Articles and other information related to On The Air Operations, Special Events, Activations, DXxpeditions, Portable and Mobile On The Air Activities, Nets, etc.
I wanted to post a very brief primer on how to set up NetLogger at your station if you are going to run a net.
Stations not running a net should also download and try NetLogger. It really enhances everyone’s experience when joining (or running) an over-the-air net.
You can download NetLogger here.
Thanks very much,
Craig Bailey, N1SFT
CQ CQ All Hams! We will open our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights for April and May to include our Internet Subscribers and all Hams in North America.
We will hold our meetings online during April and May via Zoom! You are invited to join us online for these meetings.
We have some excellent speakers planned for our April and May meetings and they will share live presentations and conduct Q&A online. The Nashua Area Radio Society will also be conducting an after-meeting net on 40m after our April and May Meetings and Tech Nights.
Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting, April 7th, 7 pm Eastern – Our speaker will be Jim Idelson K1IR who will talk about Tower Safety. Join Our Zoom Meeting
Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night, April 14th, 7 pm Eastern – Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC will provide a how-to presentation on How to Get Started in 2m EME (Moon Bounce) Communications. Fred will also share some details on a high-performance EME station that he is building. Join Our Zoom Meeting
Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting, May 5th, 7 pm Eastern – Our speaker will be Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID. More to come on Bob’s Presentation
Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night, May 12th, 7 pm Eastern – Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC will provide a how-to presentation on Getting Started with the N1MM+ Contest Logger.
All you need to join one of our meetings is to click on the Join Our Zoom Meeting link above for the meeting that you want to Join.
We suggest that you join our meetings online at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start times.
Abby Finchum, AB1BY – A NARS Net Control Operator Running a Special Event
CQ All Hams! The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold our new after meeting nets on or around 7.260 MHz LSB. We will post an update on the final frequency here just before our nets begin. We hope that these nets will give our members and guests a chance to communicate and socialize with each other. Folks who join us for the preceding online meetings will also be able to monitor the after meeting nets via the online share.
We will also be live streaming video and audio from our nets to the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page.
This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. I haven’t worked a lot of contests from my home station, but I have some free time on my hands with this COVID-19 pandemic going on, so I decided I’d give it a shot.
I have been very lucky and probably a little spoiled to have been able to use AB1OC/AB1QB’s station, which is an amazing station, for past contests. So, let me start by telling you a little about my home station. I’m running an Icom IC-7300 with an Elecraft KPA500 500 watt amplifier. I’m using the Buckmaster 4-band OCF Dipole for an antenna on a push-up mast from Max-Gain Systems at about 35 feet high. Definitely not a bad set up, but it’s not a big-gun station either.
My main goal for jumping into the contest was to have fun and try to finish off my DXCC. I have over a hundred countries and do have my DXCC through QRZ, but I’ve been stuck at 97 confirmed for quite a while on LOTW. I figured this would be a good contest to knock off a few more countries and hopefully get them confirmed.
The CQ WW WPX is a 48-hour contest in which amateur radio operators worldwide try to contact as many other operators as possible in that time. The exchange is a simple signal report and a progressive serial number. What is really fun about this contest is that each different prefix is a multiplier. As you make more contacts with unique prefixes your score really shoots up! It is fun to watch your score after each new contact.
My station seemed to be getting out pretty well as I searched the bands. I never called CQ and only searched and pounced, but looking back may have been able to try running on 40 meters – especially as the contest moved into Sunday. I didn’t operate the whole time but spent a fair amount of time on and off throughout the weekend.
In the end, I wound up with 222 contacts. 163 of those contacts were unique prefixes for a total claimed score of 72,698 points. I contacted 32 different countries and of those only two were countries that I did not already have.
By the end of the weekend, I accomplished my first goal. I had a blast! Even if I did fall short on getting three more confirmed countries for my DXCC this past weekend has shown me that you don’t have to have a super-station to join in on the fun of contesting.
Jamey, AC1DC
