Meeting Minutes

October 2025 Meeting Minutes

A couple of weeks ago I sent an email to the 11 elected officials to see who is going to be running for office again. So far Connor, Greg, Patrick, Tom G, George, Jim and Dan have indicated they are willing to run again. We will open nominations for the December election at the November 20 meeting. A list of nominees will be sent out a week after the meeting for contemplation.

Jim started the Dantober meeting promptly at 7pm with introductions of the members both present a Zoom. There were 23 in the house a 6 that Zoomed in.

Secretary’s Report

Seems like everyone got the report, read it and thought it was worthy of being entered into the sacred record of the vaunted CMARA annals. 

Treasurer’s Report, September 2025

Total balance at last report (June 2025): $12,173.85

  • Income
    • Annual Dues: $ 117.42  (3 members)
    • New members: $44.11 (2 prospective members)
  • Expenses
    • Club badges (J. Singer): $220.00
  • TD Bank Balances
    • $11,766.38
  • Cash-on-hand
    • $349.00
Total Funds in the Treasury
  • $12,115.38
New Member Applications
  • Steve Wark (KC1YJO)
  • Ron Lahti (N1CNG)

Patrick Perkins
KO1NE
CMARA, Treasurer
(m): 508.667.6335

Membership Committee

102 paid for 2024. 

Submitted by Dick W1REJ

Repeater Committee

SOS

Old Business

None

New Business

November Program

HamClock Raspberry Pi-Zero – George, K1IG and Andy, KB1OIQ

Next Meeting

November 20, 2024. 6:30 social 1/2 hour and the meeting will start promptly at 7pm. Location is St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St., Holden, MA. (or Zoom if you prefer)

Dantober Programs

Pre-Program, Gill WK1H with Field Day Wrap Up. Gil presented the final thoughts. Yep, a good time was had by all.

Main Program,, Analysis of End Fed Half Wave Antenna using EZNEC Modeling (eznec.com) presented by Greg WA1JXR

CMARA Board Meeting Dantober/14/2025

Attending were Jim, Dan Connor, Gil, George, Tom G and Greg.

Programs

George apprised us of the upcoming programs.

Nominees for Offices

Gil will as Dick to chair a committee.

Field Day Wrap by Gil

Physical posters are a flop.

Focus on social media

Need 2 FD chairs. Internal Coordination and Public Relation

Gil presented the final thoughts. Yep, a good time was had by all.

Donation Letter needed

Greg received some donated equipment and will prepare the proper letter to the family.

HOA Letter

Greg will prepare and Dan will sent out.

Spam Contacts 

George brought up the fact that we are getting spam though our contact page. Tom G will look into some sort of spam block

           Adjourn 7:38 

Submitted a bit late by, Dan (K1)Rau,

No, those weren’t typos. Since 10th month of the year contains the anniversary date of my birth I have claimed the whole span from the 1st to the 31st as Dantober. No bowing, genuflecting or curtsies are required.

Public Service

Sutton Chain of Lights 2025

The Sutton Chain of Lights is again requesting assistance with communications to coordinate the trolleys for their annual event. We’re looking for about 15 ham radio operators to ride the trolleys and help keep them on schedule moving people around between stops.

We will meet at 8:30 am on Sat December 6th in Sutton (location TBD – likely the Sutton High School). The event runs from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, although the final trolley drop off may be as late as 5:00 pm.

If you are only available for part of the day, we can cycle you in and out as necessary. Please indicate availability in the comments section of the form.

If you are available to help out, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/E8uj8sEbE7ReVCpN6

Thanks!

Meeting Minutes

September 2025 Meeting Minutes

It was a great gathering for the 25/26 season of CMARA meetings! We had 26 in attendance and 5 on Zoom. Even though I was one of the Zoomers due to knee surgery it was great to be back in the swing of things..

Jim kicked the meeting off right at 7pm with the intros and the Secretary’s report….

Secretary’s Report

Even though a whole summer went by the report was coherent enough to have been read, understood and approved by the membership. Whew! I got by another month unscathed!

Treasurer’s Report, September 2025

Total balance at last report (June 2025): $12,127.55

  • Income
    • Annual Dues: $ 68.02 (3 members)
    • New members: $93.02(4 prospective members)
  • Expenses
    • Promo items for field day 2025 (C. Gumbrell): $114.74
  • TD Bank Balances
    • $11,824.85
  • Cash-on-hand
    • $349.00
Total Funds in the Treasury
  • $12,173.85
New Member Applications
  • Fred Blechinger (KC1YEC)
  • Bill Hanrahan (W1WH)
  • Corwyn Miyagishima (KN1OBI)

Patrick Perkins
KO1NE
CMARA, Treasurer
(m): 508.667.6335

Membership Committee

We have 71 currently paid and 58 one year delinquent for a grand total of 121 folks.

Submitted by Dick W1REJ

Repeater Committee

Greg reported that ‘Old Girl’ is working fine with no strange issues. That’s great news for us.

New Business

Ray Lajoie, one of our ARRL honchos brought up the importance of the HOA legislation pending in congress. He urged all hams to sigh the letter (easy instructions and I will be sending them out) to help pass this important bill.

Old Business

Zero

Good of the Club

Nothing

Next Meeting

October 16, 2025. 6:30 social 1/2 hour and the meeting will start promptly at 7pm. Location is St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St., Holden, MA. (or Zoom if you prefer)

Adjournment

7:12

Program – ARRIS Presentation

Tom G NE1NH, George KA3RLZ and Connor KC1MMM presented the plans for our involvement with a space station contact in March 2026. CMARA in conjunction with the Worcester Ecotairum, North High School and NASA (yep, those guys) are planning for a live space station contact! I must say that the program was fantastic and you can see the slides on cmara.org. Great job guys!!

CMARA Board Meeting 6/17/2025

Attended by Dan, Jim, Connor, Tom G, Nick and Tom C

The topic was the ARRIS contact planning and program. March 9-15 2026 will be the week of education and info with March 15 being the planned live contact with the space station. 

And that’s all there was.

Dan (K1)Rau

Secretary

Meeting Minutes

June 2025 Meeting Minutes

What a summer we had! 14 weekends of rain then HOT for 2 weeks then a day or 2 of cool then HOT again then the heat/cool cycle repeated until just a couple of weeks ago. We have had some beautiful weather to carry us into fall and the September 18 CMARA meeting at St. Francis Episcopal Curch, 70 Highland St., Holden at 7pm. Here are the minutes of the June club meeting and the bored board meeting.

By the way, a special thanks to the folks that made Field Day a success in our new venue. Gil WK1H and Bill W1FTL and all those who helped.

Jim called the June meeting to order at 7:02pm and started off with the introductions of peanut gallery. We had an in-person attendance of 23 and 3 Zoomers. We then got into the nitty gritty of the meeting with…

Secretary’s Report

By some fluke of nature and the planets all lined up the report was approved by the assembled group without a single descent.

Treasurer’s Report, June 2025

Total balance at last report (May 2025): $12,128.38

  • Income
    • Annual Dues: $ 120.05 (6 members)
    • New members: $49.01(2 prospective members)
  • Expenses
    • Zoom annual renewal: $169.89
  • TD Bank Balances
    • $11,803.55
  • Cash-on-hand
    • $324.00
Total Funds in the Treasury
  • $12,127.55
New Member Applications
  • Wayne Galvin (W1WAG)
  • Joe Bonapace (KC1WOK)
Notes
  • Name badges: new supplier contracted; badges are in!!!

Total Balance May 2024: $16,904.74

Patrick Perkins
KO1NE
CMARA, Treasurer
(m): 508.667.6335

Membership Committee

According to Dick, W1REJ we have members. Yes I know there isn’t a specific number of members because I forgot to write it down. We really have paid members and quite a few of them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Submitted by Dick W1REJ

Repeater Committee

Once again the Repeater Committee reported that the ‘Old Girl’ is working fine. Many thanks to the group of hams that keep everything running. 

New Business

None

Old Business

Zero

Good of the Club

Nothing

Next Meeting

September 18, 2025. 6:30 social 1/2 hour and the meeting will start promptly at 7pm. Location is St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St., Holden, MA. (or Zoom if you prefer)

Adjournment

7:12

Program

Field Day plans presented by Gil WK1H.

