Category Archives: Activities

Nashua Area Radio Society activities. Included is Field Day, our Annual Picnic, Tech Nights, On The Air Activations and much more.

Activities, Featured, General

August POTA/SOTA Activation Pack Monadnock August 19th

Before I start going on about Pack Monadnock I’d like to tell you a little about Mount Agamenticus in Maine which several of us activated on August 5th.

Mount Agamenticus is a beautiful little monadnock  or an isolated hill of  bedrock that rises conspicuously  above the surrounding terrain. Much like Mount Monadnock  does in new Hampshire. It’s just a short drive into Maine (just down the road from the outlets in Kittery if you want to kill two birds with one stone)  and despite the annoying  parking app you must download I feel it’s worth your time to check out. Activating the mountain was a breeze. Jack WM0G , John N1PTX and I all set up in a shady area a short walk in the park. Unfortunately my phone died on me the previous day and I didn’t think to ask my companions  so I didn’t  get any pictures for you.  We had beautiful if somewhat  over warm weather. I didn’t have any luck on that day but Jack and John were both making contacts.  After struggling on 6 meters for a time I broke out my lunch and considered a short nap (it was that kind of a day) . I also had several interesting conversations with several people passing by wondering what we were up to.

Our next SOTA/POTA will be this Saturday August 19th . Pack Monadnock is another destination  that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up via the auto road. Pack also gives really good views of the surrounding countryside which definitely  increases the appeal of this mountain.

I’m planning on being on the summit at 11:00 am but I plan on being their most of the afternoon so don’t worry if you can’t make it till later . There is a scattering of picnic tables so don’t forget to pack a lunch.  The mountains are getting very popular so I advise getting a parking permit ahead of time . Here is a link to get a permit.   

 

Jamey making POTA contacts
Jamey AC1DC making some POTA contacts

If you’ve never been to Pack Monadnock travel west on 101 towards Peterborough. Miller State Park is on the right-hand side of the road across the street from the old Temple Mountain  Ski area.

Please leave a comment on the story so I have an idea of how many people are planning on attending.

Hope to see you on Pack Monadnock

73′

Jim K1BRM

Activities, Featured, General, On The Air

Next POTA Activation Mount Agamenticus Maine August 5th

Hi all our next SOTA/ POTA activation will be Mount Agamenticus in York Maine. A club member recommended this one to me. They have recently redone the parking areas at the base and up at the end of the auto road so i’m eager to check it out. here’s a link for directions to Mount Aggy.  on the right-hand column of that page, you will find a link to a map of Mount Aggy as well.

Parking is a bit different in Maine. They may have a way of paying cash but the way they talk about it on the website is via an app on your phone called Pango. I’ll try to get more info before the membership meeting on this.

My plan is to meet at 11:00 at the parking area at the summit. I used street view and couldn’t find picnic tables. But there was a lot of open space, So to have a comfortable spot to operate I would recommend bringing a folding chair and table to operate from. below is a pic i took of my operating position on Mount Kearsarge in June with my tripod for my antenna just in the corner of the pic.

I will likely bring the same radio I used on Mount  Kearsarge a qrp 6-meter rig. It was rough starting out but picked up later in the day.

I will put a reminder in the forums once this story hits the website, Any cancellations resulting from dangerous weather conditions (which we have had a lot of lately) will be in the forums. It is the quickest way to disseminate information besides email which you can certainly send me and I will email you the latest information at [email protected].

Hope to see you on Mount Agamenticus!

73′

Jim K1BRM

Activities, Featured, General

Junes POTA/SOTA Saturday June 10th and May’s POTA learnings

2 Comments

Hi I before I talk about June’s SOTA/POTA I want to say a few things about May’s. IT was buggy in every sense of the word. I met Matt WE1H  at Mount Kearsarge last month for the club’s first SOTA. POTA activation of the year. My battery was giving me issues, and Matt’s radio was giving him issues. Matt let me borrow an extra battery and resolved his radio issue. So we are good to go, right? Wrong a throng of hungry black flies descended on us. We made the call pretty quickly that we couldn’t deal with them as neither of us remembered bug spray.

So while we both were bummed out about driving all the way over there for nothing we did learn a few important lessons. First, if you haven’t fired up that portable rig in a while. Give it a test and work out the bugs

Jamey AC1DC’s operating position on Mt. Kearsarge.

before heading out to operate portable. Iron out any battery or radio issues at home before you set up an antenna in the wild. This is a good time to check and make sure you have all the crazy RF adapters you might need for that portable rig too! And let’s not forget bug spray, head net, and a hat to keep the bugs off you.

Ok, with that out of the way for June’s activation, we will be back at Kearsarge. It’s really a great place to activate.

The plan for  Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the picnic grounds at the end of the auto road Saturday at 11:00. I should be there till at least 4 so don’t worry if you can’t make it for 11:00 The physical address for Rollins State Park  (the location of the auto road) is 1066 Kearsarge Mountain rd. in Warner.  I just went to their website here and they recommend a reservation so plan on visiting the link for a pass.

Anyone that wants to hike up from the other side and meet us here is the physical address of Winslow State Park 475 Kearsarge Mountain Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287. Check The nhstateparks.org website you may need a parking reservation on this side of the mountain as well.

We will most likely be operating from the picnic area at the end of the auto road. If anyone wants to operate from the actual summit it is only .5 miles away. I’m not sure how long a hike it is from Winslow State Park. In addition to SOTA/POTA, the ARRL June VHF Contest starts at 2:00 local so there should be plenty of opportunities to make QSO’s.

As far as radios an HT with an upgraded rubber duck can get you surprising performance from even a modest rise in altitude, so if that’s all you have, bring it and try it out.  I’ll have my  6-meter QRP rig and a new homebrew Moxon antenna.

Hope to see you on Mount Kearsarge on Sunday!

PS Don’t forget to go to the state park website for a parking pass! It’s early in the season so you shouldn’t have a problem with them letting you up, but do you really wanna take the chance?

73′

Jim K1BRM

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide