From gary.fields at northcomm.net Thu Jun 1 10:04:27 2017 From: gary.fields at northcomm.net (gary.fields at northcomm.net) Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2017 07:04:27 -0700 Subject: [HCRA] NWS Hurricane Public Information Message-ID: <20170601070427.68344e51f585b039bd2b53b84027beca.9749025f93.wbe@email13.godaddy.com> This came to late to include in Junes Zero Beat Thought that some might find this good information. Gary W1MOW ----------------------------------------------------------- 066 NOUS41 KBOX 010846 PNSBOX CTZ002>004-MAZ002>024-026-RIZ001>008-011600- Public Information Statement National Weather Service Taunton MA 446 AM EDT Thu Jun 1 2017 ...Today marks the official start of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season... Today marks the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1st through November 30th. In an average season, based on data from 1981 to 2010, 12 named tropical cyclones should be expected, with 6 of these reaching hurricane intensity, and 3 of these hurricanes becoming major hurricanes. The official NOAA 2017 Atlantic hurricane season outlook indicates a 45 percent probability of an above normal season, a 35 percent probability of a near normal season, and a 20 percent probability of a below normal season. This outlook calls for 11-17 named storms, which already includes Tropical Storm Arlene, which occurred back in April. Of these named storms, 5-9 could reach hurricane intensity, with 2-4 of these to become major hurricanes (category 3 or higher). For additional details on the NOAA 2017 hurricane outlook please visit: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml The names to be used for the 2017 season will be: NAME PRONUNCIATION NAME PRONUNCIATION ------------------------------------------------------------ Arlene ar-LEEN Lee lee Bret bret Maria ma-REE-ah Cindy SIN-dee Nate nait Don dahn Ophelia o-FEEL-ya Emily EH-mih-lee Philippe fee-LEEP Franklin FRANK-lin Rina REE-nuh Gert gert Sean shawn Harvey HAR-vee Tammy TAM-ee Irma ER-mah Vince vinss Jose ho-ZAY Whitney WHIT-nee Katia KAH-tyah An ongoing tropical reanalysis project continues for the Atlantic basin. The goal is to reexamine all records using modern understanding of tropical cyclones. This project just recently completed its work through the 1960 season. It is expected to be several more years before this project reaches its end. More information about this project can be found at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data_sub/re_anal.htm This means the statistics about tropical cyclones and southern New England will likely be changing over the next few years. Tropical cyclones are certainly no strangers to southern New England. Some brought just light amounts of rain and wind, while others have brought torrential rains and flash flooding, devastating storm surges and destructive winds. In 2014, Hurricane Arthur passed by to our east around the Independence Day holiday. While the strongest winds remained offshore, much of eastern Massachusetts and portions of Rhode Island received several inches of rain. This led to many areas of freshwater flooding. The most recent, wholly Tropical Storm which made a direct hit, was Irene in 2011. Irene brought damaging winds to portions of eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island and devastating rainfall and flooding to portions of Connecticut, western Massachusetts and southwest New Hampshire into southern Vermont. All told, Irene caused nearly 16 billion dollars in damage as well as 49 direct deaths, 41 or which occurred in the United States. Most of these deaths resulted from rainfall- induced floods. Tropical cyclones are not just a risk for those living close to the coast. This was further emphasized by Superstorm Sandy in late October 2012. While southern New England was spared from most of Sandy's power, portions of the south coast still saw significant damage due to coastal flooding. In some communities, entire dune systems were destroyed. Not only did these dunes not protect some properties at the time, these properties will remain more vulnerable to future coastal flooding until they can be repaired. This proves the point that a powerful tropical cyclone can still be a threat, even if it is no longer a true tropical cyclone. For southern New England, this season marks the 63rd anniversary of one of the most destructive hurricane seasons in our history, the Summer of 1954. The 1954 season brought New England major Hurricane Carol, and Hurricane Edna. These powerful hurricanes struck just 11 days apart, with Carol arriving on August 31st, followed by Edna on September 11th. These two storms combined to produce millions of dollars worth of damage to homes, businesses and the boating industry, as well as claiming dozens of lives due to storm surge and river-related flooding. Hurricane Carol was the last major hurricane to have struck our region. As the 2017 season begins, now is an excellent time to begin your own preparations. Your National Weather Service would like to suggest these helpful measures. Taking a few moments now will save much needed time should a tropical storm or hurricane take aim at southern New England later this season. This year also marks the 79th anniversary of arguably the most destructive hurricane in our history, the Hurricane of 1938. This hurricane made landfall across central Long Island NY and central Connecticut. This storm downed an estimated 2 billion trees in New York and New England alone. Approximately 600 people lost their lives. Many areas within southern New England went weeks without power. Coastal areas were especially devastated from the tremendous storm surge. This particular hurricane should serve as a reminder to all that although storms of this magnitude are rare, they can still happen and must be planned for. To that end, here are some suggested actions you can take to begin your preparations for the next hurricane today. By starting now, it becomes possible to develop your plans more completely and share them with your family. It also permits you to spread out any purchases of supplies you may need to make while they are more plentiful and time is not as crucial. Coastal Residents: - Never plan your actions on the anticipated time of landfall. Typically in southern New England, heavy rains and winds to tropical storm force will make any travel or outdoor preparation work dangerous as much as 15 hours in advance of the eye of the storm. - Remember that most tropical systems approaching our region will accelerate dramatically. This will greatly reduce the time you have to prepare. Build extra time into your plan of action. - Never step outside during the passage of the eye. The often calm conditions will be rapidly replaced by a dramatic shift in wind direction and a return to stronger winds. - Know your evacuation routes and the proper shelters for your area. Check with your local town hall to see if you are in an evacuation zone. - Most shelters will not allow pets. Make arrangements ahead of time for a place for your pets to stay. Some animal hospitals offer to keep pets until you are able to return home. - Know where your gas and water shutoffs are. It is essential that you turn off both your gas and water before you leave your home. - If you choose not to head to a shelter, make arrangements now with relatives or friends if you wish to stay with them should you need to evacuate. The Marine Community: - Inspect your lines at the start of the season. If you are anchored in a mooring field, inspect the chain between your pennant and the mooring. Salt water begins to corrode these chains after just 2 seasons in the water. But this is often unseen by the boat owner. - Boat owners should have all the necessary gear on board to properly tie down their vessel. You will lose precious time if you have to rush around searching for gear when a storm is approaching. - Realize that you may not be able to pull your boat out of the water before a storm threatens. Your only alternative will be to tie the vessel down. - Have a plan worked out with the marina operator so there are no questions or any confusion when the time comes to tie up or pull the boat out of the water. - Be sure to take pictures and make a written description of the vessel, so that this may be used after the storm passes for insurance purposes. - Ensure that your vessel is as watertight as possible. - When you are through, help your neighbor. It only takes one poorly tied boat in a marina to destroy the entire dock. Inland Residents: - Be sure to have plenty of batteries on hand for flashlights, AM/FM radios, and your NOAA All-Hazards weather radio. More often than not, power will be disrupted during the storm and may be disrupted for several days. - Be sure to have canned food and other items on hand that do not need refrigeration. As stated above, it is almost a certainty that electrical and telephone systems will be disrupted if a hurricane strikes our region. - If you own a portable generator, be sure it is properly hooked into the power supply. If it is not properly installed, it may do damage to the main power supply or workers trying to restore power to your neighborhood. - Store plywood and plenty of nails so that you can quickly board up windows on open-facing sides of your home. Do not tape windows, it will not help. - Those living along flood-prone rivers and streams should be ready to head to higher ground should flooding occur. - In case of the unlikely event that you must evacuate, know where your nearest storm shelter is located, and the quickest route to it. Following these simple steps will help make what can be a very Stressful and difficult time go a bit more smoothly. $$ For the latest updates...please visit our webpage at www.weather.gov/boston You can follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NWSBoston You can follow us on Twitter at @NWSBoston From computercare at comcast.net Thu Jun 1 10:13:33 2017 From: computercare at comcast.net (Larry Krainson) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2017 10:13:33 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] W1LGU's Antenna Party is BACK ON Message-ID: YOUR HELP IS NEEDED SATURDAY MORNING, PLEASE COME IF YOU CAN SPARE A FEW HOURS! Carol's (W1LGU) antenna party is back ON! The funeral she needed to attend has been moved to Tuesday. So the Antenna Party is back on for THIS Saturday, June 3rd. 30 Line Street, Easthampton, MA. 10 am Lunch and drinks to be provided The wx looks to be sunny and comfy. The antenna is assembled and rotor and roof tower in place. The antenna needs minor adjustments before going up. Plus setting up the rotor. That's it. A quick install where at least 8 people are needed. Please