Hudson Valley Net History

By HVN Net Manager Ed N2JBA

The Hudson Valley Net is a local net of the ARRL National Traffic System which was originally established to provide a means by which messages could be sent from point to point by amateur radio in a reliable and expeditious manner.  

The Hudson Valley Net serves the Mid-Hudson valley of New York and handles formally written traffic messages, whether they be routine, priority, welfare or emergency in nature, into and out of the local area to anywhere in the US or the world, provided that there is a third-party agreement between the US and that country.

HVN is a public service and training net which renders a free service to the ham radio community as well as the general public. The Net trains duly licensed amateur radio operators in the art of composing, processing and sending traffic messages in a formal manner and under the supervision of a net control station, who is assigned by the net manager. 

The Hudson Valley made its debut in 1979 and was founded and organized by Don Kalinowski, WB2QOH, (now NJ2E). The net was held only 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, but in March 1981, it became a daily operation. The Net was located on the Mount Beacon Amateur Radio Club repeater, 146.970 from Monday to Friday, and on the repeater of the Putnam Emergency and Amateur Radio League, (PEARL), 145.130, on Saturday and Sunday.

Joe McGowen, N2BDW, was the net manager from June 1980 until May 1984; Joe was generous enough to furnish me with this historical background of the net. During Joe's tenure, traffic training sessions were held weekly and ran for about 30 minutes. The net in those days averaged about 4 pieces of traffic and had an average of 15 check-ins. The net liaised with many other nets, ie. ARES/RACES of various counties, MARS, Southern District Net, Big Apple Net, Capital District Net, New York Phone Net, New York State CW Nets, New York Public Operations Net and some independent nets like the New York State, Phone, Traffic and Emergency Net and Clearing House Net.

For a number of years, the net was conducted on the PEARL repeater, and in 1998, the net moved to the Mt Beacon ARC repeater, where it is found today.

Former net managers include Joe McGowen N2BDW, Andrew Schmidt N2FTR, Michael Steup KA2MSL, Mark Rappaport WB2EAG (now W2EAG), Tom Cody WE2G and Ben Fleck K2LYE. Ben was my predecessor and mentor and managed the net with pride and precision. 

The Hudson Valley Net is involved with NTS net certificates, for those stations who meet certain criteria. Other NTS certificates are awarded by the section traffic manager and the section manager, Those certificates include Official Relay Station (ORS), Official Bulletin Station (OBS), Public Service Honor Roll (PSHR) and Brass Pounder's League (BPL), the ultimate award. Finally, the Net plays an active role in the yearly Simulated Emergency Test (SET), which is sponsored by the ARRL and which tests the strengths and weaknesses of amateur radio operators in their ability to provide formal and expeditious communications during emergency situations.

Updated 11/27/2005