We’ve been busy getting ready for Summer Field Day 2021 at the Nashua Area Radio Society. Our plans include putting up a Tower, a Computer-Controlled Satellite Station, and an upgraded 6m Field Day Station.
6m LFA Yagi
Our 6m Field Day station will be a portable setup and features a new antenna – a 3-Element Loop Fed Array (LFA) Yagi from InnoVAntennas. There are some advantages to LFA Yagi’s for the 6m band and above. In particular, Yagis using an LFA design are less susceptible to noise and interference which is a big advantage for weak-signal work on the 6m Band.
6m LFA Yagi on Mast
Our Yagi is lightweight which makes it ideal for portable applications like Field Day and Mount Topping. Aron, W1AKI, and Jamey, AC1DC helped me to assemble the antenna and put it up on a 25 ft fiberglass mast here at our QTH for testing. The antenna is fed with LMR-400uF coax and rigged with a rotator loop near the top of the mast so that the antenna can be pointed by rotating the mast at the base. The setup is easy to put up – it takes about an hour to do it.
6m Field Day Station
We also use the 6m LFA antenna project as an opportunity to assemble and test our 6m Station for Field Day. The station is an all-mode setup that can do SSB Phone, CW, and WSJT-X Digital (FT8/FT4, Q65, MSK144, etc.). The station will be generator powered at Field Day but it can also be run using a solar/battery setup when Mountain Topping.
The station features an IC-7300 Transceiver (100w), a Winkeyer and Paddles for CW, and a Windows laptop computer running the N1MM+ logger and WSJT-X. The station will also sport a second monitor for Field Day.
N1MM+ Logger on 6m
The N1MM+ Logger works great with the IC-7300 and WSJT-X digital. It supports the all-mode station configuration nicely and it is well integrated with WSJT-X making the logging of FT-8 and other Digital Mode contacts simple. N1MM+ also supports voice recording and keying of the IC-7300 which is a great aid during longer operating events like Field Day.
PSKReporter Test of Portable 6m Station
So how does the upgraded setup play on 6m? Very well! The image above is a snapshot from PSKReporter during our testing session. As you can see, we were using FT8 to test the station and we were heard up and down the eastern U.S. states.
WSJT-X FT8 Decode using 6m Portable Station
Signals were strong in WSJT-X FT8 mode and it was easy to make contacts. We made about 50 contacts during our testing of the 6m Feild Day Station.
The LFA Yagi hears really well making for reliable decodes of signals in the -18 range and often weaker.
6m Meteor Scatter Pings
For fun, I decided to try some 6m Meteor Scatter contacts using the MSK144 mode. This is a challenge with a 100W station as Meteor Scatter general needs a bit of power to work well. As you can see from the image above, we had no problems decoding meteor pings from stations in the midwestern US. I even managed to complete a couple of contacts using Meteor Scatter on the 6m Band.
All in all, we are very pleased with the performance of our upgraded 6m Field Day Station. If we can get a similar Es opening to what we have been seeing here during the last two days, we should have a lot of fun on the Magic Band at Field Day!
2020 was a year that most people would like to forget. However we had a great year at the Nashua Area Radio Society, as we continued to have great meetings and activities online despite the pandemic. Here is our 2020 Year in Review.
Winter Field Day
WFD 2020 Operations
Winter Field Day 2020 was held the last weekend in January. We improved our score by over 100% and came in 2nd in the Outdoor Category. See this article for more on our operation and this article for the results. This was the last major event that we were able to spend together.
Craig N1SFT Working to setup for Winter Field Day
The Pandemic – Meetings Moved Online
May Meeting – Bob Heil, K9EID
When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit, we could no longer meet together. We moved our meetings online and continue to hold our monthly membership meetings and tech nights over Zoom web conferencing. Although we miss getting together in person, this allowed us to include our internet members in our meetings. In addition, geography was no longer a barrier so we brought in some great speakers for our monthly meetings including Bob Heil from Ham Nation, Tim Duffy, K3LR from DX Engineering, Ray Novak from Icom, Fred Lloyd from QRZ, Doug Grant, K1DG, world class contester, and more!
Tim Duffy, K3LR Speaking at June Membership Meeting
September Meeting – Doug Grant, K1DG – Getting Started in Contesting
Ray Novak, N9JA, tells us about the Icom-705 at our November Meeting
Summer Field Day – 2020 Year in Review
Field Day Virtual Site Visit on Zoom
The Nashua Area Radio Society decided to not hold a large group operating event for Field Day 2020 due to the pandemic and the need to social distance. The ARRL modified the rules to allow Category D (Home w/non-emergency power) stations to contact each other and to allow operators to designate a club with their entries.
We held a social distanced field day but still maintained a few of the annual field day activities. Sterling, AK1K took the lead in teaching us all how to send and receive messages for the messaging bonus, and led a messaging net during Field Day. We also held a Zoom meeting and invited an elected official and several club members who are in public agencies so that the members attending could claim those bonuses. Club members who were operating published articles with their plans on the website. You can visit this link to see the Field Day stories.
Our total club score was 14,952, and put us in the top 3% of all clubs.
Jeff, AC1FX Operating at Field Day 2020
Summer Field Day Antenna Setup at Jon, AC1EV’s Station
Spencer Webb, W2SW, Taught us about Antennas, Feedlines and much more!
In addition to taking our membership meetings online, we also took our Tech Nights online each month. This allowed our members as well as internet subscribers to have access to the live training sessions. We had some great speakers including Spencer Webb, W2SW, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC and learned all about EME, Antennas, Contesting, Portable Operating, PCB Design with Eagle and more! Members and Internet Subscribers can find video recordings of our tech nights on our website.
Jamey, AC1DC, Teaches us about Portable Operations
Gordon West Checks In to Technician Class
We also took our license classes online this fall. We are now offering an online exam session after the class to all students in the class. Gordon West dropped in to offer some words of encouragement to our Technician class! Our Spring 2021 Classes are on the calendar and registration is open.
Class Zoom
Ham Bootcamp
October 2020 QST Cover
This year we took our Ham Bootcamp program online. We held an all day Ham Bootcamp on Saturday November 7th, where we taught new and inactive hams the skills they need to get on the air. The session was very successful – we had over 200 people attend! The ARRL published an article about our Ham Bootcamp in the October Issue of QST, which helped Hams all over the country and in Canada find out about it. Our next Ham Bootcamp is scheduled for April 24th, 2021. See this article for more information and links to register for Bootcamp.
Thanks to our Ham Bootcamp instructors, Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, AC1DC, Aron, W1AKI, Burns, WB1FJ, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB.
Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp
Membership
300 Member Cake
2020 was a great year for membership! We celebrated over 300 members at our December Meeting – an increase of over 100 members since 2019! We now have over 240 regular members and over 80 internet subscribers!
Student Teacher Contest Series
Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK – Winner of the Student Teacher Contest Series
We held a Student Teacher Contesting competition this year to encourage young people to get on the air and develop their operating skills. The winner was Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK, who won an IC-7300. Abby Finchum, AB1BY was a close 2nd and will win a DX Engineering Hex Beam Antenna.
NARS in the Media – 2020 Year In Review
Ham Nation Bob with Ham Bootcamp QST Article
The Nashua Area Radio Society got quite a bit of media exposure this year. We published 2 articles in QST, were on Ham Nation twice, and were mentioned in a youth contesting article in the National Contest Journal.
Jim, K1BRM, tells Ham Nation audience about the NARS QSO Party
Our activities chairperson Jim, K1BRM was interviewed by Val, NV9L on Ham Nation to publicize the NARS QSO party, which we held in the fall. We also publicized Ham Bootcamp on that episode.
Note that ARRL Membership is Required to access QST and NCJ online
December Meeting
We ended the year with a memorable December Meeting, where we held Elections, heard from our NH Section Manager, John Gotthardt, K1UAF. We even had a visit from Santa where we could tell him Ham toys we want for the holidays! I hope everyone got what you wanted!
Santa at December Meeting
As we close 2020, we are hoping for a better 2021, and that we can finally get together in person with our fellow club members. We wish all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year!
The ARRL has published the 2020 Field Day Results in the December 2020 Issue of QST.
Field Day 2020 Rule Changes
Due to the pandemic, the ARRL made two rule changes this year. The first is that stations in category 1D could contact other 1D stations. The second is that individual submissions could specify a club affiliation and scores would be aggregated by club.
Virtual Site Visit on Zoom
NARS held several activities to help members operating in Field Day to earn bonus points toward their scores. A virtual site visit via Zoom with Gary Gasdia (father of member Ryan, KC1KJS), who is a member of the Hudson School Board and Community Emergency Response Team Members Patrick, W1YTT, Joe, AC1BG and Dan, W1MUZ helped members with bonus points. Sterling, AK1K, trained us all and hosted a messaging net to help us get the messaging bonus. These bonus points helped to increase our score.
Field Day 2020 Scores
Thanks to all of our members who submitted their scores for the Nashua Area Radio Society, our efforts resulted in a total club score of 14,952. From a quick scan of the line scores published by the ARRL and back of the envelope calculation, we placed in the top 3% of all clubs!
Jeff, AC1FX Operating at Field Day 2020
We had a total of 16 members contribute their scores toward our aggregate club score:
To review the ARRL Results Article, visit the ARRL Web site at https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalQSTResults.pdf
To search the 2020 ARRL Field Day score database, visit http://www.arrl.org/results-database and select 2020 ARRL Field Day from the drop down box.
Winter Field Day 2021
Winter Field Day is coming up on January 30-31. Similar rule changes have been made due to the pandemic. If you are interested in operating on Winter Field Day, review and reply to Craig, N1SFT’s post in the Field Day Forum. Also, plan to join our January Membership Meeting, where Craig will talk about Winter Field Day.
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