FCARC News Archive  

Current news items are posted on the FCARC Home Page. To keep that page short and timely, older items considered to be of continuing interest are removed and posted here. The newest items are at the top of the page.

The annual club picnic will take place on Saturday, May 22, at Fred and Jan Smead's house, 73 Mt. Warner Rd, Hadley. Click here for a map, or click here for directions.

Please note the time has been changed to 2 p.m. (it was originally listed as 3 p.m. on the 2009-2010 FCARC Calendar).

Betty, KB1DCG, will be coordinating the potluck. Please let her know if you plan to attend and what food you will bring.

Greenfield schools are closed on April 19, Patriot's Day, a state holiday, so the April meeting at GHS will be a week earlier than originally scheduled, on Monday April 12.

The meeting program will be "Build It Yourself". Have you built a kit, or a gadget described in a magazine, or modified commerical or surplus equipment? Several club members will talk about home-brew projects and kit building, and will show and talk about their projects.

Anyone interested in making a presentation should contact Al, N1AW. We would like to have each presenter give a 5 minute (+/-) talk on one project, hopefully with pictures on digital media so we can use the projection system to make things visible to all. Bring pictures of the construction process, or of things like antennas which you can't bring along. If you don't want to give a talk, or you have more than one project, bring them along and we'll have an informal show-and-tell session after the presentations.

Cindy Dickerman, KB1IAE, will be ordering a new batch of club T-shirts from Valley Tees in Greenfield. She plans to place the order after our March club meeting. Anyone attending the meeting can order there. Or call Cindy at 413-498-0166.

The shirts are crew type, forest green color, with the FCARC logo on both front and back.

Cost-$10.00 for sizes small, medium, large and xlarge. $12.00 for sizes 2XL, 3XL.

Dennis Rolstad, N1WYU, a resident of Leyden, MA, died on Wednesday, March 17.

Dennis was a long time member of the FCARC. His business was selling and servicing radio equipment, and he donated his skills to the club, providing technical support for the KB1BSS repeaters. He was an avid collector and restorer of antique radios. His living room was a radio museum, and his basement was a radio treasure trove.

Club members knew him as a friend to all, someone who was always willing to help. He could always come up with a needed tube or a tone encoder, or give advice and help with trading electronic equipment on the Internet.

Funeral services will be private. An obituary appeared in The Greenfield Recorder on March 19 and can be viewed online here.

Carl Meyer II, known to family and friends as Chuck, died on Feb.. 24. He was a pilot, former newspaperman, member of the Community Emergency Response Team and the FCARC. During the ice storm of December 2008, Chuck used his training as CERT member and amateur radio operator to provide emergency communications at the shelter in Heath and at the EOC in the city of Gardner. This past fall, Chuck volunteered his time at several flu vaccination clinics in the area.

A memorial service for Chuck will be held on Sunday, March 21, in Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls. The obituary in the newspaper recommends donation to one of his favorite charaties instead of flowers. The charities are Angel Flights, the Franklin Land Trust, and the Joslin Diabetes Center.

The next FCARC meeting is scheduled for Monday March 15. Time: 7:15 p.m., location: Greenfield High School, Small Auditorium, room 59.

Our guest speaker will be Jose Castillo, N1BAA, ex-N4BAA, KG4SB, YI9BAA, and VP5BAX. He is now a Franklin County resident. He is currently setting up for serious contest operation at a new home in Sunderland. He moved from Amherst recently so he could put up higher towers than Amherst would permit without a hassle.

Jose wrote: "I have PLENTY of photos....and experiences on which to draw from as I speak quite regularly all over the US.... I will put together a short program in Power Point that addresses operating from a small footprint to what I have today...AND integrate contesting into it as well as every day modern logging."

Directions to Greenfield High School: From the center of Greenfield go north on Federal St. (Rtes 5 and 10) about 1.5 miles, at Silver St. (stop light) turn left. (From the north, the Silver St. intersection is about 0.3 mile south of Rte 2 on Rtes 5 and 10, turn right). On Silver St. look for a sign for the High School on the left, about 0.3 mile from Federal St. (Click here for a map.)
To find GHS Room 59: Go in the main door of the High School (left end of the building). Go straight back through the lobby to the restrooms. Turn right and go down that hallway about 2/3 of the way to Room 59 on the right.

For dates of future meetings see the FCARC Activities page.

The Montague Sawmill River 10K run will take place on Friday, January 1st, 2010. As we have done in the past, the FCARC will be providing communications. We are looking for ham radio operators!!!

• Place: Town Common in Montague Center
• Net control Center: The Grange, 34 Main Street, Montague Center
• Race time: 10 a.m.
• Volunteer checkin time: 9 a.m.
• Talk-in: 146.985, negative offset, PL 136.5 (FCARC Leyden repeater)

We would like to have communications volunteers meet at the Grange by 9 a.m. for assignment of posts, handing out of maps, and allowing time to get to assigned posts. Parking can be a problem if you arrive late.

Directions from I-91 North or South, take exit 27 to Rte 2 East. Go to the second traffic light, the landmark is a Mobil gas station across the street. At this light turn right and go over the bridge to Avenue A. At the next traffic light turn left onto 3rd Street and follow this up the hill. This road will become Unity Street and then you will come to a fork in the road. Bear right onto Turners Falls Road. Continue on Turners Falls Road to Montague Center.

From the Amherst-Hadley-Sunderland area: take Rte 47 or Rte 63 north. These routes join near Montague Center. Main Street in Montague begins off Rte 47, about 200 yards west of where it ends at Rte 63. The Town Common and the Grange Hall are about a mile north on Main St. Click here for a map showing the location of the Grange Hall.

To volunteer, or for more information, contact Barbara, KB1NOI, or John, KB1NOH, at 413-773-5903.

Monday the 16th is the date, and 7:15 is the time for the November FCARC meeting.

The program will feature Paul Allis of Western Mass Communications speaking on "Cell Phone Technology". Cell phones use radio, but in different ways from what we are used to as amateur radio operators.

Paul's company operates cell phone stores in Deerfield and Greenfield and a two-way radio business in Bernardston.

Directions to Greenfield High School: From the center of Greenfield go north on Federal St. (Rtes 5 and 10) about 1.5 miles, at Silver St. (stop light) turn left. (From the north, the Silver St. intersection is about 0.3 mile south of Rte 2 on Rtes 5 and 10, turn right). On Silver St. look for a sign for the High School on the left, about 0.3 mile from Federal St. (Click here for a map.)
To find GHS Room 59: Go in the main door of the High School (left end of the building). Go straight back through the lobby to the restrooms. Turn right and go down that hallway about 2/3 of the way to Room 59 on the right.

For dates of future meetings see the FCARC Activities page.

The phone portion of the ARRL November Sweepstakes contest begins at 4 p.m. EST (2100Z) Saturday, November 21, and runs until 10 p.m. Sunday evening, November 22 (0300Z Monday Nov 23). Stations can operate up to 24 hours in the 30 hour period. Total operating time is reported with entries. So if you operate only a few hours you will be able to compare how you did with others who made a limited effort when the results are published on the ARRL website .

QST for November 2009 has a good discussion of operating techniques for Sweepstakes in the "This Month in Contesting" column on page 85. Much more information is available on the ARRL Contests web page.

N1AW has written a short Contesting: Why and How for the Beginner page with reasons why you might want to participate and some hints for getting started.

Sunday, August 2, the Greenfield Triathalon starts at the swimming area on the Green River. Operators should report by 7 AM to the park on Nash's Mill Rd, between Colrain Rd and Leyden Rd. The event starts at 8 and will run to about 1 PM.

Saturday, August 8, the Bridge of Flowers Race in Shelburne Falls, starts in the village center. Radio operators should report by 7 AM, to the alley way between Baker's Pharmacy and the Keystone Market. The race will start at 8:20. You may want to bring a chair and a bottle of water.

The Mount Tom Amateur Repeater Association's 21st Annual Amateur Radio & Electronics Hamfest will be held Saturday March 7, 2009. Doors open at 7:00 a.m. for vendors and at 9:00 a.m. for bargain hunters. The location is the Springfield Turnverein Club, 176 Garden Street, Feeding Hills, MA.

Advertised features include: Snack Bar, Door Prizes, Raffle Prizes, Handicapped Parking & Access, Amateur License Exams, Tailgating, and Help Loading/Unloading. 120 VAC is available.

See the MTARA Flea Market web page at http://www.mtara.org/flea09.html for more information, including a map, and driving directions.

Topics to be covered are:

• ARES, RACES SKYWARN and other emergency communications groups in Western MA
• Amateur operations with EOC's (Emergency Operations Centers)
• Simplex Operations
• Go Kits
• Net Operations and Procedures
• Public Service Operations
• Traffic Handling with examples and practice

The Details:

• When: Saturday February 28th
• Where: Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, 506 Cottage Street, Springfield MA (same location as the MTARA Meetings)
• Time: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
• RSVP- Contact Tom, N1MUV indicating that you are planning to attend. His e-mail address is n1muv@charter.com

A map showing the location of the venue can be found on the MTARA website.

Three of the four who passed their Extra Class exams at the November FCARC VE session have new calls:

• Eric Parham is now AB1JW
• Alan Corey is now AB1JX
• Janice Peeters is now AB1JY

At the club meeting at the holiday party on December 15 a resolution was passed to revert to the traditional formula for setting the date of the monthly FCARC breakfasts. The breakfasts will now take place on the Saturday after the second Monday of each month. This replaces the formula that scheduled the breakfasts on the third Saturday of each month.

More often than not both formulas indicate the same date, but this is not always true. The date of the January 2009 breakfast remains January 17. The February breakfast will be on February 14, Valentine's Day, not February 21 as scheduled previously. (Note this is also the date of the Winter Carnival).

As it turns out there are no other changes to the breakfast date for the rest of the 2008-2009 club year (The March breakfast was already scheduled for March 14). The calendar page (http://www.fcarc.org/activities.htm) has been updated with changes color-coded.

Kudos to: Barbara, KB1NOI, Janice KB1DCC, Eric, KB1QYO of Shelburne, and Alan, formerly WA1ZTA, all four of whom were the only examinees at our November 24 testing session; all four of whom took Extra Examinations; and all four of whom passed! Quite an evening for both the successful candidates and the volunteer examiners! [from December 2008 Communicator]

Pictures from the evening are posted here.

Dave, KB1MU, has organized a slow-speed c.w. net meeting at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesdays. The net meets on 28.135. The purpose is to provide a place for those interested in practicing and improving c.w. skills.

Photos from the FCARCs participation in the August 2008 Greenfield Triathlon are now on-line. Go to the Photos page for links to these and other pictures.

A report on the 8/2 fox hunt is now on line here.

Scott passed on a preliminary estimate of our score. We had 334 contacts, 910 bonus points, and a total claimed score of 2026 points. This is very close to last year's result.

For details and a comparison with 2007, go to the new Field Day Results page.

Pictures of the FCARC Field Day effort are posted on the Flickr site, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/50505234@N00/sets/72157605890641039/

There are pictures of past FCARC Field Days in the FCARC Photo Gallery. You can find more information about past Field Days in the FCARC Communicator archives (look for the Summer 2006 and 2007 issues).

Did you know that the Western Massachusetts ARRL Section has its own website at http://wma.arrl.org? Several articles that may be of general interest are currently posted, including:

• Information about Public Service Volunteer Opportunities in the New England Division, listing public events at which Amateur Radio communications is providing a public service and for which additional volunteers from the Amateur Community are needed and welcome.
• A description of recent organizational changes of the American Red Cross in Western Massachusetts, and effects upon the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).
• A preliminary announcement and pointer to more information about the ARRL New England Division Convention at Boxboro, coming up August 22 through August 24 this year.

Maps are now available showing the theoretical coverage of the KB1BSS 2 meter and 440 Mhz repeaters, as well as the 10 meter link to the 440 Mhz machine. Click here for more information.

The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut is located at 115 Pierson Lane in Windsor, CT. It is dedicated to the preservation of old time communications equipment and to educating the public. The museum displays radios, televisions, motion picture and telephone equipment, as well as vintage advertising and memorabilia. Audio, video and paper libraries, along with an extensive collection of schematics, are also available for research.

The Museum has now obtained its Certificate of Occupancy. The museum is tentatively open Thursdays & Fridays 11a-4p, Saturdays 10a-5p. Sundays are coming. The grand opening celebrations are taking place the weekend of October 26 and 27.

More info is available at the Museum website (http://www.vrcmct.org/).

An amusing 10 minute film about ham radio produced 68 years ago can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBGIdf0VjQ4. Look up the film credits at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031834 and note the part of the ship's radio operator was played by Clayton Moore, who later was the Lone Ranger.

Info from ARRL Propagation Bulletin, October 12, 2007.

It's approaching 9 p.m. on a Tuesday night and it's your turn to be net control for the first time? Are you nervous about the procedure? A copy of the preamble and procedure document for the Western Massachusetts – Franklin County Emergency Net has now been posted on this website. Click here!

WXSpots, a new tool in the tool chest for SkyWarn operations and weather enthusiasts is now available! WXSpots is a free, Internet based system designed to quickly disseminate observed reports of severe weather.

WXSpots is not intended to replace Amateur Radio. By it's vary nature of dependence on the Internet, WXSpots can't provide data from a severely affected area. On the other hand, WXSpots can quickly communicate data from those observers just outside it. It also provides the means to help monitor local severe weather as it unfolds with many more observers able to communicate what they are seeing.

For more info see the website www.wxspots.com.

(From the Western Mass Amateur Radio newsgroup,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WesternMassAmateurRadio/)