https://ri-arrl.org/ri-section-newsletter-2024-01-31
Welcome to your RI Section Newsletter for January 31, 2024
Upcoming DX talk by Charlie Morrison, N1RR open to RI hams at W1AQ clubhouse in Rumford
W1AQ-Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England (an ARRL affiliated club since 1931) invites you:
(SPACE LIMITED) Have you ever wondered “how do I reach this or that country so I can get my award?” Or have you turned on the radio and wondered what might be the best band for dx, or domestic contacts?
Well, here’s what you need to know. Charlie, N1RR, an avid DX’er and contester, will be giving a presentation at the W1AQ club house on Thursday Feb-22 at 8pm to tell you all about how to use on-line, real-time data to figure out what bands are best for where you want to work. His presentation will cover:
- Introduction to NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)
- Basics of Sun’s effects on H.F. communications
- Using NOAA SWPC indicators for your H.F. operating?
- What to do when conditions are good?
- What to do when conditions are bad?
- Get on the air, apply what you’ve learned, share your experiences.
The presentation will be at the W1AQ clubhouse, 54 Kelley Ave, Rumford, RI on 22-FEB-24 at 8PM. I hope to see you there.
Please RSVP for more information about joining in person at the W1AQ clubhouse or getting the link to the recording:
RSVP TO: Doug Troughton, N2RDF at [email protected]
Club Officer, W1AQ-Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England
ARRL School Roundup February 12-16, 2024
Lots of opportunities coming together to support youth and young adult outreach across RI.
The ARRL Letter for January 25, 2024 announced the Board has authorized a new, free ARRL membership for students. “For decades, ARRL has offered a reduced dues rate for young hams [Under age 26], currently priced at $30 per year. At this meeting, the Board established a new option for a no-cost Associate membership for full-time students aged 21 and younger.”
The RI Section Newsletter (December 31, 2023) included this 2024 priority:
- Another recommended priority program focus is on revitalizing now-inactive clubs at Rhode Island superb colleges and universities. The ARRL’s Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, Director of Marketing and Innovation, is doing remarkable things in this space, and we welcome opportunities to collaborate (- And we have the teams identified and ready to take action.) Future postings will share more about the ARRL’s CARP initiative. “Since the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program (CARP) was established in 2017, we’ve been growing our community of participating students and ham radio clubs at colleges and universities. CARP holds monthly Zoom meetups and makes connections through our CARP Facebook group and Discord.” See for example: https://www.hamcation.com/forums-speaker-info?event=71 and https://www.arrl.org/collegiate-amateur-radio
Brown University undergraduate and new ham Jose Sandoval, KC1TWM, is all about outreach to bring together a team of Brown students, alum, faculty and staff motivated to take action revitalizing the Brown Amateur Radio Club and (sooner or later) get the historic K1AD call sign back active on the air.
Jose KC1TWM and the Brown Amateur Radio Club revitalization team will participate in the upcoming ARRL School Roundup February 12-16, with details to follow. The team’s February goal is to spread awareness about the club relaunch and build a membership base ready to be recognized (again) as an active Official Brown student club in Fall 2024. Jose’s mission is to have enough identified student talent as the core of a competitive Brown team ready to show up for the October 2024 ARRL School Roundup.
It will be great to see our RI Section hams step up to help with outreach and mentoring across Rhode Island’s many colleges and Middle/High Schools. You do not need to be an official school club to participate in the School Roundup. Go for it! Help others Get On the Air.
For example, Mike Cullen, K1NPT has been actively supporting Middle School students curious about amateur radio at All Saints Academy in Middletown, RI for over a decade. Recently his after school club launched a weather balloon and has participated in the ARRL School Roundup often, especially before the pandemic. See: https://contests.arrl.org/scrscoredetails.php?rid=610192
Will Mike, K1NPT be helping the Middle School students at All Saints Academy again this year? Yes! He wrote:
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- Yep — I’m planning to be on air 13-15 Feb (Tues, Wed, Thurs) … 3 days …. each day in the 3PM to 4:30 PM window.
- Our main ops will likely be SSB on 40M and 20M.
- Can you please get the word out to RI hams that each day Feb 13, 14, 15 at 4PM, the students will call CQ on 146.55 simplex and I’ll have students track the RI towns contacted.
Are you interested in helping revitalize other college clubs? Mentor at a local Middle School?
Please reach out to John Brewer, N1SXB – our RI Section Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC) and/or Mike Cullen, K1NPT – active Middle School after-school mentor
Winter Field Day across RI Clubs
https://ri-arrl.org/2024-winter-field-day-ri-club-success/
- W1MB, Fidelity Amateur Radio Club – operated with great camaraderie out of the New England Wireless & Steam Museum. They helped get one new Tech get on the air, and held a VE session Saturday morning to welcome another General and Extra license holder to RI.
- W1SYE, Newport County Radio Club – operated from a field location at the Glen in Portsmouth. WFD Lead and contesting guru Dave Neal, W2DAN mentored new General-license class hams on how to set up and just go!
- W1DD, Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club, participated from a field location in Woonsocket.
- KK1PMA, Providence Emergency Management Agency Races participated Sunday. WFD Lead Barry Noel, W1BSN and team helped a new Tech get on the air.
- W1OP, Providence Radio Association participated indoors from their club house in Johnston.
- W1AQ, Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England is looking to join next year from their club house in Rumford.
- Meanwhile, many RI licensed amateurs participated solo from their home station operating as 1-Home-Rhode Island.
Thank you to all who helped their Rhode Island clubs get on the air last weekend to participate and mentor across our small state.
New Technician Michelle Dupuis, KC1TJH (licensed 2023-08-29) was mentored by the PEMA RACES ARRL Affiliated Club team during Winter Field Day, January 2024.
Welcome (it’s ELEVEN) New RI Technician-licensed hams!
If you hear a KC1 2×3 call sign with a suffix starting with a “T”, ask if the caller is a newly licensed ham and send congrats.
[1Feb update – correct sum is 11: ELEVEN = NINE reported Jan 10, 2024 + TWO reported Dec 5, 2023]From the ARRL “New License Report” for 2024-01-10 & 2023-12-05
- John Macvittie, KC1TVX – Coventry
- David Walker, KC1TVM – East Greenwich
- Richard Tucker, AC1QR – Lincoln
- John Flanders, KC1TVQ – Saunderstown
- Edward Dufresne, KC1TVR – Warren
- Michael O’Neil, KC1TUR – Warwick
- Darrell Wood, KC1TXB – Woonsocket
- Jose Sandoval, KC1TWM – Providence
- Frank Saccoccio, KC1TWB – Johnston
- Scott Vigneau, KC1TTH – Warwick
- Aaron Sucov, KC1TRG – Cranston
Congrats to THREE RI License Upgrades
From the ARRL “New License Report” for 2024-01-10 & 2023-12-05
- Dennis Hobert, KC1OYW – Harrisville
- Matthew Sarasin, KB1HEG – Warren
- Alfred J Watterson, KC1TGV – Warwick
Get licensed! Upgrade? Upcoming RI In-person VE Sessions
Many thanks to these 3 RI Clubs for consistently offering publicly-announced, in-person VE sessions. Here’s what they are offering Jan-March 2024.Q1. https://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session
- W1AQ (Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England) on Saturdays at 9:30am on February 3, 2024, March 2, 2024 (Rumford, RI) (walk-ins allowed)
- Blackstone Valley ARC (BVARC) on Saturdays at 9am March 9, 2024 (Woonsocket, RI) Location: Our Saviour’s Parish (Pre-registration via email preferred; Walk-ins allowed)
- Newport County Radio Club (NCRC | W1SYE.org) on Saturday at 10AM March 9,2024 in Middletown, RI at the (No Walk-ins / Register or Call ahead)
License Exam Prep via HamStudy.org. License prep has never been easier than with this transformational learning platform offering self-paced study and practice tests. Available on demand, for free.
Prefer to study with a class? Check out the ARRL listing for classes here, and check back often as 2024 classes get posted: https://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class
OR: check out the respected WEEKEND ZOOM License Class boot camps being offered all-remote this winter/spring by The Nashua Area Radio Society (N1FD) https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class/
Upcoming Regional Remote Amateur Radio License Class Weekend Bootcamps
- Technician License Class – February 17th and 18th, 2024
- General License Class – March 16th and 17th, 2024
- Extra License Class – April 19th, 20th, and 21st, 2024
For more information see: https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class/
RI ARES February Calendar
Curious about Regional Collaboration?
This Saturday February 3, 2024 from 10AM-Noon, our Eastern Massachusetts ARES neighbors will be conducting a Simulated Emergency Test EXERCISE to demonstrate gaps in how amateur radio operators can effectively collaborate to pass the structured information a served agency might request in a timely fashion over the air or via Winlink. This is a PRACTICE drill and you are welcome to listen in or participate if you feel prepared. Exercise objectives include passing a Radiogram over the National Traffic System (NTS):
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- Conduct an NTS voice net on 2m VHF FM
- Conduct an NTS voice net on 75m and pass traffic
- Attempt operations with the RI section on VHF and/or HF
This Simulated Emergency Test will offer hams the opportunity to pass and receive basic Health and Welfare Radiograms over the National Traffic System net. An exercise such as this is a great time to learn more about NTS:
You can download the Radiogram form at the ARRL website here:
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/RADIOGRAM-2011.pdf
Daily NTS Nets in Rhode Island – follow up action. As we rebuild Rhode Island Traffic Handling skills, please take advantage of the collaboration offered through the MA-RI-Phone (CW & Digital) Nets held 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Mass Rhode Island Phone Net – 3.978 MHz at 5PM Local Time Monday thru Sunday.
Saturday Feb 3, 2024 NTS (National Traffic System) Mass Rhode Island Phone PRACTICE EXERCISE NET planned –
NTS HF Phone Operations
The MA/RI NTS phone net will be operational for the duration of the exercise period,operating on 3978 khz LSB.
NTS VHF 2m operations – NTS will have a voice 2m net (EM2MTN) on the Boston 145.23- (PL88.5) repeater.
Participants are welcome to join either net and try their hand at copying and sending a Radiogram as well.
Here is a link to the basic ARRL Numbered Radiogram Health & Welfare messages that a licensed ham might be asked to send during an emergency if there was no internet and the primary public safety agencies are at capacity doing other things. Be the ham that is prepared and ready to offer public service help sending a Radiogram so that, for example, someone would get the message that a loved one is ok. https://nts2.arrl.org/numbered-texts/
RI ARES NETS
An updated RI ARES Practice and Training Net Schedule can be found here: https://riares.org/nets
ARES Practice and Training Nets are normally held at 19:30 local time and are open to all licensed operators. These are Directed Nets, the Net Control Station will control all communication on the net.
- 1st Tuesday of the month – Repeater Net
- 2nd Tuesday of the month – Simplex Net
- 3rd Tuesday of the month – Repeater Net
- 4th Tuesday of the month – Repeater & Digital Net
- Every Wednesday – SKYWARN
RI ARES Monthly Members’ Zoom – February 7, 2024 8-9:45pm
For more information, please see: https://riares.org/membership
This month’s meeting will review the basics of a repeater and how to get comfortable deciphering Form ICS-205 – The INCIDENT RADIO COMMUNICATIONS PLAN.
For example, the deadline to sign-up as a Boston Marathon Public Service Amateur Radio Volunteer is Friday February 2, 2024 at 5pm. https://hamradioboston.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/44002497536-2024-volunteer-registration-step-by-step-guide
Part of being prepared to show up as an operator for this Boston Marathon event will be the ability to take the event’s provided ICS-205 and program your HT with the dozens of Simplex and Repeater frequencies you don’t usually ever use. This is an important skill that needs to be practiced often.
The February RI-ARES Zoom session will help you better understand the various ways that input/output repeater frequencies are referred to, and how to read the ICS-205. Of course, you still have to be able to program your own HT. Start by understanding the basics behind what the ICS-205 Form is asking for.
Learning Platforms in 2024
It’s 2024 and remote meetings over video streaming platforms are common.
People have come to expect being able to learn almost anything on demand, on their own schedule, and as their own learning interest path unfolds in sometimes unpredictable ways.
I’m a lifelong reader, with more books than most. But I also have moved my household twice in the last few years, and it was a wrenching, expensive, time-consuming ordeal to pack up all my books and belongings and venture on. At this time, I still do buy books on occasion, but I understand the merits of having more things “paperless” than I might have once thought I could ever get used to.
This might be one reason I found it easier than some ARRL members to appreciate the new ARRL magazine app that allows me instant access to all four ARRL magazines, and in a searchable format. Really a whole digital bookcase full of magazines to read as I choose – and I never have to physically move them.
But here’s the thing. I like to read, and the many many hams who highly recommend I start learning via You-Tube videos just didn’t convince me. But I decided to be more open-minded and check out the On The Air companion You-Tube short videos that Becky, W1BXY bravely started offering to broaden the audience for On The Air.
And you know what? Big kudos to the ARRL HQ You-Tube channel.
Looking for a short, 3 minute video introduction to explain ham radio? I might start recommending this:
https://youtu.be/wDn-6SDxyD4?feature=shared
73, Nancy Austin, KC1NEK – RI Section Manager