Congrats to the sixteen RI Section Clubs, EOCs, and Individuals who participated in the ARRL Field Day last June 21-23 2024. ARRL has now posted the scores, but we all know Field Day is about showcasing amateur radio to the world.
Wonderful to see Rhode Island’s historic clubs all alive and well. Welcoming the public while still scoring nationally in the top 20 in their class. Way to go!
1Alpha
#13: Assoc. Radio Amateurs of So. New England W1AQ 1,211 2 15 3,506 RI
The RI ARES Situational Awareness Mission & Economic Value
Ground truth “situational awareness” reports from your neighborhood matter. Here’s a great example Gil Woodside, RICOMU leadership shared during my 2024 Field Day visit to ARRL-Affiliated Club, WA1USA. [Recording transcript lightly edited for clarity.]
Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, ARRL RI Section Manager: Hello Gil, WA1LAD – Great to meet you during Field Day today at WA1USA. You were just sharing an example of how the situational awareness capabilities of every ham delivering, for example, weather reports really matters. So could you tell that anecdote again that you just shared with me?
Gil Woodside, WA1LAD, RICOMU:
Sure! This January 2024 Rhode Island had damaging rainstorms. The state had gone to FEMA and said that we were going to go through the process of getting a disaster declaration, which will bring Federal money in for Recovery. The issue was that FEMA said the storm was actually multiple storms over multiple days. But we worked with the National Weather Service and their forecasting office. And we gathered all the reports from the local hams and Skywarn spotters, and we took all that information to the Weather Service. They got all this data; they collated it all and they were able to show FEMA that it was a single weather event. Not multiple events over multiple days. And that information alone allowed us to complete the paperwork with FEMA and successfully get a disaster declaration for our state for the January storms. …
This mattered! For example, Galilee had significant damage down there to the beaches, buildings, etc. and they were looking at about $12 million dollars for that area. And so, that’s a really good example of how any ham could really have an impact. Getting involved in Skywarn, as one example, can really matter.
Whether you are a trained Skywarn Spotter or not, you can say that, you know, my street has a foot of water on it. It’s those types of reports that they look at at the National Weather Service. Their radar and their forecasting is essential, but we still need real world boots on the ground, in the street, reporting from everybody. It REALLY MATTERS. We take situational awareness reports from hams, from Public Safety and other other professionals … cities, towns, DPW’s, RIPTA, RIDOT. So, we are constantly gathering this information to make informed decisions. It also helps us get disaster declarations – such as shared in the example here. Federal money provides funding to get things done. …
Thanks so much for visiting WA1USA on ARRL Field Day 2024. We look forward to continuing to serve Rhode Island and working with the amateur radio community in shared support of our situational awareness mission.
Are you a licensed RI Ham interested to learn more and make a difference?
Please join the RI-ARES monthly Zoom meeting tomorrow, Wednesday July 10, 2024 from 8-9:30 pm as we set priorities for the year ahead. RIARES.org [calendar]
Check-in to the RI-ARES monthly 2m SIMPLEX net tonight as we test a shorter net format based on the Western MA (WMA) weekly Sunday morning 80m EmComm net.
Going forward, the RI monthly Simplex net is likely going to call for basic check-in reports from key stakeholder partners – including ARRL and ARES leadership, Public Safety, Skywarn, NTS, RI County involved stations, outside RI, and Relays. It will help build awareness of stakeholders and call signs, and help highlight gaps we need to address. (Are you the next NTS lead for RI?)
2m FM Simplex Net 7:30PM @147.42 MHz
(Monthly, 2nd Tues, KC1NEK NCS)
147.42 MHz Simplex
TONIGHT: 19:30 Local Time – Tues July 9, 2024
Please be prepared to check-in when called with this report template:
Call Sign, Name, Location,
Power Source (commercial/battery), Power Level (ie. 50 watts)
Traffic or Issues to report in your area? (Negative? Something to report?).
Over
NOTE: We will not have a later round of comments on this test Simplex net format. You can choose to make a note of which stations you can hear and how well. A future goal would be to later collect and collate this via a follow-up Google Doc. Share your suggestions tomorrow during the RI-ARES Monthly Zoom call.
“The United States is the world’s largest economy and third most populous country. It is also one of the world’s more resilient countries, scoring a total of 63/100 on the Resilience Index. This places the U.S. 27th out of 141 countries measured by the World Risk Poll – comfortably above the global average score of 57, but some way below the top scoring countries.
The Resilience Index is an average score of four smaller sub-indexes: individual, household, community, and societal resilience. The vast majority of countries – 111 of them – have significantly higher scores for societal resilience than individual resilience. In other words, societies generally score higher for resilience than individuals within them.
Very few countries – just nine – show the opposite effect, where individual resilience is significantly higher than societal resilience. The US is among these nine countries and ranks as by far the most unevenly resilient among them.
No other country in the world has such resilient individuals living in such a fragile society.”
