Tag Archives: HF

Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter

KC1XX Superstation Visit

On July 29th from 4-6pm, Matt Strelow, KC1XX has kindly offered to provide a 2-hour tour of the KC1XX superstation to members of the Nashua Area Radio Club. Matt hosts a multi-op/multi-transmitter station with as many towers (to cover all the amateur bands), as there are colors in the rainbow. As you can see from the pics below, we are in for quite a treat.

KC1XX Superstation Operator

KC1XX Superstation Towers

KC1XX Superstation Rotatable Tower

KC1XX Superstation in Hudson, NH

Currently, the people I have registered to attend are:

If I missed anyone, please send me an email at [email protected] and let me know. Apologies if I did.

The meeting place will be:

814 Hurricane Hill Rd.
Mason, NH 03048

Fred AB1OC, who has been there before, has mentioned that parking may be limited at Matt’s. As a result, I have heard non-nefarious machinations that people will be carpooling from Hollis Brookline High School (where Field Day was hosted). If you are interested in pursuing that route, then please email me at [email protected] so that I can put everyone on the same email to coordinate. Presumably, the carpool(s) will want to leave by about 330pm or so.

Matt hosts a serious HF world-contesting station — he is easily among one of the top stations in the world. You can also visit his website to learn a bit more. If you are interested in seeing marvels in engineering and contesting, then consider signing up for the tour by emailing Brian AB1ZO at [email protected]. There is still time! But please do it soon. I’d like to get back to Matt with a final count by Wednesday/Thursday.

73,

Brian AB1ZO

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

Academy for Science and Design SPARK Day

John Keslo, W1MBG, Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX, and I recently had the chance to again be part of SPARK Day at the Academy for Science and Design (ASD) in Nashua, New Hampshire. We attended SPARK Day to provide an Introduction to Amateur Radio for the students at ASD. ASD’s goal is to be a world-class school that specializes in science, engineering, mathematics, and design. The school provides education for students in grades 6-12. ASD periodically holds SPARK (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) conferences, which enable ASD students to learn about areas which might help them to develop careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Math (STEM).

SPARK Day Group Learning About Amateur Radio
ASD Group Learning About Amateur Radio

The students at ASD are extremely bright and are highly motivated to develop STEM careers. We had about 65 students elect to attend the two sessions that we presented. The kids showed a lot of interested in our presentations and demonstrations.

SPARK Day Classroom Activities

 

Explaining the HAB to the ASD Students at SPARK Day
Explaining the HAB to the ASD Students

We began each session with some classroom time where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club’s Amateur Radio projects. We talked about and showed components of our High Altitude Balloon Project, our Satellite Ground Station and our Field Day activities. The interest level among the kids was high and lots of questions were asked.

SPARK DAY GOTA Station

 

Making an HF Contact using our GOTA Station at SPARK Day
Making an HF Contact using our GOTA Station

We also put together an HF GOTA station in the lobby of the school. This gave the kids a chance to get on the air and experience Amateur Radio first hand. After the kids got over the usual “mic-fright”, they had a lot of fun.

We are looking forward to our next opportunity to participate in ASD’s SPARK Day in the fall. This is one of the most enjoyable events of the year for me.

Fred, AB1OC

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

ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY – Sunday August 20

The ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY contest is open to anyone who was first licensed in 2015, 2016 or 2017 or anyone who has never made a RTTY mode contact.

We will be defending our title as #1 Multi-Op Area 1 in the ARRL Rookie Roundup – RTTY.  The contest will take place on August 20 from 2 pm – 8 pm and we will operate from AB1OC/AB1QB’s QTH.

This is a great opportunity for you to try out digital modes or to try your hand at contesting!

Abby, AB1BY and Jamey, KC1FFX operate during the 2016 Rookie Roundup RTTY
Abby, AB1BY and Jamey, KC1FFX  operate during the 2016 Rookie Roundup RTTY

Please contact Anita at [email protected] if you are interested and for more details, see the calendar event.

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide