Tag Archives: Education and Training

Activities, Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, On The Air, Station Equipment

Register Now for Ham Bootcamp!

Are you a newly licensed Technician, or a General or Extra and have never been on the air or built a station?  Are you a prospective ham but would like to learn more about Amateur Radio activities?  Ham Bootcamp is the program for you.  We will be holding another online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday, May 14th, 2022.

Registration is open for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Spring Ham Bootcamp.  Ham Bootcamp will be held online using Zoom web conferencing.   This will also let us reach out to new Hams across the country.

Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, KC1KSY as he makes an HF Contact
Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, N1KRB  as he makes an HF Contact

Our spring Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, May 14th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time.  The morning session will focus on Technician level activities and the afternoon session will focus on HF activities for General and above licensees.   New this year will be a breakout session where attendees will have a choice between 3 different sessions.

Here is the agenda:

Abby on Fox Hunting
Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp

Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities

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

HF Session Activities

  • Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital
  • Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedlines, and Grounds
  • Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice
  • Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital

Breakout Session

The final session of the day will be a breakout session where attendees will choose to attend one of the following 3 sessions:

  • Learning CW
  • Finding DX, Logging Contacts, and QSL’ing – Getting them logged/confirmed
  • Portable Operating

Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp will be Online on May 14th

Registration is now open for the May 14th session.  You can get more information about Ham Bootcamp at https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/.

Each attendee should register separately using this link.   After registering, you will receive a link that will allow you to register for the Zoom meeting.  Following the Zoom meeting registration, you will receive a personal Zoom link via email.

Any questions about Bootcamp?  Contact me at [email protected]

 

Anita, AB1QB

Activities, CW and QRP, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, On The Air

Field Day 2021 Recap

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The Nashua Area Radio Society held our first face-to-face event since the start of the pandemic when we gathered at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH for ARRL Field Day from June 25th – 27th.  Field Day 2021 was a great success!  It was great to see all of the members who attended, especially those new members who we have previously only met over Zoom.

Station Setup

For a successful Field Day operation, it is important to have a detailed plan for stations, antennas, operating schedules, transportation, and even food.  3 weeks before Field Day, we met at AB1OC‘s and AB1QB‘s QTH to setup the stations, logging computers, and the network to make sure they all worked together.  Similar sessions were held to test antennas and also train the teams on how to set up the antenna, tower, and stations and how to operate.

Doug, KC1OUY, Jon, AC1EV, Jim, K1BRM and Fred, AB1OC test out the Field Day Stations
Doug, KC1OUY, Jon, AC1EV, Jim, K1BRM and Fred, AB1OC test out the Field Day Stations

As chairperson of the Station Team, I created detailed documentation of all of the station equipment and connections, trained the team on how to set up stations, and assigned specific roles.  We were responsible for setting up the following:

  • 4 HF Stations including coax connections to the antennas
  • The Satellite Station
  • The Network and all ethernet connections
  • The Generators and power distribution
  • Overhead lights and desktop lights and fans
  • The Food and Public Information Tables

The Station Setup Team included Jon, AC1EV, Jack, WM0G, Ryan, KC1MAJ, Jeffrey, KC1LWE, and Doug, KC1OUY.  We had a great, hard-working team and got the stations set up in record time.  We appreciate everyone’s hard work with set up as well as takedown.  Special thanks go out to:

  • Jeffrey , KC1LWE for setting up the Satellite station based on my documentation – few if any changes were needed for Fred to get it to work once the antennas were connected.
  • Doug, KC1OUY for running all of the cables and making them neat enough so that they were not a hazard for all of the club members and visitors.
  • Ryan, KC1MAJ and Jack, WM0G for setting up “NARS P&L” – the power and lighting.
  • Jon, AC1EV  for donating his station and helping to set up the HF stations.
Tower Team
Tower Team

Tower and Antenna Setup

The Tower and Beam teams did an equally great job at setup and N1FD was on the air before dark!  We tested FT8 before sundown and were able to hear JA stations on 15 meters!

HF Tower
HF Tower with 10m-15m-20m Yagi and 40m and 80m Inverted-V Dipole Antennas

Mentoring and Training

Abby, AB1BY Provides Training on Fox Hunting
Abby, AB1BY Provides Training on Fox Hunting

Training and Mentoring are an important part of Field Day.  We have helped many new members to become licensed in the past year, but it important to help them get on the air as well.  Field Day is a great opportunity for new Hams to help out with building stations and develop operating skills.  The Nashua Area Radio Society accomplishes this through training and hands-on opportunities during Field Day.  Before the official start of Field Day Operations at 2:00 pm Local time on Saturday, we held 2 Training Sessions, one on Satellite Operation and another on Fox Hunting.

