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About Us
 Welcome to the South Coastal Massachusetts Amateur Radio Group. We are an amateur radio group based in Acushnet, Massachusetts, serving the
communities of South Coastal Massachusetts. SCMARG (pronounced "smarg") aims to promote amateur radio through its sponsored 145.490 Fairhaven Repeater. We also provide support for ARES, SKYWARN and the Acushnet Emergency Management Agency (EMA). We currently exist as a support group and not a club. This means that we do not have a President, Vice-President, etc. We also do not hold monthly business meetings. Instead, there are three trustees that oversee its repeater, node, web site and administrative duties:
History
SCMARG has roots that date back to '80s. In 1985, the New Bedford FM Repeater Group (NBFRG) was created by Lawrence Lygren, W1DBX (then WB1DBX) when he placed the 145.490 repeater on the air. Likewise, the South Coastal Massachusetts Amateur Radio Group (SCMARG) was created in 1994 by Cabral and several others when they placed the 443.800 repeater on the air. The two groups were consolidated in 2006 by the current trustees, keeping the SCMARG name that was previously only associated with the UHF repeater. Currently, SCMARG supports only the 145.490 repeater due to the 2007 silencing of 443.800. Together with several other 440 MHz repeaters in Southeastern Massachusetts, it was shut down by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) due to interference to Cape Cod's PAVE PAWS radar system.
Acushnet EMA
Thanks to a joint agreement with Acushnet EMA Director Gerard A. Bergeron, W1AFD, SCMARG has a shared conference room, living room and communications room. The communications room is equipped with high-speed internet, several networked computers, HF and 2m/440 dual-band radios. This equipment is shared with the Acushnet EMA (WA1EMA). Keys are not given to SCMARG members unless they are EMA members, however they are always welcome to stop by the EMA building to use the radio equipment as long as an EMA member is present.
Membership
SCMARG membership is open to anyone, including non-hams that have an interest in our efforts. Dues are set at $20 per year. All funds go into a special account held by the trustees to be used exclusively for the up-keep of the group's repeater systems and special events. If you are interested in joining SCMARG, we are more than happy to have you as a member. Simply go to our Join SCMARG page for more information. We accept payments online or alternately by US Mail.
Contacts
If you have any further questions or comments regarding SCMARG, please visit our Contact Us page. There, you can contact the three SCMARG trustees by US mail or electronically. We are always looking to serve the community and would love to hear from you if you need operators to assist with communications at an event. Our members together with EMA members are experienced in providing emergency communications and tactical communications at such events as road races and triathlons.
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