When: Field Day, Saturday, June 28, 12:00 noon - 2:00 (or so)

Where: CVARC Field Day site
Barre Town Recreational Fields
behind Barre Town Middle & Elementary School
46 Websterville Road
Barre, Vermont

Please contact:

- Josette Metayer Messer KB1EPT ()
- Tom Long KB1NGQ ()
- Tom Girardi WA1YNU ()

and let any or all of them know whether you:

1. will be there for the barbeque, or
2. may be there (and be hungry)

All are welcome to bring their favorite dish(es) to share, or soda, or whatever…. At minimum, we’ll have Josette’s potato salad, grilled pork ribs, and grilled chicken. After that, it’s whatever folks bring to share.

If you have a slow internet connection, you’ll probably want to download the smaller, 800KB, version; if you have a faster connection, you might prefer the larger, 1.7MB, version (the photos look a bit better). Your choice!

The fault was just as thought, bad connection…. photos will show…. The photo with the small part shown, is the underside of the jumper, you will see the darker side was the connection that broke free of solder. This gave a connection only by capacitance coupling giving the repeater an RF output of only 2 watts ( see what you can do with low power) this is a common problem for any transmitter, it’s caused by expansion and contraction of two independent circuits from heating and cooling. A fan was installed on the amp…to help prevent this, and a new jumper installed…. We are back up to full power, RX and TX freq.’s were also checked as well as RX sensitivity and deviation. With full power out, 250mw (1/4 watt) was reflected (SWR).

So we’re back up and running with full power. Many thanks to Allen and Tom!

The committee received a technical report and advisory notification from N1IOE that the W1BD repeater operating on the frequency or 146.625 was in a state of progressive deterioration that has begun to accelerate as indicated by recent changes in signal strength. Repeated visits to the trail head on Tower Road confirm that the mountain is still not going to let repair personnel get up there yet, even though the weather has turned warmer and things are starting to melt.

The following actions were taken:

• It was affirmed that it is the Repeater Committee’s desire to keep the 146.625 available for the emergency use of the CVARC membership and others as appropriately needed, for as long as possible.
• It was advised that an immediate reduction in use of the repeater would provide the best chance of keeping it on the air until repair personnel can get up to the repeater site and fix it.
• It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously, with the concurrence of the CVARC president, treasurer, and director, that the Repeater Committee request the following changes in the use of the W1BD 146.625 repeater be communicated to the membership immediately, requesting their good faith compliance:
  • That all NETS held on this repeater be temporarily suspended until repairs can be completed.
  • That the repeater be used ONLY for emergency or necessary message traffic.
  • That all contacts be limited to 5 minutes air-time maximum.
  • That the Bolton, Cabot, and Mt. Ellen repeaters be used instead, when possible.
  • That the membership make maximum use of Simplex frequencies, when possible.
  • That the membership help spread the word and “protect” the repeater to keep it available.
  • That Net Control personnel make this announcement at their scheduled net times in lieu of holding their nets as normally expected, and that necessary traffic be exchanged as needed.
• It was agreed that the repeater maintenance personnel would make every effort possible to return the 146.625 machine back to good health as soon as possible. They were thanked for their vigilance and dedication to the welfare of the CVARC membership.
• Since W1WRW had been asked by W1AAT, just minutes before this meeting, to serve as the evening’s “Good Night Irene” net control, he was asked to make an appropriate notification of the above to all members on the 146.625 machine, in lieu of the normal net.

The meeting was adjourned at 18:08 by the chair.

Respectfully submitted:

Wayne Whitelock, W1WRW, secretary pro tem.

Wanted: A few good hams!

Despite the obvious play on words, there is a serious need for amateur radio communicators for the Vermont City Marathon (VCM) in May. The Marathon is the largest single amateur radio operating event in Vermont. In a typical event, some 45 amateur operators will provide communications support for 8,000 runners and 2,000 volunteers. These amateurs also preside over the movement of scores of runners to medical facilities. To put it another way: 2% of all the hams in Vermont are involved in this!

However, staffing is getting tough. Many of the VCM volunteers who have been doing this for a long time are moving on to other things. Recruitment has not kept up and the result was that we were seriously short handed last year. We were able to move people around and cover the course, but it was difficult at best. We need new operators!

Why do this? For me, it is a real rush and a load of fun. More importantly, we are providing our unique brand of assistance for many people. And finally, we get to show the entire community what we can do and why we are important.

The VCM is actually three races in one. There is a standard 26.1 mile Marathon, in addition to a 2– and a 3– to 5–person relay race along the same course. The logistics of staging at the relay exchange points are staggering. In addition, wheelchair racers have been added as well. All of these participants need fluids and other supplies. The first job we tackle is in the supply business. On hot race days, water disappears at an alarming rate and it is a full time job to make sure the supply is where it is needed. Many runners also need some type of medical attention. Each water station is equipped with a medical station. For acute injuries, we call on various types of vehicles to move injured runners to the medical facilities or even to the hospital. Amateur operators are in the medical facilities, at the checkpoints and several are circulating around the course on bicycles looking for situations. We must use bicycles because a third of the course is on the Burlington Bikeway and is inaccessible to cars or trucks.

A unique aspect of the VCM is that certain parts of the course, namely the Burlington Beltline, must be cleared of all Marathon activity by a set time. This means we identify the stragglers, warn them of being shut down and eventually the VCM Course Director pulls them off the course. By 10:30, all people and runners are removed from the Beltline and traffic starts flowing. Each year, it is an amazing set of logistics to pull this off.

If you are interested in participating, there are details you need to know. VCM is held on the Sunday before Memorial Day, which is May 25th this year. Many potential operators have other plans on this holiday weekend, making the recruitment job that much more difficult. Most of the jobs start around 7:00 in the morning, which means that you will have to figure in your travel time to Burlington to get on post. The jobs end between noon and 2:00 PM, which does allow for other activities after the event, assuming you are not too tired. The weather on race day can vary from downright frosty with a nasty Northwest wind off the lake to hot and humid. The “layered look” is not a fashion statement, but a reality for course operators who are outside. In addition, you will need to be entirely self- contained, meaning you bring whatever food or drink you require, since these items may or may not be available. And of course, you will need your radio, headphones, batteries, connectors and whatever else.

Operators are required to have a ham radio license and an appropriate 2-meter radio with CTCSS capability. Course operators use handhelds, while vehicle operators use mobiles. All operators are strongly encouraged to have a spare battery, or better yet, a spare radio. Equipment failures are rampant!

For all this effort, you will get an official VCM tee-shirt, an invite to the post race party, invaluable training in public service operations, and all the bragging rights you care to grab.

I need to have a list of operators for the Marathon … in early April. Things get crazy in May and we need to have our staffing sewn up by then.

Are you interested in joining this intrepid group of amateur operators? Contact Mitch W1SJ as soon as possible: or 879-6589.

Have a look at a slice of CVARC’s 21st-century history!

At the meeting, a quorum of the CVARC membership unanimously voted to accept the nominations committee’s proposed slate of candidates:

CVARC officers

• Josette Messer KB1EPT, president
• Tom Long KB1NGQ, vice-president
• Ture Nelson KB1NBJ, secretary
• Tom Girardi, WA1YNU, treasurer
• Fred Messer WA1LIE, director

Erik Mueller-Harder K1US was appointed membership coordinator.

The nominations committee comprised Wayne Whitelock W1WRW, chair; Tom Long KB1NGQ; and Neal Rentz N1ZRA. When Tom Long KB1NGQ was recommended to the nominations committee by many members of CVARC as a candidate for vice-president, he resigned from the nominations committee to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest. He was replaced on the committee by Carla Straight KB1MFQ.

Many thanks go to the nominating committee as a whole and to Wayne Whitelock W1WRW in particular for their dedicated hard work in putting together this team — and congratulations to the new officers!

My computer barely limped through putting this together, such as taking up to eight minutes just to open any file for cuts and pastes and sounding like the harddrive was going to eat itself up and go down in flames. I tried to get all the most urgent and pertinent info in, as was sent to me.

Thank you, Tom!