Satellite Station Training
Satellite Station Training

 

Field Day Operations

Our members enjoyed operating and kept the stations busy throughout the Field Day Operating period.

Jack, WM0G Operating at Field Day
Jack, WM0G Operating at Field Day
Ted, W1TED, Tory, K1VAT, Thomas, KT0MAS
The Trost Family -Thomas, KT0MAS, Ted, W1TED, Tory, K1VAT
Abby, AB1BY and Dave, KM3T
Abby, AB1BY and Dave, KM3T
Ops 20
John (W1MBG) and Joyce (KC1JMK) Keslo
Ops 5
Jamey, AC1EV – Better known as “Abby’s Dad” Competes with her for the Top SSB Operator

Results

Our top operators in each mode were:

SSB: Abby Finchum, AB1BY with 287 SSB QSOs

Ops 2
Abby Finchum, AB1BY

CW: Matt Strelow, KC1XX with 315 QSOs

Matt Strelow, KC1XX
Matt Strelow, KC1XX

Digital: Brian Quick, W1XMM with 55 QSOs

Tower Team 2
Brian Quick, W1XMM was instrumental to the tower team before settling in to work digital during Field Day

 

During Field Day we made a total of 1,895 QSOs.  Our final estimated score is 7,408.

Field Day 2021 Final Results
Field Day 2021 Final Results

Overall, Field Day 2021 was a great success.  Everyone attending had a great time and it was wonderful to see our members in person.

Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Space

Plans for Field Day 2021

We are holding an in-person Field Day operation at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. Here’s some more on our plans for Field Day 2021.

Stations and Antennas for Field Day 2021

We will be a 4A Station with the following Station available for members to use:

  • 20m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 40m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 10m/15m/80 HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 6m VHF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • Computer Controlled 2m/70cm Satellite Ground Station (Can do SSB Phone and CW)

We will have a Tower up with a Triband Yagi and Wire Antennas to Cover 80m – 10m. We will have a 6m LFA Yagi up for the Magic Band. Finally, we will have a Computer-Controlled portable satellite station with Yagis for 2m and 70cm.

You can see a prediction of the Satellite Passes during Field Day here.

Station setup will take place on Friday, June 25th with on-site activities beginning at 11 am.

We will hold a training session on our Stations and other Field Day fun on Saturday, June 26th starting at 12:30 pm. Training will cover:

  • Operating FT8 Digital and Using the 6m Station
  • Operating Using the Satellite Ground Station
  • Fox Hunting

Field Day Operations will begin at 2 pm on Saturday, June 26th, and go for 24-hours ending at 2 pm on Sunday, June 27th. We will take down our station beginning at 2 pm on Sunday.

We will be holding a Message Passing activity on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm. This is a great activity for Technicians – bring your HT and learn how to pass emergency message traffic at Field Day. Contact Aron at [email protected] for more information and to sign up.

Sign-Up To Operate!

Members can sign-up to operate in our Field Day forum.

Field Day Coaches

Field Day at the Nashua Area Radio Society is all about learning and trying new things. We encourage you to sign-up to operate our stations and to learn about modes and bands you may not have experience with. In addition to our planned training, we will have Field Day Coaches available to help you get started and learn to use our Station, and have fun operating.

Field Day Tech Night

We have held two Tech Night sessions to provide training on how to operate at Field Day. Members can view the videos and training presentations for these sessions on our Tech Night Page.

Visitors and the Public are Welcome

If you’d like to learn more about Amateur Radio, we’d like to invite you to visit us at Keyes Memorial Park during Field Day. Noon into the evening on Saturday, June 26th, and Sunday morning, June 27th, up until 2 pm in the afternoon would be a great time to stop by. We’ll be happy to show you around our site, answer your questions, and even get you on the air a bit if you’d like. Also, if you have an HT, bring it and you can hunt our Foxes (hidden radio transmitters).

Logistics for Field Day

We will be operating in the Open-Air Pavillion at Keyes Memorial Park. This will provide shelter should we have any rain. The Pavillion is one-air and this will facilitate safe social distancing and an outdoor environment.

We encourage everyone to get vaccinated for COVID-19 if possible before Field Day. Our site is set up to facilitate social distancing and we will have masks and sanitization supplies available onsite for those who need them.

Several members have graciously volunteered to handle Take Out food runs during Field Day operations. We will also have water and light snacks available.

If you have any questions about Field Day, please post them as part of this thread or email us at [email protected]. We hope that you’ll join us for Field Day!

The NARS Field Day Team

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide