Author: Eliot Mayer

WARA Field Day 2020 – Alone Together

The Waltham ARA, along with many radio clubs around the country, will help slow the spread of COVID-19 by operating “alone together”. The ARRL has made two FD 2020 rule changes to aid in such efforts:

  1. Individual entries can include the name of their favorite club. The ARRL will sum the individual scores for each club and publish these Aggregate Club Scores.
  2. Contacts between home stations using regular commercial power (FD Class 1D) will be counted in the score.

Field Day 2020 will be on June 27 & 28. For more information, see the ARRL FD Page, and a great presentation by K8ZT at tiny.cc/fdsd. And stay tuned to the WARA web site for updates.

May 27 Online Meeting – Contesting 101 for FD 2020

This presentation by Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, will include contesting basics, the age-old question about whether ARRL Field Day is a contest, some training for popular logging program N1MM Logger Plus, and some thoughts on goals for FD 2020.

Monthly meeting are now being held online. In order to receive emails with the meeting links, do one of the following:

  1. If you are not already signed up on the WARA Yahoo Group, you may do so by sending an email request to wara64-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
  2. If you only want the meeting link emails and not any other email that might be distributed to the Yahoo Group, send a request to Ron, KG1T, with this form: http://walthamara.org/contact/contactform-president.

Boxboro – Moved & Postponed

The New England Division ARRL Convention, branded in recent years as the Northeast HamXposition, is leaving Boxboro. Starting this year, it will be held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center, 181 Boston Post Rd., Marlborough, MA. The “regular” date has also moved, to the 4th full weekend of July. However, the 2020 convention has been delayed until November 6-8. For more information, see https://hamxposition.org/.

In-person meetings / dinners canceled until further notice due to Corona virus

Monthly meeting are now being held online. In order to receive emails with the meeting links, do one of the following:

  1. If you are not already signed up on the WARA Yahoo Group, you may do so by sending an email request to wara64-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
  2. If you only want the meeting link emails and not any other email that might be distributed to the Yahoo Group, send a request to Ron, KG1T, with this form: http://walthamara.org/contact/contactform-president.

Waltham ARA Weekly Net Debuts 4/8/2020


Are you a Waltham Amateur Radio Association supporter, but don’t have the time or ability to make it to an in-person club meeting? Fear not, for we now have a solution.

We’ll be running a WARA “meeting on the air” on Wednesday evenings to bring together WARA supporters for connection, conversation, updates and revelry. We’ll discuss topics that might be of interest to Waltham supporters, along with member health and welfare updates, needs for support, or general communication.

All licensed hams are welcome to join the net, regardless of whether they’re up-to-date, club members.

Details:

Wednesday nights, other than in-person meeting nights, at 7:30 PM Eastern Time.

On the 449.075- MHz WARA repeater (88.5 Hz sub-audbile tone)

Email me with any questions or suggestions.

See you on Wednesday, April 8th for the inaugural meeting.

Christine
N1AUP
cshustak@hotmail.com



WARA 2019 Holiday Party

A good time was had by all club members and friends at the WARA Holiday Party on December 18, 2019. As it turns out, this was the last such event to be held at Sichuan’s Garden. The restaurant closed not long after the party. No, the closing was not our fault. Please suggest possible locations for the 2020 Holiday Party. (Photo by George Maier, W1LSB)

Boxboro

The New England Division ARRL Conventions, branded in recent years as the Northeast HamXposition, is leaving Boxboro. Starting this year, it will be held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center, 181 Boston Post Rd., Marlborough, MA. The date has also moved, to the 4th full weekend of July. This year, the dates are July 24, 25, and 26. For more information, see https://hamxposition.org/.

WARA Holiday Dinner

The Waltham Amateur Radio Association invites all hams and friends for a festive Holiday Dinner! It’s a great time to get that “eyeball” QSO with some of the folks we’ve been talking to all year. Spouses / friends / prospective hams are all welcome! No RSVP necessary.

When: Wednesday, December 18@ 6:00 PM
Where: Sichuan’s Garden, 411 Waverley Oaks Rd, Waltham, MA 02452
Cost: $25 per person at the door which includes the buffet and 1 ticket for the door prizes. Membership renewal will also gain you an extra ticket for the door prize.

See you there!

Special Meeting Dates

The Waltham ARA will not meet on the usual Last Wednesday of the month this month, which falls on the eve of Thanksgiving. Instead we will meet one week earlier, November 20, 2019. For general information on our meetings, see About / Meetings.

Also, stayed tuned for information on our December meeting. As we have done in recent years, there will be holiday dinner instead of a regular meeting.

WARA 2019 Club Picnic & Field Day Operation

On Saturday, June 22, 2019, WARA held its combined club picnic and a 4-hour operation in the ARRL Field Day in Prospect Hill Park, Waltham, close to our repeater site. The food was good and the FD operation was very laid back. To learn more about the ARRL Field Day, see www.arrl.org/field-day.

Here are the results of the FD operation, as submitted to the ARRL:

Eliot W1MJ posted a Google Photo Album of the event, and of the STARS Field Day in Natick where he went from Prospect Hill. Ron KG1T added a few photos, and other event participants are welcome to do likewise: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cwKY6JQKLk7CyTFh6