Connecticut Section News - By K1EIC - Printable Version +- W1NRG Forum (https://www.w1nrg.com/forum) +-- Forum: General Discussions (https://www.w1nrg.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=10) +--- Forum: Ham Related Discussions (https://www.w1nrg.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=11) +--- Thread: Connecticut Section News - By K1EIC (/showthread.php?tid=466) |
Connecticut Section News - By K1EIC - N1API - 04-01-2015 Section Leadership: Section Manager (SM) Betsey, K1EIC Assistants (ASMs): Emeritus Al, W1FXQ; Jim, KD1YV; Larry, K1HEJ Official Observer Coordinator (OOC) Chuck, K1DFS Public Information Coordinator (PIC) Dana, KA1WPM Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) Wayne, N1CLV Assistants (ASECs): Rod, N1FNE; Brian, K1BRF; Art, AF1HS; Ron, K1VSC; Bill, W1GTT State Government Liaison (SGL) Jon, WF1H Section Traffic Manager (STM) Anne, K1STM Technical Coordinator (TC) Steve W1SMS I regret to report that Walt Sebastian, WA4QXT is a silent key. I just heard from Kevin KA6PDG that Walt passed away at the Pendleton Health and Rehabilitation Center; he was only 68. Years ago, Walt was very active in both ARES and NTS, on the air each day. He used to help out at the Red Cross in New London in the Amateur radio room and was an active member of the CT Phone Net as well as the Eastern CT Traffic Net. He was a very fine operator and very much enjoyed Amateur radio both in CT and in Florida. His mom used to bring him to the picnics when we had NTS gatherings. He was as active as he could be at the Southeast CT Center for the Blind. Walt was an active member of SCRAMS; he was a past president. He has been, and will continue to be missed. May he rest in peace. Thanks and bravo to the ECARA and Southington clubs for holding their hamfests this month. These events represent a ton of work so don’t forget to write clubs and say a special thank you. Tell them your stories—tell them how much fun you had. The forums at the Southington hamfest were well attended—special thanks to presenters TC Steve W1SMS, OO Chuck KA1CQR and DEC George AB1GL and SEC Wayne N1CLV. The ARES forum was attended by over 55 volunteers this year! SM Betsey K1EIC and SEC Wayne N1CLV were privileged to present a plaque to EC Paul Gibb KB1TOR in recognition of his outstanding service to ARES Region 5 and to Amateur radio in CT. Paul was instrumental in securing funding for EOCs in Region 5 to be equipped with amateur radio equipment, personally made sure that every town in Region 5 had the opportunity to have a radio, provided oversight to all the installations of the ICOM 7000’s installed in the region, was responsible for implementing the 6M repeater in Region 5, has designed and ran several region-wide exercises to test the communications capability. In addition, Paul organized numerous Tech Training classes and has worked tirelessly on behalf of amateur radio in general and ARES in particular. Paul narrated a very fine video which I personally viewed. The first part talks to emergency managers about the capabilities of ARES; the second part gives detailed instructions on the installation and setup of the IC7000 transceiver and the third part gives operators hints about operating their own stations in an emergency. I told the assembled ops at the ARES meeting that Wayne and I concur with the comments of Paul’s DEC Mike Walters W8ZY: “Paul has worked tirelessly to be the voice of ARES and Amateur Radio in the Region 5 government arena. His efforts have helped to make the region better equipped and better trained to handle emergency situations. Paul embodies the qualities that all of us strive to achieve. He is the true meaning of ‘VOLUNTEER’. Congratulations again Paul and thank you for outstanding service. Paul recently gave a talk to The Southern Berkshire ARC regarding Emergency Management and Emergency Communications via Amateur Radio in the Northwest Connecticut Region. A member of The Northwest Hills Council of Governance, he primarily discussed the project to install Amateur Radio into Connecticut Region 5 Emergency Structure and the interface between the Connecticut towns and ARES. Your Section dollars have gone toward the creation of a brochure about the ARRL Field Organization in CT which was handed out to many of you at the hamfest. Thanks to Douglas WA1SFH and Rod N1FNE for the help on the layout and the rest of my cabinet for editorial assistance and support. If you would like one, send a SASE to Public Information Coordinator Dana Borgman, KA1WPM, 72 Wetmore Ave., Winsted, CT 06098. Please put the word “Brochure” on the envelope to make mail sorting easier. Thanks. SM Betsey presented a certificate of appointment as our State Government Liaison to Jonathan WF1H and Section Traffic Manager (STM) Anne K1STM gave Tom WX1T a certificate as the new net manager of The Connecticut Phone Net at the ARES meeting. Jim N1DIO, NM of this net since October, 1995 has asked to step down and Tom, new to traffic handling has agreed to learn on the job and take the Section net as NM. Jim did a very fine job as NM; we have all appreciated his cheerful way on the air each night and his absolute commitment to CPN and to the First Region Net with which CPN liaises. It is real important that we have representatives from CT check into the Region net to receive traffic coming back to CT and to take “through” traffic to the region net for further relay. Many thanks to Jim for service for many years and welcome aboard Tom. Thanks to the very hard work of ASEC Art AF1HS, the CTARES.org web site has been reworked. Visually impaired users will enjoy some new accessibility features, too. Enjoy the new look and feel! The Section was pleased to see an article in the most recent ARES E-letter about our work in the blizzard this winter. If you haven’t seen it, go to http://www.arrl.org/ares-el and click on Current Issue. Our clubs have been as active as they can be with this weather we’ve had; many meetings were cancelled this winter but members continue to communicate on the air and through