2021 President Marcel Dumont, W1MLD would like to welcome you to the official website of SEMARA – The Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association, Inc. We are an amateur radio club established in 1932 that owns its own property in Dartmouth, Massachusetts and has over 400 members.
If you would like to contribute to this website, please contact the Web Committee. For all other questions or issues, please contact the appropriate Officer or Committee Chair by using the “Contact Us” link.
SEMARA member Doug, KC1NFL has put out a call for volunteers this weekend, Friday, October 15th through Sunday, October 17th, 2021 for the Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) event. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to Doug: dwbelcher [at] comcast [dot] net.
Good Morning,
This coming weekend 10/15-17 is the Scouting World Wide Jamboree on The Air and Internet. There will be Scouts from all over the World tying to connect with each other. Are there any members who would be able to help me get the Scouts on the Air this Friday from 5-8 at the club? I will also be having a Zoom session with Rob Macedo [KD1CY] to go over SKYWARN, ARES and RACES. I’m hoping to get some new Hams out of this by offering Baofang HTs to any Scout that gets their Tech license.
73! Doug Belcher KC1NFL
Email sent to the SEMARA Members Discussion Mailing List from member Doug, KC1NFL.
Radio Amateurs of Canada Invites Participation in the RAC Canada Day Contest.
Help Canada celebrate its birthday on the air during the RAC Canada Day Contest on Thursday, July 1 — just a few days ahead of Independence Day in the US. Canada Day is the anniversary of Canada’s confederation, when the three colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick united into the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. The RAC Contest Committee is asking all participants in the 2021 Canada Day Contest to follow guidelines provided by the government and by health officials in their respective areas for any multioperator categories.
The Canada Day Contest begins on July 1, 0000 UTC (the evening of Wednesday, June 30, in North American time zones) and continues through 2359 UTC. Bands include 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters, CW and phone (SSB, FM, AM, etc.).
Stations in Canada send signal report plus province or territory. VE0s and stations outside Canada send a signal report and a serial number.
Stations may be worked once on each mode on each of the available bands. Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories serve as multipliers for the event.
Kids Day in June is the Saturday before Fathers Day. It always runs from 2:00pm ET through 7:59pm ET [1800 UTC through 2359 UTC].
Twice a year, in January and June, Kids Day is an ARRL event designed to promote Amateur Radio to our youth. Share your excitement with your kids or grandkids, a Scout troop, a church or the general public!
Kids Day is designed to give on-the-air experience to young people and hopefully foster interest in getting a license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children.
Operate as much or as little as you like. If you have no kids at your mike, wait until several “CQ Kids Day” calls go unanswered allowing a generous pause to allow other kids to respond. Then you may answer the CQ. Remember this is a kids event, not a contest. Don’t be too brief, make the kids at the other end feel at ease. Stick to the initial script, that’s what they are working from, so you should too.
Scripts
Initial script: 1. Call “CQ Kids Day.” 2.Exchange name, age, locale (in the park), town (New Bedford), county (Bristol), state (MA), and favorite color (black, green, red). 3. It’s okay to work the same station again, if an operator has changed on either side of the QSO.
Other items
Exchange Grade in school
Best subject/favorite teacher
Favorite indoor/outdoor activities
Let them “rag-chew” as much or as little as they want.
Tell them about the equipment that is being used, not too much unless they ask for more
Close by saying “Good bye, nice talking with you” or the like.
Suggested Frequencies
28.350 to 28.400 MHz
24.960 to 24.980 MHz
21.360 to 21.400 MHz
18.140 to 18.145 MHz
14.270 to 14.300 MHz
7.270 to 7.290 MHz
3.740 to 3.940 MHz
2 meter simplex or repeaters (with the permission of the repeater’s sponsor)
Control operators remember to observe third-party rules when making contacts with stations outside the US.
More Information
This is a fabulous way to celebrate the special bond between generations. Kids Day is a great opportunity to open the doors of your station and let the youngsters take the “Big Chair.” Let them find stations they hear or work on a map, color in a map of states worked, or help them to build something.
All participants are encouraged to post stories and photos to the ARRL Kids Day Soapbox page and are eligible to receive a colorful certificate. You can download the free certificate, customized with the youngsters’ names, after filling out the Kids Day Survey found on the same page as the certificate generator.
Alternatively, you can send a 9” x 12” SASE (with your or the kids’) address to: Kids Day Certificate Request ARRL 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111
The WX4NHC Annual Station On-the-Air Test will be held on Saturday, May 29, from 9 AM to 5 PM EDT (1300Z-2100Z). This hurricane season, WX4NHC operators plan to be working remotely again. The National Hurricane Center is planning to maintain all CDC pandemic protocols until the end of 2021. The National Hurricane Center is allowing only the main meteorologists and staff to enter the building.
Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant Coordinator of the National Hurricane Center‘s amateur radio station WX4NHC, said the event offers an opportunity for radio amateurs worldwide to exercise the sorts of communications available during severe weather. “We will be making brief contacts on many frequencies and modes, exchanging signal reports and basic weather data (sunny, rain, temperature, etc.) with any station in any location,” Ripollsaid.
Operation will take place on HF, VHF, UHF, APRS, and Winlink. WX4NHC will center its activity on the Hurricane Watch Net frequencies of 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz, depending on propagation, but will operate elsewhere as conditions dictate. WX4NHC will also operate on the VoIP Hurricane Net from 2000 until 2100 UTC. For the upcoming hurricane season, Ripollreminded radio amateurs — “Even if you are not directly affected by a hurricane situation, please volunteer to monitor and relay reports; just one report can make a difference and help save a life!”
Auto-registration in the FCC Commission Registration System (CORES amateur radio exam for candidates using a Social Security number will be discontinued on May 20, 2021. Applicants must use an FCC Registration Number (FRN) for all license transactions with the FCC. Examinees must register in CORES and receive an FRN before exam day.Starting on May 20, electronic batch filed applications that do not include a candidate’s FRNwill be rejected. The Social Security/Licensee ID Field will be disabled.
An instructional video provides step-by-step instructions on how to establish a CORES account, which is necessary for licensees to make administrative updates and download electronic license authorizations.
After June 29, all filers must provide an email address on all applications. When an email is provided, applicants will receive an official electronic copy of their licenses once granted (allow incoming email from authorizations@fcc.gov). If no email is provided when filing on or after June 29, applications will be rejected. ARRL VEC suggests that those without access to email to use the email address of a family member or friend.
The US Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day(AFD) Cross-Band Test, Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, in recognition of Armed Forces Day on May 15. The event is open to all radioamateurs. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this exercise, designed to include amateur radio and government radio operators alike.
The AFD Cross-Band Test is a unique opportunity to test two-waycommunications between military and amateur radio stations, as authorized under FCC Part 97 rules. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly controlled exercise in which military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and will announce the specific amateur radio frequencies being monitored.
The schedule of military/government stations taking part in the Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test and information on the AFD message is available on the MARS website at, http://www.dodmars.org/home/armed-forces-day-2021.
SEMARA member Doug, 
