Category Archives: Featured

This category is for featured articles that we want to include in the sidebars and other areas on our website.

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities

NARS Youth Expo at Boxboro

The Nashua Area Radio Society put together a very successful Amateur Radio Youth Exposition at the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro this year.

Boxboro 2018 - Youth Expo Display
Boxboro 2018 – Youth Expo Display

Our Expo featured more than ten high-quality displays and hands-on activities which introduced young people to many aspects of Amateur Radio.

Boxboro 2018 - HF GOTA Coach Jerry K1OKD
Boxboro 2018 – HF GOTA Coach Jerry K1OKD

Our HF GOTA at Boxboro 2018 was a hit with many folks making their first HF contacts with us. We operated AB1OC-AB1QB’s station remotely via the Internet. We secured a the N1T special event callsign for Boxboro and we made over 150 contacts as N1T during the convention.

Boxboro 2018 - Satellite Station Operated by Burns WB1FJ
Boxboro 2018 – Satellite Station Operated by Burns WB1FJ

We also had our transportable satellite station at Boxboro and we made quite a few satellite contacts as N1T as well.

Boxboro 2018 - Space Comms Display
Boxboro 2018 – Space Comms Display

There was lots of interest in satellites between the satellite GOTA station and our Space Communications display.

Boxboro 2018 - Kit Building (Dan AC1EN and Mackenzie KE1NZY)
Boxboro 2018 – Kit Building (Dan AC1EN and Mackenzie KE1NZY)

We added a kit building activity to our Youth Expo at Boxboro and it was a big hit!

Builders (Burns WB1FJ and his Grandson)
Builders (Burns WB1FJ and his Grandson)

Over 40 K1EL Morse Code Tutor kits got built during the weekend with many parents and grandparents building kits along with the kids.

Boxboro 2018 - Karen KC1KBW - BGHS Teacher Building a Kit
Boxboro 2018 – Karen KC1KBW – BGHS Teacher Building a Kit

Some of our High-Altitude Balloon program students and teachers also had fun with the kit building activity.

Boxboro 2018 - Forum Presentation by Dan AC1EN
Boxboro 2018 – Forum Presentation by Dan AC1EN

We did three presentations related to the activities at our Youth Expo in the forums at Boxboro. The most popular one was about the many youth outreach projects that the Nashua Area Radio Society is doing.

Boxboro 2018 - Forum Presentation by Mackenzie KE1NZY and Fred AB1OC
Boxboro 2018 – Forum Presentation by Mackenzie KE1NZY and Fred AB1OC

Dan and Mackenzie Pooler (AC1EN and KE1NZY) helped me with this one and they brought a very valuable perspective on our youth outreach work.

Boxboro 2018 provided lots of great moments and memories for the many members who help with our Expo. Check out the photo memories above to see some more of these.

Boxboro 2018 - NARS Team at Boxboro
Boxboro 2018 – NARS Team at Boxboro

A very special THANK YOU to the many Nashua Area Radio Society members who helped throughout the weekend!

We are planning another Amateur Radio Youth Exposition as part of the New England Tech Trek at NEAR-Fest in October. Don’t miss it and please come out and help us create another great Amateur Radio experience at NEAR-Fest!

Fred, AB1OC

 

Activities, Featured, General

Summer Activities – A Picnic and a SOTA

The weekend of August 25th and 26th brought a break from the rainy and hot weather and provided beautiful weather for two NARS summer activities.

On Saturday, August 25th, we held our Family Picnic at Greeley Park in Nashua.  It was a potluck lunch and members brought lots of great food to eat.  It was an enjoyable time, eating great food and chatting with our Ham Radio friends and their families.

Here is a gallery of pictures from the picnic:

Bright and early on Sunday, August 26th we all headed to Mount Washington for our SOTA/POTA activation.  We had another beautiful day with relatively warm temperatures for Mount Washington’s 6000 ft elevation in the 50s.  Most of us drove up on the scenic Mount Washington Auto Road.  We made contacts on many modes and bands on the mountain including

  • Satellite contacts using an Elk Yagi and a Kenwood HT
  • 6 meter SSB and FT8 using the Icom 7300 and an M2 6 meter Yagi
  • HF using Jamey’s Buddipole
  • 2 meter contacts using HTs and the Elk Yagi
Mike and Jamey Work 2 Meters
Mike and Jamey Work 2 Meters

Both the Picnic and the Mount Washington trip were a lot of fun and we’re looking forward to doing these again next year!

Anita, AB1QB

Activities, Featured, General, On The Air

Club competition for the New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP)

Updates to the article in red.

The New Hampshire QSO Party (www.w1wqm.org/nhqso) is held in the third full weekend of September. This year the contest is held on Saturday, September 15th from noon to midnight, and September 16th from noon to 6 PM. (That’s 1600 UTC Sat to 0400 UTC Sun, and 1600 UTC Sun to 2200 UTC). To encourage participation in the event, the Nashua Area Radio Society will have a “contest in a contest” competition. To enter, just do the following:

  1. Get on the air and operate in the contest following all NHQP rules.
  2. At the conclusion of the contest post your score to the 3830 website (details below).
  3. Email me notifying that you’ve entered, and tell me which category you operated within.
  4. Don’t forget to submit your log to the contest sponsor and specify the “Nashua Area Radio Society” as your affiliated club.

Categories

Operating categories make it possible to compare “apples to apples”. It isn’t fair for a station with three towers to compete with a little pistol station with just a dipole! So, the following categories for the NARS competition will be used (single operators only except for Superstation):

  • QRP. Any antenna configuration is OK. Power output is limited to 5 watts CW/digital, and 10 watts SSB.
  • Small Station. This can be any single radio with output power no more than 100 watts using vertical antennas or dipoles only. No receive-only systems.
  • TB-Wires. Same as Small Station except that one antenna with gain can be available. Wires/dipoles/verticals must be used for everything else. No receive-only systems.
  • Superstation. Multiple operators OK. Multiple gain antennas available. Receive-only antenna systems or listening arrays available. Power greater than 100 watts.
  • New Hampshire stations and stations outside NH will be ranked separately.

Note that “assistance” (spotting systems, repeaters, etc.) is allowed in the contest, and in this competition.

Submitting your entry

Go to the 3830 Scores website (3830scores.com) and navigate to the New Hampshire QSO Party entry. Enter all of the information demanded by the website and submit your score. (If you are having trouble computing your score, contact me directly.)

Once your entry is live on the 3830 site, email me ([email protected]) and tell me the call sign you used, and which entry category for the club competition you’ve selected (QRP, Small Station, TB-Wires, or Superstation). That’s it! I’ll use the submitted scores to determine the winner in each category.

RESULTS

The results of the competition will be announced at the October general meeting of NARS.

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