Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/POTA Activation of Miller State Park/Mount Pack Monadnock

The Nashua Area Radio Society will have our first Summits on the Air (SOTA)/Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of the year on Saturday, April 13th. This is great timing as it occurs just a few days after our Tech Night build of the Tape Measure Yagis!

6m Portable Antenna
AB1OC’s 6m Portable Antenna on Mount Pack Monadnock

Miller State Park is located at  13 Miller Park Road in Peterborough and is designated as K-2662 for POTA and W1/HA-041 (Pack Mount Monadnock) for SOTA. The park is open from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. There is a fee of $4/adult and $2/child (6-11 years old).

Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating VHF-UHF Portable
Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating VHF-UHF Portable on Mount Pack Monadnock

This is a great opportunity for an introduction to both the SOTA and POTA program. Miller State Park is the oldest state park in New Hampshire and has a 1.3-mile paved road leading to the 2,290′ summit of Mount Pack Monadnock. There are two hiking trails from the parking area to the summit as well. The Wapack Trail and the Marion Davis Trail, both are 1.4 miles long. I would expect the trails to be wet and slightly muddy, but mainly clear of snow. Those that would like to hike up should meet in the parking lot around 10:00 am and dress for the weather and trail conditions.

Abby’s, AB1BY 1st SOTA on Mt. Pack Monadnock

Those that are driving up should plan on being at the top by 11:00 am. If you have a portable radio please bring it. If you only have an HT you will be surprised by how many contacts you can make up on the summit. I will have at least two radios as well as an HT and I am happy to share!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at [email protected].

Jamey, AC1DC

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter

New Membership Meeting Presentations and Summaries

Scott, NE1RD has been putting together a great lineup of presenters for our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights. Our Members have asked that we include some of the Membership Meeting presentations that we’ve been seeing at our meeting here on our website. We’ve added a selected presentation archive to our Membership Meetings page for this purpose. You need to be logged into our website to see this material.

We have lots of activities going on and we begin each of our Membership Meetings with an update on what’s coming up and how our many projects are doing. We’re also going to include the update from our latest meeting as well.

You can find all of this material along with information about the speakers for our upcoming meetings on our Membership Meetings page.

Fred, AB1OC

 

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

High Altitude Balloon 4 Launch Windows Set

We have set the initial set of launch windows for our High Altitude Balloon’s 4th flight (HAB-4) for the following three weekends in April:

  • Saturday, April 6th / Sunday, April 7th
  • Saturday, April 13th / Sunday, April 14th
  • Saturday, April 20th
  • Saturday, June 1st / Sunday, June 2nd
  • Saturday, June 8th/Sunday, June 9th

Students at Hudson Memorial School and Bishop-Guertin HS are both participating in our HAB-4 STEM program.

HAB-2 Launch Site in Winchester NH
HAB Launch Site in Winchester NH

We will again be launching from the Elementary School in Winchester, NH at around 10:30 am. Preparation for our launch will begin at 8:30 am.

Our HAB carries video cameras that allow us to see what the HAB sees as it travels through the atmosphere. You can click on the video above to see what a HAB flight is like including video taken at over 90,000 ft above sea level!

HAB Camera Insulation and Heating System

High Altitude Balloon 4 (HAB-4) will be the first to launch with our new camera insulating and heating system. This arrangement is intended to keep the cameras from freezing and shutting off early. The cameras will also carry the smaller, lighter weight batteries that we used on HAB-1. Together, we hope these improvements will allow us to capture video throughout HAB-4’s ascent, balloon burst, descent, and landing.

High Altitude Balloon 4 Flight Parameters
HAB-4 Flight Parameters

The graphic above shows the final flight parameters for HAB-4. We are expecting HAB-4 to burst at around 110,000 ft a.s.l. with the flight lasting about 2 1/2 hours.

HAB Flight Path Prediction - Saturday April 6th
HAB Flight Path Prediction – Saturday, April 6th
HAB Flight Path Prediction - Sunday April 7th
HAB Flight Path Prediction – Sunday, April 7th

The images above show the initial flight path predictions for the first  HAB-4 launch window. The weather and Jetstream forecasts are still fairly unreliable at this point (6 – 7 days in advance of the first launch windows). These will likely change quite a bit between now and this coming Thursday evening when we will make a final go/no-go launch decision for the April 6th / April 7th launch window. We will also be looking closely at the Ground Weather for acceptable ground wind speed under 15 mph at launch and either clear skies or limited cloud cover to permit HAB-4 to be launched.

HAB Flight Platform
HAB Flight Platform

The HAB will again be carrying a flight computer and APRS telemetry and tracking system. You will be able to track HAB-4 during its flight via aprs.fi. You can learn more about how to track our HABs here.

Stay tuned to our Forums for additional updates and the final go/no-go decision as the week progresses. If the first launch window does not work out, we’ll begin counting down to the second window (April 13th / April 14th). We hope that you’ll join us in Winchester, NH for our launch!

Fred, AB1OC

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