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.
Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing

Project Night – An N1FD Tradition

Our next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, January 3rd will be project night.  Project night has been a Nashua Area Radio Society (and Club) tradition, held every January as far back as I can remember.

Charlie, AB1ZN Showing A Vintage Rig - Project Night Tradition
Charlie, AB1ZN Showing A Vintage Rig

Project night gives each of our members a chance to share a project they are working on with the rest of our members.   These are short presentations – we’d like to have 5-6 presentations for our next project night on January 3rd.

Dave K1DHP - VLF Detector - Project Night Tradition
Dave K1DHP – VLF Detector

This gives members a chance to show off their projects and others a chance to learn from the members presenting.

DX Alarm 1 - Project Night Tradition

You don’t need to be a long time amateur to present.   If you are a new ham, you can talk about how you set up your first station, your first home-brew project, etc.   I have found that teaching or presenting is the best way to learn.  You may even get some suggestions from the group.  Members and Internet Subscribers are encouraged to present.

Here are some articles and videos about previous project nights:

The tradition continues – we hope to see you on Tuesday on Zoom for Project Night!  Please drop me an email at [email protected] to let me know what project you would like to present.

Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities

BIG E Space Chat is a Go!

The BIG E Space Chat is a go!  The pre-contact program for our upcoming ISS contact at the BIG E will begin at 1:20 pm ET on Tuesday, September 27. Our astronaut will be Bob Hines, KI5RQT. Our ground station for this contact will be ON4ISS in Belgium.Parking and the walk to The BIG E arena will take some time so be sure to get there early. Remember to bring a printed official copy of your Amateur Radio license and you and up to 3 family and friends will get free admission to The BIG E on contact day.

BIG E Map
BIG E Map

The arena will hold well over 1,000 people. The BIG E is helping us to publicize the event and arrange for TV coverage for the program and the contact. We would appreciate everyone’s help in getting the word out!

Stage at the BIG E Arena
Stage at the BIG E Arena

Our pre-contact program will begin with a series of videos about space, NASA, ARISS, going to Mars, and more. Our pre-contact program speakers will include:

We hope to see you and many folks across the New England and Hudson Divisions at the BIG E Space Chat next Tuesday!

If you cannot make it to The BIG E to see our contact in person, you can watch it via a live stream on YouTube. Our contact program will begin at 1:20 pm and is available on YouTube via this link.

Anita, AB1QB

Activities, Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, On The Air, Station Equipment

Register Now for Ham Bootcamp!

Are you a newly licensed Technician, or a General or Extra and have never been on the air or built a station?  Are you a prospective ham but would like to learn more about Amateur Radio activities?  Ham Bootcamp is the program for you.  We will be holding another online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday, May 14th, 2022.

Registration is open for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Spring Ham Bootcamp.  Ham Bootcamp will be held online using Zoom web conferencing.   This will also let us reach out to new Hams across the country.

Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, KC1KSY as he makes an HF Contact
Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, N1KRB  as he makes an HF Contact

Our spring Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, May 14th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time.  The morning session will focus on Technician level activities and the afternoon session will focus on HF activities for General and above licensees.   New this year will be a breakout session where attendees will have a choice between 3 different sessions.

Here is the agenda:

Abby on Fox Hunting
Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp

Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities

  • Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or  Mobile Radio and an Antenna
  • Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net
  • Radio Programming Tutorial
  • Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites
  • Getting started with Fox Hunting
Jamey Explains HF Station Building
Jamey Explains HF Station Building

HF Session Activities

  • Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital
  • Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedlines, and Grounds
  • Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice
  • Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital

Breakout Session

The final session of the day will be a breakout session where attendees will choose to attend one of the following 3 sessions:

  • Learning CW
  • Finding DX, Logging Contacts, and QSL’ing – Getting them logged/confirmed
  • Portable Operating

Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp will be Online on May 14th

Registration is now open for the May 14th session.  You can get more information about Ham Bootcamp at https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/.

Each attendee should register separately using this link.   After registering, you will receive a link that will allow you to register for the Zoom meeting.  Following the Zoom meeting registration, you will receive a personal Zoom link via email.

Any questions about Bootcamp?  Contact me at [email protected]

 

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide