Get On The Air Program

Mark Wagner, N1ZYZ

GOTAP Coordinator
The end of May and beginning of June was a very busy and exciting time here in the Wagner household. We have moved within Merrimack and have experienced the accompanying stress, confusion and joy.

Due to the move, I was off the air for over a week on HF. I hope that this did not cause a hardship to anyone hoping to join in the code practice sessions. The move also created an interruption in my GOTAP work. If I have dropped the ball on something, please let me know.

I have re-strung my dipole and am now back on the air, although the dipole has lost about 20 feet of elevation. Guess that is time for a tower. Matthew (N1ZYY) has generated a picture of what it will look like. He’s also made sure that we filed our 610 paperwork.

Oh well, back to business. Several people have recently made additional equipment available to loan to those who are struggling to get on the air. Many thanks to those of you who have made donations.

If you know of anyone who is in need of GOTAP assistance please have them contact me or pass their names along and I will contact them.

Monthly Spiels

GOTAP is a program that the ARRL has put together in order to help new and existing hams get on the air and stay in the hobby. If you are finding it difficult to get on the air please contact me and I’ll do my best to have the NARC help you get up an running.

I have been trying to run “code practice” every night at 20:30 (local time) by listening and calling CQ on 28.360 MHz. I have had many enjoyable QSOs with a wide variety of local hams. I would encourage anyone trying to build CW confidence or just working on code speed to definitely join in. I have found that both my CW speed and proficiency have improved dramatically since I started. Also, since this is a “practice”, feel free to announce yourself and join in the fun.

New Hams

I have yet to receive an update from the ARRL this month so I don’t have a formal list of newbies to welcome into the hobby. I am checking into it.

I encourage everyone to attend the pizza nights and/or breakfasts, it’s a great way to get to know folks and it is a lot of fun. If you have any areas you’d like to see covered in this column please tell me.

Contact Information

If you are a new ham, or if you are having problems getting on the air, or if you just want to say hi, please contact me. You can reach me on the Nashua repeater (147.045+/224.28-), by phone at 603-424- 1516 or email: markwagner@geocities.com.

73 de Mark, N1ZYZ

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