Category Archives: On The Air

Articles and other information related to On The Air Operations, Special Events, Activations, DXxpeditions, Portable and Mobile On The Air Activities, Nets, etc.

CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA Activation of Mount Monadnock

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We activated Mount Monadnock (W1/HA-009) on Saturday, May 25th.  Myself, Brian (W1BP), Brian’s son Nick, John (KB1EEU), Mike (AB1YK) and Randall (KC1KSY) all started out from the parking lot of the park headquarters around 8:45 in the morning on a beautiful day.

KC1KSY, KB1EEU, Nick, W1BP, and AB1YK eager and ready!

We hiked the White Dot trail on the way up. This was the shortest route up, which also meant the steepest. The advantage of the steepness was that we had beautiful views most of the way up.

A quick break before it gets really steep
Fantastic views

Once we arrived at the top we took a quick breather and had a bite to eat before setting up our stations. Brian used a KX3 with his Buddipole mast, tripod and shock-corded whip.  I used my new Buddipole shock corded mast that I got from Hamvention. John used a Xiegu 5105, which is similar to the KX2 on a crappy pole with an end-fed antenna. Mike, who is a homebrew guru came out with the Yaesu FT-817 and his home-made 6m yagi that he repurposed from his old 6m home-brew he brought to Mount Pack Monadnock.

Mike, AB1YK with the home-brew 6m yagi
Love the Buddipole! No tuner needed for AC1DC

None of us created any pile-ups while on the peak, but we all had a great time. I did make one dx call to Italy which gave me enough QSOs for a successful SOTA activation.

On the hike down we traveled the White Cross trail which was less steep and still offered some beautiful views. We were all tired by the end, but looking forward to our next SOTA event!

AB1YK and W1BP descending after a wonderful afternoon

The club will be going up Mount Kearsarge for a SOTA/POTA activation during the ARRL’s VHF/UHF contest on Saturday, June 8th. Members can hike up the mountain or drive up and there should be plenty of activity on 6m and up!

Jamey, AC1DC

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

N1FD Wins 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB!

The results are in – the N1FD multi-op entry came in 1st place in the Multi-Op Area 1 Category in the 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB.   Not only did we win our category, but our score of 12,900 was also higher than any other entry.  The next closest was KD9IPO, single op entry from Michigan.

Rookie Roundup Operators W1KRK, KC1JDX and KA1KAT learn from AB1OC at Bootcamp
Rookie Roundup Operators W1KRK, KC1JDX, and KA1KAT learn from AB1OC at Bootcamp

Congratulations to the Rookie Roundup Operators:

The team operated from AB1QB’s and AB1OC’s QTH.

The Complete contest results can be found on the ARRL website  http://contests.arrl.org/rrscores.php?iid=625

CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

May 2019 Contest Notes

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May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW, ARRL DX, ARRL SWEEP, CQ WPX) run October through May mainly leaving the Summer for state QSO parties and Field Day. There are two contests this month that are of note to NARS members: the NEQP and CQ WW WPX CW.

New England QSO Party [2000Z, May 4 to 0500Z, May 5 and 1300Z-2400Z, May 5]
The exchange for New England states is RS(T) + county + state. Outside of NE sends RS(T) + state/province/DX. Take a look at the NEQP website to see the standard county abbreviation list.

CQ WW WPX Contest, CW [0000Z, May 25 to 2359Z, May 26]
This is a serial number contest so set up your logger to automatically increment the sent serial number for each QSO. The full exchange is RST + serial. Everybody sends the same exchange. If you are not a great CW operator this is a great contest to play in. First, it isn’t quite so cut-throat as CQ WW. Secondly, the exchange is nice and simple. Listen (listen! listen!). It might take a bit to finally get the serial number, but once you do make your call and put it in the log. At risk of repeating myself, this is one of my favorite CW contests.

7th Call Area QSO Party [1300Z, May 4 to 0700Z, May 5]
First, note the overlap with the New England QSO Party! The exchange for this contest is also RS(T) + state and county. Check out the list of counties to expect here. The point is: you just record the exchange and the contact should be good for two contests.

Indiana QSO Party [1500Z, May 4 to 0300Z, May 5]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state. The website has a list of five-letter county abbreviations that is worth printing out and hanging by your computer for this one.

Arkansas QSO Party [1400Z, May 11 to 0200Z, May 12]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state

Hamvention and Contest University
Finally, the annual Contest University held in Dayton is one of the highlights of Hamvention. If you have any interest in contesting, it is well worth your time to sign up for one of these events. You MUST pre-register for the upcoming event on May 16th, and it is getting late for that, but I’d like to plant the seed of an idea that you should consider putting this on your “bucket list.”

I’m going to try to be in the New England QSO Party. Get on the air for 15 minutes or 15 hours and hand out some points!

Scott, NE1RD

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