Tag Archives: NARS Event

Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space

2016 – A Record Year for Nashua Area Radio Club On The Air Operations?

July 17, 2016 Fred Kemmerer 1 Comment

The first half of 2016 is behind us and I believe that we are well on our way to a record year as far as contacts made by our club. Among other things, I have had the fun of being the QSL manager for our club as well as for the New Hampshire stations (K2K) for the 13 Colonies Special Event.

Members of our club have made a total of 13,787 contacts so far this year using a combination of the N1FD call sign and K2K New Hampshire. All of these contacts represent a great effort on the part of our members. For me, the real story here is about the fun we’ve had together on the air and the great progress that many of our newest members have made in developing their operating skills along the way.

Learning About Contesting

ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB - A First Contest — ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB – A First Contest

Our first major on the air operation was the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Contest in April. This contest is for Amateurs who have been licensed for 3 years or less and it’s a great opportunity to try contesting and to learn HF operating skills.

We entered using our club call sign, N1FD in the multi-op category and took first place! More importantly, many of our recently licensed members got a chance to get on the air and begin developing their operating skills. The group made 280 QSOs and had a lot of fun. You can read more about this operation here on our Blog.

Mobile Contesting

We got a chance to try contesting from a mobile as part of the 2016 New England QSO Party (NEQP). Several of us got together for a weekend of activating counties and having fun as part of this contest. We operated as N1FD/M and the contest gave us a chance to develop and hone our SSB contesting skills further.

In addition to many county line activations in MA, NH, and VT, we also activated two National Parks. In spite of difficult band conditions, we made 631 QSOs and had a great time. You can read more about this operation here.

Field Day

Next came our 2016 Field Day operation. We tried several new things as part of Field Day this year. One of these was LEO Satellite operations. Several club members got together to build a great LEO Satellite Station and several of us made our first Satellite contacts while testing it prior to Field Day.

June and July represented a Tsunami of Amateur Radio operating for several of us. This period began with the best Field Day operation that I have ever been part of. We built quite a station and had a great time using it to operate during Field Day 2016.

2016 Field Day - Many Members Came Out — 2016 Field Day – Many Members Came Out

We had a great turn out for Field Day this year with a mix of newer folks who were experiencing their first Field Day and the seasoned veterans in our club who have done Field Day many times before. The camaraderie and the learning were fantastic!

2016 Field Day - We Continued Practicing and Building Our Operating Skills — 2016 Field Day – We Continued Practicing and Building Our Operating Skills

Many of our members operated during our 2016 Field Day operation and our diligence paid off. We increased both our score and the number of contacts (2,464) made by a significant amount over last year and had a great time doing it!

Our 2016 Field Day Highlights Video

The video above has some highlights from our 2016 Field Day operation. You can read more about it on our Field Day page and here on our Blog.

Thirteen Colonies Special Event

13 Colonies Special Event - K2K New Hampshire QSL — 13 Colonies Special Event – K2K New Hampshire QSL

Next came the 13 Colonies Special Event. I am the manager for the New Hampshire Colony which operates under the K2K call sign each year. The K2K operating team was made up entirely of Nashua Area Radio Club members this year. This event produces huge pileups and it really challenges one’s operating skills.

13 Colonies - A Chance To Operate in a Large Special Event — 13 Colonies – A Chance To Operate in a Large Special Event This

We operated using a combination of SSB Phone, Digital, and CW and the club members made a total of 9,719 contacts!

13 Colonies 2016 - K2K NH Top Club — 13 Colonies 2016 – N1FD Top Club Certificate

This was more than enough to make the Nashua Area Radio Club the Top Club in the event! We used the 2016 event to further develop our operating skills as well as provide opportunities for new Amateurs to have fun on the air and make contacts.

National Parks On The Air (NPOTA)

Activating Saint-Gaudens NHS NPOTA - Operating Portable on 20m — Activating Saint-Gaudens NHS – Operating Portable on 20m

Our most recent operation was the Activation of Saint-Gaudens NHS as part of the ARRL’s NPOTA program. Aron Insinga, W1AKI, and his XYL Merle, W1MSI have been working on this project for some time and it was great to see it come together to result in a very successful activation. You can learn more about Saint-Gaudens and out plans to activate it here on our Blog.

Activating Saint-Gaudens NHS as part of NPOTA

We activated Saint-Gaudens on Sunday, July 10th with two stations – a 20m portable station using an Inverted-V antenna and 100W and a mobile station on 40m running 500w.

Activating Saint-Gaudens NHS NPOTA - Operating Mobile on 40m — Activating Saint-Gaudens NHS – Operating Mobile on 40m

We again had a good mix of experienced operators and newer folks from our club. It was especially great to see how well some of the newer folks have come along in terms of their operating skills. The group made a total of 528 QSOs in a little over 4 hours and had a great time doing it! We are all looking forward to our second planned NPOTA activation later this summer on August 7th.

There have been some other, smaller operations too such as our trial run earlier this year at Saint-Gaudens NHS and as part of our training sessions which proceeded several of these operations.

Final Thoughts

Highlights From Nashua Area Radio Club’s 2016 Activities

I must say that I don’t think I have ever seen a group of Amateur Radio Club members do so much operating on the air within such a short period of time. Check out the video above for, In particular, I believe that some of our newer members are well on their way to becoming world-class operators if they keep going the way they are. Anita, AB1QB and I find it particularly rewarding to have the chance to be part of helping our club to grow and to build our skills. It has been truly a privilege to be part of the Nashua Area Radio Club team.

73,

Fred, AB1OC

Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD

Activities, Antennas, Featured, Newsletter, On The Air

Activating Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site

June 5, 2016 Aron Insinga

We will have two club events in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) program celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The dates are:

July 10, 2016.
August 7, 2016.

This should give more club members a chance to operate, more HAMs a chance to make a QSO with Sullivan County, and more of the world to hear what a treasure we have in New Hampshire’s only National Park!

The park has a lot to see, and we hope that you will bring along friends and family members — even if they are not (yet!) HAMs.

The artist’s studio, his wife’s gardens, and their house (originally built as an inn in the early 1800s) should be open. (Tickets for the house tour are free and first-come, first-served, although its hours are slightly limited on these Sundays.) Sculpture by the artist is displayed on the grounds and in the studio.

For anyone who wants to take a break and explore the woods, there are two short nature trails (0.25mi and 1.5mi) for anyone who wants to take a break away from the radios.

This is one of only a couple of National Parks dedicated to the arts, and they have an Artist-in-Residence program, so we hope to get a chance to see and talk to a working sculptor.

The park’s new bronze cast of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ famous 12′ statue of Abraham Lincoln will be on permanent display. This picture of the original sculpture will give you an idea of what a monumental work of art it is:

As an added attraction, the park has concerts in July and August, following a tradition set by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. There is no fee for them beyond the park entrance fee. The concerts for our operating days are:

July 10 – Ensemble Amphion – Music from the Court of Henry VIII
August 7 – Creek River String Band – Blue Grass Music from Appalachia

The concerts will be near the studio and house, and we will be operating from the far end of the field, so there won’t be any risk of us inadvertently transmitting music and incurring the wrath of the FCC.

There are more pictures, and information on the operating conditions in the park, in the article about our trial run.

The town of Cornish also has 4 covered bridges, one of which is a National Civil Engineering Landmark. However, not all of Cornish has been blessed with advanced Civil Engineering projects, and the NPS points out that most GPS devices and mapping software will send you over rough dirt roads to get there, so be sure to follow the directions on their website instead!

We will meet at the park to set up at 11:00 am, at the far end of the meadow/overflow parking area, away from the buildings. The entrance to this is on the left, and it is the first part of the park that you will see as you approach it using the paved road. The paved parking area is shortly after that, on the right.

There is no food service at the park, so we suggest packing a picnic lunch or stopping en route to eat or pick up food. And even though Cornish is much further from the equator than Nashua, it is summer and it will be warm, so be sure to bring enough fluid to keep yourself hydrated.

Entrance to the park is $7 for those 16 and older, and there are season passes for a carload of up to 4 adults for $30. Senior, Active Military and other special passes are available.

Aron W1AKI

Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter

Plans for N1FD Field Day 2016

May 27, 2016 Fred Kemmerer

Our 2016 Field Day Operation is rapidly approaching and our planning is in high gear! We have a great planning team working on Field Day this year and we have a lot of fun planned!

Field Day Planning - Site Layout at Hollis-Brookline High School — Site Layout at Hollis-Brookline High School

We will be operating at the Hollis-Brookline High School in Hollis, NH this year. We’ve been working on antenna plans and a layout for the site. We expect to be 7A or 8A this year. We are also going to try operating using a combination of Digital and SSB Phone from the SSB Stations.

We will have two towers with Tri-band Yagis for 20m, 15m and 10m and Inverted-V antennas for 80m/75m. We will be using triplexers and bandpass filters to allow the Tri-band Yagis to be shared across three transceivers as we did last year.

One tower will be used for CW operations as well as supporting the club’s 4 Element, 6m Yagi. The 6m Yagi will be rotatable. Jeff, WA1HCO and Tom, AB1NS have some cool plans for the 6m station this year which include Meteor Scatter and Es Contacts if we can catch openings on 6m. The CW tower will also have a 40m Inverted-V Antenna.

The other tower will be used to support the SSB/Digital stations on 75m, 20m, 15m, and 10m as well as an 11 Element Yagi for 70cm (more on this below).

Field Day Planning - 40m 3 Element V-Beam — 40m 3 Element V-Beam Plans

We are planning some new antenna and station projects for our 2016 Field Day operation. We are going to build a 3 Element, 40m V-Beam Array using three 50 ft guyed masts. This antenna should perform comparably to a 40m short 2 Element Yagi at 70 ft.

Digital ATV Demonstration on 70cm

We are also planning a Digital Fast Scan ATV link between our Field Day site and the Nashoba Valley Club’s site. This will allow us to send and receive Live Digital Video between the two sites on the 70cm band.

20m Buddipole Ground Plane Antenna for GOTA Station

Wayne, KB1HYL will be operating the GOTA Station again this year. We are going to put the GOTA station on 20m using a Ground Plane Vertical Antenna built from Buddipole Kit.

Club Meeting About Field Day Planning — Club Meeting About Field Day

Our Field Day Planning team is planning a great presentation on Field Day 2016 at our next Club Meeting on June 7th and our Tech Night on June 14th will be all about the Technical Side of Field Day – Building Antennas, Setting Towers and Stations, Loggers, Digital Modes and much more. Don’t miss these!

QRZ Number 1 Field Day ?

Fred (Field Day Incident Commander, N1FD)

Hashtags: #ARRL

Nashua Area Radio Society

Tag Archives: NARS Event

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