SEPTEMBER PROGRAM

Exciting things are happening at CMARA this year. George KA3RLZ is going to do a presentation with Connor/ KC1MMT and Tom NE1NH on an update about the ISS (International Space Station), EcoTarium, and CMARA partnership. There’s been a lot of activities over the summer, significant milestones , and most recently NASA has approved our plans. This contact will not be directly but will use Tele bridge technology from multiple other sites across the country using amateur radio. The people in EcoTarium were a little nervous about some of the technical investment initially, but we will be providing technical and education support on amateur radio, and the technology that will be used just won’t be on site,

CMARA Board Meeting 6/17/2025

Attended by Connor, Dan, Gil, Selina, Jim, Tom C, Tom G, Nick, Patrick, Greg, Gil, George

  • The topic was Field Day at the new venue. Here are the things that were covered.
  •            Literature ordered from ARRL
  •            Pens ordered
  •            Mast coupler (Greg has it)
  •            Club Brochures (about 20 needed)
  •            Tech class flyers
  •            Site Plan for Trout Brook
  •            Where to put FD posteres
  •            Rersend FD link pleading for help
  •            Safety stakes
  •            Education component, ARRL video
  •            Notify Holden PD BEFORE the event
  •            Notify Holden CERT BEFOR the event
  •            Contact Sea Cadets
  •            Contact Civil Air Patrol.
  •            Hope and Pray for good weather.

Respectfully (well sort of) submitted by:

Dan (K1)Rau

Secretary

Meeting Minutes

May 2025 Meeting Minutes

This was one of the quickest business meetings I’ve ever witnessed. It was 11 minutes long! YES!! Just 11 minutes. How did we do it? 

Anyway, Jim passed the microphone around to the 21 members in the room and the four that were on Zoom and once that was done we got to the….

Secretary’s Report

The report, as sent through the magic of the interweb was accepted and approved by the members. If I could only get the interweb to write the minutes…..

Treasurer’s Report

There wasn’t a treasurer’s report this month because Pat was in Ireland looking for leprechauns and a pot of gold. 

Membership Committee

94 paid for 2025 and a bunch that are delinquent for 2024. If you are in “arrears” PAY YOUR DUES!

Submitted by Dick W1REJ

Repeater Committee

No repeater report this month but since the repeater is working then it speaks for itself. 

Old Business

Nothing this month…

New Business

George is working with a group to communicate with the ISS (International Space Station) in the future. We will be the radio connection for the group. There will be more details as things are worked out.

 Club Flea. Dan K1RAU brought up the Club Flea in April. Should we continue or not? The club voted to continue.

George asked about who has the definitive list of club equipment. (I believe that Herb started a list a few years ago but I’m not sure if it’s been kept up to date

Next Meeting

June 19, 2025. 6:30 social 1/2 hour and the meeting will start promptly at 7pm. Location is St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St., Holden, MA. (or Zoom if you prefer)

Adjournment

7:11pm. I think that is a speed record for a CMARA meeting!

Program

Gil WK1H presented the plans, hopes and aspirations for Field Day. Great presentation!

CMARA Board Meeting 5/13/2025

I have to admit that I missed most of the board meeting. I totally forgot that it was happening and I got in late. 

The only thing of note was that Nick W1NMR talked to Kurt and all is well on the hill for us to remain.

Dan (K1)Rau

The Forgetful Secretary

Hamfests

Mark Your Calendar: HamXposition 2025

HamXposition 2025 is coming to Marlborough, MA from August 21–24! As the ARRL New England Division Convention, it’s the largest ham radio event in the Northeast—featuring presentations, workshops, a huge flea market, prizes, and more. Whether you’re a longtime amateur or just getting started, there’s something for everyone. See the flyer for full details and visit hamx.org to learn more. 

Field Day

Field Day 2025 Updates and Sign Up Form

Below is the URL for the CMARA Field Day signup form.  Please use it to sign up as an amateur radio operator participant for our Field Day!

https://forms.gle/jdVyjCGTcVDgf7ZL6

The signup form URL has also been added/updated on the our Field Day 2025 page.

Feel free to invite other hams you may know that are not CMARA members.  You don’t have to be a CMARA member to participate in our Field Day.

Thanks much and 73,
Gil Hayes WK1H
CMARA VP
Field Day Event Coordinator

Meetings

May 15, 2025 CMARA Meeting Reminder

The May 15, 2025 meeting will be at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St., Holden, MA. The doors will be open at 6 for the social hour and the meeting will start at 7pm sharp..

The program this month is…

Field Day Planning!

See you on Thursday the 15th..

Dan (K1)RAU

——————————————————————————————————

HERE IS THE LINK IF YOU WANT TO MEET VIA ZOOM

The link will open at 6:30 for the social 1/2 hour and the meeting will start promptly at 7pm.

Copy and paste the link below to your browser…..

https://zoom.us/j/6985960997?pwd=Uyt6WXl6TUhhQTl2cUVlV1pKRG1ZQT09

Or if you want to do it the traditional way use the info below…(the link above is easier as long as you have Zoom on your computer)

Meeting ID: 698 596 0997 

Passcode: CMARA

Greg WA1JXR