balloon will continue to remain airborne long enough to reach Europe. 

ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program Has Launched

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ARRL Foundation logoThe ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program has launched and is now accepting applications. The deadline to apply is June 30 at 7 PM EST. An informational webinar will be held on Thursday June 9 at 7 PM EST to answer questions about the program. A video of the webinar will also be available on YouTube. You can register now by visiting this link.

For more information about the program, visit: http://arrl.org/club-grant-program.

For correspondence concerning the program, contact: clubgrants@arrl.org.