Category Archives: Youth Activities

Articles and other information about Ham Radio activities for young people. Our youth activities include GOTA events, our High Altitude Balloon project, help getting licensed and more.

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

New England Tech Trek at NEAR-Fest this Weekend

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NEAR-Fest and the Deerfield Fair Association will be presenting a SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Exposition for young people and at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in Deerfield, NH on May 4th and 5th 2018 as part of NEAR-Fest XXIII.  The event is the New England Tech Trek.

Nashua Area Radio Society and the New England Tech Trek

Nashua Area Radio Society members will be at many of the tables in NETT.  The event is for young people but people of all ages are invited and it will be a great opportunity to learn about many aspects of the hobby.

Visit our tables to learn about:
  • Welcome and Licensing
  • Kit Building and Raspberry Pi Projects
  • Morse Code
  • Fox Hunting
  • SOTA and Portable Operation
  • Field Day / Emcomm
  • High Altitude Balloons
Raspberry Pi Projects
Raspberry Pi Projects
View from a High Altitude Balloon
View from a High Altitude Balloon
We will also have 5 GOTA stations:
  • 2 HF GOTAs
  • A Satellite GOTA
  • Mobile Communications/GOTA
  • Repeater GOTA as part of the Field Day Table
Mobile HF
Mobile HF

If you can’t make it to Deerfield this year, you can contact our GOTA stations on the air.   We will be using the Special Event Call N1T.

The New England Tech Trek will be held on Friday, May 4th from 10am to 5pm and Saturday, May 5th from 9 am to 2 pm.  See the attached brochure for more information by clicking on the link below.

NEAR-Fest NETT v3

Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities

HAB 3 Update

HAB 3 Update:  We have been working with four schools this winter and spring in preparation for the HAB 3 launch in the next few weeks.  The schools are:

  • Hudson Memorial School, Hudson, NH
  • World Academy, Nashua, NH
  • Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua, NH
  • Merrimack High School, Merrimack, NH
HMS Students on the air during HAB Session
HMS Students on the air during HAB Session

HAB Instruction

Hudson Memorial School and World Academy are new to the HAB program – we have been giving weekly sessions to the students on the science behind the HAB.  This year, we added a new topic to the curriculum, Space Communications which has proved to be popular.

World Academy Students in HAB Program
World Academy Students in HAB Program

Advanced HAB Program

The other 2 schools, Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School have been through the HAB curriculum in the past.  We have developed a new program involving kit building and CW that has proven to be very popular.

We have hosted kit builds with both schools to build the Pixie 40 m QRP kit.  There was great interest from both schools in the kit build and all kits were built successfully.

Bishop Guertin High School Students building Pixie Kit
Bishop Guertin High School Students building Pixie Kit

The 2nd part of the activity is a CW competition.  Teams of 2 students compete in a competition at each school.  They use their Pixie kits with Keys connected to send a message to their teammate.  The team that copies the CW most accurately in the least time wins the prize, which is an Oscilloscope kit and another Pixie kit.  We have held the competition with the students from Merrimack High School and it was a great success and all students, teachers and NARS members who elmered them had a great time!

MHS Morse Code Competition Winners
Merrimack High School Morse Code Competition Winners

We also helped 3 students from Merrimack and Bishop Guertin High Schools to earn their Tech Licenses during our Spring Tech License Class.

HAB 3 Launch Plans

 

HAB-1 Launch!
HAB-1 Launch!

The HAB 3 Launch will happen on a Saturday or Sunday over the next few weeks.  We are watching the jet stream and launch predictions and will schedule it on a day where the conditions look good.  Stay tuned to the website for more info when the date is scheduled.

Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities

HAB School Kit Builds

We have started our HAB-3 program and we are working with 4 schools who will be part of the launch.  Two of the schools, Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School have been through the preparation sessions before.  To expand their involvement with STEM activities, the Nashua Area Radio Society has hosted kits builds at both schools.

Fred, AB1OC Elmers the BGHS Kit BuildersFred, AB1OC Elmers the BGHS Kit Builders

The first kit build was held earlier this month with 6 students from Bishop Guertin High School.  They built the 40 meter Pixie Kit QRP radio, the same one the NARS built a year or so ago.

Tech Night Suggestions
Pixie Kit

The students did a great job once they learned to solder and enjoyed the kit build.

Bishop Guertin Students Build the Pixie Kit
Bishop Guertin Students Build the Pixie Kit

The students are also learning morse code and there will be a morse competition in future sessions at both schools, using the Pixie kits built by the students.

Merrimack High School Students build the Pixie kit
Merrimack High School Students build the Pixie kit

Last Friday,  5 club members were Elmers to 18 students at Merrimack High School, who also built the PIXIE kit.  Thanks to Bill, AB1AV, Niece, KA1ULN, Mike, K1WVO, Jamey, AC1DC , Tom, AB1NS, and Fred, AB1OC for helping the kids to have a successful kit build.

Merrimack High School Students Building the Pixie Kit
Merrimack High School Students Building the Pixie Kit

All of the teachers and students had a great time and learned a lot during the kit build.  They are looking forward to the morse code competition.

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide