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, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment

Choosing my next Rig: What’s the best one for me?

My old (2012) Yaesu FT-950 lost output! I was getting maybe 5 watts out on any one band! What to do? These days, I am the proverbial “store-bought” ham … not even kit building! So the choices were to sell as a parts rig on eBay and put the proceeds towards a new rig so shipping the rig all the way to California for factory repair since no repair facilities are on the East Coast. Time for a lot of research!

I have always been a very analytical person. I guess that’s why I was so successful at my occupation: Air Traffic Controller and Air Traffic Manager.

Fortunately, I have been tracking new transceivers and their prices for some time.  To this end, I created an Excel spreadsheet. I got all the manufacturer transceiver brochures from HRO and, using the specs from my FT-950 as a base, listed the comparative item and assigned it points, plus or minus, as that transceiver compared to my FT-950 specs. Admittedly, this “point-value” system is subjective. Did I say, I was analytical?

The results: If I were to buy a new radio today, it would the Icom IC-7300. I am happy to share this spreadsheet with all my friends worldwide:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0upfryjKmcqYnJGUkFrczZsYTg/view

Oh, yes! In the end, I decided to repair my FT-950 at the Yaesu factory … they did a good job; quite reasonably priced … see you on the air!

Layne, AE1N

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter

Another Milestone at Our Last Club Meeting – 150 Members!

We reached another milestone as of our last club meeting – we have grown the Nashua Area Radio Club to over 150 members! This is the result of a great deal of hard work on the part of many of our club’s members. Welcome to the many new folks who have joined us!

Nashua Area Radio Club Members
Club Members at Our Meeting

We had a great turnout at our May meeting which features updates on numerous club activities including our upcoming Field Day plans, CW Classes, License Classes, our High-Altitude Balloon Project, our upcoming SOTA/POTA activation, our Club Repeater Net, our First Place Finish in the recent ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB, and more.

Burns Fisher, W2BFJ On Amateur Satellites
Burns Fisher, W2BFJ On Amateur Satellites

Club member, Burns Fisher W2BFJ, was our speaker and he provided an interesting presentation on AMSAT and Amateur Satellites. Burns wrote the software for AO-85 and his presentation sparked a great deal of interest among club members.

We are looking forward to lots of Amateur Radio fun in the coming months!

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Pack Monadnock Coming Up

On Saturday, June 10th we’ll be activating Miller State Park (POTA KFF-2662) and Mt. Pack Monadnock (SOTA W1/HA-041) in Peterborough, NH. This is also the date of the ARRL’s June VHF contest!  Miller State Park does have an auto road up Pack Monadnock and there is a $4 fee per person.  There are picnic tables at the top if you would like to pack a lunch. I am thinking we should plan on arriving at 11:00 am and hopefully set up and ready to go by 12:00 pm.

This should be a great opportunity for a wide range of our members to get out and activate portable. With three activities going on we should have something to tickle your fancy. Below is a quick description of each activity with links for more in depth information.

SOTA is an amateur radio award scheme for people who want to get out and operate portable from mountain peaks. A couple of important rules for SOTA are that you can only activate a peak once in a calendar year – so if you’re using your own call sign you won’t be able to activate Pack Monadnock again until 2018 – and you must operate separately from your car (nothing attached – antenna, battery, etc) and you cannot use fossil fuels.  You must operate battery, solar, wind, hydro powered. You may work all modes (CW, digital or voice) on all bands.

POTA (Parks on the Air) is much more lenient, as far as operating possibilities. You, or your vehicle, must be totally within the park and you can operate using fossil fuels (generator or car). Parks can be activated more than once in a calendar year and QSOs are cumulative for the park if you return. Here is a link to a quick description for getting started with POTA. You may work all modes (CW, digital or voice) on all bands.

ARRL June VHF contest begins on Saturday at 2:00 pm and runs through Sunday at 11:00 pm.  I have never participated in a VHF contest, but being on top of a mountain can only help!

In order to keep some organization to the activation, I have created a Dropbox file for members to sign up and list any equipment they would be willing to bring.

Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, etc.

73,

Jamey KC1ENX

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide