Author: nv1w

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, Nov. 17, 7:30 pm

nv1w Meetings

BARC’s November General Meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17. Rob Steenburgh, AD0IU, will be our guest. Rob worked for the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center and will be discussing Space Weather and how it affects Amateur Radio. The meeting room will open for a period of socializing at 7:00 pm and the meeting will start at 7:30. Please use your name and call sign (if you have one) as your meeting name.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87019436001?pwd=SzhxNUxDMWRmeGJUYTRIZml4UkE2QT09

Meeting ID: 870 1943 6001
Passcode: BARC

BARC open for renewals for 2023

nv1w Announcements

Every year, BARC offers current members a 20% discount on renewals made before January 31. You should receive a package in the mail with a stamped return envelope sometime in early December; just return it with your dues before the end of January and you’ll be all set!

Of course, you may always renew using this website, by clicking on the Join button on the menu along the top of this page.

If you would prefer not to receive the mailing and do everything on-line (saving the club the cost of two stamps), you may contact the Secretary, Joe NV1W, at joechapman@alum.mit.edu. You’ll receive an email reminder if you haven’t renewed a week before the January deadline.

Free Weekly General Class on Zoom

nv1w Announcements, Classes

From Rol, K3RA:

A free, weekly, live, Amateur Radio General Class Licensing course on Zoom will begin on Thursday, Oct 27 and will run through Thursday, January 5. There will be 9 sessions, with two breaks for holidays. The three-hour sessions will start at 6:30 PM Eastern Time. Sessions will be recorded. These are the classes that we have been holding for years sponsored by the National Electronics Museum. Please publicize this with anyone that you think would be interested. Those wishing to sign up should email roland.anders@comcast.net.

BARC VE Session, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 7:30 pm

nv1w Exams

BARC will be holding its first post-pandemic volunteer exam session on Tuesday, October 18, at 7:30 pm at Artisans Asylum in Allston. You must register for the test in advance with either Joe Chapman, NV1W, at nv1w@arrl.net, or Jim Clogher, N1ICN, at n1icn@arrl.net.

The test fee is $15 and you must have an FCC registration number (FRN). More information on the test can be found on the BARC Exam Sessions page on this website. Directions to the Artisans Asylum are here.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Joe Chapman, NV1W at the above address or at 617-267-6349.

BIG E Space Chat is a “Go” on September 27, 2022

nv1w Announcements

Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, writes:

The pre-contact program for our upcoming ISS contact at the BIG E will begin at 1:20 pm ET on Tuesday, September 27. Our astronaut will be Bob Hines, KI5RQT. Our ground station for this contact will be ON4ISS in Belgium.

Parking and the walk to The BIG E arena will take some time so be sure to get there early. Remember to bring a printed official copy of your Amateur Radio license and you and up to 3 family and friends will get free admission to The BIG E on contact day.

The arena will hold well over 1,000 people. The BIG E is helping us to publicize the event and arrange for TV coverage for the program and the contact. We would appreciate everyone’s help in getting the word out!

Our pre-contact program will begin with a series of videos about space, NASA, ARISS, going to Mars, and more. Our pre-contact program speakers will include:

  • Gene Cassidy, CEO Eastern States Exposition
  • David Minster, CEO ARRL
  • Fred Kemmerer, Director ARRL New England Division
  • Bob Phinney, President New England Sci-Tech

We hope to see you and many folks across the New England and Hudson Division at the BIG E next Tuesday!

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, September 15

nv1w Meetings

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will hold its September General Meeting on the Zoom Teleconferencing Platform on Thursday, September 15. The Zoom room will open at 7:00 pm for a period of socializing, and the meeting proper will begin at 7:30. A Zoom link will be published in this month’s SPARC and on the www.barc.org website on the day of the meeting.

Our speaker is Clint Bradford, K6LCS, presenting “How to Work Amateur Satellites with Your HT”. You do not need 100W of transmit power nor expensive antenna arrays to work the FM voice amateur satellites! Many hams already have the necessary equipment to “work the birds.” This presentation will walk you through ALL the steps needed to successfully work several ham satellites – including the International Space Station.

Clint K6LCS has been a ham since 1994, and found his niche in the hobby: working amateur satellites with minimal equipment and telling ALL about it! He has served a liaison between NASA, the ARISS team, and schools coordinating amateur radio contacts between the International Space Station and students (and also orchestrated a wildly successful ARISS contact). Audiences have never found his presentation slides “wordy” nor dull. Trivia questions are included throughout the session – audiences are never bored.

For reference materials, Clint has created a support Web site at work-sat.com. The Web site has become a one-stop source for ALL the citations and equipment recommendations and software suggestions made in the presentation.

Professionally, Clint was sales manager for ADI / Premier Communications / Pryme, worked for a Motorola commercial two-way dealer a couple of years, and for Ham Radio Outlet a couple more. He resides in Jurupa Valley, California, with his wife, Karen, and their rescued lab, Freja (FRAY-ya).

This will be a “perfect storm” meeting, as the club President, Vice President, and Secretary will all be unable to attend, so there will be no business portion of the meeting.

Call for volunteers: The Big E

nv1w Announcements, Public service

(From Larry, W1AST, via Bruce Blain, K1BG)

The Big E is coming up fast and the first day is Friday, September 16th.

As of right now there are 12 clubs and around 110 people signed up to staff the ham radio booth. We are looking for a few more to help us lock down the schedule. Are you available on any of these dates and times?

Each day is broken into two sessions. The first runs 9:30 am through 4:00 pm and the second runs 3:30 pm through 10:00 pm. The overlap is to help the new arrivals for the 2nd session learn what had been working during the first session so they could continue. The sessions are named Session 1 and Session 2.

Here is where we need volunteers as of right now:

Monday, Sept 19, session 1 – need 2 people
Monday, Sept 19, session 2 – need 3 people
Tuesday, Sept 20, session 2 – need 3 people
Sunday, Sept 25, session 2 – need 3 people
Tuesday, Sept 27, session 2 – need 4 people
Friday, Sept 30, session 2 – need 3 people
Saturday, Oct 1, session 1 – needs 1 person
Sunday, Oct 2 (Final Day), session 1 – needs 2 people
Sunday, Oct 2 (Final session), session 2 – needs 2 people

Are you available to help? If yes, please volunteer or add a session to what you have already volunteered for.

As a reminder, everyone that volunteers gets their Big E fairgrounds parking reimbursed and their admission reimbursed (or free tickets provided to them).

Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9_iH1ZucHuCFCNwreEuVPWnmLOT5D_s92vHPuEUASS78Tew/viewform

Learn more here: https://nediv.arrl.org/project-big-e

I hope you are available to help us lock in these last few days of the schedule for the ham radio booth.

Thank you and 73,

Larry, W1AST

ARRL WMA ACC
HCRA President
Visit my Ham Radio club website at: www.HCRA.org
Team K2H – 13 Colonies Massachusetts State Manager
Project Big E 2022 Organizer
Proud Member of ARRL, BARS, FCARC & YCCC
413-348-3289

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, June 16

nv1w Meetings

BARC will be holding a General Meeting on Thursday, June 16, at 7:30 p.m. on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. There will be no speaker this month; we will be holding elections and finalizing plans for Field Day on the weekend of June 25 and 26.

The meeting room will be opened at 7:00 pm for a period of socializing. Please put your call sign (if you have one) in your meeting name to help us figure out who you are.

To join the Zoom meeting go to:
https://zoom.us/j/99918732995?pwd=cFhSbmwySUQ2Qi90eGVUNFNhQ0N4Zz09
Meeting ID: 999 1873 2995 Password: BARC

Field Day will be June 25–26

nv1w Field Day

BARC will be holding Field Day this year at the Hale Educational Center in Westwood. For those who have not attended Field Day before, this is one of the biggest amateur radio events of the year, a cross between an emergency exercise, contest, party, and public relations event. Participants (including clubs like BARC) set up in a temporary location using emergency power and make contacts for 24 hours. If you attend you will learn a great deal—especially if you can help with setup and/or teardown—whether you’re still studying for your Technician or have been an Extra for years.

This will be our first year at Hale Education. You can find directions and a map here. The site is in Norfolk County, grid FN42jf. The one problem with the site is a lack of public transportation options, so we will be organizing carpools to and from nearby MBTA commuter stations. If you will need a ride or are willing to volunteer to make a few trips to the T to shuttle people back and forth, please contact Brendan, NW1S, at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com.

We will be operating in class 3A, which is a club running three HF transceivers at once, and using wire antennas for the HF bands between 80 and 10 meters. The rules allow one VHF/UHF station transmitting at any one time and that will be used on six and two meters using stacked beam antennas. Modes will be SSB, CW, and digital. We will also attempt a satellite contact again this year. If you have a Technician license or none at all, we can arrange for you to operate under the supervision of a control operator if you wish.

If you want to stay overnight, you will need to bring your own tent, sleeping bag, and anything else you need for spending the night. There are some hotels along Route 128 in the area if you don’t want to sleep on the ground but also don’t want to drive back and forth from home more than once. We will provide food, including a cookout on Saturday night. If you have special dietary requirements, please let either NW1S or NV1W know.

Setup will start around 9:00 am on Saturday. Operating time runs from 2:00 pm on Saturday to 2:00 pm on Sunday, after which we will tear things down and pack up. If you want to volunteer to help or just want to say you’re coming, send a note to Brendan, NW1S, at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com. If you need more information, contact Joe, NV1W, at nv1w@arrl.net.

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, May 19

nv1w Field Day, Meetings

BARC will be holding a General Meeting on Thursday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. There will be no speaker this month; we will be discussing plans for Field Day on the weekend of June 25 and 26.

The meeting room will be opened at 7:00 pm for a period of socializing. Please put your call sign (if you have one) in your meeting name to help us figure out who you are.

https://zoom.us/j/99918732995?pwd=cFhSbmwySUQ2Qi90eGVUNFNhQ0N4Zz09
Meeting ID: 999 1873 2995 Password: BARC