Announcements

New England QSO Party — 2024

nv1w Announcements, On the air

[Via Tom Frenaye, K1KI. — NV1W.]

The New England QSO Party on May 4th and 5th is a great time to check out antenna systems and offers a moderately paced opportunity to work new states and countries. You’ll find a wide variety of participants, from newcomers to experienced contesters, all interested in making contacts with New England stations.

Our goal is to get every one of the 68 counties in New England on the air so we hope you will encourage your friends to join in the fun! Even if you can only join us for a couple of hours, we’d appreciate it! Will you be QRV? Let us know with a message to info@neqp.org.

The New England QSO Party is 20 hours long overall, in two sections with a civilized break for sleep on Saturday night. It runs from 4 pm Saturday until 1 am Sunday, then 9 am Sunday until 8 pm Sunday. Operate on CW, SSB and/or digital modes on 80–40–20–15–10 meters. For each QSO you’ll give your callsign, a signal report and your state/county. Top scorers can earn a plaque and everyone who sends in a log with at least 25 QSOs will be sent a certificate. The goal is to work stations anywhere in the world — and their goal is to work New England stations, so you’ll be very popular!

Last year we received logs from 784 stations from around the country and world. There were 808 stations from New England on the air!

The full rules are here -> http://neqp.org/rules/

Results from the 2023 NEQP were posted a couple of weeks ago — https://neqp.org/2023-new-england-qso-party/

The 2024 NEQP will take place in three weeks. Please get on and make some QSOs even if you don’t want to send in a log!

Thanks!

73 Tom/K1KI

QDX class starts April 18th!

nv1w Announcements, Classes

Note: The class is sold out. Thank you for your interest.

We are excited to announce that the Boston Amateur Radio Club is teaching a QDX building class.

What is a QDX, you ask? Well it’s a digital ham radio transceiver, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, that operates at 5 watts on the 10 meter amateur radio band.

This class is going to be geared towards Technician class licensees, newer hams with limited experience in soldering, antenna concepts and digital modes. So, if that sounds like you, we encourage you to take the class.

This offering of the QDX build class has been sponsored by an Amateur Radio Digital Communications grant, and the materials cost, a $110 value, has been completely covered by that grant. The class still has a nominal fee of $75 which is being donated to Artisans Asylum for their continued support and help of the Boston Amateur Radio Club.

The class will be on Thursday evenings, beginning on April 18th, for 5 sessions.

A quick class description:

This class is a brief introduction to basic electronic circuits, building toroids, soldering, building antennas, and operating on amateur radio digital modes. We will be building a QRP Labs 10m QDX-M single band radio and a QRP Guys No-Tune end-fed half wave antenna.

The class will consist of five sessions, every Thursday at 6pm, beginning on April 18th, held at the Artisans Asylum Holton St. building.

During the class we will:

  • Build a small portable antenna
  • Learn about some basic electronic components
  • Learn how to solder
  • Learn to make toroids
  • Build a small 5 watt radio for the ten meter band
  • Learn to operate on digital modes

While this class does not have any prerequisites, we are building a radio for use on amateur radio frequencies, so a Technician class amateur radio license is preferred (but not required) to take the class and keep the radio. Be advised that in order to transmit using your radio outside of class meeting times, you will need an amateur radio license issued by the FCC.

For more information on licensing and a schedule of test sessions contact the Boston Amateur Radio Club at w1bos@arrl.net.

The class listing is here if you wish to sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-amateur-radio-club-qdx-build-class-tickets-872148779477?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you have experience with soldering and building kits but wish to take the class, we would ask that you wait and give those newer to the hobby and kit building a chance to sign up for the class. In a week or so if there are spots left I will resend a email to the bostonARC groups.io list for all others that may be interested.

Any questions please email Brendan at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com.

Discounted renewals end January 31

nv1w Announcements

The discount period for membership renewals ends on Wednesday, January 31. Renewals made on PayPal on or before that date, or mailed renewals postmarked by that date, receive a 20% discount. On February 1, dues will be $25.00 for regular members, and $12.50 for senior, junior, and family members.

To renew via PayPal, go to the Join page, fill out the form, and click through to PayPal to pay your dues.

It’s membership renewal time!

nv1w Announcements

The packages for 2024 Boston Amateur Radio Club membership renewals will be mailed out some time next week. If your membership expires at the end of 2023, you will receive the mail by default. Current members are eligible to renew at a 20% discount—$20 for general members, and $10 for juniors, seniors, and family members. You must renew by January 31, 2024 to take advantage of the discount. The grace period for renewals extends through March, 2024.

You can renew (as well as join) on the web by going to the Join page. When you click through to the PayPal payment page, you will see a section for renewals at the bottom of the page.

If you do not want to receive the mailing (thereby saving the club the cost of two stamps), please send me a message at joechapman@alum.mit.edu saying so, or renew on the web before Wednesday, December 6.

If you wish to join as an Advanced Member, please do not renew using this website or the paper renewal form; instead, you should contact a member of the Executive Committee or send mail to w1bos@arrl.net. Current Advanced Member dues are $1400 annually and there are a limited number available.

Both renewals and new memberships made now using the website will give you BARC membership through December 31, 2024.

Thank you in advance for your support of the club and its activities and repeaters.

New editor of The SPARC

Shirley Dulcey Announcements, Newsletter

Shirley Dulcey KE1L is taking over editing The SPARC as of the October 2023 issue (the next one). All submissions for that issue and subsequent issues should be sent to her at shirleymarquez@gmail.com and not to Joe Chapman. (Joe will send along anything that he has already received.) The deadline for submissions for the next issue is still Saturday, October 7.

Shirley has been a ham since the summer of 1970, receiving her ticket just a bit too late to ever operate her junior high station. (All was not lost; the high school had an even better station.) She is active in the New England QRP Club and especially enjoys operating from field locations. (She is likely to sneak some QRP content into this newsletter, especially if you don’t submit articles!) She has published newsletters for other organizations, including the Boston Computer Society and the Eastern Massachusetts unit of the American Contract Bridge League. She was a member of BARC in its early years, and rejoined in December 2022 to become active in the BARC at Artisans Asylum station and to participate in Winter Field Day 2023, and later at the ARRL Field Day station.

A big thank you to Joe for his service as editor.

Amateur Radio Communications Support Request: Gardner Centennial Parade September 17

Ethan Hansen Announcements, Public service ,

Hi all,

Please find the request from Paul Topolski, W1SEX below:

Fellow Radio Amateurs,

The City of Gardner is celebrating our centennial, 100 years as a city, with a large parade on Sunday, September 17, 2023 at 13:00 hours.

The City of Gardner Office of Emergency Management is seeking assistance from the ham radio community to provide safety and parade logistics communications. We need about fifteen hams to shadow division Marshalls and three command/relay trailers. A minimum of nine hams will need to be able to walk the parade route of up to 1.8 miles. The first half mile is on a slight uphill grade but it’s all downhill from there. Hams are requested to marshal at 11:00 hours and the parade steps off at 13:00.

To volunteer, please reply to ptopolski@gardner-ma.gov

Please feel free to forward this message to any hams that you know may be interested in helping out.

Be safe es 73,

Paul Topolski, W1SEX, Director
City of Gardner Office of Emergency Management

73,
Ethan KC1OIP
BARC Public Service Chair

Amateur Radio Communications Support Opportunity: Head Of The Charles 2023

Ethan Hansen Announcements, Public service ,

Hi all,
If you’ve volunteered for the Head Of The Charles before then you’ve probably already seen this but if you haven’t and want to apply to be a volunteer read on!

Amateur Radio is part of the Emergency Services team for the HOCR and the shifts are as follows:

Friday, October 20, from 7:00am to 6:00pm
Saturday, October 21, from 7:00am to 6:00pm
Sunday, October 22, from 7:00am to 6:00pm

There are no partial shifts. We ask that you only apply if you’re available for the entirety of one or more of the above listed shifts.  We would like you to be able to do multiple days if possible, but we will allow single shifts. You must posses a Technician license or higher prior to your first volunteer day.

To register, go to https://volunteer.regattacentral.com/hocr/login and create an account. After logging in you will see two options for Amateur Radio: Land Station and Safety Launch. Please note that Safety Launch is on the water. I don’t believe a PIN is required anymore but if it asks it’s 5713 for all Emergency Services positions.

Finally if you happen to know any certified lifeguards that might be interested please pass the website information along.

73,
Ethan KC1OIP
BARC Public Service Chair

Volunteer Registration Open For The 2023 BAA Half Marathon

Ethan Hansen Announcements, Public service ,

Hi all,

Some of you may have already seen this from the B.A.A but Volunteer Registration for the Half Marathon on November 12th is open! Please see the information below from the B.A.A.

The B.A.A. Half Marathon, presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund, returns to Franklin Park on Sunday, November 12, 2023. We invite you to join us as a volunteer to support the third and final event of the 2023 B.A.A. Distance Medley. 

Volunteer Registration is ongoing within your B.A.A. Athletes’ Village Account:

  • To apply, log in to your B.A.A. Athletes’ Village account or sign up for an account if you have not yet done so already.  
  • All 2021, 2022, and 2023 Boston Marathon volunteer applicants should have an existing Athletes’ Village account. 
  • Navigate to the Volunteers page on your account. Select the “To Volunteer Click Here” button. Follow the instructions on the form. 
  • Your application is complete once you receive an application confirmation number.

The volunteer registration deadline for the B.A.A. Half Marathon is Friday, October 20 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Please note, we do anticipate receiving more volunteer applicants than we are able to accept. 

If you haven’t volunteered at a B.A.A event before you will need to create an account and profile. Unlike the full marathon there is only one option for Amateur Radio which can be found after selecting “General” volunteer. 

Hope to see you on race day!

73,
Ethan KC1OIP
BARC Public Service Chair

SKYWARN mail to charter/hotmail/msn/outlook addresses

nv1w Announcements

Rob Macedo, KD1CY, alerts us to problems receiving where Microsoft is intentionally blocking SKYWARN announcements. The full details are at https://wx1box.org/2023/08/02/special-announcement-charter-hotmail-msn-outlook-email-addresses-blocked-from-receiving-skywarn-announcement-emails/.

I have also noticed a problem where club mail to addresses at outlook.com have silently disappeared, so I will be contacting the few current members who may have be affected.