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)
DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

CQ WW WPX Contest

This past weekend Abby, AB1BY and I participated in the CQ WPX contest working mobile!  My mobile set up consists of the Icom IC-7100 and various hamsticks We took part only to have fun and to increase our totals towards our DXCC and we did both! We totaled right around 50 contacts for the weekend which we thought was really good seeing that we only worked when we had to go somewhere in the car and I was at work all day on Sunday.

This was a great contest for us as many of the big stations were out and not only do they put out a great signal, for the most part, they hear very good as well! We were actually able to work 20 meters the whole time and we were on late on Friday night and still making good contacts. I would encourage anyone that is new or has a young ham that is showing some interest in the hobby to get involved in one of these contests as a leisurely participant. It’s fairly easy to make contacts and it’s great for DX.

Some of the places we worked:

Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, Cape Verde, Manitoba, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Netherlands, Venezuela, Spain, Slovak Republic, Russia, Aruba, California and Pepperell, Massachusetts!

Jamey, KC1ENX

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities

ARRL Kids Day on the Air

On Saturday, January 7th the Nashua Area Radio Club participated in the ARRL’s Kids Day on the Air.  Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) opened up their station for any youth that wanted to come and participate!  We also had snap circuits available with help from Greg (W1TEN) and CW paddles for those who wanted to practice up on their Morse code.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us as it was a snowy day with slippery road conditions.  We had a couple of youth not able to make the event due to the weather, but we still had a few show and they were very enthusiastic!

Connor (KC1GGX) operating on 20 meters during Kids DayConnor (KC1GGX) started the event off by operating on 20 meters and made several contacts.  Despite having a little “mic fright” he warmed up nicely and didn’t want to share the mic when it was someone else’s turn!

 

Abby (AB1BY) stopped by and had two frienAbby (AB1BY) operating on Kids Day with her two friendsds – Samay and Jaegen – from her Destination Imagination team with her.  Abby got the ball rolling for her friends and  showed them how to create a pile up – just have a young YL voice and the calls start coming!  She then turned the mic over to Samay and Jaegen and helped them work through their first QSOs.  They soon were comfortable with the phonetic alphabet and they had fun spelling their names during their QSOs.

Despite the weatherEveryone had a great time during Kids Day, the kids had a great time and it was a lot of fun to see the youth in our club improve their operating skills and watch the new kids make their first contacts!

 

Kids Day FunMark you calendars for Sunday, June 18th when the next ARRL’s Kids Day on the Air takes place.  I feel pretty comfortable saying there won’t be any snow… but, this is New England.

 

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

Summits on the Air (SOTA)

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On Saturday, June 18th as I was heading home from a workshop I presented in Portland, ME I heard a CQ from KB1RJD on the VHF National Calling Frequency (146.520) for Summits on the Air from Mount Washington in New Hampshire – over 100 miles away. I answered their call but they could not get the last letter of my call sign, so I could not log the QSO. After getting home I looked up more information on Summits on the Air.  Abby and I both love to hike and be outdoors and of course combining that with ham radio sounded like a lot of fun and didn’t seem to take any more equipment than what I already have – plus I had just purchased a new VHF/UHF 5 element, Elk Yagi.

Making SOTA contacts on Pack Monadnock on 2M with an Elk 5 element yagi!

Sunday morning, Abby (KC1FFX) and I headed up to Pack Monadnock (W1/HA-041). It wasn’t too far away and we thought it would be a great first try for an activation. If nothing else we would enjoy some beautiful weather on Father’s Day together! We jumped in the car with the ELK Yagi and a 5 watt HT on battery power. We also brought my IC-7100 and a buddipole. Let me tell you, we had a blast! We had so much fun on 2 meters with the handheld that we never got to setting up the buddipole.

Abby Pack Monadnock SOTA
The antenna got heavy trying to hand hold it so we found a stick that fit it almost perfectly!

It was a gorgeous weather and we made 12 contacts as far away as Plymouth, MA and Madison, NH! We really enjoyed the directional antenna and trying to “home” in on signals – we seemed to get better as the day went on.

We’re already looking forward to our next SOTA activation. When we got home we started looking at all the other mountains and hills in the area. There is a list of summits here.

Jamey Pack Monadnock SOTA
A gorgeous day and a lot of fun!

We would love to hear from others that have tried SOTA before or if anyone would like to team up and activate a summit!

73,

Jamey KC1ENX
Abby KC1FFX

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide