The BARC Holiday Party will be held at the Stockyard restaurant in Brighton at 1:00 pm on Sunday, January 13.
If you have not already returned the reservation form by mail, you may reserve a spot by e-mailing Joe, NV1W, at nv1w@arrl.net. Please include your name, call, and number of guests; you may settle with the Treasurer for $25 per person at the party. Please use the subject line “BARC Holiday Party” and respond by January 6.
[From Phil Temples, K9HI]
The IEEE is holding an antenna conference in Boston in the Seaport District in July. They’ve approached Tom Walsh, K1TW, the Eastern MA Section Manager to see if we would staff a booth and provide VE exams for conference attendees interested in ham radio. Parking fees would be waived, and they would hold a free reception for the ham volunteers.
“The 2018 IEEE AP–S Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting will be held on July 8–13, 2018, at the Westin Waterfront hotel in Boston, MA. The combined symposium and meeting are cosponsored by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP–S) and the U.S. National …” The conference URL is: https://www.2018apsursi.org.
Would you have an interest in being involved in this project? It should be a lot of fun! We still need a few more volunteers. You can find more details and a sign-up link at: https://ema.arrl.org/hamradio-ieee-ap-s-2018-seeks-volunteers-july-8-12-2018/.
April is always a jam-packed month for public service events, and we always close it with the Run of the Charles. This is a really unique and fun event, a series of canoe and kayak races to support the Charles River Watershed Association. The organization works to protect the natural ecology of the Charles River, and keep it safe and clean for people to enjoy as well.
At this event, we handle on-site registrations, reports of rules violations, and of course we’re always keeping an eye on participants’ safety. All the rain over the week prior made for strong currents, which unfortunately led to a lot of boats capsizing, including one that got stuck on a bridge and needed emergency assistance. That didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits, though; we handled 24 registrations throughout the day, which is in line with most years, and everyone had a safe race.
Thanks to all twenty volunteers who came out to support this event and the Charles River: Jeff PinterParsons, W5UVO; Alan Lewis, K1ALL; Mark Richards, K1MGY; David Cantrell, WH6DSN; Henry Brown, K1WCC; Rick Savage, KB1LYJ; Kathy Savage, KB1LPW; Gary Schwartz, N1ZCE; Bill Bridgham, N1RYT; Keilin Bickar, KE1LIN; Cheyenne Greatorex, N1QZS; Dave Allen, KC1GEQ; Jim Clogher, N1ICN; Ed Curley, KC1CLA; Lyman Smith, W1LKS; Lela Smith, KC1ACV; John Marcus III, W1JWM; Dave Gilman, KC1DDH; Brian Mallory, KB1WZU; and Thomas Achtemichuk, W0ZIO.
Before the Boston Marathon, there’s the BAA 5K. This is a short road race, put on by the same organizing team as the Boston Marathon, with a course that runs from the Boston Common through Back Bay and back. The competition is fierce—multiple world records have been set at this event.
Amateur radio volunteers work with medical personnel at this event to provide communications support around supplies, logistics, and dispatch. We were stationed with them at water stations along the route; with prefinish spotters; and with sweep teams working in the post-finish area. Fortunately favorable weather on Saturday helped everything go according to plan, and we didn’t have to deal with any serious emergencies.
Clear communications go a long way to help keep those plans running smoothly, and everyone was sharp and professional on the air. Special thanks to our friends at the Harvard Wireless Club who brought a whole team to support all the post-finish sweep operations: Robert Anderson, KC1IFV; Elton Lossner, KN4GIT; Gunnar Plunkett, KM6NFL; Jeb King, KD9JKT; and William Collins, W1PL. And many thanks to all the volunteers: Scott Gaudet, KC1EXS; Thomas Achtemichuk, W0ZIO; Chris McArdle, KB1REM; Colin McArdle, KB1REL; Peter Sullivan, W1ABC; Rick Savage, KB1LYJ; Kathy Savage, KB1LPW; and Cheyenne Greatorex, N1QZS.
The BARC Holiday Party will be held at the Stockyard restaurant in Brighton at 12:00 noon on Sunday, January 14. (Note the time change from previous years.) We ask that people RSVP by January 5 to allow enough time for the Ham of the Year plaque to be ordered. The reservation form is here.
You’ll also note that you can use this form to nominate the 2017 Ham of the Year. The rules stipulate that the winners from the previous five years (W1JJF, NV1W, N1QD, AB1RL, NA1I) are ineligible. A list of Hams of the Year can be found here.
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 runs from 7pm EST Friday December 1 to 7pm EST Saturday December 2.
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.
[From the ARRL via the MMRA’s Public Service Events list]
Many individuals have loved ones in Puerto Rico and they are understandably hopeful that Amateur Radio operators can relay messages to them. As a result, some are contacting amateurs with requests to pass message traffic to the island.
At the same time, individual amateurs and clubs have reported that local press representatives have contacted them to request information about Amateur Radio involvement in Puerto Rico. This is likely to increase as word spreads in the national media about our activities.
For inquiries from the public, ARRL advises that these individuals should be informed that amateurs traveling to the island to support the American Red Cross effort will be tasked with handling outbound traffic only. With that in mind, members of the public should access the American Red Cross Safe and Well System online at https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php. Status information from friends and relatives in Puerto Rico will be entered into the system as it arrives from amateurs stationed there.
For press inquiries, please ask reporters to contact ARRL directly at newsmedia@arrl.org. A system has been established at ARRL Headquarters to respond to press inquiries in a timely and accurate manner.
Steve Ewald, WV1X
Supervisor, Field Organization Team
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio®
860-594-0265
sewald@arrl.org
The BARC Volunteer Examiner (VE) Team will be conducting an exam session on Monday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Brookline Police Headquarters in Brookline. More information can be found here. Advance registration is required.
To register for an exam or if you have questions, contact Linda Blair, NA1I, or Jim Clogher, N1ICN.
Welcome to the beta version of BARC’s new website, a joint effort by Joe Harris, N1QD, and Joe Chapman, NV1W. We hope to deploy this new club website sometime in early summer 2017.
For now, our focus is on getting the membership form and PayPal link working and on moving over information from the old website. Design, photos, and cleaning up minor nits will follow. Comments and offers to help may be sent to N1QD or NV1W.