On August 26, a group of members did a SOTA/POTA Activation from the top of Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast at 6288 ft. Members reached the summit by different means. Abby, AB1BY and Mike AB1YK hiked to the summit. Patrick, KC1HDN and his XYL Dorothy took the Cog Railway and others took the Mount Washington Auto Road.
Entrance to the Mount Washington Auto Road
Driving up the Auto Road
Fred, AB1OC, Tony, KC1DLX, and Anita, AB1QB, road up the Auto Road. It was an 8-mile drive to the top with breathtaking views along the way.
A Stop along the Auto Road
We had great weather on the mountain. Clouds sometimes passed overhead but it was sunny most of the time which provided for great views of the surrounding White Mountains.
View from the Summit
Operating at the Summit
When we reached the summit, we set up a 6-meter station with an Icom IC-7300 and an M2 6 meter beam at 22 ft.
6-meter beam antenna at the Summit
The station was powered by batteries and solar panels.
Fred, AB1OC, Mike, AB1YK, and Tony, KC1DLX setting up the solar panels
Fred, Tony, and I had a great time operating the station, completing over 50 QSOs all over the Northeast.
Anita, AB1QB, operating on 6 meters from the summit of Mt. Washington
Several other members joined us at the summit, including Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP.
Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP operating from the summit
After the Activation
Thanks to Tony, KC1DXL, and his XYL Josephine, who hosted us for a delicious dinner at their nearby condo after the activation.
Thanks to Jamey, KC1ENX, for planning a great day for club members! This was our 3rd SOTA/POTA activation this year and each one has been better than the previous one! We’re looking forward to the next summit!
Here are more pictures from Mount Washington:
Mt. Washington Summit View
Mt. Washington Summit View
Mt. Washington Summit View 2
Mt. Washington Summit View 2
Mt. Washington Summit View 3
Mt. Washington Summit View 3
Mt. Washington Summit View 4
Mt. Washington Summit View 4
Mt. Washington Summit View 5
Mt. Washington Summit View 5
Mt. Washington Summit View 6
Mt. Washington Summit View 6
6m Station
6m Station
6m Station 2
6m Station 2
6m Station 3
6m Station 3
Solar Power
Solar Power
Solar Power 2
Solar Power 2
Operating on Mt Washington
Operating on Mt Washington
Operating on Mt Washington 2
Operating on Mt Washington 2
Mt Washington Summit
Mt Washington Summit
Nashua Area Radio Club Members on Mt. Washington
Nashua Area Radio Club Members on Mt. Washington
Nashua Area Radio Club Members on Mt. Washington 2
Field Day 2017 is but a memory for us now. Dave, K1DLM, our Field Day Chairman, and the entire Field Day team did a great job with putting together our Field Day operation this year.
We are still adding up our score and collecting pictures and video from everyone. I wanted to get something out quickly so that we could begin to enjoy some of the memories. So here is my quick Sights from Field Day 2017….
Our Field Day Telegraph Article
We did a fantastic job on publicity this year…
The Parking Lot Was Full
and the parking lot was full of visitors and members on Saturday and Sunday.
Our Public Info Tent Is A Hit
Our updated Public Information Tent was a hot spot for our many visitors (over 45 visitors signed our guest register)!
ARRL Section Leaders – Peter, K1PJS And John, K1UAF
The ARRL “brass” came out early to congratulate Dave, K1DLM our Field Day Chairman, and to tour our site.
The Food Was Awesome!
The food was unbelievably good – thanks, Valerie!!! And the N1FD cafe’ was a hot-spot as usual.
Everyone operated very hard and we made more contacts than last year!
CW Ops – Dennis, K1LGQ
Our CW operators were amazing again this year. Here’s Dennis banging out CW QSOs. Dave, KM3T even operated SO2R for a period – calling “CQ” and working contacts on both 20M and 40M CW at the same time! Gene, W3UA brought his CW skimmer and we set up an OCF dipole to provide on-site CW spots.
And The Generators Played On…
And the new generators worked flawlessly and were much easier to service.
and our visitors got a kick out of seeing the computer controlled satellite antennas.
Team Finchum In Action
Team Finchum was in high gear as always – here’s Abby, AB1BY operating with her brother Connor, KC1GGX. It seemed like Abby was on every SSB station that I looked at all weekend long…
New Digital Station For 2017
Our new SDR powered Digital Station worked well and we had lots of digital contacts using the antennas on the new 60 ft. tower.
The SDR GOTA Was Cool!
The SDR-based GOTA station worked out super well. Ira, KC1EMJ was our GOTA coach and was busy on Saturday and Sunday introducing our guests and newly licensed members to “high-tech” Amateur Radio. We had many young people try Amateur Radio for the very first time on our GOTA station.
Anita, AB1QB, our scoring chairman is still working on tallying up our score but it will be higher than last year.
Please take a minute and send me any photos or video that you have from Field Day 2017. We’ll be producing a video of all of the fun for the Field Day 2017 Recap at our club meeting on July 11th. Don’t miss it!
The idea was to use an IC-7300 to create a 100W station and use a Solar/Battery combination to power the setup. Solar/Battery made us “legal” as a SOTA activation. We combined two 90W solar panels which I had with an MPPT solar charging system and two LiPo batteries to create the power system for the activation.
All of this gear was carried to the site and setup in about an hour. A 25 ft. section of LMR-400UF coax completed the station. The mast was guyed with rings which allowed us to turn the mast/antenna combination to point the Yagi in any direction.
6M SOTA Activation
Anita, AB1QB, and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest
Between the SOTA/POTA activation and the June VHF contest, we made a little over 130 contacts on 6m. We did not have any real Es openings so most of our contacts were regional. Having the elevation provided by being on Pack Monadnock made us quite loud for the stations that could hear us. Several of our club members got on 6M and joined the fun. We did have a brief Es opening and managed to work a station in Alabama and one in Florida.
Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M
Mike, AB1YK has a much more portable 6M setup and used lower power to have some fun on 6M as well.
Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable
Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP put together a nice station and operated using battery power. Several other club members came out with a portable station or to watch and have fun as well.
Our first SOTA/POTA activation was a lot of fun and Anita and I are looking forward to the next one!
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