Category Archives: Newsletter

Nashua Area Radio Society Newsletter Articles. You can find an archive of our Newsletters on our website.

Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space

Sights From Field Day 2017

Field Day 2017 is but a memory for us now. Dave, K1DLM, our Field Day Chairman, and the entire Field Day team did a great job with putting together our Field Day operation this year.

We are still adding up our score and collecting pictures and video from everyone. I wanted to get something out quickly so that we could begin to enjoy some of the memories. So here is my quick Sights from Field Day 2017….

Field Day 2017 Telegraph Article
Our Field Day Telegraph Article

We did a fantastic job on publicity this year…

Field Day 2017 - Parking Lot Was Full
The Parking Lot Was Full

and the parking lot was full of visitors and members on Saturday and Sunday.

Field Day 2017 Public Info Tent Was A Hit
Our Public Info Tent Is A Hit

Our updated Public Information Tent was a hot spot for our many visitors (over 45 visitors signed our guest register)!

Field day 2017 Visitors - ARRL Section Leaders - Peter, K1PJS And John, K1UAF
ARRL Section Leaders – Peter, K1PJS And John, K1UAF

The ARRL “brass” came out early to congratulate Dave, K1DLM our Field Day Chairman, and to tour our site.

Field day 2017 Food Was Awesome!
The Food Was Awesome!

The food was unbelievably good – thanks, Valerie!!! And the N1FD cafe’ was a hot-spot as usual.

Field Day 2017 Site Setup On The Upper Field
Site Setup On The Upper Field

Site setup at Hollis-Brookline High School began with the 40M V-Beam.

Field Day 2017 Site Setup On The Upper Field - The 60 Ft Tower Coming Together
Site Setup On The Upper Field – The 60 Ft Tower Coming Together

The tower team began on the lower field by setting up the new 60 ft. tower.

Field Day 2017 - The V-Beam Was Back
The V-Beam Was Back

The 40M V-beam was awesome as ever and went up in record time…

Field Day 2017 - A New 60 Ft Tower
New 60 Ft Tower

and our new 60 ft. tower was a sight to behold!

Field Day 2017 - 40M SSB Station
40M SSB Station

We built lots of stations – 3 SSB, 3 CW, a RTTY/PSK Digital Station, a GOTA station, a 6M Station with a new yagi, and a computer controller Satellite Station. We also setup a 2M/70cm Go Kit for talk-in and APRS demos. All totaled, we had 10 transmitters on the air! Our exchange was 7A NH.

Field Day 2017 Solar Power Setup
Solar Power Setup

We got our Solar-Battery bonus late on Saturday.

Field Day 2017 - Brian, AB1ZO Operating SSB
Brian, AB1ZO Operating SSB

Everyone operated very hard and we made more contacts than last year!

Field Day 2017 CW Ops - Dennis, K1LGQ
CW Ops – Dennis, K1LGQ

Our CW operators were amazing again this year. Here’s Dennis banging out CW QSOs. Dave, KM3T even operated SO2R for a period – calling “CQ” and working contacts on both 20M and 40M CW at the same time! Gene, W3UA brought his CW skimmer and we set up an OCF dipole to provide on-site CW spots.

Field Day 2017 - And The Generators Played On...
And The Generators Played On…

And the new generators worked flawlessly and were much easier to service.

Field Day 2017 - Curtis, N1CMD Making Satellite Fun!
Curtis, N1CMD Making Satellite Fun!

Curtis, N1CMD ran our Satellite Station 2.0 and wowed everyone while making satellite contacts….

Field Day 2017 Satellite Station 20 In Action
Satellite Station 2.0 In Action

and our visitors got a kick out of seeing the computer controlled satellite antennas.

Team Finchum In Action
Team Finchum In Action

Team Finchum was in high gear as always – here’s Abby, AB1BY operating with her brother Connor, KC1GGX. It seemed like Abby was on every SSB station that I looked at all weekend long…

New Digital Station For Field Day 2017
New Digital Station For 2017

Our new SDR powered Digital Station worked well and we had lots of digital contacts using the antennas on the new 60 ft. tower.

Field Day 2017 SDR GOTA Was Cool!
The SDR GOTA Was Cool!

The SDR-based GOTA station worked out super well. Ira, KC1EMJ was our GOTA coach and was busy on Saturday and Sunday introducing our guests and newly licensed members to “high-tech” Amateur Radio. We had many young people try Amateur Radio for the very first time on our GOTA station.

Field Day 2017 Remote SDR System
Remote SDR System

We operated the two SDRs for the Digital and GOTA stations remotely over a coax cable data link between the upper and lower fields. Pierce, K1FOP and Dave, K1DLM put together this high-tech setup and the underpinning data networking system.

Field Day 2017 - John, W1SMN and Desmond, WK1V Operating SSB
John, W1SMN, and Desmond, WK1V Operating SSB

Did I mention that we operated hard making lots of QSOs?…

Field Day 2017 Drone Sighting
Drone Sighting

There were Drone sighting all weekend long…

and Desmond, WK1V got some amazing video from the air.

It was a lot of fun operating as N1FD, 7A NH!

Anita, AB1QB, our scoring chairman is still working on tallying up our score but it will be higher than last year.

Please take a minute and send me any photos or video that you have from Field Day 2017. We’ll be producing a video of all of the fun for the Field Day 2017 Recap at our club meeting on July 11th. Don’t miss it!

