Dirmid Gray, K1UFD, Silent Key

It is with deep regret that Newport County Radio Club announces that Dirmid, K1UFD, passed away on Friday January 6th.  Dirmid was an active member of the club, always offering a helping hand to setup our events.  In his radio life, he volunteered for many public service events, such as the Tour de Cure, and he participated in many on-air communication drills supporting Narragansett and South Kingstown EMAs.  His obituary has been posted below.

Dirmid I. Gray, 72, of Narragansett, passed away unexpectedly on Friday. He was the beloved husband of Janet (Murchie) Gray. Born in South Kingstown, he was a son of the late William E. “Bub” and Ethel M (Wright) Gray. He was a graduate of South Kingstown High School. He served proudly and honorably in the US Air Force during the Vietnam Era. Mr. Gray retired from Sulzer Process Pumps of Easley, SC as a System Administrator. He was a life member of the Narragansett Steam Fire Engine Company # 1 of Peace Dale and the New England States Veteran Firemen’s League, and veteran member of the former South County Ambulance & Rescue Corp, and a member of the Newport Company Radio Club-Ham Radio sign K1UFD. Mr. Gray also volunteered his time with the Narragansett Emergency Management Agency, the Portsmouth EMA Communications Team, and the Southern RI Volunteer CERT Team, and the Peer to Peer Counselor for the Union Fire District. Besides his wife he is survived by a daughter, Jody Ann Gray of Marblehead, MA; a brother, Jereld Gray and his wife Edythe of West Hartford, CT and several nieces and nephews. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday 10 am in St. Francis of Assisi Church. Burial with military honors will follow in the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Exeter. Visiting hours will be held in the Avery-Storti Funeral Home, 88 Columbia Street, Wakefield, Wednesday, 4-7 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Animal Rescue RI, PO Box 458, Wakefield, RI 02882.

Nice time at BVARC Consortium Meeting Jan 2nd

Bob, WB4SON, attended the BVARC “Consortium” meeting held last night.  A well-attended forum for new hams, last night’s meeting was on QRP.

Frank, W1EYH, describes a QRP GoKit (1.8MHz to 900MHz)

The Consortium meeting was well attended with 38 people listening to Frank’s presentation

About the Consortium:  Jim K1GND and Bob W1YRC host a monthly basic radio tutorial event that they call “The Consortium“. They meet at the Asia Grille at Lincoln Mall on Rte. 116 in Lincoln, usually on the first Monday of the month.  Meetings start at 6:30 PM, however, people start arriving after 5:00 PM for dinner before the meeting.  Guests are invited.

W1AAD DSTAR Repeater Back on the Air

Our thanks to Paul, K1YBE, and Pete, W1LAB, who ventured to the repeater site to reset the computer to restore gateway functions.

There was a bad wind-storm about two weeks ago, that took out internet services in the neighborhood where the repeater is located.  While the internet service was restored a few days later, the PC that we use did not recover from the the loss of internet connectivity.  A manual restart was required to fix things.

We are exploring ways to do this remotely in the future, as we can’t always gain access to the repeater which was in a building that was locked down during the holidays.

Happy New Year

Can’t believe it is 2017.  What an odd year it’s going to be.  Just a reminder that your officers for 2017 are as follows:

  • President Paul Fredette
  • Vice President Pete Lawson
  • Secretary Bob Beatty
  • Treasurer Ted Wrobel
  • Director Willy MacLean
  • Director John King
  • Director Jim Sammons