Tag Archives: Mentor

Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter

Extra License Class – April 27-29

The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold our final license class of the Spring 2018 season, the Amateur Extra License class, on Friday – Sunday, April 27-29.

The Extra Class License is an upgrade from General Class.  Extra class will give you access to more frequencies on the HF bands, especially where those rare DX like to operate from.

Spring 2018 Extra Class Flyer

Day 1 of the class will be held at AB1OC/AB1QB’s QTH.  We will have lots of demos to help reinforce the material including test equipment, antennas and operating.  Days 2 and 3 will be held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.

Gordon West Extra Class Book
Gordon West Extra Class License Book

Class preparation

To prepare for the class, you need to read the Gordon West Extra Class book, which can be found on Amazon.com.  When you register, we will send you a pre-work assignment based on the materials in the book.

We also recommend that you take practice exams like those from AA9PW or HamTestOnline.

To register for the class, visit https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/

Any questions?  Contact Anita, AB1QB at [email protected].

Activities, Featured, General, On The Air

Calling All Rookies! ARRL Rookie Roundup is April 15th

Were you first licensed in 2016, 2017 or 2018?   Are you hoping to operate at Field Day and want to get some QSOs under your belt?  Do you want to try out contesting but need some practice before operating in the CQ WW contest?  Join us on April 15th for the ARRL Rookie Roundup!

ARRL Rookie Roundup

The ARRL holds 3 contests for “Rookies” each year.  The ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB is coming up on Sunday, April 15th from 1800z (2:00pm Eastern time) to 2359z  (7:59pm Eastern time).  The Rookie Roundup RTTY is on August 19th  and the Rookie Roundup CW is on December 16th.

2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Certificate
2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Certificate

We will be fielding a multi-op entry using the N1FD callsign from AB1OC/AB1QB’s Station.  This will be a great opportunity for newly licensed Hams to get on the air.  We will be here to Elmer you along with some experienced “Rookies”.

Elmering Session

We will hold an elmering session starting at 11:00 am on Sunday to help familiarize you with operating, using our station, and the contest rules.

During the contest, operators will work in pairs, with one operator logging and the other behind the mic.  This will give you 2 sets of ears for identifying callsigns.  The operators can switch off halfway through their operating time.  Depending on the number of operators, we’ll switch operator teams after 2 hours or so.

If you are interested in joining us, or have any questions, please email Anita, AB1QB at [email protected].

For more information on this event, see the Calendar entries at https://www.n1fd.org/event/elmering-session-for-arrl-rookie-roundup/ and https://www.n1fd.org/event/arrl-rookie-roundup/2018-04-15/

Activities, General, On The Air

Open House for New Hams – Saturday March 17

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Are you a new Ham and interested in what you can do with your license?  Or have been licensed for a while but have not been on the air?  We will be holding a New Ham Open House at Fred, AB1OC, and Anita, AB1QB’s QTH on Saturday, March 17th starting at 1:00 pm for new Hams.

AB1OC/AB1QB Shack
AB1OC/AB1QB Shack

HF Operation

We’ll have a tour of our antenna farm and we’ll have our HF Station setup for you to make some contacts.

AB1OC Antenna Tower

Satellite Operation

Satellite 3.0 Antennas
Satellite 3.0 Antennas

We will also have our Satellite Station setup for you to make contacts.

Fox Hunt and Demos

A crew going on a foxhunt
A crew going on a foxhunt

We will also have a fox hunt (Weather Permitting)  and demos of the High Altitude Balloon and some Raspberry Pi projects.

HT Programming

New Ham Open House
Kenwood TH-D74 HT

We will also help you to program your HTs using RTSystems or Chirp software.  Bring your HT and a programming cable if you are interested in this.

Hope to see you on March 17th.  See the Calendar for details.  It starts at 1pm but will go all afternoon so you can arrive any time in the afternoon.

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