Our Summer Family Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 27th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. This will be a potluck lunch and members are encouraged to bring a dish. I have created a sign-up sheet. You can view it here.
Please edit this sheet to indicate whether you will attend, how many family members including yourself will attend, and what you will bring.
We will start to gather around 10:00 am and lunch will be served at noon. Directions can be found on the club event calendar.
The rain date will be Sunday, August 28. If there is inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday, stay tuned to our Forums for updates.
A Big Thanks To Our Morse Code Instructor Team – Layne, AE1N, Mike, K1WVO, Dennis, K1LGQ and Wayne, KB1HYL.
The Nashua Area Radio Club has begun teaching a Morse Code training class on Saturday, July 16th 2016. The class was created in response to interest in learning Morse Code, expressed by several club members who are drawn to this unique mode of communication. While this unique skill-set is no longer a licensing requirement it continues to be a long standing practice enjoyed by may radio amateurs worldwide. Numerous groups and organizations exit to encourage and promote the practice of communications using Morse code such as FISTS; North American QRP CW club (NAQCC); CW Operators Club (CWops); and the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC). Also, you can learn more about Morse Code and CW operation on our website here.
Dennis K1LGQ: “didit dah dah didit”
The use of Morse Code is one of the simplest ways of modulating a Continuous Wave (CW) RF carrier by generating characters composed of a series of “dits and dahs” to create a message. Most QRP (low power) operators favor CW operation because of its low circuit complexity, lightweight (for portable operation) and extreme efficiency. A limited number of amateur radio operators find great satisfaction in operating using Morse Code aka CW as their only mode.
Mike K1WVO ‘Practice Practice Practice …’
The Nashua Area Radio Club Code course employs the Chuck Adams – K7QO, training CD. Chuck’s course is available for download free of charge and is well-organized with over 500 audio MP3 files to help learn and improve your skill levels. Our class encourages following K7QO’s guidelines and instructions to develop good CW habits that avoid the later roadblocks to greater speed and proficiency. Our class has introduced a few variations to Chuck K7QO’s training plan with a couple of special CW practice quizzes that help keep the classroom fun and more interesting. The G4FON software trainer utility has added to the fun with background noise, QRM and QSB listening challenges, which adds a taste of real CW operation. Learning and gaining proficiency with Morse Code requires practice, practice, practice. The K7QO training MP3 files can be listened to with a PC, MP3 player or in many of the newer car CD players.
From the $2 Paperclip to a $440 Bengali Key
Our training class has provided an opportunity for many of the students to observe several different Morse Code keys. A couple of students have also brought in some innovative code practice keys that were constructed from some unique household items. Other students are building a small microcontroller based keyer that can be used with a straight key or a single or dual paddle key for training or use with a transmitter. The class will continue for a few more weeks and then many of the students will be ready to try their first on the air CW QSO. Each on the air QSO will help grow their CW skills and is ultimately the best form of practice, practice, practice.
The Nashua Area Radio Club has a dedicated team of Ham Radio license class instructors and we offer Technician, General, and Amateur Extra classes twice a year. We have a great track record using the Gordon West class materials and have 68 graduates who got their initial license or upgrade.
Our classes are held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua, 2300 Southwood Drive in Nashua.
We setup a live VHF and HF station in the classroom, which allows us to provide live demonstrations of the class material. This helps students to better understand the material and also give them an idea of what they can do with their license once they have it.
Class Radio Station
This season, two new instructors have joined our team, Greg Fuller, W1TEN and Brian Smiglieski, AB1ZO, who are both graduates of our May 2016 Extra Class. They join our existing instructors Dave, N1RF, Skip K1NKR, Wayne AG1A, Aron W1AKI, Anthony, KC1DXL, Wayne, KB1HYL, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB.
We will hold a License Exam Session at the end of each class, starting a 4:00 pm on Sunday.
We have scheduled 3 classes for this fall:
Date
Class
Class Fee (due in advance)
Book
September 24-25
Technician
$30
Gordon West Technician Class Manual 2014 - 2018
October 22-23
General
$30
Gordon West General Class Manual 2015 - 2019
December 2-4
Amateur Extra
$40
Gordon West Extra Class Manual 2016 - 2020
More information can be found in the flyers below. Please pass this information along to anyone you know who is interested in a Ham Radio License or an upgrade. Contact Anita, AB1QB at [email protected] to sign up.
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