2 -Meter Repeater at Frequency 146.985, PL 136.5

2007-2008 Season – SEPTEMBER 2008

2 -Meter Repeater at frequency 146.985, PL 136.5

440 Repeater at 448.875 PL 136.5 with link to 29.600

OFFICERS:

presidentHyrum H. Huskey Jr.- KB1KRS- (413) 863-8741

Vice President Carter MacDonald, WA1TVS,

(413) 665-3102

secretary: Susan Urquhart –KB1EZO – (413)

628-3858 sburquhart @Amherst.edu

treasurer: Howard Field, N1LUP, (413) 625-6809

director: Bill Boutwell-N1EWK- (413) 774-4669

n1ewk @arrl.net

director & clerk:Scott Conti – N1LYW – (413) 774-7992

N1LYW @arrl.net

Past President:Tom Foxwell-N1OTS-(413)774-2874

N1OTS @arrl.net

ARRLAPPOINTED POSITIONS:

districtemergency coordinator: Tom Foxwell – N1OTS - (413) 774-2874

N1OTS at arrl.net

Asst Emergency Coordinators: Ralph Lovering-WA1UO L - (413) 628-4405

FCARC APPOINTED POSITIONS:

v.e. team coordinator:Walt Congdon-W1ZPB –

(413) 498-2729

web site managers:Al Woodhall-N1AW and Chris Myers, KB1NEK—Contact both at

communicator editor:Hyrum H. Huskey Jr. (See above) H

FOR SEPTEMBER 2008

MON SEP 10, 7:15 pm FCARC Meeting, Greenfield High School (Program: Evolution of the Dry Cell Battery; Richard Burnham, AC1L).

WED SEP 12 Crop Walk Rally 6p.m. First Congregational Church, Greenfield (The Crop Walk itself is October 21 with registration at 1:00p.m.

SAT SEP 16, 8:00 a.m. FCARC Breakfast at Bill’s Restaurant in Greenfield

MON SEP 18 E-Board Meeting at AC1L’s

SAT SEP 29 (tentative date) WMA Section ARES Workshop in Greenfield (time & location TBA later)(MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!)

October 1 Sun Conway Festival of the Hills

October 6 MTARA 19th Annual Radio & Electronics Ham fest 176 Garden Street, Feeding Hills MA

Tuesday night A.R.E.S. net at 9.00 pm -Thursday night information net at 8.00 p.m. on our two meter repeater 146.985 PL 136.5 Tuesday night at 8:00pm (preceding the 9pm 2 meter ARES Net, we have a Franklin County ARES net on 442.200 Amherst repeater with a link to the 443.450 repeater in Deerfield. Both have a + offset and a PL of 173.8.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER:

Here we are at the beginning of a new year of Club schedule and activities. My, time does go by fast!

Carter, WA1TVS, and I have discussed a preliminary meeting program schedule that we hope will include a suitable variety of programs of interest. We will have at least one historical presentation; one ARES –related program (and a couple of ARES related workshops during the year); a digital-radio related program; and possibly a travelogue or Dxpedition related video presentation. I also hope to draw in an outside speaker or two as opportunity presents.

On the Amateur Radio Emergency Services front, there are a lot of changes taking place locally and nationally, due to the lessons learned from the 2005 Hurricane season and, of course, the infamous “9/11.” ARRL has chosen this year for a major emphasis on ARES. The September 2008 QST reflects that emphasis and has a number of interesting articles related to the theme.

Now that I am getting back to some sort of normalcy in capability and willingness to move around, I hope to line up at least two other 2 or 3 hour workshops this year that will provide some hands-on ARES-related information. Two ideas that come to mind are: building the copper J-Pole antenna (if two or 3 folks are interested), and possibly a tabletop workshop on how to handle messages, and/or a “run-through” simulation of a typical emergency timeline and common problems? We’ll see what we need after the WMA Section workshop is concluded.

Think about the events of the past few years and what kind of things the Franklin County Amateur Radio Club, Inc. has helped to support. Think about what role(s) and directions you would like to take in your amateur radio hobby and how you might best apply your unique skills as a person, while growing your own leadership abilities and expanding your own areas of radio interest.

The future (even of the FCARC) cannot be predicted; but how it is prepared for—and handled—is in your hands!

-Hyrum Huskey, KB1KRS

No club meetings in July or August. A well deserved “vacation” (for two meetings), for our super “Secretary,” Sue, KB1EZO.

CLUB WEBSITE CHANGES

Al, N1AW, and Chris, KB1NEK, have taken over as webmasters for the FCARC website at If you haven't looked at the web pages recently, check them out. Many pages have been updated that were out of date, such as the Members and Officers information, the ARES Net Listings, and the Activities page (club calendar for the 2007-2008 season). Out of date entries have been removed from the For Sale pages; please send us info on whatever you want to sell, swap, or acquire.

In this news item about the web page we want to call your attention particularly to the News page on the website. The new webmasters would like to make the News page a page you will want to visit frequently. We hope to find at least one, new news item

to post each week. We will try to make sure info about club meeting programs and other club events gets posted here as soon as it is available. If you know of something that ought to be posted here send the info to the webmasters. Mail to will reach both Chris and Al. – Al, N1AW

INVOLVED MEMBERS WANTED!

We are looking for a few good members who would like to assume responsibility for ONE, or

More, of the following “Event Coordinator” functions:

Coordinator for our support at one of the public service events each year. (You would work with the DEC, Club President, and local community organizers to help line up radio support volunteers and make our presence “visible.”)

A Net Manager for the Thursday night Information Net (publishing the quarterly list of NCS volunteers & helping to generally oversee this net as needed).

A Coordinator for our Holiday Potluck in December, at Greenfield High School; (contacting attendees & monitoring food being brought etc.)

A potential future Newsletter Editor who could serve now as a casual learner or trainee at pretty much whatever amount of time you desired. (Back up for the time when I will be out of the area more than these past two years!)

We also need folks who would like to run for club officer positions in the future. You could “shadow” or stay in touch with a present club officer (if you like) for purposes of getting some idea of the position responsibilities, and go for a nomination the next year! If we develop a rotation or some competition for the offices, it will get more ideas circulating, give folks a chance to exercise some leadership, and rotate the responsibilities so that no one person has to take on a leadership role for too long.

Volunteering, or even expressing interest in any of the above, does not imply that you will have (or can have!) the job forever ;-) If you would like to ask questions or want to “quietly investigate” the role(s) just let me know and we can arrange to answer your questions with no obligation on your part! – Hyrum, KB1KRS

HOW MANY CHECKED IN??

Walt, W1ZPB, had a bit of a surprise on August 9th when he was the Net Control Station for the Thursday night Information Net. Twenty-Four folks checked in to the net! And an interesting net it was too. In addition to many regulars, we had WA1ELA, Don, from Orange who was mobile and caught us; KB1GUI, May, in Heath; W1WWX John, from Orange, and W1FRH/M, Frank in Athol. Also checking in were: KB1KRS, N1XPT, KB1DCG, KB1FFT, KB1NOG, KB1NOB, KB1NEK, N1EWK, KB1NOD, WA1TVS, AC1L, KB1NOI, KB1NOA, KB1NOC, KB1NNY, KB1NOH, KB1NNX, KB1BNG, KB1NQL, and KA1STV.

I hope you had a full size sheet of paper when you started, Walt! – Editor