This is the social event of the season. Whether you come to buy or sell or simply socialize, the AUCTION is where you want to be on November 16^th!

Mark your calendars now.

There are always great items up for sale, ranging from that connector or accessory you've been looking for to that special rig with your name on it.

There are door prizes, including a subscription to HamTestOnline.com that could by your key to your next upgrade in license.

And don't forget the infamous "Heavy Hitter's Snack Bar" to help you keep your strength up during the day.

The auction flyer, later in this issue gives complete details or check out the Auction 2002 page on the club web site for complete information and directions.

I am writing this in 90 degree heat and thinking that by the time you read this it will be cool and a lot more comfortable for all of us. I hope that many of you will have attended the Boxboro Hamfest the end of August and will have recharged your bodies with all kinds of renewed interest in our hobby.

As we all get back into the fall, we have our major Fund Raiser approaching rather quickly. Please help pass out flyers at all events you will attend and also plan on assisting our Co-Chairs that day, November 16^th at the Newtonville Masonic Hall, more details are further on in this newsletter.

I look forward to many or all of you attending the meetings the last Wednesday of each month, and please if you know of speakers for any meeting please let one of the officers know, we are constantly looking for new topics of interest.

See you all on the air or at our meetings.
73, Ann Weldon, KA1PON

First, talk up the net start date and time. Then, advise all youth that you know; to try connecting to one or more of the MMRA repeaters before the net starts, to determine which repeater is best for them from their QTH. Help them decide if you can.    Check MMRA web site for the list of repeaters. http://www.mmra.org/

The future of amateur radio, and our clubs depends on bringing young operators into amateur radio. Their future in continuing in the hobby
depends on us. Let's not fail them.  While no adults will be recognized during the Youth Net, parents who would like to sign on their child under their control, using their call sign, may do so. However, once the Net starts, no adults will be recognized; only the youth who was checked into the net.

Please direct any questions to:

Ann Weldon - KA1PON  ka1pon@amsat.org

Kevin Paetzold -K1KWP  k1kwp@amsat.org

OK, back to the internet linking software programs available for amateur radio operators to keep in touch in a different way.

I-LINK is an internet capability which allows amateur radio stations to make internet links to on air operation through repeaters. You get on a local repeater, punch in a code number on your dtmf key pad on your rig (as long as the repeater you're on is connected via I-LINK) and you can connect to a repeater half way around the world.

Echo Link allows much of the same, but also allows you to connect to repeaters around the world via the internet, from your computer; using your sound card, microphone and speakers and your space bar is the microphone key.

PalTalk is new to me, but it's basically an audio/video conferencing system which allows users to connect to conference calls, including nets on amateur radio; around the world, via the internet. This service has great possibilities for linking local nets to regional or global nets via the internet with control stations linked together via the internet, as George (W1ME) said in his message. I, for one, am going to look into this.

So, why the hype over linking amateur radio to the internet? First, why not. Second, if our young folks can get exposed to amateur radio through a medium that they are comfortable and knowledgeable in, why not? This kind of thing as well as satellite communications can and will be our link to the future of amateur radio, by bringing new, young folks into the world of world-wide voice communications using radio as well as the internet.

Of course, there are a lot of other ways to communicate; worldwide via the internet. But none of them offer the excitement and challenge of talking via radio to other people driving in their cars or living in remote places of the world where phone lines and fiber optics just aren't there to connect to. Radio can do that, because we don't need wires any further than our antenna on the roof of the house or on the tower or in the tree in the back yard.

There is a special excitement that goes with talking to someone at the other end of the line when he or she is on an antenna and not on a wire. This is something, one of many things that could lure the excitement of youth back into the amateur radio community.

Check them out. We'll be putting links to these "services" up out our club web site so you can find them easily.

I can hear George saying this now. "It's amateur radio, enjoy!" There's always something new and exciting to explore and to learn about.

There is a local group of "WARA" hams which is working on an ILINK system for our area. Repeater, computer, site, system and software specialists looking to take us into the world of Internet/Amateur Radio. Steve, WA1HUD; Jim, K1UGM; Mitch, KA1MIT; Megan, KB1FCA and, I'm sure, many others who are helping in their areas of expertise.   (See photos below)

This is an exciting time in amateur radio, the internet and for our young, upcoming future amateur radio scientists who will carry on the tradition of experimentation and pushing the limits of technology giving us and they the future and ham radio.

President – Ann Weldon, KA1PON

V. President – Kip Shustack, N1AUP

Clerk & Treasurer - Andy Donovan, WA1GEP

Asst. Clerk – Jim Finlay, N1HCF

Asst. Treas. – John Antes, KB1EB

Publisher – Eliot Mayer, W1MJ

Editor – Ron Perry, N1USS

Circulation – Ann Weldon, KA1PON

You can send things in via e-mail to

Ron Perry, N1USS; 34 Summer Street
Melrose, MA. 02176-4610

Text should be plain text (ascii) like an e-mail message or in Microsoft Word format (preferably) and photos should be in JPEG or GIF format.

Thanks, Phil, for enlightening us about Handi-Hams. Out of curiosity I looked up their web site on the internet to learn more.

Courage Handi-Ham System was "born" in Rochester Minnesota in 1967; the idea of Ned Carman, W0ZSW. Ned worked for a clinic, and, in the course of his work, would visit people with severe physical disabilities. As he spoke with his clients, who often had few opportunities to leave their homes, he realized that Amateur Radio would be the perfect hobby for them. Here was a hobby that could open a window to the world! A person with the most severe disabilities could stand as an equal with fellow hams in the world of Amateur Radio.

Ned enlisted the help of a group of local nuns, the Sisters of St. Francis, on April 30, 1967. Although their first action was as weather watchers during a thunderstorm that passed through Rochester that day, the Sisters were committed to helping Ned with his new project, and several received their licenses. Among them was Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, the former Educational Coordinator for the Handi-Ham system, now retired.

The first Handi-Ham was Edna (Eddy) Thorson, N0YL, who took her General Class license exam in December, 1967.

Very soon the Rochester Amateur Radio Club and a little later the PICONET of South Eastern Minnesota took up the torch of service that Ned had lighted. Word of the Handi-Ham System spread rapidly throughout southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

By 1967 it was very evident that the expansion of Handi-Ham services could not continue without some rather substantial financial support. This support came from the non-profit Minnesota Society for Crippled Children and Adults (whose name would later change to "Courage Center"). The Society granted full affiliate status to the fledgling System and helped with money and equipment.

Word of the Handi-Ham System spread throughout the Upper Midwest, then across the country, and around the world. It became impossible to continue the work of the System as a volunteer organization. Something had to be done or Handi-Hams would be a victim of it's own success. The answer emerged when Courage Center agreed to accept the System as a program, and in 1975 the Minnesota Handi-Ham System emerged with Courage Center to become a full service, providing help wherever there was a need.

The Courage Handi-Ham System, now a fully-integrated service of Courage Center, is able to call on the resources of its parent organization, from accounting and counseling to rehabilitation, medicine and physical therapy, in order to better serve its students and members.

Handi-Ham stations are now in operation at Camp Joan Mier, Malibu, CA; Courage St. Croix, Stillwater, MN; Camp Courage, Maple Lake, MN; Courage North, Lake George, MN; and at Courage Center in Golden Valley, MN. Radio Camp sessions and other Handi-Ham services serve members from everywhere in the United States and around the world. Members learn radio, electronic theory and computing, but they also learn that they can accomplish what they set out to do!

Ned Carman is now a silent key, but the Courage Handi-Ham System's headquarters station bears his call sign, W0ZSW, and an organization of volunteers and paid staff carries on his good work of sharing Amateur Radio with people who have physical disabilities.

Again, thanks to Phil Temples for bringing such a wonderful program to our attention.

You can learn more about the Handi-Ham system on their web site at:

The net is alive and well, in spite of Ebay and other online trading sites. It is a great place to clean out all of that stuff collecting dust looking for a new home. To keep up with the times, we are now online (sort of). Each week we will be giving people with traffic the option of having it listed on the WARA web site message board. If you miss a week or forgot who listed "that item" you were interested in, check out the message board. It will be updated weekly or as needed. If you have sold something and want to remove the posting, drop John an email message or call him at (978) 897-7878 and he'll take care of it. Most weeks we have about 10 stations checking in and, who knows how many others listening in!

Stop by Wednesday evenings, even if only to say hello.

Waltham Amateur Radio Association
Post Office Box 411
Waltham, MA 02454