help! Thank you! Larry Krainson Computer Care - since 1991 computercare at comcast.net www.wemakehousecalls.biz 413-348-3289 *"We Make House Calls"* From kakrassler at yahoo.com Mon Jun 12 09:46:31 2017 From: kakrassler at yahoo.com (Karl Krassler) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2017 13:46:31 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [HCRA] Zerobeat Available In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1631283700.9476647.1497275191483@mail.yahoo.com> a new thought, does any one of our members know any scout organizations-cub, boy and girl, invite them to field day. adult chaperoned-karl-kb1rxo. On Wednesday, May 31, 2017 9:04 AM, Jeffrey Bail - NT1K wrote: ______________________________________________ -------Hampden County Radio Association------- -----------e-mail list (reflector)------------- ______________________________________________ Hello again, Just letting you know that there is a new edition of Zero Beat ready for viewing. You can find it at the following address http://www.hcra.org/zb/jun17.pdf --- Just a reminder that there will be a meeting this Friday (June 2nd). We will be holding elections and a presentation on Field Day. --- There is currently a poll on our website concerning our next raffle item. We would like the membership to help choose the item. On the page you will see the three options with links to specs and their prices. Please visit the following website and vote on the item that you feel you would like or that would possibly sell the most tickets. http://www.hcra.org/2017/05/30/raffle-poll-what-would-you-liked-to-see-raffled/ --- HCRA is still looking for volunteers to help with Field Day. We need your help. This is the only event where HCRA interacts with the public. Let's make it the best ever! --- See you at the meeting! - Jeff (NT1K) President, HCRA ______________________________________________________________ HCRA mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/hcra Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:HCRA at mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html From pho at crocker.com Mon Jun 12 11:30:06 2017 From: pho at crocker.com (Pete & Beth) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:30:06 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Free tribander Message-ID: I have a 3 element tribander free to any member, preference given to new hams. It's been in the sky for 25 years, so may need some reconditioning. Also have an 88 element beam tuned for 432 mhz if anyone is interested. Pete N1AGV From nt1k at nt1k.com Wed Jun 14 10:30:25 2017 From: nt1k at nt1k.com (Jeffrey Bail - NT1K) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 10:30:25 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Field Day is almost here! / Election Results / Raffle Poll Message-ID: Hello All, Field Day is almost a week away. We need all hands on deck to make Field Day a success. If you are available for setup on Friday morning or take down on Sunday afternoon, please stop by and help out. The more people we have, the faster and easier things will go. Please check out HCRA's FD 2017 page for detail information about setup times. There is also a volunteer form http://www.hcra.org/field-day-2017/ HCRA will be also hosting a VE session on Saturday at approximately 3:30pm. If you are interested in obtaining or upgrading your license, or you know someone who is, please stop by the field day site. Stick around for some operating. There will be a meal of burgers and hot dogs provided to HCRA members and guests in attendance on Saturday around 5pm, If you are going to be there for the meal, we ask that you contact nt1k at nt1k.com and state that you will be doing so. That way we can purchase the correct amount of food and not have any go to waste. Thanks for Larry (W1AST) and Faye for volunteering. There will be coffee and a small continental type breakfast for those who are in attendance sunday morning. There will be plently of water on hand. There will be another email going out next week and to registered volunteers as well. ------ Election results During the June Meeting, the members in attendance has voted in the new board of directors for the 2017-2018 season. Your Board of directors consist of President - Dave Fant (WM1B) Vice President - OPEN Secretary - Harold Woering (N1FTP) Treasurer - Juergen Malner (NV1Q) Membership - John Plaster (K1VOI) Program - Larry Krainson (W1AST) At-Large - Karl Krassler (KB1RXO) Zerobeat Editor - Gary Fields (W1MOW) Technical - Bob Mengeguzzo (K1YO) We have a good crew of people that care about the club and amateur radio. Please help them make this club even better through volunteering, providing content for Zero Beat, paying your dues and helping any way you can. You will notice that the Vice President position is open, please consider joining the board. As I've stated in the past couple month, due to other life obligations, I will not longer be serving on the board of directors. I just want to say thank to the directors, the membership and to those who gave me kind words. ----- Raffle Pole Now Closed On June 10th, the raffle came to a close. We had three items that were suggested to be raffled off but we could only choose one. We let the membership decide through voting on our website. The results as follow are Option 1 - Yaesu FT-891 W/ ATAS-120A Antenna (52%, 26 Votes) Option 3 - Elecraft KX2 w/ Microphone and ATU (40%, 20 Votes) Option 2 - ELAD FDM-Duo SDR transceiver (8%, 4 Votes) The winner with 26 votes is Yaesu FT-891 with ATAS-120A antenna combo. Tickets will be available at the start of field day! ----- See you at Field Day! - Jeffrey Bail (NT1K) From nt1k at nt1k.com Tue Jun 20 12:29:31 2017 From: nt1k at nt1k.com (Jeffrey Bail - NT1K) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2017 12:29:31 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Field Day is this weekend! Message-ID: Hello, Just letting you know that the ARRL's annual field day is this weekend. HCRA will be hosting a field day at School Street Park in Agawam Massachusetts. You and any guests are welcome to attend. It's close to Rt. 5 and I-91. It's a very good location. This will be our 4th year there. As of right now, the weather is not best conditions for setup. However if we have enough people, the equipment could be setup before any possible weather issues. It's suggested to bring a rain coat in case We are still looking for volunteers to help with setup, operations and tear down. Please visit our Field Day webpage for more information. http://www.hcra.org/field-day-2017/ If you are volunteering, it's strongly suggest to scroll towards the bottom of the site to see the resources and other information for volunteers ---- PLEASE USE THE PARKING LOTS!! We ask that anyone who is visiting and/or volunteering at the FD site to use the parking lots that are located on either school street or Corey street. Do not drive on the pathway into the park/bandshell with the exception of stations captains or those bringing in heavy or large equipment. We will be locking the gates. Last year we had too many vehicles parked on the field. We want to respect school street park and the town of Agawam. Overnight guests will have the option to move their vehicles into the site. ----- Please bring a fully charged HT HCRA Field Day on site operations will be on either 146.580 or 146.595Mhz simplex. Peter (K1ZJH) gave us permission to use his 146.715- (PL: 100) repeater for talk-in and off site operations. Please have your HT charged and these frequencies/repeaters programmed into the radio before heading out to FD. ----- This is HCRA's biggest event! It should be a fun time for all. Hopefully the weather holds out! See you there, Jeffrey Bail (NT1K) From computercare at comcast.net Tue Jun 20 20:26:06 2017 From: computercare at comcast.net (Larry Krainson) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2017 20:26:06 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Field Day - Saturday to Sunday In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Faye the field day food chair is asking people that attend to please bring desserts, fruit (seedless grapes, apples, water melon, etc) other stuff when you come to visit or operate. Finger food desserts such as cookies, brownies or some other concoction is more than welcome. Faye will be grilling burgers and dogs. The club has purchased condiments and chips. Something to go with is welcome. If you are coming just for the food, please let us know as well be buying a set amount of food and may not have enough unless you tell me or Jeff that you will be attending. Thank you and hope to see you this weekend! FD begins at 2pm on Saturday and ends 2pm Sunday for operating. We still need much help taking everything down. If you can spare the time, your help is greatly appreciated! Larry, W1AST From computercare at comcast.net Thu Jun 22 20:31:06 2017 From: computercare at comcast.net (Larry Krainson) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 20:31:06 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Field Day Message-ID: Hey all, I hope to see you at Field Day this weekend! I have a little pet project going on. 1. All the club leftover food will be donated to the Springfield Rescue Mission where they really need the spare food. 2. Please bring a can or box of food to donate to the Mission too. It would be great if I could drive over with all sorts of food once Field Day ends. Thank you for your support. Larry, W1AST From nt1k at nt1k.com Thu Jun 22 20:31:42 2017 From: nt1k at nt1k.com (Jeffrey Bail - NT1K) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 20:31:42 -0400 Subject: [HCRA] Field Day Setup Starts Tomorrow Message-ID: Hello All, Just letting you know that Field Day setup starts tomorrow at School Street park in Agawam Massachusetts. We will start setting up at approximately 10am once the sprinkler system is marked out. We still need as many volunteers as possible to help make Field Day a success. We will have plenty of water on hand and HCRA will purchase pizza for those who are helping out. Please bring clothing for possible wet weather. There is a possible chain of rain for a short time during setup. Also bring an HT. We will be on 146.580, 146.595 (Alternate) simplex and we also have permission to use the K1ZJH (146.715- PL:100) repeater for communications with those outside the park. Field Day will start on Saturday at 2pm local. You are more than welcome to come down, operate and have some fun. We will be going for 24hr until 2pm on Sunday. For complete information, directions, and resources, please visit the following page http://www.hcra.org/field-day-2017/ I hope to see you there. Anyone and Everyone is welcome to attend. - Jeffrey Bail (NT1K)