Tag Archives: VHF/UHF

Plans for Field Day 2021

We are holding an in-person Field Day operation at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. Here’s some more on our plans for Field Day 2021.

Stations and Antennas for Field Day 2021

We will be a 4A Station with the following Station available for members to use:

  • 20m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 40m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 10m/15m/80 HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • 6m VHF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital)
  • Computer Controlled 2m/70cm Satellite Ground Station (Can do SSB Phone and CW)

We will have a Tower up with a Triband Yagi and Wire Antennas to Cover 80m – 10m. We will have a 6m LFA Yagi up for the Magic Band. Finally, we will have a Computer-Controlled portable satellite station with Yagis for 2m and 70cm.

You can see a prediction of the Satellite Passes during Field Day here.

Station setup will take place on Friday, June 25th with on-site activities beginning at 11 am.

We will hold a training session on our Stations and other Field Day fun on Saturday, June 26th starting at 12:30 pm. Training will cover:

  • Operating FT8 Digital and Using the 6m Station
  • Operating Using the Satellite Ground Station
  • Fox Hunting

Field Day Operations will begin at 2 pm on Saturday, June 26th, and go for 24-hours ending at 2 pm on Sunday, June 27th. We will take down our station beginning at 2 pm on Sunday.

We will be holding a Message Passing activity on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm. This is a great activity for Technicians – bring your HT and learn how to pass emergency message traffic at Field Day. Contact Aron at [email protected] for more information and to sign up.

Sign-Up To Operate!

Members can sign-up to operate in our Field Day forum.

Field Day Coaches

Field Day at the Nashua Area Radio Society is all about learning and trying new things. We encourage you to sign-up to operate our stations and to learn about modes and bands you may not have experience with. In addition to our planned training, we will have Field Day Coaches available to help you get started and learn to use our Station, and have fun operating.

Field Day Tech Night

We have held two Tech Night sessions to provide training on how to operate at Field Day. Members can view the videos and training presentations for these sessions on our Tech Night Page.

Visitors and the Public are Welcome

If you’d like to learn more about Amateur Radio, we’d like to invite you to visit us at Keyes Memorial Park during Field Day. Noon into the evening on Saturday, June 26th, and Sunday morning, June 27th, up until 2 pm in the afternoon would be a great time to stop by. We’ll be happy to show you around our site, answer your questions, and even get you on the air a bit if you’d like. Also, if you have an HT, bring it and you can hunt our Foxes (hidden radio transmitters).

Logistics for Field Day

We will be operating in the Open-Air Pavillion at Keyes Memorial Park. This will provide shelter should we have any rain. The Pavillion is one-air and this will facilitate safe social distancing and an outdoor environment.

We encourage everyone to get vaccinated for COVID-19 if possible before Field Day. Our site is set up to facilitate social distancing and we will have masks and sanitization supplies available onsite for those who need them.

Several members have graciously volunteered to handle Take Out food runs during Field Day operations. We will also have water and light snacks available.

If you have any questions about Field Day, please post them as part of this thread or email us at [email protected]. We hope that you’ll join us for Field Day!

The NARS Field Day Team

A 6m DX Opening to Europe

Every now and then we get a really good 6m DX opening to Europe on the 6m Band from here in New England. This past Friday, June 4, 2021 presented us with just such an opening. This particular one may…

Source: A 6m DX Opening to Remember

PSKReporter Snapshot of 6m DX Opening to Europe
PSKReporter Snapshot of 6m DX Opening to Europe

There were so many strong signals on 6m FT8 from DX stations in Europe, it was difficult to decide which station to call next! I was able to work the opening for most of the day on Friday and was rewarded with over 130 DX contacts into Europe. In addition, I was able to Work 3 new DXCCs and over 40 new Grids (over 30 of these Grids have confirmed on LoTW already)!

You can read more about last Friday’s 6m opening to Europe via the link above. Let’s hope we get some more good 6m openings for Field Day so we can make good use of our 6m Field Day Station!

Fred, AB1OC

Satellite Passes for Field Day 2021

We are planning to have a Portable Computer-Controlled Satellite Station at Field Day 2021 this year. The station will use an IC-9700 Transceiver controlled by a Mac Computer to enable us to make Satellite Contacts during Field Day.

Preparing to wire the antenna array
Portable Satellite Antennas for Field Day

Field Day Rules limit Field Days stations to a single contact on FM “EasySats” such as SO-50, AO-91, and the ISS. The addition of a computer enables us to make contacts using satellites that have Linear Transponders which use SSB. We can make as many contacts on these satellites as we wish.

Field Day 2021 Satellite Passes
Field Day 2021 Satellite Passes

We used the MacDoppler Satellite Tracking program to run predictions for the satellite passes that will take place during the Field Day 2021 operating period which is from 2 pm EDT on Saturday, June 26th through 2 pm EDT Sunday, June 27th. The summary above only includes those passes with elevations that exceed 20 degrees. As you can see, there are a lot of great Linear Satellite passes that we can work on Field Day!

Members will be able to sign up to operate our Field Day station in the near future. Watch the Field Day forum here in n1fd.org for sign-up details.

Satellite Station Training at Field Day
Satellite Station Training at Field Day

We will be offering hands-on Training on our Satellite Station at 12:30 pm EDT on Saturday, June 26th just before Field Day operations begin so come on out and learn about Satellite operations!

Fred, AB1OC

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide