W E C A

2021 WECA Events

Membership renewal

The "Last Call" invoice notice from Pay Pal went out in early December 2020 to members who did not renew. In addition follow up phone calls and emails were made as well. If you would like to rejoin please either remit your dues via Pay Pal or send your check to WECA Membership Renewal, C/O Peter Johnson / N2TFC, 48 Faneuil Place, New Rochelle, NY 10801. Those members who did not renew by 12/31/2020 have been put in an inactive mode where their email forwarding and listing in the roster was put in an inactive mode.

Thank you to those members who have renewed. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Upcoming Member meeting dates for 2021

WECA received notice from Westchester County that the County Center in White Plains where we normally hold our monthly meetings will be closed for regular operations until at least June 1, 2021, so our September through June 2021 meetings will be via Zoom and not in person. Credentials are sent to members with email addresses about two days in advance of the online meeting.

The following are the "Zoom" meeting dates which are on Monday nights at 7pm.

• Feb 8, 2021 - Member meeting

• Feb 22, 2021 - Board meeting (7:30)

• Mar 8, 2021 - Member meeting

• Mar 22, 2021 - Board meeting (7:30)

• Apr 12, 2021 - Member meeting

• Apr 26, 2021 - Board meeting (7:30)

• May 10, 2021 - Member meeting

• May 24, 2021 - Board meeting (7:30)

• June 14, 2021 - Member meeting

• June 28, 2021 - Board meeting (7:30)

If you would like to make a presentation to our Amateur Radio group, please send email to Meetings@weca.org.

Our next member meeting will be on February 8

Our February 2021 meeting will have two presenters. The first will be Joe Eisenberg / K0NEB who is CQ Magazine's Kit Building Editor and will give a presentation about Kit Building. The second presenter will be Rob Caluori / KD2QLQ who will give a presentation about WinLink. Virtual meeting credentials will be sent the weekend before this virtual "Zoom" meeting.

Upcoming public service events

Because of the Covid19 problem, the information below is subject to change.

All public service events are cancelled until further notice. As always, volunteers are needed to fill the positions at these events. Please contact Kathy / kc2vct@weca.org with any questions or suggestions.

Free Ham Radio exam preparation classes

Instead of meeting at the Fire Training Center, the General exam prep classes are now online "Zoom" meetings.

The Extra class test preparation class began on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. It is a virtual class using "Zoom", the live presentation sharing website. Class Zoom meetings are on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9:15 PM. You are invited to attend any or all of WECA’s training classes even if you are not planning on taking the test. You just may want to learn more about a particular subject from our excellent instructors. Please join us anytime! For more details, please see below.

Please contact Larrie: W2UL@Weca.Org for access information send email to membership@weca.org.

VE Testing

The next VE Testing session is TBA. Please contact Stan WA2NRV for more information about future sessions. He can be reached at 914-831-3258 or WA2NRV@Weca.Org.

Coverage Maps

Please see our new 2 meter coverage maps by clicking on the "Coverage Maps - 2 meters" listing on the left side of this page. Thanks to Ken / KD2QYT and Bob / N2DVQ for creating these maps.

Please click here to go to the WECA.APP site for further details.

Upcoming Free Ham Radio License Preparation Classes

Until further notice these classes will be virtual online presentations using "Zoom" - the live presentation sharing website. The dates may change slightly from the dates posted below.

Have you ever thought about becoming an Amateur Radio “Ham” operator? Here are some great opportunities to learn about Ham radio and to study for your FCC license with seasoned Ham radio operators as your teachers and mentors!

The Westchester Emergency Communications Association (WECA: www.weca.org) is proud to sponsor free Ham Radio License courses. Come take your first steps and join the exciting world of Amateur Radio. Enjoy talking to other Amateur Radio Operators, near and far! Want to experiment with new technologies that utilize computers interfaced with radios? Would you like to join forces with county government and local volunteer organizations as Amateur Radio Operators for Emergency Communications assistance and Public Service events? Take your first steps by joining us for this interactive course taught by a team of knowledgeable Amateur Radio Operators with a passion for their subjects.

• WECA conducts an Amateur Technician class every fall, starting in September and wrapping up by the second week in November. The Technician class is expected to be every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9:15 PM. It began on September 15, 2020, and concluded on November 10th. It might be followed by an FCC license testing session during the same week on Thursday (11/12). All who would like to get started in the amateur radio hobby will be most welcome!

• WECA's Ham Radio Test Preparation class for the Extra Class Ticket is expected to begin on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. The class will run for 10 weeks every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9:15 PM. On Thursday of the 10th week an FCC license testing session might be conducted at the Fire Training Center, 4 Dana Road, Valhalla, NY. A schedule showing the topics covered in each Amateur Extra class session may be found here .

• WECA's Ham Radio Test Preparation "virtual" class for the General Class Ticket will begin on Wednesday, March 16, 2021. The class will run for 9 weeks every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9:15 PM. On Thursday of the 9th week an FCC license testing session might be conducted at the Fire Training Center, 4 Dana Road, Valhalla, NY. A schedule showing the topics covered in each Amateur General class session may be found here.

• If you have any other questions, please send email to our Education Director Larrie Sutliff / W2UL at education@weca.org.

• Until further notice, WECA's VE testing is temporarily on hold. VE sessions are normally held on the second Thursday of each month at the Fire Training Center in Valhalla. Please contact Stan Rothman: WA2NRV@Weca.Org with any questions and updates he may have.

• Please click here to go to the WECA.APP site for further details.

What you missed at a previous WECA meeting

• The January 11 virtual Zoom meeting was a presentation by Steve / KD2OFD concerning APRS. Please click here for Steve's presentation.

• The December virtual meeting featured a series of short presentations by WECA Members. The presenters included a digital presentation by Kevin / KD2PDL. Richard / KC2HZW discussed his home station. Stan / WA2NRV gave a presentation about the long lost art of soldering and Kathleen / KC2VCT gave a Holiday Culinary presentation.

• The November virtual meeting was all about CW. Our guest presenters were from the Long Island CW Club. Howard WB2UZE and Jim W6JIM did a great job discussing the art to learning CW. They have a Very Successful Program on how you can Learn CW.

• The October 2020 "Zoom" meeting featured Rich Kautz / KC2HZW who discussed propagation on the six and ten meter bands. He will also discussed using FT8 for long distance contacts on 80 to 6 meters. We are sorry that you missed a very informative set of presentations!

• Our September 2020 virtual meeting had a presentation by John Lembke from the Westchester Department of Emergency Services and radiological training for Indian Point . Deborah Kerr / KC2GPV who is the Amateur Radio Communications Director at eventhams@gmail.com discussed Ham Radio's participation in the various foot races hosted by the New York City Road Runners. Such races include the New York City Marathon usually held the first Sunday in November which is cancelled for 2020. Other races include the half Marathon and NYC Triathlon.

• Our June 2020 meeting was about Field Day 2020 and how the club was going to participate in this yearly event as stations at home and not at Mamaroneck's Harbor Island Park. Please click here to see details about how WECA participated in this unusual Field Day event.

• Our May 2020 virtual meeting using Zoom was led by Ria Jiram / N2RJ- the Hudson Division Director. She discussed many topics about the ARRL including how to handle Field Day 2020 and VE testing.

• The April 2020 meeting was our second virtual meeting using Zoom. Our presenter was Adrian Ciuperca / KO8SCA who discussed his DXPeditions to Tokelau and Bhutan.

• The March 2020 WECA Meeting was our first "Virtual Meeting" using "Zoom" the live presentation sharing website with Steve Pendzuk discussing DMR radio and its programming. Please click here to see Steve's excellent Power Point presentation in PDF format.

• The February 2020 meeting was a Web presentation by Jason Oldham / KM4ACK and the use of Raspberry PI computers for Ham Radio Applications. Jason has published many YouTube videos about Raspberry Pi usage in Ham Radio.

• Our January 2020 meeting with Bill KA2OFM and Simon KD2DOE discussed the upcoming Winter Field Day event in Mamaroneck.

• At our December 2019 meeting member Rob Calouri / KD2QLQ gave a factual presentation about Internet Security. Many members learned about some of the fallacies that exist about Internet security and how one can better protect themselves and their information.

• The November 2019 meeting featured a presentation about Echolink by Steve Pendzuk / KD2OFD. A Powerpoint presentation was shown and is available as an Acrobat file by clicking here.

• Our October 2019 meeting presenter was John Lemke from the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services (DES) who discussed the use of dosimeters and the correct protocols that are in place should a radiological event occur. WECA member Kai Chen / K2TRW gave a presentation explaining what DMR is, described and provided history regarding the various flavors of DMR, and had a question and answer session while showing DMR products from Anytone. It was a busy night!

• Our September 2019 presenter was Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC who gave a presentation and slide show about good Ham Radio operating procedures.

• Our June 2019 presenter was Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC who gave a presentation and slide show about previous Field Day events.

• Our presenters at the May 2019 meeting was Deborah M. Kerr / K2GPV and Mike Hoeft / K2MPH who are the 2019 Verizon NYC Triathlon and TCS NYC Marathon Amateur Radio Communications Directors.

• The April 15 meeting was an ARES presentation by Dave Galletly / KM2O from the Hudson Division and Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC.

• Our March 2019 meeting was a Skype connection with Bob Heil.

• If you missed Kevin & Rob's Raspberry Pi presentation in February 2019, click here to view it.

2020 Winter Field Day Results

WECA had another great score! See the results below.

• 2nd Place ENY Section

• Second Place Hudson Division

• 3rd Place NY State

• 32th Place in the Nation!

• Our score - phone contacts - 215, CW contacts - 131, no digital contacts, final calculated score of 7,404 points!

• Great job by all who participated!

• The 2020 Winter Field Day event was held at Harbor Island in Mamaroneck, NY on Saturday January 25th and Sunday January 26. Do you need more information or would like to participate in this event coming up on Saturday, January 30, 2021 and Sunday, January 31? Please contact Bill / KA2OFM by sending email to KA2OFM@Weca.Org.

2021 Winter Field Day is THIS weekend!

WECA institutes a Repeater Acceptable Use Policy

December 31, 2017:

Over the past few months there have been some Hams using the WB2ZII repeater systems in an inappropriate manner. As a result, our Board of Directors have created the "WECA Repeater Acceptable Use Policy" which illustrates how all our repeater systems shall be used by all. Please click here to download this document.

Please review the policy and if you have any questions, comments or hear users that do not comply with this policy, please send email to TWIT@Weca.Org.

Public Service Events

Interested in joining WECA?

WECA is a Ham Radio club located in Westchester County, NY about 25 miles north of New York City. The group holds monthly meetings in White Plains, NY (no meetings in July and August). Please click here to download an information brochure about the club. If you would like to join WECA, then please click here to download a membership application form. These downloads require that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to read or print these documents. If you have any questions about the club, then please send email to Membership@Weca.Org.

WECA has DMR on 447.475

WECA now supports both analog FM and DMR on 447.475. Don't know what DMR is? Please click here to learn about this new amateur radio digital mode. If you have questions about DMR, please contact Dwight / N2FMC by sending email to n2fmc at weca dot org.

An excellent DMR presentation in PDF format by KD2OFD. Click here

Instructions how to create a DMR "code plug" - click here.

New code plug for Connect Systems CS-750/800 is available.

WB2NHC is on YouTube!

Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC and the involvement of Ham Radio Operators helping the Red Cross was featured in a YouTube video.

To view this video, please click here.

Want to learn about RFI, Ferrites, Baluns and Audio interfacing but don't have time for a class?

Dwight Smith / N2FMC has found an interesting and downloadable publication that is continuously updated by the author Jim Brown/K9YC.

Click here to view or download this treasure trove of information about RFI, Ferrites, Baluns and Audio interfacing.

Want to learn about "Return Loss"?

OK, so what is return loss? Click here for Wikipedia's answer. So how good is that feed line and much power is really getting out of the cable to the antenna? Any faults with the cable or connectors? Is there really an antenna connected? Finally, what is being reflected back down the line as loss?

Dwight / N2FMC has found a few URLs that discusses and calculates Return Loss.

Here is a link that discusses the math, please click here.

This link compares SWR to Return loss in a chart, please click here.

Another SWR chart link, please click here.

And finally an online Return Loss calculator, please click here.

Traveling abroad and want to use your US Ham license during your trip abroad?

Please read this document created by the FCC DA-11-211 to help explain the process of using your Ham callsign in "CEPT" countries in Europe.

Having troubles using the WECA Repeater system?

Sometimes due to summer band conditions, distance repeaters can be heard on our 2 meter repeater frequency of 147.060 MHz. Once someone in greater Westchester County keys up on the input using a PL of 114.8 Hz, the distant repeater interference subsides. This is normal (especially in the summer) and many times you may hear a Connecticut repeater located in the northeast corner of the state or sometimes a Philadelphia repeater can be heard as well.

But, if you have been having troubles using the repeater system or are hearing interference, please send email to Repeaters@Weca.Org detailing the trouble or interference that you are experiencing. Our Repeater and Technical Directors will quickly look into the problem.

Please welcome our 2020 - 2021 Officers & Directors

At the June 8, 2020 virtual meeting, the following Officers & Directors were elected into office.

President - Simon Rosenberg / KD2DOE

Executive Vice President - Bill Bohnenberger / KA2OFM

Vice President / General Counsel - Michael Weitzner / N2EJI

Treasurer - Andy Farber / N4OOX

Secretary - _________________________

Director at Large - Stan Rothman / WA2NRV

Digital Modes - Kevin Duffelmeyer / KD2PDL

Education Director - Larrie Sutliff / W2UL

Emergency Services Director - Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC

Engineering Director - Bob Wilson / N2DVQ

Membership Director - Peter Johnson / N2TFC

Newsletter Editor - ___________________________

Public Service Director - Kathleen O'Keefe / KC2VCT

Publicity Director - Lisa Lindsay / WB2CUB

Repeater Operations Director - Dwight Smith / N2FMC

Social Activities Director - Richard Kautz / KC2HZW

Directors and honorariums appointed by the board

Trustee - Tom Raffaelli / WB2NHC

County Liaison - Michael Volk / W2MKV

President Emeritus - Bill Bohnenberger / KA2OFM

Webmaster / CIO - Peter Johnson / N2TFC

If you have any questions for the Officers & Directors, please email them with your questions by sending email to their callsign@weca dot org email address.

The WECAgram Newsletter is always online

WECA's monthly newsletter about Ham Radio events, projects and its local members in the greater Westchester County, NY area located about 20 miles north of New York City.

Do you have something for the WECAgram? Please send your article to The WECAgram Editor by sending email to WECAgram@Weca.Org.

Past issues of The WECAgram

Looking for special Ham Radio related websites?

WECA member Dwight Smith / N2FMC has found a bunch of web sites containing ham radio related information. Please click here for a list of "Dwight's Sites". If you have any technical or Ham Radio related sites and would like to share these sites with others, please send email to sites at "weca dot org".

2021 meetings , lists, dates and calendars

Please click here for the 2021 WECA meeting list

Please click here for the 2021 Ham Radio testing dates

Please click here for the 2021 Public Service event calendar

Found - old WECAGRAMS!

Nick / K2ZVI (SK) found some old WECAGRAMS while cleaning one day to share with the newer members. Please click on any date below to view these found treasures!

February 1980 August 1981 September 1987 January 1988

If you have some old WECAgrams that could be "PDF" scanned, please send email to Peter / N2TFC - webmaster at weca dot org

WB2NHC - Tom Raffaelli was awarded Ham of the year!

Tom was first licensed in 1964. His interests then, as now, were in experimenting and building radio devices. Tom married Jeanne Fyfe in 1966. They moved into a three room apartment in the Bronx. Due to space limitations Tom operated exclusively on the VHF and UHF bands. In 1970, with two children in tow, Tom and Jeanne moved to a home in Thornwood New York. Beam antennas, verticals and wire dipoles soon sprang up on the roof and in the yard. In 1979 Tom joined the New Rochelle Communications Club and soon after that the Westchester Emergency Communications Association (WECA). He was elected Vice President of WECA in 1985 and President in 1987, and served for seven years. WECA doubled its membership under Tom's leadership, strengthened its affiliation with Westchester County's Office of Disaster and Emergency Services and initiated an affiliation with the Westchester chapter of the American Red Cross. He expanded the club's Field Day event and grew WECAFEST, the club's hamfest event into a major "must attend" event. Tom is now Director of Emergency Services.

Tom served as President of TSARC for several years and resolved several long standing coordination disputes and established a coordination waiting list for all bands. Tom taught many Amateur Radio license classes over the years bringing more than 50 people into the hobby. Tom began volunteering at the New York City Marathon in the mid eighties and is currently the ham radio supervisor at the Family Reunion area.

Tom was instrumental in establishing extremely strong relationships between WECA and the Westchester County Department of Emergency Services and the American Red Cross. Both of these organizations are providing funding and support for maintenance of WECA's communications vehicles and equipment as well as providing meeting space and training facilities. Tom recently retired from the County of Westchester as its Director of Radio Systems. Tom continues to build on the strong ties between RACES, WECA and the county government while helping to bring state of art communications facilities to the county's public safety departments.

Amateur of the Year Award Sponsored jointly by:

The Peconic Amateur Radio Club

and

Westchester Emergency Communications Association - WECA

As printed in the Hudson Division Awards Diner pamphlet from November 12, 2005

Don't know what Ham Radio is ?

The Ham Radio hobby has made it ! Well, now there is a "Ham Radio for Dummies" book on the market. Available in many book stores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble for $24.99 or less.

So, where were you in '72 ? When WECA was born !

On the first Friday night in early April 1972, five men met in Tarrytown, NY at William T. Knott's (W2QGH-sk) home to form what is now the Westchester Emergency Communications Association (WECA). Thirty one years ago these middle aged "family" men were Ham Radio hobbyists who decided start this club "for the continuation of the Civil Defense Radio network in Westchester County, NY". Meeting minutes from those early gatherings can be read by clicking here.

WECA thanks John von Sneidern, Jr. / W2QGH for copies of those notes "from the beginning" of WECA and Efrem Acosta / W2CZ for organizing this historic project.

Comments (good/bad)? Please let us know by sending email to membership at weca dot org.