The Nashua Area Radio Society held our first face-to-face event since the start of the pandemic when we gathered at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH for ARRL Field Day from June 25th – 27th.  Field Day 2021 was a great success!  It was great to see all of the members who attended, especially those new members who we have previously only met over Zoom.

Station Setup

For a successful Field Day operation, it is important to have a detailed plan for stations, antennas, operating schedules, transportation, and even food.  3 weeks before Field Day, we met at AB1OC‘s and AB1QB‘s QTH to setup the stations, logging computers, and the network to make sure they all worked together.  Similar sessions were held to test antennas and also train the teams on how to set up the antenna, tower, and stations and how to operate.

As chairperson of the Station Team, I created detailed documentation of all of the station equipment and connections, trained the team on how to set up stations, and assigned specific roles.  We were responsible for setting up the following:

• 4 HF Stations including coax connections to the antennas
• The Satellite Station
• The Network and all ethernet connections
• The Generators and power distribution
• Overhead lights and desktop lights and fans
• The Food and Public Information Tables

The Station Setup Team included Jon, AC1EV, Jack, WM0G, Ryan, KC1MAJ, Jeffrey, KC1LWE, and Doug, KC1OUY.  We had a great, hard-working team and got the stations set up in record time.  We appreciate everyone’s hard work with set up as well as takedown.  Special thanks go out to:

• Jeffrey , KC1LWE for setting up the Satellite station based on my documentation – few if any changes were needed for Fred to get it to work once the antennas were connected.
• Doug, KC1OUY for running all of the cables and making them neat enough so that they were not a hazard for all of the club members and visitors.
• Ryan, KC1MAJ and Jack, WM0G for setting up “NARS P&L” – the power and lighting.
• Jon, AC1EV  for donating his station and helping to set up the HF stations.

Tower and Antenna Setup

The Tower and Beam teams did an equally great job at setup and N1FD was on the air before dark!  We tested FT8 before sundown and were able to hear JA stations on 15 meters!

Mentoring and Training

Training and Mentoring are an important part of Field Day.  We have helped many new members to become licensed in the past year, but it important to help them get on the air as well.  Field Day is a great opportunity for new Hams to help out with building stations and develop operating skills.  The Nashua Area Radio Society accomplishes this through training and hands-on opportunities during Field Day.  Before the official start of Field Day Operations at 2:00 pm Local time on Saturday, we held 2 Training Sessions, one on Satellite Operation and another on Fox Hunting.

Field Day Operations

Our members enjoyed operating and kept the stations busy throughout the Field Day Operating period.

Results

Our top operators in each mode were:

SSB: Abby Finchum, AB1BY with 287 SSB QSOs

CW: Matt Strelow, KC1XX with 315 QSOs

Digital: Brian Quick, W1XMM with 55 QSOs

During Field Day we made a total of 1,895 QSOs.  Our final estimated score is 7,408.

Overall, Field Day 2021 was a great success.  Everyone attending had a great time and it was wonderful to see our members in person.