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Category: Membership

HCRA’s 75th Anniversary Picnic Celebration on October 7th

HCRA’s 75th Anniversary Picnic Celebration on October 7th



HCRA requests everyone “RSVP” to https://bit.ly/45Znlak or QR Code Below and fill out the Picnic Day Celebration questionnaire so we can get an accurate headcount for picnic lunch and activities.

Come and help us celebrate on October 7, 2023, and be part of the HCRA’s 75th Anniversary Picnic Celebration at the School St. Park Pavilion, Corey St. entrance, in Agawam, MA, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
This is an open invitation to club members and amateur radio operators to come and join the HCRA Special Event QRP fun; all licensed hams are encouraged to take part regardless of club affiliation! Bring your radios, antennas, and power source to “Tune in the World” as we get together to share and learn all while having fun.
Included in the fun is the HCRA Celebration Picnic, which starts at 12:00 p.m. If you would like, bring a favorite food dish (potluck) to share with the hamburgers, hot dogs, and beverages. HCRA wants YOU to be a part of it! HCRA requests everyone “Check-In” to the hcra.org website and fill out the Picnic Day Celebration questionnaire so we can get an accurate headcount to be sure there is enough food for everyone and to capture anyone’s interest in taking part as an amateur radio operator, especially if you are a technician level wanting to learn HF operations.
On GPS/WAZE: Enter School Street Park, 436 Corey Street, Agawam, MA.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS: The entrance to School St. Park Pavilion can be accessed from Corey St. The
recommended direction from the Rte. 5 and Rte. 57 rotary is to go south on River Road along the Connecti-
cut River till you see the HCRA signs with balloons and take a right turn on N. Alhambra Circle and then
a quick left to S. Alhambra Circle. Continue on S. Alhambra Circle, which will turn into Corey St. The
entrance to the Agawam Parks & Recreation Pavilion will be on your left after the road turns and the
homes end. HCRA Signs with balloons will mark the path.
This site is handicap accessible, with plenty of parking and restrooms with flush toilets and running water.

Johnny Lenville, KI1A – SK

What happens when you mix “motorcycle gang looks” with ham radio? You get Johnny Lenville, KI1A. Johnny passed away recently at an early 53 years old. Back around 16 years ago he was very active in the HCRA. Johnny took on a mentor/Elmer status helping others to understand electronics. He helped teach ham classes and helped the students to understand electronics. He helped my son Jacob, KB1NSN pass his general.
For a year around 14-15 years ago, Johnny was president of the HCRA. It was a fun year as he was always happy and willing to get involved and lend a hand to anyone that needed assistance.
As his life changed he drifted away from ham radio and other than the occasional comment on Facebook, I lost touch with him. Then the year before Covid, he started attending HCRA meetings again and was getting on the air. I remember him saying he bought a Xiegu radio, portable antenna, and battery and would sit on his deck and operate outside and have a blast making contacts. Then Covid hit and I lost touch with him again. I heard last summer he had a heart attack and had bypass surgery with complications. Unfortunately in mid January 2023, he became a silent key. I will miss him as he was a good guy with a good sense of humor and was always enjoyable to be around.
73 Johnny,
Larry, W1AST

Big Raffle for $150 DX Engineering Gift Card

Are Your Dues Paid?
Pay Your HCRA Dues Before October 31st and you could WIN $150!

Have you paid your HCRA dues yet? If you have, or will do so before October 31st 2022 you could
be the lucky recipient of a DX Engineering Gift Card worth $150 smackers at DX Engineering!
Each member that renews their dues before October 31st will have their name automatically entered
into a random drawing to win the above gift card for DX Engineering in the amount of $150!
Each year, HCRA’s fiscal year ends on August 31st with the new fiscal year beginning on September 1st
2022. Not sure if you paid your dues already? Go to: https://hcra.org/current-members/ and look for
your name on this list. If your name appears here then your dues have been renewed or they are valid until
the date on the far right of the screen. Standard memberships are only $15 per year and can be renewed as
noted below.
Renew your membership by credit card using PayPal even if you don’t have a PayPal account! It’s the
fastest method and secure. Renew here
Do you prefer to pay by Snail mail? Your dues can also be paid the old fashioned way by snail mail, simply download the application form using this link: Renew by Snail Mail and mail a check in.
No Matter How You Pay… Please Renew Soon!!!

NORM, W1BMK… NOW, A SILENT KEY

From Danny Vierno, K1VWQ.

“I’d like us all to reflect on how you knew Normand, but reciting his own words from his QRZ page…

“I first got interested in amateur radio when I was in the Boy Scouts, about age 14. However, my first experience with radio was through the Military when the Air Force sent me to radio operator school in Keesler AFB, MS in 1953. The school was six hours long each day, of which 3 hours were devoted to CW, and the other 3 hours to electronics theory. My biggest problem was not copying 20 WPM, but 13 WPM. Even though I could copy 22 WPM, I could not pass the 13 WPM test. Therefore, I was eliminated from the radio operator career field, and placed into the personnel career field.

In 1960 while station at Sandia Base NM, I was telling a co-worker of my interest in Ham Radio. He invited me to his home for dinner that evening and to my surprise I discovered that he was a ham. With his assistance, I got my first ticket (Novice) and the call of KN5YXT. Several months later, I took the general test, and pass it, upon which my call change to K5YXT.

Several years later, I moved back home (So. Hadley MA) and applied for a modification of my ticket, at which time the FCC issued me my present call of W1BMK. Several years later, I was assigned to March AFB, CA, where I had my gear stored in my temporary apartment. Arriving home, I discovered everything had been stolen. Because of the loss of my station, I lost interest in amateur radio at that time.

However, about 7 years later, a friend got me interested in amateur radio once again. I went to the Long Beach FCC office and pass the General Exam again – this time receiving the call of WD6FZT. In September 1998, I moved back to Massachusetts. In 1999 I renewed my ticket, and at that time I discovered that my old call was available. Through the vanity system, I got back my old call of W1BMK (Wiskey, One, Beans, Mustard, Kielbasa)”

RIP NORM, W1BMK… NOW, A SILENT KEY.”

Our condolences to his XYL, Betty, KB1CPZ.

Membership Applications/Renewals – by Paper or Online from the same page

Some of you have expressed preferring to send a paper membership application or renewal via the U.S. Mail vs. renewing online. Please note that that feature never went away when we implemented the online transaction. Submission of paper forms has always been available to you. You always had the option of downloading the paper form from the same page where online renewals are done.

I modified the renewals page to highlight that you have the option of submitting by paper: download the form, fill it, print it and send it with your check to the address on the form. Again – this is nothing new, I just made a change to highlight how you mail-in the form.

Best,
Vanessa, W1IRL

Use of Club Call Signs

If you wish to use one of the club call signs, you must contact the appropriate trustee for its use.
W1NY: John – N1JIE, N1JIE@ARRL.NET

WB1Z: Vanessa – W1IRL, W1IRL@ARRL.NET

You must provide the following information and the trustee will then make a decision.
  • Your full name and call
  • Your license class
  • Date(s) of use?
  • Location of use?
  • Reason for use?
 
Some examples of club call sign use:
  • Field Day
  • Ham Radio Demo
  • Contests

HCRA Clublog Challenge 2017 – Results

HCRA encourages its members to get on the air. Every year we host a “Clublog challenge” where members can compete with each other to see who can make the most contacts throughout the year. HCRA and its members use the clublog.org service as a way to keep track of contacts. Members just upload their logs to the site throughout the year and we’ll take care of the rest.

2017 was quite an interesting year. Compared to years before, you can see how the solar cycle affected the amount of contacts that were made this year. There was an approximate 1/3 decrease in band contacts from last year. Only 3 people made DXCC this year compared to 6 last year.

There are some improvements compared to last year. The WARC band counts have increased. 160m is being utilized and there is an increase in 6 meter contacts as well.
There were some members that were more active this year.

We are still a couple years away from solar minimum. Hopefully that doesn’t discourage anyone. There are contacts still to be made! Lots of All Time New Ones (ATNO) out there.

Overall Winners

Category 1st 2nd 3rd
DXCC NU1O (219) NF1G (216) NV1Q (157)
Slots NU1O (660) K1NZ (448) NF1G (420)

Certificates will be available to the overall winners at the February 2018 meeting. 

Band Winners

Band 1st 2nd 3rd
160 KK1W (69) K1NZ (45) WD1S (24)
80 K1NZ (71) NV1Q (52) NU1O (50)
60 K1NZ (31) W1AST (9) KK1W (5)
40 NU1O (133) K1NZ (93) W1AST (53)
30 NF1G (79) K1NZ (79) NU1O (51)
20 NU1O(176) NV1Q (121) K1VOI (108)
17 NF1G (78) NU1O (63) K1VOI (54)
15 NU1O (115) NV1Q (94) K1VOI (60)
12 NF1G (46) NU1O (20) W1MJB (14)
10 NU1O (47) NV1Q (27) K1VOI (16)
6 NF1G (8) W1AST (5) WD1S (2)

Certificates are available upon request. 

Complete Standings

Rank Callsign 160 80 60 40 30 20 17 15 12 10 6 DXCC Slots
1 NU1O 5 50 0 133 51 176 63 115 20 47 0 219 660
2 NF1G 0 38 0 46 85 70 78 44 46 5 8 216 420
3 NV1Q 5 52 0 41 32 121 23 94 8 27 1 157 404
4 K1VOI 0 25 0 49 3 108 54 60 9 16 0 138 324
5 K1NZ 45 71 31 93 79 73 9 46 0 1 0 129 448
6 W1AST 0 14 9 53 15 98 48 31 3 8 5 129 284
7 KK1W 69 27 5 29 7 19 20 6 0 6 1 104 189
8 N1HM 2 3 1 13 0 75 9 35 1 4 1 93 144
9 NT1K 3 28 2 50 0 66 0 36 0 3 1 88 189
10 N1FTP 0 1 0 16 0 68 4 23 0 1 1 82 114
11 N1AW 1 12 0 34 9 33 25 12 0 3 0 81 129
12 AB1WT 1 8 1 7 0 32 40 31 2 5 1 77 128
13 KX1X 0 2 0 37 0 13 3 15 0 3 0 52 73
14 W1MJB 0 5 0 1 1 23 17 19 14 7 0 48 87
15 WD1S 24 7 0 22 3 24 0 0 0 2 2 48 84
16 W1PY 3 5 0 7 3 21 8 2 0 0 0 37 49
17 K1VWQ 1 3 0 10 1 23 1 7 0 7 1 34 54
18 KB1VSX 0 0 0 3 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 10 11
19 KB1VWQ 1 1 0 3 0 6 0 0 0 1 1 7 13
20 KC1PUG 0 1 0 2 1 5 2 1 0 0 0 7 12
21 N1MFL 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 5 7
22 KC1BDF 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 3

Certificates for anyone who participated are available upon request. 

If you are a current HCRA member, have a clublog account and would like to participate in the 2018 challenge, you can join our club on clublog.org. We’ve written a how-to for those who haven’t joined. You must have a clublog.org account in order to participate. Those who’ve already joined our clublog group in the past are already added for 2018. Just upload your logs.

Thanks for reading,
Jeffrey Bail (NT1K)