Aron, W1AKI, Abby, KC1FFX and her dad Jamey, KC1ENX operated in the ARRL Rookie Roundup on Sunday, April 16 as a Multi Op Entry from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH. They had a constant stream of callers throughout the 6-hour contest and made a total of 273 QSOs and earned a score of 15,437.
This was the club’s 2nd consecutive year operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup and it was great to see how Aron, Abby, and Jamey have improved their contesting skills over the past year! They are now seasoned contesters!
Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby, KC1FFX operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB
The N1FD team took first place in the Multi-Op Area 1 category and had the highest score of all entries in the contest, narrowly beating out KM4LAO, the top single op who was operating from Michigan.
2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Results
The full results can be found at http://www.b4h.net/arrlrr/rr_scores201704.php
Here are some comments on operating in the contest from Aron, W1AKI:
It was a lot of fun! The pileups weren’t too bad, and people were very patient, which made it a really friendly environment. Everyone could take their time to make sure that the exchange was made correctly. (This was especially important since there were several other contests going on over the same weekend.) We made a QSO with a KL7TH, rookie in Alaska and she seemed at least as excited to get NH as I was to get Alaska. I got a generous handful of calls from hams who got their licenses back in in the 1950s. I made a DX contact with someone in the Caribbean who got their first license a while back in the UK, and another DX contact with Italy.
Thanks go to Anita AB1QB and Fred AB1OC for the use of their station and for their guidance! We were all limited to 100W, but I could really hear the Alaska station come up loud and clear as I swung the 4 over 4 SteppIRs around to the right heading, and it became an easy QSO to make. I also got great signals from a few mobile stations and a few QRP stations.
Looking at the results, I am struck by two things: (1) KM4LAO, the YL in Michigan who came in a very close second to us did it working all by herself, and (2) there were so few entries! Whether it’s your first contest, or you’re working your way up the learning curve, or you want to help others learn what it is about contesting that you’ve been enjoying for years — and give them another point, the Rookie Roundups are a great opportunity. You don’t need to worry about “mic fright” because there are no serial numbers in the exchange: you give the same information to everyone.
The upcoming CW and RTTY Rookie Roundups are a great incentive for me to work on my code and to try out digital modes. There aren’t many better places to make your first contacts in a new mode.
My OM, Fred, AB1OC found out some time in 2010 that he could get a Ham Radio license without needing to pass a code test. He took his test in December 2010 and got his Technician, General and Extra license in one exam session. I have a background in Electrical Engineering so I picked up his books and thought it would not be hard to get my license as well. In April 2011, I passed both my Tech and General exams and was licensed as a General.
QSL Card from FO/AB1OC and FO/AB1QB from Bora Bora
A few months later, Fred was invited to go on a trip to Bora Bora, French Polynesia. I was studying about propagation for my Extra class and saw that this would be a great place to operate from as we were staying in bungalows out over the water. I suggested that we take a radio along on the trip. Before long we had a whole portable station with an IC-7000, Buddipoles, a Signalink for digital, antenna tuners, the whole works. I was responsible for getting our operating licenses for French Polynesia. I learned that in order to operate, we needed to both have Extra licenses. That was my incentive to get my Extra, which I got in December 2011, just in time for our trip in February 2012.
AB1QB in 2014 JARTS RTTY Contest
What do you like to do most with Ham Radio?
My favorite Ham Radio activities are DXing and RTTY Contesting. I have earned a DXCC Challenge and have confirmed 290 DX entities and I have earned certificates in the ARRL RTTY Roundup as #1 in New Hampshire, and the BARTG HF RTTY contest, where I placed in the top 5 in my category. I have also earned the JARL Century Cities award for contacting 100 Cities in Japan. I am just one contact short of my 5 Band WAS, looking for that last contact with Alaska on 80 meters.
My pursuit of new DX entities led me to create my current hobby project, the DX Alarm Clock, a Raspberry Pi based software program that I can customize to notify me when those needed entities are spotted on the air.
AB1QB logging for AB1OC/M during the NPOTA activation.
I also like that Ham Radio involves such a diverse set of activities. I have been a tower climbing ground crew, helped to build (and rebuild) a SteppIR DB36 Yagi, was a driver and member of the Hollis site management team for WRTC 2014. I have also operated as W1AW/1 during the ARRL Centennial and as K2K in the 13 Colonies Special Event. and operated from a mobile station in our F150 from several National Parks.
What is your background?
My educational background is in Electrical Engineering and most of my technical experience is in Software Development and Program Management. I am currently a Program Manager at Verizon managing projects related to a cloud platform.
Nashua Area Radio Club License Training Class
What do you like to do with the Club?
I am currently the Activities Chairperson for the club. I have organized several contesting activities at our home QTH to help other club members to become involved with contesting. These include the ARRL Rookie Roundups, including the latest one where the multi-op N1FD entry achieved the highest score in the contest. We also hosted a multi-single entry for CQ WW SSB, where we helped the club get a DXCC in a weekend. I am also an instructor for our Ham Radio license classes, where I teach digital modes and propagation. I also use my project management skills to manage all of the logistics for the classes including the VE sessions. It is a great feeling to be able to help people get their licenses.
We decided to set up the station in our back yard about a week ago. The idea was to spend some more time learning to operate the station and to improve our satellite operating skills.
The past week has been a productive one. Here are some stats for our satellite operations during the last 7 days –
Contacts Made: 78
Modes Used: SSB Phone, FM Phone, CW and Packet (APRS FM)
Satellites Worked – 9 Total plus the ISS: AO-7, AO-85, ARISS (International Space Station), FO-29, SO-50, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C, XW-2D, and XW-2F
States Worked: 23
Grids Worked: 49
The week began with a visit from Curtis, N1CMD who has quite a bit of experience with Digital Packet operation via the digipeater on the ISS. After some experimentation, Curtis helped me to find a setup using a SignaLink Sound Card and a second, windows computer that works well for Packet QSOs. I tested the setup using the terrestrial APRS network to get all of the hardware and software working correctly. The combination was then used to make a first packet contact using the ISS.
Operational LEO Satellites
The LEO satellites which are currently operational support a mix of split band modes. All of the satellites that we’ve worked so far use either 2M/70cm or 70cm/2M up and downlinks. The satellites support a variety of operating modes including via single channel FM, linear transponders, and APRS packet systems. Operating skills such as proper adjustment of up and downlink frequencies, Tx power management and setup of the digital packet system have been at least partially mastered this past week.
There are a great bunch of folks who are regulars on the satellites and we have made some new friends in our short time operating through satellites. The single channel FM satellites are usually too busy to support rag-chewing. The linear transponder satellites (there are many of these) support several conversations at the same time and we have had some nice rag-chew sessions on these birds.
There is also a good bit of DX to be had via satellites. This past week we have worked Patrick, FJ/N2IEN in Saint Barthelemy; Chris, 9Y4D in Trinidad and Tobago; Burt, FG8OJ in Guadeloupe; Fausto, HC9VF in Ecuador; and several stations in Canada.
We are planning to set up our portable satellite station at Field Day this year. Curtis will be the main operator/station master for our satellite station. If you are interested in learning more about satellite operations, please let Curtis or I know and we’ll help you to learn more during Field Day 2017.
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