|
President's Message
Over the past few years, our tower crew, consisting of various FARA members, has taken down many towers and antennas. It is always kind of sad to see a nice tower go down because the Ham has lost interest in the hobby. In one case, a Ham left a beautiful 110 foot tower at his ex wife's house and we were asked to take this thing of beauty down. FARA usually gets the hardware so there is a bright side to these tower jobs. Well, this month we got to put an antenna UP for a Ham that has had her Advanced Class license for 10 years but has never been on the air. This time the crew consisted of Martin (AA1ON), Peter (KA1AXY), and myself. The antenna was for Katy (N1JDD), from Sudbury, who is a new FARA member. A couple of weeks ago, Katy and her husband, John, took a trip to HRO and came back with a brand new Icom IC-718 transceiver, a power supply, an antenna tuner and a key. Yes, I said Key! It seems that Katy wants to work some CW! Marc, WA1R, donated a home made G5RV to the cause. With the help of Peter's sling-shot contraption, we were able to get the G5RV 60 feet in the air between a couple of trees. Martin and Peter did a beautiful job routing the coax into the new N1JDD ham shack and the antenna plays real well. This was very fulfilling for all of us and we hope to do a few more of these jobs. Oh, by the way, the coax we used was recycled from a previous tower dismantling job so that also made us feel good. Katy, welcome to the world of Ham radio and to FARA!. It was our pleasure to do this job. Now, go work that DX!
While I'm on the subject of new members, I'd like to welcome Ken (KA1GFN) and Deb (N1NVJ) Horton back to FARA. Ken and Deb, who live in Bolton, were FARA members years ago when they lived in Framingham. They saw our web site and stopped by to visit on a Saturday morning.
Another husband/wife team has joined FARA. We welcome Dick (KB1HIW) and Nancy (KB1HIX) Stearns, from Franklin. Dick and Nancy came to one of our meetings and decided we were a pretty good group to belong to! Glad to have both of you aboard.
We have a real interesting meeting topic scheduled for February. WA1NVC will give a talk and on-air demonstration of the Internet Radio Linking Project. This is way-cool stuff! Imagine talking to another Ham somewhere in the world on your 440 or 2 meter handy talky and hear him absolutely clear as day! Well, Roger will tell us all about it and will link his repeater to another repeater somewhere in the world during the meeting.
I hope to see you on Thursday.
Bob, W1RH
Amateur Radio Communications at the Boston Marathon
By Stephen Schwarm, W3EVE
Radio operators are making preparations to support the 106th running of the Boston Athletic Association Boston Marathon on April 15, 2002. Amateur Radio plays a vital part in supporting runners before, during, and after the marathon. This year we have a combined organization handling all phases of radio support; start area, length of the course, and finish line. Positions are available starting early in the day in Hopkinton, along the route at aid and later stations, and later in the day at finish line operations in Boston. You can chose which activity you will be involved with, or work multiple locations. In Hopkinton, we will assist with coordinating the multiple parking areas and providing for start line safety. Along the 26-mile route, assisting the Red Cross at aid stations with supply requirements and ambulance dispatch. Runner pick up busses traveling the route will have hams on board. At the
|
|