their club reflectors. On Wednesday, April 1, the Greater Fairfield Amateur Radio Association will enjoy a presentation by noted author Paul Danzer N1II who will give a presentation on oscilloscopes. The meeting is at 7:30 at The Fairfield Police Station, Reef road. Paul will discuss the following topics: Scope Intro, application – Measuring PEP, a bit of history, old Scopes vs Digital Scopes, digital Scope Info, Software scopes –No hardware! The announcement continues: “For those of you who have worked with scopes in the past, there's been a lot of change in oscilloscopes from what you may have used 10, 20, 30 years ago. Paul is going to talk about the major developments such as digital scopes and software scopes (for example using your computer as a scope). For those of you who are new to the subject, oscilloscopes are a major piece of test gear that can be used to observe your radio's waveforms to see if your rig is producing what it should be producing. Oscilloscopes are the go-to piece of test equipment for debugging problems with radio and other electronic gear.” This Thursday, April 2 is the date for the meeting of the Stamford Amateur Radio Association. President John WB2RYV announces that this particular meeting will be in three parts: 1. Fred K1FC will talk about ecologically friendly amateur operations, with a focus on green antennas and energy sources. Some of the antennas may be especially useful for those whose operations are limited by Homeowners Associations’ restrictions. 2. Andy N2CN will debut the results of our efforts to develop crowdsourcing CW reception. This exciting new development will enable run-of-the-mill CW operators to work together to copy CW at contest speeds. 3. Jon WB2RYV will talk about a planned SARA DXpedition to one of the most difficult places on earth to get a QSL card. This meeting is held at the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd, 6th floor 8:00 PM April 2. Speaking of CW, Dan W1QK, assisted by Harlan W1QH and Roger NG1R, is running a CW course for members of the Candlewood Amateur Radio Association. This is an 8-week course for CARA members consisting of 16 1-hour sessions. It is expected that those who attend will be able to send and receive Morse code at a speed of at least 13 WPM. They have been granted permission by Rob Brownstein, K6RB, President of CW-Ops, to use their instructional materials and award a certificate of completion to those who successfully finish the course. Good work! SEC Wayne spoke at the Meriden and Greater Norwalk clubs recently about ARES and the DMR network and toured GNARC’s new comm center. The Meriden Club is getting very focused on our annual Nutmeg Hamfest which this year will be held on October 18 so mark your calendars today! SM Betsey K1EIC spoke at the Valley Amateur Radio Association on the topic of DMR. The small group assembled was engaged and seemed interested. QCWA Chapter 149 announces their annual spring luncheon to be held on May 9 11:30 a.m. at Tommy’s Restaurant, 845 Saybrook Rd., Middletown. Fred W1CKV will speak about his trip to Antarctica. Fred is a wonderful speaker; you won’t want to miss this program. Here’s a report of an exercise coordinated by ASEC Bill W1GTT in which operators from region 4 participated in really nasty snow. “The following amateurs provided communication support for the 8th annual O'Niantic 5k in East Lyme. Bill, W1GTT, Chuck KA1CQR, NCS Wayne N1CLV, Alt NCS Nancy W1NRR, Dave WA1IKN and his grandson Jackson, Jim AI1T, Ed KE1LV, Addie KC1DGF, ADEC Chip N1MIE, Chris KB1FUO, Jamie K1JSH, Bruce KB1KHC, Jeff N1ESA Larry WR1B, Tom KE1R Gabe W1GAP and Dave W1RED. Dave was the bicycle SAG and rode the whole course in a snow storm. The race was on Saturday, March 21st and was run in a cold and sloppy spring snow storm. 975 runners participated. 1200 had pre-registered. Net control was conducted from the Region 4 MCU.” Thanks Bill for the report—great work from a very dedicated team! The Eastern VHF/UHF Microwave Conference sponsored by The Northeast Weak Signal Group will be held on April 17-19 at the Baymont Inn & Suites 20 Taylor Street Manchester. Talk-in 144.200; contact Mark K1MAP email map1@mapinternet.com. Check out the club web site http://newsvhf.com. The RASON auction will be held on April 25 9:00 a.m. at the Gales Ferry Firehouse, 1772 Rt 12, Gales Ferry. Talk-in: 146.730 & 449.725 (PL 156.7) via N1NW repeater system. For further information, contact Gary, WT1SND WitsEnd@portone.com. This is an annual event that promises to be lots of fun so come on out and bid on just what you’ll need for needed antenna work or sprucing up the ham shack. Congratulations to Assistant Section Manager Larry K1HEJ and Lee KB1NAL for appointments by NTS Eastern Area Digital Coordinator Dave WB2FTX as Digital Relay Stations. This is an NTS appointment; Rusty NM1k and Van W1WCG have both been digital relay stations in CT for many years. These stations relay message traffic on digital modes or from digital modes to voice and CW nets. Larry and Lee take traffic from an MBO in MA to the W1HAD or W1WCG systems; Rusty NM1K and Van receive traffic on digital modes for further relay. Van has run his packet station for many years and relayed traffic all over the country to designated NTS ops. The W1HAD, W1EDH, K1YON, N1URO and W1SP systems have been on the air for several years, some for over 20 years, for connection by users. N4GAA and N1API as well as K1UOL ran packet BBS’s for years and paved the way in the digital arena. Thank you all. Help make ConnJam 2015 a big success May 16 in Orange. Section Youth Coordinator Douglas WA1SFH is coordinating this event. He has permission to use the call WA1BSA and needs volunteers as well as some equipment. There will be several thousand boy scouts so it’s a great PR and educational opportunity for Amateur radio. Please contact Douglas wa1sfh@arrl.net. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Connecticut Section Section Manager: Betsey M Doane, K1EIC k1eic@arrl.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- |