Field Day, June 22—23

nv1w Events, Field Day, Outdoors

BARC will be gathering for Field Day this year at Hale Education in Westwood. This annual event, held on the third full weekend in June, is part contest, part open house, part emergency exercise, part camping trip, and all a lot of fun. People who aren’t yet members of BARC, or who even aren’t yet licensed, are welcome to join us.

The operating period runs from 2 pm on Saturday until 2 pm on Sunday, and will be preceded by setup and followed by teardown. We will have four HF stations in operation, and in keeping with the emergency preparedness theme, power will be provided by generators. Single sideband voice, CW (Morse code), and various digital modes will be used. If you’re licensed but haven’t operated much (or at all), this is a great opportunity to get started on HF.

There will be food and drinks available.

The ARRL Field Day page is here. Directions to Hale Education are here. Talkaround will be on 147.420 MHz simplex. For more information, contact us at w1bos@arrl.net.

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, June 20

nv1w Meetings

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will have its regular General Meeting Thursday, June 20, at both Artisans Asylum and Zoom. We will begin with a period of socializing at 7:00 and the meeting proper will begin at 7:30.

This is the annual elections meeting. So far, the following slate of candidates is running:

  • President: Brendan Baldonado, NW1S
  • Vice President: Joe Harris, N1QD
  • Treasurer: Mark Duff, KB1EKN
  • Secretary: Joe Chapman, NV1W

Further nominations may be made from the floor. A candidate must be a member of the club in good standing and hold a current amateur radio license of any class.

Zoom meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82107725631?pwd=7mkomtgZJ7r3bLEIUzoOBZPvCRUvbl.1

Meeting ID: 821 0772 5631
Passcode: BARC

BARC General Meeting, April 18

nv1w Meetings

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will have its regular General Meeting Thursday, April 18, at both Artisans Asylum and Zoom. We will begin with a period of socializing at 7:00 and the meeting proper will begin at 7:30.

We will be taking a second vote on the following Bylaws amendment, increasing the amount of an expenditure an individual Officer (i.e., President, Vice President, Treasurer, or Secretary) may authorize:

Article IV, Section 1 (Fiscal Matters of the Club), “Expenditure Authorizations”, is amended as follows: The sentence “An individual Officer may authorize the expenditure of up to $100 dollars.” is replaced with “An individual Officer may authorize the expenditure of up to $250 dollars.”

Zoom information:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82714207849?pwd=1K7fMf6WR8oDngop4Nw70nzbahwG3H.1

Meeting ID: 827 1420 7849
Passcode: BARC

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.

BARC General Meeting, March 21

nv1w Meetings

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will have its regular General Meeting Thursday, March 21, at both Artisans Asylum and Zoom. We will begin with a period of socializing at 7:00 and the meeting proper will begin at 7:30.

We will be taking a first vote on the following Bylaws amendment, increasing the amount of an expenditure an individual Officer (i.e., President, Vice President, Treasurer, or Secretary) may authorize:

Article IV, Section 1 (Fiscal Matters of the Club), “Expenditure Authorizations”, is amended as follows: The sentence “An individual Officer may authorize the expenditure of up to $100 dollars.” is replaced with “An individual Officer may authorize the expenditure of up to $250 dollars.”

If the amendment passes, a second vote will be taken at the April meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 827 1420 7849
Passcode: BARC