All posts by Daniel Pooler

I became interested in HAM radio after attending Teacher Space Camp in the summer of 2017. Since that experience I have worked with the Nashua Area Radio Society to bring the HAB to my school and to get an ARISS contact in the fall of 2018. I now hold an Amatuer Extra license and look forward to getting more into the hobby.

Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space

ARRL Teachers Institute 2: A Week Devoted to Remote Sensing and Satellite Communication

September 10, 2019 Daniel Pooler 2 Comments

For the second year in a row, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the American Radio Relay League Teacher Institute in Newington, Connecticut. This summer I attended TI – 2 from July 8 – 12^th. Thanks to the generous donations of ARRL members, I was afforded the chance to further explore ways in which I can bring Amateur Radio into the classroom.

The second year of Teacher Institute helped me delve further into Remote Sensing and using radio to bring Space into the classroom. Throughout the week, seven other participants and I were offered the chance to operate W1AW, take tours of the ARRL Headquarters, and learn new ways for us to bring HAM radio alive for students.

Over the course of the week, Instructor Matt Severin brought participants through building a remote sensing buoy using an Arduino and sensors that included GPS, Pressure, Altitude, and Temperature. Participants programmed their buoy to relay information through the APRS system. Using a Yaesu FT-60R and 12-volt battery, the buoys were set outside overnight. Each participant’s buoy sent over 20 hours of data through APRS. Participants then copied the data into Excel and created several graphs that showed the change in temperature inside and outside the buoy over the course of time. We were also able to see the health of the battery and other measurements over the course of the same time. I believe one use for my new buoy will allow me to have students utilize local data while studying statistics in mathematics class.

Participants also explored how amateur radio could easily be brought into the classroom through the use of SDR radio. By connecting an SDR to a laptop in conjunction with the program HDSDR I was able to hear local radio stations, the NOAA weather updates, and packets being transmitted through the air.

The item that I found most exciting was the use of our new Arrow Antennas to make satellite contacts. During the course of the week, participants went outside of headquarters several times to attempt contacts through SO – 50, AO 91, and AO-92. Being rather new to ham radio, I found this very challenging as the airways on a good pass are very noisy. I also discovered that I am far too polite to interrupt others. To get over this, myself and another participant took our radio and Arrow antennas back to the hotel and attempted a contact in the early morning. I am pleased to report that I was able to make my first satellite contact on SO-50 at 7:10 am in the morning. Okay, I stand corrected. It was really my second satellite contact since I did get to contact the International Space Station with my students last December.

Another thing I found interesting was using my Arrow and SDR radio to collect data packets from the passing satellites. On one pass AO-91 turned on its picture transmission so that we could attempt to collect the packets. I was able to collect 6 of the packets but did not get a picture. We then looked at the telemetry that we were able to collect from the satellites.

On the last day, we once again used the APRS system. This time we used the MAREA protocol to send commands to the same Arduino robots that we built last year. With a few extra pieces we were able to send our robots’ instructions to move forward, backward, left, and right. The MAREA protocol was a great demonstration of how NASA controls rovers that have been sent to the moon and Mars.

I would like to thank all of those ARRL members whose contributions made these two years of professional development possible. I will remember this forever. It was even more special to me as the first day of this workshop landed on a day that many others dread. I turned 40 on July 8^th. While I was not with my family, I gained a whole new family of educator friends that I know will continue to support each other as we bring Amateur Radio to a whole new generation. Thank you, Ally, Kris, ARRL, and the Nashua Area Radio Club Members who continue to support me through my continued discovery of Amateur Radio.

Dan, AC1EN

Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter, Youth Activities

Meet KE1NZY, 10-Year Old Amateur Extra

December 14, 2018 Daniel Pooler 5 Comments

On Sunday, December 2, 2018, at around 4:30 pm, Mackenzie Pooler (KE1NZY), a ten-year-old from Hudson, NH, turned in her Amateur Extra Exam to be graded by the VE team at the Nashua Area Radio Society’s testing session held at the Dartmouth Hitchcock campus in Nashua, NH. Only a year and a half before, you could have asked Mackenzie about amateur radio and she wouldn’t have been able to tell you the terms “diode,” “capacitor,” or “susceptance” meant, or any rules or regulations surrounding the FCC use of the amateur airwaves. In that short amount of time, Mackenzie’s passion for amateur radio and all that it entails was ignited to a point that she became inspired to pursue the highest licensing offered to an amateur.

Mackenzie or Kenzie as most in the amateur radio world know her, became interested in Amateur Radio because of my own pursuit of learning about Ham Radio as I prepared for the Hudson Memorial School ARISS contact. I studied for and passed all three levels of licensing in a two month period of time. As she saw my interest and excitement around amateur radio grow, she too became interested in getting licensed. Throughout 2018 she tagged along as we attended Kids Day on the radio at AB1OC and AB1QB’s QTH. While Kenzie did not want to talk on the radio, she became interested in both Morse Code and Fox Hunting at the event.

The Nashua Area Radio Society came to the Hudson Memorial School STEM Night on March 14, 2018, and Kenzie joined in on the fun. She came to the night to play math games with friends and family. By the end of the night, she was playing with the Morse Code Tutor kits and watching videos on Fox Hunting. Kenzie sat at the NARS table for over half an hour. At that point, she knew she wanted to pursue a Technician level license. Her opportunity to pursue her first license came shortly after the STEM Night when HMS and NARS announced that they would be offering their first student class one week in July. Mackenzie got a copy of the Technician Level class and began reading and studying the material.

The spring came and Mackenzie became invested in her other passion, softball. Mackenzie worked hard to become her team’s number two pitcher. The team had several weekends of tournaments that did not allow Kenzie to do much with amateur radio. The Nashua Area Radio Society held their Annual Field Day at Hudson Memorial School the same weekend at the Softball State Tournament. Even though the weekend was filled with games, Kenzie made sure we had time to stop by the field to see what was going on. Kenzie looked at all the antennas and equipment in amazement. She talked with many of the operators to understand what they were doing. Even though she did not have much time to spend with amateur radio during that weekend, she continued to study for the course.

July quickly came around and twelve students and educators sat through four days of Technician class material. Kenzie sat and listened to the material while finding ways to study. She enjoyed numerous demonstrations with the GOTA remote station, Fox Hunting, Morse Code activities, Antenna building, and more. Mackenzie was fully invested in learning how to do everything that the course had to offer. She spent nights practicing for the exam on a phone app and returned each day ready to go. At the end of the course, Mackenzie took her exam and found out that she passed. At that point, she was excited but really had no intention of getting any higher level license. She could Fox Hunt and play around with Morse Code, which is really what she wanted to do. She could even get a vanity call that mimicked her name; KE1NZY could be hers. It wasn’t until months later that her interest in a higher license would be realized.

In August, Mackenzie partook in her first RTTY Rookie Roundup. Using the club call sign, she was able to operate in all areas of the bands with no restrictions. She quickly took to digital operation as she didn’t have to say anything over the air to the other operators. Being a child of the digital age, it was second nature to use the computer to make contact. She became a pro at decoding call signs and her excitement grew. After that day, Mackenzie decided that she wanted to pursue her General License. Knowing that digital areas of operation of the bands allowed complete access to people with a General Level license gave her the internal drive to study the material. From August to the first week of October, Mackenzie studied the material on an app and with me. When the licensing exam was offered at the beginning of October, Mackenzie took the test and passed.

In the midst of her studying, Mackenzie attended the Boxboro, MA Hamfest. This was a first for both of us. Mackenzie enjoyed the NARS kit build of a Morse Code tutor and helped Fred Kemmerer and I present about building youth programs. Kenzie shared with the group her love of Morse Code, Fox Hunting, and digital contesting. Considering that she really doesn’t enjoy talking in front of people she doesn’t know, it was a great experience. She also loved building the Morse Code tutor kit so much that she was able to work as a mentor at the same activity during fall NearFest.

After gaining her General license, Kenzie toward to a new goal. She wanted to get her Extra license before she turned 11 in January. She began studying for the exam using apps but didn’t put too much time into it. At the end of October, Kenzie was asked by Anita AB1QB to use her call sign in the multi-op category of the JARTS RTTY contest. After learning that the contest exchange was the call sign and the person’s age, Mackenzie got very excited. The weekend of the contest, Mackenzie, Anita, and I operated. More than once, the other operators asked us to retransmit the age, thinking that the age of 10 was a mistake. Every time this happened, Mackenzie’s pride and excitement grew because she knew she was doing something not many young girls were involved in. She also knew that she may have been the only YL telling her true age.

At the beginning of November, Kenzie returned to the testing session of NARS trying to pass her Extra. In her first attempt in October, she had scored nine correct with no studying. During this session, she tried to pass the test twice. She failed at both attempts only scoring 25 and 27 correct. Yes, Kenzie was disappointed, but after a day of being upset, she decided she really wanted her Extra license. Unlike many kids her age, she turned her failure into a learning experience and put forth more effort towards success. We purchased a subscription to Ham Test online and worked out a time to be tutored by Fred, AB1OC.

Her want for success was further stoked when she competed in CQ Worldwide. For much of the competition, she logged for other operators. Toward the end of her operating time, she was offered the chance to make an SSB contact with Ducie Island. With coaching, she went through with making the contact. The contact was a success and she was proud of herself for getting a rare DX as her first voice contact. With the newfound self-esteem due to the Ducie Island connection, Kenzie began operating in the CQ Worldwide contest as the operator. She became bummed because she could see prefixes and countries she needed for multipliers operating in an area of the band she could not access with only a General license. At the end of her operating time, she knew she had to pass Extra because she didn’t want to be limited anymore.

Sitting and waiting for her test to be scored on that day was exciting, nerve-racking, and seemed like it took forever, and that was just my thoughts. Kenzie sat rethinking all of her answers. She was nervous that she would fail once again and have to wait until February for her next chance to pass. Never once did she sit and think about the fact that she was a child attempting to pass a test in a room filled with adults. She was not worried about disappointing her mother or me because, at one point in her studying, we had already talked about her reasons for taking this test. She had come to the conclusion that she was doing this for her and no one else. She knew that we loved her and we’re proud of her for attempting to do something few ten-year-old girls had done.

When Mackenzie was told that she passed, her face brimmed ear to ear with the biggest smile. Kenzie had set a goal for herself and accomplished it. She used the assistance of all those that helped her study: the tutoring sessions, the NARS Extra Class, and all of the experiences contesting to pass the test. With passing, she became the youngest member that NARS had ever successfully assisted in gaining her Extra License. In Kenzie’s own words, now she can go on any band without worry. She also hopes that she can inspire others to become interested in and licensed as Ham radio operators.

Since getting her license, Kenzie was a part of Hudson Memorial School’s ARISS contact. She was able to ask NASA Astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor how long she had been licensed and what she used her license for besides ARISS contacts. Before her contact, she proudly stated her call sign before an audience of over 1,000 people. Since the contact, other students have come forward interested in Ham Radio because if she, the youngest student questioning the astronauts, could get a license then they knew they could do the same.

Dan, AC1EN

Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities

3….2…..1….. Successful ARISS Crew Contact

December 9, 2018 Daniel Pooler 8 Comments

A year and a half of work for only nine minutes. Not knowing the context or the situation, most would say that no matter what the nine minutes were for, it was not worth it. Others would cringe at the idea of having to work for so long to get so little. In this case, I think anyone that was part of the event would agree that the work and the time needed to achieve success was well worth it. The event that I am writing about is the Hudson Memorial School Contact with Serena Auñón-Chancellor on the International Space Station that occurred at 1:49 pm EST on Friday, December 7, 2018.

At 1:49 pm EST, when Fred Kemmerer (AB1OC) called NA1SS and the gymnasium full of students, staff, and guests heard Serena call back, the moment was exhilarating, amazing, thrilling, and more. Students and adults alike let out a roar of excitement that the contact had worked. At that moment they knew that they were about to get a rare opportunity that few schools had experienced. They were going to get to talk directly to an astronaut on the International Space Station. The loud outburst of excitement was followed by nine and a half minutes of something that does not occur in middle school very often. The students and adults in the room sat silent and on the edge of their seats as the selected student and Serena went back and forth through fourteen prepared questions. Toward the end of the time, the last student stepped to the microphone, thanked Serena and heard Serena thank the school in return for the amazing questions. Once again, the room erupted in excitement. The contact was a success.

So, what was all the work that I spoke about, one might ask. A year and a half prior to the contact, I emailed the Nashua Area Radio Society to see if there might be some interest in making such an event occur. I was greeted with the best partnership that Hudson Memorial has ever seen. Fred Kemmerer and the rest of the Nashua Area Radio Society stepped up to support this large undertaking. We worked together to complete the ARISS Proposal, which can be found at http://www.ariss.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact-in-the-us.html . The form asked about our preparedness to host the contact technically and educationally. On the school side, we shared all of the space and radio communication education opportunities that Hudson Memorial School provided our students and would provide our students, should we be granted a contact. The opportunities that we already offered to our students were an in-depth space science curriculum in sixth grade, education about how waves work in both 6^th and 8^th grade, a 7^th grade science fiction unit that had students talking to NASA scientists via Skype, Astronomy Nights, STEM nights, use of NASA statistics in the mathematics classroom, and a new Project Lead the Way Pre-Engineering program that asked students to find solutions to those that might be found on the ISS. The items that we proposed to add to enhance the radio and space curriculums at Hudson Memorial School included having students participate in a High Altitude Balloon curriculum, Radio Licensing classes, and adding activities where students could try out amateur radio opportunities. All of which, we were able to provide for students in the past school year.

In January, we learned that we were selected to host a contact. Excitement levels were raised for teachers at the school and members of the club alike. Everyone stepped up and began preparations, but there was a whole lot of waiting to find out when the actual date would occur. In the meantime, there were several important steps that needed to be received from the school. In October, the school began working on student questions and their story. The story basically gave ARISS information about Hudson Memorial School that would be used in their official press release once the contact was secured. The story explained the population make-up of the school and its goals for educating the students. The school also worked on the official press release to be sent to media outlets when the contact time was finalized. Students in grades 5-8 were offered the opportunity to submit questions through various classes. By the due date, there were over 600 questions submitted by students for the contact. Those questions were combed through by a group of HMS teachers to find the twenty-two questions that would be submitted to ARISS for the contact.

In addition to all of the work required by ARISS, I was able to arrange for an International Space Station Contact celebration week for the students at HMS. Since this was such a huge event, it was important to make it stretch for more than just one day. The week included themes for each of the 5 days in the week of December 3 – 7. Monday was ISS Crew Contact Launch Day. Students were asked to wear any items that connected to the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” so we could start our celebration off with a bang. It also was exciting that it happened to be the day that three additional astronauts launched to go to the ISS. Tuesday was Space Science Fiction Day. Students and staff wore items with Star Wars, Star Trek or other science fiction shows and movies. Wednesday was Out of This World Hair Day. Students came up with some interesting hair for the day. Thursday was Space and NASA clothing item day. Students showed off items of clothing with NASA logos. The week was wrapped up with a school color day. Kids wore red, white, and black to show their school pride. The theme days were just a part of the excitement. Each morning during the announcement the students learned facts about the ISS. Staff also played different music with space themes in the middle of the day. The songs included David Bowie’s “A Space Oddity,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown.”

Throughout the week, the Nashua Area Radio Society began setting up and testing the equipment. On Monday of the contact week, the antennas and radio equipment were installed on the field and on the stage. Students and staff passing through the gymnasium were able to watch as the club meticulously made sure everything was working properly. Tuesday, members of the club came back to test the equipment by making contacts on various amateur satellites. On Wednesday, Fred Kemmerer, Dave Merchant, and I came back to Hudson Memorial School at 8 pm at night to equalize the gymnasium for sound quality. Throughout the week, I became accustomed to properly rolling and unrolling coax and hardline cables numerous times. I learned about various radio settings and the fading that might occur during the contact. The week of set-up was both tiring and educational for a new ham like myself. This week alone showed the devotion and dedication that the members of the Nashua Area Radio Society has for educating youngsters in hopes of inspiring students to pursue STEM education opportunities.

All of these items and more occurred over the course of a year and a half to ensure that the nine and a half minutes of contact we were granted by ARISS with the International Space Station would go off flawlessly. All of the countless hours of late night conference calls, practice at area Ham Festivals with the satellite stations, the work on space and radio curriculum for students, and sleepless nights became worth it when Serena’s voice could be heard by the over 800 students and 200 guests that were sitting in the HMS auditorium and over 600 students watching the Nashua Area Radio Society live stream. The fatigue and struggles to get to this point no longer mattered because all of us involved in this process knew that what we had done would most likely be a moment that everyone in the room would remember and talk about for the rest of their lives. We hoped that at that moment, our hard work would inspire some student watching the contact to pursue a STEM career that would change the world. It was at that moment that we knew no amount of work would have stopped us from getting to this nine and a half minutes because we gained as much, if not more, from this experience as the students.

For this nine and a half minutes, we went on a year and a half long journey that would not have been possible without the teachers of Hudson Memorial School; HMS Team three teachers Adam Goldstein, Rachel Scanzani, and Kathleen LeLievre; HMS Principal Keith Bowen; and the members of the Nashua Area Radio Society. A deep heartfelt thank you to Fred and Anita Kemmerer, Burns Fisher, Dave Merchant and all of the members who donated their time to successful set-up, operation, and breakdown of all the equipment required to make this contact a success.

Dan, AC1EN

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide