Franklin County Amateur Radio Club The home page is now also the place to find the latest club news. Click here for general information about the FCARC. News items below are posted with newest items at top of page. Old items will be moved to the News Archive page.

The FCARC will not have a presence at the Franklin County Fair this year, conditions for participating were too difficult for our club to meet...

... however, if you would like to participate in something new, we have been asked to provide communications for a Soapbox Derby event in Turner's Falls on Saturday, September 18. Contact Hyrum, KB1KRS, for more information.

The FCARC VE (Volunteer Examiner) team held an Amateur Radio License exam session on Monday August 23. One new licensee is the result. Congratulations to John Glezen of Swanzey, NH, who qualified for a new Technician license. According to QRZ.com John's new call is KB1URV and became effective on August 27.

Congratulations are also in order for two others from the FCARC area who passed license tests at Boxboro last weekend. Chris Dickerman of Northfield, KB1SMY, upgraded to a General Class license, and Martin Boucher of Hinsdale, NH, earned a new Technician license. Martin's new call will be posted here when it is known.

The FCARC VE Team holds exams four times a year, on the fourth Monday of February, May, August, and November. The next session will be November 22nd. For more information, please see the Amateur Radio License Exams page on this website.

Due to the election of Chris, KB1NEK, to serve as club president, there is a vacancy for the remainder of his term as vice-president. At the regular e-board meeting on Aug. 9, Al, N1AW was nominated to fill the position. He and others thought it would be best to wait a month to make a final decision in case a club member wants to nominate someone else. According to the by-laws, the e-board itself has the power to fill a vacancy in any club office.

The board also decided to take a closer look at the state of the KB1BSS repeater. This summer there were a number of problems with the equipment, and some members expressed a desire to make improvements to avoid future disruptions. Another task discussed was the improvement of equipment used during the annual Field Day. Four club members are working on a project to make band-pass filters in the hopes of preventing interference between the two radios usually operating in the trailer.

The next club breakfast will take place starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, September 18, at Denny's Pantry, 469 Bernardston Rd in Greenfield. (Click here for a map.)

All are welcome, but please let Betty, KB1DCG, know by Friday, September 17 whether you are coming so she can alert the restaurant about how many of us to expect.

Trail races through the woods and over the hills. Richard, KD1XP, is asking for volunteers to set up trail communications for a cross country race scheduled for Oct. 15 in Rowe.

A few volunteers will be needed to hike up the trail to their locations, and it may be strenuous physical activity - but challenging. For more info, contact Richard at richard@kd1xp.org.

The western Mass. Section of the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) invites hams who wish to be considered for possible deployment in a radio emergency to register with a new internet based data base. This database will allow Section leaders to quickly find hams with the skills needed, and located nearest to the areas where emergency deployment is requested.

As with any volunteer emergency group, you are not committed to respond to any particular call. Registration simply means a willingness to be called and asked to help. The registration form has numerous questions about an individual's training and equipment. Answering these questions is voluntary. You may even answer the questions but mark the answer with a DONT LIST check. This means that only the section leadership will have access to those answers.

To register yourself for possible future emergency radio work, go to the Western Mass. web page at: ARRL Western Massachusetts Section Website

On the upper left corner of the page is a menu which includes the item "WMA ARES Registration". Click on this to go to the Registration and Record System. If you are not yet registered, click on the "New Application" item on the menu at the top. Once you have registered, you can come back to this page to update the information in your data page by clicking on "Member Login". You will set your own password the first time you register, and will need to remember it to make changes subsequently.

For more detailed information, you may want to view the Membership Manual : WMA ARES Member Registration System Member Manual

We have widened the text area -- please send comments to the webmasters.

You'll notice a new look to the FCARC website. We are trying to do the change over this weekend (Feb 28 - March 1). For more info click on this link.

The FCARC For Sale page on this website has been updated. What do you have to sell or trade? Contact the webmasters to have your item listed.