Tag Archives: Education and Training

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

Welcome to the New Executive Committee Members

As we just held our annual officer elections, I’d like to thank the departing officers for their service to the club.  Departing the Executive committee are:

  • Vice President, Dave Michaels, N1RF
  • Treasurer, Wayne Wagner, AG1A
  • Programs, Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO

Our Executive Committee members have worked hard to move the Nashua Area Radio Society forward this past year. Some of our major progress in 2017 includes:

2018 Executive Committee Members

I’d like to congratulate and welcome our new and returning Officers and Directors to the Executive Committee.  Our 2018 Officers and Directors are:

  • President, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
  • Vice President, Dave Merchant, K1DLM
  • Secretary, Brian McCaffrey, W1BP
  • Treasurer, Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS
  • Membership, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC
  • Programs, Scott Andersen, NE1RD
  • Activities, Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB

I am looking forward to working with the New Executive Committee a toward a successful 2018.

Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

Propagation Prediction Websites

Is the 20-meter band open to the location of the latest DXpedition on the bands?   When is 6 meters open for Sporadic E?  Looking for a weak signal 2-meter contact with a specific grid square?  There are websites you can visit that give you a prediction of whether the band you are on is open to a given destination.

HF Propagation

N0NBH Propagation Widget
N0NBH Propagation Widget

The simplest HF propagation prediction is the widget that is seen on many Amateur Radio Websites – QRZ.com, DXSummit.fi, and more.   This gives you a rough idea of what bands are open day and night. Data is based on the Sunspot Number, A and K indices, and other indices.  But this doesn’t take into account many factors like your location, the DX location, the characteristics of your station, and the DX station.  Just because 15m says Poor doesn’t mean you won’t hear anything on the band.

VOACAP – HF Propagation Prediction

VOACAP Point to Point Prediction
VOACAP Point to Point Prediction

VOACAP is the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program and provides detailed information about HF propagation.  You can choose transmitter and receiver locations from many cities around the world.  It also provides choices of Antennas, Power, Mode, and more for each end of the contact. You can look at several different views of propagation.  If you spend some time delving into the details of propagation visit this site.

VOACAP prediction from DXSummit.fi
VOACAP prediction from DXSummit.fi

For a faster view of whether you will be able to contact a specific DX Station that is currently on the air,  the DXSummit.fi spotting website has incorporated propagation predictions on their website.  If you find a DX station spotted there that you contact, just right-click on the DX callsign and select VOACAP from the drop-down.   You just need to choose whether you are a Basic (100 watts and a Wire) or a Superstation (Amplifier and Directional Antenna).  You can also look at views of Short Path or Long Path.  It will give you a good view of when you need to be on which band to contact the DX station.

6 Meters – The Magic Band

DXMaps - 6 Meter Openings
DXMaps – 6 Meter Openings

The best website that I have found for 6 meters is DXMaps.com.  It provides a map view of the world or you can select a continent. Based on spotting network data, it shows 6-meter contacts and color codes them by Sporadic-E, Multihop ES, Meteor Scatter, etc…  even Aurora.  You can also get a view of 10 meters, 2 meters, or 70 cm.  If you sign up for a free account, you can subscribe to real-time notifications when there is an opening near you.

2 Meter Propagation

VHF Propagation Map
VHF Propagation Map

Looking for a tropo opening for a weak signal 2-meter contact?   Visit the website http://aprs.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/ to see a VHF Propagation map.  This shows tropo openings as color-coded clouds – with brighter colors for the longer openings.    This is based on APRS data.

These are the websites that I like to visit to understand the propagation forecast for the day.  If your favorite site is not on the list, add a comment so the rest of our readers can check it out.

Anita, AB1QB

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

HAB-2 Sets Altitude Record!

We flew our High-Altitude Balloon for the second time this past weekend. Our second High-Altitude Balloon Flight (HAB-2) was part of a STEM learning project that we did with STEM club students at Bishop-Guertin High School in Nashua, NH. The students did all of the flight prep and launched HAB-2 at approximately 11 am ET from a school in Winchester, NH. Parents, teachers and local students joined us for the launch as did several members of our HAB team.

High-Altitude Balloon 2 Actual Flight Path
High-Altitude Balloon 2 Actual Flight Path

Our students and many Hams were able to track HAB-2 during its flight via APRS. HAB-2’s actual flight path prediction matched our modeling quite well.

High-Altitude Balloon 2 Predicted Flight Path
High-Altitude Balloon 2 Predicted Flight Path

The direction and shape of the path were almost the same as what our model predicted but the flight took longer and went higher than we expected.

High-Altitude Balloon Altitude Record
High-Altitude Balloon 2’s Balloon Burst Altitude

We broke our previous altitude record by A LOT! The balloon burst west of Rochester, NH at just short of 118,000 ft! HAB-2’s final altitude was about 400 ft higher than the last APRS burst shown above. This is more the 25,000 ft higher than our last flight!

HAB-2 Water Landing in Maine
HAB-2 Water Landing in Maine

HAB-2 landed in a pond in Maine. Our floatation system worked well – it kept most of the electronics dry and prevented HAB-2 from sinking.

HAB-2's Water Recovery in Maine
HAB-2’s Water Recovery in Maine

Fortunately, Jamey, KC1ENX and Curtis, N1CMD had Jamey’s kayak and were able to retrieve HAB-2. The equipment was wet but appears to be in good working condition. We have all of the telemetry data from HAB-2’s flight.

Due to a glitch at launch, the platform flew on its side for the entire flight and the cameras shut off early due to some unusually cold conditions (-70° F) that HAB-2 encountered during its flight. We did get some video from the first 50 minutes of the flight.

You can view the video of HAB-2’s launch, flight, and recovery below.

Our students will be getting together later this week to analyze the data from HAB-2’s flight. We are also planning an Amateur Radio open house for them on Sunday, Nov. 12th at our QTH.

Congratulations to our students and to our HAB Team for another successful flight!

 Fred, AB1OC

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide