Serving ARRL members who reside in the New England sections
Hello everyone. On the http://wma.arrl.org website you will find my November report as well as September and October New Licensees. I would encourage all clubs to take a moment to reach out to the ones in your area and welcome them and offer any assistance to get them on the air. Less than 25% of all newly licensed hams get on the air. Outreach and mentoring can also increase club members. Please give it a try.
Thanks and also Happy Thanksgiving!
Ray KB1LRL
November 2, 2021 – ARISS‐USA is known for promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) by arranging live question/answer sessions via amateur radio between K‐12 students and astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). In the last two decades, over 1400 contacts have connected more than one million youth using amateur radio, with millions more watching and learning. ARISS is constantly pursuing opportunities to enhance and sustain our educational capabilities and outcomes.
ARISS-USA is pleased to announce that Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) awarded a 5-year grant for a project called, “Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations” (STEREO). Total grant funding over five years is nearly $1.3 million. This ARDC grant will fund three distinct initiatives that enable ARISS to sustain and improve STEAM educational outcomes:
Part 1: ARISS is developing a wireless electronics technology kit called “SPARKI”, short for “Space‐Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative” for use with middle and high school students. This ARDC grant will take SPARKI from prototype to operational and then deploy these kits into a selected set of ARISS formal and informal education organizations that are planning their ARISS radio contacts.
Part 2: To be successful, ARISS must “Educate the Educator” by creating awareness of ARISS, amateur radio and SPARKI to prospective formal and informal educators in the USA. ARISS‐USA will conduct educator workshops for a selected set of educators to aid them in seamlessly employing SPARKI in their education environment and for ARISS to receive their feedback and ideas.
Part 3: The grant will support some of the costs of ARISS contact operations between students and astronauts aboard the ISS over the five-year grant period.
ARISS-USA Executive Director Frank Bauer welcomed this news by saying, “ARISS-USA is so excited about this new 5-year initiative. It will be a STEAM education game changer and represents a key element of our ARISS 2.0 vision. Most importantly, it brings wireless technologies and amateur radio into our ARISS formal and informal classrooms. We thank ARDC for their interest and support and look forward to working with them on this incredible initiative!”
ARDC’s mission is to support, promote, and enhance digital communication and broader communication science and technology, to promote Amateur Radio, scientific research, experimentation, education, development, open access, and innovation in information and communication technology. ARDC makes grants to projects and organizations that follow amateur radio’s practice and tradition of technical experimentation in both amateur radio and digital communication science. Such experimentation has led to broad advances for the benefit of the general public – such as the mobile phone and wireless internet technology. ARDC envisions a world where all such technology is available through open-source hardware and software, and where anyone has the ability to innovate upon it.
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab‐Space Station Explorers, and
NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (NASA SCaN). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands‐on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.ariss-usa.org.
Media Contact:
Rita M. DeHart, PE
KC4RMS
ARISS-USA Director of Public Engagement
The November, 2021 edition of the Maine Telegraph Newsletter, the statewide newsletter for Maine Amateur Radio operators, is now available at: <https://nediv.arrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021NOV_MT.pdf>.
Kriss Kliegle, KA1GJU, writes on the Port City ARC mailing list:
Plan on showing up at 0645 at the Portsmouth High School or thereabouts. Many thanks to those planning on being there this Sunday AM!
Can I have a list of volunteers to assist in the parking of vehicles at the Portsmouth High School grounds on Sunday, October 31?
We have had a year off due to Covid, but they are doing it this year with many doing it virtually… so participation is expectedly to be down.
They have food and coffee available in the cafeteria and nice quality t-shirts (long sleeve T’s have been the norm).
Bring an HT (with charged batteries!) and know how to get on a simplex frequency (VFO Mode) and lock it. Ear buds or speaker mic are handy as well.
Here’s the latest email…
—
Dan Beauley for the Seacoast Half Marathon board
From ARRL:
10/28/2021–A major nor’easter struck eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island this week, with ferocious winds stronger than those that Tropical Storm Henri brought to the region in August.
Starting on the evening of October 26, eastern Massachusetts amateur radio operators on the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN™ storm spotter teams joined forces to help emergency services provide a focused and effective response as the powerful nor’easter caused widespread damage. Tree and wire damage, trees falling on homes and cars, and a few cases of direct structural damage to weakened structures have been reported. ARES and SKYWARN operations will continue until the impact of the weather system subsides.
“We have handled several hundred reports of damage, and photos of damage are streaming in from ARES and SKYWARN operators to support damage assessment efforts and to keep the NWS in Norton apprised of the severe weather conditions affecting the region,” said Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator and ARES-SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Boston/Norton.
ARES-SKYWARN operators relayed reports of hurricane-force wind gusts reaching 94 MPH in Edgartown, Massachusetts, at Chappy Ferry Point; 84 MPH in Dennis, Massachusetts; 79 MPH in Sandwich, Massachusetts, and 78 MPH in Rockport, Massachusetts. Amateur operators with WX1BOX, the amateur radio station at NWS Boston/Norton; Cape Cod ARES and SKYWARN, and South Coast SKYWARN completed overnight operations, when the peak winds occurred.
“The dedication of our volunteers to provide this critical information in a major storm like this one to the NWS, media, and emergency managers during such a grueling stretch is very critical to inform people what is happening during such a significant storm when they wake up in the morning, so they will hopefully make safe decisions to avoid being out in a significant severe wind situation,” Macedo said.
Cape Cod ARES was activated by the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (BCREPC) to staff the Multi-agency Coordination Center (MACC) at the Barnstable County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The damages, power outages, and intermittent cell service from some providers could mean an extended activation for ARES members in Cape Cod and the Islands, Macedo explained.
According to the Cape Cod and Islands ARES District Emergency Coordinator Frank O’Laughlin, WQ1O, “Damage assessments in the region will give us a better sense of how long it will take to restore power and in some cases communication service to the Cape [Cod] and Islands area, and that will determine how long Cape Cod ARES will be needed, and if additional support from Eastern Massachusetts ARES will be needed.”
Macedo called the nor’easter “one of our more extraordinary weather systems within the last few years, and the most severe of several other major SKYWARN/ARES activations in this past year.”
As many as 500,000 customers lost power in the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section, with hardest-hit areas in southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands, and the Cape Ann area north of Boston, where hurricane-force wind gusts pummeled the region for several hours. Maximum sustained winds were 50 and 65 MPH. Rhode Island reported nearly 93,000 customers without power at the peak. These outages were an order of magnitude greater than during Tropical Storm Henri in Rhode Island, and about five orders of magnitude more severe than Henri in Massachusetts.
Storm conditions wound down toward the evening of October 27, allowing the process of more widespread power restoration to begin.
John Dorr, K1AR, writes on the cq-contest list:
Good morning contesters!
What is the world’s largest radio contest that takes place during the last weekend of October, attracting more than 40,000 participants? You guessed it — the CQ WW! As you may have noticed, band conditions are rapidly improving. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the current solar bounty will last through the weekend.
I also want to remind you of two new additions to this year’s contest.
First, there is the new YOUTH overlay. If you’re 25 or under, you will have a special place in the CQ WW contest, including the opportunity to receive one of 14 new plaques that have been sponsored just for you. Whether you’re 25 or 85, spread the word. Let’s show the world that the Youth movement in contesting is alive and well!
Finally, we also have created a new EXPLORER category designed to allow experimenters to be creative in their technical approach to the CQ WW with relaxed rules and a sandbox to compete against others with similar interests. For more information, check out: <https://cqww.com/explorer.htm>.
No matter what category you enter, be sure to have fun! I hope to hear many of you this coming weekend!
73, John, K1AR
CQ WW Contest Director
Larry Krainson, W1AST, writes on ctfoxhunter:Larry, W1AST
Jim Palmer, KB1KQW, writes on Facebook:
Back at it again today [10/23] and tomorrow [10/24] for the 2021 edition of the Head of the Charles Regatta. Working in the Massachusetts State Police Command Post/Unified Command Center again this year as the Emergency Services Liaison for Amateur Radio. Hoping for another great and safe event this year – and good to be back in the seat and see everyone again after skipping last year. At least for this event I can “sleep in” a bit with a 6 am start time instead of 5 am for the marathon lol.
Eric Malinowski, K1EEB, of Waterford, ME, is operating from Crescent Beach State Park (K-2386) in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, for Parks On The Air. He was last heard on 14.058.8 MHz at around 1443 UTC on November 1, according to pota.app.