PILGRIM ARC INFORMATION PAGE

CLUB HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION

The Pilgrim Amateur Radio Club was founded in the summer of 1976 and has been an Affiliated ARRL Club since October,1976.  The club had been dedicated to the maintenance and upgrading of the Provincetown Emergency Management Office (PEMO) Communications System.  See below for more information.

PEMO page for historical information about this system.

The club meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30 PM. The meeting place is the Council on Aging (COA) building at 26 Alden St., Provincetown.  Membership is open to all licensed hams, all who are interested in becoming hams, and those interested in ham communications technologies in general. All those who wish to become members must be approved by a majority vote of the members present at a given meeting. (Gee, I don't think we've turned anybody down yet.)

At this time there are 26 names listed as members on the club roster. However an average meeting will normally be attended by 10 to 15 members. A cozy group.  This is not your average ham club.  10% of the meeting time is spent on “serious” business, 90% is spent wise cracking and telling jokes (all ham related of course).  We believe in the old adage that laughing is good for what ails you.

The current officers of the club (in the barrel as it were) are:

President: Robert Angelelli, KC2BDB

Vice President:  Ed Tesson, KA1VCQ

Secretary/Treasurer: David Rego, W1GCA

Much appreciation to Earle Chaddock for his many years of service as the Sec/Treasurer!

As of October 1, 2007 dues will be $20.00 per year, up from $15.00/yr.  Dues help fund the clubs construction and maintenance projects for the Two voice repeaters, and an Echolink arrangement. As of this date the Echolink operation is on hold until such time as the unusual noises emanating from the machine can be eliminated.

The club also hosts 2 to 4 Meet and Eat get togethers each year for members, spouses, friends and guests. All hams, and those interested in ham radio, are welcome to attend meetings and/or the Meet and Eat affairs.   For dates, times and places, check the CLUB CRIER page to see when events are scheduled.

While the Pilgrim ARC is a small club, its members are involved in a wide spectrum of amateur radio activities.  Among these are operating and maintaining the WA1YFV repeater and an Echolink system.  Soon to be added is an Amateur TV (ATV) repeater which will add video capability to the WA1YFV Communications System.  As of this date the ATV project is on hold and with some weather cooperation the antenna can be retrieved from the water tower, along with other antenna gear remaining there.

The PEMO Emergency Communications System has been shut down primarily due to difficulty gaining access to the Water Tower and compound where the equipment resided.  As the dependability of the new setup is proven then Emergency operations may resume from which ever town may wish to sponsor it.

The repeater equipment is based at KA1WSW with an antenna approximately 140 feet ASL.   In May of 2008 the repeater operation was moved to Brewster due to circumstances at the Provincetown site.  This new location was thought to be one of the better places to site the new operation due to it's height above sea level and unobstructed LOS from most lower cape areas. Exposure "up cape" remains a negative since it appears that the hills and vales of that area make getting into the repeater difficult.

There remains some equipment on the water tower which hopefully can be removed at some future date, dependant upon access to the water tower.

Anyone interested in paying dues or in finding out more about the Pilgrim Amateur Radio Club may do so by contacting Dave Rego, W1GCA email at: w1gca@arrl.net .  If you have no e-mail capability, you can write to: The Pilgrim Amateur Radio Club, 45 Howland Lane, Wellfleet, MA 02667.