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, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

2016 Summer Activities!

July 19, 2016 Anita Kemmerer

The Nashua Area Radio Club has a lot going on this summer!

Examples of CW Keys at Our First CW Training Class

First, our CW Training Classes have begun. We held our first class last Saturday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Nashua, NH.

These classes are being held on Saturday mornings and are open to all Club Members and it’s not too late to join. You can find more about the classes in our CW and QRP Forum and on our calendar here on our website.

We also completed the first of our planned NPOTA activations at Saint-Gaudens NHS recently. We had a lot of fun and made a bunch of contacts. You can read all about our activation here. We are planning a second activation at Saint-Gaudens NHS on August 7th. You can find more about it in Aron’s article on our Blog and on our Calendar.

2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Information

Don’t forget the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY which is coming up on August 21st. Fred, AB1OC and I will again be hosting a multi-op entry in this contest. It’s open to all of our members who have earned their first Amateur Radio License in the last three years. We will be scheduling a training and practice session before the contest. We will announce the details in the Member’s Forum here on our website. You can read about our ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB entry here on our blog.

Finally, don’t forget our upcoming club picnic on Saturday, August 27th (the rain date is Sunday, August 28). This will a potluck picnic and social gathering for our club. Bring your whole family and meet the families and friends of our club members. Our picnic will be held at Greeley Park in Nashua, NH. You find directions and information about the park on our club calendar.

Please contact me at [email protected] for more information on any of our summer activities. We hope to see you at these events throughout the summer!

73,

Anita, AB1QB

Featured, General, Newsletter

Dayton Hamvention 2016

May 28, 2016 Anita Kemmerer

Fred, AB1OC and I just returned from the 2016 Hamvention in Dayton, OH.

Our first day in Dayton was spent at Contest University – this was our 5^th year in attendance but each year we learn more from the contesting experts. This year, we attended two presentations from Frank Donovan, W3LPL on operating techniques for the declining solar cycle and on 80m and 160m antennas. We also heard a talk from Val NV9L from Ham Nation on Log Analysis tools and another session on SO2R (Single Operator 2 Radio) Operating.

Slide from W3LPL Contest University Presentation

Friday was the first day of the Hamvention and we spent most of the day visiting all the vendor exhibits. We visited the Icom booth, where we looked at the new Icom 7851. It has an incredible display as well as one of the best receivers on the market.

We also saw the new KX2 Transceiver at the Elecraft booth. It is even smaller than the KX3 and is perfect for SOTA and other portable operations. I would expect to hear some NPOTA activations using this radio.

Friday evening was the Top Band dinner where we learned all about “Top Band Disease” from Larry “Tree” Tyree N6TR. Hams with this disease are nocturnal, love the bottom of the sunspot cycle. They are constantly improving their 160m antennas – when you upgrade your receive antenna, then there are people who can’t hear you, so then you need to improve your transmit antenna – and the cycle continues… The DX Alarm Clock is perfect for those with Top Band Disease!

After the dinner, we were treated to a concert from the Spurious Emissions Band (N0AX, KX9X, K4RO, W4PA), with hits like “On The Cover of the NCJ” and “Sittin on the Edge of the Band”. They were so funny! You can watch their performances on YouTube http://bit.ly/DaytonSpurs2016.

On Saturday, Fred, AB1OC and I presented our Station Building talk to around 250 people as part of the Dayton Contest Forum. It was a great honor to be selected to speak there by Doug Grant K1DG, who has organized the Contest Forum for many years.

Fred, AB1OC, Speaks at the Dayton Contest Forum

We also continued to tour the vendor booths, visiting Club Member Bill Barber, NE1B, at the DMR-MARC booth.

After that, we stopped by Gordon West’s Ham Instructor booth where we spoke to him about the success of the Club’s License classes. Here is a picture of Gordon, WB6NOA, and Fred sharing the secrets of how the Hilbert Transform and the Flux Capacitor make Single Sideband and Time Travel Possible.

We also visited the AMSAT booth, where we met Burns Fisher, W2BFJ, who now lives in Brookline, NH and is moving to Hollis. They had a cube sat on display – you can see how small it is below. It’s amazing that AMSAT builds and arranges to launch them into orbit so that we can make QSOs through them!

Fred could not resist a visit to Begali Keys where we purchased a neat travel key. It should be great for operating mobile and for Field Day.

On Sunday, we headed back to New Hampshire, sad that the weekend had come to an end but full of great memories from the trip.

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide