Tag Archives: NARS Event

Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter

A “Tech Night” To Remember – Our Visit To KC1XX

Our August “Tech Night” featured a Saturday visit to the Matt Strelow, KC1XX’s superstation. Matt’s station sits on top of a mountain in Mason, NH.

KC1XX QTH
Matt Strelow, KC1XX’s QTH

Our visit began with a tour of Matt’s antenna farm. Matt has a total of 13 towers and each one has a unique story and purpose.

300 ft Tower at KC1XX
300 ft Tower at KC1XX

Matt’s tallest tower is used for 80m as well as other bands. It is painted red and white and has a light on top!

Antennas and Towers 5
Base of Rotating Tower at KC1XX

Several of Matt’s towers are rotating ones with some serious tower turning hardware at the base.

Antennas and Towers 2
Rotating Tower Guy Rigging

Rotating towers use a special type of guy attachment ring which allows the tower to turn while being supported via guy wires.

Coax Feedlines
Coax Feed Lines at KC1XX

Matt has built an extensive infrastructure which supports all of the antennas at his QTH. The picture above is a small building where all of the feed lines from Matt’s antennas enter his station.

Dennis, K1LGQ Operating at KC1XX
Dennis, K1LGQ Operating at KC1XX

After the tour of the antenna farm, we saw the KC1XX “shack”. Several of us had a chance to operate Matt’s station. How’s this for QRP Dennis?

Abby, AB1BY Operating at KC1XX
Abby, AB1BY Operating at KC1XX

Abby wasted no time in building her usual pile up. It easy to see why KC1XX has a pile up whenever they are on the air after just a short time spent operating from there.

After a great day of fun and lots of picture taking, See the gallery above for more pictures. Matt treated us to refreshments and some more conversation about his Amateur Radio experiences.

Nashua Area Radio Club "Tech Night" Group
Nashua Area Radio Club “Tech Night” Group

All of the members who made this memorable “Tech Night” had a great time and we’d all like to thank Matt for his gracious hospitality. We learned a lot!

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY – The Results are in!

The ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY contest results are in!  The N1FD multi-op team placed 1st in the Multi-Op Area 1 category.  We had the highest score in the contest by a landslide!   The contest was held on Sunday, August 20.  The final scores were just posted on the ARRL Website.

Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores

2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores
2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores

Congratulations to Aron, W1AKI, Tom, AB1NS, and Jim, K1BRM. They operated from AB1QB’s QTH in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY on Sunday, August 20.  The rules for the contest now allow any licensed Ham who had never made a QSO in the RTTY mode to participate.

Jim, K1BRM operating in the Rookie Roundup RTTY
Jim, K1BRM operating in the Rookie Roundup RTTY

With coaching from Aron, W1AKI a veteran of several previous Rookie Roundups, all team members quickly picked up RTTY operating.  The team made a total of 66 contacts to 30 states and 1 DX, including one with club member Mike, AB1YK.

Next Rookie Roundup is CW

The next Rookie Roundup will be held on December 17 and the mode will be CW.  Rookies licensed in 2015, 2016 or 2017 are invited to participate.  Also, anyone who has not made a CW QSO can join us as well.

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/6m Activation on Mt. Kearsarge

Portable 6m SOTA Station
Portable 6m SOTA Station

We were on Mt. Kearsarge a few weeks back for our second SOTA activation. This location had a great view to the south and provided us with a picturesque location to operate from The CQ VHF contest was going on at the same time that we were up on Mt. Kearsarge.

We brought our 6m portable station and used it for the second activation.

Solar Panel Power for SOTA Activation
Solar Panel Power for SOTA Activation

The setup is solar/battery powered and it has worked well during both of our club SOTA activations. The setup provides 100w out on 6m and keeps the batteries charged throughout an activation.

6m Portable SOTA Antenna
6m Portable Antenna

Anita and I used the same M2 Antenna Systems 3 Eelement, 6m Yagi and portable mast setup that we brought to our Pack Monadnock activation awhile back. We had lots of fun again and we made about 40 contacts on 6m.

Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, KC1ENX, Provide a BBQ
Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, KC1ENX, Provide a BBQ

Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, KC1ENX and Patrick, KC1HDN, were also up on Mt. Kearsarge and we all had fun hanging out together during the activation.

We have a great SOTA activation coming up on Mt. Washingon next weekend. Anita and I are really looking forward to this next one. See Jamey’s article for all of the details. It should be one of the most fun activities of the year for us. We hope to see you on Mt. Washington!

Fred, AB1OC

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