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].
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?
Nashua Area Radio Society is holding an in-person Field Day operation at Hudson Memorial School at the end of June. Here’s some more on our plans for Field Day 2023.
Stations and Antennas for Field Day 2023
We will be a 3A Station with the following radios available for members to use:
• 20m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
• 10m/40m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
• 15m/80m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
• 6m VHF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
Field Day 2023 Site Layout
Hudson Memorial School, Hudson, NH
FD 2023 Layout
Plans include a 40’ tower with a Triband Yagi and Wire Antennas to Cover 80m – 10m. We will also have a 6m – 5 element Yagi – antenna up around 20 feet.
6 meter yagi
There will be a training session on our Stations and other Field Day fun on Saturday, June 24th starting at 12:30 pm. Training will cover:
• Operating in any mode from out IC 7300 radios
• Using N1MM+ to log your QSOs
Field Day Operations will begin at 2 pm on Saturday, June 24th, and go for 24-hours ending at 2 pm on Sunday, June 25th. We will take down our station beginning at 2 pm on Sunday.
The spreadsheet on Google Sheets has time slots for each station and also tabs along the bottom with propagation predictions for each time window and bands that are open. You can use this feature to help you select a good time to operate and know which band will be best for that time.
Propagation tabs
Field Day Coaches
Field Day at the Nashua Area Radio Society is all about learning and trying new things. We encourage you to sign up to operate our stations and to learn about modes and bands you may not have experience with. In addition to our planned training, we will have Field Day Coaches available to help you get started and learn to use our Stations and have fun operating.
If you’d like to learn more about Amateur Radio, we’d like to invite you to visit us at Hudson Memorial School during Field Day. Noon into the evening on Saturday, June 24th, and Sunday morning, June 25th, up until 2 pm in the afternoon would be a great time to stop by. We’ll be happy to show you around our site, answer your questions, and even get you on the air a bit if you’d like. Also, if you have an HT, bring it and you can hunt our Foxes (hidden radio transmitters).
Logistics for Field Day
We will be operating on the athletic field at HMS. We have tents for shelter for our stations and gear and canopies for shelter from the sun or rain. There is ice, water, and other drinks to stay hydrated along with light snacks. A porta-potty is also available.
FD Tents
Though not required, we do encourage operators to bring their own IC-7300 compatible headsets or CW paddles with them and we can assist with setting them up.
If you have any questions about Field Day, please post them as part of this thread or email us at [email protected]. We hope that you’ll join us for Field Day!
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