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
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
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.
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 Bootcampis 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, N1KRB as he makes an HF Contact
Our spring Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, May 14thfrom 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 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
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.
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.
Doug, KC1OUY, Jon, AC1EV, Jim, K1BRM and Fred, AB1OC test out the Field Day Stations
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 Team
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!
HF Tower with 10m-15m-20m Yagi and 40m and 80m Inverted-V Dipole Antennas
Mentoring and Training
Abby, AB1BY Provides Training on Fox Hunting
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.
Satellite Station Training
Field Day Operations
Our members enjoyed operating and kept the stations busy throughout the Field Day Operating period.
Jack, WM0G Operating at Field DayThe Trost Family -Thomas, KT0MAS, Ted, W1TED, Tory, K1VATAbby, AB1BY and Dave, KM3TJohn (W1MBG) and Joyce (KC1JMK) KesloJamey, AC1EV – Better known as “Abby’s Dad” Competes with her for the Top SSB Operator
