Category Archives: General

Articles about Amateur Radio and the Nashua Area Radio Society. This is a general category which includes most articles on our website.

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter

Get Active!

Whatever your fancy is with amateur radio our club seems to have something for you! We’ve got a very busy spring and summer scheduled with a variety of activities. I hope to see you at some of the activities we have scheduled and if you can’t find anything that suits your style please let me know and we’ll fix that!

This weekend is the ARRL International DX Contest and Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB opening up there first class station for members who would like to test their skill in contesting or if you’re just interested in getting going with contesting. This is a fantastic opportunity to work some DX and operate on a top notch station.

Maybe it’s an upgrade you’re looking for? We’ve got you covered! Our spring licensing classes will continue with the General class on the weekend of March 23-24. I went through all three classes, as did Abby, AB1BY and we thoroughly enjoyed them. They are very helpful in giving you that edge to get through the test. Interested people can sign up on our website.

Tech Class Students with CSCEs
Tech Class Students with CSCEs

You say you’re interested in building antennas, but haven’t done it before? Join us on Tuesday, April 9th! We’ll be holding a Tech night to discuss transmitter hunting and do a tape measure yagi build. Any of our new technicians that want to get into fox hunting or Summits on the Air (SOTA) should come and check this Tech Night out.

Now that you’ve got that tape measure yagi it only seems fitting to put it to use. That same weekend, April 13th well be holding a SOTA/POTA (Parks on the Air) activation of Mount Pack Monadnock and Miller State Park. You’ll be surprised how far you can reach with a tape measure yagi and a 5 watt HT. We will probably also put the foxes out that day as well!

Again, on April 14th, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will open their station for one of the best contest out there for new operators. The ARRL Rookie Round Up (SSB) will be taking place. This is open to all amateur operators that have been licensed for 3 years or less.

Also, for our “rookies” we’ll be starting a program called Amateur Radio Bootcamp with activities gear towards the new ham, but also some of our veterans may want to take part in as well.

Oh, and don’t forget our weekly repeater net on the N1IMO/N1IMN repeater system followed by our 10-meter net!

All that and were only through April! Some other activities we have scheduled are more POTAs and SOTAs. We’ll also be doing an IOTA (Islands on the Air) this year. We’ll be participating in the New England QSO Party, taking a trip to Hamvention in Xenia, participating in the ARRL’s Kids Day, 13 Colonies, Boxborough and much, much more.

Jamey, AC1DC

Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter

Technician License Class is a Big Success!

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We held our latest Technician License Class the weekend of February 23rd and 24th, 2019 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua.  It was a big success!  We had a  great set of students who were well prepared for the class.  All 13 students in the class passed the Technician Exam and 11 of those students became new members of the Nashua Area Radio Society!  They are now anxiously awaiting their callsigns.

NARS VE Team Grading Exams - Technician License Class
NARS VE Team Grading Exams

Thanks to all of our instructors and VEs who helped to make the class a success!

Our next license class will be the General Class on March 23rd and 24th, also at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua.  If you are interested in attending, start studying the Gordon West General Class book.  You can register online for the class at https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/

Our next Extra Class will be a 3-day class to be held on April 26 – 28.

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

March 2019 Contest Notes

March is one of my favorite contest months of the year. The ARRL International DX Contest and the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest bookend the month and I’ve done mini-DXpeditions to compete in both contests.

Remember that each month you get a chance to put several states in your log. Even during the doldrums of the solar cycle you can capture the 50 states for that Worked All States award. This month includes four state QSO parties plus a four hour “sprint” that give you a chance at all of them.

KP2/NE1RD 15m beam on St. Thomas March 2010

ARRL International DX Contest [0000Z, March 2 to 2400Z March 3]  In this contest the US stations try to contact as many other countries as possible, and other countries call only the US and Canada. Do not call US or Canadian stations! Exchange: US stations send a signal report and their state; DX stations send a signal report and power. Note that power might be something like “K” (for kilawatt~1000W). Even stations running less than 1000 Watts will send “K” because it is so short, and everything over 150 Watts is considered high-power. As with all contests, just log what you hear and everything works out.

Oklahoma QSO Party [1500Z March 9 to 0200Z March 10 + 1400Z to 2100Z March 10] Don’t miss this opportunity to get this state into your log! Exchange: OK stations send signal report and county. You send your signal report and state. There are 77 counties and you should log the county abbreviation, so it might be handy to print out a cheat-sheet of county names. You can find one here.

Idaho QSO Party [1900 March 9 to 1900Z March 10] This is another rare state so don’t miss it. Exchange: ID send “Idaho” and the county (three character abbreviation); you send signal report and state. There are 44 counties in Idaho. Log the abbreviation for the county using this cheat-sheet.

Wisconsin QSO Party [1800Z March 10 to 0100Z March 11] Exchange: WI stations send county; you send your state. Here is a county map for Wisconsin, and here’s the list of abbreviations used in the contest.

Virginia QSO Party [1400Z March 16 to 0400Z March 17 + 1200Z to 2400Z March 17] This one has a slightly more complicated exchange than most QSO parties. You need to send a “serial number” along with your state. Exchange: VA sends serial number plus county; you send serial number and state.  The list of counties and cities for VA can be found here.

North American SSB Sprint [0000Z to 0400Z March 24] If you’re not familiar with sprint-type contests, now would be a good time to do a refresher on the subject using my article CONTESTING JARGON EXPLAINED. Exchange: [other station’s call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] + [your state/province/country]. This is a good test of your listening and logging skills!

CQ WW WPX SSB Contest [0000Z March 30 to 2359Z March 31] I confess this is one of my favorite contests. Everybody can work everybody. Multipliers are prefixes. A change in propagation just means you have new people to talk to. Exchange: RS plus serial number. The picture of the antenna above is from my effort in 2010 on the island of St. Thomas that set the North American record for 15m QRP. (All-Buddipole construction!)

Read the rules before the contest. Set up your radio and computer and test everything before the contest. Know how to log the exchanges so you can submit your score. Try all this early. That way, if you do run into trouble, you can reach out to your fellow club members for a helping-hand.

The contesting season is wrapping up but there is still time to get in on the fun. I hope to hear you on the air!

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