Welcome to the ARRL Connecticut Section Web Page
|
|
|
Welcome to the ARRL Connecticut Section Web Page
|
|||||
 Here are
some links to some important resources
|
Flash:Weather Alert Saturday June 28To: All Connecticut Radio Amateurs FROM: Steve Williams K1SJW CT ARES DEC SKYWARN Subject: Severe Weather Potential for Today and Sunday Field Day Weekend Good morning to all: There is a potential for thunderstorm development throughout this weekend with a weaker potential for strong to severe level storms to develop today and a greater potential for strong to severe storms to develop on Sunday. This weekend will feature a warm front that will be the focusing mechanism for any storm development today. A stronger cold front will approach the region on Sunday. This front will be the focusing mechanism for thunder storms to develop ahead of its passage. Some of the storms that develop may become strong to severe. The SPC has placed some of eastern New York in the Slight Risk Category for severe weather development today. Storm Prediction Center has also placed CT in the Slight Risk Category for severe weather development on Sunday. The threat for today is timed for the late afternoon and into the overnight period. However with the sunset today any convection should begin to deminish. In addition the area of main focus for severe weather is more to the west of the Hudson River in NY today. However development of pulse type storms can not be ruled out for CT this afternoon or overnight. The threat for Sunday will be anywhere east of the Hudson River in NY as the cold front approaches the area. The time frame will be the afternoon likely during the time period that Field Day Sites are breaking down their antennas and equipment and lasting into the evening. Any storms that develop today will be more of the pulse type and will develop as individual cells that could become strong to severe. The storms that develop on Sunday will be more organized into clusters, lines, and there is the possibility of development of some storms into supercells with mesocyclones. The threat from any storms will be cloud to ground lightning even in garden variety storms. The stronger storms will have threats of wind damage and hail damage. Storms that develop rotation could have the posibility of an isolated tornado with the the area of rotation. On Sunday there is the threat of heavy rainfall with some storms that may back build or train which may lead to flash flooding. As this is Field Day weekend all amateur radio operators need to take precautions as even garden variety thunderstorms produce lightning which will be a threat to Field Day activities. All Field Day participants are strongly encouraged to have in their possession a radio capable of receiving NOAA Weather Broadcasts and capable of being activated by the Alert Tone sent out prior to announcement of a severe weather threat. In addition all Amateur Radio Operators are strongly encouraged to set up a VHF radio at their Field Day Site. Please tune this radio to the VHF/UHF Repeater used for SKYWARN Nets in the county your Field Day Site is set up in. Please monitor for activation of SKYWARN nets and be prepared to report any storm damage that may occur in your area to SKYWARN Net Control. I am further requesting all SKYWARN Coordinators and Net Control Operators that may be participating in Field Day to please set up a VHF rig at your Field Day Site in preparation for running a SKYWARN Net from that location. Make sure that you have sufficient batteries for your radio as well as for your cell phone in order to pass reports onto NWS. SKYWARN Net Control Operators should take into consideration that WX1BOX, the Amateur Radio Station at the NWS Office in Taunton MA will likely be staffed and operational during any time period that severe weather threatens the region. If you are unable to utilize a cell phone from your Field Day Site to pass reports that you receive onto NWS you should be able to pass the reports onto WX1BOX and they can forward the report to the proper NWS Office for you. WX1BOX routinely monitors the KB1AEV Linked Repeater System and can be contacted through this repeater system. So that WX1BOX does not become overwhelmed with Radio Stations contacting them to pass severe weather reports I strongly encourage all SKYWARN spotters and Amateur Radio Operators to pass your reports into SKYWARN Nets and allow the Net Control Operators to contact WX1BOX to relay reports. Only if you are unable to pass your report to any SKYWARN Net should you contact WX1BOX directly. Because of the potential for severe weather this weekend this will be a very good test of SKYWARN operating under field conditions. However the MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS THIS: THE FIRST RULE OF SKYWARN SPOTTING AND EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS IS TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND ENSURE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. THEN AND ONLY THEN MAKE YOUR REPORT TO NWS OR SKYWARN NET CONTROL. THIS MEANS NO ONE IS TO PLACE THEMSELVES IN DANGER TO REPORT ON SEVERE WEATHER OCCURRING IN THEIR AREA. WAIT FOR THE STORM TO PASS AND THEN MAKE YOUR REPORT. YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST AND ABOVE ALL ELSE. Please remember that the Hazardous Weather Outlook which can be monitored over NOAA Weather Radio is the method used by the local NWS offices to communicate with spotters. SKYWARN Coordinators are asked to make an announcement of the Hazardous Weather Outlook for your county each morning at 0900 hrs local time 1300 hrs UTC ove the repeaters used for SKYWARN in your county. Please also make announcements of any watches, warnings, advisories that are issued over the weekend. For a list of VHF/UHF frequencies used by SKYWARN in CT please go to the link for CT SKYWARN listed below. Listed below are links to the Storm Prediction Center, the Local NWS Office Forecast Discussions, and Hazardous Weather Outlooks, Current Watches, Warnings, and Advisories, and the Northesat Sector Radar Loop. SKYWARN is automatically activated at the time that a Severe Thunder Storm or Tornado Watch is issued for your County. Spotters then remain activated until the threat of severe weather has ended for your county. Please call the National Weather Service or contact SKYWARN Net Control whenever you observe the following:
Respectfully Submitted
Section Newsfrom Betsey Doane, K1EICDon't forget NARLFEST this coming Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Here's the scoop from President Mary K1MMH. Because of gas prices, admission has been reduced to $5 and new hams licensed less than a year will be admitted free of charge--just show your FCC license! VE exams start at 10:00. The vendor area is full to overflowing and includes some unique offerings and good friends. Our prizes are top-notch...from a YAESU HT and a year's web hosting to 2 tickets to Boxboro and an embroidered adult jacket and tee shirts. Additional prizes will be awarded on the half-hour starting at 9 am. There will be food and drinks, free hats for kids, a special event station to operate and the seminars are the best ever, including ....
Attention new hams: Please be sure and stop by the ARRL booth and meet your SM. Let's talk about how you're doing, what you need, and how you can become involved in the Section Field Organization! Come on out and support this event-it will be fun and the weather looks good, too. The other event on our minds of course is Field Day. If I can find someone willing to drive a bit of the Section, I will as usual, come visit some of you at your sites. Now, here are some good ideas from Allen, W1AGP Gain FAME! Score 500 points! Impress your Friends and Relatives! Win a FREE trip to..... Well, maybe not a free trip, but you sure can get three out of the four. How would you like to be a hero and bring in 500 FD points for your group before you ever touch a radio? Instead of heading to a mountain top, how about a WalMart lot? Being in a conspicuous public place is good for 100 points! Instead of just telling your fellow hams and club members, how about telling the newspapers and local radio and TV? Press release samples are available at http://www.arrl.org/pio . Having a media release or link is good for 100 points! Instead of manning the radios, how about manning a public information table with brochures, signs and a smile? Having a public information table/center is good for 100 points! Instead of glad-handing the mike, how about shaking hands with your areas elected officials and politicians? Having invited, elected local officials come makes 100 points! Instead of talking TO a served agency, how about inviting one of their leaders come down and visit you, perhaps even getting to talk on your radio? Having an official served agency representative show up is 100 points! Total = 500 points!! Please send either by email or by regular mail copies of your PR successes to your SM Betsey k1eic@arrl.org and to your PIC Al ka1tch@arrl.net by July 15. Did you have a served agency rep come? Did you receive an elected official? Make sure we hear about it. I'll get the results out in a forthcoming newsletter and will reward at least the top 5 groups with some ARRL publication. If I can, I'll extend this offer to more of you! The PIC and I will look at them together and be the judges. The Meriden ARC will have boy scouts helping to build antennas and get ready for FD, an effort coordinated by Skip, W1SKP. Hearty congrats to Walt K1WMS on his recognition of outstanding service to The Insurance City Repeater Club. Walt has been made a life member! And that's not all. SEC Brian, K1BRF and I want you to know that Walt has done a brilliant job working with ARES and Red Cross on both the New Britain and Farmington stations, sometimes using his own equipment. A big thank you! We all look forward to continuing this work--it's fun working with Walt! The Greater Norwalk ARC had as their speaker longtime and very active member Tim, W1GIG who spoke on the tower permit process from his point of view as a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.). The talk included zoning issues, tower construction and strength requirements, tower location, wind load calculations and other considerations. Reminder: Because of interference problems, The Eastern CT Traffic Net has temporarily moved to the 147.06 repeater--time 9:00 p.m. nightly. A note of thanks to all the repeater owners who carry the many public service nets we have in CT. Your dedication to maintaining these systems is appreciated. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Connecticut Section Section Manager: Elizabeth M. Doane, K1EIC k1eic@arrl.org  Who's getting it done for you?Section ManagerBetsey Doane, K1EIC 92 Mohegan Rd Shelton, CT (203) 929-7759 Assistant Section Managers Al Cohen, W1FXQ 42 Jeffrey Ln Newington, CT 06111-1616 (860) 667-2864 w1fxq@arrl.net Rod J Lane, N1FNE Jim Ritterbusch, KD1YV Chris Soulias, NK1J Anne M West, K1STM Official
Observer Coordinator Public
Information Coordinator Section
Emergency Coordinator State
Government Liaison Section
Traffic Manager Joseph P Wonoski, N1KHB 1121 W Lake Ave Guilford, CT 06437-1350 (203) 457-9770, (203) 785-2998 n1khb@aol.com |
Severe Weather Possible on Field DayThe following comes from Steve Williams K1SJW, ARES CT Section DEC SKYWARNIn view of the weather forecast for Field Day weekend that is calling for thunder storms and the possibility of strong to severe storms I am requesting that the County SKYWARN Coordinators please do the following: Please read or arrange to have a net control operator read the Hazardous Weather Outlook for the local NWS office covering your county each morning at approx. 0900 hrs local time 1300 hrs UTC on the repeater frequency used for SKYWARN in your county. If any Severe Thunderstorm Watches are issued by SPC please announce this over the repeaters with the time the watch is in effect until. Please also announce any warnings and or advisories that are issued and the area that is effected by the warning. Spotters, ARES members, and other amateur Radio Operators participating in Field Day activites are encouraged to keep a VHF radio tuned to the repeater frequency used for SKYWARN in the county you have your Field Day Site set up in. This will allow you to monitor for the Hazardous Weather Outlooks and for any other NWS watches, warnings, and/or advisories that may be issued over the weekend. This may seem redundant as I have also suggested that Field Day participants have a NOAA Weather Radio set up at their Field Day sites, however I want to ensure that Amateur Radio Operators in the field have more than one way of receiving information related to severe weather this weekend. Everyone have a safe and enjoyable Field Day contest this weekend. Nonagenarian Speaks to SBARCby Don KB2SMZ, Recording Secretary,Southern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club Sid Shore received his Amateur License (W2AXG) in 1930 while attending high school in New York City. At age 15 his aunt and uncle persuaded him to move to Austin, Texas and attend the University of Texas at Austin. He registered at the University of Texas despite the sid1fact that he was not yet 16 years of age, a fact which was missed by the university's administration. He studied engineering at the University of Texas through his third year, at which time he had to return to C.C.N.Y. due to a large tuition increase at the University of Texas. He completed his studies at C.C.N.Y. During the pre-World War II years, Sid qualified for the DX Century Club with his initial 100 contacts; following the war, he was able to increase his country tally to 326. His call sign was changed from W2AXG to K2FC. In 1976 Sid moved to Sharon, Connecticut, and he received his present call sign of K1SS. Sid had some experience with quartz crystals oscillators, since his father had been involved with building receivers and transmitters which used quartz crystals. Following a stint from 1941 to 1943 teaching at the High School of Aviation Trades in New York City, he hired on in 1943 at North American Philips during the war. At the North American Philips facility where Sid worked, the company manufactured quartz crystals which were used in military aviation radios. The manufacturing process had a 70% rejection rate; the crystals also tended to undergo a significant frequency change when they experienced the temperature changes associated with high altitude aviation. Sid devised a cutting procedure which was able to cut the crystals much more accurately. During the war years, nine companies eventually used the process, which improved crystal performance and reduced the rejection rate to 5%. In 1943 Sid obtained his Commercial CW Certification. In 1944, while spraying some parts at North American Philips, Sid passed out from breathing in the fumes and was placed on health leave by the company. Bored, he went to the military and asked if there was anything that he might do for them. They placed him for four months as a CW operator on a liberty ship loaded with vehicles and ammunition. By May of 1944 the ship was in Scotland, and in June of 1944 the ship went to England and thence on D-Day to Utah Beach where it took two months to unload its supplies. In 1956 Sid and a friend of his started their own company, Shorex, which was involved in the importation of goods from Japan. In the course of working for his own company, Sid traveled to Asia 49 times to a number of Asian countries. He later developed a series of training seminars to encourage creativity and inventiveness called "Creativity in Action." In the course of presenting these seminars, he made more than 80 trips to many European countries. In each country he got to know ham radio operators and made life-long friends. In turn, he and his wife Gabrielle have entertained visiting hams from abroad that have visited them in Sharon. Sid has been a long-time member of F.O.C. - First Class Operators – a world-wide network of CW ops that maintain close relationships. Through that association and through the almost 80 years of ham radio contacts he has made, his life is one great example of the value of ham radio in getting to know people all over the world. ALERT: OOC Changes GuardBob Brill, W1GC has been OOC for just about 10 years and has asked me to look for an OO who can take this position. Bob is also extremely active in the Coastguard Auxiliary. He is the person who signs off on radios and assigns frequencies. Bob has been and I know will continue to be amazingly resourceful. He has been a wonderful asset to me and a tremendous advisor. We've always had fun on the phone, even through some tough interference challenges. So a huge thank you to Bob! I bet I'll surprise him one day over at Dutchess Restaurant in W. Haven! Please welcome Chuck Motes, K1DFS as our new OOC. Chuck professionally is Director of Health in Southington and has been active in many activities of Amateur Radio. Among many other things, he is an active member (treasurer) of ICRC and active in Navy MARS and has done lots of radio work at Farmington Red Cross in the past. Chuck has been an OO since 1992! Welcome aboard Chuck and many thanks for stepping up to the plate and taking on this important role. National Traffic System (NTS) CornerSchedule of NTS Nets
NTS Monthly ActivityCT Section May 2008. Station Activity Report
May 2008 Public Service Honor Roll
|
|
CALL |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
TOTAL |
|
NX1Q |
40 |
40 |
30 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
110 |
|
KA1RMV |
40 |
40 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
90 |
|
KA1GWE |
40 |
40 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
90 |
|
K1HEJ |
22 |
28 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
70 |
|
KB1NMO |
40 |
40 |
20 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
140 |
|
KB1NAL |
30 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
70 |
Participating in a Public Service Net session – any mode; One point per net session Max allowed 40 points. Includes all NTS, ARES and Event nets.
Handling formal Messages (radiograms): One point for each message handled. Max allowed 40 points.
Serving
as an ARRL sponsored volunteer Position:
ARRL Field Organization appointee or SM, NTS NM,TCC Director, TCC
Member, NTS Official above the Section Level. 10 points for each
position Max. 30 points.
Participating in Short-term Public Service events such as Walk a thon, Bike a thon, parades, simulated emergency tests and related practice events. This includes off the air meetings and coordination with related groups and served agencies. 5 points per hour no limit.
Participation in an unplanned emergency response when the Ham Radio operator is on the scene 5 points per hour spent directly involved.
an automated digital system that handles ARRL Radiogram formatted messages.
Reporting
Text
format: PSHR 1/49 2/40 3/10 total 90
Send
to Larry Buck, K1HEJ, 262
Winthrop ST, New
Britain CT 06052, tel. (860)
223 0778
Reports must reach K1HEJ no later than the 5th of the month to be included in the report sent the ARRL and the SEC.
The WebCalendar is continually being updated with meetings, training, events and so on. Follow the link above to view them all. Hams are encouraged to post their events. Follow the link in the next paragraph to get your own access to post.
The WebCalendar is designed so that club officials, section leadership and other hams may post events for public viewing. Follow this link for instructions.