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.

N1FD Multi-Op Entry in the Rookie Roundup CW

The N1FD Contest Team operated in the final Rookie Roundup of the year – the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW.  Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby KC1FFX operated as a Multi-Op team using the N1FD callsign at the QTH of AB1OC and AB1QB.

Abby, KC1FFX in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW
Abby, KC1FFX in the Rookie Roundup CW

The CW contest proved to be a great way to improve the CW skills of the rookies as well as the Elmers!  It was the perfect follow-on to the Morse Code Class held earlier this year.

N1FD Multi-Op Score in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW
N1FD Multi-Op Score in the ARRL RR CW

Abby and Jamey made a total of 21 QSOs in the contest, including one with another rookie from Alberta, Canada.  Most of the activity was on the 20m band with a few contacts on 40m.

US States and Canadian Provinces Worked in the ARRL Rookie Roundup Contest
US States and Canadian Provinces Worked in the Contest

We all had a great time in the contest and are looking forward to working another CW contest soon.

We’re also looking forward to the next Rookie Roundup, the SSB contest which will be on April 17.  We invite all of the new hams in the club to join us for the SSB version of the contest.

Anita, AB1QB

Nashua Area Radio Club – 2016 Highlights

Our club has had quite a year in 2016. We initiated many new activities and our members learned some new skills. Most importantly, we contributed a great deal to the Amateur Radio Service through license classes and other educational and outreach activities. We have plenty of material to include in our 2016 Highlights video which follows.

Highlights From Nashua Area Radio Club’s 2016 Activities

We made a video as a sort of memory book about our club’s activities and accomplishments in 2016. We hope that you enjoy it!

Fred, AB1OC

Thanksgiving Weekend NPOTA Fun

With only 1 month to go in the ARRL NPOTA event and some free time this Thanksgiving weekend, Fred and I decided to hit the road to activate some new parks.    We activated two nearby parks, each less than 1 hour away from our home,  Lamprey Wild and Scenic River,  WR23, near Epping, NH, and Minuteman National Historical Park, HP27, near Concord, MA.    There were close to 900K QSOs made overall in the NPOTA program as of Thanksgiving day and we also wanted to help the cause to get to 1Million NPOTA QSOs by year’s end.

Map of Lamprey Wild and Scenic River NPOTA
Map of Lamprey Wild and Scenic River

On Saturday, we drove to Epping, NH, where we activated Lamprey Wild and Scenic River.   It was a rainy day, but we still enjoyed the scenic drive along the river.  We drove along the river until we found a place by the river to park and operate.  The bands were not great, with a K-index of 4 and a high A-index.  Despite the conditions, our activation was a success.  We operated on both 20m and 40m SSB and made a total of 307 QSOs over 3 hours.

Minute Man National Historical Park NPOTA
View of Countryside in Minute Man National Historical Park

I work in Burlington, MA and often travel between Burlington and Waltham, MA for meetings.  Each time I passed by Lexington on I-95 I saw the sign for Minute Man NHP and thought it would be fun to do an NPOTA activation from there.  We activated the park on Saturday. We entered the park from the Concord, MA end and were pleasantly surprised to see some nice countryside in the middle of a suburban area of Massachusetts, not far from Boston.

AB1QB logging for AB1OC/M during the NPOTA activation
AB1QB logging for AB1OC/M during the NPOTA activation.

We operated from a parking lot in the park from mid-afternoon until dark.  The bands were a little better on Saturday and we were able to get 239 contacts into the log, mostly the US but also worked stations from Spain, Jamaica, Aruba and Puerto Rico.

We have enjoyed activating 8 National parks so far in the NPOTA event.  We are planning another activation between Christmas and New Years of multiple parks before the end of the event on December 31.

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide