MARA W1/GaZette
June 2004
MONTACHUSETT AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION
Vol 46 No. 10
In This Issue...
Next Meeting 1
Field Day Meeting 2
Watt's Happening 2
May Meeting Report 3
A Day At Hosstraders 5
"Firsts" in ARISS Contact 6
Amateurs Aid in Tornados 6
Nurture Newcomers 7
Contributors To This Issue: KB1JXJ, N1MGO
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Next Meeting
Wednesday, June 9
7:30PM
Central Fire Station
Fitchburg MA
The annual MARA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 9. This is
the meeting at which we elect officers for the next year. Come
participate! Selecting those to guide the Club for a year is your
simplest opportunity to affect the Club's focus.
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Member Roster Update
Apologies to Jerry WB1HIB and Brian KB1KLQ who were omitted from the
member roster in last month's W1/GaZette.
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22 May Field Day Meeting
de Pauline KB1JXJ
Secretary's Notes - Field Day Organizational Meeting, 22 May 2004, at
the Fitchburg Central Fire Station.
In Attendance (8) K1YTS, KD1YH, N1MGO, KB1JXJ, KT1I, K1JHC, WA1RHP,
KB1JZU, N1UZ
Agenda - 9am - 9:45 am
Field Day Facts
1. Class 4A Battery 5 watts
2. Food Cost $15.00 per person
3. Handy House $100.00; Gary K1YTS has reserved
4. Generators Gordon N1MGO and Gary K1YTS
Discussion and sign ups for Field Day
See charts to sign up
Information needed
Name of operator
Number of radios
Type of radios
Day of arrival (Fri. or Sat)
Number / type of tents or motor homes
Type of antennas you will bring
Your hours of operation/band modes
NIGHT OWL sign ups (9pm - 2/3am)
Payment in full or partial payment for food costs
9:45 - 10:00 BREAK
10:00-Noon
Demonstration and hands on training for computer logging and networking
Discussion of Field Day Facts.
1. Members added a small generator for Paul to run the food station.
2. Sign up sheets will be available also at the June meeting.
3. Would be helpful to have food payment and members at the June meeting.
4. Discussion of GOTA station to be run by Bill - N1UZ
5. Tom S. to run CW!!!!!!
6. Computers at Field day:
a. Gordon & Charlie - 5
b. Tom S. - 1
c. Paul U. - 1+1? not sure yet
7. Gary - to contact an elected public official to attend.
8. Pauline - Letters of invitation to the Mayors of Fitchburg and
Leominster and to Tom S. to post in Shirley.
9. Gary's Cousin will do a cartoon for us.
10. Charlie has the club's cloth banner.
11. We should have hand outs for the public as to where we are.
12. Signage needed for Mountain, Pauline to investigate.
13. Charlie to contact Barry Fox Re: inventory on band pass filters.
14. Gordon to research adding 2 meter logging to Writelog.
15. Quick reference guides for Field day logging will be at all stations
16. Members present voiced dismay at low attendance for this meeting.
Respectfully Submitted
Pauline KB1JXJ
Interim Secretary
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Watt's Happening
Sundays, 0830 local 3937 Western Mass Emergency Net. Alternate
frequency is 3942 in case of QRN, QRM, or frequency in-use. Also a
good idea to scan up and down 10kHz if you cannot find the net.
Sundays, 0900 local 145.45- Montachusett Emergency Net
Tuesdays, 2030 local 145.37- Templeton Emergency Net
Wednesdays, 2100 local 28.341 Harvard Repeater Club
10 meter sideband net "Activity Night"
Nightly, 2100 local 146.97- Central Mass Traffic Net
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1800 local 3942 MHz
Western Mass Traffic Net (phone)
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 1900 local 3562 MHz
Western Mass Traffic Net (cw, slow)
First Monday, 1900 local 3943, 7245 RACES Net
First Wednesday, 2000 local 3915 K1ARC Red Cross Net
http://www.qsl.net/k1arc/
Sunday, June 20, Cambridge Flea at MIT
Sunday, July 18, Cambridge Flea at MIT
Saturday, August 14 - Sunday, Aug 15
Boxboro, MA; ARRL New England convention.
see http://web.mit.edu/w1gsl/Public/ne-fleas for additional
information about New England area Ham and electronic flea markets.
----------------
May Meeting
de Pauline KB1JXJ
Secretary's Notes 12 May 2004
7:35 PM - Meeting Called to order by K1YTS
Attendance: (10) K1YTS, KD1YH, N1MGO, KB1JXJ, KT1I, N1UZ, KD1SM,
W1LXE, W1BYH, K1JHC
07:39 PM - Vice President's Report - KD1YH Nothing, reporting as Tech
committee - Whole system has been checked out.
07:40 PM - Treasurer's Report N1MGO Report for April 2004.
Beginning Balance
Income - Dues, Expenses, for insurance, phone bill.
Leaving a balance of
07:41 PM - Accepted
07:42 PM - Secretary's Report - KB1JXJ, Pauline,
1. KB1KLQ, Brian, was sent a thank you note for his donation to the club.
2. W1DF, James, was sent a personal invitation to attend field day as
a CW representative.
3. Sharri Duffy - Sentinel & Enterprise has received a time schedule
and requests for field day publicity.
07:42 PM - Secretary's report Accepted as written in the newsletter
07:43 PM - Old Business
1. N1MGO, Gordon, The Club received a certificate for the Spectrum
defense fund donation ($100)
2. Tom - Are we accepted as an affiliate Club? - No, need 51% and
we can't confirm 8 or 9 hams as members of ARRL.
3. Gary - Thanked all for the Townsend Canoe Race - 8 hams present
plus 5 others from the civil defense for Townsend.
4. Ralph - Groton Road Race, 42 volunteers, the Groton Police were
happy, Lt. Rooney visited most hams and thanked them personally.
This year may be the last year for this event. [Ed. note:
correction -- 2005 might be the last year.]
5. Parker Road Race - Stan is not sure how he is doing, may need
more volunteers as there is a new course.
6. Ralph - Longsjo bike race, nothing new yet.
07:50 PM - New Business
1. Bill - State permission for the Mountain - Yes, needs check for
Cars access fee is pass available for the day,
seniors should use their Green Card.
2. Handy House - Gary - Same price as last year, about $
Open discussion on Field Day.
Food - Paul, KD1YH
Saturday Supper - Pauline, KB1JXJ
Invitations to 22 May meeting to area hams
We need 51% membership to have web space at ARRL.
Bill, Before VE sessions put in FATV & LATV announcements.
08:40 PM - Meeting adjourned
Respectfully Submitted
Pauline KB1JXJ
Interim Secretary
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A Day At Hosstraders
The largest hamfest in the region, Hosstraders, is held twice a year
at the Hopkinton State Fairground in Hopkinton New Hampshire.
The hamfest opens on Friday and runs through early afternoon on
Saturday. This year the spring dates were April 30 and May 1.
Gordon N1MGO and Charlie KT1I shared a table and Gordon sent the
following photos.
[photos]
More information about the Hosstraders Hamfest can be found at
http://www.qsl.net/k1rqg/.
----------------
Two "Firsts" in ARISS Contact
NASA Expedition 9 International Space Station Science Officer and
Flight Engineer Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, logged what's believed to be his
first-ever Amateur Radio contact May 25 from the spacecraft's
NA1SS. The QSO also marked the first Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) school group contact for the
Expedition 9 crew. The US astronaut and Russian cosmonaut and
Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, arrived aboard the ISS
in late April. Fincke advised a dozen youngsters gathered at Erie
Planetarium <http://www.eriecountyhistory.org/planetarium. htm> in
Pennsylvania, that the crew must take a space walk in the next few
weeks to replace a failed remote power controller module for one of
the four ISS control moment gyroscopes, or CMGs.
Responding to another question, Fincke said he's really enjoying the
weightlessness of space, although he noted, some caution is in
order. "I love being weightless," he said. "I can fly around like
Superman and pick up very big things." He cautioned, however, that
crew members need to "take it nice and easy" in weightlessness to
avoid banging into things and injuring themselves.
For fun and recreation, Fincke said, the crew has laptop computers and
can watch DVDs--although there's no television aboard. "The whole
space station is a little bit fun to play in and do fun things," he
said, "but just being aboard the International Space Station is like a
dream come true, so it's all fun--every minute of every day is really
fun."
In all, the youngsters asked 18 questions of Fincke before the ISS
went over the horizon from the telebridge station of Tony Hutchison,
VK5ZAI, in South Australia. MCI donated a teleconferencing link to
handle the two-way audio between VK5ZAI and the planetarium. Fincke
has twice before visited the Erie Planetarium, run by the Erie County
Historical Society.
ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international educational
outreach program with US participation by ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.
From The ARRL Letter
Vol. 23, No. 22
May 28, 2004
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Amateurs Aid as Tornados Devastate Nebraska
From storm spotting through recovery support, Amateur Radio operators
were on duty this week, aiding tornado-stricken communities in
Nebraska and elsewhere in the Midwest. A May 22 tornado virtually
destroyed most structures and was blamed for one death in Hallam, a
town of approximately 300 some 20 miles south of Lincoln. ARRL
Nebraska Section Emergency Coordinator Reynolds Davis, K0GND, said
Lancaster County ARES/SKYWARN spotters activated the evening of May 22
in response to a report of an approaching front. Within a half-hour,
W0NWS at the National Weather Service office in Valley already was
receiving tornado damage reports via the Lincoln Amateur Radio Club
K0KKV repeater.
"When the system moved into Lancaster County shortly after 8:30 PM, it
destroyed almost every structure in the town of Hallam," Davis said,
leaving the residents homeless. The NWS rated the tornado that struck
Hallam as an F-4 on the five-point Fujita Scale--207 to 260 MPH.
The storm also severely damaged the high school in Norris and plucked
the tower supporting the K0RPT repeater's south receiver from the
ground. The tower remains missing. The tornado went on to destroy
additional homes to the northeast, and its path of destruction finally
ended south of Bennet, he said.
More than 50 amateurs participated in the SKYWARN net, said Davis, who
also serves as Lancaster County Emergency Coordinator. The National
Weather Service Omaha office logged dozens of weather and storm-damage
reports from radio amateurs in several Nebraska counties on May 22.
Once the SKYWARN Nets closed, the K0RPT VHF repeater was put into
service to support Red Cross communications among the tornado scene,
the chapter house and a shelter set up in a Lincoln high school for
residents displaced by the storm. Two ARES nets activated May 23 to
coordinate damage survey and assessment, and reports logged via K0EOC
at the Lancaster County Emergency Operations Center.
Davis said that by the time both damage survey nets shut down, 41
operators had driven nearly 2200 miles and surveyed 100 square
miles. Gov Mike Johanns declared a state of emergency after more than
a dozen tornados swept several southern Nebraska counties.
In Missouri, Grundy County EC Glen Briggs, KB0RPJ, reports that
Amateur Radio groups in the northern part of the state relayed severe
weather reports to the National Weather Service and to local emergency
management and law enforcement officials May 22. Hardest hit areas
were near Chillicothe and Brookfield. After one repeater was knocked
off the air, amateurs switched to backup repeaters and simplex. Some
18 operators in nine Missouri counties participated, he said.
From The ARRL Letter
Vol. 23, No. 22
May 28, 2004
----------------
Nurture Newcomers
It's up to today's Amateur Radio veterans to cultivate the younger
generation, ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, told the ARRL Forum at
Dayton Hamvention 2004 May 15. Calling the statistic "shocking,"
Haynie cited ARRL survey data showing that more than one-fifth of new
amateur licensees never get on the air. He suggested that too few
experienced amateurs take new licensees under their wing to help them
get started.
Haynie suggested that today's older hams need to consider that
technology is changing, and the questions appearing on the ham radio
examinations of tomorrow will be ones "that haven't been thought of
yet." In 1972 when he took his General, he said, his test included
questions on Hartley and Colpitts oscillators. In contrast, today's
examinations cover topics such as phase-locked loops, satellite
operation and digital technology.
"Amateur Radio is what you make of it once you get your license,"
Haynie continued. Getting a ham ticket doesn't make anyone more
intelligent, and learning the ropes usually begins after someone
already has a license in hand. "You learn by doing," he said.
From The ARRL Letter
Vol. 23, No. 22
May 28, 2004
The MARA W1/GaZette is published by the Montachusett Amateur Radio
Association just prior to the monthly meeting. The newsletter is
distributed free to members and friends of Amateur Radio.
Contents copyright 2004, MARA. Permission to use in other Amateur
Radio publications with credit to MARA is hereby granted.
NEWSLETTER STAFF:
Editors: Ralph Swick KD1SM kd1sm@arrl.net
Webmaster: Paul Upham KD1YH
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION:
Club Secretary: Pauline Carulli KB1JXJ
Annual Dues: Regular $25
Family $30
Fixed income $15
Meetings: 2nd Wednesday, 7:30pm
September to June
Mailing address: MARA
PO Box 95
Leominster, MA 01453
Web site: http://www.qsl.net/w1gz/
OFFICERS:
Gary Busler, K1YTS President Paul Upham, KD1YH Vice President kd1yh@ziplink.net
Pauline Carulli, KB1JXJ Secretary
Gordon LaPoint, N1MGO Treasurer
Charlie Cayen, KT1I Trustee
MARA owns and operates the W1GZ repeater providing emergency autopatch
service on 145.45 (CTCSS 74.4) in Fitchburg.
Montachusett Amateur Radio Association
PO Box 95 Leominster MA 01453
press the 