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 steepFantastic 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 yagiLove 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!
Fred, AB1OC and I have traveled to Dayton to the Hamvention just about every year since we were licensed in 2011. We have a great time each year, learning at Contest University and the Forums, visiting the vendors to check out our next purchase, and catching up with friends at the dinners and at the Hamvention. However, this year’s Hamvention will stand out as a Hamvention to remember in comparison to the rest as we had so many friends from the Nashua Area Radio Society to share it with.
Tuesday and Wednesday – Trip and Arrival in Dayton
Dave, K1DLM watches as our waitress at the Melting Pot prepares the Fondue
Fred and I drove to Dayton with Jamey, AC1DC, leaving Tuesday evening and arriving Wednesday midday. Thanks go out to Jamey, for putting up with and helping with the very long and tiring drive to and from Dayton. My birthday almost always falls during the Hamvention and Fred takes me out to eat at my choice of restaurants. Lately, my favorite has been the Melting Pot, a restaurant that serves fondue. They serve a four-course meal, with your choice of Cheese Fondue, Salad, Entrees, which you cook on a stick, and Chocolate Fondue for dessert. This year I was honored to be joined by Dave, K1DLM, Jamey, AC1DC and Tom, AB1NS in addition to Fred. I think that Fondue was a new experience for most and I appreciate that everyone was a good sport and joined along with us. This was definitely a birthday to remember.
Thursday – Contest University and Booth Setup
Contest University
On Thursday, we attended Contest University, where we learned about Solar Weather and What is Known about Solar Cycle 25 and how the WRTC 2014 winners can work 300-400 CW QSOs per hour in the major contests. There is always a large crowd here and we learn something new every year.
NARS Booth at ARRL Expo at Hamvention
On Thursday afternoon, we headed over to the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, the site of Hamvention. The ARRL invited us to be a spotlight club in their booth, which was also the 2019 ARRL Convention. It was time to setup the booth before the festivities begin on Friday. Thanks to Jamey, AC1DC, Sandy, XYL of NE1RD, and Burns, WB1FJ for helping with the booth. You can see how great it looked in the photo above. Additionally, we had a great spot, right next to the meet and greet for the ARRL executives and across from the RSGB.
NARS Dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse
By Thursday evening, more of the NARS team had arrived. We met for dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, near the Crowne Plaza in downtown Dayton. Pictured above are Jerry, K1OKD, Charlie, W1CBD, Dave, K1DLM, Brian, W1BP, Fred, AB1OC and Tom, AB1NS.
Friday – Start of Hamvention!
ARRL Dayton 2019
On Friday morning, everyone arrived bright and early for the opening of Hamvention. The ARRL invited us to be in their group picture before the crowds arrived.
NARS Team in the booth at Dayton
After the photo shoot, we returned to the booth and waited for the crowds to arrive. We had lots of visitors and plenty of club officers and members interested in learning about our club, our focus on mentoring, club activities, youth outreach, and of course, Field Day.
Jamey Presents at Friday ARRL Forum
The ARRL invited us to do a presentation at one of their Forums on Friday morning – the ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring. The presentation was well received by the audience and afterwards, at our booth, we have been mentoring other clubs on how to improve their clubs. Thanks to the following members who were part of the presentation:
A copy of the slides can be found in an article on our website. The ARRL video recorded the forum and we will make the video available to members once we receive it from the ARRL.
Saturday – Awards Dinner
NARS Club of the Year at Hamvention Awards Dinner
On Saturday evening, we attended the Hamvention Awards Dinner at the Mills Park Hotel in Yellow Springs, not far from Xenia, where we received the Club of the Year award. DARA (the Dayton Amateur Radio Organization, who runs the Hamvention) put on a great event.
Pietro Begali, I2RTF with Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB
We also spoke to the other award winners, Chris Janssen, DL1MGB, the chair for WRTC-2018 in Germany, Pietro Begali, I2RTF, who makes the most beautiful and high quality CW keys and also contributes a great deal to Amateur Radio in Italy, and Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, founder and leader of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI). For more on their stories, see the Hamvention 2019 Awards Page.
Club of the Year Award
Sunday – Saying Goodbye and Heading Home from a Hamvention to Remember
Bob Heil, K9IED visits the Booth
Sunday was the last day of Hamvention. We continued to get lots of visitors to our booth, including Bob Heil, K9EID, host of Ham Nation and whose company, Heil Sound, makes high-quality Professional and Amateur Radio Audio gear.
Sadly, around noon, it was time to tear down the booth and pack up to go home. We attended the public awards ceremony, where we were again honored, and then we left to drive home. Thanks to our club photographer, Charlie, W1CBD for taking so many great photos during the event, many of which are in this article. Thanks to all of the members who traveled out to Dayton and spent time with us and helped out at Hamvention. This was truly a Hamvention to Remember. Thanks also to all members of the Nashua Area Radio Society for helping to make us an International Award Winning Club!
A major part of our plans for Satellite Station 4.0 includes the ability to operate our home satellite station remotely over the Internet. We’ve been using our Flex-6700 Software Defined Radio as a Remote Operating Gateway on the HF Bands and 6m for some time now. Our latest project is to upgrade our Remote Operating GW to include SDR satellite transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands…
We’ve completed hardware upgrades and repackaging of our Remote Operating Gateway to allow it to be used for satellite operations. The article (link above) explains what was involved in upgrading our Flex-6700 SDR to include SDR Satellite Transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23m bands. The project includes:
Addition of a 2m Amplifier, a 70cm Transverter, and a 23cm Upconverter to our Flex-6700 SDR
Provision for the addition of the 5GHz and 10 GHz satellite bands in the future
Local and remote monitoring of power output and SWR
Use of the Flex-6700 GPS Disciplined Oscillator for locking of frequencies on all bands
Enhanced remote power and station controls which provide station management via the Internet
Repackaging of the system in a rack mount enclosure that can be placed under our operating desk
The next stage of our SDR Satellite Transceiver project will be to add the software components needed to control the Flex-6700/SmartSDR combination to make satellite contacts.
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