The April 2024 issue of The SPARC is available and can be gotten here.
Author: n1qd
BARC Repeaters to Support the Boston Marathon
Hello all,
On Monday October 11th, both the 145.23 and 449.175 repeaters will be in use supporting the Boston Marathon. The DMR repeater will not be connected to the standard NEDECN network during the event. Please defer to Marathon traffic throughout the day.
Additionally, the DMR repeater will be disconnected from the NEDECN network starting this weekend to allow for Marathon communications testing. The Monday night DMR net will be also taking a week off and will be back on the 18th.
Thank you for your continued support, and thank you to all volunteers who are working the event!
73
Joe Harris, N1QD
W1BOS Repeater Trustee
BARC Vice President
April General Meeting on 4/15
The speaker at the April BARC General meeting will be Joe Harris N1QD. Joe will give a presentation on DMR basics, with a focus on how to get set up on the club’s UHF repeater! The meeting will be on the Zoom platform at 7:30PM EDT.
BARC Email Reflector Moving to Groups.io
As many of you may have already heard, Yahoo! groups is shutting down permanently in December. Just as several other ham radio reflectors already have, BARC has set up a new list on the groups.io website.
You can sign up for the email reflector at https://groups.io/g/BostonARC.
BARC General Meeting February 15
The February General Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Eastern Bank in Jamaica Plain.
The topic of the February meeting is Show and Tell, so bring in that project you’ve been working on and share it with the club!
Discounted Membership Renewals Through January 31, 2018
To all club members: By now, you will have received a letter in the mail detailing the annual membership renewal discount. To recap: if you renew your membership with the club by January 31, you may take a 20% discount on your 2018 dues! This will reduce Regular membership dues to $20, and Senior, Junior, and Family membership dues to $10.
You can renew by mail by with the membership form that was sent in the mailing, or online.
If you would like to donate to the club, you can also do so online or via mail.
SKYWARN Recognition Day is This Weekend!
SKYWARN Recognition Day runs from 7pm EST Friday December 1 to 7pm EST Saturday December 2.
From the NWS Website:
SKYWARN™ Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that SKYWARN™ volunteers make to the NWS mission, the protection of life and property. Amateur radio operators comprise a large percentage of the SKYWARN™ volunteers across the country. The Amateur radio operators also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency management if normal communications become inoperative. During the SKYWARN™ Special Event operators will visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.
The Boston Amateur Radio Club will be on the air from the Blue Hill Observatory using the callsign WX1BHO on Saturday from approximately 9am-3pm EST. Look for us on 40, 20 and 15 (Phone, CW, digital), as well as on 2 meter simplex and the NEDECN DMR network (MA Statewide & Region North TGs). See you on the air this Saturday!
BARC General Meeting November 16
This month’s general meeting will feature Gary Schwartz N1ZCE giving a talk about radio programming. Join us in the Community Room at Brookline Police HQ, 350 Washington St Brookline, on Thursday November 16 at 7:30pm.
BARC General Meeting October 19
On Thursday, October 19, join the Boston Amateur Radio Club at 7:30PM for the monthly meeting at the Brookline Police Headquarters Community Room.
The featured speaker at out October General Meeting will be Rob Macedo, KD1CY. Rob is the Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator as well as the MEMA/FEMA Region 1/NWS Taunton SKYWARN Liaison. Rob will give an updated overview on SKYWARN and ARES in Eastern Massachusetts. As the Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net, he will speak on the recent hurricane net operations over the past 6 weeks including the recent Amateur Radio Operators deployment to Puerto Rico for relief efforts on the island.
Antenna / Coax Work Party October 21
At Field Day this summer, it was discovered that the club’s triband beam antenna was not performing as desired. Specifically, a high SWR was noticed on the 15m and 10m phone bands. On Saturday October 21, the club will have an antenna work party at the home of Mark KB1EKN, near the 220 bus out of Quincy Center Station. We will erect the beam on a mast, and sweep it with an antenna analyzer. If anything appears to be a problem, we will re-tune the antenna as needed. While we have the crew together, we will also take the time to test and inventory the club’s coax. If there are enough people on site, we will break up into teams to work on both tasks in parallel. Sign up for the work party here. The club will pick up lunch for volunteers. Contact Mark KB1EKN with additional questions.