Fred, AB1OC

Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD

Activities, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities

High-Altitude Balloon Project Update #3 – Launch!

Our High-Altitude Balloon made it to the edge of space! The image above was taken from our HAB at an altitude of over 90,000 ft!

After many months of work, raising funds to finance the project, teaching STEM sessions in local High Schools, and an open-house to test the Balloon Platform and to learn about Amateur Radio; our High-Altitude Balloon Project (HAB) Team finally got the chance to launch and track our Balloon. We launched our Balloon from the Elementary School in Winchester, NH.

High-Altitude Balloon - Setting Up Our Gear On Site
Setting Up Our Gear On Site

Students, Teachers and Club Members came out to be part of the launch and to track our HAB. The first step was to move all of our gear to the center of the athletic fields at the school and organize all of our equipment.

High-Altitude Balloon Flight Platform Final Assembly and Test
Flight Platform Final Assembly and Test

Next, we attached the GoPro video cameras, satellite tracker and the battery pack for the Flight Computer and 2M APRS transmitter to the flight platform. We used an APRS capable HT to confirm that the flight computer and APRS transmitter were working.

Rigging the High-Altitude Balloon Flight Line
Rigging the Flight Line

We rigged the 40 ft. flight line which connected the HAB’s flight platform, recovery parachute, and the balloon.

High-Altitude Balloon Inflation
Balloon Inflation

And then came the inflation of the balloon from the Helium tank. The winds were gusting to about 12 mph at this point which made inflating the balloon a little tricky. When filled, the balloon was about 6 ft. in diameter on the ground.

High-Altitude Balloon Launch!
Launch!

With both GoPro cameras running on the flight platform, we were ready to launch. A 10-second countdown and the balloon was up and away!

Tracking Our High-Altitude Balloon
Tracking the HAB

We watched the balloon from the ground as it soared off into the clouds. The 2M APRS tracking system worked perfectly and we spent the next several hours at the launch site, at lunch, and in our cars tracking the HAB on aprs.fi.

Tracking Our High-Altitude Balloon Flight Path On APRS.fi
HAB’s Flight Path On APRS.fi

Our HAB’s flight path took it across Massachusetts where it reached a maximum altitude of 91,700 ft. above sea level (ASL).

Looking Upward at the High-Altitude Balloon (Near Burst)
Looking Upward at the Balloon (Near Burst)

The balloon reached a diameter of approximately 30 ft before it burst. After the balloon burst, the parachute deployed and the payload descended to a landing in the northeast corner of Rhode Island.

High-Altitude Ballon at Recovery Site in Rhode Island
HAB at Recovery Site in Rhode Island

A combination of the APRS transmitter data and the onboard sounder allowed the landing location to be pinpointed and the flight platform recovered with help from a local resident.

The onboard GoPro video cameras captured some awesome video during our HAB’s ascent! All of the media captured by everyone who participated in the launch as well as the APRS data allowed us to produce the video above. Turn up your speakers and give it a play in full-screen mode to enjoy the experience what we shared!

By the time we had launched, the school year was at an end so we will have to wait until the fall to work with the students and teachers who were part of our STEM project to analyze the data from the flight. All in all, our HAB project has been an amazing experience for all involved. We are planning another HAB STEM experience and launch with additional schools in the fall.

We want to especially thank all of our donors whose generous contributions made this project possible.

Fred, AB1OC

Hashtag: #N1FDHAB

Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/POTA and 6 Meters

I got really excited, when Jamey, KC1ENX set our Club’s first Summits On The Air (SOTA)/Parks On The Air (POTA) activation for the same day as the June VHF Contest! Jamey choose Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park here in New Hampshire as the site for our activation. With Jamey’s help, we put together a portable 6M SOTA station in preparation for the activation.

Portable 6M SOTA Station Equipment

 

6m SOTA Station Solar Panels
Solar Panels

The idea was to use an IC-7300 to create a 100W station and use a Solar/Battery combination to power the setup. Solar/Battery made us “legal” as a SOTA activation. We combined two 90W solar panels which I had with an MPPT solar charging system and two LiPo batteries to create the power system for the activation.

6m SOTA Station Antenna Going Up
6M Antenna Going Up

The antenna system for our 6M SOTA Station was built around an M2 Antenna Systems 6M3 Yagi and an 18 ft. push up mast from Max-gain systems.

Portable 6M SOTA Station Antenna
Portable 6M Antenna

All of this gear was carried to the site and setup in about an hour. A 25 ft. section of LMR-400UF coax completed the station. The mast was guyed with rings which allowed us to turn the mast/antenna combination to point the Yagi in any direction.

6M SOTA Activation

 

6M SOTAT Station - Anita, AB1QB and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest
Anita, AB1QB, and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest

Between the SOTA/POTA activation and the June VHF contest, we made a little over 130 contacts on 6m. We did not have any real Es openings so most of our contacts were regional. Having the elevation provided by being on Pack Monadnock made us quite loud for the stations that could hear us. Several of our club members got on 6M and joined the fun. We did have a brief Es opening and managed to work a station in Alabama and one in Florida.

6M SOTA Station - Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M
Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M

Mike, AB1YK has a much more portable 6M setup and used lower power to have some fun on 6M as well.

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating VHF-UHF Portable
Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP put together a nice station and operated using battery power. Several other club members came out with a portable station or to watch and have fun as well.

Our first SOTA/POTA activation was a lot of fun and Anita and I are looking forward to the next one!

Fred, AB1OC

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide