Bay State Radio

Help Wanted: Support Local Half Marathons with the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association!

2026-04-24T00:00:00Z

Are you looking for a practical way to use your amateur radio skills while supporting the community?

At the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association (CAARA), we provide amateur radio support for half marathons in and around Cape Ann throughout the year (roughly one/month, March through December). We are looking for volunteers to join us in our race support activities. You do not need to be a member of CAARA to participate!

Events are on Saturday or Sunday mornings, with a typical race start time of either 8am or 9am. Radio operators are on site about 30 minutes before the race starts, and are generally finished up around noon. For most races we like to have six checkpoints on the course, plus a lead and tail vehicle.

Volunteering for these activities is a great way to get started with amateur radio public service. You get a chance to experiment with field operation of your equipment, you get to interact with other radio amateurs, and you get to support the runners participating in these events. We can pair you with an experienced volunteer, and we can provide you with a radio if you don't own one of your own. You can volunteer for a single event or you can become a regular member of our volunteer team.

We have available positions in all of our upcoming races. You can find the schedule of events at https://sites.google.com/view/caararaces; take a look, pick an unstaffed checkpoint location, and email Kevin Lyons K1KL at kevinlyonsk1kl@gmail.com if you would like to participate.

Volunteers Needed – 2026 Groton Road Race – May 3 2026

2026-03-30T00:00:00Z

Via https://ema.arrl.org/2026/03/29/volunteers-needed-2026-groton-road-race-may-3-2026/:

The Groton Road Race Committee has again requested the assistance of the Amateur Radio community for the Race on May 3. The Amateur Radio community have been providing situational awareness, health and safety communication for this event for over three decades. The course circles Groton Hill, starting and ending at the Groton Hill Music Center as in 2025. This will be the fourth year the Race has followed this course.

The planned event schedule this year is similar to last year; the two main races start shortly after 10am. The communications support that we provide is expected to start around 9:00AM and we should be done shortly after 1:00PM.

The Groton Road Race continues to be a major event for Amateur Radio in North Central Massachusetts. For those of you who have joined them in previous years know that the runners sincerely appreciate the Ham presence; many say so as they run past. This event is so large that Police Departments and other public safety organizations from several communities come to assist the Groton PD. Part of the volunteers role is to provide backup communications from the Groton Police to these out-of-town officers who come to help with this event.

Contributing to the public good is one of the reasons Amateur Radio exists. Public service events are a key opportunity for us to show our colors, volunteer our skills and equipment, and demonstrate why it is in the public’s interest to continue to allocate precious RF spectrum to our the Amateur Radio Service. The Groton Road Race is a low-stress event and a great way to gain more experience with the public service aspect of amateur radio. If you would like to join the event, please contact Ralph, KD1SM.

Boston Marathon documentation updated for 2026

2026-03-26T00:00:00Z

The documentation for amateur radio operators volunteering at the BAA Boston Marathon has just been updated for 2026. You can find everything online in the Docs & Videos section of https://www.hamradioboston.org.

Volunteers Needed – Bike MS: Ride the Rhode – June 13th, 2026

2026-03-21T00:00:00Z

Via https://ema.arrl.org/:

Don Rolph, AB1PH sends along that the MS Ride the Rhode is coming up on Saturday June 13. This year it is only a one day event. Traditionally amateur radio teams operate to coordinate the support and gear (SAG) wagons as well as coordinate rest stop operations. The MS team is hoping to enlist support again this year.

If you would like to participate please sign up and let AB1PH know as well so he can coordinate the team.

MMRA Repeater use for the marathon on April 20

2026-03-21T00:00:00Z

From the MMRA mailing list:

Marty Sullaway, NN1C for the Ham Radio Boston group, has requested use of the following repeaters on Monday, April 20th from 4AM to 8PM for marathon runner safety and support.

146.670 Milton

146.790 Weston

146.820 Boston

147.270 Marlborough

442.700 Weston HUB2

447.775 Hopkinton

Milton, Weston and Marlborough will be linked using HUB2. The Hopkinton and Boston systems will be stand alone. Other repeaters will be available for member use. User commands and Echolink/IRLP will not be available during this time. The Milton repeater use is subject to the antenna installation date.

Testing of systems will also occur in the weeks leading up to the event. The default linking mode for systems may be changed during testing, but will be reset so they will be available to other users and scheduled nets.

A message will be posted on the MMRA home page about repeater set up and usage. The Public Service Event Calendar will have this event added.

KC1US, Public Service Coordinator

Free Zoom On-line Amateur Radio Operating Classes Start April 2.

2026-03-21T00:00:00Z

Via Tom Christovich at K3NEM:

A free, weekly, 3-hour Amateur Radio Operating Class on Zoom will begin on Thursday April 2 and run through June 18. Sessions will be 2 to 3 hours long beginning at 6:30 PM. EASTERN time. Typically, two topics are covered per evening. The presenters will be folks very experienced in the various subjects.

A detailed syllabus will be published before the classes begin. Attend them all, or any that you like, but you must register for the classes. To receive registration information, contact Rol Anders, K3RA, at roland.anders@comcast.net.

Subjects will include:

All About Operating--A general Introduction

Amateur Radio Organizations—Local to International

Ham Radio Operating Awards

DXing-History and Tips from the Experts

QSLing-How to get that needed confirmation for DXCC or WAS

VHF/UHF Weak Signal Work and “Roving”

Image Operating—Slow Scan and Fast Scan TV

Remote Station control over internet

Learning CW in the no-code era

Digital Modes—From RTTY to FT8 and beyond

Contesting—How to get started, tips for the beginner and intermediate contester

Logging Software—What’s available, how to use

Propagation—A general intro to HF Propagation with emphasis on the declining phase of the current solar cycle

Amateur Satellites—How to get started

Portable (backpacking) operation and POTA—Tips from an expert

Setting Up a Modern (or not so modern) HF Station

Lightning Protection and Grounding

Traffic Handling

Public Service, Emergency Communications

We have overlapping mailing lists, so if you received a duplicate of this message, thanx for your understanding.

Thanks.

73,

Rol Anders, K3RA

Welcome to Bay State Radio!

2026-03-18T00:00:00Z

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I'm hoping that over time that Bay State Radio can be become a useful source of information for members of the amateur radio community in and around Boston. Whereas many club web sites focus on the activities of the club, my goal is to try to act as a clearing house for information spanning clubs and other organizations, making it easier to find out about interesting events, nets you hadn't heard of before, and opportunities to get together with other radio amateurs.