Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment

Get A Custom Program for Your HT

It seems that many Hams struggle a bit to get their HTs programmed with the right set of repeaters and other memory settings. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be offering a custom HT Programming Clinic at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 to help hams get their HT’s programmed.

HTs That We Can Program

HTs at Tech Class - Amateur Radio Youth Outreach - HT Program
HTs at Tech Class

We will offer custom programming for the following HT models:

Icom HTs

  • ID-31
  • ID-51 (all models)

Kenwood HTs

  • TH-D72
  • TH-D74

Yaesu HTs

  • FT-4X and FT-4V
  • FT60
  • FT65
  • FT70D

BaoFeng HTs

  • UV-5R
  • BF-F8HP

TDXone

  • TD-Q8

How Will It Work?

HT Program
Custom HT Programming Request

The programming process will be with the completion of a request (shown above) that includes some basic information about the radio to be programmed. Each person can select from a list of options for their custom program which includes:

  • Preserving a limited number of existing memories in their radio
  • Calling Channels and Simplex Frequencies
  • Custom Repeater List for your location including DSTAR and Fusion Repeaters
  • FM Satellites Frequencies with Doppler Correction (AO-85, AO-91, AO-92, SO-50, and PO-101)
  • APRS Frequencies
  • The Nashua Area Radio Society’s Fox Frequencies

The NARS Member who is running the HT Programming Clinic will save a copy of the existing program as a backup and then use an RTSystems programmer to assemble the custom program from a combination of on-line apps and stored program components.

The user’s location is used to generate a custom list of repeaters with a 10-15 mile radius of their location. This list can include DSTAR and Fusion capable repeaters if the user’s radio supports these.

HT Program
RTSystems Program for Yaesu FT65

The completed custom program will be loaded into the person’s HT and checked out.

We hope that you’ll stop by the NARS Display at HamXpostion @ Boxboro 2019 to get you HT programmed.

Fred, AB1OC

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

Ham Bootcamp

Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help prospective and newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license. It is also a great opportunity for prospective hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer.Our Bootcamp activities are provided online via a series of sessions geared towards Technicians and prospective Hams and General class licenses and higher Hams. Bootcamp participants will find all of this material interesting and fun no matter what their focus or license level.

We are continuing to provide our Bootcamp program during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are providing Ham Bootcamp in an online format using Zoom. Our online Ham Bootcamp program is available to all licensed and prospective Hams in North America. Please contact us to sign up for our next online Ham Bootcamp via email to [email protected].

Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities

  • Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or  Mobile Radio and an Antenna
  • Radio Programming Tutorial
  • Getting started with EchoLink
  • Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net
  • Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites
  • Getting started with Fox Hunting

HF Session Activities

  • Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital
  • Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedline, and Ground
  • Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice
  • Software and setup for Logging Contacts via your computer
  • Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital
  • Finding DX and QSL’ing – Getting them in the log and confirmed

… and more!

Virtual Ham Radio Shopping Trip

  • Join us for a guided tour of all of the gear and goodies that are available to build or expand your station.
  • Ask questions and get answers from NARS experts on what gear might be best for your situation.
  • We provide the Virtual Shopping Trip via a follow-on Zoom session shortly after Bootcamp. Information on how to join us for this event will be shared at our next Bootcamp session.

Articles About Ham Bootcamp

Are you interested in learning more about our Ham Bootcamp program? We’ve written quite a few articles about Bootcamp here on our Blog. You can read them via this link. Also, check out the article about a  recent Ham Bootcamp at the New England HamXposition.

Bootcamp has also been featured in the October 2020 edition of QST Magazine. You can view the article here.

Sign Up for Ham Bootcamp

Don’t miss this twice a year opportunity to learn more about Amateur Radio, improve your station, expand your skills, and get on the air.

Our Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp session will be held online via Zoom on Saturday, November 7th from 10 am – 6 pm Eastern Time.

See you at Ham Bootcamp! You can contact us to sign up for our next Bootcamp via email to [email protected].

Support Ham Bootcamp

The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many training and skills development activities for new Hams and Young People. We also have many programs to enable folks young and old alike to join the Amateur Radio service. Please consider supporting our programs and our work by making a donation via the GoFundMe campaign which follows.

The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) non-profit charity.

Fred, AB1OC

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

September Contest Notes

On the Doorstep

CQ WW SSB, the biggest phone contest of the year, is a little under two months away. Solar conditions have not been kind to us this year, and there’s little chance for a big improvement in the next few weeks, but there’s still DX to be found. Now is a good time to familiarize yourself with websites that can help you gauge propagation during the nadir of the cycle. 

spaceweather.com provides current solar conditions and forecasts, especially for geomagnetic storms. One interesting thing on this site is the “Spotless Days” tally. As of this writing, we’ve had 23 days without a sunspot. As we all know, no sunspots, no big fun on the high bands! But there might be _some_ fun, maybe a little, so always check 10m and 15m when you operate. You might be rewarded. And when not in a contest always give 17m a look. Often when 20m is open you’ll find 17m has some activity, too.

Maybe your logging program already has an interface to the DX spotting network (mine, MacLoggerDX does, for example) but several websites also offer views and it is worth giving these resources a look. DXHeat.com claims to have 43 million DX spots in their database. They’ve been at it a while, so it sounds plausible. Check out the “Band Activity” display by selecting “N. America” as your continent. The display aggregates the DX spots into a by-band, by-continent intensity display. 

DXHeat band activity map

Click the DX Cluster button and then play with the filters. You can select one or many bands, one or more modes, even which continents you are interested in hearing from and which continent posted the spot. To cut down on all the chatter click the NA button under De to see only North American spots of DX.

There are a number of online DX spotting network websites, all of which offer something unique. I suggest looking at one band and one mode at a time at different times during the day. This will give you a very good idea of what is possible during your next on-air adventure.

September Highlights

Tennessee QSO Party [1800Z Sep 1 to 0300Z Sep 2]

Exchange: TN stations give RS(T) + county, others RS(T) + state/province/country

For those of us in New England, Tennessee is in that sweet spot that’s not too close, and not too far away. If you put some effort into this contest you could probably do a clean sweep of all 95 counties. That would put you well on your way to a County Hunters award.

All Asian DX Contest [0000Z Sep 7 to 2400Z Sep 8]

Exchange: RS + 2-digit age

I know my log is a little light when it comes to Asia, so this would be a good chance for me to put more callsigns and prefixes into my log. It is also a great way to see how propagation to Asia might be during CQ WW. It is worth a look.

National Contest Journal Sprints

CW [0000Z-0400Z Sep 8]

RTTY [0000Z-0400Z Sep 15]

Exchange: [other station’s call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] + [your state/province/country]

Sprints are fun, especially if you’re a little nervous calling CQ. You work somebody calling CQ, then they clear off and it is your frequency to call CQ and make a QSO. Everybody takes turns.

As always, check out www.contesting.com and the linked calendar for a complete list of on-air contest.

New Hampshire QSO Party [1600Z Sep 21 to 0400Z Sep 22 and 1600Z-2200Z Sep 22]

Exchange:

NH: RS(T) + county

others RS(T) + state/province

DX: RST(T) + “DX”

This is our time to shine! It is fun to be the one sought after. And, this is a great way to warm-up to the big contesting season.

The End of Summer

Get those last-minute antenna projects done, check out all your equipment, maybe even make that last-minute run to Ham Radio Outlet! Summer might be ending but contesting season is in the wings. Get ready!

Scott, NE1RD

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide