BEARS Event Calendar

  • March 3, Sat. 8am - BREAKFAST at Hotcakes, Rt. 5 in East Windsor. Please RSVP by 2100 hrs Friday to Jonathan K2KKH@arrl.net
  • March 17, Sat. 8 am - BREAKFAST at The Mustard Seed, Hebron Ave. in Glastonbury.  Please RSVP by 2100 hrs Friday to Jonathan K2KKH@arrl.net
  • March 31, Sat., 8 am - BREAKFAST at the Shady Glenn at the Manchester Parkade. Please DO NOT ARRIVE early!  RSVP to Jonathan K2KKH@arrl.net.  THIS IS A NEW BEARS function -- by popular demand, we have added a third Saturday breakfast in months with sufficient Saturdays.
  • April 1 - BEARS provide radio coverage for Hockanum River Canoe and Kayak Race.  Contact Dick Phelps, K1SW, to volunteer. Race starts at Manchester-Tolland line behind the miniature golf course on Tolland Turnpike, ends at the dam behind the McDonalds on Burnside Ave in East Hartford.
  • April 22 - BEARS provide radio coverage for MS Walks in Manchester and Enfield. 

NON-BEARS Ham Radio Events

These events are NOT sponsored by the BEARS club, they are just items of interest to ham radio operators in the area.  They are presented as a public service.  To have an item listed, email info to the webmaster at AB1GL@arrl.net

  • Mondays beginning Jan. 30 - Elmer Net on the ICRC linked repeaters 7 pm to 7:45 pm. All welcome. Topics will include: Skywarn (Jan 30); ARES (Feb 6); RACES & MARS (Feb. 13) and more.  Transcripts posted at www.icrcweb.org
  • FRIDAY EVENINGS IN MARCH: Classes for FCC "General" license with Paul Gibson, N1TUP, 7 pm at the EOC on Olcott St.
  • SATURDAY MORNINGS IN FEBRUARY: Tech classes with Ted Ferreira, and General Classes with Richard Lawrence in Manchester. Location to be announced.
  • Wed. May 16 - Skywarn Training for Tolland County - 7-10pm Community Center, 40 Dyer Ave, Canton, CT. New spotters will be registered, those who wish to refresh their training are also welcomed.
  • Sun. May 20 - Lucy Robbins Welles Library 5K Road Race, Newington - NARL club seeking volunteers. Contact Armando Landrian, KB1PRP@arrl.net.
  • Sat. June 9 - Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge - this charity walk/bike ride has multiple routes up to 75 miles long beginning in Simsbury, CT and extending to the Mass. border.  Please contact George Lillenstein, AB1GL@arrl.net to volunteer.

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2012 Past Events List - What the BEARS did this year

The BEARS Traffic Net -- the club repeater is used for an NTS-sanctioned Traffic Net held every weekday evening at 9:15 pm except Saturday.  If you don't hear the net on a particular evening, there probably is no volunteer net control for that night.  Contact the Net Manager, Rusty Hack, NM1K of Enfield, to volunteer. 

The Traffic Net passes formal messages from and to the regional and transcontinental nets and delivers them to local hams by telephone, in person or mail.  This is our "When All Else Fails" basis, the reason hams are there for the public when all other means of communication have failed.  We practice by sending greetings to new hams and reminders to long time hams to renew their licenses all year long.  This ensures that our radios and antennas are always in working order and our operators are trained and ready. The BEARS net is new-user friendly.  If you are new to the hobby, please feel free to listen until you are comfortable and then check in to the net.  We'll never ask you to do something you don't want to do and we love answering questions.

  • Sunday, January 1, 2012 - FOX HUNT! -- The BEARS held their traditional New Year's Day mobile t-hunt for a hidden transmitter.  Details will be posted on the CTFoxhunter Yahoo group page as they are available. See http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/CTFOXHUNTER  
    • Paul Gibson, N1TUP, BEARS President, played "the fox."  He was hiding at the Kennedy Road Soccer Complex in northwest Manchester near Vernon Road.  Although only a few miles Southeast of the South Windsor starting point, it took the hunters more than an hour to find him.  The complex is deep in a valley between two ridges and almost directly in line with the repeater on Box Mountain.  The odd propagation pattern in the shadow of the tower caused hunters to doubt the readings on their direction finders, or to think they were mistakenly running down the signal from the repeater itself instead of the fox.  Even at the entrance of the parking lot, the fox and successful hunters were hidden from the road by a dogleg, so those driving by couldn't see them until they had actually driven into the lot.  Paul and Ginnie had hot turkey soup waiting for the hunters, who had used everything from unenhanced HT's to elaborate rotating roof-mounted Yagi's to locate them. http://g.co/maps/35es7

  • Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 - First Saturday Breakfast of the month -TJ's Restaurant, 4 Prospect Hill Rd, East Windsor, CT, 8 am. Click HERE for Google map. Our first time at this location was well received by attendees.  We will no doubt put this in our regular rotation.
  • Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 - "EMERGENCY" PIZZA PARTY Pepe's, 300 West Middle Turnpike, Manchester, 5:30 pm. Our usual arrangement, several pizzas are ordered at a fixed price plus you are on your own for beverages.

    • Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 - Breakfast at The Chuck Wagon on Church St in Ellington, 8 am.  Open to all, including nonmembers. Pay your own way.

    Wed. Feb. 8 - General Membership meeting at Manchester EOC, 321 Olcott Street, 7 pm. Preliminary planning began and signup sheets passed for the Hockanum Canoe Race, the MS Walks in Enfield and Manchester, the Annual Picnic, and 2012 Field Day at the Nike site.  Our goal this year is to operate 18 stations simultaneously!  That's a lotta antennas!

  • Saturday, Feb. 18 - 2nd monthly Breakfast at The Gathering, 471 Hartford Road (at Keaney Street), Manchester.