This year, your club can get up to an extra 200 points for sending formal messages (radiograms) from the Field Day site over amateur RF. Last year, I helped one club do this. This year, I’d like to do more.
I’ve been doing ‘Virtual NTS training’ (https://groups.io/g/VNTN) for the past couple of months over Zoom, and thought that maybe I could help other clubs in the area by doing an abbreviated training session focused on Field Day radiograms.
It is intended for clubs in Massachusetts, but there is also interest from clubs in other states. We will be recording the Zoom meetings and posting the link to the FDNTS page referenced above. On Field Day Saturday, there will be a special Field Day traffic net on the MMRA network at 4pm, 6pm and potentially 8pm.
On June 14th, cyclists will return to Hampton Beach to begin their 2025 New England Ride To End Alzheimer’s, and I’m writing today to ask for your help in supporting them!
The event details are as follows:
Saturday, June 14th
Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton, NH
Volunteer roles vary and range from 6am-4pm
**SAG team members are asked to commit to the whole day, rest stop volunteers may have shorter shifts depending on where they are stationed.
If you’re able and willing, I’d like to invite you to join the Amateur Radio team for the 2025 Ride To End Alzheimer’s. You can find all the event details here and the direct registration link is here.
This is a very important event. The riders at this event are raising money to fund research that will one day put an end to Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Our job is to staff the communications network that helps keep them safe while they do it.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
For further information, contact NH ARRL Section Public Information Coordinator Skip Camejo
In public recognition of the valuable service that amateur radio operators provide to their communities at no cost, Governor Kelly Ayotte issued a formal proclamation designating June as “Amateur Radio Month” in New Hampshire.
Amateur radio operators, also known as ham radio operators, offer their services to their communities in time of emergency to assist local, state and federal public safety agencies in providing auxiliary communication capabilities to allow regular public safety communication systems to concentrate on the emergency. In particular, NH-ARES (New Hampshire Amateur Radio Emergency Service) has groups and members situated throughout the state to provide assistance as needed. ARES is an emergency communication organization sponsored by the ARRL (American Radio Relay League), the leading non-governmental amateur radio organization in the United States. In addition to ARES, the ARRL sponsors the NTS (National Traffic System) which routinely transmits message traffic by radiogram, similar to telegrams, throughout the country. In the event of an emergency the NTS would be available to provide long distance communication capabilities to responding agencies as well as health and welfare messages to or from the disaster area to family members outside the area when conventional communication systems are not functioning. To practice their radio communication skills, amateur radio operators participate in an annual event called Field Day. This event is held every June and involves operators setting up their radios in sometimes remote locations to practice and train for emergency communication. Many local amateur radio clubs set up public demonstrations and encourage members of the public to try their hand at amateur radio. This year Field Day will be held the weekend of June 28-29, 2025.
This year NH-ARES entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of Emergency Services and Communications that designates NH-ARES as the sole organization providing amateur radio communications support to the state. As witnessed in weather disasters such as Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, hurricanes in Florida and tornadoes throughout the midwest, cellular systems and public safety radio systems can become inoperable due to infrastructure damage. The use of amateur radio provides an auxiliary communication system utilizing trained and federally licensed radio operators to support the missions of the state’s public safety agencies. In addition to emergency communication capabilities, amateur radio operators routinely assist their communities by providing communication services at events such as marathons, bicycle races, canoe races and other similar events. These public service radio communication assignments help train radio operators and fine tune the abilities of NH-ARES members to adapt to changing radio and weather conditions.
Use the ARRL Field Day Site Locator to make in-person connections during the event!
With a little more than a month to go until the big weekend, there are almost 650 sites listed on the locator. To search for a site near you, just go to the map and zoom in on your area. Click on the red map pins for details about each site. To add information to the locator, click on “Add a Station”
In just a few weeks, one of the most popular summer operating events kicks off – The 13 Colonies Special Event. Now in its 17thyear, the event has grown from Special Event Stations making approximately 12,000 contacts to last year making 292,496 contacts around the world. The Event runs from July 1 9:00 AM—July 7 Midnight Eastern (July 1 1300 UTC—July 8 0400 UTC).
This year, event organizers are recognizing the 13 Colonies Special Event founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch on to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. For the past 16 years, Villone has lead the event by working with state and bonus station coordinators. Then after the event he would print out individual certificates for thousands of people who made contact with the special event stations.
The Special Event consists of one station operating in each of the 13 Colonies (K2A – K2M) and three bonus stations (WM3PEN – Philadelphia, GB13COL – England, TM13COL – France) each representing their city, state, or countries role in America’s Colonial period.
Villone describes how the event got started:
“I had just finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes in 2008, and remarked how fun it was. I could not figure out why there were not more of these type special events on the air. So I decided to try my luck and create one for one year only to see what happened and to have some fun. I knew we had to offer a special QSL card and/or certificate, plus have on hand a printer and supplies. The hard part was deciding what the event would commemorate and when to do this. I needed a theme that ALL could relate to! Also, the event would have to be the type with multiple event stations involved, like the ARRL Sweeps.
“Then it hit me! 13 Colonies states, during the 4th of July week, and offer a certificate with the theme for the year. I made sure the theme was different each year with a different certificate design to make it interesting and to also make the certificate collectable. The theme would highlight some event or thing connected to the American Revolution. The event was held July 1st to the 4th, 2009, 4 days with no advertising except on QRZ. I had a hard time getting 13 different Ops, one from each Colony state, but it worked out. All in all, it was a success! We made over 12,000 contacts the first year. I decided we had a good thing going, so I recruited another Op from each state and ran the event the followning year.We did over 32,000 contacts in 2010, and had a total of 26 state operators. There was a 13 Colonies special event in 1962 but only lasted one year, according to my research. (I was 13 years old).”
Ham radio operators and SWLs can participate in the event. Complete information about the call for each colony station and the bonus stations can be found on the event website 13colonies.us and they can follow us on Facebook – 13 Colonies Special Event Community. Stations need only make one contact with one of the participating stations, or they can go for a Clean Sweep and work all 13 Colony stations and the three bonus stations. Each station offers a special QSL card for the event as well as a different certificate each year. Operators can keep an eye out for the special event stations by watching many of the DX spotting networks, such as DXSummit.fi.
WD4R-Julio Ripoll, founder and Amateur Radio Coordinator for WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami FL, which has been active during landfalling New England tropical systems received the prestigious Dayton Hamvention Special Achievement Award. Further details including a picture of Julio receiving the award can be seen below:
Major prizes have been announced at the 2025 Northeast HamXposition.
“Our website lists the door prizes that have been both donated by vendors and purchased by the committee,” explains Prize Chair Larry Krainson, W1AST.
“One of our top prizes — the FT-891 and ATAS-120 — go together as a complete HF mobile station. I think people will be excited by our offerings.”
For the full list of major prizes offered at the Friday evening DXCC-Contest Banquet, Saturday morning Keynote Address, Saturday afternoon hourly drawings, Saturday evening Grant Banquet, and Sunday Closing Ceremony, visit https://hamxposition.org/prizes.
Shawn Dodds, N1CVO, writes:
Larry Krainson, W1AST, writes:
