Tag Archives: On The Air

Activities, Antennas, Education and Training, Field Day, General, On The Air, Station Equipment

NARS Winter Field Day Plans

Brian, W1XMM, has opened up his station for NARS members to operate Winter Field Day  (WFD) on Saturday and Sunday January 27th and 28th so that members can operate WFD with the club callsign, N1FD.  Brian’s station is in a great location, in Antrim, NH and should provide for some great operating.

What is Winter Field Day?

Winter Field Day is an annual event, sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association on the last full weekend in January to encourage development of emergency operating skills.  It is open to frequencies on the HF, VHF and UHF bands.  Here is a summary of the rules. The full rules can be found here.

  • All stations are limited to a maximum of 100 Watts PEP
  • QRP CW limit of 5 watts multiplier of 2
  • QRP Phone limit of 10 watts multiplier of 2
  • Each mode worked on each band counts as 1 multiplier
SteppIR DB18
SteppIR DB18 at W1XMM

W1XMM Station

The following stations and associated bands will be available at W1XMM:

  • SteppIR DB18 40/20/15/10/6m with an Elecraft K3S
  • SteppIR Vertical 80/40/20/15/10/6m with a Yaesu FT991a
  • Log Periodic 50MHz -1.2GHz
  • Inverted V: 80M and 160M (one cable out to both)
Log Periodic Antenna at W1XMM
Log Periodic Antenna at W1XMM

Great Opportunity for New and Experienced Hams!

This is a great opportunity for newly licensed or inactive amateurs to get some operating experience and a top-notch station.  Brian and other members will be available to coach those who are new to HF and VHF operating.

W1XMM Operating Equipment
W1XMM Operating Equipment

Emergency Communications

NARS member Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, who is also the ARRL New England Division Assistant Director for Emergency Communications and Public Service, is encouraging amateurs throughout New England to operate Winter Field Day to developer emergency operating skills.   

We have been challenged by the ARES group to also set up an NVIS antenna and communicate with other ARES operators at set times.  This would be both VHF/UHF and HF.  The ARES is going to use this opportunity to test their communication skills here in New England.

SteppIR Vertical Antenna at W1XMM
SteppIR Vertical Antenna at W1XMM

Join Us

Interested in joining us for Winter Field Day?  Please sign up by Thursday January 25th at 7:00 pm.  Here’s what you can do:

  • Sign up for operating times – See this Forum Post for the link to the sign-up sheet.
  • Join us on Thursday, January 25th  at 7:00 pm for our final Winter Field Day meeting.  See this Forum Post for the Zoom link.  Or contact Brian at [email protected] to get the details if you cannot make the meeting.
  • Show up at Brian’s QTH in Antrim before your operating slot.

 

Activities, General, On The Air

First SOTA/POTA of 2023 May7th Mount Kearsarge

1 Comment

Our first SOTA/POTA  of 2023 is this Sunday, May 7th. Bring a sweater or fleece and a rain jacket just in case it can get pretty breezy and cool in the mountains even if we manage to get bright sunny skies. I will be monitoring the Henniker 147.195 machine as well as 147.555 simplex on the ride-up.

SOTA/POTA Satellite Station
Fred AB1OC and Anita AB1QB’s Mt. Washington operating position

The plan for  Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the picnic grounds at the end of the auto road. The physical address for Rollins State Park  (the location of the auto road) is 1066 Kearsarge Mountain rd. in Warner.  I just went to their website here and they recommend a reservation so plan on visiting the link for a pass.

Anyone that wants to hike up from the other side and meet us here is the physical address of Winslow State Park 475 Kearsarge Mountain Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287. Check The nhstateparks.org website you may need a parking reservation on this side of the mountain as well.

We will most likely be operating from the picnic area at the end of the auto road. If anyone wants to operate from the actual summit it is only .5 miles away. I’m not sure how long a hike it is from Winslow State Park. In addition to SOTA/POTA  chasers the New England QSO party will be going on so, there should be plenty of opportunities to make QSO’s.

As far as radios an HT with an upgraded rubber duck can get you surprising performance from even a modest rise in altitude so if that’s all you have bring it and try it out.  I’ll have my  6-meter QRP rig and a new homebrew Moxon antenna.

Hope to see you on Mount Kearsarge on Sunday!

73′ K1BRM

SOTA/POTA 6m Station
Anita AB1QB and Curtis N1CMD SOTA operating
Activities, Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, On The Air, Station Equipment

Register Now for Ham Bootcamp!

Are you a newly licensed Technician, or a General or Extra and have never been on the air or built a station?  Are you a prospective ham but would like to learn more about Amateur Radio activities?  Ham Bootcamp is the program for you.  We will be holding another online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday, May 14th, 2022.

Registration is open for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Spring Ham Bootcamp.  Ham Bootcamp will be held online using Zoom web conferencing.   This will also let us reach out to new Hams across the country.

Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, KC1KSY as he makes an HF Contact
Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, N1KRB  as he makes an HF Contact

Our spring Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, May 14th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time.  The morning session will focus on Technician level activities and the afternoon session will focus on HF activities for General and above licensees.   New this year will be a breakout session where attendees will have a choice between 3 different sessions.

Here is the agenda:

Abby on Fox Hunting
Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp

Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities

  • Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or  Mobile Radio and an Antenna
  • Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net
  • Radio Programming Tutorial
  • Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites
  • Getting started with Fox Hunting
Jamey Explains HF Station Building
Jamey Explains HF Station Building

HF Session Activities

  • Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital
  • Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedlines, and Grounds
  • Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice
  • Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital

Breakout Session

The final session of the day will be a breakout session where attendees will choose to attend one of the following 3 sessions:

  • Learning CW
  • Finding DX, Logging Contacts, and QSL’ing – Getting them logged/confirmed
  • Portable Operating

Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp will be Online on May 14th

Registration is now open for the May 14th session.  You can get more information about Ham Bootcamp at https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/.

Each attendee should register separately using this link.   After registering, you will receive a link that will allow you to register for the Zoom meeting.  Following the Zoom meeting registration, you will receive a personal Zoom link via email.

Any questions about Bootcamp?  Contact me at [email protected]

 

Anita, AB1QB

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide