Tag Archives: Mentor

Antennas, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities

Plans for HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 – We Need Your Help

July 31, 2019 Fred Kemmerer

The Nashua Area Society will be part of the fun at HamXposition @ Boxboro again this year. We will be adding some new things this year as well as providing the Ham Radio Expo display that we did last year. Our contributions will include:

An expanded Ham Expo Display
Ham Bootcamp – a new activity for prospective and recently licensed Technician and General Class Hams
An Expanded Kit Building Activity
Several Forum Presentations featuring some of our recent projects and NARS Activities leading to our recognition as Club Of The Year

We will need a lot of help from NARS members to make our contribution to HamXposition successful. More on this later in this article.

Ham Radio Expo Display

HamXposition @ Boxboro — Ham Expo Display

Our Ham Expo display will cover many activities that you can do with Amateur Radio. Our display will also include three GOTA stations:

A Computer Controlled Satellite GOTA
A Remotely Controlled High-Power HF GOTA
A Repeater GOTA

We will also be adding a radio programming clinic where you can get your HT programmed at the show.

The diagram above shows the planned layout for our Ham Expo display. It will cover the entire back wall of the main exhibit hall in the vendor area and will include the Satellite GOTA station in the bar area as we did last year.

Ham Bootcamp

Ham Bootcamp is a new activity this year. Ham Bootcamp is a hands-on activity for folks interested in getting a Ham Radio License and folks who have gotten their Technician or General Class License and would like so help to get on the air or to upgrade their station to take advantage of their new General Class privileges. Our planned activities are outlined in the chart above. Most will be hands-on in small groups of 10 or less so we can answer questions and demonstrate how to have fun with Ham Radio. Ham Bootcamp will take place from 9 am to noon on Saturday and will accommodate up to 100 HamXposition attendees on a first-come-first-served basis. We will also provide a $5 discount coupon to all Ham Bootcampers to use toward one of the kits that are included in our kit building activity at HamXposition.

Kit Building Plans

The popular Morse Tutor kit will be back again this year and we’ll have folks on hand as well equipment so that folks can build their kit and get it working at the show. You can find more about our Morse Tutor kit here.

We will be adding a second kit at our kit build – a 70 cm ground plane antenna. This is an antenna that you can build and use to help your HT or base rig get out better on the 70 cm band. We’ll have an analyzer and folks who can help you to tune your antenna for the best operation after you complete your kit.

Forum Presentations

The Nashua Area Radio Society has had a pretty amazing year and we will have the opportunity to share some of our experiences at HamXposition via forum presentations. You can see the topics for our planned presentations above.

We Need Your Help

HamXposition is an important undertaking for us and for the northeastern Amateur Radio Community as a whole. We need your help to plan and execute our plans. Please reach out to Dave, Jerry, Scott or myself and join our HamXposition Team. It will be a lot of fun and a rewarding change to give back to the northeastern Amateur Radio Community.

Fred, AB1OC

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

NARS Activities at Upcoming Regional, and National Ham Radio Conventions

April 17, 2019 Fred Kemmerer

The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting Amateur Radio Displays, Expos, and Forums at Regional and National Hamfests and Ham Radio Conventions over the next 6 months.

Dayton Hamvention ® 2019

2019 ARRL National Convention at Hamvention

We will be a Special Guest of the ARRL in their Booth at Dayton this year. You can learn more via the ARRL’s flyer here. Quite a few NARS members will be attending Dayton 2019 and many will be supporting our presence in the ARRL Booth. We will also be hosting the ARRL Member forum on Friday, May 17th in Room 3. If you are going to Dayton this year, stop by and meet our members and say Hello!

Boxboro Regional Amateur Radio Convention

Boxboro 2018 - NARS Team at Boxboro — NARS Team at Boxboro Regional Convention

We are also planning another Youth Expo at the Boxboro Regional Ham Convention to be held on September 6th, 7th, and 8th. Our Expo will feature over 10 Amateur Radio Displays including:

A computer controlled Satellite Ground Station that you can use to make a contact through a Satellite in Space
A Shortwave Radio Station that you can use to talk to Hams all over the world
A Display about High-Altitude Balloons that carry radio transmitters to the edge of space
Keys and activities to try out sending and receiving Morse Code
Building Ham Radio Gear using Kits and Computers
A NEW ACTIVITY! A Ham Bootcamp Activity which introduces the world of Amateur Radio and helps folks to get on the air
A GoKit for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications that you can try
Gear for locating Hidden Radio Transmitters (we call it Fox Hunting)
And much more!

We are looking for NARS members to help us with these activities. Please contact Anita at [email protected] if you’d like to help.

It’s going to be a great few months for the Nashua Area Radio Society!

Fred, AB1OC

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

New Ham Boot Camp – Sessions 1 – 3

March 23, 2019 Anita Kemmerer

We have held the first three sessions of New Ham Boot Camp the past few weeks to help our newly licensed members learn the skills they need to get on the air.

Session 1 was held at Fred, AB1OC’s and Anita, AB1QB’s QTH. The session focused on UHF/VHF. The following activities were part of this session:

HT Programming
Station Tour including Antenna Towers and Mobile Stations
Echolink Setup and Use
Satellite Operating Demo
Antenna Demo
Practice QSOs and Repeater Net

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

Session 2 was also held at AB1OC/AB1QB’s QTH. During this session, members were able to Get on the Air to make contacts via HF SSB, Satellites, and HF Digital.

In addition, we built a 70 cm ground plane antenna and members got kits to build their own antenna. and Jamey, AC1DC spoke about SOTAs and demonstrated a Buddipole antenna.

Session 3 was held at Ham Radio Outlet in Salem, NH. Peter, KI1M opened HRO during the evening of March 19th exclusive to NARS New Ham Boot Camp members. Fred and Peter advised members and answered questions on selecting HTs, Transceivers, Antennas, Headphones, Microphones, Coax and other Amateur Radio components.

We have two more sessions of New Ham Boot Camp to be held in April:

Session 4: – Saturday, April 6 – How to set up your first station, Getting on 6 meters, What do all the buttons and knobs on my HF Transceiver do? How do I use them to work DX
Session 5: Date TBD – Building and Tuning up HF Wire Antennas

Stay tuned to the General Information Forums – we will post there when Session 5 is scheduled.

Ham Radio Expo Display

Ham Bootcamp

Kit Building Plans

Forum Presentations

We Need Your Help

Dayton Hamvention ® 2019

Boxboro Regional Amateur Radio Convention

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide