Dec82018

2018 Business Meeting Attendance

SEMARA Announcements

Now that 2018 is coming to a close and we have had our final business meeting of the year, I thought it would be fun to publish a year end report on SEMARA business meeting attendance.

Click the image above to view a PDF of the full “2018 Business Meeting Attendance” document.

Fifty-nine (59) unique individuals made one or more appearances across the twelve meetings in 2018.  Five of those people became new club members this year.  As for the persons who had perfect attendance and made all twelve meetings this year, the award is split into quarters as a tie.  Congratulations to these individuals who are dedicated SEMARA members:

  • Donald A. Rosinha, II, WA1BXY
  • Marcel L. Dumont, W1MLD
  • Martin F. Jordan, KA1YFV
  • Richard J. Halliwell, K1AHA

Honorable mentions go to AG1Y in 2nd place who made eleven meetings, and to K1KVV, KB1NB, KD1YZ, N1IXC, N1TF, W1BEP and W1BUG, all in 3rd place, tied with ten meetings.  Please note that if you were at a meeting sometime this year and this report does not show that you were there, it is because you did not sign-in on the attendance sheet (shame on you).  Check out the full report to the left!

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Dec72018

2019 Slate of Officers

SEMARA Announcements

SEMARA Election Day was Thursday, December 6, 2018.  Incoming Officers for 2019 are:

President:
Marcel L. Dumont, W1MLD

Vice-President:
Jean Pierre Chiron, AG1Y

Treasurer:
Michael J. McDonald, KB1NB

Secretary:
-open-

Board of Directors:
Bradford E. Paiva, W1BEP
Donald A. Rosinha, II, WA1BXY
Martin F. Jordan, KA1YFV

Trustee (5 Year Term; Chairman in 2023):
Martin F. Jordan, KA1YFV

Sep42018

SEMARA Member WB2ITX Appointed ARRL CEO!

National Ham News • SEMARA Announcements

Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX, a local amateur from Dartmouth, Massachusetts and life member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Amateur Radio Association (SEMARA), has been elected as the new Chief Executive Officer of the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio!

The official announcement was made on August 27, 2018 by the ARRL, as their Board of Directors voted in Michel (his name rhymes with “nickel”) effective October 15th.  He is currently Chief Technology Officer at UBTECH Education, Senior Vice President of UBTECH Robotics in China and previously worked at UMass Dartmouth.

Assistant Section Manager for the ARRL Eastern Massachusetts section, Phil Temples, K9HI proudly sent his regards, stating “congratulations to SEMARA!  One of your own becomes ARRL CEO!”  Meanwhile as the news broke last week, SEMARA member Benjamin B. Jackson, N1WBV was taken by surprise; “okay, I was listening to the ARRL Audio News driving down I-195 today and this story made me go ‘wait, what?'”

Click the image above to view a PDF of the ARRL press release.

SEMARA Secretary, Richard J. Cabral, W1RJC reached out to Howard this week, congratulating him on his appointment and extending an invitation to join us at an upcoming SEMARA business meeting.  He replied, “Thanks for the nice message,” adding “I’d love to come to a meeting.  I can’t make the one this month.  I’ll be starting at ARRL on 10/15.  Maybe I can make the November meeting.  I’d love to.  I want to reach out to all of the ARRL members (and non-members) and start a dialog with them.  Perhaps with a little more advanced notice, we can get more SEMARA members to attend.”

We at SEMARA send along our felicitations to Howard, as we look forward to his future visit and fellowship at our clubhouse.  Read more on him and his appointment by clicking on the press release by the ARRL to the left.  You can also check out these two stories/news posts on:

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Aug72018

SEMARA Contest College – Sunday, September 9, 2018

Exams & Training • General Interest • SEMARA Announcements

Don, WA1BXY reports:

On Sunday, September 9th, I will be holding a contest college starting around noon or so at SEMARA.  We will discuss different styles of contesting, how to achieve a respectful score with 100-watts and operating with a mixture of modes and styles.  Antennas that can be home-brewed for contests will also be lightly touched upon.  If you are interested in attending, kindly email me so I can grab a rough head count. Lunch time pizza will be served and there will also be some on-air listening and/or contact-making during the “Worked All Europe DX Contest.”

Don’s email address: wa1bxy [at] hotmail [dot] com

Jun242018

SEMARA Field Day 2018 A Success!

Radio Events • SEMARA Announcements

Don, WA1BXY reports:

I would like to thank everyone who came to SEMARA and made contacts for Field Day.  I would also like to personally thank some key people who helped made this event a success.  Scott, KE1CN helped get the weekend started, since I was unable to kick it off.  Marty, KA1YFV got things in order outside and helped to break things down.  JP, AG1Y worked his magic on the grill and with a late night pizza surprise.  Mike, KB1NB donated his heavy duty extension cord.  We had a total of 11 operators during the event.

It was a pretty successful “contest” and we got to see what bugs have to be worked out with the new vertical.  All in all, the antennas played well with each other with minimal interference, especially running 3 stations at once.  There were a lot of antenna switching between different stations which got confusing at times, but it worked out pretty well.  Once I go through the log, do corrections and calculate bonus points, I will post the break down and raw scores.

Thanks again and hopefully we can add more contacts next year.

de Don, WA1BXY

Jun162018

New Hustler 6-BTV Antenna Installed

Radio Events • SEMARA Announcements

Click the image above to view the full-sized photo.

Don, WA1BXY reports:

The new Hustler 6-BTV vertical antenna is now up and running.  It is good from 10 to 80-meters.  It needs a little tweaking on 80-meters, but it is more than usable.  This antenna is now hooked up to the Kenwood.  We will put it through its paces next weekend, but I received good reports with it today.

Jun132018

Tony Gomes, N1JXZ, SK

SEMARA Announcements • Silent Keys

It is with great regret that we announce the passing of longtime SEMARA member Anthony A. Gomes, N1JXZ of New Bedford.  Tony passed away suddenly at age 64 this week, as reported to us by Joe, N1IXC.  Just a week ago, he attended the June SEMARA business meeting.  In April, Tony had also lost his mother.

Ed, KA1RSY commented that it is certainly sad to hear.  Tony was a good man; personable with a great sense of humor.  He recalls when he would meet up with Tony along with Joe and Marc, KA1WBF at the Fairhaven Civil Defense (now Emergency Management) many years ago.  Ed adds that Tony hadn’t changed a bit in recent years.  Tony will certainly be missed by all.

Please share your thoughts and memories of Tony using the “Comments” link at the top of this story.  We send our sympathy to his family for their loss.  May he rest in peace.

N1JXZ

… -.-

Jun82018

SEMARA Field Day – June 23 & 24, 2018

Radio Events • SEMARA Announcements

Don, WA1BXY reports:

Here is an update for ARRL Field Day 2018.  SEMARA will be participating from the club grounds this year on Saturday, June 23rd and Sunday, June 24th.  We will run a 2E station with both CW and SSB.  I will be running CW and my wife Melissa, KC1BXY will be doing SSB.  We are looking for more operators for SSB and another possible CW operator.  We also need someone to take care of the 3rd station, which we hope to run as Get On The Air (GOTA).  With that said, we are looking for unlicensed or newly licensed operators for the GOTA or any licensed operators who have not operated in a year or more.  We will have my grill there with burgers, hot dogs and more.  If you are planning to operate with us or plan to stop by, please send me a email, that way I can plan ahead food-wise.  Field Day runs 2:00 PM ET Saturday through 2:00 PM ET Sunday.  I plan on being at the club near the start, as my daughter has a dance recital that day.

Thanks!  Hope to see some new faces operating from club.

Don, WA1BXY
wa1bxy [at] hotmail [dot] com

Jun72018

2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season Webinar – June 11, 2018

ARES/RACES/SKYWARN

Rob, KD1CY reports:

The ARRL will be sponsoring the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season Webinar on Monday 6/11/18 at 8:00 PM EDT.  The webinar will go through an overview of the historic 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season, lessons learned from the season, key Amateur Radio group’s preparedness for the new season and how Amateur Radio Operators and SKYWARN Spotters can become involved.  These Amateur Radio Groups include, WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, which is now in its 37th year of service, the Hurricane Watch Net, the VoIP Hurricane Net, SATERN (the Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).  Also, an Amateur Radio Operator who is the Warning Preparedness Meteorologist at the Canadian Hurricane Centre will be giving the meteorological overview of the 2018 season.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator

Update 06/12/2018 by W1RJC: The webinar has been posted on YouTube.  You can watch it below.

Jun12018

W1AEC Wins 2017 CQ WW DX Contest CW Award!

Radio Events • SEMARA Announcements

Click the image above to view the full-sized award!

The editors of CQ, The Radio Amateur’s Journal, took the pleasure in awarding a Certificate of Merit to W1AEC, with Don (WA1BXY) and John (WA1ESO) as operators, in recognition of the achievement of winning the 2017 World-Wide DX Contest CW!

A total score of 611,196 points was computed on the basis of zones, countries and stations worked.  SEMARA scored #18 in the United States and #3 in the 1st Call area for Multi-Operator, Two-Transmitters.

A big thank you goes to WA1BXY and WA1ESO.  Great work!