Please join the Rhode Island Amateur Radio Community this Field Day weekend as we showcase all we are doing to support resilience on every level
Newport County Radio Club (W1SYE) – Glen Park, Gilbert Barker Rd off Glen Rd, Portsmouth, RI [with Portsmouth RI K1PMA EmComm vehicle demo]
Fidelity Amateur Radio Club (W1MB) – New England Wireless and Steam Museum, East Greenwich, RI
Providence Radio Association (W1OP) – Masonic Youth Center, 116 Long St, Warwick, RI
Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club (W1DDD) – 1315 Chopmist Hill Rd, N. Smithfield, RI
Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England (W1AQ) – Slater Memorial Park, Pawtucket, RI
Participating Emergency Management / Operation Radio Clubs
(Call to confirm they will be open to the public and operating at the time you plan to visit. Contact information on site map call-sign pop-up here: https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator)
RICOMU/RIEMA (WA1USA) – 279 Danielson Pike, N. Scituate, RI
Providence EMA RACES (KK1PMA) – 591 Charles St.Providence, RI
Coventry RI EMA (KC1CUE) – 1675 Flat River Rd, Coventry, RI
Charlestown EOC Ham Radio Club (W1CRI) – Ninigret Park, Charlestown, RI
Libby, visiting from Portland OR, was surprised and delighted chatting over the airwaves with local Newport County Radio club members during last weekend’s Jane’s Walk Newport RI. Shown here being mentored by Paul Fredette, K1YBE, NCRC-VP.
Every day across Newport County, amateur radio operators get on the air to talk with one another without needing to rely on the internet or commercial power. This diverse community of FCC-licensed “hams” take advantage of the radio spectrum frequencies allocated to licensed amateurs as part of this critical but invisible infrastructure that is the radio spectrum.
Last weekend’s Jane’s Walk was about sharing the experience of a resilient community forged by a diverse group of local hams licensed since the pandemic, welcomed by a community of old-timers and “Elmer” mentors. We still check in daily on scheduled “nets” to say hello, offer updates about what’s happening in our part of the island, compare notes, and generally learn something new. Any licensed amateur can join in.
It’s also about public service to our community. During bad weather, we have practiced and are prepared to set up Skywarn nets and report relevant information up to the National Weather Service at W1BOX in nearby Norton/Boston. Some of us dig deeper and practice how to send National Traffic System Health & Welfare Radiograms out of the region, should that ever be necessary. Anyone can join this amateur radio community after studying and passing a license exam that does not require knowing Morse Code.
Didn’t make it to last weekend’s Jane’s Walk? The annual ARRL Field Day national amateur radio demo weekend is June 22-23, 2024.
The Newport County Radio Club (W1SYE) will be offering a “Get On the Air” station at Glen Park in Portsmouth, RI. All are welcome to stop by and learn more. Ham radio – the original social media. People talking to people, even if the internet is down. Amateur Radio – Communication when all else fails.
Many thanks to Rebecca Noon and Jed Brainerd from Center Aquidneck for convening Jane’s Walk 2024.
The Airwaves Jane’s Walk was fun and memorable thanks to all the local hams who got on the local repeater to chat with our visitors. Thank you!
Newport native & “Not Yet A Ham” Jed Brainerd from Center Aquidneck, getting on the air!
Congrats to RI Section member Alan Kline, KB1DJ for his article on Ladder Safety published in the new FIELD DAY issue of On The Air (May/June 2024).
Alan, KB1DJ is the co-owner of a ladder and scaffolding company, and ARRL Life Member. For more information or a club talk on Ladder Safety, he can be reached at [email protected]
Another 24-hour Winter Field Day wraps this Sunday afternoon at 2pm. So there is still time to reach out to support our RI Amateur Radio clubs.
W1MB, Fidelity Amateur Radio Club – operating with great camaraderie out of the New England Wireless & Steam Museum Visitors are welcome to this indoor East Greenwich location.
W1SYE, Newport County Radio Club – operating until 2pm outoors in Portsmouth at the Glen. WFD Lead is Dave Neal, W2DAN who welcomes visitors to listen in as he brings the WFD operation into the home stretch.
W1DD, Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club participated yesterday with photos to follow.
KK1PMA, Providence Emergency Management Agency Races is participating Sunday. For more information, contact WFD Lead Barry Noel, W1BSN
W1OP, Providence Radio Association is participating indoors from their club house in Johnston.
W1AQ, Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England is looking to join in from their club house in Rumford. For more information, contact Doug N2RDF
Meanwhile, any RI licensed amateur can participate solo from their home station operating as 1-Home-Rhode Island.
The last ISS-satellite pass during WFD will be shortly at 12:38-12:44pm FYI. I’ll be seeing if I can make a QSO there despite the Atlantic SSW > ENE pass that is not great for me. Maybe hear you then?
You can also use this opportunity to send a Winlink message to the RI Section Emergency Coordinator, Jeremy Taylor at [email protected].
