All posts by Aron Insinga

DX, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter

The South African Radio League Web Site and Free Publications

The South African Radio League has an annual Diary of Events (PDF) online.  Between the month-at-a-glance pages, this calendar has information on certificates they administer such as the Worked All ZS award and Worked All Africa award.

South African hams operating outdoors
South African hams operating outdoors
(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/217437211797100)

For a bigger picture, I like their Year-at-a-Glance (PDF) calendar, for A3 paper (11.75″ x 16.5″).  (I’ve already suggested that the ARRL take a look at it and consider offering one too.)

South African hams operating outdoors
South African hams operating outdoors
(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/217437211797100)

The South African Parks on the Air program looks interesting since it includes Flora and Fauna not seen in the wild anyplace near our W1 area!

Their HF Happenings (and other DX news) newsletter is downloadable and includes African IOTA information.

South African hams operating outdoors
South African hams during a SOTA activation
Cover of September/October 2014 issue of Radio ZS
(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/217437211797100)

In response to the pandemic, they made the April 2020 issue of their magazine free to everyone.  (Apparently, some other societies have done the same, so if you find one, please post a link to it!)  This issue includes an adapter to use a Baofang radio as a ‘fox’, the design for the audio part of a direct-conversion receiver (SDR), information about an amateur radio exhibit they put up at a public exhibit of hobbies of all sorts, and other projects.

Don’t worry about being able to read the articles, everything I looked at was in English, with some columns also in Afrikaans.  I found it very interesting!

As you can tell from the pictures above, they also have a public Facebook page “for members of the SARL (South African Radio League) and amateur radio enthusiasts under the age of 25“.

Aron, W1AKI

Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter

Field Day 2020 at W1AKI

Normally for the Nashua Area Radio Society, Field Day is a large, well-organized group activity of members, and many family members, setting up (and, later, taking down — safely!) at least a half a dozen stations, temporary towers with beam antennas, some interesting wire antennas, and our own emergency power grid. It’s a chance for members to try out transceivers and antennas and bands and modes that they may not have at their home QTH. It’s also a chance for members of the public to see what ham radio is all about and get an idea of what a temporary communications center hams can create in 24 hours in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency situation. So here’s what W1AKI Field Day plans are for 2020.

Life is What Happens When You’re Making Other Plans

This year, of course, things are different. They aren’t completely unprecedented — health care professionals and scientists have learned a lot from the 1918 Pandemic and, unfortunately, numerous others. But this is a new virus and a new disease, and the world is a much more crowded and interconnected place than it was over a century ago. Fortunately, we have technology undreamed of in 1918 to help science deal with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the deadly COVID-19 disease it can cause.

So far, our modern, global communications infrastructure has held up well, and many people are very fortunate that they can continue working from home using the Internet and broadband communications channels. I’m extremely lucky that I’m one of them. And it’s not only the Internet, but technology like 3-D printing and small embedded computers have become additional tools that people have been able to make use of in this crisis.

Always Have a Backup Plan.  And a Plan C.  And Sometimes a D.  Maybe an E.

But what if that communications infrastructure does start to buckle under the load? As hams, and as members of the public, Field Day gives us a chance to think about how we would respond to that. And since we’re right in the middle of the pandemic ourselves, it forces us to look more closely at the changes we need to make to respond now. Does your “go kit” have a supply of face masks, hand sanitizer, and sterilizing wipes, not to mention soap and extra water for washing as well as drinking? Whether or not it did a year ago, I’m sure it does now!

So, this year, NARS won’t be setting up temporary towers in an idle athletic field. We won’t have a half dozen or more stations operating under the N1FD call sign with a small pool of gasoline-powered generators pushing our signals up to the ionosphere and back. We’ll be operating with our own call signs, from vehicles in isolated locations, from temporary stations set up by an individual or family member, or from our regular home stations.

Meanwhile, Back at W1AKI Field Day

I’ll be operating from home like so many others, with “100 watts and a wire” — an IC-7300 transceiver barefoot and an Alpha Delta 5 band fan dipole. (Okay, sorry, that’s more than “a” wire. And they’re mostly parallel, not in a wide fan. But it’s such a nice, traditional phrase. How can someone with a W1 call not love it? But I digress.) The 80m elements are extensions of the 40m elements with traps so that it is short enough to fit (just barely!) in my back yard.

My preparations so far have mostly included moving stuff around the shack so I can operate more comfortably, and updating the applications I use Firefox, N1MM Logger+, the DXLab suite, and DXLab’s various databases.

I won’t be using emergency power because I know that my generator works well (we have a few power outages here each year that give us a chance to test it; fortunately, power usually comes back in less than a half a day) and I’m willing to sacrifice the points to save fuel. (I’ll just have to make, what, 100 more contacts to make up for it? Oh, well, it is good practice.)

I’ve dug out some em-comm information and started refreshing my memory on message traffic procedures, that’s one thing I haven’t gotten to do before at Field Day. If I’m lucky, I’ll have time to finish tuning my antenna Saturday morning. My stretch goal is to get my son (an entomologist and microbiologist) on the air, but we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.

It’s time to go double-check what the exchange is and get some rest.  I hope to see you on the air. 73 and take care of yourselves!

Aron, W1AKI

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

July 10th NPOTA activation by N1FD

On July 10, N1FD members gathered in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL’s year-long National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) event which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.  We almost canceled it due to a prediction of thunderstorms, but the weather changed to merely intermittent showers, which we didn’t let get in our way.

NPOTA Portable Station at Saint-Gaudens NHS
NPOTA Portable Station at Saint-Gaudens NHS

While the rain was still very light, the advance crew was able to set up the canopy that was last used as the food tent during our recent Field Day operation.  It was more than adequate to keep the 100W station and a handful of club members dry throughout the day.  The site was on the edge of the meadow (a/k/a the reserve parking area) near the entrance to the Ravine Trail which was furthest from the buildings.

NPOTA 20m Inverted V Antenna
20m Inverted V Antenna

With the next carload of club members and a pneumatic launcher, we were able to put a line over the branch of a tree along the edge of the meadow and use it to hoist up a 20m dipole in an inverted “V” configuration.   It only had to be lowered and raised a couple of times to tune it, and we got it right on the mark using an antenna analyzer.

NPOTA 20m Portable Station
20m Portable Station

A small, quiet generator was also set up on the edge of the field to provide power.  This 20m antenna and generator were used on the 100W station, an IC-7300.

NPOTA Mobile HF Station on 40m
Mobile HF Station on 40m

A second station, Fred AB1OC’s 500W mobile station, was parked midway across the field towards the road and operated on 40m.  I don’t know how many NPOTA activations have had multiple stations running at once, but a number of hams worked us on both bands.

One of Many Sculptures on the Park Grounds NPOTA Site
One of Many Sculptures on the Park Grounds

Unlike our visits earlier in the year, park operations were in full swing for the season.  All of the buildings were open to visitors.  The park’s Resident Artist for this summer was working on a clay original to later be cast in bronze, and he paused to talk to us about his work.   Club members were able to explore other modern sculpture, and also the sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, that is on exhibit throughout the grounds.  A number of members walked the Ravine Trail, which descended into a deep ravine (what did you expect?) to a stream and a swimming hole used by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his family and others who worked at the studios. People were also able to enjoy a bit of the Sunday afternoon concert.

Saint-Gaudens NHS Resident
Saint-Gaudens NHS Resident

Not too far from where our 20-meter station was, Mike K1WVO spotted a tiny salamander, a Red Eft, crawling across the forest floor.  I’m not sure, but I suspect that a few Pokémon were also spotted in the park!

We also had some special visitors: a ham from California whose daughter worked at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park across the river in Vermont, and a local ham who worked us and then drove over for an eyeball QSO.

N1FD NPOTA at Saint-Galuldens NHS
N1FD On The Air at Saint-Gaudens NHS

The rain continued off and on throughout the day, but it was never heavy — certainly not heavy enough to dampen the spirits of the Nashua ARC members who were too busy making or helping to log QSOs to notice it.  The group logged a total of 528 QSOs in a little over 4 hours!  At the end of the day, the equipment was quickly broken down and packed up, just in time for the rain to completely stop and the skies to clear for a pleasant drive home.

We’re hoping that you and your family can join us for the next activation of this park on August 7!

Aron, W1AKI

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