Tag Archives: On The Air

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

Field Day Operators Take Note – 10m and 6m are Open

I spent a little time this morning evaluating the band conditions on 10m and 6m in preparation for our upcoming Field Day Operations this weekend. To try for an “apples to apples” test, I used the antennas here with FT8 at 10 W input power. Our field day setup will have 1/2 the number of elements as we have here but we will be running 100 W so I believe the is to be a reasonable test. The beam heading for my tests was 260 degrees – the same as we will be using for Field Day.

As you can see from the image above, 10m was open for a good portion of the USA at 9:30 am this morning local time.

FT8 QSO with North Dakota on 10m
FT8 QSO with North Dakota on 10m

I made quite a few QSOs on 10m including several to the western states.

6m Band Opening
6m Band Opening

The 6m Band was also wide open and I was able to make about 40 contacts this morning include several to California and Arizona.

The openings on 6m and 10m were most likely a result of E-skip propagation. You can see the current propagation conditions on these bands here.

Digital, CW, SSB, and 6m operators at Field Day take note – its important to take advantage of openings on 10m and 6m during Field Day. These bands were not only open for FT8 digital but I am sure they supported SSB and CW contacts as well.

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities

Countdown to Field Day 2018

The Nashua Area Radio Society will again be participating in the ARRL Field Day event this weekend. We have a long history of participation in Field Day and you can read more about some of our previous Field Day operations here.

Team Operating at Field Day
Team Operating at Field Day

Field Day is about training and emergency preparedness, learning about new communications technology, and having fun!

Field Day Digital Station
Field Day Digital Station

We will be a 10A station this year with three towers and several high-performance wire antennas. You can read more about our Field Day 2018 plans here.

Field Day 2017 - New Remote Tower
60 ft Tower at Fiel Day

Our Field Day will be held at the Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH an will also feature an Amateur Radio Open House activity the students and parents that were part of our High Altitude Balloon Project 3. We will be supporting an ISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School in November and we will have the primary ground station on-site at Field Day for satellite operations and testing. We are counting down to the beginning of our Field Day Operations –

[waiting name=”2018 Field Day”]

 

NARS members can still sign-up to operate or to be part of the setup teams at Field Day. Just log in to our website and follow the link to our online signup.

All Amateurs and the general public are welcome to visit our Field Day operation on Saturday or Sunday, June 23rd or 24th.  Click on the white space below to see a map of our Field Day location. See you at Field Day!

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Kearsarge at Rollins State Park

On June 9th we will be having a club activation of Rollins State Park (POTA K-2676) and Mt. Kearsarge (SOTA W1/HA-010). An added bonus is that the ARRL VHF contest will begin at 2:00 pm on this day! The bands should be active.

This is a drive-able mountain – you are welcome to drive or hike. There are a parking lot and picnic area a short distance from the top where we will be setting up. The peak is a short hike from the parking area. This activity should appear to anyone who wants to work portable operations – you do not have to take part in SOTA/POTA/VHF contest – you can come and operate and have fun.

Portable 6m SOTA Station
Portable SOTA Station

Fred, AB1OC will be bringing the portable satellite station. I will have my mobile HF station (IC-7100), a couple of HTs with the 2m/70cm Elk Antenna and tape measure yagis, and the Elecraft KX2 as well. I can’t use them all at the same time and would be very happy to share!

Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, AC1DC, Provide a BBQ
Abby, Ab1BY, and Jamey, AC1DC, Provide a BBQ

I will also be bringing my grill if you want to bring anything to grill up during the day.

Here is a map to the parking area on Mt. Kearsarge (you can also hike to the summit from this location):

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/”/43.3787932,-71.8587101/@43.3782947,-71.8593654,219m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

If you would like a longer hike to the summit you will have to start in Winslow State Park – same place, just a different entrance:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/”/43.3898777,-71.8675513/@43.3898749,-71.8676715,86m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

You can show up at any time, but I think the most people should try to be there by 12:00 pm to be set up with plenty of time to operate.

Jamey, AC1DC

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