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ARRL Rhode Island Section (RI)Section Manager
Robert G. Beaudet, W1YRC 30 Rocky Crest Rd Cumberland, RI 02864-3910 401-333-2129 w1yrc@arrl.org |
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ALERT: Wed, May 27, 2009; 5:02 PM ET
The Rhode Island NTS Traffic Network - Home Page
The Rhode Island ARES Tactical Training
Net
Net Control calls the RI ARES Tactical
training
net on the 2nd and 4th Mondays |
News last updated: Tue, October 13, 2009 at 10:51 PM ET
Greetings fellow Rhode Islanders:
As I write this over the Columbus Day weekend, I am thinking that many RI Amateurs are planning to be in Deerfield, New Hampshire next weekend, visiting the NEAR-fest on Friday and Saturday, October 16th and 17th. The extended weather outlook states a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain and evening temperatures below freezing, so you should be prepared to see some flakes. See flakes at NEAR-fest? Naawww!
Thanks to all for coming to the '76 Flea and Auction. It was a success. The RIAFMRS team has the new 146.76 repeater nearly ready to install. Hopefully when it is put on line, the problems that users have experienced for some time will be just a memory.
The HF bands have opened just enough to tease us into believing that band conditions will dramatically improve as we move into the fall and winter DX and contest season.
I experienced an amazing crooked path (over Europe) opening into India and SE Asia a week ago. India stations on 15 meters suddenly went from S2 to S9+ at 10AM. The opening held up until sunset on 15, 17 and 20 meters. Sign of things to come? I hope so.
The RI-E Mass Traffic Net continues to be active. Net Manager K1YCQ reports conducting 13 sessions last month with 88 pieces of traffic handled. Have you ever properly handled an NTS message? Check in and learn how the experts do it. The net meets on any repeater of the linked KA1RCI network http://www.ka1rci.net/ka1rci_repeater/ at 9 PM on any Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Details at http://www.arrlri.org/nts/riemtn.html.
Other nets meet regularly, such as the RI YL Net that meets on the 145.370 MHz repeater every Monday at 7 PM. OMs are welcome to check-in but obviously, the net was created to encourage the ladies to be radio active. Pass the word and encourage all lady hams to check in. The net control is very friendly.
One of the founding members of the Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club, Norm W1AUT, became a Silent Key on September 30 after a long decline in health. Although Norm actually lived over the border in Blackstone, MA, he was in every way a RI ham. I knew Norm very well over several decades. We were active 10 meter AM mobilers together back in the 50s. We lost another well known old timer, George, W1GPE who passed away on October 3rd. George was a very well known voice on the air. He loved to take unpopular view points and discuss all sorts of topics as the contrarian in the group. Ansel, W1BGM became SK on October 9th. He was an original member of the PRA! Now that goes back a very long way. He was 94. We will miss Norm, Ash and George.
As I was writing this report, news flashed over the networks that three hams were electrocuted in Florida while erecting a ham antenna. As details emerged, I learned that the three who were killed were the son, grandson and daughter-in-law of KJ4KFF, a General class 76 year old mother and grandmother, licensed only seven months ago. None of the victims were hams. They were apparently erecting a tall vertical antenna for the new ham. They were doing the antenna work well after dark, at 8:30 PM and near power lines. The news states that they lost control of the mast and in an instant, lost their lives to 13,000 volts of AC. The full story is on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/13/11135/?nc=1 .
This is a solid reminder to all of us, new and old alike, to be fully aware of safety procedures when installing antennas. Obviously, one should NEVER EVER do the work at night or near power lines at any time! These well intentioned but obviously untrained and unaware people in Florida obviously had no appreciation for the dangers involved. All of us should also check our station grounding system. We must be sure that our station is grounded in conformity with the NEC code. Your homeowner's insurance could be impacted if a fire occurs on your property and inspectors determine that your station was improperly grounded. Do not overload any of your power lines. Be sure your towers are very solidly grounded and that you don't ever have any wires, verticals or towers within falling distance of any overhead power lines, whether on the street or to a drop line to a home!
This tragedy in Florida simply shouldn't have happened. It was easily preventable by using common sense. I'm aware that we have many new hams in our area. We hams who have logged many years in the book must take personal responsibility to help our new hams learn basic technology and appreciate rules of safety and how to effectively use their stations.
On the DX front, the FT5GA DXpedition to Glorioso Island has ended and the K4M DXpedition has started on Midway Island. Good luck to all if you need to get these rare spots into your logs. Rare DX operations are scheduled for the nest few months, so finish your antenna work before you're doing it in the snow. You don't want to miss the fun.
From the Board of Directors minutes; FCC has mandated that by 2013, commercial radio will move to narrowband VHF and UHF channels and since Amateur Radio manufacturers normally follow commercial practices and the VHF/UHF Amateur Radio band plan currently uses 15 and 20 kHz FM channels, we should start to look how and what we will need to change in the future. The ARRL is creating a committee to study this matter and determine how we will deal with possible rulings to Part 97 that will impact Amateur radio. The date is 2013 or later for Amateur radio, a long way off but much needs to be considered before we're there. BEFORE PEOPLE START BEATING ON ARRL FOR BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS CHANGE, I POINT YOU TO THE FACT THAT IT IS AN FCC MANDATE TO COMMERCIAL RADIO STANDARDS THAT WE'RE REACTING TO.
Finally, with the fall and winter seasons coming, I want to encourage ARRL members to support their local club. We have nine ARRL affiliated clubs in RI, listed at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml?section=RI&selsect=Show+clubs+in+selected+ARRL+section . Contact information is listed. Many of them have very interesting programs planned for the next six months. Our Club Coordinator is Ed Haskell, W1PN haskell.ed@gmail.com . Contact Ed or me with any questions you may wish to ask about any of our clubs. We'll be very happy to help.
73 for now,
Bob Beaudet, W1YRC
RI Section Manager
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