We recently received a request from the Police Athletic League (PAL) in Nashua, NH to put on a Get On The Air (GOTA) demonstration of Amateur Radio for the kids there. The folks at PAL are trying to create activities that promote STEM and Amateur Radio interest among kids.
GOTA Station
Jamey, KC1ENX and I went to PAL a little while back and set up our portable station using the screwdriver antenna on my truck.
Kids on the Air at Nashua PAL
We had some of the worst propagation conditions that we have seen in a while on the day we were at PAL, Fortunately, Mike, K1WVO got on to try to give the kids a few contacts.
QSL Cards
We also brought some QSL cards and Jamey spent some time with the kids explaining QSLs and some of the places that were contacted.
HAB and Foxes
We also brought our High Altitude Balloon (HAB) and our 2m Fox Hunt transmitters for the kids to see. There was lots of interest in the HAB platform and what it would be like to see the video that it will record.
Due to the poor propagation conditions, the kids did not get to make many contacts. The folks at PAL invited us to come back another time when the conditions are better and we plan to do that later this summer. We also invited the PAL folks to visit us during our Field Day operation coming up and try out the GOTA station there.
Special thanks to Jamey, Matt, and Mike for helping us with our GOTA event at PAL.
Aron, W1AKI, Abby, KC1FFX and her dad Jamey, KC1ENX operated in the ARRL Rookie Roundup on Sunday, April 16 as a Multi Op Entry from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH. They had a constant stream of callers throughout the 6-hour contest and made a total of 273 QSOs and earned a score of 15,437.
This was the club’s 2nd consecutive year operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup and it was great to see how Aron, Abby, and Jamey have improved their contesting skills over the past year! They are now seasoned contesters!
Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby, KC1FFX operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB
The N1FD team took first place in the Multi-Op Area 1 category and had the highest score of all entries in the contest, narrowly beating out KM4LAO, the top single op who was operating from Michigan.
2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Results
The full results can be found at http://www.b4h.net/arrlrr/rr_scores201704.php
Here are some comments on operating in the contest from Aron, W1AKI:
It was a lot of fun! The pileups weren’t too bad, and people were very patient, which made it a really friendly environment. Everyone could take their time to make sure that the exchange was made correctly. (This was especially important since there were several other contests going on over the same weekend.) We made a QSO with a KL7TH, rookie in Alaska and she seemed at least as excited to get NH as I was to get Alaska. I got a generous handful of calls from hams who got their licenses back in in the 1950s. I made a DX contact with someone in the Caribbean who got their first license a while back in the UK, and another DX contact with Italy.
Thanks go to Anita AB1QB and Fred AB1OC for the use of their station and for their guidance! We were all limited to 100W, but I could really hear the Alaska station come up loud and clear as I swung the 4 over 4 SteppIRs around to the right heading, and it became an easy QSO to make. I also got great signals from a few mobile stations and a few QRP stations.
Looking at the results, I am struck by two things: (1) KM4LAO, the YL in Michigan who came in a very close second to us did it working all by herself, and (2) there were so few entries! Whether it’s your first contest, or you’re working your way up the learning curve, or you want to help others learn what it is about contesting that you’ve been enjoying for years — and give them another point, the Rookie Roundups are a great opportunity. You don’t need to worry about “mic fright” because there are no serial numbers in the exchange: you give the same information to everyone.
The upcoming CW and RTTY Rookie Roundups are a great incentive for me to work on my code and to try out digital modes. There aren’t many better places to make your first contacts in a new mode.
We’ve decided to collect all of this great content in one place here on our website so that our members can enjoy it. You can view it via the following links:
Take a trip down our Club’s Memory Lane or catch up on some topics from one of our many Tech Night sessions. There is lots of material here to use for fun and learning.
Most (but not all) of this content is in members-only sections of the pages so be sure to log in to our website to view all of the media that we have collected.
Thanks to all of our members for making so many great memories! We are looking forward to much more to come…
