All posts by Jamey Finchum

First licensed in October of 2015, upgraded to general in November of 2015 and finally upgraded to Extra in May of 2016 all through the NARC classes - which are fantastic classes! I don't have any background in radios or electronics, so this is all new to me and I'm learning new things every day. I've recently started using PSK with Fred's (AB1OC) help and am slowly learning CW. My station: Icom IC-7100 Vertical Dipole (20 meters) LDG AT-100ProII Autotuner DX Lab Suite on Windows 10 73, Jamey (AC1DC)
Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Kearsarge at Rollins State Park

On June 9th we will be having a club activation of Rollins State Park (POTA K-2676) and Mt. Kearsarge (SOTA W1/HA-010). An added bonus is that the ARRL VHF contest will begin at 2:00 pm on this day! The bands should be active.

This is a drive-able mountain – you are welcome to drive or hike. There are a parking lot and picnic area a short distance from the top where we will be setting up. The peak is a short hike from the parking area. This activity should appear to anyone who wants to work portable operations – you do not have to take part in SOTA/POTA/VHF contest – you can come and operate and have fun.

Portable 6m SOTA Station
Portable SOTA Station

Fred, AB1OC will be bringing the portable satellite station. I will have my mobile HF station (IC-7100), a couple of HTs with the 2m/70cm Elk Antenna and tape measure yagis, and the Elecraft KX2 as well. I can’t use them all at the same time and would be very happy to share!

Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, AC1DC, Provide a BBQ
Abby, Ab1BY, and Jamey, AC1DC, Provide a BBQ

I will also be bringing my grill if you want to bring anything to grill up during the day.

Here is a map to the parking area on Mt. Kearsarge (you can also hike to the summit from this location):

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/”/43.3787932,-71.8587101/@43.3782947,-71.8593654,219m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

If you would like a longer hike to the summit you will have to start in Winslow State Park – same place, just a different entrance:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/”/43.3898777,-71.8675513/@43.3898749,-71.8676715,86m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

You can show up at any time, but I think the most people should try to be there by 12:00 pm to be set up with plenty of time to operate.

Jamey, AC1DC

Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter

Member Spotlight – Jamey, AC1DC (Formerly KC1ENX)

I am very new to Amateur Radio and came into the hobby almost by accident. A few years ago I had been looking into better communication while out hiking after myself and Abby (AB1BY) were separated from the rest of our hiking party coming down Mount Washington.  We ended up coming down in the dark – with headlamps – and were okay, but we were frustrated that we could not let the rest of our party know we were oka but just slow.

I started searching the web trying to learn more about FRS/GMRS, CB radio and anything else that might work. During my search the Nashua Area Radio Club website came up and they had a licensing class coming up… the rest is history!

Speaking of history, let me tell you a little about myself that is non-ham related. I have worked as a tennis professional for the past 25 or so years. I am the current Director of Junior Development at the Longfellow Tennis & Health Club in Wayland, MA. We have one of the largest junior programs in the north east US and I truly love my job! I also work as a National Trainer for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and travel to other clubs around the country to help educate other pros on the teachings of junior tennis.

KC1ENX, KC1FFX, and AB1BYI have two harmonics, Connor, KC1FFX and Abby, AB1BY. Both are licensed amateur radio operators. The three of us have not yet been able to convince my XYL, Gretchen, to get licensed… but, we keep trying!

KC1ENX, KC1FFX, and AB1BY

Outside of tennis and Ham Radio, I enjoy hiking, camping, kayaking (even when not rescuing HABs), canoeing and pretty much any other outdoor activities. I also have a love for motorcycling, but can no longer ride due to an inner ear disease which affects my balance. I have ridden in a few Iron Butt (Minute Man 1000) rides – think of a big, long distance scavenger hunt! One year I rode over 1300 miles in 24 hours. I loved riding and would ride rain or shine for many years. Both kids also enjoyed many adventures on the bike!

 

As far as my interests in Amateur Radio I have many. I could be diagnosed with Ham Radio ADD. There is just too much to learn and enjoy in the hobby! I really enjoy working mobile HF on my Icom 7100 and Tar Heel II antenna. I also enjoy contesting – especially on a good station like at Fred’s AB1OC and Anita’s AB1QB QTH. My favorite activity is portable operations. I have enjoyed Summits on the Air, Parks on the Air and sometimes just getting out with the kids and throwing up an antenna and operating. I am learning new things about this hobby every day.

As a new Ham, I am always curious to learn more about this great hobby and I consider myself very lucky for having found the Nashua Area Radio Society. I’m honestly not sure I would still be on the air if it weren’t for the all of the club’s activities and enthusiastic members.

Jamey, AC1DC

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

New Hampshire QSO Party

This past weekend Fred (AB1OC) and I (KC1ENX) participated in the New Hampshire QSO Party in the multi-op high power category operating from Fred (AB1OC) and Anita’s (AB1QB) shack using the club call sign (N1FD). We had originally planned to be a mobile operation but discovered there wasn’t a category for mobile, multi-op stations so decided to see what damage we could do from Fred and Anita’s QTH.

This was my first “real” contest. At least in the sense that I would be working more than a few hours at a time over a span of two days. The QSO Party started at 12 pm on Saturday and ran until 12 am on Sunday and then resumed on Sunday at 12 pm and ran until 6 pm Sunday. I was pretty excited and didn’t know quite what to expect. I have done the ARRL’s Rookie Roundups (SSB Voice, RTTY, and CW) in the past with the club, but those are much shorter in length. I was ready to step it up a level!

KC1ENX taking a break while AB1OC operates

Fred got the ball rolling on Saturday and shortly passed the control over to me. Anyone that has worked at Fred and Anita’s QTH it doesn’t take long to create a pile-up and it sure didn’t! Fred and I worked hard all day on Saturday until things started to dry up a bit on Saturday night around 11 pm. I decided to get a good nights sleep and headed home around 11:30 pm. Driving home, I decided to check the bands to see if anyone else was working the QSO party hard. I was shocked to hear a “CQ NH QSO Party” being called on 40 meters at close to midnight! My heart skipped a beat as I was sure someone else was working until the very end of the night! I should have recognized the voice as I then heard, “N1FD“.  Fred had decided to work a few more stations – learning a lesson from the 13 Colonies Event to never give up!

As I drove back to Fred and Anita’s on Sunday I heard Fred’s booming signal coming through on 20 meters. He got started as soon as the clock struck 12 pm. He let me take over shortly after my arrival and things were pretty busy for the whole day.

We ended up making 1,464 QSOs in 18 hours for a total score of 102,410 points! We almost had a WAS missing out by three states – Alaska, Delaware, and Maine. We worked all the Canadian provinces except for two and had many DX contacts as well! Not only did we finish with a pretty impressive score, but I learned a ton!

So Close to a WAS! - New Hampshire QSO Party
So close to a WAS!

Here are just a few of the things I learned from the weekend:

QRP

I have a newfound respect for these guys. I know the saying, “Life’s too short for QRP” but some of these guys easily broke a pileup and the great thing was the excitement they had when they did make contact. One guy actually exclaimed, “yoo-hoo!” on the air when I came back to him with his signal report.

USE PHONETICS

You make thing your signal is strong and very readable, but when there is QSB and QRM all around you, it really helps to speed things up to give call signs in phonetics.

KEEP IT SHORT

Obviously, we were trying to get as many QSOs in as possible in an allotted amount of time and sometimes people wanted to give a lot of unnecessary information. Fred taught me how to politely move things along without being rude. I did give extra time to a lot of the Florida operators who were affected by the hurricane and had just got their stations back up on the air, but I tried to keep things short for other QSOs.

SUPER CHECK PARTIAL

This is part of N1MM logger and it was fantastic in keeping things moving. If you catch part of a call sign and type it in with a “?” for letters you are unsure of it will give you a list of callsigns. This saved me a lot of time on many, many QSOs.

MULTIPLIERS ARE IMPORTANT

As the QSO Party went on we could check on N1MM+ the multipliers that we had and the ones that were missing. This allowed us to listen for the call signs from the areas that we still needed. We ended up getting one of our multipliers in the last couple of hours of the contest!

A GREAT STATION REALLY HELPS!

Anyone that has operated at Fred (AB1OC) and Anita’s (AB1QB) QTH knows that they have an amazing setup. Everything there is top notch.  Besides the great transceivers, yagis, power and everything else the other thing I really liked was the receive antenna. This allowed us to quickly change our listening direction and really pick out the weak signals quickly.

I would highly recommend working a QSO Party to get your feet wet in contesting. It is definitely long hours, but you are not working a full 24 or 48 hours which gives you some time for a good nights sleep. I really enjoyed the QSO Party and would like to thank Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) for putting up with me for so many hours. It does make it a lot more fun when you have a friend to work with you and show you the ropes.  I’m already looking forward to my next contest opportunity!

Jamey, KC1ENX

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide