All posts by Anita Kemmerer

I am a DX'er and digital contesting op. I am the current membership chairperson for the Nashua Area Radio Society.

Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space

Sights from Field Day 2018

June 30, 2018 Anita Kemmerer

We had a great Field Day this year at the Hudson Memorial School! Thanks to our Field Day Chairmen, Dave Merchant, K1DLM, Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC for putting together a great Field Day for us.

Our publicity chairperson, John W1SMN went above and beyond this year as we had coverage in print, video as well as on WMUR, the local Manchester ABC station!

Here are links to our press coverage:

WMUR Sunday News: https://www.n1fd.org.
Hudson Litchfield News: http://www.areanewsgroup.com/calling-all-hams-for-a-field-day-at-hudson-memorial-school/
Hudson Community Television: http://www.hudsonctv.com/CablecastPublicSite/show/7707?channel=1

Here are a few of the sights from Field Day 2018. Join our next Meeting on Tuesday, July 3rd at 7:00 pm at the First Church Nashua for the full readout!

Thanks also to all of the committee chairpersons and all others who worked so hard to make this year’s Field Day a great experience!

Craig, N1SFT, our Transportation Chairman

Step 1 is to get all of our Field Day equipment onsite from multiple locations. Our transportation chairperson, Craig, N1SFT did a great job of planning and carrying this out.

Many members came out on Thursday evening and Friday to set up 3 towers, with Yagis, the V-Beam, the Satellite Antenna and 13 stations! Here is a shot that was taken by Desmond, WK1V from his drone.

The 40-meter V-Beam worked great and we got more QSOs on 40m SSB than any other band/mode in the event!

The Satellite antenna was impressive to watch as it rotates around to follow the Satellite passes.

4 Flex Radios were the heart of our Digital and GOTA stations. They were located near the 60-foot digital tower and accessed remotely via laptops and a Maestro in the Digital/GOTA tents. Thanks to Bill Barber, NE1B and John Keslo, W1MBG for contributing their Flex Radios to the effort. And most thanks to Dave, K1DLM for setting these up and keeping them and the network running for the duration of the event!

Adam Goldstein, a teacher from Hudson Memorial School and a sponsor of the HAB-3 effort at HMS gave us training on ARISS and how HMS was able to get a contact with the ISS, which will be this coming November.

N1FD On The Air - 10A NH — N1FD On The Air – 10A NH

Guests to Field Day were greeted by our new Banner!

Guests could sign in and learn more about Field Day and the Nashua Area Radio Society at our Public Infomation Tent. We also had an N1MM scoreboard and a weather radar display so we could be prepared for any incoming storms.

Jamey, AC1DC and Abby, AB1BY spent many hours on 20m and 40m SSB and made many QSOs!

Scott, NE1RD was one of our top operators!

Keith, KC1IMK made his first digital contacts on PSK31.

Dennis, K1LGQ and Jean K1AVM worked CW.

GOTA and 15 meter Digital Stations — GOTA and 15-meter Digital Stations

Here is Keith’s Dad, Mark, KC1IML with coach Ira, KC1EMJ making contacts on the GOTA station. Dave Merchant, K1DLM is working on the 15m Digital station. Thanks to Dave for all the work he did in setting up and keeping the network and digital stations running!

Hamilton at the 10/15/80 meter CW Station

Hamilton, K1HMS, one of our 3 Field Day Chairpersons, worked CW QSOs on our 10/15/80 meter station.

Curtis, Charlie and Trish working the Satellites — Curtis, Charlie, and Trish working the Satellites

Curtis, N1CMD, Charlie, W1CBD, and Trish had fun working QSOs with other Field Day stations through Low Earth Orbit Satellites.

We had delicious food thanks to Valerie Merchant, who provide meals and drinks during setup as well as Field Day operations.

We are still working on the final scoring and we’ll have a final readout at the July 3rd membership meeting.

Please share any pictures or video that you have from Field Day to Fred, AB1OC.

Anita, AB1QB

Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment

Hamvention 2018

May 27, 2018 Anita Kemmerer 2 Comments

On May 16th, Fred, AB1OC and I traveled to Dayton, OH for the annual Hamvention, held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH for the 2nd year.

The Hamvention opened on Friday, May 18th, but we attended Contest University, held at the Crowne-Plaza in Dayton on Thursday. We attended some great presentations there including one on VHF Contesting with JT modes – FT8 and MSK144 by W5ZN, Joel Harrison and one on Learning from your Log-Checking Report by Doug Grant, K1DG. We also got to hear Rob Sherwood, NC0B, report on transceiver performance.

NARS Member Dave Michaels, N1RF recently moved to Indianapolis, which is not far from Xenia. Fred and I met up with Dave on Friday at the Hamvention. It was great to see him again.

Since our Tech Night show and tell on portable and mountain-topping equipment, I have been interested in the KX2. Our first stop on Friday was the Elecraft booth where we purchased the KX2 “Shack in a Box” and some accessories to go with it. I am looking forward to using it during our upcoming SOTA activations to operate using FT8 and other digital modes.

We also purchased some PAR EndfedZ wire antennas from LNR Precision.

Next, we visited the AMSAT booth, where we chatted with NARS member, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ.

Left to Right, AB1QB, Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS Mentor, and AB1OC

We also met Dave Jordan, AA4KN, who is the ARISS Mentor for the upcoming ISS Crew Contact with Hudson Memorial School.

Yaesu's newly announced transceiver, the FTdx101D — Yaesu’s newly announced transceiver, the FTdx101D

We saw a few newly announced items while visiting the vendor buildings. Yaesu announced the FTdx101D.

Kenwood announced the TS-890S, which is pictured above.

SteppIR's new SDA-2000 Controller — SteppIR’s new SDA-2000 Controller

We also saw SteppIR’s new controller, the SDA-2000 OptimizIR

Flex Radio Power Genius Amplifier — FlexRadio Power Genius XL Amplifier

We also saw the FlexRadio Power Genius XL 1500 Watt Amplifier, which recently started shipping.

Rotating Mast soon to be available from Buddipole — Rotating Mast System soon to be available from Buddipole

We also visited Chris Drummond, W6HFP from Buddipole and he showed us their new MastWerks Mast/Tripod system.

Information on GOLF Series of Satellites at AMSAT Forum

We attended a few forums at the Hamvention including one from FlexRadio on SDR Technology. Especially interesting was the AMSAT forum, where we learned about upcoming Satellite launches, including the GOLF Program (to follow the FOX Program). Satellites in the GOLF program will have higher orbits resulting in larger footprints and also will incorporate new technology.

Overall, we had a great time at the Hamvention and we’re looking forward to going back in 2019!

Anita, AB1QB

Member Comments

Martin Blustine
on RF Driver Amplifier Circuit With Receive Bypass
This PCB requires a revision to add receive bypass path grounding upon transmit. The ungrounded receive bypass path during transmit...
Martin Blustine
on RF Driver Amplifier Circuit With Receive Bypass
There has been a question concerning DC bias to this circuit. One might infer from the schematic that the linear...
Martin Blustine
on Some Fun with Boolean Algebra
Here is a little video demonstration of the push-to-talk lockout feature that permits only in-band transmission. It rejects any attempts...
KU1V
on Getting Started with POTA and Portable Operation
Thanks for a great article. 73

Nashua Area Radio Society and the New England Tech Trek

Visit our tables to learn about:

We will also have 5 GOTA stations:

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide