# Nashua Area Radio Society > Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide --- ## Pages - [Nashua Area Radio Society License Class Grad Membership Form](https://www.n1fd.org/nashua-area-radio-society-license-class-grad-membership-form-asdfpn1k6/): Thank you for taking a License Class with the Nashua Area Radio Society. We hope that you enjoyed your class.... - [2023 Member Interest Survey](https://www.n1fd.org/2023-member-interest-survey/): This member interest survey will help us to plan activities, programs and training that meets the needs of our members. - [NARS COVID-19 Policy](https://www.n1fd.org/covid-policy/): The contents of this page document the Nashua Area Radio Society's COVID policy. Based on recent trends and regulatory guidance... - [Thank You For Registering For In-Person Ham Bootcamp at HamXpostion!](https://www.n1fd.org/in-person-bootcamp-thanks/): Dan and Kenzie Satellite Intro at Bootcamp Thank you for registering for our in-person Ham Bootcamp! We will be in... - [Ham Bootcamp Archives](https://www.n1fd.org/bootcamp-archives/): Ham Bootcamp - October 2020 QST Cover This page contains archives of the videos and presentations from previous Nashua Area... - [Register To Attend Online Ham Bootcamp](https://www.n1fd.org/register-ham-bootcamp/): Thank you for your interest in Ham Bootcamp! You can register for Ham Bootcamp by completing the form below. Bootcamp will be held online. - [Student-Teacher Contest Series](https://www.n1fd.org/student-teacher-contest-series/): This year we are hosting the first Nashua Area Rado Society Student-Teacher Contest Series. Our goals for the Series includes creating an opportunity... - [Fun With Ham Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/hamradiofun/): Are you interested in Ham Radio? Ham Radio is a lot of fun! Learn what Ham Radio is about and what you can do with an Ham Radio License... - [Ham Bootcamp - Getting Started With Ham Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/): Do you already have your Technician or General License and wondering how to use it to get on the air? We've created Ham Bootcamp just for you!... - [Field Day 2019 Station Test and Plans](https://www.n1fd.org/field-day-2019-test/): Several of us got together at our QTH this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. We will have 14 Transmitters and 4 Towers... - [The Nashua Area Radio Society Story](https://www.n1fd.org/the-nashua-area-radio-society-story/): We are hoping to share some of the projects and approaches that have worked for us with others so that they may contribute to making... - [Become a Nashua Area Radio Society Internet Subscriber](https://www.n1fd.org/join-as-internet-sub/): If you'd like to become a Nashua Area Radio Society Internet Subscriber, please fill out the form which follows, and... - [Become a Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Member](https://www.n1fd.org/join-as-member/): If you'd like to join our organization as a Regular (or Associate or Family) Member, you can fill out the... - [On The Air Activities](https://www.n1fd.org/on-the-air-activities/): We really enjoy getting On The Air and operating! Here is a list of our current scheduled operating events. All Nashua Area Radio Society members are... - [Ham Radio Activities Expo](https://www.n1fd.org/ham-radio-expo/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has created Ham Radio Youth Expo that we provideat public gatherings to introduce young people to Amateur Radio. - [Amateur Radio Nets](https://www.n1fd.org/nets/): The Nashua Area Radio Society currently holds two weekly on-air Amateur Radio Net activities. We welcome all licensed Amateur Radio operators to join... - [N1FD and N1T Logs and QSL Information](https://www.n1fd.org/qsl-info/): Have you made a contact with us as N1FD or N1T? You can check if you are in our logs via ClubLog and request a QSL card. We offer several ways to QSL. - [Amateur Radio YouTube Feeds](https://www.n1fd.org/youtube-feeds/): The Nashua Area Radio Society's YouTube feeds include videos about events and articles related to our activities and our members. We also feature... - [Our Blog](https://www.n1fd.org/our-blog/): This is the Nashua Area Radio Society Blog. It contains articles about Amateur Radio by our members. Our blog is written by our members. - [Learning Morse Code (CW)](https://www.n1fd.org/learning-morse-code/): Learning Morse Code or CW as Amateur Radio Operators call it, is fun and a great way to make some really interesting contacts. - [Join The ARRL](https://www.n1fd.org/join-the-arrl/): The ARRL provides many benefits to Amateur Radio operators and helps to defend our on-air privileges. You can join the ARRL through our organization. - [Register For An Amateur Radio License Class](https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/): You can register to attend a Ham Radio License Class by completing the form below. We will contact you with more information about the preparation required. - [Activities for Young People](https://www.n1fd.org/youth-activities/): An important activity for our organization is to provide STEM learning experiences for young people through Amateur Radio related activities. - [Non-Profit/501(c)(3) Project](https://www.n1fd.org/non-profit-project/): This page contains a collection of information related to our non-profit project. We have updated our Constitution and By-Laws to support our mission... - [Support The Nashua Area Radio Society](https://www.n1fd.org/donate/): The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many programs designed to enhance the lives of our members and our community. We provide education and training... - [N1FD Operating Awards](https://www.n1fd.org/operating/): Our club has a long and proud tradition of operating excellence and we are very active on the air. We have received quite a few operating awards. - [Learn About The Nashua Area Radio Society](https://www.n1fd.org/learn-about-nars/): The best way to learn about the Nashua Area Radio Society is to look around here on our website. We have lots of activities and opportunities to learn. - [Our Video Collection](https://www.n1fd.org/video-collection/): The following video collection has been created by the Nashua Area Radio Society to share memories of our activities and provide educational material... - [Our Photo Collection](https://www.n1fd.org/photo-collection/): The following photo collection has been created by Nashua Area Radio Society members to share memories from our activities. - [Topics In All Forums](https://www.n1fd.org/forums/): The Nashua Area Radio Society Forums provide a place for our members to discuss Amateur Radio topics and to share information. - [Our Member Forums](https://www.n1fd.org/our-forums/): The Nashua Area Radio Society Forums provide a place for our members to discuss Amateur Radio topics and to share information and ideas. - [Join The Nashua Area Radio Society](https://www.n1fd.org/join-us/): We have a lot going on! We hope that you'll join us. We provide many activities and we provide mentoring and training materials for Hams... - [Newsletter Archives](https://www.n1fd.org/newsletter-archives/): This page contains our Newsletter Archives from 2005 to the present. Each archive has approximately 5 years of Newsletter editions. - [Nashua Area Radio Society](https://www.n1fd.org/): The Nashua Area Radio Society's mission is to bring new people into Amateur Radio, help members develop skills, provide STEM education, & have fun through.. - [Learn About Amateur Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/about-amateur-radio/): Interested in Amateur Radio but need a little help to get your license? Are you new to Amateur Radio? Want to learn about Ham Radio? - [Membership Meetings](https://www.n1fd.org/membership-meetings/): Our membership meetings include presentations by our members and local experts on a variety of topics related to Amateur Radio. - [Tech Night](https://www.n1fd.org/tech-night/): Our Tech Night Sessions help our members learn about Ham Radio. They cover a variety of Amateur Radio Technical topics and operating skills. - [License Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class/): We offer a Amateur Radio License Class for all levels licenses. Our classes are held over a single weekend and feature live demos and hands-on learning. - [Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/field-day/): ARRL Field Day is our club's biggest event.The Nashua Area Radio Society has a long and rich history of many successful Field Day operations. - [Our Activities and Resources](https://www.n1fd.org/our-activities/): Our activities allow our members develop their Amateur Radio knowledge and Operating Skills and to have fun on the air. Our activities include... --- ## Posts - [Winter Field Day 2025 Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2025/03/30/winter-field-day-2025/): So, did we win Winter Field Day?  Let’s look at a summary of the CLASSES first.  We were in the HOME class... - [How to Calculate Battery Life](https://www.n1fd.org/2025/02/18/battery-life/): Wonder how to calculate Battery Life? This post explains how to do it. Formulas and explanations are included. - [Low-Band Receive Antenna Upgrades at AB1OC-AB1QB](https://www.n1fd.org/2025/01/10/low-band-receive-upgrades/): We upgraded our low-band receive antennas to use the latest electronics. The upgrades improved performance... - [A Broadcast Interference (BCI) Notch Filter for General Coverage Receivers](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/26/notch-filter/): General coverage short-wave receivers may lack preselection against strong AM broadcast stations. A notch Filter... - [Memorable Conditions on the 6M Band - An F2 Opening](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/23/6m-f2/): We saw daily F2 openings to Europe and the Western USA on the 6M band. This opening enabled us to work quite a few new Grids and DXCCs. - [A Simple Set of QRP Calibration Mismatches That You Can Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/23/qrp-mismatch/): A set of mismatches is also useful for checking an SWR meter, or a nanoVNA. There are off-the-shelf mismatches... - [An Antenna for the Vertically Challenged](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/10/20/magnetic-radiator/): The antenna described in this article consists of paired vertical radiators made from wire. The system does not require ground radials... - [When did WWV Move to Colorado?](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/10/03/wwv-colorado/): When did WWV move to Colorado? Many of the newer hams didn't know much about the WWV station.... - [Working to Build a Stronger ARRL](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/09/23/stronger-arrl/): I wanted to share some information about the work that I have been doing as ARRL New England Division Director for the past 3 years... - [Field Day 2024 Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/07/20/field-day-2024-results/): Probable the most impressive action for Field Day was the kids.  They were running CQ pileups on 40M..They had 199 contacts. - [Field Day 2024 at Hudson Memorial School](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/06/22/field-day-2024-at-hudson-memorial-school/): Join the Nashua Area Radio Society for Field Day 2024 at Hudson Memorial School. Operate on HF or VHF bands, Hunt a Fox and more! - [Field Day 2024 Presentation Tuesday June 4th](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/06/01/field-day-2024-presentation-tuesday-june-4th/): Greetings All, this coming Tuesday June 4th, we will be discussing the Field Day 2024 setup and activities. Please join... - [Impedance Matching to an 8-Pole Quasi-Equiripple (QER) Crystal Bandpass Filter](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/05/21/crystal-filter/): Learn how to build and match crystal filters for your amateur radio transceiver. Discover impedance matching techniques.. - [Ham Bootcamp is Coming Up - Saturday May 11th](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/04/06/ham-bootcamp-is-coming-up-saturday-may-11th/): Ham Bootcamp is an online program to help new, inactive and prospective hams gain the skills and information that they need to Get On The AIr. - [Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna – Part III - Radiation Efficiency, Ground Reflective Loss, and Antenna Efficiency](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/03/30/matching-to-the-complex-load-impedance-of-a-shortened-non-resonant-antenna-part-iii-radiation-efficiency-ground-reflective-loss-and-antenna-efficiency/): Theory piece on antenna matching calculations for short vertical antennas that are not resonant. Part III of a series of articles. - [Bio for Brian Quick, W1XMM](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/02/26/w1xmm-spotlight/): To understand how I got into HAM Radio, you first need to know when and why.  I’d been an Amherst Fire Fighter and an Ambulance EMT for... - [NARS Winter Field Day Plans](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/01/20/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... - [Some Pictures from Winter Field Days Past](https://www.n1fd.org/2024/01/09/winter-field-days-past/): Winter Field Day has been great for NARS over the years. We've taken many different approaches to doing it... - [Getting Started with POTA and Portable Operation](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/12/22/getting-started-with-pota/): Some members had noted that they would like to get involved with POTA but didn’t know how to start.  Not knowing about portable operation... - [Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna - Part II](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/30/matching-part2/): This article presents a new method for simplifying matching networks. This leads us to a matching solution... - [Truss added to DIY 6m Moxon Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/25/diy-6m-moxon-addn/): DIY 6m Moxon Antenna with truss added to keep the antenna from drooping. Based upon previous post on this blog, ... - [My Portable Gear and Organizing for a POTA Event](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/13/pota-gear/): One of the problems I face when I think of doing a POTA activation is what to bring and how best to organize gear so I have... - [October POTA Activation October 15th - Mount Kearsarge](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/07/mount-kearsarge-pota/): October's POTA activation will bring us back to Winslow State Park on the flanks of Mount Kearsarge. This park has a... - [Using My "Shack-In-A-Box" on a POTA Activation](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/02/using-my-shack-in-a-box-on-a-pota-activation/): Recently, I was asked not only how I made out during the Nashua Area Radio Society's Sep 3, 2023 Club POTA activation from... - [What's Inside the Hy-Gain AV-640 Vertical Matching Unit Anyway?](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/09/08/whats-inside-the-hy-gain-av-640-vertical-matching-unit-anyway/): The AV-640 is an 8-band antenna that, in addition to the WARC bands, adds 6m. Since I have not operated on the "magic band"... - [September POTA/SOTA Activation Mount Kearsarge Sept 9th](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/09/06/september-pota-sota-activation-mount-kearsarge-sept-9th/): Our next POTA activation is at Mount Kearsarge  on September 9th.  - [Fun with the Clear Sky Institute HamClock](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/24/hamclock/): That TV has been unused for 3 years, but it was earmarked for a HamClock. - [August POTA/SOTA Activation Pack Monadnock August 19th](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/14/august-pota-sota-activation-pack-monadnock-august-19th/): Before I start going on about Pack Monadnock I'd like to tell you a little about Mount Agamenticus in Maine... - [QRP In the Field](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/02/qrp-in-the-field/): Interested in SOTA or POTA activating or just opertating QRP in the field? Here is some (hopefully) valuable information to help you learn m,ore about QRP operating and gear! Check it out and head into the field! - [Next POTA Activation Mount Agamenticus Maine August 5th](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/29/next-pota-activation-mount-agamenticus-maine-august-5th/): Hi all our next SOTA/ POTA activation will be Mount Agamenticus in York Maine. A club member recommended this one... - [Restoration of an Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/13/restoration-of-an-agilent-53131a-frequency-counter/): Recently, I acquired an Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter found on eBay, one of my favorite sources for old test equipment... - [Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna - Part I](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/06/matching-antenna-part-i/): A common impedance matching problem is that of matching a 50 ohm transmitter to a shortened non-resonant antenna. Examples of non-resonant... - [Temporary 20m EFHW Vertical Installation](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/02/20m-efhw-vertical/): A collection of single-band, matched, end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antennas was constructed while I was living in FL. - [Junes POTA/SOTA Saturday June 10th and May's POTA learnings](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/06/10/junes-pota-sota-saturday-june-10th-and-mays-pota-learnings/): Hi I before I talk about June's SOTA/POTA I want to say a few things about May's. IT was buggy... - [Join Us for Summer 2023 Field Day on June 24th and 25th!](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/06/05/join-us-for-summer-2023-field-day-on-june-24th-and-25th/): Nashua Area Radio Society is holding an in-person Field Day operation at Hudson Memorial School at the end of June.... - [First SOTA/POTA of 2023 May7th Mount Kearsarge](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/05/01/first-sota-pota-2023-mount-kearsarge/): 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... - [RFSim99 for Circuit Simulations](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/04/23/rfsim99-for-circuit-simulations/): Out of curiosity I recently downloaded a copy of RFSim99[1], authored by Stewart Hyde, to see what it could do and how easy it was to use... - [Interpreting S-Meter Readings](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/04/11/interpreting-s-meter-readings/): Most communication receivers and transceivers have S-meters, either analog or digital. What do S-meter readings mean... - [Nashua Area Radio Society at HMS STEM Night on March 13th](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/29/nashua-area-radio-society-at-hms-stem-night-on-march-13th/): Dan Pooler (AC1EN), a teacher at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson (HMS) and a Nashua Area Radio Society member, worked with the school... - [Astron SS-30M Power Supply Meter LED Retrofit](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/14/astron-ss-30m-power-supply-meter-led-retrofit/): The Astron SS-30M is a popular metered, switching power supply rated at 30 A.This article discusses the replacement of incandescent bulbs.. - [Getting Ready for Summer Field Day 2023](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/05/getting-ready-for-summer-field-day-2023/): NARS 2023 Field Day preparations are beginning now. Field Day has been a very important part of our club and we have done well/... - [Bob Heil to Speak to Nashua Area Radio Society on March 7th](https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/04/bob-heil-to-speak-to-nashua-area-radio-society-on-march-7th/): Bob Heil will speak at the NARS membership meeting on March 7th. His will speak about Antennas and Installation Techniques and Radio Settings - [Project Night - An N1FD Tradition](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/12/27/project-night-2/): The next NARS Meeting will be Project Night - an N1FD Tradition. Members and Internet Subscribers can present their latest projects. - [Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines - Part III](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/12/04/transmission-lines-part-iii/): Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines - Part III - [Tips for Working DX From a Modest Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/11/14/tips-for-working-dx-from-a-modest-station/): I have a few suggestions I've gathered over my 30 years of working DX and contesting that I'd like to share, which might help you... - [NARS Next POTA/SOTA Oct. 8 2022 At Pack Monadnock](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/10/03/sota-oct-8-2022/): Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 8th . Pack Monadnock is another destination  that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up... - [BIG E Space Chat is a Go!](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/20/big-e-space-chat-is-a-go/): The BIG E Space Chat is a go!  The pre-contact program for our upcoming ISS contact at the BIG E will begin at 1:20 pm ET on Tuesday, 9/27. - [Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines – Part II](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/14/differential-and-common-modes-on-transmission-lines-part-ii/): Differential and common modes on transmission lines were introduced in Part I [1] of this article. The use of baluns to mitigate... - [Space Chat @ The BIG E! - Free Admission](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/14/space-chat-at-big-e/): A group of young people at The BIG E in will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chat with an astronaut aboard the ISS... - [Getting Ready for HamXposition 2022](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/21/hamxposition-2022/): Next week is the Northeast HamXposition 2022 in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  Nashua Area Radio Society will host our exhibits... - [SOTA/POTA Hikes Start September 10th 2022](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/19/sota-2022/): GENERAL Great news for fans of our SOTA / POTA hikes. If you made it to our August membership meeting... - [How to Prune A Dipole Antenna to Length](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/18/dipole-antenna/): Whether it is for a half-wave dipole or an end-fed half-wave antenna, we will have to prune one of these antennas to the correct length.... - [Power Losses and Dissipation in Various Ferrite Devices - Part II](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/12/ferrite-loss-2/): This article show how to calculate the amount of power the same ferrite core can dissipate into free air before reaching its Curie... - [Power Losses and Dissipation in Various Ferrite Devices](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/10/ferrite-device-losses/): The magnetization admittance will provide a means to estimate the power dissipations of ferrite transformers and inductors... - [Worst Case Standing Wave Voltage on a Transmission Line](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/01/standing-wave-voltage/): This article explores what the worst-case standing wave voltage might be on a transmission line when the only mismatch is due to the antenna. - [Nashua Area Radio Society Field Day 2022](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/01/field-day-2022/): Field Day 2022 is over and created great memories for all who joined us.  We have 47 names on our guest log... - [Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines – Part I](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/25/transmission-lines/): In Part I of this three-part series we discuss what is meant by differential and common modes on RF transmission lines. - [DIY 6m Moxon Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/17/6m-moxon-antenna/): Construction of a 6m Moxon Antenna based on a plan in the ARRL book Magic Band Antennas for Ham Radio by Bruce Walker N3JO... - [Control Your Rig Remotely With This USB-Controlled Power Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/07/remote-control/): In this article, we describe a solution for remote control of your rig from another room of your home, your yard or while on travel. - [Tilt-Over Bases for Antenna Masts That You Can Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/30/tilt-over-bases/): When I couldn’t find any tilt-over bases that were sturdy, I decided to design and build some of my own from readily available materials. - [A QRO L-Matching Network for 40 or 80 Meters](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/27/l-matching/): L-matching networks provide an efficient means of feeding end-fed half-wave antennas. The advantages of being able to feed... - [Highly Efficient L-Matching Networks for End-Fed Half-Wave Antennas](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/11/l-matching-networks/): There are three types of antenna feeds in popular use: 1) transformer feed, 2) L-matching network feed, and 3) Zepp... - [Scouts in Long Island, NY Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/07/long-island-scouts-iss/): Scouts from the Matinecock District in Long Island, NY made a contact with an astronaut on the International Space Station, the ISS... - [Field Day Test - Radio Setup for 2022](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/07/field-day-test-2022/): We configured our radios and loggers for 2022 Field Day and do a Field Day Test. We focused on the 80m/15m/10m station... - [Hands On Tower and Beam Antenna Training for 2022 Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/06/field-day-tower/): Members of the Nashua Area Radio Society 2022 Field Day Tower and Antenna Teams met for a hands-on training exercise led by Fred AB1OC... - [A Flagpole Antenna Project for Residential Settings](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/05/23/flagpole-antenna/): Flagpole antenna for use in residential settings. A flagpole antenna has been fabricated that can be installed in any residential setting... - [Magnetic Loop Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/04/11/magnetic-loop-antenna/): A compact magnetic loop antenna has been fabricated for indoor use where window dimensions may be small... - [Register Now for Ham Bootcamp!](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/04/10/register-now-for-ham-bootcamp/): Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp will be held by the Nashua Area Radio Society on Saturday May 14th to help new hams learn skills to get on the air. - [Gear Test and Evaluation for Field Day 2022](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/03/27/gear-test-field-day-2022/): On March 15th 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB to do an initial gear test and evaluation in preparation for Field Day... - [Choosing and Installing a Wire Beam Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/02/20/wire-beam-antenna/): Wire Beam Antennas provide a great blance between cost, complexity, performance and ease of installation. This article explores popular... - [WM0G Rain Gutter Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/27/wm0g-rain-gutter-antenna/): Several years ago, I wrote an article on the use of the rain gutter on my Colorado home as my HF antenna. I was relegated to this antenna... - [AC1EV's Ham Radio Adventure: Part I](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/20/ac1ev-part-i/): Hi, I’m Jon Turner, AC1EV and I’d like to tell you a bit about my Ham Radio Adventure. In late 2017, my wife Stephanie began... - [2022 NARS Executive Committee Spotlight](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/13/2022-executive-committee/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has elected our 2022 executive committee. Here are the people on that team... - [Scouts in Australia Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/10/au-scouts-contact-iss/): Scouts in Victoria, Australia made contact with Astronaut Mark VandeHei, KG5GNP on the ISS this past Tuesday, January 4th, 2022... - [Thank You For Your Support!](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/19/thank-you-for-your-support/): I received some great news from ARRL HQ this afternoon. Thanks to the great support from so many people, I... - [WMØG’s Novice Memories](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/09/novice-memories/): I was introduced to the wonderful world of shortwave radio one Christmas Day way back in the mid-1950s as a young Boy Scout... - [Introduction to HFTA - High Frequency Terrain Assessment and more...](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/07/hfta-intro/): HFTA stands for High-Frequency Terrain Assessment.  This article contains an introduction to setting up and using HFTA... - [Last SOTA, POTA of the year Saturday November 6th](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/29/last-sota-pota-of-the-year-saturday-november-6th/): The final SOTA hike of 2021 will be to Kidder Mountain on November 6th.  The summit is reached via a 3.2 mi trail... - [An Important Choice – Please Cast Your Vote for ARRL New England Division Director](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/22/vote-for-arrl-new-england-division-director/): I believe that Amateur Radio and the ARRL are at a crossroads. Issues such as the need to bring new... - [Next SOTA/POTA October 23rd Pack Monadnock](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/20/next-sota-pota-october-23rd-pack-monadnock/): Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 23rd. Pack Monadnock is another destination in the series that gives you a choice to hike or drive up... - [ARRL New England Division Director Candidates Forum at Northeast HamXpostion](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/20/candidates-forum/): The three candidates who are running to become the next New England Division Director participated in a Candidates Forum... - [Next SOTA/POTA Kearsage Mtn. September 25th](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/14/next-sota-pota-kearsage-mtn-september-25th/): Our Mt Kearsage  SOTA hike of 2021 is Saturday, September 25th.  Bring a sweater or fleece and a rain jacket just in case it can get pretty - [Fred AB1OC's Town Hall Meeting](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/02/ab1oc-town-hall-meeting/): Fred, AB1OC held the first of what will be many Town Hall Meetings with Hams in New England. We spent the evening answering questions... - [Importance of Amateur Radio in Schools](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/15/importance-of-amateur-radio-in-schools/): It is vitally important that we make efforts to bring Amateur Radio to young people in schools and other venues. When we spend time... - [Creating a Strong Future for Amateur Radio as ARRL New England Division Director](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/10/new-england-division-director/): I wanted to share information about my plans as ARRL New England Division Director. I also wanted to share a more about my background... - [August 14th SOTA Hike Pitcher Mtn.](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/10/august-14th-sota-hike-pitcher-mtn/): Our next SOTA hike is this Saturday, August 14th. We will be activating Pitcher Mtn. A  very short hike will lead us to the open summit... - [2021 Mt. Kearsarge SOTA/POTA - July 17th](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/15/2021-mt-kearsarge/): The plan for our 2021 Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the base of the auto road at Rollins State park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road... - [YOTA Camp 2021 Makes Contact with the ISS via Amateur Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/14/yota-iss/): I had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS contact moderator for the YOTA 2021 Camp’s contact with the ISS using Amateur Radio today... - [Field Day 2021 Recap](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/10/field-day-2021-recap/): The Nashua Area Radio Society held Field Day 2021 at Keyes Memorial Field in Milford, NH. We operated in the 4A category. - [SOTA / POTA Hikes For 2021 Start July 17th](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/25/sota-pota-hikes-for-2021-start-july-17th/): Great news for fans of our SOTA / POTA hikes. If you made it to our June membership meeting then... - [Monthly Club Breakfast Resumes July 10th at 8:30 am](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/24/monthly-club-breakfast-resumes-july-10th-at-830-am/): Hi all, I have great news I'd like to share. The club breakfasts are ready to resume. We will be... - [Field Day Mentoring Opportunties](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/16/field-day-mentoring/): ARRL Field Day is upon us and I wanted to share some thoughts about the mentoring and learning opportunities that Field Day can provide... - [Plans for Field Day 2021](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/11/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. - [Helping Amateur Radio Grow](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/08/new-england-arrl-director-helping-amatuer-radio-grow/): Fred, AB1OC announces his intent to run ARRL Director for the New England Division. Fred has been dedicating much of his time helping folks... - [A 6m DX Opening to Europe](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/06/6m-dx-europe/): Every now and then we get a really good opening to Europe on 6m from here in New England. We had a really great 6m DX opening to Europe... - [Satellite Passes for Field Day 2021](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/31/field-day-2021-satellite-passes/): We're using a Portable Computer-Controlled Satellite Station at Field Day 2021 this year. We've run predictions for Satellite Passes... - [Technician Class for High School Students](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/29/technician-class-for-high-school-students/): The Nashua Area Radio Society held a Technician License Class for high school students from two schools who have done ISS Contacts. - [Field Day Satellite Station for 2021 - Setup and Test in Hollis](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/28/field-day-satellite-station-test/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be using a Portable Satellite Station this year at Summer Field Day. Here are some pictures... - [10 Meter Band Opening and Sporadic E to Europe](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/21/10-meter-band-opening/): I made a contact with MW0NLG and had a nice long QSO during a good 10 meter Band Opening. He said it was his first trans-Atlantic QSO on 10-meters... - [Reducing RFI From Our QTH](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/21/reducing-rfi/): We decided to upgrade the network at our QTH to use Fiber Optics to reduce RFI from some of the more problematic noise sources at our QTH... - [6m Field Day Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/18/6m-field-day-station/): Our 6m Field Day station will be a portable setup and feature a new antenna - a 3-Element Loop Fed Array (LFA) Yagi from InnoVAntennas. - [Read All About it! Bishop Guertin ISS Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/20/bishop-guertin-iss-contact/): The recent Bishop Guertin ISS Contact received quite a bit of media coverage - TV, Radio, Newspapers and the Internet - [Countdown to an ISS Contact with Bishop Guertin H.S.](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/19/bishop-guertin-iss/): Students at Bishop Guertin H.S. will be talking with astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB who is onboard the ISS... - [2020 Our Year in Review](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/18/2020-our-year-in-review/): Despite the pandemic, the Nashua Area Radio Society continued to provide activities and training to amateurs. Here is our 2020 Year in Review - [Vintage Radio Dreamin](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/16/vintage-radio/): Collins pioneered the practical application of SSB to radio communications. SSB was state of the art in 1957. Learn about Vintage Radio... - [Using the Student-Teacher Contest Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2021/01/16/student-teacher-contest-radio/): I would like to thank the Nashua Area Radio Society for hosting the  2020 Student-Teacher Contest. Thanks again and hope to see folks soon... - [Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/12/30/spring-2021-ham-bootcamp/): Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp will be held online by the Nashua Area Radio Society on Saturday April 24th, 2021. - [2020 Field Day Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/12/12/2020-field-day-results/): The ARRL has published the 2020 Field Day Results in the December QST and the Nashua Area Radio Society placed in the top 3% of all clubs. - [AC1EV Spiderbeam Part 1 - Building the Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/28/ac1ev-spiderbeam-part-1-building-the-antenna/): Spiderbeam or Hex beam antennas have become very popular. They are small, lightweight directional antennas that are relatively easy... - [One Radio, Two Shacks](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/14/one-radio-two-shacks/): One Radio, Two Shacks - My wife and I have two houses.  I can afford to have an antenna set up at each location but we want to share radios... - [Configuring Emails from Our Forums](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/12/forum-emails/): We have added new features to our Member Forums. This article shows how you can control the emails that come from the forums. - [My Adventures into Digital Voice Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/02/digital-voice-radio/): What intrigued me is that a new ham -  someone just getting their Technician License - can get involved in Digital Voice Radio... - [Satellite Station Antenna Upgrades](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/01/satellite-antenna-upgrades/): We are pretty active on Satellites so we decided to take our station up a level by upgrading our antennas. We choose larger yagis... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 13 – H-Frame Enhancements](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/31/eme-station-2-0-eme-h-frame-enhancements/): Our 2m EME Antenna System has been performing very well. We added some custom improvements to our EME H-Frame to better align our antennas... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 12 – Station Software](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/14/eme-part-12-station-software/): Operations using EME or Moonbounce is all about software. Every EME station's software architecture and configuration is a little different. - [Online Technician Class](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/04/online-technician-class/): We held a successful online Technician License Class and Remote Video Exam on September 26th & 27th. All students earned their tech license! - [The Sound Card](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/04/sound-card/): The Sound Card and How it Works For a ham radio operator trying to work the digital modes for the... - [My experience with Selecting and Installing a New Tower and New Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/03/new-antenna-tower/): Everyone dreams of the perfect Antenna and Tower, I'm providing my lessons learned in my process of obtaining a new tower... - [QRP Antenna Connectors: BNC or RCA?](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/30/qrp-antenna-connectors/): Which is the "best" (most common, most useful, works best) for a QRP Antenna Connector: BNC or RCA style connectors? Here are the pros... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 11 – EME Station Hardware In Shack](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/30/eme-station-hardware/): We've created a Phase I EME Station Hardware Architecture that uses an SDR Dongle and manual selection of Receive Polarity via a switch... - [2 Meter Vertical Yagi for Better VHF Performance](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/22/2-meter-vertical-yagi-for-better-vhf-performance/): I need to be sure I can reliably reach the repeater and there were a few times when my mobile setup let me down. I've added a 2 Meter Yagi... - [NARS QSO Party Update](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/21/nars-qso-party-update/): Join us on the air on Sat. September 26th from noon to midnight EDT for the NARS QSO Party! Read this article for a few rule changes. - [NARS to Give Online Exams to Students of our Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/20/nars-online-exams/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will give online exams to students of its online license classes starting with the Fall 2020 Technician Class. - [Ham Bootcamp is Going Online](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/20/ham-bootcamp-is-going-online/): Do you have your Ham License but have not been on the air? Ham Bootcamp is the program for you! Here is how to register for the next session. - [The South African Radio League Web Site and Free Publications](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/15/the-south-african-radio-league-web-site-and-free-publications/): The South African Radio League has an annual Diary of Events (PDF) online.  Between the month-at-a-glance pages, this calendar has... - [Air Force Research Lab Tracks Sporadic-E](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/09/air-force-reasearch-lab-tracks-sporadic-e/): The Air force Research Lab is also interested in tracking sporadic-E clouds and in a way that we may not have expected... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 10 – Antennas On The Tower](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/eme-station-antennas-on-tower/): After a year’s worth of planning and 10 months of construction, we have our new 2m EME Antenna System installed on our EME Tower and working! - [September Membership Renewals](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/september-membership-renewals/): Please complete your September Membership Renewal by the end of the month to continue to enjoy our club activities and website content. - [Fall 2020 Amateur Radio License Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/fall-2020-license-classes/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be giving Technician, General and Extra amateur radio license classes online this fall via Zoom. - [ISS Voice Repeater is QRV!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/02/iss-voice-repeater/): Thanks to some great work by the ARISS Team, a new FM Voice Repeater system is operating on the ISS! You can access the repeater... - [NARS QSO Party September 26-27](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/24/nars-qso-party-september/): The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get more  people on the air... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 9 – H-Frame Assembly](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/18/eme-h-frame/): An EME H-Frame assembly is used to mount our four new antennas on our Tower. The H-frame component is one of the most mechanically complex... - [Exploring Winlink](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/14/exploring-winlink/): If your internet goes down or you lose cell phone connection, how do you get important emails to the outside world? Winlink is the answer... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 8 – EME Elevation Rotator Assembly and Sub-System Test](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/06/eme-elevation-rotator/): We are continuing to make progress on our 2m Station. The latest step in the project was to assemble and test the EME Elevation Rotator.. - [September 2020 Membership Renewals](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/05/september-2020-membership-renewals/): Many of our members are due for renewal in the month of September. Here is how you can renew today and continue receiveing your membership benefits. - [Keeping VHF Alive](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/05/keeping-vhf-alive/): Instead of just spending hours and hours on one HF  pile-up after another, I think it is good to keep the VHF and UHF alive and finding new things to do... - [NARS QSO Party September 26-27](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/01/nars-qso-party-2/): The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get people on the air. Everyone is welcome to participate... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 7 – Building EME Antennas](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/31/building-eme-antennas/): We cover the steps, tips, and tricks that we are using to assemble four large, 2m X-pol Yagi EME Antennas. The approach, tools, and techniques are... - [Try Rookie Contesting](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/21/rookie-contesting/): Many contests have an option for operators who have their licenses for under 3 years to enter with a Rookie Comtesting Overlay.  I highly recommend that... - [Student Teacher Contest Update!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/19/student-teacher-contest-update/): The updated results for the Student Teacher Contest Series are in! Keith, KC1IMK and Abby, AB1BY have updated their entries and we have a new leader. - [2020 13 Colonies Special Event: The Results Are In](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/15/2020-13-colonies-results/): The results are in and K2K New Hampshire was the Top State award in the 13 Colonies Special Event Each member of the operating team will receive a plaque. - [NARS QSO Party Coming on September 26th and 27th](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/15/nars-qso-party/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be sponsoring a NARS QSO party on Sept 26th at 0000z to Sept27th 2359z. All amateurs are invited to participate. - [2020 Thirteen Colonies Operations Report – A Record Year for K2K](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/13/2020-k2k/): The 2020 Thirteen Colonies K2K New Hampshire team had an amazing year this year! We added new stations, broke records, and worked lots of DX... - [Submitting your Score for Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/submitting-your-score-for-field-day/): Now that Field Day is over, you have 30 days to submit your score. Here are guidelines on using the webform to submit your Field Day score. - [AC1FX Field Day 2020](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/ac1fx-field-day/): Jeff, AC1FX operated 2020 Field Day from a very nice station at his home QTH. His shack is more of a secretary desk of a shack-in- the-box... - [The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Begins on July 1st](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/2020-13-colonies-special-event/): The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event is almost here! We've got a great team of operators lined up for K2K, New Hampshire this year... - [AC1EV Plans for 2020 Summer Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/28/ac1ev-field-day/): AC1EV is operating 1E for Summer Field Day this year. He would have loved to operate in an ambitious club organized remote field day... - [Field Day 2020 at W1AKI](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/27/w1aki-field-day/): I am planning to work from my home QTH for W1AKI Field Day this year. I won't be using emergency power because my generator... - [2020 Field Day Plans for K1BRM](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/26/k1brm-field-day/): I've eagerly awaited Field Day 2020 since we packed up BOB In January from Winter Field Day. I was hoping The Nashua Area Radio Society... - [NARS Plans for Field Day While Social Distancing](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/25/nars-plans-for-field-day-while-social-distancing/): This weekend is ARRL Field Day and the Nashua Area Radio Society is planning some activities to help our members enjoy Field Day while social distancing. - [2020 Field Day Plans for W1YCZ - My First Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/24/w1ycz-field-day/): As a new ham, I (W1YCZ) have been eagerly anticipating the ARRL Field Day 2020 and the opportunity to learn from my fellow club members... - [Supporting your Club for Field Day in 2020](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/24/supporting-your-club-field-day-in-2020/): I’ll be participating with my club for field day as an operator from my QTH.  I usually help the club with the setting up field day, but.. - [So Close – A 6m Opening to Japan from New England](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/23/6m-japan-opening/): Recently, we saw one of the 6m best openings between the United States and Japan that we have encountered here in New England... - [Field Day 2020 Plans for N1CEO](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/21/arrl-field-day-plans-n1ceo/): For ARRL Field Day 2020, I plan to operate a 100 Watt HF transceiver and 50 Watt VHF/UHF transceiver from home using emergency power... - [Going Mobile Five Stories Up](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/19/going-mobile-five-stories-up/): For part of Field Day, I'm going to do something like this. I'm going to work "mobile" at another outdoor spot - from a Parking Garage platform... - [Social Distancing Field Day at AB1QB-AB1OC](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/16/field-day-at-ab1qb-ab1oc/): Anita, AB1QB, and I will be operating from our home station for the first time ever during 2020 ARRL Field... - [6m VUCC In A Day – 2020 ARRL June VHF Contest](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/16/6m-vucc-in-a-day/): Conditions on 6m were so good during the ARRL June VHF contest that I was able to work a 6m VUCC in less than 24 hours! You can read about the station... - [AO-27 Satellite Is Back On The Air!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/03/ao-27-satellite/): The AO-27 FM satellite is back on the air! This satellite is an FM V/U Mode satellite that was launched back in 1993. The satellite is back on the air... - [Getting Started With Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds)](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/02/amateur-satellites-getting-started/): We put together a presentation and demonstration on Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites. We covered quite a bit of ground including... - [June Meeting - The K3LR Super Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/31/june-meeting-the-k3lr-super-station/): Tim Duffy, K3LR will speak about the K3LR Super Station at our June meeting. Tim is CEO of DX Engineering and owner of the K3LR Multi Multi Contest Station. - [ARRL Field Day 2020 Rule Changes](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/30/arrl-field-day-2020-rule-changes/): ARRL has made some temporary rule changes for Field Day 2020 in order to accomodate social distancing per the current COVID-19 situation. - [Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher for Raising Wire Antennas](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/27/bigshot-slingshot/): I saw a device called a Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher on a TV show. It makes a great tool for getting ropes to raise antennas up into trees... - [Perspectives on 6m DX](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/24/6m-dx-perspectives/): We recently captured some information on propation and DX openings on the 6m band. This article shares information on how to go about working 6m DX... - [PTT Switch for Remote Operation](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/21/remote-ptt-switch/): Building a remote PTT switch for use with the FlexRadio SDRs and SmartSDR. The setup will work with any windows PC running SmartSDR... - [A Blast from the Past ...](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/18/k8ezb-past/): K8EZB obtained my FCC Novice license in 1957 at age 13. At that time, I didn’t yet have a station, so I set out to remedy that situation... - [Tech Night – Getting Started In EME Communications](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/06/eme-communications/): We recently did a Tech Night Program about Getting Started in EME Communications (Moonbounce). I wanted to share the presentation and video... - [A Day Of Firsts For ARISS](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/04/a-day-of-firsts-for-ariss/): We hosted the first Multi-Point Telebridge contact with students Northern VA and Chris Cassady, KF5KDR aboard the ISS. Many firsts for ARISS... - [Tower Grounding and Bonding](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/01/tower-grounding/): Ever wonder how to go about grounding and bonding a tower? Like many aspects of grounding and bonding amateur radio antenna systems, tower grounding... - [NEQP 2019 Contest With A Surprise!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/28/neqp-2019-ac1ev/): As a relatively new ham, I have had a chance to try out many of the different things. One exciting thing I've done is the NEQP 2019 contest... - [Virtual Contest University](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/28/virtual-contest-university/): You have the opportunity to attend Contest University this year from the comfort of your QTH. Virtual Contest University will be held via Zoom on May 14th. - [Remote Operation](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/27/remote-operation/): Last weekend I got the opportunity to set up my computer to work Fred and Anita's (AB1OC/AB1QB) station remotely. Here's how Remote Operation works... - [Winter Field Day 2020 Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/23/winter-field-day-2020-results/): The results from 2020 Winter Field Day are in. The Nashua Area Radio Society was #2 overall as well as in the outdoor category. - [Listen to the ISS Contact Scheduled for April 30th, 2020](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/23/first-iss-contact-ab1oc/): After two successful tests of the Telebridge/Phone Patch capabilities here at our station, we are ready to support an ISS contact... - [Tower Horror Story](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/12/tower-horror-story/): I had an incident ten years ago while doing tower work that was very serious. In mid-May 2011, Jerry, K0TV (SK) asked me to help with... - [Coax Surge Protectors](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/08/coax-surge-protectors/): I often see debates on the various forums on where the lightning surge protector should be placed in a RF coaxial feedline from the antenna... - [Basics of Netlogger for Net Control stations](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/06/basics-of-netlogger-for-net-control-stations/): I wanted to post a very brief primer on how to set up NetLogger at your station if you are going to run a net.Stations not running a net should...... - [CQ All Hams - Join Us For Online Meetings and Tech Nights!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/02/cq-all-hams-join-us/): CQ All Hams! We will hold our meetings online during April and May via Zoom! We are inviting everyone to join us online for these meetings... - [Out Of This World Phone Patch](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/phone-patch/): We joined the ARISS Program as a Mentor to help schools make contacts with astronauts on the ISS. A Phone Patch at our station to provides Telebridge.. - [CQ World Wide WPX from my Home Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/cq-world-wide-wpx-from-home/): This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. I haven’t worked a lot of contests from my home station, but I have some free time... - [Be Sure to Watch Ham Nation Tonight](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/watch-ham-nation-tonight/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be featured on Ham Nation tonight as Fred, AB1OC talks about how to bring your amateur radio club online. - [Ham Radio Home Schooling - Learn Morse Code](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/28/learn-morse-code-at-home/): Do you have youngsters stuck at home looking for fun and safe activities? How about helping them to learn Morse code? The Long Island CW Club is offering... - [Amateur Radio Station Construction](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/27/amateur-radio-station-construction/): We learned a great deal about Amateur Radio Station Construction as part of building our station. The station project here involved... - [Hex Beam for AC1EV](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/26/hex-beam-ac1ev/): The project to bring my basic station up to the next level occupied me for much of a year. I decided to put up a Hex Beam using a roof tower... - [Amateur Radio During a Global Pandemic](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/25/amateur-radio-during-a-global-pandemic/): During this pandemic we’re going through when everyone is sheltering inside, social distancing and out of our routine amateur radio... - [Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp Tomorrow Evening!](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/24/virtual-ham-radio-bootcamp-tomorrow-evening/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold a Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp tomorrow evening, March 25th at 7:00pm Eastern time via a Zoom web conference. - [Looking for something to do? Join NARS on-air nets and on-line meetings](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/23/join-nars-on-air-nets/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has several weekly on-air nets that can provide you with some Amateur Radio fun as well as a chance to socialize with friends. - [Member Spotlight, Tony AA3HD](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/07/member-spotlight-tony-aa3hd/): Greetings.  I’m Tony Baker AA3HD, and I’m relatively new to the amateur radio world, just getting my Technician’s license in August of 2019... - [RSU 21 Students to Communicate to Outer Space – Portland Press Herald](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/03/rsu-21-iss-contact/): I am working with RSU 21 Sea Road School teachers and local Ham Radio folks in Maine, USA to help them make contact with the ISS during 2H2020... - [Boston Marathon Needs More Hams](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/03/boston-marathon-needs-hams/): Please spread the word, personally, that comms volunteers are needed at the Boston Marathon.  In particular, we are seeking Amateur Radio communications... - [Ham Bootcamp Starts on February 29th](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/26/ham-bootcamp-starts-on-february-29th/): Ham Bootcamp is a program to help new or inactive Hams gain the skills to build a station and get on the air. Our first session will be February 29th. - [Winter Field Day Roving on VHF+ Bands](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/09/winter-field-day-roving/): Thanks to our team who did VHF+ Roving at Winter Field Day! This team made contacts on all VHF bands from 6m to 23cm using Phone, Digital and CW Modes. - [Winter Field Day 2020 Highlights](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/09/winter-field-day-2020/): We had a great Winter Field Day this year! We practiced our Emergency Communications skills during Winter Field Day 2020 and created a record result... - [A Piece Of Ham Radio History - Do You Know What This Is?](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/03/ham-radio-history/): Every now and again one comes across a piece of Ham Radio History. While touring a very special place, we can across an artifact that we had heard about... - [A Potential New Project - A Nashua Area Radio Society Club Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/30/nars-club-station/): We are considering a new project for the Nashua Area Radio Society - building a club station for our members to use. We know that our members would... - [Winter Field Day 2020 Final Station Test](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/16/winter-field-day-2020-test/): A few weekends ago we got together at our QTH to complete the final station test for our planned 5O operation in Winter Field Day (WFD)... - [December 2019 ISS SSTV Event](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/16/2019-iss-sstv/): Slow-Scan TV (SSTV) from the International Space Station (ISS) was on the air again late in December 2019.  We received some nice images from this event.... - [Member Spotlight: Rick Boswell, K8EZB](https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/03/member-spotlight-k8ezb/): K8EZB recently returned to amateur radio after an absence of 50+ years. My interest in amateur radio began around age 8 or 9 as a result of encouragemen... - [License Classes are Open for Registration](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/30/winter-spring-2020-license-classes/): Winter/Spring 2020 License Classes, given by the Nashua Area Radio Society, are open for registration. We will hold Technician, General and Extra classes. - [ISS SSTV Event Now Until January 1st](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/30/iss-sstv-event-now-until-january-1st/): The International Space Station will be transmitting SSTV images until January 1st as part of an ISS SSTV event in memory of Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov - [More Station Upgrades At K8EZB](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/29/more-station-upgrades-at-k8ezb/): In a previous article on K8EZB station upgrades, I mentioned plans to add an Acom A1200S amp and 04AT tuner to my existing IC-7610 based station... - [VHF+ Station Prep for Winter Field Day 2020](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/26/station-prep-winter-field-day-2020/): We're planning to expand our station coverage to include more bands above 6m. We are adding the 1.25m, 33cm, and 23cm bands to our Winter Field Day 2020... - [Welcome to the 2020 Executive Committee Members](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/23/2020-executive-committee/): I’d like to congratulate and welcome our 2020 new and returning Officers and Directors to the Executive Committee.  Our 2020 Officers and Directors are: - [Announcing The First Annual Student-Teacher Contest](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/20/student-teacher-contest/): The Nashua Area Radio Society is committed to helping new and prospective hams to get on the air.  We are pleased to sponsor a student-teacher contest... - [An Amazing Experience - Council Rock HS South ISS Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/12/council-rock-iss-contact/): I became an ARISS Mentor to help other schools make ISS contacts. I recently served as a mentor for the Council Rock HS ISS Contact.... - [Being DX - Again](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/11/being-dx-operation/): There are several of us aging contesters here in The Villages that still yearn to be on the business end of DX. Planning for a DX Operation in Montserrat... - [Sign-Up Sheets for Winter Field Day 2020](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/07/winter-field-day-sign-up-2020/): Are you interested in operating as N1FD during Winter Field Day 2020? Sign-up to be part of the Nashua Area Radio Society Winter Field Day 2020 today... - [Listen In On The Council Rock ARISS Contact on Thursday!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/03/council-rock-ariss-contact/): Students at Council Rock HS will be talking with Astronaut Drew Morgan, KI5AAA aboard the ISS on Thursday. The school's contact is made possible by ARISS... - [Field Day Results 2019 - N1FD is Number One Field Day!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/01/field-day-2019-results/): Field Day 2019 results are in and The Nashua Area Radio Society (N1FD) placed #1 at ARRL Field Day 2019 in Category 11A and #15 overall. - [EME Station 2.0 Part 5 – Control Cables and Rotator Controller](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/01/eme-station-2-0-part-5-control-cables-and-rotator-controller/): We installed the control cables to our new EME Tower and got our Azimuth Rotator working. The project involved installing a Utility Enclosure… - [Winter Field Day VHF+ Preparations](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/30/winter-field-day-vhf-prep/): We are continuing to make progress on our preparation for Winter Field Day (WFD) 2020. We assembled and testing our Winter Field Day VHF+ Mast... - [Winter Field Day 2020 Update](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/29/winter-field-day-2020-update/): Winter Field Day 2020 is just over two months away and our plans for another successful event are coming together nicely. But we really need your help... - [Ham Nation Features Nashua Area Radio Society Activities and Projects](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/28/nars-on-ham-nation/): The Nashua Area Radio Society’s activities and projects were featured on Ham Nation on Wednesday, November 27th. Our segment included information... - [Winter Field Day 2020 Is Coming](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/20/winter-field-day-2020-coming/): Winter Field Day is coming - January 24th-26th, 2020! We will again be holding our operation at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. We are planning new... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 4 – New EME Tower Is Complete](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/13/eme-part-4-eme-tower/): We got our new 26 ft EME tower up this past week. The new tower is a hybrid free-standing/guyed design and will support our planned 2M EME Antenna System... - [EME Station 2.0 Part 3 – Phase Tuned Receive Coax Cables](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/13/eme-station-part-3-vna-phase-tuned-coax/): Our EME station has Adaptive Polarity capability (MAP65) requiring coax cables of identical length. We used a VNA to measure the length of coax cables.... - [The Amazing 20m Coil-Shortened "Shower Rod Dipole".](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/12/the-amazing-20m-coil-shortened-shower-rod-dipole/): If you've got a few old shower curtain rods hanging around - you can build a really good, low cost, shower rod dipole antenna for 20m digital modes... - [Ham Bootcamp Session 1 Recap](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/02/ham-bootcamp-session-1-recap/): Session 1 of the Nashua Area Radio Society's Fall 2019 Ham Bootcamp was held on October 26th. Here is a recap of the activities included in the session. - [EME Station 2.0 Part 2 – Excavation, Footings, and Conduits for New Tower](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/02/eme-tower-base/): The first part of our EME project is to put up a new tower to support our antennas. Our plans call for a 26′ tower built using three Rohn 55G tower... - [Build Your Own Low Cost 630m Load/Match](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/27/630m-match/): A low cost, easy to build, load coil and impedence match assembly for the amateur 630m band that can re-purpose an exosting wire antenna. - [A Tale of Radials](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/23/radials-vertical-antennas/): One of the simplest antennas to have is the quarter-wave vertical. The radials associated with a vertical antenna have a big impact on its peformance. - [EME Station 2.0 Part 1 – Goals and Station Design](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/21/eme-station-part-1-goals/): The article above explains our goals, plans, and design of a new 2m EME station at our QTH. The article covers plans for a new tower, antennas, and SDR... - [Ham Radio Bootcamp - Sign up for Fall Session](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/14/ham-radio-bootcamp-sign-up-for-fall-session/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding a Ham Bootcamp this fall to help new and inactive Hams to gain the skills to get on the air. - [KC1XX Contest Station Visit](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/04/kc1xx-contest-station-visit/): The Nashua Area Radio Society recently had the opportunity to visit Matt Strelow, KC1XX's contest station. Matt has assembled a world-class multi-multi... - [New 70cm Yagi Installation](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/03/70cm-yagi-installation/): We recently replaced our 70cm yagi with a newer, higher performance one. The 70cm yagi installation of the new antenna required climbing our mast... - [October Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/30/october-contest-notes/): Our October contest highlights post marks the unofficial beginning of the radio contesting season. In the next few months, we'll have CQ WW SSB, CQ WW CW... - [Selecting Handheld Transceivers](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/23/handheld-transceiver/): One of the first radios a new ham will purchase is a handheld transceiver (an “HT”). Here are some ideas on how to pick the best one for you... - [An Opinion Of Sorts](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/22/an-opinion-of-sorts/): My name is John Halbert, and my call sign is W1SMN. My current title is Publicity Chairman for the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS).... - [Adding L-Band (24 cm) to Our Satellite SDR System](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/20/l-band-satellite-sdr/): The L24TX is a transmit-only device that enables L-band uplinks for Satellite use. We completed integrating the L-Band into our Flex SDR Satellite System. … - [AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration - W3ZM/1 Activations in CT and RI](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/19/amsat-50th-aniversary-wz3m-1-activation/): We activated CT and RI as part of the AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration ewxwnrly. We used our computer controlled portable satellite station... - [Time to Sign Up for our Fall License Classes!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/18/time-to-sign-up-for-our-fall-license-classes/): The Nashua Area Radio Society is offering Ham Radio License Classes this Fall starting with the Technician Class on October 5th and 6th. - [NARS Activities at HamXposition 2019](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/17/nars-hamxposition-2019/): The Nashua Area Radio Society was a major part of the New England HamXposition 2019 @ Boxboro again this year. We added some new things including... - [ARRL Teachers Institute 2: A Week Devoted to Remote Sensing and Satellite Communication](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/10/arrl-teachers-institute/): I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the ARRL Teacher Institute in Newington, Connecticut. Thanks to the generous donations of ARRL members... - [Buddipole 15m 2-element Yagi with 8-foot boom](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/03/buddipole-yagi/): The standard Buddipole Deluxe kit can be augmented to produce a very effective two-element 15 meter Yagi. This note provides assembly... - [Training Resources for Internet Subscribers and Members!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/welcome-internet-subscribers/): I wanted to take a moment to highlight the material that is available to you, as an Internet Subscriber, here on n1fd.org... - [Get A Custom Program for Your HT](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/ht-program/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be offering a custom HT programming clinic at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 to help hams get their HT's programmed... - [Ham Bootcamp](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/ham-bootcamp/): Ham Bootcamp includes a series of hands-on activities designed to help newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air... - [September Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/30/september-contest-notes/): September Contest Notes - two months away. Solar conditions have not been kind to us this year, and there’s little chance for a big improvement... - [Upgraded Portable Satellite Station Test on Mt. Washington](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/20/simple-portable-satellite-station-2/): We used a recent SOTA activation as a test for our upgraded Simple Portable Satellite Station. The station did a great job for satellite and terrestial... - [The 100 Pound DXpedition](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/16/100-pound-dxpedition/): This paper discusses lightweight DXpeditioning (100 Pound DXpedition), the planning and execution of a trip, and the joy of operating... - [Interest and Excitement Around HamXposition Is Building](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/15/hamxposition-excitement-building/): Interest and Excitement around HamXposition @ Boxboro are building! The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting several activities... - [A Raspberry Pi Video Player for Expo Displays](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/13/raspberry-pi-video-player/): We have created a Raspberry Pi Video Player to replace the multitude of Laptop Computers that we've been using to display videos at our Ham Expos... - [NARS Dayton Forum Video](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/13/dayton-forum-video/): The Nashua Area Radio Society gage a presentation about Growing and Modernizing our club at the Dayton Hamvention in 2019. Here's the Dayton Forum Video... - [Rookie Roundup RTTY - Digital Contest for Newbies!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/01/rookie-roundup-rtty-digital-contest-for-newbies/): Licensed in 2017, 2018, or 2019? Never made a RTTY Contact? Join the multi-op team operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY from AB1OC/QB's QTH. - [Membership Renewals](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/01/membership-renewals/): September is the month when many club members will need to renew their memberships. This article will show you how to do your membership renewal online. - [Plans for HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 - We Need Your Help](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/31/hamxposition-boxboro-2019/): The Nashua Area Society will be part of the fun at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019. We will be adding some new things this year as well as the Ham Radio Expo... - [August Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/31/august-contest-notes/): The "official" kick-off for contesting season is really CQ WW SSB at the end of October. Our August Contest Notes provide some warm up opportunities. - [GPS Time Server - Accurate Clocks for Your Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/30/gps-time-server-accurate-clocks-for-your-station/): There are many reasons to have an accurate time source such as a GPS Time Server in your station. Getting the best performance from WSJT-X modes like FT8... - [NARS August Activities](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/28/august-activities/): We have a busy month of August Activities. Our monthly Club Breakfast will be held on Saturday, August 10th at 8:30 am at the Dream Diner in Tyngsboro... - [When a Dipole Doesn't Hang in a Tree](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/28/unusual-dipoles/): The dipole we likely used was one that was fed in the middle, and hung horizontally from a tree. I'll challenge all assumptions with some unusual dipoles... - [Station Updates At K8EZB](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/26/station-updates-k8ezb/): My station updates have mostly included acquiring/restoring equipment for vintage HF SSB stations, but decided to first get going with an SDR radio... - [Latest Tech Night - Putting Up A Tower](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/11/putting-up-a-tower/): We recently did a how-to presentation on Putting Up A Tower at a Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night. The video from this presentation can be viewed above. - [NARS is Featured in QST and CQ Magazines](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/11/nars-is-featured-in-qst-and-cq-magazines/): The Nashua Area Radio Society, NARS, is featured in both QST and CQ Magazines this month as they publish their articles on the 2019 Dayton Hamvention. - [Field Day 2019 Recap](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/10/field-day-2019-recap/): Field Day 2019 was one of the best every for the Nashua Area Radio Society. We operated as 11A and improved our score by over 2000 points over last year. - [July Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/01/july-contest-notes/): July Contest notes - It's difficult to believe that half of 2019 is already behind us. We're only a few months away from the start of 2019-2020 contest... - [13 Colonies Special Event Begins Today!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/01/13-colonies-2019/): The 2019 13 Colonies Special Event begins today! There are stations in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies plus bonus... - [The RockMite Part 4: The Transmitter](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/30/rockmite-part-4/): The RockMite is a very small, but complete, transceiver. We covered most of the radio’s components in the first three parts, but it is worth reviewing... - [Field Day Satellites, VHF+ and Fox Hunting](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/field-day-satellites-vhf-fox-hunting/): We will have lots of great activities for folks who are interested in operating on the VHF and above bands at Field Day 2019. Here are some activies... - [Final Field Day Station Test](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/final-field-day-station-test/): What goes into an 11A Field Day? Well, for starters, 13 stations! We got together at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH a couple of weekends ago to set up ALL stations... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Part 8 – GPSDO Frequency Locking](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/gpsdo-frequency-locking/): We added a GPS Disciplined Oscillator (GPSDO) to the Icom IC-9700 in our Portable Satellite Station 4.1. The addition was easy to accomplish and it locks... - [HAB-4 to Launch on Sunday from Hollis-Brookline High School](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/07/hab-4-launch/): We are planning the fourth launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-4) this Sunday. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS... - [Two Newbies at Dayton Hamvention](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/01/dayton-hamvention-newbies/): We were lucky to attend the Hamvention this year and see our club, the Nashua Area Radio Society accept Club of the Year... - [Skywarn Training Report](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/skywarn-training/): Spring brings the threat of severe weather. Skywarn provides National Weather Service forecasters with key observations from the ground. Skywarn Training... - [The RockMite Part 3: The Oscillator](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/rockmite-oscillator/): In the first RockMite article, I described the receiver of the radio. I identified the place in the receiver that accepted the output of the oscillator... - [June 2019 Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/june-2019-contest-notes/): The beginning of June marks the unofficial start of Summer. There are still the various state QSO parties you can work as well as Field Day and... - [Summer Ham Activities for Young People and New Hams](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/summer-ham-activites/): We have lots of great activities coming up this summer for young people and for new and recently upgraded hams. Our planned activities include... - [Field Day 2019 Station Test and Plans](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/28/field-day-2019-station-test/): Several of us got together this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. We are planning to have 14 Transmitters and 4 Towers... - [SOTA Activation of Mount Monadnock](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/28/mount-monadnock-sota/): We activated Mount Monadnock (W1/HA-009) on May 25th.  We started out from the parking lot of the park headquarters at around... - [A Hamvention to Remember](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/27/a-hamvention-to-remember/): 2019 was a Hamvention to remember for the Nashua Area Radio Society. We were awarded the Club of the Year Award and were featured in the ARRL booth. - [Satellite Station 4.0 Part 7 – Flex SDR Satellite Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/27/sdr-satellite-transceiver/): Our latest project is to upgrade our Remote Operating GW to include SDR Satellite Transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Part 6 – VHF and Satellite Tower Finishing Touches](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/25/satellite-tower-finishing-touches/): Our new VHF and Satellite Tower is finally complete! We've added an entry into our shack for coax and control cables and we've installed 7/8" hardllines... - [The Nashua Area Radio Society Story](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/14/the-nashua-area-radio-society-story/): We will share the Nashua Area Radio Society Story in the "ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring" forum at the Dayton Hamvention... - [The RockMite Part 2: The UI](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/13/the-rockmite-part-2-the-ui/): This article describes the user interface for the RockMite. The term “user interface” might sound a little fanciful for a radio with almost no controls... - [N1FD Wins 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/28/n1fd-wins-2019-arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/): The N1FD Multi-Operator Area 1 Entry has won the 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB contest and had the highest score of all rookies in the contest - [May 2019 Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/25/may-contest-notes/): May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW...) run October through May... - [Portable Solar Power Box](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/20/portable-solar-power-box/): This Christmas I bought a 28 watt solar panel and MPPT charge controller from Bioenno. I haven't had much time... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Part 5 – New IC-9700 Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/20/ic-9700/): The new Icom IC-9700 transceiver has begun shipping and we’ve recently added one to our Satellite Station. The addition of the IC-9700 completes a part... - [The RockMIte Part 1: The Receiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/18/rockmite-part-1/): What is a RockMite? It is a crystal controlled QRP transmitter that can operate on one frequency. It has a little processor that hosts a CW keyer... - [NARS Activities at Upcoming Regional, and National Ham Radio Conventions](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/17/nars-at-hamfests/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting Amateur Radio Displays, Expos, and Forums at several Local, Regional, and National Hamfests... - [The Elecraft K1](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/14/elecraft-k1/): The K1, unfortunately, is no longer in production. Some combination of lower demand and problems finding the through-hole parts needed by the kit doomed it. - [SOTA/POTA Activation of Miller State Park/Mount Pack Monadnock](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/06/sota-pack-monadnock/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will have our first Summits on the Air (SOTA)/Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of... - [New Membership Meeting Presentations and Summaries](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/03/membership-meeting-presentations/): We've added Membership Meeting Presentation archive to our Membership Meetings page so that our members can view our speakers's material again... - [High Altitude Balloon 4 Launch Windows Set](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/31/hab-4-launch-windows/): We have set the initial set of launch windows for our High Altitude Balloon's 4th flight (HAB-4) for the following three weekends in April... - [April 2019 Contest notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/29/april-2019-contest-notes/): Spring is here and not a moment too soon! In this last weekend before April we have the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest that is one of my favorites. The exchange... - [New Ham Boot Camp - Sessions 1 - 3](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/23/new-ham-boot-camp-2/): We held theh first 3 sessions of New Ham Boot Camp. New Ham Boot Camp sessions help our newly licensed members gain the skills needed to get on the air. - [Tape Measure Yagi Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/23/tape-measure-yagi/): I have built 2 of these tape measure yagis and they are pretty easy to make and I have had very good success! You can use these antennas for fox hunting... - [DXing and Operating Award Tips](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/22/dx-award-tips/): Operating Awards provide incentives to get on the air and chase all kinds of contacts and they help to understand station and our operating strengths... - [Kit Building to the Next Level](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/22/kit-building-next-level/): Just a few days ago our soldering irons were hot and brows furrowed as we assembled our Morse Tutor Touch Keyer kits from Steve Elliott, K1EL... - [ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal - How to Comment to the FCC](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/19/arrl-technician-enhancement-proposal-how-to-comment-to-the-fcc/): The FCC has invited comments on the ARRL Technician License Enhancement proposal. Members are encouraged to post a comment in support of this proposal. - [Hamvention® Club of the Year Award](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/12/hamvention-club-of-the-year-award/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has been recognized as tthe 2019 Dayton Hamvention® Club of the Year for our mentoring activities. View the announcement... - [March Meeting - 200 Member Celebration!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/07/march-meeting-200-member-celebration/): Our March meeting was a memorable one as we had a 200 member celebration, took a group photo and heard an excellent presentation by Joe Dzekevich, K1YOW - [Out of This World Auction Sponsored by ARISS](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/07/ariss-auction/): The ARISS-US team (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) will auction two very unusual items in its first-ever auction! Picture yourself... - [New Ham Boot Camp](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/03/new-ham-boot-camp/): The Nashua Area Radio Society is holding a New Ham Boot Camp to help newly licensed hams gain the skills and knowledge needed to get on the air. - [NARS to be ARRL Expo Spotlighted Club at Hamvention®](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/02/arrl-spotlighted-club-hamvention/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has been invited to be the featured club at the ARRL Expo at the 2019 Dayton Hamvention in Xenia. OH - [Get Active!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/01/get-active/): Get Active - [JTDX – Feature Rich Software for FT8 and Other JT Modes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/01/jtdx-software-for-ft8/): We’ve recently begun experimenting with a WSJT-X derivative called JTDX. It supports popular JT digital modes like FT8 and is focused on DXing... - [CQ WW RTTY Contest Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/28/cq-ww-rtty-contest-results/): The results are in and the N1FD Multi-Op Entry placed 2nd in Area 1 in the CQ WW RTTY Contest. Congratulations to the operators! - [Technician License Class is a Big Success!](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/28/technician-license-class-is-a-big-success/): The Nashua Area Radio Society held a successful Technician License class on February 23rd and 24th at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua. - [March 2019 Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/25/march-2019-contest-notes/): March is one of my favorite contest months of the year. The ARRL International DX Contest and the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Enhancements - Tower Camera and a J Mode Filter](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/22/tower-camera-j-mode-filter/): e've added an Tower Camera to enable us to view the operation of our antennasand a J Mode filter to improve operation with VU mode satellites such as SO-50. - [Student Kit Build at World Academy](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/08/world-academy-student-kit-build/): We recently hosted a Morse Tutor Kit build for students at World Academy, a HAB-3 School. The student kit build is one of several follow-on activities... - [Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface How To](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/06/satellite-tracker-how-to/): This article shares construction details for the Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface that we use with MacDoppler as part our Satellite Stations. - [Spring 2019 License Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/01/spring-2019-license-classes/): The Nashua Area Radio Society's Spring 2019 License Classes begin in a few weeks. Sign-up, do the prep work and get your license or upgrade in the class! - [160m Portable Antenna System for Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/29/160m-portable-antenna/): It’s almost impossible to field an effective 160m station with only a Transmit antenna. We decided to try a Beverage On The Ground160m Portable Antenna... - [Our First Winter Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/29/first-winter-field-day/): Several months ago, Craig N1SFT suggested that we do Winter Field Day (WFD) as a means to practice our Emergency Communications (EMCOM) skills... - [Doing My Hobby At Work: The Saga Continues...](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/28/doing-my-hobby-at-work-the-saga-continues/): In some recent posts, I wrote about the opportunity I was given to help organize and lead MIT Lincoln Laboratory's... - [February 2019 Contest Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/28/february-2019-contest-notes/): We're about a month into winter and there's no better time than now to get on the low bands. February... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Part 3 – Antenna Integration and Testing](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/14/sat40-satellite-station-integration/): Our new Satellite Antenna Array and 6 m Yagi are up on the tower and working with our Portable Satellite Station 3.0. The new antenna system works very... - [First Satellite Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/06/first-satellite-contact/): I have to admit that I've had more opportunities than most to make a satellite contact. I have spent plenty... - [Satellite Station 4.0 Parts 1 and 2 – New Tower and Antennas](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/01/sat40-tower-satellite-antennas/): Satellite Station 4.0 project which includes the construction of a new house-bracketed tower and the installation of our Satellite Antennas and a 6m yagi... - [Journey to an ISS Crew Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/01/iss-crew-contact-journey/): Like many memorable events in our lives, our journey towards the Hudson Memorial School ISS Crew Contact began in a modest fashion with a telephone call... - [2018 - A Great Year for Youth in NARS](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/31/nars-youth-2018/): 2018 was a great year for Youth in NARS. We helped young people to spark interest in STEM Careers through HAB programs and other Activities. The culmination of the year was an ISS Contact! - [ARRL RTTY Roundup Coming Soon](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/31/arrl-rtty-roundup-coming-soon/): You have learned about contesting through the great articles that Scott, NE1RD has written. You have learned about FT8 through... - [2018 Club Meeting Retrospective](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/30/2018-nars-retrospective/): Regular Club Meetings The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) meets every first Tuesday except in August when there is no... - [ARRL Kids Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/30/arrl-kids-day-2019/): The ARRL Kids Day event is coming up on Saturday, January 5th from 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Fred, AB1OC... - [The MFJ-1836H Cobweb antenna for your attic](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/29/cobweb-antenna/): MFJ has created a set of 1/2-wave dipole antennas folded into a square (sort of a cobweb antenna). There are two units that cover 10m-20m. - [Wordpress 5.0 Brings A New Editor To n1fd.org](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/28/gutenberg/): Wordpress 5.0 has recently been released and its now in use on n1fd.org. Wordpress 5.0 brings a new content creation editor called Gutenberg to Wordpress... - [Doing My Hobby At Work: Conclusion](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/27/doing-my-hobby-at-work-conclusion/): Past Steps and Summary In a previous post, I mentioned that myself and Jon Schoenberg AA1FH were teaching MIT Lincoln... - [January 2019 Contesting Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/26/contesting-notes/): Jumpstarting the New Year The big contests of the Fall are now behind us and the more sedate contests like... - [Kit build for February 2019: Morse Tutor Keyer](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/26/feb-2019-kit-build/): Morse Tutor Keyer Kit by K1EL Kit build for 2019 The change of seasons brings us again to the darkest... - [Meet KE1NZY, 10-Year Old Amateur Extra](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/14/ke1nzy-10-year-old-amateur-extra/): On Sunday, December 2, 2018, at around 4:30 pm, Mackenzie Pooler (KE1NZY), a ten-year-old from Hudson, NH, turned in her Amateur Extra Exam to be graded... - [Small Software Defined Radios - Part 2: Software](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/10/small-sdrs-part2/): Small software defined radios have never been more affordable. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) makes integrating one of these... - [How China's Lunar Relay Satellite Arrived in its Final Orbit](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/09/chinese-lunar-relay-satellite/): Several of us were talking about how the Chinese Lunar Lander Chang'e 4 was going to communicate with Earth given... - [3....2.....1..... Successful ARISS Crew Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/09/successful-ariss-crew-contact/): A year and a half of work for only nine minutes. Not knowing the context or the situation, most would... - [Hudson Memorial School ARISS Crew Contact Transcript](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/08/ariss-crew-contact-transcript/): Hudson Memorial School held our ARISS Crew Contact on Friday. Here's a transcript of the student's questions and Astronaut Serena Aunon Chancellor answers. - [ISS Crew Contact - The Day is Almost Here](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/06/iss-contact-is-here/): The ISS Contact with Hudson Memorial School is only 1 day away. Here is where you can watch the Live Stream of the ISS contact. - [December 2018 Contesting Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/03/december-2018-contesting-notes/): CQ Zone map used for CQ World Wide contests End of the Year Contests The big contests of the season:... - [Small Software Defined Radios ~ Part 1: Hardware](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/30/small-software-defined-radios-part-1-hardware/): There are some exciting things going on in the software defined radio (SDR) world. In December (2018) I'll be doing... - [ISS Crew Contact Part 4 – Date and Time for Our Contact!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/27/iss-crew-contact-date-time/): Our ISS Crew Contact date is Friday, December 7th at approximately 1:45 pm EST. Activities on-site will begin with videos and station tours.. - [ISS Crew Contact Part 3 – Summary of Our Preparations](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/27/iss-crew-contact-preparations/): Preparations for our upcoming ISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School (HMS) are almost complete. All of our gear is packed, our press release... - [Setting up CAT/CI-V and Audio Drivers for WSJT-X](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/26/wsjt-x-setup/): A number of people have had difficulty setting up their radios using the USB interface for WSJT-X and FT-8.  It helps to have an understanding of... - [RV's and Hams - Winter Field Day Needs You!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/22/winter-field-day-call/): With Winter Field day looming, I was wondering if any other club member would donate the use of their RV "Portable" during Winter Field Day? - [CW Operators Wanted for Winter Field Day 2019](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/20/cw-operators-winter-field-day/): Winter Field Day 2019 is about two months away. A few of us hardy NARS members are planning to setup an outdoor multi-op station... - [Hudson Memorial School Preparations for the ARISS Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/18/hudson-memorial-school-ariss-contact/): Things are now moving full speed as ahead asour Amateur Radio contact with the International Space Station approaches. Hudson Memorial School ARISS Contact preparations... - [FT8 and Ghost Decodes](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/16/ft8-and-ghost-decodes/): The FT8 digital mode that Joe, K1JT, and company rolled out a little over a year ago has become a... - [ISS Crew Contact Part 1 – Ground Station Design and Construction](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/13/iss-crew-contact-p1/): Our planned ISS Crew Contact is almost here! It will take place sometime during the first week of December and we are busy preparing for our contact... - [Winter Field Day 2019](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/12/winter-field-day-2019/): Winter Field Day 2019 When: January 25th for setup, and January 26-27 on the air Where: Milford, NH Contact: Craig... - [Homebrew ADS-B antenna for airplane tracking](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/11/ads-b-antenna/): Directions for building an ADS-B antenna - [WSJT-X and FT8 - A Video Introduction](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/09/wsjt-x-ft8-getting-started/): The Nashua Area Radio Society recently held a Tech Night on WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144, and More. This Tech Night was recorded and is a starting point... - [Sights and Sounds from NETT at Fall NEAR-Fest](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/01/near-fest-nett/): We recently held another Youth Expo as part of the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at Fall NEAR-Fest. We had quite a few students and teachers attend... - [NASA SSTV Pictures from the ISS!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/31/nasa-sstv-pictures-from-iss/): On October 27-29, 2018, ARISS sent SSTV images from the ISS for the 60th Anniversary of NASA. See the pictures we received from our Satellite Station. - [CQ WW and November Contesting Notes](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/24/cq-ww-contest/): The last full weekend of October kicks off the contesting year for amateur radio. The big one is the CQ WW SSB contest sponsored by CQ Magazine.  - [A WSJT-X / FT-8 and WSPR Overview by a New User](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/22/wsjt-x-ft-8-and-wspr-overview/): A few of the operating suggestions are for those just starting out. Once you get beyond a few QSOs you will find some of the suggestions... - [Add SDR Capabilities to Your Radio [part 2]](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/19/sdr-capabilities-part-2/): If your radio doesn't have this fancy antenna switching and selection feature, you can still integrate an SDR pan adapter... - [HAB-4 Launch Preparations](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/16/hab-launch-prep/): We have begun final HAB launch prep for HAB-4 which includes some modifications to the flight platform to improve its cold temperature performance... - [Add SDR Capabilities to Your Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/10/add-sdr/): Having SDR capabilities like a waterfall display and point-and-click tuning can be added to your existing station. I'll show you one easy way to do it. - [Plans for Satellite Station Upgrades](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/10/satellite-station-upgrades/): We are planning a series of upgrades to our Satellite Station to enhance Remote, Transportable, and Portable operation. These plans are firming up... - [IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2 GHz Transceiver On Step Closer...](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/09/ic-9700-closer/): The new IC-9700 is one step closer to being available. It’s now on the Icom website. You can see more along with the Icom pre-release brochure... - [October Contests](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/01/october-contests/): WRTC 2002 Champions, Helsinki, Finland Contesting Season is Here! There is nothing in amateur radio as invigorating as contesting. October... - [Contesting Jargon Explained](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/01/contesting-jargon/): Contesting is an on-air activity where many (often thousands) of people get on the air and exchange bits of information for fun and bragging rights... - [Doing my Hobby at Work](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/30/amateur-radio-course-mit-ll/): Would be interested in organizing an Intro to Amateur Radio Course via the Technical Education Committee at my place of work (MIT Lincoln Laboratory)?... - [Update on NARS Amateur Radio Expo for Young People](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/30/youth-expo-update/): Interest and support for our Amateur Radio Expo for Young People are continuing to grow! Our next Youth Expo is part of the New England Tech Trek... - [When the Wind Blows](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/27/wind-blows-antennas/): As most of my friends in NARS know, I have been using a Hustler 6BTV multi-band vertical for the past 2 and a half years... - [Contesting: A Primer](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/26/contesting-primer/): Radio contesting is concerned with competitions on the air. Contesting is like a fun run held on a Saturday morning where some people run for time... - [A First Look at WSJT-X 2.0](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/19/wsjt-x-2-0-first-look/): It looks like the first Beta Release of WSJT-X 2.0 is available. WSJT-X Version 2.0  includes a number of features to support contesting... - [New Hampshire QSO Party Multi-Op as N1FD](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/19/2018-new-hampshire-qso-party/): A team of Nashua Area Radio Society members operated in the New Hampshire QSO Party using the N1FD callsign from AB1OC and AB1QB's QTH. - [NARS Youth Expo at Boxboro](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/18/boxboro-youth-expo/): The Nashua Area Radio Society put together a successful Amateur Radio Youth Exposition at the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro this year. - [Summer Activities - A Picnic and a SOTA](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/summer-activities-a-picnic-and-a-sota/): On the weekend of August 25th and 26th, NARS held two summer activities, a Family Picnic at Greeley Park and a SOTA/POTA activation on Mount Washington - [Club competition for the New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP)](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/nhqp-competition/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will have a "contest in a contest" competition during the New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP) this year... - [ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty/): A multi-op team of rookies operated with the N1FD callsign from AB1OC's QTH in the ARRL Rookie Roundup on August 19, 2018, placing 1st in the contest. - [An Amazing Recovery: ARISS Packet System Revives](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/29/ariss-packet-revives/): the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet radio system on the International Space Station (ISS) has begun working again. - [Working IC-9700 Shown In Tokyo](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/29/working-ic-9700/): The IC-9700 is a new VHF/UHF radio that is based upon the Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform that Icom uses in the IC-7300 and IC-7610.  - [Support the Nashua Area Radio Society on Amazon Smile and GoFundMe](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/28/nars-amazon-smile/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has many projects that provide STEM learning and training through Amateur Radio. We are raising funds to support our work... - [Fall Youth Events at Boxboro and NEAR-Fest](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/22/fall-youth-events/): Quite a few Nashua Area Radio Society members have been working on a display to get young people and potential new Hams interested in Amateur Radio. - [ARISS Packet Radio System Expected to be Back Late this Year](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/20/ariss-packet-radio-system/): The currently silent ARISS Packet Radio system on the International Space Station could be back on the air by year's end... - [SOTA/POTA Activation of Mount Washington (6288')](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/05/mount-washington-sota/): Well, later this month the Nashua Area Radio Society will be doing it's own mini-DXpedition to the top of Mount Washington! - [QRP operation from Boston Harbor Islands](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/03/boston-harbor-islands/): These mini-DXpeditions to Boston Harbor Islands begin at home, sorting, selecting, and packing the items needed for a successful activation.,, - [Youth Outreach Event at the Westford Public Library](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/31/wpl-youth-outreach/): The Westford Public Library reached out to us abou an Amateur Radio Youth Outreach day. The event included an afternoon of presentations and hands-on... - [My Week at the ARRL Teacher Institute on Wireless Technology](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/30/arrl-teacher-institute/): My Week at the ARRL Teacher Institute TI-1 in Newington, Connecticut Being new to Amateur Radio I had no idea... - [FT8 Mode on the 6m Band](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/29/ft8-mode-6m/): Our next Tech Night will be about the FT8 Digital Mode. I've been using FT8 to work quite a few contacts on the 6m Band this summer... % - [2018 13 Colonies Special Event Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/28/2018-13-colonies-special-event-results/): Members of the Nashua Area Radio Society operated as K2K in the 13 Colonies Special Event. We won the top club award and New Hampshire was the #2 state. - [Congratulations New Techs!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/congratulations-new-techs/): Congratulations to the new techs from our recent tech class for students and teachers. Here are some upcoming activities to help new Hams get on the air. - [Significant Changes in Store for FT8 and MSK144 with WSJT-X 2.0](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/wsjt-x-2-0/): WSJT-X co-developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, has announced that major changes are coming to the FT8 and MSK144 digital protocols when WSJT-X 2.0... - [Nashua Area Radio Society August Member Activities](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/august-member-activities/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold two member activities the weekend of August 18-19. They are our family picnic and the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. - [A 6m Es Season to Remember](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/24/6m-es-season/): 2018 has been a summer 6m Es (E-Skip) season to remember. The Es openings have been strong this year and they are continuing into the second half of July... - [Nashua Area Radio Society Forges Great Relationship with Hudson Memorial School](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/20/amateur-radio-youth-outreach-hms/): Nashua Area Radio Society continues to grow its amateur radio youth outreach programs by forging a relationship with local middle school. - [13 Colonies Special Event K2K New Hampshire Operations Live!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/04/13-colonies-special-event-live/): We have a live stream of 13 Colonies Special Event K2K New Hampshire operations from our QTH (AB1OC/AB1QB) here going... - [Field Day 2018 Results and Memories](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/04/field-day-2018-memories/): Well, Field Day 2018 is but a memory for us now. We have a great Field Day operation this year... - [Sights from Field Day 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/30/sights-from-field-day-2018/): The Nashua Area Radio Society held Field Day 2018 at the Hudson Memorial School, who also partnered with us for the most recent HAB Launch. - [Member Spotlight, Craig N1SFT](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/26/member-spotlight-craig-n1sft/): Hi, my name is Craig T. Bailey. I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1994.  Like many hams, during our sophomore year in high school... - [NARS Prepares for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/26/2018-thirteen-colonies-special-event/): The Thirteen Colonies Special Event begin this Sunday, July 1 at 9 am EDT. The event runs for 6 days... - [The Four Days of Field Day, 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/25/four-days-field-day/): Field day has come and gone… but the memories burn brightly! (just like my sunburn.)  This was my first FD experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning... - [NARS Field Day on WMUR News 9 Last Night](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/25/nars-field-day-tv/): WMUR TV Channel 9 came to our Field Day and the story appeared on the news last night.  For those of you that didn't see the show, Your can view the story... - [Field Day Operators Take Note - 10m and 6m are Open](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/21/field-day-10m-6m/): 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. FT8 will be active. - [International Space Station Could be Active for ARRL Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/21/iss-ham-radio-field-day/): The folks who are operating our satellite station during Field Day this weekend will want to be sure to monitor for possible crew activity from the ISS. - [Help with Water, Cookies, and Overnight Snacks](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/20/cookies-snacks/): My XYL Valerie has volunteered to organize all the meals for field day this year.  Since we starting the setup process early, there are more meals... - [Countdown to Field Day 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/20/arrl-field-day-countdown/): 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... - [N1FD Multiop First Place in 2017 June VHF Contest from SOTA](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/05/n1fd-june-vhf-contest/): Chalk up another contest certificate for the Nashua Area Radio Society! We activated Pack Monadnock as part of our SOTA activities last year during the June VHF Contest. - [Purchase your Food for Field Day Now](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/03/field-day-food/): If you plan to participate in Field Day this year, you will most likely want to have a meal plan to the Field Day Cafe.  Once again, we are offering a $30 pass which includes unlimited food and drinks all weekend long.  - [SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Kearsarge at Rollins State Park](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/02/sota-pota-activation-kearsarge/): 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. - [HAB-3 To Launch On Sunday – How To Track Our High-Altitude Balloon](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/01/hab-3-launch/): We are planning the third launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-3) this Sunday, June 3rd between 10 am and 11 am ET. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS here in Hollis, NH. Read on to learn more about our HAB projects and how to track our HAB from anywhere in the world while it is in flight. - [Hamvention 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/27/hamvention-2018/): Here is our report from the Dayton Hamvention, held May 18th - 20th at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH. We visited many vendor booths to see the newest items from each, bought a few new toys, and gained knowledge at the forums. - [Field Day 2018 is Almost Here!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/27/field-day-2018-2/): Field Day is rapidly approaching and we've been working to plan our 2018 operation. We began our Field Day planning by setting goals for our operation. Our Field Day centers around being a learning experience for all involved with a special focus on getting new members, new Hams, and young people on the air. - [A 40m High Performance Antenna for Field Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/25/40m-v-beam-antenna-optimization/): We have been using a 3-element 40m wire beam antenna for Field Day. The antenna uses three guyed 50 ft fiberglass masts and three inverted-V style elements separated by a little over 50 ft. Recently, I decided to try automatic optimization software on the antenna to improve it... - [Sights from the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at NEAR-Fest](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/17/nett-sights/): We have been working on project to scale our open house activities to provide an opportunity to learn about Amatuer Radio and to showcase some of the modern, "hi-tech" aspects of the Amatuer Radio Service. This project was debuted at the NETT event at NEAR-Fest. - [Why Does The Antenna Formula 234/f Work?](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/15/antenna-formula/): The antenna formula 234/f is a handy way to estimate the size of a ¼ wave antenna element based on the desired frequency for the antenna. Here is how to derive that number using only other constants and conversion ratios. - [CW and Ham Radio in the family](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/14/cw-and-ham-radio-in-the-family/): The clipping is from the US Army Airforce training center, 8th AF, Reno, NV during WW2. Sgt. Carol Briggs (USAAF)... - [SSTV Images from the ISS - Cosmonautics Day Event](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/10/iss-sstv-2/): The Amatuer Radio gear on the International Space Station (ISS) supports digital and SSTV modes as well as FM voice communications. The astronauts onboard periodically fire up the SSTV system and transmit images to commemorate milestones in space travel. - [New England Tech Trek at NEAR-Fest this Weekend](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/02/new-england-tech-trek-at-near-fest-this-weekend/): NEAR-Fest and the Deerfield Fair Association will be presenting a SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Exposition for young people and at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in Deerfield, NH on May 4th and 5th 2018 as part of NEAR-Fest XXIII. The event is the New England Tech Trek. - [My Spectrum Analyzer Addiction (and Education)](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/spectrum-analyzer/): I recently returned to amateur radio after a 50+ year absence, and have been assembling a collection of vintage radio... - [Spring 2018 Extra Class](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/spring-2018-extra-class/): Our Spring 2018 Extra Class was a big success, with all 5 students passing the exam and receiving their Extra Licenses. The class was held on April 27 - 29. - [HAB 3 Update](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/hab-3-update/): HAB 3 Update: We are working with 4 area schools in preparation for the HAB 3 Launch, which will take place in the next few weeks. Here are some of the activities we have done with the students. - [Field Day Plans 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/field-day-2018/): Our Field Day plans are underway for this year. We will hold Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School. Join our planning meeting on Monday May 7th. - [CW going Viral](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/cw-viral/): If CW goes viral there will no longer be a shortage of CW ops. Every child will be proficient by the age of  10... - [Daiwa CNW-419 Tuner Repair](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/26/daiwa-tuner-repair/): Although I am brand new to the hobby of ham radio, I have been playing around with electronics and digital circuits for as long as I can remember. I am a software engineer by trade and have always loved the problem-solving challenges that software and hardware engineering offers. Enter my Diawa Tuner repair project. - [A Block Diagram for the LNR Precision MTR3b](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/26/lnr-precision-mtr3b/): One of the things I enjoy doing is looking over radio schematics and trying to understand how they work, and the choices that the designers made. In this article, I’d like to do that for the three-band Mountain Toper MTR3b, a radio designed by Steve Weber (KD1JV) and sold by LNR Precision. - [Meeting Topics for the Next Six Months](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/24/meeting-topics/): Though we had some last minute speaker changes last winter, we had great presentations every night. Here are the planned meeting topics for the next six months. - [N1FD Multi-Op Team #1 in Area 1 in 2018 Rookie Roundup SSB](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/20/n1fd-wins-2018-arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/): The N1FD Mult-Op team again placed #1 in the multi-op Area 1 category in the 2018 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. The team operated from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH . - [Antennas: Where There is a Will...](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/06/antennas-where-there-is-a-will/): The 2017-2018 contest season featuring the “big four” events (CQ WW SSB, CQ WW CW, ARRL DX CW and ARRL... - [Extra License Class - April 27-29](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/extra-license-class-april-2018/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold an Extra License Class on April 27-29. This is an upgrade class for those holding a General Class License. Sign up on your website n1fd.org. - [Spring 2018 General License Class Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/spring-2018-general-class/): Our Spring 2018 General License Class was a big success! Congratulations to the new Generals and Thanks to our instructors and VEs - [Calling All Rookies! ARRL Rookie Roundup is April 15th](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/rookie-roundup-2018/): We will field a Multi-Op team for the ARRL Rookie Roundup using the N1FD callsign at the QTH of AB1OC and AB1QB in Hollis, NH - [Upgrading 2.0 Satellite Station for an ARISS Crew Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/27/ariss-crew-contact-upgrade/): ARISS provides recommendations for ground station equipment to help ensure a good experience for the students. Some of our plans for upgrades to our equipment to support an ARISS Crew Contact are explained... - [Open House for New Hams - Saturday March 17](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/11/new-ham-open-house/): We will hold an open house for new hams on Saturday, March 17th. Our new ham open house will include a tour our antenna farm, operate on HF and Satellites, hunt a Fox and see demos of Ham Radio technology. - [Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Initial Contacts](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/09/satellite-station-3-0-test/): Our portable satellite station 3.0 is complete and we tested it during our recent Tech License Class. We discovered a minor issue which was easily sorted out. The new antenna system includes switchable circular polarity and has performed really well during the first 50 or so contacts... - [Get ready for Antenna Modeling](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/06/antenna-modeling/): The March Tech Night (March 13, 2018) will have an introduction to antenna modeling by me, Scott, NE1RD. I'll begin by going through some antenna theory and then proceed on to the NEC-2 software and its popular front ends EZNEC and CocoaNEC. - [ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/01/hf-privileges-techs/): ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40,... - [February Tech Nite - Kit Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/28/february-tech-nite-kit-build/): Our February Tech Night was a kit build of a K1EL PS2B keyer. Steve Elliott, K1EL brought keys and helped to elmer the kit builders. - [Using Python to Track Amateur Satellites](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/28/using-python-track-amateur-satellites/): Introduction Recently, it's been difficult for me to find a solid block of time to go down to the shack... - [PTT Router for Satellite Station 3.0](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/27/ptt-router/): Our Portable Satellite Station 3.0 is coming together and has been tested thanks to help from several NARS members. Part of the project is to improve the sequencing system which manages antenna mounted preamplifiers. These improvements involved the design and construction of a simple PTT Router. - [HAB School Kit Builds](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/27/hab-kit-builds/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has sponsored two kit builds with local high schools. Several members have participated in the kit builds, elmering the students and supplying equipment. - [Spring 2018 Technician License Class](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/26/spring-2018-technician-license-class/): Our first Technicial License Class of 2018 was a huge success. All 16 students earned their Ham Radio Licenses. We will hold our General Class on March 24-25. - [ISS Crew Contact](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/05/iss-crew-contact/): A school in Raleigh, North Carolina had their ISS Crew Contact today and I decided to record the downlink from the ISS to test our backup Portable 2.0 ISS/Satellite Ground Station. - [FT8 DXpedition mode](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/03/ft8-dxpedition-mode/): It looks like some of the major DXpedition teams are beginning to embrace FT8. This will certainly create a need to handle "pileups" in FT8 mode and to make it possible to make many contacts in the shortest period of time possible. - [ARISS APRS Packet Is Not Working](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/02/ariss-aprs/): It appears that the ARISS APRS digipeater on the International Space Station is down. The article talks about what is being done to try to correct the problem as well as plans for a more permanent solution. - [State of the Nashua Area Radio Society](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/29/2018-plans/): The Nashua Area Radio Society has accomplished a great deal in 2017 and we grew to over 160 members this past year. I wanted to take a moment to recap some of the many great memories from 2017 and outline our 2018 plans. - [80m Broadband Matching System Design and Construction](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/28/80m-matching-system/): We installed a 75m loop for SSB operation on our tower when we built it. It works great for SSB operation on 75m but we have often wished we could use it across the entire 80m band. This goal led to a project to create a matching system for the antenna. - [CW Class Starting February 17th](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/28/cw-class-starting-february-17th/): The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold a weekly CW Class on Saturday mornings at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua starting February 17th. - [Bouvet Island: Coming Soon to an HF Frequency Near You](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/21/bouvet-island-dxpedition-2/): 20 Amateur Radio Operators are headed to Bouvet Island, one of the most remote islands in the world on a DXpedition to allow the rest of them to get Bouvet in the log. - [New Activity: Monthly Breakfasts](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/21/new-club-activity-monthly-breakfasts/): A new club activity is our monthly breakfasts which are held on the third Saturday of each month at 8:30am. Join us for some great food and conversation! - [Project Night 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/19/project-night/): The Nashua Area Radio Society January Meeting is Project Night, where members bring in and share their latest homebrew projects. - [AMSAT's Fox-1D Satellite Scheduled For Launch!](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/11/fox-1d-satellite/): The Fox-1D Satellite will be on the air soon! Fox-1D carries and FM U/V transponder - another FM EasySat! It's a great time to get involved in Amateur Radio satellites! There is lots of information here on our website about how to build a satellite ground station, operate using satellites, and about what is up. - [Kids Day On The Air](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/10/kids-day/): The Nashua Area Radio Society hosted kids for kids day on the air. Many fun activities were provided for the kids including Satellite and HF operating and demos of CW, Raspberry Pi projects, HAB and Fox Hunting - [2018 Tech Night Survey Results](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/07/2018-tech-night-survey-results/): The results are in for the Tech Night program survey. We had 18 respondents and several volunteers to help with... - [2018 Tech Night Programs (First Half Of The Year)](https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/03/2018-tech-night/): Here are the plans for Tech Night for the first half of 2018. If you haven't already done so, please fill out the 2018 Tech Night Survey to provide your input on your choices for future Tech Night activities. - [2018 General Meeting Programs (first half of the year)](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/28/1h2018-programs/): We have a very fine set of General Membership meetings planned for 2018.  Here is the list of the planned programs for these meetings for the first-half of the year. - [PaddleStick CW Keyer with Base Kit Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/28/k1el-cw-keyer/): The January 9, 2018 Tech Night meeting will feature Steve Elliott, K1EL, the owner of www.hamcrafters.com and the designers of the many amazing kits Hamcrafters offers. Steve will discuss aspects of kit design and building, including the PaddleStick CW Keyer that will be built during our February 13 Tech Night. - [Good Source of APRS Information](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/23/aprs-info/): But what did help a LOT was this free downloadable book which included information about APRS, TH-D74A Operating Tips Dayton Hamvention 2017 from Kenwood. While it is a manufacturer's manual of sorts, this book is a good source of information on APRS... - [N1FD Wins 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Multi-Op Area 1 Category!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/21/n1fd-wins-arrl-rookie-roundup-multi-op-area-1-category/): ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Scores are in and the N1FD team won their category. - [Reginald Fessenden Makes Christmas History](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/20/reginald-fessenden-makes-christmas-history/): For our October 2017 meeting, we had Professor Donna Halper speak about the history of amateur radio and its heroes.... - [We Out Foxed Them Again (Updated)!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/19/fox-hunt-again/): More Fox Hunt fun this weekend - Bob, W1FDR shares his fox hunt experienced. He tracked down the N1FD foxes again this weekend... - [Receiving SSTV From The ISS](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/18/iss-sstv/): We learned that the ISS was going to be transmitting SSTV images. This provided an opportunity to use the digital capabilities in our Satellite Station... - [Member Spotlight: David Merchant, K1DLM](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/14/member-spotlight-k1dlm/): David Merchant, K1DLM, is Vice President of the Nashua Area Radio Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Here is his member profile. - [Work the Holiday Special Events!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/14/work-the-holiday-special-events/): Work these holiday special events and get some festive QSL cards in the mail. - [A Winter's Fox Hunt](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/11/winter-fox-hunt/): The N1FD foxes ran free this past weekend to give all of us a chance to hold a Fox Hunt and track them down. Fox Hunts are fun when done with a friend... - [Welcome to the New Executive Committee Members](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/07/new-executive-committee-members/): Welcome to the new Executive Committee Members and thanks to our departing members. We have accomplished much over the past year... - [Propagation Prediction Websites](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/03/propagation-prediction-websites/): Propagation Prediction Websites for HF and VHF bands - [Join Our Next Monthly Breakfast](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/29/join-next-monthly-breakfast/): Join us for our next monthly breakfast at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH - [Homebrew an Antenna Analyzer](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/29/homebrew-antenna-analyzer/): Antenna analyzers kind of feel like a one-trick pony to me. When I first strung up my Buckmaster 7-band OCF dipole. He replied with another option... - [ARRL Rookie Roundup CW - Call for Operators](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/27/arrl-rookie-roundup-cw-call-operators/): Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW on Sunday December 17th. The contest starts at 1800z, which is 1:00pm Eastern time. - [Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Plans](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/24/satellite-station-30-plans/): We’ve made about 250 contacts with our Portable Satellite Station 2.0. We are working on a set of upgrades to create our Portable Satellite Station 3.0... - [DX Alarm Clock Part 2 - Hardware](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/dx-alarm-clock-part-2-hardware/): Hardware Components used in the DX Alarm Clock and How To Setup a Development Environment for Python Software development - [Meteor Scatter Rocks! – Work’in the Orionids](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/msk144-meteor-scatter-rocks/): I’ve been pretty active on the 6m band the past few years. The addition of the MSK144 mode for Meteor Scatter contacts has been a lot of fun... - [New RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Designated AO-91 and is Active!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/new-ao-91-active/): RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is official designated AO-91 and the Amatuer Radio Payload is NOW ACTIVE! You can find more information... - [Students Analyze HAB-2's Flight Data](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/03/high-altitude-balloon-data/): The HAB team members in NARS have created a five-session curriculum to teach physics, atmospheric science, and radio technology that we use... - [Member Spotlight - Jamey, AC1DC (Formerly KC1ENX)](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/jamey-ac1dc/): I am Jamey, (KC1ENX), I am new to Amateur Radio, and I came to the hobby almost by accident. I had been looking for better communication while out hiking... - [Abby, AB1BY Interview on Ham Nation](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/ab1by-interview/): One of our own, Abby AB1BY was interviewed on Ham Nation recently. Gordon West, WB6NOA, interviewed Abby. Gordon has invited Abby to do a monthly segment... - [HAB-2 Sets Altitude Record!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/high-altitude-balloon-altitude-record/): We flew our High-Altitude Balloon for the second time this past weekend. Our second High-Altitude Balloon Flight (HAB-2) was part... - [Getting Started with Satellites with KX9X](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/27/getting-started-with-satellites/): This is a good podcast on getting started with satellites. Source: Ham Talk Live! Episode 86 - Getting Started with Satellites with KX9X. - [HAB-2 Launch This Saturday - How To Track Our High-Altitude Balloon](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/27/high-altitude-balloon-2-launch-tracking/): We are planning a second launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-2) this Saturday. You can track HAB-2 on aprs.fi using the call sign N1FD-11... - [Member Spotlight - B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/26/member-spotlight-ne1rd/): Scott, NE1RD got his a start in ham radio not long ago. In 2002, after years of encouragement from a good friend, NE1RD was finally looked into the hobby. - [New Satellite Coming Soon and Good Deal on Satellite Book](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/24/new-satellite/): As part of the preparations for the launch of a new Satellite, RadFxSat, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With Amateur Satellites” book available... - [Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/20/raspberry-pi-satellite-rotator/): We built a Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator interface to improve the operation of MacDopller with our Green Heron Rotator Controller... - [Orionid Meteor Shower: Friday Night Brings Excellent Conditions In Eastern US](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/20/orionid-meteor-shower/): One of the best meteor showers of the fall, the Orionid Meteor Shower, will peak on Friday night with over a dozen meteors... - [Remote Control Ham Station Enhancements](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/18/remote-control-ham-station/): We have been enhancing our Remote Control Ham Station system to include additional remote control client options, better networking via the Internet... - [Comparing a 1/4w Trap Vertical with OCF Dipole using WSPRlite](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/10/comparing-antennas-wsprlite/): Using a WSPRlite device is a really good way to compare the performance of two different antennas. You can see where in the world your signal is heard... - [Nashua Area Radio Society Adopts an Updated Constitution and By-Laws](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/10/update-constitution-bylaws/): We adopted an updated Constitution and By-Laws at our recent October membership meeting. Our October Membership Meeting The vote was unanimous in favor... - [Plans for Enhancing Our Ham Station This Fall](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/09/ham-station-projects/): We are planning a number of enhancements at our Ham Station this fall. Our plans include radio upgrades, a shared amplifier setup, and remote operating... - [Amazing DX Opening on the 12m Band](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/06/12m-dx/): I am not sure why but I decided to give the 12m band a look today and I was stunned! The 12m band is wide open between Africa and the US! - [Fall 2017 License Classes Have Begun](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/01/fall-2017-license-class/): The Nashua Area Radio Club will hold 3 License Classes this Fall including Technician, General and Extra classes. The Technician Class is this weekend. - [New Hampshire QSO Party](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/29/new-hampshire-qso-party/): This past weekend Fred (AB1OC) and I (KC1ENX) participated in the New Hampshire QSO Party in the multi-op high power category... - [Tower Climbing Demo and Open House at AB1OC/AB1QB](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/28/tower-climbing-open-house/): Ever wonder what's involved in safely climbing and working on an Amateur Radio tower? We will be holding an open house and tower climbing demonstration... - [SOTA Activation on Mt. Wachusett](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/24/sota-activation-on-mt-wachusett/): SOTA Activation on Mt Wachusett - [Join us for Mt Wachusett SOTA Activation on Saturday September 23rd](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/22/mt-wachusett-sota/): On Saturday, September 23rd we’ll head to Mt Wachusett SOTA (W1/CR-001) in Princeton, MA.  It is only about an hour drive from Nashua. - [Icom IC-7300 Display Using N1MM Logger Plus](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/19/ic-7300-display-n1mm/): Looks like its possible to use N1MM+ to display a larger view of the Icom IC-7300 display. It would be great if there were also a standalone... - [The New IC-7610 Direct-Sampling SDR HF/6m Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/18/ic-7610-transceiver/): The new IC-7610 Transceiver is the much-anticipated dual-receive version which uses Icom's SDR platform that was first available in the IC-7300. - [Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2GHz Prototype Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/18/icom-ic-9700-prototype/): THe IC-9700 looks to be a SDR-based successor to the IC-910H. This should make a very good radio for Satellite and EME work! Availability is... - [N1FD Mobile HF Plans for the 2017 NH QSO Party](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/15/2017-nh-qso-party/): We are planning to operate as N1FD/M during the NH QSO Party this weekend. We will be using a Mobile HF station and plan to activate all NH counties. - [Sharing Our Club's Activities at Boxboro Hamvention 2017](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/15/boxboro-hamvention-2017/): We had the good fortune of attending and speaking at the Boxboro Hamvention this past weekend. We shared three presentations about our club's activities... - [Reminder - Digital Modes Tech Night this Evening](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/12/digital-modes-tech-night/): I wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that our Tech Night this evening will be about digital modes including RTTY, PSK, and WSJT-X (FT8 & MSK144). - [Nashua Area Radio Club Family Picnic at Greeley Park](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/nashua-area-radio-club-family-picnic/): The Nashua Area Radio Club family picnic was held on August 19 at Greeley Park in Nashua. We had a fox hunt, potluck lunch and visited the art show. - [SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Washington](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/sotapota-activation-on-mount-washington/): Members of the Nashua Area Radio Club did a SOTA/POTA Activation from the summit of Mount Washington on August 26. We operated VHF, UHF and HF. - [A "Tech Night" To Remember - Our Visit To KC1XX](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/kc1xx-tech-night/): Our August "Tech Night" featured a Saturday visit to the Matt Strelow, KC1XX's superstition. Matt's station sits on top of a mountain in Mason, NH. - [FT8ful Encounter](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/28/ft8-mode/): Say hello to the new FT8 mode which is the designation of the Franke-Taylor 8-FSK digital modes supported by the latest version of WSJT-X. - [How did I hang my dipole 50+ feet high in the trees?](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/26/hang-dipole-50-feet-high-trees/): How did you get that rope so high in the trees and how did you get that rope over the perfect branch? - [ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY - The Results are in!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/24/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty-results/): The N1FD Multi-Op team placed first in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. Operators were Aron, W1AKI, Jim, K1BRM and Tom, AB1NS. - [Ham Radio Desk Photos](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/22/ham-radio-desk-photos/): I have recently been enjoying using Google search to find Ham Radio images. This morning I happened to search for "Ham Radio Desk" photos. - [New Features On N1FD.org](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/22/n1fd-org-new-features/): We've been adding some new features on our website, n1fd.org. Our website has many great photo images and we wanted to make it easier to enjoy... - [SOTA/6m Activation on Mt. Kearsarge](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/20/mt-kearsarge-sota/): We were on Mt. Kearsarge a few weeks back for our second SOTA activation. This location had a great view and provided us with a picturesque location... - [You Can Talk to the ISS With Nothing But a Ham Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/15/ham-radio-iss-contact/): Adrian Lane of Gloucestershire, England, got in touch with the International Space Station the other day. An ISS Contact is not all that hard if ... - [N1FD Foxes Run Wild At Picnic...](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/11/n1fd-fox-hunt/): You don't have to dress like this or bring a horse to have fun doing a Fox Hunt at on annual picnic. There will be two different N1FD Foxes on the loose... - [Shack and Station Videos](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/10/ham-radio-station-videos/): We have a new YouTube collection which features Ham Radio Station and Shack videos from around the world. They are part of our Ham Radio YouTube feeds. - [Icom IC-7300 USB for Radio Control + FSK Keying](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/09/fsk-rtty/): This is a great article for folks who want to do RTTY with an IC-7300 transceiver. FSK RTTY is much easier to use than the AFSK/Sound Card approach. - [The Bouvet Island DXpedition 2018](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/07/bouvet-island-dxpedition/): Bouvet lies at 54 degrees, 25 minutes South and 3 degrees, 22 minutes East. Read more about the Bouvet Island DXpedition here... - [How N1FD.ORG Works - The Basics](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/04/n1fd-org-basics/): Ever wonder what goes into building and operating a modern website like n1fd.org?  The How N1fd.org Works series explains the design of our website. - [ARRL Board Explores Entry-Level License Options...](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/03/entry-license/): Looks like the ARRL is headed in the right direction on Amateur Radio License changes to make Amateur Radio more accessible to new people and you folks. - [SOTA/POTA Activation of Mount Washington (6,288')](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/mt-washington-sota/): If you enjoy portable or mobile operation or even just being outdoors with great people, then our SOTA activation is for you! - [Nashua Area Radio Club August Activities](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/nashua-area-radio-club-august-activities/): The Nashua Area Radio Club has many activities planned for August - a Picnic in Greeley Park, Contest and SOTA Event. Join us for some summer fun! - [Member Spotlight - Desmond Johnson, WK1V](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/member-spotlight-desmond-johnson/): Years prior to obtaining my HAM license, I do recall when the fascination with 2-way radio began for me. I began an an early age... - [A New Summer Camping Tradition](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/28/new-summer-camping-tradition/): Every year in July, my XYL and I go summer camping for a week at Papoose Pond in North Waterford, Maine. The plan was simple - ring an IC-7300, Buddipole... - [KC1XX Superstation Visit](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/25/kc1xx-superstation-visit/): Matt hosts a multi-op/multi-transmitter station with as many towers (to cover all the amateur bands), as there are colors in the rainbow. - [Academy for Science and Design SPARK Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/12/asd-spark-day-2017/): A recent SPARK day session where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club's Amateur Radio projects including our HAB. - [Thirteen Colonies Special Event - We are Top Club and Top State!!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/12/thirteen-colonies-results/): Well, it's finally official - our Club is again the Top Club for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event 2017! We made a record number of contacts for NH! - [The 241st Birthday of The Thirteen Colonies](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/06/thirteen-colonies-birthday/): 241st Birthday of The Thirteen Colonies: Lots of European pileups! The European ones were even more challenging than the US ones. - [ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY - Sunday August 20](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty-sunday-august-20/): We will be defending our title as #1 Multi-Op Area 1 in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY on August 20 from 2pm - 8pm at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. - [Fall 2017 License Class Dates Set](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/fall-2017-license-class-dates/): Fall 2017 License Class Dates have been set. Do you know someone who is interested in getting licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator or upgrading? - [Join us for our Family Summer Picnic on August 19!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/summer-picnic/): Our Family Summer Picnic is scheduled for Saturday August 19th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. - [Sights From Field Day 2017](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/field-day-2017-sights/): Field Day 2017 is but a memory for us now. Dave, K1DLM , our Field Day Chairman, and the entire Field Day team did a great job with putting it together. - [High-Altitude Balloon Project Update #3 - Launch!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/high-altitude-balloon-launch/): Our High-Altitude Balloon made it to the edge of space! The image above was taken from our HAB at an altitude of over 90,000 ft! - [SOTA/POTA and 6 Meters](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/6m-sota-station/): Our Club's first Summits On The Air activation was on the same day as the June VHF Contest! We put together a portable 6M SOTA station for the activation. - [The Thirteen Colonies Special Event Begins Tomorrow - July 1](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/the-thirteen-colonies-special-event-begins-tomorrow-july-1/): The Thirteen Colonies K2K NH team will have a full complement of t operators on all bands and modes again this year including a dedicated QRP station. - [Go Kit for Field Day and EMCOM](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/emcom-go-kit/): We've been thinking about building a portable Go Kit for VHF/UHF Emergency Communications (EMCOM) and Field Day Applications for a while now. - [2017 Field Day Prep - New Tower Test](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/2017-field-day-prep-new-tower-test/): We decided to put up a third tower as part of our 2017 Field Day operation. We decided to perform a Tower Test and setup our new tower before Field Day. - [Field Day IT Test - Stations, Network and Logging Computers](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/field-day-it-test/): We are bringing some 21st Century radio and computer technology to our Field Day setup this year. Field Day preparation included an IT Test of the new gear. - [MT. Hale and 30 Meters (in the rain)](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/mt-hale-and-30-meters-in-the-rain/): I was to guide my seventeen-year-old son, Justin and his two friends, on a Saturday hike in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire. - [LEO Satellite Contacts via Easy Sat and Linear Transponder Satellites](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/20/leo-satellite-contacts/): These videos demonstrate LEO satellite contacts and give an idea of what it is like to to make contacts through Amateur Radio LEO satellites. - [Crossing A HAB Off The Bucket List....](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/19/crossing-a-hab-off-the-bucket-list/): We saw two young fathers design and launch a high altitude balloon (HAB) to stimulate interest in their very young sons. Of course, the best part... - [Quicker-Turnaround Digital Modes in Experimental Stage for WSJT-X Suite](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/16/wsjt-ft8/): This is something to follow if you are interested in the JT modes and WSJT-X. Our experience is that FT8 mode which trades S/N... - [New Book of Interest](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/12/communications-receivers/): Title: Communications Receivers: Principles and Design. This is an engineering textbook, so it is quite technical but strikes a balance between... - [How To Track Our High Altitude Balloon](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/how-to-track-our-high-altitude-balloon/): I wanted to share some information about our tracking our High Altitude Balloon as it flies. Our balloon will carry's a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS... - [Dayton / Xenia Hamvention 2017](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/dayton-xenia-hamvention-2017/): Fred, AB1OC and I recently returned from the Dayton Hamvention, which was held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH.  Here's a summary of our visit. - [HAB Open House](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/hab-open-house/): The HAB (High-Altitude Balloon) team gathered for an open house to introduce the students participating in our project to amateur radio and the HAB itself. - [Member Spotlight – Fred, AB1OC](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/member-spotlight-fred-ab1oc/): I have wanted to be involved in Amateur Radio since I was about 8 years old. I did not have anyone who could help me to learn code and become licensed. - [Member Spotlight (Abby - AB1BY)](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/29/member-spotlight-abby-ab1by/): One of the things that I’m most proud of is that I’m a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (AB1BY)! You may ask what gets a young girl interested... - [Choosing my next Rig: What's the best one for me?](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/21/best-ham-radio/): The results: If I were to buy a new radio today, it would the Icom IC-7300. By my analysis, the IC-7300 is the best Ham Radio for the buck. - [Another Milestone at Our Last Club Meeting - 150 Members!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/11/another-milestone-150-members/): We reached another milestone as of our last club meeting - we have grown the Nashua Area Radio Club to over 150 members! This is the result of hard work... - [SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Pack Monadnock Coming Up](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/11/sota-pota-plans/): We'll be activating Miller State Park (POTA KFF-2662) and Mt. Pack Monadnock (SOTA W1/HA-041) in Peterborough, NH. This is also the ARRL's June VHF contest!   - [2017 Spring Extra License Class](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/02/2017-spring-extra-license-class/): We just completed another Extra License class! Congratulations to the new Extras,  Abby Finchum, KC1FFX,  John Mara, KB1UX, and Tom Linehan, KB1VON. - [Rookie Roundup Certificates and Other Awards](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/02/ham-radio-contest-certificates/): KC1FFX, Abby, KC1ENX, Jamey, and W1AKI, Aron recently operated in the ARRL Rookie Roundup Ham radio contest using the N1FD Callsign. - [Field Day 2017 Prep - Yagi Building Party!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/29/field-day-2017-prep-yagi-building-party/): As Field Day 2017 approaches, Dave, N1RF; Mike, K1WVO, Don, KC1CRK and I got together to assemble and test two of the Yagis... - [GOTA Event for Young People in Nashua, NH](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/29/ham-radio-gota-pal/): 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... - [High Altitude Balloon Project Update #2 - STEM Learning](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/26/high-altitude-balloon-project-update-2/): We have been working with teachers from several local schools to create a STEM learning curriculum to help the students involved in our HAB project. - [Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium - RSVP Required](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/25/harvard-amateur-radio-symposium-rsvp-required/): On April 29th, 2017 from 9-5, the Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium (1st edition) will be held in historic Harvard Yard at the center of Harvard University. - [N1FD Multi-Op Team wins 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/23/n1fd-rookie-roundup/): 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. - [Member Spotlight - Anita, AB1QB](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/23/member-spotlight-ab1qb/): My favorite Ham Radio activities are DXing and RTTY Contesting.   I have earned a DXCC Challenge and have confirmed 290 DX entities. - [Making Contacts Through LEO Satellites](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/18/leo-satellites-contacts/): I've been having a lot of fun this past week learning to operate using satellites. It is amazing how many LEO satellites are operational right now! - [QRPGuys Iambic Paddle Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/09/qrpguys-iambic-paddle-build/): I was getting a little bored on Saturday night so I headed down to the shack and dug out the iambic key kit I had ordered. - [Our Ham Radio Video and Photo Collections](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/ham-radio-video-photo-collections/): We have been building quite a collection of Ham Radio video and photos over the past few years. We have... - [QRP on the AIR... from K-ONE Last Good Question](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/qrp-on-the-air/): I have been waiting all winter so I could pack my QRP gear into my knapsack, charge up the ole gel-cell and retune my throw-up dipoles to GET ON THE AIR. - [My Name Is Patrick...](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/ham-radio-youth-outreach-story/): By Dennis Marandos - K1LGQ The excitement for warm time operations is just heating up and getting out is easier... - [Member Spotlight: Frank Swiech, N1DGQ](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/03/member-spotlight-frank-swiech-n1dgpq/): Name: Francis A. Swiech Elected Club Offices: Former Vice President and Former Secretary of the Nashua Area Radio Club Appointed... - [Congratulations to the New Generals!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/31/congratulations-new-generals/): We held our Spring 2017 General License Class on March 18th and 19th with 100% success!  Congratulations to the 7 new General. - [Member Spotlight: #Rockin HAM Bio](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/31/rockinhambio/): It's useful to know where our collective interests lie and what our backgrounds are, so we can forge better connections with each other. - [High Altitude Balloon Project Update #1](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/28/hab-update-1/): I just wanted to take a moment and update everyone on our progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. Our fundraising efforts are complete... - [2nd Field Day Prep Meeting Recap](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/28/2nd-field-day-prep-meeting-recap/): I wanted to provide an update to all club members on our progress related to Field Day 2017.  We had our second field-day meeting... - [CQ WW WPX Contest](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/27/cq-ww-wpx-contest/): This past weekend Abby, AB1BY and I participated in the CQ WPX contest working mobile! My mobile set up consists... - [Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup - Sunday April 16](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/26/join-us-rookie-roundup/): Are you a rookie?  Join us for the Rookie Roundup SSB on Sunday.  The Rookie Roundup is a contest sponsored by the ARRL specifically for new hams. - [20m Vertical Dipole](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/26/20m-vertical-dipole/): My antenna is a full wave 40m delta loop which also matches well across 20m. While the match is good the pattern is not ideal for DX. A Vertical Dipole... - [MOV's in AC Power Strips](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/23/mov-power-strips/): n article in the April QST by Ward Silver titled "AC Power Distribution" included a warning "MOV Surge Protectors -- Avoid Them". - [Add CTCSS PL Tones to Your Old VHF Rig](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/16/add-pl-tones/): The only capability this 25W rig was missing is the ability to transmit CTCSS PL tones or sub audible tones to activate a repeater. - [A Good Day To Be Doing Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/14/a-good-day-to-be-doing-radio/): It's snowing at my QTH. A lot. If your QTH is within 30 miles of mine, then it's bad for... - [5U5R – Niger | DX World](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/12/5u5r-niger-dx-world/): The DX World website has a calendar for the month which shows all of the DXpeditions for the month.  It also has announcements for upcoming DXpeditions. - [New Amateur Satellite: EO-88 aka Nayif-1](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/11/new-amateur-satellite-eo-88-aka-nayif-1/): AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to announce that a FUNcube package has been selected as a major payload for the EO-88 aka Nayif-1 CubeSat mission. - [ARISS to Swap Out Handheld VHF Transceivers on Space Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/03/ariss-swap/): The VHF radio in the Columbus module for ARISS packet has been temporarily relocated to UHF after the VHF radio failure. ARISS International Chairman... - [A Portable Satellite Station Part 4 - 2.0 Station First Contacts!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/03/portable-satellite-station-first-contacts/): With our new 2.0 Satellite station built, tested, and packed; we were ready to try it in a portable environment. We used it to make our first contacts at ... - [A Portable Satellite Station Part 3 - 2.0 Station Radio and Supporting Equipment](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/02/satellite-station-equipment/): With the Antenna System for our 2.0 Portable Satellite Station complete, we turned our attention to assembling the Transceiver and supporting equipment. - [My SSB BitX-40 build from VU2ESE](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/28/my-ssb-bitx-40-build-from-vu2ese/): Below is a photo of my BitX-40 kit from Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE in India with my very own custom designed... - [Our High Altitude Balloon Project Meets Its Funding Goal!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/24/high-altitude-balloon-project-meets-funding-goal/): The teachers and kids there were very excited about our project! We are all pleased that our High Altitude Balloon Funding work is complete. - [Field-Day Kick-off Meeting](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/23/field-day-kick-off/): I am really excited to be leading the field day effort for the Nashua Area Radio Club this year.  Since this is my first time, am relying on help from... - [A Portable Satellite Station Part 2 – 2.0 Station Goals and Antenna System](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/22/portable-satellite-antenna/): M2 had one of their LEO Pack satellite antenna systems on display there. This got us thinking about building a new portable satellite station. - [Our January Visit to MakeIt Labs!](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/21/visit-makeit-labs-2/): The Nashua Area Radio Club paid a visit to MakeIt Labs to promote Amateur Radio with maker folks. Projects and a GOTA station we featured. - [Our Latest "Tech Night" - A DSO138 Oscilloscope Kit Build](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/21/latest-oscilloscope-kit/): Our latest Tech Night became a Tech Day this past weekend. We got together on Saturday afternoon to build another kit - the DSO138 Oscilloscope. - [A Portable Satellite Station Part 1 - A Simple Station for AO-85](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/20/simple-portable-satellite-station/): Our club has quite a few members who are interested in space communications. We decided to build a simple portable... - [Why Ham Radio?](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/20/why-ham-radio/): Why ham radio with all of the higher tech means of communications? There are many activities available to amateur radio operators. - [Little Pistol DXing](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/17/little-pistol-dxing/): For many years, I enjoyed chasing DX using two towers, multiple beams, an 80-meter 2-element quad and a 160-meter Inverted L. Now I am a Little Pistol DXer. - [First Amateur Radio Satellite in Geosynchronous Orbit in 2017?](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/17/geosynchronous-amateur-radio-satellite/): Researchers are preparing to send the first Amateur Radio Satellite into geosynchronous orbit... - [Progress on our High Altitude Balloon Project](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/16/high-altitude-balloon-project-update/): We are making good progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. We have identified three local schools are interested in the project... - [Feb 18 DSO138 Kit Building Tips](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/15/dso138-kit-building-tips/): Hi DSO138 kit builders, I wanted to share some tips to follow for our 18 Feb Kit Build from 1-4pm.... - [January Tech Night Making the Most of Your HF transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/07/tech-night-hf-transceiver/): The January Tech night was about getting the most out of your HF transceiver. Fred had an interesting  PowerPoint presentation where he demonstrated... - [Home Brew Your Own Arduino UNO](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/03/homebrew-arduino-uno/): The first question you may ask is, Why would I want to build my own Arduino UNO?  Economically speaking it does not add up in your favor... - [Amateur Radio at MakeIt Labs](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/28/makeit-labs-ham-radio/): On Saturday, January 28th the Nashua Area Radio Club will be hosting a special event for Interested community folks about the joy of Ham Radio... - [Our Club Moving Forward Into 2017](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/26/2017-goal-plans/): We have been working on a set of goals and plans to continue on this path during 2017 - to provide even better opportunities... - [ARRL Kids Day on the Air](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/25/arrl-kids-day/): On Saturday, January 7th the Nashua Area Radio Club participated in the ARRL's Kids Day on the Air. - [First Homebrew Contact on my Scratch Built BitX20 SSB Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/18/first-contact-bitx20-transceiver/): I was given good advice from both Bill and Pete from the SolderSmoke Podcast to start out with a direct conversion receiver then go with the BitX20... - [Time to Prepare for Field Day 2017](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/18/time-to-prepare-for-field-day-2017/): This is my first year as field day chairman.  Truth be told, I only attended my first Nashua Area RC field day last June, and was truly impressed. - [The DX Alarm Clock - Part 1: Raspberry Pi Software](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/15/raspberry-pi-project/): The Ham Radio DX Alarm clock is a Raspberry Pi Project that finds DX stations that you have not worked. Uses your log to alert you about new DX! - [A First Homebrewed Transceiver](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/14/homebrewed-transceiver/): The nice thing about this build is once one is done, it's amenable to modular alteration to turn it into a fully working QRP SSB homebrewed transceiver! - [How to Solder SMT ICs or Surface Mounted Integrated Circuits for your Homebrew Projects](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/10/homebrew-surface-mount-soldering/): I have some of LM386 ICs that are of the small surface mount type. Soldering leads to the very small chips is possible but... - [January 2017 Project Night](https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/04/2017-project-night/): The Jan 2016 Project Night was my first Nashua Area RC meeting. And, it was that first meeting which played an instrumental role in... - [Parts Store On A Chip (CPLD / FPGA) - CPLD's in the Shack](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/28/ham-radio-cpld-fpga/): My “go to” tool when breadboarding is often an evaluation board with a Xilinx CPLD. A complex programmable logic device (CPLD)... - [N1FD Contest Team Completes Sweep of 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/24/n1fd-swweps-2016-arrl-rookie-roundup/): The N1FD team placed #1 in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW!  We have won the Area 1 Multi-Op category in all three... - [Club Holiday Party and Elections](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/22/club-holiday-party-and-elections/): We held our annual Holiday Party at our December meeting. Our Yankee Swap gift exchange was a lot of fun! We also held our yearly elections. - [Happy Holidays!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/22/ham-radio-happy-holidays/): And we hope that the "Big Guy" brings lots of radio toys for everyone this Holiday Season! You've all been good! - [A High Altitude Balloon Project To Generate STEM Interest And Learning](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/21/high-altitude-balloon-stem-project/): Several members of our club have been working on a High Altitude Balloon Project to promote STEM interest and learning by young people... - [Show Your Love for Amateur Radio on Feb. 14](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/19/dso138-scope-kit-feb-14/): Everyone had a blast building the Pixie kits, and on V-day, we are going to work on a DIY oscilloscope known as the DSO138. - [N1FD Multi-Op Entry in the Rookie Roundup CW](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/18/n1fd-arrl-rookie-roundup-cw/): The N1FD Contest Team operated in the final Rookie Roundup of the year - the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW.  Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby KC1FFX operated... - [Moxons in the Attic (Part 3)](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/18/stealth-antenna-moxon-3/): If you recall from last month, I was left with a perplexing matching problem with the 15M stealth antenna while the 17M one works fine.  - [Add 16 Digital IOs To Your Next Arduino Or Raspberry Pi Project](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/16/add-ios-arduino-pi-raspberry-project/): I had some LED 7 segment displays that would be perfect for this application.  The issue then becomes how do I not use up all of my IOs... - [A Winter's Night Visit to MakeIt Labs](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/15/visit-makeit-labs/): ...Our contact person quickly pointed out that Thursdays are MakeIt Labs busy days since that is when they host their open house. - [Home Brew a Variable Capacitor](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/13/homebrew-variable-capacitor/): I was looking for variable capacitors for my home brew projects that do not have high costs.  I did a Google search and found the following links... - [Nashua Area Radio Club - 2016 Highlights](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/07/2016-highlights/): Our club has had quite a year in 2016. We initiated many new activities and our members learned some new skills. Our 2016 Highlights video contains... - [Tech Night - 40m QRP CW Pixie Kit](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/tech-night-pixie-kit/): Connor (KC1GGX) and myself (Abby-AB1BY) both participated in the club's November Tech Night. Our mission for the night was to... - [Thanksgiving Weekend NPOTA Fun](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/thanksgiving-npota-fun/): With only 1 month to go in the ARRL NPOTA event and some free time this Thanksgiving weekend, Fred and... - [Fall Antenna Projects at AB1OC/AB1QB](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/fall-antenna-projects/): Anita and I like to take advantage of the mild fall weather to do antenna projects at our QTH. We have completed two such projects this fall. - [Our November 2016 Youth Outreach Event](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/our-november-2016-youth-outreach-event/): Since the summer time, you have seen a flurry of activity regarding our efforts to attract more young people and especially kids into the hobby. - [Moxons in the Attic (Part 2)](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/25/moxons-stealth-antenna-2/):  It has been a couple of months since I wrote about my project to build a Moxon stealth antenna for 15 and 17 meters in the attic of my garage. - [Savoring My Ham Radio on Thanksgiving](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/24/ham-radio-thanksgiving/): Savoring My Ham Radio Thanksgiving - [Nashua ARC Contest Team Makes The Pages Of QST!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/20/n1fd-qst/): We just received our December 2016 issue of QST - our club's certificate from the 2016 Rookie Roundup SSB was featured in the contest announcement section. - [A New LEO Sat! FUNcube-3 (EO-79) Goes Live](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/18/eo-79-live/): The EO-79/FUNcube-3 satellite has transitioned to amateur radio service. The FUNcube U/V transponder has been activated... - [Nashua ARC Pre-Thanksgiving Jamboree Youth Event!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/18/youth-outreach-event-2/): Hi Everyone, Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 19 from 9am-5pm, we will be hosting an event for kids to explore and enjoy... - [Nashua Area Radio Club Supports Scouting Jamboree on The Air](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/16/nashua-arc-supports-jota/): Our club provided all the infrastructure for these young men and women to reach out to other scouts around the world. JOTA is not a typical contest... - [The Nashua Area Radio Club is Number 1 Field Day Again!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/12/number-1-field-day/): We got up to some great news this morning. The Nashua Area Radio Club is once again Number 1 Field Day (N1FD)!! We are the Top Club in our Category (7A)... - [Yagi Antenna Teaching Construct Part #3: Directional Gain and Front to Back Ratio](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/08/yagi-antenna-3/): In this article of our series on the "Lego-style" antenna for teaching basic yagi antenna behavior, our focus is a Yagi-Uda 3-element antenna for 2 meters. - [N1FD Enters The CQ Worldwide DX Contest In A Quest To Earn DXCC!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/31/cq-ww-dxcc/): The CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest has just completed and we made a big step toward our goal of earning an ARRL DXCC Award for our club call, N1FD. - [Why Would I Want To Be In A Contest?](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/30/n1fd-ham-radio-contest/): As I sit here watching the N1FD teamwork the CQ Worldwide DX contest, it got me thinking about what contesting is really about and why we contest. - [Fall License Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/30/fall-ham-radio-license-class/): We had a total of 10 new hams from our Technician Ham Radio License class - 8 received their Technician License and 2 received their General Class License. - [Hang 'Em High](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/14/antenna-launcher/): How to get these new wire antennas hung from the many tall pine trees on the property? In the past, I have used a sling shot to get dipoles up... - [Our Family Picnic in August was Great Fun!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/25/2016-family-picnic/): We held our Family Picnic on Saturday at Greeley Park in Nashua.  We had great weather,  great food and had a great time with friends at the Picnic. - [Yagi Antenna Construct Part #2: Current, Voltage Profiles, and Dipole Pattern](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/23/yagi-antenna-2/): In Part 1 of this article series, I presented the “Lego” 2 m 3-element Yagi antenna design that the N1FD ham license teaching team has used... - [Current Public Service Opportunities](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/23/current-public-service-opportunities/): In an effort to find speakers for the club meetings, I have been reaching out to other HAMs in the... - [Nashua ARC Youth Outreach Event!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/21/youth-outreach-event/): Mine Falls Park hosts many youth soccer games every Saturday throughout the Fall. We are hoping to provide kids some insight into what Ham Radio is... - [Moxons in the Attic (Part 1)](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/17/moxon-stealth-antenna-1/): A few months ago, I wrote an article on building a stealth antenna farm. Since I live in the land... - [Upcoming Tech Night Suggestions Forum](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/16/tech-night-suggestions/): At our most recent Tech Night meeting on Sept 12, at the end of the meeting, Fred asked Brian (AB1ZO) to list a few of the upcoming tech night events. - [I Can't Believe My Antenna's Up!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/15/my-first-antenna/): I suppose the title could also be: (or how I learned to stop procrastinating and finally put up my HF antenna). Putting up my first antenna. - [Boxboro Youth Outreach Summary](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/14/boxboro-youth-outreach-summary/): We already have one such star in the club, Jamey's daughter Abby (KC1FFX), who serves as Youth Advocate on the board as part of our Youth Outreach efforts. - [A Very Memorable Club Meeting](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/07/a-very-memorable-club-meeting/): We had a very memorable club meeting last evening. Tom Gallagher NY2RF, CEO of the ARRL and Dave Patton NN1N were our speakers. - [NPOTA Fun - Activating a New Park](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/31/activating-new-npota/): Ever since we built our Mobile HF Station, we've talked about taking it to Acadia National Park in Maine and... - [Our Family Picnic is on August 27!!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/19/our-family-picnic-2016/): Our Summer Family Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 27th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. - [Learning Morse Code - Our CW Training Classes Have Begun](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/17/learning-morse-code/): Our club has began teaching a Morse Code training class.  The class was created in response to interest in learning Morse Code by our club members. - [Broadband Matching for Antennas](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/15/broadband-matching-for-antennas/): This article discusses some work on designing a matching network to make antennas match well (low VSWR) across the entire ham band.  More at Tech Night. - [Hands-On Yagi Antenna Construction 2.0 for Teaching and Experimentation](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/lego-yagi-antenna-1/): The most important piece of equipment in ham radio is our antenna.  We are connected to the world with the magic of radio waves! - [Summertime Station and Antenna Projects At AB1OC/AB1QB](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/summer-antenna-projects/): Summer is the time of year that many of us work on antenna projects and improve our station. Anita and I did both of these things at our QTH this summer. - [Fall 2016 Ham Radio License Classes](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/fall-2016-ham-radio-license-class/): The Nashua Area Radio Club has a dedicated team of Ham Radio license class instructors and we offer Technician, General,... - [Our Second Round Of NPOTA Activations](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/second-npota-activation/): We held our second series of National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) Activations this past week. We have the pleasure of activating two different parks this time. - [WASK (Worked All Silent Keys)](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/11/wask-silent-key/): While pondering what to write about for this month, I decided to take a detour from my usual lighthearted musings and reflect on a few Silent Key... - [2016 Summer Activities!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/19/2016-summer-activities/): Please contact me at ab1qb@arrl.net for more information on any of our summer activities. We hope to see you at these events throughout the summer! - [July 10th NPOTA activation by N1FD](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/18/npota-activation-n1fd/): On July 10, N1FD members gathered in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL's year-long NOPTA event. - [2016 - A Record Year for Nashua Area Radio Club On The Air Operations?](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/17/2016-record-year/): 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. - [Boeing 100 Years Special Events](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/14/boeing-100-years/): I thought that some of the members in our club might be interested in the Boeing 100 Years Special Event activity. - [AB1NS/P: IARU Contest - Sometimes the gods do smile](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/13/ab1nsp-iaru-contest/): I discovered the IARU Contest about 5 years ago when I took my IC-756 to see what I could do operating from the summer place in western Massachusetts. - [A Newbie's First Field Day Reflections](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/11/first-field-day-reflections/): I have been taking a bit of time before I posted on the website about Field Day 2016. I have... - [Summits on the Air (SOTA)](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/07/summits-on-the-air-sota/): I heard a CQ from KB1RJD on the VHF National Calling Frequency (146.520) for SOTA from Mount Washington in New Hampshire - over 100 miles away. - [CW Ops Using Winkeyer and a Decoder](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/05/cw-ops-using-winkeyer-decoder/): I had CW Skimmer already installed on the laptop. What more could I need? - [Field Day Rebirth](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/03/field-day-rebirth/): For 2016, plans called for setting up the two towers similar to what was done last year. This time, however, the 40 SSB station was going to be beefed... - [Huh? 2 meter QSO into Canada!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/29/iss-packet-qso-canada/): Ok, this is slightly misleading but it's true.  I had a QSO with a Canadian station over 200 miles away on 2 meters using the ISS packet transponder. - [6M Propagation to Europe on JT65.](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/13/6m-propagation-to-europe-on-jt65/): Wow, six meters was wide open this morning to Europe. I started playing on CW, but the signals were so steady that I decided to go to JT65. - [Activating Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/05/activating-saint-gaudens-national-historical-site/): We will have two club events in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL NPOTA. - [Our First Extra License Class](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/31/first-extra-license-class/): We held our first Extra License Class the weekend of May 13-15, 2016.   This was a 3-day class due to the larger amount of material... - [The 13 Colonies Special Event Is Coming!!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/31/13-colonies-special-event-comming/): The 13 Colonies Special Event is coming soon. It is the largest on-air special event in the world and it... - [Dayton Hamvention 2016](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/28/dayton-hamvention-2016/): Fred, AB1OC and I just returned from the 2016 Dayton Hamvention in OH. Our first day in Dayton was spent at Contest University... - [Plans for N1FD Field Day 2016](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/27/field-day-planning-2016/): 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... - [A Stealth Antenna Farm](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/20/stealth-antenna-farm/): I looked at the Moxon design to see if I could get more isolation between the beams. This design could be the basis for a good stealth antenna. - [Silent Keys](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/16/silent-key/): When my father passed on years ago to our surprise uniformed US Navy officers appeared at the funeral and passed a flag to my mother for his... - [2016 NEQP Report from N1FD/M](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/10/2016-ne-qso-party/): We operated as N1FD/m (Mobile HF) in the New England QSO Party (NEQP) this weekend. We began our operation on Saturday afternoon on the MA - NH State line. - [KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux download on SourceForge.net](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/29/kb1oiq-ham-radio-linux/): KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux Ubuntu Linux remastered for Amateur Radio users. How to find and download from Sourceforge.net. - [Rig Audio Interfacing and Low Cost PC Headsets](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/27/rig-audio-interfacing/): PC headsets and Heil headsets operate differently. It's important to understand this to get either one to work well with your Rig audio. - [Saint-Gaudens NHS - Mobile HF Trial Run For Our NPOTA Activation](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/23/saint-gaudens-trial-npota/): We made a trip to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in NH. Our goals was to seek permission for NPOTA Activation. We operated Mobile HF there. - [How To Use Our Blog - Finding and Reading Articles](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/23/using-ham-radio-blog/): Our club website has a Blog or Articles area where all club members can post articles which appear on our website. These articles work much like pages... - [The Path to Special Service Club](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/22/special-service-club-path/): What is a Special Service Club? A club that exists to go above and beyond for their communities and for Amateur Radio is what defines an SSC. - [Field Day Station Test](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/21/field-day-station-test/): Field Day QTH It's almost time for the 2016 Field Day Event and we've been in high gear getting ready.... - [N1FD Team Wins Multi-Op In 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Contest!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/21/n1fd-wins-rookie-roundup-ssb/): The results are in and N1FD took first place in the recent ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB in the Multi-op Category. The N1FD team was also #1 in area one... - [2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB - N1FD Muti-op Entry](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/19/arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb-n1fd/): A team of newly licensed club members came together to enter the 2016 ARRL Rookie Round SSB Contest. We held a training session at the weekend before. - [Ham Radio and CC&Rs: Back to the Future](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/18/ham-radio-and-ccrs-back-to-the-future/): The 6BTV is attractive because it requires no top hat capacitive loading that would not work inside PVC pipe.  It fits in with the CC&R limit... - [Heartbreaking Destruction of the VOA’s Sterba Curtain Antenna](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/heartbreaking-destruction-of-the-voas-sterba-curtain-antennas/): A heartbreaking destruction of the Voice of America’s  Sterba curtain antenna. - [New England QSO Party](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/new-england-qso-party/): The NEQP has become very popular among county hunters as many folks go mobile to activate rare counties in the New England states. - [International Marconi Day](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/international-marconi-day/): Marconi’s Wellfleet, MA USA wireless station is listed as a National Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places (1975)... - [Getting On The Air - Your First Station](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/10/first-station/): So you’ve gotten your Technician License or your General upgrade – how do you get a first station on the air? This was the topic of our recent Tech Night. - [3D Printing a Raspberry Pi Case](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/09/3d-printing-a-raspberry-pi-case/): In a previous article, I wrote about jumping into 3D printing for fun and home-brewing. I decided I wanted to... - [NEAR-Fest XIX](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/03/near-fest-xix/): EAR-Fest XIX  - April 29 - 30 will be held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds -  34 Stage Rd, Deerfield NH. - [How to Build a Ground for your Shack and Feedlines](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/02/ham-radio-grounding/): Ham Radio Grounding - The ground system used was a simple one that would make a good system for a new HAM's first station. - [Baofeng/Pofung Radios: A Review For The New Ham](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/01/baofeng-review/): You may have run across the names Baofeng/Pofung here and there. They are a Chinese manufacturer of two-way radio equipment. - [The Colossus of Radio](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/31/colossus-of-radio/): Crosley Radio Corporation’s 1936 “WLW Model  Super-Power Radio Receiver". Front of Crosley Radio Corporation’s WLW Model Super-Power radio receiver. - [April Club Newsletter](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/30/april-newsletter/): Enjoy the April edition of the Nashua Area Radio Club Newsletter. - [Inexpensive DIY Digital Oscilloscope Kit](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/inexpensive-diy-digital-oscilloscope-kit/): I came across a DSO138 DIY Digital Oscilloscope Kit (SMD Soldered Version) on the Internet recently that looked like a... - [Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB on April 17!!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/): Are you a new Ham who has received your first license in the past 3 years? Are you interested in finding out what contesting is all about?  - [3D Printing for Fun and Homebrewing](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/3d-printing-for-fun-and-homebrewing/): There are many helpful 3D Printer projects you can print on the Internet and many colors to choose from.  Here's a Raspberry Pi case that I made. - [VK0EK Heard Island DXpedition is active now!](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/26/vk0ek-dxpedition/): Because we will be on the air at the same time as the FT4JA DXpedition – and because we will both be operating from a very similar time zone... - [Becoming A Great Elmer](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/23/ham-radio-elmer/): There is much being said these days about the importance of bringing new people, especially young people, into our Hobby. Become a Ham Radio Elmer. - [How to QSL a DX Station?](https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/22/how-to-qsl-a-dx-station/): Important contact! You may already have a QSL card made and you are wondering how to go about getting a card to confirm your contact. --- # # Detailed Content ## Pages ### Nashua Area Radio Society License Class Grad Membership Form - Published: 2025-04-19 - Modified: 2025-04-19 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/nashua-area-radio-society-license-class-grad-membership-form-asdfpn1k6/ Thank you for taking a License Class with the Nashua Area Radio Society. We hope that you enjoyed your class. As a graduate of one of our license classes, we offer you a one-time one-year free membership to the Nashua Area Radio Society. Please fill out the form below to register for your membership. If you live in the states of New Hampshire or Massachusetts, you will receive a full membership. If you live outside of these states, you will receive an internet subscription. You can visit this page to understand the difference between the two membership types. --- ### 2023 Member Interest Survey > This member interest survey will help us to plan activities, programs and training that meets the needs of our members. - Published: 2023-03-01 - Modified: 2023-03-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023-member-interest-survey/ As we move into 2023 as a club, an essential activity is taking place. We are budgeting for the activities and programs that we, as a club, will be supporting during the coming year. Of course, there are standard items that we will continue to support (such as the n1fd. org website for example). There may also be new items that we wish to support. That is where everyone in the club can help! The members of the Executive Committee would love to hear your voice as to what new programs or activities the club should support for the coming year. What programs or activities would you like to lead or participate in? What piques your interest and would make you say “Yeah! I want to do that! ”? We created this member interest survey to get your inputs. How Our Members Can Help Your voice will continue to make NARS a club for its members. Whether you are a Regular Member or an Internet Subscriber, opportunities abound for us to engage as a club in new ways with new programs and activities. Not all need a lot of money, and some might not need any... just time. The EC asks that you spend a little of your time to answer this question for yourself. Then let us (the EC) know by responding to this member interest survey. We will then be able to review and integrate those new programs and activities into our annual planning (provided the funding and leadership is available). There is a catch (isn’t there always? )! The EC may, and probably will, be looking for volunteers to lead the new programs or activities. Even if there is funding, if there’s no leadership, a new program or activity won’t get very far. So, think about what you’d like to see for new programs or activities, and how you’d like to participate in making them a reality. Let the EC know through the forums, and help our club, your club, stay vibrant and fun! 73, Matt, WE1H NARS Membership Chair --- ### NARS COVID-19 Policy > The contents of this page document the Nashua Area Radio Society's COVID policy. Based on recent trends and regulatory guidance... - Published: 2022-04-27 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/covid-policy/ To prepare for us to return to live/hybrid meetings, we’ve been very intentional and gradual in our approach to our COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Based on recent trends and regulatory guidance, Nashua Area Radio Society may adjust these measures, which may change at any time. As our club’s population may be more at risk than the general public, we started with tighter policies, to begin with erring on the side of safety. As of the adoption date of this updated policy: Proof of vaccination is no longer required to attend live indoor meetings and other NARS-sponsored activities. Masks are voluntary. The Executive Committee of NARS will meet on the last Tuesday of each month and review the most recent update from the CDC, which is updated weekly on Thursdays. We will use the Covid-19 Community Level, as published by the CDC for Hillsborough County, NH, to determine whether we will have a live Membership Meeting on the first Tuesday of the next month or other NARS-sponsored events. Green means OK to proceed with the meeting. Yellow means EC will review the status and, depending on trends and reasons for yellow, make a decision for the upcoming meeting. Red means the meeting is only on Zoom. A copy of this policy will be posted at all events Link to be provided so members can check the status - CDC COVID Data Tracker: County View – Hillsborough County, NH We will monitor guidance and be prepared to adjust as appropriate. NARS President will review the Covid-19 Community Level published by the CDC for Hillsborough County, NH, on the Friday before the meeting to determine whether we will have a live Membership Meeting. For other NARS-sponsored events the most recent guidance will apply. The President may cancel the meeting or event. The EC may review any yellow situation where the case numbers are worse than the EC approved. The EC may alter this policy to meet immediate needs as situations present. As described above, NARS Club Breakfasts or other indoor gatherings will be evaluated using CDC guidance. Restaurants may not support social distancing in the same way we can in a venue we control. (Already stated) Field Day, SOTA, POTA, or other outdoor activities may be subject to the Green, Yellow, and Red guidance from the CDC as described above. During outdoor activities, please be considerate of your neighbor. Per CDC guidelines, if you believe you may have been exposed to Covid or are experiencing symptoms, you should follow the advice of your medical professional and self-isolate accordingly. Members should check the General Information Forum on N1FD. org on the day of the meeting to determine if the meeting will be held in person or not. COVID-19 WARNING! An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior citizens and others with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable. By attending a meeting or other NARS event, members voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19. All NARS meetings are available on Zoom. Please help us to keep each other healthy. --- ### Thank You For Registering For In-Person Ham Bootcamp at HamXpostion! - Published: 2021-07-14 - Modified: 2021-08-16 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/in-person-bootcamp-thanks/ Dan and Kenzie Satellite Intro at Bootcamp Thank you for registering for our in-person Ham Bootcamp! We will be in touch with you shortly to confirm your registration. Please mark the dates and time for Fall 2021 in-person Ham Bootcamp at HamXposition in Marlborough, MA on your calendar: Friday, September 10th, 2021 from 9 am to 3:30 pm Eastern Time The Nashua Area Radio Society has lots of activities and aides to help you to learn more about and enjoy Amateur Radio. Have a look around our website to see what we can offer to help you to learn more and have fun with Amateur Radio. Here's a good place to begin. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact me at bootcamp@n1fd. org. I am looking forward to meeting you at Ham Bootcamp! Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Ham Bootcamp Administrator Nashua Area Radio Society --- ### Ham Bootcamp Archives - Published: 2021-04-25 - Modified: 2024-11-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/bootcamp-archives/ Ham Bootcamp - October 2020 QST Cover This page contains archives of the videos and presentations from previous Nashua Area Radio Society Ham Bootcamp sessions. You can find the materials from our most recent Ham Bootcamp here. Video and presentation archives from our online Ham Bootcamps are provided below for use by our Members and Internet Subscribers. You must be a Member or Internet Subscriber of the Nashua Area Radio Society and be logged into our website to view the videos and presentations. We have online memberships available for folks outside of our area to gain access to and utilize all of our Training Materials, including Ham Bootcamp recordings. You can learn more about these and our other memberships here. Spring 2024 Ham Bootcamp The following are the videos and presentations from the Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Spring 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos and presentations from the second portion of the Spring 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Ham Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos and presentations from the third portion of the Spring 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp The following are the videos and presentations from the Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos from the second portion of the Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Ham Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the third portion of the Fall 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Spring 2023 Ham Bootcamp The following are the videos and presentations from the Spring 2023 Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Spring 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos from the second portion of the Spring 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Ham Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the third portion of the Spring 2023 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The followings are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos from the second portion of the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Ham Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the third portion of the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Online Shopping Trip Here’s an outline (with links) of the locations we visited during the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping Trip. You can replay a video of the Fall 2022 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping trip and the associated Q&A by clicking on the image above. Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp. Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos from the second portion of the Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the third portion of the Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Online Shopping Trip Here’s an outline (with links) of the locations we will visit during our Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping Trip. You can replay a video of our Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping trip and the associated Q&A above. Fall 2021 Ham Bootcamp Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Fall 2021 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities and Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the second portion of Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Online Shopping Trip Here’s an outline (with links) of the locations that we visited during our Fall 2021 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping Trip. We also did some additional demonstrations, including: How to weather seal coax connectors How to install a crimp-on coax connector You can replay a video of our Fall 2021 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping trip and the associated demonstrations and Q&A above. Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities and Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos from the second portion of Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Online Shopping Trip Here’s an outline (with links) of the locations that we visited during our Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping Trip. You can replay a video of our Fall 2021 Ham Bootcamp Online Shopping trip and the associated additional demonstrations above. Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The video archive above covers all of the sessions in the first portion of Ham Bootcamp Fall 2020. HF Activities and Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning... --- ### Register To Attend Online Ham Bootcamp > Thank you for your interest in Ham Bootcamp! You can register for Ham Bootcamp by completing the form below. Bootcamp will be held online. - Published: 2020-09-18 - Modified: 2025-03-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/register-ham-bootcamp/ Jamey, AC1DC Explains HF Station Building at Ham Bootcamp You can register to attend the next Online Ham Bootcamp by completing the form below. Our Next Online Ham Bootcamp will be held on May 10th, 2025 from 10 am to 6 pm Eastern Time. Access to the session will be provided via Zoom. Note that we are planning to record this session and you are giving your consent to be included in the recording by registering for the Bootcamp Session below. Please read these and the other terms of participation on the registration form before agreeing. Please contact Anita at bootcamp@n1fd. org if you have any questions. After You Register We will contact you with information about how to complete your registration and join Ham Bootcamp online after we have set the exact date. If you have any questions, please contact Anita at bootcamp@n1fd. org. Register For Ham Bootcamp Here --- ### Student-Teacher Contest Series > This year we are hosting the first Nashua Area Rado Society Student-Teacher Contest Series. Our goals for the Series includes creating an opportunity... - Published: 2020-03-30 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/student-teacher-contest-series/ Abby, AB1BY Operating in an SSB Phone Contest In 2020, we hosted the first Nashua Area Radio Society Student-Teacher Contest Series. Our goals for the Series include: Creating an opportunity for students and their teachers to have fun and learn about contesting Providing an opportunity to learn and develop Amateur Radio skills via Radio Contesting Provide equipment to student and teacher members who invest time in learning about Amateur Radio through Radio Contesting 2020 Winners Keith, KC1IMK Using his new IC-7300 Transceiver Congratulations to Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK, who won 1st place. Keith chose the Icom IC-7300 for his prize. Abby Finchum, AB1BY took 2nd place and won the reconditioned DXEngineering Hex Beam Antenna. Kenzie Pooler, KE1NZY came in 3rd and won th reconditioned Buckmaster 7-band OCF Dipole Antenna and LMR-400uF coax. The following is the final standing of the 2020 contest entrants. You can click on the links in the table below to learn more about each of our competitors. Competitor Entries Mackenzie, KE1NY Operating in ARRL DX SSB The table which follows list all of the entries received by the Student-Teacher Contest Director. Note that contacts that are Duplicates under the rules outlined here, incomplete or obviously inaccurate QSO may have been removed by the Student-Teacher Contest Director when computing entry scores. Student-Teacher Contest Period Entrants may submit their entries in the Eligible Contests listed below through contest scores submitted by midnight eastern time on November 24th, 2020. We know that some of our competitors do not have home stations. In addition, others have been planning to operate from AB1OC-AB1QB and other host stations to help improve their overall scores. Unfortunately, access to stations outside our competitor's homes are currently on hold due to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. To make the series fair, we will extend the end date for submitting entries to be three months beyond the time when we can open AB1OC-AB1QB and other host stations to all competitors. This will enable everyone to have a chance to use host stations for at least 3 of their 4 four contest entries. Format and Rules This is the first year that we've run the Student-Teacher Contest Series. We know that our competitors are just getting started in Radio Contesting. As a result, we want to encourage them to get on the air and become comfortable with making contacts during contests. To this end, we are making the scoring very basic. Scoring will be about the total number of contacts made that are not duplicates per the rules of the contest they are entering. All of the material on this page collectively constitutes the rules for the 2020 Student-Teacher contest series. Who is Eligible? Keith, KC1IMK Operating SSB at Winter Field Day NARS Regular, student, or Senior Member in good standing who are grades 1 - 12 Students holding a valid Amateur Radio License that provides the on-air privileges needed to compete. Teachers who have a Student in their School who is competing in the contest. Teachers must also be NARS Members as outlined in the previous bullet. Student-Teacher Contest Series Basics Entries are permitted using scores from the contests listed in the Eligible Contests section below. All rules of the associated contest must be followed. You must be a NARS Regular or Senior Member in good standing to enter. Contestants must submit their logs in ADIF form to the Student-Teacher Contest Director within 7 days of when the associated contest ends. Each submission must include the start and end times for the 3 consecutive hours to be used as your entry. Submissions must also include an indication of the maximum power used during the submitted 3 hour period and the location that the contestant operated from. Starting with contests held in April 2020, Contestants are also required to submit their logs directly to the contest sponsoring organization. We are adding this rule to encourage Contestants to learn how to submit logs for the contests that they enter. Contest participants will be required to confirm that they had submitted their log to the contest organization when submitting their ADIF to the Student-Teacher Contest Director. The Nashua Area Radio Society will handle submitting logs from Field Day. Scoring Competitors count the total number of non-duplicate contacts during their best 3 consecutive hours in one of the eligible contests The Student-Teacher Contest Director removes duplicate QSOs from the logs that competitors submit in ADIF form and applies the appropriate multiplies to compute the competitor's score for the associated contest. An entrant's score for each of their contest entries is computed as follows: Score = non-duplicate contacts X multipliers The non-duplicate contacts number is computed using the total number of contacts made from a contestant's submitted log for a consecutive 3-hour period that they designate when submitting their logs. Medium Power QSO Multiplier - applied to contacts made using 100W or less. The Medium Power QSO Multiplier will be 2. A contestant must use 100W PEP or less for all contacts made in the 3-hour period that they use for their entry to qualify. Home Station & Field Day Station QSO Multipliers - applied when operating from a Home Station or from a NARS sponsored Summer or Winter Field Day. The Home Station Multiplier is 2 and the Field Day Station Multiplier is 1. 5. Competitors who wish to operate as a guest at someone else's station should check in advance with the Student-Teacher Contest Director to determine if the station they want to use will be eligible for the Home Station Multiplier. A Contestant's total score will be the sum of the 4 highest individual contest entries that they submit. A contestant must submit at least 4 contest scores to be eligible to win a prize. More than 4 contest submissions are encouraged! A contestant's leaderboard ranking is determined by adding their best 4 contest scores together. To make the contest scoring manageable, we will use a consistent definition for duplicate contacts that is independent of the method used for any given contest. A Contact will be considered a Duplicate if another contact with the same Callsign on the same Band that uses... --- ### Fun With Ham Radio > Are you interested in Ham Radio? Ham Radio is a lot of fun! Learn what Ham Radio is about and what you can do with an Ham Radio License... - Published: 2019-08-12 - Modified: 2021-07-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/hamradiofun/ Are you interested in Amateur or Ham Radio? Ham Radio is fun and a great way to learn about computers, electronics, and wireless communications. It also provides many opportunities to make some amazing friends around the world! Click on the video above to learn what Amateur Radio is about and what you can do with an Amateur Radio License. Getting Your License and Upgrading To General or Extra Class Spring 2018 Technician Class An Amateur Radio License allows you to operate a transmitter and make contacts locally and around the world! We can use a wide range of frequencies all across the radio spectrum to have fun with Ham Radio. It is easy to earn your License. The Nashua Area Radio Society offers hands-on license training classes for all levels of Amateur Radio Licenses twice each year. Fred, AB1OC demonstrates a Satellite Contact during a License Class Our classes take place over a single weekend. They feature demonstrations and opportunities to Get On The Air and try Ham Radio. We conduct a license testing session at the end of each of our classes so you can take your license exam at the same time as your class. Many folks in the New England region make the trip to New Hampshire for a weekend to take our classes. There are several affordable hotel options near-by for folks who need them. You can learn more about our license training classes here. You can register to join one of our classes here. Getting On The Air and Learning New Skills First HF Contact at Ham Bootcamp Perhaps you've already earned your license and you want to learn how to put together a station and get on the air? Maybe you'd like to try a new Ham Radio Activity and you could use some help to learn how to do it? The Nashua Area Radio Society provides several training programs to help folks to get on the air and to learn new skills. One such program is our Ham Bootcamp which we will be offering at HamXposition @ Boxboro on September 7th from 9 am-noon. Ham Bootcamp is all about getting on the air. It is designed to help Technician and General License holders to put together a station and begin making contacts. You can learn more about Ham Bootcamp here. Scott, NE1RD Explaing Gear for Operating Portable at Tech Night We also provide a monthly Technical Training program that we call Tech Night. Tech Night programs provide how-to information on a wide range of Amateur Radio topics including, building, operating, and improving your station and your Amateur Radio skills and knowledge. You can learn more about our Tech Nigh Program and see the topics what we've covered here. We create professionally edited videos of each of our Tech Night programs. We make these available to our members through our website. Click on the video above to see a sample video from one of our Tech Nights. Online Ham Radio Training and Skills Development Fox Hunting Training at Tech Night We understand that many Hams will live too far away from us here in New Hampshire to be regular members so we have created an online Internet Subscription option. An Internet Subscription enables folks who live outside New Hampshire and Massachusettes to take advantage of our Tech Night and other online training programs. You can learn more about our membership options including our Internet Subscriptions here. --- ### Ham Bootcamp - Getting Started With Ham Radio > Do you already have your Technician or General License and wondering how to use it to get on the air? We've created Ham Bootcamp just for you!... - Published: 2019-05-29 - Modified: 2025-03-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/ham-bootcamp/ First HF Contact at Ham Bootcamp Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license. Bootcamp is also a great opportunity for prospective Hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer. Ham Bootcamp activities are provided online via a series of sessions geared towards Technicians and prospective Hams and General class licenses and higher Hams. Bootcamp participants will find all of this material interesting and fun no matter what their focus or license level. The online Bootcamp program is available to all licensed and prospective Hams. You can register for the next Ham Bootcamp session here. Ham Radio Display and On-Air Station Ham Expo Display Articles About Ham Bootcamp Are you interested in learning more about the Ham Bootcamp program? We've written quite a few articles about Bootcamp here on our Blog. You can read them via this link. Ham Bootcamp - October 2020 QST Cover The Ham Bootcamp program was also featured in the October 2020 edition of QST Magazine. The article can be viewed here. Sign Up for Ham Bootcamp Don't miss this opportunity to learn more about Amateur Radio, improve your station, expand your skills, and get on the air. Ham Bootcamp sessions are free, but you do need to register to attend. The next Ham Bootcamp date will be announced shortly - check back here for updates. You can register for the Spring 2025 Ham Bootcamp using this link. Wondering what Ham Bootcamp is like? You can view some of the Fall 2024 Ham Bootcamp sessions below. Fall 2024 Online Ham Bootcamp The online Ham Bootcamp sessions are designed to reach folks worldwide and cover topics of interest to all Hams. Our Fall 2024 Bootcamp has been completed. Members can access the videos by logging into our website. We are in the process of editing the videos from our most recent Ham Bootcamp and we'll be posting these in the near future. You can view the videos from our previous Bootcamps in our Ham Bootcamp Archive. Here is what we are planning for the next online Ham Bootcamp: Please get in touch with us at bootcamp@n1fd. org. If you have any questions. Ham Bootcamp Presentations and Videos Videos and presentations from the latest Fall 2024 Ham Bootcamp session are provided below for use by Nashua Area Radio Society Members and Internet Subscribers. You must be a Member or Internet Subscriber of the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) and be logged into the NARS website to view the videos and presentations. You can find the videos and presentations from previous Ham Bootcamp NARS sessions in the NARS Ham Bootcamp Archive. The Nashua Area Radio Society offers online memberships for folks outside of our area so that they can access and utilize all of our Training Materials, including Ham Bootcamp recordings. You can learn more about these and our other memberships here. Ham Bootcamp Intro, Repeaters, and VHF/UHF Sessions The following are the videos and presentations from the first portion of the Fall 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. HF Activities The following are the videos and presentations from the second portion of the Fall 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Interactive Breakouts and Ham Bootcamp Conclusion/Learning More The following are the videos and presentations from the third portion of the Fall 2024 Ham Bootcamp. You can view the presentations associated with these sessions below. Additional Training and Mentoring HAB-2 Students and their Teacher The Nashua Area Radio Society's mission is to: Encourage and help people to become licensed and active in the Amateur Radio Service Spark Interest among young people in STEM Education and Careers through Amateur Radio Provide training and mentoring to enable Amateur Radio Operators to improve their technical and operating skills and to be prepared to assist in times of emergency Sponsor on-air operating activities so that Amateurs may practice and fully develop their operating skills and have fun with Ham Radio! Sample Tech Night Video - Putting Up A Tower We provide a wide range of training and skills development programs and opportunities to Nashua Area Radio Society members and to the Amateur Radio community as a whole. Some of our many programs include: Tech Night Program which provides training on a wide range of Amateur Radio activities and technical topics Forums where Members and Internet Subscribers can as questions and share projects and ideas License Class Training programs have helped us to license or upgrade over 300 Hams in the last few years. We offer Tech, General, and Extra License, classes. We are now able to provide online license exams for class students! High-Altitude Balloon and other STEM learning programs which bring Amateur Radio to young people We offer a variety of membership choices including an Internet Subscription option for folks who live outside our area and want to take advantage of Nashua Area Radio Society Training Programs. You can learn more about our programs and membership options here. Support Our Training Programs The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many training and skills development activities for new Hams and Young People. We also have many programs to enable folks young and old alike to join the Amateur Radio service. Please consider supporting our programs and our work by making a donation via the GoFundMe campaign which follows. The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) non-profit charity. --- ### Field Day 2019 Station Test and Plans > Several of us got together at our QTH this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. We will have 14 Transmitters and 4 Towers... - Published: 2019-05-28 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/field-day-2019-test/ Several of us got together at our QTH this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. The image above shows the setup and testing of our Digital and CW stations in progress. The Setup and Test Team included: Anita, AB1QB Brian, W1BP Dave, K1DLM Jon, AC1EV Scott, NE1RD Fred, AB1OC New Elements for Field Day 2019 As always, our Field Day 2019 plans include several new elements (see above). We will again be using the N1MM+ logger in a networked configuration. The planned size of our station (11A with 14 transmitters, and 4 Towers on the air) makes it essential that we set up and test our stations including the associated computers and software ahead of time. Triplexer and Filters We began our tests by configuring and cabling our Filter Boards and attaching dummy loads in place of antennas for testing. The first phase of the test concentrated on the multi-band SSB, Digital, and CW stations so antenna switches were added to the mix to enable us to switch antennas/bands. SSB Station Test The photo above shows the SSB multi-band station test in progress. Most of our stations will be using IC-7300 Transceivers as is the case with the SSB test station shown above. Field Day 2019 Highlights and Plans We are planning on being an 11A station with four towers for Field Day 2019. Here's a list of our planned stations: CW Stations - 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m Digital Stations - 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m (FT8, RTTY, and PSK) SSB Phone Stations - 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m All Mode 160m Station (SSB, CW, and Digital) All Mode VHF+ Station on 6m, 2m, and 70cm (SSB, FM, CW, and Digital) - using an IC-9100 and featuring rotatable yagis and tower-mounted LNAs SSB Phone GOTA Station - sharing four Flex SDRs with the Digital Stations A Computer Controlled Satellite Station - using the new IC-9700! A Talk-in GoKit 2m/70cm FM station in the Public Information Tent We will have a total of 14 transmitters on the air! Field Day 2019 Site Layout at Hudson Memorial School Our antenna plans include the addition of a fourth tower for VHF/UHF weak-signal operation. Work is underway to ready our towers and antennas for Field Day 2019 as well. Overall Schedule for Field Day 2019 We will be holding our Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School again this year. The chart above shows our planned schedule for setup and operations for Field Day 2019. Field Day 2019 Team Leads It takes a lot of help and planning on the part of many NARS members to pull off a Field Day at the scale that we do each year. Without everyone's help, we would not be able to do Field Day 2019. Thank you, team! Meetings to Plan, Learn, and Sign-up We are planning to share our plans, sign-up operators and the setup/teardown teams, and provide training for Field Day 2019 at our June Membership Meeting and Tech Night as follows: Field Day Overview and Sign-up (also Dayton Hamvention Highlights) - Tuesday, June 4th, 7 pm at FirstChurch Field Day Skill Builder Tech Night and Sign-up - Tuesday, June 11th, 7 pm at FirstChurch Also, we will be holding Field Day Planning meetings as follows: Equipment Prep Conference Call - Thursday, May 30th at 6 pm (contact Anita at ab1qb@arrl. net for the Webex information) Field Day Planning Meeting - Thursday, June 6th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library Field Day Planning Meeting - Thursday, June 13th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library Final Field Day Planning Meeting - Monday, June 17th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library All NARS members are welcome and encouraged to attend our Field Day planning meetings. Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Nashua Area Radio Society Story > We are hoping to share some of the projects and approaches that have worked for us with others so that they may contribute to making... - Published: 2019-05-14 - Modified: 2019-05-14 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/the-nashua-area-radio-society-story/ Quite a few Nashua Area Radio Society members are headed to the Dayton Hamvention this year. We will be receiving some major recognition for our work on bringing new folks into the Amateur Radio Service and for our Mentoring and STEM Learning projects. We will be recognized as the Dayton Hamvention® 2019 Club Of The Year and we will be featured in the ARRL Booth at Dayton as a Spotlight Club for our work on Mentoring. The Nashua Area Radio Society Story We will be sharing ideas, projects, and approaches that have worked for us via a forum presentation at Dayton so that others may contribute to making our hobby the best that it can be. The ARRL has given us a forum on Friday at Hamvention for this purpose. I wanted to share the presentation that we'll be giving here. Nashua Amateur Radio Society Story - A 2019 Hamvention Forum Presentation The presentation is in PDF form and includes links so that you can view the embedded videos. If you are going to Dayton this year, we'd enjoy talking with you during our Forum Presentation on Friday, May 17th at 11:50 am in Forum Room 3. Also, stop by and see us in the ARRL Booth at Dayton. The Nashua Area Radio Society has accomplished a great deal and we have a lot to be proud of. I want to express my deepest appreciation and thanks to all of our members who have worked so hard to make us the special group of Amateur Radio operators that we are. We'll be sharing sights and memories from Dayton as we go and we also plan to share some highlights at our meetings when we get back. I hope to see many of our readers at Dayton! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Become a Nashua Area Radio Society Internet Subscriber - Published: 2019-04-30 - Modified: 2024-09-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/join-as-internet-sub/ If you'd like to become a Nashua Area Radio Society Internet Subscriber, please fill out the form which follows, and our Membership Chairperson will contact you to activate your subscription. If you have any questions about our Internet Subscriptions, our organization, or anything related to what we do, please contact us at membership@n1fd. org. This page is for registering for Internet Subscriptions. If you want to renew your Regular Membership, please log in to n1fd. org first, and then you can do so here. If you have questions or problems logging in, please contact us at membership@n1fd. org. Your application for an Internet Subscription indicates your acceptance of and your agreement to abide by our Website Privacy Policy/Terms of Use and our Posting Policy and Guidelines. Please note that the content (ex. Training Videos, Forums, other content on our website) that is provided to our Internet Subscribers is copyrighted and is for your personal use only and may not be exhibited, shared with, downloaded, copied, or provided to anyone else without our written permission. The content on our website and your access to our website are for your personal use only and may not be exhibited, shared with, downloaded, copied, or provided to anyone else without our written permission. Also, by applying for membership, you are agreeing to keep your login and password on n1fd. org private and not share this information with others. Our forums on n1fd. org are for your individual use only. Use of our forums on behalf of third parties who are not members of the Nashua Area Radio Society is not permitted. *** Also, note that you must live within the United States of America and outside the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts to be eligible for an Internet Subscription. *** After you pay your subscription fee here, we will get you set up to access the Forums and Online Training content on our website within 2 business days. If you have any questions about your subscription, please contact our Membership Chairperson for help. Note that all Internet Subscription sales, once complete, are final and we do not offer refunds. --- ### Become a Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Member - Published: 2019-04-30 - Modified: 2021-11-14 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/join-as-member/ If you'd like to join our organization as a Regular (or Associate or Family) Member, you can fill out the form which follows and our Membership Chairperson, will contact you to sign you up. You can also meet up with our Membership Chairperson at one of our Meetings or a Tech Night and join in person then. If you have any questions about our organization or anything related to what we do, please contact us at membership@n1fd. org. Your application for Membership indicates your acceptance of and your agreement to abide by our Constitution and By-laws, our Website Privacy Policy/Terms of Use, and Posting Policy and Guidelines. Please note that the content (ex. Training Videos, Forums, other content on our website) that is provided to our members is copyrighted and is for your personal use only and may not be exhibited, shared with, downloaded, copied, or provided to anyone else without our written permission. The content on our website and your access to our website and are for your personal use only and may not be exhibited, shared with, downloaded, copied, or provided to anyone else without our written permission. Also, by applying for membership, you are agreeing to keep your login and password on n1fd. org private and not share this information with others. Our forums on n1fd. org are for your individual use only. Use of our forums on behalf of third parties who are not members of the Nashua Area Radio Society is not permitted. This includes our Swap Meet forum where you can trade equipment that you own. Trading of equipment on behalf of third parties who are not members of the Nashua Area Radio Society is not permitted. We can also provide a different, group license for clubs and groups that want to exhibit our content with groups. Please contact us at membership@n1fd. org for more information. If you pay your dues here, we will get you set up to access the Members Only and Video Training and Archive areas of our website within 2 business days. Our Members Only areas include Forums where you can ask questions and join discussions with our members. We also share information about upcoming activities in our Member Forum. You will also gain access to our videos from our Tech Night sessions. The added $1 to your dues fee is to cover our costs for processing your membership through PayPal. If you do not wish to pay your dues online, you can come to a Membership Meeting or Tech Night and see our Membership Chairperson to pay your dues in person. Note that all membership applications, once approved, are final and we do not offer refunds. --- ### On The Air Activities > We really enjoy getting On The Air and operating! Here is a list of our current scheduled operating events. All Nashua Area Radio Society members are... - Published: 2019-01-30 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/on-the-air-activities/ Mt. Washington Summits On The Air Activation by the Nashua Area Radio Society We really enjoy getting On The Air and operating! We have a long and proud tradition of operating excellence and we are very active in Contests and other on the air events. Our Activities Chairperson is Jamey Finchum, AC1DC and he regularly schedules all sorts of activations and activities including SOTA, IOTA, contests, and of course, participation in Field Days. You can contact Jamey at activities@n1fd. org. The following are the currently scheduled operating events. All Nashua Area Radio Society members are invited to participate: We regularly put our "Foxes" (hidden radio transmitters) out in the area so folks can hunt them down. We'll post these activations in our On The Air Forum here on our website. We also hold weekly Repeater and HF Nets. You can learn more about our nets here. We have been widely recognized for our operating excellence. You can see some of the awards we have received here. --- ### Ham Radio Activities Expo > The Nashua Area Radio Society has created Ham Radio Youth Expo that we provideat public gatherings to introduce young people to Amateur Radio. - Published: 2018-08-22 - Modified: 2022-01-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/ham-radio-expo/ Nashua Area Radio Society's Amateur Radio Activities Exposition Everyone wants to communicate and use the information on the web. We have some amazing technology to do this. Mobile phones, Tablets, and the Internet all use wireless technology to allow us to do this but do we really know how it all works? Amateur Radio Operators (also called Hams) understand, experiment with, and use wireless technology to communicate locally, around the world, and even in space! Computer Controlled Satellite Ground Station Used To Make Contacts via Satellites in Space The Nashua Area Radio Society has created an Amateur Radio Exposition that we can provide as part of Ham Radio Conventions and at libraries, schools, and other public places to introduce young people and potential new Hams to Amateur Radio. Our display features more than ten high-quality activities that provide a chance to learn about and try many different aspects of Amateur Radio. Portable Satellite Antennas Used To Make Contacts Through Satellites in Space Our display features several different Get On The Air (GOTA) stations including a computer-controlled Satellite Ground Station that folks can use to communicate with other Amateurs using satellites in space! High-Altitude Balloon Display We will have our display available at Ham Radio Conventions this fall including: The Northeastern HamXposition at Marlborough, MA - September 10th, 11th, and 12th, 2021 Get On The Air Station at our Expos Our display provides hands-on information and activities about many aspects of Amateur Radio. Our activities include: A Shortwave Radio Station that you can use to talk to Hams all over the world A Display about High-Altitude Balloons that carry radio transmitters to the edge of space Keys and activities to try out sending and receiving Morse Code Building Ham Radio Gear using Kits and Computers A Ham Bootcamp Activity which introduces the world of Amateur Radio and helps you to get on the air A GoKit for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications that you can try Gear for locating Hidden Radio Transmitters (we call it Fox Hunting) And much more! We customize the elements and focus of our displays to the interests and the venue at each event where they are deployed. Morse Tutor Board Kit We can also provide an opportunity to purchase and build a kit as part of displays. The Morse Tutor Kit is a touch keyer and practice oscillator developed by Steve Elliot, K1EL. Morse Tutor Kit Builders and Mentors We provide all of the tools needed to complete the kit on site and our experienced mentors will help builders through the construction process. The kit includes instructions and batteries. 70 cm Ground Plan Antenna We also have a 70cm ground plane antenna kit that you can build. This antenna will improve the performance of your 70m radio and will help you to access local repeaters more easily. New Ham with her CSCE We also provide information about how you can earn your Amateur Radio License and get on the air. The Nashua Area Radio Society provides license training classes and lots of activities for new Hams to get started. If you would like more information about our displays or you are interested in hosting one of our displays, please contact us at activities@n1fd. org. About The Nashua Area Radio Society The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to STEM Education through Amateur Radio and to the development of radio communications skills and Emergency Preparedness through Amateur Radio. Our organization’s mission is to: Encourage and help people to become licensed and active in the Amateur Radio Service Spark Interest among Young People in STEM Education and Careers through Ham Radio Provide training and mentoring to enable our members to improve their technical and operating skills and to be prepared to assist in times of emergency Sponsor on-air operating activities so that our members may practice and fully develop their operating skills and have fun with Ham Radio! We have begun a fundraising campaign to enable us to continue and expand our education and training projects such as our High-Altitude Balloon projects, electronics kit projects, license training, our Amateur Radio Expositions for Young People, and other projects which provide STEM learning experiences for young people and support for emergency communications readiness. Please consider supporting our work via your GoFundMe donation. Also, please consider supporting our projects by using AmazonSmile and designating us as your favorite charity there. Click on the badge below to get started on AmazonSmile. You can learn more about how to use AmazonSmile to help support our projects here. 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We welcome all licensed Amateur Radio operators to join... - Published: 2017-11-27 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/nets/ Abby, AB1BY and Her Dad Jamey, AC1DC On The Air The Nashua Area Radio Society currently holds weekly on-air Amateur Radio Nets. The purpose of our nets includes: Testing and using our equipment; being prepared to support communications in emergency situations Sharing information about Nashua Area Radio Society upcoming activities and events Sharing our recent Amateur Radio Activities Having Fun! All licensed Amateurs are welcome to join our weekly nets. Weekly Repeater Net Our weekly repeater net is held on Sunday Evenings at 7:30 pm Eastern time (Monday 00:30 UTC during standard time). The format of our Repeater Net includes a weekly discussion question or two which gives all who participate a chance to share something about themselves and their interests. This Net also includes information about upcoming Nashua Area Radio Society activities and events. We conduct our weekly nets on the N1IMN-N1IMO Repeater System whose wide coverage includes New Hampshire and Massachusetts. N1IMN-N1IMO Repeater System Access Information You can access our Repeater Net via any of these repeaters or via EchoLink as N1IMO-R. We have a different Net Control Operator (NCO) for our Repeater Net each week. The NCO for the next few nets posted in our On The Air Forum here on our website. The NCO will also post a list of the operators who check in each week in this same forum. We hope to hear you on our next Weekly Repeater Net! Weekly HF Net - On Hold Our weekly HF net is on hold as we are working to bring more net controls on board We also hold on Weekly HF Net on the 10m band. This Net begins at 8:30 pm eastern time (Monday 01:30 UTC during standard time) on Sunday evenings and features a round-table chat format. We hold our HF Net on or around 28. 480 MHz using SSB Phone mode. The NCO for our HF Net can be contacted here. You can find more information about this net on our club calendar. All licensed Amateur Radio operators are invited to join our HF net. --- ### N1FD and N1T Logs and QSL Information > Have you made a contact with us as N1FD or N1T? You can check if you are in our logs via ClubLog and request a QSL card. We offer several ways to QSL. - Published: 2017-07-30 - Modified: 2023-04-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/qsl-info/ Nashua Area Radio Society N1FD QSL Card Have you made a contact with a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society operating as N1FD or N1T? You can check if you are in our logs and request a QSL card via ClubLog. You can also confirm your contact online via LoTW or eQSL. We provide OQRS (Bureau and Direct) for all of our call signs via ClubLog. Using OQRS is the fasted way to receive a QSL card for a contact that you have made with N1FD, or N1T. You can request a card from us via OQRS by searching for your call sign in our logs below and using the Request QSL Card button. The following list provides a handy index for the log checking and QSL information on this page. We look forward to confirming our contact with you! N1FD Logs N1FD/M Logs N1FD/VE9 Logs N1T Youth Expo Special Event Logs from NEAR-Fest and Boxboro Conventions Important QSL Information N1FD Logs We are very active in the annual ARRL Field Day, and we have done several National Parks On The Air activations and special events. You can see if you are in our N1FD logs by checking the ClubLog below - Back to Top. N1FD/M Logs We also do quite a bit of operating using HF mobile stations. We have activated several National Park as part of ARRL NPOTA. You can see if you are in our mobile logs by checking the N1FD/M ClubLog below - Back to Top. N1FD/VE9 Logs We have activated Roosevelt Campbell International Park as N1FD/VE9, NPOTA AA21. This park is on Campbell Island, IOTA NA-014. You can see if you are in our logs for N1FD/VE9 here - Back to Top. N1T Youth Expo Special Event Logs The Nashua Area Radio Society provides Amateur Radio Expositions for young people and new Hams at regional Amateur Radio Conventions. We operate several GOTA stations using the N1T Special Event callsign on the HF bands and through Satellites at our Expos. You can see if you are in our logs for N1T on ClubLog below - Back to Top. QSL Information We QSL all of our call signs via LoTW, eQSL, OQRS on ClubLog (fastest for QSL card requests), the QSL Bureau, and direct via postal mail. Sorry, but we do not QSL via QRZ. com. You can confirm that you are in our logs and request a card using OQRS via the ClubLog choices above. All direct QSLs must include an SAE and return postage. Direct QSL requests without proper return postage will not be returned. Also, please include your call sign on the outside of your return SAE for all Thirteen Colonies direct mail QSL requests. Our QSL mailing address is - Nashua Area Radio Society 39 Baldwin Lane Hollis, NH 03049 USA Back to Top. --- ### Amateur Radio YouTube Feeds > The Nashua Area Radio Society's YouTube feeds include videos about events and articles related to our activities and our members. We also feature... - Published: 2017-07-26 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/youtube-feeds/ The Nashua Area Radio Society's YouTube feeds include videos about events and articles related to our activities and our members. We also feature other Amateur Radio YouTube content to provide educational material and information. Here's a quick access list of our Ham Radio YouTube feeds - Nashua Area Radio Society ARRL ARISS Ham Nation Ham Radio Shacks and Stations Amateur Radio W2AEW Electronics and Test Equipment Here's a list of other Ham Radio YouTube feeds. You can click on the social media icons on the left side or at the bottom of any page on our website to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel. Nashua Area Radio Society Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=M5e5sjRmgjA&width=474&height=266&listType=playlist&list=PLYNUjP5vKpyX5vgu8Nk8CK2jcajFp09OV&plindex=0&layout=gallery&gallery_style=carousel All Nashua Area Radio Society videos on YouTube ARRL Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/embed? listType=playlist&width=474&height=266&listType=playlist&list=UUzn9oVj62EFaJHjQcohwbmg&plindex=0&layout=gallery&gallery_style=carousel All ARRL Videos on YouTube ARISS Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/embed? listType=playlist&list=UUxm5Ca2y0HD_NxXlZWXv11A&layout=gallery All ARISS Videos on YouTube HAM Nation Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/embed? listType=playlist&width=474&height=266&listType=playlist&list=UUCNV2nHyBoSSekgFrVFuaXg&plindex=0&layout=gallery&gallery_style=carousel All Ham Nation Videos on YouTube Ham Radio Stations and Shacks Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=TAozegxoZNM&width=900&height=506&listType=playlist&list=PLYNUjP5vKpyVLEaHpamgbJtXFq4rHJ8GZ&plindex=0&layout=gallery&gallery_style=carousel All Ham Radio Stations and Shacks Videos on YouTube W2AEW Electronics and Test Equipment Back To Top https://www. youtube. com/embed? listType=playlist&width=474&height=266&listType=playlist&list=UUiqd3GLTluk2s_IBt7p_LjA&plindex=0&layout=gallery&gallery_style=carousel All W2AEW Videos on YouTube --- ### Our Blog > This is the Nashua Area Radio Society Blog. It contains articles about Amateur Radio by our members. Our blog is written by our members. - Published: 2017-04-01 - Modified: 2021-02-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/our-blog/ --- ### Learning Morse Code (CW) > Learning Morse Code or CW as Amateur Radio Operators call it, is fun and a great way to make some really interesting contacts. - Published: 2017-03-25 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/learning-morse-code/ Learning Morse Code - Keys and Paddles Learning Morse Code or CW as Amateur Radio Operators call it is fun and a great way to make some really interesting contacts. CW is the first digital mode and is the only digital mode that you can decode with just your ears. Why Learning Morse Code Is Important DX QSL from CW Contact Morse Code and CW mode enable DX contacts over much greater distances at lower power levels than SSB and other voice modes. You can even make DX contacts using only 5W QRP power! CW Activity During a Contest Morse Code is also used in many contests and DXpeditions. Working CW contests can provide many contacts to help you earn your DXCC, Islands On The Air (IOTA), Worked All States and other operating awards. CW is also an important part of our annual Field Day activity. Learning Morse Code We recommend CW Academy, an online system, for folks who would like to learn Morse Code. You can find out more about CW Acadamey here. --- ### Join The ARRL > The ARRL provides many benefits to Amateur Radio operators and helps to defend our on-air privileges. You can join the ARRL through our organization. - Published: 2017-01-18 - Modified: 2019-04-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/join-the-arrl/ The ARRL provides many benefits to Amateur Radio operators and helps to defend and expand our on-air privileges. The Nashua Area Radio Society and its members benefit greatly from our long-standing affiliation with the ARRL. You can now join the ARRL online through our website here. The Nashua Area Radio Society is an ARRL Special Service Organization. When you join the ARRL through our organization, we receive a portion of your ARRL dues back to support our organization's work. You can become a new ARRL member through our organization using the form which follows. If you have any questions or wish to renew your existing active ARRL membership, please contact our Treasurer at treas@n1fd. org. --- ### Register For An Amateur Radio License Class > You can register to attend a Ham Radio License Class by completing the form below. We will contact you with more information about the preparation required. - Published: 2017-01-18 - Modified: 2024-02-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/ License Class Grad with her CSCE Thank you for your interest in our Amateur Radio License Classes. You can learn more about Amateur Radio licensing here. You can register to attend a class by completing the form below. ****Note - Please Read! ! : There is prework required for our classes, which is to purchase and read the Gordon West License Book for your class. If you would like to take the Technician Class and you do not yet have the Gordon West Technician Class book, we do not recommend registering for the class, as the book is back ordered by nearly all vendors and you will not receive the book in time to read it before the class. Please contact Anita at classes@n1fd. org if you have any questions about this. *** Note: Our classes will be held online only. There will be an online exam for class attendees only after the class. Please contact Anita at classes@n1fd. org if you have any questions. About Online License Exams We are offering each eligible student who participates in one of our Amateur Radio License Classes the opportunity to take their FCC License Exam online immediately after they complete their class. To be eligible to take an online exam, you must meet the following criteria: You have taken and completed an online License Class where your online exam is being held. You must have a Windows 7 or higher PC or recent Mac computer with a web browser and a reliable high-speed internet connection capable of supporting real-time, 2-way video. Your computer must have a working video camera, microphone, and speaker. Your computer must be in a non-cluttered, private work area away from any bulletin boards or pinned up papers or notes. We suggest you move your computer away from your office or similar location to a clutter-free, quiet environment for your test. A laptop computer is a good choice for this purpose if you have one available. You must have an internet-connected smartphone with a camera. If you meet these criteria and would like to take your License Exam at the end of the class that you are registering for, you can sign up to do so when you register via the form that follows. After You Register We will contact you with more information about the preparation required for our classes within two business days of your completed registration. Questions? If you have any questions, please contact Anita at classes@n1fd. org. Enter Your Registration Information --- ### Activities for Young People > An important activity for our organization is to provide STEM learning experiences for young people through Amateur Radio related activities. - Published: 2017-01-06 - Modified: 2024-09-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/youth-activities/ Abby, AB1BY - Our Youth Leader Helping Kids to Get On The Air An important part of the Nashua Area Radio Society's mission is to create learning opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for young people through Amateur Radio. Many of our members began or enhanced their interest in STEM careers and learning through Amateur Radio and we are working to provide similar experiences for the next generation. Helping Kids to Locate a Hidden Transmitter We have lots of fun Amateur Radio activities for young folks. Perhaps you are interested in finding hidden transmitters using Radio Direction Finding (RDF)? We regularly sponsor "Fox Hunts" where we hide a transmitter and use radio equipment to see if we can find it. Amateur Radio Shortwave Get On The Air Station We provide displays that help young people to learn about and try out different aspects of Amateur Radio at local Ham Radio Conventions, schools, and other public places. Our displays feature many hands-on activities and opportunities to get on the air and communicate around the world and through space. You can learn more about our Amateur Radio Activity Displays here. Maybe you're interested in making new friends in other parts of the United States or even in other countries around the world. Using Amateur Radio equipment, we can easily help you to make new friends and learn about other cultures and geography around the world. We call this "DX" for distant contacts - contacting Amateur Radio operators in other countries around the world. We regularly set up temporary radio stations in schools, parks, and other public locations to allow anyone to get on the air and make new friends. A really cool time to do this is during the ARRL Kid's Day activity where kids all around the U. S. get on the air to contact each other and make new friends. Abby, AB1BY operating in the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup Do you like to compete? Amateur Radio can provide some really neat ways to do this. We have contest teams that compete in the ARRL Rookie Roundup and other contests and special events several times each year to see how many contacts we can make in a limited amount of time. We have earned several nice certificates from our entries in these contests. Contesting also helps us to develop our communications and radio operator skills as well. Connor, KC1GGX working on his Transmitter Project at Kit Night Maybe you're a Maker and like to build things with computers, software, or electronics. Building the equipment that we use in our stations is a big part of what Amateur Radio is all about. We hold monthly Tech Nights and Kit Building sessions to help you learn about computers, software, and electronics and to help you build your own gear and test it out. Anita, AB1QB with an Amateur Radio Cube Satellite Are you interested in space communications? There are satellites in orbit that only Amateur Radio operators can use to make contacts around the world and there is also Amateur Radio equipment on the International Space Station! We have built a satellite ground station and we regularly provide opportunities to make contacts through Satellites. We also recently completed a STEM project in conjunction with local High Schools. We created and delivered a series of classroom presentations about High Altitude Balloon technology and Atmospheric Science. We put together a High Altitude Balloon which carried an Amateur Radio payload to the edge of space and back! We used an Amateur Radio transmitter to track Balloon's flight path to space and back, look at data from onboard science experiments and make a really cool video of the flight which you can play above! We are looking for young folks who want to help us build and launch our next Balloon. A Graduate of our Class showing off her New License You don't need a license to try out Amateur Radio and see if it's fun for you. If you decide you want to have your own transmitter and station, we can help you get your official Amateur Radio license. We offer classes to help you learn what you need to know and pass your FCC license exam so you can have your own transmitter and talk to other Amateur Radio operators whenever you want. --- ### Non-Profit/501(c)(3) Project > This page contains a collection of information related to our non-profit project. We have updated our Constitution and By-Laws to support our mission... - Published: 2016-11-21 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/non-profit-project/ This page contains a collection of information related to our non-profit project. Our non-profit (NP) incorporation/501(c)(3) committee members are: Scott Andersen, NE1RD Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Dave Merchant, K1DLM Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC We have updated our Constitution and By-Laws (C&BL) and have created a set of Policy and Procedure Documents as required by our updated Constitution and By-Laws. You can see these materials here. We have completed our federal 501c(3) application. and the Executive Committee has approved our application and we have submitted it to the IRS. Ongoing Actions: None at the present time. Current Information and Resources: New Hampshire Guidebook for Non-profit Organizations - This publication has some good information related to Conflict of Interest and other Board Member duties and obligations. Nonprofit forms and information on how to amend our articles with New Hampshire. More information on New Hampshire non-profit statutes National Center for Non-Profit Statistics Guidestar Non-Profit Database (searchable) Background Information: How to Form a Non-Profit: A Step By Step Guide - The following is a link to the forms which accompany this book: Nonprofit related forms Video and slides from ARRL nonprofit/501(c)(3) presentation ARRL publication covering the advantages of incorporation The following online information about other Amateur Radio organizations who have taken steps to secure NP status (note that some of this material may be pretty dated): Rocky Mountain HAM Radio's 501(c)(3) filing document Colorado Council of Amateur Radio Clubs, Inc. NP presentation --- ### Support The Nashua Area Radio Society > The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many programs designed to enhance the lives of our members and our community. We provide education and training... - Published: 2016-11-07 - Modified: 2023-02-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/donate/ The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many programs designed to enhance the lives of our members and our community. We focus on bringing new people into the Amateur Radio Service and providing education and training in the Technical, Operational, and Emergency Communications aspects of Amateur Radio. Nashua Area Radio Society License Training Class To achieve these goals, we provide license training classes and testing sessions, monthly technical training, and many other learning experiences for our members and community members. We particularly focus on bringing younger people into the Amateur Radio Service to build interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers for young people in our community. Abby Finchum Presenting our Youth Outreach Plans Our organization has been investing heavily in these programs and the equipment and tools we need to support them. Thanks to the generosity of our members and other supporters, we have provided these services to many members of the Amateur Radio Community and the general public. We hope that you will consider donating to help us with our efforts. In particular, we can use financial help in areas such as: Support for providing Amateur Radio license classes and training Youth Outreach Activities which provide STEM experiences for young people through Amateur Radio, including our High Altitude Balloon Project Investments in Amateur Radio equipment to support operations such as our annual Field Day and other emergency communications activities, which provide training opportunities and enhance our operational skills and emergency preparedness Please consider donating to support our work. Your contribution will significantly impact our ability to support work to bring young people into the Amateur Radio service. You can do this via our GoFundMe drive by clicking on the donate button below. --- ### N1FD Operating Awards > Our club has a long and proud tradition of operating excellence and we are very active on the air. We have received quite a few operating awards. - Published: 2016-08-24 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/operating/ Mike, KU1V Operating During Field Day 2016 We love to get on the air and operate! We have a long and proud tradition of operating excellence and we are very active in Contests and other on the air events. As a result of our dedication and the operating skill of our members, we have received quite a few operating awards. Our Call Sign, N1FD, or Number 1 Field Day is a tribute to our past operating achievements. Some of our operating awards and accomplishments include: Our Winning Entries in the ARRL Rookie Roundup Contest Multiple National Parks On The Air Activations Our ARRL Field Day Operations Operating as K2K New Hampshire in the Thirteen Colonies Special Event Operating as N1FD/M in the New England QSO Party The N1FD/M Dayton and Back Counties Activation Tour Our 35th Anniversary On-Air Special Event Winning our category in the 2017 New Hampshire QSO Party Winning our category in the 2017 June VHF Contest As a result of our operations, we have received several operating awards and certificates which recognize the operating skills and diligence of our members. ARRL Operating Awards Nashua Area Radio Society Worked All States Award We have earned an ARRL Worked All States Award for our N1FD call sign. Nashua Area Radio Society DXCC Award We have earned an ARRL Worked DX Century Club Award for confirming 100 countries using our N1FD call sign. Contest Operating Awards CQ WW RTTY 2018 Certificate We paced well in the 2018 CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest. We entered as N1FD in the Multi-Operator, Single-Transmitter category. We did quite well, placing #2 in Area 1 and in the top 15 in North America. You can read more about our operation here. ARRL VHF Certificate 2017 We earned a certificate in the 2017 June VHF Contest as part of our Pack Monadnock SOTA activation. Our operation was on 6m using Solar/Battery power. 2019 NEQP Plaque A great multi-op effort by Abby Finchum, AB1BY, and Jamey Finchum, AC1DC created a first-place finish for N1FD in the 2019 New England QSO Party (NEQP). 2015 NEQP Certificate Our certificate for winning the New England QSO Party (NEQP) in the Single-Op category. N1FD Certificate from the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB We took the top spot in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. N1FD Certificate from the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY N1FD took the top spot in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Certificate We took the top spot in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW. This makes a clean sweep by N1FD operators for all three of the Rookie Roundup contest modes in 2016! N1FD Certificate from the 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB N1FD took the top spot in Area 1 Multi-Op category again in the 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. We also had the highest score of any entry in this contest! N1FD Certificate from the 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY N1FD took the top spot in Area 1 Multi-Op category again in the 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. We also had the highest score of any entry in this contest! Special Event Operating Awards 2016 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque Our operators earned the Nashua Area Radio Society the Top Club honors in 2016 Thirteen Colonies Special Event making 9,719 contacts in just 6 days! 2017 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque Our operators earned the Nashua Area Radio Society both the Top Club and Top State honors in 2017 Thirteen Colonies Special Event making a record (for NH) 12,838 contacts in just 6 days! 2018 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque The Nashua Area Radio Society again earned the Top Club award in the 2018 Thirteen Colonies Special Event. Our members made 13,622 contacts during the 6 days of the event - an increase of over 1,500 contacts as compared to 2017! 2020 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque Our operators again earned the Nashua Area Radio Society both the Top Club and Top State honors in the 2020 Thirteen Colonies Special Event making a record (for NH) 22,696 contacts in just 7 days! We also had the Top SSB High Power Operating in 2020 - Fred, AB1OC with 5,171 SSB contacts. 2021 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Award We were the top club again in the 2021 Thirteen Colonies Special Event. --- ### Learn About The Nashua Area Radio Society > The best way to learn about the Nashua Area Radio Society is to look around here on our website. We have lots of activities and opportunities to learn. - Published: 2016-08-24 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/learn-about-nars/ Nashua Area Radio Society N1FD QSL Card The best way to learn about our organization is to look around here on our website. In particular, take a look at the following (click on the links to look at the content on our website): Learn about our Membership Meetings Learn about our Tech Nights Learn about our On-Air Activities Learn about our Weekly Nets Our projects and Activities for Young People Information on our Annual Field Day Operation Our Amateur Radio Expos and kits building activities at local Ham Fests, libraries, schools, and other public places Help to Learn Morse Code (CW) Our Summer Activities Article Articles on our National Parks On The Air Activations Articles on our Summits On The Air Activations Articles about our STEM Learning Projects with schools involving High-Altitude Balloons Articles about our ISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School The many Articles on our Blog which also appear in our Monthly Member Newsletters Our Forums where you can view discussions with our members and participate if you decide to join us The New to Amateur Radio section of our website Our Calendar of Activities and Events Membership Meetings and Tech Nights Our Membership Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month. You can find out about our meetings here. We have a variety of speakers who share interesting presentations about Amateur Radio at our meetings. We invite you to attend one of our meetings. This is a great way to meet our members and learn more about what we are doing. Tech Night Session - All About Field Day Our Tech Nights are held on the Second Tuesday of each month. These sessions are technical and how-to in nature. Previous Tech Nights have covered a wide range of topics - everything from How To Get On The Air to Software Defined Radios to Surface Mount Soldering and much more. They are put on by our members to help build our technical knowledge, operating skills and our stations. We invite you to come to one of our Tech Night Sessions and see what they are about. We produce videos of these sessions and our members have access to an archive of these videos and the associated presentation materials so they can readily use the wealth of information shared at our Tech Nights. You can find out more about our Tech Night Program here. Help Getting Started Class Grad with Her CSCE Perhaps you are looking to earn your first Amateur Radio License or upgrade your existing License to a higher class. We can help you. We teach license classes to help you earn all three levels of Amateur Radio Licenses. We also provide lots of training and mentoring (emerging) opportunities for Amateurs who want to learn more about Ham Radio. Learn About Our Activities Our 2018 Field Day Highlights Video We also provide many on the air operating opportunities for our members. Field Day is one of our largest On-Air events each year. You can learn more about our annual Field Day operation here or click on the video above to see some highlights from our most recent Field Day operation. We have invested in towers, antennas, and other equipment which enables us to host a top-notch Field Day experience and emergency preparedness training exercise each year. National Parks On The Air Activation We are also quite active in On-Air Operating Events including the ARRL National Parks On The Air Program and the 13 Colonies Special Event. We also have Weekly Chat Nets. Some of our members also offer opportunities for members to use their stations to operate in On-Air Contests using our call sign, N1FD. Some recent N1FD entries include the New England QSO Party, the ARRL Rookie Roundup, and the New Hampshire QSO Party. Our members operating skill and on-air operations have earned multiple recognitions for operating excellence. Nashua Area Radio Society Activity Highlights As you can probably tell, there is a lot going on! Check out the videos above for highlights of our activities. STEM Learning via High Altitude Balloon Projects The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many learning opportunities for young people. One of our most important projects is about bringing STEM learning opportunities to school students via our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) Projects involving Amateur Radio. A View From HAB-1 From The Edge Of Space - Over 90,000 ft Our HABs carry a 2m APRS transmitter which sends our HAB's position and other telemetry data to the ground during its flight. Our HABs also carry two GoPro video cameras as part of its payload. These cameras take some amazing video during balloon flights. Our first HAB flew to 91,650 ft in about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Our second HAB flew to 117,932 ft in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. The descent took about an hour for both HAB-1 and HAB-2. Here is a picture from the 2nd camera on the HAB-1 looking up at the balloon just before it burst. Looking Upward at Altitude You can find more on the HAB launches in forum posts about our HAB's Projects and Flights. You can view the video of HAB-1's launch and flight above. And the video of HAB-2's launch and flight can also be viewed above You can find out more about our HAB projects and the STEM learning work that we do as part of them via the Space Category on our blog here on our website. About Membership We currently enjoy over 350 members and we’d love to have you join us. When you join the Nashua Area Radio Society, you will have lots of Amateur Radio activities and learning opportunities to choose from. You’ll also gain access to the member's area of our website which includes full access to our Forums where you can ask questions and get help learning how to build and operate your station as well as access to the videos and presentation archives from all of our Tech Night sessions. You can join online here on our website. We hope to meet you in person soon! 73, Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB President Joe Luszcz, AC1LN Membership Chairperson --- ### Our Video Collection > The following video collection has been created by the Nashua Area Radio Society to share memories of our activities and provide educational material... - Published: 2016-07-31 - Modified: 2022-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/video-collection/ The following video collection has been created by the Nashua Area Radio Society to share memories of our activities and provide educational material about Amateur Radio. Our complete set of videos is included in the members-only area below. If you are a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society, please log in to our website to view our full collection. Not yet a member? You can learn more about our organization by clicking here. If you would like to join us, you can do that here. Would you like to contribute a video for posting here? Please contact us via email at webmaster@n1fd. org. All videos on this page are Copyright protected by the Nashua Area Radio Society and/or AB1OC. All rights are reserved. These videos are intended for personal use by Nashua Area Radio Society Members only. Public or other exhibition, redistribution or any other use without written permission is prohibited. Our Field Day, Projects, Media Coverage, Highlights, and More Videos About Amateur Radio Videos from Our Members Instructional and Demonstration Videos 2022 Online Membership Meetings 2021 Online Membership Meetings 2020 Online Membership Meetings 2022 Tech Night Video Collection 2021 Tech Night Video Collection 2020 Tech Night Video Collection 2019 Tech Night Video Collection 2018 Tech Night Video Collection 2017 Tech Night Video Collection 2016 Tech Night Video Collection Website Help and How-To Videos --- ### Our Photo Collection > The following photo collection has been created by Nashua Area Radio Society members to share memories from our activities. - Published: 2016-07-29 - Modified: 2021-06-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/photo-collection/ The following photo collection has been created by Nashua Area Radio Society members to share memories of our activities. A complete version of our photo collection is provided in the members-only area below. If you are a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society, please log in to our website to view the full collection of our photos. If you are not a member, you can learn more about our organization by clicking here. If you would like to join our us, you can do that here. You can click on any thumbnail in one of our galleries to see a high-resolution version of the image. All photos on this page are Copyright protected by the Nashua Area Radio Society and/or AB1OC. All rights are reserved. These photos are intended for personal use by Nashua Area Radio Society Members only. Public or other exhibition, redistribution or any other use without written permission is prohibited. If you’d like to contribute photos or create a gallery for posting here, please contact us via email at webmaster@n1fd. org. Pictures from Our License Classes 2019 HamXposition @ Boxboro Our Amateur Radio Expo Display Ham Bootcamp Kit Building GOTA Stations NARS Team, Forums, and Misc ARISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School Banners and Media Crowd and Visitors Introduction Presentation NARS Team Members Stations and Equipment Students and Faculty Thank You Cards and QSL 2021 Summer Field Day 2020 Winter Field Day 2019 Summer Field Day 2019 Winter Field Day Fall 2018 Youth Outreach at NEAR-Fest (NETT) 2018 Boxboro Amateur Radio Expo for Young People 2018 Youth Outreach Projects 2018 Family Picnic 2018 Field Day Operation Spring 2018 Youth Outreach at NEAR-Fest (NETT) February 2018 Kit Build 2018 Project Night Pictures from our Oscilloscope Kit Build – February 2017 Tech Night 2017 Field Day Operation 2017 Project Night 2017 GOTA Event for Young People at Nashua PAL 2017 Youth Day at MakeIt Labs 2016 Youth Day at Dartmouth-Hitchcock 2016 CQ WW DX Contest - Earning N1FD a DXCC 2016 Morse Code Classes 2016 NPOTA Activations 2016 Summer Picnic 2016 Field Day Operation 2016 Entry in the New England QSO Party as N1FD/M 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup Contests as N1FD 2015 Field Day Operation --- ### Topics In All Forums > The Nashua Area Radio Society Forums provide a place for our members to discuss Amateur Radio topics and to share information. - Published: 2016-07-27 - Modified: 2017-10-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/forums/ --- ### Our Member Forums > The Nashua Area Radio Society Forums provide a place for our members to discuss Amateur Radio topics and to share information and ideas. - Published: 2016-03-31 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/our-forums/ The Nashua Area Radio Society Member Forums provide a place for our members to discuss Amateur Radio topics and to share information and ideas. Many of our forums are visible to the public but only Members may post. Internet Subscribers can also post in a subset of our most popular learning and skills development forums which include: Elmering Forum CW & QRP Forum Homebrew Forum Want to learn more about our organization and the activities and resources that we provide for our members? Check out our organization information page. If you'd like to participate in our member-only forums, other members-only content such as our Tech Night video archives or would like to participate in our many activities, you can join our organization online here. RSS Feed for all forums. --- ### Join The Nashua Area Radio Society > We have a lot going on! We hope that you'll join us. We provide many activities and we provide mentoring and training materials for Hams... - Published: 2016-03-29 - Modified: 2021-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/join-us/ As you can probably tell from the content on our website or if you've been to one of our meetings or to our Field Day, the Nashua Area Radio Society has a lot going on! We hope that you'll consider joining us by becoming a Regular Member or an Internet Subscriber. You don't have to have a license to join the Nashua Area Radio Society. Also, we can help you earn your license if you want to get one. If you are not sure if you want to join us, spend some time looking around on our website (here's a good place to begin) or come to one of our Membership Meetings or a Tech Night and meet some of the members and see we are doing. We hope this will increase your interest in Amateur Radio and perhaps you'll decide to join us. We have two ways that you can become part of the Nashua Area Radio Society: Join us as a Regular Member - open to everyone in the United States of America. (You can join as an Associate Member if you do not yet hold an Amateur Radio License and we have a Family Membership available as well). Support us as an Internet Subscriber - open to anyone whose permanent address is in the United States of America and outside the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Regular (and Associate or Family) Members can participate in all Nashua Radio Society activities including our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights, our Field Day and other Operating Activities, and all of the Forums on our website. Members can also post articles which will appear in our Newsletters and can vote in our officer elections. Join as a Full (or Associate) Member Internet Subscribers benefit from all of the training materials on our website including our extensive online Tech Night Video training library. We also provide mentoring for our Internet Subscribers via their posting questions and receiving answers in several of our online forums: Elmering Forum Homebrew Forum CW & QRP Forum Internet Subscribers are also encouraged to participate in one or both of our weekly on-air nets via EchoLink (our repeater net) or via the 10m band (our HF net). All of these learning tools are available for a small yearly donation which supports our non-profit work. Become an Internet Subscriber - support the Nashua Area Radio Society and enjoy full access to our mentoring materials Internet Subscribers are not eligible to hold office in NARS or vote in our elections and must live outside of New Hampshire and Massachusettes. Both Regular Members and Internet Subscribers receive our Monthly Newsletters via email. Posting on our website including our Forums, Our Blog, and Comments is moderated and is subject to our Posting Policy and Guidelines. You can read our Posting Policy and Guidelines here. Which one is right for you? The following information will help you to decide: If you have any questions, please contact us at membership@n1fd. org. --- ### Newsletter Archives > This page contains our Newsletter Archives from 2005 to the present. Each archive has approximately 5 years of Newsletter editions. - Published: 2016-03-25 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/newsletter-archives/ This page contains archives of our Newsletters from 2005 to the present. Each archive has approximately a few years of Newsletter editions. The Nashua Area Radio Society is one of the longest-standing radio organizations in New England, and a good deal of our rich history is captured in our newsletters. You can learn more about our organization here, and you can become a member here. Also, you can visit us and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Our members contribute to and receive our newsletter each month. You can view all of the articles that have appeared since March of 2016 here. Newsletters: 2021 - Present Newsletters: 2018 - 2020 Newsletters: 2015 - 2017 Newsletter: 2010 - 2014 Newsletters: 2005 - 2009 Newsletter Archives from 2000 - 2004 --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society > The Nashua Area Radio Society's mission is to bring new people into Amateur Radio, help members develop skills, provide STEM education, & have fun through.. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/ Nashua Area Radio Society N1FD QSL Card The Nashua Area Radio Society is a group of New England Ham Radio enthusiasts with a wide range of interests. Our organization's mission is to: Encourage and help people to become licensed and active in the Amateur Radio Service Spark Interest among young people in STEM Education and Careers through Amateur Radio Provide training and mentoring to enable Amateur Radio Operators to improve their technical and operating skills and to be prepared to assist in times of emergency Sponsor on-air operating activities so that Amateurs may practice and fully develop their operating skills and have fun with Ham Radio! Are you Looking for our newsletter articles? You can find them on our Blog here. Also, you can find our Dayton Hamvention® forum presentation here. Plans For Online Meetings, Tech Nights, and Activities To this end, we will open our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights to include our Internet Subscribers, and we are also inviting all US-based Hams to join us online for these meetings. We will have our usual excellent speakers for these meetings, and they will deliver live presentations and conduct Q&A online. Here is a summary of our planned meetings and activities: Tuesday, May 6th, 7 pm Eastern—Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting. Our May Meeting will include short presentations on Buddi-Beams, Smart Phone Apps for Ham Radio, and Echolink, presented by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB. The meeting will be online via Zoom. Our pre-meeting get-together begins at 6:45 p. m. Click here to Join Our Zoom Meeting. Saturday, May 10th, 10:00 am - Ham Bootcamp - See our Ham Bootcamp page for more information. Tuesday, May 13th, 7 pm Eastern - Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night. Our Tech Night topic is Getting Started with Satellites, presented by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. This will be an online meeting. Our pre-meeting get-together begins at 6:50 pm. Click here to join our Zoom Meeting. Saturday, May 17th, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm - Brian S McCarthy Foundation Family STEM Day at World Academy Thursdays starting on April 3rd, 7pm Eastern - Weekly Field Day Planning meetings - join us if you are interested in joining us for Field Day on June 28 & 29. Click here to join our Zoom Meeting. Saturday, May 24th, 8:30 am - Club Breakfast at the North Side Grille, 323 Derry Rd, Hudson, NH Sundays, 7:30 pm Eastern - We hold our weekly repeater net each Sunday at 7:30 pm. See our Nets page for how to join. Visit our Calendar to see future planned events. We suggest you join our meetings online at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start times. Spring 2025 Ham Bootcamp Registration Ham Bootcamp - October 2020 QST Cover We will soon announce the date for our Spring 2025 Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license. Bootcamp is also a great opportunity for prospective Hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer. You can learn more about Ham Bootcamp and register here. License Classes Include Online Exams Tech License Class - Teacher with her Tech CSCE Our Spring 2025 Technician, General, and Extra License classes are scheduled, and registration is open. We will be offering online license exams for class students! You can learn more about our Classes here. Nashua Area Radio Society Featured On HamNation The Nashua Area Radio Society’s activities and projects were featured on HamNation on Wednesday, September 23rd. You can see a copy of our presentation that we shared on Ham Nation here. Our segment includes some information about our online training materials. Also, you can learn more about our online training materials and how to get access to them via this link. Support STEM Learning Through Amateur Radio We have begun a fundraising campaign to enable us to continue and expand our training projects such as our High-Altitude Balloon projects, electronics kit projects, license training, our Amateur Radio Expositions for Young People, and other projects. In addition, your donations support our STEM learning experiences for young people and equipment and training for emergency communications readiness. Please consider supporting our work via your GoFundMe donation. We hold regular Meetings, Tech Nights, License Classes and Youth Activities, and other events to provide training experiences and to enable our members to realize our mission. The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to STEM Education through Amateur Radio and to the development of radio communications skills and Emergency Preparedness through Amateur Radio. Internet Subscription Available for Mentoring and Learning! The Nashua Area Radio Society is widely recognized for its work in mentoring and Development of Amateur Radio skills among members and within our community here in New Hampshire. We've created an option to enable Hams and potential Hams to take advantage of our training materials and learning forums here on our website. Our Internet Subscription is available to everyone who lives in the United States and outside of the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts for a small yearly donation that supports our programs. An Internet Subscription includes Full Access to our extensive online Tech Night Video Training Library and Q&A posting in several of our most popular forums here on our website. You can sign-up or learn more about our Internet Subscription and our Membership Options here. High-Altitude Balloon Launch 4 Video We launched High-Altitude Balloon 4 to the edge of space again this past Sunday, June 9th. During HAB-4's flight, we capture the balloon bursting at an altitude of over 103,000 ft! The resulting burst video follows below. You can see videos and photos from all of our HAB flights here. Nashua Area Radio Society is the Hamvention® 2019 Club Of The Year Nashua Area Radio Society 2019 Dayton Hamvention Club of the Year Award The Nashua Area Radio Society has been recognized as the Hamvention® 2019 Club of the Year! We received this recognition for our many mentoring, new Ham development, and youth outreach actives. You... --- ### Learn About Amateur Radio > Interested in Amateur Radio but need a little help to get your license? Are you new to Amateur Radio? Want to learn about Ham Radio? - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/about-amateur-radio/ Students Learn About Amateur Radio during one of our License Training Classes Are you new to Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) or are you interested in Amateur Radio? Do you need a little help to get your Amateur Radio License? Maybe you'd decided to go for that Extra Class License upgrade? Do you just want to learn more about Amateur Radio? Getting On The Air Mobile 2m/70cm FM Radio in a Vehicle Maybe you have your license but not sure what kind of radio and antenna to get or how to install it? Are you building your first Amateur Radio station and want some help with your project? A Typical First Antenna System Maybe you trying to figure out how to get you first antenna up? Do you need help get on the HF bands with your new General License? John, W1MBG Elmering a New Ham Amateur Radio has always been a learning hobby. Mentoring or Elmering is a part of how more experienced HAMs share their knowledge with newer folks. Our website has Forums and Articles which provide help on a variety of topics of interest to new HAMs. You can view our Elmering Forum here and the Education and Training section of our Articles area here. Nashua Area Radio Society Learning Resources We'd like to help you with your projects and reaching your goals. We offer weekend License Training classes. Our classes help you learn about Amateur Radio and prepare you to earn you first (Technician) license or an upgrade to you General or Extra Class License. Tech Night on Getting On The Air Our Tech Night program provides training and discussions with experienced members on many topics of interest to folks who are new to Amateur Radio. Abby, AB1BY (formerly KC1FFX) Building a Transceiver at Tech Night Maybe you like to build things? We hold regular kit building nights for folks who are makers. Are you interested in space or other STEM topics? Check out the video above from our recent High-Altitude Balloon project. We used Amateur Radio technology as part of this project to track and gain atmospheric information from a balloon which traveled to the edge of space - an altitude of over 90,000 ft! AB1BY, Our Youth Leader Helping Kids Get On The Air We have lots of activities for young people to learn about Amateur Radio and fun on the air. You can learn more about us and our many activities here. We invite you to join us at one of our Member Meetings or Tech Night sessions where you can meet our members and learn more. --- ### Membership Meetings > Our membership meetings include presentations by our members and local experts on a variety of topics related to Amateur Radio. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-01-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/membership-meetings/ Members and Guests at one of our Membership Meetings We hold our membership meetings on the first Tuesday of each month. Our meetings include presentations from our members and local experts on a variety of topics related to Amateur Radio. You can find the date and time for our next meeting on our Home page here. We are currently meeting via Zoom. You can find the links to our meetings on our home page. Don’t miss it! Presentations We have lots of activities, and we begin each of our Membership Meetings with an introductory update on what's going on. October 2024 Membership Meeting - How To Post On n1fd. org Our members have asked that speakers allow us to post some of their presentations here on our website. This material is available to members who are logged on via the archive that follows. You must be a Nashua Area Radio Society member and logged into our website to view the meeting presentation video and presentation archives. You can view select videos from our Membership meetings via the following video archives. 2025 Membership Meetings 2024 Membership Meetings 2023 Membership Meetings 2022 Membership Meetings 2021 Membership Meetings 2020 Membership Meetings and here are some presentations that have been shared at our meetings in PDF format. 2024 Meeting Presentations 2023 Meeting Presentations 2022 Meeting Presentations 2021 Meeting Presentations 2020 & Earlier Meeting Presentations --- ### Tech Night > Our Tech Night Sessions help our members learn about Ham Radio. They cover a variety of Amateur Radio Technical topics and operating skills. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-04-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/tech-night/ Merle, W1MSI and Aron, W1AKI Building Kits at Tech Night What to learn Ham Radio operating skills and technical skills? We hold a monthly Tech Night Session as part of our mission to help our members develop and expand their Ham Radio-related technical knowledge. These sessions cover a variety of topics that our members have chosen. Tech Night Topic Member Survey Dave Michaels, N1RF Demonstrating How Directional Antennas Work Connor Finchum, KC1GGX, building his Pixie Kit Here is an example of one of our popular Tech Night sessions: Sample Tech Night Video - Putting Up A Tower Here is a link to the associated presentation. You can see the videos from our recent Tech Nights below: December 2024 Tech Night - Home Networking For Hams Part 1 - The Basics April 2025 Tech Night - Home Networking For Hams - Building A Raspberry Pi Home Server Part 2 Our Tech Night materials and archives are ordered starting with the most recent Tech Night sessions first. 2025 Tech Nights Home Networking for Hams - Building a Raspberry Pi Home Server Part 2 by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Home Networking for Hams - Building a Raspberry Pi Home Server Part 1 by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Getting Started with Winlink by Dave Berardinelli, K1BER. Using the N1MM+ Logger for Winter Field Day by Brian Quick, W1XMM 2024 Tech Nights Home Networking for Hams Part 1 - The Basics by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Building A Raspberry Pi Ham Clock by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Getting Started With EME by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. An Introduction to AREDN by Jay Taft, K1EHZ Portable Ground Station for Greencube (IO-117) by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Simple Wire Antennas, Feedlines, and Grounds by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Operating Field Day 2024 by the Field Day Planning Team DX'ing, QSL'ing, and Chasing Awards by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Portable Operation and POTA by Joe Luszc AC1LN and Jack Ciaccia, WM0G. Getting the Most from your HF Transceiver by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Repeaters and Net Control Training by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB All About n1fd. org by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2023 Tech Nights Getting Started with Greencube (IO-117) by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Building and Operating a Mobile HF Station by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started in Remote Operating by Mike Walker, VA3MW WSJT-X: FT8 and More by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (including Greencube) by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Node-Red for Ham Radio - David deCoons WO2X, Flex Radio All About Field Day 2023 by the Field Day Planning Team Using the N1MM+ Logger at Field Day by Jon Turner, AC1EV Simple Wire Antennas, Feedlines, and Grounds by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Introduction to Emergency Communications and Public Service by Stu Solomon, W1SHS. Understanding and Using Propagation to Work the World by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB. A 6m Antenna System for Contesting and DX'ing by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. 2022 Tech Nights Getting the Most from your HF Transceiver by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Building and Operating a Mobile HF Station by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds) by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Building and Operating a Little Pistol Contest Station by Jon Turner, AC1EV Putting up a Tower II by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Antennas That You Can Build by Spencer Webb, W2SW All About Field Day 2022 by the Field Day Planning Team Using the N1MM+ Logger at Field Day by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC QSL'ing and Awards by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Messaging Through Relays and the National Traffic System by Marcia Forde, KW1U Wire Beam Antennas by Jon Turner, AC1EV Project Night by Randall, N1KRB, Dave, K1DHP, Jon, AC1EV, Fred, AB1OC, and Vince, KD2TMJ 2021 Tech Nights Shack Design and Layout for Usability by Jamey, AC1DC, and Fred, AB1OC WSJT-X Setup and Use by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Simple Wire Antennas, Feedlines, and Grounds by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB An Introduction to HFTA by Jon Turner, AC1EV Building and Operating a Mobile HF Station by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB, and Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Mountain Topping and Portable Operations by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC All About Field Day 2021 by the Field Day Planning Team N1MM+ Logger for Field Day by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Building a Big Gun Station by Dave Merchant, K1DLM and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Computer Loggers, Ham Radio Deluxe and DXLab Suite by Dave Merchant, K1DLM and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC EME II: Station Construction and Operation by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Understanding and Using Propagation to Work the World by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB 2020 Tech Nights Getting Your Signal to the Antenna: Transmission Lines and Matching by Spencer Webb, W2SW PCB Design with EAGLE by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Simple HF Wire Antennas by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Mountain Topping and Portable Operations by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC All About Antennas II by Spencer Webb, W2SW VHF+ Weak Signal Stations Part 1 - Overview and 6 Meters by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC How To Post on n1fd. org by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Field Day From Home by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, Sterling Eanes, AK1K, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, and Jon Turner, AC1EV Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC (a special How-To Session for CWA and Friends) N1MM+ Logger by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started in EME Communications by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2020 Project Night by NARS Members Getting Started in Contesting by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2019 Tech Nights All About Winter Field Day 2020 by our Winter Field Day Planning Team Almost Everything You Need to Know About Antenna Fundamentals Part 1 by Spencer Webb, W2SW and Steve Golson, W1SEG Raspberry Pi for Portable Digital Communications by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC HFTA, Feedline Design and Busting Pileups by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC QSL'ing and Awards by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Fox Hunting: Radio Direction Finding for Beginners, including a Tape Measure Yagi Build by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Surface Mount Technology by Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS RF Design with Smith Charts, Building a First HF Station and Begining with CW by Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS; Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL; and Jerry Doty, K1OKD All About Field Day 2019 by our... --- ### License Classes > We offer a Amateur Radio License Class for all levels licenses. Our classes are held over a single weekend and feature live demos and hands-on learning. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-05-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/amateur-radio-license-class/ License Class Grad with Her CSCE The Nashua Area Radio Society offers an Amateur Radio License Class for all levels of Licenses. We can help you if you are looking for your first (Technician) license, would like to expand your privileges to the full set of HF bands (General), or would like to earn the highest class (Extra) license. Our classes are a great way for family and friends to learn about Ham Radio while earning your Ham Radio License or upgrade. Note: All Classes will be held online via Zoom Web Conferencing Only. We will be offering online license exams only to our class students as well. Preparation for all of our classes requires purchasing and reading the corresponding Gordon West License Manual. Space in our online classes is limited so sign-up early to be sure you can take the class that you want. Amateur Radio License Class Format License Class Station Our classes are held over a single weekend and feature many live demonstrations including hands-on access to radios to get on the air. We also provide many opportunities to talk with experienced Amateur Radio operators. This will help you to learn about Amateur Radio. Nashua Area Radio Society License Training Class We offer classes for all three levels of Amateur Radio Licenses - Technician, General, and Extra. We offer these classes two times each year - in the Spring and in the Fall. Amateur Radio License Class Offerings Our next scheduled class will be a Technician License Class, which will be held on September 20th and 21st, 2025. Fall 2025 Technician Class Flyer We will hold a General License Class on November 1st and 2nd, 2025. This is a 2-day class to help you upgrade your license to General Class. Fall 2025 General Class Flyer We will also hold our next Extra Class on December 5th, 6th, and 7th, 2024. Fall 2025 Extra Class Flyer You can register to attend our classes here on our website. Please contact Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB via classes@n1fd. org for more information about our classes. --- ### Field Day > ARRL Field Day is our club's biggest event.The Nashua Area Radio Society has a long and rich history of many successful Field Day operations. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/field-day/ Nashua Area Radio Society N1FD QSL Card The annual ARRL Field Day is one of the Nashua Area Radio Society's most important activities. Field Day is sponsored by the ARRL and is all about being prepared and trained to establish emergency communication in the event of a disaster or other public need. Also, Field Day is great fun for Ham Radio operators across North America! The Nashua Area Radio Society has a long and rich history of many successful Field Day operations. We provide multiple towers and beams and we will typically mount a 7 to 10-station effort operating SSB phone, Digital, and CW on multiple bands. You can learn more about our Field Day activities by reading the many articles about Field Day on our Blog. Our Field Day operations are a major undertaking for us each year. As a result, we begin planning each year's Field Day Operation many months in advance. Also, we make a significant investment in Field Day-related equipment each year. Note that everyone is required to follow our COVID-19 Safety Policy to attend our Field Day activities. 2021 Summer Field Day Highlights We are back to in-person Field Day operations in 2021! We operated from Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. Keyes provides a great public location, a large open area, and an open pavilion that provided plenty of space and a COVID safe environment. Our station teams did a great job with putting up our station for Field Day. Special thanks go out to the Team Leaders - Jon, AC1EV; Jeff, AC1FX; Anita, AB1QB; and Fred, AB1OC. Our station went (and came down) in record time this year and the process went very smoothly. Thank you to everyone who helped with setup and takedown at Field Day! The bands were in good condition and our score reflects some great operating to take advantage of conditions. Our score was excellent and we achieved s total score that was 75% of what was previously did with a Sumer Field Day station that was three times larger. Here's a summary of our operating results: We had a 4 transmitter station on emergency power (4A) for Summer Field Day 2021, plus a satellite ground station as our "free VHF" rig We made a total of 1,895 unique (non-duplicate) contacts during the 24-hour operating period We had an amazing 692 CW, 942 Phone, and 261 Digital Contacts! We made 236 contacts on the Magic Band (6m) We made 25 contacts through satellites and the ISS in space Our final claimed score (after removing duplicates) was: Total QSO Points -2,848 Power Multiplier (100W or less) - 2 Score from QSOs - 5,696 Total Bonus points - 1,710 Final Claimed Score - 7,408 Here's a breakdown of our score: 2021 Field Day Score Breakdown 2020 Winter Field Day Highlights We had a great Winter Field Day (WFD) in 2020. WFD provides some real practice and a great chance to develop our Emergency Communications (EmCOM) skills and to get additional practice setting up our towers and antennas. We operated from Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH again in 2020. Keyes provides a great public location, a large open area, and an open pavilion that could be used to construct a temporary outdoor shelter. Jerry K1OKD, Craig, N1SFT, Jon AC1EV, Jamey AC1DC, John KB1EEU, and Fred, AB1OC led the 2019 Winter Field Day Team. Jeff, AC1FX served as our Safety Officer and Peter, KC1FNF served as our Food Chairperson. Also, Anita AB1QB served as the leader of an independent new activity - VHF+ Roving for Winter Field Day. Here's a summary of our operating results: We had a 5 transmitter Outdoor station (5O) for WFD 2020, adding an additional transmitter over WFD 2019 We made a total of 1,133 unique (non-duplicate) contacts during the 24-hour operating period We worked 46 of the 50 US States We worked all but 8 ARRL sections in the US and Canada We had an amazing 612 CW, 486 Phone, and 35 Digital Contacts! We added a number of bands to our station which enabled us to turn in a solid performance with 35 band-mode multipliers Our 160m portable antenna system worked even better than last year! We made 244 contacts on 160m using just 100W! Our final claimed score (after removing duplicates) was: Total QSO Points - 1,780 Power Multiplier (100W or less) - 2 Band-Mode Multipliers - 35 Score from QSOs - 124,600 Outdoor Bonus - 1,500 No Commercial Power Bonus - 1,500 Not At Home Location Bonus - 1,500 Satellite Contact Bonus - 1,500 Final Claimed Score - 130,600 Our top operators included: Here's a breakdown of our contacts by Band and Mode: You can read more about our 2020 Winter Field Day operation on our Blog: Winter Field Day 2020 Is Comming Winter Field Day 2020 Update Winter Field Day 2020 VHF+ Preparations VHF+ Station Prep for Winter Field Day 2020 Winter Field Day 2020 Final Station Test Winter Field Day 2020 Highlights Winter Field Day Roving On VHF+ Bands Additional Field Day highlights and memories can be found in the picture gallery above. 2019 Field Day Highlights The Nashua Area Radio Society built an 11A Field Day station at Hudson Memorial School for ARRL Field Day 2019. We added a 4th tower for VHF and up as well as our 160-meter setup from Winter Field Day 2019. Our score increased by over 3,000 points this year thanks to some top-notch CW ops, more intense operating overall, and the use of the FT8 mode for digital operations. Our top operators included: You can find some interesting articles about our 2019 Field Day Operation on our Blog here: 160-Meter Portable Antenna System for Field Day Field Day 2019 Plans and Station Test Final Field Day Station Test Field Day Satellites, VHF+, and Fox Hunting Field Day 2019 Recap Final Claimed Score - 12,686 2019 Winter Field Day Highlights We decided to do Winter Field Day for the first time in 2019 as a means to practice our Emergency Communications (EMCOM) skills and to get additional practice setting up our towers and antennas. We decided to operate from Keyes... --- ### Our Activities and Resources > Our activities allow our members develop their Amateur Radio knowledge and Operating Skills and to have fun on the air. Our activities include... - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2025-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/our-activities/ Our Club provides training and online mentoring resources. These include: Our Forums, including our Mentoring Forum, are where you can get help from our members and learn about areas of Amateur Radio that interest you. Our Blog provides many articles on activities and projects that you can do. Our License Training Classes offer live, interactive training classes and online license testing to help you earn your license or an upgrade. Our Ham Bootcamp program helps new and experienced Hams to get on the air and learn new skills. We also provide many activities to help our members develop their Amateur Radio knowledge and Operating Skills and have fun. Our activities include: Monthly Membership Meetings, which feature presentations on all aspects of Amateur Radio. We hold Monthly Tech Nights, during which our members get together to learn about technical topics. These sessions take place in a lab-like environment and include demonstrations and hands-on practice related to Amateur Radio technology. Weekly on-air Amateur Radio Nets. We hold two On-Air Nets weekly - one using repeaters and another using SSB on the 10m HF band. You can learn more about our nets here. We have lots of activities for young people. You can learn more about them here. Our Annual Field Day activity is where club members set up radio stations in a field environment and operate. SOTA/POTA/IOTA Activations, Special Events, and Contest Operations give our members a chance to have fun on the air and develop their operating skills. You can learn more about these activities here. Our regular membership meetings are held online via Zoom on the first Tuesday of each month, and our Tech Nights are held online via Zoom on the second Tuesday of each month. You can use the activities item at the top of this page to learn more about our Field Day and other on-air activities. --- --- ## Posts ### Winter Field Day 2025 Results > So, did we win Winter Field Day?  Let’s look at a summary of the CLASSES first.  We were in the HOME class... - Published: 2025-03-30 - Modified: 2025-03-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2025/03/30/winter-field-day-2025/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General So, did we win Winter Field Day? Hold on to that thought. We need to put things into perspective. Let’s look at a summary of the CLASSES first. We were in the HOME class and there was OUTDOOR (burr), INDOOR, and MOBIL. Then there was the Category which was the number of transmitter stations operational at the same time. So for the HOME class, we were 6th overall and FIRST for our Category number of two stations (2H NH). Go team. We had 738 QSO’s with a multiplier of 22 for a final score of 17,292. There were 1,231 HOME stations, 38 of those were 2H, with us at the top of that smaller list. The multiplier was very important. Our HOME 3rd place team had more QSOs than any other station (all classes) but a lower multiplier and that put them in 3rd place (HOME Class) and 34th position for the whole event, yet they had the most QSOs. The total number of Winter Field Day Stations was 2,481. Where did we fall in that number? Well, 92nd, I still think that we did amazing for our CLASS and Category (number of stations). More fun facts There was only 1 station, K6EI, with 100% of the objectives and they got a multiplier of 27, however, they only had 120 QSOs and were 6O MI OUTDOOR. Here are the overall statistics for Winter Field Day and who was at the top of their CLASS. Some of the Winter Field Day 2025 Operator Team Please thank our operators for their help in achieving this milestone. Many Thanks to Fred and Anita for allowing us to use their station and their home. Thanks to those who brought food Thanks to the Winter Field Day Planning Team Hope to see everyone come out for the Sumer Field Day 2025 event on June 28-29th. Planning starts in April. Brian, W1XMM --- ### How to Calculate Battery Life > Wonder how to calculate Battery Life? This post explains how to do it. Formulas and explanations are included. - Published: 2025-02-18 - Modified: 2025-02-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2025/02/18/battery-life/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: Portable BATTERY LIFE CALCULATORTo calculate battery life, use the formula: Battery life (amp hours) = Battery Capacity (amp-hours) Current Draw (amps) Battery life (amp hours) = 2. 6 (amp-hours) / 0. 135 (amps) Given your battery's capacity of 2. 6 amp-hours and a current draw in the receive mode of 0. 135 amps (135 mA), you can plug these values into the formula: Battery Life (hours) = Battery Capacity / Battery Draw Battery Life (hours) = 2. 6 Amp-Hours / 0. 135 Amps Battery Life (hours) = 2. 6 / 0. 135 Battery Life (hours) = 19. 26 With a 135mA current draw in receive mode, your battery will last approximately 19. 26 hours. For Example: Elecraft KX2 Current Draw in Transmit Mode The KX2’s current consumption during transmission varies based on factors like output power, operating mode (CW, SSB, DIG), and connected accessories. At 5 Watts Output Power (Typical QRP Operation): • CW Mode: Draws around 0. 8 to 1. 0 amps. Considering a 25% duty cycle, the effective average current is approximately 0. 20 to 0. 25 amps. • SSB Mode: Draws around 1. 5 to 2. 0 amps. With a 30% duty cycle, the average current falls between 0. 50 to 0. 70 amps. • DIG Mode: Draws around 1. 5 to 2. 0 amps. Given a 65% duty cycle, the average current ranges from 0. 98 to 1. 3 amps. ________________________________________ At 10 Watts Output Power (Higher Power Operation): • CW Mode: Draws around 1. 5 to 2. 5 amps. With a 25% duty cycle, the average current is approximately 0. 38 to 0. 63 amps. • SSB Mode: Draws around 2. 5 to 3. 5 amps. Considering a 30% duty cycle, this results in an average current of 0. 75 to 1. 05 amps. • DIG Mode: Draws around 2. 5 to 3. 5 amps. Due to a 65% duty cycle, the average current is roughly 1. 6 to 2. 3 amps. ________________________________________ Key Takeaways: • Higher output power increases current draw proportionally. • Digital modes (DIG) have the highest duty cycle, leading to greater average current consumption. • CW and SSB modes, due to lower duty cycles, are more battery-efficient, especially at QRP levels. Understanding these current draws and duty cycles can help you optimize battery life for portable operations. DUTY CYCLES - CW vs SSB vs DIG The duty cycle of a transmitter refers to the percentage of time it actively transmits RF energy during operation. This varies significantly depending on the mode of transmission—CW, SSB, or digital. CW (Morse Code) Transmitters For CW transmitters, the duty cycle during active transmission typically ranges from 10% to 30%. This is because Morse code involves alternating between brief periods of transmission (the dots and dashes) and silence (the spaces between characters and words). For example, if you're sending Morse code at a moderate speed of around 12 words per minute, with evenly spaced characters and words, the transmitter might be active for 1 to 3 seconds out of every 10 seconds. This results in an estimated duty cycle of roughly 10% to 30%. However, this is only an approximation. The actual duty cycle can vary based on several factors: • The specific Morse code being sent (longer dashes vs. shorter dots). • The operator’s sending speed and technique. • Pauses or breaks between transmissions. ________________________________________ SSB (Single Sideband) Transmitters For SSB voice transmissions, the duty cycle is generally higher than CW but still relatively low compared to modes like FM or AM. This is because SSB transmits only when there’s audio input—primarily during speech. The duty cycle for SSB typically falls between 20% and 40% during active voice transmission. This means that while conversing, the transmitter is active for part of the time when the operator is speaking, interspersed with silent periods between words, sentences, or pauses in conversation. Factors influencing the SSB duty cycle include: • Speaking rate and style (fast talkers vs. slow, deliberate speakers). • The frequency and length of pauses. • The nature of the conversation (continuous speech vs. short exchanges). For digital modes over SSB (like FT8), the duty cycle can be much higher because data signals are more continuous compared to the sporadic nature of human speech. ________________________________________ Digital Mode Transmitters Digital modes exhibit the widest range of duty cycles, depending on the specific mode and the data transmission pattern. • High-Duty Cycle Modes: Modes like PSK31, FT8, and JT65 involve continuous data transmission in structured bursts, often with very minimal breaks. The duty cycle in these modes can approach 100%, meaning the transmitter is active almost the entire time during data exchange. • Lower-Duty Cycle Modes: In contrast, modes like Packet Radio (AX. 25) or APRS transmit data in discrete packets with intermittent breaks. The duty cycle in these cases is lower and varies based on: o Packet size and frequency. o Network activity and traffic load. o Transmission settings and protocols. ________________________________________ Summary • CW: 10% to 30% (depends on sending speed and style). • SSB: 20% to 40% (varies with speech patterns and pauses). • Digital Modes: Varies widely—from near 100% (FT8, PSK31) to much lower (Packet Radio, APRS). Understanding these duty cycles is crucial, especially when considering transmitter cooling, power output settings, and overall equipment longevity. --- ### Low-Band Receive Antenna Upgrades at AB1OC-AB1QB > We upgraded our low-band receive antennas to use the latest electronics. The upgrades improved performance... - Published: 2025-01-10 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2025/01/10/low-band-receive-upgrades/ - Categories: Antennas, DX, Featured, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Station Building We have two low-band receive systems at our station: Two-Element Phased Active Receive System 8-Circle Receive Array System These antenna systems use short active vertical antennas in various combinations to create directional receive antennas for the low bands (80m and 160m). We recently upgraded our low-band receive antennas to use the latest electronics. The upgrades improved the performance of both antennas and enabled us to contact China on 80m. You can read more about the project here. We did a guest spot on DXendineering's weekly video broadcast about the project. You can view the video here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Broadcast Interference (BCI) Notch Filter for General Coverage Receivers > General coverage short-wave receivers may lack preselection against strong AM broadcast stations. A notch Filter... - Published: 2024-11-26 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/26/notch-filter/ - Categories: General, Homebrewing, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew General coverage short-wave receivers may lack preselection against strong AM broadcast stations, and these broadcast stations may overload the receivers. SDR receivers, particularly the USB type, that plug into your computer are examples of this receiver type. When I was designing my 10-band QRP transceiver, I wanted to incorporate an AM notch filter into the receiver for general coverage. In this mode of operation, the bandpass and lowpass filters are bypassed leaving the front end of the receiver wide open. Since there are no FM broadcast transmitters nearby, I chose to include a notch filter for AM only because the receiver gain in my QRP transceiver from 88 to 108 MHz is greatly attenuated. Rather than design and build a suitable notch filter, I looked for a suitable commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product that I could package into what I wanted. The solution was the Nooelec Flamingo+ AM - High Attenuation Broadcast AM Bandstop (Notch) Filter. My transceiver is based upon the N3FJZ software and hardware architecture , and Rick’s software architecture provides for general coverage whenever the receiver is tuned to other than one of the 10 designated ham bands. Thus, under these conditions, all of the filters in the transceiver are switched to bypass mode. I made use of this feature to incorporate the Nooelec Flamingo+ AM Notch filter in the bypass path. Should I decide to incorporate an FM notch filter into the design in the future, the Nooelec Flamingo+ AM notch filter is easily disconnected from the printed circuit board carrier, and it may be replaced with a Nooelec Flamingo+ FM - High Attenuation Broadcast FM Bandstop Filter . The schematic of what was built is shown in Figure 1. Optically coupled, 2-channel Arduino relays are employed. When a bypass command is asserted in software, the receiver RF is routed around the bandpass and lowpass filters in the transceiver when it is in receive mode, only, i. e. , the bypass does not function when the transceiver is in transmit mode. Figure 1. Filter Bypass With BCI Notch Schematic. When the software command is asserted to place the transceiver in bypass mode, the relay modules will bypass the bandpass and lowpass filters in the receive path and insert the Nooelec Flamingo+ AM - High Attenuation Broadcast AM Bandstop (Notch) Filter. Since the AM BCI notch filter is connected to the PCB with right angle SMA connectors, it may be replaced by an FM BCI notch filter, as desired. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. A printed circuit board, Figure 2, was designed as a carrier for the optically coupled relays and AM BCI notch filter. Pin headers are used for all connections to the 2-channel relay modules. Dupont wires provide easy interconnects for power and logic inputs while pin headers are used for relay connections into and out of the printed circuit board. Dupont wires may be homebrewed with suitable component parts and a crimping tool, or they may be purchased at predetermined lengths. Figure 2. As-Built AM BCI Bypass Printed Circuit Board. The AM notch filter may be replaced by an FM notch filter of similar form-factor by disconnecting the right-angle SMA connectors. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Finally, the response of the Nooelec Flamingo+ BCI Notch was measured on a spectrum analyzer with integral tracking generator. The result obtained is shown in Figure 3. The measured notch depth is close to 70 dB over most of the AM broadcast band. This result compares favorably with the plot provided by Nooelec in Figure 4. Figure 3. Measured Nooelec Flamingo+ AM BCI Notch Depth. The performance of the AM BCI Notch printed circuit board was measured on a spectrum analyzer with integral tracking generator. The notch depth is approaches 70 dB over most of the AM band. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Figure 4. Nooelec Data. The plot found in the Nooelec data sheet compares favorably with the measured data of Figure 3. Reproduced with permission from Nooelec. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Anyone wishing to duplicate this printed circuit board may contact me for a Gerber file. I will not be offering any printed circuit boards. References: 1. https://www. nooelec. com/store/sdr/sdr-bundles/hf-bundles. html 2. https://www. nooelec. com/store/sdr/sdr-addons/flamingo-plus-am. html 3. http://www. remmepark. com/circuit6040/MAX-SSB/MAX-SSB. html#110 4. https://www. nooelec. com/store/sdr/sdr-addons/flamingo-plus-fm. html 5. https://www. amazon. com/gp/product/B081MVCS8F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title? ie=UTF8&psc=1 6. https://www. amazon. com/TOAPPNER-Multicolored-Breadboard-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B089FZ79CS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa? crid=IB4C4C33XMM4&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9. tjHxIQLJsk16_0YVtUGN6Tqnr8euWNsWVjpSaq5RQkYtxZ9Cezy7x5qOhagKvYtMzwlO3bKCBbaL1aW0gvt6neKoy9ihFziKKV1XaMgGsZAE8xRYaSTrpxQdRvB0pAUE20gJVd3C2KcNPIu-KcdICH9n984YMZgPEz0KU8pLTtGa-RcD9BD6ef2DqvC9xEyQTaj2b0LmfNg1lNr1V_BlptXMnJAI1jqwkYqPQCB5h5I. fVWAD3xtI6a-TS73_L9fQ9c26h3fo70muKyIhPmYqA4&dib_tag=se&keywords=dupont%2Bwires&qid=1732556600&sprefix=dupont%2Bwires%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1 7. https://www. nooelec. com/store/sdr/sdr-addons/flamingo-plus-am. html. Op cit. --- ### Memorable Conditions on the 6M Band - An F2 Opening > We saw daily F2 openings to Europe and the Western USA on the 6M band. This opening enabled us to work quite a few new Grids and DXCCs. - Published: 2024-11-23 - Modified: 2024-11-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/23/6m-f2/ - Categories: Featured, On The Air - Tags: Magic Band (6m) We have recently seen some amazing conditions on the 6M band from here in New England, USA. For about five days, we saw daily F2 openings to Europe and the Western USA. During this time, we were able to work in Alaska and numerous new grid squares in the Northwestern USA, Canada, Central and South ... Continue reading → Source: Memorable Conditions on 6m - Our HAM Station Anita and I have been enjoying operating on the 6m band during November 2024. We've seen some of the best conditions we've yet experienced on the Magic Band. We've been working on many new Grid Squares and DXCCs on 6m. You can see what we worked via the link above. You can also learn more about our 6m antenna system here. Want to learn more about how to get on the 6m Band? Check out our January 2023 Tech Night on 6m Antennas. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Simple Set of QRP Calibration Mismatches That You Can Build > A set of mismatches is also useful for checking an SWR meter, or a nanoVNA. There are off-the-shelf mismatches... - Published: 2024-11-23 - Modified: 2024-11-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/11/23/qrp-mismatch/ - Categories: Homebrewing - Tags: Homebrew I enjoy homebrewing, and when it was time to calibrate the Stockton Bridge for measuring forward and reflected power in my QRP rig, I realized that I didn’t have a set of mismatches that could be used for that purpose. A set of mismatches is also useful for checking an SWR meter, or a nanoVNA. There are off-the-shelf mismatches that you can buy to test your nano, but they do not provide the power handling capability that this design does. If you would like to get started with PCB design, this might be a perfect project to begin with. I am not endorsing any particular PCB design tool that you might find online, but I have found that EasyEDA is easy to learn. The mismatches that I describe here can be used for QRP. All resistors in the design are 51-ohms and 2 Watts. Since we are not using 50-ohm resistors, this will result in a small error. Also, the layout is distributed (spread out), and this will result in a bit of extra capacitive reactance for the larger mismatches. SMA connectors were chosen because all of the RF interconnections within my QRP rig consist of RG316 terminated with SMA connectors. Figure 1 is the schematic of what was built. It seemed pretty easy to construct the mismatches from a single value of resistor, but there is nothing to stop you from building mismatches from one or two parallel values of different resistors. What I have here seemed like a good idea because it made calculations simpler, and it resulted in power-handling capability large enough for any QRP project that I envisioned. Values of 3. 0:1, 2. 5:1, 2. 0:1, 1. 5:1 and 1. 0:1 were chosen as data points for the Stockton Bridge that I was calibrating. For continuous operation at 5W, a cooling fan is recommended, particularly for the 1. 0:1 load bank as it has the fewest number of resistors. Figure 1. A Simple Set of Mismatches. Use of a single resistor value, 51-ohms and 2 Watts throughout, makes construction easy and economical. Use of series and parallel combinations result in higher power dissipations. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Figure 2 shows the virtual 3-D layout as provided by the EasyEDA PCB layout tool. The tool shows you what you are going to get once the PCB is assembled. The EasyEDA library is extensive, and it provides additional capability to import manufacturer’s symbols and footprints not already in the library. Although this set of mismatches was built as a PCB, there is nothing to stop you from building the same design on a piece of copper-clad perforated board. Figure 2. Calibration Mismatches 3-D View. EasyEDA provides a 3-D viewer so that you can see what the final product will look like before the PCB is fabricated and before the PCB is populated. The mismatch values are shown near the SMA connectors. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Figure 3 shows the shows the final product after PCB fabrication and population. It closely matches what is shown in Figure 2. Figure 3. As-Built Calibration Mismatches. The actual PCB closely resembles the 3-D model shown in Figure 2. The overall dimensions of the completed board are 6. 50” x 3. 60” including the connectors. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. S11 values for the mismatches were measured from 1. 8 to 29. 7 MHz and stored on an old MFJ-226 Graphical Analyzer. The values were converted to rectangular form in Excel spreadsheets to facilitate calculations. Smith Charts were also plotted. In order to make this article more concise, the Smith Charts are provided in the Appendix that follows. If you would like the S11 data in the form of Excel, please contact me. The spreadsheets contain all of the formulas required to convert S11 magnitude and angle to other useful forms including S11 rectangular, impedance rectangular, impedance polar, VSWR and return loss. If you would like the Gerber file for PCB fabrication, you may also contact me. I will not be providing any bare boards, although you may wish to pool a PCB order to distribute the shipping costs among a few hams. For the JLCPCB supplier, the minimum number of boards is 5. Appendix A. Smith Charts Figure A-1. Smith Chart 1. 0:1 Mismatch. Figure A-2. Smith Chart 1. 5:1 Mismatch. Figure A-3. Smith Chart 2. 0:1 Mismatch. Figure A-4. Smith Chart 2. 5:1 Mismatch. Figure A-5. Smith Chart 3. 0:1 Mismatch. --- ### An Antenna for the Vertically Challenged > The antenna described in this article consists of paired vertical radiators made from wire. The system does not require ground radials... - Published: 2024-10-20 - Modified: 2024-10-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/10/20/magnetic-radiator/ - Categories: Antennas, General, Homebrewing - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew No, I’m not talking about short people! I’m talking about hams who may not have tall trees or the capability to put up a tower on their property. I want to tell you about a fascinating antenna design – a low-profile, high-performance solution ideal for those of us who might be challenged by restrictive antenna regulations or limited space. I'm referring to the Magnetic Radiator, specifically the Multiple-U (MU) design detailed in this article. This clever design comes to us from the inventive mind of Paul D. Carr, N4PC (SK) who had a column in CQ Magazine many years ago. Now, you might be thinking, "Another vertical antenna? What's so special about this one? " Well, let me tell you. This isn't your typical electric radiator. This antenna operates on a fundamentally different principle—it's a magnetic radiator. What does that mean? Electric radiators, like your standard dipole or vertical, generate a strong electric field close to the antenna, leading to ground losses and less efficient radiation. This design, however, focuses on creating a strong magnetic field, minimizing those losses, and improving efficiency. Think of it as radiating power through the earth rather than into it. Some key advantages of the MU design are: Low Profile: The vertical elements are less than 0. 1 wavelengths high, making it perfect for locations with height restrictions. We're talking about an antenna that's practical for even the most compact locations. No Loading Coils or Radials: No need for cumbersome loading coils or extensive ground radial systems. This simplifies construction and installation considerably. Efficient Radiation: The design promotes efficient radiation, even at relatively low heights above ground. This magnetic radiation pattern offers surprisingly good performance. Good Bandwidth: The MU design offers good bandwidth, which is important for modern digital modes and for those who like to cover multiple frequencies in the same band without retuning. The article provides details design specifications and construction guidelines for various bands, from 10 meters up to 160 meters, with diagrams to walk you through the process. It even offers adjustments for different antenna heights above ground. Now, let's be clear—this isn't a magic bullet. The performance will vary depending on the specific location, and like any antenna, there will be some directional favoritism. In the examples provided, there is significant performance in a certain direction. However, the overall design offers impressive performance, considering its low profile and simple construction. Remember that the measurements presented are based on real-world testing, demonstrating its practical effectiveness. If you're looking for an efficient, compact, and relatively easy-to-build antenna that performs well for long-haul contacts, I highly recommend taking a closer look at the Multiple-U magnetic radiator. The provided charts and diagrams will help you determine your optimal design based on your specific band and location. Back in the 1990s, I built this antenna on my four-acre property in Boulder, Colorado. Boulder County's strict antenna regulations prevented me from using a tower despite having ample space. After extensive research, I chose this design and started with a 10-meter version, using readily available parts from my "junk box"—speaker wire and RG-59 75-ohm coax for the matching network. I improvised support using a nearby bush and my garden fence and constructed the antenna, including the spreaders, in under an hour. Connecting my 50-ohm feedline to the quarter-wave 75-ohm balun, I was pleased to see my ATU quickly achieve a 1:1 SWR with minimal tuning effort—always a good sign. Using my old IC-745, I tuned into a busy pile-up on 10 meters. I cautiously sent my callsign, fully expecting nothing, especially with my low power output of only 100 watts. To my astonishment, the DX station from Malta immediately answered who was the reason for the pile-up. This unexpected success initially left me stunned. After confirming the contact with a 59 report, he responded that my signal was 59+20dB at his location. I explained my simple antenna. He compared my signal to a friend's using a 50-foot high tri-bander in Illinois, noting that I was significantly louder. Propagation undoubtedly played a role, but switching to my vertical antenna resulted in a noticeable decrease in his signal strength (about two S-units) – this proved to me the design was effective. I was hooked and decided to build a larger version for 80 meters. Using four 25-foot supports, I constructed a much larger 80-meter version of the antenna, requiring approximately 530 feet of wire. Bamboo served as the spreaders, and a quarter-wave 75-ohm line provided the matching. I oriented the antenna east-west for broadside radiation. That evening, I monitored an 80-meter WAS net and was amazed by the clarity of the signals. Typically, 80 meters is noisy, but this antenna exhibited remarkably low atmospheric noise, a characteristic benefit of H-plane operation, which minimizes noise typically prevalent in the E-plane. The longer "skip" characteristic of this antenna meant that distant stations came in exceptionally well, making it ideal for DX but less effective for closer contacts. I replicated the antenna design for another ham who wanted a directional antenna specifically for 17 meters. He lived in a trailer park with antenna restrictions, so we needed a lightweight, easily repositionable solution. We constructed two supports using PVC pipe, with a central section and two horizontal PVC spreaders at the top and bottom. To ensure stability, the base of the vertical PVC support was encased in cement, allowing him to easily adjust the antenna's direction simply by moving the cement-filled buckets at the base of the supports, effectively changing the broadside direction as he desired. The unexpected success of my initial 10-meter antenna, built from readily available materials and achieving exceptional signal clarity, fueled my curiosity for this simple yet effective design. The subsequent construction of larger versions for 80 meters and a modified model for 17 meters further confirmed its versatility and adaptability. These antennas, built to overcome challenging site restrictions, demonstrated the principle of H-plane operation in minimizing atmospheric noise while maximizing the reception of distant signals. The experience proved that resourcefulness, ingenuity, and careful design could significantly enhance signal quality in challenging operating environments. You can learn more about magnetic radiator antennas here.... --- ### When did WWV Move to Colorado? > When did WWV move to Colorado? Many of the newer hams didn't know much about the WWV station.... - Published: 2024-10-03 - Modified: 2024-10-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/10/03/wwv-colorado/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: HF During our weekly Sunday night VHF net, a question arose about the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) time and frequency station, WWV. Net Control asked, "When did WWV move to Colorado? " While a few of us could answer, it became clear that many of the newer hams didn't know much about the WWV station. Myself, being a ham from Boulder, Colorado and now living in Nashua, New Hampshire, I saw this as a great opportunity to share information I’ve gathered over the years, both about WWV’s operations in Fort Collins, Colorado, and its move from Maryland in 1966. WWV Site - Fort Collins, CO WWV is considered one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States. It was first established in 1919 by the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) and originally broadcasted from Washington, D. C. Its primary purpose has always been to transmit accurate time and frequency signals, which it continues to do today from its Fort Collins, Colorado facility. WWV’s long history of broadcasting time signals makes it a significant part of radio history in the U. S. Boulder, Colorado, is home to the NIST (formerly the National Bureau of Standards, or NBS) Atomic Clock, which serves as the time and frequency standard for the United States and many other countries around the world. I’ve had the opportunity to view the Atomic Clock “in person” at the NIST Laboratory. The NIST atomic clocks use cesium atoms to keep incredibly precise time. Here’s a simplified explanation of the process: Cesium Atoms: The atomic clock relies on the natural oscillation of cesium atoms. Cesium atoms absorb and release energy at a very consistent frequency when they transition between two energy levels. Microwave Frequency: The clock generates microwaves that are tuned to match the exact frequency of the cesium atoms' oscillation. The frequency at which cesium atoms oscillate is exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles per second. Tuning to Maximize Accuracy: The atomic clock continuously adjusts the microwave frequency to ensure it matches the cesium atom’s resonance as precisely as possible. Counting Seconds: By counting these highly accurate oscillations, the clock measures time. One second is defined as exactly 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the cesium atom. Disseminating the Time: NIST broadcasts the official time using radio signals (via stations like WWV), the internet (through NIST’s network time protocol, or NTP), and satellite systems. These signals help synchronize clocks around the world. NIST’s time standard is crucial for GPS systems, telecommunications, scientific research, and other industries that require precise timekeeping. In 2013, when I was serving as the ARRL Colorado Section Manager, we hosted the Rocky Mountain Division Convention (Hamcon Colorado) in Estes Park, Colorado. Given its proximity to the WWV radio complex in Fort Collins, our committee thought it would be a great opportunity to arrange a tour for interested hams. Since WWV is a secure government facility, we needed special permission. The WWV Chief Engineer, who was also a ham, informed us that they had never conducted a tour before and it might be impossible, but he would ask. To our surprise, permission was granted with some necessary security measures in place. Interest in the tour was high, and we chartered a school bus to take a large group of hams to the facility. 10 KW - 5 MHz WWV transmitter The engineers at WWV went above and beyond, providing a comprehensive tour of the facility that included fascinating historical devices. We were able to visit the antenna sites and transmitters, with detailed explanations of their operations. Historically, amateur radio operators played a key role in the technical development of the atomic clock and the WWV radio stations from their earliest days. Given that the atomic clock is housed in Boulder, CO, many members of the Boulder Amateur Radio Club (BARC) were among those who contributed to its development and advised on the WWV operations over the years. Yardley Beers, W0JF ne of the more notable BARC members was Yardley Beers, WØJF (formerly WØEXS and W3 AWH), who earned his MS in Nuclear Physics in 1937 and a Ph. D. in 1941 from Princeton University, where Einstein was in residence at the time. Beers was a pioneering scientist who first utilized cesium as the core of the aforementioned time standard oscillator. He was a dear friend whose boundless curiosity, humor, and deep expertise in all things radio-related made him a wealth of knowledge for our club. At 0000 GMT on December 1, 1966, the veteran time and frequency station WWV in Greenbelt, Maryland, shut down permanently. Almost simultaneously, a new station with the same call letters and services began broadcasting from Fort Collins, Colorado. The decision to construct the new station and relocate was driven by several factors, primarily the obsolescence of the old facility and significant maintenance challenges. WWV 15-meter antennas In contrast, the new station utilizes the latest transmitter designs, offering significantly more efficient operation. The setup also provides greater flexibility, as the transmitters consist of identical units—except for some higher-powered transmitters, which include an additional amplifier stage—that can be tuned to any frequency. At the old station, only a few of the eight transmitters were identical. Unlike the old transmitters, the new ones apply modulation at low levels, with all subsequent stages maintaining precise linearity. This allows for a wide range of modulation options, including AM or single sideband, with either sideband and any desired degree of carrier suppression. These features mirror those found in modern amateur radio transmitters. Lastly, the move brings the benefit of administrative efficiency. WWV is now co-located with two other NBS standard frequency and time stations, WWVB (60 kHz) and WWVL (20 kHz), at the same site. Additionally, it is more convenient to synchronize the station with the NIST atomic standards, which are based in nearby Boulder, Colorado. WWVH began operation on November 22, 1948, at Kihei on the island of Maui, in the then territory of Hawaii (Hawaii was not granted statehood until 1959). The original station broadcasts a low-power signal on 5, 10, and 15 MHz. As it does today, the program schedule of WWVH closely follows the format of WWV.... --- ### Working to Build a Stronger ARRL > I wanted to share some information about the work that I have been doing as ARRL New England Division Director for the past 3 years... - Published: 2024-09-23 - Modified: 2024-09-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/09/23/stronger-arrl/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Youth Activities - Tags: ARRL, Education and Training, Youth Outreach Fred, AB1OC Helping a School to Contact an Astronaut on the ISS via Amateur Radio I wanted to share some information about the work that I have been doing as ARRL New England Division Director for the past 3 years. I have a long history of helping people to become licensed, learn new skills, and become active in the Amateur Radio Service. Like most Hams, I love Ham Radio and all that it enables. As your director, I have worked hard to protect and grow our hobby, and I will continue to work to create and promote activities and programs that maximize our ability to participate in and enjoy Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio changes people's lives for the better. It certainly has had a huge positive impact on my life, and I want to continue as your director so that I may work with the ARRL, clubs, and individual Hams across New England to help bring positive life experiences through Amateur Radio to more people in our division and across the ARRL. Action-Oriented Leadership It is not enough to just listen to members about their concerns. While doing this is an essential part of serving as director, we also need a director who works hard to ensure that effective action is taken to address member concerns. This requires a leader who can collaborate with people to create consensus around solutions to problems and create the will to act. Through my work as part of numerous work efforts within the ARRL, we have enabled the ARRL board and HQ team to: Bring forward multiple new ham development initiatives. Provide clubs with resources to do important work to strengthen their future and the future of Amateur Radio and the ARRL. Develop publications and programs to encourage increased utilization of our Amateur Radio bands and privileges. Revitalize the National Traffic System Create an ARRL strategy that includes an expanded focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning in schools. We've also built teams here in New England to solve RFI problems and encourage the use of our bands above 1 GHz via Amateur Radio Emergency Data Networks (AREDN). What I Want To Continue To Accomplish as New England Director Much needs to continue to be done to create a strong future for Amateur Radio and the ARRL. The following are some of the major goals I will continue to focus on as Director: Bringing new people into Amateur Radio by working collaboratively with clubs across New England and the ARRL. We have also created multiple new Ham Development initiatives within the ARRL that support bringing new people into Amateur Radio. Expanding ARRL’s work to support STEM learning in schools through Amateur Radio Creating positive public and agency awareness and support for Amateur Radio to protect our spectrum and our rights. The ARRL must also continue to expand member support for initiatives to protect our spectrum. Ensuring effective, open, 2-way communications between the ARRL and its members and creating a culture within the ARRL to act on member concerns and feedback. Continuing to establish the New England Division as a leader in developing world-class Amateur Radio programs that help our members enjoy Amateur Radio. I believe that I bring the right Amateur Radio and professional experience, as well as the necessary collaborative leadership skills, to accomplish these goals and more. I hope you will support me as your choice to fulfill this important mission. Walking Our Talk As your Director, it is essential that I work to support the initiatives that I advocate for within the ARRL. This enables the creation of and member support for effective policy through credible leadership. I serve as an ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) Mentor and Ground Station, helping schools worldwide to participate in STEM learning based on Amateur Radio. I also devote considerable time and energy to licensing hams and helping them get on the air. Thanks to the help and support of a very dedicated team of Nashua Area Radio Society members who I've had the pleasure to work with to teach classes for Tech, General, and Extra licenses, we've enabled over 480 people to earn a license or upgrade over the past seven years. As part of a group of Nashua Area Radio Society members, we've also created a popular program called Ham Bootcamp that helps new and experienced hams get on the air, build stations, and participate in operating activities. Ham Bootcamp has helped over 1,000 people across the United States to begin or expand their participation in Amateur Radio. As New England Division director, I have continued to work with clubs and individuals in New England to help them expand their role as mentors and create a world-class environment for learning based on Amateur Radio. Additional Information I have been widely endorsed by members of the Amateur Radio community for my work. You can see what others are saying about their support for me as ARRL New England Division Director at re-elect. ab1oc. org/endorsements. You can learn more about me and my Amateur Radio activities at re-elect. ab1oc. org/about-ab1oc. I welcome everyone's comments and questions. You can reach me at ab1oc@arrl. net. I Need Your Support Voting information will be distributed to New England Division ARRL members by October 1st via e-mail and postcards. Ballots are due by November 15th. Your vote means a great deal to the future of Amateur Radio. I am asking you for your support and your vote to enable me to continue working on your behalf to benefit Amateur Radio folks across New England and the ARRL. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day 2024 Results > Probable the most impressive action for Field Day was the kids.  They were running CQ pileups on 40M..They had 199 contacts. - Published: 2024-07-20 - Modified: 2025-04-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/07/20/field-day-2024-results/ - Categories: Field Day, General - Tags: Field Day, HF, NARS Event The kids' action for Field Day was probably the most impressive. They were running CQ pileups on 40M. They had 199 contacts. It was fun to watch and hear. AND hats off to the HAM’s who worked the kids, they had amazing patience. We were planning to be a 4A station this year, but we had a key individual drop late in the schedule and the weather was another reason, they were forecasting 93⁰ and 38% chance of thunderstorms. So, we reverted back to last year’s 3A configuration. That meant 1 less tower to be raised. DCIM100MEDIADJI_0516. JPG Our weather turned out to not be as hot as predicted but it was a wet field day. Not just from rain, over night the security team had a rude awaking at around 3AM as the sprinkler system came on. We had 2 tents positioned over 2 sprinkler heads and yes these were the tents the security team had decided to sleep in. No damage other than lack of sleep. Kids had a great time with the FOX Hunt. They wanted to do it again on Sunday different location of course. Field Day teardown is always faster than the setup and always under the threat of thunderstorms arriving later. The Kids also participated in teardown. Yea Yea, but how did we do it? We had 20 operators at Field Day, the same as last year, and had 142 fewer contacts from last year, BUT because of the kids, we outscored 2023 Field Day by 552 points. We had all ARRL SECTIONS except East Bay, California & Southern New Jersey (GOTA got SNJ). We achieved our goal of field day being a learning experience (like don’t put the tents on the sprinklers) Fun Facts 😉: John Halbert (W1SMN) had the most contacts @ 215 and the most points at 215. Jack (WM0G) had second with 169 contacts but third in points. Matt Seaver AC1NB came in second in points, with 104 contact and 208 points (FT8 & FT4) The best per hour was W1TKO, with 52 contacts in an hour! ! ! ! Outstanding Peter KC1FNF had both the First Contact and the Last Contact. The first contact was Australia by Matt, AC1NB Second furthest was New Zealand by Peter, KC1FNF We only had 24 CW Contacts. We need more CW operators to come out to man a position. It’s worth 2 points for each CW contact. We made no contacts on 80M. We had 32 calls that were not counted as contacts; 10 were Duplicates. That means we had 22 bad calls where the database failed to list Class, Section, or both. All were FT8, and it was because the other station was not set up for Field Day. Overall, we had 5,852 points for our 2024 score. We received a $20 donation from Norm Jackson (W1CIP). najackson1943@yahoo. com So, if you should see him please thank him. Bonuses: Social Media: 100 bonus points - Thank you John Media Publicity: 100 bonus points - Thank you John and team Public Location: 100 bonus points Set up at Hudson Memorial School Public Information Table: 100 bonus points - Thank you, Brian for the INFO boards W1AW Bulletin: 100 bonus points - Thank you, Dave (copied as CW) Educational activity bonus: 100- bonus points - Thank you, Elaina & Frank Site Visitation by a representative of an agency: 100-point bonus - Thank you Frank's Daughter Got a Fire Captain to stop by Safety Officer Bonus: A 100-point bonus - Thank you Lee Web submission: A 50-point bonus - Thank You Brian GOTA Any completed contacts made by an operator at the GOTA station are worth five (5) bonus points. We had 200 QSO’s for 1000 points GOTA station is supervised full-time by a GOTA Coach 100 Points, thanks you to Lee KC1HKJ and Rui W1RUI, and Brian W1XMM Field Day Youth Participation - A 20-point bonus (maximum of 100) for each participant age 18 or younger at your Field Day operation who completes at least one QSO. We had eight kids all together. We missed out on the following bonuses: Satellite QSO - Next year we need a Elmer to help us Message Origination to Section Manage - Need to set a schedule to a local ham Message Handling 100 points (ten messages) - Need to set a schedule to a local ham Alternate Power - Need a large capacity battery to make five contacts Site Visitation by an elected governmental official - Need to personally ask someone who is elected to stop by Additionally, thanks are needed for the team: The worst thing that happened: No, it’s not that someone got hurt. Someone packed up the coffee pit. Yes, with coffee and coffee grounds still in it! I don’t drink coffee. It reminds me of a funny story back in the Army when I was on MIDS (11 PM to 8 AM). A sergeant told me to find something to do. Well, the coffee pot looked really nasty. (They later told me that it was well seasoned) and I cleaned it. The whole GI cleaning is done with a scouring pad and Comet cleanser. It looked brand new by the time I was done. It seems that was the wrong thing to do, because they had to go out and buy a new coffeepot, you know a 100 cup Army sized coffeepot. So, don’t blame me for the flavor of your coffee next year because you left me to clean it... ... Did I mention that I don’t drink coffee? -Brian After Action Reports 2023 After Action Report. Looking to see how well we completed previous action items. 1. Focus on staffing and working low bands as a means of improving readiness on those bands 2. Recruit more CW ops 3. Improve management of operator resources to most effective bands / modes 4. Increase member engagement in “educational” activities (i. e. Satellite operation, messaging, etc) 5. Reinforce “CTRL-O”ettiquite . 6. Focus FT8 on bands/times with poor propagation only. 7. Improve on how we manage the station computers– standardization, recovery, management 8. Increase operator knowledge of equipment 9.... --- ### Field Day 2024 at Hudson Memorial School > Join the Nashua Area Radio Society for Field Day 2024 at Hudson Memorial School. Operate on HF or VHF bands, Hunt a Fox and more! - Published: 2024-06-22 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/06/22/field-day-2024-at-hudson-memorial-school/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Field Day, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, HF, On The Air, Tower, VHF/UHF Information, Food, and Operating Tents We are almost ready for Field Day 2024 at Hudson Memorial School. The antennas are up, stations are built, everything is connected, and we're doing final testing. Tower Team Raising the Tower We have one HF Tower with a tribander for 10m, 15m and 20m, and wire antennas for 40m and 80m. Thanks to Brian, W1XMM, our Field Day chairman and Tower Team lead. HF Antenna Tower We also have a shorter tower with a 6-meter beam. 6 meter antenna tower We will be 3A, with 3 HF stations (20m, 10m/40m, and 15m/80m. ). Thanks to Joe, AC1LN for hours of setting up and testing all of the computers and transceivers ahead of Field Day. 20 meter station We also have plenty of food thanks to John, W1SMN. Food Tent Our Field Day planning team has done a great job of preparing for Field Day. Stop by and visit us this weekend. Our Field Day site is at Hudson Memorial School, 1 Memorial Drive in Hudson, NH. Operations are from 2pm Saturday through 2pm Sunda. --- ### Field Day 2024 Presentation Tuesday June 4th - Published: 2024-06-01 - Modified: 2024-06-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/06/01/field-day-2024-presentation-tuesday-june-4th/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, On The Air - Tags: Field Day Greetings All, this coming Tuesday June 4th, we will be discussing the Field Day 2024 setup and activities. Please join us Tuesday 7PM. We will be going over the site layout, Schedule of events, Equipment layout, Field Day Bonus Points, and what to bring. We're planning on several youth activities, so bring the youth. OH, and FREE food. What every, your level of license or experience we want to help you get on the air. So please consider coming to the presentation and of course to Field Day. If you can’t make the presentation, please mark on your calendar June 22 & 23 for Field Day. We will start at 2PM and complete activities at 2PM on Sunday. Please Sign up for operating times at: https://docs. google. com/spreadsheets/d/1tbsVtxvkATxNUlGudJ_fTZNDGHRvV3xQ4WDZpcxHo8s/edit? usp=sharing At the Tech Night meeting on June 11th at 7PM we will focus on Field Day operations. Tech Night will provide everyone with the knowledge of how to operate N1MM contact logging Software and we will also go over how to operate the radio. The presentation will also include our Station Handbook. It included cheat sheets for N1MM, radio controls, and how to make contacts. Also found in the handbook will be emergency shutdown procedures, and Safety guidelines. Consider helping out with the setup that will start around 1PM on June 21st at the Hudson Memorial School. Please don’t forget this is a CLUB (NARS & ARRL) sponsored event and encourages all of you to participate in the Field Day operations and setup if able. Finally, if you can’t make Field Day in Hudson, NH, you can still help out the club by taking part in Field Day at home. Any points you make can be used to help the club by putting "Nashua Area Radio Society" in the club field on your entry form. Thanks, Brian W1XMM --- ### Impedance Matching to an 8-Pole Quasi-Equiripple (QER) Crystal Bandpass Filter > Learn how to build and match crystal filters for your amateur radio transceiver. Discover impedance matching techniques.. - Published: 2024-05-21 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/05/21/crystal-filter/ - Categories: General, Homebrewing - Tags: Homebrew Introduction An amateur radio transceiver will often require at least two crystal bandpass filters; one for SSB, and another for CW operation. This article discusses impedance matching techniques for a SSB crystal filter to be used in a homebrew QRP transceiver. For a CW filter, the bandwidth would be narrower, but the design process for a matching network would be the same. Crystal Filter Project Description When this project began in 2017, there was nothing but a bag of fifty 9 MHz crystals ordered from DigiKey. In retrospect, it might have been more cost-effective to buy a few more of these crystals to get the job done for SSB and CW filters. Not wanting to bother measuring the crystal motional parameters to enter into DISHAL; a simpler approach was adopted which was to sort the crystals into batches of crystals differing in frequency by not more than 10 percent of the desired filter bandwidth. For an SSB filter having a bandwidth of 2. 7 kHz, the prescription is to find crystals that are all within 270 Hz of one another. For a 500 Hz wide CW filter, the task becomes more difficult because it requires crystal matching to better than 50 Hz. Subsequently, I built a crystal oscillator circuit for the purpose of sorting crystals into batches. I chose to follow the advice of Charlie Morris, ZL2CTM, who had done the same . I used the receiver in my rig to measure the frequencies of oscillation by zero beating the crystal oscillator against a signal generator since I didn’t own a frequency counter until recently. I also zero-beat the crystal oscillator against an SDR receiver BFO to compare the crystals to one another. There was lots of advice to be found online about “this and that” including how to handle the crystals with tweezers to avoid heating them up. For the batch of 50 Citizen crystals that I sorted, I was not successful in obtaining a set of 10 crystals that met the frequency matching criteria. Thinking that I didn’t want to invest in more crystals, I decided to look for a filter kit whose crystals had already been sorted and whose capacitors had been chosen. There are at least two sources of supply for crystal filter printed circuit boards; one requires the purchase of a set of matched crystals and features places for onboard matching, and another requires an external matching network. I bought a bare board from the former to build a CW filter and a fully populated board from the latter for the SSB filter. A picture of the beautifully made filter from the latter is shown in Figure 1. The filter was characterized by the supplier and came with the following test data: Center Frequency: 8. 997500 MHz 3 dB Bandwidth: 2. 7 kHz In/Out Impedance: ~160 ohms Insertion Loss: 2. 65 dB Bandpass Ripple: < 1. 2 dB Figure 1. An 8-Pole Quasi-Equiripple (QER) Bandpass Filter. SMA male connectors were added to the device as supplied. No matching networks were furnished for the filter input or output. The supplier advises that matching may be achieved through the use of matching transformers or L-matching networks. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Crystal Filter Matching With Matching Transformers Assuming that the supplier has already determined the best match by placing potentiometers in series with the input and output of the filter to optimize the filter shape, I relied upon their measurement of ~160 ohms as a starting point. This is a commonly used technique. The potentiometers are adjusted for the best filter passband and stopband shape by sweeping the filter with a nanoVNA, or by viewing the passband response on a spectrum analyzer using an integral tracking generator. Once the potentiometers have been adjusted for the best passband and stopband shape, the potentiometers are measured and 50 ohms is added to each value. This is because the source impedance during the measurement is assumed to be 50 ohms as is the load impedance. Since I wanted to match the crystals to a 50 ohm system for my QRP rig, I knew that the impedance ratio of the matching network had to be 50:160, or 1:3. 2, at the input and 160:50, or 3. 2:1, at the output. Since I was going to try a matching transformer for the first pass, I knew that this impedance ratio was not the same as the required turns ratio. To obtain the turns ratio, we must take the square root of the impedance ratio, 3. 2, to obtain 1. 79. Thus, the turns ratio is 1-turn to 1. 79-turns at the input and 1. 79-turns to 1-turn at the output. It is not possible to build a transformer with this turns ratio since only a whole number of turns is possible. Also, we must have a sufficient number of turns on the primary to avoid loading the source. A rule-of-thumb is to ensure that the impedance of the smallest winding is > 5 times the lowest impedance that must be matched. That dictates that the smallest winding must have an impedance of 50 ohms x 5 = 250 ohms at 9 MHz. Next, we use an iterative approach to find the smallest number of turns that will meet our requirements. We do this because the more turns we add, the more the inter-turn capacitance increases. This adds to the complexity of the matching solution. We must always use integer numbers of turns for both windings, so we will seldom get the exact ratio required. Example 1 – 1-Turn to 2-Turns If we were to round the 1:1. 79 turns ratio to a whole number ratio, we ask, how close would a 1-turn to 2-turn transformer come to meet our requirements? First, we look at the impedance ratio for 1T:2T. It is simply the square of the 2-turn winding, or 4. So, this 1T:2T winding will match 50 ohms to 200 ohms which isn’t a very good match at all. Please, recall that we needed to match 50 ohms to 160 ohms. We also look at the impedance of the smallest winding to see... --- ### Ham Bootcamp is Coming Up - Saturday May 11th > Ham Bootcamp is an online program to help new, inactive and prospective hams gain the skills and information that they need to Get On The AIr. - Published: 2024-04-06 - Modified: 2024-04-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/04/06/ham-bootcamp-is-coming-up-saturday-may-11th/ - Categories: Education and Training, General, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Fox Hunting, HF, Mentor, On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding an online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday, May 11th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time. Ham Bootcamp is a program to help new, inactive, and prospective hams gain the skills and information that they need to Get On The Air. It is open to any interested Ham or Prospective Ham in the US and Canada and there is no charge to attendees. The morning session is geared toward operating on the VHF/UHF bands: Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or Mobile Radio and an Antenna Radio Programming Tutorial Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites Getting Started with Fox Hunting Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp The afternoon session is geared toward operating on the HF Bands: 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 We will also have a breakout session where attendees can choose one of the following sessions: Learning CW Intro to EmComm Finding DX, Logging and QSLing Portable Operating ... and more! Registration is now open for the May 11th session. You can get more information about Ham Bootcamp, including a link to register at n1fd. org/bootcamp You must register to receive the link to join the web conference. If you have any questions, you can contact us at bootcamp@n1fd. org. --- ### Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna – Part III - Radiation Efficiency, Ground Reflective Loss, and Antenna Efficiency > Theory piece on antenna matching calculations for short vertical antennas that are not resonant. Part III of a series of articles. - Published: 2024-03-30 - Modified: 2024-03-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/03/30/matching-to-the-complex-load-impedance-of-a-shortened-non-resonant-antenna-part-iii-radiation-efficiency-ground-reflective-loss-and-antenna-efficiency/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas Introduction Part III of this series is lengthy. It provides the reader with several worked examples in EZNEC that may be helpful. Consequently, the remainder of the topics intended for this installment will be postponed to Part IV. These include methods for hand-calculating radiation resistance, antenna capacitance, antenna ohmic losses from the skin effect, and antenna feed point voltages. For those of you who would like to use EZNEC, Roy Lewallen, W7EL, has generously made it available, free of charge, to anyone wishing to download it. This section results from a post to the QRZ Technical Forum in which I asked W7EL if he would review the three EZNEC cases that I planned to use to obtain the parameters required to calculate the radiation efficiency for a short, non-resonant vertical antenna. I received a lengthy response from W7EL and thought-provoking comments from Mike Mladejovsky, WA7ARK, and from Dan Maguire, AC6LA, author of AutoEZ. In his response, since it had not been considered, W7EL provided the method for computing the ground reflective loss for the antenna. When the Radiation Efficiency and Reflective Loss are taken together, this shortened, non-resonant vertical is quite inefficient. As will be seen in Part IV, the efficiency is worsened by the resistance of any inductive matching elements that will be necessary at the feed point of this highly reactive antenna. This article has been largely reorganized to place the results up front and to place the EZNEC models in the Appendices. Appendix A offers a tutorial on how to generate antenna radials. Appendix B, with included comments, provides screenshots of all of the EZNEC cases that contribute to the results. EZNEC File Recommendations Based upon their collective recommendations, I altered the three files that I had posted to QRZ Technical Forum: Antennas, Feedlines, Grounding & Towers to eliminate any error messages and departures from the EZNEC User’s Manual by: 1. Moving the source upward to a higher segment of the vertical antenna radiator as shown in the Source Descriptions. 1. Modeling the ground radials at least 0. 001 wavelengths above the ground for the NEC-2D engine. (NEC-2D does not provide for buried radials, but NEC-5 does. Since almost no one has a license for NEC-5, all of the calculations in this paper employ the NEC-2D engine. ) 2. Following WA7ARK’s recommendation to reduce the radial lengths to match the height of the antenna. 3. Reducing the number of segments in all conductors by using the guidelines provided in the EZNEC User’s Manual. It states that 10 segments are a reasonable number per half wavelength for pattern/gain analysis work. For accurate impedance calculations, 20 segments per half wavelength are reasonable. 4. Ignoring the effects of dielectric insulation losses for radial wires because they are negligible. These recommendations having been taken into account; seven cases were run. For those of you who are merely interested in the numbers, the cases are summarized in Figure 1, while the feed point impedances are summarized in Figure 2. Some interesting results are calculated along the way, and some generalized results for antenna efficiency are provided at the end of this article once reflective losses have been addressed. There is sufficient information provided in Figure 1 to build the models for the seven cases and to reproduce the results tabulated in Figure 2. It is hoped that the reader will follow along to learn more about EZNEC and what it contains. It is also a good exercise for learning how to generate ground radials, and that is covered. Figure 1. Table of Case Parameters. Seven cases were run to determine the antenna efficiency of a shortened, non-resonant vertical. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Figure 2. Case Summary. Results from seven cases are summarized. This table contains everything required to approximate the antenna efficiency of a shortened, non-resonant vertical antenna. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. Radiation Efficiency, Ground Reflective Loss, and Antenna Efficiency Computation of the Radiation Resistance For Case 1B, Plate 4, VSWR Plot, the impedance of the antenna for this case without conductor losses is 3. 658 - j519. 6 ohms. Compare this impedance with that of Case 1A, Plate 4, with conductor losses, 3. 679 - j519. 6 ohms. The difference is 21 milliohms which should approximate aluminum radiator RF resistance. Since conductor loss has been removed for Case 1B, and the ground is perfect, the real part of this impedance, 3. 658 ohms, should approximate the radiation resistance of this antenna. Computation of the Ground Loss For Case 2A, Plate 4, VSWR Plot, the impedance of the antenna for this case is 7. 092 – j534. 5 ohms. Since Case 1A, real part 3. 679 ohms, contains only the resistive losses, and Case 2A, real part 7. 092 ohms, contains the resistive and ground losses, the difference should be the ground loss, 3. 413 ohms. Computation of the Ohmic Losses If we subtract the real part of Case 2B from the real part of Case 2A, the result is 0. 026 ohms, the sum of the radiator and radial resistances. If we subtract the real part of Case 3B from the real part of Case 3A, the result is 0. 026 ohms. The result is consistent as it should be for the antenna with its radials. Computation of the Radiation Efficiency Now that we have the radiation resistance, 3. 658 ohms, the ground loss, 3. 413 ohms, and the conductor resistance, 0. 026 ohms, we can estimate the radiation efficiency of the antenna which does not include any matching inductor loss or any dielectric loss at this time. The radiation efficiency for this antenna is approximately 51. 5%. Converting to dB, we have, Ground Reflective Loss If Case 1C is run with Real/MININEC ground, conductor ohmic loss and ground medium, the average gain is -6. 01 dB and this is 5. 98 dB down from -0. 03 dB for Case 1A with perfect ground and conductor ohmic loss. This is due to the ground reflective loss. Antenna Efficiency Assuming that there is a matching network at the base of the antenna to provide a good match between... --- ### Bio for Brian Quick, W1XMM > To understand how I got into HAM Radio, you first need to know when and why.  I’d been an Amherst Fire Fighter and an Ambulance EMT for... - Published: 2024-02-26 - Modified: 2024-04-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/02/26/w1xmm-spotlight/ - Categories: Featured, Member Spotlights - Tags: Member Spotlight - Formats: Image Bio for Brian Quick W1XMM: to understand how I got into HAM Radio, you first need to know when and why. I’d been an Amherst Fire Fighter and an Ambulance EMT for about 20 years. The Radios in the fire trucks were, in fact, HF (33MHz). We had a lot of interference from other statewide Fire Services. We did not have cell phones, or at least they were not popular yet. So, I wanted a backup communications method. I was first licensed in 2003 as a technician (no code) as N1PHO. I thought this would be an excellent way to communicate or at least be a good backup. I’d hoped that my wife would get her license, but that didn’t happen. Then, cell phones became a BIG thing, and the HAM radio gathered dust. I attended 2 Nashua Area Field Days in 2014/2015, mostly to help set up. During the 2015 field day a member told me that the radio does not make the station, the antenna does. You should spend three times more on the antenna than the radio. He told me to save up and buy a SteppIR when I could afford it. I became more interested and wanted to play in the big times, “HF. ” So, I studied hard, and at the 2003 North East Boxborough EXPO, I went down to take my test and Passed. I attended Field Day 2016 but was too uncomfortable to man a station. But I found some nerve at my shack and got on the radio. My first antenna was a 4-band vertical, and my first radio was the same radio I have today, an Elecraft K3S. I’d spent three times more on the radio than the antenna, but I was saving up for that SteppIR. After a couple of OOPS transmissions on the extra band segments, I decided to get my Extra license. So, eight months after getting my General License, I passed my extra license with a little help from the club and their classes. I did get a SteppIR Vertical, and what a difference it made. Next was a used Mosely 3-band beam. That was awesome. And then, finally, a SteppIR DB18 Beam. What a HUGE difference! So much for the HAM in me. View from SteppIR DB-18 height, looking west DB-18 view looking South. Now the BIO, I’m a Systems Engineer. Thirty-nine years with what is now BAE SYSTEMS. Prior to that, I was an Army ASA Intercept Radio Repairman (33C20). So, in a nutshell, I have a career in a field that listened to HF/VHF/UHF radio waves (Signal Intelligence), did the direction finding of that signal, and then JAM ’ed (prosecute) the intended receiver of that radio communications. Also known as Electronic Warfare. I “worked” on the hardware and did software integration and testing, but not as the operator. Of course, in order to do software integration, you need to know how to operate the system. There is a big difference between operating and knowing how to push buttons and testing that the system did what it was supposed to do. This is what really helped me make my superb station (yeah, maybe a little bias and/or pride). Understanding VSWR, signal loss due to cables, and a properly tuned antenna. I learned to use test equipment to test signal loss, VSWR, and power meters. It is so easy to over-drive an amplifier and not know it. This causes your signal to be distorted and/or creates clipping, and you, the operator, don’t know it because you don’t hear the transmitted signal. What got me out of my stage fright was joining a NET. I found OMISS by accident and learned the communication skills needed to then work DX and finally contesting. I’m still not keen on the contesting because there are just too many rude people on HAM radio (maybe everywhere). OMISS Nets are structured; you can receive a call at any time and then call anyone on the NET when it is your turn. They use a free program (Netlogger) to see others on the NET and to see when it is your turn. It also has a feature allowing you to talk with the NET via text. They call it “Almost Instant Message" (AIM). It takes about 20 seconds to get broadcast to the whole NET. If you don’t understand something, ask via a text message. I now have Worked All States (WAS) on five different bands because of OMISS. They have NETs on eight different bands. 3 NETs every day: 20M, 40M, and 80M. Then, on the weekends, that’s when they have 10 NETs on those eight bands. 10M, 12M, 15M, 17M, 20M, 40M, 80M, and 160M, then a late 40M and late 80M. Many times, there are multiple DX stations with regulars from Hawaii and Alaska that join the NETs. OMISS is definitely a family of HAMs. Best of all, it’s only $10 for a lifetime membership. Yes, that was a sales pitch cause I’m a NET Control Station Operator. Ham Shack I’m now retired and have that Elecraft K3S with a 500W amplifier connected up to a vertical SteppIR for when I work WSJT-X and the SteppIR DB-18 horizontal on a 40’ aluminum tower to work voice. I’ve moved to Antrim on top of a hill where I can see mountains in Massachusetts. What a view. Being away from the city and all of its electrical interference has made a huge difference. I picked a location where there were no power lines nearby, away from any automobile mechanics (their arc welding is a prime source of electrical noise), and on a hill. SteppIR Vertical in the backyard Why a SteppIR antenna? The primary reason is that it always resonates at the frequency you are working. You see, a metal tape runs up and down the vertical hollow tube. The controller tells the stepping motor to reel out to 0. 1-inch accuracy, which is the right amount of metal tape for the frequency at which you are working. You’ll never need a tuner with this setup. Is there a downside, yes. You can only work that... --- ### NARS Winter Field Day Plans - Published: 2024-01-20 - Modified: 2024-01-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/01/20/nars-winter-field-day-plans/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Education and Training, Field Day, General, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Education and Training, Field Day, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Tower, VHF/UHF 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 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 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 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 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 vp@n1fd. org to get the details if you cannot make the meeting. Show up at Brian's QTH in Antrim before your operating slot. --- ### Some Pictures from Winter Field Days Past > Winter Field Day has been great for NARS over the years. We've taken many different approaches to doing it... - Published: 2024-01-09 - Modified: 2024-01-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2024/01/09/winter-field-days-past/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Space - Tags: Field Day, Satellite Winter Field Days past has been great for NARS over the years. We've taken many different approaches to doing it. About To Stand Up Out Tower We've used our towers and yagi antennas at many Field Days in the past. Sometimes, it's been pretty cold and raw when we've been putting all of our antenna gear up. Portable Satellite Ground Station I really enjoy making contacts using satellites in space and we've used some of the satellite ground station equipment that I have as part of several Winter Field Day operations. Want to learn more about Field Day? Check out our Field Day page. Brian, W1XMM is putting together a Winter Field Day operation for NARS members. You can learn how to join in the fun with Brian and the gang here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Getting Started with POTA and Portable Operation > Some members had noted that they would like to get involved with POTA but didn’t know how to start.  Not knowing about portable operation... - Published: 2023-12-22 - Modified: 2024-01-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/12/22/getting-started-with-pota/ - Categories: Education and Training, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Portable, POTA Background The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) leadership saw that there may be a lot of latent interest in Parks On The Air (POTA) and portable HF radio operation but club POTA events were not very well attended. Some members had noted that they would like to get involved with POTA but didn’t know how to start. Not knowing about portable operation and not necessarily having the right equipment, folks were reluctant to attend a POTA event. The leadership decided to kick off a “Tiger Team” of interested members in the summer of 2023 to concentrate knowledge in this type of radio operations and share it with all interested members. The team has set the following goals: Build and improve the skills needed for successful portable operation Share this knowledge in one or more POTA events open to all club members, even those with no equipment of their own and/or no portable operation experience, providing a hands-on opportunity for inexperienced members to learn about and experience POTA operation in a no-stress environment Promote continued interest in POTA and SOTA through the next year A Tiger Team is loosely defined as “a group of experts brought together to solve a specific problem”. A number of members volunteered for this team, with a core group of eight consistently contributing to the effort. Interestingly, while a few of these volunteers had some POTA operating experience, more than half had little or no experience but were very interesting in learning this skill. Learning The team started by identifying learning resources, and we found a number of promising sources of information including: ARRL Courses Getting Started with Parks On The Air Getting Started with Summits On The Air (SOTA) pota. app and sota. org. uk websites NARS Tech Night presentations and Articles YouTube instructional videos (search for POTA or SOTA) Books Portable Operating for Amateur Radio, ARRL The Parks on the Air Book, ARRL (new) There were two areas of learning that we pursued: Portable Operation The equipment and operating techniques used for base stations are similar to those required for portable operation, but portable operation comes with its own unique challenges including Smaller and more rugged radios Low Power (QRP) operation Antenna options suitable to each particular location of the activation, as well as the ability to quickly assess the site, erect the appropriate antenna, and tune it for the band(s) being used in the activation. Power supplies that are “off the grid”, easy to carry, and with enough capacity to allow operation for the duration of the activation (which could be for a day or several days depending on the trip. ) Ability to carry in, set up quickly and easily tear down and carry out, in order to maximize the time available for radio operation. Being well organized with equipment that is easy to pack and transport. Parks On The Air Procedures There are particular procedures for the operation, logging, and reporting in order for operation to be considered a POTA activation. For example, how to identify the particular state or national park or parks being activated using coded designations, what information to exchange over-the-air, and how to report logged contacts. Practice Outings Armed with this information, team members then held a number of practice POTA outings at local parks including Miller State Park (K-2662) on Pack Monadnock, Rollins State Park (K-2676) on Kearsarge Mountain (K-4918), and Litchfield State Forest (K-4922), all in New Hampshire. During these outings, the experienced members “Elmer”ed while everyone experimented and learned. The team then identified available equipment and planned the an “Enhanced POTA” club event to take place on October 15th. At this event, all club members were invited to attend regardless of skill levels or equipment owned, and were promised the opportunity to operate just as in the annual Field Day. Setting for the Enhanced POTA Event The team chose Winslow State Park (K-2685) in the Kearsarge Mountain State Forest (K4918) for the event. Being at a park within a park made this a “POTA dual activation”. Winslow State Park is situated at 555 meters (1,820 feet) elevation on the northwest slope of Kearsarge Mountain, some 340 meters (1,117 feet) below the summit. Winslow State Park View to the West The park has a covered pavilion at the edge of a flat open area, with a number of nice trees nearby for the erection of wire antennas. Conveniently, this area was only a short walk from the parking area, making it easy to carry in equipment. Pavilion The day was dry but cloudy and cool with a steady breeze, making for a chilly day of operation. Nevertheless, spirits were high among the twelve members of the Nashua Area Radio Society who participated, along with a number of visitors who stopped by to see what was going on (including a park ranger). Motivation Participants shared a number of reasons they found Portable/POTA operation interesting and fun, including: Combining love of ham radio with enjoyment of the outdoors Meeting the challenges of portable operation, including assembling and organizing gear, practicing antenna setup skills at a variety of sites, and addressing other limitations including portable power and QRP operation. Portable operation forces you to work through “the basics” with every activation. Enjoying the comradery of other portable operators Hams who are not able to set up a home base station are able to operate an HF station It’s like a Field Day operation every weekend Stations We had a total of five stations operating on five bands (40m, 30m, 20m, 15m, and 10m) using several modes including SSB, CW, and FT8. This provided a nice variety of radios, antenna styles, and power sources for operation during the event. 40 Meters Ed KA6PNL arrived early in the day while 40m was still an active band. His equipment consisted of an Elecraft KX3 radio operating at 10 watts, a 120 foot End-Fed random wire antenna between a tree limb and the pavilion roof with RG174u feedline, and a Bioenno Power 12V 40Ah LFP Battery (BLF-1240A). He also brought an Elecraft KXPA100 power amplifier that he used solely as an antenna tuner (no amplification). Ed... --- ### Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna - Part II > This article presents a new method for simplifying matching networks. This leads us to a matching solution... - Published: 2023-10-30 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/30/matching-part2/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured - Tags: Antennas Introduction In Part I of this article, a method for matching the complex load impedance of shortened, non-resonant antennas using L-matching networks and resonators was described. First, we matched to the real part of the complex load impedance, ignoring the imaginary part - the reactance part - until the real part had been matched with an L-matching network. Then, we resonated out the imaginary, reactive part to cancel it, at least at a single design frequency. The technique of reactive absorption was also demonstrated to further simplify matching networks. Some years ago, Phil Salas, AD5X, presented an interesting approach for matching non-resonant antennas in his QST articles. In these, he describes a method for feeding a 43' vertical antenna with a base-loading network. In his matching technique, he reverses the process used in Part I. First, he resonates out the imaginary part of the complex, capacitive load reactance with an antenna base-loading coil. Once that has been accomplished, he steps up the 50 ohm, real source impedance with a 4:1 voltage UNUN to a convenient, higher real impedance, 200 ohms. Finally, he locates a place on the base-loading coil that matches the stepped-up, 200 ohm, real source impedance. Procedures are provided for resonating away the reactance of the antenna load and for locating the position of the tap. This article recaps the methods used in Part I and presents a new method for simplifying matching networks. Eventually, this leads us to AD5X's solution for base-matching a 43' non-resonant vertical antenna. Discussion Figure 1 illustrates AD5X's method. A 4:1 UNUN transforms the 50 ohm transmitter impedance to 200 ohms. This follows because a 4:1UNUN has a turns ratio of 2:1 and the impedance transformation goes as the square of the turns ratio, N2 = 4. This results in a feed-point at a practical location on the base-loading coil and at a reasonable voltage, too, since the UNUN only increases the voltage by a factor of 2. For a 100 Watt transmitter, the voltage would be stepped up from 70. 7 VRMS to 141. 4 VRMS and for a 1500 Watt transmitter, the voltage would be stepped up from 274 VRMS to 548 VRMS. By practical location, it is meant that the feed-point is located at some distance from the end of the inductor so that adjustments may be made. Figure 1. A 4:1 UNUN Feeds A Tapped Base-Loading Coil. The base-loading coil is tuned to resonate out the capacitive reactance of the shortened antenna. A point is found on the base-loading coil to inject the signal from the 4:1 UNUN and to achieve a match. Please click on the figure to enlarge. Since the voltage increases by a factor of 2, the current must decrease by a factor of 2 according to physical law. The entire base-loading coil is tuned to be resonant with the antenna load capacitance (for our case 204. 3pf) at the design frequency. This is the same technique that was used in Part I. There is another way to think about the base-loading coil, however. It may be drawn as an L-network. The base-loading coil may be drawn as a parallel element and a series element, Figure 2. Instead of a conventional LC L-network, a less commonly used LL L-network is shown. This will be discussed in detail towards the end of this paper. If operation on more than one band is desired, the base-loading inductor must be tuned to a new value to resonate with the antenna's capacitive reactance in the new band. The tap position must also be moved. These changes may be implemented with movable jumpers, or they may be automated with relays. Figure 2. A Simple LL Network. This LL network consists of two windings in series. It is easier to think about this device as a special case of an L-matching network. For multi-band operation, the inductor has to be re-resonated and the tap must be moved. This may be implemented with jumpers, or with relays. Please click on the figure to enlarge. Commonly and Less Commonly Used L-Network Topologies Part I described the four most common topologies for L-matching networks, shown in Figure 3. These are not the only ones. There are four other simple L-networks, shown in Figure 4, that prove useful under some conditions, particularly if suitable inductors or capacitors are unavailable. For more information about these topologies, please refer to a book on the subject of Smith Charts such as Phillip Smith's, Electronic Applications of the Smith Chart. Figure 3. Four Commonly Used L-Matching Network Topologies. These topologies may be used to map and match the entire complex impedance plane. Please click on the figure to enlarge. Reproduced under CC BY-NC by permission of Michael Steer, North Carolina State University. Figure 4. Four Less Commonly Used L-Matching Network Topologies. At a) and b), low-pass topologies. At c) and d), high-pass topologies. These topologies may be useful if suitable inductors or capacitors are unavailable. These topologies may be used to map limited portions of the complex impedance plane. The low-pass LL-version, RS > RL, is exploited towards the end of this paper. Please click on the figure to enlarge. Modeling of a 43' Non-Resonant Vertical Antenna in EZNEC A 43' non-resonant vertical antenna was modeled at 3. 6 MHz in EZNEC to find the unmatched feed-point impedance. For this case, 60 radial wires, 66' (20. 1m) in length (~1/4l) were used. The radials were placed 0. 01m above the ground so that EZNEC could be used to model them. EZNEC instructions state that for wires placed low to the ground, the Real/High Accuracy ground type must be selected. The soil conductivity was set to 6 mS/m, while the dielectric constant was set to 13. The 43' antenna model is shown in Figure 5. This model utilizes wire for the 43' vertical. It could just as easily have been replaced with a piece of aluminum tubing. This would alter the antenna impedance. However, for this instructive exercise, it doesn't matter. Figure 5. The 43' Non-resonant Vertical. The radials were modeled at ~1/4λ for 80m. Please click on the figure to enlarge. EZNEC was run... --- ### Truss added to DIY 6m Moxon Antenna > DIY 6m Moxon Antenna with truss added to keep the antenna from drooping. Based upon previous post on this blog, ... - Published: 2023-10-25 - Modified: 2023-10-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/25/diy-6m-moxon-addn/ - Categories: Antennas, General - Tags: Antennas 6m Moxon with truss and safety-color guy lines Back on July 17, 2022, I made a post here about building a DIY Moxon antenna for 6m based on plans in the ARRL book Magic Band Antennas for Ham Radio by Bruce Walker N3JO. It was made of flat aluminum bars instead of round tubing. The problem with it was that the ends drooped significantly, which reduced the directionality. I expected this, so I used a cross instead of a 'T' in the middle of the boom. That let me add a vertical extension of PVC pipe in the middle of the boom. I drilled a hole in the top of a PVC cap, mounted a (stainless steel) eye-bolt in the hole, and put it on top of the extension. (With the mast lying on the ground, of course. ) Then I was able to tie paracord from the eye-bolt to each end of the antenna as shown in this picture. I am more concerned about accidents with the lawn mover than stealth in my back yard, so you can see that I used bright safety orange and safety yellow-green paracord for the guy lines. (In fact, my neighbor, also an engineer, commented that this was a good idea, to prevent tripping. ) I used the "Orange Screw" product mentioned here by others to anchor the guy lines to the ground. I also used hose clamps, in addition to the mast's own clamps, to keep the mast from telescoping inward. It's important to remember that the only two knots to use with antennas are: the taut-line hitch and the bowline knot. (To help with pronouncing the later, try to remember that it was named for the front end of a boat, where sailors use it. ) These knots were covered in the Tech Night presentations about Field Day. Aron, W1AKI --- ### My Portable Gear and Organizing for a POTA Event > One of the problems I face when I think of doing a POTA activation is what to bring and how best to organize gear so I have... - Published: 2023-10-13 - Modified: 2023-10-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/13/pota-gear/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Portable, POTA One of the problems I face when I think of doing a POTA activation is what to bring and how best to organize my gear so I have what I need. The easiest thing to do is consider what you MUST have in your POTA equipment cache. Secondly, list the necessities to get your station on the air in the field. If you forget to bring the manual for your transceiver, some coax adapters, or various lengths of complete jumper coaxial cables, it might make the difference in whether or not you get on the air. I have two ‘bags’ plus my accessory bag containing everything I need to get up and running. The first ‘bag’ is a hard case for my HF rig, VHF/UHF HT, power source, microphone, keyer, and antenna analyzer. Also included in this case are the operating manuals for the HF rig, the VHF/UHF HT, the power source, and the antenna analyzer. The second ‘bag’ contains my antenna and coax. Within the confines of this small bag is my “Super Antenna” vertical, the precut-tuned radials from 80m through 10m. A mounting tripod, a ground spike antenna mount, a locking plier with a 3/8” to SO-239 connector welded to it, an HF frequency chart, and a 25’ length of RG-8X coaxial cable with PL-259 for the connection to the antenna end and a BNC connector on the other end for the input to my KX2 Rig. Plus, the tools to set the antenna up and set adjustments. My accessory bag has various items I have sometimes seen needed on a portable radio setup. Although I am new to the POTA activations and hunting them, I have operated from many field locations in my 66 years as a ham radio operator. MY GO-BOX CHECKLIST: Elecraft KX2 Elecraft KX2 w/KXPD2 keyer paddle & MH-3 Mic Wouxon UV3D 2m/70cm HT & Whip Antennas FlashFish 200W Solar Generator Heil BM-17 earphones Vibroflex Vibrokeyer CW paddle AA-30 Antenna Analyzer Solar-powered clock/thermometer LED Light powered by Solar Generator Frequency Reference Guide Mini Log Book FCC License Elecraft KX2 Manual FlashFish Solar Generator Manual AA-30 Antenna Analyzer Manual MY ANTENNA GO-BAG LIST: MP1C Super Antenna includes: TM1 Low-Profile Tripod UM2 Universal NVIS Super tilt Clamp Mount SW1 Titanium Super whip MP1TRDX80 Superantenna SP3 Super Spike Ground Mount MC80 80-Meter Coil MR Super Radial Sets = (40m-10m); (30m-17m); (80m-75m); (6m-4m-2m) FG1 SWR Ruler GB2 Super Go Bag ER1 Extension rods TW1 Telescopic Whip PC1 HF Propagation Chart Clamp and U-Bolt Tools: Hammer Allen wrenches Long-nose pliers/wire cutters Adjustable crescent wrench Extra Antenna items: Locking pliers with 3/8”- SO-239 fitting ~ 90’ of Extra flexible antenna wire SIZE: The antenna extends to about 8ft tall. Collapsed Size: 12 inches. Go Bag Size: 13"x9"x3. 5" WEIGHT: The antenna weighs 1 pound. The antenna with accessories in the Go Bag is about 5 pounds. Maximum Power Rating: 500W SSB, 300W CW/DATA. FREQUENCIES: ALL BANDS 80m, 75m, 40m, 30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 11m, 10m meters (3. 5MHz to 4. 8MHz and 7MHz-30MHz) HF, plus VHF 6m (30MHz-54MHz) with a good SWR. Continuously tunes all frequencies: Marine, Government, NGO, CAP, MARS, EmComm, Shortwave, CB, etc. Direct Manual Tuning SuperSlider Coil, with Good SWR. ANTENNA: The MP1C Antenna is at the heart of this high-performance system, with its high Q coil made of military-grade nickel beryllium resulting in repeatable precision. TUNING: The FG1 Frequency Guide SWR Ruler calibrates a rigid polymer card in MHz and meter bands. With it, a good SWR is dialed in on all HF and VHF bands and then fine-tuned with my AA-30 Antenna Analyzer. There’s no need for an autotuner, but it can help extend the frequency range. SUPERWHIP: The included SW1 ruggedized Titanium SuperWhip puts the Super Antenna in a ruggedized durability class beyond most regular ham antennas. TRIPOD: The collapsible TM1 Low-Profile Tripod enables the antenna to be set up on any convenient flat surface, outdoors or indoors. ACCESSORY BAG CONTAINS: 30-watt soldering iron w/solder 3M waterproof Super 88 electrical tape 3’ 50-Ohm BNC/BNC Coax Jumper Cable 2’ 50-Ohm PL-259/PL-259 Coax Jumper Cable AA Battery Pack for Wouxon UV3D HT Assorted VHF/UHF, BNC, and SMA adaptors AC/DC Power supply for KX2 and External Lithium-Ion Fast Charger for the KX2’s KXBT2 battery Wouxon UV3D battery charger Bongo ties LED flexible lamp Multimeter RCA to twin RCA splitter cable USB to Micro cable 5mm to 2. 5mm 6’ audio cable Programming cable for Wouxon UV3D USB cable with AC to 5 VDC adapter 2-Meter flexible J-Pole antenna w/BNC/PL-259/SMA adapters Mini-bud earphones External battery for cellphone – 9. 6-watt hours – 5VDC in/5VDC out Wall-wart power supply charger for Solar Generator 110/240 VAC in/15. 0 VDC out Transient voltage surge suppressor MFJ Model 281 ClearTone external 8-ohm 4” speaker 25-watt dummy load Extra 2m/440 whip antennas When building the case for the KX2 and the other items, I chose a hard-sided, oversized briefcase instead of a Pelican Box. I reasoned that I didn’t see the need for that order of protection with the way I operate on POTA activations. History may change my mind, but it has been more than adequate to serve my needs so far. I bought the case at Harbor Freight for $40. 00. It came with pre-sliced foam for the bottom and an acoustic-like foam rubber top panel. The precut foam made it easy to make exact-size cuts to insert my Solar Generator and the KX2. The divider strips came with breakable stops to make it easy to make custom-divided sections in the case. I made a door-like cut in the top panel, and with Velcro, it now serves as a storage area for my manuals and paperwork. The total weight is around 15 pounds when loaded. Most of that weight is attributed to the 200W Solar Generator, about 4 pounds alone. The internal KXBT2 Lithium-Ion battery pack In the KX2 provides 11 VDC @ 2. 6 Ah, giving you about 8 hours of operation. It slowly recedes in power as the voltage decreases. The Solar generator plugs into the DC input of the KX2. When the power is less from the Lithium-Ion battery than the... --- ### October POTA Activation October 15th - Mount Kearsarge > October's POTA activation will bring us back to Winslow State Park on the flanks of Mount Kearsarge. This park has a... - Published: 2023-10-07 - Modified: 2023-10-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/07/mount-kearsarge-pota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: POTA October's POTA activation will bring us back to Winslow State Park on the flanks of Mount Kearsarge. This park has a huge picnic area that we have used in the past . I've personally talked to the ranger in charge so she knows us and she loves hams! The plan is to meet at the Winslow trail parking area this is at the end of Winslow House road also known as Kearsarge Mountain rd In Warner at 11 am on October 15th . Here is a link to a map detailing the area. In addition the route is well signed from the highway to destination so it's an easy to follow drive. You'll also want to go to the NH State parks website to get a parking pass. Here is a link to The NH State Parks page where you can get that pass. In addition you'll want to bring a fleece jacket and rain jacket, bug spray, sun block and a picnic lunch if you'd like. Also bring your HT if you have one. We'll be at a higher altitude so you might like to get a few VHF/UHF contacts as well. typical POTA setup This is a POTA mentoring event so we will have multiple stations and antennas setup on different bands with a POTA coach at each one quite similar to a field day setup. If this is your introduction to POTA (Parks on The Air) fear not we can answer your questions and help you get on the air. All that's needed is a willingness to learn. You don't even need a ham radio license the coaches can be the control operator so bring an unlicensed friend! If you have a mobile rig we will be listening to the N1IMO network of repeaters and 146. 52 as well for chatting on our way up. If you have a GPS the physical address is 475 Kearsarge Mountain Rd. Wilmot, NH 03287. Make sure your GPS doesn't try to default to another town. There are multiple towns in the area with Kearsarge Mountain in the name . If you have any questions email me and I can send more detailed instructions. It would be a good idea to email me anyway so we can get an idea of how many people to expect. My email is activities@n1fd. org. Hope to see you at the Mount Kearsarge POTA! 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### Using My "Shack-In-A-Box" on a POTA Activation > Recently, I was asked not only how I made out during the Nashua Area Radio Society's Sep 3, 2023 Club POTA activation from... - Published: 2023-10-02 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/10/02/using-my-shack-in-a-box-on-a-pota-activation/ - Categories: Activities, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Portable, SOTA, Station Building Recently, I was asked not only how I made out during the Nashua Area Radio Society's Sep 3, 2023 Club POTA activation from Rollins State Park (K-2676) and Kearsarge Mountain State Forest (K-4918) (it’s a two-fer), but what the gear was that I used. So I decided to “pen” an article with some of the details. The Box Jay Francis, KA1PQK and I decided to put my go-box to the test in the field during this activation. It is an unassuming, little old “shack in a box”... although it is a large box... a large dayglow yellow box. So, maybe it isn’t all that little or unassuming after all. But I digress. My unassuming go-box (the name plate in the center came from HamCrazy. com) The go-box itself is built around Harbor Freight’s largest protective waterproof ABS case, the Apache 4800. Despite its size, the case lends itself to portability. I literally only need to grab it and my trusty modified Lenovo N23 Chromebook (more on that later) and head out the door. I’ve used this same model Apache case to ship photographic gear all over the country. It works exceptionally well at protecting my gear at roughly 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of a similar Pelican case. I like that, after all, I am a ham. The go-box contains everything else I will need for an activation in any mode... SSB, CW, or digital. Altogether, the go-box weighs in at around 8 pounds... light enough to easily deploy to most places, but heavy enough that I don’t want to hike with it for a SOTA activation. The Station The Radios The station itself is designed around a Xiegu G90 SDR Transceiver. The G90 is a 20w, all mode, 10-160m SDR radio with some incredible features for such a reasonably priced rig. It has a built-in antenna tuner that will match nearly anything you can throw at it, a (small but useful) waterfall display, DSP noise reduction, etc. The G90 is powered by a Talentcell rechargeable 12V 6000mAh Lithium-ion battery pack. While intended to charge cell phones via it’s 5v USB ports, the Talentcell has a very convenient 12v output port as well, and provides me with up to 2. 5 hours of operating at reasonable output power for the radio. For SSB, I use the stock Xiegu mic that came with the G90. Surprisingly, for a $450 rig, I have received several positive comments on audio quality! For CW, I use a CW Morse paddle. It is small, but hefty enough that it won't move around the table when I am using it. As the G90 requires additional hardware for digital interfacing, I use a Xiegu CE19 digital interface kit connected to a Raspberry Pi 4b to allow me to operate FT8, RTTY, and other digital modes. Finally, I have the Xiegu OEM CI-V USB cable that connects the radio to the Pi allowing for rig control and automatic frequency capture in the various software apps that I use. Xiegu radios use the ICOM CI-V protocols for rig control, which makes them (generally) easy to set up and use. The go-box also contains a QYT dual band mobile FM radio, powered by an external battery. However, we did not use this radio on the activation. The Antennas All the RF is forced out of the radio into an MFJ-1899T portable vertical (which also lives in the Apache case when stored). The antenna attaches at the back of the rig to a right-angle connector with a PL259-to-BNC adapter on it. I also have a premeasured and marked counterpoise connected to the G90’s ground point that I deploy to improve the signal. Jay brought his portable vertical setup as well. It’s an MFJ 2286 portable 7-55MHz antenna on a Husky telescoping tripod. We switched antennas from the 1899T to Jay’s 2286 roughly halfway through the activation. Although I don’t have any empirical data, and my memory is like that of a 130-year-old, I recall that Jay’s vertical worked quite a bit better. No surprise, given that the 1899T is a true compromise antenna. But it does make Q’s. View of the bottom of the go-box containing the radios and stored antenna. The Computer The Pi is powered separately from the radio’s power source by an Iniu 10,000 mAh 5v battery and can run for 6 or so hours on a single charge. As the Pi’s integrated audio hardware is insufficient for use with digital modes, I use an inexpensive Sabrent USB audio dongle which works nicely. For time synchronization, I either manually update the time on the Pi (as was the case on this POTA activation) or use a U-Blox USB GPS dongle connected to the Pi for a GPS time source. I did bring a new solar charger setup with me on this activation, but never deployed it. The Software The software on the Pi is a critical part of the entire solution, without which, the whole “shack in a box” concept goes out the window (ask me how I know this). At the base is the Raspberry Pi O/S, which I built from KM4ACK’s awesome Build-a-Pi solution. Although BAP is being replaced by 73 Linux, it is still an excellent quick deployment solution for a Raspberry Pi. The Pi contains a host of software applications that you would find in any shack, as well as some that are specifically EMCOMM related, and some that facilitate portable operation. I’ll go through what we used during the activation and leave the other details for a future article perhaps. The Pi also has a hot-spot solution that auto starts when no known network is detected. The hot-spot is the real key to the overall shack-in a box solution though... but more on that later. For rig control, FLRig is my go to – it allows FLDigi, WSJT, and my logging program, CQR Log, to have connectivity to the radio. When operating SSB or CW, I simply fire up CQR Log and it starts FLRig, which connects to the radio, and I am off to the races. If I am instead operating digital using WSJT or FLDigi,... --- ### What's Inside the Hy-Gain AV-640 Vertical Matching Unit Anyway? > The AV-640 is an 8-band antenna that, in addition to the WARC bands, adds 6m. Since I have not operated on the "magic band"... - Published: 2023-09-08 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/09/08/whats-inside-the-hy-gain-av-640-vertical-matching-unit-anyway/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured - Tags: Antennas With the exception of a 2m handheld and a temporary end-fed half-wave vertical for use on 20m in the IARU CW contest, I have been off the air since July 2020. After assessing the rocky soil in the backyard, I have come to the conclusion that ground radials won't be gobbled up by the lawn as they were by the St. Augustine Grass in Florida. That's when I decided to install a compromise antenna - one that does not require radials. Since I am apt to hang half-wave antennas for the top bands, I settled on the Hy-Gain AV-640. The AV-640 is an 8-band antenna that, in addition to the WARC bands, adds 6m. Since I have not operated on the "magic band" for many years, it's a nice bonus. The AV-640 arrived from the supplier in a box that was intact, but the first thing on the to-do list was to complete a parts inventory. That task was completed in, maybe, two hours. During that time, the parts, particularly small hardware, were separated into several Ziploc bags for easy identification later. It turned out that there were a few pieces of stainless hardware and mounting brackets missing, and MFJ, with help from DX Engineering, replaced them in record time. Encouraged by the quick replacements, I decided to perform one last check before installing the antenna. Like any good homebrew tinkerer, I decided to open the Matching Network, Figure 1, to see what was inside and to make certain that nothing was broken. My curiosity was rewarded. I found that two wires had broken, thereby, separating them from the printed circuit board. There was also a Ty-Rap normally looped through the circuit board to anchor the toroid cores that had snapped. MFJ gave me the choice of repairing the unit myself which would have required complete disassembly, or a replacement assembly. I chose the latter. Figure 1. Interior View of the Hy-Gain AV-640 Matching Unit. Please click on the image to enlarge it. A 1:1 current UNUN (right) for common mode rejection is followed by a 9T:20T autotransformer (left) for a turns ratio of 1:2. 22. The black and white wires are connected in series. The black wire is the so-called "common winding", while the white wire is the so-called "series winding". The circuit board traces can be seen from the top. The matching unit arrived damaged with a black and a white wire detached from the PCB. The points of damage are circled in white. The broken black wire should be soldered to the PCB within the toroid. A Ty-Rap had also snapped. The 1:1 current UNUN is visible to the right. Under "Theory of Operation" the AV-640 manual describes the matching unit as a "broadband RF transformer" in one sentence and later on as a "4:1 toroidal transformer (voltage balun)". Since the copper on the backside of the PCB is visible from the top, the wiring could be traced without removing the circuit card from the housing. What I saw was something that was a 1:1 stacked-core current UNUN for common mode rejection followed by a stacked-core autotransformer having a 9:20 turns ratio (in Figure 1, the broken black wire should loop through the toroid and be soldered to the PCB within the core I. D. ) The schematic of the matching unit is shown in Figure 2. The autotransformer has a 9-turn (common) primary and a 11-turn (series) secondary. The black primary (common) winding of 9-turns is in series with the white 11-turn (series) secondary winding to form a 9:20 turn autotransformer. The voltage turns ratio is 1:2. 22, whereas, the impedance transformation ratio goes as N2, or 1:4. 93. So, the autotransformer transforms 50 ohms to 247 ohms. A shortened radial ground plane, lowers the impedance at the antenna base. Figure 2. Hy-Gain AV-640 Matching Unit Schematic Diagram. Please click on the figure to enlarge it. A 1:1 current UNUN is followed by an autotransformer. Note that the left end of the UNUN is dotted. The coax shield is wound with the same sense as the center conductor to form a common mode choke. An autotransformer that follows transforms the impedance from 50 ohms to 247-ohms. Note that the left end of the autotransformer is dotted. The black and white windings are wound with the same sense. Point D is connected to point A to place the primary (common) winding in series with the secondary (series) winding. The antenna is placed at DC ground potential by an RF choke that serves to bleed static charge from the antenna. The autotransformer is AC-coupled to the antenna by a high voltage ceramic capacitor. The short (72" long) ground plane radials, depicted, lower the impedance at the antenna feed point to one that is more easily accommodated by the autotransformer. Please note that the ground return for the autotransformer and ground plane radial combination is brought back to the input connector via the common mode choke coax shield that is wound around the ferrite core. The 247-ohm impedance match at the antenna feed point is a compromise match for the 8 bands. As a practical consideration, a remote antenna tuner should be located as close to the matching unit as is practical to remove standing waves from the transmission line. We might also take a look at the voltages at the secondary of the autotransformer to see if they are reasonable. At 100W we expect to see 70. 7 Vrms (100 Vpeak) under matched conditions at the current UNUN input. If we multiply this by the 1:2. 22 voltage turns ratio, we have 157 Vrms (222 Vpeak) at the antenna terminal. These numbers increase somewhat for 1. 5 kW to 274 Vrms (387 Vpeak) and 608 Vrms (860 Vpeak), respectively. It has been shown previously that these numbers may degrade by as much as the square root of the VSWR. Thus, for a VSWR of 3:1, we might expect these numbers to increase by a factor of 1. 732, and so on. The lossy ferrite used in the UNUN and in the autotransformer places limits on the continuous (key-down) operation of this antenna.... --- ### September POTA/SOTA Activation Mount Kearsarge Sept 9th > Our next POTA activation is at Mount Kearsarge  on September 9th.  - Published: 2023-09-06 - Modified: 2023-09-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/09/06/september-pota-sota-activation-mount-kearsarge-sept-9th/ - Categories: Activities, Featured Hi all our next POTA activation is at Mount Kearsarge on September 9th. I was just here with Matt WE1H, Joe AC1LN, John N1PTX and a friend of Matt's . We were here to work on getting the most from our rigs with some antenna work. The plan is to meet at the Winslow trail parking area this is at the end of Winslow House road also known as Kearsarge Mountain rd. In Warner at 11 am . This is the Winslow State Park side of the mountain. The opposite side of the mountain from where we have operated in the past. I am expecting a bigger turnout and there is more room here for us. Here is a link to a map. This site is similar to Rollins State Park but is much bigger with a pavilion on site for a possible operating position if it starts raining. The ARRL September VHF contest start Saturday afternoon so even if all you have is an HT bring it and give it a try. And don't forget to bring a jacket, bug spray, sun block and some lunch . You will also want to visit the State of NH State parks website for a parking permit. You can follow this link to get yours. If you have any questions you can email me at activities@n1fd. org. Hope to see you on Saturday! 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### Fun with the Clear Sky Institute HamClock > That TV has been unused for 3 years, but it was earmarked for a HamClock. - Published: 2023-08-24 - Modified: 2023-08-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/24/hamclock/ - Categories: Featured, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Homebrew I haven't had the occasion to use any programming languages since retirement. That's why the addition of a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B to the shack was a welcome change. I like to think of the Raspberry Pi as just another computer - one that uses a different operating system. With the Raspberry Pi, I can browse the Internet, access email, and write and run programs. When I began to assemble a shack, I reserved a space on the wall for a 32" TV, Figure 1, which was purchased during a temporary rental stay. That TV has been unused for 3 years, but it was earmarked for a HamClock. Figure 1. Unused 32" TV Earmarked for HamClock. The TV was wall-mounted above the shack monitors. Please click on image to expand. I searched the N1FD site to see if anyone had written about HamClock, but no articles were found. The first article for HamClock, written by Elwood Downey, WB0OEW, appeared in October 2017 QST. In his article, he calls for the use of an Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266 Wi-Fi system-on-chip. That device was fastened to the back of a 7" TFT display. The version of HamClock that I built for use with the 32" HDTV employs the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, Figure 2, with 2 GB memory. The kit that I found on Amazon includes a 64 GB microSD card (with USB adapter) onto which the Raspberry Pi operating system had been preloaded. The kit also includes a plastic case with fan, little rubber feet, tiny screws to attach a camera, device heatsinks, a wall-wart power supply, a micro HDMI to HDMI cable, an instruction manual and various assembly instruction cards. The user has to provide their own USB mouse and keyboard. I already owned a wireless mouse and keyboard so I was able to use a single USB 2. 0 port on the Pi for the wireless adapter. If you already have a microSD memory card with USB adapter, power supply, mouse, keyboard and HDMI cable, you could get by with a Raspberry Pi Zero at one-fourth the price. Figure 2. Raspberry Pi 4 With Wireless Mouse and Keyboard. A single USB 2. 0 port on the Pi is used for the wireless adapter leaving 1 x USB 2. 0 and 2 x USB 3. 0 ports unused. Power and HDMI cables are visible. Please click on image to expand. If your Raspberry Pi does not come equipped with the operating system installed, you can download it from the official Raspberry Pi website and store it on a microSD card for installation provided that you have a USB to microSD card adapter. The Raspberry Pi site allows you to select an operating system and it allows you to specify where the operating system will be stored upon download: https://www. raspberrypi. com/software/ Please, follow the directions to install the operating system on your device. I noticed an ambiguity in the kit documentation regarding connection of the cooling fan to the Pi bus header. A tiny drawing, Figure 3, shows where the red and black leads should be connected, namely pins 1 and 14, respectively. The documentation should make it clear that the long header row that contains pin 1 contains all of the odd-numbered pins while the long header row that contains pin 14 contains all of the even-numbered pins. This makes it a bit easier to locate pin 14. Figure 3. Location of the Fan Voltage Pins. The long header row that contains pin 1 contains all of the odd-numbered pins while the long header row that contains pin 14 contains all of the even-numbered pins. Please click on image to expand. The instructions advise that the HDMI port closest to the DC power supply input be employed if only one monitor will be used. I was confused about the power supply connector. It may be plugged into the Pi upside down. However, I found that a bright flashlight can be used to look inside the power supply connector and inside the Pi power supply input jack to ensure that the conductive contacts face one another. If the connector has been plugged in correctly, some LED status lights on the Pi circuit card should illuminate once the inline DC power cord switch, Figure 4, has been turned on. This switch has to be used with caution. The operating system, if running, must be shut down prior to turning the DC power switch to the off position. Failure to do so could corrupt data stored in memory and on the microSD card. This is a minor weakness in the design. Figure 4. The Inline DC Power Switch. The operating system must be shut down from the Raspberry Pi menu icon on the taskbar before turning the DC power switch to the off position. Please click on image to expand. Two methods may be used to shut down the Raspberry Pi. There is a Raspberry icon that appears on the taskbar. One of the drop-down selections is to log out. Once selected, another dropdown appears that offers the choice to shutdown or reboot. There is a second method that permits shutdown from a terminal window, Figure 5, which may be opened from the taskbar. One need only enter the command: sudo shutdown -h now to close the operating system. A third option is to add a momentary switch to the Pi bus header. That may be used to assert a shutdown command for the operating system. I have not implemented that feature. Figure 5. Terminal Window. A terminal window may be opened from the Pi taskbar. Please click on image to expand. Once an unused HDMI input to the monitor or TV is selected, and the mouse, keyboard and HDMI cable are plugged in, the power switch in the supply power cord may be switched on. Within seconds the Raspberry Pi logo appears followed by a series of questions that include language and time zone. The operating system will also ask for access to WiFi. I found that WiFi was easier than connecting another Ethernet cable to the access point. Once WiFi is connected, the... --- ### August POTA/SOTA Activation Pack Monadnock August 19th - Published: 2023-08-14 - Modified: 2023-08-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/14/august-pota-sota-activation-pack-monadnock-august-19th/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General Before I start going on about Pack Monadnock I'd like to tell you a little about Mount Agamenticus in Maine which several of us activated on August 5th. Mount Agamenticus is a beautiful little monadnock or an isolated hill of bedrock that rises conspicuously above the surrounding terrain. Much like Mount Monadnock does in new Hampshire. It's just a short drive into Maine (just down the road from the outlets in Kittery if you want to kill two birds with one stone) and despite the annoying parking app you must download I feel it's worth your time to check out. Activating the mountain was a breeze. Jack WM0G , John N1PTX and I all set up in a shady area a short walk in the park. Unfortunately my phone died on me the previous day and I didn't think to ask my companions so I didn't get any pictures for you. We had beautiful if somewhat over warm weather. I didn't have any luck on that day but Jack and John were both making contacts. After struggling on 6 meters for a time I broke out my lunch and considered a short nap (it was that kind of a day) . I also had several interesting conversations with several people passing by wondering what we were up to. Our next SOTA/POTA will be this Saturday August 19th . Pack Monadnock is another destination that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up via the auto road. Pack also gives really good views of the surrounding countryside which definitely increases the appeal of this mountain. I’m planning on being on the summit at 11:00 am but I plan on being their most of the afternoon so don’t worry if you can’t make it till later . There is a scattering of picnic tables so don’t forget to pack a lunch. The mountains are getting very popular so I advise getting a parking permit ahead of time . Here is a link to get a permit. Jamey AC1DC making some POTA contacts If you’ve never been to Pack Monadnock travel west on 101 towards Peterborough. Miller State Park is on the right-hand side of the road across the street from the old Temple Mountain Ski area. Please leave a comment on the story so I have an idea of how many people are planning on attending. Hope to see you on Pack Monadnock 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### QRP In the Field > Interested in SOTA or POTA activating or just opertating QRP in the field? Here is some (hopefully) valuable information to help you learn m,ore about QRP operating and gear! Check it out and head into the field! - Published: 2023-08-02 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/08/02/qrp-in-the-field/ - Categories: CW and QRP, General - Tags: Portable, QRP Given that Summer is in full swing and SOTA/POTA activating or hunting seems to be on everyone’s mind, I figured that an article on QRP portable operation was in order. One disclaimer, however... I am not a vastly experienced QRP portable op... I’ve dabbled in it and seen lots of YouTube vids (I guess that does make me kind of an expert)... and I do operate QRP from time to time. And, like a good pack rat... I have collected a few QRP rigs and their associated bling that I like to use. A Little Background SOTA/POTA If you’re not familiar with SOTA, it stands for Summits On The Air, a “program” in which Hams go to summits and operate (It is kind of like the stricter, more formal cousin to the seemingly better known POTA or Parks On The Air). The SOTA web site at SOTA. org. uk describes SOTA as “an award scheme for radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas”. Both POTA and SOTA are typically done QRP, as QRP gear lends itself nicely to these activities... it’s lighter and more portable than an Icom 7300 or Yaesu FTdx10. Although many SOTA operators spend all kinds of time trying to lighten their packs with the smallest setups possible... I am not one of them. I always overpack for any hiking trip (or at least my traveling companions complain that I do). As far as radio is concerned, when I am out “portable”, I typically operate out of my truck so weight is not an issue, so all my stuff is gonna be heavier. Also, I like my summits to be accessible via car... not that I am lazy (although my wife may disagree with that statement), it just happens that a nice hike generally takes me a while and seriously cuts into my operating time. That being said, I do have a few fairly light rigs if I really want to slim things down. QRP I think everyone is familiar with QRP operating, but if not... QRP refers to the use of low power when transmitting, typically five watts or less. QRPp is used to describe sub 1 watt operation (I am not that hardcore, nor am I a masochist, so I generally stick with 5 watts). Despite the reduced power, QRP is actually a lot of fun and has many advantages over higher-powered setups (especially for operating in the field). Why Go QRP? Altoids Tim QRP One of the main benefits of QRP is its portability. Because the equipment required to transmit at low power is generally small and lightweight, it can easily be taken to the field (and a side benefit is it can easily be hidden from your spouse). With QRP gear, it's possible to operate from remote or rugged locations that might not be accessible with larger, more complex setups. Another advantage of QRP is its simplicity. QRP equipment is generally less complex than QRO setups, which means that it's generally easier to set up and use (as well as easier to afford). This makes it a great choice for field operation too. The transceivers are smaller and generally less expensive, tuners (if you use them) are smaller, and there are a host of CW keys that cater to the lightweight QRP crowd. These little gems can be as light as a few ounces. Since I don’t have the greatest dexterity in the world, I use a fairly large and hefty key... it weighs almost as much as each of my QRP rigs! Despite its size and weight, it fits nicely in my truck. Despite its lower power output, QRP can still provide excellent performance. I have noticed, in my completely non-scientific testing, that I have not yet failed to complete a single QRP QSO. Now mind you, it may, and generally does, take me longer to complete a QRP QSO than it does to complete one at 100, 500 or 1000 watts. Stands to reason. But, it has never failed me. However, I generally only operate either CW or FT8 when QRP, rarely SSB. So, keep that in mind. You do have to be patient though, and be mindful of who you are trying to QSO with. If you’re just on the air for some casual contacts or are activating a park or summit, you will likely do well and have fun. If you are trying to work a DX’pedition to a top 10 most wanted country, you might have some trouble making the QSO and experience what I once heard a Ham say about QRP... “with reduced power comes great frustration”. But, with the right attitude, QRP can be a lot of fun! QRP can be especially satisfying for those of us who enjoy the challenge of making long-distance contacts with minimal power... and it’s also fun to explain to your spouse the concept of dollars/mile when you want to pick up that new, “inexpensive” QRP gear. Gear and Such Obviously, when operating QRP in the field, you’ll not be bringing along your tower and yagis, or likely even your full-size multiband wire antennas. QRP operation in the field is generally about simplicity, ease of setup, and ensuring a low frustration quotient. Often wire verticals with a few radials are used in conjunction with a lightweight fiberglass mast, or, what seems to be more popular, is the use of End Fed Half Wave antennas (commonly called EFHW antennas). This is what I use. It is typically a ½ wavelength radiator connected to the radio, usually with a 9:1 or 49:1 transformer. For the more popular QRP bands (20, 30, and 40 Meters), it is a very manageable antenna. So this is a good time to talk about gear... that’s always fun, talking about gear (not as much fun as building or buying it and then using it though). Depending on what you want to do with QRP and where you want to operate, gear considerations can range from just a transceiver to an entire station. For those that want to operate QRP from home, you likely have what you need already! Most HF... --- ### Next POTA Activation Mount Agamenticus Maine August 5th - Published: 2023-07-29 - Modified: 2023-08-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/29/next-pota-activation-mount-agamenticus-maine-august-5th/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: Portable, SOTA Hi all our next SOTA/ POTA activation will be Mount Agamenticus in York Maine. A club member recommended this one to me. They have recently redone the parking areas at the base and up at the end of the auto road so i'm eager to check it out. here's a link for directions to Mount Aggy. on the right-hand column of that page, you will find a link to a map of Mount Aggy as well. Parking is a bit different in Maine. They may have a way of paying cash but the way they talk about it on the website is via an app on your phone called Pango. I'll try to get more info before the membership meeting on this. My plan is to meet at 11:00 at the parking area at the summit. I used street view and couldn't find picnic tables. But there was a lot of open space, So to have a comfortable spot to operate I would recommend bringing a folding chair and table to operate from. below is a pic i took of my operating position on Mount Kearsarge in June with my tripod for my antenna just in the corner of the pic. I will likely bring the same radio I used on Mount Kearsarge a qrp 6-meter rig. It was rough starting out but picked up later in the day. I will put a reminder in the forums once this story hits the website, Any cancellations resulting from dangerous weather conditions (which we have had a lot of lately) will be in the forums. It is the quickest way to disseminate information besides email which you can certainly send me and I will email you the latest information at activities@n1fd. org. Hope to see you on Mount Agamenticus! 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### Restoration of an Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter > Recently, I acquired an Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter found on eBay, one of my favorite sources for old test equipment... - Published: 2023-07-13 - Modified: 2023-07-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/13/restoration-of-an-agilent-53131a-frequency-counter/ - Categories: Featured, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew An enjoyable hobby is the restoration of vintage HP, Agilent, Tektronix and GenRad test equipment. In their day, these brands represented some of the finest U. S. engineering and manufacturing in the world, and two of them still do. What is common to all of them is the attention paid to ergonomics, product design and documentation. Each time I restore one of these instruments, I gain insight into what the design engineers and the product designers had in mind. Recently, I acquired an Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter found on eBay, one of my favorite sources for old test equipment. It is always a calculated risk because I never know for sure if whatever I have bought will arrive dead on arrival. Fortunately, eBay is very good about standing behind anything sold on their site that has been represented to be in good working order. They are unlike auction consolidators such as Allsurplus where everything is sold as is. Naturally, when the counter arrived, I subjected it to the obligatory smoke test. The result is shown if Figure 1. The counter completed its self-test routine and rewarded me with a series of dashed lines in the display. That was a good sign, and it was off to a good start. When I purchased the unit, I made a best offer, and it was accepted. The reason that I did that is because I noticed some minor irregularities in the unit. First of all, the display appeared to be dim in the photo, the likely result of running the counter for long durations for many years, maybe 30. The second thing that I noticed was the absence of the front and rear bumpers as well as a carrying handle. These, I am quite sure, were scavenged for resale on eBay. I have become quite used to that. Most of the instruments that I have restored were received minus their bottom and rear feet and in some cases their rack handles - a minor annoyance. I simply buy some and put them back on. Most often these counters are purchased for HF use and do not feature prescaler options to extend the frequency range. This counter was no different. It was also shipped with the standard low-stability clock oscillator. Figure 1. Agilent 53131A Frequency Counter, As Received. The display is dim but the unit passes self-test and enters ready mode. The unit was advertised and shipped without its front and rear bumpers as well as its carrying handle. The time base is a standard low-stability one, and there is no frequency extender option installed. Upon seeing the condition of the display, I looked at the power supply schematic and found the test points for VFD display bias. The voltages checked okay. That test having been completed; I ordered a new display on eBay from a seller in China. The old display was marked Japan, but I could not find any other suitable displays for sale other than one in a non-working counter being sold for parts only. I also looked for an inexpensive prescaler to install as an option. The one chosen works up to 3 GHz but others with higher division ratios were also available. This one provides accurate results for signals as low as -15 dBm, which is good enough for my purposes. There were many sources for the front and rear bumpers and the carrying handle on eBay. I likely bought my own back. All parts arrived in less than two weeks, which is about average for items ordered overseas that must pass through U. S. Customs. An initial test was run on the counter to make sure that it would arm and run. I used whatever signal source was closest for this test, in this case, an HP 3314A Function Generator. The setup is shown in Figure 2. Both units are out of calibration so, it can't be determined which is worse, the counter or the function generator. Figure 2. Counter, As Received, Measuring 18 MHz. The most convenient signal source for initial testing was a bench-top HP 3314A Function Generator. Both the counter and the function generator are out of calibration. It's difficult to know which is worse. The first part to arrive was the frequency prescaler. The only disassembly required for installation was the instrument top cover. I fastened the prescaler to the wall of the chassis on a pair of standoffs. The prescaler board was supplied with a coaxial cable for connection to a front panel SMA to BNC adapter and a ribbon cable for connection to the motherboard. The whole installation process was completed in an hour. The result is shown in Figure 3. The sensitivity of the prescaler was tested with a test signal of 2. 55 GHz, as this particular synthesizer won't tune much higher than that. The signal level was set to -10 dBm but the prescaler will provide stable counts for signals as low as -15 dBm. Figure 3. Prescaler Test. The prescaler was tested with an HP 8663A Synthesized Signal Generator set to 2. 55 GHz because it is the only microwave source available. A stable count is observed for power levels as low as -15 dBm. The front and rear bumpers as well as a carrying handle have been installed. Once the vacuum fluorescent display arrived, I began to tear down the counter to the level required to remove the front panel. This also permitted cleaning 30 years of grime from the enclosure and circuit cards. Figure 4 shows the teardown. Figure 4. Counter Teardown. The counter was disassembled using the assembly-level service guide. The power supply and motherboard remain in place. Only the front panel required removal. Figure 5 provides a closer view of the front panel PCB and the old display. The new display is in the foreground. While the two displays are functionally the same, they have completely different layouts and are of different manufacture. Figure 5. Close-up of the Front Panel and Vacuum Fluorescent Displays. While the displays look alike and possess the same pin-outs, they are entirely different designs. The old display was removed from the front panel... --- ### Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna - Part I > A common impedance matching problem is that of matching a 50 ohm transmitter to a shortened non-resonant antenna. Examples of non-resonant... - Published: 2023-07-06 - Modified: 2023-08-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/06/matching-antenna-part-i/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas Matching to the Complex Load Impedance of a Shortened, Non-Resonant Antenna - Part I Introduction A common impedance matching problem is that of matching a 50 ohm transmitter to a shortened non-resonant antenna. Examples of non-resonant antennas are the 23-foot (7. 01m), and the 43-foot (13. 1m) backyard vertical antennas. These antennas have something in common. They exhibit high capacitive reactance. It is hoped that this multi-part article will provide the reader with the tools necessary to contend with this common antenna matching problem. Part II of this article will discuss impedance matching to a 43-foot backyard vertical antenna using a 1:1 UNUN and an autotransformer. The high voltages developed in these matching networks will be the subject of Part III of this article. Example 1: 23-Foot Backyard Non-Resonant Vertical Antenna A 23-foot backyard vertical with numerous radials exhibits an impedance of 19. 79 - j631. 9 ohms at 3. 6 MHz at its base. For this exercise, we don't care about the number of radials, conductor losses, ground losses, and reflected power that all figure into efficiency. All we care about is matching to this complex impedance. Unmatched VSWR Let's calculate the unmatched VSWR at the base of our 23-foot backyard vertical before we apply matching techniques. The load impedance that must be matched is assumed to be The source impedance of the transmitter is given by To calculate VSWR, we need to relate these two complex quantities to the magnitude of the reflection coefficient, Those of us who own nanoVNAs have become used to the term S11, which is the input voltage reflection coefficient. By definition This is a complex number that has to be rationalized before its magnitude can be found. We should begin by combining terms where possible. VSWR: Method I - Rectangular Form Rationalize the denominator. Like terms are combined to find the reflection coefficient. The magnitude of the reflection coefficient is obtained from Finally, the VSWR is computed from The VSWR is 406:1 due to the high value of capacitive reactance. VSWR: Method II - Polar Form As before, and after combining terms, we begin with and let By dividing Z1 by Z2, we obtain Notice that when the angle is moved from the denominator to the numerator, the sign changes. We may stop here since we already have what we need or, for the exercise, we may convert back to rectangular form using the Euler identity and arrive back at the same place. Rectangular and polar forms lead to the same result. The high VSWR is due to the high value of capacitive reactance of the unmatched load impedance. Matching Techniques When faced with problems like these, it is often easier to break the problems down into more manageable steps. How to match the real part of the load impedance was the subject of an earlier paper but let's review the procedure for this case. We begin by inspecting the impedance to see what we can learn about it. The real part is 19. 79 ohms. This resistance, RL, is smaller than the real 50 ohm transmitter impedance, RS. If we were to use a simple LC matching network, an L-network, we can see from Figure 1 that there are four possible topologies: two low-pass topologies and two high-pass topologies. Notice that the low-pass topology is capable of conducting DC from input to output. This is not possible with the high-pass topology that blocks DC with a series capacitor. We begin by picking the low-pass topology in Figure 1(b) for which RS > RL. Figure 1. L-Matching Network Topologies. Source and load impedances are real. Reproduced under CC BY-NC by permission from Michael Steer, North Carolina State University. It is instructive to work through low-pass and high-pass topologies to illustrate how these problems are solved. It is important to note that all of these solutions result in an impedance match for a narrow band of frequencies. If multi-band operation is required, the use of multiple matching networks or the use of an antenna tuner (preferably a remote one) will be necessary. Other matching techniques are possible, such as center loading and top loading but we will limit the discussions in Part I, Part II, and Part III to base loading. Example 1: Low-Pass Topology We begin by writing down what we know, Step 1 We set the imaginary part of the load impedance, ZL, to zero for Step 1 of the solution. We will revisit the reactive part in Step 2 of the solution. Thus, We make use of Figure 1(b) to compute the unloaded Q for the L-matching network and where Substituting, we have Also, At 3. 6 MHz, the matching network inductance is and the matching network capacitance is Step 2 Our matching solution is incomplete until we cancel the remaining part of the load impedance that we ignored earlier, i. e. , the imaginary part of the load impedance, -j631. 9 ohms, must be canceled to achieve a match. The secret to achieving a match is in finding a value of inductance that resonates with the capacitive reactance. Once completed, the series combination of load capacitance and added resonant inductance will result in zero reactance at the resonant frequency. We remember that for series resonance, ignoring any losses in the inductor and capacitor, the LC resonant pair looks like a short circuit at the design frequency. That's exactly what we want - we want the load capacitance and the additional inductor to look like zero ohms at resonance. Of course, real inductors have series resistance due to the wire and capacitors have dielectric losses but for this exercise, we assume that they do not. Thus, at resonance we have where C is the capacitance equivalent to the complex part of the load impedance, not the matching network, C', in units of Farads. Thus, The value, L'', is added to L'. This will result in a new value for the L-matching network inductor, L''' We don't have to add the two together, and it may be easier to think about what each of the inductances does if we leave them as separate components. This matching... --- ### Temporary 20m EFHW Vertical Installation > A collection of single-band, matched, end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antennas was constructed while I was living in FL. - Published: 2023-07-02 - Modified: 2023-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/07/02/20m-efhw-vertical/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas, HF I've been off the air since moving back to NH in 2020. Since the landscaping has not been completed on the property, it has been impossible to install the radials for a 6-BTV vertical. Radials don't fare well under the treads of a Bobcat. A collection of single-band, matched, end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antennas was constructed while I was living in FL. All of these antennas underwent testing on an antenna range consisting of three 10m tall masts spaced 70 ft apart. These antennas were matched with L-networks. The test results were reported in a separate article. Seeing that July 4th weekend was approaching, I was eager to get on the air for a few days before the landscaper arrived. I decided on a 20m EFHW vertical that makes use of some of the guy ropes that were prepared for FL antenna testing. Figure 1 shows the installation of the 12. 5m high telescoping fiberglass mast. The mast is anchored with a tilt-over base mounting plate described in a separate article. Guying is provided at two levels. The guying radius is 25 ft. Guy anchoring is accomplished with polycarbonate Orange Screws. While these anchors work well in FL sand, they do not work quite as well in rocky New England soil. I managed to snap one of them off in the process of screwing it into the ground. My favorite knot for adjusting the guy rope tension is the taut-line hitch. I used the taut-line hitch on the FL antenna range for three weeks, and the anchor screws came loose before any of the taut-line hitches did. Figure 1. 20m L-Network Matched EFHW Vertical. The wire antenna and matching network is fastened to the fiberglass mast with rubber bongo ties. The mast height is 12. 5m (41 ft). Base anchoring is accomplished with a hinged, tilt-over base mounting plate that was described in another article. Please click on the photo to enlarge it. The antenna counterpoise consists of a 3 ft (~ 1m) section of outer coax shield, Figure 2. A line choke is inserted after this 3 ft section of coax to terminate the counterpoise. The remainder of coax to the shack is made up of a 40 ft long section of RG-8X. Figure 2. Matching Network, Coaxial Shield Counterpoise and Line Choke. The matching network was designed for 14. 1 MHz. Since the matching network has a wide bandwidth, the antenna wire was cut slightly longer to resonate at the very bottom of the CW band. Please click on the photo to enlarge it. A Smith Chart is plotted in Figure 3. It shows that the antenna match over the entire band is well within the 2:1 VSWR circle. Figure 3. Smith Chart for 20m L-Matched EFHW Antenna. A match better than 2:1 match is achieved over the entire 20m band. The antenna wire was cut longer to provide the best match at 14. 025 MHz. Please click on the photo to enlarge it. The VSWR performance is plotted in Figure 4. The matching network consists of a lowpass L-network consisting of a series inductor followed by a shunt coaxial capacitor. The antenna wire has been cut to resonate at 14. 025 MHz since I enjoy operating in the bottom 50 kHz of the 20m CW band. It's not that the VSWR performance was that bad but I just could not understand why the antenna wasn't achieving a near-perfect 1:1 match. I turns out that the residual mismatch is in the Polyphaser lightning arrestor located in the service entrance panel. Figure 4. 20m VSWR Plot. The L-matching network exhibits wide bandwidth and good efficiency. The antenna wire is cut to resonate at the very bottom of the CW band where I like to operate. The match is very good but not perfect. This was due to the residual VSWR in the lightning arrestor located in the service entrance panel. Please click on the photo to enlarge it. I operated a simple station consisting of an ICOM 718 at 100W to make three consecutive CW contacts with French stations. The next three days should produce some interesting DX. References Blustine, Martin, Highly Efficient L-Matching Networks for End-Fed Half-Wave Antennas, June 11, 2022. https://www. n1fd. org/2022/06/11/l-matching-networks/ Blustine, Martin, Tilt-Over Bases for Antenna Masts That You Can Build, June 30, 2022. https://www. n1fd. org/2022/06/30/tilt-over-bases/ https://www. orangescrew. com/ --- ### Junes POTA/SOTA Saturday June 10th and May's POTA learnings - Published: 2023-06-10 - Modified: 2023-06-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/06/10/junes-pota-sota-saturday-june-10th-and-mays-pota-learnings/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: Portable Hi I before I talk about June's SOTA/POTA I want to say a few things about May's. IT was buggy in every sense of the word. I met Matt WE1H at Mount Kearsarge last month for the club's first SOTA. POTA activation of the year. My battery was giving me issues, and Matt's radio was giving him issues. Matt let me borrow an extra battery and resolved his radio issue. So we are good to go, right? Wrong a throng of hungry black flies descended on us. We made the call pretty quickly that we couldn't deal with them as neither of us remembered bug spray. So while we both were bummed out about driving all the way over there for nothing we did learn a few important lessons. First, if you haven't fired up that portable rig in a while. Give it a test and work out the bugs Jamey AC1DC's operating position on Mt. Kearsarge. before heading out to operate portable. Iron out any battery or radio issues at home before you set up an antenna in the wild. This is a good time to check and make sure you have all the crazy RF adapters you might need for that portable rig too! And let's not forget bug spray, head net, and a hat to keep the bugs off you. Ok, with that out of the way for June's activation, we will be back at Kearsarge. It's really a great place to activate. The plan for Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the picnic grounds at the end of the auto road Saturday at 11:00. I should be there till at least 4 so don't worry if you can't make it for 11:00 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, the ARRL June VHF Contest starts at 2:00 local 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! PS Don't forget to go to the state park website for a parking pass! It's early in the season so you shouldn't have a problem with them letting you up, but do you really wanna take the chance? 73′ Jim K1BRM --- ### Join Us for Summer 2023 Field Day on June 24th and 25th! - Published: 2023-06-05 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/06/05/join-us-for-summer-2023-field-day-on-june-24th-and-25th/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General - Tags: Field Day Nashua Area Radio Society is holding an in-person Field Day operation at Hudson Memorial School at the end of June. Here’s some more on our plans for Field Day 2023. Stations and Antennas for Field Day 2023 We will be a 3A Station with the following radios available for members to use: • 20m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital) • 10m/40m HF Station (All Mode, can do SSB Phone, CW, or FT8/FT4 Digital) • 15m/80m 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) Field Day 2023 Site Layout Hudson Memorial School, Hudson, NH FD 2023 Layout Plans include a 40’ tower with a Triband Yagi and Wire Antennas to Cover 80m – 10m. We will also have a 6m - 5 element Yagi – antenna up around 20 feet. 6 meter yagi There will be a training session on our Stations and other Field Day fun on Saturday, June 24th starting at 12:30 pm. Training will cover: • Operating in any mode from out IC 7300 radios • Using N1MM+ to log your QSOs Field Day Operations will begin at 2 pm on Saturday, June 24th, and go for 24-hours ending at 2 pm on Sunday, June 25th. We will take down our station beginning at 2 pm on Sunday. Sign-Up To Operate! Members can sign up to operate on Field Day here. Signup sheet The spreadsheet on Google Sheets has time slots for each station and also tabs along the bottom with propagation predictions for each time window and bands that are open. You can use this feature to help you select a good time to operate and know which band will be best for that time. Propagation tabs 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 Stations and have fun operating. Field Day Tech Night NARS has had past Tech Night sessions to provide training on how to operate at Field Day. Club members can view the videos and training presentations for these sessions on our Tech Night Page. Next week on Tuesday June 13th, 2023, the Field Day Committee will present topics of interest about Field Day for this year. Links to the Zoom can be found on N1FD. Org 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 Hudson Memorial School during Field Day. Noon into the evening on Saturday, June 24th, and Sunday morning, June 25th, 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 on the athletic field at HMS. We have tents for shelter for our stations and gear and canopies for shelter from the sun or rain. There is ice, water, and other drinks to stay hydrated along with light snacks. A porta-potty is also available. FD Tents Though not required, we do encourage operators to bring their own IC-7300 compatible headsets or CW paddles with them and we can assist with setting them up. If you have any questions about Field Day, please post them as part of this thread or email us at fd@n1fd. org. We hope that you’ll join us for Field Day! Links to some recent Field Day articles Hands On Tower and Beam Antenna Training for 2022 Field Day (n1fd. org) Nashua Area Radio Society Field Day 2022 (n1fd. org) Getting Ready for Summer Field Day 2023 (n1fd. org) We look forward to seeing you there. 73, The NARS Field Day Team --- ### First SOTA/POTA of 2023 May7th Mount Kearsarge > 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... - Published: 2023-05-01 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/05/01/first-sota-pota-2023-mount-kearsarge/ - Categories: Activities, General, On The Air - Tags: On The Air, SOTA 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. 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 Anita AB1QB and Curtis N1CMD SOTA operating --- ### RFSim99 for Circuit Simulations > Out of curiosity I recently downloaded a copy of RFSim99[1], authored by Stewart Hyde, to see what it could do and how easy it was to use... - Published: 2023-04-23 - Modified: 2023-04-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/04/23/rfsim99-for-circuit-simulations/ - Categories: Featured, General Introduction Out of curiosity I recently downloaded a copy of RFSim99, authored by Stewart Hyde, to see what it could do and how easy it was to use. It runs as a standalone app. This is a very old program and much to the credit of the Gordon Hudson, AD5GG, an extracted version seems to run on Windows 11 in compatibility mode for Windows XP. There were some posts online about how some of the user interface buttons would not appear until hovering the mouse over where the buttons should appear. Another quirk had to do with plots not appearing after the simulation button was pressed. I encountered both of these quirks when I first installed the application, particularly after I had run my first simulation. After unzipping the program for a second or third time, I ran a Sample File from the Open file menu. It ran with no problem whatsoever. Next, I created a circuit model of my own, saved it and ran a simulation. This time everything worked and continues to work, as it should. If all else fails, you could try to alter the compatibility settings that may be found under Properties by right clicking the RFSim99 icon. I changed the settings to a later version of Windows XP. It is a good idea to save all circuit model files in a folder apart from the app in the event the program file folder has to be overwritten. This application is highly intuitive and can be up and running in minutes. If you wish to rotate or flip a component, all you do is selected it and hit the space bar. The easiest way to correct an error is to select the mistake and hit delete on the keyboard. Three simulations are the subject of this article; a 40m L-matching network for an EFHW antenna, a 2nd harmonic optimized lowpass filter and a Butterworth bandpass filter. These demonstrate different plotting features that are available in RFSim99; Smith Chart plots and rectangular plots, respectively. This simulation app is very useful because it can return a full set of S-parameter results. We can derive anything and plot everything from the data set. Simulation of a 40m L-Matching Network for EFHW Antennas I decided to begin by running a simulation on a 40m L-matching network. These networks were the subject of an earlier article. The matching network to be simulated is shown in Figure 1. A 50-ohm source drives an L-matching network that employs a lowpass topology. It is lowpass because the inductor is in series, and it will pass DC from input to output. A match from 50-ohms to 2450-ohms is required to match the high end impedance of an End-Fed Half-Wave (EFHW) antenna. Many of you will recognize this impedance transformation as being equivalent to the transformation performed by a 1:49 transformer. The design frequency used for the L-matching network was 7. 15 MHz. Figure 1. A 40m L-Matching Network. The lowpass topology is designed to match a 50-ohm transceiver to the 2450-ohm end impedance of an EFHW antenna at 7. 15 MHz. The lowpass topology can be identified by the series inductor that can pass DC from input to output. Please note that there is a shunt capacitive element closest to the load. That means that this network is capable of transforming a higher load impedance down to a lower source impedance. The results of the simulation are plotted using the Smith Chart option shown in Figure 2 that is available from a pull-down menu after running the simulation. The Smith Chart is simply a rectangular plot of real (resistance) and imaginary (reactance) values that has been cleverly constructed so that the reactance axes at infinity in the complex plane touch at the right hand side of the chart. It is an ingenious way of plotting axes that are infinite on a single sheet of paper. In order to do this the real resistance axis becomes more compressed to the right hand side of the chart, too. If you are not familiar with Smith Charts, all of the values on the chart have been normalized to unity at the center of the chart. That makes it possible to use the chart to represent different characteristic impedances including 50-ohms. To get the final answer, we just multiply the number or numbers on the chart by the characteristic impedance. There is a cursor-slider on the bottom of each plot in RFSim99 that reads out the cursored values to the left and right sides of the chart. That is why there are no numbers displayed on the Smith Chart, itself. Figure 2 consists of three plots at three different frequencies, 7. 0 MHz, 7. 15 MHz and 7. 3 MHz, respectively. Since our antenna is too short at 7. 0 MHz, the plot at a) exhibits capacitive reactance of ~14-ohms. At b) for the design frequency of 7. 15 MHZ the antenna length is resonant and nearly zero reactance is exhibited. At c) for 7. 3 MHz the plot exhibits inductive reactance of ~14-ohms because the antenna is too long. Please note that the impedances and admittances displayed to the left of each plot correspond to the position of the cursor. The series and parallel equivalent circuit values are displayed to the right of each plot. Figure 2. Smith Chart Plots of L-Network Impedance. The upper half of the Smith Chart plots inductive reactance while the lower half of the chart is capacitive reactance. The horizontal axis plots resistance with 50-ohms at the center of the chart. Please note where the cursor is and where the impedances are displayed to the left of each plot. At a) for frequencies below the design frequency the antenna is too short, and the trace exhibits capacitive reactance. At b) the design frequency the reactance is nearly zero. At c) for frequencies above the design frequency of 7. 15 MHz the antenna is too long, and the trace exhibits inductive reactance. Simulation of a 2nd Harmonic Optimized Lowpass Filter Ed Wetherhold, W3NQN, provided the filter prototype values for 2nd Harmonic Optimized Lowpass filters in his paper published... --- ### Interpreting S-Meter Readings > Most communication receivers and transceivers have S-meters, either analog or digital. What do S-meter readings mean... - Published: 2023-04-11 - Modified: 2023-04-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/04/11/interpreting-s-meter-readings/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Education and Training Introduction Most communication receivers and transceivers have S-meters, either analog or digital. We also know that there is a 50-ohm coaxial connector on the back of most receivers. What do S-meter readings mean in terms of the 50-ohm receiver input? High Frequency (HF) < 30 MHz and Very High Frequency (VHF) > 30 MHz receivers work to different input signal level conventions. In other words, and to confuse matters, an S9 for HF is not the same as S9 for VHF. Nearly 100 years ago, it was decided that S9 should be 50 uV at the receiver input. However, no input impedance was specified. A signal level of S9 was meaningless until the voltage level was standardized to 50 ohms by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) some 50 years later. Different voltage levels at the receiver inputs were adopted at that time for HF and VHF. While S-meter readings are useful for signal reporting and logging, it is important to remember that S-meter readings are not perfectly linear, and linearity differs from receiver to receiver. It may depend a great deal upon receiver settings. HF Receivers Suppose that an HF receiver is displaying a signal of S9. We are told that this signal level is defined as a voltage of 50 uV (50 microvolts) at the 50-ohm receiver input connector. This does not tell us what the signal power is incident on the antenna because we do not know what the antenna gain is, what mismatches there are, and what any other gains or losses might be. We only know that a 50 uV signal is present at the receiver input and that the receiver is displaying S9. If we perform a little calculation, we arrive at the power level at the receiver input connector. To convert this signal power to milliwatts (mW), we divide by 1E-03 or 0. 001 since a mW is 1/1000 of a Watt. There is another way to do this if we know that there are 1E+03 mW in a Watt. We can use dimensional analysis to arrive at the right answer. We may now convert this value in mW to dBm. So, a signal of S9 is equivalent to a signal power level of -73 dBm into a 50-ohm input. Example 1 Bearing this in mind, what would the power level of a signal be for an S-meter reading of S1 in units of dBm? The signal level at S1 is 8 S-units lower. If each S-unit adds or subtracts 6 dB by convention, a signal of S1 would be 48 dB lower than S9. Subtracting 48 dB, the signal at S1 would be -121 dBm. Example 2 Suppose we are told that the signal input to the receiver reads S9+10 dB (10 dB over S9). What would the signal into the receiver be in units of uV? We know that a signal voltage level of S9 is 50 uV into the 50-ohm receiver input. We already know that the signal power level of S9 is -73 dBm. Thus, if we add 10 dB, the signal power level would be -63 dBm (less negative). All that is left is to convert this power level back to uV. Let's convert this -63 dBm input signal level to mW. In order to do this, we must take the antilog of the input signal level. Next, let's convert mW to Watts by dividing by 1000 Finally, we convert to Volts using the formula We can convert Volts to uV by multiplying by 1E+06 Since the impedance level for the 50 uV and the 158. 3 uV input signals are both 50 ohms, we can check the result to see if it is 10 dB higher than our S9 signal of 50 uV. We notice that the 50-ohm impedance cancels when we take the ratio of the two power levels in Example 3 What is the 50 uV signal in dBuV? Receiver specifications are frequently written this way. VHF Receivers VHF uses a different standard for S9, notably –93 dBm (5 uV) into a 50-ohm receiver input. A value of 6 dB still represents 1 S-unit. All of the calculations are similar to those for HF receivers. Example 4 Prove that 5 uV is equivalent to an input signal level of -93 dBm into a 50-ohm VHF receiver input. Again, there are several ways to proceed. Let's begin by converting 5 uV to Volts. We can convert this to power Convert to mW by multiplying by 1000 We convert to dBm using Example 5 Convert the 5 uV signal to dBuV Conclusions The reference levels for S9 are defined differently for HF and VHF receivers. In this article, it has been shown how one would convert between voltage and power levels at 50-ohm receiver inputs. When discussing S-units, some receivers are more linear than others, and linearity may depend upon receiver settings. Nonetheless, S-units are useful for signal reporting and logging because everyone agrees on the same standards. Title Photo Credit: Photo of Ten-Tec Orion S Meter, author: Martin Ewing. Public Domain, https://commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? curid=1575140 --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society at HMS STEM Night on March 13th > Dan Pooler (AC1EN), a teacher at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson (HMS) and a Nashua Area Radio Society member, worked with the school... - Published: 2023-03-29 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/29/nashua-area-radio-society-at-hms-stem-night-on-march-13th/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Education and Training, Field Day, Fox Hunting, High Altitude Balloon, ISS, NARS Event, Youth Outreach Dan Pooler (AC1EN), a teacher at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH, and a Nashua Area Radio Society member, worked with the school and other NARS members to present an exhibit to students and their families promoting HAM Radio and highlighting some of the activities of our club to them. Dan reported that "STEM Night at HMS was a big success. HMS Steam Night We had over 100 5-8th graders attend the HMS STEM Night, with over 400 people attending the event. Students and their families could watch SubZero Ice Cream demonstrate how they created ice cream, learn how pickles are made, program robots, shoot off Alka Selzer Rockets, make math art, and play games with family and friends along with visiting the NARS booth. " Lining up for HAB Exhibit Fred Kemmerer (AB1OC): shown here explaining aspects of our High-Altitude Balloon activities to some students. Anita Kemmerer (AB1QB), Mackenzie Pooler (KE1NZY), and Sam Hergenhahn (KC1PVZ) also participated at the event . This big Dan Pooler (on the left) at the High-Altitude Balloon exhibit. Morse Code Exhibit NARS Exhibits at Hudson Memorial School STEM Night Our exhibits included: A Fox Hunting display A remote HF Radio Station, where students heard amateur radio operators from Australia, Greece, Lebanon and other countries. An ISS /Satellite exhibit including a Raspberry-Pi based video of the HMS ISS contact video, A Morse Code display with keys and practice exercises. A High-Altitude Balloon display Remote HF Radio Station Special thanks and appreciation to NARS Vice President Jamey Finchum (AC1DC), who worked with Dan and the school to plan NARS' participation in the event. . Thanks also to Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) Kemmerer, who graciously took the time to provide the displays and attend and share their love of the hobby with the students and their families. HMS Principal Keith Bowen told me in an email after the event, “It was great having your group participate in our STEAM night. Students and families enjoyed their experiences. ” Hudson Memorial School will also be the location for NARS Summer Field Day 2023. Please check the forums on n1fd. org for updated info. SUMMER FIELD DAY WEEKLY PLANNING MEETING THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 7:00 PM - Nashua Area Radio Society (n1fd. org) --- ### Astron SS-30M Power Supply Meter LED Retrofit > The Astron SS-30M is a popular metered, switching power supply rated at 30 A.This article discusses the replacement of incandescent bulbs.. - Published: 2023-03-14 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/14/astron-ss-30m-power-supply-meter-led-retrofit/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew Introduction The Astron SS-30M is a popular metered, switching power supply rated at 30 A. It is commonly used to power 100W radios. In spite of a ubiquitous changeover to LED illumination, Astron persisted in using incandescent illumination in their power supply meters until a few years ago. This article discusses the replacement of incandescent bulbs in power supply metering with LED illumination. Caution. Before proceeding with any disassembly, verify that the line cord has been unplugged from the power supply, or from the wall outlet. There is no isolation transformer in these switching supplies, so it is particularly dangerous. The cover is fastened with Torx screws to prevent tampering. Procedure Upon opening an older Astron SS-30M power supply, it was discovered that the meter scale backlighting bulbs could not be replaced without meter disassembly. That got me thinking about whether I could install my own incandescent bulbs or LEDs to replace what was inside the meter housings. When I checked the Astron website, I found that retrofit circuit boards to backlight these meters were being offered for $3 each. The boards come complete with integral, white, surface-mounted LEDs, integral dropping resistors, and wiring pigtails. I immediately ordered two of them. This was a lot easier than retrofitting the old circuit boards with new LED bulbs and dropping resistors. Meter disassembly is shown in Figure 1. The meters may be removed with their wiring harnesses and connectors intact. No desoldering is required to remove the meters from the next higher assembly. It is suggested that one of the harnesses and its mating connector be marked so that identification is easier during reassembly. The meters are held to the power supply face with four spring clips (shown). These must be removed before the meters can be removed from the power supply face. Once the meters have been removed, the two screws that clamp each of the meters faces to the meter cases are removed (shown). Then, the meter faces may be swung upward to expose the meter movements. Care should be taken during this operation to remove any epoxy, RTV or plastic cement from the seam that holds the front face of the meter to the plastic meter housing. This may be done with a sharp blade. Once removed, each of the meter faces is set aside with its matching meter movement. Figure 1. Astron SS-30M Power Supply Meter Disassembly. Take care when disassembling the meters so that the meter needles aren't bent. Pair the meter scales with the correct meter movements. The current meter is to the left and the voltage meter is to the right. If an incorrect meter scale is paired with the wrong meter movement, one of the meter harnesses will not be long enough to reach the correct chassis connector. The next step is to remove the meter scale. It is fastened to the meter movement with two small screws. I grasped both sides of the meter scale with one hand while removing these screws with a jeweler's screwdriver to prevent the scale from moving and damaging the meter needle. Once the meter scale has been removed, the internal meter movement and backlight bulbs are visible. The backlight bulb printed circuit board is held to the meter case with one small screw. This screw is removed with a jeweler's screwdriver. Again, take care not to damage the meter needle. Next, the printed circuit board is pulled up and away from the meter movement without touching the needle. Once out of the meter movement, the wires that power the board are snipped close to the old circuit board to leave the pigtails connected to the meter housing. The polarity of the lamp wiring is evident from the wire colors outside the meter case. In my supply, pink is used for the positive lead and black for the negative lead. After stripping the insulation from the pigtails and tinning them, the new LED circuit boards were installed. A short length of very fine shrink tubing was slipped over each of the pigtails that had been soldered to the new circuit board at the factory. Next, the old pigtails were soldered to the new pigtails by paying close attention to the polarities. The pigtails on the retrofit are red and black. Once soldered, the shrink tubing is slipped over each splice to prevent any chance of a short circuit between the meter circuit and the lighting circuit. Don't heat gun the shrink tubing without protecting the meter movement. If the tubing is small enough, it may not be necessary to shrink the tubing at all. Next, it was time to install the new circuit board in the rear meter housing. Care should be taken to protect the meter needle from the spliced leads when the board is installed with one screw. Once installed, any extra wire may be stuffed underneath the circuit board with a pair of long needle nose pliers. Finally, the meter face is swung down over the rear meter housing, and the meter face is fastened to the rear meter housing with the original screws. Once the meters have been reinstalled with the spring clips that hold the meters to the front panel, reconnect the meter wiring harnesses to the correct chassis connectors. The next step is to fasten the top cover to the power supply with four Torx screws. Once closed up, an AC power cord may be connected and the supply may be powered up. If everything has been wired correctly and the wiring harnesses have been plugged into the correct sockets on the chassis, the meters should be illuminated with bright white light and the voltage meter should read what the supply was set to prior to disassembly. See Figure 2. Figure 2. Astron SS-30M LED Meter Backlight Retrofit Completed. The OEM incandescent meter bulbs have been replaced with OEM LED bulbs supplied as a replacement part by Astron. It appears as though the left meter is illuminated by different color LEDs. That is not an artifact. When I checked my newer LED illuminated supply meters, the color and brightness were not a perfect match. References: Astron... --- ### Getting Ready for Summer Field Day 2023 > NARS 2023 Field Day preparations are beginning now. Field Day has been a very important part of our club and we have done well/... - Published: 2023-03-05 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/05/getting-ready-for-summer-field-day-2023/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day What is Field Day 2023 Field Day is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill, and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933 and remains the most popular event in ham radio. ARRL Field Day is always held on the 4th full weekend in June. NARS 2023 Field Day preparations are beginning now. Field Day has been a very important part of our club and even though it is not a competition, we have had top results for many years. Our club call sign is N1FD, we often use these phonetics for it: Number One Field Day. In 2021 the ARRL and NARS got together to promote Field Day and we were on the cover of QST magazine. Field Day Cover Here is an article about last year's Field Day to give you a better idea about the event. Field Day can be a complex project. Field Day provides clubs with a number of opportunities. The obvious is to have a chance for members to gather and operate together. The event also provides a chance for members to participate in a complex group project. Some of us had experience with projects of similar complexity in our careers but others never did. Working together collaboratively on a project like this is a good basis for friendship and memories of the shared experience are long-lasting. From the initial planning until the last piece of equipment is returned to storage this is a team effort. Team effort Building Skillsets in the Club. One of our goals as a club is to build a skill set within the club that persists as members move in and out of active participation in these activities. We have members this year who have years of past experience doing this and others for whom this is their first exposure to it. Members who were prime contributors a few years ago may no longer participate. After this Field Day, we will have a new core of experienced members who can handle these tasks and share their own experiences to mentor the new members who will follow them. We strive to build a culture that continues to promote the continued building of the required skills in the club to share with future members. Joe and Lee Lee KC1GKJ and Joe AC1LN were members of NARS for less than a year when they became the Station Team for 2022 Summer Field Day. Joe took on the role of Team Lead. Fred AB1OC provided training on station setup and shortly after they tested their newfound skills and created a full-scale test setup in Joe’s basement of the stations prior to Field Day. Lee is the former Treasurer of the club and Joe is the current Treasurer. They both became known to the club via their participation in Field Day and their leadership in the event translated into leadership in the club. Training and Mentoring Training and Mentoring are an important part of Field Day. We have helped many new members to become licensed in the past year, but it is important to help them get on the air as well. Field Day is a great opportunity for new Hams to help out with building stations and develop operating skills. The Nashua Area Radio Society accomplishes this through training and hands-on opportunities during Field Day. 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. Ben GOTA Matt WE1H is coaching Ben on the GOTA station while Aron W1AKI looks on. Ben made numerous contacts and received a Certificate of Achievement from the club to commemorate his accomplishment. Matt joined NARS in January 2022 and is now the Membership Chair on the Executive Committee. Planning For a successful Field Day operation, it is important to have a detailed plan for stations, antennas, operating schedules, transportation, and even food. Prior to Field Day we will identify teams to be responsible for setting up the stations, logging computers, and the network to make sure they all work together. Other teams will prepare to test antennas and also train on how to set up the antennas, rotators, and towers. The same process will take place for each of the different teams involved with Field Day. Here are the major teams: Planning Team Transport Team Beam Team Safety Team Power Team Station Team Shelter Team Tower Team Media Publicity Team Food Team Scoring Team If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. It is also a lot of fun. Sharing this experience is a great way to build friendships along with complex radio stations. If you have any interest in joining us in this event, please do not hesitate to contact me at pres@n1fd. org. We will make sure you can be involved at whatever level you want and will share all our skills to make sure you can do it. We can turn “I don’t know how to do that” into “I didn’t know how to do that, but I do now”. Community Involvement Field Day is a very public event and in addition to inviting the general public to visit us on site and join in our operations we also find many who support our Field Day efforts with donations. We are proud that so many businesses in our community support us. Community Support We value their support and make sure they know that we appreciate them. Here John W1SMN and Jon AC1EV present Bill of Donna’s Donuts in Tewksbury, MA with a certificate of appreciation. Certificate of appreciation Operating Field Day operating begins at 2:00 PM on Saturday and continues for 24 hours ending at 2:00 PM on Sunday. This... --- ### Bob Heil to Speak to Nashua Area Radio Society on March 7th > Bob Heil will speak at the NARS membership meeting on March 7th. His will speak about Antennas and Installation Techniques and Radio Settings - Published: 2023-03-04 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2023/03/04/bob-heil-to-speak-to-nashua-area-radio-society-on-march-7th/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, NARS Event Our March Membership Meeting will feature Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID. Bob will speak to us about Antennas and Installation Techniques and Radio Settings . Ham Nation Dr. Bob Heil is well know to amateurs as the former host of Ham Nation and the founder of Heil Sound. Heil Sound makes world class Ham Radio and Professional audio equipment including headphones, microphones, and related equipment. Heil Talk Box But did you know that Bob has made a name for himself in the world of Rock and Roll? He has created touring sound systems for several rock and roll bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Who. Bob invented the Heil Talk Box, which was used by many rock and roll musicians. He even has a display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Bob Heil at the Organ An accomplished organist, Bob played for us at the end of meeting the last time he visited us. You can see the recording on our Videos page - look for the March 2022 Membership Meeting. Bob Heil is a great storyteller and his previous visits to the Nashua Area Radio Society were truly memorable. Don't miss Tuesday's meeting. To learn more about Bob Heil and his incredible accomplishments, visit his QRZ and Wikipedia pages. The membership meeting will take place on Tuesday March 7th starting at 7:00 pm. It will be a hybrid meeting, at the Nashua Library in the NPL Theater as well as on Zoom. For more information, including the Zoom link, see our main page and scroll down to the section titled Plans for Online Meetings and Tech Nights. --- ### Project Night - An N1FD Tradition > The next NARS Meeting will be Project Night - an N1FD Tradition. Members and Internet Subscribers can present their latest projects. - Published: 2022-12-27 - Modified: 2023-12-19 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/12/27/project-night-2/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing Our next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, January 3rd will be project night. Project night has been a Nashua Area Radio Society (and Club) tradition, held every January as far back as I can remember. Charlie, AB1ZN Showing A Vintage Rig Project night gives each of our members a chance to share a project they are working on with the rest of our members. These are short presentations - we'd like to have 5-6 presentations for our next project night on January 3rd. Dave K1DHP - VLF Detector This gives members a chance to show off their projects and others a chance to learn from the members presenting. You don't need to be a long time amateur to present. If you are a new ham, you can talk about how you set up your first station, your first home-brew project, etc. I have found that teaching or presenting is the best way to learn. You may even get some suggestions from the group. Members and Internet Subscribers are encouraged to present. Here are some articles and videos about previous project nights: January 2022 Project Night Video January 2017 Project Night Project Night 2018 Videos from Previous Tech Nights The tradition continues - we hope to see you on Tuesday on Zoom for Project Night! Please drop me an email at ab1qb@arrl. net to let me know what project you would like to present. --- ### Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines - Part III > Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines - Part III - Published: 2022-12-04 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/12/04/transmission-lines-part-iii/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction In Part I of this three-part series, differential and common modes on RF transmission lines were defined and discussed. In Part II of this article, the work of Gustav Guanella was chronicled, followed by Joe Reisert’s improvements to Guanella’s original design. The construction of a common mode choke was presented that included data for the coax used. Finally, some analyses were performed that predicted the performance of two common mode chokes. Graphical results were reported. In this final Part III, the results of measurements performed on two common mode chokes are presented: one for 2 x FT240-31 stacked ferrite cores and another for 2 x FT240-43 stacked ferrite cores. Due to its higher initial permeability, it was expected that low-frequency choking performance for the 2 x FT240-31 material would be superior to that of the 2 x FT240-43 material. We found that this was not the case for the single sample of 2 x FT240-31. Discussion Two coaxial line chokes were constructed to suppress common mode currents on transmission lines. Common mode currents are apt to find their way back to the operating location on the coax shield. Common mode currents can create performance problems in the form of added receiver noise and operator problems in the form of RF bites. The choking impedance should be located at a voltage node in the feedline where the wave impedance of the standing wave is low. The coaxial line chokes were constructed on stacked cores of FT240-31 and FT240-43 material, as the literature recommends both for EMI suppression. Eleven turns of RG-400/U coax were wound on each of the stacked cores with the Joe Reisert, W1JR, crossover winding located in the center. Each choke was housed in a connectorized Bud Industries PN-1323 box. The common mode rejection for each choke was measured with a spectrum analyzer over a 1. 8 to 29. 7 MHz bandwidth. The spectrum analyzer tracking generator output was split into two in-phase signals that fed the choke coax center conductor and the choke coax braid in true common mode. The resistive divider formed with two 25. 5-ohm resistors (made with 51-ohm resistors in parallel) is shown in Figure 1. The divider was fed in the center by the tracking generator and the ends of the 25. 5-ohm resistors fed the center conductor of the coaxial connector and the connector shell. There was a similar arrangement at the output so that the spectrum analyzer could measure the resulting common mode rejection. The conduction path of the test cable shield was carried from input to output on #16 AWG as shown. Figure 2 shows the device under test. Some undesired responses were due to some nearby equipment, coax and line cords. The distance between the test coax shields also presents some challenges, and an interconnection bridge is shown that consists of a rather long piece of #16 AWG wire. After moving some cables, line cords, and equipment around, some useful data was collected. Figure 1 - Feeding the Common Mode Choke in Common Mode. A resistive power divider was constructed that consisted of paralleled 51-ohm resistors to make two 25. 5-ohm resistors. The center conductor of the choke coax and the choke coax shield were fed with in-phase signals from the spectrum analyzer tracking generator. Figure 2 - Recombining the Common Mode Signals. Similarly, a resistive power combiner was constructed at the choke output that consisted of paralleled 51-ohm resistors to make two 25. 5-ohm resistors. The in-phase signals from the center conductor of the choke coax and the choke coax shield are recombined and fed to the spectrum analyzer input. The shield from the input coax and output coax is bridged with a piece of #16 AWG copper wire as shown. The reference level of the spectrum analyzer was set for -10 dBm and all measurements were made relative to that level. The first screenshot is for 11 turns of RG-400/U wound on 2 x FT240-31, while the second screenshot is for 11 turns of RG-400/U wound on 2 x FT240-43 material. Since the toroids are wrapped with the same number of turns of RG-400/U, the #31 material, possessing higher initial permeability, is expected to exhibit a higher choking impedance at 1. 8 MHz than the 43 material. This does not appear to be the case for this batch of #31 ferrite. The provenance of the #31 material is good. In any event, there is greater than 20 dB of common mode rejection for both ferrite types from 1. 8 to 29. 7 MHz. While the response appears to favor low frequencies for #31, the overall suppression is better for this batch of #43 material. No loss corrections have been made for the resistive power divider or resistive power combiner. Figure -. Suppression of a 2 x FT240-31 Line Choke. The ferrite material favors the lower bands but the overall suppression is inferior when compared to that of the 2 x FT240-43 line choke. Deconstruction of the choke may disclose some defects in materials or construction. Only a single choke of this type was constructed. Figure 4 - Suppression of a 2 x FT240-43 Line Choke. The ferrite material favors the higher bands but the overall suppression is superior when compared to that of the 2 x FT240-31 line choke. Fortuitously, several chokes of this type were constructed. Conclusions A single choke was constructed with FT240-31 material while several were constructed with FT240-43 material because most of our operation is above 7 MHz. While the shape of the response appears to favor low frequencies for #31, the overall suppression is far greater for this batch of #43 material. These measurements will be repeated when another batch of FT240-31 material is obtained. Furthermore, it is possible that the deconstruction of the FT240-31 choke may disclose some construction or material defect. --- ### Tips for Working DX From a Modest Station > I have a few suggestions I've gathered over my 30 years of working DX and contesting that I'd like to share, which might help you... - Published: 2022-11-14 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/11/14/tips-for-working-dx-from-a-modest-station/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: DX, HF Lately, there has been quite a bit of nice DX out there on the HF bands. If you are like me, you have a modest station to work from (100 watts and a wire antenna or two), but still like to chase DX. Often, you'll hear lots of other "1 landers" working the DX station, but you can't ever seem to break the pileup. Well, I have a few suggestions I've gathered over my 30 years of DX'ing and contesting that I'd like to share, which might help you get a few new ones. One universal "truth" I have found though, above all others, is that working DX on CW is infinitely easier than working DX on SSB. If you have not yet jumped in to learn CW, I highly advise it if you want to be a successful DX'er and work the rare ones from a modest station. FT-8 / FT-4 is a bit of a different animal, and not all of what I will share is applicable to those digital modes, so I am going to focus on CW and SSB (although I work a lot of FT-8 and FT-4). Without further ado... #1: Listen, Listen, Listen Did I mention you should listen? This is the first step in the process to catch that needed country. Almost all of my other recommendations stem from this... don't be the alligator on the calling frequency... ever. A good DX'er listens far more than they transmit. #2: Use a DX Cluster I recommend using a DX Cluster for finding the DX. It is much easier to find the choice DX if you have others looking for it too! If you're not familiar with a DX Cluster, there is a good primer here. If you are but aren't sure which to connect to, I recommend W1DX (dxc. dxusa. net:7300), unless you use Ham Radio Deluxe, in which case I suggest WA9PIE-2 (hrd. wa9pie. net:8000). They both run the DXSpider cluster software. When you use a "cluster", you might want to set a few filters to get rid of the spots (the reports of DX activity) you don't really want to see. Here is a couple that work on DXSpider to get you started. From the cluster, console enter the following to only see DX spots originating from US and Canadian stations... "reject/spot 0 by_itu 1,3" "accept/spot 0 by_dxcc k,ve" "sh/mydx" Disconnect from the cluster, and then reconnect. At this point you should only see DX spots from US and VE stations Typical DX Cluster screen #3: Find and Hear the DX Station's Calling Frequency Once you identify the DX you want to chase, go find them on the air. Sometimes, that is easier said than done. Here's where a set of good headphones and your radio's RX IF filters will really come in handy. Wearing headphones is important because they filter out all that background noise. If they are good headphones, they can also enhance the audio you are listening to and reduce fatigue. As for your radio's RX IF filters, this is where you may need to "RTFM". Most modern HF radios will have some form of IF filter or DSP to shape the received audio. On Yaesu radios, they are "Width", "Shift", "Contour", and "APF". I won't go into detail about their use here as all radios will be a bit different. I will say, however, that learning to use them is a critical part of effectively hearing the DX station. Ultimately, you can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em. Do not start calling the DX until you can reliably hear them. #4: Find Where the DX is Listening DX stations will listen in one of two ways... simplex (same TX and RX frequencies) or split (different TX and RX frequencies). Sometimes, the spot on the cluster will tell you where to start. However, many times the spots are not entirely right. Simplex If DX is working simplex, you are all set as to finding their RX frequency, but trust me... working rare DX simplex can be very difficult and painful. Always pray for split ;). Split If they are working split, finding the RX frequency can be a little challenging. Remember, working split means the DX station is transmitting on one frequency and listening somewhere else. Notice I didn't say "on another frequency" - this is important to recognize. Many times, if the DX is listening on only one frequency, you can determine this from the DXCluster spot (i. e. "up 5", which means that they are listening up 5 kHz from their TX frequency (such as TX: 28. 507 / RX 28. 512). However, often the DX is listening in a range of frequencies (i. e. "up 5-10"), which means they are listening somewhere between 5 and 10 kHz from their TX frequency (such as TX: 28. 507 / RX 28. 512 to 28. 517). Now comes the fun part. If the DX is listening split, it's your job, as a skilled DX'er, to figure out their strategy and exploit it. Remember, even if the DX says "listening up 5", they may not be listening up 5. They may in fact be listening up 7. 2 or 9. 3 or 3 kHz. Your job is to figure that out. Recently, I worked a DX station on CW that would sign "UP 1". He was actually listening up 1. 3 kHz. Had I simply called him up 1 kHz, I would not have worked him. Patterns To figure out their pattern and have a strategy to exploit it, you have some work to do, and likely some frustration in your future. It's all worth it, though, if you bag an ATNO (All Time New One). Here are some steps to follow to find the DX stations listening frequency if they are working split. Use the "split" function of your radio (you do know how to use "SPLIT" on your HF rig, right? ). Set the "A" VFO to your RX frequency and the "B" VFO to a TX frequency where you think the DX is listening. When the DX answers a station... --- ### NARS Next POTA/SOTA Oct. 8 2022 At Pack Monadnock > Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 8th . Pack Monadnock is another destination  that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up... - Published: 2022-10-03 - Modified: 2022-10-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/10/03/sota-oct-8-2022/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: SOTA Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 8th . Pack Monadnock is another destination that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up via the auto road making it an easy choice to add to the list. Pack also gives really good views of the surrounding countryside which only increases the appeal of this mountain particularly at this time of year. I’m planning on being on the summit at 11:00 am but I plan on being their most of the afternoon so don't worry if you can't make it till later . There is a scattering of picnic tables so don’t forget to pack a lunch. We are getting close to leaf peeping season so it is advised to get a parking permit online for the auto road. Here is a link to get a permit. Jamey AC1DC making some POTA contacts If you’ve never been to Pack Monadnock travel west on 101 towards Peterborough. Miller State Park is on the right-hand side of the road across the street from the old Temple Mountain Ski area. Please leave a comment on the story so I have an idea of how many people are planning on attending. Hope to see you on Pack Monadnock 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### BIG E Space Chat is a Go! > The BIG E Space Chat is a go!  The pre-contact program for our upcoming ISS contact at the BIG E will begin at 1:20 pm ET on Tuesday, 9/27. - Published: 2022-09-20 - Modified: 2022-09-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/20/big-e-space-chat-is-a-go/ - Categories: Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach The BIG E Space Chat is a go! The pre-contact program for our upcoming ISS contact at the BIG E will begin at 1:20 pm ET on Tuesday, September 27. Our astronaut will be Bob Hines, KI5RQT. Our ground station for this contact will be ON4ISS in Belgium. Parking and the walk to The BIG E arena will take some time so be sure to get there early. Remember to bring a printed official copy of your Amateur Radio license and you and up to 3 family and friends will get free admission to The BIG E on contact day. BIG E Map The arena will hold well over 1,000 people. The BIG E is helping us to publicize the event and arrange for TV coverage for the program and the contact. We would appreciate everyone’s help in getting the word out! Stage at the BIG E Arena Our pre-contact program will begin with a series of videos about space, NASA, ARISS, going to Mars, and more. Our pre-contact program speakers will include: Gene Cassidy, CEO Eastern States Exposition David Minster, CEO ARRL Fred Kemmerer, Director ARRL New England Division Bob Phinney, President New England Sci-Tech We hope to see you and many folks across the New England and Hudson Divisions at the BIG E Space Chat next Tuesday! If you cannot make it to The BIG E to see our contact in person, you can watch it via a live stream on YouTube. Our contact program will begin at 1:20 pm and is available on YouTube via this link. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines – Part II > Differential and common modes on transmission lines were introduced in Part I [1] of this article. The use of baluns to mitigate... - Published: 2022-09-14 - Modified: 2023-09-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/14/differential-and-common-modes-on-transmission-lines-part-ii/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas Introduction Differential and common modes on transmission lines were introduced in Part I of this article. The use of baluns to mitigate common mode currents on transmission lines that feed dipole antennas were also discussed. Finally, the use and placement of common mode chokes were introduced. In this installment, the work of Gustav Guanella is chronicled, followed by Joe Reisert’s improvements to Guanella’s original design. Next, the construction of a common mode choke is presented that includes data for the coax used. Finally, some analyses are performed to predict the performance of two common mode chokes, and graphical results are provided. Guanella Balun Gustav Guanella was a Swiss electrical engineer and prolific inventor. His name is associated with more than 200 patents . One of his inventions was a new transformer design that appeared in The Brown Boveri Review in September 1944 . Figure 1 depicts his new transformer/coupler model. Two parallel, closely spaced wires are wound on an insulating core at a). The input and output center-tapped transformers at b) provide a means to separate and recombine differential and common mode currents in this embodiment. Differential, symmetrical currents (solid lines), i1, travel along a section of balanced transmission line at designation, A. Common Mode, asymmetrical currents (dotted lines), i2, travel along an alternate path through an RF choking inductor at designation, B. Figure 1. Guanella’s Double Wire Coil System with Equivalent Diagram. A two-wire transformer is wound on an insulating core at a). An equivalent circuit diagram is provided at b). The center-tapped transformers at b) provide a means to separate the differential current, i1, from the common mode current, i2. At A, the differential current passes through a balanced transmission line section, while at B, the common mode current is routed to a choking inductor. Reproduced with permission from ABB Ltd – The Brown Boveri Review, Vol. XXXI, No. 9, Sept. 1944, pp. 327 – 329, Baden, Switzerland. Guanella’s simplest embodiment for a 1:1 balun is depicted in Figure 2 . The inductance of the windings serves to suppress the asymmetrical (common mode) currents so that a balanced transmission line carrying symmetric currents in differential mode to the left may be connected to an unbalanced transmission line carrying asymmetric currents in common mode to the right. This transformation is possible regardless of frequency. Furthermore, Guanella demonstrates that placing the inputs of more than one coil system in series on one side and in parallel on the other side can be used to implement transformations in the ratio of 1:N2 where N is the number of coil systems placed in series-parallel. For N=1, we have 1:12, which is just 1:1, as shown in Figure 2. An improvement to this design is presented in the next section. Figure 2. Guanella’s model for a 1:1 balun for transforming symmetrical balanced (differential mode) transmission line at the left to an unbalanced asymmetrical (common mode) transmission line to the right where one side is grounded. The suppression of the asymmetrical currents by the choking inductance of the windings makes it possible to connect balanced to unbalanced line. Reproduced with permission from ABB Ltd – The Brown Boveri Review, Vol. XXXI, No. 9, Sept. 1944, pp. 327 – 329, Baden, Switzerland. Joe Reisert’s Improved Broadband Balun Joe Reisert, W1JR, presented an interesting variation of the Guanella transformer in the September 1978 issue of Ham Radio magazine . Unbalanced operation was described in Part I of this article which models the coax as a 3-wire transmission line. Symmetric differential mode currents will flow on the center conductor and inner shield, the desired mode of operation. However, there is nothing to prevent current from flowing on the outside of the coax shield since the outside and inside are conjoined at the antenna center insulator. The Guanella design winds balanced wire transmission line on an insulating core, but there is no reason why an unbalanced coax cannot be wound on an insulating core to obtain a similar result. W1JR describes earlier versions of this design wound on ferrite rods . In this configuration he states that there have been reports of “frequency sensitivity” over the decade in frequency required. There is also the problem of loss that will be a function of the magnetization admittance for the ferrite material chosen. Lower permeability materials will result in lower core losses but higher flux leakage. Rods will result in higher flux leakage than a toroid. Lower permeability cores will require more turns to achieve the same impedance as toroids for similar materials. Now that #31 with initial permeability, μi, of 1500 and #43 material with initial permeability, μi, of 800 are available, they are logical choices for HF use. The impedances of the windings will vary as a function of frequency, but 11 or 12 turns on these cores are adequate to provide a great deal of common mode attenuation over the HF frequency range. The core losses as a function of the number turns on toroid ferrite cores were the subject of an earlier article . Figure 3 illustrates W1JR’s improved design . This device is suitable for use as an antenna balun as illustrated. When both ports are terminated with coaxial connectors, the device is suitable for use as a common mode choke. To paraphrase the Traub Manufacturing Company slogan , Joe Reisert’s balun is “Often imitated, frequently duplicated. ” Figure 3. W1JR’s Improved Broadband Balun. Eight turns are depicted in this graphic. Since the crossover winding passes through the core, it counts as a single turn. This 1:1 balun will transform unbalanced coaxial transmission line to the balanced feed point of a dipole antenna. If the balanced side is connectorized, the balun becomes a common mode choke. If sufficient inductance is present for the outer coax shield, the asymmetric common mode currents on the outer coax shield are suppressed. Reprinted with permission from the September 1978 issue of Ham Radio magazine, © CQ Communications, Inc. Fabrication Coax Properties Two coaxial cable types under consideration for common mode choke fabrication are RG-303/U and RG-400/U . Voltage Specifications We consider RG-303/U that was recommended in Joe Reisert’s article and RG-400/U that was... --- ### Space Chat @ The BIG E! - Free Admission > A group of young people at The BIG E in will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chat with an astronaut aboard the ISS... - Published: 2022-09-14 - Modified: 2022-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/09/14/space-chat-at-big-e/ - Categories: Featured, Youth Activities A select group of youths at The BIG E in West Springfield will soon have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chat with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting 260 miles above the earth. Along with them, hundreds of Big E attendees and spectators will be able to watch the live contact as it occurs from The BIG E Arena. The exact time and date of the contact will be posted soon at key locations throughout The BIG E, or visit the Amateur radio booth (#103) inside Door 6 of the Better Living Center. BIG NEWS from The BIG E! Hams who show up on the day of The BIG E Space Chat will receive free admission for themselves and three more people. Spread the word to your friends and fellow radio club members. Help us fill the stands! If you present an official copy of your FCC license at the gate, you and up to three family members or friends can enter The BIG E fairgrounds free of charge. Talking to an Astronaut on the ISS via Amateur Radio The Big E free admission for amateur radio operators and up to three guests (maximum 4 people) good on Space Chat Day only. The actual date will be announced soon. Official copy of FCC license to be presented to Gate Captain at Big E pedestrian gates 1A, 1B, 4, 5, 7, or 9A to receive free admission on Space Chat Day. Parking is not included. The BIG E is at 1305 Memorial Ave, West Springfield, MA. As with all ARISS school contacts, the actual day and time for the scheduled contact won’t be known until approximately one week prior to the Contact. Currently, the Space Chat “window” is September 27-29, 2022. Check The BIG E Space Chat web page for up-to-date information. Or, fill out our survey and we’ll contact you with the date and time when it’s known. Stop by the Ham Radio Booth #103, inside Door 6 of the Better Living Center—then be part of and witness the exciting, live ARISS space station contact and astronaut Q&A in The BIG E Arena via Amateur Radio. Visit this ARRL webpage for instructions on downloading a copy of your FCC license. Download and print at home the 2022 Big E Brochure or 2022 Fairgrounds Map. Both are sized to fit letter-sized paper. Map of the BIG E Grounds --- ### Getting Ready for HamXposition 2022 > Next week is the Northeast HamXposition 2022 in Marlborough, Massachusetts.  Nashua Area Radio Society will host our exhibits... - Published: 2022-08-21 - Modified: 2022-08-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/21/hamxposition-2022/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Education and Training Next week is the Northeast HamXposition 2022 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Nashua Area Radio Society will host our exhibits on ham radio again this year. We presented our display at previous HamXpositions and at other venues such as NEAR-Fest. HamXposition Here is an example from one of our past presentations. Example Preparation and Testing Our displays include much more than the basic trifold display board. We also include relevant items that are in the topic of each display and many displays have videos running with more details to inform and entertain our guests. A few of us met last week to test out all of the video display components of our exhibit at Fred, AB1OC’s and Anita, AB1QB’s QTH. We will have 6 video loops running in our displays this year. All are running from customized Raspberry Pi’s which are all networked together and can be controlled from a central PC for ease of management. Alan, KC1PWB is working here to prepare one of the displays for testing. Display Test Here, Anita and Fred are testing the Flex Maestro we will use as our live demonstration radio at the event. It, along with the Raspberry Pi’s are all hard wired to the Network Pod seen on the right. Our testing in advance will make setup much easier on the day of the event. We did encounter some issues during testing and were able to take advantage having full access to all tools needed to troubleshoot and remediate the issues without any time pressure to get it done at the last minute. Maestro Setup Tasks As is often the case, there are many tasks to manage behind the scenes before we have our first visitors come to see our exhibits. NARS has done this before and we have a good idea of how to manage things. Here is a high-level breakdown of some of the major tasks Update Displays Volunteer’s assignments Plan Layout Create Packing List Transportation to HamXposition Setup Operation Breakdown Transportation from HamXposition Transport Truck Many of us have pickup trucks and two of them plus a car is enough to handle transporting our exhibit. Current Displays Nashua Area Radio Society Information Get On the Air Work the World Kit Building / Raspberry Pi Field Day and Emergency Communications Satellite Communications High Altitude Balloons Fox Hunt SOTA/POTA Morse Code Some of our displays were showing a bit of age and those have been updated and refreshed by Anita, AB1QB for this year. This is what part of our exhibit at last year’s HamXposition looked like last year right before it opened. 2021 HamXposition Display Come and Visit We are very proud of our exhibit. It is the result of much effort over the years and is an excellent way for us to share our hobby with other people, whether they be hams or not. More importantly, I am even prouder of the enthusiasm and support of this project from our member volunteers who will be guides during the event and gave their time and energy to sharing our mutual love for this hobby. GOTA Display I look forward to welcoming you to our exhibit at HamXposition this year. --- ### SOTA/POTA Hikes Start September 10th 2022 - Published: 2022-08-19 - Modified: 2022-08-19 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/19/sota-2022/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: Portable, SOTA GENERAL Great news for fans of our SOTA / POTA hikes. If you made it to our August membership meeting then you already got the lowdown but for anyone that might have missed it then I’ve got the schedule here for you and it begins in just a few short weeks. Covid is mostly in our rear mirror so we can finally meet in groups and start having some fun. Abby AB1BY portable operating from the summit On September 10th we will be headed to Mount Kearsarge in Warner N. H. We plan on taking the auto road from Rollins State Park to 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road. The 3 1/2 mile auto road terminates at a parking lot and picnic areas. Let's plan to meet up in this parking lot at 10:00 am You can choose to operate here or hike a . 5 mile to the summit. If you’re a purist you can start on the other side of the mountain at Winslow State Park and hike the whole mountain with only modest effort and meet us. It is necessary to buy a parking pass and it is best to do this several days or a week ahead of time to ensure they don't sell out. If they do you will be stuck at the bottom waiting for someone to come down as they only let a certain number of vehicles up at one time. Here is a link to the State of NH State Parks page where you can get the parking pass. As far as operating from Kearsarge you can operate anything from an HT to the newest and best that is commercially offered or your own home-brewed rig. Seeing the range of what others brought is part of the fun of these activations. I’m bringing my MFJ qrp rig I’ve run this rig before but haven’t had any luck yet so I’m hoping to have better luck this year. Here is the rest of the SOTA / POTA scheduled for 2022 October 8 th Pack Monadnock Hope to see a lot of you on Kearsarge in a couple of weeks! Jim Lajoie K1BRM --- ### How to Prune A Dipole Antenna to Length > Whether it is for a half-wave dipole or an end-fed half-wave antenna, we will have to prune one of these antennas to the correct length.... - Published: 2022-08-18 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/18/dipole-antenna/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction Whether it is for a half-wave dipole or an end-fed half-wave antenna, sooner or later we will have to prune one of these antennas to the correct length. Most of us are accustomed to trial-end error when it comes to tuning a dipole, but there are better ways to do it . This paper describes three methods for your consideration. All of the formulas for the techniques shown may be entered into an Excel spreadsheet. If you do not have Excel on your computer and you have access to Google, you can use Google Sheets . If you have Windows on your computer and have registered, then you can log into your Windows account and use Excel for free at office. com . All three computation methods described may be entered onto a single spreadsheet, as in Figure 1, or entered onto separate tabs. All three techniques will produce the same answers. Most everyone owns a smartphone, so you can bring your spreadsheet app to the yard with you. Directions for Loading the Spreadsheet Figure 1 lists the spreadsheet formulas in Column D. Type these formulas over into Column B. Begin typing in Row 8, Column B. You must type an equal sign in front of every formula for the sheet to work. Once the formulas have been entered, enter the variables in the green cells in Column B. It is a good idea to lock the gray cells to protect the formulas from being over-typed. Then, protect the entire sheet so that the only cells open for data entry will be the green cells in Column B. If you click on Figure 1, it will open into a new window for easier viewing. Figure 1. Sample Spreadsheet. Any one of the three methods or all three may be entered onto a single spreadsheet, or onto multiple spreadsheet tabs. A spreadsheet app on your smartphone is an easy way to carry the calculator to the field. Descriptions of the Methods Used Method I - Newton’s Method The first method is one invented by Isaac Newton, but not for antennas. Newton was working with what we now call differential calculus in the late 17th century, which helps to put his genius into perspective. These days, we learn this technique in the first few weeks of calculus in high school. If we use the familiar formula to calculate the length of the dipole at a frequency just above and just below the desired frequency we can get a frequency differential. If we subtract the two lengths, we get a length differential. By dividing the frequency differential by the length differential, we arrive at the number of kHz the resonant frequency moves per unit of length pruned. If we choose a very narrow frequency interval around our desired frequency, this technique becomes very precise. It’s a kind of sensitivity analysis. We move something a little bit and something else changes a little bit. That’s a hint as to what calculus is all about. Method II – Proportional Method The second method, which we call the proportion method, uses the familiar dipole length formula to arrive at the dipole length at a design frequency. In the field, we measure the frequency at which the antenna actually resonates. If we divide the observed frequency by the desired frequency, we arrive at a correction factor by which we multiply the old length to get the new length. This is the most commonly used method for pruning an antenna. Method III – New Magic Constant Method The third and last method is called the “magic constant” method. We all remember that we divide 468 by the frequency in MHz to arrive at the dipole length in feet. The number 468 is what we call the “magic constant. ” Suppose we calculate the length of a dipole using the magic constant. In the field, we observe that the dipole resonates at a different frequency. If we divide the observed frequency by the desired frequency, we arrive at a correction factor that can be multiplied by the old magic constant to get a new magic constant. Then, we use this new magic constant to calculate a new antenna length. Of the three methods, only the first method is a bit arcane because it uses differential analysis. The latter two are equivalent because they use proportions. References https://www. hamuniverse. com/easydipole. html https://www. google. com/sheets/about/ https://www. office. com/ --- ### Power Losses and Dissipation in Various Ferrite Devices - Part II > This article show how to calculate the amount of power the same ferrite core can dissipate into free air before reaching its Curie... - Published: 2022-08-12 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/12/ferrite-loss-2/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction In Part I, the magnetization admittance was employed to calculate the fractional power lost to an FT140-43 ferrite core by a 10-turn winding at 21 MHz . Part II will show how to calculate the amount of power the same ferrite core can dissipate into free air before reaching its Curie temperature. Modulation methods and duty factors will be figured into these calculations. Whether it is an inductor, transformer, or balun, the analysis is similar. Although the maximum permissible ferrite temperature will not change as a function of the transmitting mode used, the maximum permissible amount of input transmitter power will. This subject will be explored in the context of ferrite transformers, including one sold by the ARRL for use in an end-fed half-wave antenna kit. Recap By way of review, it was shown in Part I that the percentage power lost to the ferrite core described in the introduction is given by, where: The amount of power lost to the core is 1. 18%. While this is useful to know, we would also like to be able to calculate the amount of power that may be dissipated by the ferrite core to free air before the Curie temperature is reached. The Curie temperature is the temperature at which there are drastic changes in the material’s ferrimagnetic (Ferri, not Ferro) properties. When ferrite is used in the construction of antenna components, the Curie temperature will dictate what our transmitter operating power can be for specific modes and duty factors of operation. Ferrite Core Efficiency From the core loss, we may now calculate the efficiency from the expression, This sounds like good efficiency, but it doesn’t take many Watts in a confined space to heat ferrite above its Curie temperature as will be shown. The core loss in dB is calculated from the expression, Maximum Long-Term Average Power Dissipation Case I Next, we find the Curie temperature for #43 ferrite material from the datasheet , We now consider the ambient operating temperature. For outdoor use in the summer, the ambient temperature inside an enclosure can easily rise to 50⁰C, and this may well be on the low side. It can easily be that hot in an attic during the summer. If we take the Curie temperature and the ambient temperature into account, the allowable ferrite temperature rise is, Next, we need to find a value for the convective heat transfer coefficient (HTC) for the ferrite into free air. The value offered by Owen Duffy is, This number appears in another paper published by the U. S. Army Research Laboratory for ferrite subject to natural convection of 0. 5 m/s, although 14 Watts/m2-K appears to be an upper limit. Surface Area of a Toroid Core Next, we need to calculate the surface area of the ferrite toroid of a rectangular cross-section using the formula, derived from the geometry of a hollow cylinder, where: Expanding the difference of squares and collecting terms obtains the simplified expression, For an FT140-43 ferrite core, the dimensions are , Recalling that 1 mm2 = 1E-6 m2 This area does not correct for any bevels or radii on the edges of the ferrite core. The maximum long-term average power dissipation in Watts is given by, The maximum long-term average power dissipation is 2. 79 Watts. This may come as a surprise, but that is all that it takes to cook this ferrite core if it is housed in a sealed box. At this point, it may be appropriate to advise that ferrite should be enclosed when subjected to even moderate amounts of power. Ferrite has been known to explode into shards. If more ventilation is required, enclosure manufacturers like Bud Industries make baffled vents for their enclosures. Some ferrite transformer manufacturers have recognized that vents should be added to their product lines. Next, we need to calculate the maximum continuous average RF power in Watts that can be applied, which will result in a power dissipation of 2. 79 Watts. This is given by the expression, where: The maximum continuous average RF power that can be applied is 236. 4 Watts. Apparently, 10-turns on an FT140-43 core at 21 MHz is very efficient. That is due to the number of windings on the core, which tends to reduce flux leakage. Case II Next, we reduce the number of turns on the ferrite core to 2-turns, as is very often the case for transformer primary windings used to match end-fed half-wave antennas. Ultimately, we will need to calculate the value of conductance, G, for the new winding configuration at 21 MHz so that we may repeat the calculations. We start by calculating the impedance for the new configuration , where: The impedance for a 2-turn transformer primary winding is 105. 1+j81. 7 ohms. We would like to place a 1 pf inter-winding capacitance in parallel with the primary impedance. The capacitive reactance is calculated from, where: The capacitive reactance that will be in parallel with the impedance is 7579 ohms. We calculate the parallel combination of two impedances using the formula where: We could rationalize the denominator and simplify or convert it to polar form. Let’s convert the impedances to polar form to arrive at the parallel combination. We define a new impedance for the denominator, Z3. The capacitor has a phase angle θ2 = -90⁰ because the voltage lags the current. Now, we construct Ztotal in polar form, This is easily converted to admittance, Note that the sign of the angle changes when it is moved to the numerator. Converting back to rectangular form with the help of the Euler identity provides what is needed, where: Once again, we calculate the power lost to the core, Reducing the number of turns on the core has resulted in an enormous core loss. The efficiency may be calculated, The core loss in dB is, The core loss is 1. 53 dB. The maximum long-term average power dissipation for the core does not change. It remains 2. 79 Watts. Now, we calculate the maximum continuous average RF power in Watts that can be applied which will result in long-term average power dissipation of 2.... --- ### Power Losses and Dissipation in Various Ferrite Devices > The magnetization admittance will provide a means to estimate the power dissipations of ferrite transformers and inductors... - Published: 2022-08-10 - Modified: 2024-02-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/10/ferrite-device-losses/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Part I: Calculating the Magnetization Admittance of a Ferrite Toroidal Winding Introduction If one is to understand something about ferrite and how it behaves, some understanding of the magnetization admittance is required. The magnetization admittance will provide a means to estimate the power dissipations of ferrite transformers and inductors, their efficiencies, and their power handling capabilities. A little bit of messy algebra is required for understanding, but it's worth it. Ferrite is ubiquitous. It's in many of our rigs, antenna tuners, filters, baluns, and power supplies. Historical Information Let's begin with a bit of historical information about an antenna and its antenna matching device that has recently assumed the form of a ferrite transformer. This history is a bit narrow, but I hope that you will see what I am driving at later on. Ferrite transformer-fed End-Fed Half-Wave (EFHW) antennas have grown in popularity in recent years due to their ability to operate on multiple bands in reduced spaces. Some of these antennas have been optimized for use on multiple bands by placing a small compensating inductor near the location of the first current maximum for the highest band of operation. There is a hint to the origin of the multiband EFHW antenna on the MyAntennas website . Danny Horvat, N4EXA (a. k. a. E73M), provides an interesting reference to some writing about the antenna in Karl Rothammel’s (Y21BK) Antennen Buch . The cover, Figure 1, of the 12th edition shows a drawing of harmonics on a wire antenna. The drawing shows an inductor located at the position of the first current peak of the highest order harmonic on the wire. Rothammel’s book attributes the design to Gerhard Bäz, DL7AB. Frank Dorenberg , N4SPP, was kind enough to forward a copy of the original journal article for this antenna that appeared in an October 1949 issue of the radio journal Funk-Technik on pages 576 and 577. The compensating inductor has little effect on fundamental operation, but it has an enormous effect when the antenna is used for harmonic operation. The inductance and placement of this inductor have been analyzed in EZNEC and will be the subject of a future article. Danny, E73M, also makes reference to a transformer invented by Nikola Tesla in 1897. A version of Tesla's transformer appears in the antenna patent of Joseph Fuchs, OE1JF, in 1928. Figure 1. Cover of Rothammel's Antennen Buch, 12th ed. An antenna wire in harmonic operation is shown. A little inductor is located at the first current maximum for the 10m band. Recently, the ARRL has offered a popular, inexpensive do-it-yourself kit to make an EFHW antenna . Similar, ready-made versions are available from multiple sources such as MyAntennas , MFJ , PAR/LNR Precision , and HyEndFed , to name just a few. Some use the compensating inductor, while some do not. The ARRL transformer will be the subject of a worked example in Part II of this article. The ARRL antenna wire does not make use of the compensating inductor, but it may be added. In spite of their omnipresence and popularity, there has been very little published on the subject of how the ferrite transformer version of the end-fed antenna feed actually works and how much power it can handle. After searching the literature and the web, I came upon the blog of Owen Duffy, VK1OD. His website is rich with content on the subject of ferrite. Not unlike any good teacher, he is fond of leaving calculations as a challenge to the reader. A good place to begin is with the magnetization admittance. The Interwinding Capacitance and Magnetization Admittance Magnetization admittances for the windings on ferrite cores are required to calculate losses in ferrite cores used in inductor and transformer applications. Owen Duffy has provided an excellent paper on the subject that is somewhat short in detail. This article attempts to provide the missing steps in order to make his paper on the subject of ferrite more accessible. In his paper, the complex impedance of a 10-turn winding on an FT140-43 ferrite core at 21 MHz has been provided as the starting point. This value could have been measured with an antenna analyzer, with a network analyzer, or could have been calculated from the manufacturer’s complex permeability data. We demonstrate how the complex impedance is derived from the complex permeability data in a separate paper. The value of the interwinding capacitance should be included in the impedance calculation to compute the magnetization admittance value with greater accuracy. Not only is there an interwinding capacitance, but there is also capacitive coupling between primary and secondary windings. The interwinding capacitance is modeled in parallel with the winding impedance. D. W. Knight has measured interwinding capacitance values for several windings on ferrite cores. The value of interwinding capacitance will have a large effect on the magnetization admittance. If the interwinding capacitance is 2 pf at the design frequency of 21 MHz, the capacitive reactance calculated from, will be, The interwinding capacitive reactance that is in parallel with the winding impedance is 3789. 4 ohms. Digression: The subject of complex numbers is something that we seldom see in use in everyday life. If this all seems new to you, please follow along. The expressions can be messy, but they all work out. These days, circuit modeling replaces these messy calculations, but it's good to perform them by hand at least once for understanding. The complex impedance is composed of two parts, a purely resistive part called the real part and a purely reactive part called the imaginary part. The letter i or j in front of the reactive part lets us know that it is the imaginary part. The other thing that we must remember is that i or j is defined by, and If we multiply i or j by itself, we get -1. We will make use of this property when we begin to multiply complex numbers together. Regression: Suppose that the winding impedance on our ferrite core has been determined to be 2627 + j 2044 by derivation from the manufacturer’s data. There are two methods to calculate the parallel combination of the... --- ### Worst Case Standing Wave Voltage on a Transmission Line > This article explores what the worst-case standing wave voltage might be on a transmission line when the only mismatch is due to the antenna. - Published: 2022-08-01 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/01/standing-wave-voltage/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction When planning for an amateur radio installation or when purchasing such items as an antenna tuner, coax, or balun, it is useful to know what we may be up against for transmission line voltages under conditions of antenna mismatch. This article explores what the worst-case standing wave voltage might be on a transmission line when the only mismatch is due to the antenna. Furthermore, the transmitter power is deliberately increased to compensate for the mismatch. Calculation When computing the magnitude of the maximum peak voltage on a transmission line under conditions of increasing VSWR, it has been stated without proof that this voltage is proportional to the square root of the VSWR. This factor may be derived by assuming that the amount of power delivered to the load will remain constant under conditions of increasing mismatch, which should be the worst imaginable case. This operating condition should be possible if a) there is sufficient forward transmitter power to compensate for reflected power and b) a matching network such as an antenna tuner is placed between the transmitter and the load to protect the transmitter. Define: Numerical Example 1 A 100W transmitter feeds an antenna with a 3:1 VSWR. By how much must the transmitter power be increased to maintain 100W into the antenna? The magnitude of the voltage reflection coefficient is 0. 5. The fraction of power returned from the load is given by, The amount of power reflected from the antenna is 25%. Next, we must calculate the amount by which we need to increase the transmitter power to maintain 100W at the antenna input, So, the amount by which the transmitter power must increase is 33. 33W. Let’s check our answer to see how much power is reaching the load after we increase the power, where Pantenna is the amount of power reaching the antenna for a 3:1 VSWR after compensating accordingly. Thus, we have demonstrated that for a 3:1 VSWR with 133. 33W input power, the power incident on the antenna will be 100W when the only mismatch is in the antenna. Continuing on, from the voltage standing wave definition, where, The reflected voltage may be written in terms of a fraction of the forward voltage, Solution: The corrected, forward power generated by the transmitter is given by, and if we set S = VSWR for convenience, The RMS magnitude of the forward voltage wave is given by, The peak magnitude of the forward voltage wave is given by, and the magnitude of the maximum peak voltage on the line is given by, Finally, replacing S with VSWR yields, Thus, it has been shown that the magnitude of the maximum peak voltage on the transmission line for the case of constant transmitter power to the antenna load is proportional to, Numerical Example 2 What would be the maximum peak voltage on the transmission line for the case when the transmitter power is 1 kW and the antenna VSWR is 3:1? The maximum peak voltage on the transmission line for the case where the transmitter power is 1 kW and the VSWR is 3:1 would be 547. 7 Volts. References https://owenduffy. net/blog/? p=11773 ARRL Antenna Handbook, 41st Ed. , 2007, Chapter 24 Transmission Lines, Line Voltages and Currents, p. 10, Equation 17. --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society Field Day 2022 > Field Day 2022 is over and created great memories for all who joined us.  We have 47 names on our guest log... - Published: 2022-08-01 - Modified: 2022-10-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/08/01/field-day-2022/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Station Building, Tower Nashua Area Radio Society Field Day 2022 Field Day 2022 is over, creating great memories for all who joined us. We have 47 names on our guest log, including members and visitors. Add to that number our helpful volunteers, and over 70 people participated in Field Day with us. This year we returned to Hudson Memorial School, the site of some of our most ambitious past Field Days. Our current effort was more modest, we would be class 3A, with four radios and antennas to cover 6, 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80-meter bands. Our primary tower was 40 feet tall and held a tri-band Yagi and two dipoles, one each for 40 meters and 80 meters. For 6 meters, we had a loop-fed array on a push-up mast. All of our radios were configured to support all modes, SSB, CW, and Digital. Each station incorporated a laptop PC to run our logging application and support digital modes. Planning Our Kick-Off Meeting for Field Day was on March 9. There is lots of planning and training to do before the day of the event. Many of our volunteers have participated in Field Day with the club in past years, but this year some of them would become the leaders of their teams for the first time, myself included. Fred, AB1OC, and Anita, AB1QB, would represent the ARRL in their new roles during Field Day and leave their past roles in NARS Field Days for other members to fill. I volunteered to lead the effort this year, and both Fred and Anita generously gave their time and advice to our team to assist with planning and training for the event. Hold The Dates My first efforts went towards finding a group of volunteers who would commit to the project and to securing a venue for the event. In recent years we had successfully held Field Day at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH, but this year it was booked for Field Day. We also had great success with Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH so I inquired with them about returning to their site. The school is a friend of NARS, we have done many activities with them, including an ARISS contact, so they made it easy for us to engage and obtain approval to use their field. Special thanks to Principal Keith Bowen for making this painless. The Field Day 2022 Teams We had 20 members volunteer to support our Field Day effort from planning in the beginning to putting the last bit of gear back into storage on Sunday night after the event. Other members assisted as they could during planning or the during the event itself. While NARS owns a lot of the gear we used for Field Day, we do not own any radios or peripherals. We are very fortunate to have members who generously lent their radios and other gear to the cause. In our first few planning meetings, we took stock of our team’s skills, experience, and preferences and sorted ourselves into functional teams. We were fortunate that each team leader had the basic skills and experience needed to assume their role. We would arrange training where needed and documentation from past field days to take advantage of hard-won knowledge from past efforts. The teams broke down as follows: Team Members Transport Team NARS has a storage trailer where we keep all of our gear that does not require a climate-controlled environment. Much of this gear is only used for our Field Day activities. On Field Day, our day begins here, the Transport Team gathers, and the other Team Leads make sure that all of the material they will need at our Field Day site is loaded onto the trucks. We are fortunate that we have many members with pickup trucks, and we also have a number of trailers available. We spent around 2 hours at the trailer on Friday morning loading the trucks with our gear. This year our Field Day site was only a 15-minute drive from our store. Murphy loves Field Day, so we did make a return trip to the trailer to pick up additional material before the day was done. Transport Team Once we arrived at Hudson Memorial School, we were able to unload and stage our equipment on the field prior to beginning setup. Most of the team members from the other functional teams were there to assist, and the job was done very quickly. Shelter Team On March 15th, 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB, our storage location for club gear, to do an initial gear test and evaluation to begin our hands-on preparation for Field Day. Shelter Team This gave the Shelter team a chance to set up all of the tents we would use and confirm that everything was in order and identify any gaps. We also inventoried tower and antenna components to prepare for future training. A more detailed article about this is here: Gear Test and Evaluation for Field Day 2022 - Nashua Area Radio Society (n1fd. org) Tower Team As we met each week and worked out our upcoming tasks and responsibilities, we also uncovered areas where we needed to fill gaps in knowledge and skills. Towers One such area was in the Tower team. Everyone on the Tower team had experience from past Field Days, but all had worked under a team leader who was no longer going to be active with us in our efforts this year. Fred, AB1OC, led the team in the past and offered to provide us with hands-on training for erecting the tower and antennas in May. This would give us the perfect opportunity to actually raise the tower, assemble the antennas and confirm that we had all of the assembly steps properly documented and that we had all of the required parts and materials available as well. We met at BOB on May 11 and had a full-scale dress rehearsal for the Tower and Beam teams. You can read about this event in this article: Hands-On Tower and Beam Antenna Training... --- ### Differential and Common Modes on Transmission Lines – Part I > In Part I of this three-part series we discuss what is meant by differential and common modes on RF transmission lines. - Published: 2022-07-25 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/25/transmission-lines/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction In Part I of this three-part series, we discuss what is meant by differential and common modes on RF transmission lines. Part II will discuss the construction of the Joe Reisert, W1JR, 1:1 balun that may also be used as a common mode choke. Part III will present some test results for the common mode rejection of two common mode chokes, one constructed with #31 ferrite material and another constructed with #43 ferrite material. Differential Mode Two familiar balanced transmission line types that will support differential mode operation are open wire line and waveguide. This section will focus on open-wire lines. An ideal model of an open-wire line is shown in Figure 1. Current from the transmitter or other matched source enters the transmission line from the left. The transmission line may be thought of as an infinite number of distributed inductors and capacitors. Each infinitesimal length of the transmission line is made up of two tiny inductors, and each infinitesimal pair of lines forms a capacitor between them. All transmission line types, not only open wire lines, are characterized by values for inductance per unit length and capacitance per unit length. Figure 1 Idealized Model of Open Wire Transmission Line. An open wire transmission may be modeled as an infinite number of distributed inductors and capacitors. In reality, the conductors will have a resistance per unit length. If there is a dielectric present, as there might be in a window line, twin-lead or open wire line (the dielectric would be the spreaders and air), there will also be a leakage conductance through the dielectric between the conductors. Consequently, all transmission lines are characterized by an impedance, Z0, that is defined by, where, Z0 is the characteristic impedance in ohms R is the resistance of the wire per unit length G is the leakage conductance through the dielectric per unit length L is the inductance of the transmission line per unit length C is the capacitance of the transmission line per unit length. Years ago, it was quite common for roof-mounted television antennas to be fed with 300-ohm twin-lead. Twinlead is a parallel wire transmission line in which the conductors are spaced apart with plastic dielectric. The dielectric fills very little of the volume around the conductors. There is just enough plastic to cover the conductors and space them a small distance apart. Consequently, twin-lead will be treated as though it were an open-wire line. If we assume that the resistance of the wire and the leakage conductance are negligible, we can make the approximations that, As a result, the impedance of the transmission line may be simplified to, By making further approximations that the wire diameter, d, is much smaller than the center-to-center spacing of the conductors, D, and that the value of the dielectric constant filling the volume around the conductors is close to unity, it is possible to approximate the values of L and C from, where, and, where, from which we get, Furthermore, Thus, Substituting the numerical values, we have, So, by making reasonable approximations, our estimate is very close to 300 ohms. When driven by and terminated in its real, characteristic impedance, the currents and voltages anywhere along the open wire transmission line will be mostly uniform. Assuming that the wire transmission line is well made, dissipative losses in the conductors and leakage conductance will account for any nonuniformity. Since the currents in the transmission line conductors are equal and travel in opposite directions, the transmission line is said to be operating in differential mode. Simply stated, the transmission line operates in a single mode, and what you put in one end is mostly what you get out of the other end. The transmission line will not radiate signals, nor will it receive signals and noise. Figure 2 is greatly oversimplified, but it is adequate to explain what is meant by differential mode. We note that if we take a snapshot of the currents on each half of the dipole, i1, and i2, they are in the same direction as are the currents, i1 and i2, in the open wire transmission line. From this, we may conclude that the transmission line is operating in differential mode while the antenna is operating in common mode, and that is what is causing the antenna to radiate RF in the first place. At least for this case, we have demonstrated that we may associate common mode currents with antenna radiation (and reception, too). Figure 2. Balanced Open Wire Transmission Line Feeds a Dipole Antenna. The unbalanced transmitter or transceiver is transformed to a balanced transmission line with a balun. The transmission line operates in a single, differential mode because the currents are opposite while the antenna operates in a common mode because the currents are in the same direction. Common Mode For completeness, let’s begin by calculating the characteristic impedance of an unbalanced coaxial transmission line. Coaxial cable was first employed to prevent interference between transmission lines in transatlantic cables used for telegraphy prior to 1860. It was Oliver Heaviside who first described its theory of operation. Let’s determine the characteristic impedance of RG-400/U since our common mode chokes were constructed using this type of coax. RG-400/U was chosen because of its high power handling capability and small outer diameter. If the inner diameter of the coax shield is much greater than the diameter of the center conductor, where, d is the diameter of the coaxial transmission line center conductor D is the inner diameter of the coaxial transmission line shield, the inductance per unit length and capacitance per unit length for coaxial cable are approximated by the formulas, where, from which we obtain, As before, Substituting the numerical values, we have, Again, reasonable assumptions lead us to the expected result. When we speak of common mode for transmission lines, we are discussing signals that may enter or leave the conductors in the same direction. The most common cause of common mode current is an unbalanced transmission line. Imagine, if you would, a dipole antenna being fed by the coaxial transmission line of Figure 3. The currents inside the coax will... --- ### DIY 6m Moxon Antenna > Construction of a 6m Moxon Antenna based on a plan in the ARRL book Magic Band Antennas for Ham Radio by Bruce Walker N3JO... - Published: 2022-07-17 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/17/6m-moxon-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Magic Band (6m), VHF/UHF 6m Moxon based on a plan by Bruce Walker N3JO The ARRL book Magic Band Antennas for Ham Radio by Bruce Walker N3JO has the plans for a 6m Moxon Antenna that I found interesting because, instead of wire or tubing, it uses 3/4"x1/8" aluminum stock available in hardware stores in 4' or 8' lengths. No bending, just drilling! I've worked on it bit by bit over the last few months or so, and the CQ VHF contest this weekend gave me the extra push I needed to get it up into the air! I got 8' sections of the aluminum stock, but I cut the center of the parasitic element (the longest piece) into 2 pieces of less than 4' each, in case I want to pack the antenna into a car. The boom is PVC pipe, and for the spacers between the active element and the parasitic element, I used a 1-1/2"x3/4" vinyl substitute for wood used for trim, which is also available in hardware stores. I cut it down to 3/4" wide strips for the insulators between the ends of the elements. Unlike the book, I used the full width to attach the elements to the boom so that the U-bolts could be attached beside, instead of under and through, the elements. (It was not at all clear to me from the book's drawing -- no photographs -- how the parasitic element was attached to the boom given the bolt positions as drawn. Also, I may have misunderstood if the author meant 1" ID or 1" OD pipe; since it is Pipe, I assumed it was ID. ) I made a coil balun as described in the book, and the UHF connector is mounted on a right-angle piece of plastic cut from an inexpensive outlet box which is a trick suggested in the book. I put Noalox on the stainless steel nuts and bolts to prevent them from "welding" themselves together and also to protect the aluminum from the stainless steel. I changed my ideas on how to get it up into the air a couple of times, and today I finally just went and got an MFJ-1911 lightweight fiberglass mast and a set of MFJ-2830X guy rings at our local "candy store. " (I wish there were a ring in the set with an even larger center hole. ) I did not extend it to the full 20' (yet, anyway) because I was concerned that the antenna was too heavy, so it is only about 14' up in the air now. I used hose clamps (threaded through a water drain tube, so the clamps don't cut into the mast) above each exposed joint in the mast to give added protection against the "twist lock" mast unlocking and collapsing into itself. I put another one around the base with loops of paracord through it that I can hold down with tent stakes, in addition to putting the base of the mast against one of the raised garden beds to keep it from slipping. (I'm sorry, I don't recall which video blogging ham I learned those hose clamp tricks from. ) 6m Moxon based on a plan by Bruce Walker N3JO before it was raised up The 6m Moxon Antenna ended up being tilted slightly (actually, rotated around to be almost upside-down! ), but I've got some U-bolt saddles on order to fix that. (They'll be the two pieces of metal besides the aluminum elements that aren't stainless steel. Unfortunately, I used a smaller size U-bolt than what seems to be the "standard" for antenna masts of about 2" inside diameter for the U-bolts. ) I made an extension that screws in above the vertical piece of PVC pipe through the boom so that I could add support ropes for the insulators far out from the center of the antenna, but I haven't put it on yet to save weight. (I may replace the mast with a heavier-weight product from MFJ to allow this and to raise it higher. ) 6m Moxon based on a plan by Bruce Walker N3JO As you can see below, the minimum SWR is 1. 0 at about 52,140 MHz, not the point in the 6m band where I would like it for FT8, but at least it is in the lower half of the band. (I haven't thought about how to tune it or if I need to. But I do know that I want to replace the thin coax feeding the antenna now with LMR-400. ) SWR curve hitting 1. 0 at about 52,140 MHz With much-appreciated help from my XYL Merle W1MSI, I was able to get the DIY 6m Moxon Antenna up late this afternoon and try it out before the band closed for the day. The "magic band" did what it does, and I was able to make 27 QSOs on VHF with FT8, from my shack in FN42 (southern New Hampshire) to as far as EL98 (Florida) and EN52 (Wisconsin). So I think the antenna is working pretty well. It is the first beam antenna at my shack. For a while there, I was happily collecting DXCCs and US states on HF with SSB, but then I discovered FT8, and after that FT4, and now I've got grid squares to collect on VHF -- so I have even more paper to chase! Aron, W1AKI --- ### Control Your Rig Remotely With This USB-Controlled Power Station > In this article, we describe a solution for remote control of your rig from another room of your home, your yard or while on travel. - Published: 2022-07-07 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/07/07/remote-control/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Station Building Introduction Remote station operation has become more popular now that several rig manufacturers offer accessories to enable the radio amateur to do so. However, there is usually a large expense associated with acquiring these accessories. For some, it may not be cost-effective to own them for occasional use. In this article, we describe a solution for remote operation from another room of your home, your yard, or while on travel. It is also convenient for controlling on/off functions in the shack with the click of the mouse. The solution revolves around a Velleman relay card that can control a number of relays from a computer desktop. The Power Station This article describes a USB-controlled AC power strip, Figure 1, that was built around the Velleman K8090 8-Channel Relay Board in kit-form . Varistors were added to the board as a recommended option . The board can also be purchased fully assembled . Figure 1. USB Controlled Power Strip. Each 15A duplex outlet is under USB control. There are just enough contacts on the barrier strip for 8 relays, neutrals, and grounds. The PC communicates to the board via USB. A free, desktop, graphical user interface (GUI) is provided by Velleman for use as test software, or you may opt to purchase an application such as N-Button Lite . Some type of rig interface is required to control your rig and audio from a PC. You may use the interface in your rig if it has one, or buy or build one of your own. In order to log onto your computer, see your desktop remotely and hear rig audio, some kind of conferencing software is required. I use TeamViewer to see my desktop and hear computer audio remotely. Cautionary Notes You will be dealing with AC line voltage in this project. Keep the clear polycarbonate cover on the enclosure while AC power is applied. Since the Velleman card operates on 12 VDC and control is over USB, all testing can be completed prior to plugging the AC line cord into the wall socket. The FCC requires some means to disable the transmitter within 3-minutes if something goes wrong during remote operation. Velleman makes a WMT1206 Universal Timer Module with USB Interface that should prove useful for this application. Its relay can handle 8A of AC. There are also similar USB timer modules available on eBay. It’s also a good idea to have the ability to reboot your computer remotely. The exact details of how to implement this FCC requirement are left to the reader but there are plenty of suggestions to be found online. Kit Construction An experienced kit builder can assemble and test the board in an afternoon. The added varistors are specified at 125J, 300VAC, 385VDC, and 4500A clamping peak current . If these are not readily available, there are equivalents. A suggestion was made to thicken the circuit board traces that must handle the 16A relay current with additional solder. I didn’t care for this approach and opted to solder bus wire onto these traces, instead. You might find it ludicrous to solder #14 AWG buss wire onto the board, so your other option is to derate the relay capabilities to what the conductors can safely handle since the PCB traces have not been rated. For example, the ampacity of #20 AWG buss wire is at least 5A (11A at 75°C) , and that will be good for 575W. None of the circuits that I run from this PCB require anywhere near 575W. Take care not to damage the PCB traces while soldering. Excessive heat will lift the PCB traces. Housing, Connectors, and AC Outlets There are 8 duplex outlets in this project - each one under separate relay control. Each outlet has been wired with #14 AWG. Each relay is rated at 16A, resistive load (see the previous section for derating). The duplex outlets have been spaced far apart so that a variety of line cords and wall adapters will fit without interference. The control board is housed in a Bud Industries PN-1340-C polycarbonate enclosure with a clear cover (not affixed), Figure 2. The clear cover provides visibility for the status lights on the PCB. Bud Industries also manufactures an internal aluminum panel, PNX-91440 , upon which the PCB and barrier strip have been mounted. Take care in locating connectors on the housing or the PCB will not fit. The PCB is fastened to the aluminum panel with 4-40 hex standoffs. The Bud Industries enclosure is fitted with 1/2-inch male terminal adapters at either end. DC power for the relays enters the enclosure at the top left through a 2. 1mm panel mount connector . The relay power required is 12VDC at 400mA. A 12 VDC wall adapter with a 2. 1mm plug can provide this voltage. AC power enters the housing through a cable gland at the lower left. Switchcraft makes the USB connector at the lower right. It converts USB A inside the enclosure to USB B on the outside. The connector was purchased from Newark . The short USB jumper patch cord was purchased on Amazon . A step drill is the most effective way to bore the large holes in a polycarbonate or ABS case without cracking it. Figure 2. Interior View of Control Board Enclosure. Eight 16A relays are visible. There's not much space to spare. Take care in wiring the AC connections and in locating the connectors on the housing or the PCB will not fit. Software Apps The test software that is supplied by Velleman for the circuit card is adequate, or N-Button Lite may be purchased Figure 3. A screenshot of the lower right corner of the monitor shows the buttons for N-Button Lite. The green buttons indicate that four of the eight relays are active. If you purchase the Bud enclosure with a clear polycarbonate cover as I did, you will be able to see all eight red indicator lights on the Velleman board, one for each relay. They will light when a relay becomes active. Figure 3. Screenshot of PC desktop. N-Button Lite controls each of 8 relays. References References... --- ### Tilt-Over Bases for Antenna Masts That You Can Build > When I couldn’t find any tilt-over bases that were sturdy, I decided to design and build some of my own from readily available materials. - Published: 2022-06-30 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/30/tilt-over-bases/ - Categories: Antennas, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew Introduction Most of us have installed temporary antenna masts and have looked for a way to raise, lower and guy the masts while working alone. This was the case when I wanted to raise three masts for temporary antenna testing. When I couldn’t find any tilt-over bases that were sturdy, I decided to design and build some of my own from readily available materials. I wanted mast bases that were rugged and heavy, not thin and flimsy. I discovered that mild steel with its high carbon content is easy to weld, so I settled on that material. I also found a source for mild steel hinges . They were perfect matches for mild steel plate. (In case you prefer aluminum, heliarc welding has become routine. It all depends upon what the welder quotes for a price and how heavy you want the bases to be. ) A sketch of what was built appears in Figure 1. All of the dimensions are based upon available materials. The only cutting required was to fabricate a steel shim . When the tilt-over base is in its upright position, this shim, which is the same thickness as the hinges, maintains the spacing between the steel plates. Figure 1. Design Sketch. The small holes in the left base plate accommodate 3/8” spikes (see text). The steel tube is welded to the rear side of the right top plate (see text). A local welder assembled three tilt-over base mounts from supplied 8" x 8" x 1/4" mild steel plate, 3" OD 11 gauge steel tube, 6" x 6" steel hinges, and 3/4" x 3/4" x 6" steel bar stock. The steel plate, hinges and bar stock were ordered from Amazon, while the tubing was ordered from Coremark. The ID of the base tube is 2. 75" (70mm), 11ga. This is a loose fit for the cap at the bottom of most fiberglass masts. I used felt blankets as shims for a tighter fit and to protect the masts. The base mounts are anchored to the ground with 3/8" x 12" galvanized spikes . Four ½” holes drilled in the bottom plate for this purpose are visible. The spikes prevent the bases from sliding while the masts are being raised and lowered. Once welded, the welding flux should be removed. Since high carbon steel will rust, the welded assemblies were cleaned and prepped with phosphoric acid and steel wool before priming with spray metal primer . The primed bases were spray-painted . The finished product is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Tilt-Over Bases. These tilt-over mast bases are sturdy and stable when anchored to the ground with 3/8" x 12” galvanized spikes. The tilt-over feature makes it easy to raise and lower portable telescoping and non-telescoping masts while working alone. A typical installation is shown in Figure 3. The 33’ (10m) masts shown were guyed at two levels with guy rings. Four Dacron paracord guy ropes were used on each guy ring. Fluorescent orange paracords were used for enhanced visibility. Temporary ground anchoring is accomplished with polycarbonate Orange Screws as shown in Figure 4. Taut-line hitches are used to tighten the guying ropes – a useful knot to remember. The mast is raised with two lower guy ropes in place. The ropes are adjusted to hold the mast a few degrees past vertical until the final two lower guy ropes are placed. Finally, the upper four guy ropes are placed. Figure 3. Typical Installation. Guying is performed at two levels. The mast is raised while working alone with two lower guy ropes in place. The ropes are adjusted to hold the mast a few degrees past vertical until the final two lower guy ropes are placed. Finally, the upper four guy ropes are set. A post level, visible on the mast, is used to true it up. Photo courtesy of N4UM. Figure 4. Guy view. The masts are guyed at two levels. Eight Dacron paracord ropes are used. The paracords are fastened to the guy rings with snap hooks. Tensioning is adjusted with taut-line hitches. Photo courtesy of N4UM. Figure 5. Orange Screw Ground Anchors. The guy ropes are adjusted with taut-line hitches. During antenna range testing, the Orange Screws were set in sandy soil. Three masts remained standing during two weeks of rain and stiff winds. Figure 6. Antenna Range with 3 Tilt-Over Bases in Use. An antenna range was constructed with three fiberglass masts and tilt-over bases. The dimensions of the range are as pictured. This 140’ range was left unattended during 2 weeks of Florida spring wind and rain. Note that paracord back-guys were employed at the very tops of the north and south masts to relieve the lateral loading due to the weight of the wire. Without back-guying, the top sections of the telescoping masts are apt to snap off. References* https://www. amazon. com/s? k=8+x+8+x+1%2F4+steel+plate&crid=188CJTXB7VM3W&sprefix=8+x+8+x+1%2F4+steel+plate%2Caps%2C585&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 https://www. amazon. com/Hinge-Weld-Heavy-Metal-Doors/dp/B0821HQQSJ/ref=sr_1_5? crid=3UEBPDTTXJFF8&keywords=6%22%2Bsteel%2Bhinges&qid=1656544819&sprefix=6%2Bsteel%2Bi%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-5&th=1 https://www. amazon. com/1018-Drawn-Steel-Square-Stock/dp/B09GY7MQ2V/ref=sr_1_3? crid=3DB0BOW75U320&keywords=3%2F4+steel+bar+stock&qid=1656544926&sprefix=3%2F4+steel+bar%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-3 https://www. coremarkmetals. com/electric-welded-erw-round-steel-tube https://www. homedepot. com/p/Everbilt-2-in-x-4-in-Heavy-Duty-Self-Adhesive-Beige-Felt-Blanket-3-Pack-804614/306229475? https://www. lowes. com/pd/Grip-Rite-12-in-x-3-8-in-Spike/3610436 https://www. homedepot. com/p/Klean-Strip-1-Gal-Concrete-Etch-Metal-Prep-and-Rust-Inhibitor-GKPA30220/100406369 https://www. homedepot. com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-12-oz-Flat-White-Clean-Metal-Primer-Spray-7780830/100143442 https://www. homedepot. com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-12-oz-Protective-Enamel-Semi-Gloss-White-Spray-Paint-7797830/205585926 https://www. sportsmans. com/camping-gear-supplies/tents-shelters/tent-accessories/orange-screw-small-ground-anchor-4-pack/p/1531885? channel=shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8O-VBhCpARIsACMvVLMO-RmVGrVvtXURmIiQcQRsAo_r91rbskWRWtAzqqAUniop6Wnm5QYaAutREALw_wcB https://www. amazon. com/Orange-Screw-Ultimate-Ground-Anchor/dp/B01D3UIA5A/ref=asc_df_B01D3UIA5A/? tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167119746601&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17637355299886752168&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002271&hvtargid=pla-307839372670&psc=1 *The references cite readily available sources of supply. You may be able to find lower prices for materials or substitutions elsewhere. --- ### A QRO L-Matching Network for 40 or 80 Meters > L-matching networks provide an efficient means of feeding end-fed half-wave antennas. The advantages of being able to feed... - Published: 2022-06-27 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/27/l-matching/ - Categories: General, Newsletter Introduction L-matching networks provide an efficient means of feeding end-fed half-wave antennas. The advantages of being able to feed a half-wave antenna from one end cannot be overstated. It is very easy to hoist the matching network on a halyard or to mount the network to the side of a building. The matching network will also support the transmission line and one end of the antenna wire. It has been stated in another article that this matching network will provide a match for a single band, and that the efficiency of networks such as these can exceed 95%, typically 98%. Not long ago, a QRO L-matching network was completed for my friend, N4UM. Until then, L-matching networks were constructed with 100W operation in mind . This time, the objective was to build a matching network that would work with a 600W linear amplifier and that could be converted for operation on either 40 or 80m by changing a capacitor and moving the tap on an inductor. N4UM likes to configure wire antennas in the inverted-L configuration with the matching network close to the ground, so that was a consideration. The resulting L-network is the subject of this article. Design Since the load impedance for an end-fed half-wave antenna depends upon antenna height, configuration, conductor dimensions, and ground properties, a value of 3200 ohms was selected as a compromise. A quick way to arrive at the values for the matching elements is to estimate the impedance transformation ratio required. For example, if we needed to transform from a 50-ohm source to a 3200-ohm load, the impedance transformation ratio would be 1:64. From this, we can calculate the unloaded Q and the reactance values for the inductor and capacitor from The unloaded Q = 7. 94, and the reactance required for the inductor at the design frequency is 397 ohms. The reactance required for the capacitor is 403 ohms. If we were designing for 40m, we would calculate the inductance and capacitance from the reactance formulas at, for example, 7. 050 MHz. The same procedure would be followed to calculate the component values for the 80m band. We leave that computation as an exercise for the reader. Construction The 40m matching network was constructed so that it can be converted to 80m by moving the coil tap and changing the capacitor from approximately 50 pf to approximately 100 pf. The network is intended for use with a 600W linear amplifier. The inductor for this network consists of a 3" long x 2" DIA air coil, #16 AWG, 9 turns per inch . The doorknob capacitor is an HEC HT50 NPO characteristic 50 pf +/-10% at 7. 5 kV . The capacitor in the photo was measured on an HP4262A LCR meter. It measures 53. 6 pf. All of the components were found on eBay, but references have been provided for all new materials. The L-Network is in the lowpass configuration: series inductor followed by shunt capacitor, Figure 1. You may recall from matching topology that if the shunt element is close to the load, the match is from low to high impedance - in this case from 50 ohms to 3200 ohms. The turns of the coil were shorted at the cold end of the coil at 16T. The inductance of the remaining portion of the coil is approximately 9. 4 μH. The network is housed in a Bud Industries PN-1328-DGMB ABS box . The 1/4"-20 screw terminal on the left end of the enclosure, Figure 2, has been provided for a counterpoise connection. Counterpoises were covered in an earlier post . The screw terminal has been connected internally to the coax shield at the SO-239 connector. The 1/4"-20 antenna terminal is located on the right end of the enclosure as shown in Figure 2. Figure 1. Convertible L-Matching Network Wiring Diagram. The moveable tap, optional counterpoise connection, and test load connection points are shown. Figure 2. (Top) Convertible L-Matching Network for 40 and 80m. For 40m operation the inductor is tapped at approximately 16 turns from the cold end, and the HEC doorknob capacitor is approximately 50 pf. The inductor tap can be moved and the capacitor may be changed to convert from 40m to 80m operation. When an antenna analyzer is available, the conversion can be performed in minutes. (Bottom) L-Network Side View. The tapped inductor and HEC high voltage doorknob capacitor is visible. The UHF connector and counterpoise stud are also visible. By this time you have probably observed that the component values are not exactly as calculated. Many times the capacitor value will not be a standard value. This will result in a different load impedance than the design value. Since the high voltage capacitors are somewhat expensive, the objective was to find surplus capacitors on eBay. If more exact values are required, contact HEC, and they will see if they can find something close to what you need. Test The network was evaluated with a 3200-ohm non-inductive potentiometer load . The antenna analyzer employed was an MFJ-226 . The 1. 2:1 bandwidth of the network under resistive load is 150 kHz, Figure 3. The turn loss at 7. 062 MHz exceeds 48 dB, Figure 4. The Smith Chart in Figure 5 displays an excellent match for a 3200-ohm non-reactive load. Figure 6 shows the corresponding reactance of 0. 03 ohms at 7. 062 MHZ. Figure 3. VSWR Plot. The 40m L-network is swept across the entire band illustrating better than 2. 0:1 performance over the entire band. Figure 4. Return Loss Plot. The return loss at 7. 062 MHz is better than 48 dB. Figure 5. Smith Chart Plot. The L-network is swept over the entire 40m band exhibiting an excellent match. Figure 6. Reactance Plot. The reactance zero crossing is at 7. 062 MHz. Operation If a counterpoise wire is used, a common mode choke should be positioned at the matching network SO-239 connector. If no counterpoise wire is employed, a common mode choke should be positioned in the coax at a distance of 2m (6. 56') from the SO-239 connector for 40m operation. For 80m operation, that number should... --- ### Highly Efficient L-Matching Networks for End-Fed Half-Wave Antennas > There are three types of antenna feeds in popular use: 1) transformer feed, 2) L-matching network feed, and 3) Zepp... - Published: 2022-06-11 - Modified: 2023-03-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/11/l-matching-networks/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, Station Building Introduction End-fed half-wave (EFHW) antennas provide a convenient way to move the coaxial feedpoint for a half-wave antenna from the center to one end. There are three types of antenna feeds in popular use: 1) transformer feed, 2) L-matching network feed, and 3) Zepp. The transformer feed variety may be broadband and, depending upon its construction may be useful over the entire HF spectrum. On the other hand, an L-matching network will only work on a single band. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages for each type of feed. This article will discuss the L-matching network feed in detail. The subject of ferrite transformer feeds will be discussed in detail in another article. The subject of Zepp antenna feeds is discussed in great detail in many antenna books . One may think of a Zepp antenna as a folded full-wave antenna usually fed 0. 25 wavelength from one end. When one unfolds the antenna, we have an off-center-fed (OCF), full-wave antenna. Depending upon the feed section, a single or double Zepp antenna may be designed to have the advantage of fundamental and harmonic operation. If fed with an L-matching network, an EFHW antenna may possess an efficiency that exceeds 95%. Here are some things to consider when designing and using this antenna. First, the load impedance at the end of the half-wave wire must be determined by iteration or through electromagnetic analysis. The load impedance will dictate the values of the L-matching network components. Parameters that have the greatest effect on load impedance are antenna height above terrain, physical properties of the antenna conductor, ground properties, and immediate surroundings. If we may digress for a moment, the radiation resistance of a center-fed half-wave dipole is well understood, and it varies with wavelengths above the terrain, as shown in Figure 1. For example, if we were to elevate a 40m dipole to 33' (10m) above the terrain, we would expect a radiation resistance of about 80 ohms at the bottom of the band. This has been verified by modeling the antenna in EZNEC (81. 3 ohms) and by field measurement (78. 8 ohms) . One would expect the end resistance of a half-wave wire to vary in the same way, although at a vastly different impedance level. Figure 1. Radiation Resistance of a Dipole Above a Perfectly Conducting Plane. Radiation resistance values for horizontal and vertical dipoles are shown as a function of wavelength above a perfectly conducting plane. The dotted line shows how the radiation resistance of a horizontal dipole departs from the graph when the dipole is close to real ground. It is expected that the end resistance of our EFHW antenna will follow similar variations as a function of wavelength above ground, although at very different impedance levels. This article will present test results measured at 5 frequencies in 5 bands to demonstrate how end resistances vary at a fixed height above terrain. We allow the number of wavelengths above ground to vary as a function of frequency while holding the antenna height constant. There is not enough test data to draw any conclusions other than to say that the end resistance appears to vary as a function of wavelength above the terrain. It is hoped that the measurement program will be completed as future work. Second, if the antenna is fed close to where the radio operator will sit, as may be the case for portable operation, the electromagnetic fields at the end of the antenna may rapidly exceed those recommended by the FCC for controlled and uncontrolled environments. For this reason, it is recommended that both ends of the antenna be elevated, with the possible exception of QRP operation. Third, any end-fed half-wave antenna will require a counterpoise. Sometimes, the counterpoise is provided by the coax that feeds the L-matching network, in which case the feedline will definitely carry common mode currents that will tend to spoil the antenna pattern of the half-wave wire. Since the coax that feeds the L-matching network steals current from the half-wave wire, it reduces the main-beam efficiency. This problem can be remedied by placing a common mode choke in the feedline at a distance of 0. 05 wavelength from the L-matching network. Since the common mode currents are on the outside of the shield, the value of 0. 05 wavelength is measured in air, not in coax. Any effect due to the outer jacketing will be small. Be advised, however, that the 0. 05 wavelength value is not cast in concrete. It is a starting point. To be absolutely sure, the currents on the transmission line shield, counterpoise, and antenna wire should be measured with an RF current probe. One such probe is the MFJ-854 . As will be shown by electromagnetic analysis with EZNEC in another article, there will always be some RF currents where we don’t want them to be. While a portion of the coaxial feedline may serve as a counterpoise, the alternative is to co-locate the common mode choke with the L-matching network so that a separate counterpoise wire can be connected to the L-matching network ground. In any event, the counterpoise conductor should be perpendicular to the half-wave radiator, regardless of whether it is horizontal or vertical, to minimize the interaction of counterpoise fields with the main antenna beam. Methodology A lowpass L-matching topology is employed as shown in Figure 2 - a series inductor followed by a shunt, open-ended coaxial capacitor consisting of RG-316/U. (RG-316/U coax has a capacitance of 29 pf/ft. ) It is widely known that if the shunt-matching element is in parallel with the load, the transformation will be from a higher load impedance to a lower source impedance . This configuration is very easy to tune. However, this configuration will not bleed static charge from the antenna wire. While a series capacitor followed by a shunt inductor in parallel with the load will provide a similar transformation and static protection, this topology is more expensive to realize and more difficult to tune. We bring this point to your attention because static protection is often omitted from antenna installations. The matching schematic below, and tutorial... --- ### Scouts in Long Island, NY Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio > Scouts from the Matinecock District in Long Island, NY made a contact with an astronaut on the International Space Station, the ISS... - Published: 2022-06-07 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/07/long-island-scouts-iss/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach I once again had the pleasure to help a group of young people make contact with an Astronaut on the International Space Station this past week. Scouts from the Matinecock District in Long Island, NY, made a contact wi... Source: Scouts on Long Island Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio It was a lot of fun helping the Scouts of Sussex County, NY, talk to an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend. You can read all about the contact and see a video via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day Test - Radio Setup for 2022 > We configured our radios and loggers for 2022 Field Day and do a Field Day Test. We focused on the 80m/15m/10m station... - Published: 2022-06-07 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/07/field-day-test-2022/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General - Tags: Field Day, Station Building Lee KC1GKJ, Joe AC1LN, and Fred AB1OC got together today to configure our radios and loggers for 2022 Field Day and do a Field Day Test. We focused on the 80m/15m/10m station as it is the most complicated of our four planned stations at Field Day. Field Day Station Setup - 80m/15m/10m We also configured a second computer running N1MM+ for use with the 20m station. We used both PCs to check out log sharing, Joe AC1LN and Lee KC1GKJ which will be used at Field Day. Thanks to Joe and Lee for the great work to prepare NARS for Field Day 2022 and complete our Field Day Test. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Hands On Tower and Beam Antenna Training for 2022 Field Day > Members of the Nashua Area Radio Society 2022 Field Day Tower and Antenna Teams met for a hands-on training exercise led by Fred AB1OC... - Published: 2022-06-06 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/06/06/field-day-tower/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Tower On May 11, 2022, members of the Nashua Area Radio Society 2022 Field Day Tower and Antenna Teams met at BOB for a hands-on training exercise led by Fred AB1OC. BOB stands for Big Orange Box, the trailer that we use to store our gear. After obtaining approval from the facility where BOB is parked, we erected a 40-foot tower with a beam antenna and other peripherals to build our team’s skills prior to Field Day in June. We met there at 8:00 AM and began our day by removing all of the storage bins from the floor of the trailer to give us access to the tower sections, antennas, and other gear we need for the exercise. Preparation Plan Base Location The next step was to identify a level spot for us to place the tilt base for the antenna that would also allow us to have room for the boom, derrick, winch, and guy lines. Our location for the training was compact but had enough room. In June our Field Day location has much more room, so this will not be an issue. Prepare Base Using the impact hammer to drive in 4-foot stakes to secure the base plate to the ground. The base is subjected to a lot of stress and strain during the lift so must be level and tightly secured to the ground. Drive Rods with Impact Hammer Ready to Rig Falling Derrick The team gathers around for a briefing on the next steps after assembling and installing the falling derrick pole and also setting the first section of the tower into the base. Prepare to add tower sections Once the falling derrick is fully configured with all guys and cables attached, we raise it to lower the first tower section so we can add the remaining sections to it while on the ground. Here as in other stages of the construction Fred is guiding us and monitoring our progress. Bolt Tower Sections Tower team members bolt together the tower sections securely. Add cables and other peripherals Prior to raising the tower, all of the peripherals need to be installed. Here is the cross beam that will hold 40-meter and 80-meter dipoles. The coax for the beam antenna and control cable for the rotator are secured to the tower as well. Move Assembled Antenna to Tower We orient the assembled beam antenna front down so when we raise the tower it is pointing in the proper direction. This is determined by how the tower is oriented and how the rotator is set prior to raising the tower. Attach Antenna to Mast We slip the U-bolts on the antenna onto the mast and tighten them. Next, we connect the coax to the antenna with a long enough loop to allow for it to rotate more than 360 degrees. Raise the Tower https://vimeo. com/716382077 View the Hyperlapse above Watching Rotator Test The crew watches as we test the rotator and confirm that there is enough loop to rotate without any interference or binding. The test was successful and afterward, Fred AB1OC made a few DX calls to Europe QRP with an IC-705 radio. The beam worked great! Disassembly and Storage Prepare to Remove Antenna from Tower Mast Around 2:30, after only 15 minutes of operating, we needed to reverse the process and disassemble the tower and antenna. Our target time for departing the facility was around 4:00 PM. Remove Antenna from Tower The Beam team removes the antenna and moves it for disassembly until Field Day. At the same time, the Tower team will break down the tower and peripherals. Ready to Disassemble Antenna We place a tarp under the antenna in case any small parts fall off. It is easier to find them from the tarp than from the tall grass. Working on it on the sawhorses makes it much easier to assemble or disassemble. Breaking Down Tower Sections The Tower Team breaks down the tower sections while carefully keeping track of everything so we can be sure we have what we need for Field Day at the end of June. Gear Stowed and Ready to Leave After Successful Day We are ready to leave after a successful day. Thanks to Fred AB1OC who guided us through the different activities. He helped us all to gain more information on how to perform this task safely and efficiently. Field Day can be a complex project Field Day provides clubs with a number of opportunities. The obvious are to have a chance for members to gather and operate together. Even though it is not a contest, per se, we do keep score. The event also provides a chance for members to participate in a complex group project. Some of us had experience with projects of similar complexity in our careers but others never did. Working together collaboratively on a project like this is a good basis for friendship and memories of the shared experience are long-lasting. Building Skillsets in the Club One of our goals as a club is to build a skill set within the club that persists as members move in and out of active participation in these activities. We have members this year who have years of past experience doing this and others for whom this is their first exposure to it. Members who were prime contributors a few years ago may no longer participate. After this Field Day, we will have a new core of experienced members who can handle these tasks and share their own experiences to mentor the new members who will follow them. We strive to build a culture that continues to promote the continued building of the required skills in the club to share with future members. Jon AC1EV --- ### A Flagpole Antenna Project for Residential Settings > Flagpole antenna for use in residential settings. A flagpole antenna has been fabricated that can be installed in any residential setting... - Published: 2022-05-23 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/05/23/flagpole-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Introduction A flagpole antenna has been fabricated that can be installed in any residential setting. The fiberglass tubing has been designed with a pair of 2'-long coupling sleeves so that the entire tubing assembly will separate into 3 sections. The flagpole has been designed to contain a 6-BTV vertical , including an 80m resonator and stinger. When equipped with the 80m resonator and stinger, the entire flagpole stands 25' high. The flagpole is painted with Marine Epoxy finish to preserve the fiberglass. The tilt-over mechanism for the 6-BTV is contained within a white deck post sleeve . A remote tuner and common mode choke is concealed within a white circular pallet that has been fabricated from PVC trim lumber. The pallet also conceals the radial plate . A standard flag pole truck with a finial ball caps the tubing for a finished appearance. Flagpole Antenna Construction Details Concrete Pour, Radial Plate, 6-BTV Concealment, and Common Mode Current Suppression The concrete has been poured, and a radial plate installed for a 6-BTV Vertical Antenna. The foundation for the 6-BTV is an 8” DIA x 4’-0” long concrete form tube . A 1-1/2" OD seamless stainless tube was embedded in the concrete for attachment of the 6-BTV. A pipe or tube no larger than 1-1/2" OD must be used, if the entire tilt-over assembly is to fit within an 8"x 8" deck post sleeve. A total of 60 radials were bolted to the radial plate , Figure 1. These vary in length from 35 ft (10. 67m) to 8. 5 ft (2. 59m). The radials are anchored with 6" x 11 gauge landscape staples . In one week, the radials were nearly concealed by the lawn. The 6-BTV is concealed within 2. 5" OD, 2. 26" ID, fiberglass tubing . The tubing was joined with short sleeves of 2. 75" OD, 2. 51" ID, and fiberglass tubing . A 1-1/2" (38. 1mm) PVC electrical conduit is also visible on the far left. It is used to carry 75 ft (21. 9m) of DX Engineering DXE-400MAXDX075 from the service entrance to the antenna. A common mode choke was placed right at the antenna to suppress common mode currents on the coax shield. Figure 1. DX Engineering Radial Plate. Sixty ground radials are visible. Each bolt has been double-nutted so that the radials may be disconnected without lifting the ground plate. In order to save time, each of the 60 radials was prefabricated to the plot plan to fit the available space. Figure 2 shows the brick border that was added to the radial plate installation. It serves to protect the antenna, radials, and conduit from the lawn mower. It also serves to hide the lawn that is close to the radial plate. As the radials converge on the radial plate, there is considerable lawn die-off. Once this patch of lawn is covered with a tree ring landscape apron as pictured in Figure 3 and a decorative pallet, it is no longer visible. Figure 2. Brick Border. The border provides a convenient way to protect the radial connections and radial plate while mowing. The underground conduit is also visible. Figure 3. Landscape Apron. A landscape apron was installed over the radial plate to retard the growth of grass and weeds. The mounting pipe length was shortened. The underground electrical conduit that carries coax and the antenna tuner control cable is visible. Fiberglass Tubing A 25' tall fiberglass flagpole has been constructed that will conceal a 6-BTV vertical antenna. A picture of the sections, as constructed, is provided in Figure 4. In order to clear the aviation hose clamps that clamp the 6-BTV aluminum tubing and resonators together, as well as the 80m coil, a pole has been fabricated from 2-1/2" OD fiberglass tubing obtained from DX Engineering . The sections may be separated for storage during high winds, and these sections have been coupled together with sleeves constructed from 2-3/4" OD x 24"-long fiberglass tubing also obtained from DXE. The three sections measure, from foreground to background: Bottom: 8' (96"), Middle: 12' (144"), Top: 8' (96"). Figure 4. Fiberglass Tubing Sections. Sections of tubing are bonded together with non-corrosive RTV. If bonding is performed as shown, the assembly will spill water, once assembled. See text. Once assembled with overlap, the overall length is 25' long not including the flagpole truck and finial ball . It is anticipated that an additional 1' of 2-1/2" OD tubing may be removed just below the truck/ball, and this will reduce the bending moment. The fiberglass dielectric was expected to change the antenna tuning but it turned out to be negligible. The proximity of the truck and ball to the 80m "stinger" resonator was evaluated in its present configuration, and its effect was negligible. Note that it is essential that the DX Engineering DXE-RLT Reinforced Lower Tube manufactured for the BTV antenna series be utilized in order to support the additional bending moment of the flagpole. Use Without 80m Resonator If 80m operation is not required, the top 2-1/2” OD fiberglass tubing may be omitted. Only the bottom two sections need to be fabricated. The flagpole truck and finial ball are moved down by one section without modification to the design. Fiberglass Tub ing Fabrication The following steps were performed outdoors using personal safety equipment (PSE) consisting of a 3M fine particle respirator , safety goggles and gloves. If the flagpole is to be painted, a suitable respirator designed specifically for the constituent paint volatiles must be employed in a well-ventilated area, preferably outdoors. The tubing sections are cut using a straightforward technique. First, the pieces of tubing being cut are wrapped circumferentially, under the cut-line, with ordinary masking tape and the desired lengths are marked circumferentially with dots from an indelible marker. The tubing is placed on a set of V-blocks, Figure 5, that come as an accessory to a set of Stanley collapsible sawhorses . The V-blocks slip onto the ends of the sawhorse. The tubing is rotated in the V-blocks and gently scored on the dots with a small reciprocating saw that holds a Lenox 8" Diamond Blade, P/N 800RDG... --- ### Magnetic Loop Antenna > A compact magnetic loop antenna has been fabricated for indoor use where window dimensions may be small... - Published: 2022-04-11 - Modified: 2024-04-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/04/11/magnetic-loop-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew Recently, a magnetic loop antenna was fabricated for use by my brother, Allen, W2GYD, in his NYC apartment. The smallest dimension of his apartment window is 24", and that sets an upper limit on the loop diameter. The direction of maximum directivity lies in the plane of the loop. There will be deep nulls perpendicular to the plane of the loop. A diameter of 23" is just right for standard coax lengths of 6', 12', and 18'. The coax is supplied by DX Engineering, type 400MAX. The 6' length works well for 1-turn, Figure 1, while the 12' and 18' lengths were coiled into 2-turn, Figure 2, and 3-turn, Figure 3, loops, respectively. Figure 1. Single Loop, 6' (183 cm) Configuration Figure 2. Double Loop, 12' (366 cm) Configuration Figure 3. Triple Loop, 18' (548. 6 cm) Configuration Pipe clips were acquired from a plumbing supplier in the U. K. , as 10mm plumbing supplies are readily available, and 10mm is a good match for the 0. 32" O. D. of the 400MAX coaxial cable. Pipe clips are employed to maintain the shape of the loops and to fasten the loops to the oak frame. The frame was constructed from red oak hardwood flooring. This serves as a stable measurement fixture for the loops. A shielded coupling loop, Figure 4, was constructed from RG-8X, also supplied by DX Engineering. The coupling loop is 14. 4" (36. 6 cm) long, and it provides good coupling performance. The total length is a combination of interconnects within the Coupling Loop Assembly, Figure 5, the adapters, and an external 12" length of RG-8X coax. The Bud Industries housing is PN-1331-MB. Figure 4. Coupling Loop. The position of the loop is vertically adjustable using the sliding block and pegs. Figure 5. Interior View of Coupling Loop Box. Only the outer shield carries RF. The capacitor, Figure 6, in the Main Loop Tuning Assembly is an M73-type that was custom manufactured by Oren Elliott Products. Figure 6. Custom-Made Oren Elliott Capacitor with Reduction Drive The Bud Industries housing is PN-1333-MB. As installed in the Main Loop Tuning Assembly, Figure 7, the minimum capacitance is 16 pf, while the maximum capacitance is 428 pf. This provides adequate range to tune the 1, 2, and 3-turn loops over a very large range from 80m through 12m. The minimum capacitance prevents tuning of the 1-turn loop to 10m, and a coax shorter than 6' is required. Figure 7. Oren Elliot Capacitor in a Bud Industries Enclosure. The reduction drive and tuning knob are visible to the right. An insulated tuning shaft protects the operator from high voltage. Some adjustment of the position of the coupling loop is highly desirable. This has been verified by direct measurement of all loops on some or all bands from 80m to 12m. A sliding block arrangement, Figure 8, provides adjustment of the coupling loop vertical position with respect to the main loop. The holes in the sliding block and channel were drilled with a doweling jig. Without this device, it is very difficult to drill a series of holes in a straight line. The sliding block is fixed in the desired vertical position with dowel pegs. Figure 8. Sliding Block Assembly with Coupling Loop. Holes bored in the sliding block provide adjustment. The magnetic loop is coarsely tuned to resonance on receiver noise. Fine-tuning is performed with an antenna analyzer. A Diamond Antenna CX210A SPDT switch switches the antenna between a QRP radio and the antenna analyzer. The switch provides 70 dB of isolation. This is adequate to protect the antenna analyzer from QRP transmitter power. This setup works well, and there is no need to connect and disconnect coax to provide precise tuning. Oren Elliott Products also provides a 6:1 friction reduction drive so that 3-turns are required to tune from minimum to maximum capacitance. The reduction drive is essential for fine-tuning. Interconnects within the Main Loop Tuning Assembly Figure 9, marked High Voltage, are made between the connectors and the capacitor with a 1" wide x 0. 012" thick copper ribbon supplied by Georgia Copper. This material turned out to be very easy to handle. Thicker materials, 0. 016" and 0. 022", were difficult to pattern and install. Consequently, these thicknesses were abandoned. The 0. 012" material was clamped between two thin sheets of craft plywood obtained at Michaels. The plywood makes it possible to drill the 0. 625" holes for the SO-239 connectors in the ribbon. Patterning was accomplished by drilling with successively larger drill bits until a diameter of 0. 625" was achieved. Without the plywood to constrain the ribbon the drill grabs and tears the copper, even when cutting oil and a low cutting speed is employed. More than one attempt was required, as it was not possible to grind the drill cutting edges for use on copper. Metal stamping or boring would be better for creating the connector pattern in copper ribbon. Figure 9. Tuning Assembly Mounted on the Antenna Frame Another view of the Main Loop Tuning Assembly is provided in Figure 10. The 10mm plumbing clips are visible and serve to space the turns. A roll of copper ribbon used to connect the tuning capacitor to the connectors on top of the Main Loop Tuning Assembly is visible in the upper right of the photo. Figure 10. Frame and Tuning Assembly Under Construction The sharp tuning null for the 3-turn loop on 40m is shown in Figure 11. For the 3-turn loop at a frequency of 7. 093 MHz, the -3 dB bandwidth of the loop is 19 kHz for a Q of 373. The efficiency of the loop is 7. 9% which may be expressed as -11. 0 dB. Since the directivity is 1. 8 dB, the resulting gain is -9. 2 dB. On the higher bands, the efficiency improves. Figure 11. Sharp Tuning Null of 3-Turn Loop on 40m Martin, K1FQL Magnetic Loop Antenna Related References https://www. dxengineering. com/search/part-type/coaxial-cable-assemblies https://www. toolstation. com/talon-hinged-clip/p90494 https://www. dxengineering. com/search/department/cable-and-connectors/part-type/coaxial-cable-assemblies/coaxial-cable-type/rg-8x? cm_mmc=ppc-google-_-search-_-part-type-_-keyword&gclid=CjwKCAjwrqqSBhBbEiwAlQeqGrlMyXXkAQdLqkPrCkkJ39Ug9Pm_xCPB3jkHF42 https://www. budind. com/product/nema-ip-rated-boxes/pn-series-nema-box/ip65-nema-4x-box-with-mounting-brackets-pn-1331-mb/ - group=series-products&external_dimension https://www. orenelliottproducts. com/product-category/air-variable-capacitors/m73-m90-m97/ https://www. budind. com/product/nema-ip-rated-boxes/pn-series-nema-box/ip65-nema-4x-box-with-mounting-brackets-pn-1333-mb/ - group=series-products&external_dimension https://www. rockler. com/dowel-pro-jig? country=US&sid=V91040&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=CjwKCAjwrqqSBhBbEiwAlQeqGtcSEMJ9SNtgzGkl_7dxBONE-E3BjhOV-tR2Y5lS9HaNICw6kOyUOxoCvLsQAvD_BwE https://www. diamondantenna. net/cx210a. html... --- ### Register Now for Ham Bootcamp! > Spring 2022 Ham Bootcamp will be held by the Nashua Area Radio Society on Saturday May 14th to help new hams learn skills to get on the air. - Published: 2022-04-10 - Modified: 2022-04-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/04/10/register-now-for-ham-bootcamp/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: CW, Digital, Education and Training, HF, Mentor, Mentoring, NARS Event, On The Air, Portable, Satellite, VHF/UHF 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, 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 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 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 bootcamp@n1fd. org Anita, AB1QB --- ### Gear Test and Evaluation for Field Day 2022 > On March 15th 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB to do an initial gear test and evaluation in preparation for Field Day... - Published: 2022-03-27 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/03/27/gear-test-field-day-2022/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, NARS Event, Tower On March 15th 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB to do an initial gear test and evaluation to begin our hands-on preparation for Field Day 2022. We were: AC1LN Joe Luszcz KB1RGB Rick Fulton KC1FNF Peter Wolczko KC1PEQ Hardy Hamilton KC1PWB Alan Whitney W1JDG John Ginsberg AC1EV Jon Turner Our goal for the day was to inspect the Tents, Beam antenna, and Tower components we will use in June for Field Day. Layout of our tower BOB is the name we have for our storage location for our gear. It stands for Big Orange Box. It is a retired UPS trailer that is parked on the grounds of a city public works facility, so is secure and secluded. Our first step is to remove the bins which are stacked on the floor of the trailer to give us access to the rest of the gear we want to evaluate. We selected tower sections that were color-coded from previous years to layout and confirm they all fit together and that we had all the required fasteners, guy lines, straps, pulleys, cables, etc. When we are actually setting up Field Day it is done in a time-limited window, so chasing after missing parts is best done in advance, not on the day of the event. We are fortunate this year that all the components are stored in clearly labeled Bins and Ziplock bags and our dedicated Tower construction toolkit is complete. Tower and Tents Here is the tower with the segments press-fitted to confirm they all fit. This was done before we found the detailed instructions from previous years. You can see progress on the tents in the background. First Tent The first tent is assembled. There were no missing parts! Alan and Joe inspect their work. The first tent took longer to set up than the second and the third was even faster. Practice now will make the day of the event easier. Second Tent Peter and Hardy join in on the construction of the second tent and get a good lesson from Joe. Tents and BOB Our fourth tent is another brand, but not difficult to assemble. Tents will sit on tarps and have floors inside to support the tables and chairs that we’ll use during Field Day. Tower Pre-Assembled After we found and read the instructions, we re-assembled the tower parts in proper order and have the falling derrick installed along with the proper cabling and guys. We also confirmed we had the other required parts that are identified in the instructions. Given the shorter days and cooler temperatures in mid-March, we did not have time to evaluate the Beam antenna. We located the proper antenna and the dedicated toolkit for it, so we know where to begin when we return for more preparations. Sometime around 2:30, we decided it was time to pack everything up carefully and return it to the trailer. It took around an hour to tear down and pack up everything. I’m happy we had enough volunteers to make it easy. Based on our experience this day we are scheduling another expedition to BOB on April 19th with a rain date of April 20th. This second trip is more ambitious. Our plan is to assemble the beam antenna and attach it to the tower and raise the whole assembly including additional dipoles and all coax and control wires required. Fred, AB1OC will guide us through the procedures so by the time we are going live on the day of Field Day we will have done this before. Some of us participated in past Field Days, and have experience with these tasks, but haven’t led the teams. In addition to confirming we aren’t missing any critical parts, and nothing is broken we will also have the experience of standing up this part of our station so can have experienced team leaders to manage our setup in June. If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. It is also a lot of fun. Sharing this experience is a great way to build friendships along with complex radio stations. If you have any interest in joining us in this event, please do not hesitate to contact me at pres@n1fd. org. We will make sure you can be involved at whatever level you want and will share all our skills to make sure you can do it. We can turn “I don’t know how to do that” into “I didn’t know how to do that, but I do now” 73, Jon AC1EV --- ### Choosing and Installing a Wire Beam Antenna > Wire Beam Antennas provide a great blance between cost, complexity, performance and ease of installation. This article explores popular... - Published: 2022-02-20 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/02/20/wire-beam-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, HF, Station Building Introduction This article is an adaptation of a presentation I gave for Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night on February 8, 2022. Want to learn Ham Radio operating skills and technical skills? We hold a monthly Tech Night Session as part of our mission to help our members develop and expand their Ham Radio-related technical knowledge. NARS holds a Tech Night meeting every second Tuesday of each month. We record our Tech Night presentations, and they are available online for our Members and Internet Subscribers. Membership Meetings and Tech Nights Our Membership Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month. You can find out about our meetings here. We have a variety of speakers who share interesting presentations about Amateur Radio at our meetings. We invite you to attend one of our meetings. This is a great way to meet our members and learn more about what we are doing. Check out our recent presenters below. We're looking forward to having Bob Heil present at our March 1, 2022, meeting coming up. Please join us. Membership Meetings Antenna Evolution You got your license and want to get on the air. The next step is to get a radio and an antenna installed. I started with a very good radio, the IC-7300. My first antenna was a Chameleon cha-emcomm-ii end-fed antenna 60' long installed as a sloper in a pine tree in the back yard. This setup worked but not very well. I was able to make QSOs in the eastern part of the US out to the Mississippi River or so. I was on the air but needed more and so I began my quest for bigger and better antennas. It is now five years later, and the quest continues. First upgrade I began my search for a better antenna by researching the alternatives. The budget was a consideration and my physical situation at home was another. I took note of where the trees were located on my property and quickly saw that an Off-Center-Fed-Dipole would fit the situation very well. I read that it is best to focus attention on improving antennas before spending resources on amplifiers and fancy radios and intended to follow that path. As a new ham, I decided to purchase a proven commercial solution rather than attempt to homebrew something on my own. I bought a Buckmaster 7 band low power OCFD. It is 135 feet long with one leg 45 feet long and the other 90 feet long. This matched the locations of two trees on the property with the feed point directly over my roof peak. 20 feet OCFD What next? This iteration of the Buckmaster was quite an improvement over the short sloper and I was now coast-to-coast! It was in the summer of 2018 at the bottom of solar cycle 24 so conditions were poor. This setup was OK, but weak in a pileup and I wanted to go to the next level. Fortunately, the next level did not require a new antenna. It only required that I raise the feed point of the current antenna to 1/2 wavelength on 20 meters to have it perform at its potential. 33 feet OCFD Here is a picture of the Buckmaster optimized for my QTH. The feed point is up at 33 feet high ~1/2 wavelength for 20 meters. The ends of the antenna are 15 and 18 feet high, giving the antenna an inverted V configuration with the angle at the top around 120 degrees. Performance with this antenna and 100 watts from the IC-7300 was very good. At the bottom of the solar cycle, I worked all states and made my first 80 DXCC contacts. Still, I wanted a better station and my research informed me that the next step was a beam antenna. Why choose a Wire Beam Antenna? Wire Beam Pros Lightweight Low wind load Possible to utilize light masts and rotators Can be excellent choices for towers or masts which can telescope, retract, or tilt In scope for DIY Wire Beam Cons Comparatively Fragile More frequent maintenance May be sensitive to weather Aluminum Beam Pros Heavier duty May survive heavy snow and ice better Less affected by UV Aluminum Beam Cons Can be much heavier Needs heavy-duty components May require professional help May have a higher total cost Common types of Wire Beam Antennas Wire Beam (V-Beam) This is the NARS 40-meter Wire Beam antenna at Field Day 2017. 40 Meter Wire Beam N1FD The wire beam is a very high performance, but it cannot change direction. It is possible to rotate it 180 degrees electronically with stubs and relays. In this example NARS N1FD club station was located in NH, so we oriented the beam at 260 degrees and had coverage for all of the USA. Max Gain Systems has this picture on their website, they sell the 50-foot fiberglass masts used here. Delta Loop Delta Loop PU1JSV I have a little more than 11,000 QSOs in my log so far. Only 3 or 4 people had pictures of Delta Loop beam antennas on their QRZ pages. This picture is an excellent example from PU1JSV. There are a few commercial options available in Europe, but I haven't seen any in the USA for HF bands. For that reason, I would classify these as mostly DIY. There is a disadvantage with this design in that it has a more 3-D wind profile so may be more vulnerable to the elements. Quad 4 Element Quad Antenna-LA4UOA Similar to the Delta Loop style beam antennas the Quad or Cubical Quad antenna does not have much commercial availability in the USA. It is very popular, and I found many examples of it in my QRZ logs. This example from LA4UOA in Norway works great. I've had 7 QSOs with Tor on it. Like the Delta Loop Beams this antenna also has a 3-D wind profile so may be more vulnerable to the elements. Moxon Beam Wire Moxon M1DAZ Here is an excellent example of a wire Moxon. They are usually 2 elements. This style is widely available in aluminum commercially and there are... --- ### WM0G Rain Gutter Antenna > Several years ago, I wrote an article on the use of the rain gutter on my Colorado home as my HF antenna. I was relegated to this antenna... - Published: 2022-01-27 - Modified: 2023-06-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/27/wm0g-rain-gutter-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas Several years ago, I wrote an article on the use of the rain gutter on my Colorado home as my HF antenna. This was the antenna I was relegated to use for my HF operating due to the oppressive rules of the local Home Owners Association regarding external antennas. Although I did remind them at the time that it was illegal to ban small outdoor satellite dishes and Yagi’s for TV reception per the FCC, so they amended that clause in the HOA covenants, but still continued their ban on any outside ham antennas. I’ll not complain, as I knew what the HOA rules were when I got this house and accepted them as a challenge to my ingenuity. Rain Gutter Antenna One day I was looking around to see what I could use to support a wire on the roof and got an idea to try to use the aluminum rain gutter on the east side of my house as my HF antenna instead. The gutter measured 25 feet vertically and then ran 35 feet horizontally for a total of 60 feet in overall length and resembled a ready-made inverted “L” or what is also known as a Marconi antenna configuration. That antenna needs a decent counterpoise to work correctly so I planted fifteen random length radials under the lawn. I then wired together the three aluminum window wells that were on that side of the house and added them to the planted radial wires. Additionally, I bolted together all of the aluminum lawn edging around my lawn and added a wire from that into the other counterpoise elements. According to the accepted theory, the more metal and wire you use in your radial system, the better. You might consider connecting to your radial system any nearby chain link fencing, metal lawn sprinkler piping, buried metal screening, water standpipes, underground water storage tanks, metal drainage culverts, railroad tracks, etc. After the installation and in the initial trials, one of the drawbacks I noticed on the rain gutter antenna was that it was somewhat tricky to load on some of the bands using a conventional antenna trans-match. It was impossible to find a decent matching combination on 160 meters at all. Although, loading on the 80, 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters bands did not present as much of a problem and I could get an SWR match under 3:1 in a few small portions of those bands. Tuning on 10 meters was a bit tricky as well as finding any sort of decent match on 12 meters and 17 meters. I looked at several possible solutions including one developed by my good ham friend, stealth antenna compatriot, DX’er, celebrated author, and renowned Physicist – Dr. Yardley Beers, WØJF (now SK) who volunteered to do all the complex mathematical calculations on my rain gutter antenna system. In a few days, he gave me a coil design that could be added to the feed point of the rain gutter in order for it to load on 160 meters. There was no doubt in my mind that his design would work. Ultimately, though, I had decided on using a different approach. I had read a lot about the SGC-230 Smartuner™ Automatic Antenna Coupler in ham magazines and on the Internet. It seemed like a plausible solution to this problem IF it worked as advertised. The automatic antenna coupler is designed for use with end-fed unbalanced antennas such as whips and long wires. It can be configured to be used with dipoles and inverted vees as well. This automatically tunable antenna coupler is an ideal solution for this type of installation due to the fact that a rain gutter looks like a non-resonant end-fed unbalanced antenna. What is the difference between an antenna coupler and an antenna tuner? According to the SGC manual, “antenna couplers” are placed at the antenna and match conditions of the antenna to the feed line in a very precise manner whereas, “antenna tuners” on the other hand, are generally located at the transmitter output at the transceiver end of the coaxial feed line. Furthermore, antenna tuners placed at the transmitter allow substantial losses in feed lines to be corrected at that point in order to “fool” a transmitter into working correctly. The losses are dissipated through heat or to ground. Conversely, a coupler installed at the antenna eliminates these losses by providing a proper match of the antenna at the feed point. The SGC-230 Smartuner™ is a true antenna “coupler”. SGC-230 Smart Tuner After purchasing the SGC-230 Smartuner™ from my local Denver HRO store I couldn’t wait to get it installed. Included within the formidable packaging of the box was an impressive and informative 81-page installation and operating manual that explained the coupler’s inner workings and it suggested various antenna applications for the SGC-230 with illustrations. Upon physical inspection of the unit, I was impressed by the ruggedness of the construction of the SGC-230. This hermetically-sealed antenna coupler was obviously meant to be installed outdoors and was even suitable for installation on shipboard. At a major military show, I even saw one mounted on the side of an Army Humvee connected to their whip antenna! SGC builds other models of these types of antenna coupling devices but the SGC-230 Smartuner™ is rated at 200W input. I probably wouldn’t ever run more than 100 watts, but it is comforting to know that you are not running on the hairy edge of the limits of its power capabilities. I figured that the additional margin would translate into many extra years of trouble-free operation. The feed to the rain gutter is barely visible in this photo as well as the braided connection to the radials. The installation was a snap. SGC gives you an additional quick installation guide for those of us that don’t like to read the whole manual. First, I mounted the antenna coupler as close as possible to the feed point of the rain gutter per the specification in the installation guide. This is because any portion of the feed wire that is connected to the SGC-230 becomes part of the overall... --- ### AC1EV's Ham Radio Adventure: Part I > Hi, I’m Jon Turner, AC1EV and I’d like to tell you a bit about my Ham Radio Adventure. In late 2017, my wife Stephanie began... - Published: 2022-01-20 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/20/ac1ev-part-i/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight AC1EV - Jon Starting Out Hi, I’m Jon Turner, AC1EV and I’d like to tell you a bit about my Ham Radio Adventure. In late 2017, my wife Stephanie began pestering me to let her know what I wanted for Christmas. This was a perennial problem for us. I usually had problems thinking of something that was not ridiculous, like a new RV. I heard about a new thing called “SDR” radio and found out about the RSP1A SDR. It's affordable and hooks up to a computer. There are lots of things to do with it. On Christmas morning, I had a new toy, and my adventure began. 30 years earlier I used to have a Sony ICF-2010 Shortwave radio that I listened to while I traveled the country in my job as an owner-operator trucker. Jon's 1984 Ford LTL 9000 In addition to the shortwave bands, it also had Ham bands and I explored them all. As a trucker, I also had a pretty good CB radio setup, including SSB so was not new to being behind the mike. Training After a month or so of listening to the RSP1A SDR, it was obvious to me that I needed to be able to join in on the conversations (now I call them QSOs) I was monitoring. After trucking, my second career was in IT, so I was very familiar with using internet resources to learn new technologies. I self-studied and prepared for the Technician exam, which I took with the Billerica Amateur Radio Society in Chelmsford, Ma at the end of February 2018. Already in study mode, I kept going and studying for the General exam. My self-study program was a combination of the ARRL Exam Prep books, ARRL Exam Review for Ham Radio™, and YouTube videos produced by the Hurst Amateur Radio Society in Texas. After I passed that exam, I began to build my station. I often visited Ham Radio Outlet in Salem, NH to buy items to build or improve my station. One day in mid-April I was talking with another customer there and mentioned that I was studying for the Amateur Extra test. He told me that his club, Nashua Area Radio Society was putting on a boot-camp license training for Extra the upcoming weekend! I was about halfway through my own studying for the test and decided to sign up for the training. That decision turned out to be one of the most significant of my life. Sure, I got the license that weekend, which was great, but more important was that I ended up joining the club. Welcome to NARS As a new ham I was eager to engage with the hobby and make contacts to far away exotic locations. I knew the basics of what Hams can do but didn’t realize how much more was available or what being a member of a first-rate ham club could offer to me. First, I started with building a station. I didn’t realize at the time that this part of the hobby would never really end. There is always something that needs to be tweaked or improved. When I began, I worked on getting my new IC-7300 and a 63-foot end-fed antenna to work. Field Day 2018 At the same time, the club was getting ready for Field Day 2018 and 13 Colonies. As a new member of the club and living 30 miles away, I hadn’t been involved with working on club projects and events by then. I went to visit Field Day to see what was going on and spent a few hours there with the club checking out the setup and taking pictures. The club had 10+ stations, 3 towers, and a 40-meter V-Beam and made over 2000 contacts. I had no idea of the scope of this event or how much planning and work was involved in it. Field Day 2018 and Team Leads Wow, once I saw this and had some time to think about it, I decided I wanted to be a part of it next year and also to join in on other projects and events with the club. It turns out I didn’t have long to wait. I want to take a moment here to point out something about NARS, it is a primary goal of the club to give anyone who is interested in participating in any club activity the opportunity and support to help make that happen. Some organizations are so competitive that newbies are rarely allowed to have access to operate in special events or otherwise participate in the planning and setup of other club projects. I found out that Nashua Area Radio Society makes a deliberate effort to include all, especially new hams, or hams inexperienced with a particular technology in whatever activity is underway. 13 Colonies 2018 13 Colonies is a special event each year during the week of the 4th of July. This is an extremely popular event for hams around the world. In 2017 NARS was the top club and made NH the top state in the event, beating the next state, PA, by only 5 contacts! Only a few minutes of operating time over a 7-day event made the difference! An overly competitive club might want to restrict access to new or unproven operators to try and maximize the chances of repeating the win again. NARS’ philosophy was to bring as many members as interested in participating into the action and give them a chance to experience the event (and hobby) at the highest level. AC1EV at AB1OC-AB1QB Station With only 2 months experience operating on HF SSB I had a chance to operate at the club’s president Fred (AB1OC) and wife Anita’s (AB1QB) world class station. K2K Mug and Award I was not just given a chance to operate, but to be included on the team of operators. I made a meaningful contribution to the club’s effort in the event. In July 2018 I had my Amateur Extra license for around 2 ½ months. According to QRZ. com, I had less than 250 QSOs in my log. Presently, I have 10,990 QSOs... --- ### 2022 NARS Executive Committee Spotlight > The Nashua Area Radio Society has elected our 2022 executive committee. Here are the people on that team... - Published: 2022-01-13 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/13/2022-executive-committee/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Executive Committee, Member Spotlight Jon Turner (AC1EV) – President Jon AC1EV “Here is AC1EV. My name is Jon. ” I started saying this back in February of 2018 and have said it almost 11,000 times since then. I self-studied and passed my Technician exam in February 2018 and self-studied and passed my General exam in March 2018. I was in the middle of self-study for my Extra when I had a chance meeting with Charlie, a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society, at HRO in Salem, NH. As we talked and discussed ham radio, I mentioned my study efforts and he said, “My club has a boot camp for Extra next weekend” Well, I knew what I was going to be doing that weekend, so I contacted Anita and joined the class. Friday, Saturday and Sunday and at the end of Sunday I passed the exam and was an Amateur Extra. The club gives a year’s free membership to people who pass their exams with them, and I was so impressed with the whole operation that I joined. I live in Tewksbury, so attending meetings meant a 30-mile ride, each way, but It was completely worth it. Within months I saw the club’s field day operation and was able to operate in 13 Colonies. Both events were very exciting. I quickly saw that NARS had lots to offer new hams and had the philosophy that if you wanted to participate, they would not only let you but would actively assist in helping make it happen. From that quick start I had a chance to be engaged at all levels with many club activities, write for the newsletter and website and even help Fred with getting students to contact the ISS. A little over two years ago the club secretary moved away from the area and created an opening on the NARS Executive Committee. Fred asked me if I would be interested in the position, and I was. Last year I was elected again as Secretary and have enjoyed working with the leadership team to help make NARS what it is today. This year, with Fred becoming the ARRL New England Division Director, there was an opening on the Executive Committee for President. I think I declined the role 2 or 3 times. Still, I knew that it was an important thing to do and eventually with much discussion with my wife Stephanie, I decided to go for it. In my time in the club, prior to being elected President, we’ve trained many dozens of new hams, helped more dozens of hams upgrade their licenses, finished with top scores in Field Day, 13 Colonies and other operating activities, and were selected as the Dayton Hamvention 2019 Club of the Year. (Just to name a few) BTW, NARS was on the cover of the ARRL flagship magazine twice in the past year and a half. My immediate goal is to help the club to continue to do those things that made the above possible. Next, I want to become fluent with the club’s operations so I can take advantage of any new opportunities to help grow our membership and help our members grow in the hobby. Above all, I want to keep the spirit of the club that welcomes anyone with interest and desire to participate in any activity at the highest level they can. I’ve asked each of the EC members to put together a few sentences about themselves to help you get to know them a little better. We have two new members this year and some of us old hands have new roles. Fred becomes our new Programs Chair; Lee is our new Treasurer and Peter is our new Secretary. I moved from Secretary to President. Jamey remains our Vice President, Anita remains the Membership Chair and Jim remains our Activities Chair. Thanks to all the members of the EC for their hard work and support of the club. Here are some of their thoughts. Jamey Finchum (AC1DC) - Vice President Jamey AC1DC I was first licensed in 2015 through the NARS classes that I found while doing a web search. I wasn't sure of all that was involved in amateur radio, but really enjoyed the class and was convinced to take the general course the following month. I'm not sure why, but during one of our breaks Fred (AB1OC) had a station set up and we were hearing someone talking from Cuba. It blew me away that we could be hearing someone from as far away as Cuba from a radio set up in a break room attached to an antenna on a truck! I have been hooked ever since! I enjoy contesting, portable, and mobile operations and I'm always learning something new. I am looking forward to the new year with the club and hopefully having some in-person events with SOTAs, POTAs and other activities. Lee Duval (KC1GKJ) – Treasurer Lee KC1GKJ I received my technician license in 2016 through the Nashua Area Radio Society around that time I also became a member of ARES. This spring I started looking through the website for NARS and was impressed by all the training information available and decided to join and go to field day. Field Day was a great experience. Everyone was very welcoming, and I was able to learn all about new things available to amateur ham radios. I was thrilled to participate in K2K and learn about contesting and digital modes and this of course led to my desire to become a General and set up an HF station. After getting advice from some members, I have set up my station with an ICOM 7300 and a Buckmaster dipole. With the help of Fred, I was able to set up my digital side to be able to do FT-8. In December I upgraded to my General and have loved being able to use the extra frequencies and both SSB rag chewing all over the world and making digital contacts in places I have never even heard of! Talking with Fred and Anita one day we were talking about the treasurer’s position, and I... --- ### Scouts in Australia Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio > Scouts in Victoria, Australia made contact with Astronaut Mark VandeHei, KG5GNP on the ISS this past Tuesday, January 4th, 2022... - Published: 2022-01-10 - Modified: 2023-10-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2022/01/10/au-scouts-contact-iss/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach I once again had the pleasure to help a group of young people make contact with an Astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) this past week. The Scouts were participating in a Jamboree in Victoria, Australia. You can learn more about the event, called VicJam, here... Scouts in Victoria, Australia made contact with Astronaut Mark VandeHei, KG5GNP this past Tuesday, January 4th, 2022. Astronaut Mark VandeHei KG5GNP You can learn more about this contact and watch it via the following link. Scouts in Australia Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio Thank you to Jon Turner, AC1EV who once again helped me to prepare to help with this contact. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Thank You For Your Support! - Published: 2021-11-19 - Modified: 2021-11-19 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/19/thank-you-for-your-support/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: ARRL I received some great news from ARRL HQ this afternoon. Thanks to the great support from so many people, I will have the privilege of serving as your ARRL New England Division Director for the next 3 years. It has been an amazing opportunity to campaign for and prepare to take on this challenge. I have met so many great folks and groups during the past 6 months since the process of running to become your director began. The people in our Division give me great confidence that Amateur Radio has a great future ahead for all of us... I want to add a special thanks to the members of the Nashua Area Radio Society Executive Committee. The EC stepped up to take on a good deal of the load that I have carried as your President which enabled me to devote the needed attention to campaigning for and preparing to become ARRL New England Division Director. I am also very happy to see that our current EC will continue to lead our club going forward. Several of us including me a switching chairs which is a good thing but the leadership of the club remains intact. Thank you to all of the NARS members who supported me and who helped to provide the opportunity for me to serve. I very much appreciate everyone's support. Fred, AB1OC ARRL New England Division Director-Elect --- ### WMØG’s Novice Memories > I was introduced to the wonderful world of shortwave radio one Christmas Day way back in the mid-1950s as a young Boy Scout... - Published: 2021-11-09 - Modified: 2021-11-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/09/novice-memories/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights - Tags: Member Spotlight WMØG’s NOVICE MEMORIES By Jack Ciaccia I was introduced to the wonderful world of shortwave radio one Christmas Day way back in the mid-1950s as a young Boy Scout working on my Radio Merit Badge. My parents knew I was working towards this merit badge and bought me a Revell ‘Radaradio’ diode radio receiver kit for Christmas. This kit used a 1N34A germanium diode for the detector and a ferrite loop antenna versus the old-time traditional crystal radio receiver's use of a piece of Galena, a wire-wound coil form, and a metal cat-whisker. After spending an hour or so putting this all together and grounding the radio to the water pipe on the bathroom sink, I found that I could actually hear a radio station in the headset! It was the Voice of America transmitting from Bethany, Ohio. Wow... DX! Late at night, I found I could hear Radio Moscow. Double Wow... Real DX! Of course, in those days at the height of the “Cold War” with radio propaganda battles going on between the two Super Powers with their Multi-Megawatt shortwave radio broadcast stations, you probably could have heard the Voice Of America or Radio Moscow with a wire attached to the fillings of your teeth. Then, I heard some other sort of radio communications. I could only hear one side of the conversation of a local ham radio operator working another distant ham radio station. I was hooked! I needed to hear both sides of those conversations. I needed a better radio, one with more selectivity and more sensitivity, etc. I found out that one of my father’s fishing friends had a shortwave radio and that he was willing to trade me for my AM/FM clock radio. That was a deal! Heck, that AM/FM clock radio was only used to wake me up for school anyway. Once I traded for the shortwave radio, an old 1938 Model S-19R ‘Sky Buddy’ receiver, I found I could hear all sorts of shortwave radio stations and lots of ham radio stations too. I could also use it to listen to Morse code and other strange noises and signals across the bands. I could even listen to my father, whose hobby was fishing for Giant Bluefin Tuna, Swordfish, and other big-game fish off the coastline of New England. My dad would spend as many days and nights out fishing that his business (and my mother) would allow him to do. In those days, most of the maritime Ship to Shore communications were on 2638 and 2738 kHz and with my homebrew wire-wound bamboo vertical, I could now hear him on the HF Marine Radio from his boat talking with other boat captains whose boat names I also recognized. By eavesdropping on his radio communications, I could now inform my mother as to when he was headed back to port. Of course, he surmised that I would probably be listening and would make sure that I knew, by his pointed conversation with the other boats, whether or not he had caught fish and if he would be back in port by evening. This radio SWLing was really helpful when he was fishing offshore in bad weather and would have to pull into some other port until the weather broke and he could finally make his way back home. In the days before cell phones, this was a way to communicate, albeit one-way. During the summer of 1958, I decided that I wanted to get my Novice Amateur Radio License. I spent just about every idle hour reading and re-reading my Novice Exam book, the Amateur Radio Operating manual, or practicing sending Morse code on my code oscillator or listening to Morse code on my shortwave radio and writing down whatever characters I could hear and decipher. Finally, by that August, I felt that I was finally ready to take the Novice Class license exam. In those days, the standard procedure for getting a Novice Class license was to go to a General Class ham who would order a Novice License test from the FCC and then act as a volunteer examiner. After 1954, and until the ARRL VE system started up, the FCC did not routinely give Novice Class or Technician Class exams at their FCC Office examination locations. There was no special accreditation to be a Volunteer Examiner back then either. Anyone with a General Class or higher license, over the age of 21, and who was not related to the examinee could serve as a volunteer examiner for a Novice or Technician Class licensee. My father’s cousin owned a Radio & TV repair business and knew a manufacturers’ rep for RCA tubes that was a ham. He arranged for me to take the Novice Class test at this ham’s home. Cliff Smith, W1PPN (now SK) was the ham and my Novice Class examiner. Cliff was a well-known 160-meter DXer. I remember his home station was located right on the oceanfront in Barrington, RI. He had a monster of a long-wire antenna strung high across a saltwater marsh on the inlet of the bay. His rig was the classic Johnson Desk Kilowatt with a Collins 75A4 receiver. The ultimate ham radio station for those days. I nervously took the Novice exam and was excited to hear that I had passed. Now, all I had to do was wait to receive that coveted piece of paper from the FCC. In those days, it took approximately 60 days for the FCC to process these exams and issue the license. I made many, many fruitless trips to the mailbox before it finally showed up. Finally, after what seemed forever, there in the day’s mail was my brand new FCC license with my newly-minted Novice Class callsign, K N 1 I V Y Charles Dickens, about 100 years earlier in his classic novel “Tale of Two Cities” had unknowingly made in his opening sentence an early assessment of my Novice radio experience. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. ” I was like a deer mesmerized by the headlights of radio technology. There was a “dark... --- ### Introduction to HFTA - High Frequency Terrain Assessment and more... > HFTA stands for High-Frequency Terrain Assessment.  This article contains an introduction to setting up and using HFTA... - Published: 2021-11-07 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/11/07/hfta-intro/ - Categories: Antennas, DX, Education and Training, General - Tags: Antennas, Software, Station Building What is HFTA HFTA stands for High-Frequency Terrain Assessment. Some documentation refers to it as High-Frequency Terrain Analysis. HFTA is a software tool that generates the vertical radiation pattern of horizontally polarized antennas taking into account the profile of the surrounding terrain. The irregularity of local terrain has a profound effect on vertical radiation patterns. Note that HFTA does not compute radiation patterns for vertically polarized antenna radiation. Azimuthal Maps Request Azimuthal Map HFTA provides performance information for your antenna taking account of the terrain profile in a particular direction. Do you know what is out there in any direction? Standard Mercator maps show a representation of the world, but do not provide important information that is of use to Hams. There is a website that will create a map with your location at the center of it. It is free and all you need to know to use it is your grid square info. The more info you have the more accurate the map is. Check out https://ns6t. net/azimuth/azimuth. html Tewksbury Azimuthal map Above is a map for Tewksbury, MA Yaesu Rotator Controller You can put the map on your rotator controller to show where it is pointing. Some computer-based rotator control programs can also use the image. Take-off Angles ARRL Take Off Angles Why use HFTA Use HFTA for planning an HF station scientifically. It can assist with determining the optimal antenna location and height. HFTA takes ground elevation data, frequency, and the height of the antenna to calculate the take-off angle in a specified direction. It is particularly useful for Hams interested in DX and contesting. Many of us use some type of propagation prediction tool to give us an idea of what bands may be open at a given time and to a specific location. Once the terrain profile and antenna information are configured the results can be used to provide a tool for propagation prediction that is custom tailored to your precise situation. This is very helpful when formulating strategies for contesting or hunting down rare DX. Terrain around your antenna up to 10,000 feet has a significant impact on your signal. HFTA Models Typical questions that HFTA can answer How high should my antenna be? Is it worth spending more money on a taller tower? My mast is up 35 feet. Is it worth it to extend it to 45 feet? Why can’t my antenna hear signals from ? ? About to by a new house? Is the house location well suited for Ham Radio? How does it work 1. Generate terrain profile data files. These are created using digital terrain data available from various online databases. There are a few additional programs that can be used to create these files and the HFTA instructions cover the required steps in detail. 2. Choose the type of antenna and the number and heights of antennas in a stack. 3. Select the type of antenna to be used. 4. Select an Elevation-Statistics file for your targeted receiving area. This file will include your station location (receiving area) and the area from which you will be receiving signals. The software includes files with statistics that were computed for all the times over the 11-year solar cycle when each band was open. The Antenna Book’s data contains files for all regions of the USA to Europe (EU), the Far East (JA), South America (SA), South Asia (AS), Southern Africa (AF), and the South Pacific (OC), plus data files for a wide variety of other transmitting sites throughout the world. You choose the general area where your transmitter is located during initial installation of the HFTA program. How to get HFTA How to get HFTA HFTA is included in the ARRL Antenna Book (currently 24th Edition). It is part of the package that includes the book when you get it for download from the ARRL. It was also included in a CD that came with the physical book. The e-book or Kindle is available from different sources. To be sure you get the software files associated with the book I suggest ordering it directly from the ARRL. Here is a link: http://www. arrl. org/shop/ARRL-Antenna-Book-eBook-Windows-Version/ K6TU. NET K6TU. NET The website https://www. k6tu. net/ is an excellent resource in combination with the HFTA software and offers many tools and resources beyond those that support HFTA. Users need to register for free to use the tools and there is also a subscription service which offers more tools that go beyond the scope of HFTA available. To create HFTA Terrain Profiles, this website makes it very easy and offers very accurate data for stations located in the USA. K6TU. NET provides a framework of simple to use forms to build propagation predictions or Terrain profile requests. Use the Resource menu at the top of the page to access guides, FAQs and background information. Use the Getting Started page to start with a tutorial which will guide you through the steps to create your first prediction. Generating an accurate terrain profile K6TU. NET now has the capability to generate a set of profile files for your location by simply filling in a form and submitting the request. Much like generating a Propagation Prediction, the site captures the information necessary to fulfill the request and then generates the results in the background. Once the results are available, an email is sent to you with a link to the results. Generating a Terrain Profile Request is very simple and starts by selecting Terrain Profile from the New menu at the top of the page when you are logged in as a registered user. You do NOT need to be a subscriber to K6TU. NET to access this service – it is freely available to anyone with an activated account. When the request is completed, the site creates a Terrain Profile Result which has a link to the ZIP file containing the terrain profile files (360 of them, one for each degree of azimuth) together with an explanation of the source of the terrain data for this profile. Terrain Data The screenshot above shows the 360 files for the terrain... --- ### Last SOTA, POTA of the year Saturday November 6th > The final SOTA hike of 2021 will be to Kidder Mountain on November 6th.  The summit is reached via a 3.2 mi trail... - Published: 2021-10-29 - Modified: 2021-10-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/29/last-sota-pota-of-the-year-saturday-november-6th/ - Categories: Activities, General The final SOTA hike of 2021 will be to Kidder Mountain on November 6th. The summit is reached via a 3. 2 mi trail that starts from route 123 (turnpike rd. ) Just a short drive from the center of New Ipswich. Windblown cross-country ski trails are on the left side of the road. Our trail follows the route of the Wapack trail which crosses the road from the left and then heads towards Kidder on the right-hand side of the road. Plan to meet at the parking area at 10:00 and we'll head up from there. Trail reports are talking about the trail being muddy so hiking boots are highly recommended. Also, make sure to have a fleece jacket and shell to keep the wind off of you. Please reply in the comments section if you're coming so I know how many people to expect. Hope to see you there! 73 Jim K1BRM --- ### An Important Choice – Please Cast Your Vote for ARRL New England Division Director - Published: 2021-10-22 - Modified: 2021-10-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/22/vote-for-arrl-new-england-division-director/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: ARRL I believe that Amateur Radio and the ARRL are at a crossroads. Issues such as the need to bring new people of all ages into Amateur Radio and get them active have become urgent. We also need to do a much better job at building public awareness and support for Amateur Radio as a means to protect our rights as hams and our spectrum. One important way that we can do this is through work to support Amateur Radio-based STEM education in schools. Source: An Important Choice – Please Cast Your Vote for ARRL New England Division Director Ballots for ARRL New England Division Director have been mailed to ARRL New England members and you should have received your ballot by now. Ballots are due back to ARRL HQ by November 19th. Please take the time to return your ballot so your vote counts in this important election. The last Director election was decided by only a few votes so your vote is very important. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Next SOTA/POTA October 23rd Pack Monadnock > Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 23rd. Pack Monadnock is another destination in the series that gives you a choice to hike or drive up... - Published: 2021-10-20 - Modified: 2021-10-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/10/20/next-sota-pota-october-23rd-pack-monadnock/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General Our next SOTA/POTA will be October 23rd. Pack Monadnock is another destination in the series that gives you the choice to either hike up or drive up via the auto road making it an easy choice to add to the list. Pack also gives really good views of the surrounding countryside which only increases the appeal of this mountain particularly at this time of year. I'm planning on being on the summit at 11:00 am but you can get there earlier or show up later. There is a scattering of picnic tables so don't forget to pack a lunch. It is advised to get a parking permit online for the auto road. Here is a link to get a permit. If you've never been to Pack Monadnock travel west on 101 towards Peterborough. Miller State Park is on the right-hand side of the road across the street from the old Temple Mountain Ski area. I haven't been to Pack Monadnock for quite a while so I'm looking forward to it. I hope to see you there! Please leave a comment on the story so I have an idea of how many people are planning on attending. 73 ' Jim K1BRM --- ### ARRL New England Division Director Candidates Forum at Northeast HamXpostion > The three candidates who are running to become the next New England Division Director participated in a Candidates Forum... - Published: 2021-09-20 - Modified: 2021-09-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/20/candidates-forum/ - Categories: Featured, General The three candidates who are running to become the next New England Division Director participated in a Candidates Forum at the Northeast HamXpostion in Marlborough, MA recently. The Candidate Forum was moderated by Don Arthur, K1DCA. Thanks to Jim Palmer, KB1KQW for recording and producing the video of the Candidate Forum. Don asked a series of thoughtful questions that enabled those present to learn what each candidate was about and how they planned to take the ARRL and the Amateur Radio Service forward into the future. The candidates did not know what Don's questions would be in advance. I hope that you will take the time to watch the video to learn about my plans as your Director. New England ARRL members will be sent their ballots by mail on October 1st. Ballots are due back to due back at ARRL HQ no later than 12:00 pm on November 19th. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Next SOTA/POTA Kearsage Mtn. September 25th > Our Mt Kearsage  SOTA hike of 2021 is Saturday, September 25th.  Bring a sweater or fleece and a rain jacket just in case it can get pretty - Published: 2021-09-14 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/14/next-sota-pota-kearsage-mtn-september-25th/ - Categories: General, On The Air Our next SOTA hike of 2021 is Saturday, September 25th. 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. John KB1EEU's operating position on Mt. Kearsarge The plan for our Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the picnic grounds at 11:00 am. Navigate to Rollins State park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road Warner, NH 03278 and take the auto road up to the picnic grounds You can get a parking permit at their website here. It is highly recommended to get a permit as there is limited parking available. 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. You can choose to operate at the picnic grounds or from the actual summit which is only . 5 miles away. As far as radios an HT with an upgraded rubber duck can get you surprising performance from even a modest gain 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 homebrew Moxon antenna. I haven't had good propagation to give this antenna much of a try so I'm hoping for decent propagation. Please leave a comment on this story or the updates in the forums that will follow as we get closer to the hike date with an idea of what bands you plan to operate so that club members that are unable to come will be looking for us on the bands. I hope to see you on September 25th on Kearsarge! 73' Jim Lajoie K1BRM --- ### Fred AB1OC's Town Hall Meeting > Fred, AB1OC held the first of what will be many Town Hall Meetings with Hams in New England. We spent the evening answering questions... - Published: 2021-09-02 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/09/02/ab1oc-town-hall-meeting/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights - Tags: ARRL I held the first of what I hope will be many Town Hall Meetings with Hams in New England last evening. Thanks to all of the NARS members who took the time to join the Town Hall Meeting. Town Hall Panel I was joined by a panel of Hams who are supporting my campaign and who are helping me to develop plans for the work I will do as ARRL New England Division Director. After a brief introduction, we spent the evening answering questions from the folks who joined us for the Town Hall. https://youtu. be/dUudO_k3edg We recorded the Town Hall Meeting and I wanted to share it with our folks here. I would welcome to opportunity to hear your views and answer any additional questions that you might have. You can contact me at ab1oc@arrl. net. You can learn more about what I am planning to do as ARRL New England Division Director at elect. ab1oc. org. Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC --- ### Importance of Amateur Radio in Schools > It is vitally important that we make efforts to bring Amateur Radio to young people in schools and other venues. When we spend time... - Published: 2021-08-15 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/15/importance-of-amateur-radio-in-schools/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities It is vitally important that we make efforts to bring Amateur Radio to young people in schools and other venues. When we spend time bringing Amateur Radio to young people, we accomplish two important things. First, we have the potential to change a young person’s life for the better by involving them in Amateur Radio, a hobby and a service that inspires a lifetime of STEM learning and often leads to lifelong careers in Science or Engineering. Secondly, our work in schools is one of the very best ways that we can make the general public aware of the positive benefits that Amateur Radio provides to their kids and to the general public... Source: The Importance of Amateur Radio in Schools In my role as an ARISS Program Mentor, I recently had the pleasure of spending a week with Sussex County Charter School for Technology students and teachers to help teachers there to deliver their summer Radio Camp. The summer Radio Camp was a STEM education program that the school developed in support of their upcoming contact with an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS). Members of the local Sussex County Amateur Radio Club teamed with the teachers at the school to deliver a 5-day program grounded in STEM learning through Amateur Radio. You can read more about the activities that we did at the week-long summer Radio Camp via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Creating a Strong Future for Amateur Radio as ARRL New England Division Director > I wanted to share information about my plans as ARRL New England Division Director. I also wanted to share a more about my background... - Published: 2021-08-10 - Modified: 2024-08-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/10/new-england-division-director/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Youth Activities I wanted to share some information with everyone here about my plans as ARRL New England Division Director. I also wanted to share a little more about my background for those who may not know me well. As part of the Nashua Area Radio Society, I have a long history of helping individuals to become licensed, learn new skills, and become active in the Amateur Radio Service. In my role as President of the Nashua Area Radio Society, I have been able to lead our club to provide many hams with licensing and development programs over the past six years. What I Want To Accomplish as New England Director There is much that needs to be done to create a strong future for Amateur Radio and the ARRL. The following are major areas that I plan to focus on as Director: Bringing new people into Amateur Radio by working collaboratively with clubs across New England and the ARRL Creating opportunities for STEM learning in schools and colleges through Amateur Radio Creating positive public and agency awareness for Amateur Radio Effective, open, 2-way communications between the ARRL and its members Establishing the New England Division as a leader in providing world-class Amateur Radio programs We need a Director who is Collaborative, Innovative, and Action-Oriented to accomplish these and other important goals. I believe that I can bring the right Amateur Radio and professional experience and collaborative leadership skills to accomplish these goals and more. I hope that you will support me as your choice to fulfill this important mission. Walking the Talk I believe that Amateur Radio clubs play an essential role in bringing new hams into the Amateur Radio Service and in helping hams to develop new skills. As New England Division Director, I will work with clubs and individuals in New England to help them expand their role as mentors and create a world-class environment for learning based upon Amateur Radio. Helping a School Contact an Astronaut on the ISS I serve as an ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) Mentor and Ground Station, helping schools around the world to participate in STEM learning based upon Amateur Radio. I will help groups and individuals in New England to create projects and programs to bring Amateur Radio to young people across the division. Amateur Radio provides a tremendous opportunity for young people to learn about technical topics and to develop valuable skills that they can use throughout their lives. Working with students at Bishop-Guertin H. S. as they prepare to Launch a High-Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio I continue to spend time in local schools teaching classes and providing activities that bring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning opportunities through Amateur Radio. In addition to inspiring young people to pursue STEM careers by becoming Hams, this work also serves to improve the public’s understanding of the importance and value that Amateur Radio provides. Work to improve public and government agency perception of the value of the Amateur Radio service is vital if we are to be successful in addressing the many challenges to our continued use of radio spectrum, our right to put up antennas, and public agency support for Amateur Radio’s important role in providing emergency communications. Along with other members of the Nashua Area Radio Society, I continue to devote considerable time and energy to license new hams and help all hams to upgrade their licenses and get on the air. I’ve had the pleasure to lead a team of hams who have taught license classes, enabling over 350 people to earn a license or upgrade over the past five years. I have worked with a team of NARS members to create some innovative approaches to new ham development and getting hams on the air. We created a very popular program called Ham Bootcamp, designed to help both new and experienced hams get on the air, build their stations, and participate in new operating activities. The last Ham Bootcamp drew over 450 participants from across the United States. I hope to help clubs and individuals around New England and across the ARRL to develop successful programs to license and assist hams to get on the air and have fun in new activities. Action-Oriented Leadership It is important that we take immediate action on issues that are important to ARRL members. To this end, I have published a plan for my first 100 days as ARRL New England Division Director that includes specific actions to improve 2-way communications between the ARRL and New England members. My plans include outreach to members of the ARRL Board and Senior Leadership to find common ground to take action on issues that matter to ARRL members. I also plan to appoint several Assistant Directors to focus on promoting and communications for important areas such as: New Ham Development Youth Outreach Emergency Communications, and Public Service Spectrum Use and Protection You can see the details of my plans at https://elect. ab1oc. org/first-100-days. I Need Your Support There are currently three candidates for the position of ARRL New England Director. Ballots for the election will be mailed to all New England ARRL Members on October 1st. I am asking you for your help and your vote in making our plans a reality to benefit Amateur Radio folks across New England and the ARRL. If you are not already an ARRL Member, please consider joining the ARRL and participating in the upcoming New England Director election. You can become an ARRL member here. Your vote means a great deal to the future of Amateur Radio. Additional Information I have been widely endorsed by members of the Amateur Radio community for my work. You can see what Hams such as Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, Gordon West, WB6NOA, and others are saying about their support for me as ARRL New England Division Director at https://elect. ab1oc. org/endorsements. You can learn more about what I am hoping to accomplish as ARRL New England Division director at https://elect. ab1oc. org. I welcome everyone's comments and questions. You can reach me at ab1oc@arrl. net. About Me I am an active amateur with... --- ### August 14th SOTA Hike Pitcher Mtn. > Our next SOTA hike is this Saturday, August 14th. We will be activating Pitcher Mtn. A  very short hike will lead us to the open summit... - Published: 2021-08-10 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/08/10/august-14th-sota-hike-pitcher-mtn/ - Categories: Activities, General, On The Air Our next SOTA hike is this Saturday, August 14th. We will be activating Pitcher Mtn. A very short hike (less than 20 min) will lead us to the open summit of this diminutive mountain. The summit is festooned with blueberry bushes so bring a suitable container if ham radio isn't the only thing bringing you here. John KB1EEU's operating position on Mt. Kearsarge The parking lot is off of route 123 in Stoddard and is a little over an hour's drive from the Nashua area. My plan is to meet at the parking lot at 10:30 am. We will take the Pitcher Mountain trail (blazed white). If you want a bit more challenge you can take the blue-blazed trail which is a bit steeper. We had a great time activating Mount Kearsarge last month come on out and give SOTA a try. If you have any questions you can email me at activities@n1fd. org. I hope to see you there! 73' Jim K1BRM --- ### 2021 Mt. Kearsarge SOTA/POTA - July 17th > The plan for our 2021 Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the base of the auto road at Rollins State park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road... - Published: 2021-07-15 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/15/2021-mt-kearsarge/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: SOTA Our first SOTA hike of 2021 is this Saturday. It's looking like we may get some rain for our 2021 Mt. Kearsarge activation but I'm holding out to at least get some decent propagation I will get together with Fred Thursday or Friday evening to make the final call If Saturday is a total washout then Sunday is the rain date. You can follow the comments on this story for the word on whether the hike is a go or no go. 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. Fred AB1OC and Anita AB1QB's Mt. Washington operating position The plan for our 2021 Mt. Kearsarge activation is to meet at the base of the auto road at Rollins State park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road Warner, NH 03278. I just went to their website here and they recommend a reservation so plan on calling them at this number Phone: 603-456-3808 as walk-in parking spaces are limited. 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. 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. Fred will have his 6-meter station with him and I’ll have my 6-meter QRP rig and a new homebrew Moxon antenna ( I haven’t even had a chance to check it on an analyzer) I’m itching to try this antenna out. If we’re lucky and get some e-skip on 6 it could be an interesting day. Anita AB1QB and Curtis N1CMD SOTA operating Here's the rest of the 2021 schedule: August 14 – Pitcher Mtn. September 25 – Mt. Kearsarge October 9 – Pack Monadnock November 6 – Kidder Mtn. Hope to see you on Saturday! If the club breakfast was any indicator we can expect a good-sized crowd. 73′ Jim, K1BRM --- ### YOTA Camp 2021 Makes Contact with the ISS via Amateur Radio > I had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS contact moderator for the YOTA 2021 Camp’s contact with the ISS using Amateur Radio today... - Published: 2021-07-14 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/14/yota-iss/ - Categories: Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach I had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS contact moderator for the Youth On The Air (YOTA) 2021 Camp’s contact with the International Space Station (ISS) using Amateur Radio today. Young Hams spent the week at the Voice of America Bethany Relay Station in West Chester, OH engaging in a variety of Amateur Radio Activities... Source: YOTA 2021 ISS Contact You can view the video of YOTA 2021 Camp's contact with astronaut Aki Hoshide, KE5DNI via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day 2021 Recap > The Nashua Area Radio Society held Field Day 2021 at Keyes Memorial Field in Milford, NH. We operated in the 4A category. - Published: 2021-07-10 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/07/10/field-day-2021-recap/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, On The Air - Tags: CW, Education and Training, Field Day, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite The Nashua Area Radio Society held our first face-to-face event since the start of the pandemic when we gathered at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH for ARRL Field Day from June 25th - 27th. Field Day 2021 was a great success! It was great to see all of the members who attended, especially those new members who we have previously only met over Zoom. Station Setup For a successful Field Day operation, it is important to have a detailed plan for stations, antennas, operating schedules, transportation, and even food. 3 weeks before Field Day, we met at AB1OC's and AB1QB's QTH to setup the stations, logging computers, and the network to make sure they all worked together. Similar sessions were held to test antennas and also train the teams on how to set up the antenna, tower, and stations and how to operate. Doug, KC1OUY, Jon, AC1EV, Jim, K1BRM and Fred, AB1OC test out the Field Day Stations As chairperson of the Station Team, I created detailed documentation of all of the station equipment and connections, trained the team on how to set up stations, and assigned specific roles. We were responsible for setting up the following: 4 HF Stations including coax connections to the antennas The Satellite Station The Network and all ethernet connections The Generators and power distribution Overhead lights and desktop lights and fans The Food and Public Information Tables The Station Setup Team included Jon, AC1EV, Jack, WM0G, Ryan, KC1MAJ, Jeffrey, KC1LWE, and Doug, KC1OUY. We had a great, hard-working team and got the stations set up in record time. We appreciate everyone's hard work with set up as well as takedown. Special thanks go out to: Jeffrey , KC1LWE for setting up the Satellite station based on my documentation - few if any changes were needed for Fred to get it to work once the antennas were connected. Doug, KC1OUY for running all of the cables and making them neat enough so that they were not a hazard for all of the club members and visitors. Ryan, KC1MAJ and Jack, WM0G for setting up "NARS P&L" - the power and lighting. Jon, AC1EV for donating his station and helping to set up the HF stations. Tower Team Tower and Antenna Setup The Tower and Beam teams did an equally great job at setup and N1FD was on the air before dark! We tested FT8 before sundown and were able to hear JA stations on 15 meters! HF Tower with 10m-15m-20m Yagi and 40m and 80m Inverted-V Dipole Antennas Mentoring and Training Abby, AB1BY Provides Training on Fox Hunting Training and Mentoring are an important part of Field Day. We have helped many new members to become licensed in the past year, but it important to help them get on the air as well. Field Day is a great opportunity for new Hams to help out with building stations and develop operating skills. The Nashua Area Radio Society accomplishes this through training and hands-on opportunities during Field Day. Before the official start of Field Day Operations at 2:00 pm Local time on Saturday, we held 2 Training Sessions, one on Satellite Operation and another on Fox Hunting. Satellite Station Training Field Day Operations Our members enjoyed operating and kept the stations busy throughout the Field Day Operating period. Jack, WM0G Operating at Field Day The Trost Family -Thomas, KT0MAS, Ted, W1TED, Tory, K1VAT Abby, AB1BY and Dave, KM3T John (W1MBG) and Joyce (KC1JMK) Keslo Jamey, AC1EV - Better known as "Abby's Dad" Competes with her for the Top SSB Operator Results Our top operators in each mode were: SSB: Abby Finchum, AB1BY with 287 SSB QSOs Abby Finchum, AB1BY CW: Matt Strelow, KC1XX with 315 QSOs Matt Strelow, KC1XX Digital: Brian Quick, W1XMM with 55 QSOs Brian Quick, W1XMM was instrumental to the tower team before settling in to work digital during Field Day During Field Day we made a total of 1,895 QSOs. Our final estimated score is 7,408. Field Day 2021 Final Results Overall, Field Day 2021 was a great success. Everyone attending had a great time and it was wonderful to see our members in person. --- ### SOTA / POTA Hikes For 2021 Start July 17th - Published: 2021-06-25 - Modified: 2021-06-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/25/sota-pota-hikes-for-2021-start-july-17th/ - Categories: General Great news for fans of our SOTA / POTA hikes. If you made it to our June membership meeting then you already got the lowdown but for anyone that might have missed it then I've got the schedule here for you and it begins in just a few short weeks. Covid is mostly in our rear mirror so we can finally meet in groups and start having some fun. What's that you haven't heard of SOTA and POTA well then you should put July 13th, 2021 on your calendar and plan to attend our Tech Night. Jamey AC1DC will be our guest speaker and his presentation will be on Mountain Topping and Portable Activations. Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air (POTA) are point schemes to make participating in ham radio in the mountains and parks more enjoyable. Abby AB1BY portable operating from the summit ok with that primer out of the way let's get to the main thrust of the article. July 17th, 2021 we will be going to Mount Kearsarge in Warner N. H. We plan on taking the auto road from Rollins State Park 1066 Kearsarge Mountain Road. (let's plan to meet at 10:00 am at the start of the auto road) The 3 1/2 mile auto road terminates at a parking lot and picnic areas. You can choose to operate here or hike a . 5 mile to the summit. If you're a purist you can start on the other side of the mountain at Winslow State Park and hike the whole mountain with only modest effort and meet us. As far as operating from Kearsarge you can operate anything from an HT to the newest and best that is commercially offered or your own home-brewed rig. Seeing the range of what others brought is part of the fun of these activations. I'm hoping to be able to have the time to cobble together a 6meter Moxon antenna that I will pair with an MFJ QRP rig. I've run this rig before but haven't had any luck yet so I'm hoping to have better luck with an antenna with some gain to it. Here is the rest of the SOTA / POTA scheduled for 2021 August 14 - Pitcher Mtn. September 11 - Mount Kearsarge October 9 - Pack Monadnock November 6 - Kidder Mtn. Hope to see a lot of you on Kearsarge in a couple of weeks! Jim Lajoie K1BRM --- ### Monthly Club Breakfast Resumes July 10th at 8:30 am - Published: 2021-06-24 - Modified: 2021-06-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/24/monthly-club-breakfast-resumes-july-10th-at-830-am/ - Categories: Activities, General Hi all, I have great news I'd like to share. The club breakfasts are ready to resume. We will be meeting at Joey's Diner in Amherst on Saturday, July 10th at 8:30 am. I hope to see you there! Jim Lajoie K1BRM club members enjoying breakfast prior to covid --- ### Field Day Mentoring Opportunties > ARRL Field Day is upon us and I wanted to share some thoughts about the mentoring and learning opportunities that Field Day can provide... - Published: 2021-06-16 - Modified: 2021-06-16 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/16/field-day-mentoring/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Youth Activities - Tags: Field Day, Mentor, Youth Outreach ARRL Field Day is upon us and I wanted to share some thoughts about the mentoring and learning opportunities that Field Day can provide. Many Clubs and other groups here in New England are planning... Source: Field Day as a Mentoring Opportunity – Fred, AB1OC for New England Division Director The Nashua Area Radio Society views Field Day as an opportunity to mentor new hams and to help everyone to learn new skills and develop their operating abilities. We hope that other clubs and hams will consider including some of the mentoring activities that have worked here at NARS. You can read more via the link above. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding an in-person Field Day this year at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford NH. You can learn more about our Field Day plans and how you can join in the fun and learn new things here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 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. - Published: 2021-06-11 - Modified: 2021-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/11/plans-for-field-day-2021/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Space - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Field Day, Fox Hunting, HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, Tower, VHF/UHF 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 w1aki@arrl. net 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 fd@n1fd. org. We hope that you’ll join us for Field Day! The NARS Field Day Team --- ### Helping Amateur Radio Grow > Fred, AB1OC announces his intent to run ARRL Director for the New England Division. Fred has been dedicating much of his time helping folks... - Published: 2021-06-08 - Modified: 2021-06-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/08/new-england-arrl-director-helping-amatuer-radio-grow/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ARRL, Education and Training, Mentor, Youth Outreach As many of you know, I have been dedicating much of my time over the last 6 years to helping folks to get into Amateur Radio, to learn new skills through our hobby, and to experience the joy and sense of accomplishment that Amateur Radio brings. NARS Technician License Class We have accomplished much as a team through the Nashua Area Radio Society in the past 6 years. We have licensed or upgraded over 350 Hams. We've provided training and help for Hams to get on the air, build stations, and learn new skills. We've developed some world-class Amateur Radio training programs through our Tech Nights, Ham Bootcamp, n1fd. org, and more. Bishop-Guertin High School HAB Project Students We've done some great work in local schools to introduce young people to Amateur Radio and to provide STEM learning experiences and licensing opportunities in schools as well. Helping Hudson Memorial School to Talk to an Astronaut on the ISS We've also supported the ARISS space station contact programs in two schools in our area and this has led me to serve as an ARISS Mentor and Ground Station; helping schools around the world to enjoy the thrill of making contact with an astronaut on the Internation Space Station. None of these things would have been possible without the tremendous support that we've received from all of you - our members and from the NARS Executive Committee who have done so much to support and grow all of our programs and activities. I also want to especially thank my wife, Anita AB1QB, who has worked along with me on the many projects that we've undertaken. Amateur Radio changes people's lives for the better. I know this because it has changed mine in significant ways. It led me to become an Electrical Engineer and helped me to develop many skills which have enriched my life and allowed me to enrich the experiences of others. Where To Next? Several friends and supporters have approached me about running for the position of New England Director in the ARRL. Directors serve on the Board of Directors of the ARRL for a Term of 3 years and are elected by the members of the ARRL in the Director's Division. In our case, this encompasses ARRL members in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Folks are encouraging me to attempt to take on this responsibility for several reasons with a chief one being the expectation that we can create, through this role, an environment among the clubs and the ARRL Membership here in New England that will encourage new people to join the Amateur Radio Service and encourage all Hams to grow their skills. The work that we have done together here in NARS, we believe, can be leveraged through the New England Director's position to benefit clubs and individual Hams across New England and throughout the ARRL. After much consultation with friends, the NARS Executive Committee, my wife Anita, and others who have played major roles in the ARRL, I have decided to take on this challenge by running this fall. What Does This Mean For NARS? I am sure that many of you know that I love the Nashua Area Radio Society and I have put my heart, soul, energies, and pretty much all I can muster into working with this club to help us in our mission to bring new people into Amateur Radio and to help everyone grow their skills and have fun with the best Hobby and Service in the world. No matter what the outcome of the run for ARRL Director, I plan to continue to work as hard as I can to support NARS' continued growth and development as a leader in Ham Development and our support for STEM Learning in schools through Amateur Radio. Also, Anita is not going anywhere and she will continue to operate our many licensing and training programs and activities. I have made this decision in consultation with the NARS Executive Committee and I believe the EC Team of leaders is both supportive and quite capable of continuing to provide the leadership and support for all that makes the Nashua Area Radio Society the special organization that it is. I also hope that, if successful with the run for New England Director, that NARS will continue its leadership role that we have been undertaking in helping other clubs around New England and throughout the ARRL in developing successful programs to license and develop the skills of all Hams. I very much hope that you, our members, will support me in this endeavor. I believe that I can make a positive difference for folks here in New England and throughout the Amateur Radio service as I hope that I have within the Nashua Area Radio Society. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A 6m DX Opening to Europe > Every now and then we get a really good opening to Europe on 6m from here in New England. We had a really great 6m DX opening to Europe... - Published: 2021-06-06 - Modified: 2021-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/06/06/6m-dx-europe/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: Digital, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, VHF/UHF 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 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're using a Portable Computer-Controlled Satellite Station at Field Day 2021 this year. We've run predictions for Satellite Passes... - Published: 2021-05-31 - Modified: 2021-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/31/field-day-2021-satellite-passes/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Field Day, Portable, Satellite, VHF/UHF 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. 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 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 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 --- ### Technician Class for High School Students > The Nashua Area Radio Society held a Technician License Class for high school students from two schools who have done ISS Contacts. - Published: 2021-05-29 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/29/technician-class-for-high-school-students/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam, Youth Outreach On the weekend of May 22nd and 23rd, the Nashua Area Radio Society held a Technician License Class for students from Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, NH, and from Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA. Both schools recently had contacts with the ISS. The Bishop-Guertin High School ISS contact was held earlier this year in February. and the Council Rock High School South ISS contact was in December 2019. Students in the May 22-23 Tech Class The class was held online via Zoom Web Conferencing. The students were enthusiastic and came to the class well prepared. Visit from Gordon West, WB6NOA We had a visit from Gordon West, WB6NOA on Saturday morning. Gordon enjoyed the class so much, he stopped by on Sunday as well to visit. Congratulations to the 10 new Technicians from the class: Bishop Guertin High School Students: Tamara Golosarsky: KC1PJK Nicholas D Root: KC1PJL Ryan J Wallat: KC1PJM Council Rock South High School Students: Sabrina N Adler: KC3SFF Matthew D Floyd: KC3SFG Kari P Johnson: KC3SFH Lauren M Jones: KC3SFI Areesha F Muzaffar: KC3SFJ Aarya Parekh: KC3SFL Paulina E Royzman: KC3SFM Thanks to our instructors and VEs for their help in teaching the students and running the online exam: Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Aron Insinga, W1AKI Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL Burns Fisher, WB1FJ Ted Trost, W1TED Dave Merchant, K1DLM Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Our next license classes will be held this Fall: Technician: September 18th and 19th General: October 23rd and 24th Extra: December 3rd - 5th Students can get more information and register at https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class/ --- ### Field Day Satellite Station for 2021 - Setup and Test in Hollis > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be using a Portable Satellite Station this year at Summer Field Day. Here are some pictures... - Published: 2021-05-28 - Modified: 2021-05-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/28/field-day-satellite-station-test/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Portable, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF On Wednesday, May 25, Jon – AC1EV, Jeff – AC1FX, Jim – K1BRM, and Vince – KD2TMJ met at Fred – AB1OC’s QTH in Hollis, NH to set up and test the satellite antenna, radio, computers and other gear our club, Nashua Area Radio Society will be using this year at Summer Field Day. Here are some pictures of our Field Day Satellite Station test. Satellite antenna Base The satellite antenna base is on the lower right of the above picture. The much larger antenna on the left is an EME array and as you might guess, is not very portable. Preparing the base We placed the small Glen Martin tower with the AZ-EL rotators installed on the lawn and aligned it using a compass. Base aligned and leveled We used doorstops under the tower legs to level it and sandbags to hold it steady. There are bubble levels on the tower to make it easy. Install the support arms The support arms will hold the antennas. Tightening the support arm bolts All of the bolts need to be tight. The antenna moves quite a bit and needs to maintain its shape. Installing 70cm antenna Fred (AB1OC) installing the 70cm antenna and aligning it properly in its brackets. Tighten bolts on 70cm Vince (KD2TMJ) and Jeff (AC1FX) tightening the bolts for the 70cm antenna. Install 2m antenna Vince (KD2TMJ) and Jeff (AC1FX) prepare to attach the 2m antenna. Preparing to wire the antenna array There are many wires that need to be connected to the antenna array: control wires for the AZ-EL rotator, Coax for the antennas, control wires that shift the polarization of the antennas, etc. Every connection outside has a matching connection in the shack. There are some wires already connected to hardware that remains attached to the antenna tower, such as the pre-amplifiers. Dressing the wires Since the antenna array can spin horizontally as well as tilt vertically all wires need to be secured so as not to tangle as the antenna moves. In addition, care needs to be taken to make sure each connection is correct to avoid any short circuits or other negative results. There needs to be enough slack to allow free movement for the antenna but not enough to allow any excess to become caught by moving parts. Plugging in the polarity control line Jim (K1BRM) and Vince (KD2TMJ) watch as Jeff (AC1FX) connects another control line. Field Day Satellite Station Test Setup After the initial successful test of our Field Day Satellite Station, Fred (AB1OC) shows Vince (KD2TMJ) the radio setup and what he will do to make a QSO. Fine Tuning on Successful Test After a successful QSO Fred (AB1OC) makes a small adjustment by ear to a beacon from a satellite. On the monitor at the right of the screen, there are circles on the map that represent the locations on the ground that have a clear line of sight to the satellites. There is one red circle and that one indicates the satellite visible to our location and that the radio is tuned into. ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups, or simply with friends to operate from remote locations. There are many different ways hams participate. Some stay home and operate their normal stations' others take their radios outside and create a simple temporary station. Small groups of friends can do likewise and take their equipment to an outdoor location and share the experience together. The Nashua Area Radio Society and many other clubs take It in steps beyond that. We have access to the equipment and skills to set up a multi-radio station that is networked together and equipped to allow multiple users to operate simultaneously. We set up towers with beam antennas to get the most out of the radios as possible. One of our primary goals for this event is to provide an opportunity for our members to operate in a sophisticated off-grid ham radio environment and we will have up to 50 different operating slots for our members to sign up to operate in. This way, even newly licensed hams with no equipment can have a chance to operate and join the rest of us in participating in this fun event. Jon (AC1EV) --- ### 10 Meter Band Opening and Sporadic E to Europe > I made a contact with MW0NLG and had a nice long QSO during a good 10 meter Band Opening. He said it was his first trans-Atlantic QSO on 10-meters... - Published: 2021-05-21 - Modified: 2024-02-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/21/10-meter-band-opening/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, On The Air The 10-Meter band is open today On Tuesday (May 18 ~10:00 PM EDT) night, I was checking out the bands to see what was happening before beginning operating that night. I usually look at my Panadapter display on 10,15 and 17-meters before I settle down on 20-meters or 40-meters where I expect to see the most activity. I noticed there were some pretty strong signals around 28. 385 Mhz and I listened in a bit to the ongoing QSO. Turns out there were 3 people from KY engaged in a round-robin conversation. I thought that if the 10-meter band is open I should try calling CQ myself and I moved up to 28. 391 to try my luck. I called one time and one of the guys from 28. 385 came up to my frequency and invited me to join in their QSO. That was Bill, he said that he saw my call on his waterfall display and it looked strong to him, so he decided to check me out. I accepted his invitation to join the group and dropped down to their frequency. They were wrapping up an extended informal QSO but were interested in hearing from me from my NH QTH. Everyone had 5/9 signals and it sounded like we were on VHF FM it was so quiet. KY QSOs 10-meter openings are unusual for me I have only been operating on HF for the past 3 years and rarely find the 10-meter band open. I have around 8,700 QSO entries in my logbook and at that point, only 60 were on 10 meters. 23 of those are from the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Sunday HF net. Another 5 are local groundwave QSOs. That leaves around 32 QSOs on 10 meters since May 2018. I did have a few DX calls with Canada, Brazil, and Argentina in the mix, but you can see that activity on the 10-meter band was unusual for me. My first Trans-Atlantic 10-meter QSO The next day I put in some serious time doing landscaping projects around the house and after I cleaned up, I had 30 or 40 minutes to play radio before dinner. I made a few calls on 20-meters and was able to talk with S57DX in Slovenia, using only 25 watts. Then I took my usual lap around the bands to see what was happening and saw this on the display for 10-meters. I made a contact with MW0NLG and had a nice long QSO with Malc. He said it was his first trans-Atlantic QSO on 10-meters and I said the same for me. Flex Panadapter I listened in on the other signals and was surprised that they were all from Europe! My Spiderbeam antenna, which has 4 elements on 10-meters, was pointing at 52 degrees from my QSO with S57DX and I was able to hear many strong signals. I found a clear spot on the band and began to call CQ DX. I did not have any results on my first attempt but did get a reply on my second. Someone put me on the cluster at 20:24 and the pile-up began soon after. AC1EV is Spotted on the DX Cluster Spotted on the Cluster It was exciting to be able to make so many QSOs into Europe on 10 meters. I could have made more if I adopted a contest mode and just swapped signal reports, but I tried to have at least a short QSO beyond that with everyone. I also didn’t realize how unusual this opening was and when I was called for dinner, I made one last call and then went to eat. I returned after dinner and made another 4 calls before the band closed and it was done. If I experience this again, I will try and stay with the opening. Most of the calls were to Western Europe but a few were much further to the East. Bulgaria is around 4500 miles and Italy is around 4300 miles. QRZ Log Conclusion My log shows 26 calls, which is almost as many as in my whole previous ham career, in less than an hour. I had QSOs with 10 different countries, too. There is one more important thing to say about this ham adventure, all of this took place on frequencies available to Technician class license holders. You do not need more than that first license. Many of the stations I contacted were 100 watts or less and on wire antennas, so if you have a license and basic radio, you may be able to do this as well, should you encounter an opening. Operating conditions Flex 6400 Spiderbeam with 4 elements on 10-meters @ 35 feet AGL Elecraft KPA500 amp @ 450 Watts QTH is on an 80-foot hill towards Europe and that couldn’t hurt a bit. Sporadic E Definition Many people smarter than I have written about Sporadic E Propagation. Here is a basic summary from Wikipedia for those unfamiliar with it: Sporadic E or Es is an unusual form of radio propagation using characteristics of the Earth's ionosphere. Whereas most forms of skywave propagation use the normal and cyclic ionization properties of the ionosphere's F region to refract (or "bend") radio signals back toward the Earth's surface, sporadic E propagation bounces signals off smaller "clouds" of unusually ionized atmospheric gas in the lower E region (located at altitudes of approx. 90 to 160 km). This occasionally allows for long-distance communication at VHF frequencies not usually well-suited to such communication. Communication distances of 800–2200 km can occur using a single Es cloud. This variability in distance depends on a number of factors, including cloud height and density. MUF also varies widely, but most commonly falls in the 25 – 150 MHz range, which includes the FM broadcast band (87. 5–108 MHz), Band I VHF television (American channels 2-6, Russian channels 1-3, and European channels 2-4, the latter no longer used in Western Europe), CB radio (27 MHz) and the amateur radio 2-meter, 4-meter, 6-meter, and 10-meter bands. As its name suggests, sporadic E is an abnormal event, but can happen at almost any time;... --- ### Reducing RFI From Our QTH > We decided to upgrade the network at our QTH to use Fiber Optics to reduce RFI from some of the more problematic noise sources at our QTH... - Published: 2021-05-21 - Modified: 2021-05-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/21/reducing-rfi/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, Station Building, VHF/UHF Many Hams (including this one) have problems with RF Interference (RFI) at their stations. Many RFI sources typically come from inside our own homes. One test we did was to shut down much of the ethernet network and associated devices here at our QTH. To our surprise, this lowered our noise floor on 2m some 6 dB, and eliminated many birdies in the EME section of the 2m Band! We decided to upgrade our network to fiber optics to eliminate the RFI and noise from... Source: Reducing RFI From Our QTH We recently built an improved EME station for the 2m Band. We noticed a higher than ideal noise floor when operating 2m EME during initial testing of the new station. We decided to do some additional testing to see if we could isolate the source of the noise levels. One test we did was to shut down much of the ethernet network and associated devices here at our QTH. Fiber Optic Wall Outlet We decided to upgrade the network at our QTH to use Fiber Optics and add a Management System to enable us to shut down some of the more problematic noise sources at our QTH. The resulting improvements were pretty dramatic - reducing RFI-related noise by some 6 dB on the 2m Band! You can read all about our Fiber Optic Network Project via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 6m Field Day Station > Our 6m Field Day station will be a portable setup and feature a new antenna - a 3-Element Loop Fed Array (LFA) Yagi from InnoVAntennas. - Published: 2021-05-18 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/05/18/6m-field-day-station/ - Categories: Antennas, Digital, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, CW, Digital, Field Day, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Station Building, VHF/UHF We've been busy getting ready for Summer Field Day 2021 at the Nashua Area Radio Society. Our plans include putting up a Tower, a Computer-Controlled Satellite Station, and an upgraded 6m Field Day Station. 6m LFA Yagi Our 6m Field Day station will be a portable setup and features a new antenna - a 3-Element Loop Fed Array (LFA) Yagi from InnoVAntennas. There are some advantages to LFA Yagi's for the 6m band and above. In particular, Yagis using an LFA design are less susceptible to noise and interference which is a big advantage for weak-signal work on the 6m Band. 6m LFA Yagi on Mast Our Yagi is lightweight which makes it ideal for portable applications like Field Day and Mount Topping. Aron, W1AKI, and Jamey, AC1DC helped me to assemble the antenna and put it up on a 25 ft fiberglass mast here at our QTH for testing. The antenna is fed with LMR-400uF coax and rigged with a rotator loop near the top of the mast so that the antenna can be pointed by rotating the mast at the base. The setup is easy to put up - it takes about an hour to do it. 6m Field Day Station We also use the 6m LFA antenna project as an opportunity to assemble and test our 6m Station for Field Day. The station is an all-mode setup that can do SSB Phone, CW, and WSJT-X Digital (FT8/FT4, Q65, MSK144, etc. ). The station will be generator powered at Field Day but it can also be run using a solar/battery setup when Mountain Topping. The station features an IC-7300 Transceiver (100w), a Winkeyer and Paddles for CW, and a Windows laptop computer running the N1MM+ logger and WSJT-X. The station will also sport a second monitor for Field Day. N1MM+ Logger on 6m The N1MM+ Logger works great with the IC-7300 and WSJT-X digital. It supports the all-mode station configuration nicely and it is well integrated with WSJT-X making the logging of FT-8 and other Digital Mode contacts simple. N1MM+ also supports voice recording and keying of the IC-7300 which is a great aid during longer operating events like Field Day. PSKReporter Test of Portable 6m Station So how does the upgraded setup play on 6m? Very well! The image above is a snapshot from PSKReporter during our testing session. As you can see, we were using FT8 to test the station and we were heard up and down the eastern U. S. states. WSJT-X FT8 Decode using 6m Portable Station Signals were strong in WSJT-X FT8 mode and it was easy to make contacts. We made about 50 contacts during our testing of the 6m Feild Day Station. The LFA Yagi hears really well making for reliable decodes of signals in the -18 range and often weaker. 6m Meteor Scatter Pings For fun, I decided to try some 6m Meteor Scatter contacts using the MSK144 mode. This is a challenge with a 100W station as Meteor Scatter general needs a bit of power to work well. As you can see from the image above, we had no problems decoding meteor pings from stations in the midwestern US. I even managed to complete a couple of contacts using Meteor Scatter on the 6m Band. All in all, we are very pleased with the performance of our upgraded 6m Field Day Station. If we can get a similar Es opening to what we have been seeing here during the last two days, we should have a lot of fun on the Magic Band at Field Day! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Read All About it! Bishop Guertin ISS Contact > The recent Bishop Guertin ISS Contact received quite a bit of media coverage - TV, Radio, Newspapers and the Internet - Published: 2021-02-20 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/20/bishop-guertin-iss-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Internet, ISS, On The Air, Space, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society has partnered with Bishop Guertin High School for several years on STEM and Amateur Radio activities. The latest activity is the Bishop Guertin ISS Contact. Astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB The recent Bishop Guertin ISS Contact with Astronaut Shannon Walker has had quite a bit of media coverage. There is news of the Contact everywhere that you look. You will find coverage of the students talking with Shannon Walker on the ISS on TV, in Newspapers, on the Radio, and on the Internet, Television Coverage After the conclusion of the Contact, a reporter from WMUR interviewed the BGHS students over Zoom. The story was on all of their evening news broadcasts on Friday as well as Saturday morning. Readers can view the story below. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=B0KtrKoTDjA The Bishop Guertin Students were also interviewed for Boston TV. The BGHS students and their partnership with the Nashua Area Radio Society were featured in a spot on WCVB News in Boston on Tuesday, February 23rd. You can view the video and an article about the contact at this link on their website. On Public Radio A story about the contact was featured on New Hampshire Public Radio. You can find the article and the audio at this link. In Newspapers The BGHS ARISS contact was also featured on the front page of the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper. Here is a link to the article on the Union Leader's website. The Nashua Telegraph published an article announcing the contact on February 18th. The article can be found at this link. On YouTube You can watch the Contact in its entirety below. The video includes a great introductory program with a video made by the BGHS students. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=ifgMkZqYnvw&start=840&width=900&height=506 We will keep an eye out for additional media coverage of the contact and add links to this article as we see them. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Countdown to an ISS Contact with Bishop Guertin H.S. > Students at Bishop Guertin H.S. will be talking with astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB who is onboard the ISS... - Published: 2021-02-19 - Modified: 2023-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/19/bishop-guertin-iss/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, ISS, On The Air, Space We have been working with the students and faculty at Bishop Guertin H. S. (BGHS) here in Nashua, New Hampshire for several years now. This is the story of their planned contact with the International Space Station (ISS). Amateur Radio STEM Learning Projects The STEM Club at BGHS has done quite a few Amateur Radio-related project with us. BGHS students and their Teacher Ready to Launch the HAB Our High-Altitude STEM Learning program got its start with the students at BGHS and they have been part of several HAB projects and launches. https://vimeo. com/255796715/7d28ecf192 The video above shows the students launching the HAB. BGHS Kit Build Students We also built CW Transceivers and Morse Code Practice kits as part of the STEM club activities and BGHS. All of this has led to several students and their teacher becoming licensed Amateur Radio operators. A Contact with the ISS Karen KC1KBW - BGHS Teacher Building a Kit We owe a lot of thanks to Karen Crivac, KC1KBW who is a teacher at BGHS. Karen has been providing tremendous support and encouragement for our work to bring Amateur Radio to the students at BGHS. Karen holds a General Class Amateur Radio license. The BGHS STEM Club Joins The Experience Karen and the STEM club at BGHS were part of the ISS Contact that we did with Hudson Memorial School some time ago. Shortly afterward, Karen began working on securing an ISS Contact for her school. The process of securing an ISS contact experience involved a lot of work to create a quality STEM-learning program leading up to and after a Contact with the ISS. Karen and the faculty at BGHS did a great job with this and were awarded a Contact late last year. John, AC1EV Helps a Student Get On The Air Contacts with the ISS are arranged by ARISS. I serve as both a Mentor and a Ground Staton as part of the ARISS program. I have had the pleasure of serving as the ARISS Mentor for the Bishop Guertin contact. The Nashua Area Radio Society is also BGHS's partner Amateur Radio club. Jon Turner, AC1EV has been working closely with Bishop Guertin to help them to prepare for their contact. BGHS Calling NA1SS, Do You Copy? The students at BGHS have been working on creating questions to ask their Astronaut during their upcoming contact. Many BG students submitted candidate questions. https://vimeo. com/508990133/9f8ea41659 There is only time for about 20 questions to be asked during the actual contact so the students in STEM Club create the video above to answer some of the questions that did not make the final list for their contact. You can click on the video above to hear the questions and the answers from the STEM Club team. Here are the questions that the students at BGHS are planning to ask their Astronaut: Aya, KC1JEB - What landmark on Earth looks the most amazing from space? Shea - What day to day task is most challenging in space? Brandon - What inspired you to become an astronaut? Ian, KC1ONS - What experiments are you currently working on? Christopher, KC1KBY - Can you share with us what you like best about being in space? Ella - What does a typical day look like for you? Connor- What is something new you learned in space? Ethan - What did you bring from Earth to remind you of home? Lindsay - What part of space travel is most exciting for you? Connor - Does being in zero gravity feel like floating in the water? Aya, KC1JEB - What are some recent discoveries the ISS has made from the experiments conducted in space? Shea - Upon returning to Earth, how do you plan to re-adjust to gravity? Brandon - What are your thoughts as you prepare for lift-off? Ian, KC1ONS - As an experienced astronaut, what advice would you give to a new astronaut heading to the ISS? Christopher, KC1KBY - How do you treat injuries or illnesses in space? Ella - Do you have a favorite space food? Connor - What is the most unusual thing you have seen in space? Ethan - What part of your training was most challenging? Lindsay - What happens to your tears in space? Connor - How do the sun and stars look different in space than on Earth? T = 0 for Calling the ISS from Bishop Guertin H. S. Astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB The pre-contact program for Bishop Guertin's Contact will begin on Friday, February 18th, 2021 at 12:20 pm eastern time (17:20 UTC). The students at BGHS will be talking with astronaut Shannon Walker, KD5DXB who is onboard the ISS. The ISS will come over the horizon here in New Hampshire, USA at about 12:56 pm eastern time and will plan to make initial contact with Shannon then. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=ifgMkZqYnvw&start=840&width=900&height=506&rel=-1 You can view the contact by clicking on the video above. The Ground Station AB1OC ARISS Ground Station I also have the honor of serving as the ARISS Ground Station for BGHS's contact. It will be my job to establish and maintain the radio link between the students at BGHS and the Shannon on the ISS while the students ask their questions. AB1OC Space Communications Antennas The station will be computer-controlled, enabling the antennas here to track the ISS during our contact. You can learn more about our Ground Station here. Interested in learning more about our experience making contacts with the ISS? Check out this link for other ISS contact and activity articles. The students have been learning much about space and radio technology in preparation for their contact with the ISS. The faculty and administrators at Bishop Guertin have also poured a great deal of time and energy into their contact. I hope that you'll join us via the live stream and watch the students at BGHS make history! Fred, AB1OC --- ### 2020 Our Year in Review > Despite the pandemic, the Nashua Area Radio Society continued to provide activities and training to amateurs. Here is our 2020 Year in Review - Published: 2021-02-18 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/18/2020-our-year-in-review/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Contest, Education and Training, Field Day, License Class, NARS Event, Youth Outreach 2020 was a year that most people would like to forget. However we had a great year at the Nashua Area Radio Society, as we continued to have great meetings and activities online despite the pandemic. Here is our 2020 Year in Review. Winter Field Day WFD 2020 Operations Winter Field Day 2020 was held the last weekend in January. We improved our score by over 100% and came in 2nd in the Outdoor Category. See this article for more on our operation and this article for the results. This was the last major event that we were able to spend together. Craig N1SFT Working to setup for Winter Field Day The Pandemic - Meetings Moved Online May Meeting - Bob Heil, K9EID When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit, we could no longer meet together. We moved our meetings online and continue to hold our monthly membership meetings and tech nights over Zoom web conferencing. Although we miss getting together in person, this allowed us to include our internet members in our meetings. In addition, geography was no longer a barrier so we brought in some great speakers for our monthly meetings including Bob Heil from Ham Nation, Tim Duffy, K3LR from DX Engineering, Ray Novak from Icom, Fred Lloyd from QRZ, Doug Grant, K1DG, world class contester, and more! Tim Duffy, K3LR Speaking at June Membership Meeting September Meeting - Doug Grant, K1DG - Getting Started in Contesting Ray Novak, N9JA, tells us about the Icom-705 at our November Meeting Summer Field Day - 2020 Year in Review Field Day Virtual Site Visit on Zoom The Nashua Area Radio Society decided to not hold a large group operating event for Field Day 2020 due to the pandemic and the need to social distance. The ARRL modified the rules to allow Category D (Home w/non-emergency power) stations to contact each other and to allow operators to designate a club with their entries. We held a social distanced field day but still maintained a few of the annual field day activities. Sterling, AK1K took the lead in teaching us all how to send and receive messages for the messaging bonus, and led a messaging net during Field Day. We also held a Zoom meeting and invited an elected official and several club members who are in public agencies so that the members attending could claim those bonuses. Club members who were operating published articles with their plans on the website. You can visit this link to see the Field Day stories. Our total club score was 14,952, and put us in the top 3% of all clubs. Jeff, AC1FX Operating at Field Day 2020 Summer Field Day Antenna Setup at Jon, AC1EV's Station 13 Colonies Special Event Top State Operator's Award - 22,696 Contacts This year we partnered with KC1XX to operate as K2K in the 13 Colonies Special Event, held the week of July 4th. Matt, KC1XX and his world class contesting team operated for Matt's station in Mason, NH. Club members operated from their stations and some operated remotely from AB1OC/AB1QB. We ended up making 22,696 contacts during the event. This was an all time record for a state in the event! We easily won the Top State Operators Award and every one who operated received a plaque! Abby, AB1BY Operating as K2K KC1XX Team Tech Nights and Training - 2020 Year in Review Spencer Webb, W2SW, Taught us about Antennas, Feedlines and much more! In addition to taking our membership meetings online, we also took our Tech Nights online each month. This allowed our members as well as internet subscribers to have access to the live training sessions. We had some great speakers including Spencer Webb, W2SW, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC and learned all about EME, Antennas, Contesting, Portable Operating, PCB Design with Eagle and more! Members and Internet Subscribers can find video recordings of our tech nights on our website. Jamey, AC1DC, Teaches us about Portable Operations Gordon West Checks In to Technician Class We also took our license classes online this fall. We are now offering an online exam session after the class to all students in the class. Gordon West dropped in to offer some words of encouragement to our Technician class! Our Spring 2021 Classes are on the calendar and registration is open. Class Zoom Ham Bootcamp October 2020 QST Cover This year we took our Ham Bootcamp program online. We held an all day Ham Bootcamp on Saturday November 7th, where we taught new and inactive hams the skills they need to get on the air. The session was very successful - we had over 200 people attend! The ARRL published an article about our Ham Bootcamp in the October Issue of QST, which helped Hams all over the country and in Canada find out about it. Our next Ham Bootcamp is scheduled for April 24th, 2021. See this article for more information and links to register for Bootcamp. Thanks to our Ham Bootcamp instructors, Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, AC1DC, Aron, W1AKI, Burns, WB1FJ, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB. Abby Speaks About Fox Hunting in Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp Membership 300 Member Cake 2020 was a great year for membership! We celebrated over 300 members at our December Meeting - an increase of over 100 members since 2019! We now have over 240 regular members and over 80 internet subscribers! Student Teacher Contest Series Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK - Winner of the Student Teacher Contest Series We held a Student Teacher Contesting competition this year to encourage young people to get on the air and develop their operating skills. The winner was Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK, who won an IC-7300. Abby Finchum, AB1BY was a close 2nd and will win a DX Engineering Hex Beam Antenna. NARS in the Media - 2020 Year In Review Ham Nation Bob with Ham Bootcamp QST Article The Nashua Area Radio Society got quite a bit of media exposure this year. We published 2 articles in QST, were on Ham Nation twice, and were mentioned in a youth contesting article in the National Contest Journal. Jim, K1BRM, tells Ham Nation audience about the... --- ### Vintage Radio Dreamin > Collins pioneered the practical application of SSB to radio communications. SSB was state of the art in 1957. Learn about Vintage Radio... - Published: 2021-02-16 - Modified: 2023-09-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/02/16/vintage-radio/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment When I was first licensed in 1957, Collins was king of the hill in amateur radio equipment. Collins pioneered the practical application of SSB to both military and amateur radio communications and SSB was state of the art in 1957. The Collins S-line was just coming to market and I so wanted this gear over the 10 years I was active (1957-1967). (The S-line was in production from the late fifties to the early eighties. ) However, as a very poor kid at the beginning of this 10 year period and a poor college student at the end, personal finances made this a no-go situation. When I returned to amateur radio in 2017, I resolved to relive to some extent the good old days from the fifties and sixties and was in a position to do something about it as 50+-year-old Collins gear is much cheaper today, adjusted for inflation, than it was then. IOW, a 75S-3B receiver sold for about $600 new in 1970, equivalent to about $4200 today, and sells today on the used market for about $600 in today’s dollars. So, I set out to find both the Collins and E. F. Johnson gear I would have given an arm for back in the day. I carefully researched the market for this Vintage Radio gear and when the opportunity presented, acquired a few of my favorites. Collins S-line @ K8EZB The Collins gear (75S-3B receiver, 32S-3 transmitter, KWM-2A transceiver, 30L-1 amplifier, 312B-4 station control, and 516F-2 power supply) was mostly working (the seller said) but was unrestored. It had been serviced 20 years previous by Dennis Brothers, a well-known Collins guru, and former Collins S-line production technician, but had been very little used by the seller and had been stored for at least 10 years. With this recent history and taking into account, these radios are 50+ years old, I decided to do some restoration work and updating before putting these on the air. Some of this work I did myself, but I lacked the knowledge, skills and equipment to do everything necessary. I had, by coincidence, at about the same time developed an online friendship with Dave Harmon, K6XYZ, through the Collins Collectors Association (CCA) forum. Dave is a Collins S-line guru and offered to take on the task of checking out and updating this gear as appropriate to make it a useable, reliable station. In early 2018, I packed this equipment to withstand a thermonuclear event and shipped it off to Dave in Sperry, OK. He installed new tubes (including substituting 572Bs for the 811As in the 30L-1 amp), new power supply boards in the Harbach style, replaced capacitors and resistors where necessary, did a comprehensive alignment, and tested as a station on the air. Dave turned around these repairs quickly and shipped the equipment back to NH where it sat on a shelf in my shop until recently. After setting up and using a thoroughly modern station for a couple of years, as a diversion from the Covid mess and from DC (District of Confusion) politics, a few weeks ago I decided to get this gear back on the air. Despite Dave’s excellent work, a few gremlins had crept in which required some troubleshooting and minor repairs. Using a vintage EICO tube tester I had acquired and restored a few years ago, I was able to trace the problems to two bad tubes which were easily replaced. I also had to deal with a steep learning curve since I had not previously used a Collins transmitter and had not tuned a tube transmitter and amp since about 1965. Fortunately, the manuals, service bulletins, and much other useful information are available online at the CCA website. Also, many parts (new, NOS, and used) are available from multiple online sources, especially tubes, as this gear was used extensively by the U. S. military and there are large quantities of surplus NOS mil-spec tubes available at very reasonable prices. The exception regarding tubes is the 30L-1 572B final amplifier tubes which are now being made only in China and vary greatly in quality; a U. S. company, RF Parts, is importing, testing, and creating matched sets of these tubes, so adequate replacements are available at somewhat premium prices but are not unreasonable given current prices of other transmitting tubes from that era. Vintage tube transmitters typically require high impedance microphones. To meet this requirement, I added a Heil Gold Elite Vintage mic to the station. This mic is a wide range low impedance dynamic mic with an on-board impedance matching transformer and is intended specifically for use with vintage tube gear. So, after a few days of preliminaries (repairs, tuning into a dummy load, monitoring transmit signal, generous coaching via email by Dave Harmon, etc) I checked into a 40m net. Success! Excellent signal reports including some reports of “fantastic” audio. The 32S-3 transmitter uses a Collins 2. 1 kHz mechanical filter to determine the transmit bandwidth, with no adjustment possible, unlike modern DSP-based transceivers which typically offer several BW choices, most wider than 2. 1 kHz. I have by now made quite a few contacts with this station and continue to get excellent reports including a few S9+25 reports from NJ and VA-based stations. Out of curiosity, I have decided to add some W2IHY outboard audio processing gear to see if "fantastic" can be made even better. I doubt this will be the case given the narrow transmit bandwidth, where audio equalization may offer little benefit. However, this gear does also provide for adjustable audio compression, which, when added to the designed-in 10 dB compression in the Collins RF circuitry, may increase average power. We'll see. In any event, this outboard audio gear will be more beneficial with the older vintage gear coming next. The 30L-1 amp is spec’d at 1000 watts DC input (nominally 500mA at 2000 volts) which translates to about 600 watts PEP output. I have added a modern CleanRF demodulator and RF sampler to the station to allow monitoring of the transmit signal for flat-topping and linearity using RF envelope and trapezoid patterns on a vintage... --- ### Using the Student-Teacher Contest Radio > I would like to thank the Nashua Area Radio Society for hosting the  2020 Student-Teacher Contest. Thanks again and hope to see folks soon... - Published: 2021-01-16 - Modified: 2021-04-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2021/01/16/student-teacher-contest-radio/ - Categories: Featured, General, Youth Activities - Tags: Contest, Youth Outreach Hi. My name is Keith Sangillo, KZ1Z (formerly KC1IMK). I would like to thank the Nashua Area Radio Society for hosting the 2020 Student-Teacher Contest. The ICOM IC-7300 radio that I won is in good hands and being put to use. The first thing I did was take the NARS Extra class in December 2020 and get my Extra license so that I could use "all the bands and frequencies". It turned out that the weather was a bigger challenge than the test questions. After two days of an online class, a snowstorm turned off the power. My dad and I missed most of the Day 3 class sessions as we searched for friends with power. We arranged to take the test at a friend's house 30 minutes farther south. The VE's watched us take the test in a basement storeroom during the pandemic when we were not supposed to be visiting friends. The first big test for the new radio was Winter Field Day 2021. We pushed out the lawnmower and set up the station in the utility shed. WFD "shack" We hung a 20 m inverted V dipole in the adjacent tree and ran the feed line in the window so that we could close the doors when it was windy. We did not use our existing antenna for the shack in the house. WFD Setup: Deep Cycle battery powering radio and laptop We went for all the bonus points. The shed is non-insulated and considered outdoors. It was far enough away from the house to be remote. We used battery power. ICOM IC-7300 from Youth Contest And yeah, we had no heaters either. We dressed up in ski gear and warmed our hands on several cups of hot chocolate and tea so that we could log contacts with N1MM linked to the radio. Cold, 5 deg F night OPS With a single band antenna and part-time operation, I made 27 contacts. With bonus points from freezing my butt off, I sent in 4552 points for NARS. Thanks again for putting on the Student-Teacher Contest and hope to see folks sometime soon. Keith, KZ1Z --- ### Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp > Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp will be held online by the Nashua Area Radio Society on Saturday April 24th, 2021. - Published: 2020-12-30 - Modified: 2021-05-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/12/30/spring-2021-ham-bootcamp/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Education and Training, Mentor, On The Air 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, April 24th, 2021. Registration is open for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Spring Ham Bootcamp. Ham Bootcamp will be held online using Zoom web conferencing. Going online will allow us to help new Hams get on the air, in a safe way during the Coronavirus Pandemic. This will also let us reach out to new Hams across the country. Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, N1KRB as he makes an HF Contact Our spring Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, April 24th 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. Here is the agenda: 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 Radio Programming Tutorial Getting started with EchoLink Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites Getting started with Fox Hunting 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 Software and setup for Logging Contacts via your computer Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital Finding DX and QSL’ing – Getting them in the log and confirmed ... and more! Spring 2021 Ham Bootcamp is Going Online on April 24th Registration is now open for the April 24th 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 bootcamp@n1fd. org Anita, AB1QB --- ### 2020 Field Day Results > The ARRL has published the 2020 Field Day Results in the December QST and the Nashua Area Radio Society placed in the top 3% of all clubs. - Published: 2020-12-12 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/12/12/2020-field-day-results/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: ARRL, Field Day, On The Air The ARRL has published the 2020 Field Day Results in the December 2020 Issue of QST. Field Day 2020 Rule Changes Due to the pandemic, the ARRL made two rule changes this year. The first is that stations in category 1D could contact other 1D stations. The second is that individual submissions could specify a club affiliation and scores would be aggregated by club. Virtual Site Visit on Zoom NARS held several activities to help members operating in Field Day to earn bonus points toward their scores. A virtual site visit via Zoom with Gary Gasdia (father of member Ryan, KC1KJS), who is a member of the Hudson School Board and Community Emergency Response Team Members Patrick, W1YTT, Joe, AC1BG and Dan, W1MUZ helped members with bonus points. Sterling, AK1K, trained us all and hosted a messaging net to help us get the messaging bonus. These bonus points helped to increase our score. Field Day 2020 Scores Thanks to all of our members who submitted their scores for the Nashua Area Radio Society, our efforts resulted in a total club score of 14,952. From a quick scan of the line scores published by the ARRL and back of the envelope calculation, we placed in the top 3% of all clubs! Jeff, AC1FX Operating at Field Day 2020 We had a total of 16 members contribute their scores toward our aggregate club score: To learn more about our members Field Day 2020 operations, see the field day articles on our blog. To review the ARRL Results Article, visit the ARRL Web site at https://contests. arrl. org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalQSTResults. pdf To search the 2020 ARRL Field Day score database, visit http://www. arrl. org/results-database and select 2020 ARRL Field Day from the drop down box. Winter Field Day 2021 Winter Field Day is coming up on January 30-31. Similar rule changes have been made due to the pandemic. If you are interested in operating on Winter Field Day, review and reply to Craig, N1SFT's post in the Field Day Forum. Also, plan to join our January Membership Meeting, where Craig will talk about Winter Field Day. Anita, AB1QB --- ### AC1EV Spiderbeam Part 1 - Building the Antenna > Spiderbeam or Hex beam antennas have become very popular. They are small, lightweight directional antennas that are relatively easy... - Published: 2020-11-28 - Modified: 2021-02-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/28/ac1ev-spiderbeam-part-1-building-the-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Station Building Part 1, Building the Antenna and Base Spiderbeam 5 Band HD Antenna HD Spiderbeam Specifications As shown in the specifications above the Spiderbeam has a 33-foot boom, so I measured carefully to find the best spot to build it and raise it on the mast. Survey Preparing the base for the mast The Yaesu 800DXA Rotator that will rotate the mast and antenna will be mounted to a steel pipe buried and cemented into the ground. The next step is to dig the hole. The maximum reach of this post hole digger is around three feet. Preparing the hole Next, place the pipe in the hole and make sure it is vertical. Set the Pipe Add about 6 inches of gravel to the bottom of the hole to promote drainage, then add dry quick setting concrete to a few inches below the top of the hole. Slowly add water to the dry mix and give it time to soak in. One bag was sufficient. Add Cement and Water After adding water to the cement, I saw it was not draining very quickly. I had the inspiration to use my palm sander, without any sandpaper, to vibrate the pole. It worked great and you can see how the water level dropped and the bubbles coming out of it. I am confident this made the concrete stronger. Set the Cement Read the Manual Before Antenna Assembly While I wait for the concrete to cure properly, I will construct the antenna. The Spiderbeam antenna packs into a compact box. The mast is a Spiderbeam 14. 5 Meter HD model and is rated for full height with this antenna. The 14. 5 Meter HD telescoping mast has 9 sections. Each section is around 6 feet long. When fully extended it is 47 feet long. Assemble the antenna directly onto the topmost section of the mast. Antenna Box and Mast Spiderbeam includes a printed booklet with detailed assembly instructions and you can also download a PDF with the latest version of instructions from their web site. They will also provide plans to construct it yourself if desired. After assembling their kit I can say that building this from scratch is a challenging project. The components they provide are of high quality and worth the money. I highly advise everyone to read the assembly instructions over at least twice before beginning work. The manual includes instructions for the user who builds from scratch and also from the kit. It covers the portable as well as the HD versions of the antenna. Even after reading the instructions twice myself I still had to backtrack a few times to complete the assembly properly. Beginning Antenna Assembly Open Box and hub The box contains 20 fiberglass tube segments along with all the other parts required to assemble the antenna. I purchased the optional Kit Assembly Service from Spiderbeam where they manufacture the wire elements, guy lines, balun, etc. This is very worthwhile and quite a time saver. The two spools of wire shown above include all the reflectors, directors, and driven elements accurately measured. The wires on the spools are in the correct order of use. This makes it simple to access the next wire needed when assembling the antenna. The wires are accurately measured, but they are not precisely tuned. Do this once the antenna is fully assembled and off the ground a bit. Hub and Sleeve Detail The pictures above show some detail of the Spiderbeam Center Joint. Where the bolts go through the tubes there is a sleeve to install in the tube to prevent it from collapsing when you tighten the bolts. It takes some finesse to align the parts. I used a very long nose needle nose pliers to hold the sleeve in the tube during assembly. It is even more tricky when attaching the brackets on the top and bottom of the hub as many pieces need to be stacked up and aligned before you can insert the bolt through the sleeve. Installing the Spreaders Hub and Spreaders To aid in the assembly I placed the topmost section of the mast into a garden umbrella holder. Spiderbeam specifies that you install the hub 50cm from the top of the mast. I found this to be a bit short and will make an adjustment in the future to make it 65cm. This will give the top support guys more leverage for the spreaders. There are intermediate detailed steps as each component is installed. The instructions keep it on track. Installing the Wires Reflectors and Directors The next step is to add the Reflectors and Directors. I found it useful to have the antenna up high enough that I could easily duck under the wires as I put them on and adjust them. Balun Before installing the driven elements install the balun on the mast. There is a terminal label for each driven element. Left and right sides are identified on each element and it is important to orient them correctly when connecting them to the balun. After this, install the wires in the order shown in the manual. Completed Spiderbeam Finally, I picked up the completed antenna and moved it out of the way so I would have room to work on the next phase, raising the Spiderbeam. It weighs about 30 LBS. including the mast. It is certainly the largest single item I ever lifted and moved. There is lots of inertia to manage, but with care, I moved it easily. You can see how large the antenna footprint is with it on the ground. This is the end of Part 1. Part 2 will be coming soon. Jon, AC1EV --- ### One Radio, Two Shacks > One Radio, Two Shacks - My wife and I have two houses.  I can afford to have an antenna set up at each location but we want to share radios... - Published: 2020-11-14 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/14/one-radio-two-shacks/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment One Radio, Two Shacks My wife and I have two houses, one in MA and the other in NH. I can afford to have an antenna set up at each location but duplicating the radio and amplifier is more expensive. The point of the article is to describe how I transport the interior of my shack from one QTH to another. As a new ham, I focused on building a shack in my primary QTH in MA. Additionally, I wanted to be able to operate from our second home in NH. My solution was to put some effort into putting up a good antenna there and I would just bring my “rig” up to NH when we went there. I could have set up remote access from the NH QTH to my MA QTH, but there was something about the property that made me want to have an antenna up there. Advantages of operating from two locations The MA QTH is in Tewksbury, MA, and has all the RF noise present in a suburban environment. Additionally, the terrain was flat, so my antenna height above my roof was all I had. The NH QTH offered many advantages. The first was there were many tall trees over 80 feet high. Another advantage was the house was on top of an 85-foot hill. The RF environment in the rural forest setting was noticeably quieter. Installing an antenna high up in one of the trees on top of the hill is powerful. I ended up installing an 8010 EFHW antenna from MyAntennas. com which you can view here. This second article discusses the topography of the NH QTH and how well the antenna worked in the 2019 CQ World-Wide DX SSB Contest. A disadvantage to operating remotely was that power and internet at the NH QTH were not reliable and I could anticipate losing connectivity multiple times a year. I think this is a good case for wanting to operate locally from both locations. A few hundred dollars for the antenna installation was an amount I could handle that would not eat into the Ham budget for the primary station in MA. Duplicating the major components of that station would cost around $4500 which may happen someday, but until then, I will transport them between shacks. One Radio, Two Shacks - Moving the Components Between Shacks Here is what my MA shack looks like MA Shack Icom 7300, Elecraft KPA500 amp, and KAT500 Tuner are the core components that need to travel between shacks. When I arrive at the NH QTH this is what the shack there looks like. Empty Desk In addition to the radio gear, I bring my laptop. Laptop with 2 Additional Monitors I packed all the gear required to set up the NH Shack in these two toolboxes. Pelican cases would be great, but these were around $60. 00 at Home Depot. They are watertight and the bottom one has wheels. Stacked Tool Boxes Let’s unpack the smaller one on the top first. Small Tool Box Full Inside is the IC-7300, Heil Pro 7, and Bencher CW Key. The big toolbox is full and quite heavy. Big Tool Box Full The box from the Pro7 headset holds the loose cables and fits in the toolbox perfectly. Big Toolbox Middle Layer The KAT500 Tuner is unwrapped. You can see below how well the toolboxes fit the components. Big Tool Box Bottom Dummy Load and KPA500 amp on the bottom of the large toolbox. Components Laid Out Here are all the components laid out. Key cords and cables are labeled. I connected the components. The copper pipe is a bus for common ground. The wire on the right side connects to the house ground outside. The radio is noticeably quiet. NH Shack Ready The shack is ready. One Radio, Two Shacks - Here's How Set Up Goes... Click on the above image for a hyper-lapse video of me putting the shack together. Jon, AC1EV --- ### Configuring Emails from Our Forums > We have added new features to our Member Forums. This article shows how you can control the emails that come from the forums. - Published: 2020-11-12 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/12/forum-emails/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Mentor We have recently added some new features related to our Forums and some members may be getting more emails from the website. Here is some information on how you can control the emails that you receive that result from Forum Posts. There are two types of emails associated with forum posts – Individual Emails are sent with each post or reply. Digests, are sent periodically and contain all forum posts and replies since the last Digest that was sent. By default, new Members and Internet Subscribers are setup to be subscribed to all forums. If you are subscribed to a forum, you will receive an email for each new post or reply. Limiting Individual Forum Emails You can change which individual emails that you have signed up for by logging into the website and following the steps below. You can also change the frequency that you receive digests. Click on your name where you log in to bring up your Profile Click on your name on the left-hand side of the page under MEMBER LOGIN. That will bring up your Profile Page. Click on Subscriptions on the left side of your profile page On the left side of your profile page, just below the Avatar or Picture, click on “Subscriptions” Unsubscribe from individual forum emails If you do not want to receive emails for every new post in a forum, you can click on the pink box with the X in it next to the Forum name to unsubscribe from that forum. We recommend you do not unsubscribe from the General Information Forum as that is where we send information about our meetings and events and those may be time-critical. We also recommend that members do not unsubscribe from the Members Forum for the same reason. Edit your digest settings Digests are enabled by default to go out Daily and will include a summary with links to the day’s posts for our Forums. To change the digest frequency, click on “Edit” just below where you clicked on “Subscriptions”. Under Forum Digest Preferences, you can change the Digest Frequency from Daily to Weekly or Monthly. When you are done, you should scroll to the bottom and click on the green rectangle that says “Update Profile”. Re-subscribe to individual forum post emails If you want to re-subscribe to a forum that you deleted, start by going to the Forums Menu (On the black bar where you see About Us, Our Activities, etc. ). Select Forums and then select the forum that you want to re-subscribe to from the drop-down that appears. This will bring up the Forum page for that forum. Just below the Green Rectangle that says “Mark All Topics” you will see a link that says “Subscribe”. You can click on the word Subscribe to re-subscribe to the forum. You will see the word “Subscribe” change to “Unsubscribe”. Help and Suggestions Forum If you are a new member and have questions about how to use the website, we recommend looking at the articles in the Help and Suggestions Forum to get answers to your questions. 73, Anita, AB1QB --- ### My Adventures into Digital Voice Radio > What intrigued me is that a new ham -  someone just getting their Technician License - can get involved in Digital Voice Radio... - Published: 2020-11-02 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/02/digital-voice-radio/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Internet, VHF/UHF This article on Digital Voice Radio is intended for those new to ham radio but I hope that all who read these passages will enjoy and learn. At a recent Nashua Area Radio Society club meeting on Zoom, there was a fascinating talk about Digital Voice Radio - including the mediums known as DMR, D-Star, and Fusion (C4FM) radio, given by Brian Gudzevich, WO1VES. During that hour, I heard more buzz words, terms, and phrases that I could count. It took me the following week just to look-up everything. But what I heard was quite something, a way to contact people all over the world with the clarity of digital audio. What intrigued me even more, is that a new ham - someone just getting their Technician License - can get involved with this kind of technology rather easily and for not much money. I remember what it was like for me, just two years ago, getting my first license and having only a Baofeng HT and making some of my first QSOs to the remote corners of New Hampshire and Vermont. Boy, did I feel hot stuff back then! I also tried EchoLink in the beginning and made some other interesting QSOs to the West Coast and parts of the UK. That was great, too! But, from what I heard, the digital voice radio formats are like EchoLink on steroids. I wanted to give it a try. Asking around, I heard that DMR - even with its various downfalls - might be a place to start. I found a Baofeng DM-5R Plus being sold for $ 55. This was an awkward radio to play with, but after time, it finally got it to work. I was able to reach the local repeater in Hudson - K1MOT - and was able to hear a few voices while tuned in to the system with some success. However, the best way to connect to digital radio and to the outside world is with something called a hotspot - a device that talks to the radio at one end and connects to the internet at the other. The hotspot I choose is what is known as a Jumbo, running Pi-Star. DMR Hotspot The basics of a DMR radio is that it is centered around the commercial radio technology, first developed by Motorola, which digitizes the audio and then divides that audio into packets. Those packets are sent and received over VHF and UHF bands. To help make things work, each radio is required to have a ‘radio ID’, now issued by RadioID. Net. And for one radio to talk to another, the most common way to do this is to connect through something called a “talk group” which is like a virtual telephone party line. Anyone on the talk group can talk to another when they’re on the radio at the same time. Each talk group also needs its own ID number. What also is required is that each radio needs to be programmed with something called a “code plug”. This is similar to the Chirp program used on HTs. However, the code plugs on DMR are more like a matrix of data, setting up channels, contacts, talk groups, frequencies and so much more. It can be quite involved with trying to make sure all the information is imported into the right space. It is quite possible to screw things up ... which I know first hand. Using the repeaters, as mentioned, are rather limited as they only handle a small number of talk groups. The common complaint with the repeater is that it is hardly worthwhile because too few people are using them. However, a hotspot, with internet access at home, in a car, or from a cell phone, can give you unlimited possibilities for chatting with others all over the world. The first morning I got on the air, I overheard a fellow in Florida talking with someone in England. And then, I got on the air to talk with someone in Ohio and then Illinois, all with the clarity of digital signals. No QRN could be heard. It was quite something. The one other thing I found interesting with DMR - with the Pi-Star hotspot - I could log onto its ‘Dashboard’ and get an instant read-out of who else is on the talk group. Can you do that on HF? Maybe someday - maybe! Hotspot Configuration Screen And like I said, the whole experiment of trial and error cost less than $125 for the radio and the hotspot. Not great quality stuff but it worked and I was able to get a taste of this technology. It is dizzying with the number of things available to anyone in ham radio - even for the new ham - and digital voice is just another exciting aspect of this ‘hobby’. I would be interested in your experience with DMR. And who knows, I may try one of the other digital voice radio formats soon. Stay tuned! 73 Randall, N1KRB --- ### Satellite Station Antenna Upgrades > We are pretty active on Satellites so we decided to take our station up a level by upgrading our antennas. We choose larger yagis... - Published: 2020-11-01 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/11/01/satellite-antenna-upgrades/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Satellite, Space, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF We’ve been making good use of our Satellite Ground Station. Our existing 2MCP14 and 436CP30 antennas have enabled us to make over 2,000 satellite contacts; working 49 of the 50 U. S. States, 290+ Grid Squares, and 31 DXCCs. Our station is also an ARISS Ground Station which enables us to help Schools around the world talk to astronauts on the ISS. As you can tell, we are pretty active on Satellites so we decided to take our station up a level by upgrading our antennas. We choose larger yagis with booms over 18+ ft in length. The upgrade required us to improve the mechanical aspects of our Satellite Antenna System as well... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 12 – Antenna Upgrades We've been pretty busy with antenna projects at AB1OC-AB1QB this fall. In addition to building a new EME Antenna System and Station, we've also been working on upgrading our Satellite Antennas. Satellite Antenna Upgrade The Satellite Antenna project was a pretty challenging one. We opted for the largest available circularly satellite antennas available from M2 Antenna Systems. Satellite Antennas On the Tower - Parked Getting these antennas to be mechanically reliable, properly aligned, and operating smoothly required us to make some custom modifications to the hardware associated with our Satellite Ground Station. Cross Boom Counterweight and Trusses The article above covers the construction and adjustment of the new antennas. It also covers several custom enhancements that we made to our satellite antenna support system. Aircraft Tracking Antenna System Addition Satellite Tower Infrastructure including ADS-B Antenna We also added an outdoor antenna for our FlightAware ADS-B Tracker as part of the project. ADS-B is a relatively recent aircraft tracking system. Our new ADS-B antenna has increased our Tracker's contribution to the ADS-B network considerably. If you've ever wondered what goes into building and putting up a high-performance satellite ground station, take a look at the article. The ideas shared there are applicable to the construction of any VHF and above antenna system - especially those that utilize elevation rotators and thus require balancing. Fred, AB1OC --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 13 – H-Frame Enhancements > Our 2m EME Antenna System has been performing very well. We added some custom improvements to our EME H-Frame to better align our antennas... - Published: 2020-10-31 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/31/eme-station-2-0-eme-h-frame-enhancements/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, EME, Tower, VHF/UHF Our new 2m EME Antenna System has been performing very well. One area that we noticed that could use improvement was the alignment of our antennas as we move them in the Elevation plane. We've added some custom enhancements to our EME H-Frame to address this problem... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 13 – H-Frame Enhancements EME H-Frame - The Problem Any antenna system that involves large, multiple yagi antennas is bound to need some tweaking to work at its peak potential and to be mechanically reliable. Our recently constructed EME antenna system is no exception. We added some elements to properly balance our EME H-Frame assembly when we put it up. We found that the antenna tended to change their alignment when we rotated them in the elevation plane. A solution to reduce some of the stress on the fiberglass components in our H-frame was also needed. The Solution Custom H-Frame Truss Enhancements The solution to these problems was a Custom Truss System that we worked with Matt at XX-Towers and Robert at M2 Antenna Systems to create. We built the new Trusses using non-conductive Phillystran cable and Turnbuckles. The parts were carefully arranged to keep all of the metal components that were added at the center of our antenna array to prevent any impact on the system's antenna patterns. We had a 50-foot Boom lift at our QTH recently to enable some upgrades to our Satellite Antennas. We made good use of it to install our EME H-Frame enhancements as well. This part of our EME Project is a good example solution for some of the typical mechanical problems one encounters when building a large antenna system. You can see and read more about what we did via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 12 – Station Software > Operations using EME or Moonbounce is all about software. Every EME station's software architecture and configuration is a little different. - Published: 2020-10-14 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/14/eme-part-12-station-software/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, EME, Software, Station Building, VHF/UHF Software is a big part of most current EME stations. The JT65 Protocol, which was created by Joe Taylor, K1JT, has revolutionized EME operations. It has made it possible for modest single and two yagi stations to have fun with EME... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 12 – Station Software Operations using EME or Moonbounce communications is all about software. Every station's software architecture and configuration is a little different. Station Software Block Diagram - Phase 1 We recently put together our software suite for our new 2m EME station. Our setup features multiple JT65b digital decoders, automatic tracking of the Moon, computer logging, and some useful web-based tools that make finding QSOs easier. EME Station Software Operating Environment Our Phase 1 station configuration is mostly about integrating all of the components in our setup, sorting out operational issues, and learning to use all of the new software and hardware in our new Station. MAP65 Software Our primary software application is MAP65. This program can decode all of the signals on a given band at the same time. This is very useful during an EME Contest and for finding contacts during day-to-day operations. You can read all about our software setup for our station via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Online Technician Class > We held a successful online Technician License Class and Remote Video Exam on September 26th & 27th. All students earned their tech license! - Published: 2020-10-04 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/04/online-technician-class/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam We held our first Online Technician License Class and Exam Session on September 26th and 27th. The Nashua Area Radio Society is holding all of our license classes online using Zoom conferencing this fall due to the pandemic. We are also able to give the Technician Exam to our students at the end of our class. This has also allowed us to provide our license classes and exams to students across the US. The online technician class was a success! All three students earned their Technician License. We kept this class small as it was our first try at a remote video license exam. Congratulations to new Hams and License Class Grads: Heather Hunter Barbara Smith Chris Holjes All three students are now either club members or internet subscribers. Gordon West Checks In to Technician Class We had a surprise visitor on Saturday afternoon of the class as Gordon West, WB6NOA, showed up on Zoom to provide some encouraging words to the prospective new Hams and instructors. Thanks to our great team of instructors and volunteer examiners who helped to make the class and exam a success: Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Aron Insinga, W1AKI Burns Fisher, WB1FJ Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL Randall Bashta, N1KRB Joe Kagenski, AC1BG Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Our next class will be the General License class, scheduled for October 25th and 26th. For more information including the link to register for a License Class see https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class/ Anita, AB1QB --- ### The Sound Card - Published: 2020-10-04 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/04/sound-card/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital The Sound Card and How it Works For a ham radio operator trying to work the digital modes for the first time, half the battle is installing the software and learning how to make it work. The other half of the battle is installing the Sound Card, making all the right adjustments, and trying to make that work successfully. However, if you have one of the newer ICOM, Yaesu, or Kenwood radios, that struggle is almost eliminated as they have their sound cards built-in. But, if your transceiver doesn't have one, you'll need to come up with something that takes the audio from the computer and run it into the radio; and then from the radio and back into the computer. As shown above, the cheapest way to deal with this is to buy a USB audio dongle from eBay for about $ 3 and then a sound card kit for about 10 bucks. And finally, you'll need to purchase a few 3. 5 mm cables to connect from the dongle to the sound card. Then the fun begins, trying to figure what cable goes to where. Inside the Sound Card Essentially, a sound card is a device that takes the audio produced from the computer, matching the impedance between the computer and the radio and attenuating the signal considerably. Otherwise, the audio signal would be too strong for the radio to work properly, overloading the distorting it. Likewise, when sending a signal back from the radio to the computer, the audio has to be controlled and the impedance matched between the two pieces of hardware. The schematic above shows the audio coming from the USB dongle into a resistor divider network, at R3 and R4, which steps down the signal by 100 to 1. Then the audio goes through T2 for impedance matching. At the input and output to T2, there are capacitors used for shaping the signal going from the computer to the radio. Going from the radio back to the computer, the schematic is similar; it uses a transformer, T1, used for impedance matching. On better sound cards, potentiometers are used for further adjustment for the inputs and outputs. Some sound cards provide for the capability of operating the PTT circuit by taking the control signal off the DB 9 connector on the computer and sending it to an optocoupler on the sound card. This is used to separate any difference of potential which might exist between the two pieces of hardware. A Better Solution Of course, the easiest way to deal with this is to purchase something like the Signalink USB card from a supplier such as Ham Radio Outlet for about $ 125. The advantage to this card is that it plugs directly into the USB connector on your computer - eliminating the USB dongle - and then connects to the radio with a special DIN connector at the other end. Also, this card has individual controls for TX, RX, and Delay. Final Adjustments Enough can't be said about the need to make sure the right audio levels are set for the inputs and outputs at the computer and the radio. If the audio is too strong going into the radio, your transmission will distort, making QSOs harder to get. And at the other end, if the input signal is not at the proper level to the computer, the software will not be able to pick up the incoming sound. My hope here is that with a little understanding of the sound card and what it does, this will make your next QSO on one of the digital modes as smooth as possible. With some trial and error worked out, your next contact will be a lot easier. 73 Randall N1KRB --- ### My experience with Selecting and Installing a New Tower and New Antenna > Everyone dreams of the perfect Antenna and Tower, I'm providing my lessons learned in my process of obtaining a new tower... - Published: 2020-10-03 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/10/03/new-antenna-tower/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Station Building, Tower Our New Home It started over 2 years ago when my wife and I decided to downsize and chose a home for us to enjoy our final years. I was also looking for a home that had a view and would allow a ham radio tower to be erected. Antenna and Tower with a View My home and property My house is at 810’ above sea level. I have exceptional views South, and it extends both East and West. I’m going to describe the home/tower exposure because it’s important for later. To the North and East the tree line is about 100’ away and the ground slopes away about 40’ down North and a 60’ slopes down to the east. To the West is nothing for 300 yards and slopes down over 160’. To the south, there are 300 yards to the tree line which is below the line of sight and slopes down 160’. Otherwise, we can see 40 miles south and 2 miles west and east. To date, as a weather front comes through, we have experienced winds at around 45 MPH. You can see from the photo that the view is spectacular. I included a topo of where the house/tower is located, from this you can see the hilltop location. Topo of Tower Location Antenna Selection: Vertical One of the first things I was told about selecting an antenna was to wait until you can afford a SteppIR antenna. It made sense because you don’t have to worry about VSWR. The antenna will change the element length to match the frequency currently tuned to. I have a Stepp BigIR Mark IV vertical which covers 40 Meters through 6 Meters. This antenna works great for FT8 also. You just need to make sure you have lots of ground radials. I have 32 40’ radials. Antenna Selection: Horizontal I had a Mosley Classic 33, 10M, 15M 20M, tuner for voice, auto tuner had fits if I wanted to do FT8. I was looking for something that would provide good results for low sun cycle propagation. That meant wanting 20M and 40M and the other bands would be nice when the sun cycles improved. I focused on 3 elements vs 4 elements. So, I settled on the SteppIR DB18, because I could not justify a $2000 increase for an antenna that gave less than 2dB more gain. Also, this antenna allows me to flip the antenna 180 in like 2 seconds, make the director the reflector and the reflector the director Antenna: SteppIR DB18 7MHz to 50MHz 1 sqft wind load 96 lbs SDA2000 Rotator: Alfa Spid Big RAK 1’ wind load, 3,240 in-lbs turning torque, 14,000 lbs braking torque 16 lbs, 2” top to 2. 6” bottom. Hold >700 lbs. Mast: ¼” thick walls, 17’ long, 2” at the base and 1 ½” at the top. 5-foot wind load buried 4 feet into the tower Town Requirements Some towns only allow amateur radio towers to be 50’ while other towns allow 70’. Antrim initially had 70’ for amateur radio and if you wanted taller than that you had to follow the commercial tower requirements. It is now whatever the FCC / State requires. When I filed for the permit the inspector stated that a building permit is not required for amateur radio towers, but he did look at the request to ensure there was no safety issues, ie. , could the tower fall on a neighbor’s house, public roadway, etc. and that I was more than 50’ from the roadway and 25’ to the property line. I had also submitted a copy of my Amateur Radio License, which he thanked me for and requested that I submit my renewal when I do my 10 year renewal. He then filed all of it into the town records. It doesn’t hurt to talk to your neighbors to ensure that they will not be upset at you for putting up this (non-hams) ugly tower. I did this and we agreed that if I put the tower towards the front of my garage it would not be as visible to him. My Tower Requirements To start with you have to have a wish list in mind. Mine was as follows: DIY (do it yourself) Install No climbing Fold Over at the base Would be nice to be able to hang an 80m inverted Vee (65’) Tower Selection The easiest way was to start looking at the Rohn catalog. They have a section in front to get you started. They start with understanding TIA-222 revision G. It goes through Classification of the antenna structure, HAM’s will always be Class I. Next is the EPA (Effective Projected Area) or area (size) of your antenna, don’t forget the mast and the rotor. Next is what is your exposure, folks in the flatlands of Ohio(? ) will be exposure C, here in New Hampshire where we have mostly 100’ trees around most homes and will be Exposure B. Anyone living along the coast fits the last exposure D. The next category is what snagged me. Topographic category, remember the section above where I pointed out the terrain of my house. I got snagged as a category 3 site, at the top of a hill which means you must multiply the wind load by 2. 3. Damn, that’s 10. 1 + 1 + 1. 5 = 12. 6 * 2. 3 = 28. 98. That’s a huge value. So now I set out to search for an antenna company to meet my wish list. Remember, I’m not interested in climbing a tower. There are lots of towers out there, but I needed something with the ability to handle 29 EPA (that’s TIA-222 talk for wind load). ROHN towers did not meet my wish list of no climbing towers. Universal towers have an aluminum tower rated for 35 sqft at 110 MPH winds. Next was Heights Towers, they had aluminum towers rated by the exposure that would meet the requirements. I love the features that they offer and the fold-over kit. But not the cost. I’m retired and don’t make a lot of... --- ### QRP Antenna Connectors: BNC or RCA? > Which is the "best" (most common, most useful, works best) for a QRP Antenna Connector: BNC or RCA style connectors? Here are the pros... - Published: 2020-09-30 - Modified: 2020-11-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/30/qrp-antenna-connectors/ - Categories: Antennas, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, QRP Which is best for QRP Antenna Connectors: BNC or RCA? I've seen both on the web, so I'm trying to decide which connector to use for a QRP antenna. Maybe you can help me out: Which is the "best" (most common, most useful, works best) for a QRP Antenna Connector: BNC (which stands for "Bayonet Neill-Concelman" according to Wikipedia) or RCA "phono" connectors (they were used for connecting a turntable to an audio amplifier for something like a half a century)? 50 Ω Female BNC Connectors (Photo by W1AKI) BNC connectors cost more but won't come loose. RF cables with BNC connectors seem to be more available. What I didn't realize until recently is that they come in both 75 Ω and 50 Ω types. My picture above seems to be of the 50 Ω type. Wikipedia has a side-by-side picture comparing the two types. The commercial version of the Buddipole uses them. Female RCA Connectors (Photo by W1AKI) RCA connectors are inexpensive but can become unplugged. This can be an annoyance if you lose your connection when someone trips over the cable, or it can be a feature in that the antenna won't get pulled over when someone trips over the cable (Of course, any cables that are up over the ground, or any guy lines, should be marked with flagging tape -- available from any hardware store -- to prevent someone from tripping. ) Comments? Votes? Thank you. Aron, W1AKI --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 11 – EME Station Hardware In Shack > We've created a Phase I EME Station Hardware Architecture that uses an SDR Dongle and manual selection of Receive Polarity via a switch... - Published: 2020-09-30 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/30/eme-station-hardware/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, EME, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF Now that our 2m EME Antenna Array is fully installed, we have turned our attention to the set up the EME Station Hardware in our Shack. Our plan is to do a mix of JT65 Digital and CW operation with our 2m EME... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 11 – Station Hardware In Shack AB1OC-AB1QB 2m EME Station Block Diagram - Phase 1 We've created a Phase I Architecture that uses an SDR Dongle and manual selection of Receive Polarity via a switch. We also added a receive splitter and a Transmit/Receive relay in front of an Icom IC-9700 Transceiver which is dedicated to our EME setup to enable both the MAP65 and WSJT10 Software Decoders to operate simultaneously. This approach has some significant advantages when conditions are poor as one of either MAP65 or WSJT10 will often decode a marginal signal when the other will not. Special Transmit/Receive hardware was created and added to the sequencing system in our EME station to permit the simultaneous operation of two separate receivers and software decoders for JT65. The article also covers the installation of a Reference Locking Board in the IC-9700 which allows the IC-9700 to be frequency locked to a clock derived from GPS Satellites. You can read all about the setup of our EME Station Hardware via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 2 Meter Vertical Yagi for Better VHF Performance > I need to be sure I can reliably reach the repeater and there were a few times when my mobile setup let me down. I've added a 2 Meter Yagi... - Published: 2020-09-22 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/22/2-meter-vertical-yagi-for-better-vhf-performance/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, VHF/UHF Some Issues with 2 meters VHF I have a VHF radio in my car with a mag-mount antenna. One of the things I like to do is join in the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Weekly Repeater Net. I enjoy it so much that I volunteer to be in the Net Control rotation. When it is my turn, I need to be sure I can reliably reach the repeater and there were a few times when my mobile setup let me down. Yaesu FTM-3200D I recently updated my shack to include a Yaesu FTM-3200D 2-meter radio that has up to 65 Watts output on 2 meters. Diamond X200A Dual Band VHF/UHF Antenna I paired that with a Diamond X200A Dual Band VHF/UHF Antenna and things improved a bit, but there were still a few times when I was scheduled to be Net Control that I could not reliably connect to the repeater. I did some research and here is what I learned. Distance and Line of Sight Calculator to Repeater VHF, especially in the FM mode is mainly a line of sight band. There are many propagation modes that go way beyond the line of sight, such as Sporadic-e, Tropospheric ducting, Auroral propagation, Meteor scatter, and Earth-Moon-Earth (EME), but they are not relevant to this discussion of connecting to a repeater. The map above shows the approximate location of the repeater and my QTH in Tewksbury. I looked up the height of the repeater antenna and my QTH and came up with a difference between them to help calculate the distance to the horizon from one point to the other. Here is the link to the calculator in the blue box: http://www. ringbell. co. uk/info/hdist. htm Line of sight, as it applies to radio in this situation extends a bit beyond what the optical line of sight maybe, and that describes perfectly the situation shown above. The repeater appears to be located about 10% beyond the optical line of sight from my QTH. What can I do about it? Most of the time, I can connect to the repeater. Unfortunately, I cannot predict whether or not I will be able to connect. The first thing I thought I could try was to raise the antenna at my QTH to extend the view over the horizon. I checked on the LOS calculator and found that adding 10 feet to my antenna mast would only get me out to 21. 2 miles or a . 3-mile gain. This approach would quickly reach the point of diminishing returns, so I needed another solution. The next thing I thought about was improving the antenna. 2-meter yagi beam antennas are very reasonably priced, and I found the Diamond A144S10 Base Station Yagi Beam Antenna for under $95. 00. It has 11. 6 dBi gain, so should work well. A144S10 Base Station Yagi Beam Any antenna project will include more than the price of the antenna but by using some parts I already had on hand and adding an inexpensive TV rotator, I was able to install the antenna at a reasonable cost. Building the 2 Meter Yagi Antenna Antenna Unboxed The antenna comes in a small box with many of the parts pre-assembled. Beginning the Assembly I twisted the elements of one section into position and tightened the wing nuts to hold them in place. After repeating the process with the other elements and assembling the pieces I moved on to install the horizontal bracket on a piece of chain link top rail I used for the mast. Stand-off Mounting Bracket The stand-off bracket serves two functions. First, it attaches the antenna to the mast in a vertical orientation and second, it moves the antenna away from the mast so that there is no interaction between the metal mast and the antenna elements. Completed Antenna Staged on Mast Here is the antenna staged without the rotator, prior to installation on the roof. Preparing to install the antenna on the roof It is a good idea to pre-wire the antenna rotator and calibrate it before going up on the roof. The Hy-Gain AR-500 Rotator is easy to configure. Hy-Gain AR-500 Rotator I installed the tripod on the roof taking care to place the lag bolts into the rafters and waterproof them thoroughly. Importantly, I used the level and the top rail to ensure that it would be vertical prior to mounting it to the roof. Tripod Base Mount Antenna, Mast Sections, and Rotator Assembled Assemble the Antenna, Mast, and Rotator. Attach Wires, Coax, and Guy Lines Next, attach all wires, coax, and guy lines while the antenna is in reach. Install the 2 Meter Yagi antenna in the roof mount tripod Lifting the Completed Antenna Assembly Lifting the completed assembly to mount it in the tripod. I lined up the whole assembly and carefully lifted it into the tripod mount. If I ever do this again, I will have a helper! 3 Antennas Over the House HF and VHF Antennas The Hex Beam is 33 feet up. The new A144S10 10 element 2 meter Yagi is around 28 feet and the Diamond X200A is around 20 feet high at the feed point. The results are in Finally, I made arrangements with Fred, AB1OC to do some testing later that afternoon. I oriented the antenna to the compass accurately and looked up the heading to the repeater. Fred helped me with adjusting my mic gain and power output to make sure the radio was working properly. After a few tweaks, we were both happy with the results. I hosted the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Weekly Repeater Net that night, which turned out to be a success. I am looking forward to exploring the capabilities of this new antenna. Jon, AC1EV --- ### NARS QSO Party Update > Join us on the air on Sat. September 26th from noon to midnight EDT for the NARS QSO Party! Read this article for a few rule changes. - Published: 2020-09-21 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/21/nars-qso-party-update/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, VHF/UHF The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring the NARS QSO party on September 26th. This QSO party is born from the frustration of not being able to have large groups of our members meet for the SOTA, POTA, and IOTA events that we had scheduled before the Pandemic. There have been some important rules changes that you need to know about. We have adjusted the final exchange and scoring to make it easy for you to use the existing North American QSO Party set up in a contest logger such as N1MM+ to participate and score your operation in the NARS QSO Party. Exchange and Multipliers The exchange and multipliers for this contact are patterned after the North American QSO Party. Here's a summary of what has changed: The most important rule change is that this will be a phone contest only. It wasn't possible to do an all-mode contest without having some issues in other areas related to using standard contest setups that are available in most loggers. Also, the exchange will be the operator's first name plus (state/DC/province/country). Finally, the time window has been changed to 1600 UTC on September 26 to 04:00 UTC September 27th. That's Saturday 12:00 noon to midnight on the East coast. Setting up N1MM+ I want to quickly go over how to set up N1MM+ to log contacts and score your entry correctly. N1MM+ is a free logging software that will allow you to log contacts, score the contest for you and also provide you with a log in Cabrillo format as well. When you are finished downloading open the software. Go to file> new log in the database and choose NAQPSSB. Change the start date and time. Go down the options and change as needed taking special care with the sent exchange, mode, and operator information boxes. Click ok at the bottom of the page. You come back to the logging screen. The next important change to make is to right-click anywhere in the logging window and go down to change band panel display. Click on this option and click on the VHF tab and the UHF tab. this will allow you to add contacts from 2 meters on up. This explanation probably sounds kind of clunky but once you open the software it will make a lot more sense. I think you should have N1MM+ configured correctly if you follow the steps above. I have pictures that I took. Email activities@n1fd. org if you want a copy of the setup pics. Ryan KC1KJS field day 2019 Summary of the Rules There will be two operating categories for the NARS QSO Party: HF and VHF and up. A summary of the rules is below. NARS QSO Party Rules You should submit your final log as an Electronic Entry only and your submission should include a complete Cabrillo format log and your claimed score. Logs should include date and time in UTC, Frequency, Mode, Call Signs, and the Exchange for each of your contacts. Logs are due 7 days after the contest is finished. Certificates will be awarded to the top 3 stations in each category. Ham Nation Fred, AB1OC, and I will be on Ham Nation this Wednesday, September 23rd, starting at 9 PM Eastern Time, to publicize this so we should see plenty of activity on the air. I hope to get you in my log! 73 Jim Lajoie, K1BRM --- ### NARS to Give Online Exams to Students of our Classes > The Nashua Area Radio Society will give online exams to students of its online license classes starting with the Fall 2020 Technician Class. - Published: 2020-09-20 - Modified: 2020-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/20/nars-online-exams/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam, Mentor The Nashua Area Radio Society VE Team is now equipped to administer online exams to students in our License Classes. The first NARS online exam session will be held at the end of our Technician Class on September 27th. Satellite Demo from Technician Class Students who register for our online license classes can register for the exam at the same time that they register for the class. The $15 exam fee will be collected at the time of registration. In order to take an online exam, the student must have the following: A Windows 7 or higher PC or recent Mac computer with a web browser and a reliable high-speed internet connection capable of supporting real-time, 2-way video. A computer with a working video camera, microphone, and speaker. The computer must be in a non-cluttered, private work area away from any bulletin boards or pinned up papers or notes. An internet-connected smartphone with a camera Gordon West Technician Class Book Our classes are based on the Gordon West License books and students are expected to have read the book and completed a prestudy assignment before the class. We go over every question in the question pool two times during each class. We also give many demos as part of the class to help reinforce the material. Our Fall 2020 License Classes will be given online via Zoom web conferencing on the following dates: Technician Class: September 26th and 27th General Class: October 24th and 25th Extra Class: December 4th, 5th, and 6th For more information on our classes, and to register, visit our License Class page. If you have already registered for a class and would like to add on the NARS Online Exam, please contact me at classes@n1fd. org --- ### Ham Bootcamp is Going Online > Do you have your Ham License but have not been on the air? Ham Bootcamp is the program for you! Here is how to register for the next session. - Published: 2020-09-20 - Modified: 2020-09-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/20/ham-bootcamp-is-going-online/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, VHF/UHF 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 and this year Ham Bootcamp is Going Online! Registration is open for the Nashua Area Radio Society's Fall Ham Bootcamp. This year, Ham Bootcamp is going online using Zoom web conferencing. Going online will allow us to help new Hams get on the air, in a safe way during the Coronavirus Pandemic. This will also let us reach out to new Hams across the country. Jamey, AC1DC, Elmers Randall, N1KRB as he makes an HF Contact The ARRL has published an article about our Ham Bootcamp program. It is the cover story in the October 2020 QST, which is just reaching mailboxes this week. If you haven't received your copy yet, you can access the article online at This Month in QST. If you like the article, you can vote for it to receive the Cover Plaque award at http://www. arrl. org/cover-plaque-poll Dan and Kenzie Satellite Intro at Bootcamp Our fall Ham Bootcamp will be held on Saturday, November 7th 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. Here is the agenda: Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or Mobile Radio and an Antenna Radio Programming Tutorial Getting started with EchoLink Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites Getting started with Fox Hunting 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, Feedline, and Ground Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice Software and setup for Logging Contacts via your computer Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital Finding DX and QSL’ing – Getting them in the log and confirmed ... and more! Ham Bootcamp is Going Online on November 7th Registration is now open for the November 7th 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 be sent 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 bootcamp@n1fd. org --- ### The South African Radio League Web Site and Free Publications > The South African Radio League has an annual Diary of Events (PDF) online.  Between the month-at-a-glance pages, this calendar has... - Published: 2020-09-15 - Modified: 2022-06-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/15/the-south-african-radio-league-web-site-and-free-publications/ - Categories: DX, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: DX, On The Air, Youth Outreach The South African Radio League has an annual Diary of Events (PDF) online. Between the month-at-a-glance pages, this calendar has information on certificates they administer such as the Worked All ZS award and Worked All Africa award. South African hams operating outdoors(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,https://www. facebook. com/groups/217437211797100) For a bigger picture, I like their Year-at-a-Glance (PDF) calendar, for A3 paper (11. 75" x 16. 5"). (I've already suggested that the ARRL take a look at it and consider offering one too. ) South African hams operating outdoors(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,https://www. facebook. com/groups/217437211797100) The South African Parks on the Air program looks interesting since it includes Flora and Fauna not seen in the wild anyplace near our W1 area! Their HF Happenings (and other DX news) newsletter is downloadable and includes African IOTA information. South African hams during a SOTA activationCover of September/October 2014 issue of Radio ZS(From the public SARL Youth Facebook page,https://www. facebook. com/groups/217437211797100) In response to the pandemic, they made the April 2020 issue of their magazine free to everyone. (Apparently, some other societies have done the same, so if you find one, please post a link to it! ) This issue includes an adapter to use a Baofang radio as a 'fox', the design for the audio part of a direct-conversion receiver (SDR), information about an amateur radio exhibit they put up at a public exhibit of hobbies of all sorts, and other projects. Don't worry about being able to read the articles, everything I looked at was in English, with some columns also in Afrikaans. I found it very interesting! As you can tell from the pictures above, they also have a public Facebook page "for members of the SARL (South African Radio League) and amateur radio enthusiasts under the age of 25". Aron, W1AKI --- ### Air Force Research Lab Tracks Sporadic-E > The Air force Research Lab is also interested in tracking sporadic-E clouds and in a way that we may not have expected... - Published: 2020-09-09 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/09/air-force-reasearch-lab-tracks-sporadic-e/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Magic Band (6m), VHF/UHF Amateur radio enthusiasts have been taking advantage of Sporadic-E skip or simply sporadic-e for many years. Sporadic-E is a poorly understood propagation method that takes advantage of ''clouds'' of highly charged particles in the lower atmosphere. Using this method you can ''skip'' a signal off the cloud and communicate over much longer distances than you normally could at VHF frequencies. Late spring into summer is the time of year when sporadic-E really takes off in the northern hemisphere, but Sporadic-E can show up at any time and at any place making predictions very difficult. Really the best way to see if there is any chance of skip is to check the spotting networks or just get on the radio and give a holler and see who answers you just make sure to have your maidenhead grid square locator. Here's a good link to one - https://www. levinecentral. com/ham/grid_square. php. Well, apparently amateurs aren't the only ones interested in predicting Sporadic-E. I was listening to one of my podcasts (This Week in Amateur Radio for the record) at work today and thought I would pass on some interesting information. Apparently, The Air force Research Lab is also interested in tracking Sporadic-E clouds and in a way that we may not have expected. I won't ruin the surprise here but this discovery sounds very interesting and has far-reaching effects. One antenna of the Sporadic-E detection array You can read the whole article here. http://www. arrl. org/news/air-force-research-laboratory-tracks-sporadic-e. 73 -Jim K1BRM --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 10 – Antennas On The Tower > After a year’s worth of planning and 10 months of construction, we have our new 2m EME Antenna System installed on our EME Tower and working! - Published: 2020-09-04 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/eme-station-antennas-on-tower/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, EME, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF After a year’s worth of planning and 10 months of construction, we have our new 2m EME Antenna System installed on our EME Tower and working! This stage of our project took about a week... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 10 – Antennas On The Tower We're making good progress on a new 2m EME Antenna System here at AB1OC-AB1QB. Our Antenanns system is up on our EME Tower and we are working through the setup and integration of the equipment and software for our EME Station. EME Antenna Installation Using A 50 Ft Boom Lift We rented a boom lift and worked with Matt and Andrew from XX Towers to get our Antenna System up. Our antenna installation took a week to complete and it turned out quite well. You can read all about this step in our project via the link above. We should have the work needed to bring the rest of our EME Station together sometime during the next few weeks. We can already receive signals that other Hams are reflecting off the moon! Fred, AB1OC --- ### September Membership Renewals > Please complete your September Membership Renewal by the end of the month to continue to enjoy our club activities and website content. - Published: 2020-09-04 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/september-membership-renewals/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Mentor, NARS Event September is the month when over 40% of our members are due for renewal. Thank you to all of the members who have renewed to date since my first call for September membership renewals. The following members still need to renew before the end of September : How to Renew Your Membership To renew your membership, the first step is to log in to N1FD. org. Once you are logged in, you can fill out the membership renewal form on the following page: https://www. n1fd. org/renew-your-membership/. At the end of the form, you will be asked to pay your membership fee using PayPal. We have multiple membership renewal options to choose from if you qualify, with the following yearly fees. Make sure you take advantage of a discounted rate if you qualify: Regular Membership: $31 Senior Membership (Age 65 or over): $26 Full-Time Student: $26 Family Membership: $46 Members at a SOTA at the Mt. Washington Summit Membership Benefits Your membership allows you to participate in all of our activities including: Field Day Online Membership Meetings with Internationally Known Speakers Online Tech Nights to support Social Distancing Programs at Membership Meetings Tech Nights Monthly Breakfasts Weekly Repeater and HF Nets SOTA/POTA/NPOTA Activations Fox Hunts NARS Sponsored Contests Our High-Altitude Balloon Projects License Classes and Ham Bootcamps for new Hams Reading and perhaps Creating Articles and Viewing Members-Only Pictures, Video, and Forum Posting on our website, https://www. n1fd. org... Technician License Class Your membership in the Nashua Area Radio Society also supports our education and youth outreach work including: Amateur Radio Licensing class delivery and scholarships for students, teachers, and young people STEM Education for school students through Amateur Radio (ex. our High-Altitude Balloon program) Activities to introduce young people and new Hams to Amateur Radio such as ARRL Kids Day, ARRL Rookie Roundup, and other youth outreach activities If you are up for a September Membership Renewal, please go online to https://www. n1fd. org/renew-your-membership and renew your membership soon! If you have any questions, contact Anita, AB1QB, our membership chairperson at membership@n1fd. org. --- ### Fall 2020 Amateur Radio License Classes > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be giving Technician, General and Extra amateur radio license classes online this fall via Zoom. - Published: 2020-09-04 - Modified: 2020-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/04/fall-2020-license-classes/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam, Mentor The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold three Amateur Radio License Classes this fall. Due to COVID-19, we will be holding them online, and they are open to anyone in the US. Here are the dates for our classes: Technician Class: September 26th and 27th General Class: October 24th and 25th Extra Class: December 4th, 5th, and 6th Our classes will be held using Zoom web conferencing. Gordon West Technician Class Book Classes are based on the Gordon West License Class Manuals. We go over each question on the exam at least twice and give lots of demos to reinforce the materials. You can visit this page for more information about our license classes. You can register online for a class here. Our knowledgeable instructors have given 6-7 amateur radio license classes per year for the past 5 years. We have had a high success rate with our amateur radio license classes and have received much positive feedback from our students. We are working to implement an online exam at the end of our classes as we have in the past. It will take some effort to put this in place but we will make every attempt to have this ready for the Fall classes. Have questions? Contact Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org. --- ### ISS Voice Repeater is QRV! > Thanks to some great work by the ARISS Team, a new FM Voice Repeater system is operating on the ISS! You can access the repeater... - Published: 2020-09-02 - Modified: 2020-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/09/02/iss-voice-repeater/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: ISS, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Thanks to some great work by the ARISS Team, a new Voice Repeater system is operating on the International Space Station (ISS)! Here is the access information... Source: ISS Voice Repeater is QRV! Thanks to some great work by the ARISS Team, a new FM Voice Repeater system is operating on the International Space Station! ISS Voice Repeater Hardware The link above provides the details and the information needed to access the ISS Voice Repeater. I was able to work several stations using the new Voice Repeater this morning. It is very sensitive and uses 5 watts of downlink power with a good antenna on the ISS. I was able to make solid contacts using the Ground Station here using only 1. 5 watts uplink power when the ISS was at 10 degrees above the horizon. At least one of my contacts was with a station using an HT with a whip antenna! The voice repeater is sensitive enough and uses a power level that will enable folks with an HT and a whip antenna to make contacts using the ISS when its close to the horizon. It should also be easy to make contacts using mobile rigs that can support cross-band operation as well. Program your radios! I’m looking forward to working you through the ISS! Fred, AB1OC --- ### NARS QSO Party September 26-27 > The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get more  people on the air... - Published: 2020-08-24 - Modified: 2020-08-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/24/nars-qso-party-september/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get more people on the air. The Sporadic E season is winding down but the sun is starting to wake from its slumber. With added solar activity we have the possibility of an increase in propagation so definitely give 10 meters a try! Thanks to feedback from a club member there will be two categories to help even the playing field for those that don't have an HF station. VHF and up and All band. please see the rules below for a full explanation. We feel this contest has something for everyone. You can earn points using any mode (except repeaters) you like using any bands you like (except the WARC bands). If your new to contesting that’s great too. I urge you to give it a try. The exchange is short and this should be an easy and low-stress introduction to contesting. I'd also like to welcome the student-teacher contesters. The NARS QSO Party is now on their schedule. you can learn more about our student-teacher contest here. https://www. n1fd. org/2020/07/19/student-teacher-contest-update/ A note on digital modes. CQ Worldwide RTTY is held the same weekend. If RTTY is your thing or you want to try it out this is a great opportunity! Ryan K1RMW field day 2019 The rules can be found below. NARS QSO Party Object: To contact as many amateur radio operators in as many states, provinces and dx entities as possible Who: You don’t have to be a Nashua Area Radio Society Member. Everyone is invited to participate! Date: September 26 0000z to 2359z September 27 2020 Categories: there are two categories to choose from VHF only for 6 meters on up and All band. Power categories are accounted for in the multiplier section of the rules. Multi not permitted Exchange: W/VE: RST+State/Province DX: RST+ DX Valid Contacts: Work each station once per band and mode. QSO Points: phone QSO=1pt, digital and cw=2pts. Multipliers: Each US State, Canadian Province, and every Dx Entity is a multiplier. Power Multiplier: Stations not indicating power level within their log will be scored as operating with greater than 100 watts (>100 watts). Greater than 100 watts (> 100 watts) , total score x 1, 100 or less ( --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 9 – H-Frame Assembly > An EME H-Frame assembly is used to mount our four new antennas on our Tower. The H-frame component is one of the most mechanically complex... - Published: 2020-08-18 - Modified: 2020-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/18/eme-h-frame/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, EME, VHF/UHF The final major component in our 2m EME Station Upgrade to be assembled is the 2MXP28-32-2X2-3K H-Frame which will support our four 2MXP28 Antennas. The H-Frame is one of the most mechanically complex components in our EME antenna system... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 9 – H-Frame Assembly We are almost ready to put our new 2m EME Antenna System. We've been working to pre-assemble and test all of the components in the new Antenna Array. The last major component to be prepared in the H-Frame assembly which is used to mount our four new antennas on our Tower. The H-frame component is one of the most mechanically complex parts of our Antenna System. The link above shares all the details of this part of our project. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Exploring Winlink > If your internet goes down or you lose cell phone connection, how do you get important emails to the outside world? Winlink is the answer... - Published: 2020-08-14 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/14/exploring-winlink/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, Education and Training, HF Emailing on HF If your internet goes down or you lose cell phone connection, how do you get important emails to the outside world? Winlink provides this capability! A must for groups like ARES. With Winlink, all you have to do is download the program to your computer; then connect the transceiver to the computer with all of the interfacing hardware, and then write your message within the Winlink program and hit 'Send'. Sounds easy enough? When you hit Send, your computer will sound like a dial-up modem from the 1980s, as the computer and your radio connect to an HF station and the email is sent. Once the message is received, it is sent the rest of the way via the Internet to its final destination or stored on the Winlink server until retrieved by the receiving Winlink account. The Main Page Some Good News The good news is that the program you need - Winlink Express - is free and rather easy to install. The other good news is if your computer and transceiver are already set up for other digital modes - such as FLDigi and WSJT-X - you're ready to go. Winlink Hardware Requirements The type of sound card you need is already installed in some radios like the ICOM 7300. Otherwise, try the Signalink USB from HRO for about $ 125. It has input and output controls on the outside of the case, making adjustments easy. For Xiegu users, Xiegu sells the CE19 card for about $ 35. And if you want to use the CAT function to control PTT, use a standard 3. 5 mm to USB serial transfer dongle. However, if you are capable of using the VOX function on your radio, no CAT cable is needed Setting Up Winlink EMAIL Page After you've installed the program, it will open up to the main page. Go to the top-left of the page and click the 'Message' button which will open up the Email page. From there, write a Test message - with a proper email address, subject, and message - then click 'Post To Outbox'. Go back to the top-left of the main page to the 'Settings' button and fill out all the required information - your call sign, your name, grid location, etc. Then go back to the top-right of the main page and make sure the drop-down menu is on 'Winmor Winlink'. And finally, click on the 'Open Session' button, just to the left. This will open up a whole new window which will require you to fill out more information. Winmor Winlink Menu The 'Open Session' Page When you get to the 'Open Session' page, go to the upper left-hand corner to the next 'Settings' button. The first item to open up is the 'Winmor TNC Setup'. Here you assign the audio input and output drivers to the sound card. If you need to use the CAT function, go to the next settings' item - 'Radio Setup' - where you will indicate what radio you're using. And finally, go to the top-center of the page and click on the 'Station Selection' button, to determine what HF station to use. A list of all the stations available will appear, based on your grid location, with those highlighted in Green as the best choices. Station Selection Page With all this said and done, go to the right-top side of the window and click on 'Send'. A new window will appear - the TNC Card window - showing you all the handshaking going on as the software starts to search for the station and sending the message. When completed, the email sitting in the Outbox will be gone. It does take a few minutes for all of this to happen, so you have enough time to get a cup of coffee while you're waiting. This has been a quick description of how to set up Winlink. There is a lot more information on YouTube and other Internet sources if you need it. I know I did. From my experience, it took some trial and error before I got the audio inputs and outputs set up correctly. Also, I needed to find the proper setting for the VOX gain. And I also found the best station from New Hampshire to use is the one in Maryland, which required 50 watts to reach it. But, now that I've done all of this, I feel I'm ready for the big one to hit, knowing that I can get an emergency email out to the outside world ... . only if I can remember all the steps. Randall, N1KRB --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 8 – EME Elevation Rotator Assembly and Sub-System Test > We are continuing to make progress on our 2m Station. The latest step in the project was to assemble and test the EME Elevation Rotator.. - Published: 2020-08-06 - Modified: 2020-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/06/eme-elevation-rotator/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, EME, Station Building, VHF/UHF The next major component in our new EME station is the assembly of the Elevation Rotator. This step also involves pre-assembly and testing of the MAP65 Pre-amp Housing, Antenna Power Dividers, Tran... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 8 – Elevation Rotator Assembly and Sub-System Test We are continuing to make progress on our 2m EME Station build. The latest step in the project was to assemble and test the Elevation Rotator and the MAP65 Preamp System. The article at the link above explains what we did to complete this step in our project and to test what is a major sub-system in our 2m EME Station. MAP65 Preamp Housing This part of the project includes installation and testing of the MAP65 EME Preamp Housing on the rotator assembly. This unit and the rotator are tested along with a Green Heron Engineering RT-21 Rotator Controller and a MAP65 EME Sequencer. We are getting close to installing our new 2m EME Array on the tower. The final preparation step in our project will be the final assembly and preparation of a large H-frame that will mount the four antennas in our EME Antenna Array. You can learn more about our EME Station Project Goals and Plans here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### September 2020 Membership Renewals > Many of our members are due for renewal in the month of September. Here is how you can renew today and continue receiveing your membership benefits. - Published: 2020-08-05 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/05/september-2020-membership-renewals/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Field Day, Internet, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air Close to 40% of our members are up for renewal in the month of September. We encourage those members to renew early, beat the rush, and make sure your membership does not expire. This article will show you how to tell when your membership is up for renewal. It will also show you how to renew your NARS membership online. When is My Membership Due for Renewal? Looking up my Membership Status You can visit the following page to see when your membership is up for renewal: https://www. n1fd. org/member-directory/. Scroll to the 2nd table on the page, titled Membership Roster and Status, put your callsign in the search box, and hit return. As you can see above, I have looked up my membership status and I see that my membership is expiring in September 2021. Renewal Form How to Renew Your Membership To renew your membership, the first step is to log in to N1FD. org. Once you are logged in, you can fill out the membership renewal form on the following page: https://www. n1fd. org/renew-your-membership/. At the end of the form, you will be asked to pay your membership fee using PayPal. We have multiple membership renewal options to choose from if you qualify, with the following yearly fees. Make sure you take advantage of a discounted rate if you qualify: Regular Membership: $31 Senior Membership (Age 65 or over): $26 Full-Time Student: $26 Family Membership: $46 Field Day 2019 Team Your membership allows you to participate in all of our activities including: Field Day Online Membership Meetings with Internationally Known Speakers Online Tech Nights to support Social Distancing Programs at Membership Meetings Tech Nights Monthly Breakfasts Weekly Repeater and HF Nets SOTA/POTA/NPOTA Activations Fox Hunts NARS Sponsored Contests Our High-Altitude Balloon Projects License Classes and Ham Bootcamps for new Hams Reading and perhaps Creating Articles and Viewing Members-Only Pictures, Video, and Forum Posting on our website, https://www. n1fd. org... HAB-3 Students and Teachers - Ready to Launch Your membership in the Nashua Area Radio Society also supports our education and youth outreach work including: Amateur Radio Licensing class delivery and scholarships for students, teachers, and young people STEM Education for school students through Amateur Radio (ex. our High-Altitude Balloon program) Activities to introduce young people and new Hams to Amateur Radio such as ARRL Kids Day, ARRL Rookie Roundup, and other youth outreach activities If you are not yet a member, you can join the Nashua Area Radio Society online at https://www. n1fd. org/join-us/ Anita, AB1QB Membership Chairperson --- ### Keeping VHF Alive > Instead of just spending hours and hours on one HF  pile-up after another, I think it is good to keep the VHF and UHF alive and finding new things to do... - Published: 2020-08-05 - Modified: 2020-08-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/05/keeping-vhf-alive/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: VHF/UHF Staying Connected and Keeping VHF Alive I enjoyed watching the recent Tech Night Zoom-cast on the topic of "VHF Plus". I picked up on a lot of things I had not known a lot about, with topics on satellite and understanding propagation shifts for long-distance DXing. I often refer to 2 meters - and the similar frequency ranges - as the "gateway bands". This is where most new hams start. They get their Technician License, buy a cheap Chinese HT, and start using the local repeaters or trying 'simplex' with some success. My First HT - 8 Watt Used For Public Service. However, after time goes by, a lot of hams get their General or Extra ticket and start using only the HF bands - unfortunately, not realizing all that 6 meters and above has to offer. Things To Do With Just a Tech License Even though I got my General and Extra License and started to use HF, I still stay connected to my HT and tune into 146 and 440 all the time. I have an HT in my car, always scanning the Hollis, Derry, and the Westford Repeaters. I've committed myself to make a couple of calls each day, just to keep the repeaters active and doing my part to keep VHF alive. I also like to use the EchoLink app on my iPhone to make contacts on repeaters from England to California. One Saturday, I spent an hour talking to someone in San Jose, the place I went to high school. Another Saturday, I talked to another ham in Leicester, England - a town I once visited. You never know who is out there on the other end on Echo Link. EchoLink App Running on iPhone Public Service As some of you know, I really enjoy doing public service work with my HT. Last year, before all of the COVID-19 problems, I had a chance to work two Boston Marathon events and the Head of the Charles Regatta. During the regatta, I was stationed on a rescue boat, always staying connected to Net Control during our rescue missions. All very worthwhile and showing how important ham operators are to these events Me at the Boston Half Marathon Meeting Other Hams on 2 Meters And recently, I got a real kick out of talking to local hams up in York County, Maine while on vacation. I was working 20 meters up there when I heard a local sounding voice coming on the air, suggesting that I tune to 2 meters and join their local net. What I found was a group of guys who get together each night on VHF simplex just to stay in touch with each other. I was also impressed by their enthusiasm for the FM bands, stretching them to the limits. One ham is always working simplex up and down the New England coast on an old-modified public service transceiver, putting out over 100 watts. Another fellow had connected his 2m - 70cm base station to things like EchoLink, WinLink, and other digital modes. So, after watching Fred's Zoom-cast on VHF Plus, along with my recent experience in Maine - and more - I feel even more like keeping my HT handy, trying different things with experimenting on VHF and UHF. Instead of just spending hours and hours on one HF pile-up after another, I think it is good to keep the VHF and UHF alive and I am finding new things to do here. With my Rescue Boat Crew on the Charles, handling traffic between us and Net Control on VHF Randall, N1KRB --- ### NARS QSO Party September 26-27 > The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get people on the air. Everyone is welcome to participate... - Published: 2020-08-01 - Modified: 2020-08-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/08/01/nars-qso-party-2/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air The Nashua Area Radio Society is sponsoring a QSO party on September 26 and 27. The goal is to get people on the air. We feel this contest has something for everyone. You can earn points using any mode (except repeaters) you like using any bands you like (except the WARC bands). If your new to contesting that's fine too. I urge you to give it a try. The exchange is easy and this should be an easy and low-stress introduction to contesting. A note on digital modes. CQ Worldwide RTTY is held the same weekend. If RTTY is your thing or you want to try it out this is a great opportunity! Mackenzie KE1NZY operating DX SSB The rules can be found below. NARS QSO Party Object: To contact as many amateur radio operators in as many states, provinces and dx entities as possible Who: You don’t have to be a Nashua Area Radio Society Member. Everyone is invited to participate! Date: September 26 0000z to 2359z September 27 2020 Categories: Multi-Multi not permitted. Power categories are accounted for in the multiplier section of the rules. Exchange: W/VE: RST+State/Province DX: RST+ DX Valid Contacts: Work each station once per band and mode. QSO Points: phone QSO=1pt, digital and cw=2pts. Multipliers: Each US State, Canadian Province, and every Dx Entity is a multiplier. Power Multiplier: Stations not indicating power level within their log will be scored as operating with greater than 100 watts (>100 watts). Greater than 100 watts (> 100 watts) , total score x 1, 100 or less ( --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 7 – Building EME Antennas > We cover the steps, tips, and tricks that we are using to assemble four large, 2m X-pol Yagi EME Antennas. The approach, tools, and techniques are... - Published: 2020-07-31 - Modified: 2020-08-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/31/building-eme-antennas/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, EME, VHF/UHF The next step in our EME project is to assemble the four M2 Antenna Systems 2MXP28 Yagis. The four EME Antennas in our array will have a total of 112 elements! These antennas are large, cross-polarized yagis. They feature 28 elements each on 34 1/2 foot booms... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 7 – Building Antennas We are building four M2 2MXP28 Antennas to be mounted on an M2 Antennas 2X2 H-Frame. It is important that the four antennas be identical so they operate properly as an array. This includes things like symmetrical mounting and alignment of each antenna’s vertical and horizontal elements and the associated feed points. The article in the link above covers the steps, tips, and tricks that we are using to assemble four of these large, 2m X-pol Yagi Antennas. The approach, tools, and techniques are applicable to a wide range of VHF and UHF Yagi antennas. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Try Rookie Contesting > Many contests have an option for operators who have their licenses for under 3 years to enter with a Rookie Comtesting Overlay.  I highly recommend that... - Published: 2020-07-21 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/21/rookie-contesting/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Contest New England QSO Party, Revisited At the end of April this year I wrote an article about my experience with the New England QSO Party. The event took place in May 2019. At the time, my station at my NH QTH was IC-7300, 500 Watts, and EFHW antenna at 50 feet. When I received the certificate from the NEQP it was for second place in Carroll County, NH, and I got a big kick out of it. I examined the details of the event and learned more about my competition. I found out that there was a total of 4 entries from Carroll County and only two of us were in the HP category. This means that I also came-in the last place for High Power! Still, I had fun and a certificate, so no complaints. It also prompted me to enter the 2020 NEQP as Low Power, which would give me a chance to come in first in that category for Carroll County. Checking on results from other contests Not all contests will send you your results. I expect the big guns who finish at the top may hear something, but not every contest will let each minor award winner know about it. A fellow ham sent me this link to use to check on results from ARRL events. https://contests. arrl. org/certificates. php Enter your call and you will get a list of PDFs suitable for printing or framing. Any that you earned a certificate for as well as any multi-operator stations you have participated with. Be sure to also enter any of your ex-calls. I found 2 certificates that I did not know about! ARRL Certificate Search ARRL Certificates When I entered these ARRL contests my goal was to make QSOs and then import them into my QRZ log. I did not really participate at a serious level and probably spent less than 10 hours on each one. I wanted my contacts to count for the other participants, so I logged with N1MM+ and submitted the logs as if I was in it to win it. When I entered the 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest SSB, I decided to give it more effort and operated for 15. 2 hours out of 40 hours available. Rookie Contesting Many contests have an option for operators who have their licenses for under 3 years to enter with a Rookie Overlay. I highly recommend that any hams who qualify for this do it. In addition to competing against all the entrants in the contest, your score will also be ranked against just Rookies. Competing against highly experienced operators with advanced contest stations is tough and there are many that are in that class. Entering as a Rookie may give you a chance to compete against other operators who match your skills and equipment. You can set the option in the contest set up in N1MM. Rookie Overlay I Raised my Antenna for Better Performance The 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest SSB was held in October. I obtained spousal approval to put in more time on this one than any other contests I worked. I was operating from my NH QTH with my IC-7300 and 500 Watts of power. My 8010 EFHW antenna was installed at 50 feet. My previous experience with the antenna was OK and I made many QSOs with it. When I tried in the contest environment, it was not meeting my expectations. I could not break into pileups reliably. On 80 meters, I was only able to make QSOs out to around 1500 miles. I decided to take the end of the antenna down from the tree at 50 feet and use my new Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher to raise the end as much as possible. I wrote about this in an article I posted on the NARS website. It took me around an hour to raise the antenna to 70 feet and it made a BIG difference! All bands showed noticeable improvement with 80 meters being the most dramatic. My first QSO on 80 was to Ukraine, over 4000 miles away. NH QTH Topography My QTH in Mirror Lake, NH is located close to the top of a long ridge. The land falls off sharply from 80 to 100 feet within a half-mile or less to the NE to SW. It falls off less sharply for most of the rest of the compass points. The arrow points to my antenna and how it is oriented below. NH QTH Topographic Map I am not sure precisely how much this added elevation adds to the apparent height of my antenna, but I’m pretty sure it makes it seem like it is even higher than the 70 feet it is up in the tree. Additionally, the ground under the antenna is moist and mineral-rich and should be better than the average ground. My Results! Raw Score Here is my raw score from N1MM for the contest. I only had 301 QSOs, but many multipliers, and that really boosted the score. The contest organizers sent me an email a few months after the contest. They asked me to provide details about when I was first licensed. I replied to them with my info and a screenshot of my ULS listing. After that, I just forgot about it. Once I learned about checking on results with the ARRL link, I decided to check and see how I did in the 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest SSB contest. CQ DX WW SSB lookup I saw there was a Cert available, so something was good. I downloaded the certificate and found out I did way better than come in second out of two entrants in my small county. Here is how I did: CQ WW DX Contest Results I printed this certificate, suitable for framing! Certificate of Merit I was thrilled to see this and am very motivated to give maximum effort for the upcoming 2020 contest. Now I plan to upgrade to a HEX Beam or Spider Beam for my NH QTH. If the location worked so well with an EFHW antenna I can only imagine how well... --- ### Student Teacher Contest Update! > The updated results for the Student Teacher Contest Series are in! Keith, KC1IMK and Abby, AB1BY have updated their entries and we have a new leader. - Published: 2020-07-19 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/19/student-teacher-contest-update/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Contest, Field Day, On The Air, Youth Outreach The Student Teacher Contest Results have been updated with results from (ARRL) Summer Field Day and the 13 Colonies Special Event. We have a new leader, Keith Sangillo, KC1IMK! Abby, AB1BY Operating in the 13 Colonies Event Keith, KC1IMK and Abby, AB1BY operated remotely from the AB1OC/AB1QB station during Summer Field Day as part of the AB1QB entry. They also operated as K2K during the recent 13 Colonies Special Event. 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Certificate Student Teacher Contest Update With a great entry from the 13 Colonies Special Event of 281 non-duplicate QSOs in 3 hours, Keith, KC1IMK has pulled ahead of Abby, AB1BY. The competition is still neck and neck - Keith has a score of 1208 and Abby's score is 1180. The contest score is the sum of QSOs made in a contestant's top 4 entries. Both Keith and Abby have reached more than 4 entries with the latest entries. Now each of them needs to improve on their previous scores to pull ahead. Full results and rules for the competition can be found at Student-Teacher Contest Series. Next Opportunity The North American QSO Party (NAQP) - SSB is coming up on August 15th, With its 100 watt power limit, it will be a great opportunity for contestants to increase their scores. Anita, AB1QB --- ### 2020 13 Colonies Special Event: The Results Are In > The results are in and K2K New Hampshire was the Top State award in the 13 Colonies Special Event Each member of the operating team will receive a plaque. - Published: 2020-07-15 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/15/2020-13-colonies-results/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, On The Air The 13 Colonies Results are in and the K2K New Hampshire Colony set the event record for a single state with a total of 22,696 contacts! You can read about the K2K operation in the 13 Colonies Special Event in this article. 2020 Thirteen Colonies Top State Plaque This was a record year for the event. A grand total of 202,089 QSOs were made by all of the 13 Colonies special event stations combined. This was 32,205 more than the 2019 total! 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Certificate 13 Colonies Results K2K New Hampshire was the top State with 22,696 QSOs. The last time we won top state was in 2017 when we made only 5 more contacts than K2M/PA that year. Here are the 2020 totals for each state and the two Bonus Stations: K2K/NH: 22,696 K2M/PA: 19,917 K2G/GA: 17,527 K2J/NC: 16,541 K2F/MD: 15,102 K2L/SC: 14,511 K2H/MA: 14,378 K2A/NY: 13,651 K2D/CT: 12,198 K2E/DE: 11,523 K2C/RI: 11,282 K2I/NJ: 10,161 K2B/VA: 5,838 WM3PEN: 10,214 GB13COL: 6,550 2020 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque In addition, the Nashua Area Radio Society was the Top Club with 22,696 contacts, and Fred, AB1OC was the Top SSB High Power operator with 5,171 contacts. KC1XX Team We could not have done this without Matt, KC1XX, and his world-class contest team (All NARS members) running CW and SSB pileups and a great team of SSB, Digital, and CW operators, operating from their homes and remotely from AB1OC. Abby, AB1BY Thanks also to all of the Amateurs who worked K2K! If you want a K2K QSL, you can find QSLing instructions on the K2K QRZ page. If you would like to get a certificate, you can find instructions on the 13 Colonies event website. You do not need to contact every colony and bonus station to get a certificate K2K Operators Each member of the K2K team will receive a plaque for Top State! Congratulations to the operators: AB1BY – Abby, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH AB1OC – Fred, Hollis, NH (State & QSL Manager) AB1QB – Anita, Hollis, NH AC1DC – Jamey, Nashua, NH K1DLM – Dave, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH K1GQ – Bill, Wolfeboro, NH K1QX – Craig, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH KC1IMK – Keith, Candia, NH KC1IML – Mark, Candia, NH KC1XX – Matt, Mason, NH KM3T – Dave, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH NE1B – Bill, Hudson, NH NN1C – Marty, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH W1FV – John, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH W3UA – Gene, Bedford, NH WA1Z – Bob, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH Anita, AB1QB --- ### NARS QSO Party Coming on September 26th and 27th > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be sponsoring a NARS QSO party on Sept 26th at 0000z to Sept27th 2359z. All amateurs are invited to participate. - Published: 2020-07-15 - Modified: 2020-08-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/15/nars-qso-party/ - Categories: Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air The Nashua Area Radio Society will be sponsoring a NARS QSO party on Sept 26th at 0000z to Sept27th 2359z. Field Day is in the books, The 13 Colonies Special Event has finished up, and contest season doesn't start up for a while yet so let's get on the air and have a QSO party to take our mind off the Covid-19 Epidemic for a little while. All amateurs are invited to participate. Note; If the weather is favorable pick a SOTA peak or a park to operate from just make sure to follow all current Covid-19 guidelines. Keith KC1IMK On 6m NARS QSO Party Rules The full rules follow below. Object: To contact as many amateur radio operators in as many states, provinces and DX entities as possible Who: You don’t have to be a Nashua Area Radio Society Member. Everyone is invited to participate! Date: September 26 0000z to 2359z September 27, 2020 Categories: Multi-Multi not permitted. Power categories are accounted for in the multiplier section of the rules. Exchange: W/VE: RST + State/Province DX: RST + DX Valid Contacts: Work each station once per band and mode. QSO Points: phone QSO = 1pt, digital and CW = 2 pts. Multipliers: Each US State, Canadian Province, and every DX Entity is a multiplier. Power Multiplier: Stations not indicating power level within their log will be scored as operating with greater than 150 watts (>150 watts). Greater than 150 watts (> 150 watts), total score X 1 150 watts or less ( --- ### 2020 Thirteen Colonies Operations Report – A Record Year for K2K > The 2020 Thirteen Colonies K2K New Hampshire team had an amazing year this year! We added new stations, broke records, and worked lots of DX... - Published: 2020-07-13 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/07/13/2020-k2k/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, On The Air The 2020 Thirteen Colonies Special Event is in the books as I write this. The K2K New Hampshire Colony had a record year in 2020. All of the members of the 2020 K2K operating team are also members of the Nashua Area Radio Society... Source: 2020 Thirteen Colonies Operations Report – A Record Year for K2K The 2020 Thirteen Colonies K2K New Hampshire team had an amazing year this year! Matt Strelow, KC1XX joined the K2K team this year. Matt’s superstation and he and his team of world-class operators enabled us to break some records in 2020. Our 2020 operator team included: AB1BY – Abby, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH AB1OC – Fred, Hollis, NH (State & QSL Manager) AB1QB – Anita, Hollis, NH AC1DC – Jamey, Nashua, NH K1DLM – Dave, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH K1GQ – Bill, Wolfeboro, NH K1QX – Craig, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH KC1IMK – Keith, Candia, NH KC1IML – Mark, Candia, NH KC1XX – Matt, Mason, NH KM3T – Dave, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH NE1B – Bill, Operating from Hudson, NH NN1C – Marty, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH W1FV – John, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH W3UA – Gene, Bedford, NH WA1Z – Bob, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH All of the members of the 2020 K2K operating team are also members of the Nashua Area Radio Society. A Record Year for the 2020 K2K Team The K2K Team made an amazing 22,696 contacts during the July 1 – July 7, 2020, Thirteen Colonies period! This shattered the previous event record for a single state of 16,092 contacts. We are hoping that this will be an event record when the final 2020 results are in. Equally amazing was the fact that over half of the K2K operators made over 1,000 contacts including some ops with relatively modest home stations. 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Certificate You can read all about our 2020 K2K operation via the link above. Information on how to obtain a K2K QSL card and an event certificate are also included in the link. More to the 2020 K2K Story The story behind K2K's success this year is all about our operators who used their home stations to contribute a good portion of our final contacts. It's much more difficult to manage pileups and make many contacts from a smaller station with wire antennas and limited power. I want to especially thank our operators who put in the hard work from their home stations to help us make contacts - thank you! K2K’s 2020 Thirteen Colonies operation included some great stations for sure but the real story around our success was our operator team. Everyone worked very, very hard to make contacts and our results demonstrate this. There was great teamwork with lots of collaboration to ensure that we did a good job of covering all of the bands, modes, and DX around the world. I am proud to have been part of the 2020 K2K Team! ! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Submitting your Score for Field Day > Now that Field Day is over, you have 30 days to submit your score. Here are guidelines on using the webform to submit your Field Day score. - Published: 2020-06-29 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/submitting-your-score-for-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: ARRL, Field Day, On The Air Field Day 2020 is now over and you have until Tuesday, July 28th to submit your log and bonus points. Members can find details in our Field Day Forum on the bonus points that we achieved as a group. Here are some guidelines on how to submit your score. Steps to Submit your Score Export a Cabrillo file from your logging software Capture the breakdown of your score by band and mode from your logging program. For N1MM it is the score window. N1MM Score Window Collect the evidence required for your bonus points: Natural Power Bonus - List of QSOs made on natural power Formal messaging - Copies of each message you originated, relayed or received (up to 10) Message to ARRL Section Manager (Copy of fully serviced message) Field Day Bulletin - an accurate copy of the message Publicity from the local media - a copy of a press release sent to the local media or a copy of the actual media publicity received. You can submit your score via the web form provided by ARRL. The link to this is http://field-day. arrl. org/fdentry. php On the web form, fill in your information (Call, ARRL Section, Number of Participants, Entry Class, etc. ) For the Club or Group Name, you can enter Nashua Area Radio Society so that your points count toward our club score. Check off the bonus points that you earned and upload the documents that you collected in step 3. Use the score breakdown from your logger to fill in the Band/Mode QSO Breakdown. Note that you may need to combine your QSOs from multiple digital modes on each band to fill in the Digital QSO columns. For example, in the Score window illustrated above, on 40 meters, we had 128 FT4 QSOs and 9 FT8 QSOS, so I would enter 137 for the total 40m digital QSOs. ARRL Webform - QSO Breakdown Use the "Choose File" button to upload your Cabrillo file. Check over all of your entries on the web form. Then fill in your Name, Call, and email at the bottom and submit your entry. Any questions about bonus points, scoring, or other Field Day rules? Consult the ARRL Field Day page and review the rules. Anita, AB1QB presented a segment on Submitting your Field Day score as part of the June Tech Night on Field Day from Home. For more details on Field Day score submission, you can watch the video of that Tech Night and view the slides on our Tech Night page --- ### AC1FX Field Day 2020 > Jeff, AC1FX operated 2020 Field Day from a very nice station at his home QTH. His shack is more of a secretary desk of a shack-in- the-box... - Published: 2020-06-29 - Modified: 2020-07-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/ac1fx-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day AC1FX Field Day - The Shack My shack is more of a secretary desk of a shack-in- the-box. But it’s not the shack so much as the radio right. This is what I used for Field Day at AC1FX this year. My Humble Shack I have an Icom 7300 running 100W and I connected it to my laptop to log my contacts. 7 band OCF Dipole up 35 ft. The Antenna They say the antenna is the most important part of any setup. I’d go as far as maybe half along with the radio. My antenna is a 7 band Off Center Fed (OCF dipole). It’s only up 35 feet so it’s only a half-wave above the ground on 20M. AC1FX On the Air Retrospect I’m writing this after the fact so my hindsight is clearer. I had a great time this year. Even though I think I made more contacts with the Club last year, being able to talk to other home class (1D) stations made up for it. I operated on in HF SSB mostly on 80 and 40 Saturday night and 10M on Sunday. For me, 80 and 40 were open to Penn and New York, while Sunday 10M was more open to Ohio and Illinois. My original plan was to try to sit on a frequency and do a run. That seemed to work well for others but I found out they had higher power output and higher or more directional antennas. I sat on 28. 460 around noon today and picked up 6 QSOs but they were relatively local. I then went on search and pounce and had so much fun seeing what was out there. My most surprising contact was N3FJP of software fame. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was using N1MM+ for my logger. Improvements Just a few things I would like to do for next time : If I could get my dipole up to 66 ft it would at least be a ½ wave over the ground on 40M. Maybe put up my old Cushcraft R8 vertical and see how that goes. Practice CW more. It seems like they were having fun at the bottom of the bands but the fast pace of a contest and my lack of speed were incompatible. Do more digital. Although for me this year talking to people did seem fun. If you worked field day and are a NARS member don’t forget to add the full club name (Nashua Area Radio Society) in your entry. See this link for details. 73, Jeff, AC1FX --- ### The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Begins on July 1st > The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event is almost here! We've got a great team of operators lined up for K2K, New Hampshire this year... - Published: 2020-06-29 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/29/2020-13-colonies-special-event/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, HF, On The Air, VHF/UHF The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event begins on Wednesday, July 1st at 9 am Eastern Time! There will be stations in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies plus two bonu... Source: 13 Colonies Special Event Begins on July 1st The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event is almost here! We've got a great team of operators lined up for K2K, New Hampshire this year and we're looking forward to a great event and some on the air fun. The 2020 event starts at 9 am on July 1st and ends on July 7th at midnight eastern time. 13 Colonies Special Event QSL Card for K2K, New Hampshire The idea is to try to work all 13 Colonies Special Event stations K2A - K2M and the two bonus stations - WM3PEN and GB13COL. There is a nice certificate available for working one or more of the Colonies as well as QSL cards from each of the K2x stations. Check qrz. com for QSL information and the Thirteen Colonies Special Event website for certificate information. K2K New Hampshire will be operating from a number of locations in the great state of New Hampshire including from AB1OC/AB1QB and KC1XX. We will be operating SSB, CW, Digital (FT8/FT4), and via Satellites! We are going to spend some time on 6m and perhaps 2m and 70cm if we have some Tropo openings. You can learn more about the 2020 event via the link above. I hope we'll see you in the pileups! Fred, AB1OC --- ### AC1EV Plans for 2020 Summer Field Day > AC1EV is operating 1E for Summer Field Day this year. He would have loved to operate in an ambitious club organized remote field day... - Published: 2020-06-28 - Modified: 2020-07-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/28/ac1ev-field-day/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, HF AC1EV is operating 1E for Summer Field Day this year. I would have loved to operate in an ambitious club organized remote field day like we did last year, but Covid-19 social distancing requirements canceled that. I hoped to exercise my mobile setup and operate near saltwater, but again restrictions due to the virus made that difficult. I have a full house generator, so I will operate my home station on emergency power as class 1E. Here is how I am setup. Power 17KW generator with 3 x 120-gallon propane tanks and Transfer switch Power Antennas K4KIO Hex Beam, 6 meters through 20 meters @33 feet and Alpha Delta 40/80 Dipole as an inverted V @ 45 feet. Antennas AC1EV Field Day Station Here is my shack in Tewksbury. I have an Icom IC-7300 with an Elecraft KPA500 amplifier along with an Elecraft KAT500 antenna tuner. Top that off with a Heil Pro 7 headset. The tuner allows me to select between the antennas. I have N1MM+ running on my laptop with two additional monitors leftover from my days as an IT Guru. MA FD Shack Jon, AC1EV --- ### Field Day 2020 at W1AKI > I am planning to work from my home QTH for W1AKI Field Day this year. I won't be using emergency power because my generator... - Published: 2020-06-27 - Modified: 2020-07-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/27/w1aki-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, HF Normally for the Nashua Area Radio Society, Field Day is a large, well-organized group activity of members, and many family members, setting up (and, later, taking down -- safely! ) at least a half a dozen stations, temporary towers with beam antennas, some interesting wire antennas, and our own emergency power grid. It's a chance for members to try out transceivers and antennas and bands and modes that they may not have at their home QTH. It's also a chance for members of the public to see what ham radio is all about and get an idea of what a temporary communications center hams can create in 24 hours in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency situation. So here's what W1AKI Field Day plans are for 2020. Life is What Happens When You're Making Other Plans This year, of course, things are different. They aren't completely unprecedented -- health care professionals and scientists have learned a lot from the 1918 Pandemic and, unfortunately, numerous others. But this is a new virus and a new disease, and the world is a much more crowded and interconnected place than it was over a century ago. Fortunately, we have technology undreamed of in 1918 to help science deal with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the deadly COVID-19 disease it can cause. So far, our modern, global communications infrastructure has held up well, and many people are very fortunate that they can continue working from home using the Internet and broadband communications channels. I'm extremely lucky that I'm one of them. And it's not only the Internet, but technology like 3-D printing and small embedded computers have become additional tools that people have been able to make use of in this crisis. Always Have a Backup Plan. And a Plan C. And Sometimes a D. Maybe an E. But what if that communications infrastructure does start to buckle under the load? As hams, and as members of the public, Field Day gives us a chance to think about how we would respond to that. And since we're right in the middle of the pandemic ourselves, it forces us to look more closely at the changes we need to make to respond now. Does your "go kit" have a supply of face masks, hand sanitizer, and sterilizing wipes, not to mention soap and extra water for washing as well as drinking? Whether or not it did a year ago, I'm sure it does now! So, this year, NARS won't be setting up temporary towers in an idle athletic field. We won't have a half dozen or more stations operating under the N1FD call sign with a small pool of gasoline-powered generators pushing our signals up to the ionosphere and back. We'll be operating with our own call signs, from vehicles in isolated locations, from temporary stations set up by an individual or family member, or from our regular home stations. Meanwhile, Back at W1AKI Field Day I'll be operating from home like so many others, with "100 watts and a wire" -- an IC-7300 transceiver barefoot and an Alpha Delta 5 band fan dipole. (Okay, sorry, that's more than "a" wire. And they're mostly parallel, not in a wide fan. But it's such a nice, traditional phrase. How can someone with a W1 call not love it? But I digress. ) The 80m elements are extensions of the 40m elements with traps so that it is short enough to fit (just barely! ) in my back yard. My preparations so far have mostly included moving stuff around the shack so I can operate more comfortably, and updating the applications I use Firefox, N1MM Logger+, the DXLab suite, and DXLab's various databases. I won't be using emergency power because I know that my generator works well (we have a few power outages here each year that give us a chance to test it; fortunately, power usually comes back in less than a half a day) and I'm willing to sacrifice the points to save fuel. (I'll just have to make, what, 100 more contacts to make up for it? Oh, well, it is good practice. ) I've dug out some em-comm information and started refreshing my memory on message traffic procedures, that's one thing I haven't gotten to do before at Field Day. If I'm lucky, I'll have time to finish tuning my antenna Saturday morning. My stretch goal is to get my son (an entomologist and microbiologist) on the air, but we'll just have to wait and see how that goes. It's time to go double-check what the exchange is and get some rest. I hope to see you on the air. 73 and take care of yourselves! Aron, W1AKI --- ### 2020 Field Day Plans for K1BRM > I've eagerly awaited Field Day 2020 since we packed up BOB In January from Winter Field Day. I was hoping The Nashua Area Radio Society... - Published: 2020-06-26 - Modified: 2020-07-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/26/k1brm-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day I've eagerly awaited Field Day 2020 since we packed up BOB In January from Winter Field Day. I was hoping The Nashua Area Radio Society would be able to meet as a group as Field Day is a social event almost as much as it is an emergency preparedness event, but COVID-19 has necessitated a retooling of field day into something different from what we are used to. I will be operating from my home station from commercial power in Kingston. I will be running my Icom 746 barefoot to a G5RV up about 30-35 feet and a newly constructed homebrew fountain antenna as seen in the May issue of QST. I have high hopes for this antenna to cover bands that the G5RV doesn't do particularly well. I have radiating elements cut for 80, 40, 20, 10, and 6 meters but it's 80 and to a lesser extent 40 meters that I'm really interested in. The rest I can do with the G5RV. I plan to spend most of my time on SSB but I plan to give the digital modes some time as well. 73` Jim Lajoie K1BRM --- ### NARS Plans for Field Day While Social Distancing > This weekend is ARRL Field Day and the Nashua Area Radio Society is planning some activities to help our members enjoy Field Day while social distancing. - Published: 2020-06-25 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/25/nars-plans-for-field-day-while-social-distancing/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day ARRL Field Day 2020 takes place this weekend from 2:00 pm Eastern time on Saturday, June 27th through 2:00pm Eastern time on Sunday, June 28th. Nashua Area Radio Society members plan to operate Field Day while Social Distancing. Nashua Telegraph Field Day Article Many members of the Nashua Area Radio Society are planning to operate in Field Day. Our plans have been publicized in the Nashua Telegraph online edition. (Note that if you don't have a Nashua Telegraph subscription, you will need to enter your zip code to view the article). Member W1YCZ Field Day Article Several of our members have written about their operating plans: Matt Truland, W1YCZ Brian Quick, W1XMM Peter Dabos, N1CEO Randall Bashta, N1KRB Fred and Anita Kemmerer, AB1OC and AB1QB These articles have been pushed to Facebook and Twitter. If you are operating for Field Day, there is still time to post an article with your plans. If you have never posted before, see the video from our mini-tech night on How to Post on n1fd. org, which is on our Tech Night page. Scroll down to see the video. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be providing several activities for our members during Field Day, including: Messaging net Remote operating opportunities for our Youth Contest competitors Virtual Elected Official and Agency Representative site visit If you are interested in participating in these activities, please contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. We encourage members who are operating Field Day to include Nashua Area Radio Society as their Club when submitting their logs. --- ### 2020 Field Day Plans for W1YCZ - My First Field Day > As a new ham, I (W1YCZ) have been eagerly anticipating the ARRL Field Day 2020 and the opportunity to learn from my fellow club members... - Published: 2020-06-24 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/24/w1ycz-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, Station Building - Formats: Image As a new ham, I have been eagerly anticipating the ARRL Field Day 2020 and the opportunity to learn from my fellow club members. While plans have changed due to social distancing measures surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the challenge of planning the logistics of my first Field Day at home has me just as excited. I plan to divide my time between my home station, and a small park in my neighborhood (weather permitting). The following is what I am planning for W1YCZ's first Field Day. Home Station on Emergency Power W1YCZ Home Station Operating Position I will be operating from my home station for most of the Field Day period. I will be using an Icom IC-7300 Transceiver at up to 100W. The antenna is a MyAntennas End Fed Half Wave Antenna, mounted about 40 feet up from the roofline of my house into the tree line across my yard. With this setup, I can reasonably cover 80m through 10m with the 100W of power provided by my transceiver. I have had great success with this station so far. While operating from my home, I will be operating SSB and will spend a fair of time in the FT8 and FT4 digital modes. Primary Antenna - MyAntennas End Fed Half Wave Antenna (EFHW8010) covering 80m through 10m The emergency power source for my station will be an 8kW portable generator connected via a transfer switch. The generator will provide power for all essential circuits in the home for the duration of my Field Day operation. Portable Station on Battery Power Typical Portable Station setup for W1YCZ | Icom IC7300, Chalemeon F-Loop 2. 0, 15Ah Bioenno LiFePo Battery Depending on the weather, I may spend some time operating at a small park down the street from my home. When operating away from home I bring my Icom IC-7300, a portable antenna, and a battery pack. My antenna is the Chameleon F-Loop 2. 0, which covers 80m through 10m. The antenna admittedly has relatively low power limits (10W full duty-cycle, 25W SSB). Though I would love to run a full 100 watts when operating in the field, operating QRP is a fun challenge. I will primarily operate SSB with this setup. 15Ah Bioenno LiFePo Battery mounted in a mini ammo box Power for my portable station is provided by a 15Ah Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. I recently built an enclosure for the battery using a mini ammo box. I mounted the battery inside the box and added a bank of Anderson Powerpole connectors to the top of the box. The box is light, only takes up a small amount of space at my operating position, and protects the battery from the elements. More Information about W1YCZ If you are interested in more information about me, please visit my QRZ webpage at http://www. truland. net. Matt, W1YCZ --- ### Supporting your Club for Field Day in 2020 > I’ll be participating with my club for field day as an operator from my QTH.  I usually help the club with the setting up field day, but.. - Published: 2020-06-24 - Modified: 2021-01-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/24/supporting-your-club-field-day-in-2020/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day This year because of the pandemic, I’ll be participating with my club for Field Day as an operator from my QTH. I usually help the club with the setting up field day, but I’m not that strong at manning the positions. So, this year, I can’t help in the setup, but, I’ll be able to support the club in the overall number of calls but at my own pace. That’s because the ARRL has changed the rules this year to accommodate for social distancing. I’ve always participated in Field Day and filed my contacts, but I’ve never had enough contacts to even make honorable mention, but this year I will be allowed to participate in Field Day and my points can go to my club’s overall points. Field Day plans from Antrim NH, W1XMM My QTH doesn’t have a large tower, but it doesn’t need to, I’m on top of a hill that looks out 270 degrees. But along with that great view, I also get strong winds. It’s not uncommon to get 47 MPH winds (at the top of the tower) as a front moves through. 20' Tower attached to the garage W1XMM HAM Shack “The Shack” consists of an Elecraft K3S Transceiver, a P3 pan adapter, a 500Watt Amplifier (not planning to use for field day), and a KAT500 Antenna Tuner. For antennas, I have a Big SteppIR MK IV Vertical (40M-6M), and a Mosley Classic CL-33-M (20,15,10M) on a 20’ mast. I also plan to put up an NVIS antenna for 40M and 80M for both Field Day and 13 Colonies. For VHF/UHF I have a Kenwood TM-D700. The antenna for this radio is a Create Log Periodic which is mounted on a rotor located in my attic, short cable run, no need to elevate, and not subjected to weather (high winds). I’ll be using a laptop running N1MM+ to capture my contacts. "The Shack" Emergency Power For the duration of Field Day, I’ll be running on a generator. It is an EM2500 watt Honda which will be enough for my station. Bonus Points Bonus Points that I will be trying to obtain: Transmitting with less than 150 Watts. Working from Emergency Power 100% of the field day activities. Providing an article about my field day plans to meet the “Social Media” and “Web Submission” Participation in message handling Passing a message to the ARRL Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator. Coping the W1AW Bulletin. Participation in Zoom meeting with elected government official as well as local Emergency Management representative. My points add to the club’s points so I’m trying to maximize what I can do for my club. 73, Brian W1XMM --- ### So Close – A 6m Opening to Japan from New England > Recently, we saw one of the 6m best openings between the United States and Japan that we have encountered here in New England... - Published: 2020-06-23 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/23/6m-japan-opening/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Magic Band (6m), On The Air, VHF/UHF Recently, we saw one of the best 6m openings between the United States and Japan that we have encountered here in New England. The image above shows contacts being made via the FT8 Digital Mode between Japan and the United States on June 18th, 2020 in the evening eastern time... Source: So Close – A 6m Opening to Japan from New England We've had a very good 6m Es Season this year. We've had almost daily openings to Europe and the Western United States. We recently came very close to a 6m opening from here in New England to Japan! The article shares information on contacts between the United States and Japan that were captured via PSK Reporter. The article above shares more about that opening. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day 2020 Plans for N1CEO > For ARRL Field Day 2020, I plan to operate a 100 Watt HF transceiver and 50 Watt VHF/UHF transceiver from home using emergency power... - Published: 2020-06-21 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/21/arrl-field-day-plans-n1ceo/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day For ARRL Field Day 2020, I plan to operate a 100 Watt HF transceiver and 50 Watt VHF/UHF transceiver from home using emergency power. Emergency Power For emergency power, I plan to use the Bioenno BLF-1230A and Bioenno BLF-1215A Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries. These batteries provide 30 Ampere-hours and 15 Ampere-hours, respectively. Initially, I will use the 30 Ampere-hour battery to power my ICOM IC-7300, and the 15 Ampere-hour battery to power my ICOM ID-5100A. I will measure the current and other battery parameters using a PowerWerx in-line Watt Meter and Power Analyzer. Receive current for my ICOM IC-7300 transceiver and AH-4 tuner measures 1. 2 Amperes. I am a casual operator (i. e. , non-competitive) so this configuration will provide plenty of power and flexibility for the 3 to 6 hours that I plan to operate. If one of the batteries becomes discharged to the point where it is no longer wise to use it, I can use the other battery. I plan to use a PowerWerx 110 Watt solar panel to charge the batteries during Field Day. Antenna System For my antenna system, I will be using an ICOM AH-4 with a fan dipole consisting of 16 foot and 31-foot length wires. The antenna system is located in the attic and is not visible from the outside. This antenna system provides me with the ability to communicate via amateur radio on 40, 30, 20, 17, and 15 meters. For Field Day, I will not be using 30 and 17 meters; these are WARC bands and are not allowed for use on Field Day. My Elmer, Scott Andersen, NE1RD, designed this antenna system for me. He used a combination of EZNEC and CocoaNEC to analyze the radiation patterns. We also needed to avoid multiples of 1/2 wavelengths for the wires. On the AH-4, one set of wires (16 feet and 31 feet) is connected to the "Ground" terminal, and the other set (16 feet and 31 feet) is connected to the "Antenna Element" terminal. When tuned, the SWR at the ICOM-7300 measures less than 1. 1 in most situations and less than 1. 4 in all situations. To connect the Icom AH-4 in the attic to my Icom IC-7300 in an upstairs office, I used an Icom OPC-420 cable. This cable is 10 meters long. It is no longer sold by Icom, but it is still available from Japan via eBay. Initially, I tried making my own cable, but I found that it is difficult to make a cable with the right flexibility and that the wire gauge and tinning on the ends of the cable make a difference in the ability to connect to the Icom AH-4. So, if you plan to use the Icom AH-4, I recommend that you use an Icom cable. The antenna system has been very successful. I now have over 1500 confirmed contacts in my log, and I estimate that over half of these have been made with this antenna system. By carefully observing propagation conditions and choosing the right times to operate, I have been able to make contacts with Hawaii, Australia, and Japan. I have also been able to make contacts with nearby states Connecticut and Rhode Island, which is something that I was not able to do with my previous antenna, a 20-meter dipole. I was able to achieve the Worked All States, CQ WPX Mixed, and CQ WPX Digital awards with this antenna system. Transceivers and other equipment For HF work on Field Day, I will be using the ICOM-7300, plus a Winkeyer and Kent paddles for CW, plus a Heil Pro 7 headset for SSB. A laptop computer will log contacts via N1MM+ and will operate the transceiver in FT8, FT4, and PSK31 digital modes. For VHF/UHF work on Field Day, I will use my ICOM ID-5100A transceiver at home, along with my Kenwood TH-D72A and Icom ID-51A handheld transceivers. More information about my station If you are interested in more information about my home station, please visit my QRZ webpage at http://www. qrz. com/db/n1ceo. Peter, N1CEO --- ### Going Mobile Five Stories Up > For part of Field Day, I'm going to do something like this. I'm going to work "mobile" at another outdoor spot - from a Parking Garage platform... - Published: 2020-06-19 - Modified: 2020-07-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/19/going-mobile-five-stories-up/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, HF One of the enjoyments of ham radio is being able to throw your QRP rig into your car - at the spur of the moment - and heading out to a lake or along a river or to a mountaintop and Working the HF bands mobile from right where you are. Ready to Go On The Air Field Day Mobile For part of Field Day, I'm going to do something like this. I'm going to work "mobile" at another outdoor spot which some of us from NARS has done before - the top of a five-story parking garage in downtown Nashua, New Hampshire. We jokingly call this our P*GOTA -- Parking Garage On The Air. Five Stories Up Over Beautiful Downtown Nashua I do like to work from this site. It's close by and easy to set up. There disadvantages, however, with all sorts of electrical noises and some reflection off of neighboring buildings. But for me, just being up 50 feet, to start with, is a big plus. My Rig The G90 On The Dash I like to keep things simple and easy to use. My mobile transceiver is a Xiegu G90. It covers 160 to 10 meters with AM, SSB, and CW, from 1 to 20 watts. It has a built-in antenna tuner if needed. The maximum current draw is about 3 amps, so it works great off of the low-cost battery pack I use. The radio plugs right into the battery with a 12-volt adaptor; and I use a solar panel connected to the battery, keeping it charged. This really gives me the "off the grid " experience. 3 in 1 Battery Pack. The radio plugs into the side, the solar panel from the front The Antenna The key to getting onto the air quickly mobile is to use a ham stick, screwed into a magnetic mount. I have one stick for 20 meters and another for 40. Some say "mag mounts" really do not take care of grounding issues with HF like they do with VHF and UHF. However, I've found my set up works just fine. The SWR Sweep below shows the results with the mag mount on the roof. Before I put the magnet on the top of the car, the SWR level was over 5. The SWR Level After Tuning the Antenna and Placing the Mag Mount on the Roof It's always an adventure working "mobile" - running off a battery and solar - which gives you a chance to try all sorts of things. I suppose it would be more comfortable, sitting in one's shack, with a large, powerful system and a finely tuned antenna ... . but where is the fun? I enjoy being up on an exotic spot and giving my CQ. And then telling the ham on the end, "my QTH is somewhere between High and Factory Street - downtown Nashua - November Hotel ... five stories up". Randall Bashta, N1KRB --- ### Social Distancing Field Day at AB1QB-AB1OC - Published: 2020-06-16 - Modified: 2021-02-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/16/field-day-at-ab1qb-ab1oc/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, NARS Event Anita, AB1QB, and I will be operating from our home station for the first time ever during 2020 ARRL Field Day. We are going to be a two transmitter station on emergency power. We are going to invite a few additional operators (mostly those in the NARS Student-Teacher Contest) to operate our station remotely during Field Day as well. We all will be operating using Anita's callsign, AB1QB from our station. AB1QB-AB1OC Field Day Station AB1QB Operating in Our Shack We are going to be operating Field Day using two transmitters on the air at the same time. The first will be one of the radios in our main shack. Operating via the AB1OC-AB1QB Gateway Our second transmitter will be our Flex 6700 SDR operated over the network in our home. We will locate the control point for the second transmitter in our dining room so that we won't interfere with each other when we are both operating in SSB mode. N1MM+ Setup for Digital Operating during Field Day We will be using a dual-display dashboard setup to make operating Digital during Field Day easy to use. We'll be using our Flex Maestro to operate the SDR in our shack over our network. Main Antenna Tower Our HF antenna system for Field Day will be our main tower. We will be QRV on all Ham bands from 160m through 23cm. New 6m Antenna Anita is anxious to try out our new 6m antenna during Field Day. She hopes to make lots of contacts on 6m FT8/FT4 as well as on the other HF bands. Emergency Power Automatic Generator at AB1OC-AB1QB The emergency power source for our station will be a 15 Kw whole house generator at our QTH. We will be operating off the power grid for the full Field Day period. The generator will also power the computers and everything else in our home during the Field Day operating period. Planned Field Day Activities at Our Station The Nashua Area Radio Society is planning lots of group activities in a Social Distancing format for our members during Field Day. Our plans include: A messaging activity hosted by Sterling, AK1K A public official and EMCOM official meeting via Zoom A training session for the operators here at our Station prior to the start of Field Day on Saturday Learning More About Field Day 2020... We have done several Tech Nigh programs to help our members get ready for Field Day 2020 from their Home Stations. The Tech Night programs include: Setting up and using the N1MM+ Logger How-to Do Field Day At Home Members who are logged in can view the videos and presentations for these Tech Nights on our Tech Night Page. We are really looking forward to Field Day 2020 and operating from our home station for the first time during Field Day. We are also excited about the group activities that NARS is planning. To learn more about NARS' Field Day plans, be sure to follow our Field Day Forum postings. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 6m VUCC In A Day – 2020 ARRL June VHF Contest > Conditions on 6m were so good during the ARRL June VHF contest that I was able to work a 6m VUCC in less than 24 hours! You can read about the station... - Published: 2020-06-16 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/16/6m-vucc-in-a-day/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Digital, Magic Band (6m), VHF/UHF The 6m Band is one of my favorite bands. The combination of its unpredictability and the amazing openings that it can produce certainly makes 6m The Magic Band for me! Conditions on 6m were so good on Saturday that I almost worked a 6m VUCC by 11 pm on Saturday evening ... Source: 6m VUCC In A Day – ARRL June VHF Contest I had an amazing experience on the 6m Band this past weekend during the 2020 ARRL June VHF Contest. Among other this, I was able to work a VUCC on 6m using FT8/FT4 Digital in less than a day! We experienced great 6m band openings for nearly the entire contest period here in New England. I was able to work station in Europe, the Caribean, and on the West Coast of the United States during the contest. Operating During ARRL June VHF via the AB1OC-AB1QB Station Gateway The article in the link above describes the station and software setup used during the contest and shares the results of our operations on 6m during the contest period. You can read the entire story and see some information about how we used the station here as part of June VHF. Fred, AB1OC --- ### AO-27 Satellite Is Back On The Air! > The AO-27 FM satellite is back on the air! This satellite is an FM V/U Mode satellite that was launched back in 1993. The satellite is back on the air... - Published: 2020-06-03 - Modified: 2020-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/03/ao-27-satellite/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF The AO-27 FM satellite is back on the air! It is an FM V/U Mode satellite that was launched back in 1993. The satellite’s Amateur Radio payload became inoperative about 7 years ago due to ... Source: AO-27 Is Back! The AO-27 FM satellite is back on the air! This satellite is an FM V/U Mode satellite that was launched back in 1993. The satellite is back on the air on a limited-time basis (4 minutes, twice per orbit over the mid-latitudes). I was able to make my first contact through AO-27 this morning. The contact was with AI9IN in Indiana, USA. I’m looking forward to making more contacts using this satellite in the near future. You can learn more about this satellite and how to make contacts using it via the link above. I hope to contact you on it sometime soon. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Getting Started With Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds) > We put together a presentation and demonstration on Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites. We covered quite a bit of ground including... - Published: 2020-06-02 - Modified: 2020-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/06/02/amateur-satellites-getting-started/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: APRS, ISS, Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF We get quite a few requests from folks to explain how to get started with Amateur Radio Satellites. Requests for information on how to build a computer-controlled ground station for Linear Satellites are also pretty common. I recently got such a request from our CWA class so I decided to put together a session on this topic... Source: Getting Started With Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds) We recently put together a presentation and demonstration on Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites. We covered quite a bit of ground during the presentation including: How to put together a simple station and work FM EasySats with HTs and a handheld antenna A recorded demonstration of some contacts using FM EasySats How-to build a computer-controlled station and work Linear Transponder Satellites Fixed and Portable Satellite Station Antenna options A recorded demonstration of some contacts using Linear Satellites How-to work digital (APRS digipeater) contacts How-to receive SSTV Transmissions from the ISS We recorded the session so that we could share it with folks. The link above will take you to our Blog where you can view the presentation video and Powerpoint. The post also includes links to many additional articles about building and operating Amateur Satellite Stations. Fred, AB1OC --- ### June Meeting - The K3LR Super Station > Tim Duffy, K3LR will speak about the K3LR Super Station at our June meeting. Tim is CEO of DX Engineering and owner of the K3LR Multi Multi Contest Station. - Published: 2020-05-31 - Modified: 2020-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/31/june-meeting-the-k3lr-super-station/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Hamvention, HF, Station Building, Tower, Youth Outreach Don't miss our June membership meeting, where we welcome Tim Duffy, K3LR who will speak about the K3LR Super Station. Tim's station is one of the top Multi-Multi Contest Stations in the world. He is also the CEO of DX Engineering. Tim's accomplishments in Amateur Radio include the following and more: Founder and Chairman of Contest University President of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club Active in RACES, ACS and ARES Hosted Youth Contest teams at the K3LR Super Station for major contests Member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame Was on Team USA for the World Radio Team Championship (WRTC) five times. Chairman of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) Recipient of the 2015 Amateur of the Year Award presented by the Dayton Hamvention® Awards Committee and the 2016 YASME Excellence Award. K3LR Super Station Photo from QRZ. com The meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 2nd starting at 7:00 pm and will be held online via a Zoom Conference. You can find the Zoom link on our main page, n1fd. org. Scroll down to the meeting announcement to see the link. If you have not been on a Zoom meeting before, I would recommend joining at least 15 minutes early. Join us on Tuesday, June 2nd to hear all about the K3LR Super Station. Hope to see you on Zoom! --- ### ARRL Field Day 2020 Rule Changes > ARRL has made some temporary rule changes for Field Day 2020 in order to accomodate social distancing per the current COVID-19 situation. - Published: 2020-05-30 - Modified: 2020-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/30/arrl-field-day-2020-rule-changes/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter ARRL has announced two rule changes for Field Day 2020 only. The first rule change is that stations operating in class D can contact other class D stations for points. The second change is that an aggregate club score will be published, which will be the sum of all individual entries indicating a specific club. For details of the changes, see the ARRL Article http://www. arrl. org/news/temporary-rule-waivers-announced-for-2020-arrl-field-day Plan to join our June Tech Night on Tuesday, June 9th at 7:00 pm Eastern Time. Fred, AB1OC, Anita, AB1QB, Jamey, AC1DC, and Jon, AC1EV will provide a how-to presentation on Field Day From Home – Base, Portable, and Mobile Setup & Operating. You can find the link to the Zoom conference at https://www. n1fd. org/. Scroll down on that page to see the meeting information. --- ### Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher for Raising Wire Antennas > I saw a device called a Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher on a TV show. It makes a great tool for getting ropes to raise antennas up into trees... - Published: 2020-05-27 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/27/bigshot-slingshot/ - Categories: Antennas, Field Day, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment Bigshot Slingshot to launch a line for an antenna There are several tall trees at my NH QTH and I decided to put an antenna up as high as possible in one of them. I needed a way to accurately put a wire high up into the tree. I read about spud cannons used to launch a line up for an antenna and considered buying or borrowing one for the project. Around this time, I saw a device called a Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher on a TV show about building treehouses and it intrigued me. It is heavy duty and can throw a 10 oz. or 12 oz. weight with a 3/8 inch line attached up 100 feet or more. Bigshot Line Launcher I found a deluxe kit on Amazon which contained the slingshot and trigger assembly along with spare elastic bands, throw weights, line, line bag, and carrying case. It is built robustly, to commercial standards and I was eager to try it out. I did a few dry runs and learned that it could easily launch the weight 75 feet up. For more height, set the trigger assembly lower on the pole to stretch the elastics more and launch even higher. Caution! An Important Word of Caution Here! ! This device is powerful and can cause injury if not used carefully. Read all the instructions, wear eye protection, and like a gun, point it away from anything you do not want to break. I am 6’2” and 275 lbs. when cocking the elastics and straining against their pull this device lifted me from the ground and pulled me off balance with ease. I have a lot of respect for the power it has and you should too. End Fed Half Wave Antenna at 50 Feet I previously used this line launcher to install a MyAntennas. com 8010 EFHW antenna in my NH QTH backyard with the endpoint up in a tree 50 feet high. I was happy with the performance there for 6 months until I tried working in the CQ SSB DX WW contest. Before the contest, I logged QSOs on 20 and 40 meters all over the US, South America, Africa, and Europe, along with some 80 meter QSOs out to around 1500 miles. However, during the contest, I had difficulty breaking pileups, so I decided to try and raise the tree end of the antenna. Preparing to launch the line Old rope in the tree The line hanging from the tree is what held the antenna at 50 feet. I will tie the line to the throw line when I shoot it up to the higher branch. Cocking the catapult I was trying for maximum height on this launch, so I moved the trigger assembly down on the shaft of the launcher a bit more than usual. It took serious effort to cock the launcher. Note, I am wearing eye protection and pointing the device away from my body. Launching the line Move to launch position First, you must untangle the throw line before launch. Carefully coil it into the throw bag so it will come out smoothly. The launch should be almost vertical to be able to get the maximum height out of it. Launching at 45 degrees or 60 degrees gets a long distance, but disappointing height. As a result, I think I was launching at 75 or 80 degrees here. Launching the line Success, the line is up around 70 feet in the tree These two pictures fully show the tree to give some scale to how high the end of the antenna is. Success 70 feet high This picture, looking South, shows the antenna feed point around 30 feet high at the house. There are three 10-foot chain link fence top rail sections attached to the corner of the house with a line holding the antenna. From there the ground slopes downhill around twenty feet. The end of the 135-foot wire antenna is hung at seventy feet in the tree. It is running North and South with a little bias to the West. NH QTH EFHW at 70 feet Did it work? I was eager to find out if it was going to make a noticeable difference in the contest. It did! On the 20 and 40 meter bands I can get through pileups, often on the first or second try. My first QSO on 80 meters was to Ukraine, around 4500 miles away. In the beginning of May, during the NE QSO Party, for instance, I had replies to my CQ on 80 meters with only 100 watts from Italy and Uruguay. 80 meters was my most productive band in the contest. NEQP 2020 Score Box Good for Christmas lights, too! Here is a quick look at the throwline launcher in action. I am sending a line up in a tree to pull up some Christmas lights. Click on the picture to view the video. Each string of lights in the picture on the right represents the arc of the throw-weight and line. The max height in the tree is around 35 feet. Christmas Lights NARS Winter Field Day 2020 During setup for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s 2020 Winter Field Day the spud launcher, we were using broke after setting up a 40-meter delta loop antenna. We still had to set up the 160 Meter Transmit Antenna. It was a dipole, fed at around 50 feet with each end to be installed around 40 feet high. I made a quick trip home to fetch the throwline launcher. Upon my return it was easy to secure the ends of the dipole up in the trees. Jon, AC1EV --- ### Perspectives on 6m DX > We recently captured some information on propation and DX openings on the 6m band. This article shares information on how to go about working 6m DX... - Published: 2020-05-24 - Modified: 2022-08-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/24/6m-dx-perspectives/ - Categories: Digital, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air I’ve had a chance to operate on the 6m Band this past week. We are approaching the prime time for the summer Es (E-Skip) season here in the Northeastern United States. I was fortunate to catch a typical limited DX opening on the 6m band between our location here in New England and Europe... Source: Perspectives on a 6m DX Opening The spring 6m Es season is well underway here in New England. We are beginning to see some DX opening to Europe daily. As a result, I thought that it might be a good time to share some information about 6m DX openings using some examples captured during a recent operating session here at AB1OC-AB1QB. The link above contains the details. The article illustrates what a typical 6m opening to Europe from here in New England is like. It also includes some information about how to monitor the 6m band to spot short-lived DX openings when they occur. FT8 mode, JTDX software, and PSKReporter are described in the article at the link above. These are useful tools for monitoring propagation and working contacts on the 6m Band. I hope that you'll give the 6m Magic Band a try this Es season! Fred, AB1OC --- ### PTT Switch for Remote Operation > Building a remote PTT switch for use with the FlexRadio SDRs and SmartSDR. The setup will work with any windows PC running SmartSDR... - Published: 2020-05-21 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/21/remote-ptt-switch/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment, Youth Activities - Tags: SDR, Station Building, Youth Outreach When the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Student/Teacher Contest Series was first set up, Fred and Anita (AB1OC/AB1QB) offered up their station to my son Keith (KC1IMK) and other students that do not have a station at home. Fred and Anita have an amazing station at their QTH and you can find more information on it here. Then COVID arrived and sharing mikes, headphones, and keyboards at other people's houses are no longer acceptable. We cannot risk getting each other sick. Another way is necessary. Remote Operation is here! Fred (AB1OC) and Jamey (AC1DC) worked out the kinks for setting up Remote Operation first. Then Fred invited Keith and me to try it out. After a couple of hours online with Fred to set up, we were on our own. Contest Calendar showed the Helvetia Contest that night so we pointed the beams toward Switzerland and called CQ. Several stations pounced on Keith at once. He worked hard with the mouse, bouncing from the radio PTT button to logging in N1MM. Once the pile-up was cleared, he pulled off his headset and said "I really wish I had a footswitch like Field Day". Remote PTT Switch for SmartSDR Driven to maintain my "Super-Dad" status, I went to work. I found a few references at the FlexRadio site: https://community. flexradio. com/flexradio/topics/physical-ptt-for-remote-smartsdr https://community. flexradio. com/flexradio/topics/remote-footswitch-how-to-lan-vpn-solution Looked pretty straight forward to build a Remote PTT Switch. Configure a SmartSDR CAT interface to monitor hardware flow control pins in a standard serial port. The hard part today is to find a serial port. They have all been replaced by USB. There are lots of USB to Serial adapter cables available today for around $20 that should work well. I would recommend one based on the FTDI chip. Jamie (AC1DC) successfully used a Sabrent USB 2. 0 to serial from Amazon: https://www. amazon. com/gp/product/B07RFNHTL9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00? ie=UTF8&psc=1 I dug out a 15-year-old Belkin adapter from the back of my shack and installed it. A new Com3 port showed up in Windows 10 device manager. USB to Serial Adapter SmartSDR CAT will detect if RTS is shorted to CTS in a Com port. This is a very standardized interface and it was easy to find the pin definition. Pin 7 is RTS Pin 8 is CTS. Easy to spot as they are the center two pins of the row of four. I also had the mating 9 pin D connector in my bin of parts. One could probably solder to the pins of the adapter, but I would recommend a connector. I cut off the 1/4" plug from a footswitch I bought from Amazon. The two leads were soldered to pins 7 & 8. https://www. amazon. com/Philmore-LKG-Momentary-Foot-Switch/dp/B004GIIYK0/ref=sr_1_7? dchild=1&keywords=30-17090&qid=1587913482&sr=8-7 To test it, I downloaded ComTestSerial from Microridge https://www. microridge. com The test software confirmed the hardware worked. Each time I pressed and released the footswitch the CTS light in the top right corner changed between Red and Green. Configuring FlexRadio SmartSDR Now to configure the software. Open SmartSDR CAT and add a port. Give it a name. Set Port Protocol to PTT, set Port type to Serial, set Serial Port to Existing, and set CAT COM to your new Com port. Mine was Com3. Set VFO slice A. Select RTS. Hit save. CAT settings I found some open spectrum on 20m, crossed fingers, and pressed the switch. Voila! It transmitted! With prolonged use, I found my old adapter was not up to the job. The drivers were not meant for Windows 10. It missed about 1 out of 10 switch presses. I have since upgraded and the new Remote PTT Switch works great. 73, Mark/KC1IML And here is a link to a more current USB to serial adapter for use in this application. You can learn more about the remote operating setup at AB1OC-AB1QB here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Blast from the Past ... > K8EZB obtained my FCC Novice license in 1957 at age 13. At that time, I didn’t yet have a station, so I set out to remedy that situation... - Published: 2020-05-18 - Modified: 2020-06-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/18/k8ezb-past/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: History I obtained my FCC Novice license in 1957 at age 13. At that time, I didn’t yet have a station, so I set out to remedy that situation. I had been using a Heathkit AR-3 receiver (4 tube superhet, $29. 95 in kit form, cabinet $4. 95 extra) I built prior to obtaining my license; while OK for SWLing, it wasn’t well suited to amateur radio work. My first priority was building a homebrew transmitter while looking for a more suitable but affordable receiver. While I was building the transmitter, my father borrowed a WWII German military receiver from a colleague at work for me to use temporarily. I didn’t know it at the time, but this receiver was a quite sophisticated design. I used this receiver for several months (including for my first ever QSO), but didn’t pay much attention to the details as most of the labeling was in a language I didn’t understand, and I had no manual, other documentation, or knowledgeable guidance. I recently decided to see if I could more precisely identify this receiver based on my recall of a few unique features of the design. One very clear recollection is that the frequency display was projected onto a ground glass screen on the front panel. This turned out to be the definitive clue in identifying this receiver. Another recollection is the strange-looking (to me, at least) vacuum tubes, the bases of some of which could be seen by opening two flip-up covers on the front panel. Using these clues, it was easy, with some internet research, to zero in on the make and model of the receiver. It was a Tekefunken E52 series manufactured in several variations mainly for the German Luftwaffe between about 1942 and 1945. At the time, I had no understanding of the advanced nature of this design; it was way ahead of its time, and only about 2500 were built. Below are some photos, snippets, and links from the websites I visited. While likely of limited interest to newer hams, in these days of pandemics, lockdowns, and self-isolating, perhaps an interesting diversion. Much more information on the web for those so inclined. Heathkit AR-3 Telefunken E52a-1 Telefunken RV12P2000 Vacuum Tube Telefunken E52 (Koln) "This is one of the most studied, written about, and discussed receivers in the world" History: Empfänger 52 was specified by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) in 1939 as one in a series of five similar receivers covering the entire frequency spectrum from LF to UHF, intended for use in the Luftwaffe ground stations, but also for other services and authorities. A request for quotation went out to a few German electronics manufacturers and Telefunken developed and built a prototype of the short wave receiver Köln in the beginning of 1941. Telefunken was chosen to manufacture the series of receivers according to their specification ”Luftboden-Empf. -Programm 2 – 7500 m für die Bodenausrüstung der Deutschen Luftwaffe”, Telefunken Berlin-Zehlendorf 5. 5. 1941. Out of four specified receivers E51 Leipzig (LF), E52 Köln (HF), E53 Ulm (VHF), and E54 Kulm (UHF) only Köln was built in large series. In total around 2500 receivers were built from July 1942 to March 1945. The E52 was made in 10 models, of which the E52a-1 (simplified with automatic tuning) and E52b-2 (simplified with manual tuning and unified scale) were the most common. Of all the E52s built there are probably 300 - 500 left, of these perhaps 50 in their original state. The receiver is modularised, the modules are mounted in a molded aluminum chassis and all connections between the modules are through connectors in a backplane! Both the construction and the performance were far ahead of its time. Only one type of valve, the RV12P2000, was used in the receiver except for the power rectifiers. The intention was that all modules and valves should be interchangeable in the field without the need for realignment. The first test series of around 20 receivers were made in Sachsenwerk in Radeberg from July 1942 of the simplified type E52a-1 and possibly also the type E52b-1. The manufacture was not up to speed until the beginning of 1943. The assembly and alignment were made in Sachsenwerk Niedersedlitz while the modules were made in several different electronics industries. Receiver data: The receiver is an advanced single superheterodyne with two RF stages, a mixer/local oscillator, three IF stages, a detector/BFO/AF amplifier, and an output stage for headphones. In total there are 6 tuned circuits in the RF/mixer/oscillator part and the receiver has very high sensitivity and selectivity. The IF stages have a 6-circuit filter plus 4 tunable circuits in a variable crystal filter, the bandwidth is variable from +/- 5 kHz down to +/- 200 Hz @-3dB with very steep slopes, damping 100 times at +/- 10 kHz in wide. The tuning has a coarse scale and a fine-scale projected from a micro photo disc with very high resolution and accuracy. The oscillator has very accurate temperature compensation and thus high stability. Frequency coverage is 1. 5 to 25 Mhz in five bands, the sensitivity for AM 3 - 5 uV, CW wide 1. 0 uV, and CW narrow 0. 3 uV for 5 V output. Mirror frequency damping is at least 50000 and the IF damping is better than 100000 at 1. 5 MHz. The stability is better than 30x 10E-6/degree C, which is 30 Hz/MHz/degree C for a freerunning oscillator! Even today this is competitive against many modern receivers comparing sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. Link: https://kriegsfunker. com/radios/E52_b2. html Rick, K8EZB --- ### Tech Night – Getting Started In EME Communications > We recently did a Tech Night Program about Getting Started in EME Communications (Moonbounce). I wanted to share the presentation and video... - Published: 2020-05-06 - Modified: 2021-03-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/06/eme-communications/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Education and Training, EME, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF We recently did a Tech Night Program about Getting Started in EME Communications (Moonbounce). I wanted to share the presentation and video from this Tech Night so that our readers might learn more about EME... Source: Tech Night – Getting Started In EME Communications I wanted to share the presentation from our recent Tech Night on Getting Started in EME Communications. You can view the presentation and the video via the link above. Members can log in and find this and other Tech Night videos and presentations on our Tech Night page here. The link also provides a path to learn about the design and construction of a new 2m EME station that Anita and I are building. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Day Of Firsts For ARISS > We hosted the first Multi-Point Telebridge contact with students Northern VA and Chris Cassady, KF5KDR aboard the ISS. Many firsts for ARISS... - Published: 2020-05-04 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/04/a-day-of-firsts-for-ariss/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, ISS, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Last Thursday, April 30th, 2020 was a day of firsts for the ARISS program and for us here. The COVID-19 situation has forced changes to be made in the way that schools and other groups contact astronauts onboard the ISS. The pandemic has also made it impossible to access many of the ARISS telebridge stations worldwide. We hosted the first ARISS arranged Multi-Point Telebridge contact with students in the Northern VA School Group and Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR aboard the ISS. The contact was a success and we learned a great deal as we provided in a new format for ARISS contacts. ARISS First #1 - We're A New Telebridge Station Ready for Our ISS Contact We added Telebridge capability to our space communications ground station here in New Hampshire. This involved adding a telephone patch capability to our station and a UPS to the power supply for our station. With all of the tests complete and the station preparation checked one last time before our schedule contact, we were ready! ARISS First #2 - New Multi-Point Telebridge Format for ARISS The COVID-19 situation is preventing most schools from assembling in a group for their contacts with the ISS. ARISS created a new, Multi-Point Telebridge format which allows students and their teacher to participate in a contact with an astronaut aboard the ISS from their homes. The new format created additional audio and coordination challenges among the students who participated in our contact. We practiced the new format with the students multiple times before our actual contact. As a result, the students did a great job during their contact. ARISS First #3 - Inaugural ARISS YouTube Livestream With the help of Steve Rys, KB1VYD, ARISS created a live, multi-sourced video feed of the pre-contact program and the actual contact with the ISS. Pre-Contact Program (Playing on the laptop in the foreground) The live stream included audio from our station, the Moderator for the contact (John Kludt, K4SQC), Chris on-board the ISS, the students, and Kathy Lamont, KM4TAY, their teacher. https://youtu. be/Cu8I9ose4Vo ISS Contact Livesream to YouTube The video portion of the program included videos that explained how the contact was arranged and works, a live video of our antennas as they tracked the ISS, the student's questions, and a view of the ISS track as it passed overhead. The live YouTube video stream went extremely well and was well received by over 300 viewers during our contact making it the most widely enjoyed firsts for ARISS on this day. First #4 - Chris Cassidy's First Contact From The ISS Our Astronaut, Chris Cassady, KF5KDR The Northern VA School Group contact was Chris' first from aboard the ISS. Chris had trained for the contact on the ground before his flight to the ISS. Unbeknownst to Chris and the rest of us, there had been a reconfiguration of the radio equipment we would be using for our contact on the ISS. As a result of this, Chris had trouble getting the Amateur Radio for our contact going on the ISS. We did not make contact with him until some time after the ISS was over our location. Calling the ISS for our contact Once we got the problem sorted out, Chris came through loud and clear. He was able to answer several of the student's questions before the ISS disappeared over the horizon. What Comes Next Our contact proved the effectiveness of the new ARISS Multi-point Telebridge format. It also proved-in the operation of our Telebridge Station here in New Hampshire. This was a great outcome given all of the Firsts for ARISS that were involved. Additional Telebridge stations around the world will be hosting school contacts using the new format in the near future. We are looking forward to continuing to support the ARISS program via additional Teleridge contacts from our station. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Tower Grounding and Bonding > Ever wonder how to go about grounding and bonding a tower? Like many aspects of grounding and bonding amateur radio antenna systems, tower grounding... - Published: 2020-05-01 - Modified: 2020-09-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/05/01/tower-grounding/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF The most recent project was to build complete the ground system for our new EME tower. Tower grounding is often done incorrectly. The proper way to ground a tower is shown above. Each leg of the tower is connected to an 8′ ground rod via a heavy-gauge ground cable. The cable is attached to the tower leg using stainless steel clamps meant for this purpose. The three ground rods associated with the tower legs are then bonded together using a heavy copper ground cable ring. Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 6 – Tower Grounding System Ever wonder how to go about grounding and bonding a tower? It's not difficult to do this correctly. Most of the materials that are required are available at local hardware stores or online via DX Engineering. The required materials include ground rods, heavy stranded grounding cables, ground clamps, and/or a thermal welding system to connect the cables. Tower Grounding System We recently put up a new tower at our station to support a 2m EME station that we are building. This provided a chance to show how to properly ground a tower. The photo above shows the completed ground system for our new EME tower. The link above explains the details. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NEQP 2019 Contest With A Surprise! > As a relatively new ham, I have had a chance to try out many of the different things. One exciting thing I've done is the NEQP 2019 contest... - Published: 2020-04-28 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/28/neqp-2019-ac1ev/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF I have been a ham for a little over two years now. In that short time, I have had a chance to try out many of the different things one can do. One exciting thing to do is to participate in a contest. Many of us have seen pictures and read articles of serious contesting stations and may even drool a bit for all the high-end hardware and giant antenna farms. I plead guilty myself. As a new ham, my station has, for the most part, been a basic one. I have an excellent radio in the IC-7300, which priced to be available as a high-end entry-level radio. At this stage in my ham radio adventure, I am not sure I can appreciate the advanced features found in the higher end radios, yet. In the beginning, using my IC-7300 and a Buckmaster 7 Band Off-Center Fed Dipole and running 100 watts many of the stations I was able to contact were contesting stations. Their great antennas and sensitive receivers could pull out my signal with ease. Time passed and my station is improved, now with 500 watts and a hex beam or wire antenna up over 45 feet high and I can compete for attention in a pile-up in a contest. Unless things are quiet or slow due to the hour, I haven’t had great results running on a frequency in a contest, but search and pounce, where the operator finds a station and replies to their CQ, works well and I am often heard first try. Just that bit is loads of fun and satisfying. I enjoy seeing how my radio performs and contacting people in different places, so entering a contest is fun, even though I know I am not going to be competitive. It is obvious, but I will say it anyway, there are lots of people on the air during a contest. That means it is a great time to make QSOs, even though you are not going to rag chew or be a contender. Operating From AB1OC-AB1QB I had a chance to operate from a contest grade station last year for around 4 hours during a CQ WW SSB contest. Thanks to AB1OC Fred and AB1QB Anita for their generosity. Stacked SteppIRs Their station had stacked Steppir antennas and 1500 watts of power so when I talked, people heard me! Operating from AB1OC Station Operating From My QTH In those 4 hours, I made 99 QSOs on SSB and got 78 different countries! 6 new ones for me, too! It was exciting, so when the North America QSO Party contest came around, I decided I would see how I could do on my own station in the same amount of time. It turned out that I was able to make 100 QSOs and 76 multipliers in 4 hours for that contest, which I thought was respectable given the difference between our stations. North America QSO Party As I described above, I only dabbled a bit with contests, yet I had lots of fun. I strongly suggest that you try it out for yourself. I also strongly suggest that you participate fully and submit an official log to the contest when it is over. The first reason is that it makes your QSOs count for the people you contact and the other is that you might be surprised and get a certificate! For new hams, you might be able to submit as a rookie and then you are competing against other rookies and not the big guns. Some contests have other “side” contests in their scoring, so you might pick up something there. Last year I spent around 9 hours in the New England QSO Party contest from my second house, which is in Carroll County, New Hampshire. There are only 147 licensed hams in Carroll county and only 4 entered the contest. 2019 NEQP Competition NEQP NH Counties You can see in the tables below the populations of licensed hams by county. Middlesex County, Massachusetts has the largest amount of licensed hams in New England! I admit I did not know that, but after thinking about it, it is not surprising. The next largest county is Hartford, CT and it is only half of Middlesex. If you are trying to win a ham radio contest from one of these counties, you will need a serious station and be willing to spend lots of time in the chair. CT MA NH Counties Remote Contest Logging When you operate in a contest you enter your station information in the logger and that is how your location is determined. My home QTH for my license is in Tewksbury, MA but the contest logger needs to have the location of the station you are operating for the contest. When I participated in the NE QSO Party in May 2019 I setup N1MM+ logger like this: N1MM Station Info NH QTH I was not trying to win the contest. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make lots of contacts and when you encounter someone you contacted in the contest in a future QSO, you have a good start on beginning a rag chew. Overall NEQP 2019 Results Here are the results of the 2019 NEQP. It may be worth looking at previous years' results for contests you want to compete in to see how the top finishers scored. If you can choose the location you will operate from, this can help as well. NEQP 2019 Scores Here is the surprise I received from the 2019 NE QSOP, which prompted this article. The 2020 NEQP is May 2 - 3, give it a try. New England QSO Party Certificate Jon, AC1EV --- ### Virtual Contest University > You have the opportunity to attend Contest University this year from the comfort of your QTH. Virtual Contest University will be held via Zoom on May 14th. - Published: 2020-04-28 - Modified: 2020-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/28/virtual-contest-university/ - Categories: Antennas, Digital, DX, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Digital, DX, Education and Training, Hamvention, HF, Mentor, Station Building The 2020 Dayton Hamvention has been canceled, but you still have the opportunity to attend Contest University from the comfort of your QTH! The organizers of Contest University will be holding a free Virtual Contest University via Zoom on May 14th. Contest University is a full day of educational presentations. The world's most skilled contesters share their knowledge. You will learn not just how to operate in a contest but skills that are useful for all ham radio operators: How to improve your station All about propagation and when to operate to get the most and most distant contacts Information on setting up your digital station and operating digital modes, What are the best performing transceivers based on testing by Rob Sherwood, NC0B And much more! Fred, AB1OC, and I have been attending Contest University for many years and we learn something new every time. Contest University is highly recommended for our Student/Teacher Contesters as well as all of our members. Here is an outline of the speakers and presentation topics: https://www. contestuniversity. com/course-outline/ You can register online for the Virtual Contest University at the above link to get the Zoom link. Contest University starts at 8:30 am on May 14th. --- ### Remote Operation > Last weekend I got the opportunity to set up my computer to work Fred and Anita's (AB1OC/AB1QB) station remotely. Here's how Remote Operation works... - Published: 2020-04-27 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/27/remote-operation/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Contest, HF, SDR, Station Building While isolated in our homes I am finding amateur radio a very therapeutic distraction from all the chaos in the world. I look forward to Contest Weekends and like a lot of you, I am looking for new projects and adventures in amateur radio. One recently came my way - Remote Operation over the Internet. Last weekend I got the opportunity to set up my computer to work Fred and Anita's (AB1OC/AB1QB) station remotely. Fred and Anita have an amazing station at their QTH and you can find more information on it here. Of course, I was game to test Remote Operation out! Fred and Anita would like to open their station up remotely for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Student/Teacher Contest Series as some of the Youth and Teachers in the contest do not have access to a station at their homes and of course, no one is getting together in groups right now. Software and Networking The first thing we had to do was to load the software on my computer and make sure we could communicate properly. Luckily, last week Connor (KC1GGX) and I ran CAT 5e cable from our router through the ceiling in the basement to the computer in our shack. See what I mean about looking for projects! This gave us a good internet connection to work with. We used the program SmartSDR for Windows to control Fred's station. The download is pretty straight forward and Fred handled the process of connecting my computer to his station via the web. The SmartSDR has three modules. SmartSDR is the panadapter and "virtual" control face of the transceiver, SmartCAT which controls the interface between your logger and the radio and SmartDAX which is for controlling digital operations. Once Fred got it all configured and talking to my logging software - I am using DX Lab Suite - it was time to test it out and see what it could do. Operating Using An SDR The signals were very clear and strong and using an SDR really gives you great control of being able to adjust your filters and bandwidth. I was able to move frequencies, change bands, and pretty much anything else I would have been able to do from the AB1OC/AB1QB shack... except rotating the antennas. We didn't quite use the "arm-strong" method (moving and antenna manually as we've done for Winter Field Day on our VHF antennas), but I would call Fred on the phone and ask to have the antennas pointed in another direction. Pointing Rotating Antennas A couple of days later, Fred found a solution for rotating the antennas as well with a program called PstRotatorAz. This gives complete control of moving the antennas while working remotely. Abby, AB1BY, and I operated from AB1OC/AB1QB's station remotely over the weekend and had a great time. The only drawback we found is when switching between the SDR window and the logging window you would lose the ability to use the space bar as your PTT, which meant a lot of moving the mouse around and clicking. Getting Ready To Contest Mark, KC1IML, and Keith, KC1IMK have also set up their station to work remotely with Fred and Anita's station and have come up with a solution to the PTT problem as well. They used an old USB to serial adapter and soldered the leads from a footswitch to a few pins on the serial adapter and they have the footswitch working. This has been a lot of fun to try out and big thanks out to Fred for putting in all the time to get Remote Operation up and working! Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Winter Field Day 2020 Results > The results from 2020 Winter Field Day are in. The Nashua Area Radio Society was #2 overall as well as in the outdoor category. - Published: 2020-04-23 - Modified: 2022-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/23/winter-field-day-2020-results/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Field Day, On The Air The results from 2020 Winter Field Day are in. The Nashua Area Radio Society was #2 overall as well as in the outdoor category. 2020 Winter Field Day Results As was the case last year, the scores are all about multipliers which is derived from the number of active bands and modes that a station has. WFD 2020 Operations On Saturday Afternoon You can read more about our WFD 2020 operation here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Listen to the ISS Contact Scheduled for April 30th, 2020 > After two successful tests of the Telebridge/Phone Patch capabilities here at our station, we are ready to support an ISS contact... - Published: 2020-04-23 - Modified: 2020-04-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/23/first-iss-contact-ab1oc/ - Categories: Featured, General, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We have successfully tested the ISS Telebridge capabilities here at our station. ARISS has scheduled a Multipoint Telebridge a school contact using our Ground Station for Thursday, April 30th beginning at 13:35 UTC (9:35 am Eastern Time). The Multipoint Telebridge format enables the students to contact the ISS from their homes via telephone connections... Source: Listen to the ISS Contact Scheduled for April 30th, 2020 After two successful tests of the Telebridge/Phone Patch capabilities here at our station, we are ready to support a school contact! ARISS has scheduled a Multipoint Telebridge contact using our station for next Thursday. We've added some upgrades to our Space Communications Ground station to accommodate ARISS contacts with the ISS. The additions include: A Phone Patch A UPS Backup the Station's Equipment and Computer You can learn more about the contact and how to listen in via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Tower Horror Story > I had an incident ten years ago while doing tower work that was very serious. In mid-May 2011, Jerry, K0TV (SK) asked me to help with... - Published: 2020-04-12 - Modified: 2020-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/12/tower-horror-story/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Tower Greetings fellow NARS members! I hope everyone is well and safely ensconced in the shack chair and on the air. I'm sorry that I missed K1IR's presentation on tower safety. I've known Jim for many years from the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) and the Billerica Amateur Radio Society (BARS). Jim has built a competitive station and he introduced me to the “star” method of guying a tower that is more robust than the usual turnbuckle 3-point approach many of us use. While making sure a tower is stable and well-engineered, there is much more to tower safety, as I'm sure Jim pointed out. My story is how things can go terribly wrong. I had an incident ten years ago while doing tower work that was very serious. Long-time members of NARS may remember what happened but, given the huge growth of new members in the club, I thought it would be worthwhile to retell my tower story. In mid-May 2011, Jerry, K0TV (SK) asked me to help with an ambitious project to install several beams on one of his towers. Jerry was an avid contester who believed that hams should use ALL the bands available to them. This means 432 MHz, 928 MHz, 1296 MHz, and other nose bleed bands. To that end, Jerry wanted to install a 432 MHz quad yagi, a 1296 corkscrew quad yagi, a pair of 928 yagis and a good old 144 MHz yagi. The plan was to install them in a tree fashion on the mast above his 15-meter monobander. As if this wasn't enough, there was a junction box near the top of the tower with a Medusan tangle of coax jumpers for routing signals to the beams. I was well-known in the club for readily climbing towers and working on beams in all kinds of weather. I often wonder if I qualified for the 1,000,000 climbing feet award. Just ask anyone who worked with me during years of Field Day installations. Along the way, I picked up a lot of necessary safety habits for working on towers. Contrary to what one might think, I am NOT comfortable at heights. I may be wiry and fit but my heightened awareness of where I am has made me conscious of being careful and deliberate. (This is an axiom everyone should follow in tower work. ) So I climb with two belts, always have three points of contact with the tower, and make sure I'm secure before freeing both hands. Sounds simple but complacency can be fatal. So back to the story. I had been at the top of the tower for over an hour having worked on the junction box cabling and re-positioning the box so I could work on the beams. The weather was a sunny and warm NH day and I was getting hot. I was also getting hot emotionally after having wrestled one of the new antennas in place above the 15-meter beam. It was now time to raise the mast and lower the 15-meter beam to install the next antenna. In order to raise the mast, we installed a lifting plate below the loosened 15-meter beam so that the Ginpole could raise everything once the thrust bearings were loosened. By now I was sweating from the warmth and getting more irritated with the close quarters. I secured the Ginpole hook to what I thought was the lifting plate. It was the 15-meter boom instead. I called down for tension on the Ginpole rope as I loosened the thrust bearing bolts. Down like a guillotine came the mast. The lifting plate slammed on my right index finger, crushing it against the top of the tower platform. My screams made everyone jump, including the neighborhood. I frantically yelled for more tension on the rope, not realizing it would accomplish nothing. I had to somehow raise the mast to free my hand so I yelled for a crowbar. I managed to lower the Ginpole rope and have the bar sent up. I was able to leverage the lifting plate enough to get my hand out. Now I had to use my damaged hand to unbelt and re-belt myself and get down from 90 feet. It was a slow and agonizing descent but I made it. An ambulance crew was waiting for me and cut off my work glove before taking me to the hospital in Nashua. The attending physician said there was little he could do and may have to amputate my finger. THAT did not sit well with me. He made some calls and miraculously found surgeons at Mass General willing to come in on a Saturday to see what could be done. It was off to Boston in the ambulance that bobbed and weaved with Siren going in the wonderful maze that is downtown Boston. (I remember the driver saying he was only flipped off twice. ) I went through the usual endless questioning and note-taking that an emergency room requires. I met with the two surgeons still in their weekend attire who examined my finger while ordering an operating room preparation. What struck me was that both looked like they were younger than 30. I had heard of Mass General's reputation as a top-notch hospital so I wasn't worried. These two had to be really good at microsurgery. After seven hours or so in surgery, I came to and saw my right arm covered from the elbow to my hand. The doctors said everything went well (don't they always say that? ) and the covering was to allow warm air from a heater to aid blood flow to my finger while I recovered. I spent the next three days in a hot room to keep the blood flowing. It so happens that an early heat wave rolled through Boston as Memorial Day approached so I don't why they could not just open the windows. Finally, I was moved to a semi-private room with normal temperatures. Another doctor (also young) came by to unveil the bandages and examine my finger. Seeing it for the first time since my accident, it looked like an ugly... --- ### Coax Surge Protectors > I often see debates on the various forums on where the lightning surge protector should be placed in a RF coaxial feedline from the antenna... - Published: 2020-04-08 - Modified: 2020-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/08/coax-surge-protectors/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Station Building Where to put coax surge protectors? I often see debates on the various forums on where the lightning surge protector should be placed in an RF coaxial feed line from the antenna. Some say it should be at the antenna and others believe it should be at the equipment end of the coax. The coaxial surge protector must always be near the equipment end of the coax, even when there is a DC connection between the shield and center conductor of the coax at the antenna. Examples of a DC connection at the antenna include a “gamma match” or hairpin where the shield and center conductor are DC connected, often through a large gauge conductor. The Purpose of Surge Protectors The purpose of the surge protector is to clamp the voltage between the coax shield and center conductor at the RF input connector on the radio to a level that will not damage the radio. For most radios, the maximum voltage with a duration of 10s of microseconds is in the range of 40V to 60V. The only way to ensure the voltage is sufficiently clamped (reduced) before entering the radio is to put the surge protector near the radio. Surge Protectors are not effective when placed at the antenna A surge protector or a DC connection at the antenna end of the coax is not effective. At the moment of a lightning strike on or near the antenna the voltage on the coax center conductor and the shield are equal and their voltage difference is 0V. As the voltage spike travels down the coax two physical properties of the coax will result is a voltage difference between the coax center conductor and the shield. The larger shield has lower inductance than the small-diameter center conductor. The spike on the center conductor will be stretched in time due to the higher inductance. The propagation velocity on the center conductor is lower than on the shield due to the dielectric surrounding the center conductor. The voltage spike on the shield will get to the radio before the spike on the center conductor. The difference in pulse shape due to the inductance and the velocity due to the dielectric may result in a large difference in voltage between the radio’s RF connector shield and center pin possibly damaging the radio. The body of the surge protector is a convenient contact point to connect the coax shield to the station ground before the coax enters the shack. If there is a short coax run between the surge protector and the radio this is adequate. If the run is much over 10m the voltage spikes will once again become offset and a second surge protector at the radio or station’s coax switch is recommended. Surge Protector Designs The majority of surge protectors use a Gas Discharge Tube (GDT) to clamp the voltage. GDTs in common packages are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 GDT Package Styles PolyPhaser Brand Coaxial Surge Protector Figure 2 shows a typical coaxial surge protector. The pill-shaped GDT is replaceable in some surge protectors. Most GDT devices are argon filled and are hermetically sealed so their trigger and clamping -voltages are not affected by humidity or atmospheric pressure. Below the trigger voltage argon is non-conductive, as the voltage increases the argon will become conductive as it begins to plasma. Once the current exceeds the plasma state the argon will go into an arc state where the clamp voltage can be as low as 15V at 20kA. This process occurs in < 1ns. Coaxial surge protectors are rated by maximum RF power. This is based on the “flash over voltage” rating of the GDT used in the surge protector. A surge protector with a lower power rating (e. g. MFR-270 400 watts) may flash over and clamp at a lower voltage providing increased protection to the radio. It will also flash over and clamp when used with an amplifier at >400W and damage the amplifier since it will clamp (short) the RF output of the amplifier. It is important to use a surge protector rated for the RF power expected. Surge protectors with replaceable GDTs can be upgraded for higher power by replacing the GDT with a higher flash overvoltage. “Surge protectors” can be found on-line that use a set screw to set a spark gap. They should never be used, the gap must be set very small to provide adequate surge protection. The flash overvoltage is unknown. It will vary with humidity and atmospheric pressure. Expansion with temperature or moisture may cause them to short out which will damage a radio or amplifier. GDTs are available from Digikey for $1. 25 each. I use GDTs with axial leads between the PSU outputs and from the outputs to the PSU case/ground, from each rotator wire to ground, and on other wires in and out of the shack. It is important to select a GDT with a higher clamping voltage than the wire it is protecting. A GDT with a 75V flash over and 12V clamping will remain clamped on a +14V line once it is triggered. GDTs are not used on 110Vac or 220Vac power lines. The surge protector is just one component of a station’s ground system. It does the job of keeping the center pin of the radio’s RF connector at the same voltage as the shield connection and therefore the radio’s chassis. Some like to think of the station ground as “fixed” at 0 volts, it is far from it during a strike. A typical strike is 10kA and can be 100kA or greater. A typical ground rod is around 5 ohms. The voltage at a single ground rod during a typical strike is 50kV (E=IR). The surge protector has clamped the coax’s center conductor and shield to roughly the same voltage protecting the input of the radio but this “same voltage” is on the order of 50kV. The Surge Protector and Station Ground System If the PSU and computer are grounded using the wall plug’s safety ground which terminates on the other side of the house at the service panel’s ground,... --- ### Basics of Netlogger for Net Control stations > I wanted to post a very brief primer on how to set up NetLogger at your station if you are going to run a net.Stations not running a net should...... - Published: 2020-04-06 - Modified: 2024-11-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/06/basics-of-netlogger-for-net-control-stations/ - Categories: Education and Training, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Net, Software I wanted to post a very brief primer on how to set up NetLogger at your station if you are going to run a net. Stations not running a net should also download and try NetLogger. It really enhances everyone's experience when joining (or running) an over-the-air net. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=o7OOIwiecbo&start=5 You can download NetLogger here. Thanks very much, Craig Bailey, N1SFT --- ### CQ All Hams - Join Us For Online Meetings and Tech Nights! > CQ All Hams! We will hold our meetings online during April and May via Zoom! We are inviting everyone to join us online for these meetings... - Published: 2020-04-02 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/02/cq-all-hams-join-us/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Education and Training, EME, Software, Station Building, Tech Night, Tower, VHF/UHF CQ CQ All Hams! We will open our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights for April and May to include our Internet Subscribers and all Hams in North America. We will hold our meetings online during April and May via Zoom! You are invited to join us online for these meetings. We have some excellent speakers planned for our April and May meetings and they will share live presentations and conduct Q&A online. The Nashua Area Radio Society will also be conducting an after-meeting net on 40m after our April and May Meetings and Tech Nights. Our Online Meetings in April and May Nashua Area Radio Society April Regular Meeting Jim Idelson, K1IR Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting, April 7th, 7 pm Eastern - Our speaker will be Jim Idelson K1IR who will talk about Tower Safety. Join Our Zoom Meeting Nashua Area Radio Society April Tech Night Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night, April 14th, 7 pm Eastern - Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC will provide a how-to presentation on How to Get Started in 2m EME (Moon Bounce) Communications. Fred will also share some details on a high-performance EME station that he is building. Join Our Zoom Meeting Nashua Area Radio Society May Regular Meeting Bob Heil, K9EID Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting, May 5th, 7 pm Eastern - Our speaker will be Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID. More to come on Bob's Presentation Nashua Area Radio Society May Tech Night Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Using N1MM+ at Field Day Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night, May 12th, 7 pm Eastern - Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC will provide a how-to presentation on Getting Started with the N1MM+ Contest Logger. All you need to join one of our meetings is to click on the Join Our Zoom Meeting link above for the meeting that you want to Join. We suggest that you join our meetings online at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start times. Join Us for Our After Meeting Nets on 40m Abby Finchum, AB1BY - A NARS Net Control Operator Running a Special Event CQ All Hams! The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold our new after meeting nets on or around 7. 260 MHz LSB. We will post an update on the final frequency here just before our nets begin. We hope that these nets will give our members and guests a chance to communicate and socialize with each other. Folks who join us for the preceding online meetings will also be able to monitor the after meeting nets via the online share. We will also be live streaming video and audio from our nets to the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page. --- ### Out Of This World Phone Patch > We joined the ARISS Program as a Mentor to help schools make contacts with astronauts on the ISS. A Phone Patch at our station to provides Telebridge.. - Published: 2020-04-01 - Modified: 2022-01-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/phone-patch/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: ISS, Space I have joined the ARISS Program as a Mentor to help schools make contacts with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). School contacts as part of the ARISS program can take two forms – Direct Contacts and Telebridge Contacts. We have recently added Phone Patch capability to the Satellite Ground Station here... . Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 11 – Phone Patch/Telebridge Capability Did you ever wonder how a Telephone Patch device is used? Back in the day, it was common for Amateur Radio operators to help families talk to their relatives and service members overseas over the air. This was done by first establishing a radio link to a foreign Amateur Radio station. Next, the Hams involved connected third party family members to each other via local telephone connections so they could speak. A device called a Phone Patch was used to make the connections between the Amateur Radio Transceivers and the local telephone lines. Out Of This World Phone Patch International Space Station We still use Telephone Patch devices to enable Schools to make contact with the International Space Station. This type of contact is called a Telebridge. A school can make a Telebridge Contact with an astronaut on board the ISS using a telephone connection to an Amateur Radio Ground Station in a different location. A Phone Patch is used to make the connection between the school and the remote Ground Station. We've added a Phone Patch to our Satellite Station here to support our work with ARISS. We will use it to test school audio systems as they prepare to make contact with the ISS via Telebridge. Click on the link above to learn more about how a Phone Patch is used to make a Telebridge Contact. Fred, AB1OC --- ### CQ World Wide WPX from my Home Station > This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. I haven’t worked a lot of contests from my home station, but I have some free time... - Published: 2020-04-01 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/cq-world-wide-wpx-from-home/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX, HF This past weekend was the CQ World Wide WPX SSB contest. I haven’t worked a lot of contests from my home station, but I have some free time on my hands with this COVID-19 pandemic going on, so I decided I’d give it a shot. AC1DC Station I have been very lucky and probably a little spoiled to have been able to use AB1OC/AB1QB’s station, which is an amazing station, for past contests. So, let me start by telling you a little about my home station. I’m running an Icom IC-7300 with an Elecraft KPA500 500 watt amplifier. I’m using the Buckmaster 4-band OCF Dipole for an antenna on a push-up mast from Max-Gain Systems at about 35 feet high. Definitely not a bad set up, but it's not a big-gun station either. My main goal for jumping into the contest was to have fun and try to finish off my DXCC. I have over a hundred countries and do have my DXCC through QRZ, but I’ve been stuck at 97 confirmed for quite a while on LOTW. I figured this would be a good contest to knock off a few more countries and hopefully get them confirmed. The CQ WW WPX is a 48-hour contest in which amateur radio operators worldwide try to contact as many other operators as possible in that time. The exchange is a simple signal report and a progressive serial number. What is really fun about this contest is that each different prefix is a multiplier. As you make more contacts with unique prefixes your score really shoots up! It is fun to watch your score after each new contact. My station seemed to be getting out pretty well as I searched the bands. I never called CQ and only searched and pounced, but looking back may have been able to try running on 40 meters – especially as the contest moved into Sunday. I didn’t operate the whole time but spent a fair amount of time on and off throughout the weekend. In the end, I wound up with 222 contacts. 163 of those contacts were unique prefixes for a total claimed score of 72,698 points. I contacted 32 different countries and of those only two were countries that I did not already have. By the end of the weekend, I accomplished my first goal. I had a blast! Even if I did fall short on getting three more confirmed countries for my DXCC this past weekend has shown me that you don’t have to have a super-station to join in on the fun of contesting. Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Be Sure to Watch Ham Nation Tonight > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be featured on Ham Nation tonight as Fred, AB1OC talks about how to bring your amateur radio club online. - Published: 2020-04-01 - Modified: 2020-04-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/04/01/watch-ham-nation-tonight/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, NARS Event, Tech Night The Nashua Area Radio Society will be featured on Ham Nation tonight, April 1st. Fred, AB1OC will do a short spot on Taking Your Amateur Radio Club Online. He will be talking about how we brought our Extra License Class and Ham Radio Bootcamp online recently and our upcoming online meetings in April and May. Ham Nation can be viewed each Wednesday night starting at 9:00 pm Eastern Time on Twit. tv. You can watch it live at https://twit. tv/live --- ### Ham Radio Home Schooling - Learn Morse Code > Do you have youngsters stuck at home looking for fun and safe activities? How about helping them to learn Morse code? The Long Island CW Club is offering... - Published: 2020-03-28 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/28/learn-morse-code-at-home/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW Do you have youngsters stuck at home looking for fun and safe activities? How about learning Morse code? The Long Island CW Club Offering Free Online Code Instruction for Homebound Youngsters The Long Island CW Club in New York is offering free online Morse code instruction for the "many youngsters at loose ends as a result of school closings due to COVID-19 concerns. " The club's co-founder, Howard Bernstein, WB2UZE, pointed out that learning Morse code is "a fun and educational activity for children of all ages that can fill part of the gap left by the current unfortunate situation that has closed so many schools across the country. " Ongoing classes will take place Monday through Friday, specifically for school-agers anywhere across the country or overseas, via Zoom online video conferencing. A computer equipped with a microphone and camera is required. Classes for elementary schoolers run 30 minutes starting at 1600 UTC, followed by 45-minute classes for middle- and high school-aged students, starting at 1645 UTC. Parental permission is required through advance registration. Contact class instructor Rob Zarges, K2MZ, by e-mail or call 508-831-8248. -- Thanks to Mel Granick, KS2G, ARRL New York City-Long Island Section Public Information Coordinator The Long Island CW Club (W2LCW) offers over 25 on-line classes each week for learning Morse code. Classes are held at various levels from rank beginner to the seasoned expert. Check out the schedule page at https://longislandcwclub. org/events/ TU es 73! Jerry, K1OKD This article was re-print from the March 26th ARRL News Letter available at http://www. arrl. org/arrlletter? issue=2020-03-26 --- ### Amateur Radio Station Construction > We learned a great deal about Amateur Radio Station Construction as part of building our station. The station project here involved... - Published: 2020-03-27 - Modified: 2020-04-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/27/amateur-radio-station-construction/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, APRS, Digital, HF, Homebrew, On The Air, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF We learned a great deal about Amateur Radio Station Construction as part of building our station. The AB1OC-AB1QB station project involved the construction of a dedicated room for a new shack. We also put up a tower-based antenna system. It took Anita and I about 1 1/2 years to build our station. We covered quite a number of areas during the project... Source: Amateur Radio Station Design And Construction Many folks are stuck at home right now. As a result of the Pandemic, many of us cannot go out to see friends and do their usual activities. We know that many Hams are looking around on the Internet for Amateur Radio project ideas and information. In an effort to help, we recently spent some time organizing all of the information on our blog, https://stationproject. blog concerning Amateur Radio Station construction. AB1OC-AB1QB Tower and Antennas There is lots of information on shack design and construction, tower and antenna building, and much more on our Blog. The link above contains lots of information including pictures, videos and how-to information on station-building. There is also a "Virtual Station Tour" available which provides some videos showing our station in operation. We hope that this article will provide some useful information, ideas, and Ham Radio fun! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Hex Beam for AC1EV > The project to bring my basic station up to the next level occupied me for much of a year. I decided to put up a Hex Beam using a roof tower... - Published: 2020-03-26 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/26/hex-beam-ac1ev/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Station Building, Tower I am a new ham operator, since February 2018. I tested at Chelmsford, MA with Billerica Amateur Radio Society VEs for my Technician and General licenses. First-year membership in BARS was a terrific benefit offered when I passed my Technician exam. My first radio was a Kenwood DH74A HT. In April 2018 I learned of an Amateur Extra License Boot Camp put on by the Nashua Area Radio Society and passed my Amateur Extra exam at the end of the class. A one-year Membership in NARS was an added benefit, the implications of which I had no idea at the time. Around this same time, I started with HF. I began with an IC-7300 and a very basic wire antenna, a 63 feet wire, end-fed sloper and I was on the air. Since then I’ve changed and added antennas many times and for each antenna made numerous tweaks and reinstallations. By my count, I have at least 15 major iterations of antenna installations at my QTH. Off-Center Fed Dipole Buckmaster OCF dipole This was my Buckmaster Off Center Fed Dipole (300-watt version). It took several upgrades to get to this mature installation, with the feed point at 33 feet and the ends around 10 feet. The orientation is E-W, opposite of the ideal, but that is where the trees were. On this antenna, with 100 watts, I made over 1,000 QSOs and 80 DX entities, even in the doldrums of the solar cycle. Along the way, I had opportunities to operate from more powerful stations, more power and beam antennas. I wanted one! Planning for a Better Antenna The project to bring my basic station up to the next level occupied me for much of the next year. I needed to consider many things; spousal approval was top of the list with the budget a close second. I knew that whatever I did, I would be living with it for a long time. I had many QSOs with hams who had hex beams and they all seemed happy with them. Also, I could see on the waterfall display on the IC-7300 that their signals stood out compared with the others. There were always some brighter signals on the scope, beyond what the hex beams looked like and those were often from stations with much larger and more complex antenna systems like SteppIR or Optibeams mounted on towers 60’, 70’ or higher. That level of Antenna was orders of magnitude more expensive, so I will put them on the dream antenna wish list, maybe if I win the lottery. The hex beam antenna was the most antenna I could get, within my budget and that I could install myself, without requiring a tower, man-lift or crane to get it to the optimal height on 20 meters. Once I decided to proceed, I needed to get final spousal approval. My XYL was generically supportive of the hobby but living with the antenna on the roof was another thing. I knew of another ham locally with one, so we drove over to his house to see it. He has a split-level house with lots of trees, so the antenna is not as high off his roof and the trees behind it made it look less imposing than if it was out in the open. That did the trick and she gave me the green light to proceed. Choosing My Hex Beam There are many different hex beams to choose from. The first one I selected was back-ordered on parts and they couldn’t take the order for three weeks. I waited and when I went to order it again the parts were still unavailable. I purchased the K4KIO model and ordered it on a Monday. It was delivered on Thursday, so kudos to them for prompt service! K4KIO does not offer an option for a 40-meter bent dipole to be a part of the antenna. They suggest it is better to have a second antenna for 40 meters instead, so it can be installed optimally rather than with the compromises required to have it included on the hex beam framework. I must say I do miss having 40-meters and will be adding an antenna to access it very soon. Hex Beam Antenna Building I assembled the antenna in my driveway, with the central hub mounted on a short section of chain link top rail stuck in an umbrella stand. Assembly was simple. They recommend that you paint the spreaders, which I did after assembly, but before the wires. I used white and it looks pretty good. Painted Hex under construction To move the antenna from the driveway to the roof I took a full section of the top rail and had my wife steady it on the back of a tall step ladder. I carried the assembled antenna over to it and climbed the ladder to place it onto the top of the top rail. From there I carefully walked it over to the roof of the house. The antenna is only 25 pounds, so not that heavy, but it is on a long pole and has long components so needed to be carefully balanced or it could get away from you. Roof Mounting Our Hex Beam XYL is definitely a keeper! I climbed on the roof and was able to take the antenna and the short mast from my wife, leaving her with the 10-foot top rail pole. I put the antenna on the old tripod from the dipole for temporary use until the tower, rotator and Hex Lock Tilt plate were installed. Hex on the roof in old mount 8 foot Glen Martin Tower Now at 20 feet, the hex beam can be used. I noticed the difference between the dipole immediately and had lots of fun for the next two weeks until I installed the tower. I climbed on the roof to rotate it. Here is the tower with the Yaesu G8000DXA rotator and GS-65 thrust bearing installed A Larger Roof Tower The height from the ground to the peak of my roof was 15 feet. I ordered the 8-foot Glen Martin tower to mount... --- ### Amateur Radio During a Global Pandemic > During this pandemic we’re going through when everyone is sheltering inside, social distancing and out of our routine amateur radio... - Published: 2020-03-25 - Modified: 2020-04-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/25/amateur-radio-during-a-global-pandemic/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Fox Hunting, Net You always hear “when all else fails, amateur radio works”. That’s usually referring to some sort of failure to the power grid or normal methods of communication. We don’t usually think about the merits of amateur radio during a global pandemic like we’re going through now. Normal modes of communication work and the grid haven’t gone down, but amateur radio still serves a purpose. During this pandemic we’re going through when everyone is sheltering inside, social distancing and many of us are out of work and out of our routine amateur radio can serve as a great distraction to all that is going on around us. This past week amateur radio served this purpose for me. I had recently found out that I was without a job for the first time since I was a kid. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least. I was scheduled as net control for our weekly Sunday night repeater net on the N1IMO/N1IMN repeater system and was feeling pretty stressed out having just got the news that my clubs were shutting down for the foreseeable future. We had a great crowd on the repeater net and it was very calming for me to hear from everyone and how they are coping. It really brought me out of my funk! I’ve also noticed a spike in activity on the HF bands as people turn to amateur radio for social distraction and news from far away places. If you’re feeling a little blue I would encourage you to get on the air and see how your ham community around the world is doing. It’s a great way to be social from a distance. This is also a great time to hone some skills. If I’ve got to spend more time at home, for now, I might as well use it to bolster my CW skills. Yes, I’ll be the one slowly calling CQ and asking for your call sign multiple times. FT-8 and FT-4, hate it or love it, has also had some great DX lately. The Nashua Area Radio Society has been very proactive in keeping club members and other amateur radio operators in touch by moving to virtual meetings on Zoom and Facebook Live. Not only are we moving our meetings online, but we’ve added a 40-meter net scheduled after our meetings. At a time when we are practicing social distancing, we are actually increasing our activities and opening up to more people. We’ll also have a fox (hidden transmitter) hunt this week. Get outside and have some fun. No log to sign, just a picture of the fox will be enough to get credit. We didn’t cancel our Amateur Extra licensing class that was scheduled last week. Instead, we moved to an online class for the first time. Our club also runs a program for newly licensed hams called Ham Radio Boot Camp. We had run two sessions before the pandemic hit with still one to go. Of course, the show must go on! We’ll be holding our third session this week... again, on the online. During this time of uncertainty, I would encourage all of my fellow amateur radio operators to get on the air. You may need the distraction yourself or you may be providing a much-needed distraction to someone else. Stay well and 73! Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp Tomorrow Evening! > The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold a Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp tomorrow evening, March 25th at 7:00pm Eastern time via a Zoom web conference. - Published: 2020-03-24 - Modified: 2020-04-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/24/virtual-ham-radio-bootcamp-tomorrow-evening/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Station Equipment - Tags: Education and Training, Mentor, NARS Event, Station Building We held the first two sessions of our planned Spring 2020 Ham Radio Bootcamp this year before COVID-19 disrupted our lives. The third session will be a Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp. Our third session was to be a trip to Ham Radio Outlet one evening where they opened it up to only Bootcampers. Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold that session. Ham Radio Outlet Website Now we are planning a Virtual Ham Radio Bootcamp session. We will get together on a Zoom web conference and go over and answer your questions about equipment for your shack, using HRO, manufacturer's and other websites as needed. We will hold this session on Wednesday evening March 25th starting at 7:00 pm Eastern time. If you are interested, you can join the Zoom using this link. If you have never used Zoom before, plan to join around 6:45 pm to give you time to get set up. --- ### Looking for something to do? Join NARS on-air nets and on-line meetings > The Nashua Area Radio Society has several weekly on-air nets that can provide you with some Amateur Radio fun as well as a chance to socialize with friends. - Published: 2020-03-23 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/23/join-nars-on-air-nets/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Net, On The Air In these difficult times where many of us are practicing social distancing, Amateur Radio gives us many opportunities to have fun on-the-air and stay in touch with friends. The Nashua Area Radio Society has several weekly on-air nets that can provide you with some Amateur Radio fun as well as a chance to socialize with friends. We are also taking our April and May Meeting online and add a new, 40m Phone net, to our lineup. You can read more about our plans here. Our Existing On-Air Nets The Nashua Area Radio Society currently holds two weekly on-air Nets. The purpose of our nets includes: Testing and using our equipment; being prepared to support communications in emergency situations Sharing information about Nashua Area Radio Society upcoming activities and events Sharing our recent Amateur Radio Activities Having Fun! All licensed Amateurs are welcome to join our weekly nets. Weekly Repeater Net Our weekly repeater on-air net is held on Sunday Evening at 7:30 pm eastern time (Monday 00:30 UTC during standard time). The format of our Repeater Net includes a weekly discussion question or two which gives all who participate a chance to share something about themselves and their interests. This Net also includes information about upcoming Nashua Area Radio Society activities and events. We conduct our weekly nets on the N1IMN-N1IMO Repeater System whose wide coverage includes New Hampshire and Massachusetts. N1IMO-N1IMN Repeater System Access Information You can access our Repeater Net via any of these repeaters or via EchoLink as N1IMO-R. We have a different Net Control Operator (NCO) for our Repeater Net each week. The NCO for the next few nets posted in our On The Air Forum here on our website. The NCO will also post a list of the operators who check in each week in this same forum. We hope to hear you on our next Weekly Repeater Net! Weekly HF Net We also hold on Weekly HF on-air net on the 10m band. This Net begins at 8:30 pm eastern time (Monday 01:30 UTC during standard time) on Sunday evenings and features a round-table chat format. We hold our HF Net on or around 28. 480 MHz using SSB Phone mode. The NCO for our HF Net can be contacted here. You can find more information about this net on our club calendar. All licensed Amateur Radio operators are invited to join our HF net. We Are Going Online! We are inviting all Nashua Area Radio Society Members, Internet Subscribers, and all US-based Hams to join us for online our April Meetings. NARS will hold our meeting using the Zoom online service. Zoom is free and all you need to join us is an Internet-connected Windows or Mac PC or a Tablet (ex. an iPad). Here are the zoom links for our April Meetings: April 7th, 7 pm Eastern – Nashua Area Radio Society Regular Meeting. Our speaker will be Jim Idelson K1IR who will talk about Tower Safety. Join Zoom Meeting April 14th, 7 pm Eastern – Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night. Fred, AB1OC will provide a presentation on How to Get Started in 2m EME (Moon Bounce). Join Zoom Meeting We suggest that you join our meetings online at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start times. A New HF Net is Comming! NARS will also be conducting a new, after-meeting on-air net on 40m after our meetings. We will hold new after meeting on-air nets on or around 7. 260 MHz LSB. Look for us to post an update on the final frequency on our home page (and here) just before our nets begin. We hope that these nets will give our members and guests a chance to communicate and socialize with each other. Folks who join us for the preceding online meetings will also be able to monitor our new after meeting nets via the online share. We will also be live streaming video and audio from our nets to the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page. We hope to see all NARS Members, Internet Subscribers as well as some new Ham friends around the United States and around the World join us for one of our Nets and/or join us for our April online meetings. Peter, KC1FNF and Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight, Tony AA3HD > Greetings.  I’m Tony Baker AA3HD, and I’m relatively new to the amateur radio world, just getting my Technician’s license in August of 2019... - Published: 2020-03-07 - Modified: 2020-04-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/07/member-spotlight-tony-aa3hd/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight Greetings. I’m Tony Baker AA3HD, and I’m relatively new to the amateur radio world, just getting my Technician’s license in August of 2019. Getting an amateur radio license was something I had been wanting to do for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to it for one main reason... my employer of over 35 years did not allow it. One security restriction in working for the Central Intelligence Agency is that you cannot have an amateur radio license. (Perhaps this standard prohibition has been dropped or relaxed today. ) From a very young age, I remember always being interested in two-way radios. I think it was around the 7th grade that a friend of our family – “uncle” Bill – bought me a Knight 2-channel walkie-talkie kit. Uncle Bill helped me put the two kits together, teaching me how to solder, and me learning what the different parts, like resistors, looked like, and the importance of ensuring polarity was correct, etc. I remember having so much fun with my friends with those crystal-controlled radios after I got them together and the satisfaction of building them. At age 20 I went to work for the CIA. It’s been nine years since I retired. Because of my employment restrictions, I did what I could do and got into citizens' band radio. Probably a lot of us hams were into or dabbled in CB radio at one time. As a matter of fact, about two years ago I got out one of my old CB’s – an E. F. Johnson 40-channel SSB unit – and hooked it up in my truck, and, it worked! ! ! But it wasn’t like the good old days of the mid- to late 1970s when every CB channel was very active, and you could talk skip in a heartbeat. It seemed all the channels were silent. My old CB call sign was KHK-7098. Children and wives, (I’ve been divorced twice), forced me to change my priorities, and I eventually was unable to devote any time at all to my CB radio hobby. Fast forward to last summer. (As background, I went to elementary school in Deer Isle, Maine, and have been going there for summers my entire life. Some of my relatives still live on Little Deer Isle, and my family still has a seasonal house on Little Deer Isle as well. ) For whatever reason, this past summer I started reminiscing about how great the skip on CB was back in the day from Little Deer Isle, but how silent all the channels were now. I wondered to myself; why not get your amateur radio license now? After some research, I discovered you no longer needed to learn Morse code to pass the test. At that point, I decided to get my Technician’s ticket. With some more research, I found out about a two-day licensing class in Natick, MA, and after completing the course, passed the Tech test. Two weeks later I took and passed the General test, and two weeks after that, on September 7th in Boxboro at the HamXposition, I passed the Extra test. That said, I was probably the only Extra who hadn’t even made a transmission, not to mention that I didn’t have a radio either! ! Boxboro was an exciting time for me. It was here that I got exposed to some real hams, and some real radios, both new and old making and receiving transmissions. It also was in Boxboro that I first became exposed to the Nashua Area Radio Society, soaking up all the displays, taking the HAM Bootcamp course, and learning that NARS was ARRL’s choice for the best ham radio club for 2019. It also was at Boxboro that I decided to go to a NARS membership meeting and join if I liked what I saw. I realized that by living in Wells, Maine I wouldn’t exactly be close, but I couldn’t find any ham clubs in Maine that were nearly as diverse, active, or successful as NARS. Between Boxboro and attending my first NARS meeting in October, I bought two radios, the first being a Xiegu G90 HF, and the other an Anytone 868 dual-band DMR ht. I had also applied for a vanity call sign. At that first NARS meeting, I was hoping to meet some Elmers, as I had still not made an amateur radio transmission and was hoping I could get some help getting on the air. It was at this meeting that I was introduced to NE1B – Bill Barber. He agreed to help me with my DMR radio and get me on the air. That Friday – October 4th – I went to Bill’s house. Bill is a well-seasoned ham with quite a radio shack and impressive awards to prove it. It was also the day I received my vanity call sign – AA3HD. I never made a call with my originally assigned call sign of KC1LUN. Bill helped me get my DMR radio up and programmed. At about 2:30 pm that day I made my first transmission. It was with Bill as I was driving away from his house. Not very far, but what a thrill. After literally decades of wanting to be a ham, I finally made it! In Boxboro I also saw the instructor that helped me get my Tech license – K5TEC, Bob Phinney. When I told him I had just passed my Extra exam, he encouraged me to become a Volunteer Examiner. When AB1QB, Anita Kemmerer, made an appeal for VE’s at that first NARS meeting I attended in October, I decided to try to get my VE certification. In mid-November, I became a VE, and have, as my schedule permits, helped out at NARS VE sessions. How rewarding it is to see new hams and those getting upgrades to fulfill their dreams. Besides joining NARS, I also am an ARRL Life Member. At the NARS holiday party, I got a Baofeng ht in the gift swap. I also have a Zumspot hotspot, and a Mirage VHF/UHF amplifier, all that I need to get up and running, and I... --- ### RSU 21 Students to Communicate to Outer Space – Portland Press Herald > I am working with RSU 21 Sea Road School teachers and local Ham Radio folks in Maine, USA to help them make contact with the ISS during 2H2020... - Published: 2020-03-03 - Modified: 2021-07-14 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/03/rsu-21-iss-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach Ann Stockbridge, Educator at Kennebunk’s Sea Road School Regional School Unit 21 has been selected for an out-of-this-world opportunity. An international association of space agencies and Amateur Radio organizations has chosen RSU 21, represented by Sea Road School, to advance in a process climaxing in a conversation between students and astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). RSU 21 was one of 10 schools selected nationally to continue through the multi-month acceptance process. The contact event with the ISS could occur between July and December of this year. The opportunity is provided by ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), an association that includes NASA, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, the American Radio Relay League, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, and space agencies in Canada, Japan, Europe, and Russia. They collaborate to enable students to communicate with ISS astronauts and help inspire interest in space, communications and STEM coursework. Source: RSU 21 students to communicate to outer space – Portland Press Herald As our readers may know, I have joined the ARISS program as a Mentor to help schools prepare for and make successful contacts with Astronauts on the International Space Station. I am working with RSU 21 Sea Road School teachers and local Ham Radio folks in Maine, USA to help them make contact with the ISS during 2H2020. The link above shares more about the STEM learning program that is being created around this contact. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Boston Marathon Needs More Hams > Please spread the word, personally, that comms volunteers are needed at the Boston Marathon.  In particular, we are seeking Amateur Radio communications... - Published: 2020-03-03 - Modified: 2020-04-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/03/03/boston-marathon-needs-hams/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Emcom This just came out today from the BAA concern Amateur Radio operator help with the Boston Marathon. Here's a copy of the BAA e-mail. This is a great opportunity for NARS members including recent graduates of our Tech License classes (and others) to get involved and help. - Ed Volunteer Appeal This year we have worked hard to build up our volunteer numbers so that the mission may be accomplished. Unfortunately, we’ve been met with lower than hoped for volunteer applications. So here’s our urgent appeal for help. Please spread the word, personally, that comms volunteers are needed at the Marathon. In particular, we are seeking Amateur Radio communications for Course Medical tents, Hydration stations, Transportation medical Sweep and Express buses, and operators in the Course Net Control Operations Center. Please tell your local Amateur Radio clubs and your licensed friends about the need. To volunteer, send the following information immediately to contact@hamradioboston. org: Full Name Address Amateur Radio Call Sign Do you have a current Red Cross or other CPR certification What is your jacket size (Male/Female) What is your assignment area preference THANK YOU for stepping up as a volunteer. You are a vital part of a highly-trained, able team of Amateur Radio communications specialists who are making a huge, and very positive impact on this complex and expansive event. We cannot possibly thank you enough and simply cannot do the job without everyone’s enthusiasm, energy, and super volunteer spirit! Also: Training for these assignments is coming right up. Anyone planning to volunteer should attend this, whether or not you're already on the roster. Training A reminder that in-person training is ON for next Saturday, March 7, 2020: Date: Saturday, March 7, 2020 Time: Report for registration by 0800 Location: Joseph P Keefe Technical High School 750 Winter St, Framingham, MA 01702, USA Map: https://goo. gl/maps/iY5LmDQ5sfUrrnTTA Parking: Plenty of free and easy parking available. It is requested that you park at the Fountain Street side of the building. The main entrance we are asked to use is around the corner. Even if you are an experienced volunteer, there are several big changes that this training will prepare you for. For those new, this training is vital! Nothing beats being there, asking questions, meeting your colleagues, and learning together. So please be there! For those folks who cannot attend due to distance or other factors, please let us know. Jack, W1PK --- ### Ham Bootcamp Starts on February 29th > Ham Bootcamp is a program to help new or inactive Hams gain the skills to build a station and get on the air. Our first session will be February 29th. - Published: 2020-02-26 - Modified: 2021-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/26/ham-bootcamp-starts-on-february-29th/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Education and Training, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding a Ham Radio Bootcamp this Spring. This is a program to help new or inactive hams to gain the skills they need to get on the air. You are invited to join us for the first session, which will be held on Saturday, February 29th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. A light lunch will be provided. First HF Contact at Bootcamp Here is the planned schedule for the Fall Ham Radio Bootcamp. Mark these dates on your calendar! Session 1: February 29th Repeater Net HT Programming EchoLink Station/Antenna Farm Tour Satellite Operating 6 Meters Session 2: March 7th How to set up your 1st HF station HF Operating Digital Operating Ground Plane Antenna Kit Session 3: Date TBD Building and tuning up HF Wire Antennas We will also be scheduling a 4th Ham Radio Bootcamp session, which will be a trip to Ham Radio Outlet in Salem. Stay tuned to the forums for details. Dan and Kenzie Satellite Intro at Bootcamp For more information on Ham Radio Bootcamp, see the articles from previous sessions held locally and at Boxboro. Northeast HamXposition @ Boxboro Recap including Ham Bootcamp Spring Ham Bootcamp Recap If you are interested in attending, RSVP to Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org. If you would like to participate in the HT programming session, please send your HT make and model. Hope to see you on February 29th! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Winter Field Day Roving on VHF+ Bands > Thanks to our team who did VHF+ Roving at Winter Field Day! This team made contacts on all VHF bands from 6m to 23cm using Phone, Digital and CW Modes. - Published: 2020-02-09 - Modified: 2020-02-14 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/09/winter-field-day-roving/ - Categories: DX, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Field Day, NARS Event, On The Air, VHF/UHF This year we added a new activity, VHF+ Winter Field Day Roving. This involved mobile operators contacting Winter Field Day stations from outside of any Winter Field Day station. We were able to make contacts on all of the above bands using Phone, Digital, and CW. Many of the contacts were our first on the bands. We used transceivers for Winter Field Day Roving to operate on the following VHF bands: 2m, 1. 25m, 70cm, 33cm and 23cm. We used a laptop running Fldigi to add Digital and CW modes to Phone mode. Thanks to Randall, N1KRB and Miguel, KC1LKO for operating as Rovers for Winter Field Day. Winter Field Day Rover Test Thanks to Jerry, K1OKD and Jon, AC1EV for testing the Rover hardware and software prior to Winter Field Day. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Winter Field Day 2020 Highlights > We had a great Winter Field Day this year! We practiced our Emergency Communications skills during Winter Field Day 2020 and created a record result... - Published: 2020-02-09 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/09/winter-field-day-2020/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Emcom, Field Day, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF We had a great Winter Field Day (WFD) this year! Winter Field Day 2020 provided some real practice and a great chance to develop our Emergency Communications (EMCOM) skills and to get additional practice setting up our towers and antennas. We operated from Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH again in 2020. Keyes provides a great public location, a large open area, and an open pavilion that could be used to construct a temporary outdoor shelter. Jerry K1OKD, Craig, N1SFT, Jon AC1EV, Jamey AC1DC, John KB1EEU, and Fred, AB1OC led the 2019 Winter Field Day Team. Jeff, AC1FX served as our Safety Officer. Also, Anita AB1QB served as the leader of an independent new activity - VHF+ Roving for Winter Field Day. Winter Field Day Shelter, Heat, Power, and Food Building Our Shelter Staying warm, dry, and comfortable is essential for any outdoor operation. This is particularly important for Winter Field Day. John, KB1EEU, Patrick W1YTT, and others handled this very essential and important part of our Winter Field Day 2020 operation by turning the picnic area at Keyes Park into our shelter. They used tarps to close in the area. WFD Shelter The photo above shows our completed shelter. The tarps allow for a small open area at the top to allow for air circulation. This is essential for safety and comfort. NARS Power and Light The next step was to set up our generators. Craig, N1SFT handled this task. We use Honda 2000/2200 generators in pairs with external fuel tanks. The setup shown above provides over 10,000 watts of power. The external tanks are a great safety feature. They make refueling a much simpler and safer process. Jerry K1OKD's Toy - HEAT! Jerry and Peter, KC1FNF set up a propane heater. Jerry K1OKD and others brought heaters that ran on propane and kerosene. The heaters were very effective and kept our shelter at comfortable temperatures all weekend long. Winter Field Day Food Every army runs on its stomachs! Peter KC1FNF helped us during Winter Field Day 2020 but especially by providing meals and snacks to keep us all going. Thank you, Peter! Tower And Main HF Antennas Craig N1SFT Beginning Work On Our Tower Craig, N1SFT led the tower team. Craig and Team's great work gave us most of our HF band capability at Winter Field Day 2020. They put up a 40 ft falling derrick tower which supported a tri-band yagi antenna for 20m, 15m, and 10m as well as wire antennas for 40m and 80m. Our Tower Going Up at Winter Field Day Check out the video above - it shows our 40 ft falling derrick tower going up at Winter Field Day 2020. 40 ft Falling Derrick Tower As a result of Craig and Team's work, we had an excellent antenna system that covered all of the HF bands from 80m through 10m. It really makes a big difference to have directional antennas on 20m - 10m and having our 80m and 40m antennas up nearly 40 ft improve their performance considerably as well. Building and erecting an antenna system of this type takes considerable engineering knowledge, teamwork, and a very intense focus on safety. Our readers should not attempt this without the proper skills and training and we do not recommend trying to duplicate any of our antenna systems including our falling derrick tower and masts. Wire Antennas and VHF+ Antennas 160m Transmit Antenna160m Receive RBOG Installation Jamey, AC1DC, and Team did a tremendous job with our wire antennas and our VHF+ antennas on our masts. The first to go up was our 160m antenna system. The 160m Transmit antenna is supported by a 50 ft guyed mast. As a result, it is probably the most challenging antenna that we put up during Winter Field Day. Jamey and his team got it up and it produced over 80 KHz of usable bandwidth on 160m. The team also put up our 160m RBOG receive antenna. The sun had gone down by the time we got to this antenna so we used a generator and our Inter-plexor Beacon Lamp to light the field during the installation. The combination of these antennas produced an amazing 244 contacts on Top Band! Jon AC1EV and Fred AB! OC Putting Up A 40m Delta Loop Jon AC1EV, Andrea KC1JDX and I put up a 40m Delta Loop Antenna. This antenna is a quiet receive antenna and it works on the 40m, 20m (will a tuner), and 15m bands. As a result of this additional antenna, we were able to have two Transceivers on 40m, 20m, or 15m at the same time. 6m Yagi Going On Its Mast Next up was our 6m antenna which features a 3 element yagi on a 30 ft push-up mast. The team made short work of this antenna. We had a great run on 6m during Winter Field Day. As a result of some more focus on this band, we made a total of 22 contacts on the Magic Band. VHF+ Mast - 220 Mhz, 902 MHz, and 1. 2 GHz The final project of the team was our second VHF+ mast. This one featured yagis for the 1. 25m, 33cm, and 23 cm bands. Thanks to the pre-test of this part of our station, it went up very smoothly at Winter Field Day 2020. 2m and 70cm Satellite and Weak Signal Antennas The last piece in our VHF+ band antenna puzzle was a portable antenna system for Satellite and 2m/70cm weak signal use. We've used these antennas successfully as part of several Field Day operations. We fed all of our VHF+ antennas with LMR-600 coax which NARS recently added to our kit. As a result, we were able to get most of the 50w - 100w transmit power that our radio generated to the antennas even though some were over 100 ft away. Winter Field Day's Awesome Antenna Farm Completed Antenna Farm As a result of all of the hard work of the Tower, Wire, and Mast teams, we had a truly awesome antenna farm for Winter Field Day 2020. Here's a list of just some of the highlights of the... --- ### A Piece Of Ham Radio History - Do You Know What This Is? > Every now and again one comes across a piece of Ham Radio History. While touring a very special place, we can across an artifact that we had heard about... - Published: 2020-02-03 - Modified: 2023-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/02/03/ham-radio-history/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: History, ISS, Space, VHF/UHF Every now and again one comes across a piece of Ham Radio History. Anita and I had this experience recently during our vacation in Florida. For example, we can across an artifact that we had heard about from Charle, W1CBD but had never actually seen during a recent visit to Florida. Pretty Basic HT Transceiver This is a Motorola MX-340. This radio was a 5w UHF (or sometimes VHF) FM rig that was popular for commercial applications in the 1970s. You can learn more about the rig here. A Very Special HT Transceiver So I bet you are wondering "What makes this old HT so special? Why is it a piece of Ham Radio History? ". Well, here's a hint - it flew aboard this: Space Shuttle Atlantis On Display At The Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Yup, the little HT flew aboard the Space Shuttle. Here's more about our little HTs role via an excerpt from Wikipedia : The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), later called the Space Amateur Radio Experiment, was a program that promoted and supported the use of amateur ("Ham") Radio by astronauts in low earth orbit aboard the United States Space Shuttle to communicate with other amateur radio stations around the world. It was superseded by the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. SAREX was sponsored by NASA, AMSAT (The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), and the ARRL (American Radio Relay League). STEM Learning Through Space and Ham Radio Ham Radio Abord The Space Shuttle Ham Radio has been a STEM learning tool for a very long time. An early example of this was the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) program. SAREX was a partnership between NASA, ARISS, and the ARRL. Its success in bringing Ham Radio to schools and other educational venues led, in part, to the creation of ARISS. How All Of This Effects NARS HMS Students Talking to the ISS And ARISS, of course, has provided NARS the opportunity to be part of bringing contacts with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to schools here in New Hampshire, around the United States, and around the world. There are many such examples of Ham Radio History that resulted in great things for many people. Perhaps you know of one? If so, please consider taking writing about it here on our Blog. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Potential New Project - A Nashua Area Radio Society Club Station > We are considering a new project for the Nashua Area Radio Society - building a club station for our members to use. We know that our members would... - Published: 2020-01-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/30/nars-club-station/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Club Station, Education and Training, HF, On The Air, Station Building We are currently considering a new project for the Nashua Area Radio Society - potentially building a club station for our members to use. We know that many folks, particularly new and recently upgraded Hams would likely use and benefit from a club station if we had one. Why Build A Club Station? A club station would provide many opportunities for our members to build skills and have fun with Amateur Radio. It would also provide an important emergency communications resource to members of our community. Some additional uses of a club station might include: A place to hold training activities like Tech Nights and Bootcamps A station we could use for Contesting and Special Event operations like 13 Colonies A place that members could use to host our Repeater and HF Nets A place to store and take pride in our many operating awards are other recognitions that our club has received A site to hold license training classes A station that members and student/teacher partners can use to operate A 24-7 station for EMCOM work Space Needs I wanted to share some ideas about what capabilities we are thinking about including in such a project. First, we'd certainly want to have a permanent space that our members could access and use to make contacts. This means that we' need to find a location that could support 200 sq ft or more of space for equipment and operators. Space would need to be reasonably accessible to our members and have adequate power, light, heat, and Internet access available. Possible Club Station Capabilities Hex Beam Directional Antenna A club station would be an on-going project that would likely evolve and grow with our club's member's interests and skills. Some capabilities that we might initially include would be: A 100 w HF station for at least 40m - 10m A combination of a wire (40m) antenna and a directional (Hex beam or a tri-band 20m-10m) antenna An FM repeater transceiver and antenna A computer for logging and other Amateur Radio activities such as Digital operations 100W HF Transceiver Example - Icom IC-7300 Longer-term additions might include: 6m and 80m capabilities Ability to operate the station remotely from home and other locations via the Internet A satellite ground station A 500w amplifier for HF Additional contesting capabilities ... Getting Started - What Do We Need? We are exploring the idea of a club station at this time. The first step in the project would be to find a suitable space that we could use. We're looking for a location that is centrally located in the Nashua Area. A Loft or similar space at someone's QTH or a space that is part of an existing business, educational facility, or other public space would make great potential candidates for a club station. Perhaps you have or know of someone who has a loft or other suitable space that we might use. The benefit to someone who could help us in this way would be ready access to a top-notch Amateur Radio Station along with the satisfaction that comes from helping our members develop their skills and support our community in times of emergency. If you know of a space that you think we might consider, please contact us at pres@n1fd. org. We are also looking for members who would like to help us with this project. We hope to find a space and undertake a club station project in 2020. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Winter Field Day 2020 Final Station Test > A few weekends ago we got together at our QTH to complete the final station test for our planned 5O operation in Winter Field Day (WFD)... - Published: 2020-01-16 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/16/winter-field-day-2020-test/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day, HF, Internet, Station Building, VHF/UHF Winter Field Day 2020 is almost here! A few weekends ago, Jerry K1OKD, Jon AC1EV, Andrew NF1H, Anita AB1QB, and I got together at our QTH to complete the final station test for our planned 5O operation in Winter Field Day (WFD). Portable Wireless Networking Portable Wireless Networking Pod In preparation for WFD 2020 and our test, I built a new Wireless Networking Pod. This unit was made possible by a very generous donation of a router with LTE wireless access capabilities by Dave, K1DLM. Networking Pod Details The system consists of the following components: A FortiWiFi 60D 3G 4G Router which includes an LTE modem for wireless internet access A NetGear GS516TP 16-Port enterprise-grade managed Ethernet Switch with PoE A Cyberpower 700 VA Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) A FortiGate Rackmount kit and patch panel assembly for the Fortigate Router A Gator 6U portable rolling enclosure to package all of the components Our Networking Pod will be used in a number of ways to support Nashua Area Radio Society activities including Youth Expos, Ham Bootcamps, Field Day Operations, Portable Operations, and others. It provides a wired and wireless (via WiFi) network capability including DHCP, DNS, Firewall and other IP services that can be used to network computers running the N1MM+ logger and other apps. It can also be used to provide wireless internet access via LTE in situations where we need this. Station Testing VHF Station Test We had already assembled and tested our two Winter Field Day 2020 HF/VHF+ Stations during a previous station test so the final test was focused on the three planned HF stations and the networking of the N1MM+ Loggers that we'll be using. Jerry K1OKD and Jon AC1EV Perform an HF Station and Networking Test We set up the three HF stations and connected the associated laptop computers to the Network Pod for the test. Each of our HF stations includes: An Icom IC-7300 Transceiver (100w) A WinKeyer with a set of CW paddles A Heil Headset with a Boom Microphone A Footswitch A Windows Laptop Computer with an outboard second monitor Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system at Winter Field Day We also tested our Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system along with the radios. 160m All-Mode Station Main N1MM+ Monitor A big part of this test was to get the N1MM Logger+ working with the radios and in a network configuration using the Networking Pod. Networking N1MM+ enables us to maintain a common log across the 5 stations in our Winter Field Day setup. All of the stations were also set up for SSB Voice, CW and Digital operation via N1MM+. All of the station tests are complete and we are ready for Winter Field Day! Come on out and join us for what I am sure will be a lot of fun! Fred, AB1OC --- ### December 2019 ISS SSTV Event > Slow-Scan TV (SSTV) from the International Space Station (ISS) was on the air again late in December 2019.  We received some nice images from this event.... - Published: 2020-01-16 - Modified: 2020-02-14 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/16/2019-iss-sstv/ - Categories: Featured, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: ISS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF Slow-Scan TV from the International Space Station (ISS) was on the air again late in December 2019. The ISS SSTV event was in memory of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Receiving SSTV Images From the ISS AB1OC-AB1QB Satellite Station 4. 0 We had our satellite station running to track the ISS and capture the SSTV images during the event. Dec 2019 ISS SSTV Image There were quite a few good ISS passes over our area during the event and we were able to capture some nice images. The video above shows the reception of an SSTV image from the ISS. The images are transmitted on the 2m band using a standard SSTV format. We use a program called MMSSTV to decode the transmissions and display the images. It's pretty easy to receive these images - it can be done with an HT, hand-held antenna, and a laptop. The video above shows how to receive an image from the ISS this way. You can read more about what's involved in setting up equipment and software to receive and decode these images here. Image Gallery We had fun receiving the SSTV event images. The gallery above contains all of the images that we received as part of the event. For future events, keep an eye on the ARISS SSTV Blog. Anita, AB1QB and Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight: Rick Boswell, K8EZB > K8EZB recently returned to amateur radio after an absence of 50+ years. My interest in amateur radio began around age 8 or 9 as a result of encouragemen... - Published: 2020-01-03 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2020/01/03/member-spotlight-k8ezb/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight I recently returned to amateur radio after an absence of 50+ years. My interest in amateur radio began around age 8 or 9 as a result of encouragement by my father who had been a ham earlier in his life but had been inactive for some time. He brought home a military surplus receiver covering the ham bands and gave it to me to “play” with. He later obtained a set of WWII Army 78 rpm code practice records and helped me build a crude code practice set using a junk box transformer, a door buzzer, and a straight key fashioned from a metal strip cut from a coffee can. First licensed as a Novice in 1957 and upgraded to General a year later. General reinstated May 2017 and original call sign K8EZB reissued as a vanity call sign; Amateur Extra as of December 2017. Current amateur radio interests include software-defined radio technology and vintage HF SSB equipment, mainly Collins and E. F. Johnson. First QSO as a Novice utilized a homebrew one-tube xtal oscillator built on a piece of Masonite and a borrowed WWII German (Siemens) military receiver. The transmitter power supply was constructed with parts salvaged from discarded broadcast receivers picked from the neighborhood trash. My only xtal was in the 80m Novice band; antenna was a 15m dipole because that’s what I had! Worked a station in Michigan from my Cleveland, OH QTH – DX as far as I was concerned, and QRP (by necessity) long before it became trendy. Moved on to a Heathkit DX-35, Johnson VFO, and a National HRO receiver which was ancient even then. The final station before life intervened was a Collins 75A-1 and a Johnson Ranger. While in high school, I became interested in an aviation career, but soon found my uncorrected vision wouldn’t cut it with the military or airlines. For this and other reasons, I chose a career in technology (with this choice strongly influenced by my amateur radio experience), went on to complete a Ph. D. in computer engineering at Case Western Reserve University, and began flying as an avocation while in graduate school. While working on the Ph. D. , I was invited by my faculty advisor to join a new company he was starting. Up to that point, I had assumed I would follow my graduate school colleagues to Bell Labs - seemed like everyone in my department was going to Bell Labs - to pursue a career in industrial R&D. However, a taste of the entrepreneurial life changed my direction in a major way. Finishing my degree, I had an offer in one hand to join a computer architecture group at Bell Labs, and an offer in the other hand to join a small Cleveland company doing innovative work in point-of-transaction systems as VP Engineering. I chose the entrepreneurial route and never looked back. Along the way, I took time off to do an MBA at Harvard. This led to a progression of senior-level jobs in marketing and general management in technology companies, including President/CEO of the E. F. Johnson Company of Waseca, MN. EFJ, a well-known manufacturer of amateur radio and CB gear until the early seventies, left these markets well before I joined the Company. We were focused mainly on land mobile radio and cellular during my tenure there. In addition to developing and marketing the LTR family of land mobile products, we did cell site radios and subscriber equipment for AT&T AMPS (first cellular service in the U. S. ) and air and ground radios for the Airfone in-flight phone service under contract to Airfone, as well as continuing the legacy components business (connectors, tube sockets, variable capacitors, etc) which was the basis on which EFJ was started in 1923. Edgar Johnson (founder) was still living but was retired when I was at EFJ and we had some spirited conversations. While no longer active on a day-to-day basis, he continued in an informal role of an elder statesman. After multiple reincarnations in more recent years, EFJ continues today as part of JVCKenwood and no longer has a presence in Waseca, MN. The most recent 25 years of my career have been as a founding partner (now partner emeritus) in a venture capital firm investing primarily in startup companies in Silicon Valley and New England. I worked from an office on Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA (the heart of Silicon Valley) for much of the nineties, and later moved to the metro Boston area to establish an East Coast office for the firm. Over my time with the firm, we invested in several hundred early-stage companies in the areas of technology (telecommunications and computing), healthcare, and consumer products and services. Active general aviation pilot since 1966; FAA Commercial Pilot certificate with Airplane, Helicopter, Glider and Instrument ratings, Douglas DC-3/C-47 type rating. Currently flying an Enstrom 480B helicopter. The 480B is a derivative of the TH-28 design which Enstrom developed in the early 1990s in response to an Army RFP for a new training helicopter. After losing this competition to Bell Helicopter, Enstrom civilianized the TH-28 to create the 480B while retaining much of the military required robustness of the TH-28 design. The 480B seats five and is powered by a 420 HP Rolls Royce turbine engine. There are now several hundred 480s in service around the world, including as training aircraft with several foreign militaries. Dean Kamen, a well known local entrepreneur, owns two 480s, and at one time owned the Enstrom Helicopter Corporation, as did note attorney F. Lee Bailey. Shown below is the aircraft in which I did a DC-3/C-47 type rating, and it has a remarkable history. Flying this legendary aircraft was quite a thrill. After several recent changes in ownership, this aircraft is now based in Europe, is still flying, but is no longer painted in the military colors shown here. (A type rating is an aircraft type-specific FAA credential required to pilot an aircraft with a gross weight above 12,500 lbs. Obtaining this rating requires a pilot to complete a rigorous oral exam and flight test covering all phases of operation,... --- ### License Classes are Open for Registration > Winter/Spring 2020 License Classes, given by the Nashua Area Radio Society, are open for registration. We will hold Technician, General and Extra classes. - Published: 2019-12-30 - Modified: 2022-09-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/30/winter-spring-2020-license-classes/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam The Nashua Area Radio Society Winter/Spring 2020 License Classes are Open for Registration. The classes will be held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua on the following dates: Technician Class: January 18th and 19th General Class: February 22nd and 23rd Extra Class: March 20th, 21st, and 22nd We will conduct a VE exam session on Sunday at the end of each class. Our classes are based on the Gordon West license manuals. We go over every question in the question pool twice and provide many demos to reinforce the material. Our demos will also give you a flavor of what you can do with your license. To register for a class online, visit https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/ If you have any questions, contact Anita, AB1QB at classes @n1fd. org. You can also contact Anita if you are an ARRL Volunteer Examiner and would like to help out with any of our VE sessions. --- ### ISS SSTV Event Now Until January 1st > The International Space Station will be transmitting SSTV images until January 1st as part of an ISS SSTV event in memory of Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov - Published: 2019-12-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/30/iss-sstv-event-now-until-january-1st/ - Categories: Featured, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: ISS, On The Air, Satellite, Space ARISS SSTV is currently on the air until 18:20 UTC on January 1st. The ISS SSTV event is in memory of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. ISS SSTV Image captured on 12/29/19 Here is an image that we captured on 12/29. The images will be sent continuously by the ISS and can be received during ISS passes over our area. You can find out the passes over your area by entering your grid square and elevation and choosing ISS at the following website: https://www. amsat. org/track/index. php To see how we received the image see the following article https://www. n1fd. org/2017/12/18/iss-sstv/ We hope you can have some fun receiving ISS SSTV event images. For future events, keep an eye on the ARISS SSTV Blog. --- ### More Station Upgrades At K8EZB > In a previous article on K8EZB station upgrades, I mentioned plans to add an Acom A1200S amp and 04AT tuner to my existing IC-7610 based station... - Published: 2019-12-29 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/29/more-station-upgrades-at-k8ezb/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: HF, Station Building In a previous article on K8EZB station upgrades, I mentioned plans to add an Acom A1200S amp and 04AT tuner to my existing IC-7610 based station. This proved to be a bit more of a project than first thought. Some details below. Ground System: I had not previously used an amp in any of my stations, so I sought some advice from those with experience at this. All advised that a good ground system is even more important when using an amp, so I went to school on amateur radio ground systems. My main resource was the ARRL Grounding and Bonding book. After reading this carefully and consulting several other publications, I decided to install two ground rods interconnected with the electrical service ground rod, for a total of three ground rods. I was reluctant to drive in the new ground rods with a hammer or hammer drill, so looked online for alternatives. I came across several YouTube videos showing a “hydraulic” method using water pressure to make a hole for the rods, and decided to try this method. I purchased two 10 ft sections of copper plumbing pipe and attached a fitting to one end which allowed the connection of a garden hose. Using no more water pressure than is available from a common hose spigot, I was easily able to insert about 8 ft of each copper pipe into the ground using only water pressure. A few gentle taps with a hammer left about 6 inches above the ground. Ground rods were spaced apart about 20 ft and interconnected with heavy solid copper wire buried just under the surface. An Alpha Delta surge protector and DXE copper ground clamps were used to finish-off outside portion of the system. Exterior cables/components were installed in 2. 5 in PVC pipe and irrigation system boxes for protection and easy access. "Hydraulic" Ground Rod Installation Exterior Cables/Connections Grounds at the station operating table use a copper bus bar from KF7P Metalwerks, with each piece of equipment connected to the bus bar with 1” copper straps from Georgia Copper, also used to connect the station bus bar to the main Erico ground bus. Shack Ground Bar Georgia Copper Ground Straps Erico Main Ground Bus RFI: Despite careful attention to grounding, I experienced two instances of RFI at higher power levels when using the amp. In one case, RF was getting into my station computer UPS, and in the other case, into my DSL modem/router. These problems were fairly easily solved by similar but different methods. Both solutions used generous application of ferrite beads and homebrew common-mode RF chokes wound on mix 31 ferrite toroids from KF7P Metalwerks and applied as suggested in an excellent paper by W1HIS. Getting the RF out of the router required, in addition to the RF chokes, relocating the router a considerable distance from the RF source and powering through a small UPS. All this took some patient research and sleuthing, but finally paid off. Ferrites Typical Common Mode Choke (USB) Amp and Tuner Issues: After doing considerable homework researching amps in the 1000-1500 watt class, I selected the Acom A1200S amp and companion 04AT tuner. One key requirement was a solid-state amp. In addition to the Acom, I initially considered the Elecraft KPA-1500, Flex PGXL, and Palstar LA-1K with Palstar HF Autotuner. I eliminated the KPA-1500 due to price (significantly more expensive for relatively small power output advantage), fan noise complaints, and reports of early failures. The Flex PGXL was made from unobtanium, not available for at least 8-12 months even after being introduced two years previously, and was the most expensive of the lot by a wide margin even without a more unavailable tuner. Both of the Palstar units had a mix of favorable and unfavorable reviews and, to my eye, a clunky looking industrial design. Although the Acom A1200S has had teething problems in the past, recent reviews have been mostly favorable, the price was very competitive, the industrial design appealing, the tuner nicely integrated, and the fact that DXE handles U. S. service made this choice fairly easy. However, all has not been wonderful with this choice. Due to a significant number of “nits” in the design, documentation, operation, and factory support of this product, I can give it no better than an “adequate” rating at this time (3 on a scale of 5). Most significant is a firmware bug I discovered when using the amp with recent vintage transceivers (IC-7610). The amp/tuner does not handle the digital modes correctly when executing a “Tune” cycle, and returns the transceiver to an incorrect mode at the end of a Tune, requiring the operator to manually reselect the correct transceiver mode; not a huge deal, but shouldn’t be necessary in equipment at this price point. I have communicated this issue to Acom in Bulgaria, and they acknowledge the problem, which they believe can be corrected with a future firmware update, however no visibility yet of the timing for a firmware fix. The 04AT tuner incorporates a 4-port antenna switch and can be located remotely (closer to the antenna feed point) if desired. Antennas are selected from the amp front panel controls. Acom A1200S Acom 04AT Tuner Despite the issues outlined in this update, I now have things settled down and working well. I still believe the Acom amp to be the best choice of those considered and actually available now. The Acom amp and tuner basically convert the IC-7610 into a 1200 watt transceiver, with band/mode changes executed quite transparently with the click of a mouse. Rick, K8EZB --- ### VHF+ Station Prep for Winter Field Day 2020 > We're planning to expand our station coverage to include more bands above 6m. We are adding the 1.25m, 33cm, and 23cm bands to our Winter Field Day 2020... - Published: 2019-12-26 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/26/station-prep-winter-field-day-2020/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day, Portable, Station Building, VHF/UHF We've busy preparing for Winter Field Day 2020. We're planning to expand our station coverage to include more bands above 6m. Jamey AC1DC Next To Our New WFD VHF+ Mast We are planning on adding the 1. 25m, 33cm, and 23cm bands to our Winter Field Day 2020 setup. Jamey, AC1DC and I put together a new mast to support Yagis for these new bands a few weeks back. Rovers for New Bands Winter Field Day Rover Test Jon, AC1EV and Jerry, K1OKD have been working on a Rover set up so that folks can make contacts on these new bands and help out all of the Winter Field Day stations in our area. VHF+ Station Testing for Winter Field Day 2020 VHF Station #1 Test The first station that we put together (VHF #1) is based upon an Elecraft KX3/PX3 combination. We added an outboard 100W HF amplifier and two Tranverters to the radio to cover 160m-10m, 1. 25m, and 33cm. We plan to use this station for VHF+ contacts during the daytime and for HF operations at night. All of our Winter Field Day Stations will have computers for logging and digital modes and they will all support Phone, CW, and Digital modes. Also, we will be using networked N1MM+ for logging at Winter Field Day. VHF Station #2 Test The second station we put together (VHF #2) uses an Icom IC-9100 Transceiver and will cover the HF bands, 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 23cm. It will have a computer-controlled satellite setup that uses a Mac Laptop for tracking as well as a windows computer for logging, digital modes, and CW. The IC-9100 has 100w out on the HF Bands, 6m, and 2m as well as 70w output on the 70cm band - plenty of power for Winter Field Day. The 23cm side of the IC-9100 does 10w out so we've added a 100w amplifier for this band. The combination of the amp and the high-gain 23cm antenna that we are using will make our Effective Radiated Power (ERP) on 23cm in excess of 2,000w. Thanks to some great work by Jon, Jerry, Jamey, and Anita our two most complex stations are ready to go. We will be testing our 3 remaining HF station including one which supports 160m in the near future. We hope that you'll join us for some operating fun at Winter Field Day! You can sign-up for operating, roving, and/or station set up at Winter Field Day 2020 here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Welcome to the 2020 Executive Committee Members > I’d like to congratulate and welcome our 2020 new and returning Officers and Directors to the Executive Committee.  Our 2020 Officers and Directors are: - Published: 2019-12-23 - Modified: 2020-01-16 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/23/2020-executive-committee/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Executive Committee As we recently held our annual officer elections, I’d like to thank the departing officers for their service to the Nashua Area Radio Society. Departing the Executive committee are: Vice President, Dave Merchant, K1DLM Secretary, Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Programs, Scott Andersen, NE1RD 2020 Executive Committee Members I’d like to congratulate and welcome our new and returning Officers and Directors to the Executive Committee. Our 2020 Officers and Directors are: President, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Vice President, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Secretary, Jon Turner, AC1EV Treasurer, Charlie Dunn, W1CBD Activities, Jim Lajoie, K1BRM Programs, Jeff Lalmond, AC1FX Membership, Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB I am looking forward to working with the New Executive Committee and toward a successful 2020. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Announcing The First Annual Student-Teacher Contest > The Nashua Area Radio Society is committed to helping new and prospective hams to get on the air.  We are pleased to sponsor a student-teacher contest... - Published: 2019-12-20 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/20/student-teacher-contest/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Contest, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society is committed to helping new and prospective hams to get on the air. To this end, we are pleased to sponsor a student-teacher contest to encourage participation in other Amateur Radio contests by Students and Teachers. This is a fantastic opportunity to win a new state-of-the-art Icom IC-7300 Software Defined Radio, Buckmaster antenna with help to put it up or another station accessory. How Will The Student-Teacher Contest Work? To participate, you simply need to get on the air during 5 of the contests listed below for 3-consecutive hours from January 1, 2020, through September 30th, 2020. Students and Teachers will be graded based on the best consecutive 3-hour score in a given contest. We will be using level 1, 2 and 3 weightings (see list below) plus contest equalization to normalize the scores. Your 5 best contest scores will be combined to create your final score and finish placing. Keith, KC1IMK at the Digital Station The list of eligible contests (see below) includes SSB, Digital, and CW contests so you can choose your favorite operating mode or compete in contests that use different modes if you like. Highlights and Leaderboard Coming We are planning to add a new page for contest highlights and leaderboard here on n1fd. org that will be updated to show the current standings after each contest in the series. But I Don't Have a License Yet... Student Teacher License Class Not licensed? Not a problem. Based upon demand, we will offer Tech and General License classes in January/February for any student-teacher contest participants who what to earn their Amateur Radio License to compete. Ryan, KC1KJS, operating at Field Day We will also provide contest training for you to get started. Our January Tech Night will be about getting started in contesting and Fred and Anita will provide training to use AB1OC/AB1QB and KC1XX. What Will I Use For A Station? Abby, KC1FFX in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW If you have access to a station, you may certainly operate from home. If not, there will be opportunities to operate some World-class stations, including AB1OC/AB1QB, KC1XX or even during Field Day and Winter Field Day! We’re trying to make this as easy as possible. How Do I Enter To Compete? To participate, you must be a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society, and either a student (High School or younger) or their teacher. If you’re not already a member of NARS, you can sign-up here. Winners will be announced at the October Nashua Area Radio Society Club Meeting. In order for this give-away to work, we’re going to need a minimum of (6) NARS members to sign-up no later than December 31, 2019. Please contact Anita, AB1QB, at membership@n1fd. org to sign-up. Which Contests Count Towards My Score? The preliminary list of Eligible Contests in which you can participate are as follows: WRTC-like weighting will be used to equalize contest scores Score Multipliers – Level 3: x3, Level 2: x2, Level 1: x1 For our Student-Teacher Contest to go forward, we need students and teachers to sign up before the end of the year. Tell your family, friends, and teachers about the contest! Dave, K1DLM --- ### An Amazing Experience - Council Rock HS South ISS Contact > I became an ARISS Mentor to help other schools make ISS contacts. I recently served as a mentor for the Council Rock HS ISS Contact.... - Published: 2019-12-12 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/12/council-rock-iss-contact/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Its been about a year since we helped students at Hudson Memorial School make contact with the ISS. That contact was enabled by ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station). ARISS is an organization that coordinates and sponsors Amateur Radio Activities aboard the ISS. Becoming an ARISS Mentor After our contact, I decided to become an ARISS Mentor so I could help other schools make contacts with astronauts aboard the ISS. Dave Jordan AA4KN - Senior ARISS Mentor I spent the last year working with Dave Jordan, AA4KN to learn how the ARISS program works and how to help schools make successful ISS contacts. Dave did a great job coaching me as I worked with Council Rock H. S. South in Holland, PA to prepare for their ISS Contact. The Team At Council Rock H. S. South Council Rock ISS Contact Team Members I got to know many great folks as part of Council Rock's ISS contact. Jerry Fetter, K3OHI (upper right in the photo above) was the teacher who led the preparations for the contact. The folks in the photo above are leaders in the Warminster Amateur Radio Club. These folks worked closely with Jerry and the students at Council Rock to make the school's ISS contact happen. Contact Preparations --- ### Being DX - Again > There are several of us aging contesters here in The Villages that still yearn to be on the business end of DX. Planning for a DX Operation in Montserrat... - Published: 2019-12-11 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/11/being-dx-operation/ - Categories: Antennas, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX, On The Air, Tower - Formats: Image Back at the turn of the century, I had the opportunity to travel to Grenada as part of a contest DXpedition organized by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC). The club targeted the CQ Worldwide CW contest in November to participate, one of the “grand slam” of DX contesting. Don, K2KQ who was president of YCCC at the time, coordinated with another club to use their resources at the station site located in the Emergency Operations Center in Grenada. I had the privilege to operate three years running as part of the J3A team. Being the only station in the country allowed us to continuously run stations. The highlight of our multi-multi DX operation was placing third in the WORLD in 2001. What a rush! Fast forward to 2019. There are several of us aging contesters here in The Villages that still yearn to be on the business end of a DX Operation. George, K2DM has been making pilgrimages to Montserrat for a number of years, each time adding to his station at a guest house on the island. Not long after his last sojourn for the ARRL DX contests, I asked about joining him for the CQ CW event in the fall. He agreed it would be a good idea if we could round up a couple more operators. It did not take long before George convinced Pete, K2PS, and Wayne, N4FP to join in. George and Pete are veteran contesters from the Frankfort Radio Club, the perennial rival to YCCC for the top spot in the unlimited club contest category. Wayne is a former fighter pilot who loves CW; he prefers to stick with a keyer paddle in lieu of pushing a keyboard. He can hum along at 30+ WPM. I soon discovered that getting to Montserrat to do a DX Operation would not be as easy as my trips to Grenada. The country was nearly destroyed in 1995 when the Soufriere Hills volcano came to life after 500 years. By 1997, after multiple eruptions and pyroclastic flows, the capital of Plymouth was no more. The volcano is on the southern part of the pear-shaped island while the northern end was largely a rain forest. In the aftermath of the destruction, the population went from 12,000 down to 5000 people, as many left to find jobs elsewhere in the Caribbean. Prior to the eruption, Montserrat had been a typical tourist spot with its claim to fame being recording studios for the biggest rock stars of the 60s and 70s. The performers welcomed the anonymity of the island without hoards of autograph seekers. The island is making a comeback now that the ash clouds have stopped and the rains have washed the landscape. I packed my bags for an EARLY pickup for the Orlando airport. I greeted the transport driver with my beautiful mug at 3:00 AM. The other members of our team in various stages of wakefulness greeted me at the airport for our flight to Miami. We had time for a quick lunch at the airport before boarding our flight to Anguilla. Our gear included two Elecraft K3 transceivers, two laptops, and an Expert 1. 3 amplifier all courtesy of K2DM. George had another Expert amplifier already at the Montserrat station that he was going to bring back home since it was MUCH lighter than the analog power supply built into the 1. 3 model. (The hefty weight meant a hefty $130 overweight fee in baggage. ) We arrived in Montserrat in the late afternoon after a 20-minute flight from Anguilla and were greeted by Dave, owner of the Gingerbread Hill guest house where we would be staying (Figure 1). Dave and Figure 1: Gingerbread Hill House his family has lived in Montserrat for 40 years and has welcomed many hams since he discovered an outlet for his guest house. The crank-up tower is courtesy of George. Our operating positions were on the third floor with access to the roof so we could install our antennas. The tower cranks up to fifty feet which is more than adequate from our perch on the hillside. Figure 2 shows the view toward Europe from the roof and Figure 3 shows the view toward the west and the US. Figure 2: View to the Northeast Figure 3: View toward the US The first order of business the next day was to visit the telecommunications office to get our licenses. I was hoping for VP2MTE but it was already taken so I settled for VP2MED to use outside the contest. George managed to change his license to VP2MDM after years of being VP2MDG. We would be using VP2MDM throughout the contest. (Well, it is his station. ) We spent the rest of the day hauling the antennas down from Dave's home further up the driveway and getting them assembled. Our antenna farm consisted of a 40-2CD 40-meter beam, TH6DXX, and CL33 triband beams, and inverted Vees for 80 and 160 meters. The 40-meter and TH6DXX beams were mounted on the tower while the CL33 was installed on a mast dropped into a convenient hole in one of the railing posts off the roof deck. Completing the layout were the inverted V antennas strung just below the beams. Figure 4 shows the completed antennas ready to roll. Figure 4: VP2MDM Antenna Farm We set up the K3s to operate as a multi-2 category, each with an amplifier to make sure we would be heard through the pileups. George and Pete operated as a team while Wayne and I worked the next shift. Hours were staggered to allow for some sleep and give each team a chance to operate all bands. Each operator was assured 24 hours of on-the-air time. So, how did we do during our DX Operation? Our raw score tallied up to 11,015,275 points, good for 10th place worldwide at this time, and 3rd in North America. Not bad for the aging Fab Four. The only downside was 10 meters where we managed just 11 QSOs. Perhaps we were too close to the US to rake in stations. Would I do it again? I'm... --- ### Sign-Up Sheets for Winter Field Day 2020 > Are you interested in operating as N1FD during Winter Field Day 2020? Sign-up to be part of the Nashua Area Radio Society Winter Field Day 2020 today... - Published: 2019-12-07 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/07/winter-field-day-sign-up-2020/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, Tech Night Winter Field Day 2020 takes place on Saturday, January 25th and Sunday, January 26th with Setup staring on Friday, January 24th. You can sign-up to be part of Winter Field Day 2020 now! Are you interested in operating as N1FD during Winter Field Day 2020? Are you available to help with setup, teardown, operations and/or transport? If so, you can sign-up to participate in Winter Field Day 2020 in our Members Forum. The tab titled “WFD 2020 Operating Schedule” is where you can sign up for an operating slot. The tab titled “WFD 2020 Setup and Teardown” is where you can sign up for an operations team. Participating in Winer Field Day is an excellent opportunity to hone your operating skills. You’ll also learn skills in setting up high-performance, multi-mode stations -- including a tower and antennas. It’s a lot of fun too. Details on our Winter Field Day plans and schedule of events will be presented at our December Tech Night on December 10th at 7 pm. We’ll also provide training for on-site operators and off-site rovers. Sign-Up for Winter Field Day 2020 Today! I hope to see you there. TU es 73! DE Jerry, K1OKD --- ### Listen In On The Council Rock ARISS Contact on Thursday! > Students at Council Rock HS will be talking with Astronaut Drew Morgan, KI5AAA aboard the ISS on Thursday. The school's contact is made possible by ARISS... - Published: 2019-12-03 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/03/council-rock-ariss-contact/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, ISS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Students at Council Rock High School South in Southampton, PA will be talking with Astronaut Drew Morgan, KI5AAA aboard the ISS on Thursday. The ISS will be over our area here in the Northeastern Unit States beginning at about 12:55 pm eastern time on Thursday, December 5th. Council Rock's ARISS Contact is made possible by the ARISS Program. Astronaut Drew Morgan, KI5AAA You should be able to hear Drew on the ISS voice downlink at 145. 800 MHz FM. The ISS pass will be a high one over our area. As a result, we should be able to hear the downlink using a good vertical antenna and perhaps even using an HT. ARISS Contact Preparations Council Rock H. S. ARC and Warminster ARC Members The Council Rock H. S. South Amateur Radio Club partnered with the Warminster Amateur Radio Club to prepare for the school's ISS contact. Council Rock H. S. Students Test Their ISS Ground Station Students, Teachers, and their Warminster ARC partners have assembled and tested their ISS Ground Station in preparation for their contact. Several of the students used their station to make their very first Amateur Radio Contacts. Ground Station Antennas at Council Rock H. S. South Plans for Contact Day Here's some more information about the plans for the contact from Andy Vavra - KD3RF, a Warminster ARC member, who has been working with the Students and Faculty at Council Rock H. S. South to prepare for their contact: I'm Andy Vavra - KD3RF, and one of several mentors from the Warminster Amateur Radio Club (WARC) who are helping students from Council Rock High School South in Southampton, PA make contact with the International Space Station on Thursday, December 5th as part of NASA and AMSAT's ARISS program... Several Warminster Amateur Radio Club members including Michael Shanblatt (W3MAS,) Irwin Darack (KD3TB,) Joe Horanzy (AA3JH,) as well as myself (KD3RF) and ARISS advisor Fred Kemmerer (AB1OC) have been mentoring the teachers and students to help them set-up and operate a permanent satellite station at the school which they will use to engage in a conversation with the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) this coming Thursday, December 5th at 17:56 UTC (12:56 pm Eastern Time. )... Council Rock South has an active Ham Radio club (KC3NNG) with more than 30 student members in grades 9 - 12 who are getting started on their Ham Radio journeys. The club is under the sponsorship and guidance of four teacher/advisors from the school's STEM program; Gerald Fetter (K3OHI,) Joe Warwick (KB3ZED,) and Jeff Warmkassel and Fred Bauer who are working on getting licensed. The student members represent all segments of Council Rock’s diverse community and are interested in continuing their education in fields such as engineering, science, technology, marketing and business. Join In On Council Rock's ISS Contact You can join the Council Rock Facebook Group for updates and watch a live stream of the contact on Thursday between 12:30 - 1:30 pm. Facebook Page & link for live stream video of the contact: https://www. facebook. com/pg/crsouthradio/posts Council Rock South Amateur Radio Club Homepage: https://www. crsd. org/Page/57298 Council Rock South Amateur Radio Club Instagram: https://www. instagram. com/crsouthradio/ I am serving as the ARRIS Mentor for Council Rock H. S. South's ISS Contact. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be at their school on Thursday to be part of what I am sure will be a very memorable event. You can learn more about the ARISS Program and how to secure an ISS contact for your school here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day Results 2019 - N1FD is Number One Field Day! > Field Day 2019 results are in and The Nashua Area Radio Society (N1FD) placed #1 at ARRL Field Day 2019 in Category 11A and #15 overall. - Published: 2019-12-01 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/01/field-day-2019-results/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day The ARRL Field Day 2019 results are in and our N1FD entry placed Number 1 in the 11A category! We also placed #15 overall with a final score of 12,688. This was a huge improvement from Field Day 2018, where we placed #2 in Category 10A with a score of 9,620 and placed #46 overall. Congratulations to everyone who participated in our Field Day operation! Here is a link to the ARRL Field Day Results 2019 Article. Here is a link to the recap of our 2019 Field Day operation A gallery of photos from ARRL Field Day 2019 can be seen below. If you enjoyed Field Day or did not get an opportunity to participate, plan to join us for Winter Field Day. It will be held on the weekend of January 25th at Keyes Memorial Field in Milford, NH. See this article for more information. Hope to see you at Winter Field Day! Anita, AB1QB --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 5 – Control Cables and Rotator Controller > We installed the control cables to our new EME Tower and got our Azimuth Rotator working. The project involved installing a Utility Enclosure… - Published: 2019-12-01 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/12/01/eme-station-2-0-part-5-control-cables-and-rotator-controller/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, EME, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF Snow is coming to New England this weekend so we wanted to get the control cables run to our new EME Tower before the ground is covered with snow. The project involved installing a Utility Enclosure... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 5 – Control Cables and Rotator Controller We made some more progress on our 2m EME Station Project this past weekend. We began by installing a Utility Controller on our new EME Tower. With this done, we next ran three control cables through the conduits between our shack and the Tower. The control cables connect to our Azimuth Rotator, Elevation Rotator, and a planned MAP65 Switching and Preamp System. Green Heron Az-El Rotator Controller With the cables run, we connected our Azimuth Rotator to a Green Heron Az/El Rotator Controller in our shack. This enabled us to get our Azimuth Rotator configured and tested. You can read more about this part of our EME Station Project via the link above. The next step in our EME Station Project will be to assemble the antennas that we have on order from M2 Antennas Systems and install them along with an H-Frame and related gear on our new Tower. We are hoping that the winter weather will allow us to get this done before spring. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Winter Field Day VHF+ Preparations > We are continuing to make progress on our preparation for Winter Field Day (WFD) 2020. We assembled and testing our Winter Field Day VHF+ Mast... - Published: 2019-11-30 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/30/winter-field-day-vhf-prep/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Emcom, Field Day, Station Building, VHF/UHF We are continuing to make progress on our preparation for VHF+ Operations at Winter Field Day (WFD) 2020. We had a lot of fun on the VHF+ bands at WFD 2019 and we are planning to add some more bands for our operation this year. New Winter Field Day VHF+ Mast Jamey AC1DC Next To New WFD VHF+ Mas Jamey, AC1DC an I put together a new mast and antennas for the VHF+ bands this weekend. Our new mast comes from Max-Gain Systems. It is a little over 30 ft high and is guyed at 2 levels. We can rotate the mast at the base using the arm-strong method. We'll be feeding the mast with LMR-600 coax. VHF+ Antenna Details Our VHF+ mast holds yagi antennas for the 23cm, 33cm, and 1. 25m bands. M2 Antennas 222-7EZ Yagi Jerry, K1OKD and I assembled a new 220 MHz Yagi for this setup last weekend. We are using rear-mounted yagis on our mast to simplify mounting and feedline connections and to keep the overall weight on the mast at a reasonable level. With 50 - 100w in, these antennas will produce 450 - 2500 watts of effective radiated power. Transverters and Transceivers 33cm Transverter The Transverters for our VHF+ station have also arrived from Q5 Signal. The unit shown above is for the 33cm (902 MHz) band. 33cm Transverter Rear Panel Transverters upconvert transmitted and downconvert received signals from one frequency band to another (ex. from the 33cm band to the 28 Mhz or the 10m Band). They also typically include a power amplifier stage that generates 25w - 50w of output power on the target band. Our station will use transverters along with an Elecraft KX3 Transceiver to put us on three VHF+ bands as well as to add an additional 100W HF Transceiver to our WFD Setup. We will also have an Icom IC-9100 Transceiver to cover the HF, 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands. The Winter Field Day Team is planning some station testing sessions in the near future to get all of our HF and VHF+ rigs ready. All Nashua Area Radio Society Members are invited to join us for these sessions to learn more about the equipment that we use at Field Day. We'll post information in our Field Day Forum and on our Calendar as these sessions are scheduled. You can read more about our plans for Winter Field Day 2020 in Jerry's article here on our Blog. See you at Winter Field Day! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Winter Field Day 2020 Update > Winter Field Day 2020 is just over two months away and our plans for another successful event are coming together nicely. But we really need your help... - Published: 2019-11-29 - Modified: 2023-09-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/29/winter-field-day-2020-update/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Field Day, NARS Event, VHF/UHF Winter Field Day 2020 is just over two months away and our plans for another successful event are coming together nicely. This week saw key events towards that end. On Monday, the Milford, NH Board of Selectmen approved our request allowing us to stay in the park overnight from Friday, January 24th thru Sunday, January 26th. On Tuesday, the NARS Executive Committee approved our budget for expenses. All we need now is a little more time to prepare equipment, muster our setup/teardown teams, and recruit operators. What Is Winter Field Day? For those not familiar with Winter Field Day (WFD), the purpose is to gain hands-on experience with emergency communications under winter conditions. And although our objective is to be safe (and warm) while having fun during winter’s doldrums, scores are tallied and thus, it’s a contest. For Winter Field Day 2019, NARS was number one in category (4-oscar), and number two overall. This year we have our sights set on the top position with a solid plan to win it. Specifically, we are increasing our transmitter count to 5-oscar, adding a 2nd 40m antenna, and more VHF+ capability. Details of our plans and hands-on demo on using the equipment will be presented at our Tuesday, December 10th at 7 pm – Winter Field Day 2020 Tech Night. If you are interested in participating in WFD, you are encouraged to attend. We Need Your Help The planning team is working hard to make WFD a safe and enjoyable event for everyone. But we really need your help to make this a success. We are looking for members willing to commit to helping transport equipment, setup and teardown stations. Here is a summary of our needs: Transportation to Keyes park on Friday morning – especially if you have a pick-up truck (but all are welcome). Setup of the tower, antennas, and equipment on Friday afternoon and again Saturday morning. Site teardown on Sunday after 2 pm and transportation away from the park. If you are new to amateur radio, field day is a fantastic way to get some first-hand experience in building a high-performance multi-mode station; including putting up a tower and antennas. And of course, we need operators! An “official” sign up list will be posted once we finalize a few details, but we are looking for people to commit now. If you are interested in operating (especially CW), please let us know. You don’t need an advanced license to join in. We’ll have plenty of control operators for the HF bands and Technicians have full privileges on VHF+. This is a great opportunity for new hams (and new club members) to participate in a major outdoor contest. Learning More... I hope you will join us for Winter Field Day 2020. If you want to hear more, or sign-up, please attend the NARS December 3rd Membership Meeting or the December 10th Tech Night. If you can’t make either meeting, please contact, Jerry Doty, K1OKD, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, or anyone else on the NARS Winter Field Day planning team. Thank you, happy Thanksgiving es 73! DE Jerry, K1OKD --- ### Ham Nation Features Nashua Area Radio Society Activities and Projects > The Nashua Area Radio Society’s activities and projects were featured on Ham Nation on Wednesday, November 27th. Our segment included information... - Published: 2019-11-28 - Modified: 2020-03-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/28/nars-on-ham-nation/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Internet, Tech Night, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society’s activities and projects were featured on Ham Nation on Wednesday, November 27th. You can view the show below. Ham Nation Episode 430 Featuring The Nashua Area Radio Society Bob Heil's, K9EID interview covered activities and projects of the Nashua Area Radio Society. The interview began with Bob sharing a clip from a previous episode that we did a while back. We discussed several of the Nashua Area Radio Society's projects and activities including: Licensing Programs High-Altitude Balloon Project The ARISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School Our Ham Radio Youth Expos and Ham Bootcamps Summer and Winter Field Day operations Our Club Of The Year Award Our Ham Nation interview also included information about the Nashua Area Radio Society's online training materials. You can learn more about our online training materials and how to get access to them via this link. Ham Nation hosts Bob Heil, Gordon West, and George Thomas all had nice things to say about the work that the Nashua Area Radio Society is doing to bring new folks into the Amateur Radio Service and to help our members build their skills and have fun. We really enjoyed being part of Ham Nation and we look forward to doing it again soon! Anita, AB1QB and Fred, AB1OC --- ### Winter Field Day 2020 Is Coming > Winter Field Day is coming - January 24th-26th, 2020! We will again be holding our operation at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. We are planning new... - Published: 2019-11-20 - Modified: 2023-09-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/20/winter-field-day-2020-coming/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, NARS Event, Tech Night, VHF/UHF, Winter Field Day Winter Field Day 2020 is coming! The dates are January 24th - 26th, 2020. We had a lot of fun at Winter Field Day 2019 and we're looking forward to the event again this year. The Nashua Area Radio Society will again be holding our operation at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH. We are planning several new things this year. Here's some more about our plans. Our Planning Team WFD 2019 Operator Night Shift - The Most Interesting Hams In Amateur Radio... A team has been working on our plans for Winter Field Day (WFD) 2020 for over a month now. The planning leads include: Jerry Doty, K1OKD - WFD Overall Planning Leader Craig Bailey, N1SFD - Antennas and Power Chairperson Jon Turner, AC1EV - Station Chairperson John Slater, KB1EEU - Shelter Chairperson Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC - VHF+ Chairperson Winter Field Day 2020 Plans? WFD 2019, 2 pm and We Are On The Air! With help from many other members, our Winter Field Day 2020 planning team is putting together a really cool operation. Some of the highlights include: We will be operating on all of the HF bands from 160m through 6m. Our antenna farm will include a 40 ft tower with a tri-bander and wire antennas for 80m and 40m Our antenna farm will also include a second 40m wire antenna (a Delta Loop) that will enable us to have two transmitters on 40m at the same time. We are planning an additional transceiver and we will be entering as a 5O (five Tx Outdoor) station this year We are adding quite a few new bands on VHF and above. We'll be on 6m, 2m, 1. 25m (222 MHz), 70cm, 33cm (902 MHz), and 23cm (1. 2 GHz). We will have yagi antennas for all of these bands. John Slater is working on an improved shelter and heating system to keep us warm and dry We will be equipping Rover stations for the VHF+ bands (2m, 1. 25m, 70cm, 33cm, and 23cm). These stations will have Phone, CW, and Digital capabilities. We hope this will provide opportunities for enhanced VHF+ activity for all of the Winter Field Day stations in our area. Our computer-controlled satellite ground station will be back Upcoming Activities New for Winter Field Day 2020 - 1. 25m Yagi We have several activities leading up to Winter Field Day 2020. All NARS members are invited to join us for these activities. Planned activities include: Saturday, November 23rd at 10 am - Yagi building party at AB1OC/AB1QB. We've secured several new Yagi's to use for the VHF+ bands this year. We'll be assembling the one for the 1. 25m (220 MHz) band and testing in our shop. We'll also recondition the driven element of a large 70cm yagi as well. This is a chance to see how a VHF+ weak signal antenna goes together. Friday November 29th at 9 am - VHF+ Mast Test at AB1OC/AB1QB. We are planning a second mast for our VHF+ antennas for Winter Field Day. During this session, we'll be setting up the new mast with the antennas for 1. 25m, 33cm, and 23cm to check it out and cut a new set of guy ropes. Tuesday, December 10th at 7 pm - Winter Field Day 2020 Tech Night. We will be covering all aspects of antenna building, station setup, and operating for Winter Field Day 2020 at our December Tech Night. We are also planning station tests for our HF and VHF+ stations in the near future. Signups for setup and operating during Winter Field Day will be available at our December Membership Meeting. We hope you'll join us for our Winter Field Day activities and operation! Fred, AB1OC --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 4 – New EME Tower Is Complete > We got our new 26 ft EME tower up this past week. The new tower is a hybrid free-standing/guyed design and will support our planned 2M EME Antenna System... - Published: 2019-11-13 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/13/eme-part-4-eme-tower/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF Our goal for this phase of our EME Station Project is to get our new tower up, install the Azimuth Rotator and Mast, and run the hardline and coax cables for our antennas from the shack to our new ... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 4 – New EME Tower Is Complete We got our new 26 ft EME tower up this past week. The new tower is a hybrid free-standing/guyed design and will support our planned 2M EME Antenna System. This phase of our project involved: Putting up the remaining two sections of Rohn 55G Tower Installing Phillystand Guy cables to stiffen the tower Installing a heavy-duty Azimuth Rotator and a 3" chrome mast inside the top Install the phase-tuned coax cables and hardline coax that will connect our antennas to the rest of our station Connecting the coax cables and hardlines to an expanded station ground block at the entry to our shack You can read all about this phase of our project via the link above. The next phase of our project will include running control cables and installing a control cable junction box on the tower, hooking up and testing the rotator, completing our grounding and bonding system, and preparing to install the antennas and tower electronics when they arrive from M2 Antenna Systems. Fred, AB1OC --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 3 – Phase Tuned Receive Coax Cables > Our EME station has Adaptive Polarity capability (MAP65) requiring coax cables of identical length. We used a VNA to measure the length of coax cables.... - Published: 2019-11-13 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/13/eme-station-part-3-vna-phase-tuned-coax/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, EME, Station Building, VHF/UHF Our new 2M EME station will have Adaptive Polarity capability via MAP65. MAP65 requires that received signals from the Horizontal and Vertical planes of our antennas arrive at the receivers in our shack precisely in phase with each other. We used a VNA to precisely measure coax cable length... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 3 – Phase Tuned Receive Coax Cables We are continuing to make progress on our new 2M EME Station. The MAP65 adaptive polarity aspect of our plans requires that the phase relationship between the Horizontal and Vertical elements of our antennas be precisely maintained by our receive coax cables. The construction of these coax cables required us to use a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) to precisely measure and equalize the electrical lengths of our receive-coax cables. We know that a 1/4 wavelength section of coax cable which has an open-circuit at one end will appear as a low (resonant) impedance at the opposite end. If we use a VNA to precisely measure the minium resonant frequency of our coax cables in this way, we can use a simple formula to determine the cables' lengths. The article associated with the link above explains how a VNA can be used to measure the length of a coax cable. A frequency accurate antenna analyzer can also be used to make these measurements. Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Amazing 20m Coil-Shortened "Shower Rod Dipole". > If you've got a few old shower curtain rods hanging around - you can build a really good, low cost, shower rod dipole antenna for 20m digital modes... - Published: 2019-11-12 - Modified: 2020-10-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/12/the-amazing-20m-coil-shortened-shower-rod-dipole/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew If you've got a few old shower curtain rods hanging around - you can build a low-cost 20m shower rod dipole antenna. Additionally, if you add a tripod, and a matching transformer, and you'll have a robust field deploy-able antenna. It can also be manually steered for better performance and searching for nulls. This is the dipole that I used for the ARRL 2019 Field Day and was very happy with its performance. My preference this year was digital modes so I tuned the coils for the magical FT8 14. 074 MHz. The original plan diagram is shown in Figure 1 and the coil calculator was used to design the inductors. Anything close to 19-20uH would work for this frequency (14. 074 MHz. ). The Plan Figure 1 - Mechanical plan Using a PVC T, about 3 feet of 1. 25"OD PVC pipe, four 24" aluminum or plated steel shower rod sections, some 14 AWG stranded wire, and a handful of sheet metal screws you really can construct a pretty good dipole for 20m. I tested it mounted on a tripod as shown in Figure 2 and raised to 15-18'. The MFJ-907 transformer, or a torroid assembly similar to the 630m match, will make for an easy match transformer that could be mounted directly on the "T" section. Figure 2 - Deployed Dipole on Tripod On one end of the dipole I attached a short piece of kernmantle (nylon) rope which hung to the ground when the antenna was fully extended. This, and slipping the vertical PVC section over a mast tube, allows for turning the dipole for experimenting with nulls and increased Rx performance. The Big Day For the ARRL 2019 Field Day, I operated 1BNH using 5W maximum from near the top of Beech Hill in Dublin, NH. (Grid Square FN32xv) Radio was an FT-991 on battery using the built in ATU. Although the road to the summit was washed out this year from spring flooding, I was able to set up on a pretty good high point along Rt 137 just east of the Zig Zag trailhead. QSO Results ! With only several hours of operating time out of the back of my Jeep I was able to FT8 QSOs with 13 stations in 6 unique call sign zones. Two of the most distant stations were the Halifax ARC (VE1FO) and the Northeastern Missouri ARC (W0CBL). Noteworthy is that while limited to only 5 Watts for transmitting, I could clearly hear many more stations (as many as 50) then I could actually QSO with. Station List: 2019-06-23 09:48 W0RRC 20m EN34iv 2. 2019-06-23 09:20 K1HTV 20m FM18ap 3. 2019-06-23 07:59 W3MIE 20m EN91vp 4. 2019-06-23 07:48 W4XD 20m FM08jg 5. 2019-06-23 01:13 VE1FO 20m FN84ep 6. 2019-06-23 01:11 W0CBL 20m EN30tl 7. 2019-06-23 01:08 W1QV 20m FN31xi 8. 2019-06-22 19:43 W4HFH 20m FM18kt 9. 2019-06-22 19:31 K1BX 20m FN43ec 10. 2019-06-22 19:25 VA3BIC 20m FN02jv 11. 2019-06-22 18:39 K3NQT 20m FN00ra 12. 2019-06-22 18:38 VE3XF 20m EN94xj 13. 2019-06-22 18:33 VA3OBO 20m FN03bf The project turned out a great portable antenna for 20m and the performance will definitely surprise you. A subsequent test at home using 100W on FT8, JT9-1, JT9-2, and WSPR, showed no signs of overpowering the antenna. Finally, if any readers have an interest and/or any other questions about this project feel free to contact me directly: WQ2H@arrl. net. 73 – Jim, WQ2H / WK2XAH References: ARRL, (2015). The ARRL Antenna Book for Radio Communications, 23th Edition. The American Radio Relay League, Inc. Newington, CT Electronics Notes (1997). Build an HF Ham Radio Dipole Antenna. Retrieved November 12, 2019 from: https://www. electronics-notes. com/articles/antennas-propagation/dipole-antenna/hf-ham-band-dipole-construction-80-40-20-15-10-meters. php Andersen, S (2019 July 28). When a Dipole Doesn't Hang in a Tree. NARS Article. Retrieved on November 12, 2019 from: https://www. n1fd. org/2019/07/28/unusual-dipoles/ --- ### Ham Bootcamp Session 1 Recap > Session 1 of the Nashua Area Radio Society's Fall 2019 Ham Bootcamp was held on October 26th. Here is a recap of the activities included in the session. - Published: 2019-11-02 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/02/ham-bootcamp-session-1-recap/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Mentor, On The Air We held our first session of Fall 2019 Ham Bootcamp on Saturday October 26th. Ham Bootcamp is a series of programs to help new or inactive Hams to gain the skills to get on the air. This session was held at Fred, AB1OC's and Anita, AB1QB's QTH. We focused on activities for amateurs with Technician Licenses. Our first activity was HT Programming. A few attendees brought their HTs and Fred, AB1OC programmed them with local repeaters. We did a practice repeater net, similar to the Nashua Area Radio Society weekly repeater net that we hold on Sunday evenings. Bootcampers on Antenna Farm Next, Fred, AB1OC gave the Boot-campers a tour of his Antenna farm . Fred spoke about the design of his antenna farm including HF, VHF and Satellite antennas, grounding and shack entries. Bootcamp Operating Satellites After the antenna tour, we went inside and toured Fred and Anita's shack. We had a pizza lunch followed by operating satellites. Our next ham bootcamp session will be held on Saturday November 9th, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. We will focus on General class activities; How to set up your 1st HF station HF Operating Digital Operating Ground Plane Antenna Kit See the club calendar for more details. Please RSVP to Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org if you would like to attend. --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 2 – Excavation, Footings, and Conduits for New Tower > The first part of our EME project is to put up a new tower to support our antennas. Our plans call for a 26′ tower built using three Rohn 55G tower... - Published: 2019-11-02 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/11/02/eme-tower-base/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, EME, Tower, VHF/UHF The first part of our EME project is to put up a new tower to support our antennas. Our plans call for a 26′ tower built using three Rohn 55G tower sections. Four feet of the first section of... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 2 – Excavation, Footings, and Conduits for New Tower We are making some good progress on the construction of our 2m EME Station. We've completed the footings, base, conduits for a new 26' tower. FInished Tower Base The link above explains what was involved in this stage of the construction. We'll be completing our new tower in a few weeks. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Build Your Own Low Cost 630m Load/Match > A low cost, easy to build, load coil and impedence match assembly for the amateur 630m band that can re-purpose an exosting wire antenna. - Published: 2019-10-27 - Modified: 2023-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/27/630m-match/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Digital, Homebrew If you have an old wire antenna or even a newer wire that you haven’t been using all that much, consider re-purposing it for a new challenge: Medium Frequency (MF). Many radio amateurs don’t realize that 630m (475 kHz) is very accessible. For instance, a transverter, QRP transceiver, and a simple load coil and transformer match assembly are all that is usually needed to utilize a new or re-purposed wire antenna. If you have something close to an inverted-L wire antenna, say with a 35 feet vertical section and a 50-100 foot horizontal section, you are very close to having a reasonably efficient short top-hatted Marconi antenna for MF. It will never be resonant but will be a good Rx/Tx performer. Additionally, they will work very well for North American NDB, Non-Directional Beacon, reception. These antennas will work perfectly with any of the commercially available transverters such as the Monitor Sensors, TAPR QRP transmitters, or the popular K5DNL PA for 630m. Using any of the on-line calculators to figure out exactly what inductance load you need based on your specific wire configuration has never been easier. For example, VK1SV maintains an excellent short Marconi calculator here. It gives you all the parameters for a wide range of frequencies and wire types. The Project This project was to re-purpose an existing older wire inverted-L that I wasn't using. The wire was composed of a 35’ vertical section and a 100’ horizontal section. First of all, using the online calculator gave me a rough estimate of around 100 uH needed to utilize my existing wire. Then, using an inductance coil calculator, I arrived at the least expensive method to build the inductor, using two 8” PVC couplings (glued together) and about 100’ of 14 AWG stranded wire. A liberal span of internal taps was included for adjustability and tuning. I also added an SO-239 connector. As a result, the coax attachment will be much easier. Also, placing a small corona ball on the antenna side will provide additional protection from the kiloVolts of antenna voltage. The matching transformer was tie-wrapped to the inside of the inductor. It was built simply by taping two Fair-Rite type 43, 61mm OD, cores together and using 28 turns tapping every two turns. Care must be taken to attach the toroid assembly outside of the inductance coil zone. One side of the transformer is connected to ground and the other contained an alligator clip for easily attaching to the load coil tap. The schematic diagram and mechanical configuration are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 (adapting Dennison, 2013 p 37) (1) Figure 2 (1) A Low-Cost Enclosure The entire assembly is small enough (~ 8” dia. X 12” high) to fit in a two and a half (2. 5) gallon pail. You can manage the cables through a separate snap-on lid. The pail yields a waterproof assembly that can be left outside of the shack and at the base of the vertical wire section. This keeps the "hot side" of the coil and higher voltages away from your shack and house. Most importantly, a separate earth ground connection is required. Using a single vertical ground rod, position it close to the SO-239 connector. As a result, most stations will see improved performance. See Figure 3. While radials would also certainly improve performance I have yet to experiment with adding them. A PolyPhaser or spark gap can also be added for static/lightning protection. Make sure to isolate the antenna (hot) side on the coil and antenna wire. Additionally, using insulators at the antenna wire extremities and bend point is always necessary. As a result, this will provide isolation from the several kiloVolts of voltage that will be present on the wire during 630m transmit. Figure 3 (1) Testing and Performance CAUTION - High Voltage (~2kV) will be present at the antenna feed point during testing. Moving the alligator clips to achieve the best match is an iterative process and may take several attempts. Do not attempt to work on or adjust the Load/Match unless the coax feed line is disconnected and the radio is turned off. The first radio test went very well. (beginner’s luck I suppose) The lowest SWR I could achieve was 1. 4:1. However, a higher resolution on the tap spacing would probably have yielded a better ratio. But this was plenty good enough for a first test for the time being. I used a Monitor Sensors TVTR1 transverter with a conventional HF transceiver. As a result, I was able to make about a dozen 630m JT9-1 QSO’s in the first week using the repurposed wire and homebrew load match assembly. Likewise using the WSJT DX Aggregator, I was also able to report activity by over 60 stations across the country. See Figures 4 and 5. From the calculator, given 50W into the load coil would yield about 500mW EIRP. While this is clearly inefficient by any measure, it is plenty of power at 630m to reach across the continental U. S. , and potentially beyond. Figure 4 – 630m JT9-1 QSO (1) Figure 5 – First 630m JT9-1 Rx reports from FN32xv (2) Results As of 24 Oct 2019 the Rx record is W7IUV 3715 km @ -27 dB S/N, and JT9-1 QSO record is KB8U 1027 km @-25 dB S/N. Given the low cost, the amount of time to build, and the immediate on-air results, this approach for an MF load coil/match assembly is a worthwhile project for anyone wishing to explore MF. Finally, the bulk of the cost for MF capability will still be the transceiver. However, if you’re a project builder with good patience and soldering skills, the TAPR Ultimate 3S kit for $33 is a good introduction. Also, the TAPR transceivers make available an LPF for 2200m – but that’s an entirely different can of worms. (The short Marconi calculator will show you that! ) If any readers have an interest and/or any other questions about this project feel free to contact me directly: WQ2H@arrl. net. 73 - Jim, WQ2H / WK2XAH References Dennison, M (2013). LF Today – A Guide to... --- ### A Tale of Radials > One of the simplest antennas to have is the quarter-wave vertical. The radials associated with a vertical antenna have a big impact on its peformance. - Published: 2019-10-23 - Modified: 2023-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/23/radials-vertical-antennas/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Station Building Vertical antenna systems, losses, and efficiency One of the simplest antennas to have, and to model, is the quarter-wave vertical. The radiator is about a quarter of a wavelength for the desired center frequency, and can be a wire, set or cage of wires, or a pole, typically made of aluminum. The vertical radiator is important, of course, but it can be no more than half the story. The more interesting, and perhaps more important part of the story is the other half of the antenna system: the ground, for it is the ground that acts as the “other half” of the antenna. In a world where we could have a flat copper disk sitting below our vertical antenna extending off to the horizon, we would not have too many concerns about our “ground. ” Such as ground would have very low electrical resistance, about that of copper wire, and would, therefore, carry our RF current well. And, as we know, RF current is what makes RF waves. When we evaluate an antenna we often compare it to a properly hung dipole. Dipoles are very good antennas, and if deployed properly, they can be very efficient. A dipole hung high in the air using a low-resistance wire can be as much as 97% efficient. What do we mean by that? We mean that the total losses in our antenna from wire resistance, and any reactance (an opposition to AC current flow) is less than 3% of the total resistance. Here’s the definition of antenna efficiency: Figure 1. Efficiency calculation for an antenna Radiation resistance is the resistance to the current flow resulting from the important work of putting out our RF signal. If every ohm of resistance was radiation resistance then the antenna would be 100% efficient. But in any antenna system there are losses. A good antenna design and deployment tries to minimize those losses. Let’s talk about ohmic losses. Consider that AWG 16 wire has about 0. 4-ohms of resistance per one-hundred feet of length. It isn’t zero, but it isn’t much! And that loss contributes to the total losses in the system. While we’re at it, connectors might induce a small loss (fractions of an ohm) but even these small losses can be relatively large in, say, a magnetic loop system where the radiation resistance might also be just a fraction of an ohm. A quarter-wave vertical antenna uses the ground as the other half of the antenna. The vertical radiator is one half; the ground is the other. The system doesn’t work without the ground side. But, unlike that big copper disk we talked about above, the typical ground doesn’t carry current well, and current (the movement of the charge) is what makes the antenna emit signals. The higher the current, the stronger the signal. So, we should do everything we can to make our antenna system conduct as much current as possible. We need to find a way to lower the losses in the ground to maximize current. The resistance and conductivity of the ground The FCC has a downloadable map of the United States showing the conductivity of the soil. The values of conductivity are expressed in millisiemens per meter. (A Siemen is sometimes called a mho, the spelling of “ohm” backward because it is the inverse of resistance. ) Millisemens/siemens/mhos attempt to convey how much current a circuit can conduct, rather than how much a circuit will resist it. Higher numbers for mhos mean the circuit conducts better. Here’s a small map of the United States showing the variations. Figure 2. US soil conductivity map The slice for New Hampshire appears below. As you can see, the entire state is 1 millisiemens per meter except for the northern border with Vermont, and the area around the sea coast. Figure 3. Soil conductivity for New Hampshire This value is approximate and it varies with terrain and with frequency. So, our 1 millisiemens per meter conductance is also something like 1000 ohms of resistance per meter. There is a capacitive nature to this whole thing, too, so computing losses from the soil is more complicated than using this one number, but the soil conductivity in mhos is useful for understanding the problem we’re trying to solve. I grew up in Illinois just north of the Illinois River valley. Most of the state of Illinois is on a flood plain, and the soil is deep and richly dark, perfect for growing corn and soybeans. Getting flooded with nutrients every few hundred years has made the soil very conductive. Most of the state gets and 8 mhos per meter (8 times better than New Hampshire), but the Illinois River flood plain is a whopping 15 mhos per meter. That’s very rich soil, indeed. The point of this is to understand we here in New England need to be a little more diligent about our ground systems than those living in a flood plain. Every inch our RF current needs to crawl across the soil adds to our losses. The difference between a current traveling along the ground and one traveling in a wire is huge: from 1000 ohms per meter for the soil, and nearly zero ohms per meter for a copper wire. We probably can’t create an enormous copper disk extending out several wavelengths for our vertical, but we can do something to reduce that resistance in the ground. Radials Radials provide a compromise between that giant copper disk and the bare ground. Radials are wires arrayed on the surface (or just below it). They provide a low-resistance path for current flowing near those wires. Here’s a diagram from an antenna model showing radials. Figure 4. Vertical antenna with 16 radials The diagram actually has eighteen wires in it because two wires were needed to make the vertical portion. All the other wires (3-18) make up the radial array. I picked the number sixteen for this example, but the number of radials one should use in a particular situation is subject to debate. The ARRL Antenna Book has a whole section on the effects of ground, and this paper from... --- ### EME Station 2.0 Part 1 – Goals and Station Design > The article above explains our goals, plans, and design of a new 2m EME station at our QTH. The article covers plans for a new tower, antennas, and SDR... - Published: 2019-10-21 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/21/eme-station-part-1-goals/ - Categories: Antennas, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, EME, Space, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF EME or Earth-Moon-Earth contacts involve bouncing signals off the moon to make contacts. An EME station provides a means to make DX contacts using the VHF and higher bands. There are also some EME Contests in... Source: EME Station 2. 0 Part 1 – Goals and Station Design We made some 2m EME contacts a while ago using the 2m antenna on our tower at about 112′. This experience created interest on my part in building a more capable EME station at some point in time. Well, the time has finally arrived. A Four X-Polarized Yagi, 2m EME Antenna System The article above explains our goals, plans, and design of a new 2m EME station at our QTH. The article covers plans for a new tower, antennas, and an SDR-based receive system. Our plans are to build an 80th percentile station that utilizes four large, dual-polarity antennas in an array. The station will use the JT65 digital protocol and will support adaptive polarity via MAP65. The new setup will utilize WSJT and MAP65 software created for EME use by Joe Taylor. Our plans are to begin construction of our new EME Station later this week with a new 26' Rohn 55G tower going in first. You can read all about our plans via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Ham Radio Bootcamp - Sign up for Fall Session > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding a Ham Bootcamp this fall to help new and inactive Hams to gain the skills to get on the air. - Published: 2019-10-14 - Modified: 2021-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/14/ham-radio-bootcamp-sign-up-for-fall-session/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, HF, Mentor, On The Air, Satellite, Station Building The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding a Ham Radio Bootcamp this Fall. This is a program to help new or inactive hams to gain the skills they need to get on the air. You are invited to join us for the first session, which will be held on Saturday, October 26th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. A light lunch will be provided. First HF Contact at Bootcamp Here is the planned schedule for the Fall Ham Radio Bootcamp. Mark these dates on your calendar! Session 1: October 26th Repeater Net HT Programming EchoLink Station/Antenna Farm Tour Satellite Operating 6 Meters Session 2: November 9th How to set up your 1st HF station HF Operating Digital Operating Ground Plane Antenna Kit Session 3: November 16th Building and tuning up HF Wire Antennas We will also be scheduling a 4th Ham Radio Bootcamp session, which will be a trip to Ham Radio Outlet in Salem. Stay tuned to the forums for details. Dan and Kenzie Satellite Intro at Bootcamp For more information on Ham Radio Bootcamp, see the articles from previous sessions held locally and at Boxboro. Northeast HamXposition @ Boxboro Recap including Ham Bootcamp Spring Ham Bootcamp Recap If you are interested in attending, RSVP to Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org. If you would like to participate in the HT programming session, please send your HT make and model. Hope to see you on October 26th! --- ### KC1XX Contest Station Visit > The Nashua Area Radio Society recently had the opportunity to visit Matt Strelow, KC1XX's contest station. Matt has assembled a world-class multi-multi... - Published: 2019-10-04 - Modified: 2020-10-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/04/kc1xx-contest-station-visit/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Contest, HF, Station Building, Tower The Nashua Area Radio Society recently had the opportunity to visit Matt Strelow, KC1XX's station in Mason, NH. Matt has assembled one of the top contest stations in the world along with a very skilled set of operators. Matt and some of his team members spent an afternoon with us helping us learn about how a world-class multi-multi contest station is built and operated. KC1XX Antenna Farm Bob WA1Z Explaining the KC1XX Antenna Farm Our tour of the KC1XX Contest Station began with the antenna farm. Matt's station is located on top of Hurricane Hill in Mason, NH, and sports some very impressive antenna hardware. Bob, WA1Z gave us a great overview of the impressive antenna hardware at Matt's station. Matt has a total of 13 towers which include stacks of yagis on many of the HF bands. 40m Tower at KC1XX The photo above shows the 40m stack at KC1XX. This tower has two 40m, 4 element full-size yagis in a stack. The entire tower rotates at the base. As is the case with most of Matt's towers, this one also includes antennas for other bands (in this case 6m and above). Rotating Tower Base It takes some heavy-duty hardware to rotate an entire tower. The photo above shows the rotator at the base of one of Matt's rotatable towers. Rotatable towers are a great way to turn stacks of yagis which are fixed in the same direction on the same tower. 2 Element 80 Antenna System on a 300 ft tower Matt's largest tower holds a pair of 80m delta loops that create an 80m directional antenna. A two-element loop antenna is equivalent in performance to a 3 element yagi. This tower is 300 ft tall, is painted red and white and has a flashing beacon at the top! The "booms" that support the element for Matt's 80m directional antenna are made from a pair of tower sections that are mounted horizontally on this tower. Feedline Patch Panel Matt's station has many antennas and all of the associated feedlines converge in a small building that houses a patch panel, remote antenna switches and supporting gear. KC1XX Station Operating Positions at KC1XX Matt's "shack" is equally impressive. His station arranged in a multi-multi configuration with dedicated radios and operating positions for each band and major contest direction. Antenna Controls at KC1XX The antenna controls for the station are centrally located in Matt's station. The antenna control system at KC1XX includes many antenna rotator boxes, antenna switches, and related controls. Centralized antenna controls allow all of the antennas to configured from one place in a way that best supports the band and contest conditions at any given time. The Best Part of All Dave KM3T and Matt KC1XX Explain the KC1XX Station and Contesting The best part of our visit was the time that Matt and his team spent with us talking about Amateur Radio and contesting. The photo above shows Dave, KM3T who is one of Matt's team members explaining the station as everyone looks on. Dave is also a NARS member and it was great that he was able to join in our visit. Matt created a really cool Amateur Radio quiz that we all did. It included questions involving recognizing call signs, propagation, and other areas of Amateur Radio operating. We all really enjoyed the visit and we especially appreciate all of the time that Matt and his team spent getting to know us and sharing stories about everyone's Amateur Radio experiences. We very much appreciate Matt's and his team's willingness to spend time with us sharing their knowledge and experience. Fred, AB1OC --- ### New 70cm Yagi Installation > We recently replaced our 70cm yagi with a newer, higher performance one. The 70cm yagi installation of the new antenna required climbing our mast... - Published: 2019-10-03 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/10/03/70cm-yagi-installation/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF New 70cm Yagi Going Up The Tower We decided to replace our current 70cm yagi with a newer, higher performance one from M2 Antenna Systems. We choose the M2 432-9WLA. The new antenna has higher gain and a cleaner pattern that our c... Source: New 70cm Yagi We recently replaced our 70cm yagi with a newer, higher performance one. The new 70cm yagi installation required climbing our 100 ft tower and 25 ft mast. This was clearly a job for professionals and Matt and Andrew at XXTowers handled the work for us. The link above includes information about the new antenna and a video of Andrew climbing our tower and mast to install the new antenna. Fred, AB1OC --- ### October Contest Notes > Our October contest highlights post marks the unofficial beginning of the radio contesting season. In the next few months, we'll have CQ WW SSB, CQ WW CW... - Published: 2019-09-30 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/30/october-contest-notes/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, HF, On The Air It Begins! October marks the unofficial beginning of the radio contesting season. In the next few months, we'll have CQ WW SSB, CQ WW CW, ARRL Sweepstakes CW, ARRL Sweepstakes SSB, ARRL 160m, ARRL 10m, and a whole bunch of little but fun contests like ARRL School Club Roundup. There are still QSO parties to chase on a random weekend, too, including CA, NV, AZ, PA, SD, NY and, IL. If you've been having trouble making time to get on the air (as I have! ) then there are a lot of excuses to put yourself in the saddle and make some Qs! October Contest Highlights CQ Worldwide SSB Exchange: RS + CQ Zone (5905 for New England) This was the first contest I ever entered. It was 2002 and the bands were hopping. I had just hung a stealth antenna and was curious about what I could hear. It was amazing. The bands were full, all the other guy wanted was "5905", and he was off to work the next one. No microphone jitters here—there wasn't time! If you're new to contesting give this a try. Do search-and-pounce (S&P), listen, listen, listen, then work them. By the end of the weekend, you might have DXCC! California QSO Party Exchange: CA: Serial No. + County; non-CA: Serial No. + (state/VE area/DX) Nevada QSO Party Exchange: NV: RS(T) + "NV" + county; non-NV: RS(T) + (state/province/"DX") Arizona QSO Party Exchange: AZ: RS(T) + county; non-AZ: RS(T) + (state/province/country) Pennsylvania QSO Party Exchange: PA: Serial No. + County; non-PA: Serial No. + ARRL/RAC Section South Dakota QSO Party Exchange: NY: RS(T) + county; non-NY: RS(T) + (state/province/"DX") Tip: Sometimes those close-in states like VT, NY, ME, and MA are hard to get on the higher bands. They tend to be in the skip-zones a lot of the time. Take advantage of these QSO parties to fill in the close-in states on the high bands. Illinois QSO Party Exchange: IL: RS(T) + County; non-IL: RS(T) + (state/province/country) Wrapping up These contests give you your last big change to test and repair station equipment and antennas before the weather gets uncomfortable. (My poor SteppIR has died of neglect, for example! ) So, don't be like me! Get on and tune up your station for the long winter ahead. Pumpkins image courtesy of Aaron Burden Scott, NE1RD --- ### Selecting Handheld Transceivers > One of the first radios a new ham will purchase is a handheld transceiver (an “HT”). Here are some ideas on how to pick the best one for you... - Published: 2019-09-23 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/23/handheld-transceiver/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Mentor, VHF/UHF Handheld Transceivers One of the first radios a new ham will purchase is a handheld transceiver (an “HT”) that operates on one or more bands, supports FM, usually in the VHF/UHF range, has a front-facing display of frequency and other information, jacks for power, sound out, microphone in, has output power about 5W, and a replaceable battery. That’s a bland description that covers nearly every HT available. It’s understandable why even experienced hams struggle with the question, “What radio should I buy? ” An answer to that question, or at least a way to approach the problem, will appear at the end of this article. In addition to the above, there is a small computer in most HTs allowing you to “program” it with information about repeaters and your preferences for how the radio should behave. Although there are differences in the quality of the receivers and transmitters in these radios, and in the modes (FM/digital) they support, the major differences between various HTs are the power of the computer inside them and in the organization of the radio’s user interface. Uses of an HT When you buy a car, or a computer, or most anything, the first question to answer is: “What is its intended purpose? ” To answer that, one must know the possible uses for radios of this type. (Much of what follows also applies to mobile radios you might install in your car. ) Most of us use an HT to communicate through a repeater. A repeater gives small radios great leverage allowing just 5W to, for example, communicate over most of Eastern Massachusetts via WB1GOF in Westford, or any of the MMRA linked repeaters. HTs are also handy for HT-to-HT communications while camping or Field Day setup HTs are used for radio direction-finding (Foxhunting) HTs are often used for satellite communication Many HTs are also excellent general-purpose receivers for signals outside the ham bands Expanding the first point a bit, repeaters, you’ll probably remember a diagram like this from your license study guides. Here we have two hams talking via a repeater perched atop a tall building. Simple enough in principle but there are many more options available. First, the Mode used can be FM, or one of several digital modes such as Icom’s D-STAR or Yaesu’s C4FM, Digital Mobile Radio DMR, or specialty modes such as APRS. In addition to voice, some digital modes also support data transfers. Any given radio may support only one or two of these modes, and the same goes for repeater systems. You cannot use a DMR radio on a D-STAR repeater, for example. But with this extra complication comes a whole world of possibilities beyond just FM voice transmissions. Linking repeaters The Internet allows HTs to have world-wide reach through repeater linking. The concept is simple: convert voice or data to digital form in one repeater then send that digital information to the second repeater and reverse the process. D-STAR has this capability. One can also form groups that D-STAR users call reflectors that allow many users and repeaters to share a single channel. It is also possible for an HT in the UK to be connected to another HT in Australia, for example. Suddenly there is a whole world of places and repeaters to choose from. That computer Having repeaters available to you all over the world is exciting, but how do you specify which repeater you want to connect to on your radio? This is where the memories in your radio help. If you are only using your radio for local FM work and you only talk on one repeater, then you could just put the frequency into the radio, add the tone and offset information, then never touch those buttons again. But if you want to have a dozen or a hundred repeaters available to you then it becomes more tedious. Like your Address Book application on your phone, the memories of your radio allow you to call up things by name, automatically setting frequencies, mode, tone information, and anything else necessary to talk to the repeater. You figure this out once, then teach the radio so you never need to figure it out again. Just to put a size on this problem, the New England Repeater Directory nerepeaters. com lists over 400 repeaters in New England just for 2m. Massachusetts alone has over 100. It becomes an ever-larger address book problem if you include D-STAR. The dstarusers. org website shows over 1700 D-STAR connection-points world-wide. Maybe you don’t want all of them, but if you are interested in D-STAR you’ll want some of them. The address book problem is wrangled by the computer in your radio, the radio’s user interface, and the capacity of its repeater memories. Spoiler alert: the more capable the radio’s computer, UI, and spaciousness of its memories, the more it costs. There’s a table at the end of this article that explores that very thing. Programming your radio Thankfully there is software that can assist with this address book maintenance. Radio programming software is usually available from the radio’s manufacturer, third parties like RT Systems www. rtsystemsinc. com, and even free and open-source software such as CHIRP chirp. danplanet. com. Additionally, for $13 a year, all that tedious typing can be eliminated by using the RFinder database at rfinder. net. RT Systems programming software can user RFinder to load repeater information based on your selection criteria. Not to belabor the point, but it is very easy to run out of memories when programming is this easy. Memories and banks Even if you use these systems not everything is automatic. Many radios have a concept of a bank of memories, a group or collection of memories that can be selected. For example, I created a bank called “LOCAL” that I use to identify repeaters that are near where I live and work. I have another bank for “MA”, one for “D-STAR”, and so on. Selecting a bank, then walking through the entries is easy to do. Another choice to make is how to name your radio’s memories. Should you use the callsign of the repeater?... --- ### An Opinion Of Sorts > My name is John Halbert, and my call sign is W1SMN. My current title is Publicity Chairman for the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS).... - Published: 2019-09-22 - Modified: 2019-10-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/22/an-opinion-of-sorts/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter My name is John Halbert, and my call sign is W1SMN. My previous call sign was KA1HOV. I have been a member of the Nashua Area Radio Society (previously known as the Nashua Area Radio Club) for 40 years. In the past, I have held the Offices of Secretary and Vice President. My current title is Publicity Chairman for the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS). Now you are probably saying to yourself, what does the Publicity Chairman do? Thanks for asking. Well to start with, a lot. I have held this position for quite a long time because of my Broadcasting career for 42 years. I am very proud of what I do. I get very involved with many things NARS does. My biggest and favorite is Field Day. To start with, I make and distribute 50 posters at various locations throughout the greater Nashua area, and the surrounding towns. I send press releases to the newspapers and email invitations to Government officials. I make arrangements for TV coverage of our Field Day event, arrange for food donations, and make food too. Well to you, this may sound like a lot of work. It is. But I learned something VERY IMPORTANT a long time ago, and that is: “You only get out of something, what you are willing to put into it”. I hope you know where I’m going with this. NARS is asking for your help in many areas such as running for Office (Training will be provided), setting up tables and chairs for our meetings, Tech Nights, Field Day, Nearfest, and other special events NARS might get involved with. Remember, NARS did not get selected to be the Dayton Hamvention Club of the Year for 2019 for doing nothing. A small number of people got us there, and to them, I say a big, THANK YOU! Do not forget the word T. E. A. M. Remember what the letters stand for: “Together Everyone Achieves More”. Three words should jump right out at you: Everyone Achieves More Think about that for a moment. So if you will help a little, it will help a lot. Members, will you volunteer and lend a hand or two? Remember, “It’s better to be looked UP to than Down upon”. Thanks for your help in advance. 73 s, John Halbert, W1SMN --- ### Adding L-Band (24 cm) to Our Satellite SDR System > The L24TX is a transmit-only device that enables L-band uplinks for Satellite use. We completed integrating the L-Band into our Flex SDR Satellite System. … - Published: 2019-09-20 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/20/l-band-satellite-sdr/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, SDR, Software, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF We’ve recently received our L24TX Transmit Converter from Down East Microwave. The unit is compact, simple, and produces up to 25W output in the satellite section of the 23 cm band (1260 MHz – 1270 MHz, actually 24 cm). The L24TX is a transmit-only device that is intended to enable L-band uplinks for Satellite use. This article is about our most recent project which involved integrating the L24TX into our Flex Satellite SDR System to enable L-Band Satellite operation ... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 10 – Adding 23 cm To Our Satellite SDR We are making progress on our project to enable remote Satellite operation via the Internet. The latest step is the addition of L-band (24 cm) uplink support to our Flex Satellite SDR System. L-Band 24 cm Transmit Converter We've also made some good progress on custom software to link MacDoppler and our Flex Radio Satellite System via the Internet. The article in the link above shares information about how to go about adding Transverters and Band Transmit Converters to a Flex SDR. the step needed to configure the Flex SmartSDR software, as well as links, cover other aspects for our Satellite System 4. 0 Project are included. You can read the latest updates about this project via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration - W3ZM/1 Activations in CT and RI > We activated CT and RI as part of the AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration ewxwnrly. We used our computer controlled portable satellite station... - Published: 2019-09-19 - Modified: 2019-10-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/19/amsat-50th-aniversary-wz3m-1-activation/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Portable, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Burns, WB1FJ approached me a few weeks ago doing some portable satellite activations as part of the AMSAT 50th Aniversary Celebration. The idea was to use the AMSAT Callsign WZ3M/1 to put the states of CT and RI on satellites. Portable Satellite Station on Mt. Washington We had recently tested our portable satellite station during the Nashua Area Radio Society's activation of Mt Washington. The WZ3M/1 activations were a great opportunity to continue testing our portable satellite station by making some more linear and FM contacts. MacDoppler Satellite Tracking Software Preparations for our activations included creating a Pass Summary of predictions for the day of our activation using prediction data from MacDoopler. You can take a look at our pass summary here. W3ZM/1 Activation in RI Our first activation was near the fire station in Burrillville, RI. We found an open spot and set up our station, antenna, and solar power system. This was a great public spot and we had several visitors come by to take a look at our setup and ask questions about satellites and Amateur Radio. We made quite a few contacts at this location using both FM satellites like AO-92, AO-92, and SO-50 as well as a few contacts using linear satellites like CAS-4A and CAS-4B. W3ZM/1 Activation in CT We moved to a Church in CT for the next part of our activation early in the afternoon. This site was a little less open than the first one but we were still able to make a number of contacts here. The photo above shows a view of our portable setup which consisted of an Icom 910H transceiver, a MacBook Air Laptop running MacDoppler, and an Elk Log-periodic antenna on a tripod. The computer and MacDoppler controlled the radio VFOs to automatically correct for Doppler shift which enabled us to do contacts using linear satellites. We used an iPhone running a satellite tracking app to help point the antenna during satellite passes. We used a pair of 90W portable solar panels, a pair of LIPO batteries, and an MPPT charging system to provide power for our radio and the computer. It was a sunny day and our solar power system kept our batteries fully charged through both activations. We did pretty well overall making a total of 15 contacts between. The downlink side of our antenna system was the weakest link in the setup. Folks that we worked on linear satellites indicated that our uplink signals were solid but we had some trouble hearing weaker stations on the downlinks. We have some ideas for an improved antenna system for our next portable activation - stay tuned for more on this. All in all, Burns and I were pretty pleased with these activations. We had a lot of fun, helped a few folks some new states, contributed to AMSAT's 50th Celebration, and we learned some things that we can use to improve our portable station. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Time to Sign Up for our Fall License Classes! > The Nashua Area Radio Society is offering Ham Radio License Classes this Fall starting with the Technician Class on October 5th and 6th. - Published: 2019-09-18 - Modified: 2021-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/18/time-to-sign-up-for-our-fall-license-classes/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class Our first license class of the season is only 2. 5 weeks away! If you are interested in getting your Technician License or know someone who is, now is the time to sign up. Do you know someone who is interested in getting a Ham Radio license? Are you thinking of getting an upgrade? Here is the Fall License Class schedule: Technician Class – Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October 6th General Class – Saturday, November 2nd and Sunday, November 3rd Extra Class – Friday, December 6th, Saturday, December 7th, and Sunday, December 8th We hold our classes at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Nashua, NH Explaining Satellite System to License Class During our class, we go over every question in the pool two times. We provide many hands-on demonstrations during the class. You will have the opportunity to observe and make contacts using a working radio station. These and many other demos will help you remember the information and give you some knowledge to get started once you have your license. Our instructors are passionate about Amateur Radio and will pass their enthusiasm on to you. We have a success rate of over 90%. Gordon West Extra Class Book In order to maximize your ability to pass the exam that is held at the end of the class, you will need to complete pre-work. You will need to read the Gordon West License Class book for the level and complete an open book “fill in the blanks” assignment that you will receive when you register. Visit our online registration form to register for a class. For more information, see https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class/ or contact Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org. --- ### NARS Activities at HamXposition 2019 > The Nashua Area Radio Society was a major part of the New England HamXposition 2019 @ Boxboro again this year. We added some new things including... - Published: 2019-09-17 - Modified: 2020-03-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/17/nars-hamxposition-2019/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Bootcamp, Education and Training, Hamvention, On The Air, Satellite, Station Building, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society was a major part of the New England HamXposition 2019 @ Boxboro again this year. We added some new things including: Ham Bootcamp - an activity to help Hams to get on the air An HT Programming Clinic An Expanded Kit Building Activity - which included a new antenna kit Forum Presentations about the ISS Crew Contact we did with Hudson Memorial School and our Road To Becoming Club Of The Year Updates to our Satellite and HF GOTA Stations and Activities Amateur Radio Expo Display NARS Expo Display and Kit Build Our Expo display grew a bit this year to include an HT Programming Clinic. We also updated several of our display elements to add more hands-on activities. Nashua Area Radio Society Activities and Training Display In particular, we added information on our training programs and the associated Internet Subscription that we launched earlier this year. We also added video and other content from the ISS Crew Contact that we did with Hudson Memorial School late last year. More Photos from our Amateur Radio Expo Display Ham Bootcamp Ham Bootcamp Kickoff Our main new activity at HamXposition 2019 was Ham Bootcamp. We had a total of 57 folks join us on Saturday morning for 9a - noon to learn about how to put together a station and get on the air. Bill AB1AV is Net Control for a Practice Net during the Bootcamp Tech Track Bootcamp consisted of two tracks – one for Techs/Perspective Hams and one for Generals. Both were popular with the group pretty evenly split between the two. Dan AC1EN and Kenzie KE1NZY provide a Satellite Intro during the Bootcamp Tech Track Bootcamp included a number of demonstrations and hands-on activities. The photo above shows Dan, AC1EN and Mackenzie, KE1NZY explaining how to get started with Amateur Radio Satellites. The Tech track included: How to pick an HT and a simple, effective antenna How to program your radio How to get started with EchoLink How to make a QSO – this activity involved having Bootcampers checking into and participate in a practice chat net using HT's How to get started with Fox Hunting and Amateur Radio Satellites Jamey AC1DC Explains HF Station Building during the Bootcamp General Track Jamey AC1DC, Anita, AB1QB, Abby AB1BY, and Jerry K1OKD covered how to put together a first HF station as part of the General Track. They built a working HF station at Bootcamp and used it to explain and demonstrate making contacts using SSB, CW, and Digital (FT8). The activities in the General track included: How to put together a basic HF station for SSB, CW, and Digital (FT8) How to make a QSO on the HF bands How to pick a simple HF antenna and put it up safely Operating portable (gear and antennas) - especially important for Hams in HOA and other antenna restricted situations How to find and work DX and how to QSL How to go about learning CW Folks Who Made Bootcamp Go - Our Registration Team Jerry K1OKD, Andrea KC1JDX, and Patrick W1YTT handled registration and put together a nice graduation package that was personalized for each Bootcamp participant. We closed Bootcamp with some information on how to go about earning a license or an upgrade along with a walking tour of the vendor area, our expo display, and our GOTAs. This gave folks a chance to ask some additional questions about gear and Amateur Radio activities that they were interested in. More Photos from Ham Bootcamp Kit Building Kit Builders working on their Kits at HamXposition - Bill AB1AV and Mike K1WVO Mentoring Our Kit Building activity was popular again this year. We build a total of 34 kits during the weekend. Our mentors help the builders learn to solder and to complete their kits. Our Morse Tutor kit was back again this year and was very popular with our builders. Jeff AC1FX Tunes Up a 70cm Ground Plane Antenna Kit We added a new kit this year - a 70 cm Ground Plane Antenna. We helped folks assemble the new antenna kit at the show and our mentors helped builder tune up their completed antennas. The new kit was very popular and we're planning to add a 2m Ground Plane Antenna kit for our next kit build. More Photos from our Kit Building Activity GOTA Stations Satellite GOTA Our GOTA stations were popular again this year. Our GOTA stations served several purposes including: A chance for folks to get on the air and make HF and Satellite Contacts A chance to learn how to build stations and operate them An opportunity to generate on-air interest in youth outreach via our N1T special event operations Jon AC1EV and Greg AC1FS Getting Up To Speed on our Satellite GOTA We updated our Satellite GOTA Station to include the new Icom IC-9700 transceiver and a more portable antenna system. Jerry, K1OKD Conducting Satellite GOTA Operations There was lots of interest in Amateur Radio satellites and the computer-controlled ground station that we had at HamXposition. Jamey AC1DC and Abby AB1BY Operating as N1T at our HF GOTA Our HF GOTA station was also popular and we used it to make most of our contacts as N1T. Our GOTA stations helped to spark interest in Satellite Operations, DX’ing, and HF in general. We secured the N1T special event call (Youth Outreach at HamXposition 2019) again for use with our GOTA stations. We made a total of 303 contacts as N1T during HamXposition. More Photos from our GOTA Stations Forum Presentations Dan AC1EN and Fred AB1OC Present Highlights of HMS ISS Contact We provided two presentations as part of the Forum Program at HamXposition 2019: A Recent ISS Crew Contact - Planning, Execution, and Learnings Along The Way The Road to Club Of The Year - The Nashua Area Radio Society Story You can view a copy of these presentations via the links above. Thank You NARS Members! NARS HamXposition 2019 Team on Saturday It would be impossible for us to provide a set of activities as extensive as these without a lot of support from... --- ### ARRL Teachers Institute 2: A Week Devoted to Remote Sensing and Satellite Communication > I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the ARRL Teacher Institute in Newington, Connecticut. Thanks to the generous donations of ARRL members... - Published: 2019-09-10 - Modified: 2019-10-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/10/arrl-teachers-institute/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, Mentor, Space For the second year in a row, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the American Radio Relay League Teacher Institute in Newington, Connecticut. This summer I attended TI – 2 from July 8 – 12th. Thanks to the generous donations of ARRL members, I was afforded the chance to further explore ways in which I can bring Amateur Radio into the classroom. The second year of Teacher Institute helped me delve further into Remote Sensing and using radio to bring Space into the classroom. Throughout the week, seven other participants and I were offered the chance to operate W1AW, take tours of the ARRL Headquarters, and learn new ways for us to bring HAM radio alive for students. Over the course of the week, Instructor Matt Severin brought participants through building a remote sensing buoy using an Arduino and sensors that included GPS, Pressure, Altitude, and Temperature. Participants programmed their buoy to relay information through the APRS system. Using a Yaesu FT-60R and 12-volt battery, the buoys were set outside overnight. Each participant’s buoy sent over 20 hours of data through APRS. Participants then copied the data into Excel and created several graphs that showed the change in temperature inside and outside the buoy over the course of time. We were also able to see the health of the battery and other measurements over the course of the same time. I believe one use for my new buoy will allow me to have students utilize local data while studying statistics in mathematics class. Participants also explored how amateur radio could easily be brought into the classroom through the use of SDR radio. By connecting an SDR to a laptop in conjunction with the program HDSDR I was able to hear local radio stations, the NOAA weather updates, and packets being transmitted through the air. The item that I found most exciting was the use of our new Arrow Antennas to make satellite contacts. During the course of the week, participants went outside of headquarters several times to attempt contacts through SO – 50, AO 91, and AO-92. Being rather new to ham radio, I found this very challenging as the airways on a good pass are very noisy. I also discovered that I am far too polite to interrupt others. To get over this, myself and another participant took our radio and Arrow antennas back to the hotel and attempted a contact in the early morning. I am pleased to report that I was able to make my first satellite contact on SO-50 at 7:10 am in the morning. Okay, I stand corrected. It was really my second satellite contact since I did get to contact the International Space Station with my students last December. Another thing I found interesting was using my Arrow and SDR radio to collect data packets from the passing satellites. On one pass AO-91 turned on its picture transmission so that we could attempt to collect the packets. I was able to collect 6 of the packets but did not get a picture. We then looked at the telemetry that we were able to collect from the satellites. On the last day, we once again used the APRS system. This time we used the MAREA protocol to send commands to the same Arduino robots that we built last year. With a few extra pieces we were able to send our robots’ instructions to move forward, backward, left, and right. The MAREA protocol was a great demonstration of how NASA controls rovers that have been sent to the moon and Mars. I would like to thank all of those ARRL members whose contributions made these two years of professional development possible. I will remember this forever. It was even more special to me as the first day of this workshop landed on a day that many others dread. I turned 40 on July 8th. While I was not with my family, I gained a whole new family of educator friends that I know will continue to support each other as we bring Amateur Radio to a whole new generation. Thank you, Ally, Kris, ARRL, and the Nashua Area Radio Club Members who continue to support me through my continued discovery of Amateur Radio. Dan, AC1EN --- ### Buddipole 15m 2-element Yagi with 8-foot boom > The standard Buddipole Deluxe kit can be augmented to produce a very effective two-element 15 meter Yagi. This note provides assembly... - Published: 2019-09-03 - Modified: 2019-10-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/03/buddipole-yagi/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Portable There was a query after the September newsletter was published regarding the antenna pictured in my 100 Pound DXpedition article. Here are the details. 15m 2-Element Buddipole Yagi The standard Buddipole Deluxe kit can be augmented to produce a very effective two-element 15 meter Yagi. This antenna was used on St. Thomas, USVI, during the 2010 CQ WPX Phone contest by NE1RD to generate nearly 800 QSOs using only 5 watts (QRP). This note provides assembly instructions for this antenna. Necessary Components The components necessary to construct this antenna are: 1x ~ Buddipole Yagi converter kit 8x ~ 22” Antenna accessory arms 2x arms for the driven element 2x arms for the reflector element 4x arms for the antenna boom 2x ~ 11” Antenna accessory arms 4x ~ 9. 5 fool long Buddipole whips Buddipole Deluxe System Rotating arm kit (RAK) knobs with nylon washers One knob holds the reflector to the end of the boom The other knob holds the center IT adapter to the mast Buddipole VersaTee Coax feed-line with banana plugs Velcro strap (and additional strapping to secure the feed line to the boom) 8-foot mast Tripod Guying system or very heavy weight on the bottom of the tripod to prevent tipping Antenna Design The basic design of the antenna is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1. Buddipole 15m 2-el Yagi Construction Details Begin by constructing the boom. Locate one of the IT adapters that came with the Buddipole Yagi kit. Screw a 22” arm into each side of the IT adapter. Add a second 22” arm to each side to produce a boom nearly 8-feet in length. Construct the reflector by locating the second IT adapter. Screw a 22” inch arm into each side of the IT adapter. Attach an 11” arm to each side of this assembly. There should be approximately 34” of arms on each side of the IT adapter. Locate two 9. 5’ Buddipole long whips and, with the whips collapsed, attach a whip to each side of the reflector assembly. Construct the driven element by locating the threaded 3/8” x 24 threaded rod. Screw this rod into the top of the VersaTee. Attach the Yagi collar to one end of the boom. Attach the VersaTee to the boom and mate with the Yagi collar. Be sure to have the VersaTee in the same plane as the boom’s IT adapter so that the elements will be horizontal with respect to the ground when the antenna is mounted. Attach 22” arms to each side of the VersaTee. Locate two 9. 5’ Buddipole whips and, with the whips collapsed, attach the whips to the ends of those arms. Attach the reflector to the boom by first fixing the second Yagi collar on to the other end of the boom. Then attach the reflector, ensuring it is properly aligned with respect to the boom’s IT adapter, using one of the large RAK knobs. Attach the feed line to the VersaTee with black and red wires going to the corresponding colored banana plug mounts on the VersaTee. Secure with Velcro straps. (Additional straps, or other means of routing the feed line back to the center IT adapter may be necessary). Set up the tripod and mast as you would for a standard Buddipole deployment. Guy as necessary, or weigh down the tripod with a heavy rock or other weight. Locate the mast collar from the Buddipole Yagi kit and attach it to the top of the mast. Use the second RAK knob to secure the antenna to the mast. Tuning The Antenna The lengths of the elements are such that the antenna can be tuned easily. Extend each whip to full length, then retract the outer-most section 6 or 7 inches. Make small adjustments to the reflector to tune. The author found that even guesses (no rulers) for the element lengths were good enough for creating a good match. SWR and 2:1 Bandwidth A properly tuned antenna will provide a good match across the band. The two plots below are from the author’s installation on St. Thomas in March of 2010 (Figures 2 and 3). Figure 2. 15m Yagi SWR plot Figure 3. 15m Yagi Smith Chart plot The small green line along the real axis between 50 and 75 Ohms is the plot for the antenna. Pure resistive load, no reactance, resonant. Results From KP2/NE1RD Deployment The author made 977 contacts on this antenna including 808 in the CQ WPX SSB contest (794 unique stations after duplicates were removed). He worked 48 states (missing ND and WY), and 58 DXCC entities in 17 zones in just a few days of operation. All contest contacts were made QRP (5 watts)! Scott, NE1RD --- ### Training Resources for Internet Subscribers and Members! > I wanted to take a moment to highlight the material that is available to you, as an Internet Subscriber, here on n1fd.org... - Published: 2019-09-01 - Modified: 2022-04-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/welcome-internet-subscribers/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter We'd like to welcome our Internet Subscribers to the Nashua Area Radio Society: Bill, KM6BYD - Santa Rosa, CA Stephen, KH6VK - Kailua Kona, HI Bill, K8TE - Rio Rancho, NM Gary, N1RNJ - Williamstown, VT William, W3WTD - Easton, MD Mark, N5CBF - Benbrook, TX Gary, KD2PYB - Binghamton, NY Susan, AI4VV - Huntsville, AL Bill, KD8WMJ - North Kingstown, RI Tatiana, KM6UVK - San Francisco, CA Maximillian, KM6VDK - San Francisco, CA Bryce, N4ZJW - Darien, GA Joel, W6JKW - Crescent City, CA Mark, W8EWH - Novi, MI James, K3YMI - Columbia, MD Bill, WD9GIU - Peru, IN David, KJ7AKG - Puyallup, WA Joe, K1VDZ - Cheshire, CT Kevin, W9KEG - Peru, IN Samuel, KG5FP - Georgetown, TX Mike, KI8R - Lancaster, OH Daniel, KA1BNO - West Warwick, RI Tim, K5TGS - Roanoke, TX Dennis, KL7HRO, Two Rivers, AK Keith, KI7KEH, Clinton, UT Paul, N1HOB, Newalla, OK Chris, KC3QFN, Dover, DE Barb, KD2UVG, Queens, NY Jim, KN4UJW, Fernandina Beach, FL Vincent, KD2TMJ, Sandyston, NJ Paul, N5SJQ, Everett, WA Joe, W2BCC, Cornwall, NH Mark KL3MR, Anchorage, AK John, KC3QHW, Swoyersville, PA Walter, KB0URZ, Washington, DC Chuck, KB3JIN, Newtown, PA Robert, KN6CPT, San Diego, CA Thank you for supporting our work to create materials to assist Hams in building their skills and learning new things. We hope that you are enjoying the Amateur Radio learning materials here on our website. We'd also like to welcome a new partner club, the Barry Amateur Radio Association in Barry County, Michigan. BARA is partnering with us to use our training resources at their meetings. I wanted to take a moment to highlight the material that is available to you, as an Internet Subscriber, here on n1fd. org. Don't forget to log in to our website before trying to access these training resources. Tech Night Training Materials Scott, NE1RD at Tech Night Our Tech Night Library contains over 100 hours of high-quality training materials on a variety of topics including: 2020 Tech Nights Simple HF Wire Antennas by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Mountain Topping and Portable Operations by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC All About Antennas II by Spencer Webb, W2SW. VHF+ Weak Signal Stations Part 1 – Overview and 6 Meters by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC How To Post on n1fd. org by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Field Day From Home by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, Sterling Eanes, AK1K, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, and Jon Turner, AC1EV Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (and Progressing to Linear Birds by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC (a special How-To Session for CWA and Friends) N1MM+ Logger by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started in EME Communications by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2020 Project Night by NARS Members Getting Started in Contesting by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2019 Tech Nights All About Winter Field Day 2020 by our Winter Field Day Planning Team Almost Everything You Need to Know About Antenna Fundamentals Part 1 by Spencer Webb, W2SW and Steve Golson, W1SEG Raspberry Pi for Portable Digital Communications by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC HFTA, Feedline Design and Busting Pileups by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC QSL’ing and Awards by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Fox Hunting: Radio Direction Finding for Beginners including a Tape Measure Yagi Build by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Surface Mount Technology by Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS RF Design with Smith Charts, Building a First HF Station, and Begining with CW – Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS; Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL; and Jerry Doty, K1OKD All About Field Day 2019 by our Field Day Planning Team Putting up a Tower by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2018 Tech Nights Operating Your Station Remotely by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Transceiver Frequency Measurement and Calibration by George Allison, K1IG. DMR Radios and Programming by Bill Barber, NE1B WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144 and More by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Computers by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, Brian McCaffrey, W1BP, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Craig Bailey, N1SFT All About Field Day 2018 by our Field Day Planning Team Portable Operating Gear – demonstrations by Nashua Area Radio Society Members K1EL Kits by Steve Elliott, K1EL Antenna Modeling I by Scott Andersen, NE1RD. Building and Operating a Mobile HF Station by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2017 Tech Nights High-Altitude Balloons: Amateur Radio at the Edge of Space and was presented by our HAB Team. Getting On The Air 2. 0 by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD All About n1fd. org – Getting the most from our Website by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Digital Modes: RTTY, PSK, and WSJT-X by Mike Struzik AB1YK, Anita Kemmerer AB1QB, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Bonding and Grounding by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. All About Field Day 2017 by Dave Merchant, K1DLM, and our Field Day Planning Team. Building and Operating a Satellite Ground Station by Burns Fisher, W2BFJ, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. DXing and QSLing by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB; Bill Barber, NE1B; Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Dick Powell, WK1J. Weak Signal VHF and UHF Stations by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO and Bill Barber, NE1B. Getting the Most from your HF Transceiver and More by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Dave Michaels, N1RF. 2016 Tech Nights Popular Loggers – Ham Radio Deluxe and DXLab Suite by Dave Merchant, K1DLM, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Low-Band Antennas by Dennis Marandos, K1LGQ; Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS; Brian McCaffrey, W1BP; and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. RF Simulation and Matching by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO Directional Antennas by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; Dave Michaels, N1RF; Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO; and Greg Fuller, W1TEN All About Field Day 2016 by our Field Day Planning Team. Surface Mount Soldering and Desoldering, a Hands-On Presentation by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO Building Your First Station and Getting On The Air by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Dave Michaels N1RF Software-Defined Radios by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC and Skip Youngberg, K1NKR Advanced Repeaters (DMR, EchoLink, DMR, and D-STAR) by Anita Kemmerer; AB1QB, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Bill Barber, NE1B Antenna Modeling with EZNEC by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Sample Tech Night Video - Putting Up A Tower Each Tech Night session is recorded and edited in HD video to produce a quality learning experience. The slide presentations that are used as part of our... --- ### Get A Custom Program for Your HT > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be offering a custom HT programming clinic at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 to help hams get their HT's programmed... - Published: 2019-09-01 - Modified: 2021-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/ht-program/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Mentor, VHF/UHF It seems that many Hams struggle a bit to get their HTs programmed with the right set of repeaters and other memory settings. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be offering a custom HT Programming Clinic at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 to help hams get their HT's programmed. HTs That We Can Program HTs at Tech Class We will offer custom programming for the following HT models: Icom HTs ID-31 ID-51 (all models) Kenwood HTs TH-D72 TH-D74 Yaesu HTs FT-4X and FT-4V FT60 FT65 FT70D BaoFeng HTs UV-5R BF-F8HP TDXone TD-Q8 How Will It Work? Custom HT Programming Request The programming process will be with the completion of a request (shown above) that includes some basic information about the radio to be programmed. Each person can select from a list of options for their custom program which includes: Preserving a limited number of existing memories in their radio Calling Channels and Simplex Frequencies Custom Repeater List for your location including DSTAR and Fusion Repeaters FM Satellites Frequencies with Doppler Correction (AO-85, AO-91, AO-92, SO-50, and PO-101) APRS Frequencies The Nashua Area Radio Society's Fox Frequencies The NARS Member who is running the HT Programming Clinic will save a copy of the existing program as a backup and then use an RTSystems programmer to assemble the custom program from a combination of on-line apps and stored program components. The user's location is used to generate a custom list of repeaters with a 10-15 mile radius of their location. This list can include DSTAR and Fusion capable repeaters if the user's radio supports these. RTSystems Program for Yaesu FT65 The completed custom program will be loaded into the person's HT and checked out. We hope that you'll stop by the NARS Display at HamXpostion @ Boxboro 2019 to get you HT programmed. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Ham Bootcamp > Ham Bootcamp includes a series of hands-on activities designed to help newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air... - Published: 2019-09-01 - Modified: 2020-09-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/09/01/ham-bootcamp/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Mentor, NARS Event, Portable, Station Building, Youth Outreach Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help prospective and newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license. It is also a great opportunity for prospective hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer. Our Bootcamp activities are provided online via a series of sessions geared towards Technicians and prospective Hams and General class licenses and higher Hams. Bootcamp participants will find all of this material interesting and fun no matter what their focus or license level. We are continuing to provide our Bootcamp program during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are providing Ham Bootcamp in an online format using Zoom. Our online Ham Bootcamp program is available to all licensed and prospective Hams in North America. Please contact us to sign up for our next online Ham Bootcamp via email to membership@n1fd. org. Repeaters and VHF/UHF Session Activities Putting together a Station for Repeaters - How to pick an HT or Mobile Radio and an Antenna Radio Programming Tutorial Getting started with EchoLink Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites Getting started with Fox Hunting HF Session Activities Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedline, and Ground Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice Software and setup for Logging Contacts via your computer Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital Finding DX and QSL’ing – Getting them in the log and confirmed ... and more! Virtual Ham Radio Shopping Trip Join us for a guided tour of all of the gear and goodies that are available to build or expand your station. Ask questions and get answers from NARS experts on what gear might be best for your situation. We provide the Virtual Shopping Trip via a follow-on Zoom session shortly after Bootcamp. Information on how to join us for this event will be shared at our next Bootcamp session. Articles About Ham Bootcamp Are you interested in learning more about our Ham Bootcamp program? We've written quite a few articles about Bootcamp here on our Blog. You can read them via this link. Also, check out the article about a recent Ham Bootcamp at the New England HamXposition. Bootcamp has also been featured in the October 2020 edition of QST Magazine. You can view the article here. Sign Up for Ham Bootcamp Don't miss this twice a year opportunity to learn more about Amateur Radio, improve your station, expand your skills, and get on the air. Our Fall 2020 Ham Bootcamp session will be held online via Zoom on Saturday, November 7th from 10 am - 6 pm Eastern Time. See you at Ham Bootcamp! You can contact us to sign up for our next Bootcamp via email to membership@n1fd. org. Support Ham Bootcamp The Nashua Area Radio Society provides many training and skills development activities for new Hams and Young People. We also have many programs to enable folks young and old alike to join the Amateur Radio service. Please consider supporting our programs and our work by making a donation via the GoFundMe campaign which follows. The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) non-profit charity. Fred, AB1OC --- ### September Contest Notes > September Contest Notes - two months away. Solar conditions have not been kind to us this year, and there’s little chance for a big improvement... - Published: 2019-08-30 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/30/september-contest-notes/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, On The Air On the Doorstep CQ WW SSB, the biggest phone contest of the year, is a little under two months away. Solar conditions have not been kind to us this year, and there’s little chance for a big improvement in the next few weeks, but there’s still DX to be found. Now is a good time to familiarize yourself with websites that can help you gauge propagation during the nadir of the cycle. spaceweather. com provides current solar conditions and forecasts, especially for geomagnetic storms. One interesting thing on this site is the “Spotless Days” tally. As of this writing, we’ve had 23 days without a sunspot. As we all know, no sunspots, no big fun on the high bands! But there might be _some_ fun, maybe a little, so always check 10m and 15m when you operate. You might be rewarded. And when not in a contest always give 17m a look. Often when 20m is open you’ll find 17m has some activity, too. Maybe your logging program already has an interface to the DX spotting network (mine, MacLoggerDX does, for example) but several websites also offer views and it is worth giving these resources a look. DXHeat. com claims to have 43 million DX spots in their database. They’ve been at it a while, so it sounds plausible. Check out the “Band Activity” display by selecting “N. America” as your continent. The display aggregates the DX spots into a by-band, by-continent intensity display. Click the DX Cluster button and then play with the filters. You can select one or many bands, one or more modes, even which continents you are interested in hearing from and which continent posted the spot. To cut down on all the chatter click the NA button under De to see only North American spots of DX. There are a number of online DX spotting network websites, all of which offer something unique. I suggest looking at one band and one mode at a time at different times during the day. This will give you a very good idea of what is possible during your next on-air adventure. September Highlights Tennessee QSO Party Exchange: TN stations give RS(T) + county, others RS(T) + state/province/country For those of us in New England, Tennessee is in that sweet spot that's not too close, and not too far away. If you put some effort into this contest you could probably do a clean sweep of all 95 counties. That would put you well on your way to a County Hunters award. All Asian DX Contest Exchange: RS + 2-digit age I know my log is a little light when it comes to Asia, so this would be a good chance for me to put more callsigns and prefixes into my log. It is also a great way to see how propagation to Asia might be during CQ WW. It is worth a look. National Contest Journal Sprints CW RTTY Exchange: + + + + Sprints are fun, especially if you're a little nervous calling CQ. You work somebody calling CQ, then they clear off and it is your frequency to call CQ and make a QSO. Everybody takes turns. As always, check out www. contesting. com and the linked calendar for a complete list of on-air contest. New Hampshire QSO Party Exchange: NH: RS(T) + county others RS(T) + state/province DX: RST(T) + "DX" This is our time to shine! It is fun to be the one sought after. And, this is a great way to warm-up to the big contesting season. The End of Summer Get those last-minute antenna projects done, check out all your equipment, maybe even make that last-minute run to Ham Radio Outlet! Summer might be ending but contesting season is in the wings. Get ready! Scott, NE1RD --- ### Upgraded Portable Satellite Station Test on Mt. Washington > We used a recent SOTA activation as a test for our upgraded Simple Portable Satellite Station. The station did a great job for satellite and terrestial... - Published: 2019-08-20 - Modified: 2019-10-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/20/simple-portable-satellite-station-2/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, NARS Event, Satellite, SOTA, VHF/UHF We were up on Mt. Washington here in New Hampshire this past weekend and we decided to use the SOTA activation as a test for our upgraded Simple Portable Satellite Station. It turned out that the station was also a great SOTA and Grid Square Activation station for terrestrial contacts... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 9 – Upgraded Simple Portable Station The Nashua Area Radio Society did our Mt. Washington SOTA activation this past weekend. Jamey, AC1DC put together a great trip to the summit again this year. We used the SOTA as an opportunity to test our upgraded simple portable satellite station. Portable Station on Mt. Washington The station performed very well making some 75 contacts during our activation. We confirmed that the station worked well for FM satellite contacts and also verified the operation of the computer controls to enable us to make contacts through linear satellites. We were surprised to find that the station also worked extremely well for 2m terrestrial contacts. We were able to work many mobile and base stations using 2m FM. We also worked quite a few stations using 2m SSB. The flexibility of the simple portable antenna system that is part of the updated station made this very easy to do. The link above contains some information about how the upgraded station is put together and what we learned during our initial test. View from Mt. Washington Summit We had near-perfect weather on the Summit for our SOTA activation. All in all, it was a great day! Fred, AB1OC --- ### The 100 Pound DXpedition > This paper discusses lightweight DXpeditioning (100 Pound DXpedition), the planning and execution of a trip, and the joy of operating... - Published: 2019-08-16 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/16/100-pound-dxpedition/ - Categories: Antennas, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, DX, Portable This white paper was presented to the Four Days in May conference held by QRP Amateur Radio Club International in conjunction with the Dayton Hamvention in 2010. A few photographs have been added to the text for this publication. For more information on DXpeditions and talks I've given please see my website www. bsandersen. com Synopsis Traveling with your radio to some exotic, or at least fun, destination can be one of the most enjoyable activities in the hobby. Mounting DXpeditions need not be left only to large groups with shipping containers and six figure budgets. A successful DXpedition can be mounted with very little expense, and a small set of carefully selected equipment. This paper discusses lightweight DXpeditioning, the planning and execution of a trip, and the joy of operating from the other side of the pile-up. Two S-units About a decade ago, three avid DXpeditioners, James Brooks, 9V1YC, Trey Garlough, N5KO, and Declan Craig, EI6FR, had watched the DXpeditions of their time grow in size, effort, and expense. The VK0IR DXpedition helicopter-lifted 34 tons of equipment onto Heard Island, for example. At a time when each succeeding DXpedition was bigger, costlier, and more complicated, these three had an almost heretical idea: mount a DXpedition with only lightweight transceivers, a small contingent of operators, and with a limited budget. There would be no pilots, no advanced publicity, and no amplifiers. In other words, “No more Mr. Kilowatt! ”i The Penguin Microlite DXpedition Team was created in 1999 and that group targeted South Georgia and Southern Thule Island in Antarctica as their first destinations. Using small radios, low power, small generators, and vertical antennas, the first Penguin Microlite DXpedition team put 26,698 contacts into the log from Thule, and over 40,000 more from South Georgia. Just a few of days were all that were necessary to knock these two remote regions of the Earth off the DXCC’s top ten “most wanted” list. Though power was limited and antennas were simple, the team made no excuses; they just got it done. The difference between 1500 watts and 100 watts, the output power used by this innovative DXpedition team, is only a factor of 15, 12 dB, or just 2 S-units. This ratio, 2 S-units, is something any avid QRP enthusiast will quickly dismiss as a mere trifle. The difference between 100 watts and QRP’s typical 5 watts is 13 dB, or about 2 S-units. Five watts, a reasonable antenna, and a good operator can work the world. If the Penguin Microlite DXpedition team can give up two S-units and have that level of success, a well-organized QRP operation should be able to give up just a couple more S-units and have at least modest results. The 100 Pound DXpedition Not long ago, airlines provided each passenger with a baggage allocation of two checked bags, each not to exceed 50 pounds, and with dimensions (length + width + height) not to exceed 62 inches. Two bags at 50 pounds each made a total of 100 pounds. Thus was the genesis of the name and the form of the 100 Pound DXpedition. The general idea of the 100 Pound DXpedition is that one should be able to pack radios, antennas, coax, and other equipment into checked bags and, with only the addition of an airline ticket and passport, travel to some exotic, or at least fun, place in the world to operate. This limit may sound draconian, but, as artists say, “form is freeing. ” Such limits narrow considerably the types of things eligible for selection. Large, heavy, or bulky items cannot go. Just as the Penguin Microlite DXpedition Teamreturned to the basics, so, too, must the 100 Pound DXpeditioner. A typical equipment compliment would include a small radio such as an Icom IC-7000, Yaesu FT-857, or Elecraft K2 or K3. Large rigs popular with contesters and DXers such as Icom IC-756 Pro III, or the Yaesu FT-1000MP, while extremely versatile and feature laden, are simply too large and heavy for this purpose. The key to effective equipment selection is to find the best combination of all equipment that can still survive the weight and size limits imposed by the airlines (or self-imposed by you). It is not enough to choose the best equipment; one must choose the best equipment that can fit into the baggage weight and size budget. The key to effective micro-DXpeditioning is planning. There is no substitute for it. A well-considered plan is the most effective tool one can have before, during, and after a DXpedition. For many interesting destinations there are long lead-time items, restrictions, and hurdles that only good planning and patience can overcome. Managing trade-offs and effective planning are recurring themes in the following sections, and are key elements to any successful DXpedition large or small. Picking a Destination Most of the big ticket DXpeditions travel to places remote or even hostile. While there is certainly demand for those resulting QSLs by those chasing DX and aiming for the top of the DXCC Honor Roll, there is no reason why operating from a popular, comfortable, and relaxing venue should not be considered. For example, the US Virgin Islands or the Hawaiian Islands are not rare, most have them in their log, but they can still be fun to visit, and the pile-ups, especially during contests, can be challenging. For those traveling from the Americas, there are many destinations in the Caribbean that can serve both as a great vacation spot, and as a reasonable DXpedition destination. Consider (in no particular order): Bahama Island (C6) Turks and Caicos (VP5) Cayman Islands (ZF) Jamaica (6Y) British Virgin Islands (VP2V) Anguilla (VP2E) Barbuda (V2) St. Kitts (V4) Montserrat (VP2M) Antigua (V2) Guadeloupe (FG) Dominica (J7) Martinique (FM) St. Lucia (J6) St. Vincent (J8) Barbados (8P) Grenada (J3) Trinidad and Tobago (9Y) Bermuda (VP9) Aruba (P4) Bonaire and Curacao (PJ) Puerto Rico (KP4) US Virgin Islands (KP2) St. Martin (FS, PJ) Saba (PJ) All these places are great destinations for a relaxing vacation. They are also fantastic places to operate a ham radio station as they are all surrounded by saltwater. A simple vertical... --- ### Interest and Excitement Around HamXposition Is Building > Interest and Excitement around HamXposition @ Boxboro are building! The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting several activities... - Published: 2019-08-15 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/15/hamxposition-excitement-building/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, Kits, NARS Event, Satellite, Space, Youth Outreach Interest and Excitement around HamXposition @ Boxboro are building! The event will take place on September 6th - 8th in Boxboro, Massachusettes. You can learn more about HamXposition here. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting several activities and displays at HamXposition this year. Our planned activities include: NEW! Ham Bootcamp Program - a hands-on activity to help folks get on the air and build their stations Our Ham Expo Display featuring information and hands-on activities you can do with Amateur Radio A Kit Building Activity featuring a choice of two different kits Multiple Get On The Air Stations including an HF Remote GOTA station and an on-site Satellite GOTA station A Special Event Station using the N1T Callsign NEW! Radio Programming Station - Get your FM HT programmed with a custom repeater list for your location Two Forum Presentations by Nashua Area Radio Society Members The ARRL and the HamXposition team have been helping us to promote our activities. You can see what the ARRL is saying about our plans in their recent posting - Dayton Hamvention Radio Club of the Year to Hold Ham Bootcamp at New England Convention. You can learn more about HamXposition and our activities there at the HamXpostion website. Ham Bootcamp A First HF Contact at Ham Bootcamp We have created a program that we call Ham Bootcamp to help recently licensed and upgraded hams to get on the air. We are making this program available to up to 100 HamXpostion attendees on a first-come-first-served basis. Our Bootcamp program will run from 9 am to noon on Saturday, September 7th in the Federal Room. Bootcamp will feature tracks for both Technician and General class license holders. It is also a great place for folks who are not yet licensed to learn more about Amateur Radio and how to get on the air. Our Bootcamp program will include: How to make a contact and join a repeater net Putting together an HF station Radio, antenna, and feed line choices Getting started with FT8 and digital modes Exchanging QSL cards Learning Morse code Tips on upgrading Introduction to ham radio kit building Handheld radio programming tutorials Ham Bootcamp is free. Participants will receive discount certificates for a kit build at the show and for purchase of Ham Radio Gear from Ham Radio Outlet. You can learn more about Ham Bootcamp on the HamXposition website and on our website. Ham Expo Display and Kit Building Activity High Altitude Balloon Display Our Ham Radio Expo will feature a total of 10 hands-on exhibits about activities that you can do with Amateur Radio. Our display will include: Information on Licensing and Ham Radio Skill-Building Activities Ham Radio Communications via Satellites and the ISS High-Altitude Balloons carrying Amateur Radio Radio Direction Finding (Fox Hunting) DXing and HF Station Construction Portable Operating Field Day and Emergency Communications Ham Radio Kits and Computers Learning and using Morse Code and more! 70 cm Ground Plan Antenna Our kit building activity will feature a choice of two kits that you can build at HamXposition. In addition to the popular Morse Tutor kit, will also have a 70 cm Ground Plane Antenna kit available at the show. Kit Builder and Mentor at HamXposition We will have tools and mentors available to help you build your kit at HamXposition. You can learn more about our Ham Expo Display on the HamXposition website and on our website. GOTA Stations and N1T Special Event HF Remote GOTA Station - Visitor Operating the N1T Special Event Station Our Remote HF GOTA Station will be back again this year. Visitors can use it to make HF contacts around the world. You can also help to operate our N1T Special Event Station. This is a great way to learn about DXing and speak with other Hams in the USA and around the world! Computer Controlled Satellite Station at HamXposition We will also have a Computer-Controlled Satellite Station on-site. The station will feature the new Icom IC-9700! It will also use an automated antenna system to track satellites in space. Visitors can use the station to learn about satellite communications and to talk to other Hams through a satellite in space. Get Your HT Programmed At HamXposition Kenwood TH-D74 HT We will be offering an HT programming service at HamXposition. Programming software and cables will be available to program the following popular FM HTs: Icom - ID-31A and ID-51 Models Kenwood - TH-D72 and TH-D74 Yaesu - FT60, FT65, and FT70 BaoFeng - UV-5R and BF-F8HP TDXOne - TD-Q8 We will help you to create and load a custom list of repeaters into your HT that are available near your home QTH. HamXposition Forum Presentations NARS Forum Presentation, Dan AC1EN Presenting It has been a very active year for the Nashua Area Radio Society. We will be sharing some of the fun in two Forum Presentations at HamXposition: A Recent Local School ISS Crew Contact Time/Place: 1 pm in the Cotillion Room The Nashua Area Radio Society worked with the Hudson (NH) Memorial School to plan for and execute and ISS crew contact this past year. Join us for an overview of this project including information about what goes into planning, preparation, and execution. The presentation will feature a video of the students talking with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor abroad the ISS. The talk will highlight the STEM learning aspects of the project. The Journey to 2019 Club of the Year Time/Place: 2 pm in the Cotillion Room The Nashua Area Radio Society was recently honored as the Dayton Hamvention (R) 2019 Club of the Year for its work in bringing new people into the Amateur Radio service and providing mentoring and STEM learning opportunities for young and old. Members will discuss some of the programs that NARS has created to help folks enter the Amateur Radio service, build their skills, and have fun with Amateur Radio. Reaching Out To Hams Across New England HamXpostion Program Info - Amateur Radio Licensing and Skills Development Opportunities The Nashua Area Radio Society is continuing to expand the reach of our Licensing and Training programs to as many Hams... --- ### A Raspberry Pi Video Player for Expo Displays > We have created a Raspberry Pi Video Player to replace the multitude of Laptop Computers that we've been using to display videos at our Ham Expos... - Published: 2019-08-13 - Modified: 2024-09-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/13/raspberry-pi-video-player/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Education and Training, Hamvention, Software We are continuing to provide our Ham Radio Youth Expo displays at local Hamfests. We are always looking to simplify to delivery of our Ham Expos displays. Youth Expo Kits and Computers Display Dave, K1DLM recently suggested a great simplification idea. His idea is to replace the multitude of Laptop Computers that we've been using to display videos at our Expos with Raspberry Pi Computers. I wanted to share how we went about building our Raspberry Pi Video Players so that others might have the information needed to duplicate what we did for other applications. Raspberry Pi Video Players Completed Raspberry Pi Video Players We've been using a total of 8 laptop computers as part of our Ham Expo displays and most of these only play video content. Many of these computers can be replaced with a simple and compact Raspberry Pi Computer. Raspberry Pi Player Close-up The image above shows a closeup view of one of the completed Raspberry Pi Video Players. All that is required to use our new players is to connect the player to an HDMI display. Power is provided via a small USB power supply. Raspberry Pi Video Player Display The players produce a very nice display on an HDMI monitor. We also connect the players to a small USB powered speaker to provide audio. Player Hardware and Packaging Our video players are relatively inexpensive and easy to build. Here's a bill of materials: Raspberry Pi Model 3B + Motherboard Miuzei Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Case with Cooling, Fan, Heatsinks, and Power Supply 16 GB Flash Card The parts cost a total of about $60 new on Amazon. Fortunately, we had most of the parts required on hand except for the cases which significantly reduced the overall cost of the project. Raspberry Pi 3 B+ The current build of the Raspian OS includes a copy of the VLC Media Player which we use to play our videos. Playing high-resolution videos does stress the capabilities for the Model 3B+ that we are using and a few of our videos needed to be downscaled to 720p resolution to play smoothly. The downscaling was done using QuickTime Player on a Mac. Our monitors are 27 in or smaller and there was no noticeable loss of video quality at 720p resolution. Case, Power Supply, Fan, and Heatsinks The processing load associated with continuously playing videos causes the Raspberry Pi to generate a good bit of heat. To deal with this and also to provide a nice case for our players, we chose an enclosure package which includes a fan and heatsinks. The package also includes the required USB power supply with an on-off switch. Player Software RPi Desktop via VNC We enabled the Raspberry Pi VNC Server on our Video Players to provide keyboard and mouse access via Windows and Mac computers. This allows a single PC to configure and start the VLC players on all 7 of our Video Players used in our Ham Expo Display. We use the RealVNC connect client on the controlling PC to access our Raspberry Pi Video Players. Raspberry Pi File Sharing on a Windows PC via Samba We also installed the Samba file sharing package on our Video Players. Samba allows a Windows or Mac PC to access the drive on the Players to load our videos. The Model 3B+ provides both wired and WiFi access and we use the wired connection for loading our videos because it is much faster than WiFi. The Raspberry Pi's WiFi connection is great for VNC access to start out players at our Expos. Planned Use Of Our Players The Raspberry Pi video players create an inexpensive and easy to use System for playing videos as part of our Ham Expo Displays. We will be using them for the first time at our Ham Expo Display at HamXpostion at Boxboro in September. The resulting Raspberry Pi are very capable systems and I expect that we will find other applications for them as we go forward. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NARS Dayton Forum Video > The Nashua Area Radio Society gage a presentation about Growing and Modernizing our club at the Dayton Hamvention in 2019. Here's the Dayton Forum Video... - Published: 2019-08-13 - Modified: 2019-11-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/13/dayton-forum-video/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Hamvention, NARS Event The ARRL gave the Nashua Area Radio Society a Forum at the Dayton Hamvention® this past year to talk about how we approached Growing and Modernizing our club. Here's a summary of our presentation from the Hamvention program: ARRL is pleased to introduce members of the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS), from New Hampshire. This ARRL Special Service Club has over 200 members contributing to Amateur Radio licensing classes, youth and school activities, on the air operating activities, Amateur Radio Expositions in public venues, and emergency communications training. NARS is a vibrant, active radio club with a strong mentoring component. Club members will share a presentation about their activities and approach to building membership and youth participation in their club. If your radio club is hungry for new ideas and is looking for ways to engage newcomers – you won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear from a vibrant, active radio club. Sponsored by ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio®. https://vimeo. com/353545991/9515ac7eae The ARRL has produced a video of our Dayton Forum presentation. You can view our Dayton Forum Video by clicking on the image above. The Nashua Area Radio Society Story (click to view) You can also view the slides from our Forum presentation by clicking on the image above. It works well to view both the slides and the video together. You can do this by clicking on the slides to bring them up in a separate tab in your browser and then playing the video from this page. The Nashua Area Radio Society in the ARRL Booth at Dayton The ARRL also provided space in their booth at Dayton for us to host a display about some of our projects and to talk with folks about how they might go about modernizing and growing their Amateur Radio club. There has been quite a bit of interest what has worked for us and we are providing this presentation via the Internet to several other Amateur Radio Clubs around the USA. If you would like to have us share this presentation at your club meeting, please contact us via email to ab1oc@arrl. net. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Rookie Roundup RTTY - Digital Contest for Newbies! > Licensed in 2017, 2018, or 2019? Never made a RTTY Contact? Join the multi-op team operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY from AB1OC/QB's QTH. - Published: 2019-08-01 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/01/rookie-roundup-rtty-digital-contest-for-newbies/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Digital, HF, On The Air The ARRL Rookie Roundup - RTTY contest is open to anyone who was first licensed in 2017, 2018 or 2019 or anyone who has never made a RTTY mode contact. We will be defending our title as #1 Multi-Op Area 1 in the RTTY version of the ARRL Rookie Roundup . The contest will take place on August 18 from 2 pm - 8 pm and we will operate from AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. --- ### Membership Renewals > September is the month when many club members will need to renew their memberships. This article will show you how to do your membership renewal online. - Published: 2019-08-01 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/08/01/membership-renewals/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: ARRL, Contest, Education and Training, Field Day, HF, License Class, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air, Tech Night, Youth Outreach Close to 40% of our members are up for renewal in the month of September. We encourage those members to renew early, beat the rush, and make sure your membership does not expire. This article will show you how to tell when your membership is up for renewal. It will also show you how to renew your NARS membership online. When is My Membership Due for Renewal? Looking up my membership status You can visit the following page to see when your membership is up for renewal: https://www. n1fd. org/member-directory/. Scroll to the 2nd table on the page, titled Membership Roster and Status, put your callsign in the search box and hit return. As you can see above, I have looked up my membership status and I see that my membership is expiring in September 2019. Membership Renewal Form How to Renew Your Membership To renew your membership, you can fill out the membership renewal form at the following page: https://www. n1fd. org/renew-your-membership/. At the end of the form, you will be asked to pay your membership fee using PayPal. We have multiple membership renewal options to choose from if you qualify, with the following yearly fees. Make sure you take advantage of a discounted rate if you qualify: Regular Membership: $31 Senior Membership (Age 65 or over): $26 Full-Time Student: $26 Family Membership: $46 Field Day 2019 Team Your membership allows you to participate in all of our activities including: Field Day Programs at Membership Meetings Tech Nights Monthly Breakfasts Weekly Repeater and HF Nets SOTA/POTA/NPOTA Activations Fox Hunts NARS Sponsored Contests Our High-Altitude Balloon Projects License Classes and Ham Bootcamps for new Hams Reading and perhaps Creating Articles and Viewing Members-Only Pictures, Video, and Forum Posting on our website, https://www. n1fd. org... HAB-3 Students and Teachers - Ready to Launch Your membership in the Nashua Area Radio Society also supports our education and youth outreach work including: Amateur Radio Licensing class delivery and scholarships for students, teachers, and young people STEM Education for school students through Amateur Radio (ex. our High-Altitude Balloon program) Activites to introduce young people and new Hams to Amateur Radio such as ARRL Kids Day, ARRL Rookie Roundup, and other youth outreach activities If you are not yet a member, you can join the Nashua Area Radio Society online at https://www. n1fd. org/join-us/ --- ### Plans for HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019 - We Need Your Help > The Nashua Area Society will be part of the fun at HamXposition @ Boxboro 2019. We will be adding some new things this year as well as the Ham Radio Expo... - Published: 2019-07-31 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/31/hamxposition-boxboro-2019/ - Categories: Antennas, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, CW, Education and Training, Hamvention, Homebrew, Kits, Mentor, On The Air, Satellite, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Society will be part of the fun at HamXposition @ Boxboro again this year. We will be adding some new things this year as well as providing the Ham Radio Expo display that we did last year. Our contributions will include: An expanded Ham Expo Display Ham Bootcamp - a new activity for prospective and recently licensed Technician and General Class Hams An Expanded Kit Building Activity Several Forum Presentations featuring some of our recent projects and NARS Activities leading to our recognition as Club Of The Year We will need a lot of help from NARS members to make our contribution to HamXposition successful. More on this later in this article. Ham Radio Expo Display Ham Expo Display Our Ham Expo display will cover many activities that you can do with Amateur Radio. Our display will also include three GOTA stations: A Computer Controlled Satellite GOTA A Remotely Controlled High-Power HF GOTA A Repeater GOTA We will also be adding a radio programming clinic where you can get your HT programmed at the show. Ham Expo Layout The diagram above shows the planned layout for our Ham Expo display. It will cover the entire back wall of the main exhibit hall in the vendor area and will include the Satellite GOTA station in the bar area as we did last year. Ham Bootcamp Ham Bootcamp Activity Ham Bootcamp is a new activity this year. Ham Bootcamp is a hands-on activity for folks interested in getting a Ham Radio License and folks who have gotten their Technician or General Class License and would like so help to get on the air or to upgrade their station to take advantage of their new General Class privileges. Our planned activities are outlined in the chart above. Most will be hands-on in small groups of 10 or less so we can answer questions and demonstrate how to have fun with Ham Radio. Ham Bootcamp will take place from 9 am to noon on Saturday and will accommodate up to 100 HamXposition attendees on a first-come-first-served basis. We will also provide a $5 discount coupon to all Ham Bootcampers to use toward one of the kits that are included in our kit building activity at HamXposition. Kit Building Plans Morse Tutor Kit The popular Morse Tutor kit will be back again this year and we'll have folks on hand as well equipment so that folks can build their kit and get it working at the show. You can find more about our Morse Tutor kit here. We will be adding a second kit at our kit build - a 70 cm ground plane antenna. This is an antenna that you can build and use to help your HT or base rig get out better on the 70 cm band. We'll have an analyzer and folks who can help you to tune your antenna for the best operation after you complete your kit. Forum Presentations NARS Forum Presentations The Nashua Area Radio Society has had a pretty amazing year and we will have the opportunity to share some of our experiences at HamXposition via forum presentations. You can see the topics for our planned presentations above. We Need Your Help NARS HamXposition Teams HamXposition is an important undertaking for us and for the northeastern Amateur Radio Community as a whole. We need your help to plan and execute our plans. Please reach out to Dave, Jerry, Scott or myself and join our HamXposition Team. It will be a lot of fun and a rewarding change to give back to the northeastern Amateur Radio Community. Fred, AB1OC --- ### August Contest Notes > The "official" kick-off for contesting season is really CQ WW SSB at the end of October. Our August Contest Notes provide some warm up opportunities. - Published: 2019-07-31 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/31/august-contest-notes/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contesting Warm up for Contesting Season The "official" kick-off for contesting season is really CQ WW SSB at the end of October, but many of us clear our throats here in August with a set of North American QSO Party events sponsored by the National Contest Journal. We have CW and SSB in August; the RTTY event was mid-July. See the August Contest Notes below for some opportunities to "warm up" for contest season this fall. August Highlights 10-10 International Summer Contest Exchange: 10-10 members: Name + 10-10 number + SPC, non-members give a zero for their 10-10 number (same format) This might be an interesting contest, if only to see whether 10m comes alive. Go to a band like 10m and listen nearly anytime during the low point in the solar cycle and you'll likely hear nothing at all. But, put a big contest on the air and suddenly 10m is alive with activity. (Maybe not, but you might be surprised how often this is true! ) Check out the rules, of course, as I always recommend, but this seems like a pretty easy contest. Remember, the 10m band has more spectrum than all the other HF bands put together! Everybody gets to spread out. It makes for a very relaxing experience. Try it! North American QSO Party, CW Exchange: Name + SPC Hey, look at that! Lots of overlap with the 10-10 contest. And, it has almost the same exchange (the 10-10 contest wants a zero between your name and SPC). Here's yet another change to work on your WAS award. Maryland-DC QSO Party Exchange: entry class + SPC Entry classes are Standard, Mobile, Club, and QRP. Read the rules for more. North American QSO Party, SSB Exchange: Name+ SPC At risk of repeating myself, if you are new to contesting, or if you just like to do something relaxing, and you can speak at all, this contest is your speed. Put some states in the log! Hawaii QSO Party Exchange: HI: RS(T) + QTH, non-HI: RS(T) + SPC I'm highlighting this contest because for many of us moping our way through the doldrums of this solar cycle Hawaii is a tough place to reach. It is the world's most isolated island chain, after all. So, a whole contest chock-full of Hawaiians sounds like a great opportunity to put them in the log. Remember, Hawaii isn't just a state, it's a DXCC entity, too. Two-Fer! That's All for This Month Remember that contesting. com always has great stuff, including the complete list of contests for this month (and every month). Even if you're a little shy, even if you feel inexperienced, even if you don't think contesting is for you, get on the air, listen for a bit, then make a few QSOs, and see if it doesn't put a smile on your face. 73 de Scott, NE1RD Note: Top image was from Yellowknife Online, NWT --- ### GPS Time Server - Accurate Clocks for Your Station > There are many reasons to have an accurate time source such as a GPS Time Server in your station. Getting the best performance from WSJT-X modes like FT8... - Published: 2019-07-30 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/30/gps-time-server-accurate-clocks-for-your-station/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Software, Station Building There are many reasons to have an accurate time source such as a GPS Time Server in your station. Getting the best performance from WSJT-X modes like FT8 require your computer clock to be synchronized to within a second... Source: GPS NTP Server We've recently added a GPS synchronized NTP time source to our station. The unit provides very accurate clocks (to within a microsecond) for WSJT-X modes like FT8. It also provides accurate clocks should we lose access to the Internet. You can read more about the GPS NTP server via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NARS August Activities > We have a busy month of August Activities. Our monthly Club Breakfast will be held on Saturday, August 10th at 8:30 am at the Dream Diner in Tyngsboro... - Published: 2019-07-28 - Modified: 2020-05-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/28/august-activities/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, Picnic, Portable, SOTA We have a busy month of activities coming up in August. Our monthly Club Breakfast will be held on Saturday, August 10th at 8:30 am at the Dream Diner in Tyngsboro. The following weekend we will hold what has become our annual trip to activate Mount Washington on Saturday, August 17th. We will activate Mount Washington for Summits on the Air (SOTA) and Mount Washington State Park for Parks on the Air (POTA). We have had members get to the top almost every possible way there is. We've had members hike up - this is a very strenuous climb and takes about 4 hours, one way. We've had some members come up on the Cog Railway. It is the steepest rack railway in the US and 2nd steepest in the world! Reservations are recommended. There is also a Steam Punk Festival taking place on the 17th as well. The Mount Washington Cog Railway We also have had members make the strenuous hike up the mountain. This is quite a hike and will take you close to 4 hours to reach the top. If you are interested in hiking up please get in touch with Jamey, AC1DC at activities@n1fd. org. Connor, KC1GGX arriving at the peak! The final way up is to drive the Mount Washington Auto Road. The Mount Washington Auto Road offers a one of a kind experience with spectacular views. If you're not comfortable with heights or narrow mountain roads you can also take a guided tour on one of the Mount Washington vans. A Stop along the Auto Road We'll plan to arrive at the peak around 10:00 am and set up and then operate as long as the weather permits. Please contact Jamey, AC1DC via email at activities@n1fd. org if you are planning on attending. After hiking up the mountain on Saturday, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will host the ARRL's Rookie Roundup for RTTY. Anyone licensed under three years or anyone that has not made a RTTY contact may join in the fun. The contest begins at 2 pm local time and runs until 8 pm. If you are interested in participating please contact Anita at membership@n1fd. org. Jim, K1BRM operating in the Rookie Roundup RTTY Finally, we will also have our Club's Family Picnic on Saturday, August 24th at Greeley Park in Nashua. This will run from 11 am until 4 pm. We have a potluck lunch. Members can sign up to bring a dish on our Google Sheets page. We'll have some foxes (hidden transmitters) out and may try a satellite contact with a hand held and yagi antenna. Bring your family and friends and come enjoy an afternoon with the club! Club Picnic We have a lot going on in August and I hope to see you at one or all of the events we have scheduled! Jamey, AC1DC --- ### When a Dipole Doesn't Hang in a Tree > The dipole we likely used was one that was fed in the middle, and hung horizontally from a tree. I'll challenge all assumptions with some unusual dipoles... - Published: 2019-07-28 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/28/unusual-dipoles/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Portable, Station Building Dipoles For many of us, the first antenna we used for the HF bands was a dipole. Whether it be a G5RV or other multiband dipole, or just a single band dipole cut for a particular frequency range, the dipole we likely used was one that was fed in the middle, and hung horizontally from a tree. In this article, I'd like to challenge all of those assumptions. Dipoles Not Fed in the Middle The first thing to challenge our assumptions is that dipoles, wires that are connected to both the center and shield of your coax, do not need to be fed in the middle. In fact, there can be some advantages for not feeding one there. A dipole in free-space (sufficiently away from other objects, including the Earth, such that no object has a measurable effect on it) have an impedance at the feed-point of about 72 Ohms. That's reasonably close to 50 Ohms so no modern transceiver will complain about the difference too much (that gives you an SWR of about 1. 4:1). But, the other thing about that impedance is that it is purely resistive. There is no inductive or capacitive reactance to suck up your power and reduce your signal strength. Here's a quick model I made of a dipole hanging in free space with 8. 5-feet of #18 wire on each side (fed in the middle). My modeling program gave me the following numbers for this dipole: Frequency 28. 100 MHz Feedpoint(1) - Z: (72. 243 + i 0. 531) VSWR(Zo=50 Ω): 1. 4:1 Now imagine you have the wire lengths a little different from above. Instead of having 8. 5-feet of wire on either side, you have 9. 5-feet of wire on one side, and 7. 5-feet on the other. What will happen? The dipole still behaves the same way as far as sending signals out (the pattern of the radiation doesn't change), but the feed-point impedance will have changed from about 72 Ohms to about 100 Ohms. Here's the results from my modeling program: Feedpoint(1) - Z: (97. 900 - i 1. 103) This shows almost 98 Ohms with just a little capacitive reactance at the feed-point. This is so close to 100 Ohms that I wonder what the SWR would look like if we were to put a 2:1 transformer there. In fact, this kind of calculation is easy: the model program does it for us if we ask. Here's the full line of details for our 10m antenna fed slightly off-center: Feedpoint(1) - Z: (97. 900 - i 1. 103) VSWR(Zo=100 Ω): 1. 0:1 Wow! Now we have a perfect 1. 0:1 SWR and all the same performance as the previously configured antenna! This trick works for another off-center fed (OCF) antennas. A popular antenna is a Carolina Windom which is fed off-center so much that it requires a 9:1 transformer to bring the impedance down to 50 Ohms. This isn't cheating, and except for the small losses you're inevitably going to have in any transformer, this is a good solution for getting a great match. Dipoles Don't Need to Go Straight The thing about dipoles is: there isn't a lot going on near the end of a dipole. In Figure 1 you can see a "droopy dipole" a dipole with about 5. 7-foot on a side, and with 3-feet of wire drooping off the end. The diagram is color-coded with the most current flowing near the yellow of the middle, and the least flowing at the ends where the color is purple. If there is no current flowing it doesn't really matter where the wire goes (so long as it doesn't interfere with the rest of the antenna system). Figure 1. The Droopy Dipole As it turns out, this 10m antenna tuned for 28. 1 MHz is just a little easier to tune than it's flattop brother. There's my modeling program's view of this antenna: Feedpoint(1) - Z: (56. 900 - i 2. 113) VSWR(Zo=50 Ω): 1. 1:1 Normally I don't recommend looking too hard at the SWR number as it doesn't give you a good idea of the antenna's efficiency. But, when the reactance number is just a couple of Ohms like we have here, then why not go for a good match? And, we get one with a 1. 1:1 SWR. I'm not sure you should plan on deploying a droopy dipole to achieve these goals, but this shows that a dipole doesn't have to go straight to be a good antenna. Droopy dipoles can be good performers, and provide a good match to your transceiver. Dipole not in a Tree This is one of the four free-standing vertical dipoles I have in my yard. I don't want any antenna I can't work on from the ground (I don't like heights, and I'm pretty sure I don't bounce as well as when I was young). These antennas are made from aluminum and are fed in the middle. They also have a "droopy dipole" kind of design. The horizontal top and bottom elements are shown in Figure 2 are called "capacity hats" and serve the same purpose as the extra wire that droops in a droopy dipole: it makes the antenna the correct length electrically even if there isn't much current that will ever flow through it. Figure 2. A Vertical Dipole for 15m Here's a model for an antenna like this. (I made this one up from scratch, but the model said it would work about as well). See figure 3 below. Figure 3. Model view of the Vertical Dipole In this design, I had the dipole fed in the middle of the vertical segment with about 6-feet of pipe above and below the feed-point. The "wings" (the parts that radiate away from the vertical section) are about 3. 8-feet in length. Here's what the modeling program had to say for this antenna: Feedpoint(1) - Z: (41. 881 - i 0. 078) VSWR(Zo=50 Ω): 1. 2:1 The feed-point impedance is close to 50 Ohms (just a little low at about 42 Ohms), but the match is almost perfect with less than... --- ### Station Updates At K8EZB > My station updates have mostly included acquiring/restoring equipment for vintage HF SSB stations, but decided to first get going with an SDR radio... - Published: 2019-07-26 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/26/station-updates-k8ezb/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Software, Station Building I saw Scott Andersen’s recent plea for articles, including on the topic of station improvements, so I thought I’d respond with a short article on some station updates at K8EZB. Nothing as sophisticated as some here can report, but, for me, meaningful progress. As previously reported, I am back OTA after a 50+ year lapse in amateur radio activity. I have been working mostly on acquiring/restoring equipment for vintage HF SSB stations but decided to first get going with an SDR radio or two, and also get some experience with digital modes. I started with an IC-7300 in late 2017 and after several months of QSOs on SSB, I moved on to FT8. This was a bit of a challenge as it was difficult to find accurate, comprehensive information on radio and software setup. It seemed that everyone offering advice had slightly different ideas on configuring everything. After consulting several online sources as well as Fred and Hamilton, I was able to conduct my first FT8 QSO in late 2018. I was pleasantly surprised at how well FT8 worked, especially considering the highly compromised antenna I am using. The antenna is a My Antennas EFHW-80-10HP, an end fed half wave (130 ft) wire with a matching network at the feedpoint. This antenna is advertised as resonant on most bands 80m-10m, and I am generally seeing SWR numbers below 3. 0 in all cases, and much lower on some bands. These SWR numbers are higher than the manufacturer specifies, but I suspect this is due to certain compromises on my part. The compromises come about due to installation constraints. My location necessitates a bit of stealth, so the antenna is low (15 ft at the highest point), sloping, and folded back into a sort of V shape; it is also below and in close proximity to several steel clad industrial type buildings. Not optimum by any means. However, this antenna has performed far better than expected. Using WSPR and PSK Reporter, it is clear that the propagation pattern strongly favors northeast-southwest. With this antenna, I am consistently able to work stations throughout the U. S. and western Europe on 20m using FT8. And, on a good day, it does even better. One of my early contacts was Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean. I have also been heard in Japan on 40m but have not completed a QSO on this band in Japan. The DX is pretty amazing, some due to the antenna, but more likely due to the weak signal capability of FT8. With this early success, I was motivated to upgrade my radio to an IC-7610 in January 2019. This is quite the sophisticated transceiver and I am still learning how to fully utilize its capabilities. Getting the 7610 configured for digital modes was relatively straightforward as much of the setup was very close to the IC-7300. In the process of moving to the 7610, I also added the DX Lab software suite, JTAlert, and HDSDR applications. The DX Lab suite, for me, is not so much for DX use as for basic logging and support of digital modes. This suite is a software tour de force in terms of capability, but also daunting for a newbie to install and integrate with other apps. There is a very active DX Lab forum at groups. io and the pros there answered my question in short order. Dave, AA6YQ, the developer of DX Lab, has spent a good part of his life developing and supporting this FREE software and is on the groups. io forum daily to answer questions and accept bug reports. I also added HDSDR, an app that is driven from the I/Q output of the 7610 and provides a much expanded and configurable bandscope type capability, well beyond what the native 7610 bandscope can do. (The left window in the Screen 2 photo below shows an example of HDSDR capability). In the process of adding all this software to my “radio” computer, I decided to upgrade this Core i5 processor by doubling RAM to 16 GB, adding a video card to drive a second hi-res monitor, and replacing the HDD with a SATA type SSD. This went smoothly enough and significantly boosted overall performance. At about this time, the TelePost LP-700 digital station monitor I ordered about a year previous (long waiting list! ) finally arrived and I added this to the station. This quite an impressive instrument and I am not yet using anywhere near its full capability. Once the computer was updated, I branched out a bit to add the Win Warbler module of the DX Lab suite to support RTTY, PSK31 and other digital modes. Both modes worked quite well after getting the setup squared away, and DX in these modes was almost as available as with FT8. My first RTTY and PSK31 contacts were in Europe. In recent days I have installed the latest version of WSJT which supports the new FT4 mode and have made several FT4 contacts. FT4 is said to be optimized for contesting, and while I have minimal interest in contesting, I thought it worthwhile to give it a try. Very easy if one already has FT8 running. JTAlert does not yet fully support FT4 but this is said to be coming soon. Below are a few photos showing the station and some relevant screenshots. Next on the station upgrade agenda is the addition of an Acom A1200S solid-state amp and companion 04AT antenna tuner. Also considering adding a Yaesu FTdx-101MP once the reported bugs have subsided. No such thing as too many radios! K8EZB Screen 1 Screen 2 Rick K8EZB --- ### Latest Tech Night - Putting Up A Tower > We recently did a how-to presentation on Putting Up A Tower at a Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night. The video from this presentation can be viewed above. - Published: 2019-07-11 - Modified: 2020-04-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/11/putting-up-a-tower/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF July 2019 Tech Night - Putting Up A Tower We recently did a how-to presentation on Putting Up A Tower at a Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night. The video from this presentation can be viewed above. Putting Up A Tower Video - Topics Covered We covered a variety of information related to planning, building and integrating Guyed and House-Bracketed towers. You can view the accompanying presentation materials here. The Nashua Area Radio Society produces similar how-to training materials on almost a monthly basis and we make these materials available to our Members an Internet Subscribers (folks that live too far from our location to be regular members) for a small cost which supports our new Ham development programs and covers the production and storage costs associated with the video material. Here's a list of the training topics that we've produced to date: 2019 Tech Nights Almost Everything You Need to Know About Antenna Fundamentals Part 1 by Spencer Webb, W2SW and Steve Golson, W1SEG Raspberry Pi for Portable Digital Communications by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC HFTA, Feedline Design and Busting Pileups by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC QSL’ing and Awards by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Fox Hunting: Radio Direction Finding for Beginners including a Tape Measure Yagi Build by Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Surface Mount Technology by Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS RF Design with Smith Charts, Building a First HF Station, and Begining with CW - Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS; Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL; and Jerry Doty, K1OKD All About Field Day 2019 by our Field Day Planning Team Putting up a Tower by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2018 Tech Nights Operating Your Station Remotely by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Transceiver Frequency Measurement and Calibration by George Allison, K1IG. DMR Radios and Programming by Bill Barber, NE1B WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144 and More by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Computers by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC, Brian McCaffrey, W1BP, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Craig Bailey, N1SFT All About Field Day 2018 by our Field Day Planning Team Portable Operating Gear - demonstrations by Nashua Area Radio Society Members K1EL Kits by Steve Elliott, K1EL Antenna Modeling I by Scott Andersen, NE1RD. Building and Operating a Mobile HF Station by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC 2017 Tech Nights High-Altitude Balloons: Amateur Radio at the Edge of Space and was presented by our HAB Team. Getting On The Air 2. 0 by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD All About n1fd. org - Getting the most from our Website by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Digital Modes: RTTY, PSK, and WSJT-X by Mike Struzik AB1YK, Anita Kemmerer AB1QB, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Bonding and Grounding by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. All About Field Day 2017 by Dave Merchant, K1DLM, and our Field Day Planning Team. Building and Operating a Satellite Ground Station by Burns Fisher, W2BFJ and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. DXing and QSLing by Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB; Bill Barber, NE1B; Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Dick Powell, WK1J. Weak Signal VHF and UHF Stations by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO and Bill Barber, NE1B. Getting the Most from your HF Transceiver and More by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC and Dave Michaels, N1RF. 2016 Tech Nights Popular Loggers - Ham Radio Deluxe and DXLab Suite by Dave Merchant, K1DLM and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Low-Band Antennas by Dennis Marandos, K1LGQ; Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS; Brian McCaffrey, W1BP; and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. RF Simulation and Matching by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO Directional Antennas by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; Dave Michaels, N1RF; Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO; and Greg Fuller, W1TEN All About Field Day 2016 by our Field Day Planning Team. Surface Mount Soldering and Desoldering, a Hands-On Presentation by Jeff Millar, WA1HCO Building Your First Station and Getting On The Air by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, and Dave Michaels N1RF Software Defined Radios by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC and Skip Youngberg, K1NKR Advanced Repeaters (DMR, EchoLink, DMR, and D-STAR) by Anita Kemmerer; AB1QB, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Bill Barber, NE1B Antenna Modeling with EZNEC by Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC You can gain on-going access to the full library of Amateur Radio Training and How-To materials by supporting our work to bring new people and young people into the Amateur Radio Service as a Nashua Area Radio Society Internet Subscriber. You can learn more about how to become an Internet Subscriber here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NARS is Featured in QST and CQ Magazines > The Nashua Area Radio Society, NARS, is featured in both QST and CQ Magazines this month as they publish their articles on the 2019 Dayton Hamvention. - Published: 2019-07-11 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/11/nars-is-featured-in-qst-and-cq-magazines/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Hamvention Both QST Magazine and CQ Magazine published articles on the Dayton Hamvention this month. The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) was recognized the Hamvention Club of the Year award this year, where the Hamvention theme was Mentoring the Next Generation. NARS is featured in QST and CQ Magazines. NARS in CQ Magazine In CQ Magazine, the article titled "The Dayton Trifecta" starts on page 24. There is a nice spread on the Hamvention Awards Dinner on pages 30-31, where you will see the Nashua Area Radio Society included in pictures of the award winners. NARS in QST Magazine The electronic version of QST, published by the ARRL is out and we are featured in the article titled "The 2019 ARRL National Convention at Dayton Hamvention" on pages 72-74 - we are featured on page 73. If you look closely, you will also see some members in the group photo at the beginning of the article. The print version should be arriving in the mail shortly. NARS is featured in CQ and QST Magazines this month. Make sure you pick up your copy of both magazines! --- ### Field Day 2019 Recap > Field Day 2019 was one of the best every for the Nashua Area Radio Society. We operated as 11A and improved our score by over 2000 points over last year. - Published: 2019-07-10 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/10/field-day-2019-recap/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, CW, Digital, Education and Training, Field Day, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Tower, VHF/UHF Field Day 2019 was one to remember. We built an 11A station with a new VHF Tower and 160 meters. Setup and takedown went smoothly. The operating positions were full for most of the event. We increased our score by more than 3,000 points over last year! Field Day Site Hudson Memorial School proved to be a great Field Day Site for the 2nd year. Transportation and Setup Tower and Antenna Setup Setting up at Field Day was a challenge, with 4 towers, the 160-meter wire antenna, and RBOG and the Satellite station. Thanks to a hardworking and organized team led by Craig, N1SFT, we had everything onsite by Thursday evening or Friday morning and the Tower and Antenna setup went very smoothly. We even had some professional help, when Matt, KC1XX showed up! VHF Tower Here is the newest addition to field day, the VHF Tower. With the antennas on the tower and the use of FT8, we had a record number of 6-meter contacts. And Fred was able to walk the VHF bands with a few clubs to get some QSOs on 2 meters and 70 cm as well. Field Day 2019 Operation Ryan, KC1KJS, operating at Field Day At 2:00 pm local time, the operations began and continued for 24 hours. It was great to see some of our younger members operating at Field Day. CW Operations We also had world class contesters Matt, KC1XX and Bob, WA1Z in the CW Tent along with Dennis, K1LGQ. Keith, KC1IMK at the Digital Station We had a very cool high tech Digital setup with 3 stations running FT8 using networked Flex Radios and antennas on a 60 ft tower. Thanks to Dave, K1DLM, for providing this setup. Abby, AB1BY Operating at Night Operations continued all night. Rumor has it that Abby, AB1BY and her dad Jamey, AC1DC operated SO3R in the Digital tent on FT8. Great Food Jerry, K1OKD at the Grill We also had world class food at Field Day. Thanks to Jerry, K1OKD, Food team lead and Andrea, KC1JDX and Peter, KC1FNF, we never went hungry. Sterling, AK1K Thanks to Sterling, AK1K, we got 200 bonus points for messaging and had fun in the process handling the messages. Field Day Site after Field Day We left the site just as it was when we arrived. Thanks to all who helped take everything down and bring it all back to BOB! Field Day 2019 Results Field Day Results Here are our 2019 Field Day Results - a big improvement over last year! Thanks to everyone who helped out with Field Day - too many to mention in this article. This was one of our best Field Days ever! You can see more detail on our score and the list of our Top Operators on our Field Day page. Anita, AB1QB --- ### July Contest Notes > July Contest notes - It's difficult to believe that half of 2019 is already behind us. We're only a few months away from the start of 2019-2020 contest... - Published: 2019-07-01 - Modified: 2024-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/01/july-contest-notes/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Contest, On The Air Half Gone It's difficult to believe that half of 2019 is already behind us. We're only a few months away from the start of the 2019-2020 contesting season. As the NARS Field Day totals have shown, there is still plenty of good propagation out there so don't believe all that talk about the bands being dead. The bands, especially during contests, often have a surprising amount of activity. Take advantage of it. 13 Colonies The height of Summer brings us things that are an equal amount of fun and competition. Though not a contest, per se, the 13 Colonies Special Event will bring you pile-ups worthy of CQ WW. If you've not found some slots to work already, check out the NARS club 13 Colonies effort and get involved. A Couple of Highlights I'll start with one of my favorite contests of July: the RSGB IOTA Islands on the Air contest. RSGB IOTA Contest Exchange: RS(T) + Serial No. + IOTA No. (if applicable) I have often done this contest from the Boston Harbor Islands (NA-148), either Georges Island or camping on Lovells Island. There may be a club field-trip to Georges for a Saturday 6-hour effort. Keep a watch on the Forums section of the website for more information. CQ WW VHF Contest Exchange: 4-character grid square I've done this contest from the top of Mount Wachusett and it is a ton of fun. Of course New Hampshire has a bunch of mountains to try your luck. Walk up the slope and get SOTA points, too! Take your 6m and 2m all band radio and do SSB, FM, and CW from a mountaintop and rack up the grid squares. This is a really fun way to spend an afternoon. North American QSO Party, RTTY Exchange: Name + state (DC/province/country) for North America. Just name for those outside North America. The National Contest Journal holds QSO parties and sprints for each mode twice a year. These contests are fun because they are not jam-packed with people. If your new to a mode, or if you just want to sharpen your skills, these are great contests to try. Until Next Time Summer is a good time to catch up with family, see a few baseball games , or do that outside project you've been putting off. But, if you do have some time, get on the air! 73 de Scott, NE1RD --- ### 13 Colonies Special Event Begins Today! > The 2019 13 Colonies Special Event begins today! There are stations in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies plus bonus... - Published: 2019-07-01 - Modified: 2019-07-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/07/01/13-colonies-2019/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Satellite The 2019 Thirteen Colonies Special Event begins today! There are stations in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies plus two bonus stations – WM3PEN in Philadelphia, PA an... Source: 13 Colonies Special Event Begins Today! K2K New Hamshire will be operating all modes on 160m - 6m (except for 60m) and on Satellites as well. We'll have a QRP station (K2K/QRP) as well. The 2019 Thirteen Colonies Special Event begins today. Get on the air and work all Thirteen Colonies as K2A - K2M and don't forget the two bonus stations - WM3PEN and GB13COL. Have fun! Fred, AB1OC --- ### The RockMite Part 4: The Transmitter > The RockMite is a very small, but complete, transceiver. We covered most of the radio’s components in the first three parts, but it is worth reviewing... - Published: 2019-06-30 - Modified: 2019-07-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/30/rockmite-part-4/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Homebrew A Quick Review The RockMite is a very small, but complete, transceiver. We covered most of the radio’s components in the first three parts, but it is worth reviewing. Instead of just rehashing the previous text, we should explore those ideas from a different angle. A great place to start any investigation is asking the question, “What problem are we trying to solve? ” This is a very relevant question when dissecting a radio. Answering questions like, “What does this particular thing do? ” and “Why is this here? ” helps us not only understand the results better, but I contend they help us remember the answers better, too. In part one we explored the receiver. The problem to be solved there was “How do I take energy at radio frequencies and turn them into sounds my ears can hear? ” We did that with an oscillator (discussed later) and a mixer, combining two frequencies to produce the four frequencies from two A and B: A, B, A+B, and A-B. It was the A-B (the free-running oscillator and the received signal) that combined to result in a frequency in the audible range. In part two we looked at the user interface (UI) of the device, what little of it there is. There were a couple of points there, however, including problems solved like “Can I have an iambic keyer? and “How can we operate this radio on multiple frequencies? ” and “How do we turn on the transmitter? ” All of these things were controlled by the small Microchip PIC processor. In part three we looked at the oscillator and saw how the output of the oscillator fed into the mixer for the receiver, and how it also fed forward into the transmitter section of the radio to be discussed today. The magic of the varactor tuning diode gave us a second frequency for the radio that could be directly controlled by the simple microprocessor. In this last article on the RockMite we will look at the final stages of the transmitter, and specifically the filtering between the transmitter and the antenna. The Schematic Below is a schematic for the RockMite that we’ve been using for these articles. Schematic for the RockMite transceiver (from QRPMe. com) The particular part of the schematic we are interested in today is highlighted in the following: We will discuss each part in turn. Final Amplifier Stage The final amplifier Q6 in the RockMite is the versatile and ubiquitous 2N2222A in the nice metal can. We put a heat-sink on the can to keep the transistor cool. The transistor amplifier is fed by a capacitive couple to the first stage amplifier Q5. (Q5 is fed by the oscillator. ) Q6 is connected to Vdc via an inductor, and to ground when the switching transistor Q3 is turned on. The Q3 transistor is connected to the transmit-receive (T-R) line on the PIC processor and when it powers the gate a connection is made through Q3 to ground, activating Q6. When Q3 is not turned on Q6 is quiet and the receiver can operate. Filtering Again, we should begin a discussion with “What problem are we trying to solve? ” The final amplifier Q6 is solving the problem of “How do we get our signal amplified to a reasonable level? ” Q6 does a nice job with this and the RockMite puts out somewhere around a half-of-a-Watt of power. But, the trouble with generating signals like this is we also generate unwanted signals as harmonics. So, the question becomes, “How can we pass through the signal we want, but none of the harmonics? ” A good answer to that question is a low-pass filter. Filter design is far beyond the scope of this brief article, but it might be useful to walk through a simple filter design exercise. I went to rf-tools. com and found a filter design tool. I’ve captured a screen-shot of my work creating a low-pass filter for a 40m radio. That appears below. I used some straight-forward parameters for our filter. I want the cutoff frequency to be above 40m so I chose 8 MHz. I left the Passband Ripple (dB) to the value defaulted by the program. And, I left the impedance in-and-out be 50 Ohms. Finally, I told it to choose values that exist in parts catalogs (“standard” values). The program generated the schematic near the top, and chose appropriate values for the parts to create the intended filter. The response curve of the filter appears in the graph below the schematic. Examine the schematic for the transmitter section, especially the components just before the antenna connection. We have five parts of interest L2, L3, C15, C17, and C19. (Note that C16 and C18 are not populated and are reserved for future versions of the kit. ) These five components are the low-pass filter for the radio. The specific parts to be used depend upon the band we want. The values for a 40m band radio are: L2 and L3: 1 µH C15, C19: 470 pF C17: 1000 pF If you check, these values from the RockMite design are very close to the values selected by our filter design program. (The designers of the RockMite, K1SWL and W1REX, are likely a lot smarter about filter design than I am, so we’ll take it on faith that their value selections are better. ) The differences are small: L2 and L4 have 1. 0 µH in the RockMite design; the corresponding parts in our designed filter are 1. 3 µH. C15 and C19 in the RockMite design match perfectly to the corresponding parts in our filter’s design. And C17 is 1000 pF in the RockMite design, and 820 pF in our filter design. These are all very close. The “Insertion Loss and Return Loss” graph for our filter’s design estimates the filter’s performance. The blue line that runs from upper left to the lower right corner shows the loss for a given frequency. Our first harmonic will be at 14 MHz. The line intersects 14 MHz at 27. 6 dB, meaning any outputted frequency entering the filter... --- ### Field Day Satellites, VHF+ and Fox Hunting > We will have lots of great activities for folks who are interested in operating on the VHF and above bands at Field Day 2019. Here are some activies... - Published: 2019-06-16 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/field-day-satellites-vhf-fox-hunting/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Magic Band (6m), Satellite, VHF/UHF We will have lots of great activities for folks who are interested in operating on the VHF and above bands at Field Day 2019. Here are some of the activities that we'll be doing: Satellite Contacts using a Portable Computer Controlled Satellite Stations Weak Signal SSB, CW, and FT8 Contacts on 6m, 2m, and 70cm Fox Hunting using Radio Direction Finding (RDF) to find hidden 2m Radio Transmitters Satellite Station, VHF+ Station, and Fox Hunting Training Satellites at Field Day Field Day 2019 Satellite Passes - Saturday We will have a lot of great satellite passes during Field Day this year! The table above shows a summary for Saturday. Sunday passes are also very good! You can see view the passes and associated details in our 2019 Field Day Satellite Pass Book. Computer Controlled Satellite Station We will be using a Computer Controlled Portable Satellite station which features the new Icom IC-9700 Transceiver. Portable Satellite Antennas Our Portable Satellite Station uses circularly polarized yagis and an Az/El Rotator system to enable us to track and make contacts through LEO satellites. You can learn more about the station hardware and software here. VHF+ Station VHF+ Antenna System We are planning a serious VHF+ effort at Field Day 2019. We will be putting up a dedicated 40 ft tower with yagis, low-loss feedlines, and preamps for the 6m, 2m, and 70cm bands. Icom IC-9100 Transceiver The VHF+ station will use an Icom IC-9100 Transceiver and will support all modes including FT8 Digital operation via WSJT-X. Fox Hunting Large N1FD Fox We will have several "Foxes" out during Field Day 2019. Fox Hunting (locating hidden transmitters using Radio Direction Finding) is a great way sharpen your RDF skills and have fun. Training, Training, Training Field Day Satellite Training We will be offering training on all of these activities at the start of Field Day 2019. Training will begin at 11 am at the VHF+/Satellite Station Tent. We will cover Satellite Operating, VHF+ Operating, and Fox Hunting then. Fox Hunting Training at Field Day It might be worth coming to Field Day 2019 just for the training - Don't Miss It! See you at Field Day! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Final Field Day Station Test > What goes into an 11A Field Day? Well, for starters, 13 stations! We got together at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH a couple of weekends ago to set up ALL stations... - Published: 2019-06-16 - Modified: 2019-07-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/final-field-day-station-test/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day, Software, Station Building, VHF/UHF CW Station Heaven What goes into an 11A Field Day? Well, for starters, 13 stations! We got together at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH a couple of weekends ago to set up ALL of our Field Day stations at once and test them together. Here's a rundown of the final Field Day Station Test setup: Three CW Stations Three SSB Stations Three Digital Stations A 160m All Mode Station A VHF+ All Mode Station for 6m, 2m, and 70cm A "Free" Satellite Station A GOTA Station Each station has a Laptop Computer with one or more monitors running the N1MM+ logger in a networked configuration. We also had the Scoreboard computer (Anita's Surface Pro) running for the test. Jon, AC1EV took the lead on getting the CW stations set up and working. This was true "CW Heaven"! SSB Station Testing Fun Scott, NE1RD spent the day sorting out our three SSB stations. We even got Voice Keying to work! Digital Station Testing Dave, K1DLM and Charlie, W1CBD spent the day getting our three Digital Stations to work with four FlexRadio SDRs. Anita, AB1QB took care of our WSJT-X, RTTY, and PSK configurations for the Digital Stations. Dave also got the GOTA SDR station working in his "spare time". 160m All Mode Station Test I spent my day working on the 160m All Mode and the VHF+ Stations. These stations were a challenge because they needed to run SSB, CW, and WSJT-X together with N1MM+. We finally found a software combination that worked for all of this. Computer Controlled Satellite Station Fortunately for me, our Portable Computer Controlled Satellite Station was already set up and ready to go. This is a Mac-based station and we'll be transferring our satellite contacts into the N1MM+ Windows world via an ADIF file transfer. 160m All Mode Station Main N1MM+ Monitor It took all of us pretty much an entire day (and most of an evening) to get all of this working correctly. In the end, we made a bunch of test contacts and confirmed that all 13 computers kept the correct logs and scores. With this done, we are all set for Field Day 2019! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Part 8 – GPSDO Frequency Locking > We added a GPS Disciplined Oscillator (GPSDO) to the Icom IC-9700 in our Portable Satellite Station 4.1. The addition was easy to accomplish and it locks... - Published: 2019-06-16 - Modified: 2019-07-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/16/gpsdo-frequency-locking/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF Frequency accuracy and stability become more challenging for transceivers that operate at 400 Mhz and above. Our 4. 0 Satellite Stations operate at frequencies approaching 1. 3 GHz and we want to be sure that their frequencies are accurate and stable. We decided to add GPSDO Freqeuncy Locking to the Icom IC-9700 in our Portable Satellite Station... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 8 – GPSDO Frequency Locking We recently added a GPS Disciplined Oscillator (GPSDO) to the IC-9700 in our Portable Satellite Station 4. 1. The addition was easy to accomplish and it locks our Icom IC-9700 Transceiver's frequencies to the very accurate and stable clock from GPS satellites. You can read more about out GPSDO Frequency Locking project via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### HAB-4 to Launch on Sunday from Hollis-Brookline High School > We are planning the fourth launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-4) this Sunday. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS... - Published: 2019-06-07 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/07/hab-4-launch/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We are planning the fourth launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-4) this Sunday, June 9th between 10:30 am and 11:30 am ET. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS here in Hollis, NH. Read on to learn more about our HAB projects and how to track our HAB while it is in flight. You can learn more about our HAB projects here on our website and you can view a video about our first three HAB launches above. High-Altitude Balloon Launch Site and Weather The weather and Jetstream conditions look good for our HAB-4 launch! The jet stream has finally settled down to a point that will enable us to launch locally from the High-School here in Hollis, NH. Nashua Area Radio Society members and friends are invited to join us for our launch. HAB Launch! We have been working with students at the Hudson Memorial School and Bishop-Guertin High School here in NH. The students and their teachers will handle HAB-4 launch preparations and the launch. Launch preparations will begin on site at 9:00 am ET. Weather Forecast for our HAB-4 Launch The weather forecast looks great for our launch on Sunday with mostly sunny skies and moderate winds. These conditions should enable us to capture some spectacular video from HAB-4 during its flight! We are also planning to live-stream video from our HAB-4 launch and recovery to the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page. Tracking Our HAB I wanted to share some information about tracking our HAB as it flies. Our balloon will carry a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter. HAB Flight Platform The onboard APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144. 390 MHz and will transmit our HAB’s position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during HAB-4’s flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from HAB’-4s flight platform. HAB-4 will use N1FD-11 as its call sign. HAB-2 Flight Track on aprs. fi HAB-4’s APRS packets will be picked up by ground-based Digipeaters and iGates and will be relayed to aprs. fi where the HAB’s current location and flight path can be tracked. You can click on the link in the previous line to see HAB-4’s current location and flight track. HAB-4 Flight Path Prediction Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB’s flight to last a little more than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of about 110,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings HAB-4 back to the ground at a safe speed. The above predictions will likely somewhat different from HAB-4’s actual flight path. Based upon the predictions, HAB-4 will be traveling approximately 42 km between its takeoff point and landing near Marlborough, MA. HAB APRS Packet Information Aprs. fi will store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX. 25 packets transmitted by HAB-4 during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon’s data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes. All you need to track HAB-4 during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs. fi links here to see HAB-4’s current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive HAB-4’s telemetry directly during the flight. We will post updates on launch plans and the flight in the Youth Forum on our website. You can join us for the launch. Here's a map showing how to get to our launch site. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Two Newbies at Dayton Hamvention > We were lucky to attend the Hamvention this year and see our club, the Nashua Area Radio Society accept Club of the Year... - Published: 2019-06-01 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/06/01/dayton-hamvention-newbies/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Contest, Hamvention, Satellite by Jamey, AC1DC and Abby, AB1BY Abby, AB1BY and I were lucky enough to attend the Dayton Hamvention this year and see our club, the Nashua Area Radio Society accept the Club of the Year award. Here's our recap of what it was like for each of us as first-time participants and Hamvention Newbies. The Drive On Tuesday evening I was picked up by Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) and we started our drive long drive through the night to Dayton. It was only about 15 minutes into our ride when I realized I'd left my wallet at home. We turned back and I tore the house apart in a frantic rush as I looked for my wallet! No luck, so I went back to the truck and looked through my backpack... and there it was. Not the best start to the trip. We also had trouble with the navigation system and the mobile antenna was not tuning up! Our trip did not seem to be getting off to a good start. We did get everything working properly and we were still in good spirits as we were excited for what was to come. We arrived in Dayton on Wednesday morning and checked into our hotels and got a nap and shower. Fondue! We went out on Wednesday evening for Anita's birthday dinner to the Melting Pot, a fondue place. I have never been to a fondue restaurant and ordering was quite a process - picking cheeses, meats, and desserts. Getting coached through the process, we had our meal ordered and it was fantastic! Enjoying fondue at the Melting Pot! Contest University/Booth Set Up Thursday morning was the start of Contest University at the Crowne Plaza in Dayton. I highly recommend this to anyone going out to Hamvention for the first (or any) time. Contest University I'm not sure of the exact number, but you can see from the picture there were quite a few people in attendance. The morning was made up of the 3 sessions in which you choose from 4 different topics to attend. There was quite a variety of topics! After the morning session of Contest University, I got my first view of Xenia, where Hamvention was being held, as we went to set up our booth for the next day. Our booth was in a great spot in the Tesla building with all the ARRL booths - prime location! The booth looked great and very professional when we were done thanks to a lot of work put in by Anita (AB1QB). We also got a chance to walk around the buildings a bit and look at the vendor booths as they set up. Fred and Anita took me over to the Heil booth and I got to meet Bob Heil (K9EID)! I also got to play with some fine Begali keys without the crowds and check out the AMSAT booth. AMSAT had a really cool display of module cubesats! AMSAT's model CubeSat After setting up I headed down to the Cincinnati Airport to pick up Abby (AB1BY). The fun was just beginning! Abby Arrives Since Abby had exams on Thursday morning she got to skip the drive and fly out to Dayton - actually Cincinnati, which is actually in Kentucky! This was her first time flying by herself and she was a little worried but had a direct flight from Boston so there wasn't too much to worry about. She was excited to attend Hamvention but wasn't really sure what to expect. I picked Abby up at the airport and drove back an hour to Dayton. We had a room in the Marriott and we were on the top floor where you needed your room key to make the elevator go to that floor. Abby was really feeling like a VIP. She also likes that there was also a lounge on our floor where you could get free cookies and drinks. Our room at the hotel was nice as well. Abby liked the view from our balcony. There's a chalk outline on the pavement that says, "Don't Let This Be You! " "Don't Let This Be You! " Dayton Hamvention Begins We woke up very early on Friday morning and had a quick bite at the hotel before heading over to the Xenia Fairgrounds for the first official day of Hamvention. We arrived a little late for our 8:30 am meeting as the traffic and crowds were huge! The NARS booth looked fantastic and we had a lot of people stopping by to check us out. Abby and I did some live-streaming on Facebook and took our audience on a virtual tour of the Tesla building. We also were stopped several times on our walk around the grounds by people who recognized Abby from some of our club videos. She was very tickled to be recognized and have people ask her for a photo with her. Later in the morning, we headed over to our forum room for the club talk - ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring. We had a nice crowd and Fred (AB1OC), Anita (AB1QB), Dave (K1DLM), Scott (NE1RD), Abby (AB1BY) and myself (AC1DC) all spoke on different aspects of the club. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the NARS booth and checking out the grounds around Xenia. We loved the fairground food. I got to have a corndog on a stick and Abby tried out the cheesecake on a stick. AB1BY enjoying cheesecake on a stick Speaking of food! On Friday night we went to the Top Band Dinner and listened to a talk by Ted Rappaport (N9NB). The food was great and Ted kept us all entertained with his talk. Crowds and Forums Lines as long as the eye can see Saturday morning was another early start for us. We thought it was packed on Friday. Saturday it was mobbed! Huge crowds and the NARS booth was hopping! Luckily we had a large contingent of NARS members to handle the crowds. Saturday, we also got our first taste of attending the forums. Abby attended the Youth Forum presented by... --- ### Skywarn Training Report > Spring brings the threat of severe weather. Skywarn provides National Weather Service forecasters with key observations from the ground. Skywarn Training... - Published: 2019-05-30 - Modified: 2022-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/skywarn-training/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Emcom Late spring brings with it the start of a new severe weather season. As we saw this week in the Dayton area, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can cause damage and threaten life. The Hara Arena, the former site of Hamvention was destroyed by a tornado. National Weather Service forecasters track storms carefully using radar and automated weather observations, but their forecasts can be aided by Skywarn reports from trained observers. These eye-witness observations can validate radar data and help forecasters make decisions on whether to issue additional warnings. I recently attended a Skywarn training session conducted by the Norton, MA National Weather Service office. The class was held at the Milford, MA Fire Department and lasted about two and a half hours. Rob Macedo (KD1CY), the Norton office’s Skywarn amateur radio coordinator, taught the class with the assistance of an NWS forecaster. Rob started the training with an overview of how often southern New England has severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. He discussed a few of the tornadoes that have occurred in New England, and the role that Skywarn spotters played by informing NWS forecasters of conditions on the ground. Rob taught that moisture, instability, and lift are the ingredients needed to form a thunderstorm. He also told us about the stages of a thunderstorm, thunderstorm types, and cloud identification. The instructors spent quite a bit of time on thunderstorm types and cloud identification. Properly identifying clouds is key to spotters providing accurate reports to the forecasters. The NWS forecaster concluded the training with a discussion on challenges of weather spotting in New England and the criteria for reporting weather phenomena. This was the fifth time I’ve taken the course over the last 20 years. I was impressed by how the training materials use videos and photographs from New England to help prospective spotters better understand what they’ll see here. My first training I took in the late 1990s was done with a slide projector showing photographs of perfect examples of thunderstorms in the mid-west, things we’d never see here. Skywarn training is a wonderful opportunity for any weather-lover, and a great way to fulfill our obligation to use amateur radio to benefit the public. Learn more about local Skywarn programs at the NWS Norton office, and at the WX1BOX website. Brian, W1BP --- ### The RockMite Part 3: The Oscillator > In the first RockMite article, I described the receiver of the radio. I identified the place in the receiver that accepted the output of the oscillator... - Published: 2019-05-30 - Modified: 2019-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/rockmite-oscillator/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Education and Training, Homebrew, Kits In the first RockMite article, I described the receiver of the radio. I identified the place in the receiver that accepted the output of the oscillator (marked B going into pin 6 of the mixer) but skipped describing the actual oscillator. In this article, we'll examine the oscillator and how it drives both the receiver and the transmitter. The RockMite Overall As a reminder, here is the whole schematic for the RockMite. Schematic for the RockMite transceiver (from QRPMe. com) Figure 1. The Schematic for the RockMite Transceiver The part of the schematic we need to analyze for this article is near the word "Transmitter" in the big schematic. I've cut it down in the next figure (and removed some of the distracting elements). Figure 2. The RockMite Oscillator Colpitts Oscillator The RockMite has within it a Colpitts oscillator. The transistor Q4 is the amplifier and the two capacitors C10 and C11 form the voltage divider. This design employs a crystal (Y2) that is band-dependent, of course, as are C10, C11, and C12. The output of C12 leads to another layer of transistor amplification that enlarges the voltage swing. Note point B between R13 and R14. This signal leads to the input of the mixer U1 and serves as the beat frequency oscillator (BFO) that detects the received signal. Silicon Tuning Diodes Before I can describe the rest of the circuit I need to introduce a part that I thought was almost magical when I learned about it. The part number for these devices is MVAM109 (in the center of Figure 2). The symbol looks like a cross between a diode and a capacitor. Indeed this is exactly what this part is: a diode and a capacitor combined in a very special way. The varactor (tuning) diode acts like a capacitor, but the capacitance depends on the reverse voltage across the diode. I've included a plot from the Motorola data sheet below. Figure 3. Capacitance versus reverse voltage You can see that as the reverse voltage goes up the capacitance exhibited by the part goes down. Change the voltage and you change the capacitance. We use this in the part of the circuit described in the next section. Tuning One of Two Frequencies The oscillator uses Y2 (a crystal) to help determine the frequency. But, the frequency can be altered by adding or subtracting capacitance. MVAM109 (D6) will be the device that changes the capacitance. Examine the circuit beginning with Q2 (2N7000). When the transistor is turned on there is a completed circuit between the source and drain (S and D in the diagram). In this case, the source is connected to ground. So, when the transistor is turned on the point in the circuit after D is brought down to zero volts. Check out R9, a 4. 7K Ohm resistor that connects to the drain of Q2, and to a Zener diode D5 (which is also band dependent, as it turns out). The Zener is used as a voltage regulator. Say the Zener is a 3. 9-volt model. Since we are connected (through R9) to V+, the voltage at the point where D5 connects to R9 will be limited to 3. 9 volts (or whatever the Zener is rated) and R9 is the current limiting resistor. This is assuming the transistor switch Q2 is open (not conducting). In this situation we have D6 being reverse-biased to the voltage determined by the Zener diode. That much reverse bias will cause the varactor to exhibit some amount of capacitance. If the switch Q2 is closed (and it conducts) then that point in the circuit is brought down to zero volts and the varactor is no longer reverse biased (or to a voltage below what the D5 part would supply) and we get a completely different capacitance. The gate of Q2 is controlled by the UI PIC from a line called "Shift", and it is used to switch between these two frequencies (by turning Q2 on or off). This is how the RockMite offers two different crystal-controlled frequencies with the push of a button. Next Time We have already gone through three-quarters of the schematic of the RockMite. Next time, in the last installment, I will walk through the transmitter and the filtering used by the radio. Links The RockMite Part 1: The Receiver The RockMite Part 2: The UI Scott, NE1RD --- ### June 2019 Contest Notes > The beginning of June marks the unofficial start of Summer. There are still the various state QSO parties you can work as well as Field Day and... - Published: 2019-05-30 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/june-2019-contest-notes/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Field Day, On The Air, VHF/UHF The beginning of June marks the unofficial start of Summer. There are still the various state QSO parties you can work (see Contest Calendar dot com), but the weather is finally nice! Wouldn't you rather get out of your shack and operate in the great outdoors? June is a great month to operate VHF/UHF from a mountaintop, QRP portable from a picnic table, or with your friends on Field Day. June Contests ARRL June VHF Contest Exchange: Maidenhead grid square (RST is optional) Go to the top of a mountain with your all-band, all-mode radio. I've done VHF contests QRP with an FT-817 (now being sold as the FT-818). These radios are not very economical with your batteries, but since I was driving to the top of the mountains when I did this I could bring all the power I wanted. No problem! Other radios such as the FT-857D offer the same all-band and all-mode features but have 100 watts. I've always been partial to Icom radios (if I can't use an Elecraft), so the IC-7000 was a go-to radio for me. Same deal with being something of a power-pig. But, if you're operating from your car then you have no problem. Finally, if you do have a hankering for Elecraft, the KX-3 can take an internal 2-meter module that allows you to run on both 6m and 2m. If you can't bring a whole power plant worth of power with you then this is an excellent option. ARRL Field Day Exchange: 11A NH ("11 Alpha New Hampshire" on phone) The NARS club is going all-out (again) this year planning an 11A. There is so much going on for this event that I won't even try to give you a synopsis here. To catch up go to the Field Day page and see the fine article written by Fred. I can't emphasize enough how wonderful Field Day can be to someone a little tentative on the air. Field Day is a very relaxed event, and there will be a whole host of Elmers present that WANT you to get into the game. We will sit with you, explain everything, let you make some contacts, give suggestions and encouragement, and generally have fun because YOU are having fun! Please come to the June main membership meeting, and the June Tech Night to receive the full orientation. If you can't make those meetings, no worries. The point of the meetings is to help the members feel comfortable and informed (and safe) during the event. There will be additional instruction before on-air activities begin. Until next time This concludes the June contest notes. I hope all of you with a portable radio will try to get outside and make a few contacts. SOTA, POTA, and IOTA all have programs that reward the adventurous. Get out there and get a little sunshine! Scott, NE1RD --- ### Summer Ham Activities for Young People and New Hams > We have lots of great activities coming up this summer for young people and for new and recently upgraded hams. Our planned activities include... - Published: 2019-05-30 - Modified: 2025-05-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/30/summer-ham-activites/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Education and Training, Field Day, Fox Hunting, High Altitude Balloon, License Class, Net, Youth Outreach We have lots of great activities coming up this summer for young people and for new and recently upgraded Hams. You can click on one of the links below to find out more about a specific activity that you are interested in or just read on. Our planned activities include: A High-Altitude Balloon Launch (HAB) - launch and track our HAB to the edge of space and back ARRL Field Day - build and operate a multi-transmitter radio station on emergency power 13 Colonies Special Event - on-air fun with Hams around the world Fox Hunts - locate hidden radio transmitters (like Geocaching with a radio) Weekly Repeater Chat Nets - join us on the air for one of our weekly Repeater Chat Nets every Sunday evening SOTA Activations - join us to operate from the top of local mountains Summer Ham Camp and Technician License Class - hands-on fun with Ham Radio and a chance to earn your Technician License Our Annual Picnic - make some new friend, hunt our foxes, and make a satellite contact with a hand-held antenna Youth Expo and Ham Bootcamp at the Northeast HamXposition at Boxboro - learn about all things Ham Radio, talk to Hams around the world on the shortwave bands or using a satellite in space, and learn how to get a station of your own on the air. All of these activities will be great fun for folks who are exploring Amateur Radio or have just gotten their Technician or General Licenses. High-Altitude Balloon Launch HAB-3 Students and Teachers - Ready to Launch We are hoping to launch our High-Altitude Balloon for the fourth time (HAB-4) on an upcoming weekend in June. The launch will take place at the Winchester School at around 11 am. You can use your smartphone, tablet, or computer to track HAB-4 to the edge of space and back. You can learn more about our HAB, our launch plans, and tracking our HAB here. We are currently monitoring the weather and the jetstream conditions to determine when we are GO for launching HAB-4. Please monitor our Youth Forum for up to date information on HAB-4 and a final decision on when we will launch. Back to Top ARRL Field Day WMUR Field Day TV Coverage of KC1IMK and KC1EMJ We will be holding our 2019 Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH on Saturday, June 22nd and Sunday, June 23rd. We will be building a 14 transmitter station with 4 radio towers starting on Friday and we'll be on the air from 2 pm on Saturday to 2 pm on Sunday. Everyone is welcome to join us for a tour, to do a Fox Hunt, and to Get On The Air and talk with other Hams. You don't need a license to participate. Field Day is a great way to learn about how radio stations are put together and operated on the air. You can learn more about our Field Day Plans here. Back to Top 13 Colonies Special Event 13 Colonies - A Chance To Operate in a Special Event Each year during the July 4th week (July 1st, 9 am Eastern Time to July 7th, midnight Eastern Time) Amateur Radio operators around the world participate in the Thirteen Colonies Special Event. The idea is to work at least one K2x special event station in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies. The Nashua Area Radio Society operates the New Hampshire stations using the K2K special event call sign during this event. NARS members and guests operate from their home stations as K2K. This is a great way to have fun on the air, learn to operate using voice or digital modes, and practice your operating skills. We are making our station AB1OC/AB1QB for guests to operate during the Thirteen Colonies Special Event. If you'd like to operate or just come by and listen in and learn, please contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. Back to Top Fox Hunts Fox Hunt We hide small radio transmitters during Field Day and on weekends so that folks can track them down using their radios. This activity is called Fox Hunting. All you need is a basic Handy Talky (HT) radio. You don't need a license to try Fox Hunting. We will have all the gear as well as experienced Fox Hunters available at Field Day to help you get started. We can also help you learn about and try Fox Hunting during any weekend that our Foxes are out. Jamey, AC1DC is our Fox Hunting chairperson and he posts information about when our Foxes are out in the On The Air Forum here on our website. You can learn some more about what a Fox Hunt is like here. Please contact Jamey at activities@arrl. net if you'd like some help hunting our Foxes. Back to Top Repeater Chat Nets Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, AC1DC Operating during our Chat Net We hold a weekly Repeater Chat Net every Sunday evening at 7:30 pm Eastern Time. Everyone is welcome to check-in to our nets, hear about upcoming activities, and answer our weekly question. Our question is usually about Ham Radio and gives each person who checks in a chance to share some information about their interests and activities. Our nets usually take about a 1/2 hour and are lots of fun! All you need is a basic HT or FM radio or a computer with EchoLink software. Anyone with an Amateur Radio License can check in. If you'd like some help in getting started on our net, please contact Jamey, AC1DC at activities@n1fd. org. You can find some more information about how to access our net here. Back to Top SOTA Activations NARS Operators and Friends at Mount Washington SOTA/POTA We have several Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations planned for this summer. These events involve taking our radios to the top of a mountain peak in New Hampshire or Massachusetts to put them on the air and contact other Hams. A 5W Handy Talky (HT) radio is all you need to talk to Hams all... --- ### Field Day 2019 Station Test and Plans > Several of us got together this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. We are planning to have 14 Transmitters and 4 Towers... - Published: 2019-05-28 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/28/field-day-2019-station-test/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day, Station Building Several of us got together at our QTH this past weekend to begin testing our stations for Field Day 2019. The image above shows the setup and testing of our Digital and CW stations in progress. The Setup and Test Team included: Anita, AB1QB Brian, W1BP Charlie, W1CBD Dave, K1DLM Jon, AC1EV Scott, NE1RD Fred, AB1OC New Elements for Field Day 2019 As always, our Field Day 2019 plans include several new elements (see above). We will again be using the N1MM+ logger in a networked configuration. The planned size of our station (11A with 14 transmitters, and 4 Towers on the air) makes it essential that we set up and test our stations including the associated computers and software ahead of time. Triplexer and Filters We began our tests by configuring and cabling our Filter Boards and attaching dummy loads in place of antennas for testing. The first phase of the test concentrated on the multi-band SSB, Digital, and CW stations so antenna switches were added to the mix to enable us to switch antennas/bands. SSB Station Test The photo above shows the SSB multi-band station test in progress. Most of our stations will be using IC-7300 Transceivers as is the case with the SSB test station shown above. Field Day 2019 Highlights and Plans We are planning on being an 11A station with four towers for Field Day 2019. Here’s a list of our planned stations: CW Stations – 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m Digital Stations – 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m (FT8, RTTY, and PSK) SSB Phone Stations – 20m, 40m, and 10m/15m/80m All Mode 160m Station (SSB, CW, and Digital) All Mode VHF+ Station on 6m, 2m, and 70cm (SSB, FM, CW, and Digital) – using an IC-9100 and featuring rotatable yagis and tower-mounted LNAs SSB Phone GOTA Station – sharing four Flex SDRs with the Digital Stations A Computer Controlled Satellite Station – using the new IC-9700! A Talk-in GoKit 2m/70cm FM station in the Public Information Tent We will have a total of 14 transmitters on the air! Field Day 2019 Site Layout at Hudson Memorial School Our antenna plans include the addition of a fourth tower for VHF/UHF weak-signal operation. Work is underway to ready our towers and antennas for Field Day 2019 as well. Overall Schedule for Field Day 2019 We will be holding our Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School again this year. The chart above shows our planned schedule for setup and operations for Field Day 2019. Field Day 2019 Team Leads It takes a lot of help and planning on the part of many NARS members to pull off a Field Day at the scale that we do each year. Without everyone’s help, we would not be able to do Field Day 2019. Thank you, team! Meetings to Plan, Learn, and Sign-up We are planning to share our plans, sign-up operators and the setup/teardown teams, and provide training for Field Day 2019 at our June Membership Meeting and Tech Night as follows: Field Day Overview and Sign-up (also Dayton Hamvention Highlights) – Tuesday, June 4th, 7 pm at FirstChurch Field Day Skill Builder Tech Night and Sign-up – Tuesday, June 11th, 7 pm at FirstChurch Also, we will be holding Field Day Planning meetings as follows: Equipment Prep Conference Call – Thursday, May 30th at 6 pm (contact Anita at ab1qb@arrl. net for the Webex information) Field Day Planning Meeting – Thursday, June 6th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library Field Day Planning Meeting – Thursday, June 13th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library Final Field Day Planning Meeting – Monday, June 17th, 6 pm at the Nashua Public Library All NARS members are welcome and encouraged to attend our Field Day planning meetings. Fred, AB1OC --- ### SOTA Activation of Mount Monadnock > We activated Mount Monadnock (W1/HA-009) on May 25th.  We started out from the parking lot of the park headquarters at around... - Published: 2019-05-28 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/28/mount-monadnock-sota/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air, QRP, SOTA We activated Mount Monadnock (W1/HA-009) on Saturday, May 25th. Myself, Brian (W1BP), Brian's son Nick, John (KB1EEU), Mike (AB1YK) and Randall (KC1KSY) all started out from the parking lot of the park headquarters around 8:45 in the morning on a beautiful day. KC1KSY, KB1EEU, Nick, W1BP, and AB1YK eager and ready! We hiked the White Dot trail on the way up. This was the shortest route up, which also meant the steepest. The advantage of the steepness was that we had beautiful views most of the way up. A quick break before it gets really steep Fantastic views Once we arrived at the top we took a quick breather and had a bite to eat before setting up our stations. Brian used a KX3 with his Buddipole mast, tripod and shock-corded whip. I used my new Buddipole shock corded mast that I got from Hamvention. John used a Xiegu 5105, which is similar to the KX2 on a crappy pole with an end-fed antenna. Mike, who is a homebrew guru came out with the Yaesu FT-817 and his home-made 6m yagi that he repurposed from his old 6m home-brew he brought to Mount Pack Monadnock. Mike, AB1YK with the home-brew 6m yagi Love the Buddipole! No tuner needed for AC1DC None of us created any pile-ups while on the peak, but we all had a great time. I did make one dx call to Italy which gave me enough QSOs for a successful SOTA activation. On the hike down we traveled the White Cross trail which was less steep and still offered some beautiful views. We were all tired by the end, but looking forward to our next SOTA event! AB1YK and W1BP descending after a wonderful afternoon The club will be going up Mount Kearsarge for a SOTA/POTA activation during the ARRL's VHF/UHF contest on Saturday, June 8th. Members can hike up the mountain or drive up and there should be plenty of activity on 6m and up! Jamey, AC1DC --- ### A Hamvention to Remember > 2019 was a Hamvention to remember for the Nashua Area Radio Society. We were awarded the Club of the Year Award and were featured in the ARRL booth. - Published: 2019-05-27 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/27/a-hamvention-to-remember/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: ARRL, Education and Training, Hamvention, NARS Event, Youth Outreach 2019 - A Hamvention to Remember Fred, AB1OC and I have traveled to Dayton to the Hamvention just about every year since we were licensed in 2011. We have a great time each year, learning at Contest University and the Forums, visiting the vendors to check out our next purchase, and catching up with friends at the dinners and at the Hamvention. However, this year's Hamvention will stand out as a Hamvention to remember in comparison to the rest as we had so many friends from the Nashua Area Radio Society to share it with. Tuesday and Wednesday - Trip and Arrival in Dayton Dave, K1DLM watches as our waitress at the Melting Pot prepares the Fondue Fred and I drove to Dayton with Jamey, AC1DC, leaving Tuesday evening and arriving Wednesday midday. Thanks go out to Jamey, for putting up with and helping with the very long and tiring drive to and from Dayton. My birthday almost always falls during the Hamvention and Fred takes me out to eat at my choice of restaurants. Lately, my favorite has been the Melting Pot, a restaurant that serves fondue. They serve a four-course meal, with your choice of Cheese Fondue, Salad, Entrees, which you cook on a stick, and Chocolate Fondue for dessert. This year I was honored to be joined by Dave, K1DLM, Jamey, AC1DC and Tom, AB1NS in addition to Fred. I think that Fondue was a new experience for most and I appreciate that everyone was a good sport and joined along with us. This was definitely a birthday to remember. Thursday - Contest University and Booth Setup Contest University On Thursday, we attended Contest University, where we learned about Solar Weather and What is Known about Solar Cycle 25 and how the WRTC 2014 winners can work 300-400 CW QSOs per hour in the major contests. There is always a large crowd here and we learn something new every year. NARS Booth at ARRL Expo at Hamvention On Thursday afternoon, we headed over to the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, the site of Hamvention. The ARRL invited us to be a spotlight club in their booth, which was also the 2019 ARRL Convention. It was time to setup the booth before the festivities begin on Friday. Thanks to Jamey, AC1DC, Sandy, XYL of NE1RD, and Burns, WB1FJ for helping with the booth. You can see how great it looked in the photo above. Additionally, we had a great spot, right next to the meet and greet for the ARRL executives and across from the RSGB. NARS Dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse By Thursday evening, more of the NARS team had arrived. We met for dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, near the Crowne Plaza in downtown Dayton. Pictured above are Jerry, K1OKD, Charlie, W1CBD, Dave, K1DLM, Brian, W1BP, Fred, AB1OC and Tom, AB1NS. Friday - Start of Hamvention! ARRL Dayton 2019 On Friday morning, everyone arrived bright and early for the opening of Hamvention. The ARRL invited us to be in their group picture before the crowds arrived. NARS Team in the booth at Dayton After the photo shoot, we returned to the booth and waited for the crowds to arrive. We had lots of visitors and plenty of club officers and members interested in learning about our club, our focus on mentoring, club activities, youth outreach, and of course, Field Day. Jamey Presents at Friday ARRL Forum The ARRL invited us to do a presentation at one of their Forums on Friday morning - the ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring. The presentation was well received by the audience and afterwards, at our booth, we have been mentoring other clubs on how to improve their clubs. Thanks to the following members who were part of the presentation: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Abby Finchum, AB1BY Dave Merchant, K1DLM Scott Andersen, NE1RD A copy of the slides can be found in an article on our website. The ARRL video recorded the forum and we will make the video available to members once we receive it from the ARRL. Saturday - Awards Dinner NARS Club of the Year at Hamvention Awards Dinner On Saturday evening, we attended the Hamvention Awards Dinner at the Mills Park Hotel in Yellow Springs, not far from Xenia, where we received the Club of the Year award. DARA (the Dayton Amateur Radio Organization, who runs the Hamvention) put on a great event. Abby, AB1BY with Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT The food was excellent - and we got to dine with many dignitaries - ARRL President Rick Roderick and CEO Howard Michel, Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, and Presidents and Officers of AMSAT, YLRL, DARA, DARC, and other prominent Ham Radio Organizations. Pietro Begali, I2RTF with Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB We also spoke to the other award winners, Chris Janssen, DL1MGB, the chair for WRTC-2018 in Germany, Pietro Begali, I2RTF, who makes the most beautiful and high quality CW keys and also contributes a great deal to Amateur Radio in Italy, and Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, founder and leader of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI). For more on their stories, see the Hamvention 2019 Awards Page. Club of the Year Award Sunday - Saying Goodbye and Heading Home from a Hamvention to Remember Bob Heil, K9IED visits the Booth Sunday was the last day of Hamvention. We continued to get lots of visitors to our booth, including Bob Heil, K9EID, host of Ham Nation and whose company, Heil Sound, makes high-quality Professional and Amateur Radio Audio gear. Sadly, around noon, it was time to tear down the booth and pack up to go home. We attended the public awards ceremony, where we were again honored, and then we left to drive home. Thanks to our club photographer, Charlie, W1CBD for taking so many great photos during the event, many of which are in this article. Thanks to all of the members who traveled out to Dayton and spent time with us and helped out at Hamvention. This was truly a Hamvention to Remember. Thanks also to all members of the Nashua Area... --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Part 7 – Flex SDR Satellite Transceiver > Our latest project is to upgrade our Remote Operating GW to include SDR Satellite Transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands... - Published: 2019-05-27 - Modified: 2019-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/27/sdr-satellite-transceiver/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Magic Band (6m), Satellite, Station Building, VHF/UHF A major part of our plans for Satellite Station 4. 0 includes the ability to operate our home satellite station remotely over the Internet. We’ve been using our Flex-6700 Software Defined Radio as a Remote Operating Gateway on the HF Bands and 6m for some time now. Our latest project is to upgrade our Remote Operating GW to include SDR satellite transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23cm bands... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 7 – Flex SDR Satellite Transceiver Remote Gateway Rack with Satellite Additions We've completed hardware upgrades and repackaging of our Remote Operating Gateway to allow it to be used for satellite operations. The article (link above) explains what was involved in upgrading our Flex-6700 SDR to include SDR Satellite Transceiver capability on the 2m, 70cm, and 23m bands. The project includes: Addition of a 2m Amplifier, a 70cm Transverter, and a 23cm Upconverter to our Flex-6700 SDR Provision for the addition of the 5GHz and 10 GHz satellite bands in the future Local and remote monitoring of power output and SWR Use of the Flex-6700 GPS Disciplined Oscillator for locking of frequencies on all bands Enhanced remote power and station controls which provide station management via the Internet Repackaging of the system in a rack mount enclosure that can be placed under our operating desk The next stage of our SDR Satellite Transceiver project will be to add the software components needed to control the Flex-6700/SmartSDR combination to make satellite contacts. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Part 6 – VHF and Satellite Tower Finishing Touches > Our new VHF and Satellite Tower is finally complete! We've added an entry into our shack for coax and control cables and we've installed 7/8" hardllines... - Published: 2019-05-25 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/25/satellite-tower-finishing-touches/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Magic Band (6m), Satellite, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF We recently completed the finishing touches on our new VHF and Satellite Tower. The first step was to install a second set of entry conduits into our shack and a new ground block for our satellite antennas... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 6 – Tower Finishing Touches Our Tower is finally complete! We've added an additional entry into our shack for coax and control cables and we've installed 7/8" hardline coax cables to reduce losses in our 6m, 2m, 70cm, and 23 cm feedlines. You can see some photos and details of this part of our project via the link above. We are working on upgrading our Flex-6700 SDR based Remote Gateway to include Satellite operation. Stay tuned for an article on this part of our project. Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Nashua Area Radio Society Story > We will share the Nashua Area Radio Society Story in the "ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring" forum at the Dayton Hamvention... - Published: 2019-05-14 - Modified: 2019-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/14/the-nashua-area-radio-society-story/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, NARS Event Quite a few Nashua Area Radio Society members are headed for the Dayton Hamvention® this week. The theme of Hamvention 2019 is "Mentoring the Next Generation". We will be receiving some important recognition for our work to bring new Hams into the Amateur Radio Service, for our Amateur Radio related STEM learning programs in local schools, and for our many Ham Mentoring projects. We will be recognized as the Dayton Hamvention 2019 Club of the Year. We will also be sharing The Nashua Area Radio Society Story as a forum presentation at Dayton. The Nashua Area Radio Society Story (click to view) We are also being recognized by the ARRL as a Spotlight Club for our Mentoring work. The ARRL has dedicated their "ARRL Spotlight on Radio Clubs and Mentoring" forum on Friday, May 17th at 11:50 am in Forum Room 3 to us so that we can share The Nashua Area Radio Society Story including ideas and programs that have worked well for us. You can view a copy of the presentation that we'll be sharing by clicking on the image above. The presentation contains links to the embedded videos so you can enjoy those as well. I want to express my deepest appreciation and thanks to all of the Nashua Area Radio Society members have contributed so much to our many projects, programs, and activities. Without all of you, we would not have been able to do what we have done to help others and to forward the Amateur Radio Service. We hope that our readers who will be attending the Dayton Hamvention this year will join us for our Forum Presentation on Friday and will also stop by and see our display in the ARRL Booth at Dayton. We'll be sharing highlights from Dayton 2019 in our Forums as we go and Scott, NE1RD has time planned for us to share our Dayton experience at an upcoming meeting when we return. Fred, AB1OC --- ### The RockMite Part 2: The UI > This article describes the user interface for the RockMite. The term “user interface” might sound a little fanciful for a radio with almost no controls... - Published: 2019-05-13 - Modified: 2019-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/05/13/the-rockmite-part-2-the-ui/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Homebrew, Kits In the first RockMite article, I described the receiver of the radio. This article will describe the user interface for the RockMite. The term “user interface” might sound a little fanciful for a radio with almost no controls, but there is plenty to discuss. We should begin with the portion of the schematic dedicated to this function. A portion of the schematic for the CPU and I/O functions At the center of the schematic is a PIC processor from MicroChip corporation. These are small 8-bit computers that have dedicated I/O onboard. They are simple to program and are very inexpensive, key features for a radio that must cost under $50. Two of the input lines for the processor (pins 6 and 7) go to a 3. 5mm stereo connector for iambic paddle input. Pin 6 connects to the “dash” or “dah” line, and pin 7 connected to the “dot” or “dit” line of the paddle. One of the functions of this PIC microprocessor is to provide the radio with an iambic keyer function. The other user input is a single button. This button serves multiple purposes. A press of less than a quarter second tells the processor to “shift” the radio’s frequency. More on this in a bit. A longer press (greater than a quarter second) puts the keyer into “speed adjustment mode” that monitors the paddle inputs. Tapping or holding the “dit” side increases keyer speed; tapping or holding the “dah” side decreases keyer speed. Do neither for a second-and-a-half and the processor reverts back to standard iambic keyer mode. The “shift” mode is the more interesting effects from a button press. The RockMite is actually able to operate on TWO frequencies, not just one. There is a special circuit in with the crystal controlled oscillator that causes this frequency shift. That will be discussed in the next RockMite article. All we need to know for now is that the “shift” line comes out of pin 3 and controls a 2N7000 transistor switch. The other two outputs of the microprocessor are to the sidetone and the transmit/receive (T/R) switch. The sidetone is the sound you hear when keying. That’s the audio feedback on your paddle operation. The RockMite sends a square wave from this pin to the audio amplifier described in last month’s article. The sound of a square wave in your ears is harsh, and there are a number of mods available to clean this up. The T/R line controls the mode of the radio. Is it in receive mode or transmit mode? This will be discussed in the article that deals with the transmitter. This was a brief article but we’re left with two interesting threads to pull on: radio’s oscillator (and shift function), and the radio’s transmitter (and the T/R switch). We’ll start with the oscillator next time. Scott, NE1RD --- ### N1FD Wins 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB! > The N1FD Multi-Operator Area 1 Entry has won the 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB contest and had the highest score of all rookies in the contest - Published: 2019-04-28 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/28/n1fd-wins-2019-arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, On The Air The results are in - the N1FD multi-op entry came in 1st place in the Multi-Op Area 1 Category in the 2019 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. Not only did we win our category, but our score of 12,900 was also higher than any other entry. The next closest was KD9IPO, single op entry from Michigan. Rookie Roundup Operators W1KRK, KC1JDX, and KA1KAT learn from AB1OC at Bootcamp Congratulations to the Rookie Roundup Operators: Katharine Krozel, W1KRK Andrea Perdicaro, KC1JDX Kate Leonas, KA1KAT Jerry Doty, K1OKD The team operated from AB1QB's and AB1OC's QTH. The Complete contest results can be found on the ARRL website http://contests. arrl. org/rrscores. php? iid=625 --- ### May 2019 Contest Notes > May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW...) run October through May... - Published: 2019-04-25 - Modified: 2021-05-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/25/may-contest-notes/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, DX, HF May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW, ARRL DX, ARRL SWEEP, CQ WPX) run October through May mainly leaving the Summer for state QSO parties and Field Day. There are two contests this month that are of note to NARS members: the NEQP and CQ WW WPX CW. New England QSO Party The exchange for New England states is RS(T) + county + state. Outside of NE sends RS(T) + state/province/DX. Take a look at the NEQP website to see the standard county abbreviation list. CQ WW WPX Contest, CW This is a serial number contest so set up your logger to automatically increment the sent serial number for each QSO. The full exchange is RST + serial. Everybody sends the same exchange. If you are not a great CW operator this is a great contest to play in. First, it isn't quite so cut-throat as CQ WW. Secondly, the exchange is nice and simple. Listen (listen! listen! ). It might take a bit to finally get the serial number, but once you do make your call and put it in the log. At risk of repeating myself, this is one of my favorite CW contests. 7th Call Area QSO Party First, note the overlap with the New England QSO Party! The exchange for this contest is also RS(T) + state and county. Check out the list of counties to expect here. The point is: you just record the exchange and the contact should be good for two contests. Indiana QSO Party Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state. The website has a list of five-letter county abbreviations that is worth printing out and hanging by your computer for this one. Arkansas QSO Party Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state Hamvention and Contest University Finally, the annual Contest University held in Dayton is one of the highlights of Hamvention. If you have any interest in contesting, it is well worth your time to sign up for one of these events. You MUST pre-register for the upcoming event on May 16th, and it is getting late for that, but I'd like to plant the seed of an idea that you should consider putting this on your "bucket list. " I'm going to try to be in the New England QSO Party. Get on the air for 15 minutes or 15 hours and hand out some points! Scott, NE1RD --- ### Portable Solar Power Box - Published: 2019-04-20 - Modified: 2019-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/20/portable-solar-power-box/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Portable, Station Building This Christmas I bought a 28 watt solar panel and MPPT charge controller from Bioenno. I haven't had much time to use it until recently with the weather getting warmer. I've been able to use this with my 7. 5 amp hour battery which will power the KX2 for quite some time. I've also been watching a lot of videos on YouTube about portable power boxes and I thought it would be nice to have something a little heftier for car camping or portable activations that I wasn't carry gear very far. This past week I finally got to work on it. I started with a HyperTough 19 inch tool box from WalMart for the battery box. I have two 12-volt, 35 amp hour AGM batteries from Harbor Freight that fit in the box nicely with a little extra room so that everything can be inside the box. WalMart Tool Box to be used as the battery box I wired the two batteries in parallel to give me 12-volts and 70 amp hours. I read that the AMG batteries do not emit any hydrogen gas so I did not put any vents in the box (yet). 12 Volt, 35 Amp Hour Batteries wired in parallel (12 volts, 70 Amp Hour) Once the batteries were wired in parallel they fit perfectly in the box! I originally had planned on putting a small computer fan on one end to use as an exhaust and put in venting holes as well, but did not do this after reading more about the AGM batteries. The batteries fit nicely in the box! I took ideas from a bunch of different YouTube videos that I watched to try to fit what I wanted for the box. I started laying out where I wanted everything on the box and started drilling holes. Laying out components The components I have on the box are a volt meter in the center of the lid along with a master switch for power and a 2 port power pole outlet to plug in a radio. On the front side of the box I have two small switched LED lights, a port with two 2. 1 amp USB chargers and a cigarette lighter adapter. All of the power runs through a fuse box. I used Velcro to attach the fuse box to the inside of the lid of the box. Fuse Box Fuse Box Attached Once all the components were drilled and put in place I put the Bioenno Solar Charge Contoller in the box. I attached this with Velcro to the battery so that I can easily remove it when I want to go out for lighter portable activations. Solar Charge Controller The hardest part was the wiring and it wasn't really hard, just a little time consuming. I linked all the negatives together with spade connectors and wired all the positives to the fuse box. The power pole connection was probably the most difficult. Power Pole Connection With the wiring complete I quickly tidied it up and tested out all the components and... it worked! I'm very happy with how it came out and can't wait to get out and do POTA now! Something that's not showing is the input for the solar charge panel. I've got a power pole connector that will attach the solar panel to the solar charge controller. I'd like to get another connector to run through the box. As it is now I have to open the lid to charge the battery. I'm also thinking about adding a strip of LEDs around the edge of the lid for some additional light at night. Battery Box Completed Let me know what you think. Any suggestions as to how to make this better are also welcomed! Front of Batter Box with switched power Battery Box with LEDs Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Part 5 – New IC-9700 Transceiver > The new Icom IC-9700 transceiver has begun shipping and we’ve recently added one to our Satellite Station. The addition of the IC-9700 completes a part... - Published: 2019-04-20 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/20/ic-9700/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF The new Icom IC-9700 transceiver has begun shipping and we’ve recently added one to our Satellite Station. The addition of the new radio completes a key part of our Satellite Station 4. 0 upgrade plans. IC-9700 Display and Waterfall - Working FO-29 The new Transceiver features a Spectrum Scope and several useful satellite features... . Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 5 – New IC-9700 Transceiver We received our new IC-9700 Transceiver and have it set up and working with our Satellite Station. The integration of the new radio with our software and other elements of our Satellite Station went smoothly and we expect to use the new radio with our portable satellite station at Field Day and our upcoming License Classes. You can read more about our early experiences with the new radio via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### The RockMIte Part 1: The Receiver > What is a RockMite? It is a crystal controlled QRP transmitter that can operate on one frequency. It has a little processor that hosts a CW keyer... - Published: 2019-04-18 - Modified: 2019-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/18/rockmite-part-1/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Homebrew, QRP The little RockMite was designed and sold by Dave Benson, K1SWL, for many years. When Dave retired from the task some time ago he was sure to hand it off to someone he (and we all) could trust to be a good steward for its legacy. That man was Rex, W1REX, proprietor of the amazing QRPme. com website. Under Rex’s steady hand the RockMite has thrived. This article will begin to look at the magic of the RockMite’s design. What is a RockMite? The RockMite is a crystal controlled QRP transmitter that can operate on one frequency (okay, two frequencies, but we won’t get to that until later). It has a little PIC processor on the board that hosts a CW keyer and provides some feedback (through audio) of the state of the radio. The design is so small that it fits easily into an Altoids tin or other small enclosure. Third party outfits also sold very nice aluminum anodized cases that gave your radio a very finished look. Close-up view of NE1RD’s 20m RockMite in a blue anodized aluminum case The schematic for the RockMite is deceptively simple. Here it is (click the image to make it bigger): Schematic for the RockMite transceiver (from QRPMe. com) Let’s walk through the signal paths a step-at-a-time to see how the radio works. The Receiver The RockMite is a direct conversion receiver. That means that the signal you get off the air is processed directly and converted into audio. Contrast a direct conversion receiver with a superheterodyne receiver that has multiple steps where the original signal is translated into an intermediate frequency, processed further, then the audio is created. Direct conversion receivers are more simple than their “superhet” counterparts, but superhet receivers make it easier to make multi-band radios. Before we can look at how the signal we receive is turned into audio we need to learn about something that I always thought was amazing. It is astonishing to me how often some obscure mathematical concept has a purpose in our physical world. Here’s the one we need now. If you have a frequency and “mix” it with another frequency, you get the following from that combination: You get the original two frequencies back out, You get the sum of the frequencies, and you get the difference in the frequencies Imagine you have a 40m RockMite. You want to be able to listen to signals on that band. How do you convert something at 7,000,000 Hz to something at 600 Hz? You mix signals together! The SA602/612 or NE602/612 double balanced mixer is a part that does nearly all the heavy lifting. Here is a block diagram of what you have inside this small 8-pin DIP part. NE612 Mixer block diagram The interesting bit in this picture is the circle with the cross. This is the mixer part. The other pieces are just there to support the mixer. Note that the mixer has two inputs: one from an oscillator, and the other from an input signal source. The mixer “mixes” those two signals and outputs the result on pins 4 and 5. The general idea is this: apply power to pins 8 (Vcc) and 3 (ground). Then hang enough parts between pins 6 and 7 to have the internal oscillator create a steady signal. This can be a crystal oscillator, or just a capacitor and inductor network, depending on your needs. Then apply a signal to pins 1 and 2. The results (f1, f2, f1+f2, and f1-f2) appear at pins 4 and 5. If we configure the oscillator to be, say, 7. 040 MHz, then mix in a signal near that frequency from our antenna (say 7. 041 MHz), the mixer should create our four products (7. 040 MHz, 7. 041 MHz, 14. 081 MHz, and 0. 001 MHz, which is 1 KHz. That frequency is a little high for comfortable audio listening, but it is within the audio range. If only we could snag only that frequency and ignore the others. We can. We run the results of our mixing through a low-pass filter and we’re left with only frequencies below that filter’s limits. Then again, if we are only doing audio processing those other frequencies become nearly invisible. (Good headphones might respond to 20 Hz to 20 KHz, but a frequency of 7 MHz is going to do nothing! ) Let’s look at the mixer part of the receiver in the RockMite. RockMite Mixer The direct conversion receiver mixer The signals come in on the left and go left-to-right. The point (A) on the diagram is a connection to the antenna. That is the source of our CW signal. It travels through a capacitor C1 to AC-couple the signal to the remainder of the mixer. We then have a couple of back-to-back diodes D1 and D2 that are used to clamp the amplitude of the signal received. This protects the rest of the circuit should we get an unusually strong signal from a nearby transmitter or a lightning strike somewhere. Diodes like these “turn on” (conduct) in the forward direction when there is 0. 7 Volts present. We hope our radio signals are strong, but not that strong! So, if there is an exceptionally high voltage (RF-wise) then we want the diode to turn on and shunt that signal to ground. In normal operation, those diodes sit there and never turn on. The signal is then pass through a crystal for this band. The RockMite we are studying is built for a single frequency: 7. 040 MHz. By sending the signal through a crystal of this frequency we allow signals of that particular frequency to pass easily while rejecting other signals far from 7. 040 MHz. By the time our signal is on the right side of that crystal, it should be a reasonably pure signal near that frequency. What we have left is the mixer! I said that power comes in through pins 8 (+) and 3 (-). For pin 8 we have a connection to V+ (our power supply) running through a current limiting resistor R1. We also have a connection to... --- ### NARS Activities at Upcoming Regional, and National Ham Radio Conventions > The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting Amateur Radio Displays, Expos, and Forums at several Local, Regional, and National Hamfests... - Published: 2019-04-17 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/17/nars-at-hamfests/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, Mentor, NARS Event, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting Amateur Radio Displays, Expos, and Forums at Regional and National Hamfests and Ham Radio Conventions over the next 6 months. Dayton Hamvention ® 2019 2019 ARRL National Convention at Hamvention We will be a Special Guest of the ARRL in their Booth at Dayton this year. You can learn more via the ARRL's flyer here. Quite a few NARS members will be attending Dayton 2019 and many will be supporting our presence in the ARRL Booth. We will also be hosting the ARRL Member forum on Friday, May 17th in Room 3. If you are going to Dayton this year, stop by and meet our members and say Hello! Boxboro Regional Amateur Radio Convention NARS Team at Boxboro Regional Convention We are also planning another Youth Expo at the Boxboro Regional Ham Convention to be held on September 6th, 7th, and 8th. Our Expo will feature over 10 Amateur Radio Displays including: A computer controlled Satellite Ground Station that you can use to make a contact through a Satellite in Space A Shortwave Radio Station that you can use to talk to Hams all over the world A Display about High-Altitude Balloons that carry radio transmitters to the edge of space Keys and activities to try out sending and receiving Morse Code Building Ham Radio Gear using Kits and Computers A NEW ACTIVITY! A Ham Bootcamp Activity which introduces the world of Amateur Radio and helps folks to get on the air A GoKit for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications that you can try Gear for locating Hidden Radio Transmitters (we call it Fox Hunting) And much more! We are looking for NARS members to help us with these activities. Please contact Anita at membership@n1fd. org if you'd like to help. It's going to be a great few months for the Nashua Area Radio Society! Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Elecraft K1 > The K1, unfortunately, is no longer in production. Some combination of lower demand and problems finding the through-hole parts needed by the kit doomed it. - Published: 2019-04-14 - Modified: 2019-10-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/14/elecraft-k1/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Homebrew, QRP At least some of my interest in ham radio can be boiled down to my curiosity. How did they do it? How does it work? Why does it work? My college degree is in Computer Science, not Electrical Engineering, so I needed to start small and work my way up. Radios do not need to be complicated to work. Like many of you, I imagine, I built a crystal radio and listened to AM broadcasts as a child. It seemed mysterious at the time (and still does, to a degree) that this simple collection of parts: a coil of wire that I sanded and tapped to tune, a small “diode” (whatever that was), and some earphones could take radio waves from the air and create sounds. One of the reasons I became a ham was to learn a little more about how radios work. I think that’s why I gravitated to QRP stuff so early in my adventure. The radios were small and simple (at least compared to the big Icom I had on my desk), and yet they were “complete” transceivers. As a kid I would take apart anything I could find to see how it worked. (My survival probably depended on my being able to put things back together; I was relentless! ) These small radios seemed like a gateway to learning. Back in the early 1990s, Wayne Burdick, N6KR, designed a small, trail-friendly transceiver for 40m that was to become the NorCal (Northern California QRP club) 40. He completed this design by himself in three days! There wasn’t much to this radio. It had a couple of knobs, a BNC antenna connection, and two jacks for headphones and key. Later versions of the device produced by Wilderness Radio (called the NorCal 40A) included a keyer with memories, a boon to anybody working portably. Wilderness Radio’s NorCal 40A photo from K7NIB (used without permission) A destination of note for all things QRP and radio is the Chuck Adams, K7QO, website. In particular, I’ll point you to the catalog of YouTube videos Chuck has discussing many aspects of radio design. There are a couple of different builds for the NorCal 40A: one done Manhattan-style and another done on a PCB. You don't need the kit to build the radio! Chuck shows you how to do-it-yourself. http://www. k7qo. com/k7qo_youtubes. html Me with Chuck Adams, K7QO, in 2006 at the Four Days in May convention in Fairborn, Ohio. Alas, like so many things in our kit world, this radio is no longer in production. That is a shame for there is a whole book dedicated to teaching Electrical Engineering principles call “The Electronics of Radio” by David B. Rutledge, KN6EK, that uses the NorCal 40 throughout. The book is still available on Amazon. https://www. amazon. com/dp/0521646456/ The book walks students through filters, transformers, transistor switches and amplifiers, oscillators, and mixers, all using the NorCal 40 as the example. As students build up the radio they learn how each piece works, and how it all works together. I recommend this book even if you never intend to build this radio. Where this story picks up, though, is when Wayne Burdick and Erick Swartz, WA6HHQ) start the company Elecraft. Wayne’s NorCal 40 proved there was a market for radio kits, and radios with hot receivers and very-low power consumption. Their first offering was the K2, a multi-band radio. It was not unusual for DXpeditions to carry these Elecraft K2s to faraway places because of their exceptional performance. You can still buy K2 kits ($799. 95). Elecraft K2 transceiver. Photo credit B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD. While the K2 is a wonderful radio, it isn’t exactly trail friendly. Here I am in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park with my trusty K2. I was going to do some winter sprint contest of some kind, but the final transistor was shorted to the case and the radio wouldn't work. I walked to a nearby Radio Shack® and bought enough tools to at least open up the radio and diagnose the problem. (I miss Radio Shack! ) Me at a picnic table in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 2005. A simplified version of this radio, the K1, came soon after the K2. The K1, unfortunately, is no longer in production. Some combination of lower demand and problems finding the through-hole parts needed by the kit doomed it. Nevertheless, the manuals for the radio are still available on the Elecraft website. You can download the complete K1 manual here: K1 MANUAL. Elecraft K1. Photo credit B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD. There are complete schematics for the radio and this wonderful block diagram illustrating how the radio components fit together. K1 block diagram from the Elecraft manual. Used without permission. I highly recommend fetching this gem if only to have the block diagram and the radio’s schematic handy. I printed out the schematic (just four pages, and really only two that are interesting) and carried them with me everywhere for a couple of years. I would occasionally take out these pages and follow along the signal path to see how Wayne Burdick and Eric Swartz did it. Me with Wayne Burdick (N6KR) in Dayton 2006. The K1 manuals are free. Chuck Adams' YouTube videos are free. There is a lot you can do to learn about how radios work by "taking apart" some of the best designs QRP radios have ever had. The K1 is such a radio. Please take a moment and get that Elecraft manual for the K1 and give it a look. Skip past all the assembly steps and go straight to the back with the schematics and block diagrams. I'll go into the RockMite in my next article and walk through how the radio works. Scott, NE1RD --- ### SOTA/POTA Activation of Miller State Park/Mount Pack Monadnock - Published: 2019-04-06 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/06/sota-pack-monadnock/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Portable, SOTA The Nashua Area Radio Society will have our first Summits on the Air (SOTA)/Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of the year on Saturday, April 13th. This is great timing as it occurs just a few days after our Tech Night build of the Tape Measure Yagis! AB1OC's 6m Portable Antenna on Mount Pack Monadnock Miller State Park is located at 13 Miller Park Road in Peterborough and is designated as K-2662 for POTA and W1/HA-041 (Pack Mount Monadnock) for SOTA. The park is open from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm. There is a fee of $4/adult and $2/child (6-11 years old). Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating VHF-UHF Portable on Mount Pack Monadnock This is a great opportunity for an introduction to both the SOTA and POTA program. Miller State Park is the oldest state park in New Hampshire and has a 1. 3-mile paved road leading to the 2,290' summit of Mount Pack Monadnock. There are two hiking trails from the parking area to the summit as well. The Wapack Trail and the Marion Davis Trail, both are 1. 4 miles long. I would expect the trails to be wet and slightly muddy, but mainly clear of snow. Those that would like to hike up should meet in the parking lot around 10:00 am and dress for the weather and trail conditions. Abby's, AB1BY 1st SOTA on Mt. Pack Monadnock Those that are driving up should plan on being at the top by 11:00 am. If you have a portable radio please bring it. If you only have an HT you will be surprised by how many contacts you can make up on the summit. I will have at least two radios as well as an HT and I am happy to share! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at activities@n1fd. org. Jamey, AC1DC --- ### New Membership Meeting Presentations and Summaries > We've added Membership Meeting Presentation archive to our Membership Meetings page so that our members can view our speakers's material again... - Published: 2019-04-03 - Modified: 2019-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/04/03/membership-meeting-presentations/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, NARS Event Scott, NE1RD has been putting together a great lineup of presenters for our Membership Meetings and Tech Nights. Our Members have asked that we include some of the Membership Meeting presentations that we've been seeing at our meeting here on our website. We've added a selected presentation archive to our Membership Meetings page for this purpose. You need to be logged into our website to see this material. We have lots of activities going on and we begin each of our Membership Meetings with an update on what's coming up and how our many projects are doing. We're also going to include the update from our latest meeting as well. You can find all of this material along with information about the speakers for our upcoming meetings on our Membership Meetings page. Fred, AB1OC --- ### High Altitude Balloon 4 Launch Windows Set > We have set the initial set of launch windows for our High Altitude Balloon's 4th flight (HAB-4) for the following three weekends in April... - Published: 2019-03-31 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/31/hab-4-launch-windows/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, Space, VHF/UHF We have set the initial set of launch windows for our High Altitude Balloon's 4th flight (HAB-4) for the following three weekends in April: Saturday, April 6th / Sunday, April 7th Saturday, April 13th / Sunday, April 14th Saturday, April 20th Saturday, June 1st / Sunday, June 2nd Saturday, June 8th/Sunday, June 9th Students at Hudson Memorial School and Bishop-Guertin HS are both participating in our HAB-4 STEM program. HAB Launch Site in Winchester NH We will again be launching from the Elementary School in Winchester, NH at around 10:30 am. Preparation for our launch will begin at 8:30 am. Our HAB carries video cameras that allow us to see what the HAB sees as it travels through the atmosphere. You can click on the video above to see what a HAB flight is like including video taken at over 90,000 ft above sea level! HAB Camera Insulation and Heating System High Altitude Balloon 4 (HAB-4) will be the first to launch with our new camera insulating and heating system. This arrangement is intended to keep the cameras from freezing and shutting off early. The cameras will also carry the smaller, lighter weight batteries that we used on HAB-1. Together, we hope these improvements will allow us to capture video throughout HAB-4's ascent, balloon burst, descent, and landing. HAB-4 Flight Parameters The graphic above shows the final flight parameters for HAB-4. We are expecting HAB-4 to burst at around 110,000 ft a. s. l. with the flight lasting about 2 1/2 hours. HAB Flight Path Prediction - Saturday, April 6th HAB Flight Path Prediction - Sunday, April 7th The images above show the initial flight path predictions for the first HAB-4 launch window. The weather and Jetstream forecasts are still fairly unreliable at this point (6 - 7 days in advance of the first launch windows). These will likely change quite a bit between now and this coming Thursday evening when we will make a final go/no-go launch decision for the April 6th / April 7th launch window. We will also be looking closely at the Ground Weather for acceptable ground wind speed under 15 mph at launch and either clear skies or limited cloud cover to permit HAB-4 to be launched. HAB Flight Platform The HAB will again be carrying a flight computer and APRS telemetry and tracking system. You will be able to track HAB-4 during its flight via aprs. fi. You can learn more about how to track our HABs here. Stay tuned to our Forums for additional updates and the final go/no-go decision as the week progresses. If the first launch window does not work out, we'll begin counting down to the second window (April 13th / April 14th). We hope that you'll join us in Winchester, NH for our launch! Fred, AB1OC --- ### April 2019 Contest notes > Spring is here and not a moment too soon! In this last weekend before April we have the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest that is one of my favorites. The exchange... - Published: 2019-03-29 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/29/april-2019-contest-notes/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, On The Air Spring is here and not a moment too soon! In this last weekend before April we have the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest that is one of my favorites. The exchange is easy: just a serial number and a signal report (always 59, please). This is a contest where everybody can work everybody else, so there is always somebody to talk to. If you are new to contesting (and you can count! ) this is a good one to try. The big contests of the year are nearly behind us. Just the two WPX contests (one in March and another in May) remain. But, there are QSO parties and other small contests that are coming up. Remember, with the solar cycle in the doldrums this is a good time to be working on your Worked All States award or trying new operating modes (like FT8). Missouri QSO Party The exchange is easy: RS(T) and state. Look for the special event stations W0MA and K0H for extra points. Mississippi QSO Party runs concurrently with part of the Missouri QSO Party and also has an exchange RS(T) plus state. This is a good opportunity to get on the air and get credit for multiple contests! FT8 DX Contest Digital modes like FT8 seem to get through when others do not. Perhaps you can work on your DXCC award this spring! The exchange is RST + state. New Mexico QSO Party The exchange is a little different in this contest: name + state (the RS(T) isn't demanded by the rules). North Dakota QSO Party If you don't have ND in your log, this is an excellent opportunity to get those states squared away. Both North and South Dakota have very few active hams, so try to get these folks on multiple bands. The exchange is RS(T) + state. Georgia QSO Party Again, the exchange is just RS(T) and state. ARRL Rookie Roundup, SSB The exchange is name + 2-digit year first licensed + state. I remember the first couple of years I operated. I was first licensed in 2002 so I would use "02" in my exchanges for contests like this. This confused the daylights out of many of the people I contacted, and I got lots of requests for repeats! Spend a few minutes and give these new operators some points. Nebraska QSO Party The exchange is RS(T) + state. Nebraska was hard-hit by flooding this year, so I don't know how many stations will be on the air. I've found this a hard state to get in the log in general, so this might be your best opportunity all year. Michigan QSO Party The exchange is a little different for this one: serial number + state. Florida QSO Party The exchange is RS(T) + state. So many of the contests this month have just RS(T) and state as the exchange that you can usually get on the air, work people normally with this exchange, and enter multiple contests (or at least make other contesters happy for the points). Contesting is like regular operating without all the chit-chat {grin}. The more you know! A contesting term you should know is "rubber clocking. " That's when an operator begins the contest just a little before the start time, or operates just a little past the end time in an effort to squeeze in a few more QSOs. In short: don't do it. Begin on time, and when it is time to stop, finish your QSO and stop. Play fair. Remember that you don't have to turn in your log just because you operated during a contest. You can work stations in a contest just to have fun, or to collect QSOs for awards. Contest sponsors appreciate your entries (they help make sure the other operators copied the exchanges properly), but they can't demand it. Get on the air. Put some Q's in the log, and have fun. Maybe pick up an operating award along the way. Perhaps you'll then write about it here on the N1FD website! As always, you can get a complete rundown of all the contests this month (and this year) at the www. contestcalendar. com website. 73 and good luck in the contests. Scott, NE1RD --- ### New Ham Boot Camp - Sessions 1 - 3 > We held theh first 3 sessions of New Ham Boot Camp. New Ham Boot Camp sessions help our newly licensed members gain the skills needed to get on the air. - Published: 2019-03-23 - Modified: 2019-10-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/23/new-ham-boot-camp-2/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Mentor, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF We have held the first three sessions of New Ham Boot Camp the past few weeks to help our newly licensed members learn the skills they need to get on the air. Session 1 was held at Fred, AB1OC's and Anita, AB1QB's QTH. The session focused on UHF/VHF. The following activities were part of this session: HT Programming Station Tour including Antenna Towers and Mobile Stations Echolink Setup and Use Satellite Operating Demo Antenna Demo Practice QSOs and Repeater Net Jamey, AC1DC, elmers Randall, KC1KSY as he makes an HF Contact Session 2 was also held at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. During this session, members were able to Get on the Air to make contacts via HF SSB, Satellites, and HF Digital. 70 cm Ground Plan Antenna In addition, we built a 70 cm ground plane antenna and members got kits to build their own antenna. and Jamey, AC1DC spoke about SOTAs and demonstrated a Buddipole antenna. Fred Advises on Selecting Wire Antennas Session 3 was held at Ham Radio Outlet in Salem, NH. Peter, KI1M opened HRO during the evening of March 19th exclusive to NARS New Ham Boot Camp members. Fred and Peter advised members and answered questions on selecting HTs, Transceivers, Antennas, Headphones, Microphones, Coax and other Amateur Radio components. Peter shows us the repeater We have two more sessions of New Ham Boot Camp to be held in April: Session 4: - Saturday, April 6 - How to set up your first station, Getting on 6 meters, What do all the buttons and knobs on my HF Transceiver do? How do I use them to work DX Session 5: Date TBD - Building and Tuning up HF Wire Antennas Stay tuned to the General Information Forums - we will post there when Session 5 is scheduled. --- ### Tape Measure Yagi Build > I have built 2 of these tape measure yagis and they are pretty easy to make and I have had very good success! You can use these antennas for fox hunting... - Published: 2019-03-23 - Modified: 2023-01-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/23/tape-measure-yagi/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Fox Hunting, Homebrew, VHF/UHF Our next Tech Night will be on Tuesday, April 9th and we'll be talking about the basics of Radio Direction Finding (aka Fox Hunting). During this session, we'll also be building a 2-meter tape measure yagi using Joe Leggio's, WB2HOL plans. I have built 2 of these tape measure yagis and they are pretty easy to make and I have had very good success! You can use these antennas for fox hunting, summits on the air or just hitting a distant repeater. Here is a list of equipment that you will need to bring to the class to build your very own 2-meter tape measure yagi! Metal Tape Measure - 1" wide and at least 10' in length 6' RG8x cable with a PL-259 connector attached to one side You can buy one cable with a PL-259 on each side and cut it in half if you would like to share with someone else to cut costs - You may want to go with 8' - 10' if you are going to make two cables Pigtail for connecting RG-8x (PL-259 connector) to handheld (sma)(sma female) Optional: Sandpaper for sanding edges of the tape measure and removing coating to solder on coaxial cable Wire strippers/cutters Soldering iron Shears or scissors for cutting tape measure 2 Meter SWR meter Rubber Bands or Bulldog clips for securing the elements when folding up I will bring all the PVC pipe pre-cut to the proper lengths along with the T and cross connectors. After we all successful make our tape measure yagis we can celebrate the following Saturday as we have our first Summits on the Air (SOTA) and Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of Mount Pack Monadnock. This is a fairly easy summit and members can hike or drive up to the summit to test out the new yagis! If you plan on attending or have any questions please let me know so I can plan for the right amount of equipment. You can reach me by email at activities@n1fd. org. Jamey, AC1DC --- ### DXing and Operating Award Tips > Operating Awards provide incentives to get on the air and chase all kinds of contacts and they help to understand station and our operating strengths... - Published: 2019-03-22 - Modified: 2019-04-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/22/dx-award-tips/ - Categories: Digital, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, HF, On The Air We’ve been pretty active in DX Operating Award programs since we built our station a few years back. Operating Awards provide incentives to get on the air and chase all kinds of contacts and they also help us to understand our station’s and our personal operating strengths and weakness. They also provide motivation to improve the latter. Yesterday was a banner day for me in terms of completing Operating Award goals. I was able to make the needed contacts to complete two that I’ve been working on for quite some time: Worked All Japan – Requires working and confirming all 47 Prefectures (similar to US states) in Japan Top Band DXCC – Working and confirming 100 DXCC Entities (basically countries) on 160m Both of these goals were completed using the FT8 digital mode for the remaining handful of contacts. I wanted to take a little time and share some of the techniques that have worked for me in hopes that it might help our readers have more fun and meet their operating goals on the air. Here are some general techniques and tips for working DX (in no particular order) ... You can read the entire article via the link which follows. Source: Our HAM Station - DX'ing and Operating Award Tips Fred, AB1OC --- ### Kit Building to the Next Level > Just a few days ago our soldering irons were hot and brows furrowed as we assembled our Morse Tutor Touch Keyer kits from Steve Elliott, K1EL... - Published: 2019-03-22 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/22/kit-building-next-level/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter Just a few days ago our soldering irons were hot and brows furrowed as we assembled our Morse Tutor Touch Keyer kits from Steve Elliott, K1EL. NARS had done a good job of packaging the kits by supplying builders with printed instructions, and batteries. Nearly everyone had completed their kit in an hour or so. Social events like this, where club members share the experience, are a nice way to spend an evening, but there is much more to the world of kit building. Ham radio provides one of the last bastions of building useful electronic devices at the component level. Other hobby and STEM efforts are confined to using completed boards for sensors, displays, and processors. Groups such as FIRST Robotics teams work with pre-packaged board solutions, their design process limited to selecting off-the-shelf devices and gluing them together with software. This is not to criticize such efforts. STEM groups and the whole Maker community do amazing things with this level of abstraction. Ham radio seems to be one of the only places left where our projects and understanding can be more granular. There is a feeling almost impossible to convey when you use a radio that you constructed with your own hands. Even from a kit, where the circuit design, board layout, and part selections were done by others, there still exists a pride of ownership from the assembly. Each time the radio is used one thinks, “I made this. ” There are radios that are quite nice, but limited in utility, such as the RockMite. The original RockMite design was done by Small Wonder Labs run by Dave Benson, K1SWL. The basic radio was only $25 and consisted of a board, bag of parts, and a page of instructions. A “controls” package was also available for a few dollars supplying the potentiometer, switch, and other small parts necessary for completing the kit (in case your junk box was lacking). For a finished product you could add the fancy aluminum anodized case from the American Morse. RockMite kit's latest incarnation If you wanted to spend a day, not a couple hours, this is an excellent choice for a kit. Ten years ago I organized a kit build for the Westord, Massachusetts club PART using this kit. To help insure new builders would have success I wrote a step-by-step instruction manual for this device. I’ve made it available here, but beware this is for a kit that is no longer available in that form. RockMite-Assy-Manual That day in 2008 the Westford club had ten builders working on a Saturday in a church basement. Eight of the radios were working by the end of the day with the others requiring a bit of tender loving care over a few more days. Proud of our accomplishment, I wrote an article for QRP Amateur Radio International’s quarterly magazine entitled “Ten Little RockMites. ” Dave Benson closed his Small Wonder Labs business a few years ago but not before handing the reins over to QRPme founder Rex Harper, W1REX, who has refreshed the lineup of RockMites and even added a few extras for them to the mix. I’ve bought one (or two), but I’ve not assembled them yet so I can’t speak to how well my old assembly instructions have aged. But, since the circuit is essentially the same, I suspect my old instructions, even after all these years, are still a good starting point—especially for new builders. The price is now $50 but the kit includes all the accessories, so it’s a pretty good deal ten years later! I would recommend anything from Rex. By the way, Rex Harper was inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame in 2010. Dave Benson has been in since 1999. The RockMite is a CW-only radio that is crystal controlled. It supports only two frequencies. Granted, the frequencies are the QRP “watering holes” for each particular band, but still, two frequencies isn’t a lot. That said, one of the best ways to become comfortable with CW is to listen to signals off the air. Listening to signals from a radio you built is thrilling. What if you’d like a little more from the radio you craft lovingly from your two hands? QRP kits qrpkits. com has several receiver, transmitter, and transceiver options. One of these kits is from a Steve Webber, KD1JV, design. The KD1JV Triband CW Transceiver comes in a nice case, has three bands (you choose which three), and outputs five Watts. This will set you back $225, but there is a lot of radio here to enjoy, both building and operating. KD1JV Tri-Bander CW Transceiver Alas, the radios I had in mind when I began writing this article have been discontinued. The Elecraft K1 and the KX1, both excellent kits and radios in their days, probably died more from a lack of through-hole part availability than from neglect. Elecraft K1 built by NE1RD Elecraft KX1 built by NE1RD Elecraft, before they became the top-tier HF radio (assembled) maker was the premier radio kit supplier to the hobby. The K2, a very capable radio you can assemble yourself, supports CW and phone, bands 80-10m (with a 160m option), rig/computer control, and filtering. There is even a DSP option for the radio. This kit is an investment in both time and money. I have built two of these radios and each one took over forty hours to complete. But, when you’re done, you have a fully-functional radio that would compete with anything you could buy on the market. Elecraft K2 built by NE1RD Unfortunately, or, perhaps, fortunately, radio technology has advanced significantly since the K2 was designed. Now you can get a DSP-based Icom 7300 transceiver with top-notch specs for under $1000. So, one wouldn’t build a radio like the K2 for performance alone. You’d build one for the joy of the experience. I must say that the time I spent building my Elecraft radios was some of the best memories I have in the hobby. I encourage all of you to step up your game. Pick one of these larger kits. Spend a day, or a week, building... --- ### ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal - How to Comment to the FCC > The FCC has invited comments on the ARRL Technician License Enhancement proposal. Members are encouraged to post a comment in support of this proposal. - Published: 2019-03-19 - Modified: 2019-04-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/19/arrl-technician-enhancement-proposal-how-to-comment-to-the-fcc/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam The FCC has invited public comments on ARRL’s 2018 Petition for Rule Making, now designated as RM-11828, which asks the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. Interested parties have 30 days to comment. Source: ARRL Article FCC Invites Comments On ARRL Technician Enhancement Proposal dated March 15, 2019. We encourage our members to comment in support of RM-11828. Expanding Technician Class License privileges to include digital and SSB phone options on more of the HF bands is just what we need to make the first level Amateur Radio License more fun, a better learning experience, and a more effective bridge to upgrading to General Class privileges. We believe this will encourage New Hams to get active on the air and after a taste of HF, will encourage them to upgrade to General. The referenced ARRL article provides more information on the proposal along with instructions on how to comment to the FCC. --- ### Hamvention® Club of the Year Award > The Nashua Area Radio Society has been recognized as tthe 2019 Dayton Hamvention® Club of the Year for our mentoring activities. View the announcement... - Published: 2019-03-12 - Modified: 2020-06-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/12/hamvention-club-of-the-year-award/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, Mentor, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society has been recognized as the 2019 Hamvention® Club of the Year. Below is the video of the announcement from the DX Engineering facebook page. The Club of the Year announcement starts at 10:00 into the video and don't forget to click on the speaker icon to hear the sound. The theme of this year's Hamvention® is “Mentoring the Next Generation” and we won the award for our mentoring and youth outreach activities including: License Classes Tech Nights On the Air Activities Partnering with Schools to deliver Amateur Related STEM training including the High Altitude Balloon launches Partnering with Hudson Memorial School to contact astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor on the International Space Station Here are some photos from some recent mentoring activities: Teaching Amateur Radio Licence Classes Rookies and Elmers who joined the weekly repeater net. Students and the NARS Operator Team HAB-3 Students Testing the HAB's Radios Thanks to all of our members who have put their time into helping the club to carry out these activities and for helping us to become Club of the Year. Thanks especially to Scott Andersen, NE1RD for getting us through the application process. Here is the writeup that we sent to the Hamvention® Awards team. NARS Club of the Year 2019 Here is the award announcement that has been published on the Hamvention® Website: https://hamvention. org/event-details/awards/ A special Thank You to the Dayton Hamvention® team for this recognition of our efforts. Anita, AB1QB --- ### March Meeting - 200 Member Celebration! > Our March meeting was a memorable one as we had a 200 member celebration, took a group photo and heard an excellent presentation by Joe Dzekevich, K1YOW - Published: 2019-03-07 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/07/march-meeting-200-member-celebration/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event On Tuesday, March 5th, we held our March Meeting. In addition to a great program, we celebrated reaching 200 members and took a group picture! 200 Member Celebration Cake 11 of the students in our Technician License Class became members and that brought our total members to 205! To celebrate going over 200 members, we had a cake during the refreshments portion of the meeting. Nashua Area Radio Society Group Photo We have been invited by the ARRL to be a featured club in their booth, the ARRL Expo at the Dayton Hamvention this year. Our media team gathered all the club members at the meeting together for a group photo, which will be used to promote this event. Speaker Joe Dzekevich, K1YOW Our speaker was Joe Dzekevich, K1YOW, who gave a very interesting talk about 6 Meter Es Propagation. You can view a copy of his slides at the link below. Es and Weather HamSCI Boxboro 2018 Anita, AB1QB --- ### Out of This World Auction Sponsored by ARISS > The ARISS-US team (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) will auction two very unusual items in its first-ever auction! Picture yourself... - Published: 2019-03-07 - Modified: 2020-02-16 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/07/ariss-auction/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: ISS, Space Washington DC (SPX) Mar 07, 2019 - The ARISS-US team (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) will auction two very unusual items in its first-ever auction! Picture yourself as the winning bidder and proud owner of a unique JVC Kenwood TS-890S signed by astronauts! Or, you could be top bidder on a special astronaut-signed 6-volume boxed set 2019 ARRL Handbook! Source: Out of This World Auction Sponsored by ARISS Can you learn more about the ARISS Auction on the ARISS website and via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### New Ham Boot Camp > The Nashua Area Radio Society is holding a New Ham Boot Camp to help newly licensed hams gain the skills and knowledge needed to get on the air. - Published: 2019-03-03 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/03/new-ham-boot-camp/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Field Day, Mentor, Net, On The Air, Satellite The Nashua Area Radio Society is starting a new program called New Ham Boot Camp. This will be a series of events to help you get on the air with your Amateur Radio License. You are invited to the first event, which will be held this Saturday, March 9th at Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB’s QTH and will include the following: HT Programming Getting Started with EchoLink Join a Repeater Net Fox Hunting Shack Open House and Tour The event will be from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 9th. A light lunch will be provided. If you are interested in attending, please email me at ab1qb@arrl. net. If you would like help with programming your HT, please email me the Make and Model. Keith, KC1IMK working the Satellites with Fred, AB1OC Some of the follow-on events will include the following. We'll update the dates and places as we finalize the plans. N1FD Multi-Op team at 2018 Rookie Roundup SSB We also have many on the air activities planned to help you use the skills that you get through the bootcamp. See Get Active! for more information. Group Trip to HRO We hope to see our newly licensed members at Ham Radio Boot Camp and then hear you on the air! --- ### NARS to be ARRL Expo Spotlighted Club at Hamvention® > The Nashua Area Radio Society has been invited to be the featured club at the ARRL Expo at the 2019 Dayton Hamvention in Xenia. OH - Published: 2019-03-02 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/02/arrl-spotlighted-club-hamvention/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society has been invited by the ARRL to be a spotlighted club in the ARRL Expo at the 2019 Dayton Hamvention®! The theme of this year's Hamvention is "Mentoring the Next Generation" and the ARRL invited us to be part of their booth because of our focus on Education, new Ham Development, Mentoring, and Youth Outreach. The Dayton Hamvention, now held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH, is the largest Amateur Radio Convention in the world. You will see booths from just about any vendor you can imagine. There are also many educational forums on topics such as Contesting, Antennas, AMSAT, SDRs and much more! This year's Hamvention will be held on May 17th - 19th. ARRL Expo at Hamvention We will be taking a group photo of our members at the March Meeting this Tuesday, March 5th. Please plan to attend the meeting so that you can be part of this photo! If you would like to travel to Dayton to attend the Hamvention and would like to help staff the booth, please contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net or talk to me before or after the meeting on Tuesday. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Get Active! > Get Active - Published: 2019-03-01 - Modified: 2019-04-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/01/get-active/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter Whatever your fancy is with amateur radio our club seems to have something for you! We've got a very busy spring and summer scheduled with a variety of activities. I hope to see you at some of the activities we have scheduled and if you can't find anything that suits your style please let me know and we'll fix that! This weekend is the ARRL International DX Contest and Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB opening up there first class station for members who would like to test their skill in contesting or if you're just interested in getting going with contesting. This is a fantastic opportunity to work some DX and operate on a top notch station. Maybe it's an upgrade you're looking for? We've got you covered! Our spring licensing classes will continue with the General class on the weekend of March 23-24. I went through all three classes, as did Abby, AB1BY and we thoroughly enjoyed them. They are very helpful in giving you that edge to get through the test. Interested people can sign up on our website. Tech Class Students with CSCEs You say you're interested in building antennas, but haven't done it before? Join us on Tuesday, April 9th! We'll be holding a Tech night to discuss transmitter hunting and do a tape measure yagi build. Any of our new technicians that want to get into fox hunting or Summits on the Air (SOTA) should come and check this Tech Night out. Now that you've got that tape measure yagi it only seems fitting to put it to use. That same weekend, April 13th well be holding a SOTA/POTA (Parks on the Air) activation of Mount Pack Monadnock and Miller State Park. You'll be surprised how far you can reach with a tape measure yagi and a 5 watt HT. We will probably also put the foxes out that day as well! Again, on April 14th, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will open their station for one of the best contest out there for new operators. The ARRL Rookie Round Up (SSB) will be taking place. This is open to all amateur operators that have been licensed for 3 years or less. Also, for our "rookies" we'll be starting a program called Amateur Radio Bootcamp with activities gear towards the new ham, but also some of our veterans may want to take part in as well. Oh, and don't forget our weekly repeater net on the N1IMO/N1IMN repeater system followed by our 10-meter net! All that and were only through April! Some other activities we have scheduled are more POTAs and SOTAs. We'll also be doing an IOTA (Islands on the Air) this year. We'll be participating in the New England QSO Party, taking a trip to Hamvention in Xenia, participating in the ARRL's Kids Day, 13 Colonies, Boxborough and much, much more. Jamey, AC1DC --- ### JTDX – Feature Rich Software for FT8 and Other JT Modes > We’ve recently begun experimenting with a WSJT-X derivative called JTDX. It supports popular JT digital modes like FT8 and is focused on DXing... - Published: 2019-03-01 - Modified: 2022-08-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/03/01/jtdx-software-for-ft8/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Software We’ve recently begun experimenting with a WSJT-X derivative for FT8 and other JT Modes. Its called JTDX. The stated purpose of the JTDX software is (from the JTDX website): JTDX supports JT9, JT65, T10 and FT8 © digital modes for HF amateur radio communication, focused on DXing and being shaped by the community of DXers. The latest release candidate of of the JTDX software supports some interesting additional features beyond WSJT-X including: Additional FT8 and JT65 decoder options which can provide improved sensitivity Advanced automatic sequencing and QSO selection features Decoded messaging filtering features We’ve been testing JTDX V2. 0 release candidates here for about a month now. The feature additions definitely provide some useful enhancements. The software is derived from WSJT-X and we’ve been using it here for DX’ing and for weak signal FT8 work on 6 meters. It appears to have most of the features of the current version of WSJT-X with the notable exception of support for specific contest exchanges. JTDX Main Window and Waterfall The JTDX software adds a number of FT8 decoding options that are useful on crowded bands and in situations when signals are very weak. These features can be selectively enabled to match band and signal conditions as well as the user’s available CPU horsepower. With all features enabled, JTDX seems to decode more signals on a crowded band than WSJT-X. You can read more about the features of JTDX and how to get started with it via the link that follows. Source: JTDX – Feature Rich Software for FT8 and Other JT Modes Fred, AB1OC --- ### CQ WW RTTY Contest Results > The results are in and the N1FD Multi-Op Entry placed 2nd in Area 1 in the CQ WW RTTY Contest. Congratulations to the operators! - Published: 2019-02-28 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/28/cq-ww-rtty-contest-results/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Featured, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Digital, DX, HF The results are in for the 2018 CQ WW RTTY Contest. The N1FD Multi-Op Entry placed #2 in Area 1 and 14th in North America! The CQ WW RTTY Contest was held September 29-30, 2018 and the N1FD team operated from the QTH of Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB. In addition to Fred and Anita, Dan, AC1EN and Peter, KI1M operated in the contest. N1FD Claimed Score in CQ WW RTTY 2018 As you can see from the Claimed Score above and the Final Score Below, we busted only 8 QSOs our of 389, resulting in a reduction of less than 10% of our score. We will receive a report with the details of the errors, which will help us to improve in future contests. CQ WW RTTY Final Score We will host the ARRL International DX Contest - SSB this weekend, March 1-3, at AB1OC's and AB1QB's QTH. We will again run as a multi-op using the N1FD Call. If you would like to join us, see the following forum post for more information. --- ### Technician License Class is a Big Success! > The Nashua Area Radio Society held a successful Technician License class on February 23rd and 24th at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua. - Published: 2019-02-28 - Modified: 2021-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/28/technician-license-class-is-a-big-success/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter We held our latest Technician License Class the weekend of February 23rd and 24th, 2019 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua. It was a big success! We had a great set of students who were well prepared for the class. All 13 students in the class passed the Technician Exam and 11 of those students became new members of the Nashua Area Radio Society! They are now anxiously awaiting their callsigns. NARS VE Team Grading Exams Thanks to all of our instructors and VEs who helped to make the class a success! Our next license class will be the General Class on March 23rd and 24th, also at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua. If you are interested in attending, start studying the Gordon West General Class book. You can register online for the class at https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/ Our next Extra Class will be a 3-day class to be held on April 26 - 28. --- ### March 2019 Contest Notes > March is one of my favorite contest months of the year. The ARRL International DX Contest and the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest... - Published: 2019-02-25 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/25/march-2019-contest-notes/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, On The Air March is one of my favorite contest months of the year. The ARRL International DX Contest and the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest bookend the month and I've done mini-DXpeditions to compete in both contests. Remember that each month you get a chance to put several states in your log. Even during the doldrums of the solar cycle you can capture the 50 states for that Worked All States award. This month includes four state QSO parties plus a four hour "sprint" that give you a chance at all of them. KP2/NE1RD 15m beam on St. Thomas March 2010 ARRL International DX Contest In this contest the US stations try to contact as many other countries as possible, and other countries call only the US and Canada. Do not call US or Canadian stations! Exchange: US stations send a signal report and their state; DX stations send a signal report and power. Note that power might be something like "K" (for kilawatt~1000W). Even stations running less than 1000 Watts will send "K" because it is so short, and everything over 150 Watts is considered high-power. As with all contests, just log what you hear and everything works out. Oklahoma QSO Party Don't miss this opportunity to get this state into your log! Exchange: OK stations send signal report and county. You send your signal report and state. There are 77 counties and you should log the county abbreviation, so it might be handy to print out a cheat-sheet of county names. You can find one here. Idaho QSO Party This is another rare state so don't miss it. Exchange: ID send "Idaho" and the county (three character abbreviation); you send signal report and state. There are 44 counties in Idaho. Log the abbreviation for the county using this cheat-sheet. Wisconsin QSO Party Exchange: WI stations send county; you send your state. Here is a county map for Wisconsin, and here's the list of abbreviations used in the contest. Virginia QSO Party This one has a slightly more complicated exchange than most QSO parties. You need to send a "serial number" along with your state. Exchange: VA sends serial number plus county; you send serial number and state. The list of counties and cities for VA can be found here. North American SSB Sprint If you're not familiar with sprint-type contests, now would be a good time to do a refresher on the subject using my article CONTESTING JARGON EXPLAINED. Exchange: + + + + . This is a good test of your listening and logging skills! CQ WW WPX SSB Contest I confess this is one of my favorite contests. Everybody can work everybody. Multipliers are prefixes. A change in propagation just means you have new people to talk to. Exchange: RS plus serial number. The picture of the antenna above is from my effort in 2010 on the island of St. Thomas that set the North American record for 15m QRP. (All-Buddipole construction! ) Read the rules before the contest. Set up your radio and computer and test everything before the contest. Know how to log the exchanges so you can submit your score. Try all this early. That way, if you do run into trouble, you can reach out to your fellow club members for a helping-hand. The contesting season is wrapping up but there is still time to get in on the fun. I hope to hear you on the air! --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Enhancements - Tower Camera and a J Mode Filter > e've added an Tower Camera to enable us to view the operation of our antennasand a J Mode filter to improve operation with VU mode satellites such as SO-50. - Published: 2019-02-22 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/22/tower-camera-j-mode-filter/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Antennas, Satellite, Space, Tower, VHF/UHF It is winter here in New England and it is not the best time of year to work outdoors. Despite the weather, I have been able to complete a few finishing touches on our new Satellite and 6m Tower. We've added a Tower Camera to enable us to view the operation of our antennas from our home or remotely. We also added a J Mode desensitization filter to improve operation with VU mode satellites such as SO-50 and FO-29. You can read more and view some sample vide from the IP camera via the link below. Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 4 – Tower Camera and J Mode Desensitization Filter Fred, AB1OC --- ### Student Kit Build at World Academy > We recently hosted a Morse Tutor Kit build for students at World Academy, a HAB-3 School. The student kit build is one of several follow-on activities... - Published: 2019-02-08 - Modified: 2022-12-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/08/world-academy-student-kit-build/ - Categories: CW and QRP, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: CW, High Altitude Balloon, Homebrew, Youth Outreach Aya KC1JEB, Tom AB1NS, Mike K1WVO, and Fred AB1OC recently hosted a Morse Tutor kit build for students at World Academy. World Academy was a HAB-3 School and the student kit build is one of several follow-on activities that we've been doing there. Aya KC1JEB and Tom AB1NS Mentoring Students at World Academy We built a total of 16 kits over two sessions with the students at the school and had a lot of fun in the process! Mike K1WVO Mentoring Students at World Academy Thanks to the excellent mentoring by Aya, Tom, Mike, and their teacher Gisele, all of the kits have been completed and are working! Gisele Mentoring Students at World Academy In addition to mentoring the students, Gisele also built a kit of her own and got it working! Fred AB1OC Mentoring Students at World Academy Our next session with the students will be to help them learn the Morse Code and begin practicing with their kits. We are also planning a Morse Code competition using the kits similar to the ones we have done in the past. This project has been great fun for all involved and we have provided the kits free of charge thanks to the support from our generous donors as part of our ongoing fundraising campaign. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface How To > This article shares construction details for the Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface that we use with MacDoppler as part our Satellite Stations. - Published: 2019-02-06 - Modified: 2019-03-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/06/satellite-tracker-how-to/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, Software, VHF/UHF Source: Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface How To We have received several requests to share the image and construction details for the Raspberry Pi Satellite Tracker Interface. We use the Sat Tracker interface with MacDoppler as part our Portable Satellite Stations. The Sat Tracker described in the article uses a Raspberry Pi Computer with a touch screen interface to interface MacDoppler to Green Heron Engineering RT-21 Rotator Controller(s). You can read about how to build your own Sat Tracker Interface via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Spring 2019 License Classes > The Nashua Area Radio Society's Spring 2019 License Classes begin in a few weeks. Sign-up, do the prep work and get your license or upgrade in the class! - Published: 2019-02-01 - Modified: 2021-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/02/01/spring-2019-license-classes/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter Do you know someone who is interested in getting a Ham Radio license? Are you thinking of getting an upgrade? If so, consider taking one of our license classes. Our first Spring 2019 License Class is only 1 month away. Here is the schedule: Technician License Class - Saturday, February 23rd and Sunday, February 24th General License Class - Saturday, March 23rd and Sunday, March 24th Extra License Class - Friday, April 26th, Saturday, April 27th, and Sunday, April 28th We hold our classes at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Nashua, NH Explaining Satellite System to License Class During our class, we go over every question in the pool two times. We have plenty of demos, including a working radio station, to help you remember the information and give you some knowledge to get started once you have your license. Our instructors are passionate about Amateur Radio and will pass their enthusiasm on to you. We have a success rate of over 90%. In order to maximize your ability to pass the exam that is held at the end of the class, there is some pre-work. You will need to read the Gordon West License Class book for the level and complete an open book "fill in the blanks" assignment that you will receive when you register. Visit our online registration form to register for a class. For more information, see https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class/or contact Anita, AB1QB at classes@n1fd. org. --- ### 160m Portable Antenna System for Field Day > It’s almost impossible to field an effective 160m station with only a Transmit antenna. We decided to try a Beverage On The Ground160m Portable Antenna... - Published: 2019-01-29 - Modified: 2019-01-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/29/160m-portable-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, CW and QRP, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, HF, Top band (160m) Source: 160m Portable Antenna System for Field Day The Nashua Area Radio Society tries to do something new each time we engage in an Emcom or other major field operation. We decided to try Winter Field Day for the first time this year and we made one ofour new elements a capable portable station for 160m. It’s almost impossible to field an effective 160m station with only a Transmit antenna. Transmit antennas typically are too noisy for effective operation on the low bands. We decided to try a Beverage On The Ground antenna for the receive side of our 160m station. This proved to be a great choice. You can read more about our project and how it performed via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Our First Winter Field Day > Several months ago, Craig N1SFT suggested that we do Winter Field Day (WFD) as a means to practice our Emergency Communications (EMCOM) skills... - Published: 2019-01-29 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/29/first-winter-field-day/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Digital, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Field Day, HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, On The Air, Portable, Station Building, Tower To keep this light, we'll use titles of Rock'N'Roll songs to theme the sections in this article. I've included links to the music videos so you can play them in the background while you read - this might be more fun than my article... Learning To Fly Tom Petty Several months ago, Craig N1SFT suggested that we do Winter Field Day (WFD) as a means to practice our Emergency Communications (EMCOM) skills and to get additional practice setting up our towers and antennas. Craig further suggested that we operate from Keyes Memorial Park in Milford, NH due to its public location, large open area, and availability of an open pavilion that could be used to construct a temporary outdoor shelter. Jerry K1OKD, Charlie W1CBD, Dave K1DLM, Mike, K1WVO, John KB1EEU, and I joined Craig to form what became the core of our 2019 Winter Field Day Team. People Get Ready For The Train That's Commin'... Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions Early on, we met with the Milford Town Board to secure permission to operate in the park overnight and we began holding weekly calls to develop our plans. Early on, we decided to operate four all-mode stations and to cover all of the non-WARC bands from 160m through 2m and 70cm. We felt that this arrangement would make us competitive with the top stations in Winter Field Day over the past several years. Winter Field Day Site and Antenna Plan Jerry and Craig created a Site Layout and Antenna Plan. It was a challenge to fit antennas for so many bands into the limited space. All of the feedlines would lead back to the Pavillion which we planned to enclose with tarps and heat. Winter Field Day Station Plans Jerry and I put together the station plan shown above. The idea was to have 4 stations which we could operate on any band from 80m - 10m and to have two of these station with special capabilities for either 160m or 6m and above. The 6m+ station would use our portable satellite antennas to enable us to earn the Winter Field Day satellite bonus as well as be able to make FM and weak signal contacts on the 2m and 70cm bands, RBOG Antenna System N3FJP Winter Field Day Logger during our Station Test and Training Session We always try to incorporate some new things into each of our Field Day plans. The addition of the 160m was a big one for us this time. We decided to build a 160m dipole for our Transmit antenna and a 160m Reversible Beverage On The Ground (RBOG) antenna for receive. You can read more about our 160m antenna system and its installation and test here. We also opted to use the N3FJP Logger for Winter Field Day. This logger supports WFD and has many of the core features of the N1MM+ contest logger that we use for Summer Field Day. Networking is simpler with this logger and the learning curve associated with it is not as steep. We held a training session the week before WFD where many of our operators had a chance to use the N3FJP Logger with our WFD stations and supporting gear and software. Everyone seemed to master the new logger quickly. Gimme Shelter... Rolling Stones Pavillion at Keyes Memorial Park in Milford NH With all of our preparation complete, we arrived at Keyes Memorial Park on Friday and began setting up at 2 pm. One of the first things we tackled was the construction of a temporary shelter around the Pavillion in the park. Give Me Shelter - Putting Up Tarps The weather can be pretty brutal here in New England in January and we began by putting up tarps to serve as a windbreak. Our WFD Shelter - A Construction Marvel The process took several hours but it was very effective when complete. Thanks to John and Craig for leading the charge on this excellent piece of work! Stand Tall! Burton Cummings 160m Transmit Antenna The first order of business for the Wire Antenna Team was to put up a 50 ft guyed mast and hoist our new 160m transmit dipole antenna up. 160m Tx Dipole SWR After Tuning Due to its size, we had to tune this antenna on site. The final tune-up worked out great and the antenna provided over 60 KHz of usable Tx bandwidth on the 160m band. 160m RBOG Receive Antenna The Wire Antenna Team also put up a 160m Receive Reversible Beverage On The Ground (RBOG) Antenna next. This antenna requires good grounds at both ends and is 180 ft long. The grounds were enhanced with three 50 ft radials at each end and the antenna was feed using 300 ft of 75-ohm flooded coax. You can read more about this antenna here. All Along The Watchtower... Jimi Hendrix Assembling the Tower The Craig N1SFT, Hamilton K1HMS, Brian W1BP, and Mike K1WVO were the core of our Tower Team and they spent the afternoon on Friday putting the tower, Triband Yagi, and the wire antennas for 80m and 40m together. Craig Rigging the Tower Lift System We used a gasoline powered winch and associated rigging to lift the tower. Craig spent some time to rig and secure the winch in preparation for lifting the Tower. Brian W1BP and Mike K1WVO handled the assembly and checkout of our TX-38 Triband Yagi which covers the 20m, 15m, and 10m bands. Craig Your Feet Go There... A lot goes into properly and safely assembling a complex antenna system like our falling derrick tower and the Tower Team used the entire period from 2 pm until dark to ready our tower to go up. Our Tower Going Up One of the first things that we did on Saturday was to raise the tower. The picture above shows the tower being lifted using a falling derrick. The tower consists of 40 ft of Rohn 25g tower and includes the TX-38 triband yagi on a rotator and two wire antennas for 80m and 40m on a sidearm. Tower Is Up and Guyed - Wired Antenna are Being Anchored The final... --- ### Doing My Hobby At Work: The Saga Continues... - Published: 2019-01-28 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/28/doing-my-hobby-at-work-the-saga-continues/ - Categories: Activities, General, Newsletter In some recent posts, I wrote about the opportunity I was given to help organize and lead MIT Lincoln Laboratory's first amateur radio course alongside Jon Schoenberg, AA1FH. The amateur radio course was born out of a desire to try something different that was perhaps more tangential to people's day jobs than the typical class. The result was way more successful than I could have originally planned for. In essence, the troops were thirsty for more. At about the time the course was beginning to wrap up, our Technology Office was launching a new initiative called for a Build-Your-Own-X course in which the participants define the X. To give you a bit of background, the Lab has a Build-Your-Own-Radar course that I believe has been going on for close to a decade now. It used to be taught at MIT campus in Cambridge, but has since grown some legs and also moved to the Lab in Lexington as well as in our Beaverworks program to provide a STEM opportunity for high schoolers. The course has steadily evolved from acquiring lumped circuit parts piecemeal from distributors to supposedly having it's own SKU from Digikey. (Looking around, however, I can't find it, so when I do, I'll update this post. ) Our Technology Office wanted to reproduce the radar course's success with another class, so I pitched an idea about a High-Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio (HABCAR). The wrinkle for this project is that it would attempt to build a global circumnavigating balloon (like many hams have already done -- you can read about it from QRPLabs) which would carry diverse sensor payloads. For instance, ionospheric sounding data is notoriously difficult to collect over the ocean. These little gems would definitely do the trick. And, having a WSPR transmitter available (also from QRPLabs), would allow us to radio down our telemetry and other associated sensor data. One could even imagine sending down SSTV images which are captured by small lightweight cameras compatible with Raspberry Pis. There are of course many fun technical challenges, but I work with a small army of smart folks, so we can figure it out! I ended up again enlisting Jon Schoenberg's (AA1FH) help as well as Dave Cipolle (W1SZ). Some of you may know Dave from the VHF contests twice a year on Mt. Greylock. He's the no-fear fellow who's climbing the towers. After two pitches, we found out today that our project has received $50K of funding to develop a working prototype and preliminary class materials to be delivered by the end of August 2019! To say I am thrilled would be an understatement! I hope once many of the details are ironed out, this is something I can help out with the club's already successful HAB program. If you've been following my posts about this, I am really looking forward to updating you all with the progress. Besides, blogging about it is a good way to document the entire process. And, as I have said a few times on the site, it's pretty damn hard to play radio at home when you have a baby. So, I feel fortunate to be in the position I am at work. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for some updates! 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### February 2019 Contest Notes - Published: 2019-01-28 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/28/february-2019-contest-notes/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, On The Air We're about a month into winter and there's no better time than now to get on the low bands. February brings a few QSO parties that are worth noting, and you'll be glad those low bands are available. The Vermont QSO party gives us a chance to put those close-in neighbors in the log. If you're working on your Worked All States award this is a great time to ensure you have VT in the log. Exchange: RS(T) + County (for VT), and RS(T) + state for others. Minnesota has their QSO party . It only lasts ten hours so this is a good contest for people new to the game to see if they can do the whole shebang! Exchange: Name + county (MN), name + state for others. ARRL School Club Roundup gives you a chance to works some youngsters. You don't have to Elmer kids to make a difference. Just work them in a contest to encourage them! Exchange: RS(T) + class (I/C/S) + state. The North Carolina QSO party should provide a target-rich environment. Again, this is a short contest (just ten hours) so pay attention. Exchange: County (NC), state (others). February is also a great month to do digital modes. Here are some contests for those enthusiasts: Mexico RTTY International Contest NCC RTTY Sprint (multiple times! ) NA Collegiate Championship, RTTY North American QSO Party, RTTY Go to the Contest Calendar to see the full list of contests this month. Remember to always read the rules before entering the contest. Know the time boundaries, power limits, and exchange before transmitting. Contest (not-so) secret of the month: success in contesting is based on BIC (butt-in-chair) time. Challenge yourself to operate for some minimum time and see how well you do. Remember that many contests have multipliers, so your score changes more rapidly as the contest progresses. It can be lots of fun watching your score soar! Good luck to all and drop me a note at programs@n1fd. org with your 3830 entry. The best scores might get a mention in the March Contesting Notes. 73! Scott, NE1RD --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Part 3 – Antenna Integration and Testing > Our new Satellite Antenna Array and 6 m Yagi are up on the tower and working with our Portable Satellite Station 3.0. The new antenna system works very... - Published: 2019-01-14 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/14/sat40-satellite-station-integration/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Magic Band (6m), Satellite, Space, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF Sometimes we learn from problems and mistakes. We all go through this from time to time. It is part of the learning aspect of Amateur Radio. My most recent experience came while integrating our new Satellite Antennas into our station... Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 3 – Antenna Integration and Testing Our 4. 0 Satellite Antenna Array and new our 6 m Yagi are up on the tower and working with our Portable Satellite Station 3. 0. We had some early life problems to work through to get to this stage in our project. Initial testing revealed a defect in some of the equipment and a wiring error at one of the antennas. We rented a 50 ft Boom Lift to take the antennas back down to correct the problems. The antennas are back up and all of the controls systems and feed lines are complete and connected to the station. The new station is performing quite well. You can read about the project and the initial performance testing via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### First Satellite Contact - Published: 2019-01-06 - Modified: 2019-01-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/06/first-satellite-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF I have to admit that I've had more opportunities than most to make a satellite contact. I have spent plenty of time at Fred, AB1OC's QTH with his great satellite system and I've been to plenty of events with the satellite system up and running. I first found an interest in satellites back in 2016 at Field Day when the club's Portable Satellite Station 1. 0 got its first use. I already had an Elk Antenna which I used for fox hunting and SOTA. Abby, AB1BY, Connor, KC1GGX and myself went out a few times and we had great luck in hearing the satellites, but no luck in making a contact. I was determined to make a contact on an HT and my Elk antenna, but satellites became a little bit of an afterthought. Every time I would try to make a contact it was last minute or I wasn't in an ideal location or it was not a good pass to try. AC1DC Making his first HT Satellite Contact Well, this past Saturday I finally had luck in making contact via the satellites... with a little help from Fred, AB1OC, and Anita, AB1QB. We staked out the flight path in their backyard and I used my antenna, but with a headset - which helped as well! I made two contacts on AO-91 on a 42-degree pass! There's more to making contacts with the satellites than just pointing your antenna at them and throwing out your callsign. I'm definitely not an expert, but I've come to realize that you don't have to be super precise with the aiming of the antenna, although I think the closer you are to being right on it the better your chances of being heard. Also, I would recommend finding a way to free up your hands as much as possible. A headset helps and a tripod really makes things easier - that antenna gets heavy pretty quickly! And most importantly, use your phone or some type of device to record your QSOs. I have a hard time remembering the callsign, especially when things are going quickly, let alone grid squares and names. Of course, after accomplishing my goal of making contact with my HT and handheld antenna, we went inside and I made three more contacts on Fred's satellite station on AO-07. I still plan on chasing the satellites on my HT, but I have a feeling Fred and Anita are going to see more of me on their satellite station! Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Satellite Station 4.0 Parts 1 and 2 – New Tower and Antennas > Satellite Station 4.0 project which includes the construction of a new house-bracketed tower and the installation of our Satellite Antennas and a 6m yagi... - Published: 2019-01-01 - Modified: 2020-04-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/01/sat40-tower-satellite-antennas/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Satellite, Space, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF Our current Satellite 3. 0 Antennas have worked well in their portable configuration. We’ve had them to License Classes, Field Day, Ham Fests, and ultimately to Hudson Memorial School for an ISS Crew Contact. We have begun our Satellite Station 4. 0 project with the construction of a new house-bracketed tower and the installation of our Satellite Antennas and a new 6 m yagi. You can read about our progress to date via the two links below... Completed Antenna Stack Source: Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 1. 0 - New Tower and Satellite Station 4. 0 Part 2 – Antennas The permanent installation of our Satellite Antennas and the associated new tower at our QTH is well underway. Here are two articles on the construction of the new antenna system. The project is based upon a house-bracketed Rohn 45G Tower. This is a good option for many Hams to consider when putting up a tower at their QTH. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Journey to an ISS Crew Contact > Like many memorable events in our lives, our journey towards the Hudson Memorial School ISS Crew Contact began in a modest fashion with a telephone call... - Published: 2019-01-01 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2019/01/01/iss-crew-contact-journey/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, ISS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach How It All Began Like many memorable events in our lives, our journey towards the Hudson Memorial School ISS Crew Contact began in a modest fashion with a telephone call from Dan Pooler at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH. --- ### 2018 - A Great Year for Youth in NARS > 2018 was a great year for Youth in NARS. We helped young people to spark interest in STEM Careers through HAB programs and other Activities. The culmination of the year was an ISS Contact! - Published: 2018-12-31 - Modified: 2019-01-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/31/nars-youth-2018/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, Space, Youth Outreach 2018 has been a great year for Youth in NARS. As of December 31st, we have 16 licensed members under the age of 18, including two amazing Extra Class YLs - Abby, AB1BY and Kenzie, KE1NZY! This article is a summary of all of our Youth Activities in 2018, culminating with the ARISS Crew Contact with the Hudson Memorial School! ARRL Kids Day 2018 Kids Day The year started off with ARRL Kids Day on January 6th. We hosted the event at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. We had many activities to introduce kids to Amateur Radio. The event was a big success HAB-3 Students and Teachers - Ready to Launch High Altitude Balloon Launches This year, we held our HAB-3 and HAB-4 Program. We provided programs for students from Hudson Memorial School, World Academy, Merrimack High School, and Bishop Guertin High School. These sessions included kit builds, instruction on science and technology behind the High Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio, GOTA sessions, Morse Code Activities, and many more educational activities. This culminated with the successful launch of the HAB-3 from Hollis Brookline High School. We are looking forward to the launch of HAB-4 in the Spring. Student Teacher License Class License Classes In July, we held a Technician License Class for Students and Teachers from our HAB programs. The class was held at Hudson Memorial School. We helped 9 students and teachers to get their Technician Class License. We also helped additional students get licensed during our regular Spring and Fall License Classes. WMUR Field Day TV Coverage of KC1IMK and KC1EMJ Field Day Over the past year, we have established a great relationship with the Hudson Memorial School. They welcomed us to hold 2018 Field Day on their grounds. It was a memorable Field Day with visits from students and teachers at HMS and a visit from WMUR, who included a feature from our Field Day on their 6:00 pm News. Boxboro 2018 - Kit Building Mentor Mike W1WVO Helping Mackenzie KE1NZY Youth Expos In 2018, we have done Youth Expos at several major events as well as at local youth programs. We held these at Spring and Fall NEAR-Fest, the Boxboro Hamvention as well as at a summer program at the Westford Library. Our Youth Expos have been quite a success and have included HF, Repeater and Satellite GOTA Stations, Kit Builds, Hands on Morse Code Activities and Displays of Fox Hunting, Field Day, Raspberry Pi and Homebrewing and more! We created a great partnership with Steve, K1EL, who developed the Morse Tutor kit, especially for our youth kit builds. Students and the NARS Operator Team ARISS Crew Contact The highlight of our year was the ISS Crew Contact with Astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and students from the Hudson Memorial School. This was a huge effort over the past 1. 5 years in preparation and the results were a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students as well as the teachers, parents and club members involved. Fund Raising We established a fundraising campaign this year to help fund our NARS STEM Learning and Training including these Youth Activities. We are already over 75% of the way toward our goal! You can visit our home page, https://www. n1fd. org/ if you would like to help us. Part of our mission as an organization is to Spark Interest among Young People in STEM Education and Careers through Ham Radio This year we have had much success in our mission. We couldn't have done it without the help of our members, donors and the faculty and students of our partner schools. We are grateful to all of you for helping us to spark interest among Young People in STEM Careers and helping to keep this wonderful hobby alive! Anita, AB1QB --- ### ARRL RTTY Roundup Coming Soon - Published: 2018-12-31 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/31/arrl-rtty-roundup-coming-soon/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Digital, DX, HF, On The Air You have learned about contesting through the great articles that Scott, NE1RD has written. You have learned about FT8 through articles from Hamilton, K1HMS and Fred, AB1OC. Now its time to put it all together and operate in the ARRL RTTY Roundup coming up this coming weekend - January 5th - 6th. This is the first year that the FT8 mode will be part of the ARRL RTTY Roundup. The newest version of the WSJT-X software, version 2. 0, has been enhanced to support the contest exchange. See Joe Taylor's QST article for details on how it will work. AB1QB operating in a RTTY Contest Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will be hosting a multi-op entry using the N1FD callsign from their QTH. The contest starts at 18:00 UTC (1:00 pm EST) on Saturday and ends at 23:59 UTC (7 pm EST) on Sunday. The first few hours of the contest overlap with ARRL Kids Day so the kids will have priority on our main station. We may be able to operate in the RTTY Roundup using FT8 and our SteppIR Vertical. If you are interested in signing up for a time slot, please contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. Let her know what time you can be available to operate and how many hours you would like to operate. Please respond no later than Thursday. She will put together an operating schedule and send it out on Friday. We hope to see you this weekend in the contest or hear you on the air! --- ### 2018 Club Meeting Retrospective - Published: 2018-12-30 - Modified: 2019-11-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/30/2018-nars-retrospective/ - Categories: Activities, General, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF Regular Club Meetings The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) meets every first Tuesday except in August when there is no meeting. (Note that months where the first Tuesday falls on a holiday the two monthly meetings may be pushed out a week. ) The monthly regular meetings typically feature a speaker from outside the club that brings something interesting from the ham radio community, the world of science and technology, or local interest. There is also a January Show-and-Tell meeting, and the Field Day planning and retrospective meetings held in June and July. Here is a quick run-down of the presentations made to NARS over the last year. February Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory Dr. Ivan Galkin, University of Massachusetts Lowell We use the ionosphere for HF communications, but did you know that changes to the ionosphere can also affect GPS systems? Dr. Galkin described his groups work creating a system of Ionosonde stations to measure the ionosphere. And all this is done just up the road at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. March Theory and Repair of Astron Power Supplies George Allison, K1IG Linear power supplies will eventually fail, but they can be repaired easily if you have a little know-how. George Allison walked through the design and theory of these devices and showed how easy it can be to get a dead unit back on the air. April The Current State of the D-Star Evolution Terry Stader, KA8SCP The proliferation of digital radio hotspots using Raspberry Pi and Arduino computers has been astounding. Terry Stader walked through some of the advancements of the D-Star ecosystem and other digital radio platforms. May MIT Haystack Observatory Phil Erickson, W1PJE One of the nation's premier observatories is located just miles from Nashua. Phil Erickson gave us a virtual tour of the facilities. September BITX and µBitX Transceivers Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE, created a very low-cost transceiver that could be constructed by anybody in his native India with commonly sourced parts. The designs became an instant sensation in the QRP radio community. (Farhan was recently inducted into the QRP Hall of Fame. ) Andy Stewart gave us a good overview of the BITX and µBITX technologies and even showed us some extensions for the radio to support visually-impaired operators. October Working the ISS and Satellites Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Here at the bottom of the solar cycle it is good to broaden your experiences. Fred Kemmerer gave an excellent overview of the basics of satellite communication, including working the International Space Station. November Nashua Emergency Coordinator Justin Kates, KB3JUV Communications is an important part of any emergency situation planning. Justin Kates briefed club members on the planning and preparation Nashua makes for any emergencies. December Plane Tracking with ADS-B Thomas Kavanaugh, KC1ELF Most aircraft are now fitted with a system called ADS-B, part of the new system of anticollision technologies. Data is broadcast by each aircraft on 1090 MHz and that data can be received and decoded by a simple ground station you can build on a computer as simple as a Raspberry Pi. Thomas Kavanaugh gave the club an overview of this technology. Tech Nights NARS holds a second meeting of the month a week after the club's regular meeting. "Tech Night" is a chance for club members to exchange ideas and share their knowledge and experiences. Many of these meetings are captured in video and archived on the NARS website https://www. n1fd. org You can access the video collection here https://www. n1fd. org/video-collection/ Remember that you must be logged into the website to have access to these web pages and materials. January Building a Mobile HF Station Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Video available February Kit building night Paddlestick touch keyer by K1EL March Antenna Modeling I B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD Video available April Basic Kit Building Techniques Steven Elliott, K1EL Video available May Portable Operating and Gear Video available June All About Field Day Video available July Raspberry Pi and Ham Radio Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB and Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Video available August WSJT-X Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Video available September DMR Radios and Programming Bill Barber, NE1B Video available October Frequency Measurement Challenge George Allison, K1IG Video available November Remote Operation Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC December RTL-SDR workshop B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD Club members were encouraged to bring their SDR solutions to the meeting and either seek help from other club members or provide help to those seeking to get their systems running. There were many newly working SDR systems at the end of the evening. --- ### ARRL Kids Day - Published: 2018-12-30 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/30/arrl-kids-day-2019/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach The ARRL Kids Day event is coming up on Saturday, January 5th from 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm. Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will have their station open for any youth - regardless of license class or license for that matter - that would like to participate. There is a very simple exchange of name, age, location, and favorite color. It's a relaxed atmosphere and easy way to get on the air if you have your license and haven't had much of an opportunity. Even if you don't have a license you can get on the air with the club call sign and one of our licensed youths as the control operator. So, bring your friends! This is a very special event to me as it is one of the first times my daughter, Abby, AB1BY made an HF contact. After this event, she was absolutely hooked on amateur radio! We're hoping this happens to all the youth that participate! Abby will be present to help make contacts. We would like to invite any youth, with or without a license, to come and check out what amateur radio has to offer. Please respond to Jamey, AC1DC at activities@n1fd. org if you would like to participate or if you have any questions. --- ### The MFJ-1836H Cobweb antenna for your attic > MFJ has created a set of 1/2-wave dipole antennas folded into a square (sort of a cobweb antenna). There are two units that cover 10m-20m. - Published: 2018-12-29 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/29/cobweb-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas MFJ-1836 Cobweb Antenna MFJ-1836 and MFJ-1836H MFJ has created a set of 1/2-wave dipole antennas folded into a square (sort of a cobweb antenna). There are two units that cover 10m-20m. They are the MFJ-1836 ($229. 95) that handles power up to 300 W, and the MFJ-1836H ($259. 95) that handles up to 1. 5 kW. These antennas are roughly 12-feet as measured diagonally across the square they make. (That is, about 9-foot by 9-foot. ) I purchased the high-power version and raised it up 25 feet in my backyard last year. I found its performance to be comparable to the vertical dipole antennas I have erected permanently. My Original Intent I originally purchased the antenna to see if it could be adapted to travel. I'd like to go on another lightweight DXpedition someday and I'm always looking for low-cost/low-weight solutions. This antenna weighs under 9 pounds (with the low-power model weighing slightly less than its big brother). Just for reference, the Buddipole Tripod and Mast weigh almost seven pounds and that's before we add an antenna! Assembly Assembly of the antenna is straight-forward. I mounted it on a pipe and stuck it into a deck table's umbrella hole. That allowed me to put the work at eye level and spin the antenna while I assembled it. That made assembly easy. I'm guessing I spent an hour reading the instructions and routing the wires. The Wires This is the only disappointment with the unit: the wires. MFJ used a lightweight stranded wire that is quite fragile with frayed ends. I've snapped the outer-most wire (for 20m) twice. If I were to attempt to adapt this antenna for travel it would have to be rewired with something more robust. My first choice would be Wireman model 534 "Invisible Touchcoat 'Silky' 26 AWG, 19-strand 40% copper-clad steel" wire. This stuff is tough with a break strength of 25 pounds. If I were to rewire this unit, or more likely purchase another antenna, I would discard the MFJ wires and use this stuff. Tuning the Antenna Tuning was straightforward when I used the antenna outside mounted up 25-feet. I just followed the MJF instructions and got a good match on all bands. Tuning the antenna indoors mounted in my attic was another story. MFJ-1836H mounted in NE1RD's attic This antenna, like nearly all antennas, works best when in the clear. That is, they work best when there is nothing in their near-field (say within 1/2 a wavelength). MFJ recommends the antenna be mounted at least 20-feet off the ground. Mounting this thing in my attic meant my furnace and roof are all within the antenna's near field. The upshot of this is I had to spend a little extra time adjusting lengths of the antenna wires to make it provide a good match on these five bands. My trusty RigExpert analyzer made the work go quickly. Here are the plots for the installed antenna. 20m SWR 17m SWR 15m SWR 12m SWR 10m SWR I confess that I could probably do better on all bands except 20m if I were to spend more time adjusting the wires. But this is good enough for now. HOA and Other Limitations I spent my first few years in a restrictive environment where it was difficult for me to use outdoor antennas. If you have a large attic and find yourself in a similar situation then this antenna is worth a look. Temper your expectations, though. Remember that in general antennas are better outside than inside, and mounted higher rather than lower (although antennas can be hung too high! ). Your antenna's performance will be some combination of how well you have tuned it, and what kinds of objects are in the antenna's near-field. Still, any antenna is better than no antenna! The Big Brother: MFJ-1838 MFJ has a larger offering that covers the 30m and 40m bands. This antenna measures about 20-feet diagonally so you'd need a large attic to hold it. The MFJ-1838 is $399. 95. Wrapping Up My home office is directly below the MFJ-1836H antenna and I have a small station there usually running an Elecraft KX3 (though some other QRP rigs are often called to duty there). With this antenna, I can now operate on any of five bands without needing to touch an antenna switch (all of which are two floors below my office in the basement! ). It should make casual operating in the winter much more enjoyable. Scott, NE1RD --- ### Wordpress 5.0 Brings A New Editor To n1fd.org > Wordpress 5.0 has recently been released and its now in use on n1fd.org. Wordpress 5.0 brings a new content creation editor called Gutenberg to Wordpress... - Published: 2018-12-28 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/28/gutenberg/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Internet Wordpress 5. 0 has recently been released and it is now in use on n1fd. org. Wordpress 5. 0 brings a new content creation editor to Wordpress. You may have seen the new editor referred to as Gutenberg on the Internet. Here's a link to an overview of the new editor. The new editor makes all of the rich formatting of text and graphics that modern websites can provide much easier to use when creating content. It does this via a concept called Blocks. The new editor creates posts using a series of Blocks. Gutenberg Blocks Blocks are uniquely formatted components of posts such as articles on our Blog. Black can be formatted as text, headings, images, lists, and multimedia elements. You create the content for a post using a series of Blocks. This article uses Paragraph Blocks for text and Image Blocks for pictures. Gutenberg Document Sidebar Most all of the functionality of the old editor is available in Gutenberg. For example, sidebar tabs for both Block options and the familiar Document options are available in tabs on the right sidebar in Gutenberg. It is easy to get started with the new editor. Here's a link to an article on how to begin. Selecting The Gutenberg Editor For now, n1fd. org will continue to use the Classic Editor as the default for new posts. You can try out Gutenberg by clicking on the Block Editor choice for your post. This option can be found in the Posts section of the backend of n1fd. org. We will probably change over to the new editor as the default for new posts sometime during the next few weeks. In the interim, I hope you'll give the new editor a try. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Doing My Hobby At Work: Conclusion - Published: 2018-12-27 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/27/doing-my-hobby-at-work-conclusion/ - Categories: Education and Training, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training Past Steps and Summary In a previous post, I mentioned that myself and Jon Schoenberg AA1FH were teaching MIT Lincoln Laboratory's first amateur radio course. The Lab strongly encourages professional education. Traditionally, these courses are centered around topics like Stochastic Estimation, Introduction to Electromagnetics, or Radar Principles. These courses tend to be very apropos to people's day jobs and can sometimes be even more esoteric. For this course, however, I embarked on something that was a bit more tangential -- though relevant -- to people's day jobs. Spoiler alert: The class was a huge success! And I was pretty nervous overall to plan, manage, organize, and teach some of the classes. I remain shocked, stunned, and awed by the outpouring of interest people have for this hobby. So what happy by-products resulted from this endeavor: 6 people (that I know of so far) obtained their amateur license with 5 doing it through our club. Our own Burns Fisher was a guest lecturer for the amateur satellite portion of the class! (Thanks, Burns! ) Looking around the room, his talk noticeably engaged the students. Our Weekly Bulletin featured the Amateur Radio course on the front page! This is excellent for coverage and exposure for when we offer this again in Fall 2019. One of our newly minted hams, KO5TI, had a truly wonderful quote: "“The Amateur Radio course is unique in that it uses learning a popular hobby as a vehicle for presenting relevant technical material. We’ve heard from world class experts on antennas, propagation, digital communications, and electronic design. ” We took interested folks from the class on the KC1XX (Matt Strelow) superstation tour to demonstrate what state-of-the-art looks like! This helped to maintain interest and get people excited about their own smaller-scale homebrew projects. We generated enough interest for a part-two spin-off. It looks like it's going to be a HAB project, ladies and gentlemen. This will be a fun hands-on project to get newly interested people involved in hardware and amateur radio. (But with the added benefit of data collection and analysis). We should have a good degree of success from the vast experience of folks at the Lab. Next Steps At work, the Technology Office is sponsoring a Build-Your-Own-X class, where X = (something fun). As an example, a Build-Your-Own-Radar currently exists. In this course, employees learn some radar theory, and then build their own radar, perform calibration, and do some testing on moving objects. I took a shot and submitted a HABCAR (High-Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio) proposal. The wrinkle in this (which NARS has not done before) is for the flights to be global circumnavigations using WSPR. You can read a fair amount about this from the QRPLabs website and elsewhere on the web. In particular, M0XER has been quite busy; racking up a maximum number of 8 circumnavigations! Luckily, many people at work have logged many hours flying and engineering the types of balloons needed for these flights. For instance, one has to use mylar balloons instead of latex since latex breaks down from long-term UV exposure. Additionally, one typically needs to worry about carrying ballast with these balloons. At night, as the air cools, the balloon has to release ballast in order to maintain a constant altitude. After making a 4 minute elevator pitch, with some Q&A, I recently learned the HABCAR idea made it to the final round on January 18th. So, I need to think through more rigorously what a class built around this would look like in my presentation. I will have to present a Bill of Materials, list the support/help required, and outline the goals for each week of the class. It's a lot of work. But it'll be fun. Maybe after this project gets off the ground (pun intended), I can bring the lessons learned to NARS' continuing STEM program. Happy flying! --Brian AB1ZO --- ### January 2019 Contesting Notes - Published: 2018-12-26 - Modified: 2022-11-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/26/contesting-notes/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, Digital, HF Jumpstarting the New Year The big contests of the Fall are now behind us and the more sedate contests like QSO parties and youth-oriented on-air events begin. This month has five contests worth noting. (For a complete list of contests please see the contest calendar here. ) ARRL RTTY Roundup ~ 1800Z, Jan 5 to 2400Z, Jan 6 If you're new to digital contesting this is a good place to begin. There are a number of members in the club that could serve as mentors to help you get going. And, Fred AB1OC and Anita AB1QB often host an effort from their station. See also the ARRL Kids Day event below. Exchange: RST + State/Province Contest information: http://www. arrl. org/rtty-roundup ARRL Kids Day ~ 1800Z-2359Z, Jan 5 Here's your chance to work a lot of young people on the air. And, if you are a young person just getting started, this is a great event to gain confidence. Exchange: name + age + QTH + favorite color Contest information: http://www. arrl. org/kids-day North American QSO Party CW ~ 1800Z, Jan 12 to 0559Z, Jan 13, SSB ~ 1800Z, Jan 19 to 0559Z, Jan 20 This is one of my favorite contests. The pace is relaxed, people are friendly, and it is a great way to fill in the blanks on your Worked All States award. Exchange: NA: Name + (state/DC/province/country) Contest information: http://www. ncjweb. com/NAQP-Rules. pdf Winter Field Day ~ 1900Z, Jan 26 to 1900Z, Jan 27 See the N1FD article here. The NARS club has a big effort planned for this event including multiple transmitters and a collection of antennas for everything from 160m to 10m. Operating will be done from a heated shelter so you can rack up points in comfort! Contact the team leaders for more information. Exchange: Category (indoor/outdoor/home) and ARRL section. Contest information: https://www. winterfieldday. com Bottom of the solar cycle Even though we are in the solar doldrums don't get discouraged. The bands are surprisingly good when everybody gets on and enough call CQ. In fact, with the bands a little weak this is a great time to learn how to call CQ and handle callers. You won't get a big pile-up (because conditions are not great), but you will get people coming back to your call. Be patient and hone your skills during this down part of the cycle. Then you'll be ready when conditions improve! --- ### Kit build for February 2019: Morse Tutor Keyer - Published: 2018-12-26 - Modified: 2019-01-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/26/feb-2019-kit-build/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Homebrew, Kits, Youth Outreach Morse Tutor Keyer Kit by K1EL Kit build for 2019 The change of seasons brings us again to the darkest months, a good time to concentrate on indoor activities like station updates and kit building. This February 12th the club will hold its annual kit build during Tech Night. The kit selected this year is the Morse Tutor Keyer Kit by K1EL. You can have a quick look at the manual for this kit here. Club buy of kits As part of its STEM initiative, NARS has purchased a number of these kits in bulk and has been using them in student kit builds in local area schools. Buying directly from the club means getting a discount on the kit, and directly supporting this educational outreach. BUY THE KIT HERE: MTB-KIT order page What to bring to kit build night The kit will supply the board and parts necessary to complete the project. You'll need to bring appropriate tools including: Soldering iron and solder Small needle-nose pliers Small diagonal/flush cutters for trimming component leads Small flat blade and Phillips head screwdrivers Your reading glasses (a note to myself, if no one else! ) A printout of the manual for the kit (or a copy downloaded to your tablet) Recommended: Multimeter Optional: a small magnifying glass Don't forget to bring batteries! The unit requires 3 AAA cells. The spirit of kit build night NARS has many new members since the last kit build. Those of us who have experience with kit building should lend a hand to those new to the adventure. Take a moment and help mentor your fellow club members, especially our youngest recruits, so they walk away with a working kit and the sense of accomplishment that goes with it. Remember: Watch for the link on the website for ordering your kit. --- ### Meet KE1NZY, 10-Year Old Amateur Extra > On Sunday, December 2, 2018, at around 4:30 pm, Mackenzie Pooler (KE1NZY), a ten-year-old from Hudson, NH, turned in her Amateur Extra Exam to be graded... - Published: 2018-12-14 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/14/ke1nzy-10-year-old-amateur-extra/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, License Exam, Youth Outreach On Sunday, December 2, 2018, at around 4:30 pm, Mackenzie Pooler (KE1NZY), a ten-year-old from Hudson, NH, turned in her Amateur Extra Exam to be graded by the VE team at the Nashua Area Radio Society’s testing session held at the Dartmouth Hitchcock campus in Nashua, NH. Only a year and a half before, you could have asked Mackenzie about amateur radio and she wouldn’t have been able to tell you the terms “diode,” “capacitor,” or “susceptance” meant, or any rules or regulations surrounding the FCC use of the amateur airwaves. In that short amount of time, Mackenzie’s passion for amateur radio and all that it entails was ignited to a point that she became inspired to pursue the highest licensing offered to an amateur. Mackenzie or Kenzie as most in the amateur radio world know her, became interested in Amateur Radio because of my own pursuit of learning about Ham Radio as I prepared for the Hudson Memorial School ARISS contact. I studied for and passed all three levels of licensing in a two month period of time. As she saw my interest and excitement around amateur radio grow, she too became interested in getting licensed. Throughout 2018 she tagged along as we attended Kids Day on the radio at AB1OC and AB1QB’s QTH. While Kenzie did not want to talk on the radio, she became interested in both Morse Code and Fox Hunting at the event. The Nashua Area Radio Society came to the Hudson Memorial School STEM Night on March 14, 2018, and Kenzie joined in on the fun. She came to the night to play math games with friends and family. By the end of the night, she was playing with the Morse Code Tutor kits and watching videos on Fox Hunting. Kenzie sat at the NARS table for over half an hour. At that point, she knew she wanted to pursue a Technician level license. Her opportunity to pursue her first license came shortly after the STEM Night when HMS and NARS announced that they would be offering their first student class one week in July. Mackenzie got a copy of the Technician Level class and began reading and studying the material. The spring came and Mackenzie became invested in her other passion, softball. Mackenzie worked hard to become her team’s number two pitcher. The team had several weekends of tournaments that did not allow Kenzie to do much with amateur radio. The Nashua Area Radio Society held their Annual Field Day at Hudson Memorial School the same weekend at the Softball State Tournament. Even though the weekend was filled with games, Kenzie made sure we had time to stop by the field to see what was going on. Kenzie looked at all the antennas and equipment in amazement. She talked with many of the operators to understand what they were doing. Even though she did not have much time to spend with amateur radio during that weekend, she continued to study for the course. July quickly came around and twelve students and educators sat through four days of Technician class material. Kenzie sat and listened to the material while finding ways to study. She enjoyed numerous demonstrations with the GOTA remote station, Fox Hunting, Morse Code activities, Antenna building, and more. Mackenzie was fully invested in learning how to do everything that the course had to offer. She spent nights practicing for the exam on a phone app and returned each day ready to go. At the end of the course, Mackenzie took her exam and found out that she passed. At that point, she was excited but really had no intention of getting any higher level license. She could Fox Hunt and play around with Morse Code, which is really what she wanted to do. She could even get a vanity call that mimicked her name; KE1NZY could be hers. It wasn’t until months later that her interest in a higher license would be realized. In August, Mackenzie partook in her first RTTY Rookie Roundup. Using the club call sign, she was able to operate in all areas of the bands with no restrictions. She quickly took to digital operation as she didn’t have to say anything over the air to the other operators. Being a child of the digital age, it was second nature to use the computer to make contact. She became a pro at decoding call signs and her excitement grew. After that day, Mackenzie decided that she wanted to pursue her General License. Knowing that digital areas of operation of the bands allowed complete access to people with a General Level license gave her the internal drive to study the material. From August to the first week of October, Mackenzie studied the material on an app and with me. When the licensing exam was offered at the beginning of October, Mackenzie took the test and passed. In the midst of her studying, Mackenzie attended the Boxboro, MA Hamfest. This was a first for both of us. Mackenzie enjoyed the NARS kit build of a Morse Code tutor and helped Fred Kemmerer and I present about building youth programs. Kenzie shared with the group her love of Morse Code, Fox Hunting, and digital contesting. Considering that she really doesn’t enjoy talking in front of people she doesn’t know, it was a great experience. She also loved building the Morse Code tutor kit so much that she was able to work as a mentor at the same activity during fall NearFest. After gaining her General license, Kenzie toward to a new goal. She wanted to get her Extra license before she turned 11 in January. She began studying for the exam using apps but didn’t put too much time into it. At the end of October, Kenzie was asked by Anita AB1QB to use her call sign in the multi-op category of the JARTS RTTY contest. After learning that the contest exchange was the call sign and the person’s age, Mackenzie got very excited. The weekend of the contest, Mackenzie, Anita, and I operated. More than once, the other operators asked us to retransmit the... --- ### Small Software Defined Radios - Part 2: Software - Published: 2018-12-10 - Modified: 2023-12-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/10/small-sdrs-part2/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: SDR, Software Small software defined radios have never been more affordable. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) makes integrating one of these radios into your shack easy. This article is a follow-on to the SMALL SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIOS ~ PART 1 article on hardware published last month. Basic Tuner and Pan Adaptor Most of us will use one of these SDRs with our computer (instead of creating a Raspberry Pi or other small computer for a dedicated solution). This section will give you some ideas for your Macintosh, LINUX, or Windows PC. There are many offerings for each of these application areas. I can only cover a few here. CubicSDR is a cross-platform and open-source software-defined radio application. This runs on Macs, LINUX, and Windows (both 32 and 64-bit versions). A screenshot for this application appears at the top of this article. The software supports about a dozen types of radios including the little RTL-SDR radio mentioned in the other article. With CubicSDR you can see a spectrum view of a frequency range and listen in on the signals tuning with frequency, bandwidth, and modulation type (FM, AM, etc. ). This is a great program to try if you are new to SDRs. GQRX Gqrx SDR is an open software application for SDRs that is available for LINUX and MacOS X. If you want to run on a Raspberry Pi this is a good place to start. Watching Airplanes One of the really fun things that can be done with these inexpensive SDRs is tracking aircraft data. FlightAware has a package that can be installed on a simple Raspberry Pi computer that will not only monitor transmitted data on 1090 MHz, but will also upload that data to the FlightAware servers. This crowdsourced data is then used to drive their Apps. Piaware produces a display like the above (this is a screenshot from my setup). This is a standalone project that can be completed for less than $100. There is a version of this called dump1090 that is open source and the original program that FlightAware enhanced. The RTL-SDR website has a write-up for this using Windows. Macintosh users can visit Black Cat Systems for Cocoa1090. Just the tip of the iceberg These programs are a great place to start, but there are many more offerings available. My advice is to get things working with something simple, then try one of the more elaborate programs. I hope to see everybody at the December 11, 2018 Tech Night where we'll apply all this to radios you bring. See you there! # # # --- ### How China's Lunar Relay Satellite Arrived in its Final Orbit - Published: 2018-12-09 - Modified: 2020-07-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/09/chinese-lunar-relay-satellite/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space Several of us were talking about how the Chinese Lunar Lander Chang'e 4 was going to communicate with Earth given that it is to land on the far side of the moon. This blog post explains it. Source: How China's lunar relay satellite arrived in its final orbit | The Planetary Society Pretty cool if you ask me. And BTW, there is an amateur radio transmitter near the moon. I'll try to find info about that as well. Burns, WB1FJ --- ### 3....2.....1..... Successful ARISS Crew Contact - Published: 2018-12-09 - Modified: 2021-05-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/09/successful-ariss-crew-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach A year and a half of work for only nine minutes. Not knowing the context or the situation, most would say that no matter what the nine minutes were for, it was not worth it. Others would cringe at the idea of having to work for so long to get so little. In this case, I think anyone that was part of the event would agree that the work and the time needed to achieve success was well worth it. The event that I am writing about is the Hudson Memorial School Contact with Serena Auñón-Chancellor on the International Space Station that occurred at 1:49 pm EST on Friday, December 7, 2018. At 1:49 pm EST, when Fred Kemmerer (AB1OC) called NA1SS and the gymnasium full of students, staff, and guests heard Serena call back, the moment was exhilarating, amazing, thrilling, and more. Students and adults alike let out a roar of excitement that the contact had worked. At that moment they knew that they were about to get a rare opportunity that few schools had experienced. They were going to get to talk directly to an astronaut on the International Space Station. The loud outburst of excitement was followed by nine and a half minutes of something that does not occur in middle school very often. The students and adults in the room sat silent and on the edge of their seats as the selected student and Serena went back and forth through fourteen prepared questions. Toward the end of the time, the last student stepped to the microphone, thanked Serena and heard Serena thank the school in return for the amazing questions. Once again, the room erupted in excitement. The contact was a success. So, what was all the work that I spoke about, one might ask. A year and a half prior to the contact, I emailed the Nashua Area Radio Society to see if there might be some interest in making such an event occur. I was greeted with the best partnership that Hudson Memorial has ever seen. Fred Kemmerer and the rest of the Nashua Area Radio Society stepped up to support this large undertaking. We worked together to complete the ARISS Proposal, which can be found at http://www. ariss. org/hosting-an-ariss-contact-in-the-us. html . The form asked about our preparedness to host the contact technically and educationally. On the school side, we shared all of the space and radio communication education opportunities that Hudson Memorial School provided our students and would provide our students, should we be granted a contact. The opportunities that we already offered to our students were an in-depth space science curriculum in sixth grade, education about how waves work in both 6th and 8th grade, a 7th grade science fiction unit that had students talking to NASA scientists via Skype, Astronomy Nights, STEM nights, use of NASA statistics in the mathematics classroom, and a new Project Lead the Way Pre-Engineering program that asked students to find solutions to those that might be found on the ISS. The items that we proposed to add to enhance the radio and space curriculums at Hudson Memorial School included having students participate in a High Altitude Balloon curriculum, Radio Licensing classes, and adding activities where students could try out amateur radio opportunities. All of which, we were able to provide for students in the past school year. In January, we learned that we were selected to host a contact. Excitement levels were raised for teachers at the school and members of the club alike. Everyone stepped up and began preparations, but there was a whole lot of waiting to find out when the actual date would occur. In the meantime, there were several important steps that needed to be received from the school. In October, the school began working on student questions and their story. The story basically gave ARISS information about Hudson Memorial School that would be used in their official press release once the contact was secured. The story explained the population make-up of the school and its goals for educating the students. The school also worked on the official press release to be sent to media outlets when the contact time was finalized. Students in grades 5-8 were offered the opportunity to submit questions through various classes. By the due date, there were over 600 questions submitted by students for the contact. Those questions were combed through by a group of HMS teachers to find the twenty-two questions that would be submitted to ARISS for the contact. In addition to all of the work required by ARISS, I was able to arrange for an International Space Station Contact celebration week for the students at HMS. Since this was such a huge event, it was important to make it stretch for more than just one day. The week included themes for each of the 5 days in the week of December 3 – 7. Monday was ISS Crew Contact Launch Day. Students were asked to wear any items that connected to the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” so we could start our celebration off with a bang. It also was exciting that it happened to be the day that three additional astronauts launched to go to the ISS. Tuesday was Space Science Fiction Day. Students and staff wore items with Star Wars, Star Trek or other science fiction shows and movies. Wednesday was Out of This World Hair Day. Students came up with some interesting hair for the day. Thursday was Space and NASA clothing item day. Students showed off items of clothing with NASA logos. The week was wrapped up with a school color day. Kids wore red, white, and black to show their school pride. The theme days were just a part of the excitement. Each morning during the announcement the students learned facts about the ISS. Staff also played different music with space themes in the middle of the day. The songs included David Bowie’s “A Space Oddity,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown. ” Throughout the week, the Nashua Area Radio Society began setting up and testing the equipment. On... --- ### Hudson Memorial School ARISS Crew Contact Transcript > Hudson Memorial School held our ARISS Crew Contact on Friday. Here's a transcript of the student's questions and Astronaut Serena Aunon Chancellor answers. - Published: 2018-12-08 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/08/ariss-crew-contact-transcript/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach Transcript of Hudson Memorial School ARISS Contact Hudson Memorial School held our ARISS Crew Contact with Astronaut Serena Aunon Chancellor on Friday, December 7th. Here's a transcript of our student's questions and Serena's answers. How do astronauts train and prepare before going into space? “Good question, actually, so what occurs is about 2 years prior to the flight, and even more before that when you first come into the astronaut corps, we do a lot of training on space station systems, using a robotic arm, and even doing space walks and then we learn about all the experiments right before we go into orbit. ” Do you have regular physical check-ups and or vaccinations to stay healthy in space? “Yes we do, actually, it’s probably the most extensive physical check-up you’ll ever have and we get more vaccinations than anybody else will ever have. Our physical exams every year last about two days! Probably doesn’t compare much to the one hour you guys spend at the doctor’s office, but they try to keep us really healthy before we come up here. ” To help us understand the scale of the ISS can you compare it to the size of something on Earth? “It’s actually really big, the modules themselves are about the size of a 5 bedroom house, and then the truss itself is the length of a football field so I can work almost all day in one module and not see the rest of the crew for that day at one time – it’s that big. So we definitely don’t feel cramped up here. ” What does it feel like exiting the atmosphere? “It’s amazing. When our rockets lit and we knew those engines were going, we knew we were going somewhere really, really quickly, and it was the most amazing feeling to feel that thrust, take that rocket off and last about 8 1/2 minutes before we reached orbit Looking down from space what landmarks and countries do you wish you could visit? “Honestly one of the most beautiful continents I’ve been able to view from up here really well is Africa. Crossing over the Sahara desert causes this lead glow that we see throughout the space station. Someplace I haven’t been to and would love to go visit. ” With space being mostly blackness and stars, what is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in space? “Honestly, it’s the Aurora, seeing the Northern Lights. The green, the pink, the purple... those lights are alive. They are dancing around and you could stare at them for a good 15-20 minutes and never, ever get tired of watching them. ” How long have you been a licensed Amateur Radio Operator and do you use your license for any other communications besides ARISS? “I’ve been a licensed radio operator now for probably about a year and a half in preparation for this space flight and I’ve only had the chance to use it up here in the space station and I’ve really enjoyed doing that, including just making random contacts across the United States and other countries and so I’m hoping to get to continue that after the mission. ” What is your daily routine? “So we work about 12 hours a day. We get up about 6:30 in the morning, start work at 7:30 and end work at 7:30 at night. During that time period, we have about 1 meal. We spend about 2 ½ hours exercising to keep our bones and muscles strong. We spend a lot of time with maintenance of space station systems. We also do experiments. We did some experiments this past week looking at Parkinson’s Disease and trying to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease by growing protein crystals up here. Every day is different. That’s the best thing. ” Is sleep more comfortable in space than on Earth? “Honestly, I sleep very, very well up here. I slept in till about 10:30 this morning, which is very nice because it’s very dark inside your crew quarters. It’s very quiet. It’s about the size of a phone booth. Our little crew quarters is like our little bedroom. But I sleep really well up here. ” We learned there are 16 sunrises and sunsets in one day in space. About how long does it take you to adjust to the time switch? “There are a lot of sunrises and sunsets every day up here. We don’t feel it. I feel like my body follows a normal clock. We operate on GMT, Greenwich Mean Time, which is like London Time, and at night, once 9 or 10 rolls around, we all get tired. Although the station sees all the sunrises and sunsets, we aren’t necessarily looking out the window and seeing all of that every time. I will say it is one of the most beautiful things that we get to view up here from the space station. ” What is the best part about living on the ISS? “That’s easy and that is floating everywhere. Float to get up, float to go to work, float to go exercise... everywhere we go, we can turn somersaults. We can flip. It almost becomes very natural, like this is how the body should always be moving. ” Do you ever regret your decision to leave Earth? “No, absolutely not, because the chance to get to see Earth from this vantage point has been amazing and the opportunities up here have been amazing. I worked really hard and a really long time to get here. I actually don’t regret it. I believe you need to go through life not regretting anything at all because it makes you who you are. ” What is the most commonly occurring error on the ISS? “Honestly it’s an error caused by humans. So we follow procedures very tightly, but if one day you’re a little more tired than the next and you don’t read things closely and pay attention to all the details, you can easily make a mistake. The systems run pretty well, but it’s usually the humans running the systems that can... --- ### ISS Crew Contact - The Day is Almost Here > The ISS Contact with Hudson Memorial School is only 1 day away. Here is where you can watch the Live Stream of the ISS contact. - Published: 2018-12-06 - Modified: 2021-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/06/iss-contact-is-here/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, ISS, Space, Youth Outreach Our ISS Crew Contact with the students from Hudson Memorial School is only about a day away. We have been testing on-site at Hudson Memorial School for the last 3 days. Our Primary and Backup stations are ready to go. Primary and Backup ISS Contact Stations Both the primary and backup antenna towers have been installed and tested. Primary and Backup Antennas at Hudson Memorial School We will be operating as N1FD and will be contacting astronaut Serena Aunon Chancellor, KG5TMT, who will be operating as NA1SS. You can watch the Livestream of the contact via this link. We will be Livestreaming Video throughout the day. We will be Livestreaming Video from the school all day on Friday. Here's our planned timeline for the event. All times EST. 8:30 am - Final Station Checkout Begins 12:30 pm - Students, Parents, and Visitors can ask questions about our contact and enjoy a tour of our stations and antennas. 1:15 pm - Dan, AC1EN with help from Fred, AB1OC will provide an introduction to our contact and will explain what will happen. 1:45 pm - The ISS will come over the horizon and our contact will begin. 2:00 pm - Students, Parents, and Visitors will have a final chance to look at our the stations and ask questions after our ISS Contact ends. We will post a copy of the presentation materials that Dan and Fred will be covering before the contact here on our Blog tomorrow morning so that those who are watching our Livestream Video can follow along. We will be sourcing at least two and possibly more live video streams during our contact. The main one will show the students communicating with the ISS. It will be the featured video at the top of the page at the link above. There will also be a video showing the primary and backup antennas as they track the ISS during our contact on this same page. There may be a stream from one of our members during the contact there as well. Screen Display During the ISS Contact The students and parents in the auditorium will be able to see a live video of the antennas, a satellite tracking view from MacDoppler as well as the rotor display on a screen in the auditorium. The display will be laid out as in the photo above. Kenzie, KE1NZY (Shown with her Dad, AC1EN) earns her Extra License One of the students asking a question will be Mackenzie Pooler, KE1NZY/AE, 10 years old, who just earned her Extra License last weekend! Thanks so much to the NARS Team who has worked so hard this week to get everything set up and ready for our ISS Crew Contact! We are all very excited about the contact and can't wait to hear the Hudson Memorial School students have their questions answered by an astronaut on the International Space Station! Anita, AB1QB --- ### December 2018 Contesting Notes - Published: 2018-12-03 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/12/03/december-2018-contesting-notes/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest CQ Zone map used for CQ World Wide contests End of the Year Contests The big contests of the season: CQ WW and ARRL Sweepstakes are now behind us and we're left with a set of smaller affairs that are still fun to do. The first to mention is the ARRL 10-Meter Contest to be held December 8 and 9 (UTC). At this point in the cycle 10 meters can be a tough band to work. But, openings happen and if you're listening it can be an exciting time to work as many as you can before the band returns to its slumber. The ARRL Rookie Roundup CW is held for a six hour stint on December 16th (1800Z - 2359Z). Check with Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) for opportunities to work that contest from their superstation. Don't worry if you're not that good at CW. You'll have lots of help from others around you to copy. It's a great way to learn. As always, please check the www. contesting. com calendar for information on lots of smaller contests such as SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (December 8 and 9), or the QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint (December 9 2000Z-2300Z). Contester of the Month (October & November) Without a doubt Layne (AE1N) gets the crown for last month. He put in good scores for CQ WW CW and phone, and ARRL Sweepstakes CW. From the looks of things it seems Layne might have also won the award for "had most fun on the air! " If you participate in a contest and want to vie for a few club accolades then drop a note to programs@n1fd. org with your 3830 submission information and what category you competed in. I'll highlight some of the best efforts each month in this column. Good luck and CU on the air! --- ### Small Software Defined Radios ~ Part 1: Hardware - Published: 2018-11-30 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/30/small-software-defined-radios-part-1-hardware/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: SDR There are some exciting things going on in the software defined radio (SDR) world. In December (2018) I'll be doing a Tech Night SDR workshop encouraging everybody to get familiar with these little gems. Use this article as a shopping guide to prepare for that meeting. The SDR Stick The workshop will concentrate on the USB stick style SDR. The most popular is probably the RTL-SDR unit based on the DVB-T TV tuner and the RTL2832U chipset. Sure it can be used to decode digital TV, but some innovative soul recognized that it could also be a general purpose receiver with a range of about 25 MHz to 1. 5 GHz. Figure 1 shows that USB device along with a kit of handy parts to get started. This is available from Amazon here for about $28. Figure 1. The starter kit for the RTL-SDR Figure 2 shows the circuit board inside the little dongle. Figure 2. Inside the RTL-SDR stick With this and your computer you can have a bunch of fun and learn about pan adapters, SDR tuners, and even watch for aircraft data. Antennas for the Sticks The starter kit comes with collapsable whips, a suction cup mount, a small lightweight tripod mount, and feed line. You can do quite a bit with just these parts. If you wanted to use this for a particular purpose (like monitoring aircraft) you can get an antenna specifically for that band or frequency. For example, this antenna is used for doing ADS-B aircraft monitoring. It is available from Amazon here for $8. Figure 3. ADS-B monopole Then again, you can make your own antennas easily enough for this purpose or others. See another article I wrote Homebrew ADS-B Antenna for Airplane Tracking for more information on that. It is possible to use an existing antenna as well. The RTL-SDR dongle accepts an SMA type connector. A converter from SMA to BNC can be handy. Amazon has a set of two here for $11. See Figure 4. Figure 4. SMA to BNC connectors No Computer? No Problem! An excellent way to explore these small SDR devices is with an inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer. I recommend getting one of the higher end models of these single board computers with a little extra horsepower. Processing SDR signals takes a lot of CPU power and that generates heat. My first Raspberry Pi unit was underpowered and it overheated within minutes. I've switched to a newer and faster model that handles the task easily. And, I've put it in a case with a small fan to increase airflow. See Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5. Raspberry Pi 3 B+ motherboard Figure 6. Kit with case, power supply, and heat sinks These two items are available from Amazon. The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ board is $39 here. The kit that includes a case, fan, heatsinks, and power supply can be found here for $16. Amplifier A small device called an MMIC is a broadband RF amplifier that can bring signals up 30 dB. One of these is available on Amazon mounted on a board with two SMA connectors (in and out) here for $11. See Figure 7. Figure 7. MMIC amplifier for RTL-SDR use. You'll also need a jumper to go between the amplifier and the SDR. An SMA to SMA jumper (set of 2) is available here for $4. 59. See Figure 8. Figure 8. SMA-SMA jumper Aircraft Tracking If you enjoyed the aircraft tracking talk given in the regular meeting by Thomas R Kavanaugh, KC1ELF, then you might be interested in the SDR stick sold by Flight Aware specifically designed for this purpose. It has an amplifier built in, and a filter centered around the ADS-B frequency. It is available here for $20. See Figure 9. Figure 9. The SDR bundled solution for flight tracking Smile! Don't forget to use the Amazon Smile feature when buying your equipment to support NARS! Next Time I'll cover software options for these SDR sticks in the next installment. I hope you'll purchase an SDR kit and bring it to the Tech Night meeting in December. It is a workshop intended to help everybody get something running. See you there! --- ### ISS Crew Contact Part 4 – Date and Time for Our Contact! > Our ISS Crew Contact date is Friday, December 7th at approximately 1:45 pm EST. Activities on-site will begin with videos and station tours.. - Published: 2018-11-27 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/27/iss-crew-contact-date-time/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: ISS, Space, Youth Outreach We have just received word from our ARISS Mentor, Dave Jordan, AA4KN – Our ISS Crew Contact will take place on Friday, December 7th at approximately 1:45 pm EST. Activities on-site will begin with some videos and station tours before the contact. Serena Aunon-Chancellor - NASA Astronaut We will be using the Nashua Area Radio Society callsign, N1FD, for our contact with NA1SS. We believe that our contact will be with Serena Aunon-Chancellor, KG5TMT. We are all very, very excited to hear the news! Prioritized ISS Passes for our Crew Contact This date/time was our second choice and the ISS will be on a good pass reaching a maximum elevation of 48 degrees at Time of Closest Approach (TCA). Our contact with the ISS will last about 10 minutes. Our plan is to begin the final set up of our equipment on Monday, December 3rd at Hudson Memorial School (HMS). We will be Live Streaming the setup and testing of our Station at HMS as well as our actual contact via the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page. https://vimeo. com/313054468/0b5730214d Click on the image above to view the video from our ISS contact! Fred, AB1OC ARISS Contact Press Release --- ### ISS Crew Contact Part 3 – Summary of Our Preparations > Preparations for our upcoming ISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School (HMS) are almost complete. All of our gear is packed, our press release... - Published: 2018-11-27 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/27/iss-crew-contact-preparations/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Nashua Area Radio Society preparations for our upcoming ISS Crew Contact at Hudson Memorial School (HMS) are almost complete. All of our gear is tested and packed, our press release is written, we’ve alterted local news media folks, the students have put together their questions, and have practiced for their contact. Prioritized ISS Passes for our Crew Contact We are just awaiting notification of the final date and time for our contact and we’ll begin final setup and testing at HMS. We’ve been sharing our progress as we’ve on the Nashua Area Radio Society’s Youth Forum as we have worked through our final preparations. I also would like to share a summary here along with some insights on what we’ve learned along the way. An ISS Crew Contact is No Small Undertaking ... ISS Antenna System Test We have been working for almost a year now to get ready for our contact. We’ve built and tested two space ground stations and we’ve discovered and addressed several performance and reliability issues with these stations during trial deployments at Field Day, Ham Fests, License Classes, and during testing here at our QTH. Space Field Trip at HMS Dan, AC1EN and the faculty team at HMS have expended a great deal of effort with the students at their school to prepare for our contact. Their activities have included: Leading the ARISS Crew Contact Application Process for our contact Integration of Radio Space Science concepts into their student curriculum A Skype contact with a NASA Engineer Visiting the Boston Museum of Science special exhibit on Space and the International Space Station A High Altitude Balloon Project with the Nashua Area Radio Society to learn about Atmospheric Science and Space Communications Space-related student projects including building rovers, participating in an egg drop, and having their pre-engineering program students work on solutions for the ISS Holding a Field Astronomy and STEM night for students and building Amateur Radio into the school’s annual STEM Nights Audio-Visual Elements are Important and as Challenging as the Ground Station Equipment... Sound System Mixer We planned from the very start to provide a shared, multimedia experience as part of our contact. Our plans included: Providing a professional-quality audio and video experience for the students, parents, and faculty members at HMS during our contact Creating a high-quality Video Capture of our Contact Live Streaming our Contact to Facebook so that more Students, Parents, and the Amateur Radio Community could participate in our contact in real-time Dave, K1DLM who is a member of NARS had extensive professional sound experience and was able to help us with this part of our project. Audio System for ISS Contact Dave put together a professional-level A-V system design to support our contact and provided much of the gear to realize the design. His uses a pair of communications microphones, a pro-mixer, and audio interface gear to provide student and radio audio to the sound system in the auditorium at HMS as well as to an array of video cameras. The system makes extensive use of XLR cabling and pro-level devices to ensure clean audio. Video Presence on the Internet is an Important Element to Draw Interest in a Project Such as Ours... We Live Streamed some of our Station Testing activities to Facebook and we were amazed at the interest and response that we received. Many folks worldwide followed our progress on Facebook in real-time as we set up and completed our full station test. ISS Antenna Camera Test We are planning to have two IP Video Cameras Live Streaming to Facebook during our contact. One in the room to provide video of the students as they talk with the astronaut on the ISS and a second on our antennas as they track the ISS. Its Critically Important to Test the Complete Station Ahead Of Time – New Challenges Emerged when we Mixed Audio and Radio Gear... Full Station Setup and Test We set up the full station (Primary and Backup) along with all of the Audio and Video Gear about 3 weeks prior to our contact for a complete system test. We learned a great deal in doing this and we encountered several problems which we have since corrected. On-Air Station Test The most important issues did not show themselves until we made some contacts with all of the A-V gear in place. We had problems with RF aggravated ground loops in the radio microphone circuits during the initial test. These problems did not show themselves until we added the audio mixer and sound system into the station. Audio Isolation Transformer These problems were easily corrected by adding Audio Isolation Transformers into the radio microphone circuits. XLR Line to Microphone Level Attenuator We also solved some potential issues related to level differences between line and microphone audio circuits using Audio Attenuators. These problems were not difficult to solve but they would have seriously degraded our contact if we had not discovered them early while there was still plenty of time to secure parts and retest. Data Networks in Schools and Public Places Require Configuration Adjustments to Support Contact Elements... Data Network Test at HMS Schools and other public places typically do a good job of protecting their data networks and users from threats from both the Internet and within the venue. Tracking Programs, IP Cameras for Live Streaming, and other contact support gear are not typical devices that would be in operation on such networks. Also, many public venues rely almost exclusively on WiFi for access to the Internet and typically prohibit or severely limit client devices from communicating with each other. WiFi can often suffer from RF interference issues when many devices like Smart Phones are located together in a small area. This situation is common in large gatherings. Data System for ISS Contact We had quite a bit of experience with these problems as part of other school projects we’ve done. Our approach is to use a wired network with a local Ethernet switch for communications between the elements in our stations. The HMS IT team at configured their network to fix the IP addresses of our devices.... --- ### Setting up CAT/CI-V and Audio Drivers for WSJT-X > A number of people have had difficulty setting up their radios using the USB interface for WSJT-X and FT-8.  It helps to have an understanding of... - Published: 2018-11-26 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/26/wsjt-x-setup/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Education and Training, Software A number of people have had difficulty setting up their radios using the USB interface for WSJT-X and FT-8. It helps to have a basic understanding of the computer interface within the radio. The good news is Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu and even SignaLink share a similar architecture, often down to the same device part numbers and software drivers. Once the USB cable is connected to the radio the first device in the data path is a USB Hub. Just like a Hub, you might use on your desk its function is to provide multiple USB ports with only one cable from the PC or Laptop. It does not require configuration or drivers and is transparent to the user. There are two devices connected to the Hub inside the radio. They are a USB UART Bridge and an audio CODEC. If there wasn’t an internal Hub each of these devices would have a separate USB cable to the PC. This is important as it shows how separate and independent they are when setup, access, and drivers are considered. Kenwood, Icom, and Yaesu use a USB UART Bridge from the SiLabs CP210X family. (SignaLink does not have a serial CAT interface). All three plus SignaLink use a USB/CODEC from the Ti PCM290XB family. We will review the functions and setup of the USB UART Bridge first. USB UART Bridge A “Bridge” may sound complicated but all this device does is accept bi-directional USB and produces bi-directional serial data. It is a bridge between USB and serial data. You may have used an adapter with a USB connector on one side and a DB-9 9 pin serial connector on the other side. It is likely it used the Silabs CP2101 or a similar device made by FTDI. This interface is often referred to as a Virtual Com Port (VCP) which replaced "real" DB-9 Com ports found on computers into the 1990s. It is called virtual because much of the serial COM port functionality is achieved with software. The radios that can be computer controlled have a CAT interface (computer-aided transceiver). A related term is CI-V (Communication Interface v5) which is an Icom standard that defines the messages the radio will respond to. The messages are in text (ASCII) format, for example, to transmit you would write TX; to the radio. With a serial interface or VCP, you can send ASCII text messages to your radio using Hyperterminal or an application called PuTTY and it will respond. Older radios used a CAT interface that required a serial COM Port on the PC. Most of the current radios can still accept serial data through an ACC (accessory port), and a few still have a DB-9 9 pin connector for serial data. Newer radios also have a USB interface and use the USB UART Bridge to receive the serial CAT/CI-V messages from the PC. A radio menu setting is used to select data over an ACC or the USB for radio control. Audio is not passed using the USB UART Bridge CAT/CI-V interface, it is strictly used for radio commands. WSJT-X uses a small set of messages over the CAT interface to control the radio. These include band changing, VFO frequency, PTT and a few others. The USB UART Bridge requires a VCP driver that must be installed by you before connecting the radio to the PC. If you connect the USB cable before installing the driver Windows may locate and install a driver, this works less often than auto-correct in spell check. Once the wrong driver is installed it can be very difficult to uninstall. The correct driver can be downloaded from the radio manufacture's website. Once the driver is properly installed and the radio connected the driver can be found in the Windows Device Manager as shown in Figure 1. Note the COM Port number, you will need it to configure WSJT-X. Your COM port number will probably be different. Figure 1 USB UART Bridge Driver By right clicking on the driver and selecting properties and then the Ports tab you can set the Baud rate, Parity, Stop Bits, and flow control as seen in Figure 2. Figure 2 USB UART Bridge Settings must be the same in Device Manager and WSJT-X Typical settings are as follows: Baud Rate: 9,600 (Standard values from 9,600 to 115,200 can be used) Parity: none Stop Bits: 1 (7300 or 590S/SG 1 or 2 can be used, older rigs and SignaLink with a CP2101 must use 1) Flow control: Hardware The settings you select in Device Manager Properties must be used in the WSJT-X setup. Once these settings are set for the COM port and in the WSJT-X app consider them set, and leave them. If you have completed these steps and do not have CAT/CI-V control of the radio it is due to incorrect radio settings, a bad/cheap cable, you are connected through an unpowered Hub, or are using the front panel USB port of a PC. (Front panel USBs are hit and miss). Yaesu radios have an additional USB UART Bridge accessible through the hub. You will see an Enhanced port for CAT and a Standard port for PTT in Device Manager. Each has a unique COM port number. WSJT-X has a spot for a second COM address in Settings/Radio for "PTT Method". The Standard port COM address and RTS is entered for PTT Method. I have used these setting for an FT-991 and FTDX-3000. CAT is selected for PTT for Icom and Kenwood radios, a second COM address is not used. USB (AUDIO CODEC) The second device on the Hub's output is a CODEC. The CODEC decodes the digitized audio on the USB to analog using an ADC, and using a DAC the analog audio from the radio is digitally coded to be sent to the PC over the USB. Taken together with CODEC COdes and DECodes audio signals from a digital format. There are no COM port addresses, baud rates, stop bits, etc for you to set since it is not a VCP, it is a standard USB interface. A PCM290x CODEC is used in the IC-7300, TS-590S/SG,... --- ### RV's and Hams - Winter Field Day Needs You! > With Winter Field day looming, I was wondering if any other club member would donate the use of their RV "Portable" during Winter Field Day? - Published: 2018-11-22 - Modified: 2023-09-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/22/winter-field-day-call/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day Hello, fellow RVers and Hams! We all know that Amateur Radio is a great crossroads where many hobbies and interests intersect. I've been slowly building a station in my travel trailer, some of you may have seen it during Field Day last summer: N1SFT/P During Winter operations That's N1SFT/P at its winter operating position, in Freedom NH grid square FN43kt. The trouble is, once the camper is in place after Thanksgiving, the snow is relentless! I won't be able to extract it from the campground until mid-April. With Winter Field Day looming, I was wondering if any other club member would donate the use of their RV "Portable" during Winter Field Day. The club will operate from a temporary tent structure, and it will be plenty warm... but to have a dry RV standing by with a furnace for safety would be appreciated. If you or you know of someone who would be willing to bring their camper to Winter Field day, please contact Craig Bailey. Keep 'em winterized - we're just looking for a warm place to sit and take a break from the action. And as always, we are looking for as many operators as we can get to come out and operate during the event. If enough folks sign up, we could ensure seat time would be plentiful and efficient. Craig, N1SFT --- ### CW Operators Wanted for Winter Field Day 2019 > Winter Field Day 2019 is about two months away. A few of us hardy NARS members are planning to setup an outdoor multi-op station... - Published: 2018-11-20 - Modified: 2022-11-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/20/cw-operators-winter-field-day/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Field Day CQ CQ DE N1FD/WFD K Winter Field Day 2019 is about two months away. A few of us hardy NARS members are planning to setup an outdoor multi-op station for this event. If you are curious about WFD, Craig, N1SFT, has an excellent summary article. The primary goal of WFD is to gain some hands-on experience with emergency communications in winter conditions. And although our objective is to be safe while having fun during the doldrums of winter, it is a contest nonetheless. And as is the tradition for NARS, we are in-it-to-win-it! Thanks to Charlie, W1CBD, we have a mathematical model for using the allowed band/mode multipliers to take first place. But we're missing a key ingredient: solid CW operators willing to commit to a few hours to help get the needed QSOs. Okay, okay, I know what your thinking... are you nuts! It's cold in January, and snowy too! But not to worry. We have a solid plan for a heated pavilion sheltered from the wind. It's a short walk on a cleared & treated path from a plowed parking lot. I guarantee you'll be colder doing holiday shopping than operating from our cozy camp. We are looking for CW operators who are willing to commit to a few hours starting on January 26, at 2 pm EST. Our goal is at least 12-hours of CW coverage during the 24-hour event. If you're interested in operating CW for WFD, please contact Jerry, K1OKD (email to 'jerry at okdoty dot com'). If you want to help participate with event planning or setup, we can always use more volunteers. Even if you're not interested in operating CW, please stop by, make a few digital or phone QSOs, and have some hot cocoa with us. You'll be glad you did. 73! Jerry, K1OKD --- ### Hudson Memorial School Preparations for the ARISS Contact > Things are now moving full speed as ahead asour Amateur Radio contact with the International Space Station approaches. Hudson Memorial School ARISS Contact preparations... - Published: 2018-11-18 - Modified: 2022-01-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/18/hudson-memorial-school-ariss-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Space, Youth Outreach Things are now moving full speed as ahead as we quickly close in on our Amateur Radio contact with the International Space Station. While preparing for this contact began over a year ago the rush is now on to complete the last pieces required to create a successful contact. Teachers and students from grades 5 – 8 are working through space and radio curriculum applications, preparing questions for the astronauts, and excitedly waiting to hear about our official ISS contact time. Preparation for the contact began over a year ago with the ARISS application process. This is the process which brought my school and me into the amazing world of Amateur Radio. The application asked us to prove that we provided several opportunities for our students to access curriculum centered around the concepts of radio and space sciences. In our application, I was able to include that our 6th-grade science curriculum covered space, our 8th-grade science curriculum covered radio communications, we annually hold an Astronomy and STEM night for all students, and our 7th-grade team already provided a skype contact with a NASA Engineer after their Science Fiction unit. We have since included new opportunities for students to access space and radio sciences by participating in a High Altitude Balloon launch, planting seeds that were brought to the International Space Station, visiting the Boston Museum of Science for the special exhibit on space and the international space station, building rovers and participating in an egg drop, having our pre-engineering program work on solutions for the ISS, and building amateur radio into our annual STEM nights. One of the best parts of working toward this contact has been the relationship that has been forged with the Nashua Area Radio Society. The application suggested that we reach out and partner with a local radio club. I believe we lucked out being located just across the bridge from NARS and that there are so many members dedicated to helping students discover Amateur Radio. Without this relationship, this contact would never have been possible. This relationship provided us with the ability to expose students to Amateur Radio through a comprehensive curriculum with the High-Altitude Balloon Launch, chances for students to get on the air at our annual STEM night and through our hosting of their ARRL Field Day activities. We have also been able to work to provide student amateur radio licensing in our first school licensing course and our new school radio club. In just the past few weeks preparation has accelerated as we near our possible contact dates. Students and teachers from the 5th through 8th grade worked on questions to ask the astronauts. Staff was provided with previously asked questions and links to NASA and ISS research. In just a few short weeks questions rolled in from the students at all levels. Teachers that teach ELA, Social Studies, Math, Science, PLTW, and 5th grade were invested in helping students developing thoughtful questions. In the end, we had a stack of over 300 questions to chose from. Students questions ranged from inquiries about science experiments to how the ISS provides clean air for the astronauts to breath. It was an incredibly difficult process to narrow down the questions to twenty-three and then to select the fourteen students that would ask questions. One might ask why we only went with fourteen students. The answer is simply that with a ten-minute contact window, we wanted to make sure that every student asking questions would get a chance to talk to the astronauts before the end of the contact. While there are twenty-three prepared questions that include entries from other anonymous students, we wanted to make sure every direct participant had this once in a lifetime experience and did not get left out because the pass ends before they asked their question. Along with questions, we have had to provide a story about our local school to the ARISS people as a bio of our school population. We are working now on a media press release that will be sent to WMUR, Hudson Cable Television, the Nashua Telegraph, and the Hudson Litchfield News as soon as we have our final contact date. We are working with the students that are selected to go over how to ask their questions, what the set-up will look like on the day of the contact, and how close to the microphone they need to be to make sure their question is heard. We are also working on how and what additional programming we will present to the school during the week of the contact and during the thirty minutes before the preparation. It still amazes me how much our staff and students have learned about amateur radio and the ISS in just one year. I know that I myself have grown immensely in my knowledge and understanding of a hobby and interest that I knew nothing about just two summers ago. My one hope for my students after this contact is that we inspire more students to take an interest in science, space, the ISS, and amateur radio. Who knows, maybe someday we will be contacting someone in space who sat in our auditorium during our ARISS contact. A sincere thank you to everyone at the school and members of the Nashua Area Radio Society that are working so hard to make sure that our students get to experience this once in a lifetime event. Your efforts are noticed and greatly appreciated. Dan, AC1EN --- ### FT8 and Ghost Decodes - Published: 2018-11-16 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/16/ft8-and-ghost-decodes/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Software The FT8 digital mode that Joe, K1JT, and company rolled out a little over a year ago has become a game changer in ham radio. The mode is a modification of the JT9 & JT65 weak-signal modes that have been around for nearly ten years, an eternity in the digital world. These modes, while great for modest stations (read: apartment and condo dwellers; CC&R prisoners; and those with an iron-willed spouse who does not like antennas), suffered from a SLLOOOW exchange cycle. A rapid QSO with a signal report, acknowledgment and 73 might make it in four minutes. FT8 cuts the time to less than half that. The migration to FT8 has left the JT9 & JT65 band segments virtually deserted today. The burgeoning success of FT8 has led to the development of a DXpedition mode that uses a “fox and the hound” model with the DX being the “fox” and the rest of the world being the “hounds”. The mode enables the DX station to transmit simultaneously in up to five slots at the low end of the FT8 band segment and work hounds operating in the rest of the segment, racking up several hundred QSOs/hour. Still another version is in beta testing that will be used for the RTTY Roundup contest in a couple months. Support for Field Day 2019 is just around the corner. I've found FT8 a great way to keep chasing DX that I just cannot hear on CW let alone SSB. I've amassed 1300 QSOs to date and over 140 countries which says a lot with the disappearance of sunspots. All this time watching calls scroll by has given me a chance to observe operating habits good and bad. Good operating is being able to call a DX station off-frequency to increase the probability of being decoded. Bad operating practice is cranking up the power to spill over into another slot and even desense the station you are trying to decode. Recently, I noticed a strange phenomenon from stations presumably running high power. Signals in FT8 usually have a received level from -2 to -22 dB that is adequate for decoding. Strong signals such as local stations or stations in the first skip zone with levels of 0 to +5 dB obviously are not hard to decode. However, I've seen some stations with a received signal level of +4 to +15 dB or more have a second decoded slot with a signal level of -13 dB or lower. Furthermore, this second decoded slot is always 120 Hz below the primary decoded slot. I first noticed this behavior with a local station. I sent him an email wondering if his sound card went south and he was experiencing some kind of digital splattering. He was surprised that his ICOM 7610 would create a messy signal and insisted that everything checked out OK. A few days later, he sent me an email with a screen capture of another station in The Villages showing the same behavior. This led to the three of us batting around possible causes. Excessive power due to proximity was one possibility in spite of our lack of an aluminum forest. Another suggestion was to try another computer, the thought being that a dated machine would be a bit over-worked at decoding and “bit-draggled” in the presence of strong signals. One fellow switched to a laptop and saw the same thing so nix the computer. The 120 Hz separation made me wonder if power regulation went haywire but then everything in town would have gone south. One night on 30 meters I logged ten stations that showed these “ghost” decodes. The station locations ranged from IL, IN, KY, PA/NJ and VA based on their grid squares. All of the stations showed a received signal level greater than +4 dB. Another odd thing was the tendency for the ghost decode to occur only during a CQ. When the station was in a QSO, I did not see the ghost. In addition, received levels often fluctuated as much as 12 dB while in a QSO. Like a real ghost, the secondary decode does not consistently appear for any strong station I happen to find. For the record, I have an Elecraft K3 with the K3S synthesizer upgrade. My antenna is a multiband Hygain 6BTV vertical that has a gain of 3 dB over a wet noodle. I set my RF gain around 25% to avoid clipping received signals. Not a hyper-sensitive setup; just your average CC&R station. Since FT8 is driven by a computer, I decided to subscribe to the WSJT-X reflector to post what I observed and inquire if anyone else had seen the phenomenon. I figured most FT8 users would be far more bit-savvy than I am and might have an idea what is happening. I have not had any bites after several weeks as to what it might be. As I pondered over this oddity, I came back to the Fox/Hound version of FT8. Each slot that the fox uses is adjacent to the next one. The FT8 software juggles a response to a hound such that the hound is automatically switched to the fox's transmit slot to complete the QSO. I view it kind of like the carnival kid's game of fishing for a specific duck in a tub full of rubber ducks circling around. He hooks the duck and pulls it out to try for another one. In a sense, this is similar to the multiple receiver windows that a software-defined radio can implement. So, where does this leave me? Simple answer: stumped. Therefore, I am inviting those in the NARS community who have experience with FT8 or any of the WSJT-X modes to open up the FT8 program and see if the ghosts appear and look for some common cause. Disclaimer: Any correlation between occurrences of this phenomenon and October 31 is purely coincidental. Ed, K2TE --- ### ISS Crew Contact Part 1 – Ground Station Design and Construction > Our planned ISS Crew Contact is almost here! It will take place sometime during the first week of December and we are busy preparing for our contact... - Published: 2018-11-13 - Modified: 2018-12-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/13/iss-crew-contact-p1/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, ISS, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Our planned ISS Crew Contact is almost here! It will take place sometime during the first week of December (December 3rd – 8th) and we are busy finalizing our Ground Station and preparing for our contact. The link below is the first in a series of articles that are planned to describe steps in this project and the actual contact experience. The first article explains the Design, Construction, and Testing of the two Ground Stations that are required as well as plans for connecting them to the Audio-Video and Data systems at the school. Source: ISS Crew Contact Part 1 – Ground Station Design and Construction Fred, AB1OC --- ### Winter Field Day 2019 - Published: 2018-11-12 - Modified: 2023-09-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/12/winter-field-day-2019/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Field Day, HF, NARS Event, VHF/UHF Winter Field Day 2019 When: January 25th for setup, and January 26-27 on the air Where: Milford, NH Contact: Craig Bailey, N1SFT A QST to all NARS Members! Ole’ man winter is right around the corner, and during winter, most hams tend to stick to the shack... BUT NOT THIS WINTER! It is common knowledge that the winter doldrums are easily beat if you just get outside and get some fresh air. The title picture (to grab your attention) of the Arctic Cat was taken while N1SFT was activating the "Chimney" in Freedom NH, last winter - it just proves that Ham radio often intersects with many other hobbies! While we don't anticipate the need for snowmobiles, the Nashua Area Radio Society is going to participate in Winter Field Day. All members of NARS are asked to come out and participate – and don’t forget your sense of adventure! Here’s the plan: The last full weekend of January 2019. Setup on Friday the 25th, and a 24-hour activation starting Saturday at 2 pm Eastern. We have secured the use of Keyes Memorial Field in Milford NH. Click here for a Google map. At Keyes Memorial, there is a 25’ x 25’ pavilion that we will be activating as N1FD. (See the pic below) What Bands: 10m, 15m, 20m, 40m, 80m, and 160m. Plus VHF 6m, 2m, and UHF! What modes: Sideband Phone, FM Phone, CW, and Digital, with Satellite coms! Who: ALL MEMBERS are encouraged to come out and lend a hand, and do some operating! Your planning team: Craig Bailey, N1SFT & Jerry Doty, K1OKC – co-chairs Charlie Dunn, W1CBD – Scoring chair Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC – Wire Antennas Dave Merchant, K1DLM – Computing & logging Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS – Tower Master Mike Ryan, K1WVO – CW Ops wrangler Who else we need: Currently, we are looking for someone to assist with: A person to guide setting up and running the “camp”, including the tarps and heaters, refreshments, and general lighting A person to assist with power planning (generators, fueling, etc. ) We need some help with some items that we don’t generally need to worry about during field day... for example – the anchor rods will be driven into the frozen ground, and stringing up a wall system to block the wind and cold are just two challenges that we need to overcome. If you are able to help us devise an extraction tool, please contact us. The activation is intended for all club members to come and get some seat time, and there will be plenty of opportunities: we intend to have on the air at all times at least (5) stations, and the op will have their choice of modes to operate: phone, CW, or Digital. We will be running under the N1FD call sign, which means all club members regardless of license class are welcome to come and operate on all the bands. Winter Field Day is a contest, but it is more than just a contest; its something different, it’s a “back to basics” activation... sort of a field-day-lite. Not to mention its during the winter – which is fun. We Amateur operators are lucky to have so much spectrum to use while we burn up the ether, and part of that privilege is the ability to mobilize and assist in local, regional, and even global communications when called upon. Testing ourselves and our equipment shouldn’t happen just during the summer! Thank you very much! Please email Craig Bailey as soon as possible to sign up for the part you want to play. For more official information regarding Winter Field Day, please visit the official sponsor: The Winter Field Day Association. Keyes Memorial Field Pavillion Craig, N1SFT --- ### Homebrew ADS-B antenna for airplane tracking > Directions for building an ADS-B antenna - Published: 2018-11-11 - Modified: 2019-10-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/11/ads-b-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, VHF/UHF Flight Tracking December will bring Thomas Kavanaugh, KC1ELF, for a presentation on Plane Tracking with ADS-B. This is something you can do in your own shack for very little cost if you're willing to do a little work. Mr. Kavanaugh will provide us with a great overview in December's General Meeting, and I'll follow that up with a Tech Night RTL-SDR Workshop where we'll make, among other things, a software defined radio to receive ADS-B signals. In this article I'm going to show you how to make an antenna for ADS-B using just a little coax with a BNC connector, a bottle cap, a little wire, and a hot glue gun. Designing an antenna for 1090 MHz ADS-B is transmitted on 1090 MHz. For most of us, that frequency range is outside our experience. Fear not. Everything you know about making a dipole still works for this. The frequency is 1080 MHz so the length of each side of the dipole should be 234/1080 = 0. 217 feet, or 2. 6 inches. Not very big! An antenna that small needs to have something solid to hold it to the coax. Below is my solution. I cut two wires to a little more than 2-1/2 inches in length. Then I took a plastic bottle cap and drilled holes for coax through the top and the two wires on the side. Figure 1 below shows this partially assembled. Figure 1. Coax to dipole wire connections. I began with a short coax jumper fitted with two male BNC connectors. I just cut one of the connectors off and fed the bare end through the top of the bottle cap. Then I soldered the short wires to the center conductor and braid of the coax. It was a tight fit in there, and the braid of this coax really didn't like to be soldered, but the final connection was good enough to proceed. Finally, we want to fix all these connection into something solid. For that I used a hot glue gun to partially fill the bottle cap. This is shown in Figure 2 below. Figure 2. Connections potted with hot glue Installing the antenna ADS-B transmissions are vertically polarized so it is important to hang the dipole with the elements in a vertical orientation. Here's an earlier prototype of mine hanging in my attic. Just a single brass hook (and a zip tie) was all it took to get the antenna installed. See Figure 3. Figure 3. Installing the antenna for vertical polarization. Looking Ahead I'll be doing an article on building a Raspberry Pi computer capable of doing flight tracking later this month. It will need an antenna like this to work, though, so here's your chance to do your homework early! --- ### WSJT-X and FT8 - A Video Introduction > The Nashua Area Radio Society recently held a Tech Night on WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144, and More. This Tech Night was recorded and is a starting point... - Published: 2018-11-09 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/09/wsjt-x-ft8-getting-started/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Education and Training, HF, Software, Tech Night, VHF/UHF The Nashua Area Radio Society recently held a Tech Night on WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144, and More. This Tech Night was recorded and provides a good starting point for folks who want to understand what the WSJT-X software can do, how to use it, and how to integrate it into their station. August 2018 Tech Night - WSJT-X: FT8, WSPR, MSK144, and More The video from our Tech Night includes lots of information about how to get started as well as some recorded demonstrations of FT8 and Meteor Scatter contacts. Topics Cover During WSJT-X Tech Night Our Tech Night also covered tools like PSKreporter and JTAlert that can be used with WSJT-X. Finally, we spent some time on using WSPR to evaluate your station's performance and how you can use the software to do more "exotic" QSOs such as Meteor Scatter on 6m. Nashua Area Radio Society members have access to our full library of over 30 Tech Night Video on a wide range of topics for both beginning and advanced Hams. You can see the list of what is available on the Nashua Area Radio Society Tech Night page. I hope you enjoy the video! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Sights and Sounds from NETT at Fall NEAR-Fest > We recently held another Youth Expo as part of the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at Fall NEAR-Fest. We had quite a few students and teachers attend... - Published: 2018-11-01 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/11/01/near-fest-nett/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: CW, Fox Hunting, Kits, Mentor, On The Air, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society recently hosted another Youth Expo as part of the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at Fall NEAR-Fest. Our display featured many hands-on activities and displays. Fred, AB1OC Introduces Students to Amateur Radio in the NETT Classroom AB1QB Teaching in the NETT Classroom There were quite a few students and teachers who attended NETT on Friday. We had a classroom at NETT to introduce the students to Amateur Radio and the activities in our display. GOTA and Special Event Stations HF GOTA Fun - Ira, KC1EMJ hosting Jon, AC1EV Helps a Student Get On The Air We set up three GOTA stations (two remote HF and one Satellite) at NETT. This gave the students a chance to make some Amateur Radio contacts and experience Amateur Radio at NETT. N1T Youth Expo Special Event QSL Card We again hosted an N1T Special Event on the air. All of our GOTA stations used the N1T callsign. Operators and their guests made about 200 contacts as N1T during NEAR-Fest. Here's some video from our GOTA operations at NETT. Learning Morse Code Learning Morse Code at NETT - Mike, Bill, and Jamey are Mentors Our Morse Code activity at NETT was popular. This gave the students to try out Morse Code and learn from our experts! Satellite Operations Burns WB1FJ Explaining Satellite Operations Satellite Antennas at NETT The Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 was back again at NETT and Burns, WB1FJ spent quite a bit of time introducing the students and NEAR-Fest attendees to satellites and satellite operating. Amateur Radio Displays NARS Display at NETT NARS had many displays at NETT and folks who were attended enjoyed learning about many different aspects of Amateur Radio from SOTA, to DXing, to Kits and Computers and more. Fox Hunting Jamey, AC1DC hosts a NETT Fox Hunt Jamey, AC1DC hosted several Fox Hunts at NETT. I ran into several groups of his Fox Hunters throughout the weekend and they were having great fun! Kit Building NETT Kit Building - Mackenzie, KE1NZY and Bill, AB1AV Mentoring Kit Build Fun at NETT - Craig, N1SFT and his Family having kit fun together! We hosted another kit build at NETT. The latest version of the Morse Tutor kits was available to build at NETT. Over 20 of these kits were built at NEAR-Fest. Photos and Video from NETT at NEAR-Fest The photo gallery above includes some more photos from NETT at NEAR-Fest. https://youtu. be/7mci5PH_Cxo And here's a video shot by a NEAR-Fest NETT attendee which include many highlights from NETT. Thank You To All Who Supported NETT! The NEAR-Fest organizers, attendees, and several of our members either provided matching contributions or generously donated to our fundraising effort to support STEM learning and skills development through Amateur Radio. Our NEAR-Fest fund drive resulted in raising $2,400 in the two weeks up to and including NEAR-Fest. Thank you very much to all of our donors! It would be impossible for us to host one of our Youth Expos without the tremendous support of NARS members. Folks stepped up to provide transportation, display setup, hosting for GOTA and display tours and much more during NEAR-Fest. Thank You to everyone for your support! Also, a special Thank You to our Media Committee for providing the photo and video content featured here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NASA SSTV Pictures from the ISS! > On October 27-29, 2018, ARISS sent SSTV images from the ISS for the 60th Anniversary of NASA. See the pictures we received from our Satellite Station. - Published: 2018-10-31 - Modified: 2019-04-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/31/nasa-sstv-pictures-from-iss/ - Categories: General This past weekend, October 27th through the 29th, ARISS sent NASA images from the ISS over SSTV. The photos commemorated the NASA On the Air event celebrating the 60th anniversary of NASA. To understand how we received the images, including a video showing an image being received, see this recent article on Receiving SSTV from the ISS We kept the Satellite Station 3. 0 running overnight, as the ISS passes started around 3:00 am and continued until mid-afternoon each day. By doing this, we were able to receive all 12 images that were sent. You can see the images in the Gallery below: Anita, AB1QB --- ### CQ WW and November Contesting Notes > The last full weekend of October kicks off the contesting year for amateur radio. The big one is the CQ WW SSB contest sponsored by CQ Magazine.  - Published: 2018-10-24 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/24/cq-ww-contest/ - Categories: Activities, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX CQ Zone map used for CQ World Wide contests The last full weekend of October kicks off the contesting year for amateur radio. The big one is the CQ WW SSB contest sponsored by CQ Magazine. I'll cover some basics for this contest along with some strategy and etiquette, and give a preview of what to plan for in November. CQ WW SSB Contest (00:00Z October 27 to 24:00 October 28) The CQ WW SSB and CW contests are two of the biggest contests of the year. SSB is always held the last full weekend in October. The CW version of the contest is held a month later (often colliding with the Thanksgiving weekend). Last year over 8600 logs were submitted for the phone contest. That is a target rich environment if you are contesting, or just in the event to get QSOs for chasing awards. The exchange for the contest is pretty simple: a signal report (always 59) and your CQ Zone (see the map at the top of this post). We're in zone 5. The Caribbean is in zone 8. Europe is mostly in zones 14 and 15. We hear a lot of Brazil in these contests, too, so expect to hear from zone 11, also. Guide to the CQ Worldwide DX Contest With many thousands of hams on the bands, things can get crowded. Here's what you need to know. The big stations with stacked Yagi arrays, full legal limit (or beyond, as is often alleged), and multiple operators will camp out on frequencies low in the band. They will be loud, and they'll sit on those frequencies for the whole contest. Unless you've got a station like I've described (and a small army of volunteers to operate) you can't compete with that. You can only work them. Remember our two operating styles described in an earlier post? You'll almost certainly be using search-and-pounce (S&P) to get your QSOs. Take a moment and look over how the points and multipliers work for this contest. (That's good advice for any contest! ) Points go like this: Contacts between stations on different continents count three (3) points. Contacts between stations on the same continent but in different countries count one (1) point. Exception: Contacts between stations in different countries within the North American boundaries count two (2) points. Contacts between stations in the same country have zero (0) QSO point value, but are permitted for zone or country multiplier credit. That last bullet point is important. Signals from within the United States will often be the strongest, especially here at the bottom of the solar cycle, but they are worth zero points. As you might imagine, calling a station and asking for a QSO when you offer no points is a tough sell. Don't call US stations in this contest. Multipliers are zones and countries (each band counts separately). So, variety is the spice of life -- and the secret for success in CQ WW. Try to work as many countries as you can and the zones will almost always take care of themselves. Here's my one exception to the "don't call US stations" guidance above: at the end of a contest, in those last few hours Sunday afternoon, if I'm missing a zone 3, 4, or 5 on a given band, and if I find a US station in that zone, I'll call them for a "zero pointer" and be sure to say "thanks for the mult. " I only do it if the other station is lonely (has called CQ for a while with no takers). It is a little unsavory, but missing a multiplier that you can hear is awful. In general, you should be able to work Canadian stations for these mults. I call a US station only if all else has failed. My final suggestion is this: keep calls simple, and the exchange short. You call them, they give you their exchange, and you say only "595". That's it. No chit-chat! There are very serious competitors in these contests and every second counts. Be respectful of other people's time. November Contests November is the first full month of the contesting season and there are a couple of good ones on the docket. They are: ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW (21:00Z Nov 3 to 0300Z Nov 5) ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB (21:00Z Nov 17 to 03:00Z Nov 19) CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW (00:00Z Nov 24 to 24:00Z Nov 25) Sweepstakes is fun, but it has the most tedious exchange of any of big contests. The exchange is: Serial number (starts with 1 and increments with each QSO) Precedence (Q/A/B/U/M/S) Q = Single Operator, QRP A = Single Operator low power (< 150 Watts) B = Single Operator high power U = Single Operator "unlimited" (can use assistance) M = Multi-operator station S = School Your call (yes, the call is part of the exchange so say it) The last two digits of the year you were licensed Your ARRL/RAC section I typically take an index card and write out everything above (except the serial number) and tape it to the top of the computer monitor. That way I don't need to think. All I need to do is read. So, my card has: ___serial___ A NE1RD 02 NH As with any contest, I'll suggest to anybody new to listen, listen, listen! Listen to how the exchange sounds. Get a feeling for the rhythm of the QSOs. Once you've got it, do a little S&P and get some points. QSO Parties and other contests Typically QSO parties run during months without big contests, so there aren't any in November. But, there are some other international contests that might be fun including: Ukrainian DX Contest (November 3-4) 10-10 International Fall Contest digital (November 10-11) OK/OM DX Contest, CW (November 10-11) LZ DX Contest (November 17-18) ARRL 160-Meter Contest For details on these contests, or a complete listing of contests for November (or anytime) see the contestcalendar. com website. Good Luck Contesting is a great way to have some fun on the air. You'll have plenty of people to talk to, and... --- ### A WSJT-X / FT-8 and WSPR Overview by a New User > A few of the operating suggestions are for those just starting out. Once you get beyond a few QSOs you will find some of the suggestions... - Published: 2018-10-22 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/22/wsjt-x-ft-8-and-wspr-overview/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Mentor, Software PART-1 A WSJT-X FT-8 Overview The following is not meant to be an FT-8 manual. It is just the highlights to get started without breaking your radio or making on the air (OTA) enemies. A few of the operating suggestions are for those just starting out. Once you get beyond a few QSOs you will find some of the suggestions are nullified once more of the features are understood. The basic functions and numerous features of WSJT-X can be found in the User Guide at https://physics. princeton. edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-1. 9. 1. html, or by asking a NARS member familiar with WSJT-X, especially Fred Kemmerer (AB1OC) or Anita Kemmerer (AB1QB). The real objective of this article is in PART-2 Why WSJT-X. Here I attempt to show the merits of the mode so many are calling the death of amateur radio as we know it. I see WSJT-X as a useful tool and an asset to Amateur Radio. Getting Started Having never touched an Amateur Radio Digital mode before I decided it was time. I spend a lot of time helping others get on the air and repairing their radios and saw requests for help setting up WSJT-X becoming more frequent. I’m also seeing an increase in radios used with digital modes with output device failures, especially older radios with BJTs for drivers and finals. I needed to understand WSJT-X, its use is becoming wide spread. In a recent presentation Joe Taylor, the JT in WSJT-X, presented Figure 1 based on data taken from 2017 ClubLog logs. Figure-1 2017 ClubLog FT-8 Log Data WSJT-X/FT-8 is becoming the mode of choice for many Hams where over 60% of the QSOs logged in December were FT-8. This is up from 0% in May 2017. The mode did not exist prior to Jun 2017. To get started you only need three things: A newer radio with a USB interface and built-in sound card, or an external sound card like a SignaLink or RigBlaster for those radios without a built-in sound card. Any modest computer (Windows, iOS, or Linux) will work. WSJT-X which is a free download There are additional programs that make syncing your computer’s clock and logging more convenient. I suggest you start with the 3 items above and become familiar with the mode before adding additional software. Using a Kenwood TS-590SG it took less than 1 hour from downloading WSJT-X to my first FT-8 QSO. Most of the time was spent getting the COM port (CAT) and USB (Audio) settings in Windows, the radio's menu settings, and WSJT-X on the same page. I have since been through the process a number of times with a couple of IC-7300s, FT-991, TS-990 and using a SignaLink for the sound card, an FT-450D and a vintage Kenwood TS-140. (Note: you do not need SignaLink or similar if your radio has a USB/soundcard interface). The setup time has ranged from less than an hour to many hours in one case. The most difficult cases are where the radio’s USB cable was connected before the manufacture’s drivers were installed with MS Windows. Windows will pick a driver if the correct one is not available and it can be difficult to remove. Some of the radio had quirks. For example on the Yaesu FT-991 setting the bandpass to 100Hz to 3 kHz in the menu isn't sufficient, there is a separate menu item (NAR/WIDE) that must be set to Wide and with the TS-590SG to obtain a flat 0-3 kHz bandpass for TX and RX SSB (not SSB/Data) is used. After my first FT-8 QSO and since I’m the first to admit I knew nothing about the mode and had a desire to practice good “on air” etiquette I spent time reading the WSJT-X user guide, forums, and other guides before my second QSO. Over the past month, I have added a large number of “new ones” to the log. On the Air Etiquette To understand the most important “etiquette” issues (or how to not be a bad neighbor) it is important to understand a little about the mode. The basic setup is similar to SSB upper sideband (USB) as used for SSB Phone. (Note: SSB/USB is used on all WSJT-X modes, even 40m and longer). The difference between phone and FT-8 is instead of your voice producing tones that fill the entire 3 kHz channel as in SSB phone your information is coded into 8 audio tones separated by 6. 25 Hz that only occupy 50 Hz of the 3 kHz channel. You may transmit the 50 Hz group of 8 tones “anywhere” from 300 Hz to 2,400 Hz. Notice we are talking Hz. Let’s assume you choose 1,950 Hz to 2,000 Hz for you tone group. You can have a “neighbor” at 1,900 to 1,950 Hz and another at 2,000 to 2,050 Hz as well as over 40 over users throughout the rest of the 300 Hz to 2,400 Hz bandpass. At the risk of being redundant Figure 2 presents the description in a graphic format. The graph is to scale, there are 40 plus FT-8 users in the same bandwidth as a typical SSB phone signal. Figure-2 SSB Phone versus FT-8 Waterfall Both a single SSB phone user and 40 plus FT-8 users occupy about 3 kHz. Just like SSB phone, overdriving the Radio with too much audio will cause splatter except with Phone you must have significant overdrive to splatter outside of a 3 kHz bandwidth and beyond a 3 kHz or so gap to the next occupied frequency. With FT-8 you have 50 Hz, and no gap to the next user, which demands a clean signal and very little spectrum growth. FT-8 is tolerant to signal overlap but at the cost of sensitivity. Audio Drive The audio drive level from the PC replaces the audio signal from a microphone. The level must be set with care or you will wipe out many users on both sides of your signal and your signal might not decode on receive. This is easily accomplished by reducing the audio drive to your radio from the PC or external sound card until the ALC... --- ### Add SDR Capabilities to Your Radio [part 2] > If your radio doesn't have this fancy antenna switching and selection feature, you can still integrate an SDR pan adapter... - Published: 2018-10-19 - Modified: 2020-04-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/19/sdr-capabilities-part-2/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, SDR In my last post, I discussed how to add an SDR to your station using the built-in capabilities of your radio. If your radio doesn't have this fancy antenna switching and selection feature, you can still integrate an SDR pan adapter into your shack using the handy MFJ-1708B or MFJ-1708B-SDRS devices. Antenna sharing device from MFJ These devices can be used to allow your SDR to share the same antenna as your transceiver while protecting it from transmitted signals. It does this in one of two ways (or a combination). Key down input. Transceivers have a line that is used to trigger external amplifiers called key down or key out line. Usually, this line goes to ground when the transmitter is transmitting. (You should read your radio's manual to verify this. ) If you connect this device to this radio output then it will disconnect the SDR while you transmit. The device also has an RF sensing circuit that will disconnect the SDR from the antenna if it detects the transceiver transmitting. Because these units use relays you might want to have a slight delay before reconnecting the SDR to the antenna after a transmission. That delay time can be selected by turning the "DELAY" control near the left edge. The unit is simple to configure: connect power (12v) and your radio key out signal to "CTRL", then connect your transceiver, SDR, and antenna connections to the proper ports. Finally, adjust the delay control until it works for your style of operating. That's it! Here's Pascal, VA2PV, with a quick overview of an earlier version of these devices. Click the video above to see Pascal describe these devices Note that Pascal is reviewing one of the earlier models of this device. MFJ made some improvements to these units almost immediately after they began shipping. Be sure to get the one with a "B" after the numbers to ensure you get the new-and-improved model. MFJ actually makes two versions of the new model: one with a regular SO-239 connector for the SDR, and one with an SMA connector for the SDR. The SMA version is shown below. SMA version of the unit Amazon has some nice patch cables for very little money to complete the project. SMA patch cables Note: If you do have an external amplifier be sure to put the MFJ unit between your transceiver and the amplifier! I'll post a few more notes on SDRs and uses for them in your shack over the next month or so. Please plan to join us for the December 11th Tech Night SDR workshop where we'll help you get your computer and SDR talking. --- ### HAB-4 Launch Preparations > We have begun final HAB launch prep for HAB-4 which includes some modifications to the flight platform to improve its cold temperature performance... - Published: 2018-10-16 - Modified: 2023-01-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/16/hab-launch-prep/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, Space, Youth Outreach We are again working with Hudson Memorial School on a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project. Dan Pooler, AC1EN and Adam Goldstein, KC1KBZ have completed most of the classroom instruction in preparation for a HAB-4 launch and we are now looking for a suitable set of conditions to launch! We have begun final HAB launch prep which includes some modifications to the flight platform to improve its cold temperature performance. Our HAB In Flight We've established a set of windows for a possible launch of HAB-4 as follows: Oct 20 or Oct 21 (Sat or Sun) - this coming weekend Oct 27 or Oct 28 (Sat or Sun) Nov 10 or Nov 11 (Sat or Sun) We've also begun the final preparations for HAB-4's launch HAB Launch Prep We've had some problems with very cold temperatures stopping our GoPro video cameras on the HAB during HAB-2 and HAB-3's flights. HAB-2 Temperature Data We saw temperatures of -60° F and lower during our last two flights. The cameras will function to about -40°F so we need an insulation and heating system that can keep the cameras warmer than this for the 30 to 45 minutes when the coldest temperatures are present. HAB Camera Insulation and Heating System We've come up with a simple insulating and heating system for our cameras in an attempt to mitigate the cold temperature problems. Our approach is to attach a small hand warmer to the back of each camera and then insulate them to keep the heat from the warmers and the camera batteries in the camera case. We've also moved to sealed camera cases which should help to keep the heat inside the assembly. Our solution is lightweight and only adds about 25 grams to the weight of each camera. With these modifications in place, we've carefully weighed all of the components of the HAB and determined that the launch weight for HAB-4 will be 930 grams. Balloon Performance Parameters With the final weight of HAB-4 established, we can use a Balloon Performance Calculator to determine the ascent time and burst altitude for HAB-4. HAB-4 Balloon Performance Results We need to hold the ascent time to under 110 mins to ensure that the GoPro camera batteries on the HAB have enough capacity to operate the cameras throughout the flight. With a positive lift of 1,150 grams, HAB-4 should reach an altitude of 33,420 meters (approx. 109,600 ft) and the ascent should last a little under the target 110 minutes. Flight Path Predictions We typically launch from the Elementary School in Winchester, NH which is in the western part of the state. HAB Launch Site in Winchester NH Winchester is far enough west of the coastline to keep the HAB from landing the ocean when Jetstream winds are quiet to moderate. Current HAB-4 Flight Path Prediction for Sunday, October 21st We use on an online HAB flight path prediction tool which takes Jetstream and ground weather forecasts into account and uses our HAB's flight parameters to predict our HAB's flight path. The Jetstream forecasts are not very accurate until a few days before the launch so we need run daily path predictions for about a week before a possible launch date to see whether we can launch on a given date. As you can see from the above prediction, we are not yet in a position to launch this coming Sunday but the forecasts are improving. Testing the Flight Platform The final steps in launch preparation are to test the electronics on the HAB's flight platform to ensure that everything is working, clear the Camera and Flight Computer SD memory cards, and charge/replace all of the batteries. HAB Flight PlatformTest These steps are currently underway. When these steps are complete and we have favorable Jetstream and ground weather conditions, we'll be ready to launch We will continue to post updates as we countdown to the HAB-4 launch. All members and friends of the Nashua Area Radio Society at invited to attend the launch and everyone can track the HAB using aprs. fi as it flies. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Add SDR Capabilities to Your Radio > Having SDR capabilities like a waterfall display and point-and-click tuning can be added to your existing station. I'll show you one easy way to do it. - Published: 2018-10-10 - Modified: 2020-10-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/10/add-sdr/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, SDR, Software Having SDR capabilities like a waterfall display and point-and-click tuning can be added to your existing station. I'll show you one easy way to do it. Waterfall from an SDR Antenna port management Care must be taken that your SDR is protected from your transmitted signal. If you are sharing an antenna between your rig and an SDR receiver you need to ensure that your transmitted signal doesn't go directly into a receiver! Years ago hams had receivers and they had transmitters. They switched between the two as they worked. The receiver was isolated from the transmitter while transmitting. Your transceiver does the same thing. It uncouples the receiver from the antenna when you transmit. Some radios allow you to tap into the receiver's receive path. My ICOM IC-7600, for example, has two RCA connectors labeled "RX ANT IN" and "OUT. " The IN and OUT are normally connected together. That is the default and in this condition things work exactly as you expect. But, you can select an option that separates these two signal paths. RF in and RF out connectors on an IC-7600 Figure 1. Refs 16 and 17 are RX ANT IN and OUT, respectively. Figure 2 shows this relationship a little better. ANT IN / OUT Figure 2. Receive signal management in an IC-7600 If you had a receive-only antenna (like a Beverage) then you would separate the path, isolating your receiver from the transmit antenna, and sending it instead to your receive-only antenna (Connected to IN. ) That configuration shown in Figure 2 is the default where the receive and transmit antenna are the same. If the relays around IN and OUT were switched the other way, the connection from the receiver to the transmit antenna can never happen. That's how we ensure our receive-only antenna is used during receive. (It would be connected to RX ANT IN. ) Splitting the signal In this exercise we're going to add an SDR to the mix, not a receive antenna, but we use all the same stuff. What we need to do is tap into the received signal for the SDR without disturbing (too much) the signal that goes into the receiver of the ICOM. That is, I want to take the one signal (from the antenna) and split it between two receivers (the ICOM and an SDR). There is a device that does that and I've pictured it in Figure 3. Mini-Circuits ZFSC-2-6+ Signal Splitter 0. 002 to 60 MHz Figure 3. A Mini-Circuits signal splitter. This device is about as simple as something like this gets. The Mini-Circuit ZFSC-2-6+ takes one input and splits the signal to two outputs. So, we take the signal received from RX ANT OUT, send it to the splitter, and then take the two outputs and route one back to RX ANT IN (for the ICOM) and the other to an SDR. Now all you need to do is ensure your radio is using ANT 1/R or ANT 2/R so the signals remain split. Choosing an SDR There are many, many small SDR receivers available. I selected the SDRplay RSP 2 receiver as shown in Figure 4. SDRPlay RSP 2 receiver Figure 4. The SDRplay RSP2 receiver The antenna connection comes from one of the ports of the signal splitter. The unit is powered by, and communicates to, the computer via the USB cable shown near the top. This is a small unit and I tuck it neatly behind some other stuff and out of the way. There are no controls on the unit so there's no reason to handle it again. Software Just as there are many choices for SDR receivers, there are many many choices for software. Ask any ten hams which one is best and you'll likely get eleven answers. So, I recommend trying a few for your platform (I'm on a Mac) and see which one you like best. SDRplay recommends CubicSDR and I've found the software fairly easy to use with an easy learning curve. SDRplay has software for the following platforms: Windows Linux x86 Mac Raspberry Pi Android ARM64 A screenshot of CubicSDR is shown at the top of this article. The software allows me to see a wide slice of spectrum, a waterfall showing a history of signals, point-and-click tuning (once you've enabled rig control), and, of course, it is a receiver so it gives me sound from the tuned signal through my computer speakers. Performance The splitter has very little insertion loss (0. 3 dB), but of course the signals themselves will each be down about 3 dB (since each signal is half the original). A loss of 3 dB is about half an S-unit, so you'll never hear the difference. And, since the SDR is much more sensitive than my ears I consider its addition a win. Impressions so far I used this system while playing in the California QSO Party. It was fun clicking on a signal in the waterfall and having the radio obey my request. Hard-core SDR fans will likely talk about the power of visualization for finding a signal, or even finding open spots if you wish to call CQ. With this arrangement, you can have all that using your existing radio. Coming in December Would you like to try building an SDR for about $25 plus a Raspberry Pi? Come to the December Tech Night where we'll have an SDR workshop. More detail on this to follow in a few weeks. Links SDRplay. com airspy. com HackRF RTL-SDR Scott, NE1RD --- ### Plans for Satellite Station Upgrades > We are planning a series of upgrades to our Satellite Station to enhance Remote, Transportable, and Portable operation. These plans are firming up... - Published: 2018-10-10 - Modified: 2018-12-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/10/satellite-station-upgrades/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Portable, Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF We have begun looking ahead to Satellite Station 4. 0 and where we want to go next after our ARISS crew contact is complete. Our goals for the Satellite Station 4. 0 include ... Source: A Portable Satellite Station Part 6 – Plans for a 4. 0 Station We are planning a series of upgrades to our Satellite Stations enhance Remote, Transportable, and Portable operation. These plans are firming up and installation of the upgrades is well underway. You can read more about what we are doing via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2 GHz Transceiver On Step Closer... > The new IC-9700 is one step closer to being available. It’s now on the Icom website. You can see more along with the Icom pre-release brochure... - Published: 2018-10-09 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/09/ic-9700-closer/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, VHF/UHF It looks like the new IC-9700 is one step closer to being available. It’s now on the Icom website. You can see more along with the Icom pre-release brochure on the Icom website here. The pre-release brochure contains some more specifications and information. The new IC-9700 will support the 2m, 70cm, and 23 cm bands and will have Satellite and D-Star features. Source: Icom America Fred, AB1OC --- ### October Contests - Published: 2018-10-01 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/01/october-contests/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air WRTC 2002 Champions, Helsinki, Finland Contesting Season is Here! There is nothing in amateur radio as invigorating as contesting. October marks the official beginning of the new season and I hope this brief article will help you prepare. If you are interested in a whole year's worth of contest scheduling you can go to contestcalendar. com to see events happening in the next week or the next year. This month, though, one of the biggest contests of the year is held: CQ WW SSB. This was the first contest I entered just after being licensed in 2002. Though I was worried I would make a fool of myself, I found that contesting is fun and easy. One of the biggest contests of the year The dates for CQ WW are as follows: SSB: October 27-28, 2018 CW: November 24-25, 2018 The exchange in this contest is a signal report (always 59) and your CQ zone. Our zone here in the Northeast is 5. Working in this contest almost effortless. Here's a sample exchange (assuming I'm the one you'd like to call): YOU: Listen listen listen. Tune around. Find a station you've not worked. Listen for his call sign, and for the number they give in the exchange. THEM: CQ contest November Echo One Romeo Delta YOU: Alpha Bravo One Oscar Charlie THEM: AB1OC 595 YOU: Roger 595 THEM: QRZ? Using the stuff we learned in the last two posts, enter the information in your logging program so that their call sign and CQ zone, along with your own exchange information (5) is recorded properly. If you have rig control set up so the radio talks to your logging computer and the clock is set to the correct time and date, recording the exchange information is all that's left. You have a successful contact! With almost no HF experience all those years ago I was still able to make nearly 300 contacts in an afternoon. Conditions are not nearly so good as they were in 2002, but you should still be able to have some fun. Club Competition We will have another club competition for this contest. Enter the contest, make lots of contacts, submit your score to the 3830 scores website, and then email me at programs - at - n1fd -dot- org to tell me what club category you've selected. All categories are single operator except Superstation. The club does not differentiate between assisted and unassisted operation. Here are the categories: QRP ~ 5 Watts or less, any antenna(s) Small station ~ Wires or verticals, no gain antennas, --- ### Contesting Jargon Explained > Contesting is an on-air activity where many (often thousands) of people get on the air and exchange bits of information for fun and bragging rights... - Published: 2018-10-01 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/10/01/contesting-jargon/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Education and Training, Mentor Contesting, as per my last post, is an on-air activity where many (often thousands) of people get on the air and exchange small pieces of information for fun and bragging rights. This little corner of our hobby has its own nomenclature. I'm here to help decode some of this and help you get ready for your first contest. The Cabrillo File Format It might be helpful to work backwards a bit through this problem. At the end of this endeavor, you'll want to submit your log to the contest sponsor. This will be your official entry into the contest. Since the vast majority of contests are all the same or at least the data demanded by the sponsors is the same, folks got together and made a common computer file format to do this work. That file format is called Cabrillo (pronounced Cab-Re-Oh). The Cabrillo file format is important not just because it is the standard way to submit your entry to a contest sponsor, but because the common definitions for concepts in contesting are defined in this standard. This article will walk through some of the most common and most important of these concepts. (I'll use the Cabrillo 3. 0 specification for this discussion. ) Categories Competitions often have different categories. For example, the Boston Marathon is a road race that has at least three major categories: Men, Women, and Wheelchair. Radio contests are the same way, except there are often many more ways of dividing the participants. These divisions fall into categories. When you enter a contest you will be required to select the categories you wish to compete within, and then you must limit yourself to the boundaries outlined by that category. NOTE: A contest may not support all the different categories listed below. It is crucial that you read the contest rules and understand the categories that are supported. Here is a list of categories most commonly used: CATEGORY-ASSISTED: To be assisted means that you got direct help in your contest effort to find people to talk with, or to decode or capture the information during an interaction such as the call sign or the exchange. Here are some examples of things that could make you assisted. DX Spotting Network. If you use the internet (or even the off-the-air packet spotting network) to find people to talk to, then you are assisted. Some logging programs have this feature built-in, or you can use websites such as www. dxheat. com. CW Skimmer. A fellow named Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, made something remarkable a few years ago and his invention turned contesting on its head. CW Skimmer is a piece of software that works in conjunction with a software-defined radio to look over a wide swath of a band (or bands) and decodes any CW signals on those frequencies. It understands enough about CW to extract the callsign and show it next to the signal. Figure 1 below is a screenshot from this system (original from DX Atlas). Any CW decoding software or hardware. If you are using the CW mode then you are considered assisted if you use any computer software or hardware to help decode the signal. You have to do this work in your head to be considered unassisted. Anything that could be argued to help to make QSOs. If you have a friend do logging for you then you are assisted. Similarly, you are assisted if somebody works a second radio helping you find stations, or if somebody helps you fix a problem with your station during the contest. In short, if you had help, then you are assisted. So, the two possible answers to this question are: CATEGORY-ASSISTED: UNASSISTED CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED Figure 1. CW Skimmer pile-up CATEGORY-BAND: You can indicate which bands you wish to use with your entry. You can either declare ALL bands (legal for this contest), or a single band. Entering the contest as a single band entry means you compete only with others limited to that band. Single band entries are a lot of fun. I have run single band efforts in the CQ WPX SSB contest from St. Thomas (KP2) on both 10m and 15m. Each night when the band closed I would turn off the radio, get dinner, and spent the rest of the night lounging or swimming in our pool. When the sun rose the next day I was back on the radio. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of days of my vacation. The choices for this category (HF entries, at least) are: CATEGORY-BAND: ALL CATEGORY-BAND: 160M CATEGORY-BAND: 80M CATEGORY-BAND: 40M CATEGORY-BAND: 20M CATEGORY-BAND: 15M CATEGORY-BAND: 10M CATEGORY-MODE: You can declare you used a single mode (like CW), or have a mixture of modes in your log. The choices for this category are: CATEGORY-MODE: SSB CATEGORY-MODE: CW CATEGORY-MODE: RTTY CATEGORY-MODE: FM CATEGORY-MODE: MIXED CATEGORY-OPERATOR: You either work alone, or within a group. So, the choices are typically: CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP CATEGORY-OPERATOR: MULTI-OP CATEGORY-OPERATOR: CHECKLOG A CHECKLOG category means you wish to have your entry included in the contest analysis, but you don't want to have a score computed for you, or to enter the contest formally. CHECKLOGs are helpful to contest sponsors to verify that stations were really on-the-air when they said they were. (If you violate the rules, your entry might be reduced to a CHECKLOG at the whim of the contest sponsor. ) CATEGORY-POWER: The three categories defined in Cabrillo 3. 0 are: CATEGORY-POWER: HIGH CATEGORY-POWER: LOW CATEGORY-POWER: QRP But, please note that the precise definition for these things might vary contest-to-contest. For example, some contests declare that the upper bound on LOW power is 100 Watts, where other contests declare that limit to be 150 Watts. As always, read the rules. CATEGORY-STATION: The station category is a good example of where the standard identifies a potpourri of choices, but typical contests only support a small subset of them. Most of the time we operated FIXED in our house or a friend's house. Similarly, the categories MOBILE and PORTABLE are from your car or from a location where you set up your equipment away from home.... --- ### Doing my Hobby at Work > Would be interested in organizing an Intro to Amateur Radio Course via the Technical Education Committee at my place of work (MIT Lincoln Laboratory)?... - Published: 2018-09-30 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/30/amateur-radio-course-mit-ll/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training Back in December 2017, I was awkwardly stuffing my face with food at my group's annual Christmas party. In the middle of munching some seriously tasty treat, one of my bosses approached to me and says he heard I was a ham. I nodded my head (b/c verbally acknowledging his comment would have caused food to spew out) and he subsequently asked if I would be interested in organizing an Intro to Amateur Radio Course via the Technical Education Committee at my place of work (MIT Lincoln Laboratory). I felt the need to clarify. I said something to the effect of: "So wait, you're going to pay me to essentially do my hobby at work? " He nodded and told me to take some time to think about it. Yeh... so... didn't need a whole lot of time. First order of business: What am I going to make this course about? I tried to do my HW and research what are the essential topics to cover. I decided I would do a 10-week course: 5 weeks to technical topics, and 5 weeks for applications of the hobby. You can see in the image below what I decided on. That's a relatively concrete outline: Secondly: who's going to help me out? I pinged a generic bulletin board at work asking for volunteers to be lecturers and demo preppers for various topics. The response I received back was phenomenal. Numerous folks (order 30 people or so) offered to help out. After attrition, and various folks realizing this was a serious time commitment, the list whittled down to around 10 or so. I was still happy. Additionally, I was even able to recruit our very own Burns Fischer to participate and do an AMSAT lecture! (Thanks, Burns) Thirdly: how to keep the lecturers honest and encourage them to follow through. I borrowed a strategy that my colleague used for his digital communications course at work. You have a slide deck laydown 1 month out (that means the speakers come prepared with printed out copies of their slides and they lay them out on a table and we go through them for 1. 5-2 hours) and enforce a dry-run 2 weeks out from their dedicated class time. Because this was all volunteer work, I couldn't rip apart people's slides too much, so the deadlines were more to stay on top of folks and gently remind them of their obligation. The admin aspect of the job threw me for a loop. I didn't expect to have to get so down in the weeds. From security issues to generic scheduling of dates, it was slow-going. Especially in the summertime. But the reward of doing it all -- oh the reward. After some pretty effortless advertising on my part, I was told by HR that we had 60 people enrolled in the course with a solid waitlist; this was the most popular course in the Fall. My. Mind. Was. Blown. I mean it was and it wasn't. I work at a place with a ton of engineers who love RF as much as their children. But at the same time, I didn't expect so many young people want to learn what this hobby was all about. I'm glad they signed up. Our kickoff class was September 12. Myself and my co-organizer spoke to a packed room plus full of interested people. I remain in awe of the interest level of the students and feel fortunate to be a part of this entire ordeal. Maybe this is the beginning of something lasting. The hard part is determining what are the next steps once the class has concluded. Thanks for reading, Brian AB1ZO --- ### Update on NARS Amateur Radio Expo for Young People > Interest and support for our Amateur Radio Expo for Young People are continuing to grow! Our next Youth Expo is part of the New England Tech Trek... - Published: 2018-09-30 - Modified: 2022-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/30/youth-expo-update/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities Interest and support for the Nashua Area Radio Society's Amateur Radio Expos for Young People are continuing to grow! We've been busy with follow-up activities from our Youth Expo at the New England Amateur Radio Convention in Boxboro, MA earlier this month and we are planning our next Youth Expo as part of the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at NEAR-Fest in October. Boxboro Convention Slide Show (Click Image to view) The Boxboro Convention team put together a really nice slide show which includes some photos from our Youth Expo. Click on the image above to view it! Amateur Radio Expo for Young People Special Event QSL Card We are having a new N1T Special Event QSL card printed for our Boxboro on-air operation. We made QSOs on the HF bands as well as via Satellites during our Expo. Requests for N1T QSLs from Boxboro are coming in daily and we hope to have our new card back from the printer soon. Plans for NETT at NEAR-Fest We have been working with the NEAR-Fest folks to plan our next Youth Expo as part of the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at the NEAR-Fest Ham Festival in Deerfield, NH on October 12th and 13th. NETT at Fall NEAR-Fest Display Layout Our Expo at NEAR-Fest will feature five GOTA stations, an expanded kit building activity, new Fox Hunt and Morse Code activities, and a classroom area we can use to introduce young people to Amateur Radio and our display. N1T at NETT - Youth Expo Special Event QSL Card We will again be hosting a Special Event at NETT and we will be operating as N1T there. Our planned GOTA stations include: Remote HF Operation of AB1OC via SDR Remote HF Operation of K1DLM via SDR Computer Controlled Satellite Operation Repeater and VHF/UHF Simplex Operation via a GoKit Mobile HF Operation Morse Tutor Kit - Build It at NEAR-Fest! Our kit building activity is very popular and we are going to expand our kit building activity at NEAR-Fest to support up to 21 simultaneous builders. We expect that students in larger groups will likely work in teams of two so we should be able to accommodate over 40 students at a time! Our kit will cost $18 and will include a printed color manual and batteries. NARS members will be available to mentor builders on soldering and building their kits. Fox Hunt We are planning a Fox-Hunting activity at NEAR-Fest and we'll also have a variety of hands-on Morse Code activities as well. Morse Code Activity You can view and download a printable flyer about our plans for NETT at NEAR-Fest here. NEAR-Fest and Our Members Help with Fundraising The NEAR-Fest Organization along with a few NARS members have agreed to match dollar for dollar all contributions up to a total of $1,100 made to our STEM Learning and Training fundraising project between now at the end of NEAR-Fest! Please consider making a donation to support our projects as your contribution during this time will have double the impact in supporting our work to bring young people into the Amateur Radio service. We are raising funds to support a variety of STEM learning projects including High-Altitude Balloon projects, electronics learning projects, license training for High School and Middle School students, and other projects that provide STEM learning through Amateur Radio. We are also raising funds to allow us to purchase and maintain equipment to provide emergency communications and associated training in times of disaster. We hope to see you at NEAR-Fest! NARS members, we need your help! If you'd like to help us with our Youth Expo display, please contact Anita, AB1QB at activities@n1fd. org. See Anita's forum post for details on where we need help. Fred, AB1OC --- ### When the Wind Blows > As most of my friends in NARS know, I have been using a Hustler 6BTV multi-band vertical for the past 2 and a half years... - Published: 2018-09-27 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/27/wind-blows-antennas/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas As most of my friends in NARS know, I have been using a Hustler 6BTV multi-band vertical for the past 2 and a half years. It is concealed inside a long piece of PVC pipe configured as a flagpole. An ugly flagpole but it still passes the deed restrictions and keeps the vigilantes off my back. I have a piece of rope about a third of the way up the pole that is intended to counter gusty winds that predominantly come from the North. This arrangement has served me well, allowing me to log over 200 countries. A couple of months ago, I was out in the garage one afternoon watching an approaching storm. As is often the case, the rains came down in buckets. In less than a minute, the winds came screaming out of the West at near-hurricane force, driving the rain sideways. The winds subsided to almost dead calm almost as quickly as they ramped up. I stood there stunned at what apparently was a microburst. I peered apprehensively toward my flagpole and discovered it laying on my neighbor's tree. Oh oh, this can't be good, I thought. I looked around the neighborhood and noticed that a palm tree two doors down had been snapped in half. Good thing I did not have one on my property. I went over to the leaning pole to try straightening it. The resistance I experienced told that the antenna inside was bent. I relaxed a little knowing that perhaps I could straighten it out. I tied a rope about halfway up the pole and proceeded to pull it back to vertical. I applied considerable force to pull the pole up. As I neared vertical, the pole suddenly swung around toward me and was now leaning close to the house. Yep, this definitely was not good. If it wasn't broken before, I feared it was broken now. The next day my son and I lowered the stricken antenna to ground. As I pulled off the pipe, I noticed the mounting base support pipe was bent. The pipe is about a foot or so in length and inserts in the first section of the antenna. The wall thickness of the pipe is an eighth of an inch. The pipe had been bent to about 30 degrees from vertical by the wind load on the PVC. Figure 1 shows the damaged support as well as the first section that was also slightly bent. Figure 1 – Bent Antenna Support & First Section The rest of the antenna was intact with no signs of damage. Normally, I would have used a large vice to Armstrong the bent pieces back to vertical. However, being workshop-challenged in The Villages, that was not to be. I have always believed a garage is for vehicles. The next step was to contact DX Engineering to order a new base support and first section. While I was waiting for the new hardware to arrive, I thought of how I could strengthen the base to mitigate wind damage in the future. I recalled an article from an amateur in Colorado who strengthened his beams by inserting sections of tubing as the element junction points for increased rigidity. I borrowed this approach on my 40-meter beam to withstand the wind and ice of New England. After 20+ years the beam is still up and still straight. (At least it was when I sold the place. ) I made a trip to the local big box store and found a 3-foot piece of tubing that fits snugly inside the base support pipe and protruded about halfway out. The idea here is that, once the first section is clamped in place, the added piece acts as a stiffener that will prevent the first section from bending. I used this same principle when I installed my mast on my tower by inserting another pipe inside the mast. It too has never failed. Many thanks to John, WS1E for the idea. Figure 2 shows the modified configuration. Figure 2 – Modified New Base Section I reassembled the antenna and slid it back into the PVC pipe. My son and I hoisted the pole back in place on my base mount. For future protection, I added another piece of rope to tie down to the West. (Don't tell the XYL! ) A check of SWR across the bands showed that I was back in business. Now that things are back to normal, I leave you with these words of wisdom for your next antenna project: When the wind blows, Gently, my antenna will rock, When the wind howls, Down it will come with a hard knock. Ed, K2TE --- ### Contesting: A Primer > Radio contesting is concerned with competitions on the air. Contesting is like a fun run held on a Saturday morning where some people run for time... - Published: 2018-09-26 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/26/contesting-primer/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Field Day The pronunciation of “contesting” seemed strange when I first heard it. “CONtesting. ” I knew about “conTESTing” something. That was to oppose it in some way. But “CONtesting” seemed like a weird construction. The meaning of it is pretty simple, though: to participate in a contest. Charlie, W1CBD operating the pileups from AB1OC station Radio contesting is concerned with competitions on the air. Don’t think battle to the death or professional sports where there is one winner and everybody else is disappointed. Instead, contesting is like a fun run held on a Saturday morning where some people run for time, others just run with their friends for some companionship, and some just walk. It is OK to push a buggy with your infant as you go. Everybody is there to just have fun. In some of the larger contests, such as CQ Magazine’s CQ World Wide DX SSB contest, thousands of people participate. In 2017, over 8600 logs were submitted, and I’m certain that some people played in the contest without sending their login. That’s a lot of people! Note that there are only about one hundred “winners” that topped their categories. Everybody else played in the contest without expecting to “win” anything. They just wanted to have fun. How Does It Work? What does it mean to have a contest on the air? In general, these events are held within a certain time frame measured in hours, or at most, a couple of days, and the general idea is usually to talk to as many people as you can, as quickly as you can, on as many bands as you can, being careful to record information you get from those other stations. You capture all this into a logging program on your computer. When the contest is over, there is a special way to package up your log and submit it to the contest sponsor like CQ Magazine. What happens next is kind of amazing, and it could only happen in our age of computers. The contest sponsor usually feeds all these logs into a computer which then checks the logs for accuracy. If you think you’ve worked me (NE1RD) in the contest at a certain time and on a certain frequency, then that QSO should be recorded in your log and in my log. If we exchanged information (such as our name) then the computer will verify that I captured your name properly and vice-versa. If we disagree on the band we used, or the mode we claimed to have used, or something else, the computer program that analyzes these logs makes a determination for who is right. It is a competition so there are points. Usually, things work like this: You get a certain number of points for each QSO you make. Sometimes the number of points depends on how far the contact is from you. For example, the CQ Magazine Worked All Prefixes (WPX) contest gives you three points for talking to a different continent on the 10m/15m/20m bands and six points for talking to a different continent on the 40m/80m/160m bands. Working someone within your continent (but different country) yields a different number of points, and so on. This would all be very tedious if we didn’t have computers! But, computers sort this bit out easily. What makes things even more complicated is a typical contest has “multipliers. ” Your multipliers are tallied based on some criteria like the number of countries you talked with. Remember the typical goal of a contest is to have you talk to as many people as you can (maximize QSOs) in as many places as you can (maximize your multipliers). Your final score will be the total number of points you earned by doing QSOs multiplied by the number of multipliers you accumulated according to the contest rules. Again, as a participant, you don’t need to know any of this. The computer figures it all out. All you have to do is make QSOs and have fun. Why Contest? Some people honestly think they can win the contest. Though as the numbers showed thousands enter and only a handful win accolades. So, in reality, the number of people who enter for this reason is small. Most enter the contest because they like making QSOs. Given that there are thousands of people on the air participating there is ample chance to talk to somebody. And making QSOs can have other benefits if you’re competitive with the hobby. If you like collecting awards like the ARRL’s Worked All States (WAS) or DX Century Club (DXCC) then a contest is a wonderful way to find all those stations you need for your award. It is not uncommon, for example, to have a small station with a hard-working operator complete DXCC in a weekend. Another reason to get on during a contest is that this is a perfect opportunity to do some assessment of your station. Say you’ve just put up a new antenna. How is it working? With thousands of people on the air from all over the world, you can quickly determine if you can hear Japan or talk to South Africa. If you can’t hear them (but you find out your buddy who lives down the block did) then you know you have work to do. Like road races for runners, some people contest just to see if they can do better than they did last year. Phrases like “personal best” for a higher score than ever before are commonly heard. And, with all these stations on the air, “all-time new one” (ATNO) is often heard when a station works a country for the very first time. There are little victories along the way. Pay attention and bask in their glory! There’s also something fun about seeing your callsign in CQ Magazine, or on the results page for an ARRL contest. Who doesn’t like seeing their name in lights? And there is always bragging rights with your friends. You may not have been top dog in the All-Band-High-Power category, but if you got a higher score than your buddy then there still something to... --- ### A First Look at WSJT-X 2.0 > It looks like the first Beta Release of WSJT-X 2.0 is available. WSJT-X Version 2.0  includes a number of features to support contesting... - Published: 2018-09-19 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/19/wsjt-x-2-0-first-look/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Software It looks like the first Beta Release of WSJT-X 2. 0 is available. WSJT-X Version 2. 0 includes a number of features to support contesting and longer compound callsigns when FT8 and MSK144 (Meteor Scatter)... Source: A First Look at WSJT-X v2. 0 A new version of the software which supports FT8 mode, WSJT-X 2. 0 is now available and I've been testing it this morning on the 20m band. WSJT-X 2. 0 rc1 Contest and Compatibility Options The new version supports digital operation during Field Day and a number of contests which include digital modes. The new version is working well here. I've written an article about the new features and included some information on how to get started. You can learn more via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### New Hampshire QSO Party Multi-Op as N1FD > A team of Nashua Area Radio Society members operated in the New Hampshire QSO Party using the N1FD callsign from AB1OC and AB1QB's QTH. - Published: 2018-09-19 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/19/2018-new-hampshire-qso-party/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, NARS Event, On The Air The New Hampshire QSO Party was last weekend, September 15-16 and AB1OC and AB1QB hosted a multi-op entry from their station using the N1FD callsign. Bob, KC1RLS and Anita, AB1QB in the NHQP The following members were part of the team that operated as N1FD: Dan, AC1EN Mackenzie, KE1NZY Jamey, AC1DC John, W1SMN Bob, KC1RLS Marie, KC1RMS Charlie, W1CBD Fred, AB1OC Anita, AB1QB N1FD Score in 2018 NH QSO Party We made close to 1600 QSOs during the 18-hour contest and our preliminary score was 104,742. The team has entered the club competition in the Superstation Category. Here is a link to the 2018 NHQP page in 3830 where you can see our score details along with those of other NARS members who operated in the contest. . --- ### NARS Youth Expo at Boxboro > The Nashua Area Radio Society put together a successful Amateur Radio Youth Exposition at the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro this year. - Published: 2018-09-18 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/09/18/boxboro-youth-expo/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Hamvention, Kits, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society put together a very successful Amateur Radio Youth Exposition at the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro this year. Boxboro 2018 - Youth Expo Display Our Expo featured more than ten high-quality displays and hands-on activities which introduced young people to many aspects of Amateur Radio. Boxboro 2018 - HF GOTA Coach Jerry K1OKD Our HF GOTA at Boxboro 2018 was a hit with many folks making their first HF contacts with us. We operated AB1OC-AB1QB's station remotely via the Internet. We secured a the N1T special event callsign for Boxboro and we made over 150 contacts as N1T during the convention. Boxboro 2018 - Satellite Station Operated by Burns WB1FJ We also had our transportable satellite station at Boxboro and we made quite a few satellite contacts as N1T as well. Boxboro 2018 - Space Comms Display There was lots of interest in satellites between the satellite GOTA station and our Space Communications display. Boxboro 2018 - Kit Building (Dan AC1EN and Mackenzie KE1NZY) We added a kit building activity to our Youth Expo at Boxboro and it was a big hit! Builders (Burns WB1FJ and his Grandson) Over 40 K1EL Morse Code Tutor kits got built during the weekend with many parents and grandparents building kits along with the kids. Boxboro 2018 - Karen KC1KBW - BGHS Teacher Building a Kit Some of our High-Altitude Balloon program students and teachers also had fun with the kit building activity. Boxboro 2018 - Forum Presentation by Dan AC1EN We did three presentations related to the activities at our Youth Expo in the forums at Boxboro. The most popular one was about the many youth outreach projects that the Nashua Area Radio Society is doing. Boxboro 2018 - Forum Presentation by Mackenzie KE1NZY and Fred AB1OC Dan and Mackenzie Pooler (AC1EN and KE1NZY) helped me with this one and they brought a very valuable perspective on our youth outreach work. Boxboro 2018 provided lots of great moments and memories for the many members who help with our Expo. Check out the photo memories above to see some more of these. Boxboro 2018 - NARS Team at Boxboro A very special THANK YOU to the many Nashua Area Radio Society members who helped throughout the weekend! We are planning another Amateur Radio Youth Exposition as part of the New England Tech Trek at NEAR-Fest in October. Don't miss it and please come out and help us create another great Amateur Radio experience at NEAR-Fest! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Summer Activities - A Picnic and a SOTA > On the weekend of August 25th and 26th, NARS held two summer activities, a Family Picnic at Greeley Park and a SOTA/POTA activation on Mount Washington - Published: 2018-08-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/summer-activities-a-picnic-and-a-sota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General - Tags: HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, On The Air, Portable, VHF/UHF The weekend of August 25th and 26th brought a break from the rainy and hot weather and provided beautiful weather for two NARS summer activities. On Saturday, August 25th, we held our Family Picnic at Greeley Park in Nashua. It was a potluck lunch and members brought lots of great food to eat. It was an enjoyable time, eating great food and chatting with our Ham Radio friends and their families. Here is a gallery of pictures from the picnic: Bright and early on Sunday, August 26th we all headed to Mount Washington for our SOTA/POTA activation. We had another beautiful day with relatively warm temperatures for Mount Washington's 6000 ft elevation in the 50s. Most of us drove up on the scenic Mount Washington Auto Road. We made contacts on many modes and bands on the mountain including Satellite contacts using an Elk Yagi and a Kenwood HT 6 meter SSB and FT8 using the Icom 7300 and an M2 6 meter Yagi HF using Jamey's Buddipole 2 meter contacts using HTs and the Elk Yagi Mike and Jamey Work 2 Meters Both the Picnic and the Mount Washington trip were a lot of fun and we're looking forward to doing these again next year! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Club competition for the New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP) > The Nashua Area Radio Society will have a "contest in a contest" competition during the New Hampshire QSO Party (NHQP) this year... - Published: 2018-08-30 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/nhqp-competition/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF Updates to the article in red. The New Hampshire QSO Party (www. w1wqm. org/nhqso) is held in the third full weekend of September. This year the contest is held on Saturday, September 15th from noon to midnight, and September 16th from noon to 6 PM. (That's 1600 UTC Sat to 0400 UTC Sun, and 1600 UTC Sun to 2200 UTC). To encourage participation in the event, the Nashua Area Radio Society will have a "contest in a contest" competition. To enter, just do the following: Get on the air and operate in the contest following all NHQP rules. At the conclusion of the contest post your score to the 3830 website (details below). Email me notifying that you've entered, and tell me which category you operated within. Don't forget to submit your log to the contest sponsor and specify the "Nashua Area Radio Society" as your affiliated club. Categories Operating categories make it possible to compare "apples to apples". It isn't fair for a station with three towers to compete with a little pistol station with just a dipole! So, the following categories for the NARS competition will be used (single operators only except for Superstation): QRP. Any antenna configuration is OK. Power output is limited to 5 watts CW/digital, and 10 watts SSB. Small Station. This can be any single radio with output power no more than 100 watts using vertical antennas or dipoles only. No receive-only systems. TB-Wires. Same as Small Station except that one antenna with gain can be available. Wires/dipoles/verticals must be used for everything else. No receive-only systems. Superstation. Multiple operators OK. Multiple gain antennas available. Receive-only antenna systems or listening arrays available. Power greater than 100 watts. New Hampshire stations and stations outside NH will be ranked separately. Note that "assistance" (spotting systems, repeaters, etc. ) is allowed in the contest, and in this competition. Submitting your entry Go to the 3830 Scores website (3830scores. com) and navigate to the New Hampshire QSO Party entry. Enter all of the information demanded by the website and submit your score. (If you are having trouble computing your score, contact me directly. ) Once your entry is live on the 3830 site, email me (programs@n1fd. org) and tell me the call sign you used, and which entry category for the club competition you've selected (QRP, Small Station, TB-Wires, or Superstation). That's it! I'll use the submitted scores to determine the winner in each category. RESULTS The results of the competition will be announced at the October general meeting of NARS. --- ### ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY > A multi-op team of rookies operated with the N1FD callsign from AB1OC's QTH in the ARRL Rookie Roundup on August 19, 2018, placing 1st in the contest. - Published: 2018-08-30 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/30/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: ARRL, Contest, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air The ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY was held on Sunday, August 19th. The N1FD rookie multi-op team, operating from AB1OC's QTH took 1st place overall in the contest! Congratulations to the Rookies who operated in the contest: Abby, AB1BY Marie, KC1RMS Andrea, KC1JDX Mackenzie, KE1NZY Dan, AC1EN Bob, KC1RLS Jerry, K1OKD Thanks to Jamey, AC1DC, and Fred, AB1OC for being elmers to the rookies! Here are the final scores: 2018 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores For the complete results, please visit http://www. b4h. net/arrlrr/rr_scores201808. php --- ### An Amazing Recovery: ARISS Packet System Revives > the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet radio system on the International Space Station (ISS) has begun working again. - Published: 2018-08-29 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/29/ariss-packet-revives/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: APRS, ISS, Space, VHF/UHF Similar to the AO-7 satellite resurrection several years ago, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet radio system on the International Space Station (ISS) has begun working again. NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, said over the weekend that reports he’d received indicated that the NA1SS packet signal returned in mid-August. Source: An Amazing Recovery: ARISS Packet System Revives It appears that the 2m APRS digipeater on the ISS has come back to life! We'll see if we can't set up the digital side of our Portable Satellite Station at our Amateur Radio Exposition for Young People at the Boxboro Convention in September and give it a try! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Working IC-9700 Shown In Tokyo > The IC-9700 is a new VHF/UHF radio that is based upon the Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform that Icom uses in the IC-7300 and IC-7610.  - Published: 2018-08-29 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/29/working-ic-9700/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Icom displayed three working demonstration units of the forthcoming IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1. 2GHz transceiver, Icom Inc. at the Tokyo Hamfair, which took place in Ariake, Tokyo on August 25th - 26th. Source: New Icom Amateur Products Shown at Tokyo Hamfair 2018 The IC-9700 is a new VHF/UHF radio that is based upon the Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform that Icom uses in the IC-7300 and IC-7610. It looks like this is going to be an excellent radio for Satellite, EME, and other weak-signal work on the 2 m, 70 cm, and 23 cm bands. The IC-9700 features a pan adapter display which will be very useful for working contacts through linear satellites. Based upon previous new Transceivers release by Icom, I would guess we are at least 8 months to a year away from the time when this radio will be offered for sale in the USA. Here's some video of the forthcoming IC-9700 as well as other gear from Icom. The video also features other new products and updated Firmware capabilities from Icom. Enjoy! https://youtu. be/EgfwG7OCZMg Fred, AB1OC --- ### Support the Nashua Area Radio Society on Amazon Smile and GoFundMe > The Nashua Area Radio Society has many projects that provide STEM learning and training through Amateur Radio. We are raising funds to support our work... - Published: 2018-08-28 - Modified: 2023-03-26 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/28/nars-amazon-smile/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Youth Outreach The Nashua Area Radio Society has created many projects designed to provide STEM learning experiences and training through Amateur Radio. Some of these projects include: High-Altitude Balloon Projects in Local Schools Electronics Kit Building Projects for Young People Amateur Radio License Training Class scholarships for young people Amateur Radio Expositions at Hamfests and in public places for Young People Emergency Communications Training through our Field Day and other activities Supporting Local Schools with ARISS Crew Contacts and other Amateur Radio activities To carry out our mission, we have formed close relationships with several local schools. This helps us develop and deliver effective, high-quality programs that bring learning through Amateur Radio to young people. Dan Pooler, AC1EN Dan Pooler, a professional educator at the Hudson Memory School in Hudson, NH writes: Over the course of the past year, I have found myself the benefactor of the most amazing partnership with the Nashua Area Radio Society... . thanks to the knowledge and generosity of the club members who have dedicated their time to helping others come to know and understand the radio sciences. I have found what makes this dedication even more valuable is the clubs growing outreach to the schools and students of Southern New Hampshire. You can read more about our partnership with Dan and his school here. We provide many of these services either free of charge or at a very modest cost. We count on the generosity of our members, friends, and the Amateur Radio community to raise funds to support our work. We have begun a fundraising campaign to enable us to continue and expand our training projects listed above which provide STEM learning experiences for young people and support for emergency communications readiness. Please consider supporting our work via your GoFundMe donation. Copy embed code We are also now on Amazon Smile. Please consider supporting our projects by using Amazon Smile and designating us as your favorite charity there. Click on the badge below to get started supporting our work via Amazon Smile. 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Here's a simple set of directions to help you get going. Getting Started Supporting NARS on Amazon Smile On behalf of the many young people and others that we help, thank you very much for your generosity. With your support, we will continue to work hard to provide learning opportunities for young people through Amateur Radio and to continue to make the Amateur Radio Service the best it can be to benefit everyone. 2018 Summer Youth Technician License Class Fred, AB1OC --- ### Fall Youth Events at Boxboro and NEAR-Fest > Quite a few Nashua Area Radio Society members have been working on a display to get young people and potential new Hams interested in Amateur Radio. - Published: 2018-08-22 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/22/fall-youth-events/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, Satellite, Youth Outreach Quite a few Nashua Area Radio Society members have been working on a display to get young people and potential new Hams interested in Amateur Radio. High Altitude Balloon Display Our display was first used at NEAR-Fest this spring. It includes over ten high-quality exhibits and hands-on activities related to Amateur Radio and Nashua Area Radio Society licensing, activities, and youth projects. Some of the activities that are part of the display include: A Shortwave Radio Station that folks can use to talk to Hams all over the world A computer controlled Satellite Ground Station that folks can use to make a contact through a Satellite in Space A Display about High-Altitude Balloons that carry radio transmitters to the edge of space Keys and activities to try out sending and receiving Morse Code Building Ham Radio Gear using Kits and Computers A GoKit for Amateur Radio Emergency Communications that folks can try Gear for locating Hidden Radio Transmitters (Fox Hunting) And much more! We've created a new page here on n1fd. org that explains more about our Amateur Radio Displays for Young People. Check it out! Our Youth Outreach Event Display We also provided our display as part of a youth summer program a the Westford Public Library this summer. Morse Trainer Kit Thanks to a cooperative project with Steve Elliot, K1EL, we are planning to add a kit building activity to our display. The kit is a new one that Steve created for learning Morse Code. The Morse Trainer kit should take less than an hour to build and will be available to purchase and build at Boxboro. We will be providing soldering equipment and mentors to help our builders at the show. Youth Display Overview for Boxboro Convention Leaders We have been working with the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro, MA to include our display in their vendor hall. Planned Display Layout at Boxboro 2018 The Boxboro leadership is very excited about our display and has agreed to give us approximately 90 ft of table space in the main vendor hall and space outside for our Portable Satellite Station. Boxboro 2018 Youth Event Flyer (click to see the flyer) Along with the Boxboro team, we are hard at work publicising our event. We've created an information Flyer and a short picture presentation that teachers and our members can use to let folks know about our planned event. Please take a minute to download these materials and share them with as many interested folks as you can: Boxboro 2018 Youth Event Flyer Boxboro 2018 Youth Event Picture Presentation It is going to take quite a few member volunteers to support our display at Boxboro 2018. If you'd be willing to help, please contact us at activities@n1fd. org. Everyone who helps will receive free admission to the Boxboro 2018 convention. Fred, AB1OC --- ### ARISS Packet Radio System Expected to be Back Late this Year > The currently silent ARISS Packet Radio system on the International Space Station could be back on the air by year's end... - Published: 2018-08-20 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/20/ariss-packet-radio-system/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: APRS, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF The currently silent packet radio system on the International Space Station could be back on the air by year's end. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) hardware team members have located an original duplicate of the packet module that had been in use on the International Space Station (ISS) before failing more than a year ago, after 17 years of service. With a new battery installed, the unit was tested and found to be functioning... Source: ARISS Packet Radio System Expected to be Back Late this Year It will be great to have the ISS ARPS digipeater back on the air again! Fred (AB1OC) --- ### SOTA/POTA Activation of Mount Washington (6288') > Well, later this month the Nashua Area Radio Society will be doing it's own mini-DXpedition to the top of Mount Washington! - Published: 2018-08-05 - Modified: 2023-06-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/05/mount-washington-sota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: Portable, SOTA, VHF/UHF Do you read QST magazine or see articles on FaceBook about DXpeditions and think to yourself, "man, I'd really like to do that. " Don't have the time, the money or the XYL or OM won't let you go on a DXpedition. Yeah, me too! 6M Antenna on the Mountain Well, later this month the Nashua Area Radio Society will be doing its own mini-DXpedition to the top of Mount Washington! On Sunday, August 26th we'll be activating Mount Washington for Summits on the Air and Parks on the Air. The top of Mount Washington sits at 6,288 feet above sea level. It is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and north of the Carolinas and is known for some of the “worst weather in the world”. We’re hoping that doesn’t hold true on the 25th. Don't let the weather or the altitude deter you from taking part in this event! Last year we had a couple of members that climbed up the mountain, some that drove (yes, there is a paved road up... a very steep and narrow road) and we even had some members take the Cog Railway - which is an adventure in itself! The Mount Washington Cog Railway: The Mt. Washington Cog Railway The unique way up the mountain is from the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Mt. Washington’s cog railway is the world’s first mountain climbing cog railway. Also, it is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of 25% and a maximum grade of over 37%! The Mount Washington Cog Railway Access Road is located off Rte. 302 in Bretton Woods and trips begin at 8:00 am and run through 4:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance on their website. The Mount Washington Auto Road (Drive Yourself): Mt. Washington Auto Road The Mount Washington Auto Road is located in Gorham, New Hampshire on the other side of the mountain from the Cog Railway. The auto road is open from 7:30 am until 6:00 pm on August 25th and rates start at $29 for a car and driver and go up from there. Tony, KC1DXL & Anita, AB1QB take in the views on the auto road This drive is not for the faint of heart! There are panoramic views and you will travel through four distinct climate zones on your way up the Northeast’s highest peak. If you are not comfortable with heights or narrow winding roads without guard rails you may want to check out the guided tours or the hiker’s shuttle to the top. Please note that there are some vehicle restrictions that you want to check out if you plan to drive yourself. Take a Guided Tour: Tours of Mt. Washington Guided tours start at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road beginning at 8:30 am and you have the option of a two hour guided tour or three hour guided tour. The disadvantage of the guided tours is that you are not on your own schedule and time at the top is limited. The tours do sell out so you will want to book your tickets early if this is the option for you. Hiker Shuttle: Connor, KC1GGX descending Tukerman's Ravine Another way up/down the mountain is the Hiker Shuttle. The Hiker Shuttle leaves from the Stage Office at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road beginning at 9:00 am. The shuttle then leaves on an as-needed basis, so waits of an hour or more may be necessary. The one way down option can be a little tricky as rides down are sold on a first come, first served basis. Hike Up: The final way up/down the mountain is hiking. Although this may not be for everyone – this is a very strenuous hike – it is the most rewarding. There are two starting points for getting up Mount Washington – the east face and west face of the mountain. The east face trails begin at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center which has information and basic rooms available for rent. Reservations in advance are a must! The East Face: East Face of Mt. Washington The easiest trail (easiest is probably not the right term for any trail on Mount Washington) on the east face of the mountain is Tuckerman’s Ravine for both the ascent and descent. Lion’s Head is the same distance, but slightly steeper. It is not the best for a descent. Boott Spur is another option, which is not any more difficult than the other trails but is much longer. The benefit of hiking Boott Spur trail is the amazing views and not many crowds! Abby, AB1BY near Lion's Head on Mt. Washington The West Face: West Face of Mt. Washington The trails on the west face of Mount Washington begin from Mount Washington Cog Railway and offers two trails, the Jewell Trail and Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail ascends via Lake of the Cloud Hut where you can stop and get a hot coffee, hot chocolate, water or some snacks... not to mention the fantastic views! Lake of the Clouds Hut If you are planning on hiking an early start is an absolute must, especially if you plan to have any time to operate on the summit. Club members that are planning to hike please let me know. It would be fun to have a group to hike with as well as safer for everyone involved. Accommodations: The Mt. Washington Hotel There are many accommodations in the area ranging from beautiful hotels to primitive camping areas. Again, booking in advance is a must! Many of the camping areas in the White Mountain National Forest are booked on a first come, first served basis. They do not take reservations in advance. Primitive Camping near Mt. Washington Join in on the Fun! If you have any questions please let me know. I'd love to see a big group of you at the summit! --- ### QRP operation from Boston Harbor Islands > These mini-DXpeditions to Boston Harbor Islands begin at home, sorting, selecting, and packing the items needed for a successful activation.,, - Published: 2018-08-03 - Modified: 2022-01-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/08/03/boston-harbor-islands/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: On The Air, Portable, QRP The ARRL organized a National Parks on the Air program (NPOTA) in 2016 that made operating portably extra fun. But you don’t need a special event year like this to have a reason to get out and make QSOs. There are other programs that operate continuously that are good draws for these far away places. I made several trips to Boston Harbor Islands in 2016 to celebrate NPOTA, and help operators put some QSOs in the log for other awards programs as well. Here are a couple of programs that will continue long after NPOTA is over: The British program Islands on the Air (www. rsgbiota. org) gives participants an opportunity to collect islands much like the ARRL’s DXCC program collects countries (entities). As it turns out, because there is no commercial power (mains) available to the public, the Boston Harbor Islands are somewhat rare (being claimed by only 30. 2% of IOTA participants). It is a lot harder to get on the air and be heard when it is only battery and solar power driving things. That makes the challenge even more fun. And, when you are heard, you’ve often got a pileup! The US Islands Awards Program (www. usislands. org) is similar to the IOTA program, except it accepts islands anywhere in the United States. (The IOTA program only counts islands that are true “sea” islands. ) Lovells Island in Boston Harbor has the designation MA042S, and I was lucky enough to be the first to activate it for this program. These mini-DXpeditions to Boston Harbor Islands begin at home, sorting, selecting, and packing the items needed for a successful activation. For day trips to Georges Island, the largest of the group, and the main destination for the Boston-to-island ferry service, I concentrate on packing just the bare essentials of radio, antenna, coax, rope, and so on. Maybe a little more than a 100 pound DXpedition this time. Lovells Island offers campgrounds but no water. You must bring your own. At about 8 pounds per gallon, things get heavy in a hurry. Georges Island is about an hour long ferry ride from Long Warf in Boston, and it has been built up quite a bit just in the last ten years. It how has a snack bar, a new play area for young children, and hosts many festivals and events during the summer. The boats that once carried only a handful of passengers ten years ago are now often full of families and groups. Everyone is friendly, and more than once I’ve had help from my fellow voyagers with my gear. Once off the boat on Georges, I hike quickly to a picnic table near a tree. No trees on this island are very tall, so there are no prospects for running wire dipoles or other wire antennas. Instead, I build a vertical antenna from a mini-Buddipole (www. buddipole. com) kit. I will often lash the shock-cord mast to one of these short trees to hold it up. The wires from my home-brew four-wire radial kit also serve as guys for the setup. Assembly is usually quick (under ten minutes) and a quick check with an antenna analyzer confirms the antenna is resonant. Georges Island and Lovells Island are about seven miles out to sea in Boston Harbor. They offer a great day trip, or camping (on Lovells). In previous years, daytime operations were typically on 20m, 17m, or 15m. Because of changing propagation conditions, in 2016 I only operated almost exclusively on 20m. Selecting an operating frequency can be a challenge when operating QRP. I’ve often been “pushed off” my calling frequency by another operator that likely couldn’t hear me. Oddly enough, I’ve had good luck operating near the top of the 20m band, well into the General segment, which has the additional benefit of increasing the number of people who can call you. Day trips with only a couple of hours of operation need only a battery, but I find that I bring a solar panel out of habit. With the panel connected, I usually leave with my battery fully charged. Running without the panel would also work, but I’m unwilling to take a chance that my day would be cut short because of power problems. The operation on Lovells Island includes a pop-up enclosure that fits over a picnic table, and a tent for sleeping. Two 20-Watt and one 13-Watt solar panels are visible in the foreground among the rocks. Camping trips are more involved. Lovells Island is the only place that both counts for the IOTA program and provides campsites. You need to plan ahead as campsites are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, and reservations begin in January. I am rarely able to reserve all the dates I would like, and choosing dates seven months in advance means you’ll never know what kind of weather you’ll encounter. A severe thunderstorm over one of these islands is magnificent and terrifying! Getting to Lovells is also more difficult. The ferry shuttles between Georges Island, a few other large islands, and Boston Harbor’s Long Warf. Connections to Lovells Island are made from Georges, and only occur three times per day. Once that last boat has left, you are stuck on Lovells until the next morning. You better have everything you need! That includes food, water, first aid supplies, power for your phone and radio, and anything else needed for a successful camping trip. NE1RD Power and Light. Multiday QRP operations depend on a good power source. Two 20-Watt panels are connected in series to the GoalZero Sherpa 50 battery. The small 13-Watt panel on the rocks is recharging my phone. Lovells Island is covered in trees, many of them tall enough to easily support a wire antenna. That sounds convenient, but how long did it take you to hang your last wire antenna at home? Was it a several hour operation with a couple of friends? Given the short time available during one of these trips, I bring a backup antenna in case the wire antenna cannot be hung successfully (or hung high enough). My tool of choice is a throw... --- ### Youth Outreach Event at the Westford Public Library > The Westford Public Library reached out to us abou an Amateur Radio Youth Outreach day. The event included an afternoon of presentations and hands-on... - Published: 2018-07-31 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/31/wpl-youth-outreach/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, NARS Event, Youth Outreach The folks at the Westford Public Library reached out to us sometime back about hosting an Amateur Radio Youth Outreach day at the library. This event gave us the opportunity to use the Amateur Radio Youth Outreach materials that we created for NEAR-Fest and to fine-tune them. The event took place in July and included an afternoon of presentations and hands-on activities about Amateur Radio. We had about 15 students and parents attend. Youth Outreach Event Team Several Nashua Area Radio Society members helped to set up and deliver the program at the library. A very big thanks to: Brian, W1BP Tom, AB1NS Marie, KC1RMS Bob, KC1RLS for all of their help! ! Our Youth Outreach Event Display Our approach was to simplify and leverage the display that we created for our Youth Outreach at NEAR-Fest. We were able to bring almost all of our displays from NEAR-Fest and simplify them to the point where we could set everything up in about 2 hours. Our displays included the following: A Remotely Operated HF GOTA Station A Satellite Communications Display A Nashua Area Radio Society Activities and Licensing Display An Emergency Communications and Field Day Display A Portable Operating Display and Digital HF Activity A Morse Code Display and Activity A Fox-Hunting Display and Activity Our program consisted of presentations and videos about each of the displays followed by hands-on activities and a chance to take a closer look. HF Get On The Air Station The HF Remote GOTA was popular and provided a chance for folks to talk to Hams in Europe and across the United States. We used a Maestro and the Internet to run the AB1OC/AB1OC station remotely. High-Altitude Balloon Display Our High-Altitude Balloon Display was a hit. Folks were very interested in the video presentation from our flights and they asked lots of questions about our HAB programs. Portable Operating Display Brian, W1BP brought his Elecraft KX3 Transceiver and Buddipole Antenna and set up an FT8 Digital GOTA Station at the event. Brian's activity provided a great way for us to explain and demonstrate portable operations. Emergency Communications and Field Day Display Our third GOTA station was part of an Emergency Communications and Field Day display. The GOTA enabled everyone to try to make contacts through local repeaters and to learn about EMCOM. Morse Code Activity Tom, AB1NS hosted our Morse Code activity. We had a variety of keys, practice oscillators, and simple code activities for folks to try. Fox Hunt Activity Marie, KC1RMS hosted a Fox Hunt and demonstrated Radio Direction Finding. Members of the group were able to locate the three Foxes that we had hidden on the library grounds. Nashua Area Radio Society and License Information Display Our final display highlighted the many STEM learning and other training activities that the Nashua Area Radio Society provides for young people. Two of the attendees at our youth day decided to join our summer Technician License Class the following week. Maximilian, KM6UVJ, and Tatiana, KM6UVK both earned their Technician licenses at the class - congratulations to both and welcome to NARS! ! ! As you can probably tell, our Amateur Radio Youth Outreach event at the Westford Public Library was a success. We are looking forward to offering similar events at other local libraries and Ham Fests later this year. Fred, AB1OC --- ### My Week at the ARRL Teacher Institute on Wireless Technology - Published: 2018-07-30 - Modified: 2018-07-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/30/arrl-teacher-institute/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: ARRL, Education and Training, Mentor My Week at the ARRL Teacher Institute TI-1 in Newington, Connecticut Being new to Amateur Radio I had no idea what to expect when I signed up for the ARRL Teacher Institute on Wireless Technology. I only assumed that my week would be filled with radio communications and how to bring the concepts behind the radio sciences to the classroom. What I got was a room full of new educator friends, connections were made to names and faces at ARRL, and a week of first class instruction on basic electronics and wireless technologies that I could bring back to my local radio club and students in the classroom. Dan arriving at ARRL Headquarters From the first morning arrival at the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) Headquarters I was embraced with kind greetings, welcoming faces, and an energy of excitement from the ARRL staff. Upon entering the conference room at Headquarters where our instruction would occur we were greeted by a pile of resources that we would use over the course of the week. For a novice in electronics and a newbie in the amateur radio world, the scene was quite overwhelming. The first morning began with our instructor, Tommy Gober (N5DUX), introducing himself and others at the ARRL. We were introduced to the two members of the education department Kris Bickell (K1BIC) and Ally Riedel (KM3ALF) who were responsible for putting together the impressive week of professional development. I learned that of the other ten participants, five were also licensed in Amateur Radio and by the end of the week we would welcome two more participants to the ranks. According to the Institute this may have been the highest number of participants that were licensed Amateurs in the Institute’s history. By midway through the first day of the institute we were already delving deep into the educational context for wireless technology, basic electronics, and soldering. While I had some experience in these areas with my work in Amateur Radio and my experience at Space Camp the summer prior, this was just as exciting as experiencing it for the first time. We opened our new Breadboard, connecting a circuit filled with wires, resistors, and LEDs, to help us understand the functions of our new Multimeter. By the end of day one we opened our ARRL designed clock kits to accomplish our first task. We were tasked with putting together the components of the clock from a kit and soldering the back of each piece. This was supposed to become homework, but all participants were so excited to be working on this project that we all stayed at ARRL an extra two hours that night to complete our clocks. The next morning, we were able to put the finishing touches of the base on the clock and plug them in to see that they worked. On day two, we opened our new Picoscopes and began to play around with two different circuit boards designed to allow us to see the various waves that occur and how they can be manipulated. The Picoscopes being digital allowed us to download a program to our laptops quickly for a great interface to our new Oscilloscopes. Day two also allowed us to take a tour of ARRL headquarters where we met members of the VEC department, walked through publishing, and the QSL bureau. The tour continued through a museum of radio history and ended in station W1AW. Day three begin with the introduction of the Arduino boards and the Bo-Bot Shield Robot build. If things were not already exciting, this is where the excitement in the participants and staff at ARRL became amped up. Participants followed instructions to build their bots from scratch. Once robots were built, Tommy Gober, led participants with the use of their Picoscopes through making the proper electronic connections on their bot’s breadboard. For this day, participants also downloaded the Arduino software onto their computers to begin to learn the C++ code that would allow them to progress to advance operations of their robots in the coming days. By the end of day three, all participants’ heads were whirling from the extensive knowledge they had gained in the advanced instruction of coding they had in just a short time period. Day four and five concentrated more on the coding of the robots and the science behind infrared remote controllers that would ultimately allow us to drive our robots with a Sony TV remote. Teachers learned to program the Arduino to display numeric digits 0 through 9 in progression, learned how to get their robots to move forward, backward, turn left, and turn right, program their robots with several lines of code to run a maze, and then learned to program the robots to be able to avoid obstacles through the use of LED sensors and other sensors like those used to collect data for APRS packets. By the end of day five the participants were able to circle their robots together in the lobby of ARRL and have Tommy use one Sony remote to orchestrate the robots doing the Hokey Pokey. One other exciting event occurred on day four that needs to be mentioned because of how special it was to the participants. The teachers of the institute could go into station W1AW to operate the various radio stations. Participants operated W1AW on 20 and 17 meters as well as, digital modes and Echolink stations. Many participants were able to make connections with people from the local radio clubs. Participants were able to ask Joe Carcia(NJ1Q), the W1AW station manager all the questions that came to their heads. A few of us were able to take a handheld radio to the parking lot and use the 2-meter band and our own call signs to contact W1AW. By doing this we would be in the station logs and be guaranteed a QSL card from the station. This is all of the materials I received when attending this institute. I was able to select 8 books from the ARRL catalog, a digital Picoscope, an Arduino Bo-Bot, a multimeter, several sensors, a clock kit, and several circuit kits. The... --- ### FT8 Mode on the 6m Band > Our next Tech Night will be about the FT8 Digital Mode. I've been using FT8 to work quite a few contacts on the 6m Band this summer... % - Published: 2018-07-29 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/29/ft8-mode-6m/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, Internet, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Software, VHF/UHF Anita and I have been operating using the FT8 Mode on the 6m band using our remote operating gateway quite a bit this summer. The SDR-based remote operating gateway in our station allows us to operate... Source: Operating FT8 Remote on the 6m Band FT8 Mode on 6m Our next Tech Night will be about the FT8 Mode. I've been using FT8 to work quite a few contacts on the 6m Band this summer using the remote operating gateway in our station. The link to the post above shows how we use the WSJT-X software and other tools to operate using the FT8 digital mode at our station. It also provides links to much of the software that we use to do FT8 and other weak signal digital modes. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 2018 13 Colonies Special Event Results > Members of the Nashua Area Radio Society operated as K2K in the 13 Colonies Special Event. We won the top club award and New Hampshire was the #2 state. - Published: 2018-07-28 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/28/2018-13-colonies-special-event-results/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Digital, HF, NARS Event, On The Air The 2018 13 Colonies Special Event took place from July 1-7 this year and Nashua Area Radio Society members operated as K2K, the New Hampshire station. Charlie, W1CBD operating the pileups from AB1OC station Several members operated from AB1OC and AB1QB's QTH. We were operating from 2 stations. The SSB station was in our shack and used the stacked SteppIR DB36 beams. Fred, AB1OC operating FT8 as K2K We also had an FT8 station set up in our kitchen. It used the Flex 6700 in our shack remotely and the SteppIR BigIR vertical antenna, which is in the woods next to our house, far enough from the tower to avoid interference. We live-streamed much of the operation on our Facebook page - here is one of Brian, AB1ZO operating as K2K. In addition to the operators at AB1OC and AB1QB's QTH, several members operated as K2K from their own stations. 13 Colonies Certificate With 13,622 QSOs, the Nashua Area Radio Society won the top club and New Hampshire was the 2nd state behind K2J, North Carolina. Congratulations to all of the 13 Colonies operators: Dave, K1DLM Dennis, K1LGQ (QRP) Layne, AE1N Curtis, N1CMD Jamey, AC1DC Hamilton, K1HMS Ira, KC1EMJ Charlie, W1CBD Sterling, AK1K Jerry, K1OKD Brian, AB1ZO Jon, AC1EV Mark, KC1IML Desmond, WK1V Gene, W3UA --- ### Congratulations New Techs! > Congratulations to the new techs from our recent tech class for students and teachers. Here are some upcoming activities to help new Hams get on the air. - Published: 2018-07-26 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/congratulations-new-techs/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: License Class, License Exam, Magic Band (6m), Mentor, NARS Event, Tech Night We held a technician license class for students, teachers, and parents from our HAB-3 schools and other youth outreach programs on July 16th through 19th at Hudson Memorial School. The new Hams from the class have just received their call signs and are ready to get on the air! Congratulations to the new Techs! New Ham with her CSCE Mackenzie Pooler, KC1KBU Victoria Trost, KB1KBV Karen Crivac, KC1KBW Bridget Lalmond, KC1KBX Christopher Levasseur, KC1KBY Adam Goldstein, KC1KBZ Daiel Bartus, KC1KCA Maximillian Piech, KM6UVJ Tatiana Piech, KM6UVK Here are some of the upcoming activities that the new Techs can get involved in: Join our Weekly Repeater Net - Sundays at 7:30pm - see our Amateur Radio Nets page for more info Get on Echolink August Tech Night on FT8, a very popular digital mode on 6 meters - August 14th, 7:00pm at the First Church Nashua Family Picnic - August 18th at Greeley Park in Nashua ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY - August 19th at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH - we will be control operators so Techs can participate Fox Hunts - Stay tuned to our forums for announcements when the Foxes are out Open House - Get your HT programmed, make your first contact, train for your first contest (ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY) - August 12th at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH Customize your QRZ page Sign up for our General License Class in November and start studying! If you haven't yet joined the Nashua Area Radio Society, you can do so at https://www. n1fd. org/join-us/ Tech Students Tuning an Antenna Thanks to the following members who helped out with the license class as instructors, giving demos, updating tech class materials, donating equipment, and as VEs: Dan Pooler, AC1EN Abby Finchum, AB1BY Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Tom Mahon, AB1NS Frank Swiech, N1DGQ Dave Merchant, K1DLM Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL Niece Haynes, KA1ULN Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB --- ### Significant Changes in Store for FT8 and MSK144 with WSJT-X 2.0 > WSJT-X co-developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, has announced that major changes are coming to the FT8 and MSK144 digital protocols when WSJT-X 2.0... - Published: 2018-07-26 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/wsjt-x-2-0/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Field Day, On The Air WSJT-X co-developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, has announced that major changes are coming to the FT8 and MSK144 digital protocols when WSJT-X 2. 0 arrives in a few months. Taylor said version 2. 0 should be ready for prime time by January. “Much of the necessary programming is finished,” Taylor said in a post to the Packrats reflector. “Many of the new features have been tested on the air, and we find them to work well. ” Source: Significant Changes in Store for FT8 and MSK144 with WSJT-X Version 2. 0 Some of the more interesting additions planned include: Support for Field Day Exchanges Support for the ARRL RTTY Roundup Support for user-defined telemetry messages Support for Telemetry messages (could be useful for a future long-range HF HAB radio system). See Joe's whitepaper here for more details. Looks like we'll see a beta in October... Fred, AB1OC --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society August Member Activities > The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold two member activities the weekend of August 18-19. They are our family picnic and the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. - Published: 2018-07-26 - Modified: 2022-04-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/26/august-member-activities/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Fox Hunting, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air We have two great member activities coming up on August 25th and August 19th. Family Picnic We will hold our annual family picnic on Saturday, August 15th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. This is the same day as the Greeley Park Art Show. The picnic will be a potluck lunch. To sign up to bring a dish, see the forum post https://www. n1fd. org/forums/topic/family-picnic-sign-up/ Fox on the Loose We will start to gather around 10:00 am and lunch will be served at noon. Rumor has it that some foxes may be on the loose around Greeley Park during the picnic! Directions can be found on the club event calendar. ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY We will be hosting a multi-op entry for the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY on Sunday, August 19th. The contest starts at 18:00z (2:00 pm local time) and ends at 00:00z on Monday (8:00 pm local time Sunday). To be eligible for the rookie roundup, you must have received your first license in 2016, 2017 or 2018 OR have never made a RTTY mode QSO. Certificate from 2017 Rookie Roundup RTTY We will operate with the N1FD callsign from AB1QB/AB1OC's QTH. We will hold an elmering session before the contest starting at 1:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th at AB1QB/AB1OC's QTH. Please plan to attend the elmering session if you want to operate in the contest and have never operated from our station or never operated RTTY. We will also help the newly licensed Hams to program their HTs at this time. You can sign up by sending an email to Anita at ab1qb@arrl. net. Please let me know what times you are available and whether you plan to attend the elmering session on August 12th. Operating slots are first come, first serve so be sure to sign up soon! We hope to see you at one or both of the member activities in August! --- ### A 6m Es Season to Remember > 2018 has been a summer 6m Es (E-Skip) season to remember. The Es openings have been strong this year and they are continuing into the second half of July... - Published: 2018-07-24 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/24/6m-es-season/ - Categories: Digital, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Magic Band (6m), Tech Night, VHF/UHF 2018 has been a summer 6m E-Skip (Es) season to remember. The Es openings have been strong this year and they are continuing into the second half of July. We are enjoying almost daily openings to E... Source: A 6m Es Season to Remember If you are interested in trying the 6m Band, plan on attending our August Tech Night. We've changed our plans and will be talking about getting started with the FT8 mode and how it can be used on the 6m and HF bands. The preceding link is an excellent source of information on how to get started with FT8. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society Forges Great Relationship with Hudson Memorial School > Nashua Area Radio Society continues to grow its amateur radio youth outreach programs by forging a relationship with local middle school. - Published: 2018-07-20 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/20/amateur-radio-youth-outreach-hms/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: High Altitude Balloon, License Class, Mentor, Space, Youth Outreach Over the course of the past year, I have found myself the benefactor of the most amazing partnership with the Nashua Area Radio Society. I can say that I have come from a point of not knowing anything about Amateur Radio to holding an Extra Class License thanks to the knowledge and generosity of the club members who have dedicated their time to helping others come to know and understand the radio sciences. I have found what makes this dedication even more valuable is the clubs growing outreach to the schools and students of Southern New Hampshire. Last summer I was fortunate enough to attend Honeywell's Teacher Space Camp as one of three New Hampshire representatives. It was there that I learned of the possibility to bring an Amateur Radio contact with the International Space Station (ARISS). I decided to pursue this opportunity for Hudson Memorial School students back in September of 2017. The presenter encouraged us to work with local radio clubs to make our chances more successful. I never imagined that when I picked up the phone and reached out to Fred Kemmerer and the Nashua Area Radio Club that I would be opening up a much larger world to the students and staff of the Hudson School District. After my initial contact, I was able to set up a meeting with Fred at Hudson Memorial School. In that meeting, I was able to work to complete our application for the ARISS contact, make arrangements for my students to become the largest number of students to become involved in the HAB 3 project and learn more about licensing opportunities for myself and my students. I was invited to attend a club meeting and learned more about the generous outreach for students from the club. I was slowly falling in love with a new hobby that only months before didn't know existed. Over the course of the remaining school year, I can say that the club members and Nashua Area Radio Society continued to impress students with their knowledge and love of the hobby. Fred, Abby, and Jamey came to HMS during our STEM night allowing students to practice Morse code, learn about HAM radio, and learn about Fox Hunting. Fred, Jamey, and Brian S. came to HMS over the course of 6 weeks to teach the science behind the High Altitude Balloon launch they would be involved in during the month of June and demonstrate interactive activities such as Morse Code, Fox Hunting, and making amateur radio contacts. The students' were enthralled and engaged in the educational program that was presented to them by the club. As a teacher, I found it very easy to work with the other presenters to easily tie the topics into our curriculum. During this time we also learned of our successful application to earn an ARISS contact in the Fall of 2018. I know it isn't typical to receive a contact in your first attempt. Thanks to all of the work that was done by the club members to make sure we would be equipped to properly host such a great event. I am sure the students of Hudson will enjoy this once in a lifetime event. In June we finally launched HAB 3. The students were able to analyze the data and come to understand how the subjects they had been taught all year were connected. We also decided to host ARRL Field Day at Hudson Memorial School. Once again, members shared their knowledge of the hobby with students from the entire area as they visited the field day site. Field Day is truly a site to see and participate in for anyone. Which brings me to the past week. Fred, Abby, Hamilton, and newly minted Extra Class Operator, me, worked with a group of nine students and two educators to help them earn their Technician class license. We took a class that had been offered in a two-day format and turned it into a - format that would be more palatable for students of a younger age to understand. Fred and the other instructors also incorporated a lot of hands-on activities that put what was being learned in the class to immediate use by the students. Students from all of the HAB schools and two educators worked through the materials of the course and asked the most intriguing questions to Fred and the instructors. It was clear that the students in the class were ready to become new Hams. In this course, we're happy to see a majority of the students and adults pass their first exam and several students came very close to earning their General class license. One student I am extremely proud of is my own daughter, Mackenzie. She worked hard over the course of the week and at only 10 years old she earned her Technician license. I know that in the future that even greater things will come from the close relationship we have built between HMS and the NARS. I want to personally thank all of the members and donors that make these events possible. Your love of your hobby is infectious and this can be seen in how our students react to the great interactions and instruction that come from your members. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all you do for the students we teach. Dan, AC1EN --- ### 13 Colonies Special Event K2K New Hampshire Operations Live! - Published: 2018-07-04 - Modified: 2021-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/04/13-colonies-special-event-live/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air We have a live stream of 13 Colonies Special Event K2K New Hampshire operations from our QTH (AB1OC/AB1QB) here going on facebook. You can view the live stream video here or click to view us live below – Enjoy the pileup! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field Day 2018 Results and Memories - Published: 2018-07-04 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/07/04/field-day-2018-memories/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Contest, Field Day Well, Field Day 2018 is but a memory for us now. We have a great Field Day operation this year with many NARS members and visitors participating. Field Day 2018 QSO Map The map above shows the station that we worked during Field Day. We were able to make more contacts than last year with the balance shifting toward SSB Phone and Digital. You can see the full results and learnings from our Field Day operation here and be sure the visit our Field Day page for more details. We had great press and media coverage this year and we even made the 6 pm news on WMUR Channel 9! Folks took some really nice photos during Field Day. You can enjoy viewing some of them in the gallery above. As we do each year, we've put together a memory book video from our Field Day 2018 operation. We hope that you enjoy it. Many, many thanks to everyone who helped make our 2018 Field Day a success! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Sights from Field Day 2018 > The Nashua Area Radio Society held Field Day 2018 at the Hudson Memorial School, who also partnered with us for the most recent HAB Launch. - Published: 2018-06-30 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/30/sights-from-field-day-2018/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Antennas, ARRL, CW Class, Digital, Education and Training, Field Day, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Tower Field Day 2018 60 ft Digital Tower We had a great Field Day this year at the Hudson Memorial School! Thanks to our Field Day Chairmen, Dave Merchant, K1DLM, Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC for putting together a great Field Day for us. Our publicity chairperson, John W1SMN went above and beyond this year as we had coverage in print, video as well as on WMUR, the local Manchester ABC station! NARS 2018 Field Day on WMUR Here are links to our press coverage: WMUR Sunday News: https://www. n1fd. org. Hudson Litchfield News: http://www. areanewsgroup. com/calling-all-hams-for-a-field-day-at-hudson-memorial-school/ Hudson Community Television: http://www. hudsonctv. com/CablecastPublicSite/show/7707? channel=1 Here are a few of the sights from Field Day 2018. Join our next Meeting on Tuesday, July 3rd at 7:00 pm at the First Church Nashua for the full readout! Field Day Planning Meeting Thanks also to all of the committee chairpersons and all others who worked so hard to make this year's Field Day a great experience! Craig, N1SFT, our Transportation Chairman Step 1 is to get all of our Field Day equipment onsite from multiple locations. Our transportation chairperson, Craig, N1SFT did a great job of planning and carrying this out. Birds Eye View of Antenna Setup Many members came out on Thursday evening and Friday to set up 3 towers, with Yagis, the V-Beam, the Satellite Antenna and 13 stations! Here is a shot that was taken by Desmond, WK1V from his drone. 40-meter V-Beam The 40-meter V-Beam worked great and we got more QSOs on 40m SSB than any other band/mode in the event! Satellite Antenna The Satellite antenna was impressive to watch as it rotates around to follow the Satellite passes. Flex Radio Setup near 60 ft Tower 4 Flex Radios were the heart of our Digital and GOTA stations. They were located near the 60-foot digital tower and accessed remotely via laptops and a Maestro in the Digital/GOTA tents. Thanks to Bill Barber, NE1B and John Keslo, W1MBG for contributing their Flex Radios to the effort. And most thanks to Dave, K1DLM for setting these up and keeping them and the network running for the duration of the event! ARISS Training Adam Goldstein, a teacher from Hudson Memorial School and a sponsor of the HAB-3 effort at HMS gave us training on ARISS and how HMS was able to get a contact with the ISS, which will be this coming November. N1FD On The Air - 10A NH Guests to Field Day were greeted by our new Banner! Public Information Tent Guests could sign in and learn more about Field Day and the Nashua Area Radio Society at our Public Infomation Tent. We also had an N1MM scoreboard and a weather radar display so we could be prepared for any incoming storms. Team Finchum on the Air Jamey, AC1DC and Abby, AB1BY spent many hours on 20m and 40m SSB and made many QSOs! Scott, NE1RD on 15 meter SSB Scott, NE1RD was one of our top operators! Keith, KC1IMK working Digital Modes Keith, KC1IMK made his first digital contacts on PSK31. CW at Field Day Dennis, K1LGQ and Jean K1AVM worked CW. GOTA and 15-meter Digital Stations Here is Keith's Dad, Mark, KC1IML with coach Ira, KC1EMJ making contacts on the GOTA station. Dave Merchant, K1DLM is working on the 15m Digital station. Thanks to Dave for all the work he did in setting up and keeping the network and digital stations running! Hamilton at the 10/15/80 meter CW Station Hamilton, K1HMS, one of our 3 Field Day Chairpersons, worked CW QSOs on our 10/15/80 meter station. Curtis, Charlie, and Trish working the Satellites Curtis, N1CMD, Charlie, W1CBD, and Trish had fun working QSOs with other Field Day stations through Low Earth Orbit Satellites. Field Day Cake We had delicious food thanks to Valerie Merchant, who provide meals and drinks during setup as well as Field Day operations. We are still working on the final scoring and we'll have a final readout at the July 3rd membership meeting. Please share any pictures or video that you have from Field Day to Fred, AB1OC. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Member Spotlight, Craig N1SFT > Hi, my name is Craig T. Bailey. I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1994.  Like many hams, during our sophomore year in high school... - Published: 2018-06-26 - Modified: 2023-12-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/26/member-spotlight-craig-n1sft/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight Hi, my name is Craig T. Bailey. I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1994. Like many hams, during our sophomore year in high school, while we all were getting drivers licenses, of course, we installed citizen band radios! It didn’t take long before we realized the CB wasn’t really what we were looking for – so we were introduced to Amateur radio, and by Junior year we were licensed Techs. In ’94 we were still being called “No Code Techs” because the transition into the current technician structure was still fairly new. I joined the Central NH Radio club, and the club meetings were pretty good, and there were a couple club organized hikes, so the idea of “Summits on the air” has been with me for a long time... albeit not as the formal structured activity that it is today. Once my buddies and I started leaving for college, we all brought our HTs, and we all intended to stay active, but best-laid plans – you know how it goes. I still have my trusty Alinco DJ-F1T 2m handheld... it was state of the art with its DTMF pad, and its huge 40 memory slots: it still works, but the battery packs are totally gone... (I prefer my modern day stable including a Yaesu VX-8DR, FT-2980R, FT-817ND, FT-891, and even an old Yaesu FT-90R. ) In college, I studied classical civil engineering at the University of New Hampshire where I earned a B. Sci in Civil engineering, and then a Professional Masters Degree from the University of Maine in Surveying and Business Management. While at UNH things were just so busy that ham radio had to take a back seat. My wife and I moved to Nashua in 2000, and and we started our careers and family. I am a licensed professional engineer (PE – Civil,) and my wife Marcie is also a PE, although she’s a Mechanical Engineer. I am also a Licensed Land Surveyor, a certified septic designer, and I work for the family surveying and engineering company based in Gilford, NH. One job is never enough, so for my second job I’m a part-time professor of Civil Engineering Technology at NHTI, Concord’s Community college in Concord NH. Night classes are the reason you’ll likely not see me at many Club meetings. I teach structural engineering topics in Steel, Timber, Reinforced concrete, and of course Statics and Strength of Materials. I also teach AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD 3D, and elementary plane surveying. I’ve finally joined the Nashua Area Radio Society, and I’m sure glad to be here! When I’m not on the radio, you’ll probably find me, my wife, and our two daughters (7 and 5) camping somewhere in the RV. We love camping, and since my upgrade to General, I’ve been bringing the 100-watt radio along for night time operating from the campsite. When I’m not volunteering for NARS, my first love is with the Boy Scouts of America. I’ve been a member of the Daniel Webster Council BSA since I was 6 in 1984. I’m still a member and am currently serving as an Assistant Council Commissioner, assisting the Scoutmasters, Cubmasters, and Venture Crew Leaders put on a great program for New Hampshire’s young boys and girls. We stay pretty busy, that's for sure! Craig, N1SFT --- ### NARS Prepares for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event - Published: 2018-06-26 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/26/2018-thirteen-colonies-special-event/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, HF, NARS Event, VHF/UHF The Thirteen Colonies Special Event begin this Sunday, July 1 at 9 am EDT. The event runs for 6 days and is the largest Amateur Radio Special Event in the world. Each state that grew from one of the original Thirteen Colonies will be using a K2x call and will have a nice QSL card available for Hams who work them. There will also be a very nice certificate available for Hams who work one or more of the stations that are part of the event. 2018 Thirteen Colonies Certificate The event is celebrating its 10th year in 2018 and we have designed a new QSL card for K2K New Hampshire this year. The New Hampshire State Navy during the American Revolutionary War consisted of a single ship commissioned by the state of New Hampshire in 1779. The Hampden, a privateer owned by John Langdon, was purchased and outfitted by the state in August 1779. Our card features the Hampden. 2018 K2K QSL Card Nashua Area Radio Society operators will be operating all of the K2K New Hampshire stations this year. We will be defending our Top State and Top Club titles this year. The NARS team made 12,838 contacts during the 2017 event and we are looking forward to making lots of contacts again this year! K2K New Hampshire will be QRV on all bands 160m - 6m except for 60m. We will be operating using SSB Phone, CW, and Digital modes. We will also have a QRP station operating as K2K/QRP and some mobile stations operating as K2K/M. K2K New Hampshire, QRZ? Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Four Days of Field Day, 2018 > Field day has come and gone… but the memories burn brightly! (just like my sunburn.)  This was my first FD experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning... - Published: 2018-06-25 - Modified: 2022-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/25/four-days-field-day/ - Categories: Activities, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, On The Air, Tower Field day has come and gone... but the memories burn brightly! (just like my sunburn. ) This was my first FD experience, which is crazy since I’ve been licensed since 1994. At some point during the FD planning in our club, when the question was asked for someone to step forward to lead the transportation team, the smart ones took a step back except me... so I won that prize, so to say. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning, and the lead-up to actually executing the plan. Being relatively new to the club, trying to wrangle how to mobilize the club equipment forced me to reach out and meet a bunch of members – because this job would require teamwork. To the members who stepped up to lend a hand, their trucks, their truckin’ skills, and most importantly their time... THANK YOU. The Nashua Area Radio Society had an impressive operation, none of which could have happened without the equipment on site, organized, and delivered in an efficient manner. Starting on Thursday afternoon, the transport team began hooking trailers, loading them and making the delivery to the site - but not until after 8 PM local, which was nice, because we got to stop for dinner on the way to the site. The next morning, the transport team met again at 8 AM local at various locations to finish the move of equipment, so the site teams could finish the setup. Finally, all the gear was on site, and a small tent city was starting to emerge from the football field at Hudson Memorial School, complete with towers and antennas. Friday night, before FD started, John, KB1EEU and I were on site keeping the site secure, and that Tribander on top of that 60-foot tower was calling our names! I had never heard such little noise on 20 meters until that night. Crystal clear skies, down to about 58 degrees, we donned our sweatshirts and hooked my Yaesu FT-891 up to that Tribander... and we were into Honolulu on 20 meters. Not bad, right? It got better. We then tuned in an op who had an accent that was clearly not from New England... we were into Sydney Australia, and both of us worked some DX. My first DX, my first Field Day. Fast forward to Saturday night, the site was humming with activity, the day shift had been hitting the bands hard. I really enjoyed operating in a team environment, and once I figured out what was going on, I jumped onto a logger and while Jerry K1OKD was running, I was trying to keep up with him, getting those QSOs into the log! The night shift was my favorite time to operate. The operators of N1FD did a fantastic job, and my hat is off to the experienced hams – you guys and gals make it look easy! Staying up as late as I did put sort of a damper on how many hours I could operate while keeping my eyes open, so next year I’ll be sneaking away to grab a nap when I can. Lessons were learned that will make FD 2019 even better, including where we can improve logistics, operations, and resource management. But isn’t that the point? Sure, there is a radio sport flair to it, but aren’t we pulling all this gear out of storage, setting it up, activating, and then reversing the process to improve our ability to provide good communications? I’m glad I was involved in FD, and I hope others will come out next year and try it if they’ve never done it before. Let’s just hope FD 2019 we don’t have to pack it up and haul it back Sunday night in the pouring rain! Many thanks to the Transport team: Charlie Pentedemos, AB1ZN Charlie Dunn, W1CBD Trish, N1LOI Jeff Lalmond, KB1EXO Craig T. Bailey, N1SFT --- ### NARS Field Day on WMUR News 9 Last Night > WMUR TV Channel 9 came to our Field Day and the story appeared on the news last night.  For those of you that didn't see the show, Your can view the story... - Published: 2018-06-25 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/25/nars-field-day-tv/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Field Day, On The Air Congratulations to everyone for a wonderful Field Day this year. WMUR TV Channel 9 sent out a crew yesterday, and a story about our Field Day operation made it on the news last night at 6:00 PM. For those of you that didn't see the show, I have copied the story and we've posted it on our home page. Thanks to John, W1SMN for inviting WMUR to our Field Day! Dave, K1DLM --- ### Field Day Operators Take Note - 10m and 6m are Open > 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. FT8 will be active. - Published: 2018-06-21 - Modified: 2022-10-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/21/field-day-10m-6m/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Digital, Field Day, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, VHF/UHF 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 I made quite a few QSOs on 10m including several to the western states. 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 --- ### International Space Station Could be Active for ARRL Field Day > The folks who are operating our satellite station during Field Day this weekend will want to be sure to monitor for possible crew activity from the ISS. - Published: 2018-06-21 - Modified: 2018-07-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/21/iss-ham-radio-field-day/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Field Day, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF The folks who are operating our satellite station during Field Day this weekend will want to be sure to monitor for possible crew activity from the ISS. The following is a summary of the ISS passes at our Field Day site: --- ### Help with Water, Cookies, and Overnight Snacks > My XYL Valerie has volunteered to organize all the meals for field day this year.  Since we starting the setup process early, there are more meals... - Published: 2018-06-20 - Modified: 2018-06-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/20/cookies-snacks/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General - Tags: Field Day, NARS Event My XYL Valerie has volunteered to organize all the meals for field day this year. Since we starting the setup process early, there are more meals to accommodate than usual but we've maintained the same meal plan price as previous years. As a result, we're behind on funds and we could use some help with cookies and overnight snacks for operators. We also could use some more bottled water. If you're able to assist, please let me know. k1dlm@arrl. net is my email. Thanks & look forward to seeing everyone at the event! --- ### 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... - Published: 2018-06-20 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/20/arrl-field-day-countdown/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Field Day, High Altitude Balloon, On The Air, Satellite, Tower, Youth Outreach 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 Field Day is about training and emergency preparedness, learning about new communications technology, and having fun! 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. 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 - 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! --- ### N1FD Multiop First Place in 2017 June VHF Contest from SOTA > Chalk up another contest certificate for the Nashua Area Radio Society! We activated Pack Monadnock as part of our SOTA activities last year during the June VHF Contest. - Published: 2018-06-05 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/05/n1fd-june-vhf-contest/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Magic Band (6m), SOTA, VHF/UHF Chalk up another contest certificate for the Nashua Area Radio Society! We activated Pack Monadnock as part of our SOTA activities last year during the June VHF Contest. Anita, AB1QB, and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest Anita AB1QB, Curtis N1CMD, and I set up a battery/solar powered 6m station to work the contest and we received a certificate for our entry. Portable 6M Antenna We used a 3 element yagi on a 25 ft mast and a 100W radio for our operation and we had a lot of fun! We have another SOTA activation coming up on Mt. Kearsarge this weekend on Saturday, June 9th. You can read more about those plans here. Don't miss it! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Purchase your Food for Field Day Now > If you plan to participate in Field Day this year, you will most likely want to have a meal plan to the Field Day Cafe.  Once again, we are offering a $30 pass which includes unlimited food and drinks all weekend long.  - Published: 2018-06-03 - Modified: 2018-06-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/03/field-day-food/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General - Tags: Field Day If you plan to participate in Field Day this year, you will most likely want to have a meal plan to the Field Day Cafe. Once again, we are offering a $30 pass which includes unlimited food and drinks all weekend long. In order to plan and purchase food in advance, its critical that we account for how many people we will be serving. We ask that you send your check as soon as possible as planning is already well underway. The meals are as follows: Friday Lunch: Sandwiches, Deli Platter, Chips, Dessert Friday Supper: Grilled Chicken, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Salad, Desserts Saturday Breakfast: Donuts, juices Saturday Lunch: Hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, desserts Saturday Supper: Chicken Pasta Alfredo, Meatballs & Pasta in Sauce, Salad, Rolls, Desserts Sunday Breakfast: Cereal, Bagels, Muffins, Danish, donuts, fruit, juices Sunday Lunch: Deli sandwiches, chips, desserts To purchase a plan, please mail a check for $30. 00 made out to Valerie Merchant at 18 Burnham Rd, Windham, NH 03087. Please be sure to note your callsign on the check. If you wish to pay with cash at the next Club meeting on Tuesday, please put your cash in an envelope and write your name and callsign on the outside. Finally, if any of your spouses could offer an hour or two at meal times to help serve, it would be greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you at Field Day! Valerie and David Merchant (K1DLM) --- ### 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. - Published: 2018-06-02 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/02/sota-pota-activation-kearsarge/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: On The Air, Portable, SOTA, VHF/UHF 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 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 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 --- ### HAB-3 To Launch On Sunday – How To Track Our High-Altitude Balloon > We are planning the third launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-3) this Sunday, June 3rd between 10 am and 11 am ET. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS here in Hollis, NH. Read on to learn more about our HAB projects and how to track our HAB from anywhere in the world while it is in flight. - Published: 2018-06-01 - Modified: 2023-01-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/06/01/hab-3-launch/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We are planning the third launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-3) this Sunday, June 3rd between 10 am and 11 am ET. We will be launching locally from the Hollis-Brookline HS here in Hollis, NH. Read on to learn more about our HAB projects and how to track our HAB while it is in flight. You can learn more about our HAB projects here on our website and you can view a video about our first two HAB launches above. High-Altitude Balloon Launch Site and Weather The weather and Jetstream conditions look good for our HAB-3 launch! The jet stream has been unusually tranquil the past couple of weeks and this is going to enable us to launch locally from the High-School here in Hollis, NH. Nashua Area Radio Society members and friends are invited to join us for our launch. HAB Launch! We have been working with students at the Hudson Memorial School and World Academy here in NH. The students and their teachers will handle HAB-3 launch preparations and the launch. Launch preparations will begin on site at 9:00 am ET. HAB-3 Launch Weather The weather forecast looks great for our launch on Sunday with mostly sunny skies and moderate winds. These conditions should enable us to capture some spectacular video from HAB-3 during its flight! We are also planning to live-stream video from our HAB-3 launch and recovery to the Nashua Area Radio Society Facebook page. Tracking Our HAB I wanted to share some information about tracking our HAB as it flies. Our balloon will carry’s a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter. HAB Flight Platform The onboard APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144. 390 MHz and will transmit our HAB’s position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during HAB-3’s flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from HAB’-2s flight platform. HAB-3 will use N1FD-11 as its call sign. HAB-2 Flight Track on aprs. fi HAB-3’s APRS packets will be picked up by ground-based Digipeaters and iGates and will be relayed to aprs. fi where the HAB’s current location and flight path can be tracked. You can click on the link in the previous line to see HAB-3’s current location and flight track. HAB-3 Flight Path Prediction Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB’s flight to last a little more than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of over 110,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings HAB-3 back to the ground at a safe speed. The above predictions will likely somewhat different from HAB-3’s actual flight path. Based upon the predictions, HAB-3 will be traveling approximately 25 km between its takeoff point and landing near Devens, MA. HAB APRS Packet Information Aprs. fi will store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX. 25 packets transmitted by HAB-3 during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon’s data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes. All you need to track HAB-3 during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs. fi links here to see HAB-3’s current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive HAB-3’s telemetry directly during the flight. We will post updates on launch plans and the flight in the Youth Forum on our website. T minus 2 days and counting until HAB-3 launches... . Fred, AB1OC --- ### Hamvention 2018 > Here is our report from the Dayton Hamvention, held May 18th - 20th at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH. We visited many vendor booths to see the newest items from each, bought a few new toys, and gained knowledge at the forums. - Published: 2018-05-27 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/27/hamvention-2018/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Digital, Hamvention, Portable On May 16th, Fred, AB1OC and I traveled to Dayton, OH for the annual Hamvention, held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH for the 2nd year. Contest University 2018 The Hamvention opened on Friday, May 18th, but we attended Contest University, held at the Crowne-Plaza in Dayton on Thursday. We attended some great presentations there including one on VHF Contesting with JT modes - FT8 and MSK144 by W5ZN, Joel Harrison and one on Learning from your Log-Checking Report by Doug Grant, K1DG. We also got to hear Rob Sherwood, NC0B, report on transceiver performance. Anita, AB1QB with Dave, N1RF NARS Member Dave Michaels, N1RF recently moved to Indianapolis, which is not far from Xenia. Fred and I met up with Dave on Friday at the Hamvention. It was great to see him again. Elecraft KX2 Shack in a Box Since our Tech Night show and tell on portable and mountain-topping equipment, I have been interested in the KX2. Our first stop on Friday was the Elecraft booth where we purchased the KX2 "Shack in a Box" and some accessories to go with it. I am looking forward to using it during our upcoming SOTA activations to operate using FT8 and other digital modes. Par Endfedz portable wire antennas We also purchased some PAR EndfedZ wire antennas from LNR Precision. Burns Fisher, WB1FJ at the AMSAT Booth Next, we visited the AMSAT booth, where we chatted with NARS member, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ. Left to Right, AB1QB, Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS Mentor, and AB1OC We also met Dave Jordan, AA4KN, who is the ARISS Mentor for the upcoming ISS Crew Contact with Hudson Memorial School. Yaesu's newly announced transceiver, the FTdx101D We saw a few newly announced items while visiting the vendor buildings. Yaesu announced the FTdx101D. Kenwood's new transceiver, the TS-890S Kenwood announced the TS-890S, which is pictured above. SteppIR's new SDA-2000 Controller We also saw SteppIR's new controller, the SDA-2000 OptimizIR FlexRadio Power Genius XL Amplifier We also saw the FlexRadio Power Genius XL 1500 Watt Amplifier, which recently started shipping. Rotating Mast System soon to be available from Buddipole We also visited Chris Drummond, W6HFP from Buddipole and he showed us their new MastWerks Mast/Tripod system. Information on GOLF Series of Satellites at AMSAT Forum We attended a few forums at the Hamvention including one from FlexRadio on SDR Technology. Especially interesting was the AMSAT forum, where we learned about upcoming Satellite launches, including the GOLF Program (to follow the FOX Program). Satellites in the GOLF program will have higher orbits resulting in larger footprints and also will incorporate new technology. Overall, we had a great time at the Hamvention and we're looking forward to going back in 2019! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Field Day 2018 is Almost Here! > Field Day is rapidly approaching and we've been working to plan our 2018 operation. We began our Field Day planning by setting goals for our operation. Our Field Day centers around being a learning experience for all involved with a special focus on getting new members, new Hams, and young people on the air. - Published: 2018-05-27 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/27/field-day-2018-2/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Field Day, Fox Hunting, HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, Satellite, Station Building, Tech Night, Tower, Youth Outreach Field Day is an Emergency Communication Preparedness, Communications Training, STEM Learning, and fun activity all rolled up into one event! Field Day 2018 is rapidly approaching and we've been working for over a month now to plan our 2018 operation. Field Day at the Nashua Area Radio Society is a major undertaking so we decided to share the Chairperson role among three members: Dave Merchant, K1DLM Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Team Leaders It takes a great deal of support from our members to put together an operation at the level we do it at NARS. We've had many NARS members volunteer as Team Leaders to plan and pull together the many elements of our upcoming Field Day. Many, many thanks to all of our Team Leaders and to everyone who is contributing to support Field Day 2018! Field Day 2018 Plans & Goals Our Goals We began our planning by setting some goals for our operation. Field Day at NARS centers around being a learning experience for all involved with a special focus on getting new members, new Hams, and young people on the air. 2018 Field Day Site Layout at Hudson Memorial School Our new site at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH gives us the opportunity to experience Field Day at a new site. Our 2018 operation will double as our Open House for our High-Altitude Balloon program schools. Space Communications Ground Station It will also provide an opportunity to test the space communications ground station that we are building to support an ISS Crew Contact with the students at Hudson Memorial School in the fall. Station Plans High Tech SDR System We always like to incorporate new elements into our setup each year. This year we'll be increasing the scope of our Software Defined Radio Setup and using it to add more Digital Stations. Field Day Digital Station We are planning a 10 Alpha station for our 2018 operation. With the additional Get On The Air Station (GOTA), free VHF station on 6m and the additional satellite ground station and 2m/70cm GoKit for Talk-in and Messaging use, we will have a total of 14 transmitters on the air at Field Day 2018! Here's the planned breakdown for station bands and mode: SSB Stations - on 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m/75m CW Stations - on 40m, 20m, and 15m/10m/75m Digital Stations - on 40m, 20m, and 15m/10m/75m Free VHF Station - on 6m (all modes) Satellite Station - on 2m/70cm/23cm (all modes) GOTA Station - on 15m/10m/75m SSB Talk-in/Messaging Station - on 2m/70cm FM SDR-Based GOTA Station Our GOTA will also use our Software Defined Radio system and share antennas with the Digital Stations. This approach provides an easy to understand and high-tech view radio equipment and SSB voice operations on the HF bands. Generator Power We will again be in the Alpha category using off-grid power via generators. We will also have a solar/battery setup that we will use to make some contacts. Antenna Plans 60 ft Digital Tower Antennas are a large part of any Field Day station and NARS brings a lot of top-notch equipment. We are planning to put up three towers again this year and all three will have yagi antennas for 20m/15m/10m along with wire antennas for 80m and 40m. 40m V-Beam High-Performance Wire Antenna The 40m V-Beam wire antenna will be back for SSB and it has been optimized both electrically and mechanically. Learning Opportunities Setting up a Tower at Field Day The setup of our antenna farm is a good example of one of the many learning opportunities at Field Day. Hamilton, K1HMS, and Jamey, AC1DC have been conducting Antenna Parties to give members a chance to learn how to build, setup, and tune our antennas. We'll also be providing extensive training and information about all aspects of setup and how to operate during our June 5th Membership and June 12th Tech Night Meetings. Team Operating at Field Day Learning to operate is another important aspect of Field Day. It's a lot of fun for folks who are new to Field Day or to a particular operating mode such as CW or Digital to team up with a more experienced operator to operate as a Team. Doing this for your first hour of operating time will help you get up to speed on how to use a station to operate. You can also help out the more experienced operator by helping to capture call signs and exchanges and to log contacts. Food, Fun, and Videotape at Field Day... A Feast at Field Day Valerie Merchant has again volunteered to provide food for us during our operation. Valerie did a great job with this last year and we are very happy to have her do this again this year. THANK YOU, Valerie! WK1V's Video Drone Also, Desmond WK1V will be bringing his drone again this year. Desmond took some amazing aerial video of our 2017 operation. Check out the video which follows. Our 2017 Field Day Highlights Video Important: Sign Up & Don't Miss These Meetings Our Field Day sign-up for Station Setup/Takedown, Operating, and Meals is available in our Members Forum on n1fd. org (don't forget to log in to our website to view this link). Take a minute to follow the previous link and sign-up to be part of Field Day 2018! If you are not a member or are having trouble accessing the sign-up, please contact us at fd@n1fd. org and we'll answer your questions and help you to sign up. Field Day Station Elements and Training Also, we'd like to see as many members as possible attend our June 5th Membership and June 12th Tech Night Meetings. We will be sharing lots of information and how-to material and training between these two meeting. Please try to attend both to learn and take full advantage of the fun at Field Day. You don't have to be an old hand or even have ever participated in Field Day before to have a lot of fun. Just try to make it out to these meeting and we'll get you up to speed... --- ### A 40m High Performance Antenna for Field Day > We have been using a 3-element 40m wire beam antenna for Field Day. The antenna uses three guyed 50 ft fiberglass masts and three inverted-V style elements separated by a little over 50 ft. Recently, I decided to try automatic optimization software on the antenna to improve it... - Published: 2018-05-25 - Modified: 2018-06-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/25/40m-v-beam-antenna-optimization/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Homebrew, Software The Nashua Area Radio Society has been using a 3-element 40m wire beam antenna for Field Day for the last several years. The antenna uses three guyed 50 ft. fiberglass masts from Max-Gain Systems. The antenna uses three inverted-V style elements separated by a little over 50 ft. Since we are in the northeastern United States, we can point the antenna on a fixed, 260° heading and it covers the entire U. S. well. 40m V-Beam - EZNEC Antenna View Our 40m V-Beam antenna was initially designed using EZNEC 5. 0. It was manually optimized for decent gain and front to back performance and it worked quite well. Recently, we decided to try automatic optimization software on the antenna as part of a tune-up on the design for Field Day 2018. After looking around on the Internet a bit, we discovered a software package called AutoEZ which looked ideal the my project. You can read more about the optimization project and see the results via the link below. Source: A 40m High Performance Antenna for Field Day | Our HAM Station Our Field Day Wire Antenna information package has been updated to reflect the results of the optimization work. We have also added additional information to make the setup and tuning of our wire antenna including the 40m V-Beam easier. You can see the information package here. --- ### Sights from the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at NEAR-Fest > We have been working on project to scale our open house activities to provide an opportunity to learn about Amatuer Radio and to showcase some of the modern, "hi-tech" aspects of the Amatuer Radio Service. This project was debuted at the NETT event at NEAR-Fest. - Published: 2018-05-17 - Modified: 2022-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/17/nett-sights/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: CW, Education and Training, Field Day, HF, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Space, Youth Outreach We have been doing Amateur Radio open house activities as part of our High-Altitude Balloon projects and Kids Day for some time now. These events help young people to learn about and have fun with Amateur Radio and help us to create a STEM learning experience based upon Amateur Radio. ARRL Kids Day 2018 Earlier this year, we began working on a project to scale our open house activities up to become an activity that we could host at local Ham Fests. We wanted to expand the scope of this activity to appeal to young people and all Hams to provide an opportunity to learn about Amateur Radio and to showcase some of the modern, "high-tech" aspects of the Amateur Radio Service. This project was debuted at the NETT event at NEAR-Fest. Young People at NETT Concurrently, Bill Barber, NE1B who is a Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) member began working on a youth outreach event for the NEAR-Fest event held in Deerfield, NH. We got together with Bill, the NEAR-Fest leadership, and others to create the New England Tech Trek (NETT) at NEAR-Fest. We held our first NETT event earlier this month. NETT Banner at the Display Entrance NARS contributed 10 displays to the initial NETT event including: A Satellite Communication Display and a Computer Controlled Satellite Get On The Air Station A High Altitude Balloon Display An HF DXing Display which included two Remotely Operated HF Stations using SDR Technology A Mobile HF Communications Display and GOTA A Field Day and Emergency Communications Display A Morse Code Communications Display A Portable Operating/SOTA Display A Radio Direction Finding (Fox Hunting) Display A Kit Building and Raspberry Pi Computer Display An information display about Licensing, Elemering, and Operating Activities at the Nashua Area Radio Society We were able to secure the N1T Special Event callsign for the event and we used it to make over 450 contacts on a combination of the four GOTA stations that we had at NETT. We should have our NETT Special Event QSL cards back from our printer shortly. NETT N1T QSL Card Our GOTA Stations were among the most popular elements at NETT. Burns, WB1FJ ran our satellite GOTA station. He even managed to create a pileup or two as N1T on the birds! Satellite GOTA Quite a few folks made satellite contacts using N1T . Also, the satellite station antennas which were located outside the display building were interesting to many folks. Satellite Antennas Our Remote HF GOTA Stations featured FlexRadio Maestros and a nice DXing and Station Building Display. Dave, K1DLM and myself, AB1OC made our stations available to support the two HF GOTA setups and NETT. HF GOTA Ira, KC1EMJ helped several young folks to make their first HF contacts and Abby, AB1BY anchored our special event N1T station using the second setup. N1T Special Event Station The SDR-based remote stations and our Satellite GOTA helped us to demonstrate some of the "Hi-Tech" aspects of Amateur Radio to young people and to all Hams who attended NEAR-Fest. We live streamed our GOTA activities to Facebook so that the folks who worked us could see our operation in real-time. Tony, KC1DXL hosted our display on High Altitude Balloons (HAB) carrying Amateur Radio. The HAB display got lots of interest from the folks who attended NETT. High Altitude Balloon Display Jamey, AC1DC and Connor, KC1GGX put together our displays on Fox Hunting, Morse Code, and portable operating. Their displays provided a great introduction to these activities. Fox Hunting Display Anita, AB1QB and Tom, AB1NS created a nice display on kit building and Raspberry Pi projects in Amateur Radio. This display was a popular one as well. Kits and Computers Display Bill, NE1B also engaged several other groups who provided displays at NETT. The Robotics and Drone were among other popular displays. Robots Display at NETT The following photo archive contains some pictures from the event. There are many good memories there. Many, many members of NARS contributed a great deal of time and energy to making this project a success and I'd like to thank everyone who helped us! ! I'd especially like to thank Hamilton, K1HMS, Mike, K1WVO, Craig, N1SFT, Charlie, AB1ZN, Bob, W1OLD, and Dave, K1DLM for their help with this event. Without everyone's support, the NETT event and our presence there would not have been possible. We are looking forward to replicating the most popular elements from our displays at out Ham Fest events going forward. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Why Does The Antenna Formula 234/f Work? > The antenna formula 234/f is a handy way to estimate the size of a ¼ wave antenna element based on the desired frequency for the antenna. Here is how to derive that number using only other constants and conversion ratios. - Published: 2018-05-15 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/15/antenna-formula/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training The formula 234/f is a handy way to estimate the size of a ¼ wave antenna element based on the desired frequency for the antenna. Here is how to derive that number using only other constants and conversion ratios. How big is a ¼ wave for a given frequency? We can use the band name as a hint (14 MHz is called 20m) but we need a more exact size. The speed of light in a vacuum (c) is 3 x 108meters per second. The wavelength (λ) for a given frequency (usually referred by ν, but we’ll call f) is defined to be c/λ. Wavelength is the speed of light divided by the frequency. So, the wavelength in meters is: We only want to know the size of a single cycle for this frequency so we can divide both the numerator and denominator by a million. That makes the numbers much smaller! Wavelength in meters is now: That is, wavelengths in meters uses this simple formula: But, we want this in feet (because we’re Americans) so we need to convert meters to feet. One meter is about 3. 28 feet. So, convert wavelengths to feet: which is But we don’t want a whole wavelength; we want just a quarter of that for our dipole arm. Divide the whole thing by four. which gives us Why is this 246 and not 234? This is because we are using the speed of light as the speed of the current in the wire. But, nothing goes as fast as light but light! We need to put in the velocity factor for the wire (which is relative to the speed of light) to know how big a quarter wave is in the wire. Choose 0. 95 as the velocity factor as a guess for most antenna wire. That is, the charge propagates down the wire at about 95% of the speed of light. which gives us the formula The formula 234/f isn’t “magic”; it is just a distillation of the simple formula speed-of-light/frequency with all the unit conversions and velocity factor assumptions baked-in. ** Dipole animation from wikipedia. org Posted by Scott, NE1RD --- ### CW and Ham Radio in the family - Published: 2018-05-14 - Modified: 2018-12-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/14/cw-and-ham-radio-in-the-family/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter The clipping is from the US Army Airforce training center, 8th AF, Reno, NV during WW2. Sgt. Carol Briggs (USAAF) lead instructor, is my wife's late mother. This is a Level 2 class. Those entering could already copy/send 6 wpm and had to copy/send 20 wpm to become a USAAF radioman. It was a 4 week 6 day a week, 12 hour class, broken up with short segments on radio theory and operation and meal breaks. Shortly after this photo was taken my future father in law returned from flying his 35 missions from Lavenham, England over Germany as a radioman (Capt USAAF) in a B-17 (487th bomb group). 1/3 of the aircraft never made it back to England. It wasn't long after they met and married. My wife's late brother was a Ham in the 1960s. I'm told he had plenty of help learning CW. While my wife isn't interested in radio she feels it is part of her roots and doesn't seem to mind a few wires in the trees. --- ### SSTV Images from the ISS - Cosmonautics Day Event > The Amatuer Radio gear on the International Space Station (ISS) supports digital and SSTV modes as well as FM voice communications. The astronauts onboard periodically fire up the SSTV system and transmit images to commemorate milestones in space travel. - Published: 2018-05-10 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/10/iss-sstv-2/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space The Amatuer Radio gear on the International Space Station (ISS) supports digital and SSTV modes as well as FM voice communications. The astronauts onboard periodically fire up the SSTV system and transmit images to commemorate milestones in space travel. The following is an example of receiving one of these images using our Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 - ARISS Russia recently sent SSTV images to commemorate Cosmonautics Day. The recent SSTV activation sent a sent of 12 images over a 1 week period. We were able to receive the full set using our Portable Satellite Ground Station. You can view each of the images in the gallery below. Receiving these images is not difficult. All that is needed is a sound card connected to a radio which can receive transmissions from the ISS and the MMSSTV software to decode to images. You can read more about how to do this here. Its a lot of fun to collect SSTV images from the ISS and we are looking forward to the next set of SSTV transmissions from the ISS. Fred, AB1OC --- ### New England Tech Trek at NEAR-Fest this Weekend > NEAR-Fest and the Deerfield Fair Association will be presenting a SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Exposition for young people and at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in Deerfield, NH on May 4th and 5th 2018 as part of NEAR-Fest XXIII. The event is the New England Tech Trek. - Published: 2018-05-02 - Modified: 2022-03-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/05/02/new-england-tech-trek-at-near-fest-this-weekend/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities NEAR-Fest and the Deerfield Fair Association will be presenting a SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Exposition for young people and at the Deerfield Fairgrounds in Deerfield, NH on May 4th and 5th 2018 as part of NEAR-Fest XXIII. The event is the New England Tech Trek. Nashua Area Radio Society and the New England Tech Trek Nashua Area Radio Society members will be at many of the tables in NETT. The event is for young people but people of all ages are invited and it will be a great opportunity to learn about many aspects of the hobby. Visit our tables to learn about: Welcome and Licensing Kit Building and Raspberry Pi Projects Morse Code Fox Hunting SOTA and Portable Operation Field Day / Emcomm High Altitude Balloons Raspberry Pi Projects View from a High Altitude Balloon We will also have 5 GOTA stations: 2 HF GOTAs A Satellite GOTA Mobile Communications/GOTA Repeater GOTA as part of the Field Day Table Mobile HF If you can't make it to Deerfield this year, you can contact our GOTA stations on the air. We will be using the Special Event Call N1T. The New England Tech Trek will be held on Friday, May 4th from 10am to 5pm and Saturday, May 5th from 9 am to 2 pm. See the attached brochure for more information by clicking on the link below. NEAR-Fest NETT v3 --- ### My Spectrum Analyzer Addiction (and Education) - Published: 2018-04-30 - Modified: 2019-09-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/spectrum-analyzer/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Test Equipment I recently returned to amateur radio after a 50+ year absence, and have been assembling a collection of vintage radio gear, and vintage and more modern test instruments to maintain this gear. While I have a long, strong background in electronics and am familiar with and have used a wide range of test instruments over the years, prior to a few months ago I had never seen a spectrum analyzer and was only vaguely aware of their purpose and functioning. While cruising the classifieds at eHam, QRZ, and QTH a few months ago, I happened to notice an Agilent 8560E spectrum analyzer in working condition for sale at a very low price. After doing a little research online, I emailed the seller with an offer at an even lower price, and he accepted my offer. A few days later, this beast arrived, all 40+ pounds of it. It did not come with a user manual, but I was able to purchase one on eBay and did enough reading to figure out how to fire the SA up and do a preliminary checkout. Sure enough, it worked just like the manual said it should, and was in very good cosmetic condition, with just a few minor battle scars on the case. This instrument listed for about $50,000 in the mid-eighties when it was in production. So, with this acquisition, I thought I was set for life as far as SAs go. Wrong! A few months later, I was cruising the classifieds again, looking for some Collins S-line gear and happened across a listing for a Tektronix 495P spectrum analyzer which was described as “works and looks like new,” and, again, at a tiny fraction of the $30,000+ original selling price around 1990. I was skeptical of the “looks new” description, but “new” is good, so I asked the seller to confirm this. He emailed some details of the history of the instrument and more photos, all of which convinced me that he was accurately representing this instrument. The “want” side of my brain quickly overcame the “need” side and I emailed an offer which he accepted. As before, a few days later, this beast arrived in the original Tektronix shipping carton, weighing 70 lbs; this weight included the SA, hard copy user and service manuals, and a few accessories. And it did, indeed, look like new. Turns out some branch of the U. S. government had purchased a bunch of these, sealed them in new, unopened cartons in humidity resistant packaging, and stashed them in a warehouse for years, finally offering them for sale as surplus much later, when the seller I purchased from bought one. And after reviewing the manual and stepping through the initial checkout chapter, I found it did work to spec. Now I was really set for spectrum analyzers! Wrong! A few weeks later, the guy I bought this one from emailed and told me he had another Tek 495P that “almost works,” and which he had acquired for parts, as the 495P has not been supported by Tek for many years. Then he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: he would give it to me if I would pay the shipping cost from CA, about $70. How could I possibly say “no”? Here we go again! It took him three months to get around to shipping it, but eventually a 50 lb package arrived. Having seen quite a few “parts” 495s for sale on eBay, I wasn’t expecting much. But, I was pleasantly surprised. While it could not be accurately described as “looks new,” it was quite decent for an instrument manufactured in 1991 (according to the Tek inspection tags inside), and, it worked! Well, ... sort of. In stepping through the initial checkout section of the user manual, it displays traces that resemble the illustrations in the manual, however, according to the messages displayed at boot up (this is a microcomputer controlled instrument), it thinks it is a 492AP model SA rather than a 495P. The 49x series of SAs share a common base of microcomputer code, with the specific model type selected by DIP switches on a memory board. There is enough functionality that I decided to try to fix it rather than use it for parts, and I am now launched on that path. This is an amazingly complex instrument. The two-volume service manual runs some 700+ pages. Fortunately, the problem I am seeing is in the microcomputer controller subsystem, where I am somewhat competent, and not in the analog/RF subsystems, where I am not. This repair effort has travelled an interesting path, along which I have met (online) some helpful and accomplished people and found a number of resources I was not previously aware of. One of these is the TekScopes@groups. io forum which is mainly focused on keeping vintage Tektronix gear running. This has been a great learning experience and I am confident the fix is close at hand. We’ll see! Still much to learn, however. My cup runneth over with spectrum analyzers. I’m not sure if there is a 12 step program for SA addiction, but I may need one. I find myself still eagerly looking at for sale listings. I am thinking that I should at least have one of the modern Rigol SAs to balance out my vintage collection. Sure seems rational to me! Rick, K8EZB --- ### Spring 2018 Extra Class > Our Spring 2018 Extra Class was a big success, with all 5 students passing the exam and receiving their Extra Licenses. The class was held on April 27 - 29. - Published: 2018-04-30 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/spring-2018-extra-class/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class We held our final license class of the semester, the Spring 2018 Extra Class, on April 27-29. The first 2 days were held at AB1OC and AB1QB's QTH. This allowed us to do many demos to re-enforce the materials in the class and help the students to figure out what they want to do with their new privileges. Fred, AB1OC give the Spring 2018 Extra Class students a tour of his Antenna Farm Congratulations to the new Extras! Jerry Doty, K1OKD Alicia Clarke, KC1IEZ Sean Baker, K1SDB Jon Turner, KC1IXN Steve Schultz, WB8WGY Thanks go out to all of our hardworking instructors and VEs, without whom this would not be possible. Extra thanks to Merle Insinga, W1MSI, for all of her help with keeping the presentations on track and getting lunch! --- ### HAB 3 Update > HAB 3 Update: We are working with 4 area schools in preparation for the HAB 3 Launch, which will take place in the next few weeks. Here are some of the activities we have done with the students. - Published: 2018-04-30 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/hab-3-update/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, License Class, Space, Youth Outreach HAB 3 Update: We have been working with four schools this winter and spring in preparation for the HAB 3 launch in the next few weeks. The schools are: Hudson Memorial School, Hudson, NH World Academy, Nashua, NH Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua, NH Merrimack High School, Merrimack, NH HMS Students on the air during HAB Session HAB Instruction Hudson Memorial School and World Academy are new to the HAB program - we have been giving weekly sessions to the students on the science behind the HAB. This year, we added a new topic to the curriculum, Space Communications which has proved to be popular. World Academy Students in HAB Program Advanced HAB Program The other 2 schools, Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School have been through the HAB curriculum in the past. We have developed a new program involving kit building and CW that has proven to be very popular. We have hosted kit builds with both schools to build the Pixie 40 m QRP kit. There was great interest from both schools in the kit build and all kits were built successfully. Bishop Guertin High School Students building Pixie Kit The 2nd part of the activity is a CW competition. Teams of 2 students compete in a competition at each school. They use their Pixie kits with Keys connected to send a message to their teammate. The team that copies the CW most accurately in the least time wins the prize, which is an Oscilloscope kit and another Pixie kit. We have held the competition with the students from Merrimack High School and it was a great success and all students, teachers and NARS members who elmered them had a great time! Merrimack High School Morse Code Competition Winners We also helped 3 students from Merrimack and Bishop Guertin High Schools to earn their Tech Licenses during our Spring Tech License Class. HAB 3 Launch Plans HAB-1 Launch! The HAB 3 Launch will happen on a Saturday or Sunday over the next few weeks. We are watching the jet stream and launch predictions and will schedule it on a day where the conditions look good. Stay tuned to the website for more info when the date is scheduled. --- ### Field Day Plans 2018 > Our Field Day plans are underway for this year. We will hold Field Day at the Hudson Memorial School. Join our planning meeting on Monday May 7th. - Published: 2018-04-30 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/field-day-2018/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Field Day, NARS Event ARRL Field Day 2018 will be held on June 23 - 24 this year. Our Field Day plans are starting to shape up. We have 4 co-chairpersons this year: Dave Merchant, K1DLM Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Field Day Plans We had finalized selecting the site, which is the Hudson Memorial School. Field Day site at Hudson Memorial School We plan to operate in the 10A category. We will be adding 3 digital stations to get to the 10A. Digital Field Day Station Field Day Planning Meeting Join us at our first Field Day Planning meeting on May 7th at 7:00 pm at the Nashua Public Library. We can use many volunteers to put up towers, operate CW, put up Wire Antennas and much more. Hope to see you there! --- ### CW going Viral > If CW goes viral there will no longer be a shortage of CW ops. Every child will be proficient by the age of  10... - Published: 2018-04-30 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/30/cw-viral/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW Haptic sensors (touch and feel) related to smartphones and tablets for gamers and those with sight or hearing issues have been a topic for years. Within the last year trade and scientific journals published by Google, Psychology Today and others have been reporting studies that show haptic devices can improve learning. The haptic sensor in the form of a tap to remote parts of the body (not fingers) has been used to learn typing, piano, and even CW. While interesting from a psychology perspective a recent article suggested where this might be headed. Imagine the utility of being able to "text" by tapping a message on an Apple watch or read your SMS messages via a tapping that only you can feel? The teacher, boss, or spouse would not suspect a thing. If this goes viral there will no longer be a shortage of CW ops. Every child will be proficient by the age of 10... Here is a link to a related article; https://www. scientificamerican. com/article/how-to-learn-morse-code-mdash-semiconsciously/ Hamilton, K1HMS --- ### Daiwa CNW-419 Tuner Repair > Although I am brand new to the hobby of ham radio, I have been playing around with electronics and digital circuits for as long as I can remember. I am a software engineer by trade and have always loved the problem-solving challenges that software and hardware engineering offers. Enter my Diawa Tuner repair project. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2018-04-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/26/daiwa-tuner-repair/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Education and Training, Homebrew Although I am brand new to the hobby of ham radio, I have been playing around with electronics and digital circuits for as long as I can remember. I am a software engineer by trade and have always loved the problem-solving challenges that software and hardware engineering offers. Given my unfamiliarity with the ham radio world, however, I thought it might be fun to find a project in that space. Enter the Daiwa CNW-419 manual tuner. Our Next Victim My father found this poor soul on eBay, and it was in a bit of a bad way. It had some missing feet, the tuner button “didn’t work”, and there seemed to be a couple of loose pieces in the pictures, but generally the interior of the tuner looked very clean. After looking up some reviews of the tuner and finding nothing but praise, I thought what the heck, paid the $75 and took the plunge. It arrived carefully packaged, and after unwrapping it, I found that the tuner switch was indeed broken. In addition, the switch to change the antenna (it supports two antennas), didn’t seem to be working properly either. Both of the switches were push buttons, and neither of them would latch. Taking It All Apart A first look under the covers Time to take the cover off and see what was going on. With just the top cover off, we can see the two problematic switches in the back. If we’re going to get to those switches, a lot more stuff is going to need to come off. After removing the bottom, and disconnecting the back panel, we get a better view of the switches. Some black charring there, perhaps some RF arcing took place? Looking at the rest of the box and how neat and organized the soldering and wiring is, this looks out of place. I am beginning to suspect something is amiss here. After pulling the switches completely out, there definitely appeared to be some sort of overload. Or perhaps just bad soldering? More investigation is clearly required. Our problematic switches The Game is Afoot Examining the part number for the switches I pulled out, I was able to find the equivalent switch on DigiKey. The schematic for this switch indicated that it was simple non-latching push button ON-ON DPDT switch. Clearly not the original part, as the tuner front panel artwork indicates that these are latching push button switches. At this point, I headed back to google to see if I could find what the original switch was, but could find nothing. Finally, I stumbled across an interior shot of the tuner from a guy in Thailand. After some zooming, it looked like an ordinary latching switch. But First Some Math... The tuner is rated for a maximum of two hundred watts, so we should figure out what our switches need to be able to handle. We don’t want to trust the previous components ratings since they were not original. One hundred watts at fifty Ohms yields an RMS voltage of about seventy volts which is what my receiver puts out. Since the tuner is rated to two hundred watts our max RMS voltage should be one hundred volts. 125VAC switches are plentiful, and to be safe we should also probably shoot for a switch that can handle around five amps. Eight dollars and fifty-two cents later, we have a pair of switches rated at 125VAC and seven amps. Perfect. Putting It All Together I took lots of photos and notes while removing the switches but knowing that they could have possibly been installed incorrectly, I took a little extra care in laying out the connections for the new switches. The switch for the antennas was straight forward enough. This was simply a DPDT doubled up and wired as a SPST with the center poles connecting to the center pole output of the tuning circuit switch. The new switches installed The switch for the tuning circuit was a little peculiar. When the tuning circuit is disengaged, the switch should connect the output from the amp making sure it passes through the metering circuit and bypasses the tuning circuit. Originally, the switch connected the first pole to the second pole of the switch using only the thin wire of a small capacitor hanging down. This was clearly insufficient, and somewhat dangerous as that thin wire would be passing the full power RF output of the amp. I suspect this probably happened at one point as the capacitor wire was extremely brittle, and broke after I removed it. A Puzzle for Our Readers The dangling capacitor was likely a power filter circuit (that’s my guess). You can find these on regular power circuits where a high voltage cap connects the power to ground. I assume they are also used on RF power circuits. Is this correct? Ham radio experts feel free to chime in. I tested the untuned circuit path both with and without the cap filter but could discern no difference. I suspect it might have been affecting my output signal, but I had no way to test that. In the end, I left it connected, figuring I would not do much transmitting with the tuning circuit disabled. Tuning it Up Time to test it out. Here it is with some new rubber feet from the hardware store ($2. 47) sitting on top of my FT-450D. The new, and the slightly less new I purposely detuned my vertical, disabled the ATU on my receiver and checked the SWR. Infinite SWR readings for both the tuner and my receiver. Great. The auto tuner on my receiver can’t touch that. I then enabled the tuning circuit on the Daiwa, found the best band setting, and tuned it up. In no time I had the SWR down to one, and the forward power at maximum. I love this thing. --- ### A Block Diagram for the LNR Precision MTR3b > One of the things I enjoy doing is looking over radio schematics and trying to understand how they work, and the choices that the designers made. In this article, I’d like to do that for the three-band Mountain Toper MTR3b, a radio designed by Steve Weber (KD1JV) and sold by LNR Precision. - Published: 2018-04-26 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/26/lnr-precision-mtr3b/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Education and Training, Mentor, Portable, QRP When I was a young child, there was nothing more dangerous in the house than me and a screwdriver. I took everything apart. Nothing was safe. I wanted—no needed—to see the insides of things, and see how they worked. At some point, learning how to put things back together was the only thing that kept me from a seriously sore backside. Still, every bit of it was worth it, and I have retained that kind of curiosity throughout my life and my career. Things are a little easier today. You can understand a lot from just looking at the drawings for a device. One of the things I enjoy doing is looking over radio schematics and trying to understand how they work, and the choices that the designers made. In this article, I’d like to do that for the three-band Mountain Toper MTR3b, a radio designed by Steve Weber (KD1JV) and sold by LNR Precision. The MTR3b is a CW-only, 3-band (20/30/40) radio that can fit in the palm of your hand. The photograph of the radio with an accompanying 9-volt battery gives you some idea of its size, though you don’t truly grasp the compactness of the unit until you hold it in your hand. The 9-volt battery is not just a prop for the photograph. The radio can be powered by a single such battery, though it works better with something a little larger. I use a compact 11. 1-volt LiPO battery packs made popular by drone users. I’m not going to provide a detailed review of the user interface (just 3 slide switches, four buttons, and a single 7-segment LED), or go through its on-air performance. There have been several excellent reviews for this radio in QST and other places. Instead, I’d like to take it apart for you. Well, not exactly disassemble it as much as analyze the schematic and see how Steve Weber made it work. I was lucky enough to have a fellow named Mr. Davis for my high school physics instructor. He said many wise things (that I only understood long after high school, alas), but one that stuck immediately was his adage, “If you can’t draw the picture, you don’t understand the problem. ” How very true! So, I often made models and block diagrams of things to better understand them. These models don’t need to be exact. In the words of George Box, “All models are wrong, but some are useful. ” A block diagram of the insides of a transceiver can be useful. Here’s the diagram for the MTR3b I sketched on my iPad Pro tablet a few evenings ago. Let’s walk through it. The antenna is on the far left. The antenna connects to the radio and is presented to a low-pass filter (LPF). As it turns out, each band requires its own special LPF so there are slide switches on the front of the radio to switch-in the correct filter. Switch position 1 is for 20m, switch position 2 is for 30m, and switch position 3 is for 40m. The way the radio is designed, as we will see, it is important that all three switches be in the same relative position for the radio to operate properly. The next thing in line as we walk towards the receiver is a transmit-receive (T/R) switch. When we transmit, the signal path is cut off from the receiver and the transmitted signal only goes to the antenna. When we are receiving, the signal path is routed to the receiver, pictured along the top of the diagram. After we pass the T/R we have a band-pass filter (BPF), also selected by one of the slide switches, that rejects out-of-band signals. This is the lead-in to the first mixer that generates the intermediate frequency. We should take a quick detour for a moment and review what a “mixer” does. A mixer is an electronic device that takes two signals in and yields four signals out. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. Say we have two signals of frequency A and B. The mixer will output those same frequencies A and B (not very interesting), and two other signals: A-B and A+B. These signals are interesting. Superheterodyne receivers like this one mix the received signal with one from the radio (tied to the main tuning system) to produce an intermediate frequency that can then be further processed. By turning the original signal received from the antenna into this intermediate frequency, we can have a system common to all three bands 20m/30m/40m in the rest of the receiver. This common system works because it only has to deal with signals at this selected intermediate frequency. The intermediate frequency selected by Steve Weber for this design is about 4. 1 MHz. After we mix the signal with the first mixer (illustrated as a circle with an X in it), we pass the resulting signals through a crystal filter that allows only the 4. 1 MHz-related frequencies through it. This is the A-B output from the mixer. The other products are discarded. Once through the crystal filter, we now have a nice signal from our selected frequency, but it is in the 4. 1 MHz range. We need a subsequent step to bring it down to the audio frequency range. The product detector that produces the audio frequency range signal from the 4. 1 MHz intermediate frequency is obtained by passing the signal through a second mixer. When we’re through here, we have something our ears can hear. All that is left is to bring that audio signal through a few amplification stages, and send it to the headphones. This radio is so simple that it doesn’t even have a volume control! Just before the headphones is a multiplexor that allows audio to be selected from either the receiver (as we’ve just done above), or from the sidetone generated when we send Morse code. The CPU generates the sidetone signal and controls the multiplexor. This is the whole receiver. The transmitter is even more simple. The Texas Instruments extremely-low-power CPU watches the paddles, slide switches, and push buttons, and... --- ### Meeting Topics for the Next Six Months > Though we had some last minute speaker changes last winter, we had great presentations every night. Here are the planned meeting topics for the next six months. - Published: 2018-04-24 - Modified: 2019-11-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/24/meeting-topics/ - Categories: Activities, General, Newsletter - Tags: Tech Night “The best-laid plans of mice and men... ” — Robert Burns, On Turning up in Her Nest with the Plough, November 1785 Though we had some last minute speaker changes last winter, we had great presentations every night. Here are the planned meeting topics for the next six months. May 1, 2018 MIT Haystack Observatory talk Phil Erickson, W1PJE May 8, 2018, Tech Night Show and Tell: Hilltopping/portable gear All June 5, 2018 Field Day Planning Meeting Field Day leadership June 12, 2018, Tech Night Field Day Skill Builder (Towers, Cables, Filters, etc. ) Field Day leadership FIELD DAY July 3, 2018 Field Day retrospective Field Day leadership July 9, 2018, Tech Night Raspberry Pi and Ham Radio Anita / Jamey, AB1QB / KC1ENX August 7, 2018 No meeting August 14, 2018, Tech Night Foxhunting antenna build and strategy Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX September 4, 2018 BitX40 Andy Stewart, KB1OIQ September 11, 2018, Tech Night DMR Radios and Programming Bill Barber, NE1B October 2, 2018 ISS contacts, satellite contacts, etc. Fred / Anita, AB1OC / AB1QB October 9, 2018, Tech Night Frequency measurement challenge ideas and strategies George Allison, K1IG Everyone should consider the above to be tentative, as speakers occasionally need to cancel or reschedule. That said, we have a few excellent speakers who have offered to step in should we have a last-minute cancellation. If you have interest in presenting something at a regular meeting or a tech night, please drop me an email. It doesn’t need to be highly technical. It doesn’t need to be an hour long. It just needs to be fun! Look for a new page with meeting plans on the n1fd. org website soon. Scott, NE1RD --- ### N1FD Multi-Op Team #1 in Area 1 in 2018 Rookie Roundup SSB > The N1FD Mult-Op team again placed #1 in the multi-op Area 1 category in the 2018 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. The team operated from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH . - Published: 2018-04-20 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/20/n1fd-wins-2018-arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: ARRL, Contest, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Scores 2018 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Results The scores are in. The N1FD Multi-Op entry placed first in Area 1 in the 2018 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB. We also had the highest score of all the operators in the contest! Congratulations to the Operators: Abby, AB1BY Andrea, KC1JDX Bobby, KC1JEE Dan, AC1EN Jerry K1OKD Keith, KC1IMK Mark, KC1IML It was great to see how much the Rookies' operating skills improved the longer they operated. They are now seasoned operators who are ready for Field Day and the 13 Colonies events! Dan, AC1EN logs with Keith, KC1IMK at the Mic Thanks also to the members who elmered the Rookies, Jamey, AC1DC, Aron, W1AKI and Fred, AB1OC! The ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB is a 6-hour contest for amateurs who were first licensed in 2016, 2017 or 2018. The N1FD multi-op entry operated from AB1QB and AB1OC's QTH on Sunday, April 15th. Rookies and Elmers who joined the weekly repeater net. Members who operated or elmered in the contest joined us after the contest in the weekly repeater net. The live stream from our shack can be found on the N1FD Facebook Page. Next Rookie Roundup The next Rookie Roundup will be the Rookie Roundup RTTY to be held on Sunday, August 19th. All Rookies or anyone who has never operated digital before are welcome to join us - hold the date! --- ### Antennas: Where There is a Will... - Published: 2018-04-06 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/04/06/antennas-where-there-is-a-will/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Homebrewing - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew The 2017-2018 contest season featuring the “big four” events (CQ WW SSB, CQ WW CW, ARRL DX CW and ARRL DX SSB) recently came to a close with a resounding thud. The Solar Flux Index seems to have flat-lined below 70 as we bottom out in the current sunspot cycle. This translates to little DX above 20 meters. For 40 meters and down to Top Band, however, no sunspots are good. I remember the fun I had during the last cycle bottom when I roamed Top Band as an avid bottom-feeder pulling in choice DX from the Pacific and Asiatic Russia. I had a pair of K9AY loops oriented in a cross configuration to enable me to select the four cardinal directions. The loops worked wonders at reducing the high noise levels on 160 meters. They also worked well on 80 meters during noisy conditions. Alas, being in the land of CC&R and clandestine antennas (read: low, short wires and verticals), Top Band operation is non-existent. Yes, there are some diehards here who have a convoluted run of wire that is heavily loaded and fed with a tuner struggling to make a match. Working FL, GA, AL, Cuba and the Bahamas becomes the high point in a Top Band contest. If 160 meters is not practical, perhaps there is something to be done for 80 meters. I think I may have found a way. About a month ago while the family and I were on a cruise, I noticed a three-masted sailing vessel at one of our ports of call. I was intrigued by the mess of ropes and sails on the ship and wondered how the sails were hoisted. Each sail is attached to a series of collars that ring the mast. As a sail is hoisted, the collars ride up the mast, much like a shower curtain that is pulled close. As my few brain cells coalesced on the concept, it occurred to me that I could do something similar with my PVC flagpole. In lieu of a sail, I thought of an extendable fiberglass mast like those usually found at hamfests. The base for the mast would be two or three feet away from the flagpole to hide it from direct view of the street. My thought is to erect a 40-foot mast using the sailing vessel approach to guy the mast against my flagpole. This approach would provide a support near the 22-foot top of my flagpole with a couple of guy ropes off the top of the mast. The mast to flagpole connection would be fixed at the 22-foot point with the mast. So what kind of antenna will go on the mast? I did some modeling with EZNEC to see what an inverted V for 80 meters would look like. Each leg would be about 56 feet long if the anchor points are out 40 feet from the mast. First look at the antenna should reasonable performance – above 3900 kHz; not an area of the band I care to operate in. I added some inductive loading at the feedpoint to electrically lengthen the antenna. I was able to get good SWR performance for the lower 100 kHz which encompasses the CW and digital parts of the band. (Note: The casual observer may notice that a 40-foot structure in a CC&R territory is begging for a visit from the local vigilantes. This problem is adequately mitigated by the fact that 80-meter propagation favors darkness so I would not raise the antenna until after sundown. I would have it down before most folks get through their first cup of coffee. ) Now that I have a sporting chance with something other than the fat coil plus 3-foot wire that I currently have with my 6BTV vertical for 80 meters, I needed to come up with a better receive antenna. While power-washing the moss and mildew off the side of my house I experienced another epiphany as well as a tired back. My house has vinyl siding, good for growing moss and mildew but it also non-conductive. I had been thinking of a K9AY loop but the loop needs a vertical support and has to be away from large objects such as a house. I looked at other receiving antennas such as the flag and pennant antennas, so called because of their physical resemblance to said shapes. These antennas have a length similar to the K9AY loop and function the same way, i. e. the intended receive direction is the feedpoint and the opposite leg is terminated in a non-inductive impedance. The antennas are mounted about 20 feet at the top point so that the lower leg allows clearance for people and critters. While I am not able to raise a receiving antenna up 20 feet, why not slap in on the side of my house? I have an expanse of siding about 32 feet long by 8 feet high without windows where I could install a pennant antenna. The antenna vertical section would be about 8 feet at the top and about 0. 5 feet above the ground at the bottom. The sloping parts of the pennant would run to the front corner of the house where the termination/junction point would be conveniently hidden by shrubs. The feedpoint, located halfway up the vertical section, would be hidden along the edge of one of my bedroom shutters. I can use yellow wire for the pennant to match my house color to add more stealth. If nothing else, I can always pass the pennant off as artwork on the side of my house. Many homes in The Villages has decorative metal artwork on the walls so I would fit right in. So how would a “slap-on” pennant work? Back to EZNEC for some more modeling. I checked the antenna patterns for a frequency of 3. 550 MHz and a termination resistance of 900 ohms. At an elevation angle of 35 degrees, I have a gain of -31. 4 dB and a front-to-back (F/B) of 21. 0 dB. I compared the performance of my pennant with a design by K6SE that has... --- ### Extra License Class - April 27-29 > The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold an Extra License Class on April 27-29. This is an upgrade class for those holding a General Class License. Sign up on your website n1fd.org. - Published: 2018-03-31 - Modified: 2022-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/extra-license-class-april-2018/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, License Class, Mentor The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold our final license class of the Spring 2018 season, the Amateur Extra License class, on Friday - Sunday, April 27-29. The Extra Class License is an upgrade from General Class. Extra class will give you access to more frequencies on the HF bands, especially where those rare DX like to operate from. Day 1 of the class will be held at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. We will have lots of demos to help reinforce the material including test equipment, antennas and operating. Days 2 and 3 will be held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Gordon West Extra Class License Book Class preparation To prepare for the class, you need to read the Gordon West Extra Class book, which can be found on Amazon. com. When you register, we will send you a pre-work assignment based on the materials in the book. We also recommend that you take practice exams like those from AA9PW or HamTestOnline. To register for the class, visit https://www. n1fd. org/amateur-radio-license-class-registration/ Any questions? Contact Anita, AB1QB at activities@n1fd. org. --- ### Spring 2018 General License Class Results > Our Spring 2018 General License Class was a big success! Congratulations to the new Generals and Thanks to our instructors and VEs - Published: 2018-03-31 - Modified: 2018-04-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/spring-2018-general-class/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Education and Training, HF, License Class Our Spring 2018 General License Class, held on March 24th and 25th was a huge success. All students passed their General Exam and one student also passed his Extra Exam! 2018 Spring General Class Congratulations to the following club member who are now General Class operators: Dan Pooler, KC1JDY Keith Sangillo - KC1IMK Mark Sangillo - KC1IML Girish Sripathi - KC1IGD Charlie Reynolds - KC1IFY Craig Bailey - N1SFT Andrea Perdicaro - KC1JDX Bill MacFeeley - KC1JDZ Avanti Borucki - KC3DZG Bobby Hazelton - KC1JEE Thomas Luteran - N1SUW Dan, KC1JDY and Fred, AB1OC Congratulations to Dan Pooler, KC1JDY/AE for also passing his Extra Exam! Abby, AB1BY teaching about the OO program by reading her "Good Operator" OO card! Thanks to our Instructor Team and our VE Team for all of the hard work to teach the class and run the exam session! ! --- ### Calling All Rookies! ARRL Rookie Roundup is April 15th > We will field a Multi-Op team for the ARRL Rookie Roundup using the N1FD callsign at the QTH of AB1OC and AB1QB in Hollis, NH - Published: 2018-03-31 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/31/rookie-roundup-2018/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: ARRL, Contest, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air Were you first licensed in 2016, 2017 or 2018? Are you hoping to operate at Field Day and want to get some QSOs under your belt? Do you want to try out contesting but need some practice before operating in the CQ WW contest? Join us on April 15th for the ARRL Rookie Roundup! ARRL Rookie Roundup The ARRL holds 3 contests for "Rookies" each year. The ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB is coming up on Sunday, April 15th from 1800z (2:00pm Eastern time) to 2359z (7:59pm Eastern time). The Rookie Roundup RTTY is on August 19th and the Rookie Roundup CW is on December 16th. 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Certificate We will be fielding a multi-op entry using the N1FD callsign from AB1OC/AB1QB's Station. This will be a great opportunity for newly licensed Hams to get on the air. We will be here to Elmer you along with some experienced "Rookies". Elmering Session We will hold an elmering session starting at 11:00 am on Sunday to help familiarize you with operating, using our station, and the contest rules. During the contest, operators will work in pairs, with one operator logging and the other behind the mic. This will give you 2 sets of ears for identifying callsigns. The operators can switch off halfway through their operating time. Depending on the number of operators, we'll switch operator teams after 2 hours or so. If you are interested in joining us, or have any questions, please email Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. For more information on this event, see the Calendar entries at https://www. n1fd. org/event/elmering-session-for-arrl-rookie-roundup/ and https://www. n1fd. org/event/arrl-rookie-roundup/2018-04-15/ --- ### Upgrading 2.0 Satellite Station for an ARISS Crew Contact > ARISS provides recommendations for ground station equipment to help ensure a good experience for the students. Some of our plans for upgrades to our equipment to support an ARISS Crew Contact are explained... - Published: 2018-03-27 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/27/ariss-crew-contact-upgrade/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Space, Station Building We have been working with Hudson Memorial School near Nashua, NH to prepare for a possible ARISS Crew Contact. The ARISS folks work with schools and their Ham Radio helpers to prepare for these contacts. ARISS provides recommendations for ground station equipment to help ensure a good experience for the students. The ground station recommendations provide a solid set of specifications to support communications with the ISS on the 2m band. The recommendations include things such as: A requirement to build both a primary and a backup ground station Radio and power specifications (a 200W amp is recommended) Antenna specifications including recommendations to provide for switchable LHCP and RHCP Computer controlled azimuth/elevation positioning of antennas to track the ISS Use of a receive preamplifier at the antenna You can read more about our ISS Contact upgrade plans via the link below... Source: Upgrading our 2. 0 Satellite Station for ARISS Contact Fred, AB1OC --- ### Open House for New Hams - Saturday March 17 > We will hold an open house for new hams on Saturday, March 17th. Our new ham open house will include a tour our antenna farm, operate on HF and Satellites, hunt a Fox and see demos of Ham Radio technology. - Published: 2018-03-11 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/11/new-ham-open-house/ - Categories: Activities, General, On The Air - Tags: Fox Hunting, HF, High Altitude Balloon, Mentor, NARS Event, Satellite Are you a new Ham and interested in what you can do with your license? Or have been licensed for a while but have not been on the air? We will be holding a New Ham Open House at Fred, AB1OC, and Anita, AB1QB's QTH on Saturday, March 17th starting at 1:00 pm for new Hams. AB1OC/AB1QB Shack HF Operation We'll have a tour of our antenna farm and we'll have our HF Station setup for you to make some contacts. AB1OC Antenna Tower Satellite Operation Satellite 3. 0 Antennas We will also have our Satellite Station setup for you to make contacts. Fox Hunt and Demos A crew going on a foxhunt We will also have a fox hunt (Weather Permitting) and demos of the High Altitude Balloon and some Raspberry Pi projects. HT Programming Kenwood TH-D74 HT We will also help you to program your HTs using RTSystems or Chirp software. Bring your HT and a programming cable if you are interested in this. Hope to see you on March 17th. See the Calendar for details. It starts at 1pm but will go all afternoon so you can arrive any time in the afternoon. --- ### Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Initial Contacts > Our portable satellite station 3.0 is complete and we tested it during our recent Tech License Class. We discovered a minor issue which was easily sorted out. The new antenna system includes switchable circular polarity and has performed really well during the first 50 or so contacts... - Published: 2018-03-09 - Modified: 2018-03-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/09/satellite-station-3-0-test/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Satellite, VHF/UHF With the construction of our portable satellite station 3. 0 complete, we’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to test the new setup. We chose the Nashua Area Radio Society’s recent... Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 Antenna System Source: A Portable Satellite Station Part 6 – 3. 0 Station Initial Contacts | Our HAM Station Our next generation portable satellite station is complete and we tested it during our recent Tech License Class. We discovered a minor issue which was easily sorted out. The new antenna system includes switchable circular polarity and has performed really performs well during the first 50 or so contacts made using the 3. 0 station. You can read more about the new station and the initial tests via the link above. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Get ready for Antenna Modeling > The March Tech Night (March 13, 2018) will have an introduction to antenna modeling by me, Scott, NE1RD. I'll begin by going through some antenna theory and then proceed on to the NEC-2 software and its popular front ends EZNEC and CocoaNEC. - Published: 2018-03-06 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/06/antenna-modeling/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas, Software, Tech Night EZNEC Example The March Tech Night (March 13, 2018) will have an introduction to antenna modeling by me, Scott, NE1RD. I'll begin by going through some antenna theory and then proceed on to the NEC-2 software and its popular front ends EZNEC and CocoaNEC. (Both the evaluation/demo version of EZNEC, and the Macintosh-based CocoaNEC are free. ) LINUX users should consider getting Andy (KB1OIQ) Stewart's Andy's Ham Radio Linux suite. The main concepts you'll learn will apply equally well to any of these programs. Please download the antenna modeling software for your platform, and download the slides for this presentation from the Tech Night web page. The slides have a lot of detail on them, and it will be much easier to see the subtleties on your own screen. So, bring your laptop with software and slides, and we'll have you modeling antennas by the end of the evening. See you there! Scott, NE1RD --- ### ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees - Published: 2018-03-01 - Modified: 2018-03-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/03/01/hf-privileges-techs/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General - Tags: Education and Training, HF, License Class ARRL has asked the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. The FCC has not yet invited public comment on the proposals, which stem from recommendations put forth by the ARRL Board of Directors’ Entry-Level License Committee, which explored various initiatives and gauged member opinions in 2016 and 2017. Source: ARRL Requests Expanded HF Privileges for Technician Licensees It looks like the ARRL got this one right on the mark. Expanding Technician Class License privileges to include digital and SSB phone options on more of the HF bands is just what we need to make the first level Amateur Radio License more fun, a better learning experience, and a more effective bridge to upgrading to General Class privileges. Well done ARRL! Fred, AB1OC --- ### February Tech Nite - Kit Build > Our February Tech Night was a kit build of a K1EL PS2B keyer. Steve Elliott, K1EL brought keys and helped to elmer the kit builders. - Published: 2018-02-28 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/28/february-tech-nite-kit-build/ - Categories: CW and QRP, General, Homebrewing - Tags: CW, Homebrew, NARS Event, Tech Night Our February Tech Nite was a kit build. Our special guest, Steve Elliott, K1EL brought the kits for purchase by members and provided elmering. Most of us built his PS2B keyer kit. Completed Keyer We had close to 20 kit builders and elmers and many of us completed the kit by the end of the evening. Others completed their kits at home. We all had a great time at the kit build. Thanks to our Programs Chair, Scott, NE1RD for organizing a great kit build! Here are some pictures of the members who built kits during the kit built. Tech Night Kit Build --- ### Using Python to Track Amateur Satellites - Published: 2018-02-28 - Modified: 2024-09-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/28/using-python-track-amateur-satellites/ - Categories: General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Space Introduction Recently, it's been difficult for me to find a solid block of time to go down to the shack and operate. I've been looking for other things to do, therefore, to stay relevant in the hobby and always keep my learning vectored forward. Since I have an interest in one day building my own satellite station, and I receive the ARRL Keplerian Data emails via AMSAT (which show the latest Two-Line Element (TLE) sets of all the amateur sats), I thought it would be pretty neat as a first step to use Python and code up a predictive tool to plot the and track the location of all the amateur satellites will be given a UTC start and end time. There are packages which already do this (much better than my own) such as MacDoppler. The perks are it shows coverage (footprints), orbital tracks, and even compensates your radio's VFO for the satellite's Doppler. The downside of this package is it costs money ($98 for a license), and it doesn't make sense for me to pay for it when I don't have a satellite station to utilize it. The rest of the functionality, though, I could figure out myself if I have enough time to code. And coding, is something I can very easily do on the couch in between changing dirty diapers. :) There are a fair number of dependencies to this codebase which uses Python 2. 7. Installed, you must have: Numpy/Scipy: basic and advanced mathematical functionality urllib2: Opens the websites needed to HTML scrape the satellite TLE's BeautifulSoup: performs the HTML scraping Basemap: This actually plots the map of the world with the satellites across it Tkinter: Creates the GUI windows to ingest data from the user pytz: A package to get local time at your QTH (may already be installed with most distributions) Pyephem: used for validation of my own answers. Really nice library though to do all things astronomical If you don't have Python already installed, I recommend using the Anaconda distribution, especially if you don't have root access on your machine for whatever reason. This is a self-contained Python environment and it is just like installing everything in your /usr/local account. Once you have Python and all the dependencies successfully installed, you can obtain the code from the link to the GitHub repo. Basic Operation The steps to using the software are relatively simple. The user first runs the main executable at a terminal prompt: python main. py From there a GUI window pops up displaying checkboxes next to all the satellites, two entry fields for a start and end UTC time (in 24 hour format), and a Run/Quit button. The main GUI window for the code. The checkboxes appear next to satellites. The UTC start/end times are entry boxes to the user. REMEMBER TO USE 24 HOUR FORMAT! Once the Run button is pressed, a map will pop up displaying the satellite track across the Earth for the chosen times. Currently, I would only recommend only plotting 1-2 satellites at a time since the map can become quite cluttered with tracks. Also, I would make the stop time only a few hours different from the start time since many of the satellites will have already executed a complete orbit in that timeframe. Example output map and track of the ISS Under the hood First the software opens the URL of where the latest and greatest satellite TLEs are stored and scrapes them for all the user choices. Next, if the user chooses a UTC time before the most current TLE, the program defaults to using the epoch UTC from the TLE. As for the end date, I wouldn’t go any further than a few days out if you want the results to be fairly accurate. Once the data has been gathered, internal routines convert the information in the TLE into the needed orbital or Keplerian elements to find the orbital path. Those Keplerian elements then undergo further processing to two different reference frames until finally the latitude and longitude can be extracted. I’d be happy to go into significant detail on what these algorithms are, but I’m pretty sure you probably don’t care! :) Besides, you could easily check out the source code. To-Do I do plan on updating this a bit, so be sure to pull down new updates from the repo often. But, I’m actually really looking for feedback from one or two people to tell me what functionality they would like to see. For now, however, what I have planned is: Display satellite footprints to better see when the satellite is up relative to the QTH Have the map run in real time thereby eliminating the entered start/stop time Compute satellite Doppler offsets Have a function to show which satellites will be up relative to your QTH within a given 48 hour period Validate results beyond a few sample cases involving the ISS So there you have it! Hopefully if I get the above to-do incorporated into the code as well as comms with the rig (to update VFO based on Doppler, for instance), then I should be able to mimic the MacDoppler capability by only paying the price of time. I'd really like this to be an open-source substitute for that software. There's still much to be done for this to be a really useful tool, but it's coming along. Also please alert me to any bugs found. I know there are a ton probably. Happy tracking! 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### PTT Router for Satellite Station 3.0 > Our Portable Satellite Station 3.0 is coming together and has been tested thanks to help from several NARS members. Part of the project is to improve the sequencing system which manages antenna mounted preamplifiers. These improvements involved the design and construction of a simple PTT Router. - Published: 2018-02-27 - Modified: 2018-02-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/27/ptt-router/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Satellite, VHF/UHF Source: PTT Router for Satellite Station 3. 0 | Our HAM Station Our Portable Satellite Station antenna system uses a pair of Advanced Receiver Research Remote preamplifiers at the antennas to boost weak signals. These preamps have RF sensing and switching to protect... PTT Router Front Panel Our Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 is coming together and has been tested thanks to help from several NARS members. Part of the project is to improve the sequencing system which manages antenna mounted preamplifiers. These improvements involved the design and construction of a simple Push To Talk (PTT) router. The article above explains the design, construction, and integration of this PTT Routing devices. It was a great homebrew addition to our Portable Satellite Station setup. Fred (AB1OC) --- ### HAB School Kit Builds > The Nashua Area Radio Society has sponsored two kit builds with local high schools. Several members have participated in the kit builds, elmering the students and supplying equipment. - Published: 2018-02-27 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/27/hab-kit-builds/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, HF, High Altitude Balloon, Homebrew, Kits, Youth Outreach We have started our HAB-3 program and we are working with 4 schools who will be part of the launch. Two of the schools, Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School have been through the preparation sessions before. To expand their involvement with STEM activities, the Nashua Area Radio Society has hosted kits builds at both schools. Fred, AB1OC Elmers the BGHS Kit Builders The first kit build was held earlier this month with 6 students from Bishop Guertin High School. They built the 40 meter Pixie Kit QRP radio, the same one the NARS built a year or so ago. Pixie Kit The students did a great job once they learned to solder and enjoyed the kit build. Bishop Guertin Students Build the Pixie Kit The students are also learning morse code and there will be a morse competition in future sessions at both schools, using the Pixie kits built by the students. Merrimack High School Students build the Pixie kit Last Friday, 5 club members were Elmers to 18 students at Merrimack High School, who also built the PIXIE kit. Thanks to Bill, AB1AV, Niece, KA1ULN, Mike, K1WVO, Jamey, AC1DC , Tom, AB1NS, and Fred, AB1OC for helping the kids to have a successful kit build. Merrimack High School Students Building the Pixie Kit All of the teachers and students had a great time and learned a lot during the kit build. They are looking forward to the morse code competition. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Spring 2018 Technician License Class > Our first Technicial License Class of 2018 was a huge success. All 16 students earned their Ham Radio Licenses. We will hold our General Class on March 24-25. - Published: 2018-02-26 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/26/spring-2018-technician-license-class/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, HF, License Class, License Exam, Satellite We held our first license class of 2018 this past weekend. It was a Technician License Class and it was a huge success. We had a total of 16 students in the class, including 3 high school students from Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School - the two schools who participated in our High Altitude Balloon projects. There was also a teacher in the class from Hudson Memorial School, who will be participating in HAB-3. We had a great set of students - they all were well prepared and did great on their exams. All 16 students earned their Tech Licenses and one of the students also earned his General! AB1BY teaching the Tech Class Thanks to all of our instructors and VEs who made this possible. The Tech Class instructors were Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, AC1DC, Fred, AB1OC, Brian AB1ZO, Wayne, AG1A, and Burns, WB1FJ. Satellite Station 3. 0 Antennas Satellite Station 3. 0 This class also marked the debut of Satellite Station 3. 0, which meets the specs to support ISS Crew Contacts. Satellite Station 3. 0 In addition to classroom study, we provided many demos and gave the students an opportunity to get on the air and make Satellite contacts using the station above. Students also had the opportunity to make HF Contacts using a Flex Maestro, which connected over the internet to the station at the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH. HF Station with Flex Maestro Our next license class will be the General Class, which will be held on March 24th and 25th. We will hold the Extra Class on April 27 - 29. To register, visit our Class Information Page. Many of our students also joined the Nashua Area Radio Society after they passed their exams. Please say hello to the new members and congratulate them at our next meeting. Anita (AB1QB) --- ### ISS Crew Contact > A school in Raleigh, North Carolina had their ISS Crew Contact today and I decided to record the downlink from the ISS to test our backup Portable 2.0 ISS/Satellite Ground Station. - Published: 2018-02-05 - Modified: 2022-06-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/05/iss-crew-contact/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: ISS, Satellite, Space, Tower, VHF/UHF We have been working with Hudson Memorial School to help them secure and prepare for an ISS Crew Contact. We are hoping to support their ISS Crew Contact using an upgraded version of our Portable Satellite Ground Station. A school in Raleigh, North Carolina had their ISS Crew Contact today and I decided to record the downlink from the ISS to test our backup Portable 2. 0 ISS/Satellite Ground Station. The video above is a capture of the school's contact. It was very easy to receive the ISS downlink on our portable backup ground station. I heard the downlink a few seconds before the ISS came up on the horizon and the audio was solid for the duration of the contact. We can only hear the astronaut's side of the contact as we cannot receive the school's uplink from Raleigh, NC. The ISS pass began here in New Hampshire part way through the school's session so we did not hear the first few questions. Update on Portable ISS/Sat Station 3. 0 Portable ISS/Sat Station 3. 0 Antenna System Work on our upgraded primary Portable 3. 0 Station which includes a larger antenna system using switchable circular polarity is progressing well. The portable tower, upgraded rotator system, and the new, larger 2m and 70cm circularly polarized antennas are complete. We are just waiting for a few additional components to arrive here and the upgraded portable ground station should be ready for its first test at our Technician License Class later this month. More on Today's ISS Crew Contact You can see a live stream of the ISS Contact from the school above. There is a great deal of planning which goes into an ISS Crew Contact such as this. We are working closely with Hudson Memorial School on their project and their school is also beginning a High-Altitude Balloon Project with us in a few weeks. The ISS Crew Contact today was exciting to listen too and we are looking forward to being able to share this experience with Hudson Memorial School in the near future. Fred, AB1OC --- ### FT8 DXpedition mode > It looks like some of the major DXpedition teams are beginning to embrace FT8. This will certainly create a need to handle "pileups" in FT8 mode and to make it possible to make many contacts in the shortest period of time possible. - Published: 2018-02-03 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/03/ft8-dxpedition-mode/ - Categories: Digital, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, DX, HF You have probably heard something about recent efforts to develop a special “FT8 DXpedition Mode” in WSJT-X. This message aims to bring you up-to-date on our progress, and generally to make our plans more widely known. Source: FT8 - DX Pedition mode It looks like some of the major DXpeditions are beginning to embrace FT8. This will certainly create a need to handle "pileups" in FT8 mode and to make it possible to make many contacts in the shortest period of time possible. It appears that Joe Taylor, K1JT is working on an update to WSJT-X to create a variation of FT8 tailored for DXpedition use. Also, we will also need to update our copies of WXJT-X to take advantage of the new FT8 DXpedition mode. The link above is an article by Joe which gives more information about his new FT8 DXpedition mode and the software which will support it. Fred, AB1OC --- ### ARISS APRS Packet Is Not Working > It appears that the ARISS APRS digipeater on the International Space Station is down. The article talks about what is being done to try to correct the problem as well as plans for a more permanent solution. - Published: 2018-02-02 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/02/02/ariss-aprs/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Digital, Space Source: ARISS APRS packet not working It appears that the APRS packet digipeater on the International Space Station is down. The article talks about what is being done to try to correct the problem as well as plans for a more permanent solution. Fred, AB1OC --- ### State of the Nashua Area Radio Society > The Nashua Area Radio Society has accomplished a great deal in 2017 and we grew to over 160 members this past year. I wanted to take a moment to recap some of the many great memories from 2017 and outline our 2018 plans. - Published: 2018-01-29 - Modified: 2022-06-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/29/2018-plans/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Executive Committee, NARS Event, Tower, Youth Outreach I wanted to take a moment to recap some of the many great memories from 2017 and outline our 2018 plans. We updated our Constitution and By-Laws and became the Nashua Area Radio Society this year. These changes reaffirm and strengthen our commitment to education, skills development, and STEM learning through Amateur Radio. 2017 Highlights We have created a successful youth outreach and STEM education through our High-Altitude Balloon program with local schools. High-Altitude Balloon 2 Launch Team We also continued our ARRL Kids Day and other programs which introduce young people and new Hams to Amateur Radio and help them to get on the air and have fun. ARRL Kids Day Event To date, we have helped over 130 folks to become licensed or to earn upgraded Amateur Radio Licenses. Fall 2017 Tech License Class Students Our members continued to give the gift of Morse Code by teaching CW Classes and hosting a CW Practice Net. Our CW Class Instructors We have sponsored many operating activities this past year. Our Summits On The Air activations were a lot of fun. Our Mt Washington SOTA activation We also continued to update and expand our Field Day Operation in 2017 with the addition of a third tower, a new satellite station, and a remote SDR operating setup. Field Day 2017 - New Remote Tower We competed in contests and led the way in special events such as 13 Colonies where our operators earned both Top Club and Top State honors in 2017. 2017 Thirteen Colonies Top Club Plaque We initiated Fox Hunting activities to help our members build their Radio Direction Finding Skills. The Large Fox in its Lair And our members continued to be recognized for their skills and contributions to Amateur Radio. AB1BY Interview on Ham Nation We re-introduced our monthly breakfasts at local diners and eateries... Breakfast at Joey's Diner and we started a second weekly net using a local 2m/70cm repeater system. Nashua Area Radio Society Repeater Net Check-ins We had many memorable programs at our membership meetings and some really cool Tech Nights! Nashua Area Radio Club "Tech Night" at the KC1XX Contest Station We increased our presence on social media in 2017 and we are now active on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. We also began live streaming video from many of our events. Live stream of Abby, AB1BY running a pileup during our Kid's Day event (play and right-click to unmute) Our website content grew tremendously in 2018. We now have a total of 325+ member articles about all things Amateur Radio and 2,100+ posts in our forums. Our website, n1fd. org, enjoys a growing worldwide following with the Amateur Radio Community. Worldwide n1fd. org Visitors in 2017 The Nashua Area Radio Society has accomplished a great deal in 2017 and we grew to over 160 members this past year. There are probably many other activities and special moments that we enjoyed in 2017 - there are just too many to list them all here. Looking Ahead To 2018 What's Ahead in 2018? Given all that we've done and accomplished together, its pretty challenging to top 2017 in 2018. Our Executive Committee has been working on a set of goals and plans for 2018 and we wanted to share some of what we are planning. First, we will continue to improve and build upon what is working. This includes all of the projects and activities outlined above. Our focus will remain centered on encouraging education, skill building, and STEM learning through Amateur Radio. Our planned activities for 2018 include: Continuing our license classes in the spring and fall of 2018 (Technician, General, and Extra for a total of 6 classes) Developing our library of Amateur Radio Skill development and learning material through our Tech Night Program Expanding our STEM outreach to young people through our High-Altitude Balloon Program and related GOTA programs in schools and other public places Continuing our involvement and support for ARRL Kid's Day, ARRL Rookie Roundups, and the 13 Colonies Special Event Introducing a new program tailored for Ham Fests where we will provide a unique, hands-on Amateur Radio experience tailored for young people and prospective Hams Hosting a fresh series of operating activities as well as our old favorites. Plans include activating All Things OTA (POTAs, SOTAs, and IOTAs). We are also looking at some NARS competitions around these activities. Continuing to chase our multiplying Foxes throughout 2018 to build our Radio Direction Finding Skills A 2018 Field Day EMCOM activity which will be bigger and better than ever! Our Repeater and HF Nets will continue as will our monthly breakfast Some new Public Service/Emergency Communications activities for 2018 We are also planning to complete our path to becoming a Federal 501c(3) non-profit. This will increase our ability to raise funds to support our many educational activities. On behalf of the entire Executive Committee, I'd like to thank all of our members and friends for their hard work and contributions to making the Nashua Area Radio Society the wonderful organization that it is. Together, we are making tremendous contributions to young people's and Amateur Radio operator's education and skills development. Together, let's make 2018 the best year ever! Fred, AB1OC President Nashua Area Radio Society --- ### 80m Broadband Matching System Design and Construction > We installed a 75m loop for SSB operation on our tower when we built it. It works great for SSB operation on 75m but we have often wished we could use it across the entire 80m band. This goal led to a project to create a matching system for the antenna. - Published: 2018-01-28 - Modified: 2019-11-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/28/80m-matching-system/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew, Station Building We installed a 75m loop for SSB operation on our tower when we built it. The loop is full size and is diamond shaped so that our lower SteppIR DB36 yagi can rotate inside of it. The loop is fed at the bottom corner about 20 ft up from the ground. It works great for SSB operation on 75m but we have often wished we could use it across the entire 80m band. This goal led to a project to create a matching system for the antenna. The idea was to use a set of loading coils in series at the feed point create a good match in all segments of the 80m band... Link to the Full Article: An 80m Broadband Matching System | Our HAM Station We shared this project at our project night meeting in January. I recently published an article explaining the design and construction of an 80m Broadband Matching System. The ideas used can be applied to many other matching system arrangements for many different types of low-band antennas. --- ### CW Class Starting February 17th > The Nashua Area Radio Society will hold a weekly CW Class on Saturday mornings at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua starting February 17th. - Published: 2018-01-28 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/28/cw-class-starting-february-17th/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW, CW Class, Education and Training, Mentor Morse Code Do you understand the morse code above? Are you planning to build our February Tech Night Project and want to learn to use it? Do you want to make more DX contacts? Even though Morse Code proficiency is no longer required for your Ham Radio license, there is still more CW on the air than Phone and Digital modes combined. You don't want to miss out on these contacts! CW Keys CW Class Starting February 17th Thanks to our Morse Code Instructors, Mike, K1WVO, and Dennis, K1LGQ, we will be holding another CW Class. The classes will start on February 17th from 9:00 am to 11:00 am and will run for at least 6 weeks. It will be held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Nashua. You will be able to practice copying CW as well as sending CW during the class. Toward the end of the class, if you practice regularly, you will get on the air via a CW slow net or scheduled QSOs among the students. Our CW Class Instructors The class will be geared to the needs of those attending, whether you are just learning or if you attended a previous class and hope to build up your speed. Hope to see you at the class. Plan to bring a notebook and pen or pencil to copy CW. --- ### Bouvet Island: Coming Soon to an HF Frequency Near You > 20 Amateur Radio Operators are headed to Bouvet Island, one of the most remote islands in the world on a DXpedition to allow the rest of them to get Bouvet in the log. - Published: 2018-01-21 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/21/bouvet-island-dxpedition-2/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, On The Air Bouvet Island is one of the most remote uninhabited islands in the world. It is 2700 miles east of South America, 1000 miles North of Antarctica and 1800 miles west of Africa. It is also the 2nd most wanted DX Entity just below P5, North Korea. Map of Bouvet Island Bouvet Island DXpedition A team of 20 Ham Radio Operators from all over the world is currently on a boat headed to Bouvet. They are headed there to operate for 2 weeks as 3Y0Z, so that the rest of us can get Bouvet Island in our logs. Their ship sailed for Punta Arenas, Chile on January 19th for the 10-12 day trip to Bouvet. You can watch their progress here, Visit their website at http://www. bouvetdx. org/to see the latest news of their voyage and operation and learn more about Bouvet, where they plan to operate, who the team is, how to work them, check if you are in their log, and get a QSL. You can also follow them on Facebook by joining this group. Good luck - hope you get them in the log! Anita, AB1QB --- ### New Activity: Monthly Breakfasts > A new club activity is our monthly breakfasts which are held on the third Saturday of each month at 8:30am. Join us for some great food and conversation! - Published: 2018-01-21 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/21/new-club-activity-monthly-breakfasts/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event We have started a new activity, monthly breakfasts. The breakfasts are held on the 3rd Saturday of each month, and we choose a different restaurant each month so that over time there is one close to each member's QTH. Temple Street Diner Dave, K1DLM, at the Temple Street Diner Our most recent breakfast was held at the Temple Street Diner in Nashua. Members John, W1SMN, Patrick, KC1HDN, Mike, K1WVO, Ari, WB1ABC, Dave, K1DLM, Fred, AB1OC, Anita, AB1QB along with spouses and roommates. We had some great conversation about Station upgrades, winter in New England, classic radios and computers, NEAR-fest and many other topics and the food was great! Temple Street Diner (W1SMN, KC1HDN and friends) Mike, K1WVO at the Temple Street Diner Parker's Maple Barn Breakfast at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH We held the December Breakfast at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH. We all had great pancakes and enjoyed some holiday shopping in their gift shop. Joey's Diner Breakfast at Joey's Diner (WB1ABC and his XYL, K1WVO, AB1NS, and AB1OC) Breakfast at Joey's Diner (AB1BY, AG1A, AB1QB, and KC1ENX) We held the first breakfast on November 18th at Joey's Diner in Amherst, NH. Do you have a favorite breakfast spot? Email me at ab1qb@arrl. net and we'll plan a future breakfast there. Hope to see you at our next Breakfast on February 17th. Stay tuned to the forums for the location! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Project Night 2018 > The Nashua Area Radio Society January Meeting is Project Night, where members bring in and share their latest homebrew projects. - Published: 2018-01-19 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/19/project-night/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Homebrew, Kits, QRP, Software Every January Meeting we hold Project Night, where members bring in and share recent homebrew projects that they have built. This year's Project Night was full of interesting projects built by our members. Member Projects Scott NE1RD Kits Our Programs Chairperson, Scott, NE1RD led it off by showing us some kits he had built, including the K1EL PaddleStick Keyer that we will be building for the February Tech Night. Bob KB1TEK - QRP Kits Bob, KB1TEK brought some QRP kits that he had built. Dave K1DHP - VLF Detector Dave, K1DHP showed us the VLF Detector that he built. Hamilton, K1HMS - Antenna Switches Hamilton, K1HMS brought Antenna Switches that he had built. Dave K1DLM - Heakthkit Dave, K1DLM showed us a Heathkit that he plans to build. --- ### AMSAT's Fox-1D Satellite Scheduled For Launch! > The Fox-1D Satellite will be on the air soon! Fox-1D carries and FM U/V transponder - another FM EasySat! It's a great time to get involved in Amateur Radio satellites! There is lots of information here on our website about how to build a satellite ground station, operate using satellites, and about what is up. - Published: 2018-01-11 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/11/fox-1d-satellite/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Source: AMSAT's Fox-1D Launch Scheduled for 03:58 UTC January 12, 2018 | QRZ Forums AMSAT’s next Fox-1 satellite, Fox-1D, is scheduled for launch on January 12, 2018 at 03:58 UTC (Thursday, January 11th at 10:58 PM EST) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Fox-1D will launch as part of the PSLV-C40 mission on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle with Cartosat-2F, an imaging satellite for the Indian government, and 29 other payloads. In addition to the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, Fox-1D contains a number of exciting experiments, including a camera built by students at Virginia Tech, the University of Iowa's HERCI (High Energy Radiation CubeSat Instrument), and AMSAT's L-Band Downshifter which will give amateur radio operators an opportunity to experiment with a different uplink band. Stay tuned for more information about the launch and early operations of the satellite. Another Amateur Radio Satellite will be on the air soon! Fox-1D carries an FM U/V transponder - another FM EasySat. It's a great time to get involved in Amateur Radio sSatellites! There is lots of information here on our website about how to build a satellite ground station, operate using satellites, and about what is up. See the following link for our satellite articles. Our Members can view the our Tech Night presentation on building a satellite station in our video archives. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Kids Day On The Air > The Nashua Area Radio Society hosted kids for kids day on the air. Many fun activities were provided for the kids including Satellite and HF operating and demos of CW, Raspberry Pi projects, HAB and Fox Hunting - Published: 2018-01-10 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/10/kids-day/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Youth Outreach Saturday, January 6th was ARRL Kids Day On the Air. and we hosted a club event for kids at Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB's QTH. We had many fun activities for the kids including getting on the air via HF and Satellite, learning CW and demos of some cool Raspberry Pi projects. Nora making her First Satellite Contact Satellite Operation The portable satellite station was set up and it was a great day for satellites as there were many good passes. Fred helped many of the kids make their first Satellite contacts. Keith, KC1IMK working the Satellites with Fred, AB1OC We had a total of 9 kids who participated in the event, along with their parents. Mary, who attended with her brother, KA1LAS, and her father KC1IMI, works the Satellites Raspberry Pi, CW, Fox Hunting, and HAB Demos We provided demos to the kids of several Raspberry Pi projects, Pi-Lexa - a home built Raspberry Pi Alexa built by Connor, KC1GGX, along with a CW decoder and the DX Alarm Clock. Jamey, KC1ENX provided some CW demos including his favorite YouTube video - The Rhythm of the Code. Fred, AB1OC did a show and tell of the High Altitude Balloon including pieces of the balloons that we in space and a Fox-Hunting demo. HF Operation in the Shack We also went down to the shack and the kids got on the air and made some HF contacts. Jamey, KC1ENX helped the kids to make contacts with other kids as well as adult Hams on the air. The kids really enjoyed the HF operation. We did some live streaming on the N1FD Facebook page during the event. Follow this link to see the live stream of some of our on-air activities during Kid's Day. AB1BY Gets On the Air Abby, AB1BY shows off her log after running a huge pileup After most of the kids left, Abby, AB1BY took the mic and ran a huge pileup. She was very popular on the air and did a great job of running the pileup. We also streamed her pileup operation to Facebook and it got a huge response. Overall, Kids Day On the Air was a fun day for both the kids and the adults. We are looking forward to the next Kids Day in July! Anita, AB1QB --- ### 2018 Tech Night Survey Results - Published: 2018-01-07 - Modified: 2018-01-31 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/07/2018-tech-night-survey-results/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Kits, NARS Event, Tech Night The results are in for the Tech Night program survey. We had 18 respondents and several volunteers to help with presentations. In order to produce a meaningful ranking, a weight was given to votes for High, Medium, and Low. High was assigned a value of 10. Medium was assigned a value of 3. Low was assigned a value of zero. The score for each idea was then tallied, and the table sorted by score. Anything with a score below 95 was considered uninteresting at this time. Note that future surveys may have these very same ideas, and new members (or even old members) may rate the ideas higher later. Just because an idea didn't get scheduled this year doesn't mean it is off the table for next year. I'm happy to say that five of the ideas that ranked highest have already been scheduled. We are also doing an Antenna Modeling program two nights, and a two-night kit build event in January and February to round out the package. As for the other popular ideas, we'll be seeking out presenters for these in the coming weeks and months. Here is a list of the ideas that made the cut: Here are the remaining issues ranked, and a few more that were suggested during the survey. Our hope is to bring interesting speakers and ideas to Tech Night. If you have ideas for program topics, or if you'd like to present at a Tech Night, please contact me. Scott, NE1RD --- ### 2018 Tech Night Programs (First Half Of The Year) > Here are the plans for Tech Night for the first half of 2018. If you haven't already done so, please fill out the 2018 Tech Night Survey to provide your input on your choices for future Tech Night activities. - Published: 2018-01-03 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2018/01/03/2018-tech-night/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Kits, NARS Event, Tech Night Tech Night Here are the plans for Tech Night for the first half of 2018. If you haven't already done so, please fill out the 2018 Tech Night Survey to provide your input on your choices for future Tech Night activities. Month Topic Presenters January 9 Kit building skills Steve Elliott, K1EL February 13 Kit build night March 13 Antenna Modeling I B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC April 10 Antenna Modeling II B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC May 8 Antenna Analyzers Advanced Topics B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD June 12 Field Day Skill Builder --- ### 2018 General Meeting Programs (first half of the year) > We have a very fine set of General Membership meetings planned for 2018.  Here is the list of the planned programs for these meetings for the first-half of the year. - Published: 2017-12-28 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/28/1h2018-programs/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Education and Training, NARS Event We have a very fine set of General Membership meetings planned for 2018. Here is the list of the planned programs for these meetings for the first-half of the year. Date Topic Presenter January 2 Show and Tell You! Bring your most interesting stuff to amaze your friends. February 6 Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory Dr. Ivan Galkin of UMass Lowell March 6 Plane tracking with ADS-B Thomas R Kavanaugh April 3 The current state of the D-Star evolution Terry Stader, KA8SCP May 1 MIT Haystack Observatory talk Phil Erickson, W1PJE June 15 Field Day Planning Meeting Field Day Planning Team We have a good start on plans for the second-half of the year as well. If you have not already done so, please complete our survey to tell us what you'd like to see for this year's Tech Nights. (I'll publish the plans for Tech Night separately. ) --- ### PaddleStick CW Keyer with Base Kit Build > The January 9, 2018 Tech Night meeting will feature Steve Elliott, K1EL, the owner of www.hamcrafters.com and the designers of the many amazing kits Hamcrafters offers. Steve will discuss aspects of kit design and building, including the PaddleStick CW Keyer that will be built during our February 13 Tech Night. - Published: 2017-12-28 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/28/k1el-cw-keyer/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: CW, Homebrew, Kits, Tech Night January 9, 2018, Tech Night meeting will feature Steve Elliott, K1EL, the owner of www. hamcrafters. com and the designers of the many amazing kits Hamcrafters offers. Steve will discuss aspects of kit design and building, including the PaddleStick CW Keyer that will be built during our February 13 Tech Night. You can order your kit online, or buy one directly from Mr. Elliott after his presentation. (Mr. Elliott will bring a limited number of kits for purchase. ) The PS2B kit is $59 (cash). We will be looking for a rough count of those interested in purchasing this kit during the regular members meeting on January 2. Don't miss out on the fun. This is a great little kit, and you'll have a great tool to practice CW or to get on the air. Shoo away those wintertime blues by heating up a little solder with friends. See you there! --- ### Good Source of APRS Information > But what did help a LOT was this free downloadable book which included information about APRS, TH-D74A Operating Tips Dayton Hamvention 2017 from Kenwood. While it is a manufacturer's manual of sorts, this book is a good source of information on APRS... - Published: 2017-12-23 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/23/aprs-info/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: APRS Source: Jeff Davis, KE9V But what did help a LOT was this free downloadable book which included information about APRS, TH-D74A Operating Tips Dayton Hamvention 2017 from Kenwood... TH-D74AE APRS While it is a manufacturer's manual of sorts, this book is a good source of information on APRS... Thanks, Scott, NE1RD for forwarding the link! --- ### N1FD Wins 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Multi-Op Area 1 Category! > ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Scores are in and the N1FD team won their category. - Published: 2017-12-21 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/21/n1fd-wins-arrl-rookie-roundup-multi-op-area-1-category/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: ARRL, Contest, CW, HF, On The Air The results are in. . The N1FD Multi-Op team of Jamey, KC1ENX, Abby, AB1BY and Mike, AB1YK has won the multi-op Area 1 category in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW. 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Results Detailed Score The team's CW skills are improving and score was almost double the score from last year! N1FD Score Details for ARRL Rookie Roundup CW --- ### Reginald Fessenden Makes Christmas History - Published: 2017-12-20 - Modified: 2021-07-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/20/reginald-fessenden-makes-christmas-history/ - Categories: General, Newsletter - Tags: History For our October 2017 meeting, we had Professor Donna Halper speak about the history of amateur radio and its heroes. Having heard her speak at Boxboro 2016, I knew our members were in for a treat. So in keeping with this theme, I searched for some interesting nugget, some salient morsel about the history of amateur radio that was somehow linked to Christmas time. I struck gold when I came across Reginald Fessenden. A brief segue into the life of Reginald Fessenden Reginald Fessenden, looking dapper and scholarly. Reginald Fessenden was born in 1866 in Quebec and showed an aptitude and high interest in mathematics / engineering from a young age. Though he did not have a degree, he desired to work in the field of electricity, and so he went to the Mecca of electrical work in the U. S. , namely NYC in 1886 to work with Thomas Edison. He personally wrote Edison saying "Do not know anything about electricity, but can learn pretty quick," to which Edison replied "Have enough men now who do not know about electricity. " Luck had different plans, however, and he ended up obtaining a job with Edison and rose through his company quickly to even work directly with Edison at his new laboratory in NJ. He was laid off in 1890, however, due to financial problems Edison encountered, and so Fessenden searched for additional opportunities. In 1900, Fessenden went to work for the U. S. Weather Bureau with the goal of "proving the practicality of using a network of coastal radio stations to transmit weather information, thereby avoiding the expense of the existing telegraph lines. " The Bureau would have access to any devices he created but he could retain the rights to ownership. He quickly advanced receiver design with one notable achievement being the development of the heterodyne principle among other advancements such as the invention of a barretter detector and electrolytic detector. After his time with the weather bureau was up, Fessenden was able to secure funding for his research that led to the design and implementation of a rotary-spark transmitter (continuous wave phenomena was not thought to produce wireless communications and it was in fact Fessenden himself who championed the theory and practice of CW signals as understood by Hertz) and the world's first trans-atlantic transmission -- that of Morse code. Unfortunately, at the time, the destruction of one of the radio towers led to the end of the project. Fessenden soon became obsessed with audio radio transmissions as opposed to his colleagues of the day (Marconi included) that advocated Morse code transmissions. He in fact applied for and was awarded a patent in 1901 for essentially inventing a CW transmitter! The man was unstoppable. Soon after he learned how to modulate speech on his CW waves to create Amplitude Modulated (AM) radio waves. Upon reading more about Fessenden, his career seems to have comprised breakthrough after breakthrough in the field of radio engineering. I could go on and on regarding all his accomplishments, but if I did, I still would have not arrived at the point about what any of this has to do with the holidays. The connection to Christmas Eve Until the early 1930's, it was widely believed that a gentlemen by the name of Lee de Forest was the first person to transmit music and speech by radio in February 1907. Fessenden, however, challenged this notion when it was advertised by other scholars that Fessenden had in fact accomplished the pioneering benchmark by broadcasting on Christmas Eve 1906. Specifically, he claimed that he played a phonograph of Handel's Ombra mai fu (Largo) and then he himself played a violin rendition of O Holy Night and also sang Adore and be Still by Gounod. Furthermore, he also stated he broadcasted on December 31st of the same year and that his transmissions were heard as far as Norfolk, VA on Christmas Eve and the West Indies for his New Year's Eve transmission. Now the interesting bits are that in 2006 (the centennial of the broadcast) renewed interest was sparked into Fessenden's groundbreaking feat. But, surprisingly, questions were raised. Some of these were that there seemed to not exist any independent corroborations that the transmissions were heard. It is widely believed Fessenden had the technical means to make the transmissions, in the first place, but that it was uber QRP and so may not have been heard by many. Additionally, it was uncovered, that in 1956 more detective work went into verifying the Dec 24th transmissions but again, it failed to uncover any evidence. If one continues to read about this intriguing individual, you will even learn that Donna Halper (the same one I mentioned at the beginning of this post) and Christoper Sterling argued "that debating the existence of the holiday broadcasts was ignoring the fact that, in their opinion, the December 21 demonstration, which included the playing of a phonograph record, in itself qualified to be considered an entertainment broadcast". (I think instead of Dec 21, they meant Dec 24) And other scholars argued there is no reason to discount or doubt Fessenden's account since it was not challenged immediately following an article, in 1932, originally detailing Fessenden's story. So, where do things lie now? Well, the IEEE recognizes this event to be a IEEE Milestone. And, from the little investigative work I did for this post, it seems his account is widely believed. But, even if it weren't true, it's pretty dang cool that Fessenden gets to share his achievement with St. Nick's biggest work day of the year. Hope you all enjoyed the history lesson and Happy Holidays everyone! Brian, AB1ZO --- ### We Out Foxed Them Again (Updated)! > More Fox Hunt fun this weekend - Bob, W1FDR shares his fox hunt experienced. He tracked down the N1FD foxes again this weekend... - Published: 2017-12-19 - Modified: 2023-05-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/19/fox-hunt-again/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Fox Hunting, VHF/UHF More Fox Hunt fun this weekend - Bob, W1FDR shares his experiences. I found both the foxes but I had to work really hard to do it. First I drove to the Home Depot area off of exit 6 and found the strongest signal in the parking area of mine falls park. It was very icy but it didn’t take me long to realize it wasn’t there so I went back across the bridge to the Nashua high school, the parking lots were full with activity and I did not know the area. So I drove to the Wiggins Park area and hiked over to where the foxes were. I was going to take a picture of the strongest fox but there were so many people walking by and I was so busy talking to them I forgot. I then went to find the weaker fox and I did take a picture or I had a picture taken by a passerby. Then proceeded to help the economy in Nashua with Christmas shopping. Bob W1FDR Bob Finds Our Foxes Again! John, KB1MGI and his son Craig, KB1CGS also tracked down the large wily critter. Here is their story - KB1CGS Craig my son and myself KB1MGI John both found the 146. 565 Fox. After circling the area around exit 6 we ended up at the parking area at Lincoln Park at the end of Coliseum Ave. Craig and I went over the icy Bridge and stayed on the left trail along the water. Then we walked in circles for ever and we kept ending up at the base of a hill and still walking in circles over an over again. When climbed up the steep hill to the main trail. At first we figured the fox was across the river behind the high school. Turning around and figured it was back down the hill. Then Craig said look at that stump I saw the tip of the antenna. 2 hours to find. Great job hiding the fox. We did not look for the other one because it was getting dark soon. Thanks John kb1mgi Craig kc1cgs John KB1MGI and His Son Craig KB1CGS Track Down The Large Wiley Critter We all had fun chasing down the N1FD foxes again this weekend! Their dens were in a very picturesque area. N1FD Large and Small Foxes Jamey, KC1ENX continues to try to outfox the hunters but so far we have been able to track down the N1FD critters. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Receiving SSTV From The ISS > We learned that the ISS was going to be transmitting SSTV images. This provided an opportunity to use the digital capabilities in our Satellite Station... - Published: 2017-12-18 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/18/iss-sstv/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: ISS, Space, VHF/UHF We've recently upgraded our Portable Satellite Station 2. 0 to add digital and packet capabilities. The upgrade was pretty simple - we added a SignaLink USB Soundcard and a Windows Laptop PC. Most of the software for Packet and Digital Amateur Radio communications is written for the Windows OS so using a separate laptop running Windows 10 was the simplest way to go. Portable Satellite Station With Additions For Digital and Packet Another benefit of the second laptop was added screen space to use when doing packet communications via satellites and the International Space Station (ISS). Receiving SSTV From The ISS SSTV Image From The ISS We recently learned that the ISS was going to be again transmitting SSTV images worldwide. This provided a perfect opportunity to work with the digital additions in our satellite setup. We downloaded and installed MMSSTV on our Windows laptop and set the audio levels on the Windows PC and our SignaLink Sound card to properly receive SSTV signals. The MMSSTV application can decode several different SSTV formats including the PD120 format used by the ISS. The ISS transmits SSTV on a 2m FM voice channel. We configured MacDoppler to track the ISS and perform doppler correction on the 2m ISS 2m downlink and began to listen. The video above was made during the reception of an SSTV image from the ISS during a pass over the United States. The video gives a good idea of what its like to receive SSTV from the space station. More ISS SSTV Images... Another SSTV Image From The ISS We were able to receive several different images from the ISS during the period that it was transmitting SSTV worldwide. A Third SSTV Image From The ISS It was pretty easy to capture the SSTV transmissions from the ISS with our Portable Satellite Station 2. 0 setup. The signals were strong and I would imagine that the SSTV transmission could have also been received with a simple portable satellite setup with a hand-held yagi antenna. We hope that the ISS will send SSTV images again in the near future. It was fun receiving them. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight: David Merchant, K1DLM > David Merchant, K1DLM, is Vice President of the Nashua Area Radio Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Here is his member profile. - Published: 2017-12-14 - Modified: 2018-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/14/member-spotlight-k1dlm/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight, Software Hello, everyone! My name is David Merchant, and my callsign is K1DLM. I am proud to be part of the Nashua Area Radio Society. I’ve lived in Windham, NH for 10-years with my XYL and have three children. I was born just outside of Philadelphia, where I lived until age 7. I moved around quite a bit growing up, and have lived in every state in New England, except for Vermont. David Merchant, K1DLM, busy building an Elecraft K3 kit. Ever since I was young, I’ve always had an intense interest in electronics, technology and how things work. I guess you could say it’s in my blood. When I was very young, I used to experiment with scavenging parts from old TVs and radios. As I advanced through school, I also started to get exposed to computers, initially in the 1970’s with a teletype attached to the town of West Hartford, Connecticut’s mainframe. As PC’s came into the equation, I continued to soak up as much information as I could, becoming very familiar with Apple II computers and ultimately the Mac and Windows. It wasn’t until High School that I had my first electronics class, which cemented my plan to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering (EE). I went on to earn an EE degree from the University of Hartford, SI Ward School of Technology in 1990. How did you get involved in amateur radio? I’ve been interested in Amateur Radio since a young age, but I had so many questions, and I didn’t have an Elmer. I remember attending at a Scout Jamboree, and someone had set up an HF station using a Heathkit Radio. He had a tribander at the top of an extension ladder and was making contacts all over the World. I must have spent an hour listening to the QSO’s, but never got on the air. I dabbled around with CB radio, scanners, and an old Halicrafters shortwave set from my Grandfather. It wasn’t until much later in life that I finally obtained my General license at age 35 in July 2003. I earned my Extra ticket about a year later, back when there was still a five wpm code requirement. What’s your background and what other hobbies do you have? David Merchant and Brent Norris (Graphics Designer) at Spirit Technologies, Summer 1995. You might think that I would have pursued a career in engineering, but I never did. While I was in College, I became an entrepreneur, starting two tech companies in the computer storage market. This exposed me to many different aspects of business, where I determined that I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day. The job I enjoyed most was sales – traveling and being out in front of customers. I enjoyed meeting new people, and every day brought a new challenge. This became my career path, where I ultimately assumed various sales leadership roles in the telecommunications business. I’ve worked at Siemens, Nortel, Juniper Networks, Fortinet, and currently for a telecom startup focused on cellular infrastructure. I have a range of other hobbies including weather, boating/sailing, cooking, videography, home automation, and DJ’ing an occasional party. I also enjoy traveling to new destinations, which is a lucky thing as my job demands a great deal of it. What are your goals in amateur radio? This is my primary operating position. It's an SO2R setup. Amateur radio is the primary way I stay connected to my technical roots. Of all the aspects of the hobby, I enjoy station building and helping others. I currently host a 2-meter D-Star repeater (KC1EGN) at my QTH and maintain an HF and Satellite station. I enjoy the fusion of radio, computers, networking, and software-defined radios in particular. In the future, my XYL and I plan to move up to the lakes region of New Hampshire. I’ve already started dreaming about building a contest station up there for retirement, and have been gradually collecting some foundational components (hardline, rotors, antenna switching matrix, etc. ). What do you like about being a member of Nashua Area Radio Society? I’ve enjoyed the new friends that I’ve made through the club. The members come from a diverse set of backgrounds and life experiences. As a result, there is always something new to learn. I also volunteered to be the Field Day Chairman for 2017 and quickly gained an appreciation for how much effort is required on behalf of many individuals to pull off this event. Field Day is the premier event for the Nashua Area Radio Society. I would encourage everyone to take an active role, even if you’re a beginner. As they say, many hands make light work, and you’re guaranteed to learn something in the process. Dave, K1DLM --- ### Work the Holiday Special Events! > Work these holiday special events and get some festive QSL cards in the mail. - Published: 2017-12-14 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/14/work-the-holiday-special-events/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: On The Air OJ9X from Finland One of my favorite Special Event stations is Santa, who is on the air from Finland every season. This year, Santa has a special callsign, OJ9X, which also celebrates Finland's 100th Year. Looks like Santa has a Flex Maestro now, wonder if he's operating remotely! Additional Holiday Special Events 5B4XMAS QSL Looks like there are several more Christmas special events, 5B4XMAS from Cyprus, YP2XMAS - YP9XMAS from Romania, 4X2XMAS - 4X9XMAS from various locations in Israel. Get on the air and work these stations and you'll get some nice Christmas (QSL) cards in the mail! --- ### A Winter's Fox Hunt > The N1FD foxes ran free this past weekend to give all of us a chance to hold a Fox Hunt and track them down. Fox Hunts are fun when done with a friend... - Published: 2017-12-11 - Modified: 2023-05-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/11/winter-fox-hunt/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Fox Hunting, NARS Event, VHF/UHF Jamey, KC1ENX let the N1FD foxes loose in Nashua, NH this past weekend to give all of us a chance to track them down. This is not the first time that our foxes have roamed to wilds on New Hampshire. We let them loose during our summer picnic this year. We always have fun and improve our radio direction finding skills while doing a Fox Hunt! Fox News Alert - N1FD Foxes Roaming Nashua We woke this past Saturday to a Fox News Alert! Fox News contributor Jamey, KC1ENX reported - "Two foxes have been spotted in the Nashua area! It has been reported that N1FD-fox1 was heard on Route 3 this morning on 146. 565. It has also been reported that N1FD-fox2 could be heard from close to N1FD-fox2’s location on a frequency of 146. 535. " Hunting the Large Fox I went down to our shack and turned on the 2m rig. Sure enough, there was the howl of the large fox (audio recording above) so I gathered my HT and Elk Yagi antenna and set off to track down the Wiley critters. I stopped just beyond my house near Rt. 122 in Hollis, NH to get an initial fix. Sure enough, I heard the large critter's bark coming from the general direction of Nashua. A couple of fixes along Rt. 3 indicated that the fox was in a den in Mine Falls Park so I drove there and parked. By this time, the fox was clearly audible on the mobile rig in my truck. I switched my HT to the big fox's third harmonic frequency and headed for a high spot on a bridge in the center of the park. Sure enough, there the Wiley critter was - just ahead on the trail. The Large Fox in its Lair I got very close to the large fox when I encountered Bob, W1FDR who had a very effective close in system which used an HT and a dish. Bob said: "Lets team up and we'll track the critter down". So we did team up and it did not take long to find the fox's hideout. We both signed the fox log and turned our attention to finding the smaller fox. Hunting the Small Fox Bob W1FDR by the Small Fox's Den The small fox was audible from the large fox's den using my Yagi and HT. We tracked the small fox across the soccer fields at Mine Falls Park and over a small ridge. Once we got close, Bob used his dish system to track down the small fox in its den. Fox Hunting Equipment The combination of my Yagi and Bob's dish system worked very well for hunting the foxes. The Yagi was surprisingly directional at longer range and this made it relatively easy to get close to both foxes. Bob's dish was great for the final, close-in location of the foxes in their dens. I had a great time hunting the foxes and I am looking forward to another hunt this coming Saturday after our breakfast get together at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH. I am looking for some folks to team with again for the hunt this coming Saturday. Talley-ho! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Welcome to the New Executive Committee Members > Welcome to the new Executive Committee Members and thanks to our departing members. We have accomplished much over the past year... - Published: 2017-12-07 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/07/new-executive-committee-members/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Education and Training, Executive Committee, NARS Event As we just held our annual officer elections, I'd like to thank the departing officers for their service to the club. Departing the Executive committee are: Vice President, Dave Michaels, N1RF Treasurer, Wayne Wagner, AG1A Programs, Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO Our Executive Committee members have worked hard to move the Nashua Area Radio Society forward this past year. Some of our major progress in 2017 includes: We increased our Youth Engagement through many activities and initiatives for young people including working with students from local schools to launch two High Altitude Balloons. We helped 28 new Amateurs into the hobby through our Technician license classes and we helped 20 Amateurs earn General and/or Extra upgrades as part of our license classes in the Spring and Fall. We provided an Interesting and Educational set of Programs and Tech Nights and added to our library of video training materials. We provided CW training to help folks learn Morse Code. We provided a Diverse set of Amateur Radio related activities including SOTA Activations, Rookie Roundups, Kids Day, Club Picnic and theTower Climb Open House. We enjoyed a Safe and Successful Field Day. We achieved Top Club and Top State in 13 Colonies Special Event. We added a 2m Repeater Net to our weekly net activities. We significantly increased our presence and activity on Social Media. We made significant progress toward securing our federal 501c(3) status including drafting and approval of a new Constitution and By-Laws and a set of supporting Policies and Procedures documents. We grew our membership to over 150 members. 2018 Executive Committee Members I'd like to congratulate and welcome our new and returning Officers and Directors to the Executive Committee. Our 2018 Officers and Directors are: President, Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Vice President, Dave Merchant, K1DLM Secretary, Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Treasurer, Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Membership, Jamey Finchum, AC1DC Programs, Scott Andersen, NE1RD Activities, Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB I am looking forward to working with the New Executive Committee a toward a successful 2018. --- ### Propagation Prediction Websites > Propagation Prediction Websites for HF and VHF bands - Published: 2017-12-03 - Modified: 2024-11-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/12/03/propagation-prediction-websites/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, Education and Training, HF, Internet, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, VHF/UHF Is the 20-meter band open to the location of the latest DXpedition on the bands? When is 6 meters open for Sporadic E? Looking for a weak signal 2-meter contact with a specific grid square? There are websites you can visit that give you a prediction of whether the band you are on is open to a given destination. HF Propagation N0NBH Propagation Widget The simplest HF propagation prediction is the widget that is seen on many Amateur Radio Websites - QRZ. com, DXSummit. fi, and more. This gives you a rough idea of what bands are open day and night. Data is based on the Sunspot Number, A and K indices, and other indices. But this doesn't take into account many factors like your location, the DX location, the characteristics of your station, and the DX station. Just because 15m says Poor doesn't mean you won't hear anything on the band. VOACAP - HF Propagation Prediction VOACAP Point to Point Prediction VOACAP is the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program and provides detailed information about HF propagation. You can choose transmitter and receiver locations from many cities around the world. It also provides choices of Antennas, Power, Mode, and more for each end of the contact. You can look at several different views of propagation. If you spend some time delving into the details of propagation visit this site. VOACAP prediction from DXSummit. fi For a faster view of whether you will be able to contact a specific DX Station that is currently on the air, the DXSummit. fi spotting website has incorporated propagation predictions on their website. If you find a DX station spotted there that you contact, just right-click on the DX callsign and select VOACAP from the drop-down. You just need to choose whether you are a Basic (100 watts and a Wire) or a Superstation (Amplifier and Directional Antenna). You can also look at views of Short Path or Long Path. It will give you a good view of when you need to be on which band to contact the DX station. 6 Meters - The Magic Band DXMaps - 6 Meter Openings The best website that I have found for 6 meters is DXMaps. com. It provides a map view of the world or you can select a continent. Based on spotting network data, it shows 6-meter contacts and color codes them by Sporadic-E, Multihop ES, Meteor Scatter, etc... even Aurora. You can also get a view of 10 meters, 2 meters, or 70 cm. If you sign up for a free account, you can subscribe to real-time notifications when there is an opening near you. 2 Meter Propagation VHF Propagation Map Looking for a tropo opening for a weak signal 2-meter contact? Visit the website http://aprs. mountainlake. k12. mn. us/ to see a VHF Propagation map. This shows tropo openings as color-coded clouds - with brighter colors for the longer openings. This is based on APRS data. These are the websites that I like to visit to understand the propagation forecast for the day. If your favorite site is not on the list, add a comment so the rest of our readers can check it out. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Join Our Next Monthly Breakfast > Join us for our next monthly breakfast at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH - Published: 2017-11-29 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/29/join-next-monthly-breakfast/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event We had our first monthly breakfast at Joey's Diner in Amherst, NH on November 18th and a great time was had by all who attended. Breakfast at Joey's Diner We will hold our Monthly Breakfast on the third Saturday or each month. We'll choose a different restaurant in a different location around the Nashua area each month. Please contact Anita, AB1QB at activities@n1fd. org with restaurant recommendations. Inside Parker's Maple Barn Our December breakfast will be held at Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH on Saturday December 16th starting at 8:30am. For Directions, see the Calendar. We'd love to see you there! --- ### Homebrew an Antenna Analyzer > Antenna analyzers kind of feel like a one-trick pony to me. When I first strung up my Buckmaster 7-band OCF dipole. He replied with another option... - Published: 2017-11-29 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/29/homebrew-antenna-analyzer/ - Categories: General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Homebrew If you're like me, then you try to be judicious with your $$$. Ideally, it would be great to spend $ and get the highest quality in return. But, the world does not work this way. So, if I am going to spend $$$ (on a scale of $, $$, and $$$), I want to make sure not only am I obtaining quality, but also multi-functionality. In other words, it's easier for me to spend more money when I feel like my purchase is not exactly a swiss-army knife but also not a one-trick pony. I could be wrong, but antenna analyzers kind of feel like a one-trick pony to me. When I first strung up my Buckmaster 7-band OCF dipole, I borrowed the RigExpert AA-30 from Greg W1TEN, in order to measure the VSWR, since I wasn't thrilled about spending $200 for the analyzer. Especially because I would rather put that money towards a Heil headset and foot pedal (to be ordered for Xmas 2017). At the October Board of Directors (BoD) meeting, Fred AB1OC mentioned that in the Nov 2017 issue of QST, there was an article entitled "Build Your Own Arduino-Based Antenna Analyzer" by Jack Purdum W8EEE and Farrukh Zia K2ZIA. The attractive thing about this design is the authors quote a price point of $50. The major components are comprised of an Arduino, AD9850 Direct-Digital Synthesizer (DDS) board, and TFT display. Additionally, on the main website, one can also download the associated software to load on the Arduino. So, this leaves the user with the experience and satisfaction of homebrewing a really useful component for the shack. There seems to be a lot of documentation on the assembly, parts, etc. so this makes it relatively easy for the user. Completed assembly of analyzer View of Arduino, PCB, and components for analyzer A downside is that the number of components required seems to be somewhat large as seen from Farrukh's website which could potentially be overwhelming if you are just beginning. The authors also quote that one helpful component is purchasing their own custom PCB for the job itself. Though this is not essential, it may aid in the build. Having not built this yet, I would say this would be an intriguing build for someone. I would certainly like to tackle it and have added it near the top of my to-do list since it seems like it can be accomplished within a weekend. A Cheaper Alternative? After I read the article, I emailed Mike AB1YK to let him know about it. He replied with yet another option in the form of a PDF by K6BEZ who claims to accomplish the same feat in < $50. Definitely attractive! It's built on the same premise: AD9850 DDS board, Arduino, etc. , but seems to use fewer components. Instructions also seem to be located here. Some pitfalls of the build from the PDF link provided above: I located some Yahoo forums discussing that the analyzer as spec'd out did not seem to work for some builders. It's unclear if the schematics were incomplete or if it's due to another reason entirely. The build does not seem to be that much cheaper. For instance, the PDF lists the AD9850 DDS as being $4 on eBay. Having looked there myself, as well as on Amazon, the going rate seems to be in the neighborhood of $18-$19. Given this, along with looking up some of the other items in the bill of materials, the price point seems to approach $50 pretty quickly. If I endeavor upon this, I will be sure to document and write another article about it. If someone attempts the "cheaper option", I would be interested to hear how well it works. Happy building! Brian AB1ZO --- ### ARRL Rookie Roundup CW - Call for Operators > Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW on Sunday December 17th. The contest starts at 1800z, which is 1:00pm Eastern time. - Published: 2017-11-27 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/27/arrl-rookie-roundup-cw-call-operators/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, On The Air The next ARRL Rookie Roundup will be on Sunday December 17th and the mode is CW. AB1OC and AB1QB will be hosting a multi-op entry from our QTH. Join Us for the Rookie Roundup All Club Members who quality as rookies are invited. For this contest, a Rookie is any Amateur Radio Operator who has received their first license in 2015, 2016 or 2017 or a has never made a QSO using the CW mode. This is a great opportunity for qualifying members including graduates of our recent CW classes to get on the air. The rookie operators in the contest are also new to CW and the rates are slow. The non-rookies in the contest all operate at slow speeds to help elmer the rookies. 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Certificate Interested? Help us to maintain our streak of #1 entries in the Rookie Roundup Contests! If interested, contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net or at the December Club Meeting or Tech Night. See the calendar for logistical information. Calling all Elmers! Don't quality as a Rookie? You can still participate in the Rookie Roundup as an Elmer. Get on the air from your QTH between 1:00pm and 7:00pm on Sunday December 17th and make contacts with the Rookies. You will be helping all of the CW rookies in the contest! --- ### Portable Satellite Station 3.0 Plans > We’ve made about 250 contacts with our Portable Satellite Station 2.0. We are working on a set of upgrades to create our Portable Satellite Station 3.0... - Published: 2017-11-24 - Modified: 2017-11-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/24/satellite-station-30-plans/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Portable, Satellite, Space, Station Building, VHF/UHF We’ve made about 250 contacts with our Portable Satellite Station 2. 0 and we have worked 106 grids which should be enough to earn a Satellite VUCC. We are working on a set of upgrades to create our Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 which will support ISS Crew Contacts and be a 90th percentile satellite ground station. You can read more about our 3. 0 upgrade plans via the link below. Fred, AB1OC Portable Satellite Station 3. 0 Plans Source: A Portable Satellite Station Part 5 – Plans for Our 3. 0 Station --- ### DX Alarm Clock Part 2 - Hardware > Hardware Components used in the DX Alarm Clock and How To Setup a Development Environment for Python Software development - Published: 2017-11-23 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/dx-alarm-clock-part-2-hardware/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, DX, Homebrew I recently wrote a blog article about the DX Alarm Clock software - here is Part 2 of the Series on the how I built the hardware for the DX Alarm Clock. DX Alarm Clock Hardware Components The DX Alarm Clock is based on a Raspberry Pi 3 computer and an Adafruit Pi-TFT Touch Screen Display. The list of components, along with links is below. Since I built the Raspberry Pi almost a year ago and technology is always advancing, some of the parts are no longer available or have better replacements available. I'll provide information on what I used and a recommended replacement. Approximate prices are included. Raspberry Pi 3 Motherboard: Raspberry Pi 3 ($35) - includes a 1. 2 GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM CPU, Build in WiFi, Ethernet, 4 USB Ports, an HDMI port and audio port (3. 5") and Bluetooth. Also, you will need a power adapter ($10) and Class 10 Micro SD card ($15) for the Raspberry Pi. Ours is a SanDisk Ultra 64GB Micro SD Card. Pi-TFT Touch Screen Display Display: Adafruit Pi-TFT 2. 8" Display with Capacitive Touch Screen ($45). A slightly larger, 3. 5" display is now available. PiBow Case Case: Pimoroni PiBow Case for Raspberry Pi and Pi-TFT Display($20) Kinivo Speaker Portable Speaker: Any small portable/rechargeable speaker will do. Mine is a Kinivo, but it is no longer available. Any small speaker will do as long as it is Bluetooth or has a 3. 5" stereo connector. Completed DX Alarm Clock Hardware The picture above shows the completed DX Alarm Clock Hardware running portable using a USB battery pack. Raspberry Pi Development Environment Raspberry Pi Development Environment After constructing the Raspberry Pi, case and TFT Display, the next step was to connect it to a monitor via the HDMI port, a mouse via one of the USB ports and to a Bluetooth keyboard. Then I loaded the Raspbian Operating System onto the Raspberry Pi via the micro SD card. I first copied the OS to the Micro SD card using a PC or Mac and then inserted the card into the Raspberry Pi and booted from it. You can find a good tutorial on how to do this at https://www. raspberrypi. org/learning/software-guide/quickstart/ Once Raspbian is installed, you will have a windows like GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment with a web browser, and a number of additional applications included. This gave me a development environment that I could use to build and test the DX Alarm Clock software. I used the Python language to develop the software. I used the Python IDLE development environment, which is included in the Raspbian OS. Interested in Raspberry Pi Amateur Radio Projects? See the article on a Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface. --- ### Meteor Scatter Rocks! – Work’in the Orionids > I’ve been pretty active on the 6m band the past few years. The addition of the MSK144 mode for Meteor Scatter contacts has been a lot of fun... - Published: 2017-11-23 - Modified: 2017-11-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/msk144-meteor-scatter-rocks/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Digital, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Software, Space I’ve been pretty active on the 6m band the past few years. The addition of the MSK144 mode for Meteor Scatter contacts has been a lot of fun and has added some new grid squares to my total. 6m Grids Worked Using MSK144 Meteor Scatter During the 2017 Orionids I wanted to share a new post from our Stationproject Blog about our experiences with making 6m contacts using Meteor Scatter propagation and the MSK144 mode. You can read the article and see a video of a Meteor Scatter contact via the link below. Fred, AB1OC Source: Meteor Scatter Rocks! – Work’in the Orionids --- ### New RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Designated AO-91 and is Active! > RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is official designated AO-91 and the Amatuer Radio Payload is NOW ACTIVE! You can find more information... - Published: 2017-11-23 - Modified: 2017-11-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/23/new-ao-91-active/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is official designated AO-91 and the Amatuer Radio Payload is NOW ACTIVE! You can find more information about this new FM "Easy Sat" via the link below. We hope to make our first contact through this new bird sometime today. Fred, AB1OC New AO-91 Satellite Source: RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Launched, Designated AMSAT-OSCAR 91 --- ### Students Analyze HAB-2's Flight Data > The HAB team members in NARS have created a five-session curriculum to teach physics, atmospheric science, and radio technology that we use... - Published: 2017-11-03 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/11/03/high-altitude-balloon-data/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: High Altitude Balloon, Space, Youth Outreach The HAB team members in NARS have created a five-session curriculum to teach physics, atmospheric science, and radio technology that we use as part of our HAB launches. The last session is the most fun of all - analyzing the telemetry data from our HAB's flight to see what the students can learn from it. HAB-2 Flight Data Analysis Our students at Bishop-Guertin High School that participated in our High-Altitude Balloon 2 launch this past weekend got together to analyze HAB-2's flight data. All of our students tracked HAB-2 using APRS. fi and were excited about the HAB's flight and final altitude of almost 118,000 ft! Flight Path We began by reviewing our flight predictions and expectations for atmospheric conditions that we covered in our previous classroom sessions. You can see the materials that the students worked from via the preceding link. Also, the full set of data from HAB-2's flight computer can be viewed as well. HAB-2 Predicted Flight Path We began by comparing the predicted flight path with the actual data from the APRS system on HAB-2. HAB-2 Actual Flight Path The students concluded that the shape and direction of the predicted and actual paths matched quite well giving us confidence in the path modeling software. Balloon Performance Balloon Performance Calculator They also noted the HAB-2's ascent took longer and went much higher than the Balloon Calculator we had used predicted. After some thought, one of the students observed: "maybe we did not put enough helium in the balloon". This tuned out to be correct. We checked the scale that we used to set HAB-2's lift with calibrated weights and we found an error in the scale's calibration that led us to put about 200 g less lift (less Helium) in the balloon than our model required. We also used the same scale to weight the flight platform. These errors would certainly account for the higher altitude and long ascent times that we experienced. Temperature and Pressure GoPro Camera Early Shutoff vs. Temperature (click to enlarge) The students also looked at the pressure and temperature data from the flight. The pressure was about what was expected but the students noticed that HAB-2 had flown through some temperatures as low as -70° F! The discussion turned to the question of why our video cameras had stopped recording at almost exactly the same time - 53 mins into the flight. An examination of our temperature data gave as a probable answer: the temperature took a dip to -50°F about the time that the GoPro video cameras shut off! Their LiPo batteries are only rated to about -40°F. We concluded that we'd need to find a way to keep the camera batteries warm during our next flight. Other Questions High-Altitude Balloon Data Analysis Questions The students discussed some additional questions and previewed some raw video from the flight and the recovery included a flight path simulation created by Wayne, AG1A. HAB-2 Open House Amateur Radio Open House We are planning an open house for the students at our QTH to wrap up the project and to preview the final light video. Members of NARS are welcome to join us for the open house. You can find more information about it here. I especially want to thank all of the NARS members who worked to prepare for and assist the students with HAB-2: Curtis Dude, N1CMD Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Abby Finchum, AB1BY Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Josi and Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO Without our HAB team, HAB-2 and the STEM learning experience that it provided would not have been possible. Thank you all for helping us to create a positive STEM learning experience through Amateur Radio. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight - Jamey, AC1DC (Formerly KC1ENX) > I am Jamey, (KC1ENX), I am new to Amateur Radio, and I came to the hobby almost by accident. I had been looking for better communication while out hiking... - Published: 2017-10-31 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/jamey-ac1dc/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight I am very new to Amateur Radio and came into the hobby almost by accident. A few years ago I had been looking into better communication while out hiking after myself and Abby (AB1BY) were separated from the rest of our hiking party coming down Mount Washington. We ended up coming down in the dark - with headlamps - and were okay, but we were frustrated that we could not let the rest of our party know we were oka but just slow. I started searching the web trying to learn more about FRS/GMRS, CB radio and anything else that might work. During my search the Nashua Area Radio Club website came up and they had a licensing class coming up... the rest is history! Speaking of history, let me tell you a little about myself that is non-ham related. I have worked as a tennis professional for the past 25 or so years. I am the current Director of Junior Development at the Longfellow Tennis & Health Club in Wayland, MA. We have one of the largest junior programs in the north east US and I truly love my job! I also work as a National Trainer for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and travel to other clubs around the country to help educate other pros on the teachings of junior tennis. I have two harmonics, Connor, KC1FFX and Abby, AB1BY. Both are licensed amateur radio operators. The three of us have not yet been able to convince my XYL, Gretchen, to get licensed... but, we keep trying! Outside of tennis and Ham Radio, I enjoy hiking, camping, kayaking (even when not rescuing HABs), canoeing and pretty much any other outdoor activities. I also have a love for motorcycling, but can no longer ride due to an inner ear disease which affects my balance. I have ridden in a few Iron Butt (Minute Man 1000) rides - think of a big, long distance scavenger hunt! One year I rode over 1300 miles in 24 hours. I loved riding and would ride rain or shine for many years. Both kids also enjoyed many adventures on the bike! As far as my interests in Amateur Radio I have many. I could be diagnosed with Ham Radio ADD. There is just too much to learn and enjoy in the hobby! I really enjoy working mobile HF on my Icom 7100 and Tar Heel II antenna. I also enjoy contesting - especially on a good station like at Fred's AB1OC and Anita's AB1QB QTH. My favorite activity is portable operations. I have enjoyed Summits on the Air, Parks on the Air and sometimes just getting out with the kids and throwing up an antenna and operating. I am learning new things about this hobby every day. As a new Ham, I am always curious to learn more about this great hobby and I consider myself very lucky for having found the Nashua Area Radio Society. I'm honestly not sure I would still be on the air if it weren't for the all of the club's activities and enthusiastic members. Jamey, AC1DC --- ### Abby, AB1BY Interview on Ham Nation > One of our own, Abby AB1BY was interviewed on Ham Nation recently. Gordon West, WB6NOA, interviewed Abby. Gordon has invited Abby to do a monthly segment... - Published: 2017-10-31 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/ab1by-interview/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Internet, Youth Outreach One of our own, Abby AB1BY appeared on Ham Nation on Wednesday, October 25th. The show including Abby’s interview was streamed live over the Internet. Gordon West, WB6NOA, interviewed Abby. You can view Abby's Interview (about 3:22 in from the beginning) below: https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=qG__5vULP78&start=202&width=900&height=506 Abby was quite a hit during her Ham Nation debut. The chatroom activity associated with her segment was off the charts! Gordon has invited Abby back to do a monthly segment on Ham Nation. Stay tuned! Fred, AB1OC --- ### HAB-2 Sets Altitude Record! - Published: 2017-10-31 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/31/high-altitude-balloon-altitude-record/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We flew our High-Altitude Balloon for the second time this past weekend. Our second High-Altitude Balloon Flight (HAB-2) was part of a STEM learning project that we did with STEM club students at Bishop-Guertin High School in Nashua, NH. The students did all of the flight prep and launched HAB-2 at approximately 11 am ET from a school in Winchester, NH. Parents, teachers and local students joined us for the launch as did several members of our HAB team. High-Altitude Balloon 2 Actual Flight Path Our students and many Hams were able to track HAB-2 during its flight via APRS. HAB-2's actual flight path prediction matched our modeling quite well. High-Altitude Balloon 2 Predicted Flight Path The direction and shape of the path were almost the same as what our model predicted but the flight took longer and went higher than we expected. High-Altitude Balloon 2's Balloon Burst Altitude We broke our previous altitude record by A LOT! The balloon burst west of Rochester, NH at just short of 118,000 ft! HAB-2's final altitude was about 400 ft higher than the last APRS burst shown above. This is more the 25,000 ft higher than our last flight! HAB-2 Water Landing in Maine HAB-2 landed in a pond in Maine. Our floatation system worked well - it kept most of the electronics dry and prevented HAB-2 from sinking. HAB-2's Water Recovery in Maine Fortunately, Jamey, KC1ENX and Curtis, N1CMD had Jamey’s kayak and were able to retrieve HAB-2. The equipment was wet but appears to be in good working condition. We have all of the telemetry data from HAB-2's flight. Due to a glitch at launch, the platform flew on its side for the entire flight and the cameras shut off early due to some unusually cold conditions (-70° F) that HAB-2 encountered during its flight. We did get some video from the first 50 minutes of the flight. You can view the video of HAB-2's launch, flight, and recovery below. Our students will be getting together later this week to analyze the data from HAB-2's flight. We are also planning an Amateur Radio open house for them on Sunday, Nov. 12th at our QTH. Congratulations to our students and to our HAB Team for another successful flight! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Getting Started with Satellites with KX9X > This is a good podcast on getting started with satellites. Source: Ham Talk Live! Episode 86 - Getting Started with Satellites with KX9X. - Published: 2017-10-27 - Modified: 2024-01-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/27/getting-started-with-satellites/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Source: Ham Talk Live! Episode 86 - Getting Started with Satellites with KX9X | QRZ Forums This is a good podcast on how to get started with satellites. Check it out. Fred, AB1OC --- ### HAB-2 Launch This Saturday - How To Track Our High-Altitude Balloon > We are planning a second launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-2) this Saturday. You can track HAB-2 on aprs.fi using the call sign N1FD-11... - Published: 2017-10-27 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/27/high-altitude-balloon-2-launch-tracking/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, Education and Training, High Altitude Balloon, Internet, NARS Event, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We are planning the second launch of our High-Altitude Balloon (HAB-2) this Saturday, October 28th at approximately 11 am ET. You can view the story of our first launch here on our website and you can view the video from our first High-Altitude Balloon launch above. High-Altitude Balloon Launch Site and Weather The weather and Jetstream conditions look good for our HAB-2 launch! HAB-2 Launch Site in Winchester NH We will be launching from the school in Winchester, NH at around 11 am ET. Nashua Area Radio Society members and friends are invited to join us for our launch. HAB-1 Launch! We have been working with the STEM club at Bishop-Guertin HS here in Nashua, NH. The students will handle HAB-2 launch preparations and the launch. Launch preparations will begin on site at 9:30 am ET. Winchester NH Weather Forecast for Launch The weather forecast looks great for our launch on Saturday with clear skies and moderate winds. These conditions should enable us to capture some spectacular video from HAB-2 during its flight! Tracking HAB-2 I wanted to share some information about tracking our HAB-2 as it flies. Our balloon will carry’s a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter. HAB Flight Platform The onboard APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144. 390 MHz and will transmit our HAB’s position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during HAB-2’s flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from HAB’-2s flight platform. HAB-2 will use N1FD-11 as its call sign. HAB-2 On Aprs. fi HAB-2’s APRS packets will be picked up by ground-based Digipeaters and iGates and will be relayed to aprs. fi where the HAB’s current location and flight path can be tracked. You can click on the link in the previous line to see HAB-2’s current location and flight track. HAB-2 Flight Path Projection Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB’s flight to last a little more than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of over 105,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings HAB-2 back to the ground at a safe speed. The above predictions will likely somewhat different from HAB-2's actual flight path. Based upon the predictions, HAB-2 will be traveling approximately 100 km between its takeoff point and landing near Maine. HAB APRS Packet Information Aprs. fi will store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX. 25 packets transmitted by HAB-2 during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon’s data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes. All you need to track HAB-2 during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs. fi links here to see HAB-2’s current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive HAB-2’s telemetry directly during the flight. We will post updates on launch plans and the flight in the Youth Forum on our website. T minus 1 day and counting until HAB-2 launches... . Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight - B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD > Scott, NE1RD got his a start in ham radio not long ago. In 2002, after years of encouragement from a good friend, NE1RD was finally looked into the hobby. - Published: 2017-10-26 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/26/member-spotlight-ne1rd/ - Categories: Antennas, CW and QRP, DX, Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, CW, DX, Member Spotlight, QRP NE1RD on Mt. Wachusett Bio of B. Scott Andersen, NE1RD I got my start in ham radio not long ago. In 2002, after years of encouragement from a good friend, I finally looked into the hobby. “You’ll love it,” my friend said. “It’s right up your alley. ” I confess I was skeptical, and even a little uncomfortable watching him make a simple call on a 2m radio he had in his car. “Go ahead and talk,” he said. I was well outside my comfort zone. I’ve tried to remember those feelings as I show new people our world. It can seem strange, and aspects of it still seem strange, even after all these years. “It isn’t just one hobby,” my friend admitted. “It’s 99 different hobbies. You just pick the ones that interest you. ” I have taken his advice, and now I’m involved in some of the ones that most intrigued me. Not long after being licensed, I entered my first contest. It was October of 2002, the sunspots were still active, and I worked over three hundred stations in just a few hours. I was completely hooked on contesting! A lot of the things that made me nervous in the car that day were absent here. There were no long conversations; they just wanted my exchange (5905), and on they went! The thing that really captured my attention, though, was a DVD of a DXpedition run by the Microlite Penguin team and their trip to South Sandwich Island and Southern Thule. These guys were amazing! Small radios, lightweight gear, well-conceived but modest antennas, and they worked the world. This was something I wanted to do. So, in the next few years, I spent most of my free time thinking about ham radio, and lightweight DXpeditioning in particular. Contesting just helped me increase my DXCC totals, and hone my skills. The culmination of all that thinking was captured in my blog “The 100 Pound DXpedition. ” You can get a PDF of all these brief articles from a link on my website www. bsandersen. com As part of this DXpeditioning interest, I also spent a great deal of time thinking about antennas, and portable antennas in particular. My book “Buddipole in the Field” was the result of some of this work. You can get the free PDF from the Buddipole User Group on Yahoo! , or from a link on my website. The Buddipole has provided a good platform for many of my experiments, and DXpeditions. I’ve always been a nerd, interested in electronics, physics, mathematics, and the like. Ham radio has provided me a way to transition from the abstract to the concrete. It is one thing to think about radio theory. It is another to build a working radio. I’ve been building kits since the 1970’s, but ham radio has given me many new opportunities. I’m particularly fond of Elecraft kits having built two K2s, three K1s, and two KX1s. They are all fabulous radios, and building them was deeply satisfying. I am still working, so ham radio sometimes takes a backseat to my responsibilities, but it is never far from my mind. I’ve also learned just a little patience through all this. Building up a country list for DXCC, and chasing various radio awards must be done over time (usually years) and it has paid off. I now have 8-band DXCC, WAS in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the US Virgin Islands, ARRL Challenge, and various CQ WPX awards. They look great on my wall and are a reminder that anything worthwhile requires both hard work and patience. After all this time, I’m still very much a student of the hobby. I’m shameless about asking questions and always try to take advantage of any opportunity to see and try new things. I can only hope that this passion continues through the coming years. It has been a joy for this first fifteen, certainly! --- ### New Satellite Coming Soon and Good Deal on Satellite Book > As part of the preparations for the launch of a new Satellite, RadFxSat, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With Amateur Satellites” book available... - Published: 2017-10-24 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/24/new-satellite/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF The next of AMSAT-NA's FM repeater satellites, RadFxSat (aka "Fox-1b" is expected to be launched November 10 VERY early in the morning. Keep an eye out on amsat. org for the launch results and when it is released to the public. In the meantime, I just discovered this nice deal (on the AMSAT Facebook page): As part of the preparations for the launch of RadFxSat on November 10th, AMSAT is making our “Getting Started With Amateur Satellites” book available for a limited time as a download with any paid new or renewal membership purchased via the AMSAT Store. This offer is only available with purchases completed online, and for only a limited time. A perennial favorite, Getting Started is updated every year with the latest amateur satellite information, and is the premier primer of satellite operation. The 182 page book is presented in PDF format, in full color, and covers all aspects of making your first contacts on a ham radio satellite. Please take advantage of this offer today by visiting the AMSAT store at https://www. amsat. org/shop/ and selecting any membership option. While there, check out our other items, including the M2 LEOpack antenna system, Arrow antennas, AMSAT shirts, and other swag. Be sure to view your cart before going to checkout. If you add a membership and then go directly to checkout, you'll never see an option to add your free gift. Thank you, and see you soon on RadFxSat! Getting Started with Satellites Book I am a member of AMSAT, as I know a number of you are, but if you are interested in ham radio satellites and have not joined, I hope you will consider supporting the US group that builds them! Burns, W2BFJ --- ### Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface > We built a Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator interface to improve the operation of MacDopller with our Green Heron Rotator Controller... - Published: 2017-10-20 - Modified: 2023-12-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/20/raspberry-pi-satellite-rotator/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Satellite, Space We’ve been using our Portable Satellite Station 2. 0 for some time now and it works great. One area that can be improved is the interface between the MacDoppler Satellite Tracking program we use and the GHTracker application which controls the Green Heron Engineering RT-21 Az/El Rotator Controller in our setup... Source: Raspberry Pi Satellite Rotator Interface | Our HAM Station The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive computer and control platform for many Ham Radio projects. We recently used a Raspberry Pi 3 to build an interface between the MacDoppler Satellite Tracking Software in our Portable Satellite Station and the Rotator Control System points the ground station antennas during satellite tracking. We put together an article about how we went about this project and some details of the hardware and software we used to put a Raspberry Pi 3 computer together for our project. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Orionid Meteor Shower: Friday Night Brings Excellent Conditions In Eastern US > One of the best meteor showers of the fall, the Orionid Meteor Shower, will peak on Friday night with over a dozen meteors... - Published: 2017-10-20 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/20/orionid-meteor-shower/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Digital, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF One of the best meteor showers of the fall, the Orionid Meteor Shower, will peak on Friday night with over a dozen meteors streaking across the night sky every hour. Source: Orionid meteor shower: Friday night to bring excellent viewing conditions in the Eastern US. It looks like this weekend is going to be a good time to work Meteor Scatter contacts on 6m! The Orionid's peak tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night, October 20th and 21st. We'll be operating using WSJT-X MSK144 mode on 6m. We are planning to use our Remote Operating setup to take advantage of our SDR's receiver capabilities and the connected 500w amplifier. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Remote Control Ham Station Enhancements > We have been enhancing our Remote Control Ham Station system to include additional remote control client options, better networking via the Internet... - Published: 2017-10-18 - Modified: 2023-06-21 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/18/remote-control-ham-station/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: CW Class, Digital, HF, Magic Band (6m), Software, Station Building As explained in a previous article, we have been working on enhancing our Remote Control Ham Station system. The upgrades include additional remote client options, better remote networking via the Internet, and better integration with our microHAM system. Source: Remote Operating Enhancements | Our HAM Station As part of the fall upgrade plans at our station, we have completed quite a few enhancements to the Remote Operating Gateway and associated client devices in our station. The upgrades include: An upgrade to FlexRadio SmartSDR V2 to add improved networking of a FlexRadio SDR radio over the Internet The addition of a FlexRadio Maestro Console to make it easier to operate our station remotely and to enable sending CW via paddles. A new, simpler VPN solution to allow remote control of antennas, amplifier, and accessories in our station Updated Laptop PC VPN and Remote Control Software to allow operation of our DXLab Logging Suite software with the Maestro in SSB Phone and CW modes The installation of the latest version of WSJT-X software to add JT9, JT65, FT8, MSK144, and WSPR digital modes to our remote setup You can read more on our Stationproject Blog about our Remote Control Ham Station Enhancements. We try to do some station upgrades in the fall of each year to maximize our operating fun during the winter months. We always welcome members who want to join in on our projects as a means to learn about station building. More to come as we make progress with our planned projects. Special thanks to Dave, K1DLM who has helped us with ideas for several aspects of this project. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Comparing a 1/4w Trap Vertical with OCF Dipole using WSPRlite > Using a WSPRlite device is a really good way to compare the performance of two different antennas. You can see where in the world your signal is heard... - Published: 2017-10-10 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/10/comparing-antennas-wsprlite/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=uPV6HnMOwqM Source: Comparing a 1/4w Trap Vertical with OCF Dipole on WSPR! | QRZ Forums Using a WSPRlite device is a really good way to compare the performance of two different antennas. You can see where in the world your signal is heard on each one. Check it out! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Nashua Area Radio Society Adopts an Updated Constitution and By-Laws > We adopted an updated Constitution and By-Laws at our recent October membership meeting. Our October Membership Meeting The vote was unanimous in favor... - Published: 2017-10-10 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/10/update-constitution-bylaws/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Executive Committee, Non-Profit We adopted an updated Constitution and By-Laws at our recent October membership meeting. Our October Membership Meeting The vote was unanimous in favor of adoption. You can see a short presentation explaining our new Constitution and By-Laws here. Our new Constitution and By-Laws provide the governance and oversight mechanisms required for our organization to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It also streamlines our operations and governance model as we move forward. Our Charter and Mission We have updated our charter to codify our mission to provide educational opportunities and emergency communications through Amateur Radio. We also changed our name to the Nashua Area Radio Society. As you will probably conclude, we are already doing the things that are included in our updated charter. Our Operations and Governance Model We also adopted a streamlined model for the operation, governance, and oversight aspects of running our organization. Our new model is shown above. Other Elements of Our Updated Constitution and By-Laws Our members will elect a seven-member Executive Committee as before. The Executive Committee is responsible for all aspects of operating our organization. We have changed the term of the members of the Executive Committee to two years and they are now elected on a staggered basis. We expect these steps to improve the continuity of our organization's leadership. As you can see from the above, we also adopted several other elements to support our on-going operations and governance. Discussion and Ratification Steps Our immediate next steps include updating our online presence to reflect our new name, updated filings with the State of New Hampshire, and the creation of the Policy and Procedure documents required by our updated By-Laws. A group of our members has been working on our updated Constitution and By-Laws for several months now. We'd like to thank the team of members who contributed to this process. They include: Wayne Wagner, AG1A Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Tom Mahon, AB1NS Dennis Marandos, K1LGQ Bill Barber, NE1B We are looking forward to being part of the next chapter in the Nashua Area Radio Society's rich history of service to the Amateur Radio Service, Our Community, and Our Members. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Plans for Enhancing Our Ham Station This Fall > We are planning a number of enhancements at our Ham Station this fall. Our plans include radio upgrades, a shared amplifier setup, and remote operating... - Published: 2017-10-09 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/09/ham-station-projects/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: HF, Station Building Source: Plans for 2017 Station Upgrades - Radio, Shared Amplifier, and Remote Op Enhancements We are planning a number of enhancements at our Ham Station this fall. Our plans include: Enhancing our FlexRadio 6700 based Remote Operating Setup to include additional remote control client options, better networking via the Internet, and better integration with our microHAM system Upgrading the second radio in Anita’s (AB1QB) operating position from the current Icom IC-7600 to a new an Icom IC-7610 SDR-Based Transceiver Adding a new Elecraft KPA1500 Solid State Amplifier to our station. The KPA1500 will be shared between the Icom IC-7610 and our FlexRadio 6700 based Remote Operating Gateway We try to do some station upgrades in the fall of each year to maximize our operating fun during the winter months. We are at the design stage on these projects and I wanted to share some information about what we are planning from our Stationproject Blog. We always welcome members who want to join in on our projects as a means to learn about station building. More to come as we make progress with these projects. Special thanks to Dave, K1DLM who has helped us with ideas for several aspects of this project. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Amazing DX Opening on the 12m Band > I am not sure why but I decided to give the 12m band a look today and I was stunned! The 12m band is wide open between Africa and the US! - Published: 2017-10-06 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/06/12m-dx/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, HF, On The Air Today proved out some simple, tried and true advice for me - it pays to take some time and tune through the bands. I just got a Maestro Remote Control Device for our FlexRadio SDR and I took a break around lunchtime to tune through the higher HF bands to see what I could hear. We use a Flex SDR as a Remote Operating Gateway into our station and the Maestro allows me to run our station over our home network with going down to the shack. I am not sure why but I decided to give the 12m band a look today. When I did, I was stunned! It is about noon time and the 12m band is wide open between Africa and the US! 12m DX - XT2AW Burkina Faso I worked two DX stations on 12m SSB. The first was XT2AW, Harald in Burkina Faso. Harald was working split and was not real loud but I had no trouble completing the contact with him. Excited, I tuned across 12m some more and found an old friend - Theo, ZS6TVB in South Africa. I had a very nice QSO with him. We both marveled over the propagation on the 12m band that we were experiencing. He was 57-58 here in New Hampshire! The sunspot conditions are pretty weak (SFI 85, SN 26) to create such a good opening on 12m. I believe that we may be experiencing Transequatorial Propagation (TEP) which can provide a significant propagation enhancement on paths with traverse the equator. Anita and I experienced similar TEP propagation on 10m when we were on Bora Bora Island early in 2012 with similar solar conditions. It just goes to show that it pays to tune the upper HF bands. Especially on days when "they are not open". Also, 10m also appears to be open to Africa right now - I am hearing a station in Mauritania... Fred, AB1OC --- ### Fall 2017 License Classes Have Begun > The Nashua Area Radio Club will hold 3 License Classes this Fall including Technician, General and Extra classes. The Technician Class is this weekend. - Published: 2017-10-01 - Modified: 2022-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/10/01/fall-2017-license-class/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class, Mentor, NARS Event We have started our fall 2017 license classes with the Technician License Class being held this weekend - September 30 - October 1 at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Nashua. We have a large class - a total of 16 students! Abby, AB1BY teaching the Tech Students License Class Instructors We have a new instructor to add to the team, Abby, AB1BY. The other instructors are Jamey, KC1ENX, Aron, W1AKI, Wayne, AG1A, Brian, AB1ZO, and Fred, AB1OC. Thanks to all instructors for the time and effort they put into this Club Activity. Satellite Station 2. 0 License Class Demos In addition to reviewing every question in the technician class pool, we provide many demos to show students what they can do with their technician class license. We have a satellite station, an HF station and a UHF/VHF go kit set up for demos. Class Demos Fred, AB1OC demonstrates a Satellite Contact Next Classes Our next classes will be the General Class, which will be held on November 4-5 and the Extra Class, which will be held on December 1-3. More information on our classes can be found on our website. Club members are invited to stop by and see what we are doing. --- ### New Hampshire QSO Party > This past weekend Fred (AB1OC) and I (KC1ENX) participated in the New Hampshire QSO Party in the multi-op high power category... - Published: 2017-09-29 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/29/new-hampshire-qso-party/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, On The Air This past weekend Fred (AB1OC) and I (KC1ENX) participated in the New Hampshire QSO Party in the multi-op high power category operating from Fred (AB1OC) and Anita's (AB1QB) shack using the club call sign (N1FD). We had originally planned to be a mobile operation but discovered there wasn't a category for mobile, multi-op stations so decided to see what damage we could do from Fred and Anita's QTH. This was my first "real" contest. At least in the sense that I would be working more than a few hours at a time over a span of two days. The QSO Party started at 12 pm on Saturday and ran until 12 am on Sunday and then resumed on Sunday at 12 pm and ran until 6 pm Sunday. I was pretty excited and didn't know quite what to expect. I have done the ARRL's Rookie Roundups (SSB Voice, RTTY, and CW) in the past with the club, but those are much shorter in length. I was ready to step it up a level! KC1ENX taking a break while AB1OC operates Fred got the ball rolling on Saturday and shortly passed the control over to me. Anyone that has worked at Fred and Anita's QTH it doesn't take long to create a pile-up and it sure didn't! Fred and I worked hard all day on Saturday until things started to dry up a bit on Saturday night around 11 pm. I decided to get a good nights sleep and headed home around 11:30 pm. Driving home, I decided to check the bands to see if anyone else was working the QSO party hard. I was shocked to hear a "CQ NH QSO Party" being called on 40 meters at close to midnight! My heart skipped a beat as I was sure someone else was working until the very end of the night! I should have recognized the voice as I then heard, "N1FD". Fred had decided to work a few more stations - learning a lesson from the 13 Colonies Event to never give up! As I drove back to Fred and Anita's on Sunday I heard Fred's booming signal coming through on 20 meters. He got started as soon as the clock struck 12 pm. He let me take over shortly after my arrival and things were pretty busy for the whole day. We ended up making 1,464 QSOs in 18 hours for a total score of 102,410 points! We almost had a WAS missing out by three states - Alaska, Delaware, and Maine. We worked all the Canadian provinces except for two and had many DX contacts as well! Not only did we finish with a pretty impressive score, but I learned a ton! So close to a WAS! Here are just a few of the things I learned from the weekend: QRP I have a newfound respect for these guys. I know the saying, "Life's too short for QRP" but some of these guys easily broke a pileup and the great thing was the excitement they had when they did make contact. One guy actually exclaimed, "yoo-hoo! " on the air when I came back to him with his signal report. USE PHONETICS You make thing your signal is strong and very readable, but when there is QSB and QRM all around you, it really helps to speed things up to give call signs in phonetics. KEEP IT SHORT Obviously, we were trying to get as many QSOs in as possible in an allotted amount of time and sometimes people wanted to give a lot of unnecessary information. Fred taught me how to politely move things along without being rude. I did give extra time to a lot of the Florida operators who were affected by the hurricane and had just got their stations back up on the air, but I tried to keep things short for other QSOs. SUPER CHECK PARTIAL This is part of N1MM logger and it was fantastic in keeping things moving. If you catch part of a call sign and type it in with a "? " for letters you are unsure of it will give you a list of callsigns. This saved me a lot of time on many, many QSOs. MULTIPLIERS ARE IMPORTANT As the QSO Party went on we could check on N1MM+ the multipliers that we had and the ones that were missing. This allowed us to listen for the call signs from the areas that we still needed. We ended up getting one of our multipliers in the last couple of hours of the contest! A GREAT STATION REALLY HELPS! Anyone that has operated at Fred (AB1OC) and Anita's (AB1QB) QTH knows that they have an amazing setup. Everything there is top notch. Besides the great transceivers, yagis, power and everything else the other thing I really liked was the receive antenna. This allowed us to quickly change our listening direction and really pick out the weak signals quickly. I would highly recommend working a QSO Party to get your feet wet in contesting. It is definitely long hours, but you are not working a full 24 or 48 hours which gives you some time for a good nights sleep. I really enjoyed the QSO Party and would like to thank Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) for putting up with me for so many hours. It does make it a lot more fun when you have a friend to work with you and show you the ropes. I'm already looking forward to my next contest opportunity! Jamey, KC1ENX --- ### Tower Climbing Demo and Open House at AB1OC/AB1QB > Ever wonder what's involved in safely climbing and working on an Amateur Radio tower? We will be holding an open house and tower climbing demonstration... - Published: 2017-09-28 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/28/tower-climbing-open-house/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, On The Air, Tower Several folks have suggested that it would be interesting to see a tower climbing demonstration. It turns out that we need to climb our tower to do some routine maintenance before winter comes. This seems like a good opportunity for folks who are interested in learning how to climb a tower and work on it safely. A View From Our Tower as Anita, AB1QB Looks On Ever wonder what's involved in safely climbing and working on an Amateur Radio tower? Here's your chance. On Sunday, October 15th at 1 pm we will be holding an open house and tower climbing demonstration at our station. Climbing Safety Gear We have two sets of climbing safety gear and we'll provide the opportunity for those who want to try it on to do so. I am going to climb our tower to the 45-foot level to do some maintenance on our weather station. Anita and I will be explaining how to safely climb and work on an Amateur Radio tower. Invitation to Operate Our Station AB1OC-AB1QB Shack We will also provide an opportunity for folks to get on the air at our station and make some contacts as part of our open house. Our station will be configured for you to try SSB Phone, CW, and digital modes including the new FT8 mode. You can try any or all of these modes. We'll be QRV on all bands from 160m - 70 cm. Power levels will be from QRP up to the legal limit. We hope that our club members and friends will join us for our open house. It should be fun! Fred, AB1OC --- ### SOTA Activation on Mt. Wachusett > SOTA Activation on Mt Wachusett - Published: 2017-09-24 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/24/sota-activation-on-mt-wachusett/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: HF, NARS Event, On The Air, SOTA, VHF/UHF Antenna Farm on Mt. Wachusett On Saturday September 24, we held our last SOTA activation of this season at Mt. Wachusett in Massachusetts. We had great weather, great scenery, and a great time operating from the summit. Getting to the Summit Brian, W1BP and son hiked to the summit Fred, AB1OC, Anita, AB1QB and Jamey, KC1ENX took the mountain road to the summit, while Brian, W1BP hiked to the top. 6 meter beam Operating from the Summit Fred and Anita brought their 6m beam and portable station. This time we were set up for digital operation and made SSB as well as FT4 QSOs. We made a total of 24 QSOs and were heard on FT8 as far away as Nova Scotia and North Carolina. PSK Reporter map shows where we were heard on 6m FT8 Jamey works Europe with his new KX2 Jamey brought his new KX2 and worked many countries in Europe QRP on 20m with his Buddipole vertical. Fred, AB1OC working 6m FT8 using Solar Power We had a warm sunny day - perfect for the first weekend of Fall. We had plenty of solar power to run both Fred's and Brian's stations. --- ### Join us for Mt Wachusett SOTA Activation on Saturday September 23rd > On Saturday, September 23rd we’ll head to Mt Wachusett SOTA (W1/CR-001) in Princeton, MA.  It is only about an hour drive from Nashua. - Published: 2017-09-22 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/22/mt-wachusett-sota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, On The Air, SOTA, VHF/UHF On Saturday, September 23rd we’ll head to Mt Wachusett SOTA (W1/CR-001) in Princeton, MA. It is only about an hour drive from Nashua. The Address is: 345 Mountain Road, Princeton, MA. There is a road to the summit and hiking trails to the top. If you haven’t gotten in on the SOTA action yet, come and join us and get in on the fun! We’ll try to arrive around 10:00 am and operate until you’re too cold or have worked everyone on the bands. 6-meter Beam and Team at Mt Washington SOTA Activation Fred, AB1OC will be bringing the same 6-meter setup that he brought to Mt. Washington. You can bring your own setup or operate from our portable station. Rumor has it he also has FT8 and Meteor Scatter setup so you can try your hand at these digital modes! Contact Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX, if you plan on coming or if you have any questions. --- ### Icom IC-7300 Display Using N1MM Logger Plus > Looks like its possible to use N1MM+ to display a larger view of the Icom IC-7300 display. It would be great if there were also a standalone... - Published: 2017-09-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/19/ic-7300-display-n1mm/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Contest, HF Icom IC-7300 Display with N1MM Logger Plus: As I get ready to write this I have my N1MM Logger Plus already setup to use in the VOLTA RTTY Contest this weekend. Source: Icom 7300 N1MM Logger Plus Setup - K0PIR Icom 7300 SDR Looks like its possible to use N1MM to provide a larger view of the Icom IC-7300 display. It would be great if there were also a standalone application that would do this. The following video provides a demonstration along with some information on how to set up the radio and the N1MM+ software/ https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=BvmbGY4uQWs Here's some more detailed information showing how to set up N1MM+ and the IC-7300 to provide the enhanced panadapter display. --- ### The New IC-7610 Direct-Sampling SDR HF/6m Transceiver > The new IC-7610 Transceiver is the much-anticipated dual-receive version which uses Icom's SDR platform that was first available in the IC-7300. - Published: 2017-09-18 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/18/ic-7610-transceiver/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: HF Icom IC-7610 Display Screen Source: The new IC-7610 Direct-Sampling SDR HF/6m Transceiver The new IC-7610 Transceiver is the much-anticipated dual-receive version which uses Icom's SDR platform that was first available in the IC-7300. The source page has some useful photos and a block diagram of the receiver. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=bmJkdcI_GeI The addition of Icom's Digitial Preselector functionality is a welcome enhancement over the IC-7300. The Digi-Selector should be useful in multi-radio and other high-interference environments. Icom IC-7610 External Display The new radio will also have a connection to an external display. This is a great addition as it makes the excellent panadapter capability in Icom's SDR platform much easier to view and use. Icom IC-7160 Rear Panel The rear panel includes connectors for two antennas. There are BNC jacks for connection of a separate receive antenna and/or a Transverter. Also included is an Ethernet interface for remote control and USB interfaces for connection to a local computer. You can see more about this new Transceiver on Icom's page. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=7VaxlQ-cLk0 --- ### Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1.2GHz Prototype Transceiver > THe IC-9700 looks to be a SDR-based successor to the IC-910H. This should make a very good radio for Satellite and EME work! Availability is... - Published: 2017-09-18 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/18/icom-ic-9700-prototype/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Satellite, VHF/UHF Icom IC-9700 Prototype Transceiver Icom Inc will be showing a prototype of a new VHF/UHF/1. 2GHz transceiver called the IC-9700 at the Tokyo Hamfair, taking place on September 2nd and 3rd. This radio has been kept under wraps and we... Source: Icom IC-9700 VHF/UHF/1. 2GHz Prototype transceiver Shown at Tokyo Hamfair 2017 | QRZ Now – Amateur Radio News This radio looks like a SDR-based successor to the IC-910H. It appears to be based upon the same SDR platform that is used in the IC-7300 and the upcoming Icom IC-7610. This should make a very good radio for Satellite and EME work! IC-9700 Rear Panel I am hoping for an external monitor capability via USB or Ethernet to take full advantage of the panadapter display. Availability is probably a year away or more... https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=UL9t1gewTOU --- ### N1FD Mobile HF Plans for the 2017 NH QSO Party > We are planning to operate as N1FD/M during the NH QSO Party this weekend. We will be using a Mobile HF station and plan to activate all NH counties. - Published: 2017-09-15 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/15/2017-nh-qso-party/ - Categories: Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, On The Air Jamey, KC1ENX and I are planning to operate as N1FD/M (Mobile HF) during the NH QSO Party this weekend. Our Mobile HF Station We will be operating from a 500w Mobile Station. Our goal is to activate all 10 NH counties during the contest period which starts at noon ET on Saturday and ends 6 pm on Sunday. Planned 2017 NH QSO Party Route Our planned route is shown above. We are planning to operate while we are moving. Also, we plan to stop on County Lines and activate multiple Counties at the same time. wherever possible. You can find the rules and information about the NHQP here. We hope to work you this weekend! --- ### Sharing Our Club's Activities at Boxboro Hamvention 2017 > We had the good fortune of attending and speaking at the Boxboro Hamvention this past weekend. We shared three presentations about our club's activities... - Published: 2017-09-15 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/15/boxboro-hamvention-2017/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Hamvention, High Altitude Balloon, Satellite, Youth Outreach We had the good fortune of attending and speaking at the Boxboro Hamvention this past weekend. We shared three presentations related to our club's activities and projects. I wanted to share copies of these presentations here. High-Altitude Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio - A Nashua Area Radio Club STEM Learning Project Modernizing & Growing your Club - The Nashua Area Radio Club Story Portable Satellite Station Design & Operation All of these presentations were well attended. In particular, there was great interest in the second presentation among other clubs in the New England area. Also, we are planning to have our 2. 0 Satellite Station setup at our upcoming Technician License Class on Sept. 30 - Oct. 1. If you are in the area and would like to see the station in operation, please contact us at activities@n1fd. org to arrange for a visit. If you'd like to register for one of our license classes, you can do that here. Videos from our Boxboro Hamvention Presentations Our High-Altitude Balloon Launch Video Growing HAM Radio - How Clubs Can Help Satellite Station 2. 0 Operation and Contacts More Information You can find more information about our HAB Project via this link. Also, you can learn more about our club's portable satellite station activities via this link. Finally, you can visit Anita's and My Station Project Blog for more articles and information about Satellite Station construction and operation. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Reminder - Digital Modes Tech Night this Evening > I wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that our Tech Night this evening will be about digital modes including RTTY, PSK, and WSJT-X (FT8 & MSK144). - Published: 2017-09-12 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/12/digital-modes-tech-night/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Featured, General - Tags: Digital, NARS Event, VHF/UHF I wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that our Tech Night this evening will be about digital modes. Our speaker will be: Mike, AB1YK on RTTY and interfacing your radio for digital modes Anita, AB1QB on PSK digital modes Fred, AB1OC on WSJT-X and JT modes including FT8 and MSK144/Meteor Scatter Don't miss it! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Nashua Area Radio Club Family Picnic at Greeley Park > The Nashua Area Radio Club family picnic was held on August 19 at Greeley Park in Nashua. We had a fox hunt, potluck lunch and visited the art show. - Published: 2017-09-01 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/nashua-area-radio-club-family-picnic/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Fox Hunting, NARS Event, Picnic On August 19, we held the Nashua Area Radio Club Family Picnic at Greeley Park in Nashua. There was good weather for the picnic and members brought delicious food to the potluck lunch. We all had a great time catching up with club members and their spouses and hunting for the fox. We also visited the Art Show, which was held in the park that weekend. Tom, AB1NS, Hamilton, K1HMS, Jeff, WA1HCO, and Fred, AB1OC at the Club Picnic Fred, AB1OC hid the club's two fox transmitters, which provided for a challenging Fox Hunt. Hunting for the Fox The picnic was a fun event for members and their families. --- ### SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Washington > Members of the Nashua Area Radio Club did a SOTA/POTA Activation from the summit of Mount Washington on August 26. We operated VHF, UHF and HF. - Published: 2017-09-01 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/sotapota-activation-on-mount-washington/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, On The Air, SOTA, VHF/UHF On August 26, a group of members did a SOTA/POTA Activation from the top of Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast at 6288 ft. Members reached the summit by different means. Abby, AB1BY and Mike AB1YK hiked to the summit. Patrick, KC1HDN and his XYL Dorothy took the Cog Railway and others took the Mount Washington Auto Road. Entrance to the Mount Washington Auto Road Driving up the Auto Road Fred, AB1OC, Tony, KC1DLX, and Anita, AB1QB, road up the Auto Road. It was an 8-mile drive to the top with breathtaking views along the way. A Stop along the Auto Road We had great weather on the mountain. Clouds sometimes passed overhead but it was sunny most of the time which provided for great views of the surrounding White Mountains. View from the Summit Operating at the Summit When we reached the summit, we set up a 6-meter station with an Icom IC-7300 and an M2 6 meter beam at 22 ft. 6-meter beam antenna at the Summit The station was powered by batteries and solar panels. Fred, AB1OC, Mike, AB1YK, and Tony, KC1DLX setting up the solar panels Fred, Tony, and I had a great time operating the station, completing over 50 QSOs all over the Northeast. Anita, AB1QB, operating on 6 meters from the summit of Mt. Washington Several other members joined us at the summit, including Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP. Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP operating from the summit After the Activation Thanks to Tony, KC1DXL, and his XYL Josephine, who hosted us for a delicious dinner at their nearby condo after the activation. Thanks to Jamey, KC1ENX, for planning a great day for club members! This was our 3rd SOTA/POTA activation this year and each one has been better than the previous one! We're looking forward to the next summit! Here are more pictures from Mount Washington: --- ### A "Tech Night" To Remember - Our Visit To KC1XX > Our August "Tech Night" featured a Saturday visit to the Matt Strelow, KC1XX's superstition. Matt's station sits on top of a mountain in Mason, NH. - Published: 2017-09-01 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/09/01/kc1xx-tech-night/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, NARS Event, Station Building, Tower Our August "Tech Night" featured a Saturday visit to the Matt Strelow, KC1XX's superstation. Matt's station sits on top of a mountain in Mason, NH. Matt Strelow, KC1XX's QTH Our visit began with a tour of Matt's antenna farm. Matt has a total of 13 towers and each one has a unique story and purpose. 300 ft Tower at KC1XX Matt's tallest tower is used for 80m as well as other bands. It is painted red and white and has a light on top! Base of Rotating Tower at KC1XX Several of Matt's towers are rotating ones with some serious tower turning hardware at the base. Rotating Tower Guy Rigging Rotating towers use a special type of guy attachment ring which allows the tower to turn while being supported via guy wires. Coax Feed Lines at KC1XX Matt has built an extensive infrastructure which supports all of the antennas at his QTH. The picture above is a small building where all of the feed lines from Matt's antennas enter his station. Dennis, K1LGQ Operating at KC1XX After the tour of the antenna farm, we saw the KC1XX "shack". Several of us had a chance to operate Matt's station. How's this for QRP Dennis? Abby, AB1BY Operating at KC1XX Abby wasted no time in building her usual pile up. It easy to see why KC1XX has a pile up whenever they are on the air after just a short time spent operating from there. After a great day of fun and lots of picture taking, See the gallery above for more pictures. Matt treated us to refreshments and some more conversation about his Amateur Radio experiences. Nashua Area Radio Club "Tech Night" Group All of the members who made this memorable "Tech Night" had a great time and we'd all like to thank Matt for his gracious hospitality. We learned a lot! Fred, AB1OC --- ### FT8ful Encounter > Say hello to the new FT8 mode which is the designation of the Franke-Taylor 8-FSK digital modes supported by the latest version of WSJT-X. - Published: 2017-08-28 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/28/ft8-mode/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, HF, Software, VHF/UHF Hamming with a multi-band vertical on a small lot means having to compromise on what to do when it comes to being heard. The current down-slide in the sunspot cycle doesn't help either. The emergence of weak-signal digital modes such as JT65 and JT9 a few years ago from Joe Taylor, K1JT has been a welcome addition to my operating tools. If you are familiar with Joe's work, JT65 and JT9 are Taylor-made (sorry Joe) for modest stations and simple antennas. The modes sport S/N levels of -20 dB or lower for Q5 copy, far better than an S1 CW signal. I have been happily working DX over the past several months using the WSJT-X program that integrates with its companion JTAlert logging application to link to DXLab Suites. Anyone who has used these digital modes knows there is a downside to them. They are SLOOOW. A typical QSO takes 6 minutes to complete with nothing more than a report, acknowledgment, and goodbye. It is like watching paint chip and peel. To keep from falling asleep between exchanges, Steve Franke, K9AN has collaborated with Joe to rev up the process. Say hello to the new FT8 mode which is the designation of the Franke-Taylor 8-FSK digital mode that Steve developed to integrate with the existing modes supported by WSJT-X. It is sort of like JT65 with a turbocharger. An FT8 receive and transmit cycle each takes 15 seconds to complete compared to 60 seconds for JT65. A transmit cycle switches to the receive mode after 13. 5 seconds. When compared to JT65 that allows 12 seconds between cycles for the operator to select a station or a macro, 1. 5 seconds doesn't leave much time to do anything. Fortunately, the mode supports an auto-sequence QSO mode wherein the next macro is automatically selected during a QSO. The result: a QSO can be completed in 90 to 120 seconds. I first started using FT8 in late July after seeing a number of spots for stations running the mode. I had to update my version of WSJT-X to the current release. Fortunately, JTAlert also has been updated to capture FT8 for logging. I jumped in to work stations on the new mode and promptly screwed up. I tried in vain to manually select a macro when working a station only to find the previous macro being repeated. After a few busted QSOs, I discovered the program automatically switched to the correct macro in the QSO sequence. This is definitely a cool feature to have. It did not take me long to realize that I could call a DX station off-frequency to avoid competing with stronger stations calling. If he/she answered me, the program would automatically QSY me to the DX station's frequency. Slick! The mode is also tolerant of poor band conditions where signal strengths can change as much as 10 dB between transmit cycles. There have been a number of times where I have repeated a macro several times before getting a response and moving on to the next macro. Under such circumstances a QSO may take three minutes to complete, still better than JT65. To date, I have worked some 200 stations on FT8, including 49 states, most of Europe and a handful of Far East DX stations. I run 40 watts to a 6BTV multi-band vertical and a 17-meter Moxon in the attic of my garage. QRP purists may be aghast as such a QRO level. However, remember that signal strength is about ERP. A monoband beam with 5 watts beats a quarter-wave vertical at the same power level every time. Remember that a vertical with 200 radials situated on rich Iowa loam (Ok, a salt marsh is better) has a gain several dB below a simple dipole and well below a monoband beam. As a related note, the club here in The Villages kicked off a friendly competition the first of August to see who could work all 50 states. While most folks have parked themselves on 20 SSB, I decided to go after the states using FT8. The JTAlert logging application maintains a running list of stations heard that includes their states so I don't have to blindly call hoping I have worked a new one. Like shooting fish in a barrel. It is only a matter of time before my elusive Montana station pops up. To encourage you to try FT8, why not initiate a club competition to work all 50 states? The modest station requirements and free software make it easy for anyone to give it a try. Finally, if you use Logbook of the World, the ARRL has added FT8 as a recognized digital mode so you can get another neat endorsement. Ed, K2TE --- ### How did I hang my dipole 50+ feet high in the trees? > How did you get that rope so high in the trees and how did you get that rope over the perfect branch? - Published: 2017-08-26 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/26/hang-dipole-50-feet-high-trees/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew, On The Air, Station Building I wanted to make an article that would explain to anyone who visits my home or QTH that would answer the question on "How did you get that rope so high in the trees and how did you get that rope over the perfect branch? I started out with a fishing pole and a 4-inch long stick from the woods. After a few attempts of getting the stick up and over the tree with the fishing line it finally made it over the tree and back to the ground. I then reeled in all the fishing line while pulling a string over the tree. After the string, I used it to pull over 3/8" poly rope. I came up with the following idea to get a rope over the perfect branch. The 3/8" line holds an old branch from the woods in the center. The yellow rope to the left is the "control line" and the right side has a half rotten log as a weight secured with a slip knot as shown below. In the diagram below the light blue line represents the yellow control line from the photo. As you lift the whole unit you should consider that the weight of the control line may offset your balance as you go higher. The magenta line shows the string with a slip knot. When the half rotten log made it over the desired perfect branch by combinations of pulling the 3/8" rope at either end (shown black) and/or the control line (shown light blue) I pulled out the slip knot and the half rotten log fell over the perfect branch along with the string (shown magenta). I replaced the string with rope and then a wire rope loop (shown red). The wire rope will not fade and fall apart from the sun's UV rays. The yellow circle represents a pulley for the poly rope that holds up the dipole. When the poly rope breaks down from UV, wear and tear it can easily be replaced by lowering the pulley. I added weight to maintain proper tension on the dipole antenna as shown below. In theory, the tension will remain the same even in wind storms when the trees swing back and forth. It turns out that an old cast iron rotor from my Toyota was the perfect weight for the application! 73, Mike AB1YK --- ### ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY - The Results are in! > The N1FD Multi-Op team placed first in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. Operators were Aron, W1AKI, Jim, K1BRM and Tom, AB1NS. - Published: 2017-08-24 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/24/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty-results/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Digital, HF, Mentor, NARS Event The ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY contest results are in! The N1FD multi-op team placed 1st in the Multi-Op Area 1 category. We had the highest score in the contest by a landslide! The contest was held on Sunday, August 20. The final scores were just posted on the ARRL Website. Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Scores Congratulations to Aron, W1AKI, Tom, AB1NS, and Jim, K1BRM. They operated from AB1QB's QTH in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY on Sunday, August 20. The rules for the contest now allow any licensed Ham who had never made a QSO in the RTTY mode to participate. Jim, K1BRM operating in the Rookie Roundup RTTY With coaching from Aron, W1AKI a veteran of several previous Rookie Roundups, all team members quickly picked up RTTY operating. The team made a total of 66 contacts to 30 states and 1 DX, including one with club member Mike, AB1YK. Next Rookie Roundup is CW The next Rookie Roundup will be held on December 17 and the mode will be CW. Rookies licensed in 2015, 2016 or 2017 are invited to participate. Also, anyone who has not made a CW QSO can join us as well. --- ### Ham Radio Desk Photos > I have recently been enjoying using Google search to find Ham Radio images. This morning I happened to search for "Ham Radio Desk" photos. - Published: 2017-08-22 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/22/ham-radio-desk-photos/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Internet, Station Building We all know that Google indexes and provides searches for pages on the Internet. Also, Google indexes images on the pages it finds. Searching for Ham Radio images can produce some interesting results and is fun. I came across an interesting image search this morning. Try Google'ing "Ham Radio Desk" to see what you come up with. Google Search - Ham Radio Desk There are some good station building and layout ideas here. Also, you can see some cool vintage equipment. Some of these Ham Radio Desk images are pretty impressive! Which one is your favorite? Fred, AB1OC --- ### New Features On N1FD.org > We've been adding some new features on our website, n1fd.org. Our website has many great photo images and we wanted to make it easier to enjoy... - Published: 2017-08-22 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/22/n1fd-org-new-features/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Internet We've added some new features to our website to make it easier to use. In addition, we have continued to work on our website to improve its performance and security. Lightbox Image Displays and Slide Shows Lightbox Image Display Our website has many great photo images from our members and we wanted to make it easier to enjoy our photo content. We have added a lightbox capability to make viewing images easier and more fun. Simply click on an image in any page or post and a light box display will pop up. The lightbox will display the image at its highest resolution. Next, move your mouse outside the lightbox to start a slide show of all of the images on the page. Finally, when you are done, just click anywhere on the page outside of the lightbox and it will disappear. Simply click on an image in any page or post and a light box display will pop up. The lightbox will display the image at its highest resolution. Next, move your mouse outside the lightbox to start a slide show of all of the images on the page. Finally, when you are done, just click anywhere on the page outside of the lightbox and it will disappear. You can click on any image in this post to give the lightbox features a try! New Uptime and Response Time Page N1FD Internet Status Page We have also added an Internet Status Page which shows up time and response time for Internet sites related to our club. You can reach this page from the HELP AND INFORMATION menu and then select UPTIME MONITOR. Internet Status Details Also, you can click on the link for any site to see what that site's response time has been. The Internet Status pages are a members-only feature at this time and you need to log into n1fd. org to reach them. Comments? Let us know what you think via an email to webmaster@n1fd. org. Fred, AB1OC --- ### SOTA/6m Activation on Mt. Kearsarge > We were on Mt. Kearsarge a few weeks back for our second SOTA activation. This location had a great view and provided us with a picturesque location... - Published: 2017-08-20 - Modified: 2023-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/20/mt-kearsarge-sota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, Portable, SOTA, VHF/UHF Portable 6m SOTA Station We were on Mt. Kearsarge a few weeks back for our second SOTA activation. This location had a great view to the south and provided us with a picturesque location to operate from The CQ VHF contest was going on at the same time that we were up on Mt. Kearsarge. We brought our 6m portable station and used it for the second activation. Solar Panel Power for SOTA Activation The setup is solar/battery powered and it has worked well during both of our club SOTA activations. The setup provides 100w out on 6m and keeps the batteries charged throughout an activation. 6m Portable Antenna Anita and I used the same M2 Antenna Systems 3 Eelement, 6m Yagi and portable mast setup that we brought to our Pack Monadnock activation awhile back. We had lots of fun again and we made about 40 contacts on 6m. Abby, AB1BY, and Jamey, KC1ENX, Provide a BBQ Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, KC1ENX and Patrick, KC1HDN, were also up on Mt. Kearsarge and we all had fun hanging out together during the activation. We have a great SOTA activation coming up on Mt. Washingon next weekend. Anita and I are really looking forward to this next one. See Jamey's article for all of the details. It should be one of the most fun activities of the year for us. We hope to see you on Mt. Washington! Fred, AB1OC --- ### You Can Talk to the ISS With Nothing But a Ham Radio > Adrian Lane of Gloucestershire, England, got in touch with the International Space Station the other day. An ISS Contact is not all that hard if ... - Published: 2017-08-15 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/15/ham-radio-iss-contact/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: Space, Youth Outreach You've just got to time it right. Source: You Can Talk to the ISS With Nothing But a Ham Radio Adrian Lane of Gloucestershire, England, got in touch with the International Space Station the other day. Thanks to impeccable timing and a prime location under the ISS's path above the Earth, Lane was able to have a brief conversation with space station's crew via ham radio. It must be surreal to have a casual chat with humans who are floating up there in the void, but technologically, it's really not even that hard... . This article is a fun read about a man in the U. K. who made a chance contact with an astronaut on the ISS. We are considering working local schools as we did with our HAB project to see if we can secure an ISS contact for a group of local students. If you are interested in working with us on this project, please contact me at via email at pres@n1fd. org. Fred, AB1OC --- ### N1FD Foxes Run Wild At Picnic... > You don't have to dress like this or bring a horse to have fun doing a Fox Hunt at on annual picnic. There will be two different N1FD Foxes on the loose... - Published: 2017-08-11 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/11/n1fd-fox-hunt/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Fox Hunting, NARS Event, Picnic, VHF/UHF You really don't have to dress like this or bring a horse to have fun doing a Fox Hunt at our annual picnic this month. Well, maybe the horse would help... Fox Hunters at 2016 Picnic There will be two different N1FD Foxes on the loose at our picnic this year for double the fun. Also, Fox Hunting is a great activity for everyone. Furthermore, you don't need a license and we will have a radio available for anyone who wants to give it a try. 2m Foxes We have put together a new Fox Hunting Kit which includes two Fox small Fox Transmitters for 2m. One is a 10-15 mW unit and the other outputs 1/2 W. They operate on different Frequencies (146. 535 Mhz and 146. 565 Mhz FM). They each can be configured with a number of antennas depending upon the range and environment for the Fox Hunt. Both Foxes will be on the loose at our picnic! Bring your 2m HT and plan to spend some time tracking down the N1FD Foxes at our picnic. Also, Gene, W3UA, will be bringing some 80m HF Fox Hunting gear for folks to play with at our picnic. You can find more information on the picnic here. Finally don't forget to drop Anita an email at activities@n1fd. org to let her know if you plan on coming so that we can plan for the proper amount of food, etc. See you at the picnic! --- ### Shack and Station Videos > We have a new YouTube collection which features Ham Radio Station and Shack videos from around the world. They are part of our Ham Radio YouTube feeds. - Published: 2017-08-10 - Modified: 2017-09-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/10/ham-radio-station-videos/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: HF, Station Building, VHF/UHF We have a new YouTube collection which features Ham Radio Station and Shack videos from around the world. Hams around the globe put these videos together as their "playlists" of favorite station photos and video. They are fun to watch! Also, they are a good source of ideas for your own station. You can check out the new collection on our YouTube feeds page. Do you have a favorite station video or another video about Amateur Radio on YouTube? Send us a link at webmaster@n1fd. org so we can add it to our YouTube feeds. --- ### Icom IC-7300 USB for Radio Control + FSK Keying > This is a great article for folks who want to do RTTY with an IC-7300 transceiver. FSK RTTY is much easier to use than the AFSK/Sound Card approach. - Published: 2017-08-09 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/09/fsk-rtty/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Digital, Mentor There’s one thing that was annoying me about the new IC-7300, and that was that the USB connection to the computer did it all: radio control, soundcard codec, PTT/CW. That’s great, and ... Source: Icom IC-7300 USB for Radio Control + FSK Keying By: Cedrick Johnson This is a great article for folks who want to do RTTY with an IC-7300 transceiver. FSK RTTY is much easier to use than the AFSK/Sound Card approach. You can read more articles about digital modes on our Blog. --- ### The Bouvet Island DXpedition 2018 > Bouvet lies at 54 degrees, 25 minutes South and 3 degrees, 22 minutes East. Read more about the Bouvet Island DXpedition here... - Published: 2017-08-07 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/07/bouvet-island-dxpedition/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX Bouvet lies at 54 degrees, 25 minutes South and 3 degrees, 22 minutes East. It’s the product of a volcanic eruption that last occurred in 4,000 B. C. Bouvet is 97% ice-covered, and with surrounding rocks and small islands, has an area of 19 square miles, with 18. 4 miles of coastline. Its location, ice, rock cliffs, high seas, harsh climate and surrounding pack ice and icebergs isolate it from human presence. Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier first saw the island in 1739. The island was not seen again until 1808. There was a disputed landing by Benjamin Morrell. But, the first documented landing was by the Norvegia expedition in 1927, which named the island Bouvetoya, and claimed it for Norway. More on the Bouvet Island DXpedition... Source: The Bouvet DXpedition 2018 The Bouvet Island DXpedition will give us a chance a very rare one! Please consider supporting if you can. Fred, AB1OC --- ### How N1FD.ORG Works - The Basics > Ever wonder what goes into building and operating a modern website like n1fd.org?  The How N1fd.org Works series explains the design of our website. - Published: 2017-08-04 - Modified: 2024-09-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/04/n1fd-org-basics/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Internet Ever wonder what goes into building and operating a modern website like n1fd. org? I thought that it might be interesting to share how we approached the design and operation of our club website, n1fd. org. A better understanding of how n1fd. org works will help you to get the most out of using it. The Basics The basics of how n1fd. org works are pretty simple. The video that follows tells this part of our story well. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=D8c4JZW73cM We're not going to get into the details of HTML, servers or DNS. These systems all work behind these scenes to make n1fd. org and other websites work. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=TRLJ-Lie_ks Most modern websites are about delivering a content-centric user experience. Such sites are media rich and include graphic and video content, are very responsive and are easy to use. Also, continuously updated content is the hallmark of high quality, modern websites. The combination of these capabilities is referred to as a Content Management System or CMS. We choose WordPress as the basis for n1fd. org because we wanted to create a modern website which made it easy for all of our club members to create and share media rich content about Amateur Radio. WordPress is a feature rich, open-source based system which is easily extended to do this and much more. WordPress is easily made secure, responsive, and it produces a great looking website. Much of the slide material which follows comes from an excellent online Introduction to WordPress. How Does It Work? Most modern websites have two basic parts - a Frontend and a Backend. Most of us spend our time using with the Frontend to view content on a website. CMS-Based Website Elements The website's administrators and the folks who create the content for the website use the Backend. If you have written an article on our Blog for our newsletter, you have already used n1fd. org's Backend to create it! Where Are The Page and Post Files? This might be the first question you would ask if you have worked with a previous generation web server. The answer is, well, there aren't any... WordPress generates pages on the fly as we click on links and other interactive elements on n1fd. org. Basic WordPress Architecture All WordPress websites including n1fd. org have three basic components that work together to generate the HTML pages that we view in our browser - An Apache Web Server - orchestrates the steps to create and deliver web pages to our browser (client) A PHP Applications Server - runs PHP scripts that generate the HTML and other dynamic web page elements A MySQL Database Server - stores image and video metadata, text, configuration data, and user specific information. MySQL data controls the generation of the pages which we view in our browsers. All of this seems kind of complicated doesn't it? Fortunately, WordPress takes care of all of this technical stuff behind the scenes. All we need to do is work with the Backend of n1fd. org to create and deliver our content. Extending WordPress Functionality The PHP script and database approach that WordPress takes makes it very easy to extend to include new functionality. WordPress Plugins Extend Base Functionality Plugins provided by WordPress developers extend WordPress's basic functionality. WordPress's plugin architecture has spawned thousands of great plugins to do just about anything that you can imagine. More on WordPress plugins and themes in a future article in this series. Website Look and Feel Through Themes Did you know that WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the Internet? This is a pretty amazing statistic when you stop to think about it. Themes on WordPress. org So how can this be? Wouldn't many of the sites on the Internet look similar if this were true? The final basic piece of every WordPress website is a Theme. Themes control the basic layout, look and feel of a WordPress website. There are literally thousands of Themes to choose from. A good WordPress theme will automatically adapt your content to work on mobile devices, TVs, and other devices, reformatting your content and adjusting for alternative input devices as needed. You can literally change the look and basic function of a WordPress website by simply changing the Theme used. What Do We Mean By Dynamic Content? One of the coolest things about how n1fd. org works is the constantly changing content on each page. Header images, lists of articles, comments and forum posts, and many other things change constantly as we move from page to page. Homepage on n1fd. org It would be impossible to do this without WordPress's use of applications server, database, and PHP scripts. There are literally thousands of lines of PHP code that are executed each time some visits n1fd. org! We use the CMS capabilities of WordPress to allow everyone in our club to create new content (Articles, Forum Posts, Comments, Image Collections, Videos, ... ) and WordPress uses all of this constantly updated content to create a fresh experience for each of us each time we visit n1fd. org. That's it for this article in the How N1FD. ORG Works series. Next up, we'll look at how we built n1fd. org's basic look and functionality. Fred, AB1OC --- ### ARRL Board Explores Entry-Level License Options... > Looks like the ARRL is headed in the right direction on Amateur Radio License changes to make Amateur Radio more accessible to new people and you folks. - Published: 2017-08-03 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/08/03/entry-license/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: License Class, License Exam, Youth Outreach Looks like the ARRL Board is headed in the right direction on Amateur Radio License changes to make Amateur Radio more accessible to new people and you folks. Reposted by: Fred, AB1OC Source: ARRL Board Explores Entry-Level License Options, Ways to Face Future Challenges Meeting July 21-22 in Farmington, Connecticut, the ARRL Board of Directors took steps to chart a firmer future for Amateur Radio by enhancing the value of the entry-level license and by providing ongoing support for new licensees. ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, chaired the second regular meeting of 2017. "The general goal here is to have an entry-level license that offers a way for a newcomer to experience multiple facets of Amateur Radio," the committee's report said, "encouraging them to get on the air, meet other licensees, and engage in a lifetime of learning while using Amateur Radio. "ARRL New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, presented the report of the Ad Hoc Entry-Level License Committee. He said the committee's initial, informal survey attracted nearly 7,900 responses. A second random survey drew another 375 responses. "A clear majority favored a revision to the Technician rather than a new entry-level license," the committee's report said, noting that this would require no change to the Technician examination, which already covers more material than necessary for an entry-level examination. "This choice requires the simplest revision to FCC rules," the committee report said. The committee suggested expanded digital access on 80, 40, and 15 meters, where Technicians already have CW access, as well as the addition of Technician phone privileges on those bands. Frenaye pointed out that while the Amateur Radio population is growing, the annual rate of growth has stagnated at about 1%. "There is a general consensus... that something needs to happen,'" the committee's report said, noting a generally favorable attitude toward attracting newcomers. Later in the meeting, the Board charged the ARRL Executive Committee with developing a plan to implement the ad hoc committee's recommendation to make the current Technician class license more attractive and useful by expanding its operating privileges on HF to include phone and digital modes. The Board asked the Ad Hoc Entry-Level License Committee to further research and develop the details of a second recommendation to improve successful outreach to prospective radio amateurs and help them through the licensing process. Read more ... --- ### SOTA/POTA Activation of Mount Washington (6,288') > If you enjoy portable or mobile operation or even just being outdoors with great people, then our SOTA activation is for you! - Published: 2017-07-30 - Modified: 2023-06-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/mt-washington-sota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: HF, NARS Event, Portable, SOTA, VHF/UHF In the winter I really enjoy operating from my shack. But in the summer I'm finding that I really love operating mobile and portable - getting out in the great outdoors. I'm very excited about our upcoming SOTA/POTA activation of Mount Washington on Saturday, August 26th, 2017. If you enjoy portable or mobile operation or even just being outdoors with great people this is the event for you! The top of Mount Washington sits at 6,288 feet above sea level. It is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and north of the Carolinas and is known for some of the "worst weather in the world". We're hoping that doesn't hold true on the 26th. Don't let the weather or the altitude deter you as there are several ways up the mountain. The Mount Washington Cog Railway: The Mount Washington Cog Railway The unique way up the mountain is from the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Mt. Washington's cog railway is the world's first mountain climbing cog railway. Also, it is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of 25% and a maximum grade of over 37%! The Mount Washington Cog Railway Access Road is located off Rte. 302 in Bretton Woods and trips begin at 8:00 am and run through 4:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance on their website. Drive Yourself: Mount Washington Auto Road The Mount Washington Auto Road is located in Gorham, New Hampshire on the other side of the mountain from the Cog Railway. The auto road is open from 7:30 am until 6:00 pm on August 26th and rates start at $29 for a car and driver and go up from there. This drive is not for the faint of heart! There are panoramic views and you will travel through four distinct climate zones on your way up the Northeast's highest peak. If you are not comfortable with heights or narrow winding roads without guard rails you may want to check out the guided tours or the hiker's shuttle to the top. Please note that there are some vehicle restrictions that you want to check out if you plan to drive yourself. Guided Tours: Tours of Mount Washington Guided tours start at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road beginning at 8:30 am and you have the option of a two hour guided tour or three hour guided tour. The disadvantage of the guided tours is that you are not on your own schedule and time at the top is limited. The tours do sell out so you will want to book your tickets early if this is the option for you. Hiker Shuttle: Hiker's Shuttle Another way up/down the mountain is the Hiker Shuttle. The Hiker Shuttle leaves from the Stage Office at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road beginning at 9:00 am. The shuttle then leaves on an as-needed basis, so waits of an hour or more may be necessary. The one way down option can be a little tricky as rides down are sold on a first come, first served basis. Hiking: Connor (KC1GGX) descending via Tuckerman's Ravine trail The final way up/down the mountain is hiking the mountain. Although this may not be for everyone - this is a very strenuous hike - it is the most rewarding. There are two starting points for getting up Mount Washington - the east face and west face of the mountain. The east face trails begin at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center which has information and basic rooms available for rent. Reservations in advance are a must! The East Face: East Face of Mt. Washington The easiest trail (easiest is probably not the right term for any trail on Mount Washington) on the east face of the mountain is Tuckerman's Ravine for both the ascent and descent. Lion's Head is the same distance, but slightly steeper. It is not the best for a descent. Boott Spur is another option, which is not any more difficult than the other trails but is much longer. The benefit of this trail is the awesome views! Abby (AB1BY) on Lion's Head West Face: West Face of Mt. Washington The trails on the west face of Mount Washington begin from Mount Washington Cog Railway and offers two trails, the Jewell Trail and Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail ascends via Lake of the Cloud Hut where you can stop and get a hot coffee, hot chocolate, water or some snacks... not to mention the fantastic views! Lake of the Clouds Hut If you are planning on hiking an early start is an absolute must, especially if you plan to have any time to operate on the summit. Club members that are planning to hike please let me know. It would be fun to have a group to hike with as well as safer for everyone involved. Accommodations: There are many accommodations in the area ranging from beautiful hotels to primitive camping areas. Again, booking in advance is a must! Many of the camping areas in the White Mountain National Forest are booked on a first come, first served basis. They do not take reservations in advance. My family is planning on camping out on Friday and Saturday night in the area. We will probably be at the Roaring Brook Campground. We'd be happy to have people join us! Join in on the Fun! Lastly, the Finchum's have a tradition of celebrating any major peaks with a celebratory Moxie the top and we invite you to join us in toasting at the top! KC1GGX, KC1ENX, and AB1BY Celebrate with a Moxie Toast at the Summit of Mount Washington --- ### Nashua Area Radio Club August Activities > The Nashua Area Radio Club has many activities planned for August - a Picnic in Greeley Park, Contest and SOTA Event. Join us for some summer fun! - Published: 2017-07-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/nashua-area-radio-club-august-activities/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, On The Air, SOTA We have many fun Nashua Area Radio Club activities planned for the month of August. We are planning a picnic in Greeley Park, a RTTY contest operation and a SOTA activation at Mount Washington. Family Picnic in Greeley Park 2016 Family Picnic We will hold our family picnic on Saturday August 19 at Greeley Park in Nashua starting at 10am. We'll have a potluck lunch at noon and a fox hunt! You can browse through the Greeley Park Arts Show. Members and their families are invited. We will meet in the picnic area on the west side of Concord St. This has been an enjoyable event in past years with plenty of great food and great friends! Picnic Meeting Location Please RSVP to Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net on or before August 12 so people bringing food and drinks can get an idea of how many people to bring for. Let us know how many will be attending with you and what you are planning to bring. See the club calendar for more details. ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Certificate AB1OC and AB1QB will be hosting a multi-op team in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY at our station on Sunday August 20. The contest goes from 2:00pm - 8:00pm Eastern time. To qualify, operators must have received their first license in 2015, 2016, or 2017 OR have never made a RTTY QSO. Take advantage of this opportunity to try out digital modes or to try out contesting. If you are interested in operating, contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. See the club calendar for details. Mount Washington SOTA Activation Mount Washington We will be holding a SOTA/POTA Activation at the summit of Mount Washington on Saturday, August 26. Jamey has written a blog post with lots of information on Mount Washington and the activation. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Member Spotlight - Desmond Johnson, WK1V > Years prior to obtaining my HAM license, I do recall when the fascination with 2-way radio began for me. I began an an early age... - Published: 2017-07-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/30/member-spotlight-desmond-johnson/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight Name: Desmond Johnson Callsign: WK1V Licensed since 1992) License Class: Extra Current Age: 54 How and when I became Licensed: Years prior to obtaining my HAM license, I do recall when the fascination with 2-way radio began for me. Between the age of 6 or 7 from a pair of walkie talkies, my parents once purchased at Christmas to my bugging and convincing dad who eventually purchased a CB radio back in the mid-seventies as I wanted to fit in with the rest of my sixth grade. Most of the guys in class had one. While growing up in NYC and being heavily involved in CB radio in my early 20's, I remember being approached by a couple local hams who use to also frequent the 11-meter band at that time. They were encouraging me to join the amateur ranks. Unfortunately, at the time, it just wasn't high on my list, I was having a blast on Citizens Band. I also remember this time because I knew that it was said to be illegal to work skip on 11 meters and the skip was very intense daily that you almost had no choice to engage. However, I couldn't ignore these exciting phenomena and wasn't going to turn my radio off, nor did a lot of other CB'ers. Looking back during that time, I think was one of the better cycles, cycle 21. I'm not sure why I didn't pay enough attention to those guys now that I think about it. Perhaps they just didn't convince me enough that being a HAM was the better choice when you can work skip and use a kilowatt legally. Maybe it was the material I had to study and the Morse code was definitely a factor. On a couple of occasions, I was shown their shacks which I saw these guys had very sophisticated equipment compared to what I had. I knew I would pursue my ticket one day. As the years passed by with radio was always a thought in my mind, I eventually became employed as an installer at Motorola Inc in Elmsford, NY. This job was right up my alley. The Installers position entailed mobile cell phone installs, at that time no, mobile phones were not as portable, commercial mobile, base and repeater 2-way radio systems for any business and industry requiring 2-way communication technology. After 3 years I transferred to a Motorola shop in Baltimore. I first acquired my novice ticket in 1992 when I lived in Maryland as KB3AIJ. After waiting for my license in the mail, I purchased my first 2-meter radio from the sale of a collection of CB radio's I have had over the years. Many thanks to my Elmer, Fred Joyner WB3GBF, who lived not too far from me who assisted me in obtaining my ticket. I also added Fred to the log as I operated as one of the 2017 K2K team members for the 13 Colonies Special Event earlier this month. That was a special memorable contact. Thanks to another Fred, AB1OC, and Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB for all allowing me to use their very nice competitive contest station during the event, not a shack by any stretch. Thanks to the hard work to all of the members who participated, we were the top club and state in the event this year. My current work schedule doesn't allow me to get on the air very much. I can see that radio technology is ever changing and I started to feel I a bit left behind. I ran across the Nashua Area Radio Club , N1FD. org website while surfing online at work one day looking for more info on increasing my CW proficiency. The club offered CW classes on Saturday morning which I attended and it helps me tremendously to get better. Its still a work in process for me which I welcome the challenge. I decided to join the N1FD club because I see they were very involved in amateur radio. It was also a great experience to get involved in this year's Field Day activity with the club. I learned a lot and had fun. In addition, I took video and still images with my DJI Phantom 4 drone. After a reduction in workforce at Motorola, I returned as a full-time student completing college at the University of Baltimore. Upon graduating, I decided to relocate and took employment at Raytheon Systems in Tewksbury, MA in 1998. Not long after, decided to change my call sign to reflect the area I currently live in. I became KB1EDF. Living in an apartment at the time, the majority of my operating was mobile for a few years until I moved to my current home in Merrimack. I've always desired a shorter call sign, so when I upgraded to Extra in 2006, I changed again and became WK1V. At this time I also worked part-time at HRO in Salem, NH only on Saturdays. Other Hams in Family: None Other Ham Organizations: OMIK Radio Association Inc. SKCC #17099 How Often Do I Operate: I try to get on a few times a week, even if just shortwave listening Bands I Operate: 2 meters, 6 thru 80 meters Types of Operation: Chasing DX or Ragchew, CW, PSK31, Do I build Equipment: Very little, once made home-brew G5RV with Elmer's assistance when first licensed. As time permits, I would like to try kit building Has Ham Radio Influenced My Profession: Yes and No While at Motorola in the early 90's you can see the industry start to change. Radios became more portable and more computer like. This is one reason I've decided to go back to school. I earned a BS degree in Information Systems. Currently employed at Oracle Inc. Other Hobbies: Cycling, Photography, Flying my Drone. Desmond, WK1V --- ### A New Summer Camping Tradition > Every year in July, my XYL and I go summer camping for a week at Papoose Pond in North Waterford, Maine. The plan was simple - ring an IC-7300, Buddipole... - Published: 2017-07-28 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/28/new-summer-camping-tradition/ - Categories: Antennas, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, HF, Portable Every year (for me it’s 4-5 years, but for my XYL it’s about 33 years) in July, my XYL and I go camping for a week at Papoose Pond in North Waterford, Maine. It’s not the camping I’m used to from my younger, more ruggedly handsome days. Some will, in fact, call it a shade of glamping. For those of you who aren’t hip, that stands for glamorous camping. You will not have the opportunity to don your newest compact North Face tent or showcase your portable propane stove. Instead, you’ll find families with RV’s, large tents housing inflatable mattresses, a spigot, electrical outlet, and pretty much whatever other comforts of home that you wish to lug up with you. It’s family camping at a family campground. There are activities galore, especially for kids. So why not indulge, and bring a radio? I have wanted to try out a Buddipole for a long while now. As I don’t own one, I asked Fred AB1OC and Anita AB1QB if I could borrow theirs. After explaining I wanted to work 40 and 20m, they hooked me up with the proper accouterments, a copy of Scott Anderson’s NE1RD book, and well-wishes for a fun trip. The plan was simple. Bring up an IC-7300, Buddipole, analyzer, power supply (since I would have electricity), and a paper log book that my XYL got me for Xmas this past year. She started laughing when I told her the plan and was excited for me to have some fun and make some QSOs. The Buddipole went up lickety-split fast. In fact, here is one artistic (if I do say so myself) photo of it deployed in the field. Deployed Buddipole It looks pretty sick being on the water with my neon green kayaks lingering in the picturesque background, eh? Cue the antenna analyzer. I started out trying to work 40m and my SWR... well... it sucked. There really is no better way of saying it. And it kept getting worse no matter what I tried. I know that Scott’s book was dropping knowledge bombs on me, but it wasn’t coming together for me. (Clarification: It is no fault of Scott’s, but of the author of this post) At many points, the analyzer was saturated at 10:1. If the analyzer could have spoken, I imagined it would choose to sound like a snarky Brit, politely but decidedly insulting my intelligence. AB1ZO’s patience was running thin. And then... I literally hear someone say “knock, knock” and a fellow I did not recognize emerged on my camp site. He said to me, “Hey, I’m Mike, NU1H” and mentioned he saw me setting up the Buddipole from the beach and it was like a beacon (perhaps more like a siren’s sweet, sweet call), beckoning him over to my location. He brought a 7300 and Buddipole too, which he just set up over at his site a few hours earlier and wanted to give me a hand! Alleluia, Sweet Jesus, Amen — I found religion for a moment. Mike worked with me for what I think was close to two hours giving me lots of helpful tips and showing me checks I could perform to make sure I had everything tuned up properly. (He must have had the magic touch because his very presence lessened the SWR on 40/20 m to under 1. 5:1. ) For instance, he recommended that to ensure I found the right tap point on the coils, get the rig powered up and centered on a loud station. Then, one-by-one, change the tap point to see what happens to the quality of the sound. If you hear it rise and then fall, then you know you passed the sweet-spot. We exchanged stories about our HAM adventures, the equipment we purchased (some pics below), and I told him about the Nashua ARC and my own station at my QTH. We just had a great time. Recommended LDG Antenna Tuner; ad in June issue of QST An alternative to guying Buddipole; Mike (NU1H) uses an angle clamp hammered into the ground with some U-bolts attached to the base. Mike (NU1H) has handles for his 7300 which makes travel much easier, and conveniently fits into his Pelican case. Finally, once everything was up and running, I snapped a quick pic of my portable station. Portable station at the camp site During my camping trip, in between kayaking, catching up on some reading, and honestly — being able to take a nap at 1 pm, I made 3 QSOs. I was in a bit of a valley and when I did receive a few signal reports, they informed me that my signal was a bit weak. That coupled to the QRN due to thunderstorms on the horizon, I’m not too surprised I wasn’t getting picked out of the noise. Some people would call my QSO count a fail. I don’t. It was the experience. I was able to make a new friend and learn a ton of things. Indeed, a very valuable lesson is that I will be doing this again the next year — and the next, and the next... Brian, AB1ZO --- ### KC1XX Superstation Visit > Matt hosts a multi-op/multi-transmitter station with as many towers (to cover all the amateur bands), as there are colors in the rainbow. - Published: 2017-07-25 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/25/kc1xx-superstation-visit/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Contest, HF, Station Building, Tower On July 29th from 4-6pm, Matt Strelow, KC1XX has kindly offered to provide a 2-hour tour of the KC1XX superstation to members of the Nashua Area Radio Club. Matt hosts a multi-op/multi-transmitter station with as many towers (to cover all the amateur bands), as there are colors in the rainbow. As you can see from the pics below, we are in for quite a treat. Currently, the people I have registered to attend are: Niece KA1ULN Fred AB1OC Anita AB1QB Brian AB1ZO Jamey KC1ENX Abby AB1BY Connor KC1GGX Hamilton K1HMS Dave K1DLM John W1MBG Wayne AG1A If I missed anyone, please send me an email at bsmigs@gmail. com and let me know. Apologies if I did. The meeting place will be: 814 Hurricane Hill Rd. Mason, NH 03048 Fred AB1OC, who has been there before, has mentioned that parking may be limited at Matt's. As a result, I have heard non-nefarious machinations that people will be carpooling from Hollis Brookline High School (where Field Day was hosted). If you are interested in pursuing that route, then please email me at bsmigs@gmail. com so that I can put everyone on the same email to coordinate. Presumably, the carpool(s) will want to leave by about 330pm or so. Matt hosts a serious HF world-contesting station -- he is easily among one of the top stations in the world. You can also visit his website to learn a bit more. If you are interested in seeing marvels in engineering and contesting, then consider signing up for the tour by emailing Brian AB1ZO at bsmigs@gmail. com. There is still time! But please do it soon. I'd like to get back to Matt with a final count by Wednesday/Thursday. 73, Brian AB1ZO --- ### Academy for Science and Design SPARK Day > A recent SPARK day session where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club's Amateur Radio projects including our HAB. - Published: 2017-07-12 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/12/asd-spark-day-2017/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, High Altitude Balloon, Mentor, Youth Outreach John Keslo, W1MBG, Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX, and I recently had the chance to again be part of SPARK Day at the Academy for Science and Design (ASD) in Nashua, New Hampshire. We attended SPARK Day to provide an Introduction to Amateur Radio for the students at ASD. ASD’s goal is to be a world-class school that specializes in science, engineering, mathematics, and design. The school provides education for students in grades 6-12. ASD periodically holds SPARK (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) conferences, which enable ASD students to learn about areas which might help them to develop careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Math (STEM). ASD Group Learning About Amateur Radio The students at ASD are extremely bright and are highly motivated to develop STEM careers. We had about 65 students elect to attend the two sessions that we presented. The kids showed a lot of interested in our presentations and demonstrations. SPARK Day Classroom Activities Explaining the HAB to the ASD Students We began each session with some classroom time where we explained what Amateur Radio is about and some of our club's Amateur Radio projects. We talked about and showed components of our High Altitude Balloon Project, our Satellite Ground Station and our Field Day activities. The interest level among the kids was high and lots of questions were asked. SPARK DAY GOTA Station Making an HF Contact using our GOTA Station We also put together an HF GOTA station in the lobby of the school. This gave the kids a chance to get on the air and experience Amateur Radio first hand. After the kids got over the usual "mic-fright", they had a lot of fun. We are looking forward to our next opportunity to participate in ASD's SPARK Day in the fall. This is one of the most enjoyable events of the year for me. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Thirteen Colonies Special Event - We are Top Club and Top State!! > Well, it's finally official - our Club is again the Top Club for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event 2017! We made a record number of contacts for NH! - Published: 2017-07-12 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/12/thirteen-colonies-results/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, NARS Event, On The Air Well, it's finally official - our Club is again the Top Club for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event 2017! Thanks to all of the hard work by the operators from our club, we also made K2K New Hampshire the Top State in the 2017 event with a total of 12, 838 contacts. We edged out K2M Pennsylvania by just 5 contacts! Thirteen Colonies Special Event – K2K New Hampshire QSL Card Congratulations to all of our 2017 operators for a tremendous job well done! Our 2017 Operator Team AB1BY – Abby, Nashua, NH AB1OC – Fred, Hollis, NH AB1QB – Anita, Hollis, NH AB1ZO – Brian Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH AE1N – Layne, Nashua, NH - CW Only AG1A – Wayne and Family (Megan and Mikayla), Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH K1DLM – Dave, Windham, NH K1HMS – Hamilton, Amherst, NH K1LGQ – Dennis, Brookline, NH - QRP KC1EMJ – Ira, Nashua, NH KC1ENX – Jamey, Nashua, NH N1CMD – Curtis, Peterborough, NH - Digital W3UA – Gene, Bedford, NH – CW Only WK1V – Desmond, Merrimack, NH Our operator team also set an all-time record total number of contacts for K2K New Hampshire and increased our score from last year by +3,119 contacts. You can learn more about the special event here. Also, check out Layne's Thirteen Colonies soapbox article. Thanks to all of our ops! Fred, AB1OC Thirteen Colonies Special Event, K2K New Hampshire State Manager --- ### The 241st Birthday of The Thirteen Colonies > 241st Birthday of The Thirteen Colonies: Lots of European pileups! The European ones were even more challenging than the US ones. - Published: 2017-07-06 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/07/06/thirteen-colonies-birthday/ - Categories: General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, On The Air Yesterday, July 5, I participated in my second HF contest. The first was the Rookie Roundup last year where I worked SSB on HF. This time, I participated in the 13 colonies special event, and damn I was looking forward to it. Admittedly, part of the excitement originated from being able to operate at Fred (AB1OC) and Anita's (AB1QB) QTH; I was sure to be heard and sure to make a ton of QSO's -- and perhaps even a pileup? For a fellow who hasn't been on the air for a bit, it was good to flex my ham radio muscles again and dive in. Fred guided me through learning how to use the station and offered to log for me. He claims that he cannot hear that well. I think this is a front. The dude was hearing signals whose SNR was at MOST -20 dB; it was supernatural. When I was straining to hear anything in the pileups, Fred easily picked out a few letters or a full call. Whatever the truth may be, it was helpful to have someone guide me. I began on 40m and it was pretty dead (it was about 6pm EST), so we switched over to 80m, which was even more absent of life. Finally, Fred suggested we go to 20m and work some DX. Oh man... explosion of QSO's! Lots of dudes (and dudettes) operating. Lots of European pileups -- and I thought I had a hard time hearing the American pileups. The European ones were even more challenging. Again, Fred came to the rescue with his familiarity of a lot of those calls. Some of the notable ones were a guy who was operating mobile from Turkey, and I believe someone from Algeria. I was trying to run the pileup and starting blurring letters at some points during the exchanges. I began to develop a sense of how difficult it would be to operate for an entire weekend without making a mistake. I was beat after two hours and some folks can bang out 48 with no problem. At the end of my time slot, I really did have a blast. It's fun to immerse yourself (especially during the work-week) in something so fun and exciting. Having caught the contesting bug again, I'm going to have to supe up my own station to begin to be a little more competitive ;) 73, Brian (AB1ZO) --- ### ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY - Sunday August 20 > We will be defending our title as #1 Multi-Op Area 1 in the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY on August 20 from 2pm - 8pm at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/arrl-rookie-roundup-rtty-sunday-august-20/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, NARS Event, On The Air The ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY contest is open to anyone who was first licensed in 2015, 2016 or 2017 or anyone who has never made a RTTY mode contact. We will be defending our title as #1 Multi-Op Area 1 in the ARRL Rookie Roundup - RTTY. The contest will take place on August 20 from 2 pm - 8 pm and we will operate from AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH. This is a great opportunity for you to try out digital modes or to try your hand at contesting! Abby, AB1BY and Jamey, KC1FFX operate during the 2016 Rookie Roundup RTTY Please contact Anita at activities@n1fd. org if you are interested and for more details, see the calendar event. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Fall 2017 License Class Dates Set > Fall 2017 License Class Dates have been set. Do you know someone who is interested in getting licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator or upgrading? - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/fall-2017-license-class-dates/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class, License Exam Do you know someone who is interested in getting licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator? Are you looking to upgrade your license to General or Extra class? We will be giving three license classes this fall. Our Fall 2017 License Class dates are: Technician: September 30 - October 1 General: November 4-5 Extra: December 1-3 All classes will be given at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Nashua and will start at 8:00 am and end at 6:00 pm each day. We will hold an exam session at 4 pm on the last day (Sunday) of each class. All of our classes use the Gordon West License Class books. If you are interested in the class, pick up a copy of the book for your class and start reading! You can register for the class using our online form. Teaching Amateur Radio License Classes You can visit our License Class Page or contact Anita at activities@n1fd. org for more information on our classes, --- ### Join us for our Family Summer Picnic on August 19! > Our Family Summer Picnic is scheduled for Saturday August 19th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/summer-picnic/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Fox Hunting, NARS Event, Picnic Our Family Summer Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 19th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. This is the same day as the Greeley Park Art Show. Pot Luck Lunch served at last year's picnic This will be a potluck lunch and members are encouraged to bring a dish. I have created a sign-up sheet. You can view it here. Please edit this sheet to indicate whether you will attend, how many family members including yourself will attend, and what you will bring. Rumor has it a fox may be on the loose in the park that day. We will start to gather around 10:00 am and lunch will be served at noon. Directions can be found on the club event calendar. The rain date will be Saturday, August 26. If there is inclement weather in the forecast for August 19, stay tuned to our Forums for updates. See you at our picnic! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Sights From Field Day 2017 > Field Day 2017 is but a memory for us now. Dave, K1DLM , our Field Day Chairman, and the entire Field Day team did a great job with putting it together. - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/field-day-2017-sights/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Antennas, Contest, CW, Field Day, HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, SDR, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Field Day 2017 is but a memory for us now. Dave, K1DLM, our Field Day Chairman, and the entire Field Day team did a great job with putting together our Field Day operation this year. We are still adding up our score and collecting pictures and video from everyone. I wanted to get something out quickly so that we could begin to enjoy some of the memories. So here is my quick Sights from Field Day 2017... . Our Field Day Telegraph Article We did a fantastic job on publicity this year... The Parking Lot Was Full and the parking lot was full of visitors and members on Saturday and Sunday. Our Public Info Tent Is A Hit Our updated Public Information Tent was a hot spot for our many visitors (over 45 visitors signed our guest register)! ARRL Section Leaders - Peter, K1PJS And John, K1UAF The ARRL "brass" came out early to congratulate Dave, K1DLM our Field Day Chairman, and to tour our site. The Food Was Awesome! The food was unbelievably good - thanks, Valerie! ! ! And the N1FD cafe' was a hot-spot as usual. Site Setup On The Upper Field Site setup at Hollis-Brookline High School began with the 40M V-Beam. Site Setup On The Upper Field - The 60 Ft Tower Coming Together The tower team began on the lower field by setting up the new 60 ft. tower. The V-Beam Was Back The 40M V-beam was awesome as ever and went up in record time... New 60 Ft Tower and our new 60 ft. tower was a sight to behold! 40M SSB Station We built lots of stations - 3 SSB, 3 CW, a RTTY/PSK Digital Station, a GOTA station, a 6M Station with a new yagi, and a computer controller Satellite Station. We also setup a 2M/70cm Go Kit for talk-in and APRS demos. All totaled, we had 10 transmitters on the air! Our exchange was 7A NH. Solar Power Setup We got our Solar-Battery bonus late on Saturday. Brian, AB1ZO Operating SSB Everyone operated very hard and we made more contacts than last year! CW Ops - Dennis, K1LGQ Our CW operators were amazing again this year. Here's Dennis banging out CW QSOs. Dave, KM3T even operated SO2R for a period - calling "CQ" and working contacts on both 20M and 40M CW at the same time! Gene, W3UA brought his CW skimmer and we set up an OCF dipole to provide on-site CW spots. And The Generators Played On... And the new generators worked flawlessly and were much easier to service. Curtis, N1CMD Making Satellite Fun! Curtis, N1CMD ran our Satellite Station 2. 0 and wowed everyone while making satellite contacts... . Satellite Station 2. 0 In Action and our visitors got a kick out of seeing the computer controlled satellite antennas. Team Finchum In Action Team Finchum was in high gear as always - here's Abby, AB1BY operating with her brother Connor, KC1GGX. It seemed like Abby was on every SSB station that I looked at all weekend long... New Digital Station For 2017 Our new SDR powered Digital Station worked well and we had lots of digital contacts using the antennas on the new 60 ft. tower. The SDR GOTA Was Cool! The SDR-based GOTA station worked out super well. Ira, KC1EMJ was our GOTA coach and was busy on Saturday and Sunday introducing our guests and newly licensed members to "high-tech" Amateur Radio. We had many young people try Amateur Radio for the very first time on our GOTA station. Remote SDR System We operated the two SDRs for the Digital and GOTA stations remotely over a coax cable data link between the upper and lower fields. Pierce, K1FOP and Dave, K1DLM put together this high-tech setup and the underpinning data networking system. John, W1SMN, and Desmond, WK1V Operating SSB Did I mention that we operated hard making lots of QSOs? ... Drone Sighting There were Drone sighting all weekend long... and Desmond, WK1V got some amazing video from the air. It was a lot of fun operating as N1FD, 7A NH! Anita, AB1QB, our scoring chairman is still working on tallying up our score but it will be higher than last year. Please take a minute and send me any photos or video that you have from Field Day 2017. We'll be producing a video of all of the fun for the Field Day 2017 Recap at our club meeting on July 11th. Don't miss it! Fred, AB1OC Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD --- ### High-Altitude Balloon Project Update #3 - Launch! > Our High-Altitude Balloon made it to the edge of space! The image above was taken from our HAB at an altitude of over 90,000 ft! - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/high-altitude-balloon-launch/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Our High-Altitude Balloon made it to the edge of space! The image above was taken from our HAB at an altitude of over 90,000 ft! After many months of work, raising funds to finance the project, teaching STEM sessions in local High Schools, and an open-house to test the Balloon Platform and to learn about Amateur Radio; our High-Altitude Balloon Project (HAB) Team finally got the chance to launch and track our Balloon. We launched our Balloon from the Elementary School in Winchester, NH. Setting Up Our Gear On Site Students, Teachers and Club Members came out to be part of the launch and to track our HAB. The first step was to move all of our gear to the center of the athletic fields at the school and organize all of our equipment. Flight Platform Final Assembly and Test Next, we attached the GoPro video cameras, satellite tracker and the battery pack for the Flight Computer and 2M APRS transmitter to the flight platform. We used an APRS capable HT to confirm that the flight computer and APRS transmitter were working. Rigging the Flight Line We rigged the 40 ft. flight line which connected the HAB's flight platform, recovery parachute, and the balloon. Balloon Inflation And then came the inflation of the balloon from the Helium tank. The winds were gusting to about 12 mph at this point which made inflating the balloon a little tricky. When filled, the balloon was about 6 ft. in diameter on the ground. Launch! With both GoPro cameras running on the flight platform, we were ready to launch. A 10-second countdown and the balloon was up and away! Tracking the HAB We watched the balloon from the ground as it soared off into the clouds. The 2M APRS tracking system worked perfectly and we spent the next several hours at the launch site, at lunch, and in our cars tracking the HAB on aprs. fi. HAB's Flight Path On APRS. fi Our HAB's flight path took it across Massachusetts where it reached a maximum altitude of 91,700 ft. above sea level (ASL). Looking Upward at the Balloon (Near Burst) The balloon reached a diameter of approximately 30 ft before it burst. After the balloon burst, the parachute deployed and the payload descended to a landing in the northeast corner of Rhode Island. HAB at Recovery Site in Rhode Island A combination of the APRS transmitter data and the onboard sounder allowed the landing location to be pinpointed and the flight platform recovered with help from a local resident. The onboard GoPro video cameras captured some awesome video during our HAB's ascent! All of the media captured by everyone who participated in the launch as well as the APRS data allowed us to produce the video above. Turn up your speakers and give it a play in full-screen mode to enjoy the experience what we shared! By the time we had launched, the school year was at an end so we will have to wait until the fall to work with the students and teachers who were part of our STEM project to analyze the data from the flight. All in all, our HAB project has been an amazing experience for all involved. We are planning another HAB STEM experience and launch with additional schools in the fall. We want to especially thank all of our donors whose generous contributions made this project possible. Fred, AB1OC Hashtag: #N1FDHAB --- ### SOTA/POTA and 6 Meters > Our Club's first Summits On The Air activation was on the same day as the June VHF Contest! We put together a portable 6M SOTA station for the activation. - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2024-10-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/6m-sota-station/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, Contest, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, On The Air, SOTA, VHF/UHF I got really excited, when Jamey, KC1ENX set our Club's first Summits On The Air (SOTA)/Parks On The Air (POTA) activation for the same day as the June VHF Contest! Jamey choose Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park here in New Hampshire as the site for our activation. With Jamey's help, we put together a portable 6M SOTA station in preparation for the activation. Portable 6M SOTA Station Equipment Solar Panels The idea was to use an IC-7300 to create a 100W station and use a Solar/Battery combination to power the setup. Solar/Battery made us "legal" as a SOTA activation. We combined two 90W solar panels which I had with an MPPT solar charging system and two LiPo batteries to create the power system for the activation. 6M Antenna Going Up The antenna system for our 6M SOTA Station was built around an M2 Antenna Systems 6M3 Yagi and an 18 ft. push up mast from Max-gain systems. Portable 6M Antenna All of this gear was carried to the site and setup in about an hour. A 25 ft. section of LMR-400UF coax completed the station. The mast was guyed with rings which allowed us to turn the mast/antenna combination to point the Yagi in any direction. 6M SOTA Activation Anita, AB1QB, and Curtis, N1CMD Operating in the June VHF Contest Between the SOTA/POTA activation and the June VHF contest, we made a little over 130 contacts on 6m. We did not have any real Es openings so most of our contacts were regional. Having the elevation provided by being on Pack Monadnock made us quite loud for the stations that could hear us. Several of our club members got on 6M and joined the fun. We did have a brief Es opening and managed to work a station in Alabama and one in Florida. Mike, AB1YK Portable 6M Mike, AB1YK has a much more portable 6M setup and used lower power to have some fun on 6M as well. Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP Operating Portable Al, KC1FOZ and Tom, KC1GGP put together a nice station and operated using battery power. Several other club members came out with a portable station or to watch and have fun as well. Our first SOTA/POTA activation was a lot of fun and Anita and I are looking forward to the next one! Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Thirteen Colonies Special Event Begins Tomorrow - July 1 > The Thirteen Colonies K2K NH team will have a full complement of t operators on all bands and modes again this year including a dedicated QRP station. - Published: 2017-06-30 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/30/the-thirteen-colonies-special-event-begins-tomorrow-july-1/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, On The Air The Thirteen Colonies Special Event begins at 9 am Eastern Time (13:00 UTC) on Saturday, July 1st and ends on July 6th at midnight ET. The K2K NH team will have a full complement of top-notch operators on all bands and modes again this year including a dedicated QRP station. We’ve also designed a new QSL card for this year’s special event (above). 2017 Thirteen Colonies Special Event Certificate Take some time during the event and work K2K New Hampshire for your own copy of our new K2K QSL and don’t forget to send for your certificate. If you work a station from each of all Thirteen Colonies, your certificate will indicate a “clean sweep”. There will be two bonus stations that you can work as well. Check out The Thirteen Colonies Special Event Site for all of the details on the event. This event is a lot of fun for all involved and may well be the largest special event in the world. The QSO count for the event last year was 139,772 contacts in about 6 days! We hope to hear from you during the event and DX stations are especially welcome! Fred, AB1OC (de K2K New Hampshire QRZ? ) --- ### Go Kit for Field Day and EMCOM > We've been thinking about building a portable Go Kit for VHF/UHF Emergency Communications (EMCOM) and Field Day Applications for a while now. - Published: 2017-06-22 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/emcom-go-kit/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, Field Day, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, APRS, Digital, Field Day, Homebrew, Net, Software, Station Building, VHF/UHF We've been thinking about building a portable Go Kit for VHF/UHF Emergency Communications (EMCOM) and Field Day Applications for a while now. The following is a list of our requirements for a Go Kit - 2m and 70cm operation with FM simplex and repeaters APRS capability and tactical display for portable coordination Digital messaging capability Weather band monitoring capability AC Power with flexible battery backup options A plan to build our Go Kit came together during our trip to the Dayton Hamvention this year. Kenwood TM-D710GA At Dayton The heart of any Go Kit is the Transceiver. We've been using Kenwood equipment for our APRS iGate for some time now and we have had good results with it. Kenwood's latest 50W transceiver with APRS is the TM-D710GA. This unit provides full support for APRS tactical applications and now includes a built-in GPS receiver making it ideal for our Go Kit application. AvMap GeoSat 6 APRS Tactical Display We have been using the Kenwood TM-D710 along with an AvMap GeoSat APRS display in our APRS iGate setup and the combination works very well. The AvMap display lets one see the location of portable and mobile APRS stations on a map display. This arrangement is perfect for coordinating activities in an EMCOM situation. The AvMap GeoSat 6 APRS display is no longer in production but I was able to locate a nearly new unit on eBay. EMCOM Go Kit Packaging iPortable Enclosure We had a chance to look at the iPortable enclosure at Dayton and decided that their Pro 2 4U deep unit would be a good choice for our Go Kit application. The iPortable enclosures are based on a portable rack mount case and include a DC power system, speaker and headphone hookups, a light, and provisions for a cooling fan. EMCOM Go Kit Construction Radio Shelf With all the components in hand, we began the construction of our Go Kit. Reliability is important in any portable system like this so we put some time into securely mounting all of the equipment and neatly arranging the cabling. First came the shelf which holds the Kenwood transceiver and a SignaLink USB sound card. A combination of drilling the shelf to secure gear with large cable ties and #8 stainless hardware was used here. Coax Connector Cables Our iPortable case was equipped with both SO-239 and N-connectors on the front panel to allow for antennas and feed lines equipped for either connector type. To make the change over between the connector types easy, we installed separate PL-259 jumper cables for each connector. One simply connects the appropriate jumper to the radio. Display and Power Shelf The power and AvMap display shelf were next. The AvMap display mount was dissembled and modified to accept a custom mounting bracket. PWRgate Battery Interface and Charger The iPortable enclosure was drilled to mount a West Mountain Radio PWRgate to handle backup battery charging and management. The PWRgate supports instantaneous switching between an AC power supply and a backup battery and can accommodate a wide range of battery types and sizes. Backup Battery The PWRgate was configured to properly charge our 18AH AGM backup battery. Note the use of a fuse in series with the battery for safety reasons. We used a Powerwerx SPS-30DM adjustable power supply set to 14. 5Vdc to operate our Go Kit and to provide the proper charging voltage for our AGM battery. EMCOM Go Kit Operation Diamond X-30 Antenna and Mast The last piece of the setup was the antenna. We wanted something that was portable, easy to set up and would provide good performance. We choose a Diamond X-30A 2m/70cm ground plane antenna and mounted it on a 12' fiberglass push up mast. The feed line is made from 25' of LMR-400UF coax. Several bungee cords are used to attach the mast to a fence post or other vertical structure. Finished Go Kit In Use The picture above shows the completed Go Kit in operation. We typically set one side of the Kenwood TM-D710GA to operate as an APRS transceiver and Digipeater and the other side to operate on a local repeater or simplex FM. The SignaLink sound card is used with a laptop computer running Fldigi and NBEMS for messaging applications. The iPortable case has a 13. 8V lighter socket which connects to a power brick to power our laptop PC. Go Kit Packaged for Transport The Go Kit is quite portable when closed. All of the equipment and cable connections are enclosed and protected by the case's removable end caps. We've tested our Go Kit during our club's weekly repeater net and it worked great. The first real use of our new Go Kit will be at Field Day this year. It will be located in our public information tent and will be used as a "talk-in" system. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 2017 Field Day Prep - New Tower Test > We decided to put up a third tower as part of our 2017 Field Day operation. We decided to perform a Tower Test and setup our new tower before Field Day. - Published: 2017-06-22 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/2017-field-day-prep-new-tower-test/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Homebrew, NARS Event, Station Building, Tower We decided to put up a third tower as part of our 2017 Field Day operation. The new tower will support a tri-band yagi and wire antenna for use by our Digital and GOTA stations this year. Our Field Day plans call for this tower to be located on the middle-level soccer field at the Hollis-Brookline High School. To overcome terrain limitations, we decided that our new tower should be a 60 ft setup. The project began with some mechanical design and planning for a new, heavy-duty Falling Derrick System. Mike K1WVO, Dave N1RF and I secured the necessary materials and hardware to make the new Falling Derrick System. Equipment And Tools On Site The team in the two pictures above met at our QTH this past weekend to transport all of the equipment for the new tower to the high school for a test setup. Setting Up The Tilt Base The first step in the test was to locate the tower base in the center of our test area and ensure that it was level. Steel stakes were driven and retainers added to secure the base to the ground. Building The Derrick Next, we assembled the falling derrick and the first section of the tower to the base. Assembling The Tower With the Derrick in place, we assembled the remaining sections of our 60 ft tower on the ground. Driving Guy Anchors WIth the tower, Derrick and base together; we carefully located and drove the steel stakes for guying the tower, the derrick and for anchoring the pulleys associated with the falling derrick system. With this done, we made up and attached two levels of guys between the tower and the anchor stakes. Completed Heavy Duty Derrick System Ready To Lift The tower is lifted by two wire cables which run between the derrick and the tower. We made these cables up to length during our test session. Multiple cables are used to ensure that the tower is fully supported during the lift. Completed Derrick System - A View of the Tower Here's another view of the tower and Derrick prior to the lift. We supported the tower on a ladder to make the initial lifting easier. The ladder will also be needed on Field Day to allow our tri-band yagi to be installed on the tower prior to standing it up. Capstan Winch Used To Lift Tower There is a considerable amount of rope that needs to be pulled through several pulleys to lift the Tower/Derrick system. The pulleys provide mechanical advantage and slow the lift rate to a safe level. We used a heavy-duty gasoline powered capstan winch to pull the considerable length of rope required to lift our tower into the full upright position Lifting The Tower With our crew fully briefed on the process and safety procedures, it was time to lift our tower. The picture above shows the lift in progress. Our setup ensures that no one needs to be in the tower's fall zone during the lift. The Tower Is Up! Here's a picture of the tower after it was up and fully guyed. Our new heavy-duty Derrick system worked very well and lifting the tower was completed smoothly and safely with very modest effort. The Nashua Area Radio Club Tower Test Team After a few pictures, we took the tower down and disassembled it. We had quite a few members turn out to help us with our new tower test. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make our third tower project a success! We are looking forward to using it during Field Day 2017! Notice: falling derrick tower systems can be dangerous if they are not engineered, built and used properly by a well-trained team. The tower system described here is unique and is not a standard falling derrick system. Significant steps and material choices were taken to ensure the safe use of the system described here to put up our tower Time was spent to train the team who used the Derrick system to use it correctly and safely. We do not recommend the system here to others as the engineering, materials, and training required for its safe construction and use may not be readily available. Fred, AB1OC Hashtags: #ARRLFD --- ### Field Day IT Test - Stations, Network and Logging Computers > We are bringing some 21st Century radio and computer technology to our Field Day setup this year. Field Day preparation included an IT Test of the new gear. - Published: 2017-06-22 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/field-day-it-test/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Contest, CW, Digital, Field Day, HF, NARS Event, Satellite, Software, Station Building, VHF/UHF Dave Merchant K1DLM, our Field Day chairman, is bringing some 21st Century radio and computer technology to our Field Day setup this year. There are several aspects to this new component of our Field Day plans and the associated IT Test including - Two Flex-6700 Software Defined Radios running over a network for our new Digital and enhanced GOTA Stations An on-site WiFi Network to enable using the N1MM+ Logger in network mode for sharing of log information, station activity, real-time scores, and messages A central Score Board and Club Information Computer in our public information tent 2017 Field Day Site - Upper Field Layout We will again be holding our 2017 Field Day operation at the Hollis-Brookline High School in Hollis, NH. We are planning on using the upper baseball field area as our main operating location. We have decided to add a third tower this year and locate it on a soccer practice field which is situated several hundred feet away from our main operating area. All of our antennas and equipment will lie within the required 1000' circle but the third tower would situate those operating at that location away from the rest of our group. Dave's solution to this problem was to set up a network and operate two Software Defined Radios (SDRs) at the lower site remotely from our location on the upper field. Dave has enlisted club member Piece Fortin, K1FOP to be our IT Chairman for Field Day this year. Pierce has been instrumental, along with Dave, in the planning and testing of all of this new technology. Pierce and Dave have a great deal of networking and IT experience and knowledge and we could not have put together what is described here without them. Dave K1DLM, Pierce, Hamilton K1HMS, Mike Ryan K1WVO, Anita AB1QB, and I have gotten together multiple times to set up and test all of this new technology. I wanted to share some more about the equipment and the associated testing (which has been staged in the kitchen at our QTH - thank you, Anita! ). We began the testing process by setting up our 20m CW station. 20m CW Station Test This station uses an Elecraft K3S Transceiver, a K1EL WinKeyer and the N1MM+ Logger running on a Windows 10 Laptop PC. We used this station to get our basic N1MM+ setup including our Field Day CW keying macros right. 40m SSB Station Test Next came our 40m SSB station. This setup uses an Icom IC-7300 Transceiver and allowed us to set up and test N1MM+ on the fly audio macro recording and playback. All three of our SSB stations will have on the fly recording and playback capability which will allow each of our SSB operators to record and use a custom set of audio macros. Digital Station Test Next came our Digital Station. This station uses one of the two remote Flex-6700 SDRs. Remote Flex-6700 SDRs and Antenna Switch Dave, K1DLM put together a really nice package for the two Flex-6700 SDRs and associated equipment which will be located on the lower field. He used a rack system to mount the two SDRs, power supplies, a three-band Tri-plexor, a set of bandpass filters for 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m and a 403A 8x2 networked antenna switch. This setup allows either of the two SDRs to share the tri-band yagi or the 40m and 80m Inverted-V antennas on the tower on the lower field and operate on any of the 5 available HF bands. Antenna and filter switching automatically track the frequencies of the two SDRs making the setup simple to use. Digital Station Second Display - SmartSDR & More N1MM+ The Digital Station's remote SDR will be operated using a SmartSDR client running on the Digital Station laptop PC. This station will have a second monitor to better accommodate all of the windows associated with it. Digital Station Main Display - N1MM+ The main display associated with the Digital Station will run decoders for all PSK and RTTY modes. The ability to decode multiple PSK signals simultaneously and multiple RTTY decoders are available. The Digital station also acts as the N1MM+ master station in our Field Day setup for all of the other stations which use N1MM+. Satellite Station Test Our Satellite Station 2. 0 was also added to the test setup. It uses a MacBook Air laptop running MacDoppler to control the antenna rotators and the Icom IC-9100 Transceiver which are part of our Satellite Station. A Windows 10 Surface Pro computer is included which runs N1MM+ and provides logging and other network functionality for our Satellite Station. GOTA Station Test We also tested our GOTA station which uses the second Flex-6700 SDR and a FlexRadio Maestro to provide a more conventional "buttons and knobs" interface for our GOTA operators to use. This station will also have a laptop PC running N1MM+ for logging. Scoreboard Computer We also build and tested a Scoreboard PC. This computer will be located in the Public Information tent at Field Day and will be connected to a large display. It will show our real-time score, QSOs being logged as they are made and other useful information about our Field Day operations. This computer will also continuously play videos from our Club Video Collection and will provide access to IP video cameras which monitor the tower and equipment on the lower field. Pierce, K1FOP and Hamilton, K1HMS Testing CW Stations Our networked N1MM+ test bed contained at least one station of each type (CW, SSB, Digital, Satellite, and GOTA) that will be part of our Field Day setup this year. The Station Masters for the additional CW and SSB stations came by to test their setups using the test bed. Field Day Networking System The networking system which Dave and Pierce built is central to all of the technology described here. All of the gear is mounted in a single rack which will be located on the upper field during Field Day. The setup includes a Firewall/DHCP server, a commercial grade outdoor WiFi access point, a 4G LTE modem for Internet access, an... --- ### MT. Hale and 30 Meters (in the rain) > I was to guide my seventeen-year-old son, Justin and his two friends, on a Saturday hike in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire. - Published: 2017-06-22 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/22/mt-hale-and-30-meters-in-the-rain/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: CW, On The Air, QRP, SOTA MT. HALE and 30 METERS QRP The White Mountains National Forest Dennis Marandos – K1LGQ The trip to the mountain had been planned four weeks in advance and I was to guide my seventeen-year-old son, Justin and his two friends, on a Saturday hike in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire. The date was May 27th and it was agreed that I would bring along my radio gear because I am the driver and the guy who knows how to climb Mt. Hale. It was agreed that Justin wouldn’t complain when I took an hour off from our climb for me to string a dipole and work some DX just waiting for my QRP signal east and westward wound. My son with his two friends packed into dad’s car and headed due north driving one hundred twenty miles to the White Mountains National Forest. For those people who are unfamiliar with the North Country, New Hampshire has a great number of mountains along with the other five New England states, and NH, in fact, has forty-eight foothills that are 4,000 feet or better. This may seem quite mundane, however, hiking and “hill topping” with a handy on these ridges is “primo” in this part of the country. The gang arrived at Zealand trail, Halebrook & Lend-A-Hand trails at 9:15 ready to zoom up the miles of pure fun. I had my handy, my 30 meters “30-40” home brew rig with me and a pretty heavy 12-volt gel-cell battery. I knew the kids, who were all 17 years old, would complain if I asked them to carry my gear, so I opted to carry a ‘large’ knapsack with water, small lunch, extra socks, sweatshirt, and long pants by myself. The backpack was pretty heavy, but you have to know what to expect for weather when climbing any mountain. I also had my key, earphones, and dipole in a waterproof bag neatly stored till we reached the top. As we climbed, the early morning sun was vibrant as in just about any corner of the U. S. , but when the clouds started rolling in on our climb at ten in the morning, the weather was truly undefined for that day. Sure, you can listen to the National Weather stations, but the NWS tends to extend their prognostications to include everything, just in case anybody should question their forecasts. The sky was navy blue and the air temperature was a cool 65 degrees—just right. The precipitation was damp from the previous night and we were headed onto an easy climb, and total time to the top was estimated at about two hours or less. I couldn’t wait till we got to the top of Mt. Hale and do some QRP operating. The boys were twenty feet ahead of me, throughout the entire climb, and they had a much lighter backpack. I kept insisting that they shouldn’t run so often or they would be out of strength by the time they reached the top. Right! I am talking to three teenage boys! That was an exasperation of time. As we drew nearer the top, you could feel the air turn denser and the temperature dropped a bit more. The tree line was thinning, but never to the point of an overall rock surface. The total height of Mt. Hale is 4,054 feet, and the trail began at the 2,100-foot level. I was psyched about operating from the mountain and kept thinking of how I would set up my portable station. Over and over I kept asking myself which direction way was south and which was west. I wanted especially to work the west coast and Europe if I could Finally, when the crew was ten feet away from where the old ranger station used to be on top of Mt. Hale, I yelled to the ghosts of the mountain that I was coming, ready or not. I wanted to clear the area and not have something senseless happen like have my RF flow into the absorbing rocks nearby—never to be heard from again. At this moment, the sky had turned pretty gray and the temperature must have dropped another ten degrees since we started our excursion from the base, but worst of all was the intimidating spitting of droplets on my glasses. This was New England, and if you particularly don’t like the weather, just wait a short while and the elements will change. I knew what to do, after all--I am Mr. Cool and a smart Dad. You don’t think for a minute that I would bring my son and two of his friends on a hike and have the weather turn on us? The environment factors were increasing and I knew something was up, but I was resolute to get my station up and operating. The boys wanted to eat their lunch first, and being the group leader, I suggested the boys not eat and drink too fast for they might get dizzy after a strenuous climb. Again, I forgot who I was talking to. Out came their bags of Nachos, potato chips, and heavy duty caffeinated Coca Cola along with sugar desserts made with chemicals I couldn’t even pronounce on the side of the bags. Ugh! Give me a break, but I insisted we set up my station real soon, so the boys could walk around a bit while I did some CW. Fate has a way of presenting farrago weather to the unsuspecting neophyte in the wilds. No sooner did I reach into my knapsack for my radio gear, and no sooner did I uncurl my dipole, it started to RAIN! I mean, this was the mother of all storms and Armageddon was just a warm up. The boys had brought jackets, with rain hoods, while I only had a hand towel, socks, and a sweatshirt. It didn’t look like the rain was going to stop and I motioned to the boys to just sit tight for a few minutes while this ‘bimbo’ rain cloud passed overhead. Fifteen minutes had gone by and the rain was filling anything that could hold moisture.... --- ### LEO Satellite Contacts via Easy Sat and Linear Transponder Satellites > These videos demonstrate LEO satellite contacts and give an idea of what it is like to to make contacts through Amateur Radio LEO satellites. - Published: 2017-06-20 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/20/leo-satellite-contacts/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF We recently did a Tech Night on Building and Operating a Satellite Ground Station. As part of my portion of our Tech Night presentation, I recorded several LEO Satellite Contacts and made videos showing the operation of the computer controlling our Satellite Station 2. 0 during these contacts. These videos give an idea of what it's like to operate through LEO satellites. The video above is a recording of several contacts through SO-50 - an FM "Easy Sat". The video bove demonstrates several contacts made through FO-29, a linear transponder satellite. The distortion that you hear in my voice is a result of my own voice coming back delayed through the satellites. We will have our Satellite Station 2. 0 setup at Field Day this year. If you are local to Nashua, NH; you are welcome to visit us during Field Day and see our Satellite Station in operation. You can read more about the station used to make these contacts here on our Blog. Fred, AB1OC Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD #LEOSAT --- ### Crossing A HAB Off The Bucket List.... > We saw two young fathers design and launch a high altitude balloon (HAB) to stimulate interest in their very young sons. Of course, the best part... - Published: 2017-06-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/19/crossing-a-hab-off-the-bucket-list/ - Categories: General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, Space, Youth Outreach Back in 2010, I was a postdoc in the particle theory group at National Taiwan University in Taipei. I was working with a buddy, a German fellow, and in the middle of talking about made up particles (actually they're real) in imaginary time (this is an actual "thing"), he showed me a neat YouTube video that he found. As we watched, we saw two young fathers design and launch a high altitude balloon (HAB) to stimulate interest in their very young sons. Of course, the best part of this entire endeavor was the video footage they recorded during the ascent/descent. It was awesome; in the original definition of the word. I immediately developed HAB envy and wanted to do this myself. I told my future XYL, Anne, about this and she said if I came back to the U. S. , she would help me design one. Fast-forward to 2011. I came back home, and though Anne offered to help, I was adjusting to a new job in VA and had zero time to dedicate to it and coupled to that, zero money. The dream would have to wait. Fast-forward to early winter 2016 (I think it was early 2016). Fred, Anita, Jamey, Tony, myself, and others were sitting at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock facility during one of our Youth Days. We had just finished lunch and were brainstorming ideas to engage young people in amateur radio. Fred had mentioned, how about a high-altitude balloon carrying APRS? Bing. Bang. Boom. That was all I needed to hear. This was the opportunity literally right in front of me to check the box. So, as you can guess, I was in. The team had a lot of work in front of us. Some of you have heard us proselytizing the good word at our meetings. This whole project would not work if it were just about a solitary, singular balloon launch. There had to be a hook; had to be something that would allow us to continually interact with the potential participating students. What we had decided was to create a STEM opportunity in the classroom. For those of you unfamiliar with STEM, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It represents a body of activities and teaching to foster and nurture this type of education in students. It takes the form of FIRST robotics, programming courses for kids, DIY electronics for kids. You name it, it's probably a "thing" already. So this is what we tasked ourselves with. To move forward, we had to establish a potential curriculum and target schools that we could work with and hopefully engender a long-lasting partnership with. The ideal case scenario we envisioned would be, to begin with, students as freshman and work with them until graduation; maybe even getting a senior thesis out of it. I won't bore you with all the details, but to name a few, we had bi-monthly WebEx conversations to discuss how to move forward, solicited schools, developed a presentation schedule, created a TON of PowerPoint slides to be presented in the classroom, ordered and tested the HAB and its components, organized an Open House at Fred/Anita's QTH, and of course figured out a launch date -- let's talk about that next. Ah, launch time. The culmination of 7+ years of waiting was actually going to happen. I could measure time by prepending the phrase "T-minus" to my system of units --- Pretty cool. The morning of, many of us gathered at the requisite spot; the anticipation was pretty palatable. After the exact launch locale was ascertained, we prepped and began to inflate the balloon. Spoiler alert: We under-filled the balloon due to a misunderstanding of the instructions from the company which led to a longer flight time. The moment I let the balloon go, I swear my mind went through all the charts I made, all the prep work the team went through, and an overwhelming sense of pride at the accomplishment we achieved. We quickly cleaned up and adjourned to a local restaurant where we viciously ate our food and just as viciously scoured the interwebz (aprs. fi) to get the latest update of the balloon's telemetry. Since the update time was about one minute, it was obvious that Einstein's theory of Special Relativity was at work; each minute felt like an eternity in my reference frame. Finally, touchdown! In RI. Ok... sure. We predicted SE of Worcester, but it was RI. Fred called me a few times to update me on the HAB's status after recovery. I asked him to let me know when the data would be available in the Dropbox. When I saw this, I instantly turned to MATLAB and created the following plots from the telemetry data on the flight computer. (Note: It's update time is every 6 sec, so we get more accurate updates than APRS) IMHO, I think the most interesting plots are those of the pressure vs altitude of the HAB and the temperature vs altitude. These are fascinating since: We have theoretical models from NASA with which to compare with. It's unfathomable we can record this data THAT HIGH UP with such simple tools. Below, I'll only show the results from the ascent. (The descent essentially looks the same). Also, for posterity, I included the NASA predictions which for those of you who are more mathematically minded (all of you, right? ! ) can sink your teeth into. What I find fascinating is that the pressure the HAB recorded (shown in blue) lies essentially on top of the NASA predictions (shown in black). Moreover, the temperature shows good agreement qualitatively: namely a sharp decrease until a particular altitude, then it levels off, and finally begins to increase again. Where those boundaries occur differs between NASA and our local measurements from Winchester, NH. But, the trends are the same. Very encouraging. The next most interesting plots are those derived from the telemetry data. The first is the ascent altitude vs time: The vertical speed seems to be essentially constant. This makes sense so long as the vertical lift force from the Helium balances out the downward... --- ### Quicker-Turnaround Digital Modes in Experimental Stage for WSJT-X Suite > This is something to follow if you are interested in the JT modes and WSJT-X. Our experience is that FT8 mode which trades S/N... - Published: 2017-06-16 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/16/wsjt-ft8/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, DX, HF, Magic Band (6m), Mentor, QRP, Software, VHF/UHF WSJT-X developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, weighed in to express his appreciation to all who shared their ideas and experiences using JT9 and JT65 modes during recent multi-hop E-skip openings on 6 meters. “We are very much aware that a mode with most of the excellent characteristics of JT65, but with faster turnaround time, would be a big winner in such situations,” Taylor commented on behalf of the WSJT-X development team. “We are experimenting with several such possibilities. Tentative goals include 15-second T/R sequences, sensitivity around S/N = –20 dB, occupied bandwidth less than that of JT65, and capability to decode as many as 10 or 20 signals in a 2-kHz bandwidth. ”... Source: Quicker-Turnaround Digital Modes in Experimental Stage for WSJT-X Suite This is something to follow if you are interested in the JT modes for HF and VHF communications. Our experience is that a new JT variant that would trade S/N margin for a faster QSO segment speed would be just the ticket on many of the HF bands as well as 6m. Fred, AB1OC --- ### New Book of Interest > Title: Communications Receivers: Principles and Design. This is an engineering textbook, so it is quite technical but strikes a balance between... - Published: 2017-06-12 - Modified: 2020-01-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/06/12/communications-receivers/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Mentor All, New member here, hoping to add some value! I am returning to amateur radio after a very long period of inactivity, and have been looking for some reading material to jump-start coming up to speed on more recent technology topics. I have discovered a new book which may be of interest to Nashua ARC members. This is actually a revised 4th edition (published 2017) of a book that has been around for some time. Title: Communications Receivers: Principles and Design. This is an engineering textbook, so it is quite technical but strikes a balance between theory and practice. A bit pricey, but it is a virtual goldmine of information, and includes hundreds of references and suggestions for further reading. At 600+ pages, it is not something most will read and understand in a few evenings. Greatly expanded coverage of SDR technology alone is worth the price, IMHO. I highly recommend this book for those who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of the topics covered. This book might be suitable as the basis for a series of Tech Night sessions. Rick Boswell, K8EZB Link to this book Communications Receivers --- ### How To Track Our High Altitude Balloon > I wanted to share some information about our tracking our High Altitude Balloon as it flies. Our balloon will carry's a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS... - Published: 2017-05-30 - Modified: 2020-11-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/how-to-track-our-high-altitude-balloon/ - Categories: Activities, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, NARS Event, On The Air, Space, VHF/UHF I wanted to share some information about our tracking our High Altitude Balloon as it flies. Our balloon will carry's a GPS receiver and a 2m APRS Transmitter. HAB Flight Platform The on board APRS transmitter will operate on the Amateur Radio standard terrestrial APRS frequency of 144. 390 MHz and will transmit our HAB's position, heading, speed, altitude and other telemetry data every minute during the HAB's flight. The transmitter is battery-powered and generates a 250 mW signal into a dipole antenna suspended from the HAB's flight platform. The HAB will use N1FD-11 as its call sign. HAB On aprs. fi The HAB's APRS packets will be picked up by ground-based Digipeaters and iGates and will be relayed to aprs. fi where the HAB's current location and flight path can be tracked. You can click on the link in the previous line to see the HAB's current location and flight track. HAB Flight Path Prediction Based upon online HAB flight prediction calculators that we have been using, we expect the HAB's flight to last a little less than 2 1/2 hours. The HAB should reach an altitude of over 102,000 ft before the balloon bursts and the parachute on the flight platform brings it back to the ground at a safe speed. The above prediction will likely change as we get closer to an actual launch but most predictions have our HAB traveling approximately 100 km between its takeoff point and landing. HAB APRS Packet Information Aprs. fi will also store and display a copy of all of the APRS AX. 25 packets transmitted by the HAB during its flight. Of particular interest to the STEM element of the flight will be the Balloon's data on atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions at different altitudes. All you need to track our HAB during its flight is Internet access and a web browser. Just click on one of the aprs. fi links here to see the HAB's current location and altitude. If you have an APRS ground station, you may also be able to receive our HAB's telemetry directly during the flight. We need cloud cover which is less than 50% and ground wind speeds below 15 mph to launch our HAB. Will will post a final launch date and plans in the Youth Forum on our website. Our next possible launch window is on Saturday, June 3rd. We are all pulling for good weather so that we can launch! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Dayton / Xenia Hamvention 2017 > Fred, AB1OC and I recently returned from the Dayton Hamvention, which was held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH.  Here's a summary of our visit. - Published: 2017-05-30 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/dayton-xenia-hamvention-2017/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: ARRL, CW, Hamvention, Satellite Fred, AB1OC and I recently returned from the Dayton Hamvention, which was held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH for the first time this year. Here is a summary of our visit. Dr. Tamitha Skov teaching us about Space Weather We always arrive 1 day before the Hamvention to attend Contest University. We get to listen to professors who are experts in contesting, propagation and other aspects of Ham radio and always learn something new. The presentation that stands out in my mind was on Space Weather by Dr. Tamitha Skov, who is a regular on Ham Nation and has a web site Space Weather Woman. On Friday it was time to visit the first day of Hamvention. We spent most of our time visiting the vendors. The new venue had 5 buildings with vendor booths and 2 more buildings for Forums. It took us most of Friday and some of Saturday to visit all of them. Here are some of the highlights. Icom 7610 Icom has a new SDR transceiver coming out later this year, the IC-7610. We got to see it in person at their booth. The display was impressive. If the performance is as good as the IC-7300, this will be a great transceiver. Elecraft KPA-1500 Amp The Elecraft booth was very busy - we got to see their upcoming 1500 W amplifier, the KPA1500, which will cover 6m - 160m. . this one is going on the wishlist. Flex Radio's new Transceiver with knobs Next, we visited the Flex Radio booth and spent some time playing with the Maestro, which will have at Field Day for the GOTA station. Their newest radios, including the Flex 6600 have buttons and knobs and a display. Kenwood TH-D74 HT At Kenwood's booth, we got to look at their newest HT, the TH-D74, a tri-bander which does APRS, D-Star and has a great looking color display. Begali Keys Booth We then visited the Begali booth where we got a chance to try out a large variety of Begali Keys. This year's new Toy At the Begali booth, Fred picked out his Hamvention toy for this year - the Sculpture Mono key. Burns, W2BFJ at the AMSAT booth We made several visits to the AMSAT booth and saw Burns, W2BFJ, one of our newest club members. We also talked to their educational lead about ARISS opportunities to contact astronauts on the space stations and learned the details about how cube sats are built and launched. We also picked up a copy of their latest satellite book, which is one of the best books on the topic we have read. Tom Gallagher We also visited the ARRL booth where we received a warm welcome from Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, ARRL CEO, who spoke at our club meeting last year. He is very interested in our HAB project. After the Hamvention closed for the day, we attended many of the dinners and activities at the Crowne Plaza with the contesting community. At the Top Band dinner, we saw a very interesting presentation from Nodir, EY8MM, about his home country, Tajikistan and his plans for 160m operations during the Bouvet Island DXpedition coming up in 2018. Overall we had a great time at the Hamvention and are looking forward to attending in 2018. Anita, AB1QB --- ### HAB Open House > The HAB (High-Altitude Balloon) team gathered for an open house to introduce the students participating in our project to amateur radio and the HAB itself. - Published: 2017-05-30 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/hab-open-house/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, HF, High Altitude Balloon, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach On May 6, members and friends of the HAB (High-Altitude Balloon) Project gathered at Anita (AB1QB) and Fred's (AB1OC) QTH for an open house to introduce the students participating in our project to amateur radio and the HAB itself. The weather wasn't exactly cooperating with us, as rain was in the forecast. In fact, this was supposed to be the week before our actual launch so we could do some prep work with the kids. Fate had other ideas for the launch, however, as it was postponed due to more rain and has been since rescheduled to June 3. Among the students there, we had representation from Merrimack High School, Bishop Guertin High School, and our independent group of which Abby (KC1FFX) and Connor (KC1GGX) made up 2/3 of the students. Teachers (and a student) from Merrimack and Bishop Guertin Beginning around 9 am, we crowded into the kitchen to have Fred introduce the agenda for the day. Gathering around the table After showing off the HAB, the components, and explaining what everything did and how it was interconnected, we broke off into three teams. The first would tour the illustrious shack, the second would get a primer on antennas and towers in the backyard, and the third would brave the elements and go on a foxhunt. A crew going on a Fox Hunt After each group was able to accomplish all three activities, we then invited the kids to make some QSOs in the shack and/or make some QSOs with Fred and Anita's amateur satellite station v2. 0. (I, myself, had made my first two satellite QSOs earlier that morning. A VERY cool station, indeed). A few were definitely nervous and mic shy, but most stepped up and seemed truly amazed (bewildered) that they could talk to some random person in some random corner of the globe. By about 2 pm, there seemed to be expressions of fatigue on the young faces, and it seemed a natural time to conclude the day. All in all, it seemed the kids truly were excited about amateur radio and the HAB. We look forward to working with them in future phases of our HAB project and hope this is something that many of these freshmen can turn into a serious senior science project when they're looking ahead towards graduation in a few years. (And perhaps, we'll get some of them licensed too! ) 73, Brian (AB1ZO) Hashtag: #N1FDHAB --- ### Member Spotlight – Fred, AB1OC > I have wanted to be involved in Amateur Radio since I was about 8 years old. I did not have anyone who could help me to learn code and become licensed. - Published: 2017-05-30 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/30/member-spotlight-fred-ab1oc/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Member Spotlight, Station Building What is your background? I am a Purdue University graduate (MSEE) and I spent most of my working life at AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent where I worked on Wireless Systems, Broadband Access, Data Networking and VoIP products in a variety of engineering and business management roles. I also served as the Chief Technology Officer for a mid-sized VoIP and Wireless company in Dallas, TX for about 7 years. When did you become licensed and build your first station? I have wanted to be involved in Amateur Radio since I was about 8 years old. Growing up in a rural area of Pennsylvania, I did not have anyone who could really help me to learn code and become licensed. School, work, and other things took up most of my attention until late in 2010 when I looked seriously at Amateur Radio again and decided to earn my license. AB1OC/AB1QB Shack Anita, AB1QB and I built our home station in 2012. The project included a 100 ft tower which covers all of the bands from 160m through 70cm and a dedicated shack which is set up for multi-one contesting and DXing. We added a satellite ground station and equipment for EME late in 2012. Our Mobile HF Station In 2015, we built our Mobile HF station. I enjoy working DX, running counties and doing special events like National Parks on the Air using Mobile HF. I am QRV on all bands from 160m through 10m in the mobile. We also have 2m/70cm FM setups in both of our vehicles. What do you like to do most with Amateur Radio? I really enjoy station and antenna building. I also enjoy Field Day, Contesting, Space Communications and Mobile HF. Tuning a 6M Yagi I enjoy helping others to learn about and have fun with Amateur Radio. Finally, I am the NH State Manager for the Thirteen Colonies Special Event and I have a lot of fun every year operating during the Thirteen Colonies Special Event. Presentation at the Dayton Contest Forum I also enjoy speaking about Amateur Radio station building and related topics at Hamvention and club meetings. I have had the opportunity to speak on these topics on many occasions including at our and other clubs meetings, and at Boxboro, Dayton and the ARRL 100th Anniversary Hamvention. I write also write a Blog about Amateur Radio Station Building and related topics. This is a great way to encourage and help others to do Amateur Radio projects similar to the one that we have enjoyed. Satellite Station Antennas Recent projects include portable HF and Satellite stations which we built to share at club events, license class, and GOTA opportunities. I am also working on learning CW. AB1OC Operating In CQ WPX SSB I have been fortunate to do a lot of operating in the 5 1/2 years since becoming licensed. What are some of your most memorable experiences in connection with Amateur Radio? Early in 2012, my company provided a trip to Bora Bora Island in French Polynesia. Anita suggested that we take a radio and portable antenna on the trip and do a holiday style DXpedition. QSL Card from FO/AB1OC and FO/AB1QB from Bora Bora We had almost no SSB phone experience prior to this trip. The response (and the pile-ups) were amazing on Bora Bora and I was able to earn a Worked All States from French Polynesia in just 5 days of operating from there. I came home totally hooked on running pile-ups and operating SSB phone in contests and during special events. I was one of the W1AW/1 operators for the ARRL 100 Centennial Special event and had a ball operating during both periods when NH was on the air as W1AW/1. My most memorable contact ever was working Japan for the first time on 75m SSB phone from my truck using Mobile HF. 75m SSB Contact to Japan via Mobile HF All involved in this contact were very surprised that such a short antenna (I use a screwdriver antenna with a 4 ft rod and a cap hat) could be used to make such a contact. Abby, KC1FFX earns her Extra Class License The experiences that mean the most to me are those involving our work to bring young people and new Amateurs into our hobby. Being able to make a difference for people and aid them to learn means a great deal to me. What do you like to do with the Club? I really enjoy participating in and contributing to our Tech Night programs. It's great to be in a position to learn about the many aspects of Amateur Radio and to help others to do the same. We have a tremendous knowledge base among our club members and our Tech Night program provides a way for us to share everyone's knowledge and experience for the benefit of the entire club. 40m V-Beam at Field Day 2016 I also really enjoy our yearly Field Day. It 's a lot of fun to plan, build and operate a multi-multi station with as many transmitters and towers as we typically put up for our club's Field Day operation. Bishop-Guertin High School HAB Project Students Our club's High Altitude Balloon Project has been a lot of fun. It was fun to be part of delivering the STEM classroom program associated with this project. Teaching Amateur Radio Licence Classes FInally, I really enjoy contributing to the license classes that our club offers. There is nothing that I find more rewarding than to help someone new into Amateur Radio or to help an Amateur earn a license upgrade so they can expand their participation in Amateur Radio. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Member Spotlight (Abby - AB1BY) > One of the things that I’m most proud of is that I’m a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (AB1BY)! You may ask what gets a young girl interested... - Published: 2017-05-29 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/29/member-spotlight-abby-ab1by/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Member Spotlight, On The Air, Youth Outreach My name is Abby and I’m thirteen years old. I’m in the seventh grade and live in Nashua, New Hampshire where I am a straight-A student and a member of the National Junior Honor Society. I play flute and oboe in the band and I also play soccer, tennis and I have received my junior black belt in karate. I am a member of a Destination Imagination team that has competed in the Global Finals representing the state of New Hampshire and placed 17th in the world... twice! 2016 ARRL NPOTA - St. Gaudens NHP But, one of the things that I’m most proud of is that I’m a licensed Amateur Radio Operator (AB1BY, formerly KC1FFX)! You may ask what gets a young girl interested in Amateur Radio? Well, I have my dad to partly blame for that! He was a new ham and was very excited about amateur radio and wanted to share his new love with my brother, Connor (KC1GGX) and myself. In January of 2016, he told us about the ARRL’s Kids Day on the Air and let me operate his rig. That was it. I was hooked! He registered me for the next Technician Class Licensing Class through our club, the Nashua Area Radio Club (N1FD). Receiving my Tech License (with Anita AB1QB & Fred AB1OC) I received my Technician Class license in March of 2016 when I was eleven. I took the club's licensing class. It's a two-day class over the weekend with the exam held on Sunday night. That Sunday I passed the exam for my Technician Class license. In October I took the club's General licensing class and upgraded to General Class. Common Emitter Birthday Cake! Extra success! KC1ENX/AE (with Fred AB1OC and Anita (AB1QB) Finally, on April 30th, 2017 (the day after my 13th birthday) I successfully passed my test to upgrade to my Amateur Extra Class license! It was a very hard test. I took the licensing class, which was 3 long days and I spent several months of studying with some help from my dad (KC1ENX) and a lot of help from my Elmer and friend, Fred (AB1OC). Fred spent many, many hours with my dad and I helping me understand the difficult material - I think my dad learned a lot too! Our club members are awesome Elmers! I am very lucky to be a part of the Nashua Area Radio Club. It is a very active club and there is always something to do. The members are awesome Elmers and don't treat you like you're a kid. They have given me a lot of help and it makes me want to help other kids get involved with amateur radio. My friends trying out Amateur Radio for the ARRL's Kids Day N1FD Youth Outreach at Mine Falls Park Some of my friends joined us for this year's ARRL Kids Day on the Air even though we were having a bad snow storm! The Nashua Area Radio Club does a lot of youth outreach activities and I am really looking forward to the High Altitude Balloon launch that is coming up in June! Summits on the Air (SOTA) - Mt. Pack Monadnock You may hear me on the air calling CQ DX! I love chasing DX (my farthest contact is New Zealand on 100 watts! )and contesting. I also enjoy mobile and portable operating. I have done a couple of Summits on the Air with a 2m HT and an Elk antenna and participated in National Parks on the Air at St. Gaudens NHP. I also like to Fox Hunt and I am learning CW through our club classes. I have been a part of the N1FD team that has taken part in the ARRL Rookie Roundup for SSB, RTTY, and CW and have been an operator for the 13 Colonies Event as K2K. 2016 ARRL Field Day - Everyone pitches in! I am most excited about Field Day! Last year's field day was a blast and the highlight of the year for me. We spent Friday setting up antennas, tents, and stations. Friday night I was allowed to sleep out - although I really didn't get much sleep. I was busy "testing" out the radios. Once field day began I was on the air most of the time. I even operated most of the night on Saturday until I finally crashed for some sleep. 2016 Field Day! Our call sign is N1FD or Number 1 Field Day and it's for a good reason. This year we are going to have a better setup than last year, which is hard to believe. My brother, Connor (KC1GGX) working on his pixie kit. I'm really happy my brother, Connor (KC1GGX) will be joining me this year. I think he got interested in radio last year when he saw the setup that the club had. He is going to have a great time this year! There is so much to do with Amateur Radio and I look forward to trying many new things. There is always something interesting and fun to do and so much more to learn. And that is really what got a young girl interested in Amateur Radio. 73! Abby, KC1FFX --- ### Choosing my next Rig: What's the best one for me? > The results: If I were to buy a new radio today, it would the Icom IC-7300. By my analysis, the IC-7300 is the best Ham Radio for the buck. - Published: 2017-05-21 - Modified: 2022-09-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/21/best-ham-radio/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: DX, HF My old (2012) Yaesu FT-950 lost output! I was getting maybe 5 watts out on any one band! What to do? These days, I am the proverbial "store-bought" ham ... not even kit building! So the choices were to sell as a parts rig on eBay and put the proceeds towards a new rig so shipping the rig all the way to California for factory repair since no repair facilities are on the East Coast. Time for a lot of research! I have always been a very analytical person. I guess that's why I was so successful at my occupation: Air Traffic Controller and Air Traffic Manager. Fortunately, I have been tracking new transceivers and their prices for some time. To this end, I created an Excel spreadsheet. I got all the manufacturer transceiver brochures from HRO and, using the specs from my FT-950 as a base, listed the comparative item and assigned it points, plus or minus, as that transceiver compared to my FT-950 specs. Admittedly, this "point-value" system is subjective. Did I say, I was analytical? The results: If I were to buy a new radio today, it would the Icom IC-7300. I am happy to share this spreadsheet with all my friends worldwide: https://drive. google. com/file/d/0B0upfryjKmcqYnJGUkFrczZsYTg/view Oh, yes! In the end, I decided to repair my FT-950 at the Yaesu factory ... they did a good job; quite reasonably priced ... see you on the air! Layne, AE1N --- ### Another Milestone at Our Last Club Meeting - 150 Members! > We reached another milestone as of our last club meeting - we have grown the Nashua Area Radio Club to over 150 members! This is the result of hard work... - Published: 2017-05-11 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/11/another-milestone-150-members/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event, Satellite, VHF/UHF We reached another milestone as of our last club meeting - we have grown the Nashua Area Radio Club to over 150 members! This is the result of a great deal of hard work on the part of many of our club's members. Welcome to the many new folks who have joined us! Club Members at Our Meeting We had a great turnout at our May meeting which features updates on numerous club activities including our upcoming Field Day plans, CW Classes, License Classes, our High-Altitude Balloon Project, our upcoming SOTA/POTA activation, our Club Repeater Net, our First Place Finish in the recent ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB, and more. Burns Fisher, W2BFJ On Amateur Satellites Club member, Burns Fisher W2BFJ, was our speaker and he provided an interesting presentation on AMSAT and Amateur Satellites. Burns wrote the software for AO-85 and his presentation sparked a great deal of interest among club members. We are looking forward to lots of Amateur Radio fun in the coming months! Fred, AB1OC --- ### SOTA/POTA Activation on Mt. Pack Monadnock Coming Up > We'll be activating Miller State Park (POTA KFF-2662) and Mt. Pack Monadnock (SOTA W1/HA-041) in Peterborough, NH. This is also the ARRL's June VHF contest!   - Published: 2017-05-11 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/11/sota-pota-plans/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, HF, NARS Event, On The Air, VHF/UHF On Saturday, June 10th we'll be activating Miller State Park (POTA KFF-2662) and Mt. Pack Monadnock (SOTA W1/HA-041) in Peterborough, NH. This is also the date of the ARRL's June VHF contest! Miller State Park does have an auto road up Pack Monadnock and there is a $4 fee per person. There are picnic tables at the top if you would like to pack a lunch. I am thinking we should plan on arriving at 11:00 am and hopefully set up and ready to go by 12:00 pm. This should be a great opportunity for a wide range of our members to get out and activate portable. With three activities going on we should have something to tickle your fancy. Below is a quick description of each activity with links for more in depth information. SOTA is an amateur radio award scheme for people who want to get out and operate portable from mountain peaks. A couple of important rules for SOTA are that you can only activate a peak once in a calendar year - so if you're using your own call sign you won't be able to activate Pack Monadnock again until 2018 - and you must operate separately from your car (nothing attached - antenna, battery, etc) and you cannot use fossil fuels. You must operate battery, solar, wind, hydro powered. You may work all modes (CW, digital or voice) on all bands. POTA (Parks on the Air) is much more lenient, as far as operating possibilities. You, or your vehicle, must be totally within the park and you can operate using fossil fuels (generator or car). Parks can be activated more than once in a calendar year and QSOs are cumulative for the park if you return. Here is a link to a quick description for getting started with POTA. You may work all modes (CW, digital or voice) on all bands. ARRL June VHF contest begins on Saturday at 2:00 pm and runs through Sunday at 11:00 pm. I have never participated in a VHF contest, but being on top of a mountain can only help! In order to keep some organization to the activation, I have created a Dropbox file for members to sign up and list any equipment they would be willing to bring. Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, etc. 73, Jamey KC1ENX --- ### 2017 Spring Extra License Class > We just completed another Extra License class! Congratulations to the new Extras,  Abby Finchum, KC1FFX,  John Mara, KB1UX, and Tom Linehan, KB1VON. - Published: 2017-05-02 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/02/2017-spring-extra-license-class/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class, License Exam, NARS Event We just completed another successful Extra License class! Congratulations to the new Extras, Abby Finchum, KC1FFX, John Mara, KB1UX, and Tom Linehan, KB1VON. Abby Blows out Candles on Birthday Cake Abby celebrated her 13th birthday on Saturday during the class. She was able to identify the Common Emitter Amplifier on the cake before she blew out the candles! Her wish came true on Sunday! Dave N1RF doing Antenna Demo Fred, AB1OC demos Test Equipment and Waveforms In addition to the classroom instruction, we had an Antenna Demo by Dave, N1RF and a demo of Test Equipment by Fred, AB1OC. New Extra John Mara, KB1UX with Wayne Wagner, AG1A Thanks to all of our instructors and VEs for all of the hard work that it took to put on this class: Wayne Wagner, AG1A Aron Insinga, W1AKI Dave Michaels, N1RF Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL Bernie Biron, AE1BB Joe Kagenski, AC1BG Frank Swiech, N1DGQ Terry Newport, W1YQ Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB --- ### Rookie Roundup Certificates and Other Awards > KC1FFX, Abby, KC1ENX, Jamey, and W1AKI, Aron recently operated in the ARRL Rookie Roundup Ham radio contest using the N1FD Callsign. - Published: 2017-05-02 - Modified: 2022-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/05/02/ham-radio-contest-certificates/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, On The Air KC1FFX, Abby, KC1ENX, Jamey, and W1AKI, Aron recently operated in the ARRL Rookie Roundup Ham radio contest using the N1FD Callsign. Certificates were sent out this week and N1FD received one for placing 1st in their category of Multi-Op Area 1! 2016 N1FD NEQP Certificate AG1A, Wayne, KC1ENX, Jamey, and AB1OC, Fred operated in last year's NEQP as a mobile and recently received a certificate for placing 2nd in the New England Multi-Op Mobile category. They are planning to enter the contest again this year on May 6-7. They would like to be joined by a CW operator to help them make a run for the #1 spot. If you are interested in joining them, please contact Fred at ab1oc@arrl. net. These certificates and other awards that the club has received can be found on our awards page. --- ### Field Day 2017 Prep - Yagi Building Party! > As Field Day 2017 approaches, Dave, N1RF; Mike, K1WVO, Don, KC1CRK and I got together to assemble and test two of the Yagis... - Published: 2017-04-29 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/29/field-day-2017-prep-yagi-building-party/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Magic Band (6m), Tower As Field Day 2017 approaches, Dave, N1RF; Mike, K1WVO, Don, KC1CRK and I got together to assemble and test two of the Yagi's that we are planning to use for Field Day this year. New 6m Yagi I've contributed a new 6m Yagi for Field Day this year - an M2 Antenna Systems 6M5XHP. This antenna has 5 elements on an 18 ft boom. This antenna is fairly lightweight for its size and performs great - perfect for Field Day. Tuning the 6M Yagi We installed it on two tower sections (20 ft) of so that we could properly adjust its tuning. Final 6M Yagi Test on Tower We found that we could adjust the antenna's driven element and hairpin match for the best SWR performance with the tower tilted over and the antenna on its side. We got nearly the same SWR performance this way as we saw with the tower and antenna tilted up 20 ft off the ground. Final 6M Yagi SWR After several adjustments with the tower up and down, we finally came up with an SWR curve that looked good. Installing the WRTC Tribander on the Test Tower The club purchased a WRTC tower and Triband Yagi a little while back and this Field Day will be the first time that we've had a chance to use this combination. We found that the phasing system and feed point for the WRTC Tribander had been misplaced so we made a replacement for these parts and we wanted to test the WRTC Tribander's performance with the new parts. WRTC Tribander on the Tower After a quick check of the WRTC Tribander's SWR performance with the tower tilted over, we stood the tower up and measured its SWR performance on 10m, 15m, and 20m. WRTC Tribander SWR on 20m The antenna's SWR performance with its new phasing lines and feed point looked great on all three bands! We ended the day by disassembling the two Yagi's and taking down the tower. With this project done, we'll be working on a falling derrick system for our third tower for Field Day. A big Thank You! to Dave, Mike, and Don for helping with this project. It was a lot of fun! Fred, AB1OC Hashtags: #ARRLFD --- ### GOTA Event for Young People in Nashua, NH > 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... - Published: 2017-04-29 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/29/ham-radio-gota-pal/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach 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. Fred, AB1OC --- ### High Altitude Balloon Project Update #2 - STEM Learning > We have been working with teachers from several local schools to create a STEM learning curriculum to help the students involved in our HAB project. - Published: 2017-04-26 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/26/high-altitude-balloon-project-update-2/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We have been working with teachers from several local schools to create a STEM learning curriculum to help the students involved in our HAB project learn about the science associated with our High Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project. Merrimack High School HAB Project Students and their Teacher Our club's HAB team has prepared materials for and delivered a series of five classroom sessions to each group of students. These sessions have included material on the Atmosphere, the Physics of HAB Flight, and the Radio Technologies (APRS and GPS) used on the HAB. Bishop-Guertin High School HAB Project Students and their Teachers We have also shared this material with a group of students who are not part of the two high schools that we are working with on the HAB project. Additional HAB Project Students, Parents, and Club HAB Team Members Altogether, we have 13 students involved in our HAB project. The students and their teachers have given us high marks for the STEM learning aspect of the project to date. Here is a sample of the feedback that we have received from the faculty members at the schools who are involved in the project: I think you did a great job today. I was very impressed with your presentation, the clarity of the material you presented to the students and how well organized your power point was: Simple and to the point. Thank you so much for taking the time to come... . I am excited to see and hear more next week. It is evident that you have a true passion for it and that is conveyed to the students. Once again, Thank you for the thought-provoking presentation. The students left excited to see your radio station at open house and eager to launch the HAB! We got together to assemble and test the HAB platform a few weeks back. We did this to ensure that all of the components worked as intended and to determine the actual weight of the platform so we could estimate the HAB's performance and flight path. HAB Flight Platform The platform includes GPS receivers, a flight computer to record location, speed and atmospheric temperature and pressure data, a 2M APRS transmitter to send telemetry data to the ground during the HAB's flight, and two GoPro video cameras to record video during the flight. All of these systems are working well and the HAB platform is ready for flight. We have also secured the required Helium for our launch. Balloon Performance Calculator We have introduced the students to online calculators which they have used to predict the performance of our HAB. The calculator shown above was used to estimate the HAB's maximum altitude (31,290 m or about 102,600 ft) and how much Helium we will need for the flight. Jetstream Forecast The students also learned about the various layers in the atmosphere and how the conditions there will affect the flight path of our HAB. HAB Flight Path Prediction We have helped the students use another online calculator which is used to predict our HAB's flight path. These predictions are only valid about 5 days in advance of the flight and the flight path varies considerably based upon the daily changes in Jetstream conditions. As you can see from the prediction above, we will need to select a launch location in western Vermont or Massachusetts to avoid the risk of our HAB landing in the ocean. We will be gathering all of the students together for an HAB and Amateur Radio Open House before our launch. The open house activities will include some hands-on work with the flight computer and radio equipment on our HAB, a chance to Get On The Air, learn about Amateur Radio Satellites, and participate in a Fox Hunt. We are planning to launch our HAB in May from a location near Bennington, Vt. It will be possible to track the HAB while it is in flight via this link to APRS. fi. We'd like to thank all of our donors for providing us with the funding for our HAB project. Also, a special thanks to all of our club members who have worked on the project and the preparation and delivery of the STEM classroom materials: Brian, AB1ZO Jamey, KC1ENX Anthony, KC1DXL Anita, AB1QB Fred, AB1OC We are all looking forward to the Launch! Fred, AB1OC Hashtag: #N1FDHAB --- ### Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium - RSVP Required > On April 29th, 2017 from 9-5, the Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium (1st edition) will be held in historic Harvard Yard at the center of Harvard University. - Published: 2017-04-25 - Modified: 2017-09-01 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/25/harvard-amateur-radio-symposium-rsvp-required/ - Categories: General On April 29th, 2017 from 9-5, the Harvard Amateur Radio Symposium (1st edition) will be held in historic Harvard Yard at the center of Harvard University. The symposium will be an opportunity for radio enthusiasts and experts at Harvard, other universities, and beyond to gather to hear speakers present on topics related to amateur radio, both historical and technical in nature. The symposium is being put on by the Harvard Wireless Club, W1AF (HWC), a Harvard owned, run, and sponsored amateur radio society dedicated to the pursuit of amateur radio activity, education, and volunteerism. The HWC has decided to hold this symposium as a means of celebrating our interest in amateur radio as well as to encourage and promote the continuation of the use of amateur radio in the future. Speakers:  Tom Gallagher, NY2RF  CEO, American Radio Relay League (ARRL)  Paul Horowitz, W1HFA  Author, The Art of Electronics; Founder, SETI  James Surprenant, AB1DQ  1st Vice President, Yale University ARC, W1YU  Flávio Jorge, CT7AQK  Department of Electronics, University of Aveiro, Portugal  Fred Hopengarten, K1VR  General Counsel, Harvard Wireless Club  Cambridge Univ. Wireless Society  Via Videoconference Link Free Admission - RSVP REQUIRED - Click HERE --- ### N1FD Multi-Op Team wins 2017 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB > 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. - Published: 2017-04-23 - Modified: 2022-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/23/n1fd-rookie-roundup/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, NARS Event, On The Air 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. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Member Spotlight - Anita, AB1QB > My favorite Ham Radio activities are DXing and RTTY Contesting.   I have earned a DXCC Challenge and have confirmed 290 DX entities. - Published: 2017-04-23 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/23/member-spotlight-ab1qb/ - Categories: Digital, Featured, General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight How did you become licensed? My OM, Fred, AB1OC found out some time in 2010 that he could get a Ham Radio license without needing to pass a code test. He took his test in December 2010 and got his Technician, General and Extra license in one exam session. I have a background in Electrical Engineering so I picked up his books and thought it would not be hard to get my license as well. In April 2011, I passed both my Tech and General exams and was licensed as a General. QSL Card from FO/AB1OC and FO/AB1QB from Bora Bora A few months later, Fred was invited to go on a trip to Bora Bora, French Polynesia. I was studying about propagation for my Extra class and saw that this would be a great place to operate from as we were staying in bungalows out over the water. I suggested that we take a radio along on the trip. Before long we had a whole portable station with an IC-7000, Buddipoles, a Signalink for digital, antenna tuners, the whole works. I was responsible for getting our operating licenses for French Polynesia. I learned that in order to operate, we needed to both have Extra licenses. That was my incentive to get my Extra, which I got in December 2011, just in time for our trip in February 2012. AB1QB in 2014 JARTS RTTY Contest What do you like to do most with Ham Radio? My favorite Ham Radio activities are DXing and RTTY Contesting. I have earned a DXCC Challenge and have confirmed 290 DX entities and I have earned certificates in the ARRL RTTY Roundup as #1 in New Hampshire, and the BARTG HF RTTY contest, where I placed in the top 5 in my category. I have also earned the JARL Century Cities award for contacting 100 Cities in Japan. I am just one contact short of my 5 Band WAS, looking for that last contact with Alaska on 80 meters. My pursuit of new DX entities led me to create my current hobby project, the DX Alarm Clock, a Raspberry Pi based software program that I can customize to notify me when those needed entities are spotted on the air. AB1QB logging for AB1OC/M during the NPOTA activation. I also like that Ham Radio involves such a diverse set of activities. I have been a tower climbing ground crew, helped to build (and rebuild) a SteppIR DB36 Yagi, was a driver and member of the Hollis site management team for WRTC 2014. I have also operated as W1AW/1 during the ARRL Centennial and as K2K in the 13 Colonies Special Event. and operated from a mobile station in our F150 from several National Parks. What is your background? My educational background is in Electrical Engineering and most of my technical experience is in Software Development and Program Management. I am currently a Program Manager at Verizon managing projects related to a cloud platform. Nashua Area Radio Club License Training Class What do you like to do with the Club? I am currently the Activities Chairperson for the club. I have organized several contesting activities at our home QTH to help other club members to become involved with contesting. These include the ARRL Rookie Roundups, including the latest one where the multi-op N1FD entry achieved the highest score in the contest. We also hosted a multi-single entry for CQ WW SSB, where we helped the club get a DXCC in a weekend. I am also an instructor for our Ham Radio license classes, where I teach digital modes and propagation. I also use my project management skills to manage all of the logistics for the classes including the VE sessions. It is a great feeling to be able to help people get their licenses. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Making Contacts Through LEO Satellites > I've been having a lot of fun this past week learning to operate using satellites. It is amazing how many LEO satellites are operational right now! - Published: 2017-04-18 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/18/leo-satellites-contacts/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Antennas, APRS, DX, On The Air, Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF I've been having a lot of fun this past week learning to operate using satellites. It is amazing how many LEO satellites are operational right now! Satellite Antennas We built an improved portable LEO satellite station a little while back and used it for the first time during a Technician License Class that we taught earlier this spring. We decided to set up the station in our back yard about a week ago. The idea was to spend some more time learning to operate the station and to improve our satellite operating skills. The past week has been a productive one. Here are some stats for our satellite operations during the last 7 days - Contacts Made: 78 Modes Used: SSB Phone, FM Phone, CW and Packet (APRS FM) Satellites Worked - 9 Total plus the ISS: AO-7, AO-85, ARISS (International Space Station), FO-29, SO-50, XW-2A, XW-2B, XW-2C, XW-2D, and XW-2F States Worked: 23 Grids Worked: 49 The week began with a visit from Curtis, N1CMD who has quite a bit of experience with Digital Packet operation via the digipeater on the ISS. After some experimentation, Curtis helped me to find a setup using a SignaLink Sound Card and a second, windows computer that works well for Packet QSOs. I tested the setup using the terrestrial APRS network to get all of the hardware and software working correctly. The combination was then used to make a first packet contact using the ISS. Operational LEO Satellites The LEO satellites which are currently operational support a mix of split band modes. All of the satellites that we've worked so far use either 2M/70cm or 70cm/2M up and downlinks. The satellites support a variety of operating modes including via single channel FM, linear transponders, and APRS packet systems. Operating skills such as proper adjustment of up and downlink frequencies, Tx power management and setup of the digital packet system have been at least partially mastered this past week. There are a great bunch of folks who are regulars on the satellites and we have made some new friends in our short time operating through satellites. The single channel FM satellites are usually too busy to support rag-chewing. The linear transponder satellites (there are many of these) support several conversations at the same time and we have had some nice rag-chew sessions on these birds. There is also a good bit of DX to be had via satellites. This past week we have worked Patrick, FJ/N2IEN in Saint Barthelemy; Chris, 9Y4D in Trinidad and Tobago; Burt, FG8OJ in Guadeloupe; Fausto, HC9VF in Ecuador; and several stations in Canada. We are planning to set up our portable satellite station at Field Day this year. Curtis will be the main operator/station master for our satellite station. If you are interested in learning more about satellite operations, please let Curtis or I know and we'll help you to learn more during Field Day 2017. Fred, AB1OC --- ### QRPGuys Iambic Paddle Build > I was getting a little bored on Saturday night so I headed down to the shack and dug out the iambic key kit I had ordered. - Published: 2017-04-09 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/09/qrpguys-iambic-paddle-build/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: CW Class, Homebrew, Kits I've been practicing a lot of CW lately and had ordered a QRP guys iambic paddle from their website qrpguys. com awhile back. I went to the CW class on Saturday morning, which got me in the CW mood. After knocking some items off the honey-do list I was getting a little bored on Saturday night so I headed down to the shack and dug out the iambic key kit I had ordered. I've never done any kit building or anything slightly engineer-y until joining the club. I don't always understand why things work and building kits (even simple ones help me along). This kit didn't look too hard, although it has a 4 out of 5-star difficulty rating on their website, so I jumped right in! I made sure I started by sorting out all the parts in an orderly fashion. I learned this much from working countless hours after Christmas and birthdays on Star Wars lego kits that are made for children, but built by adults after the kids get frustrated 15 minutes after starting! I then got to the fun part of soldering. This was different than what I've done in the past as I started with soldering all the mechanical parts together by applying a small amount of solder and then checking to make sure everything lined up before putting a lot of solder on. I enjoyed this as it was a large area to solder and it didn't matter so much if my soldering skills aren't very good! There were only a few electrical components to solder and that part was rather easy, even for my limited skills! The toughest part of the whole build was assembling the paddles. You can see from the picture there are four nuts (and lock washers) that are to be assembled on the inside of the paddles with very limited space. Tweezers were an absolute necessity - and earplugs for any youth that may be hanging around. After many - and I do mean many - attempts of dropping and picking up nuts and washers I finally got the washers and nuts in place and fastened. I was thrilled to have succeeded and ran out to the car, where my radio is hooked up at the moment and gave it a quick test run. Below is my not-so-professional video which shows my not-so-professional CW skills. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=sBQjktAqbxo The paddles work well. The black pads do stick together a little when you push on both paddles at the same time, but I am very happy with my tiny QRP paddles! I am thinking of cutting slots in the sides and attaching a velcro band to attach to my leg to keep the paddle in place in the hopes that I could operate it with one hand. Let me know what you think or if you've built this kit before. 73, Jamey (KC1ENX) --- ### Our Ham Radio Video and Photo Collections - Published: 2017-04-05 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/ham-radio-video-photo-collections/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Contest, Field Day, License Class, NARS Event, NPOTA, Tech Night, Youth Outreach We have been building quite a collection of Ham Radio video and photos over the past few years. We have pictures and video from Field Days, Contests and Activations, Club Meetings, Tech Nights, Youth Events, Picnics, Classes, and other Member Activities. 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: Our Photo Galleries Our Video Collection 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... Fred, AB1OC --- ### QRP on the AIR... from K-ONE Last Good Question > I have been waiting all winter so I could pack my QRP gear into my knapsack, charge up the ole gel-cell and retune my throw-up dipoles to GET ON THE AIR. - Published: 2017-04-05 - Modified: 2021-07-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/qrp-on-the-air/ - Categories: CW and QRP, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: CW, HF, Homebrew, QRP By Dennis Marandos – K1LGQ What a difference 90 days can make! It wasn’t that long ago we were looking out our windows and pleading with the snow gods to give us a break, and finally, our cries were heard. The temperatures, the blue skies, the winds have all been recently favorable and we can’t even remember what it was like with four-foot levels of bleached, hard bursts, hoar frosts in our front yards and drifts even higher. Well, we would much prefer to forget last winter than try to remember forging paths to the house garage, the grocery stores, to work or simply just getting our mail in the front yard--but look at it now. The sun is higher in the sky, the temps are thirty to forty degrees warmer than before, and the winds have shifted, a bit, for us to say “We’re in pig (HAM) heaven! ” What does all this lead up to you say? It is nature calling us to get out of the stale-air shack and into our “get-off-our-fanny” modes... including hiking, camping, biking and just plan QRP along the mountain paths. Yes, it’s the call of the CONTINUOUS WAVE! Dennis K1LGQ I have been waiting all winter for the warmer spring months so I could pack my QRP gear into my knapsack, charge up the ole gel-cell and retune my throw-up dipoles to GET ON THE AIR. I have a small 7-amp gel-cell which is pretty much all anyone needs and thin, copper wire to fling onto the nearest tree limb to get the RF into the ionosphere. A quick and grubby antenna tuner will certainly do the job plus its pocket size which means not a lot of space occupied in the QRP bag. Overall, it’s pretty easy and if you’re thinking you have to do a lot to visit Mother Nature’s playground in her best, you’re wrong. Outdoor operating is now easier than it has ever been, and I am going to tell you why. First off, operating QRP means you take the least favorable weight, carry less with you, and enjoy what you have. Five watts, or less, is pretty slim-pickings and to throw an antenna into a tree is the least of your hardships, but getting outside into the woods, the parks, the BACK YARD is going to be your toughest struggle. Where can I go? Who can I go with? How much gear do I need? Do I need to bring food, coffee, or snacks where I am headed? OH COME ON! We’re talking simply getting outside and into the sun and on the air! I have built over two dozen QRP transceivers and perhaps as many antennas as well for the trickiest trees around. What you need is simply a low power rig that can be easily driven by six or eight double-AA batteries, or even a Lithium alone will get you on the air and you’re in attendance. Have you checked the pages of CQ magazine or QST to see who is selling QRP transceivers? Or better and easier, ‘Goggle’ QRP kits on your computer and you’ll find a utopia in front of you. Come on, the longer, brighter, sunshine days are here and you need to get moving before that cool breeze from the north comes visiting again. Not to worry, it’ll be a while, so warm up the soldering iron and burn some rosin. Just target the “al fresco” rig and get moving. By the way, bring your key, paper, and chronographic meter as well. What does it take to get you moving? Okay, let’s suppose someone offered you fifty dollars to join him on a hike. Now, you’re outdoors and you’re loving it. Well, tell yourself that simply taking your gear to the woods is worth more than fifty dollars and look how much you saved. Think of mind relaxing thoughts, soothing, refreshing sunshine and the thrill of working QSOs anywhere someone can hear you. Now—doesn’t this bring a little excitement to your hard pressed schedule? YES, IT DOES! Now get moving... ! --- ### My Name Is Patrick... - Published: 2017-04-05 - Modified: 2021-07-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/05/ham-radio-youth-outreach-story/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Education and Training, General, Homebrewing, Youth Activities - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew, Mentor, QRP, Youth Outreach By Dennis Marandos - K1LGQ The excitement for warm time operations is just heating up and getting out is easier now than it was a while ago. And judging from what I have already heard on the air, the rivalry for band space is getting hotter and harder to find. Let me tell you about an episode I experienced in Nashua one warm, sunny day when the adrenaline was kicking in and the sun was shining brightly. In the back of my mind-set was the sheer fact that I am radio-active, have a valid license, am getting on the air is what I love so what could possibly go wrong? I arrived at the local city greenery named Greeley Park (after Horace Greeley) in Nashua, NH and scouted for some tall, white pines for a wire antenna. Here in the northeast, pine trees are like blades of grass... they’re everywhere. Another friend of mine, we’ll call him Mike, and I spotted a pine tree at the edge of the 150-yard field and I took aim with my trust surgical-rubber sling-shot, bought at the local Wal-Mart emporium, and on the second try landed a nice 95 foot shot into the coniferous tower. With my mighty homebrew antenna, called the ‘Gusher,’ the tentacle was placed into combat readiness within fifteen minutes after arriving at the park. We mountain men of the northeast don’t waste any time in being prepared. The yellow card table was unfolded, the collapsible chair was pushed into the ground for stability, and the tools of the day were unraveled. The NorCal 40a, a 40-meter homebrew transceiver, was attached dutifully to the MFJ-971 antenna tuner, which was then gingerly appended to the Gusher antenna, which culminated with a fully charged jolt of volts from the 7aH gel-cell battery. The log book was strategically placed to the right side, (I am left handed so all papers need to be in front of the writing hand and to the right. Smudges... you know. ) Retractable Cross pen in hand, MFJ-24 hour clock blinking away, Vibroplex Bug (Original #2636801) adjusted, antenna swaying in the breeze—what’s left? Contest time and the calls were loud and clear. My first contact was WA4CMI. Great, we’re getting out! Second QSO was with CH3Y (Canada), a special call for an event I’m still not sure about, dealing with the police department? I wonder if I can get a QSL or an acknowledgment from them... ? My third contact was N2HMN in New Jersey, followed by KA3P in Pittsburgh, PA. It seems the RF was flowing to the north and south. The vertical long wire (a sloper) was still hanging in the tree pouring out two watts of pure, unadulterated New Hampshire power across the country... around the world. (I always like to think big. ) Then another contact with K1TJ in Morristown, VA, followed by N2VPK in NY, WA4KAC in MD, W1XH in MA, K3AS in PA, N2YIY in PA, KF2HC in NJ, N1RXT on Mt. Monadnock, NH, N2SMH in NJ, AA6UL/4 in VA, W3BNB in MD, AA3LY in PA, WB3GCK in DL, K9UT in IN, KC1GS on Wachusett MT, MA, K8DSS in OH, AF3V in PA, W3GES in PA, K3TKS in MD, WK8S in MI, VE3FAO in Ont. , VE3LCW in Ont. , and K8JJC in MI. It was pretty exciting hearing and working all these good people on 40 meters and I wanted to thank each and everyone one of them... even the dupes. Now, what could have gone wrong during such a brilliant contest in the park such as this? During the Saturday sunshine, while in Nashua’s public park, were also 35 to 50 fifteen to nineteen-year-old teenagers who were reenacting Dungeons and Dragons. Their crusade was to run, jump, whoop and yell it up. Okay, they were over THERE, and I was over HERE, about 150 yards apart; and we were worlds away from each other. WRONG! They wanted my space also. They wanted to “play” where I was and to see if I would notice them. Actually, they were the curious ones for many came to my table and asked, “Whatcha doin’? ” while snapping their gum and starring at the QRP rig. Boys and girls who were holding duct-tape swords, mock malls and hammers in their hands, wanting to know why I was using Morse code and not a microphone. One brave young man, who looked like he needed a bath, said he had a radio too. My ears perked up and I asked him what his call was. He couldn’t remember but he was on channel 19 along with his divorced mother. “Oh,” I said and turned back to my CW. After everyone had seen what they wanted to see, they left to conquer the world. Thank goodness for me, for now it is peace and quiet time. Well, not really. Standing in front of me, for minutes... not moving, was Patrick, a five year old boy who had no one to play with and deemed me his friend. HE WOULD NOT GO AWAY. He was inquisitive and pulled on the long wire which was connected to the MFJ-971, of which I said politely, “Please don’t touch anything. ” He said okay, until he saw the cable from my gel-cell and wanted to know why it was red and black. I said politely, “Please don’t touch anything. ” This appeased him until he saw inside my Xerox paper box filled with field strength meters, a frequency meter, coax, et al, something more interesting. Patrick wanted to see what else was inside and proceeded to empty, one piece at a time, the entire contents of what was there. “Wow, what are you doing? ”... ran through my mind, but I looked at him and said politely, “Please don’t touch anything. ” I, at this time, mentioned that his father was looking for him, or perhaps his mother wanted him too. Patrick said his mother wasn’t there in the park but that his father wanted him to play with that nice man in the corner of the field... me. My eye lit open and I said... --- ### Member Spotlight: Frank Swiech, N1DGQ - Published: 2017-04-03 - Modified: 2024-01-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/04/03/member-spotlight-frank-swiech-n1dgpq/ - Categories: Featured, General, Member Spotlights - Tags: Member Spotlight Name: Francis A. Swiech Elected Club Offices: Former Vice President and Former Secretary of the Nashua Area Radio Club Appointed Club Office: Currently a member of the Nashua Area Radio Club Audit Committee Call Sign: N1DGQ (licensed 32 years, since November 1984) License Class: Extra Current Age: 72 (April, 2017 - first licensed at age 40) How I Became Licensed: I was always interested in ham radio. When I was in the seventh grade, I visited the Novice station of a ham radio operator about my age. He had a Heathkit DX 40 transmitter and a Hallicrafters receiver. He operated crystal controlled on 40 meters CW. Since I did not know the International Morse code, his demonstration CW QSO did not mean too much to me. I did, however, get to see some of the interesting QSL cards he had collected. A few years later, when I was in high school, my parents bought me a Hallicrafters SX-99 receiver. This gave me the opportunity to explore short-wave radio listening, log distant broadcast band AM radio stations, and listen to many ham radio QSOs. At that time the sunspot cycle was at its peak, 10 meters was open, and many hams were still using AM. The Hallicrafters SX-99 was not a single side band (SSB) receiver, but I could copy SSB signals by switching the radio to the CW mode and adjusting the beat frequency oscillator (BFO). Many years went by, and I continued to enjoy listening to short-wave broadcasts, ham QSOs on the high frequency (HF) bands, distant AM broadcast band stations, and 2 meter repeaters on a scanner. However, I did not pursue getting a ham radio license because of the code requirement that existed at the time. Sometime in 1983 or 1984, I attended a ham radio picnic, sponsored by John Fryer (WA1THH - Silent Key) and the Nightly Nut Net at Greeley Park in Nashua. At that picnic I met two older women who were grandmothers and also ham radio operators. Listening to them talk, it became evident to me that I was smarter than these grandmothers. If they could learn the code and get a ham radio license, so could I. In June of 1984, on a local repeater, I heard that the Nashua Area Radio Club (NARC) Field Day was being held at Sanders Corporation on Spit Brook Road, so I went to visit and inquire about becoming a ham. I met the NARC President, Bill Burden (WB1BRE), who advised me to buy an ARRL Tune in the World book with a 5 WPM code practice cassette tape, and to learn the code over the summer. NARC, specifically Maurice Cote (K1HDO – Silent Key), would be giving a ham radio and code class in the fall. It so happened, that Maurice knew me. He was one of the Project Engineers who worked on a microwave switch Research and Development contract that I managed when I was in the Air Force, assigned to the Air Force Avionics Laboratory at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. Anyway, by the time the code class had begun, I had already learned to copy the code at a very basic level from the Tune in the World code practice tape. Maurice invited me to his house to see his ham station and to give me some additional code practice. He also put me in contact with the hams, who were giving one of the first Volunteer Exams at the ARRL New England Convention in Boxborough, MA that fall. I made an appointment, and took the exam. At that time walk-in candidates for the exam were not permitted. After I had passed the 5 WPM code test, I was given the Novice written exam. I explained that I did not want a Novice license, I wanted a Technician license and I needed the General written exam. At that time there was no separate Technician written exam. I was told that I had to first pass the Novice written exam before I could take the General written exam. I had not understood this, and I had only glanced at the Novice test questions. Fortunately, however, I passed both the Novice and the General written exams. In November 1984 I received my N1DGQ call sign and Technician license in the mail. With further code practice, mostly listening to a 13 WPM code tape and listening to the ARRL CW bulletins, I upgraded to Advanced and then to Extra in about three years. Other Hams in Family: None My Elmer: Dave Shaw (K1BXZ – Silent Key) was my CW Elmer. He encouraged me to practice using the code and to upgrade my code speed. He and I would have local CW practice QSOs on 15 meters, and sometimes on two meters FM using code oscillators. How Often Do I Operate: Most every day Bands I Operate: 2 meters, 220 MHz and 440 MHz FM, mostly repeaters. I live in a condominium and I have antenna restrictions, which limit my ability to operate on the HF bands. Types of Operation: Ragchew My Station: Sparse Do I Build Equipment: Very little, mostly J-pole, 2 meter antennas made from 300 ohm TV twin lead wire. Other Ham Radio Activities: Volunteer Examiner: I am a Volunteer Examiner with the ARRL and also W5YI. I regularly assist in administering the Amateur Radio Exams in Nashua, NH and elsewhere as needed. Former Database Manager and Member of the Staff of the New England Repeater Directory: I gather information about New England amateur radio repeaters. With inputs from others, I used to maintain and update the database for the New England Repeater Directory, until when a new daily automated update system was implemented. Richard (W1RJC) maintains this Directory on his website, http://www. nerepeaters. com/ . This activity originally got started after I got a 220 MHz radio and jotted down a list of local 220 MHz repeaters on a single sheet of paper. From there this list grew to a larger list of repeaters on various bands, maintained with a word processor using a Commodore 64 computer. It has now become a web site of its own.... --- ### Congratulations to the New Generals! > We held our Spring 2017 General License Class on March 18th and 19th with 100% success!  Congratulations to the 7 new General. - Published: 2017-03-31 - Modified: 2022-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/31/congratulations-new-generals/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class We held our Spring 2017 General License Class on March 18th and 19th with 100% success! Congratulations to the 7 new Generals: John Halbert, W1SMN Doug Donley, KC1HDH Al Manchester, KC1FOZ Pierce Fortin, KC1HDI Tom Walsh, KC1GGP Michael Schroth, KC1HDJ Scott Cabana, KC1HDS Thanks to all of the instructors and VEs who helped to make this happen: Aron Insinga, W1AKI Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Hamilton Stewart, K1HMS Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO Frank Swiech, N1DGQ Bernie Biron, AE1BB Charlie Pentedemos, AB1ZN Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Gordon West Extra Class Book - Used in our License Class Our last license class this Spring will be the Extra Class scheduled for April 28-30 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua. We still have openings in the class - you can sign up using the online form on our website. We hold the exam session at the end of the class so you could walk out with your Extra license and get privileges to all of the Amateur Bands! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Member Spotlight: #Rockin HAM Bio > It's useful to know where our collective interests lie and what our backgrounds are, so we can forge better connections with each other. - Published: 2017-03-31 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/31/rockinhambio/ - Categories: General, Member Spotlights, Newsletter - Tags: Member Spotlight Some time ago, myself and Layne, AE1N, thought it important and relevant to our club for its members to provide bios of ourselves. It's useful to know where our collective interests lie and what our backgrounds are, so we can forge better connections with each other. In that spirit, I'll pretend that someone asked me some questions and I'll provide my response. And, like all bios, I suppose that it'll be a cathartic release of what's on my mind. How did you get involved in amateur radio? Totally by accident. I had a buddy (who got licensed as well) tell me he was driving through Salem, NH and saw a store called the HRO and asked if I wanted to check it out. After I walked in, I realized I was "in" about 50%. I went home, jumped online, and looked for local clubs. At the time the Nashua ARC site wasn't exactly easy on the eyes, but I liked what I saw anyway so I attended my first meeting in Jan 2016 -- project night. I felt like you guys were my people. I was "in" the remaining 50%. One year and change later, I earned an amateur extra license and am on the Board for the Nashua ARC. Not too shabby. I suppose you can say when I'm in, I'm all in. What's your background and what other hobbies do you have? I suppose I identify as a physicist. At least that's where all my training came from. Other young fellas growing up had posters of athletes, movie stars, and bikini models on their walls (full disclosure: I did have the model posters too), whereas I had Einstein, Feynman, and other physics giants. I read physics books and science lit whenever I could and nurtured the idea of being a professor of particle physics. I've been fortunate enough to at least get the particle/nuclear physics bit down. I've learned a lot of cool math and cool particle physics (like Quantum Chromodynamics, and some string theory), but that was a lifetime ago. Or so it feels like. When I'm actively not trying to figure out how to make a black hole swallow the Earth, I can be found in the kitchen or on the track. It's true that I haven't cooked as much in the past 2 years, but I have a TON of cooking equipment, and make a mean Chicken Tikka Masala. What are your goals in amateur radio? I don't know if this is cliched or not, but I really enjoy building/improving my station and chasing DX. In fact I am VERY much looking forward to finishing my station this Spring (stupid impending Noreaster tomorrow). What I didn't expect to find though was an opportunity to reignite my interest in teaching by being part of the club. I have been a part of teaching the license classes and am currently helping design a curriculum for the club's HAB project with local area high school students. Lastly, I am trying to foster an ability in homebrewing electronics relevant to my shack. I'm looking forward to getting back to this after we launch the balloon. What do you like about being a member of NARC? Ok, this answer is certainly going to be cliched. It's getting to build a rapport with the members and get the benefit of elmering from some incredibly talented and experienced people. Sometimes, I don't always walk up to someone new at club meetings etc. , because I'm not sure what to say. But if you can forgive any apparent awkwardness, I'd like to get to know you better. Camaraderie is an important aspect in the health of this club; it's important (IMO) to nurture that. What should the Club’s priorities be in the next 12 months? At our March meeting, the Board outline the club's goals for 2017. I won't go through all of them again here. I will saw, however, that I believe it's important to create a niche for as many diverse interests as we can. I'd like to have a "homebrewing" group, a "DXing" group, and other potential groups that I can't ascribe a name to yet since I don't have a sense of all the activities that you, our members, are interested in. I think it's important that people find others within our club to gravitate towards with common interests. It's another avenue for the club to organically grow and remain healthy. That's my brief not-so-impromptu bio. Please forgive the photo of me in the featured image. Not because I haven't shaved in a dog's age, but because I don't want to come off egotistical. I simply want to let you know what I look like so you can say "Oh I've seen that funny looking guy around before. " Thanks for reading. Now it's your turn. Tell me about yourself. 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### High Altitude Balloon Project Update #1 > I just wanted to take a moment and update everyone on our progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. Our fundraising efforts are complete... - Published: 2017-03-28 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/28/hab-update-1/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach I just wanted to take a moment and update everyone on our progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. Our fundraising efforts are complete and were very successful thanks to the generosity of our members and many friends. We have secured support from two area high schools for our project Merrimack HS and Bishop-Guertin HS. Currently, we have a total of 10 - 12 young people who have joined our project. High Altitude Balloon Classroom Topics With help from local teachers, we have developed a curriculum and classroom materials to help the teachers we are working with to deliver classroom sessions on the science behind high altitude balloons and the associated radio technologies. The classroom instruction began with a session at Merrimack High School this week. We have purchased the balloon kit and supporting electronics and we are planning a session to test everything later this week. Our planned launch date at this time is on May 13th. We are also planning an open house at AB1OC/AB1QB's QTH the week before the launch to allow the students to test their balloon and to learn more about Amateur Radio. We'll post more here as the project progresses. Again, thank you all very much for supporting our work. Fred, AB1OC on behalf of the HAB Team --- ### 2nd Field Day Prep Meeting Recap > I wanted to provide an update to all club members on our progress related to Field Day 2017.  We had our second field-day meeting... - Published: 2017-03-28 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/28/2nd-field-day-prep-meeting-recap/ - Categories: Digital, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, HF, Magic Band (6m), NARS Event, Software I wanted to provide an update to all club members on our progress related to Field Day 2017. We had our second field-day meeting yesterday at the Nashua Public Library. I’m pleased to report that we have selected the Hollis Brookline High School for a 2nd year as our site. Paperwork has been submitted to the school seeking formal approval. Now that a site has been identified, formal station planning has begun. Once again, we will be operating this year as a 7 Alpha, which means we will have 7-transmitters, plus a GOTA and a Satellite station. We will setup the following stations: 10/15/80m SSB 20m SSB 40m SSB 10/15/80m CW 20m CW 40m CW 6m VHF A Digital Station A “Get on the Air” GOTA Station Satellite Station with computer-controlled Azimuth / Elevation rotor A VHF/UHF “talk-in” station As there are many new members in the group, I wanted to take a minute to explain the complexities of this type of setup. Operating so many transmitters in close proximity is a recipe for disaster unless proper precautions are made. We must do this right so all the stations will be able to operate without interference to one another. If we don’t, it would be very easy to have de-sense or worse case physical front-end damage to a receiver where it would require repair. To combat these issues, we are going to erect 3 towers this year, each separated by about 300-feet. Each of them will have a tri-band HF beam antenna directed to the southwest and pointed perpendicular to the axis of the towers. In addition, we will be using a device called a triplexer to separate the single antenna feed coming from the tribanders into individual 10m, 15m and 20m feeds to the radios. Each of these feeds will be further protected with a band-specific Band Pass Filter (BPF). This will allow 3 separate radios to transmit and receive simultaneously over a single antenna. There will be several new concepts introduced this year, including the addition of a Wi-Fi Mesh LAN environment to connect all the sites computers together. This LAN will provide shared internet access as well through a 4G cellular connection. WiFi Mesh Topology We will be running the N1MM logger in network mode this year as well. This will allow for real-time tracking of our combined score, with a “dashboard” being available in the public information tent. Another new concept will be a remote radio setup. Given the layout of the Hollis Brookline site, the third tower will be located remotely on a lower field. Although it’s still within the 1,000’ transmitter perimeter allowed by ARRL, the third tower will be quite isolated. We have decided to place two Flex Radio’s at the third tower for our GOTA and Digital operations. The operators will connect to these radios over the Wi-Fi Mesh network, allowing them to be anywhere on-site. The user interface for the GOTA station will be a Flex Maestro controller, which emulates a traditional “knob and button” radio. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=1iOinuoMBHA Our primary objective is to make sure there is something for everyone. We want to be inclusionary, and give anyone that’s interested an opportunity to participate. We have established a regular bi-weekly planning meeting at the Nashua Public library. Generally, the meetings are held on Sunday’s from 1 - 3 PM. However, the next meeting will be on Saturday, April 8th from 12 – 2 PM due to lack of availability of facilities on Sunday. We will resume the normal schedule on Sunday, April 23rd from 1-3PM. I will be sharing additional details at club meetings and through N1FD. ORG as things progress. Dave, K1DLM Hashtags: #ARRLFD --- ### CQ WW WPX Contest - Published: 2017-03-27 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/27/cq-ww-wpx-contest/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX, HF This past weekend Abby, AB1BY and I participated in the CQ WPX contest working mobile! My mobile set up consists of the Icom IC-7100 and various hamsticks We took part only to have fun and to increase our totals towards our DXCC and we did both! We totaled right around 50 contacts for the weekend which we thought was really good seeing that we only worked when we had to go somewhere in the car and I was at work all day on Sunday. This was a great contest for us as many of the big stations were out and not only do they put out a great signal, for the most part, they hear very good as well! We were actually able to work 20 meters the whole time and we were on late on Friday night and still making good contacts. I would encourage anyone that is new or has a young ham that is showing some interest in the hobby to get involved in one of these contests as a leisurely participant. It's fairly easy to make contacts and it's great for DX. Some of the places we worked: Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, Cape Verde, Manitoba, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Netherlands, Venezuela, Spain, Slovak Republic, Russia, Aruba, California and Pepperell, Massachusetts! Jamey, KC1ENX --- ### Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup - Sunday April 16 > Are you a rookie?  Join us for the Rookie Roundup SSB on Sunday.  The Rookie Roundup is a contest sponsored by the ARRL specifically for new hams. - Published: 2017-03-26 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/26/join-us-rookie-roundup/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air rook·ie ˈro͝okē noun A Ham Radio operator that has received his or her first license in 2015, 2016 or 2017 A Ham Radio operator that has never operated before in the mode of the current ARRL Rookie Roundup. Are you a rookie? Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB on Sunday, April 16 from 18:00z to 23:59z (that is 2 pm - 8 pm local time). The Rookie Roundup is a contest sponsored by the ARRL specifically for new hams. N1FD Certificate from the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB We will be hosting a multi-op entry using the club callsign, N1FD from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH. Help us defend our title from last year as #1 Multi-Op Area 1. This is an opportunity to get on the HF bands if you just got your license and don't have a station setup yet, or a chance to get some practice if you want to try running some pile-ups before Field Day. If you have never operated from our station before, we will hold an elmering session on Saturday, April 15 from 2 pm - 4 pm, also at our QTH. Details are on our club calendar. If you are interested, contact Anita, AB1QB to sign up at activities@n1fd. org. Anita, AB1QB --- ### 20m Vertical Dipole > My antenna is a full wave 40m delta loop which also matches well across 20m. While the match is good the pattern is not ideal for DX. A Vertical Dipole... - Published: 2017-03-26 - Modified: 2022-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/26/20m-vertical-dipole/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Mentor My main antenna is a full wave 40m delta loop which also matches well across 20m. While the match is good the pattern is not ideal for DX. EZNEC predicts numerous nodes and nulls and a high take off angle. I have been looking for a better 20m DX antenna while I wait to get a beam up. At the Club’s (N1FD) recent VE session a Radio Wavz 20m Dipole was described as having good DX performance when mounted as a vertical. At $39 including a 1:1 choke balun, I decided to try it. I shot a rope over a branch at 65′, attached and sealed the coax, and hauled the dipole up. The coax needs to come away from the vertical at roughly 45° to minimize the coupling to the lower antenna wire. Figure 1 The Balun is hung at a right angle A paracord is attached to Balun in the opposite direction from the coax to oppose the pull of the coax and is needed to keep the antenna wire vertical as shown in Figure 1. I used a water bottle to weigh down the lower wire which allows the antenna to move with the tree to avoid damage during high winds. Figure-2 shows the Delta Loop and to its right the Vertical Dipole. It is difficult to see the Vertical, the green water bottle can be seen just below the center of the figure. Figure-2 Delta Loop and Vertical Dipole (right) After the initial installation, the first step was to measure the VSWR. This can be done using the radio's VSWR meter or an antenna analyzer. If the antenna had to be brought down to adjust its length I wanted to do it before I secured the cables and finished the installation. The antenna analyzer measured a --- ### MOV's in AC Power Strips > n article in the April QST by Ward Silver titled "AC Power Distribution" included a warning "MOV Surge Protectors -- Avoid Them". - Published: 2017-03-23 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/23/mov-power-strips/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew An article in the April QST by Ward Silver titled "AC Power Distribution" included a warning "MOV Surge Protectors -- Avoid Them". Ward and I have swapped a couple of emails and he agrees the statement was more broad than necessary. An MOV is a Metal Oxide Varistor, commonly used as a primary surge arrester since the late 1970's. 10's, if not 100's of millions are connected across the ac mains worldwide -- in consumer products, business equipment, and industrial instrumentation. You'll probably find several MOV's in your home and office in computer power supplies, Audio/Visual equipment and of course, in the AC power strips we all use. If you are buying a Power Strip, look for the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) mark, which ensures the product has undergone considerable testing for safety and ensures the protector (usually an MOV) has been properly selected and operates as expected. When and MOV fails, it usually ruptures instantaneously resulting in an open-circuit; however, if you're building your own power distribution box such as that shown in the QST article, and an MOV but put a small fuse in series with it just to be sure! Mike, K1VLB --- ### Add CTCSS PL Tones to Your Old VHF Rig > The only capability this 25W rig was missing is the ability to transmit CTCSS PL tones or sub audible tones to activate a repeater. - Published: 2017-03-16 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/16/add-pl-tones/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, CW, Homebrew, On The Air, VHF/UHF Last week I gladly accepted a free Azden 2m FM transceiver model number PCS-4000 that was offered to me. You have to love the old free stuff! The only capability this 25W rig was missing is the ability to transmit CTCSS PL tones or sub audible tones to activate a repeater. I found the manual and schematics online and found that this rig was built to accept a tone generator as an add-on. See below. Below is a photo showing the jumper locations for the tone input. I soldered some leads with a home brew disconnect to easily remove the cover in the future. Below is a photo showing an added 1/8" mono jack for the input tone. For an input tone, I used an Android cell phone with a frequency generator App to generate the PL tone. I can experiment with other ways to generate the tone such as an Arduino with RC filters etc. I can also try to insert a 700 Hz tone with my Arduino keyer for MCW. Below is a photo of the rig set up for a local repeater. So now to quote Pete Juliano "Bob's your uncle"! ! ! 73, Mike, AB1YK --- ### A Good Day To Be Doing Radio - Published: 2017-03-14 - Modified: 2023-09-08 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/14/a-good-day-to-be-doing-radio/ - Categories: General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, DX, HF, Homebrew, SDR It's snowing at my QTH. A lot. If your QTH is within 30 miles of mine, then it's bad for you too. Normally, I don't mind the snow blowing. But in this instance it's not supposed to taper off until 11 pm --- meaning I... you... we... us --- will likely have to go outside multiple times just to keep pace with it. Additionally, not only am I doing the driveway but the decks and sunroom roof. On days like this, I look forward to the days of being too old for it to be considered unreasonable for me to do it myself. For now, I am cursed with youth. Damn youth. So while I await my impending fate, I decided to get some fun stuff done. If you have some time, I've enumerated three projects I've been working on. Get some coffee, and enjoy! Project 1: The first item on my list for a while is to get my ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) receiver going. For those of you unfamiliar with this, I won't delve too deeply into it, but I'll try to provide useful information. ADS-B / Mode S is data transmitted on 1090 MHz, which is downlinked from airborne platforms communicating their telemetry such as latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, heading, ICAO number, and flight numbers (as long as they have an ADS-B transmitter on board, which most do). If you're familiar with the website FlightAware, users who collect their own ADS-B data, can create an account with FlightAware and upload their data to feed the system helping to provide a robust and complete air-picture. There are references and links all over the web on how to achieve this, so I won't enumerate them here but know they are out there and an easy Google search away. To intercept these signals/broadcasts, one needs a receiver and an antenna. Of course. The receiver is easy. I bought an RTL-SDR dongle (which I saw someone brought in during the Xmas Yankee Swap -- AWESOME gift) which came with two stock antennas all for $24. 95. This software-defined radio is a neat little gadget. I also download the RTL-SDR library package and GnuRadio in order to actually play around with its functionality. The dongle comes with an SMA connector, so to attach any coax, you'll need an SMA-male to an F-female connector. (Aside: The other Sunday, I intercepted some broadcast radio stations and was able to demodulate them. The structure of the signal looked just like that from the Wikipedia article about FM transmissions! ! The one down side about these dongles, however, is that the lowest frequency they can reach is 24 MHz, which isn't great for HF work. I was hoping to intercept my own transmissions from the shack, but no dice on this. ) RTL-SDR dongle The next bit was the antenna. Since ADS-B signals are vertically polarized, one has to of course use vertical antennas. I tried two different designs for this. The first was a colinear coaxial antenna whose plans you can view from the link. I did this a while back and found it a bit cumbersome, additionally, I wasn't able to collect a ton of data. Many others using this antenna's praises and I think the fault is the author for not correctly constructing it. I then found another inexpensive design called the cantenna. This was by far the easiest of the constructions. Cantenna The theory behind it was that one would take a quarter-wavelength piece of bare copper wire (from inside a spare coax lying around) which at 1090 MHz is about 69mm, and then the cutoff part of a soda can would act as the ground-plane (completing the other quarter-wavelength of the antenna). As seen from the picture, there is an F-female to an F-female connector which connects the bare copper wire to RG-6 coax cable (which is running through the PVC in the picture). And because the RG-6 was only $6. 99 at Home Depot, I picked up 15 ft. for use with this antenna. You probably do not want to use coax much longer than this (and ideally shorter is better) at these frequencies due to losses in the coax. Lastly, was to get the right software. There are a ton of software options. My ultimate goal is to run this on a RaspberryPi, setup somewhere outside, where I can open up a TCP port and pipe the data through so I can look at it from any machine connected to my LAN. To this end, I found the dump1090 distribution was an excellent choice. This dude wrote some excellent code, well-commented, and compiled in a jiffy. With everything in place, I let her rip and began to integrate data. After about an hour, on Sunday evening, I was able to get the following results (after post-processing the data in MATLAB -- eventually I'll move this over to Python to run on the RPi) ADS-B Flights above my QTH The legend is as follows: The blue square is my QTH. The upper right square is the Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, MA while the lower right square is Logan Airport. Everything else is color-coded by flight number. Even after an hour, I was able to get quite a few hits. Though not shown in this image, the farthest I've been able to see is 78 nmi! I'm going for the horizon limit folks! ! Project 2: Get on the radio! Oh, man, have I been looking forward to this. Ok, so part of this is my fault. My shack isn't complete yet. I do not have a great system of running my feed lines into my home. That's for the Spring. For now, I have to open and close my basement window and pull the coax through. It kind of sucks. But, nevertheless, only temporary. Other excuses: work is long and arduous now, need to hang out with my W1FEY (that's my wife's unofficial call-sign -- I like to think I'm clever), and been doing a lot of work for the club in the form of bringing you rock-solid programming and figuring... --- ### 5U5R – Niger | DX World > The DX World website has a calendar for the month which shows all of the DXpeditions for the month.  It also has announcements for upcoming DXpeditions. - Published: 2017-03-12 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/12/5u5r-niger-dx-world/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, On The Air Source: 5U5R – Niger | DX World A 12-man team will be active from Niger as 5U5R between March 9-21, 2017. QRV on 6 to 160 meters; CW, SSB and RTTY with at least 4 stations on the air simultaneously. Full details here DX World DXpedition Calendar for March Like to chase DX? There is quite a bit of good DX on the air this week. I just worked 5U5R from Niger, which was an ATNO (All Time New One) for me! 9N7EI from Nepal and TU7C from Cote D'Ivoire are also on the air. The DX World website has a calendar for the month which shows all of the DXpeditions for the month. It also has announcements for upcoming DXpeditions. Anita, AB1QB --- ### New Amateur Satellite: EO-88 aka Nayif-1 > AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to announce that a FUNcube package has been selected as a major payload for the EO-88 aka Nayif-1 CubeSat mission. - Published: 2017-03-11 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/11/new-amateur-satellite-eo-88-aka-nayif-1/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF Source: EO-88 aka Nayif-1 | AMSAT-UK AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to announce that a FUNcube communications package has been selected as a major payload for the Nayif-1 CubeSat mission. --- ### ARISS to Swap Out Handheld VHF Transceivers on Space Station > The VHF radio in the Columbus module for ARISS packet has been temporarily relocated to UHF after the VHF radio failure. ARISS International Chairman... - Published: 2017-03-03 - Modified: 2023-10-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/03/ariss-swap/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, Space, VHF/UHF The 10th SpaceX International Space Station cargo resupply mission delivered investigations to study human health, Earth science, and weather patterns last Thursday. It also carried a new Ericsson 2-meter handheld radio to replace one that failed a few months ago, disrupting the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. The VHF radio in the Columbus module was used for school group contacts and for Amateur Radio packet, temporarily relocated to UHF after the VHF radio failure. ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said the new Ericsson radio will, at some point, be installed in Columbus, replacing the Ericsson UHF radio now supporting APRS packet and some school contacts. Bauer made it clear that the new Ericsson transceiver is an interim measure for ARISS. Looks like the ISS will have crew Amateur Radio communications back sometime in the not too distant future. You can read the full article from the March ARRL Newsletter here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Portable Satellite Station Part 4 - 2.0 Station First Contacts! > With our new 2.0 Satellite station built, tested, and packed; we were ready to try it in a portable environment. We used it to make our first contacts at ... - Published: 2017-03-03 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/03/portable-satellite-station-first-contacts/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Antennas, DX, License Class, On The Air, Satellite, Space, Tower, VHF/UHF With our new 2. 0 Satellite station built, tested, and packed; we were ready to try it in a portable environment. Station Packed and Ready for Transport Fortunately, the Nashua Area Radio Club had a Technician License class coming up and we thought that the new station test would be a great way for our students to learn about Amateur Radio Satellites. Satellite Status from AMSAT Website Final preparations included checking the operational status of potential satellites on the AMSAT website. The page shown above is like a spotting cluster for LEO Satellites - it shows satellite activity as reported by HAM satellite operators. Using this information, we configured MacDoppler to track the active satellites. Satellite Pass Predictions Next, we used MacDoppler to generate pass predicts for the weekend of our Technical Class. We assembled this data for all of the potential satellites and color-coded the available passes to identify those which had the best chance of producing contacts. With this done, we loaded our portable tower, antennas, and all of the rest of the gear into our pickup truck and transported it to the class site. Satellite Antennas Setup Portable The first step at the class site was to unload all of our gear and move the portable tower to a suitable location. We used a compass to orient the tower to true north and leveled it. We used the weight bags that we made up to anchor the tower securely and then installed the antennas, rotator loops, and control cables. The antenna system worked out very well in the portable environment and was easy to set up. Satellite Antenna Details Here's a closer to look at the LMR-400 UF coax cables which connect the antennas to the rest of the system. The loops just behind the antennas are necessary to keep the coax from affecting the pattern of the antennas. The coax cables shown were made long enough to allow the antennas to be rotated through their full travel in the azimuth and elevation directions without binding. Satellite Station Portable – Radio and Supporting Equipment The final step in the portable setup was to put the IC-9100 Transceiver and Supporting Equipment together in the building and check everything out. As soon as we got everything hooked up and working, we heard an ON4 station through FO-29 which was near the end of a low angle pass. A very good sign! We took some time to fine-tune the calibration of our rotators and to check the operation of the computer controls - everything checked out fine. The video above shows MacDoppler controlling the Azimuth/Elevation rotator and the IC-9100 Transceiver during the testing. First Contact using New 2. 0 Station (via AO-85) With all the setup done, it was time to try to make our first contact. Fortunately, we did not have long to wait. We caught a medium angle pass of AO-85, a U/V Mode FM Easy Sat. With MacDoppler setup and tracking, we immediately heard contacts being made through AO-85. I gave a whistle and adjusted my uplink VFO until I heard my signal coming back through AO-85. I gave a quick CQ call and immediately got a response from Jonathan, NS4L in Virginia, USA! It took on a few seconds to exchange call signs and grid squares and our first contract with our new station was in the log. Explaining Satellite System to License Class Our Technician License Class students were very interested in the station. We spent some time explaining the setup and demonstrating how it worked. We made more contacts between our class sessions using AO-85 and FO-29 (a V/U Mode Linear Transponder Satellite). Our most interesting contact was with Burt, FG8OJ in Guadeloupe through FO-29. It was great to work DX using the new station during the first time we used it. We learned several things during our first use of the new station. First, while the 35 ft. maximum separation allowed between the antenna system and the rest of the station is adequate in many applications, the antenna system's close proximity to the building we were in blocked passes to the west of us with this separation. We have subsequently made up an additional set of feed lines using a pair of 100 ft. long 7/8" hardline coax cables to allow for a greater separation in portable deployments such as this one. We were glad that we had the Heil Pro 7 Headset with us and we used it for most of our contacts. The separate speaker allowed our students to hear the contacts well and the boom microphone on the Pro 7 Headset eliminated feedback due to our own voice coming back through the satellites. We improvised a mono to stereo converter cable to connect the Heil Pro 7 Headset to one of the two speaker outputs on the IC-9100 Transceiver. This allowed the radio to drive the separate speaker and the headphones at the same time. We were glad to have the low-noise preamps available. These were especially useful during low-angle satellite passes and the sequencing setup that we built worked well. All in all, our first test of our new 2. 0 Portable Satellite station was a success. Our license classes students enjoyed learning about Amateur Satellites and had fun along with us making contacts through a few of them. Our next goal will be to get packet modes and APRS working with our setup. We plan to do another article in this series when this part of our project is completed. Other articles in this series include: A Portable Satellite Station Part 1 – A Simple Station for AO-85 A Portable Satellite Station Part 2 – 2. 0 Station Goals and Antenna System A Portable Satellite Station Part 3 - Station Radio and Supporting Equipment We are planning to add larger antennas and switchable polarity to our portable satellite station in the near future. This will enable us to make contacts with Satellites and the ISS in more difficult conditions. You may also be interested in the satellite station at our home QTH. You can read more about that here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Portable Satellite Station Part 3 - 2.0 Station Radio and Supporting Equipment > With the Antenna System for our 2.0 Portable Satellite Station complete, we turned our attention to assembling the Transceiver and supporting equipment. - Published: 2017-03-02 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/03/02/satellite-station-equipment/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Space, Station Building, Tower, VHF/UHF With the Antenna System for our 2. 0 Portable Satellite Station complete, we turned our attention to assembling the Transceiver and supporting equipment. The equipment used for this part of the project includes: Icom IC-9100 Transceiver and SP-23 Speaker Green Heron RT-21 Azimuth/Elevation Rotator Controller (see Part 2 of this series for details on this device) M2 Antenna Systems S3 Sequencers for Preamp Control WaveNode WN-2 Wattmeter Powerwerx SS-30 DV 30A Power Supply and RigRunner 40007U distribution unit Heil Proset 7 Headset with Boom Microphone (desk microphone shown in picture was used for testing only) Apple MacBook Air laptop running MacDoppler Satellite Tracking Software The Icom IC-9100 provides 100W on 2M and 75W on 70 cm which is more than enough power for our application. It also has some nice satellite features such as support for synchronized VFO tracking between the 2M and 70 cm VFOs on the radio. This radio also uses a single USB connection to allow computer control of the radio and creation of a sound card interface on the host computer. A Heil Proset 7 will be used for operator audio to avoid feedback due to our audio coming back from the satellite. The Icom SP-23 speaker is included to allow observers to hear satellite contacts while they are in progress. Radio Management via MacDoppler The MacDoppler software provides automated control of the IC-9100 including mode selection and automatic correction of both VFOs for Doppler shift. These features greatly simplify the operation of the radio, especially when satellites with SSB/CW transponders are used. The video above shows MacDoppler’s management of the IC-9100 Transceiver during a pass of AO-73. The constant adjustments of the VFOs take care of Doppler shift correction and ensure that our signal stays at a fixed position in the transponder passband of linear transponder satellites. Preamp Sequencers and Output Monitoring M2 Antenna Systems S3 Sequencers are used to provide control of the Advanced Receiver Research low-noise preamps on our portable tower. One of the nice features of the Icom IC-9100 is that it can be configured to provide separate keying lines for the 2M and 70cm VFOs. This allows a preamp to remain enabled on the receive VFO while the other VFO is in transmit mode with its preamp shut down by the sequencer. This arrangement is very useful during tuning when one needs to hear your own signal coming back from a satellite. A custom-made cable assembly was made to interconnect the S3 Sequencers with the ACC socket on the IC-9100, the Weatherpack connector on the tower preamp control cable, and DC power. We used the excellent WaveNode WN-2 Wattmeter again in our portable satellite setup. This is a modular output monitoring system which has a sensor for VHF/UHF use as well as voltage, signal quality, and other monitoring functions. DC power for the setup is provided via a Powerwerx SS-30DV Power Supply and a RigRunner 4007U distribution unit. We use this power supply in all of our portable setups. It is light weight, provides plenty of power for a 100W station and accessories, and is quiet from an RF perspective. Equipment Packing and Protection With the transceiver test of the station complete, we turned our attention to transporting the setup. Proper protection of the equipment during transport was provided via a large case from Pelican. We combined this with a roller bag and an inexpensive storage bin for documentation and accessories which are not very fragile. We also included our RigExpert antenna analyzer in the setup to make testing of the station during setup in a portable environment easier. Station Packed and Ready for Transport With all of the assembly and testing of the components of our 2. 0 Portable Satellite Station complete, we packed up all the components. We used an inexpensive furniture dolly to allow us to roll the tower around to load and unload it. We are ready to test our new station in a portable application. More on that in the final article in this series. Other articles in the series include: A Portable Satellite Station Part 1 – A Simple Station for AO-85 A Portable Satellite Station Part 2 – 2. 0 Station Goals and Antenna System A Portable Satellite Station Part 4 - 2. 0 Station First Contacts! You may also be interested in the satellite station at our home QTH. You can read more about that here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### My SSB BitX-40 build from VU2ESE - Published: 2017-02-28 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/28/my-ssb-bitx-40-build-from-vu2ese/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Station Equipment - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, HF, Homebrew, Kits Below is a photo of my BitX-40 kit from Ashhar Farhan VU2ESE in India with my very own custom designed case. The kits are available from http://www. hfsigs. com/ The top cover shown is powder coated steel mesh. The sheet metal housing was designed in a solid modeling software package called Onshape. This web based software is free to use if your designs are to be available to anyone who signs into an account. This design is "in the cloud" and considered "open hardware", available to anyone who would like to use it. Below is a screen capture of my Linux desktop running Onshape within a web browser. With access to a CNC punch press and a 90-ton brake press, a coworker of mine helped out with a bit of "government work"! I left out some of the detail in the housing to let others enjoy the use of a drill and allow for some creativity with a customized placement of components. Some of the wires are not needed but may be useful in future "hacks". The image below shows some of the wires removed from the "Molex" connector. A small sharp object can be used to push in on the barb to remove the contact for a future project. See http://bitxhacks. blogspot. com/ I used my sketch to drive the LCD screen and the SI5351 chip using the Adafruit library. The checkered block moves left and right between the arrows to indicate when I am at or near the end of travel with the tuning potentiometer. Stationary When I move the block all the way to the right with the potentiometer it turns into an arrow and automatically increases the frequency. To make it stop just turn the potentiometer to the left. Frequency rising I like the ability to scan the band without having to turn a knob! Below is an image showing 12v and 24v voltage regulators and electrical tape on the housing tabs. 12v is for the majority of the wiring and I used 24v for the IRF510 PA. The black tape looks nice behind the black mesh cover. while testing I measured about 4W RF output with 12v feeding the PA and 16W RF at 24v. The bottom has extruded "feet" along with stick on feet to keep the rig from sliding. I used an SO-239 connector for the antenna. I saved the BNC connector from the kit for test gear. The red terminal post is connected to 32v from a repurposed HP printer power supply. The barrel jack is connected to 16v from the same supply. For more information on the case, you may contact me through my QRZ page. 73, Mike (AB1YK) --- ### Our High Altitude Balloon Project Meets Its Funding Goal! > The teachers and kids there were very excited about our project! We are all pleased that our High Altitude Balloon Funding work is complete. - Published: 2017-02-24 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/24/high-altitude-balloon-project-meets-funding-goal/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach We met with teachers and kids in a STEM club at a second local school this afternoon. The teachers and kids are very excited about our project! We are working on bringing an additional school on board. STEM Learning Syllabus for HAB Project We are also working with teachers in our partner schools to develop a syllabus that combines in-classroom lessons with hands-on learning to plan, build and launch our High-Altitude Balloon carrying Amateur Radio. Our team is also planning a tour of a local Amateur Radio station and other activities for the kids. We hope to reinforce the STEM learning aspects of our project this way. This should also spark further interest in Amateur Radio. Funding For Our Project We have met our initial funding goal for our project! Many thanks for the very generous donations from club members, member families and support from folks who found us via the internet. Stories about our project have been featured on qrz. com and eham. net and we have received support and well wishes from many HAMs via those sites. We are hoping to raise more than our goal. If this happens, we will be able to invest in additional equipment. We will then also add some more science experiments to our balloon flight. Thanks again to everyone who has helped us! ! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Field-Day Kick-off Meeting > I am really excited to be leading the field day effort for the Nashua Area Radio Club this year.  Since this is my first time, am relying on help from... - Published: 2017-02-23 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/23/field-day-kick-off/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day I am really excited to be leading the field day effort for the Nashua Area Radio Club this year. Since this is my first time, I will be relying on the club members to help me make this a success. It is rapidly approaching, and with this in mind, I've scheduled an initial "kick-off" meeting for Sunday, March 5th at the Nashua Library in the Hunt Room from 1-3 PM. I'd love to see all team leads from last year, as well as anyone interested in participating this year to please attend. My intention is to identify a planning team at this meeting to start working through all the details. The first item on the agenda will be to identify potential locations for this year. With this in hand, we will create a site survey crew to evaluate the options and decide which site best fits our needs. Ideally, the site will be centrally located to Nashua, and allow for public access. In order to accommodate the towers, we will need a field between 600-1000 feet long North to South, and at least 120 feet wide. A 1000-foot site would allow us to erect 3-towers. It would also be ideal if there are restroom facilities, and potentially access to a kitchen / cafeteria. This is especially important if there is inclement weather. We also need to decide what type of station we should run this year, and what type of antennas are needed. Last year, we erected a V-beam array for 40-meters which was very effective. We may want to consider adding a second one. Other questions remain open, such as should we have more digital operations, a VHF station, or perhaps an enhanced satellite setup? We also need to determine what class and entry strategy we want to use this year. In 2016, we operated as a 7-Alpha, as this seemed to be a sweet spot. It takes a village to pull this event together, but as the old adage goes "many hands make light work". I hope to see you all on the 5th. Dave, K1DLM Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD --- ### A Portable Satellite Station Part 2 – 2.0 Station Goals and Antenna System > M2 had one of their LEO Pack satellite antenna systems on display there. This got us thinking about building a new portable satellite station. - Published: 2017-02-22 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/22/portable-satellite-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Antennas, APRS, Satellite, Software, Tower, VHF/UHF . We came upon the M2 Antenna Systems booth while walking around the exhibit halls at Dayton last year. M2 had one of their LEO Pack satellite antenna systems on display there. This got us thinking about building a new, more capable version of our portable satellite station. The LEO Pack is a relatively lightweight circularly polarized antenna system for working satellites using the 2 m and 70 cm bands. It turns out that AMSAT members can purchase the LEO Pack at a discount. Starting with the LEO Pack in mind, I began to lay out some goals for a new, 2. 0 Portable Satellite Station: Capable of working all active Amateur LEO Satellites including those using linear transponders and digital modes Be portable and manageable enough to be setup in an hour or less Simple enough to operate so that HAMs who are new to satellites can make all types of satellite contacts with a relatively short learning curve Utilize computer controlled antenna tracking to aim the antennas Utilize computer control to manage radio VFOs to compensate for Doppler shift Be easy to transport and store Satellite Antena System Components Computer Controlled Satellite Station via MacDoppler Software We decided to take a computer controlled approach for both antenna aiming and Transceiver VFO management. This was done to meet our goal of making the station simple to operate for new satellite operators. After some research on the available options, we choose MacDoppler from Dog Park Software Ltd. for this purpose. MacDoppler runs under Mac OS/X and works well on our MacBook Air laptop computer which is very portable. This program also has broad support for many different rotator and transceiver platforms and is very easy to understand and use. Finally, the program features high-quality graphics which should make the station more interesting to folks with limited or no experience operating through Amateur Satellites. With the satellite tracking software chosen, we made selections for the other major components in the 2. 0 Portable Satellite Station as follows: Glen Martin RT-424 4. 5' Roof Tower to mount all of the antenna system components for portable operation M2 Antenna Systems LEO Pack Antennas and Hardware Yaesu G-5500 AZ/EL Rotator Green Heron RT-21 AZ/EL Rotator Controller Advanced Receiver Research Low-Noise Preamplifiers for 2m and 70 cm S3 Sequencers from M2 Antenna Systems for preamplifier control LMR-400UF Coax for feed-lines MacDoppler Satellite Tracking software from Dog Park Software Icom IC-9100 Transceiver WaveNode WN-2 Wattmeter I will explain these choices in more detail as our article series proceeds. Portable Satellite Antenna Tower Glen Martin 4. 5' Roof Tower Our solution to making the antenna system portable is built around a Glen Martin 4. 5' Roof Tower. This short tower is a high-quality piece made of extruded aluminum parts. The tower is very sturdy when assembled and is light in weight. We added a pair of extended "feet" to the tower which is fabricated from 36" x 2" x 1 /4" strap steel. This gives the tower a firm base to sit on and allows us to use sandbags to weight it down (more on this later). Our chosen Yaesu G-500 AZ/EL Rotator is a relatively inexpensive Azimuth/Elevation rotator which is suitable for light-weight satellite antennas such as those in the LEO Pack. This rotator can be installed as a single unit on the top of a tower or separated using a mast. We choose the latter approach as it is mechanically more robust and helps to keep the center of gravity for our portable antenna system low for improved stability. Yaesu G-5500 Elevation Rotator Separating the Yaesu AZ/EL rotator requires a short mast and a thrust bearing to be used. The mast was made from a 1-3/4" O. D. piece of EMT tubing from our local hardware store. The thrust bearing is a Yaesu GS-065 unit. Both of these pieces fit nicely in the Glen Martin Tower. The thrust bearing provides support for the LEO Pack and G-500 elevation rotator and greatly reduces stress on the azimuth rotator. We also added a Yaesu GA-300 Shock Absorber Mount to the azimuth rotator. This part provides shock isolation for and reduces strain on the azimuth rotator during the frequent starts and stops which occur during satellite tracking. Control Cables and Coax LMR-400UF Feed-lines and Antenna Connection Jumpers We decided to use LMR-400 UltraFlex coax throughout our antenna system. LMR-400UF coax provides a good balance between size, flexibility, and loss for our application. To keep feed-line losses reasonable, we choose to limit the total length of the coax from the transceiver output to the antenna feed point to 50'. This results in a loss of about 1. 3 dB on the 70 cm band. The result is that our planned IC-9100 Transceiver which has a maximum output of 75W on 70 cm will deliver a little more than 50W maximum at the feed point of the 70 cm yagi. This should be more than enough power to meet our station goals. Allowing a total of 15' for antenna rotator loops and transceiver connections, we settled upon 35' for the length of our coax feed-lines between the tower and the station control point. Portable Tower Cable Connections and Base Straps We added some custom fabricated plates to the tower to act as a bulkhead for feed line and control cable connections and to mount our low-noise preamplifiers. The control connections for the rotators and preamps were made using 6-pin weatherpack connectors and rotator control cable from DX Engineering. The control cables are also 35' long to match the length of our coax feed lines. This length should allow the tower and the control point to be separated by a reasonable distance in portable setups. Satellite Antenna Preamp System Low-Noise Preamplifiers from Advanced Receiver Research We added tower-mounted Low-Noise Preamplifiers from Advanced Receiver Research to improve the receive sensitivity and noise figure for our satellite antenna system. Two preamps are used - one each for the 2 m and one for 70 cm antennas. We decided to include the preamp control lead in our control cable to allow for control of the preamp switching via... --- ### Our January Visit to MakeIt Labs! > The Nashua Area Radio Club paid a visit to MakeIt Labs to promote Amateur Radio with maker folks. Projects and a GOTA station we featured. - Published: 2017-02-21 - Modified: 2021-07-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/21/visit-makeit-labs-2/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, Homebrew, NARS Event, On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach The highly publicized event -- the event of the month -- went off with a bang! On Jan. 28th, the Nashua Area Radio Club paid a visit to MakeIt Labs to promote Amateur Radio with maker folks. It's a natural union if you think about. Technologists/scientists/engineers/self-taught DIY'sters and amateur radio folk are essentially one in the same beast. So why shouldn't they be interested? Brian (AB1ZO) and Mike (AB1YK) discussing details of Mike's home-brewed transceiver We had a super great turn out from many in the club and those external to the club or from MakeIt Labs itself. Representing the Nashua Area Radio Club, we had Fred (AB1OC), Anita (AB1QB), Jamey (KC1ENX), Abby (KC1FFX), Connor (KC1GGX), Brian (AB1ZO), Mike Struzik (AB1YK), Bill (W1TWO), Mike Ryan (K1WVO), Mike Rush (KU1V), and Tom (AB1NS) (Forgive me if I forgot you). Fred (AB1OC) explaining the nuances of digital operation to a young, budding HAM. The idea was to set up the every-popular GOTA station, but also demonstrations of other amateur radio technology to hook the masses with. As a result, we had Fred's digital amateur TV station, a tabletop satellite station, and Mike Struzik brought along his home-brewed BitX20 transceiver complete with plans, schematics, and a demo keyer. (Talk to Mike for further details/websites. He's awesome about answering questions and exposing people to what they need to do to get started. ) A view of the satellite station We spent a solid 6-7 hours at the facility, even roping in some new interest from folks who happened to see our advertisements for the event both online and in stores/businesses around Nashua. It's clear that word is spreading about the work that the Nashua Area Radio Club is trying to do; we are engendering interest slowly, but steadily. Essentially, the trend is upwards. Close-up of Mike's (AB1YK) home-brewed BitX20 transceiver We hope that down the road, we can enjoy a lasting partnership with MakeIt Labs and encourage more members of our club to drop in, see the facility, hang-out for a bit, and explain to new folks about how this hobby is damn close to one of the best hobbies out there! Fred's (AB1OC) DATV station So, until next time, and until my next posting (and hopefully that one will be a bit witty'er -- didn't have enough coffee today), make sure you eat, sleep, "repeat"! (That's what my t-shirt says that my wife bought me) Brian, AB1ZO --- ### Our Latest "Tech Night" - A DSO138 Oscilloscope Kit Build > Our latest Tech Night became a Tech Day this past weekend. We got together on Saturday afternoon to build another kit - the DSO138 Oscilloscope. - Published: 2017-02-21 - Modified: 2021-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/21/latest-oscilloscope-kit/ - Categories: Activities, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Kits, NARS Event, Tech Night Our latest Tech Night became a Tech Day this past weekend. We got together on Saturday afternoon to build another kit - the DSO138 Oscilloscope. We had a great turnout with over 15 kit builders and helpers present. Finished DSO138 Scope Kit in case Brian, AB1ZO choose this really cool kit for us to build. Here are some specifications for the finished DSO138 Oscilloscope kit: Analog bandwidth: 0 - 200KHz Sampling rate: 1Msps max Sensitivity: 10mV/Div - 5V/Div Sensitivity error: < 5% Vertical resolution: 12-bit Timebase: 10us/Div - 50s/Div Record length: 1024 points Built-in 1KHz/3. 3V test signal Waveform frozen (HOLD) function available The kit came with all Surface Mount parts pre-installed. The kit included a very nice case to finish off the project. This was a pretty big project to complete in a single afternoon but quite a few of our builders completed their kits and got them working! The gallery below contains more pictures from our kit build. Everyone was very focused on the building process as we all wanted to get our kits to work in the time we had together. Some folks did not quite get their kits completed and are planning to finish them at home. The following are some links and videos to help. Here are some videos which show the assembly of the kit and its enclosure and the operation of the completed scope. The first video shows the kit in operation. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=r-jCLpYY5ak http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=OISEu-Bm8_s http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=j2afyLUu5Vs http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=9vtHZP2_KAU I know that Brian is planning to do more kit builds throughout the year so be sure to keep an eye on our Tech Night page to see what is coming! Fred, AB1OC --- ### A Portable Satellite Station Part 1 - A Simple Station for AO-85 - Published: 2017-02-20 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/20/simple-portable-satellite-station/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, APRS, Field Day, NARS Event, Satellite, VHF/UHF Our club has quite a few members who are interested in space communications. We decided to build a simple portable satellite station last year for our 2016 Field Day operation to learn about satellite communications and to create something new for folks to work with during 2016 Field Day. Simple Portable Satellite Station Our 1. 0 Portable Satellite Station was a relatively simple setup built around an HT, an Elk 2m/70cm satellite antenna, and some gear to improve the receive performance and transmit power output of the HT. All of the gear was mounted on a board to make it easy to transport and it is powered by a LIPO rechargeable battery. The gear in our 1. 0 station is made up of the following: A Kenwood TH-72A Full Duplex 2m/70cm HT A Heil headset with a boom microphone to make using the HT easier A pair of 2m and 70cm Low-Noise RF switched preamps from Advanced Receiver Research A Mirage BD-35 2m/70cm amplifier (this amp produces about 25 - 35W out when driven by the HT) A Diamond SX-400 Watt Meter and an MFJ Dummy Load for testing and monitoring A RigRunner DC distribution block with voltage and current monitoring and a 4S4P A123 LIPO Battery Pack An Elk 2M/440L5 Dual-Band Log-periodic Antenna Improved Satellite Antenna Support Our first contacts with our 1. 0 station were made using the Elk Antenna hand-held. Later, we created a "plumber's special" setup with a camera tripod to make pointing the antenna easier. Note the angle meter from a local hardware store which measures the elevation angle of the antenna. AO-85 (Fox-1A) U/V Mode FM Cube Satellite This setup worked great for making FM contacts through AO-85 (Fox-1A), a U/V mode FM EasySat. We used the 1. 0 station on multiple occasions including Field Day 2016 and several of our club members used it to make their first satellite contacts. The Full-Duplex HT allowed us to hear our own signal coming back from the satellite which was an important tool to help with aiming the antenna properly. The ELK Dual-Band antenna is also a good choice because it uses a single feed point and a single polarization for both the 2m and 70cm bands. 1. 0 Station Team Operating Approach We used the team operating approach outlined above. This worked especially well for new folks who had not made a satellite contact before as it enabled each of the three team members involved in making the contact to focus on a specific part of the contact. We used orange plastic tent stakes to make AOS, Time of Closest Approach, and EOS to mark headings for each satellite pass. Small flashlights used at the stakes made them glow for night-time passes. We certainly had a lot of fun with our 1. 0 Satellite Station and I expect that we'll continue to use it. As we gained a little experience with AO-85, we decided that we wanted to build a more capable Portable Satellite Station which we could use to operate with linear transponder satellites and which included a tracking system and better antennas. I know from experience with our home satellite station that DX contacts are possible using higher altitude linear transponder satellites like FO-29. We would also like to be able to use APRS and other digital modes through satellites as well as receive SSTV pictures from space. These goals have become the basis for building our Portable Satellite Station 2. 0. More on the new station in Part 2 of this series. Other articles in the series include: A Portable Satellite Station Part 2 – 2. 0 Station Goals and Antenna System A Portable Satellite Station Part 3 – 2. 0 Station Radio and Supporting Equipment A Portable Satellite Station Part 4 - 2. 0 Station First Contacts! You may also be interested in the satellite station at our home QTH. You can read more about that here. 73, Fred (AB1OC) --- ### Why Ham Radio? > Why ham radio with all of the higher tech means of communications? There are many activities available to amateur radio operators. - Published: 2017-02-20 - Modified: 2024-02-23 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/20/why-ham-radio/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Contest, CW Class, DX, HF, Homebrew, License Class, Mentor, On The Air, Satellite Fred's Truck Antenna Sometimes I drive Fred's truck into work and people ask me what that big antenna on the back of the truck is for. I explain to them that it is for Ham Radio. But the reply is usually "Why ham radio? " Isn't that outdated technology? We have cell phones and IM, etc... what do we need Ham Radio for? Here are my thoughts as a relatively new Ham about why I enjoy spending much of my time with Ham Radio. Amateur Radio for Public Service Public Service The number one reason we still need Ham Radio along with all the other technology is for public service. When there is a disaster and cell phones, television, ... are all not working, Ham Radio operators provide critical communication. Ham Radio operators help locally to keep hospitals and first responders in contact with each other to help those affected by the disaster. We also use our ability to communicate around the world to help family members to get in touch with loved ones affected by a disaster. Ham Radio operators have been on the scene helping in every disaster from the earthquakes in Nepal to the recent flooding in California. Amateur Radio Cube Satellites Technology and the Maker Movement I only became a Ham 5 years ago but many of my fellow Ham Radio operators got their license when they were in their early teens. Some have used what they learned to launch their careers. Many have had successful careers in STEM fields, all launched by their interest in Ham Radio at a young age. As technology advances so does the technology used in our hobby. We even have a Nobel laureate, Joe Taylor K1JT who is a ham. Joe has developed weak signal digital communication modes that let us communicate by bouncing signals off the moon! As technology has advanced, so has the use of it in Ham Radio. Most Ham Radio operators have one or more computers in their shack. Many also have a software designed radio (SDR), where much of the radio functionality is implemented using Software. Hams use sound cards to run digital modes, which are a lot like texting over the radio. We use the internet extensively as part of operating. We can also make contacts through satellites orbiting the earth and even the International Space Station. Homebrewing Most hams love do-it-yourself technical projects - building a station, home brewing an antenna, building a radio or other station component. In my day job, I am a program manager for software development projects. It has been a while since I have built anything myself. As a Ham, I taught myself how to code in Python and about the Raspberry Pi and I built the DX Alarm Clock. QSL Card from VK6LC in Western Australia International Camaraderie One of the coolest things about being an amateur radio operator is that you can communicate with other hams all over the world. Ham Radio is an international community where we all have something in common to talk about. That is our stations and why we enjoy ham radio. The QSL card above is from a memorable QSO with Mal, VK6LC, from Western Australia, who was the last contact that I needed for a Worked All Zones award. I must have talked to him for 1/2 hour about his town in Australia and his pet kangaroos! Amateur Radio Map of the World Geography Lesson I have learned much about geography from being on the air and trying to contact as many countries as I can. There are 339 DX Entities, which are countries or other geographical entities. I have learned where each one is in order to understand where propagation will allow me to make a contact. I have learned a great deal about world geography. Through exchanging QSL cards often get to see photos from so many areas of the world. DXCC Challenge Award Plaque Achievement - DXing and Contesting DXing and Contesting provide a sense of achievement and exciting opportunity for competition. Many Hams work toward operating awards. You can get an operating award for contacting all 50 states or contacting 100 or more countries. There are also awards for contacting Islands, cities in Japan, countries in Asia, or anything else you can imagine. Each of these operating awards provides a sense of accomplishment and helps to build skills. Contesting builds skills through competition among Hams to see who can make the most contacts with the most places in 24 or 48 hours. Contesting also improves our operating skills and teaches us to copy callsigns and additional data accurately. Teaching a License Class Teaching Licensing Classes - Passing it On Recently I joined a team of club members who teach license classes to others who want to get licensed or upgrade their existing licenses. Teaching provides a way to improve my presentation skills. It also helps me to really understand the material that we teach about Amateur Radio. It is a thrill at the end of the class to see many people earn their licenses or upgrades. There are so many interesting aspects of Ham Radio which are what makes it such a great hobby. Getting your license can open up a world of possibilities. Upgrading to a new license class provides more opportunities to communicate over longer distances. Our club provides many resources to help you get your first license, upgrade to a new license class, and learn about the many aspects of our hobby. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Little Pistol DXing > For many years, I enjoyed chasing DX using two towers, multiple beams, an 80-meter 2-element quad and a 160-meter Inverted L. Now I am a Little Pistol DXer. - Published: 2017-02-17 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/17/little-pistol-dxing/ - Categories: Antennas, DX, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: DX, HF, On The Air For many years, I enjoyed chasing DX from my NH station with two towers, multiple beams, an 80-meter 2-element quad and a 160-meter Inverted L. I got spoiled with the AL-1200 hammer I used almost constantly whenever a DXpedition came on the air to bag it quickly. The setup allowed me to bust a contest pileup in just two or three calls. Ah, the good ol' days. I've been in FL now for 18 months in a covenant-restricted retirement community. I was fortunate to find a place with a fair amount of open property that allowed me to put up a couple of low inverted Vees and a multi-band vertical. The wire antennas drape off a pole on the back of the house, out of sight of most of my neighbors. The vertical is enclosed in a PVC flagpole with just the 80-meter “stinger” poking out the top. It may be an ugly flagpole but it falls within the covenant permissible guidelines and, more importantly, keeps the village aesthetic vigilantes off my back. I have about 32 radials fed from the base of the vertical in a ¾ pie-shaped field with lengths varying from 55 feet to 10 feet. While this is far from the standard practice of at least 100 radials of 65 feet or more (assuming 80-meter capability), it is better than nothing. As one might expect, DXing has been a far cry from what I was used to. Hearing stations is a chore, even with a K3 over my old FT-1000MP. I often find myself irritated at the juicy spot reports from New England that I cannot hear. Part of the problem is geography; I am at a lower latitude and I line near Ohio longitudinally so gray-line effects are different. One might think the high threat of thunderstorms down here also generates a lot of noise but it has been dry and quiet during the fall and winter months when DX is most active. So what is an old DXer supposed to do? Answer: Back to the future. When I got my Novice license back in high school, I put up an end-fed long-wire antenna for 80 meters and a dipole for 40 meters, both of them much lower than 1/4-wavelength above ground. The long-wire was fed with 300-ohm line. Why? Because that is what my Elmer and high school buddy told me to do. I was clueless about matching, common-mode currents and RF in the shack. I had a Hallicrafters S-38 reconditioned tube receiver that had a barn door-wide filter for CW. You can understand why it was a thrill to work states west of the Mississippi. If nothing else, I learned to appreciate a QSO and to be patient when trying to work someone. My present station has the advantage of all the technological improvements in signal processing and automation that have mushroomed since the tube days. Stations are still weak when I do hear them but I can work them if they aren't too busy. Contesting is actually better since many stations crank up the amplifier and plead for stations late in the contest. Using an amplifier here is problematic. My vertical is about eight feet from the shack so RF saturation would be likely. Furthermore, I would need to run a 220 VAC line to the shack to avoid brownout when using 110 VAC with an amplifier. The worse thing, however, would be EMP effects on the neighborhood breaker systems. It seems building contractors have switched to breakers with a much lower RF tolerance than before. So what a desperate DXer supposed to do? The easiest thing I can do is put down more radials. As I mentioned, my radial field is far from ideal, even if I had moist, loamy soil instead of sand. An ideal radial field would be a copper sheet surrounding the vertical. In the climate here, it would turn green in a few weeks so it would look like a California painted lawn if it isn't stolen first. I decided to double the radial field I have to provide more return paths for the RF currents. I have not modeled my antenna to see what kind of radiation pattern I have but it is a good bet that the so-called takeoff angle for bouncing off the ionosphere is 40 degrees or higher. Conventional theory says that a takeoff angle should be 15 to 20 degrees, values usually achievable with yagis mounted 1/4-wavelengths or higher. The hope is that I can pull-down my takeoff angle enough to where I fall into the usual DX footprints. When I installed my original set of radials, it was a time-consuming effort to work each wire down through the thick St. Augustine grass here. I finally got smart one day when trimming the walkways with my weed-whacker set up vertically. I found that I can lay out the wire and walk along it with the weed-whacker cutting a narrow slice through the grass. I then drop the wire down into the cut, add a few staples and close the grass around the cut. The cut will be completely grown over in about a month. (This technique will work in New England if you have a manicured lawn; the rocks in a natural lawn tend to mess things up. ) To date, I have added eight radials so it is still a work in progress. For those of you with a modest station, take heart. With today's transceivers, propagation predictions, and worldwide spotting it is possible to achieve DXCC on several bands in less than a year. I have been fortunate to work them all when I was a “big gun”. As a “little pistol”, I've managed to work 176 countries with 144 confirmed. The chase continues... Ed (K2TE) --- ### First Amateur Radio Satellite in Geosynchronous Orbit in 2017? > Researchers are preparing to send the first Amateur Radio Satellite into geosynchronous orbit... - Published: 2017-02-17 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/17/geosynchronous-amateur-radio-satellite/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, Space - Tags: Satellite, VHF/UHF Researchers at the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology are preparing to send an amateur radio satellite into a geosynchronous orbit in 2017. This will be a great opportunity for Amateur Radio satellite operators! Some preliminary information about this satellite may be found here. The proposed frequency plan for the spacecraft is: Uplinks: 5655-5665 MHz Downlinks: 10455-10465 MHz The amateur radio payload will comprise a Software Defined Transponder capable of supporting many different modes, including analog SSB. Possible coverage of a Geosynchronous satellite at 74 degrees West – Credit NX5R This satellite's high altitude will create a very large coverage footprint. Also, see the following article on the ARRL website for more information. According to AMSAT Vice President-Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, the satellite’s potential footprint would extend over the US from the Mid-Pacific to Africa. Source: First amateur radio in geosynchronous orbit will aid disaster communications --- ### Progress on our High Altitude Balloon Project > We are making good progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. We have identified three local schools are interested in the project... - Published: 2017-02-16 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/16/high-altitude-balloon-project-update/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: APRS, High Altitude Balloon, Youth Outreach We are making good progress on our High Altitude Balloon project. We have identified three local schools are interested in the project and Jamey, KC1ENX and others are working to set up a meeting with teachers in these schools to explain what we are doing and gain support. You can see what we are sharing with teachers and parents here. Possible Balloon Payload Experiment - UV Radiation Measurements Brian, AB1ZO is working on flight planning and science experiments for our high-altitude balloon. You can see Brian's plans here. We have also started a fund-raising campaign to raise the funds that we need for equipment, helium and other equipment to build and launch our balloon. Our fund-raising campaign has been active for about a week now and we are approaching the halfway point of our goal. Please consider helping us with the project by making a donation. You can do this by clicking on our GoFundMe drive below. Copy embed code Fred (AB1OC) --- ### Feb 18 DSO138 Kit Building Tips - Published: 2017-02-15 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/15/dso138-kit-building-tips/ - Categories: Activities, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, Kits, Tech Night, Test Equipment Hi DSO138 kit builders, I wanted to share some tips to follow for our 18 Feb Kit Build from 1-4pm. As I already built my own kit, I wanted to share some advice. I know not all of you can attend, but for those of you who can, please read below. I'll also post on the website along with some pics. Make sure you bring a magnifying glass AND a multimeter. Also, might help to bring an LC meter too (though I didn't have one at the time) The color bands on the resistors are particularly impossible to see, so I had to measure the resistance of every one. I even did it 2-3 times to make sure I was right. To test your kit at the end of the night, you need to supply it with power. You can do this 2 different ways. The first is bringing a 9V battery along with 9V battery leads terminating at the end of a female port as shown below. The second is grabbing a power adapter rated for no higher than 12 V again terminating on a female port with pic shown below. You might want to bring a small Phillips head screwdriver (for eye glasses) in order to perform probe calibration. If you want, bring your laptop so you can download some signal generators (using your sound card) in order to play with the oscilloscope. In order to do this, I ended up using a BNC to an audio adapter which I purchased off of Amazon Prime. I'll bring mine in case you don't have one If you have a standalone signal generator, please bring it, along with BNC wire connections for the o-scope. DSO138 power supply port 9V battery adapter 12V power supply (stolen from a Linksys router) with port (top-middle) In order to do some testing, we are going to want to use either signal generators that club members graciously bring in, or you can use your laptop's sound card. To that end, Mike (K1WVO) suggested a really nice link to do this. Signal generator link 1: Signal generator link 2: Signal generator link 3: I've tested most of these and they work fine on my scope. If I have any other thoughts, I will update this post. Thanks and 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### January Tech Night Making the Most of Your HF transceiver > The January Tech night was about getting the most out of your HF transceiver. Fred had an interesting  PowerPoint presentation where he demonstrated... - Published: 2017-02-07 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/07/tech-night-hf-transceiver/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: HF, Mentor, Tech Night The January Tech night was about getting the most out of your HF transceiver. Fred had an interesting PowerPoint presentation where he demonstrated how to do just that. For anyone else new to HF, I wanted to comment on it here. In his presentation, he described how you should use filtering first and digital signal processing (DSP) as a last resort. That's the exact mistake I was doing. if you use a lot DSP with a narrow filter selected the audio sounds hollow and really difficult to listen to. If you turn off the DSP select the narrow filter and then bring up the DSP if needed you get less noise and a pleasing audio output. Also turning down the AF gain can be your friend too! 73 and good DXing -Jim. K1BMR --- ### Home Brew Your Own Arduino UNO > The first question you may ask is, Why would I want to build my own Arduino UNO?  Economically speaking it does not add up in your favor... - Published: 2017-02-03 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/02/03/homebrew-arduino-uno/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, Homebrew, Software The first question you may ask is, Why would I want to build my own Arduino UNO? Economically speaking it does not add up in your favor after you acquire the parts and consider the time it takes to put it all together. This is especially true when you consider that a Nano "clone" could be purchased for around $3! You might have a permanent use application that makes building one your best option? Maybe you just like to learn and do stuff just because you can! The unit below is built on a prototype shield that has become the main board. For my keyer application, I have no need of USB communications and I can keep the wiring down to only what is needed. The 5v regulator will soon have a small heatsink as it gets warmer than I would like. Below is the other side of this board. I used #4-40 screws as "legs". Instructions for building one yourself on a solderless breadboard can be found at https://www. arduino. cc/en/Main/Standalone Instructions on burning the bootloader with another Arduino can be found at https://www. arduino. cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoToBreadboard and https://www. arduino. cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP If you run into trouble like I did by getting the "wrong" ATmega328 micro controller you can get work around instructions at http://www. crash-bang. com/resource/bootload-atmega328/ 73, Mike AB1YK --- ### Amateur Radio at MakeIt Labs > On Saturday, January 28th the Nashua Area Radio Club will be hosting a special event for Interested community folks about the joy of Ham Radio... - Published: 2017-01-28 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/28/makeit-labs-ham-radio/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, General, Homebrewing, On The Air, Space - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, HF, Homebrew, Kits, Mentor, NARS Event, Software, Youth Outreach On Saturday, January 28th the Nashua Area Radio Club (Nashua ARC) will be hosting a special event for Interested kids, parents, and friends in the community about the joy of amateur radio at MakeIt Labs in Nashua from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. You may drop in at any time and stay as long as you like to participate! Among our activities, you can: Get-On-The-Air Station (GOTA) This is amateur radio at its best and what it’s known for! We invite you to get on the air and make a contact (we call them QSO’s -- pronounced: cue-so) somewhere in the world! You might be able to make a new friend in Germany or even Japan! Making contacts sits at the heart of amateur radio and is an activity that brings people together. So don’t be shy, step up, and hit the push-to-talk button! Satellite Station Display The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) began in 1969 to foster amateur radio participation in space research and communication. Currently, AMSAT groups help advance the state of the art in space science, space education, and space technology. Come learn about what components go into constructing a station capable of contacting a satellite and what antennas, and smart phone apps, operators use to keep a pulse on the satellite location. Digital Amateur Television (DATV) Not only are amateur radio operators granted privileges to transmit speech, but we also can send fast-scan data such as TV signals! Many operators have experimented with how to homebrew their own fast-scan TV stations, and our club president Fred (AB1OC) and our member Skip (K1NKR) have chosen to use construct a station which uses a Raspberry Pi (RPi) with an Arduino shield to sit at the heart of the transceiver. The RPi is the brains of the TV which runs Linux and among other things is responsible for sequencing, transmit/receive control, automatic VSWR monitoring, and a touch-screen controlling interface to configure and operate the system. Learn about what it takes to build and operate one of these stations. We may even be able to make a contact! More information can be found at https://stationproject. wordpress. com/category/amateur-television/. Kit Building with Nashua ARC The Nashua ARC holds kit-building nights were both inexperienced and experienced members homebrew in a relaxed, learning environment. In the past, we have built Pixie QRP (low-wattage) kits transmitting Morse Code on the 40m amateur band. But, on February 18 from 1 - 5 pm, First Church in Nashua, Nauss Hall, we will build the digital oscilloscope kit DSO138 (shown to left). This kit comes with a clear acrylic case to protect it, build instructions, and among its specs has a 1 Msps sampling rate, 12-bit accuracy, 200 kHz bandwidth (good for audio signals), capable of freezing the waveform display, and comes with a 1Hz / 3. 3V test source. We invite you to join us and will bring some kits with us. More info can be found on our website at https://www. n1fd. org/2016/03/27/inexpensive-diy-digital-oscilloscope-kit/. We hope you will join us for our event! Please bring friends, family, but most importantly we want you to have fun and enjoy this hobby with us! ! Contact Information Brian Smigielski (AB1ZO): bsmigs@gmail. com Jamey Finchum (KC1ENX): jamey@finchum. net --- ### Our Club Moving Forward Into 2017 > We have been working on a set of goals and plans to continue on this path during 2017 - to provide even better opportunities... - Published: 2017-01-26 - Modified: 2024-09-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/26/2017-goal-plans/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Contest, CW Class, Field Day, High Altitude Balloon, Homebrew, Kits, License Class, NARS Event, Non-Profit, Tech Night, Youth Outreach Our club has accomplished a great deal in the last year. We have grown to over 130 members. We have introduced many new people to Amateur Radio, helped them to earn their Licenses and worked with them to get on the air and develop their knowledge and operating skills. We've also worked hard to provide opportunities to enjoy and learn about Amateur Radio for members of our club and for the Amateur Radio community which we are a part of. Much of the credit for our club's success this past year belongs to you, our members. We very much appreciate all that you have done to contribute to our success and the fun that we have all had as part of what we have done together. Your enthusiasm and support provide great encouragement and inspiration to the many new members who have joined us as well as to all of us who are part of our club's Leadership Team. We, as your club's Executive Committee, have been working on a set of goals and plans to continue on this path during 2017 - to provide even better opportunities for our members to learn more about and to enjoy Amateur Radio, to continue to encourage people to join the Amateur Radio Service, and to provide opportunities for STEM learning for young people. Our goals and focus for 2017 centers around continued success in and focus on the following areas to benefit both our members and our community as a whole: Education and Licensing through activities like our License Classes, our Tech Night Program, our Kit Building and Home Brewing activities, our CW Training Classes and other training opportunities Building our operational skills through on-air activities like Field Day, club participation in Contests and on-air activities such as the SOTA Program and the 13 Colonies Special Event Continuing and expanding our focus on STEM learning opportunities for young people through our High-Altitude Balloon Project, outreach activities through groups like MakeIt Labs and other activities focused on introducing young people to STEM learning through Amateur Radio Continuing our work to introduce and interest new people in Amateur Radio through our outreach efforts and get them involved in the activities and the work that our club is doing through membership To do these things and to be successful as a growing club, we are also pursuing status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. This will enable our club to more effectively secure support from other groups to further our work towards these goals. Each of us has taken ownership for creating a focus on meeting different aspects of our goals for this year. We are planning to share more about our plans for 2017 at our February Club Meeting. We are asking that each of you, as members, to consider how you can get the most from all of these and the other opportunities that our club provides. We are working hard to try to create something for everyone that can provide enjoyable opportunities to have fun, to contribute, and to expand the value that we all create and derive by being part of the Amateur Radio Service. We are also asking each of you, our members, to consider helping us with these initiatives in 2017. Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX - Membership Chairman Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB - Activities Chairman Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO - Programs Chairman Mike Ryan, K1WVO - Interim Secretary Wayne Wagner, AG1A - Treasurer Greg Fuller, W1TEN - Vice President Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC - President --- ### ARRL Kids Day on the Air > On Saturday, January 7th the Nashua Area Radio Club participated in the ARRL's Kids Day on the Air. - Published: 2017-01-25 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/25/arrl-kids-day/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach On Saturday, January 7th the Nashua Area Radio Club participated in the ARRL's Kids Day on the Air. Fred (AB1OC) and Anita (AB1QB) opened up their station for any youth that wanted to come and participate! We also had snap circuits available with help from Greg (W1TEN) and CW paddles for those who wanted to practice up on their Morse code. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us as it was a snowy day with slippery road conditions. We had a couple of youth not able to make the event due to the weather, but we still had a few show and they were very enthusiastic! Connor (KC1GGX) started the event off by operating on 20 meters and made several contacts. Despite having a little "mic fright" he warmed up nicely and didn't want to share the mic when it was someone else's turn! Abby (AB1BY) stopped by and had two friends - Samay and Jaegen - from her Destination Imagination team with her. Abby got the ball rolling for her friends and showed them how to create a pile up - just have a young YL voice and the calls start coming! She then turned the mic over to Samay and Jaegen and helped them work through their first QSOs. They soon were comfortable with the phonetic alphabet and they had fun spelling their names during their QSOs. Despite the weather, the kids had a great time and it was a lot of fun to see the youth in our club improve their operating skills and watch the new kids make their first contacts! Mark you calendars for Sunday, June 18th when the next ARRL's Kids Day on the Air takes place. I feel pretty comfortable saying there won't be any snow... but, this is New England. --- ### First Homebrew Contact on my Scratch Built BitX20 SSB Transceiver > I was given good advice from both Bill and Pete from the SolderSmoke Podcast to start out with a direct conversion receiver then go with the BitX20... - Published: 2017-01-18 - Modified: 2023-12-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/18/first-contact-bitx20-transceiver/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, HF, Homebrew, QRP About a year ago I decided to build an SSB transceiver for making contacts with other amateur radio operators on the HF bands. I was given good advice from both Bill and Pete from the SolderSmoke Podcast to start out with a direct conversion receiver then go with the BitX20 as a first SSB rig. I am very happy that they gave me that advice and I would agree that the BitX is not a good first project. After getting all the proper adjustments made and confirming proper operation with a dummy load it was time to put this rig on the air (I don't need a case)! I tried calling CQ using SSB voice but no one came back. I then decided to add some relays and other modifications to allow digital modes. On January 15, 2017, at 21:46z I answered a psk31 CQ from Josh K1JOG in Kissimmee, FL. Little did he know that he would be making history (maybe just for me) in my first home brew QSO. Below is his eQSL card to me. Thank you, Josh K1JOG for the contact! If you are interested in scratch building this rig you can follow the photo link below: BitX by Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE Ashhar Farhan also sells a BitX40 at http://www. hfsigs. com/ The units he has built in India are almost ready to put on the air. You build the case/box or just go open board style! You can't beat the $59 price for a rig! Below are some photos of my project: Mic amp on the left LM386 audio amp on the right A good place to start is the Audio "end". I built mine using perf prototype board. FYI the 10k ohm resistor on the mic amp needs to be 39k ohm for proper bias. Balanced Modulator On the balanced modulator, I used a mystery toroid core because I have a bunch of them and they did not cost much! 10 MHz crystal filter In this photo, you can see some transmit and receive amplifiers and the crystal filter. I built some test equipment and used a frequency counter to make a matched set of crystals. Mixer circuit The mixer circuit is shown here with some coax to the left that is from the VFO. Original VFO design on the left. Filtered SI5351 clock generator on the right You can see the benefit of building small modules. With SMA connectors, I can quickly swap out the VFO "soul" of this rig! No more drift with the SI5351 chip! I ordered mine from Adafruit. I added a small LC filter to the output to make a nice sine wave. I am not sure it is needed. Band Pass Filter by Pete N6QW Now I had trouble with the original band pass filter. I'm not sure why but a quick google search on 20m band pass filter and I found a replacement circuit on his website. When I told Pete about this he sent me a new updated design to try. My PTT relays are 5v so the small heatsink is for the voltage regulator. I also included diode protection for the replays. Irf510 power amplifier The IRF510 is more of a switch and not designed for linear RF amplification but it is cheap and works great for QRP. They have different bias requirements from one unit to the next. That is why you carefully set the bias level with a trim pot. The large heat sink was part of an old high power LED driver that died. I used T37-6 toroid cores for the low pass filter on the right. The 2nd relay was needed to prevent the output of the IRF510 feeding back into the original PTT switch and back into a nasty loop. I am not sure if this rig will ever get a case or future modifications but I do know that I would like to see if I can make more contacts with it. I would like to end this article with a quote I very much like from a video with Rev. George Dobbs, G3RJV "Radio construction is rather like a pilgrimage where the journey is often more important than the destination". 73, Mike, AB1YK --- ### Time to Prepare for Field Day 2017 > This is my first year as field day chairman.  Truth be told, I only attended my first Nashua Area RC field day last June, and was truly impressed. - Published: 2017-01-18 - Modified: 2022-08-25 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/18/time-to-prepare-for-field-day-2017/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Field Day, HF, NARS Event, On The Air On Christmas morning, it always amazes me how the kids can rip the packaging off all their gifts in mere minutes. The smile on their faces and their pure joy and excitement makes it all worthwhile. What took months of planning, shopping, hiding, wrapping is over before you know it. As they say, you get much more out of giving than receiving. As you might imagine, there is a parallel here to field day. Sure, you could just show up at Field Day on Saturday morning, and everything would be setup and ready to go. However, much of the value comes from all the strategy, planning, preparation and setup activities. Despite the large investment the club has made in towers, antennas, generator, etc. , It takes a small army of volunteers to get this right. This is my first year as field day chairman. Truth be told, I only attended my first Nashua Area RC field day last June, and was truly impressed. I was reluctant to volunteer last year, as I just didn’t quite know what I would be getting into. I suspect many of you are feeling the same way this year. Whatever the excuse; I haven’t been a ham long enough, don’t know if I can devote the time, I don’t know anything about field day, etc. Trust me, you can and will add value to this event. Like Uncle Sam used we say, we need you! Now that it’s the new year, we are going to start having a regular series of meetings to plan for Field Day 2017. The first meeting will be centered around what we learned from field day last year. I’m looking for some early ideas about new things we can do to make field day more interesting and relevant for each of you. Please feel free to contact me at fd@n1fd. org anytime with your ideas. Some of the preliminary feedback I have received is tactical in nature. It includes the following: Current Field Day electrical distribution setup The Electrical distribution system needs help. The current system consists of a Honda ES-6500 Generator with 240v distribution lines to step-down transformers at the tents. The main distribution panel needs to be completely rebuilt and reduced in size. Additionally, the whole setup isn’t currently weatherproof. The existing distribution “cables” are single-conductor THHN wires taped together which certainly isn’t optimal. Ideally, we should start with a clean sheet of paper and rebuild this properly. Perhaps a small transfer switch so we can run two generators (so one can be serviced while still operating), with twist-lock plugs on the distribution cables and transformers, and proper SJOOW cable. This effort alone would exceed the club budget for field day, so we could use donations of time and materials. The club owns a significant amount of coax cable. However, much of it is quite old and the connectors have seen better days. I will look to schedule a tech night to put on new connectors and weatherproof using head-shrink with adhesive-lined backing. We also need to make-up some short patch cables to connect to the club’s bandpass filters. We should also label all club cable with the club call. Finally, we need to determine the best strategy to coil up and store the coax without kinks. The iron anchor stakes for the towers need to be modified to have a sharp point at one end. Someone with a grinder could do this in relatively short order. We could also benefit from having a large hammer drill on-site with a ground rod bit to drive them in. We need to review the hardware and storage containers used to assemble the towers. There was a recommendation to use shoulder bolts that are smooth and unthreaded through the tower to prevent crushing. Also, many of the storage containers are cracked and need replacement. Need to inventory and rebuild these kits. We have a trailer, affectionately referred to as BOB (the Big Orange Box) at the Nashua Wastewater Treatment Center. I understand this could use some reorganization. We need mount some brackets to the wall to get things up off the floor. Also, we should group each of the tower kits together. So what should you expect from me? I will be looking to divide the work up into a series of teams and assign leads for each. The teams will include a site readiness team, electrical, tower and antenna construction, safety, transportation, food, and potentially others. Many hands make light work, and there’s something here for everyone. The preparation begins now. Who said it can’t be Christmas in June? Let the excitement begin! Dave, K1DLM Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD --- ### The DX Alarm Clock - Part 1: Raspberry Pi Software > The Ham Radio DX Alarm clock is a Raspberry Pi Project that finds DX stations that you have not worked. Uses your log to alert you about new DX! - Published: 2017-01-15 - Modified: 2024-04-09 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/15/raspberry-pi-project/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, DX, Homebrew I have been an Amateur Radio Operator for 5 years and my favorite thing to do is chase DX. As a new Ham, it was always a thrill to work a new DXCC, but now that I have over 280 DXCCs and over 1000 band points, it is a little more difficult to find a new one. Add to that the fact that I am trying to get a DXCC in 80m and 160m. , which are usually open when I am asleep. I created the DX Alarm Clock as a way to get notified that there is something new on the air when I am not down in the shack. This article will talk about how I developed the software for the DX Alarm Clock. Part 2 will talk about building the Raspberry Pi-based Hardware and loading the OS. DX Alarm Clock Architecture The DX Alarm Clock is a Python software program running on a Raspberry Pi that gathers data online about my log and what is on the spotting network and uses that data to alert me when there is a "new one" on the air. DX Alarm Clock Architecture The ClubLog website provides a light DX Cluster website called DXLite, which has an XML Interface. The DX Alarm Clock uses this interface to get the current spots. The software uses the Developer API from ClubLog to get a JSON matrix of all DXCC entities by band indicating whether I have worked, confirmed, or verified each band entity. The software loops through all of the spots returned by DXLite and looks each DXCC up in the JSON ClubLog matrix. I also use the QRZ. com XML Interface to get additional information for each callsign that is spotted, like the state. User Interface DXCC Configuration Screen The DX Alarm Clock uses Tkinter/TTK for the GUI. I used the Notebook widget to create a multi-tab GUI. There is a tab for configuring filters for DX Entity. The user can choose all New DXCCs, as well as specific bands and nodes to provide alerts for. WAS Configuration Screen There is another tab for configuring filters for WAS. ClubLog has no log look-up capability based on US State so the WAS filter lets you create a list of States and associated bands to provide alerts for. Notification Configuration Screen The Notification tab allows the configuration of what notifications the user would like to receive. The user can specify a separate email address for New DXCCs, New Band Points, and New US States. This allows alerts to be sent to email accounts or as SMS texts. You can also configure the sounds the DX Alarm Clock itself makes to “wake you up” when that ATNO or new Band Point is spotted. DX Alarm Clock Alerting The DXAlarm clock wakes up every 5 minutes and gets the latest spots from the DXLite Cluster. It checks each spot against the ClubLog log and if there is a match based on the configure filters, it sounds the alert, and then speaks the alarm, giving you the Callsign, DXCC Entity, Band, and Mode. A simple text-to-speech package called flite (festival-lite) was used to implement the speech on the Raspberry Pi. Alert Screen It also puts a message with these details and the Frequency, UTC Date/Time, Spotter and Comment on the display. Text Notification to iPhone Additionally, it sends this information as an email to the configured email address, which results in a text or email. Apple Watch Alert I can even get the alert on my Apple Watch. Filtered Spots Display Once all spots are processed, it keeps a running list of all spots that resulted in alerts on the main screen. Spots are aged out if they do not recur over time. DX Alarm Clock Hardware The DX Alarm Clock just alerted me that ZC4SB is on 20m - that's an ATNO! Got to go down to the shack and work him! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post on the DXAlarm Clock Raspberry Pi-based hardware and on setting up the Raspberry Pi OS. Anita, AB1QB --- ### A First Homebrewed Transceiver > The nice thing about this build is once one is done, it's amenable to modular alteration to turn it into a fully working QRP SSB homebrewed transceiver! - Published: 2017-01-14 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/14/homebrewed-transceiver/ - Categories: CW and QRP, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, HF, Homebrew, QRP I recently wrote an article about Nashua ARC's 2017 Project Night (forgive my shameless self-promotion). In it, I expressed my awe of what our club members can do, and how it has inspired me to attempt my own first build. The winter really is the best time to do this. And it's time for me to embark on this journey of fun, learning, and frustration! So I turned to Mike (AB1YK) who knows about such things since he and I are attempting to organize a future summer weekend Tech Build Event for the club. The Pixie and the DSO138 oscilloscope are the warm-ups for this main-event. One suggestion Mike threw out was a Direct-Conversion Receiver (DCR) as advertised in the January 2015 issue of QRP Quarterly which you can actually download here (and as far as the application to the Tech Build goes, perhaps we only build parts of the DCR given time constraints). This article is entitled Let's Build Something: Part I by Ben Kuo (KK6FUT) and Pete Juliano (N6QW). In it, they outline the main building blocks of the build. The nice thing about this build is once one is done, it is amenable to some modular alteration to turn it into a fully working QRP SSB transceiver! (Though I do not know how much wattage at this stage) The other nice thing about this build is all the parts are clearly labeled and Pete provides links at the end of the article for YouTube videos about the build. Maybe it's just my noob eyes, but I find the videos moderately useful for someone starting from scratch, but I can see the utility for a more experienced builder. Additionally, this build utilizes the Manhattan style of building. I find this optimal for someone just starting out because I can easily visualize all the connections between the components and have relatively easy access to make measurements and tests with probes. Let's go through parts and I'll tell you what I know (at a cursory level) and what I don't 40m bandpass filter: Totally on this one. I've never built a filter before but looking forward to doing this. In fact, I need to build one for my ADS-B antenna at 1090 MHz, but it doesn't seem feasible to do from components at that frequency. Any ideas anyone? I'm kind of stumped. RF amplifier: REALLY looking forward to tackling this one, but this won't be the first thing I do. Makes sense to have for weak signals. Double-balanced mixer: Now I know something has to knock the RF down to an intermediate frequency (IF) and when I see mixer, this is where my brain goes. The double-balanced bit was foreign to me, but as advertised in the article ('double balanced' implies that the original signal and local oscillator frequencies are deliberately nulled out as part of the mixing process and do not appear at the output. ) Arduino Based Sample DDS: In order to even produce an IF, we need a local oscillator (LO). This is where the Arduino comes in. The authors argued they looked at a number of options for the LO including a VFO (variable frequency oscillator), a varactor tuned oscillator (should know this from my Extra exam -- but full disclosure -- I can't help you now), and a DDS (direct digital synthesizer). They felt the simplest option was the DDS (hence the Arduino). Audio amplifier: We want to amplify the audio signal so we can hear it through our 8 Ohm speaker! So now if you put all the components and modules together, you arrive at something which should look like: I like this project for a few reasons. It's a more interesting build and takes longer than 2 hours. It will have amateur radio applications in my shack. I do hope to work some pretty cool QRP with this rig (when I turn it into a full-on transceiver). I will learn A LOT about the electronic components integrated into the rig and be able to have an excuse to buy some test equipment. I get to work on my soldering skills. The modular design is attractive so that if I wish to make alterations in the future, it seems I will readily be able to do so without having to tear the entire rig apart. Understanding, at the end, how all of these parts function together to make my transceiver work. I look forward to sharing whatever knowledge I accrue during this build with future amateur radio hobbyists just breaking in. I will certainly post articles as my progress commences. Currently, I am in the market to buy components and test equipment and will begin to build probably the simplest module first; currently, that seems to be the filter. And I have learned a very valuable lesson from being in the club and participating in its activities that I am applying to this build. Initially do things to set yourself up for the highest probability of success so that you keep your morale, interest, and momentum high. Nothing is worse than diving head-first into the hardest part of a project and losing any and all ambition when things begin to not work (and they will... ). 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### How to Solder SMT ICs or Surface Mounted Integrated Circuits for your Homebrew Projects > I have some of LM386 ICs that are of the small surface mount type. Soldering leads to the very small chips is possible but... - Published: 2017-01-10 - Modified: 2019-12-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/10/homebrew-surface-mount-soldering/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew I have some of LM386 ICs that are of the small surface mount type. Soldering leads to the very small chips is possible but messy, time-consuming, and not fun! Below is a photo of some PCBs that I ordered from Amazon. They are also available through Adafruit and Sparkfun. Below you can see how I soldered the IC in place along with a capacitor on pins 1 and 8 that sets the audio gain. Below is a close-up image of the soldering. Alan Wolke (W2AEW) posted a very good video on YouTube on how to drag solder an SSOP IC package. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=TrdlKlkLdVQ&width=474&height=296&vq=hd720 It would be a good idea to subscribe to his YouTube channel and see all of his other very good videos. Without Alan's help, I would still be working on this project! Thank you, Alan! 73, Mike, AB1YK --- ### January 2017 Project Night > The Jan 2016 Project Night was my first Nashua Area RC meeting. And, it was that first meeting which played an instrumental role in... - Published: 2017-01-04 - Modified: 2021-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2017/01/04/2017-project-night/ - Categories: Education and Training, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew I wanted to take another moment to share a few thoughts about last night's Project Night. Sometimes, when I'm speaking on the spot, everything I want to say doesn't come to me all at once, so please bear with me again. I really was very impressed by the level of talent that was showcased. And, more importantly, I know there is even more of it out there amongst the folks who didn't get the opportunity to present. But I hope you will during a future club meeting. Dennis, K1LGQ Shows QRP Kits at Project Night The Jan 2016 Project Night was my first Nashua Area RC meeting. And, it was that first meeting which played an instrumental role in sucking me completely into the hobby: and I'm in pretty deep right now. I've noticed over my years on this pale, blue dot that part of my personality is to think big, try to generate a lot of ideas, but then sometimes get fearful to execute. I think it's because I'm afraid to fail and I've convinced myself (probably through some poor advice by the few poor mentors I've had in my life) that I should be able to do everything on my own. My graduate school advisor once told me after someone's defense that a good physicist should know everything. (Crap! What should a great physicist know then? ) If you're a theorist, you should know every experiment being done. If you work on string theory, you should also know solid-state physics incredibly deeply. This is, of course, complete and utter nonsense. But, nonetheless, I still lean on that ethos like a bad crutch -- but I've been doing it less. Charlie, AB1ZN Showing A Vintage Rig Project night helped served to snap me back to reality. There I saw people work for months on projects, and no doubt encounters obstacles and challenges along the way, and they happily discussed who they went to for help and even welcomed advice and Elmering from club members after the presentations were finished. It was clear they were not discouraged by the challenges they knew they would face, and the time being invested into their project. And honestly, it made me feel a little better to see that even the best of us get stumped and need to collaborate. In fact, that is expected. Hamilton, K1HMS Explains CPLD Technology We have many experts in the club. Hamilton, (K1HMS), did a great job presenting a super-technical talk about CPLD's. Anita, AB1QB Demonstrates her Raspberry Pi DX Alarm Clock Anita, (AB1QB), had a really entertaining and pedagogical talk about software, DX spotting, Raspberry Pis, and annoying Fred (AB1OC) with DX alerts. Mike, AB1YK Shows His Home-Build Transceiver But one talk which really stood out in my mind was given by Mike (AB1YK) who said during his talk that he's mainly a digital guy with a ton of Arduino experience. But, he was interested in diving into the analog world, and so his first foray into that world was to construct a QRP transceiver from scratch and teach himself what he needed. Jeff, WA1HCO Shows His Optimized Matching System What last night was for me was inspirational. It gave me the peace of mind I needed to believe I can tackle subjects I really don't know much about at all, and be somewhat successful at it. I won't be a Hamilton, but I'll know enough to make me dangerous, and that's good enough for me. Thank you, Nashua Area Radio Club members for opening my eyes, again. I look forward to crossing some of the projects I want to get busy on, off my list. 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### Parts Store On A Chip (CPLD / FPGA) - CPLD's in the Shack > My “go to” tool when breadboarding is often an evaluation board with a Xilinx CPLD. A complex programmable logic device (CPLD)... - Published: 2016-12-28 - Modified: 2024-09-18 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/28/ham-radio-cpld-fpga/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew My “go to” tool when breadboarding is often an evaluation board with a Xilinx CPLD. A complex programmable logic device (CPLD) is a programmable logic device with complexity between that of PALs and FPGAs, and architectural features of both. A CPLD is like a Digikey catalog on a chip. It includes simple logic devices like ANDs, NANDs, ORs, NORs, and XORs. There are Flip-Flops, FIFOs, MUXs, Counters, Compares, Latches, pull ups, pull downs, tri-state I/O, Schmitt triggers, and the list goes on and on. A small device has 64 user I/O ports and larger devices can have 100s of ports. Figure-1 A wide range of devices is available. Figure-1 is the pallet of available parts. The Category Logic is selected; the first 13 device showing are ANDs ranging from 2 to 5 inputs. An "and1b1" is a simple AND with one standard input and 1 inverting input. There are also designs for RS-232/422, SPI, I2C etc on the web that are constructed from the pallet devices. Once a symbol is placed on the schematic you can right click on the device and see its description and logic table. Most of the time the VHDL code is also available for editing if desired. Knowledge of VHDL or Verilog is not required to design at the schematic level. The schematic symbols are connected by placing a wire or bus between ports. Ports can be configured into various I/O Standards. A "bank" can be configured for 5. 0-volt logic and another bank can be 3. 3V, 1. 8V or 1. 2V which is useful if you need “Glue Logic” between one standard and another. The best part is it is very easy to take advantage of this capability. There are numerous eval-boards priced from $3-$15 for a board like the one in Figure 2. Figure-2 $10 CPLD evaluation board At the $50 mark, you can get a board with LED lights/digits, buttons, switches, pots, etc. At higher price points you can get USB, GB Ethernet, HD-LCDs and HMDI ports but they may be beyond schematic level designs and will require VHDL or Verilog skills. In contrast, there is the dead bug (Figure 2a) approach. The disadvantage to this approach is you must have the "bugs" on hand, the clock rate is limited to a few MHz due to wire length (CPLD clock speed can be > 125MHz), and "edits" are done with a soldering iron with the power off instead of a text editor with the circuit running. Figure-2a Two dead bugs The software tool to configure the CPLD is the Xilinx ISE WebPack which is a free download and a programming dongle that can range from $15 and up. Many boards include the programmer on the board eliminating the need for a dongle, all that is needed is a USB cable to the PC. I have designed a small device in Figure-3 as an example. There are 3 distinct circuits. I have included an inverter for those times you have a signal that needs to be inverted, an 8 bit counter with a parallel output, and a Flip-Flop that shares the input with the inverter circuit. Figure-3 Design ready to download onto a CPLD The example shows an Inverter/Flip-Flop circuit and a counter circuit. They are independent of each other. The ability to have a large number of independent parallel circuits gives CPLD/FPGA an advantage over microprocessors in certain applications, especially DSP circuits. The Xilinx ISE tool will produce a block diagram (Figure-4) of the circuit. Figure-4 Top Level Block Diagram By clicking on the block diagram you can open the detailed circuit (Figure-5), further, the complex elements within the circuit can be expanded. Figure-5 Detail Schematic produced from synthesized CPLD design These are not a “redraw” of the original schematic. They represent the final design after the schematic was translated into HDL by ISE and a circuit design synthesized from the HDL code. This process is transparent to the user. This capability is very useful when designing in HDL. It allows you to discover errors in the code quickly. It is easier for many hardware designers to "debug" the firmware code by following wires on a schematic. A CPLD board can be very useful in the Ham Shack when positive control is needed. In situations with multiple antenna switches, band switches, and amplifier keyer lines where control logic is important a CPLD design is a great approach. Once the required logic and lockouts are determined the logic design can be completed at the schematic level and the CPLD configured. The CPLD uses Combinational Logic, it is completely deterministic. Even with a lot of care, a microprocessor has the potential to fall into a disallowed state that could potentially damage equipment. By using hardwired logic this becomes nearly impossible without an actual hardware failure. If you find an error or change your station simply change the schematic and re-flash the CPLD. (The days of one-use fused link logic are behind us). Xilinx ISE includes the capability to write a test bench where you describe the full range of inputs and it will display the corresponding output states and timing in Logic Analyzer style. The displayed data is based on actual physical device timing constraints and will allow you to trap switching glitches and logic errors. While I have focused on CPLDs everything written above can be applied to FPGAs. The different is 100% transparent except the cost may be slightly higher for a small FPGA evaluation board. The first step up from a CPLD in the Xilinx line would be a Spartan device which has considerably most resources and higher performance. While schematic input is an easy place to start ISE is a widely used tool for both VHDL and Verilog HDL coding. It is hoped you would at least dabble in HDL once you have a board. I have described getting started with CPLDs as easy. I find it much easier than coding in C where just keeping the tool set happy with its countless libraries that must be on the correct path and 100 other ways to generate errors. I enjoy coding in VHDL,... --- ### N1FD Contest Team Completes Sweep of 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup > The N1FD team placed #1 in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW!  We have won the Area 1 Multi-Op category in all three... - Published: 2016-12-24 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/24/n1fd-swweps-2016-arrl-rookie-roundup/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Digital, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, HF, On The Air The scores are in! The N1FD team placed #1 in Area 1 Multi-Op category in the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW! We have won the Area 1 Multi-Op category in all three Rookie Roundup contests this year. The complete results can be found here. 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup CW Final Scores Congratulations to Abby, KC1FFX and Jamey KC1ENX, who operated in the contest! --- ### Club Holiday Party and Elections > We held our annual Holiday Party at our December meeting. Our Yankee Swap gift exchange was a lot of fun! We also held our yearly elections. - Published: 2016-12-22 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/22/club-holiday-party-and-elections/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event We held our annual Holiday Party at our December meeting. Our Yankee Swap gift exchange was a lot of fun! Jill Gordon - I finally got something that I can use... Jim Maxwell - Whoopee! I am going to be a Computer Engineer! Abby Finchum - I can't wait until Field Day next year! We'd also like to congratulate our club officers for 2017 - President - Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Vice-President – Greg Fuller, W1TEN Secretary – Brian McCaffrey, W1BP Treasurer – Wayne Wagner, AG1A Membership – Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Programs – Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO Activities – Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB Thank you for serving our Club in 2017! Also, a very Special Thanks to Layne LaBaume, AE1N, and Mike Ryan, K1WVO; our current Club Vice-President and Secretary, for their service to our club and their hard work and contributions to our club over the past years. We look forward having both Layne and Mike continue to provide guidance and leadership as part of our Board. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Happy Holidays! > And we hope that the "Big Guy" brings lots of radio toys for everyone this Holiday Season! You've all been good! - Published: 2016-12-22 - Modified: 2023-12-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/22/ham-radio-happy-holidays/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter We want to wish everyone in The Nashua Area Radio Club a very - And we hope that the "Big Guy" brings lots of radio toys for everyone this Holiday Season! You've all been good! Have a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB --- ### A High Altitude Balloon Project To Generate STEM Interest And Learning > Several members of our club have been working on a High Altitude Balloon Project to promote STEM interest and learning by young people... - Published: 2016-12-21 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/21/high-altitude-balloon-stem-project/ - Categories: Activities, General, Newsletter, Space, Youth Activities - Tags: High Altitude Balloon, Space, VHF/UHF, Youth Outreach Several members of our club have been working on a High Altitude Balloon Project to promote STEM interest and learning by young people. Our project team currently includes the following folks: Jamey, KC1ENX Brian, AB1ZO Anthony, KC1DXL Anita, AB1QB Fred, AB1OC Other interested club members are welcome to join us. We want to provide a STEM learning opportunity and project to be planned and executed by young people ages 10 - 16. We are actively seeking engagement and support from local schools, Scout Troops and other youth organizations to help us with this project. Our goals for the project include: Building and launching a high altitude balloon carrying Amateur Radio to near space and back Enabling young people to plan and execute the project with help and guidance from members of the Nashua Area Radio Club and supporting adults from organizations that wish to assist us Helping young people gain STEM-based experience and learnings by handling all phases of the project including: Planning the flight, the balloon, and its payload Building the balloon and testing it on the ground Launching, tracking and recovering the balloon's payload Analysis of the flight data and the creation of a presentation to be delivered to fellow students and other interested groups We plan to introduce new technology, experiments, and flight elements and develop team member skills and expertise across multiple launches. Later phases of the project are expected to include design and construction of additional payload electronics, high altitude/longer duration flights, and additional on-board atmospheric science experiments. Typical High Altitude Balloon System Our goals for the initial flight mission of this project will include: Building a helium filled balloon which carries a payload of < 4 lbs. to altitudes in excess of 90,000 ft (27,400 m) Parachute controls decent rate after balloon bursts Capturing a video of flight using on-board GoPro video camera(s) Flying an on-board APRS transmitter allows tracking from the ground via Amateur 2m APRS and aprs. fi Flight computer plus APRS provides altitude, position and temperature data throughout the flight Anyone with a device that has internet access and a web browser will be able to track the flight Augmenting the APRS system with commercial satellite tracker to assure successful recovery of our payload by the project team High Altitude Balloons The balloon is filled with enough Helium to carry its payload to a target altitude in excess of 90,000 ft and then burst. A parachute will deploy to control the rate at which the payload descends and will ensure a controlled safe and soft landing. Payload Components The payload will be built around a light-weight platform which will carry a Video Camera, a Flight Computer/APRS Transmitter, and a Commercial Satellite Tracker. The camera will capture a video of the flight and the flight computer will record altitude, temperature and position data and relay this information to the ground via APRS on 2m. A commercial satellite tracker would be included to ensure we could locate the payload once it is back on the ground. High Altitude Flight Planning A key part of the project will involve planning the target altitude and flight path for our balloon. There are some good resources available to help us do this. Check out the Balloon Performance Calculator here. Tools also exist to estimate a balloon's flight path and track based on Jetstream and other flight parameters. High Altitude Balloon Tracking Once we launch our balloon, we can track it in flight via the Amateur Radio APRS network on 2m. The payload will transmit position and other information via APRS that will be received by the many APRS receiver stations that have been built by Amateur Radio Operators. The data from our balloon will be relayed to aprs. fi in real-time and will be able to be displayed on any device with internet access and a web browser. High Altitude Balloon Flight Data Analysis Once we recover our balloon payload, we will guide our young team members in analyzing the data from the flight to help them to learn about atmospheric conditions and to prepare to share the results along with the video captured with classmates and other interested groups. You can get an idea of the video that we can expect below. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=n9ZtX6Lkc9c&width=474&height=296&vq=hd720&loop=1 We are working to raise the necessary funds to support our project. We are counting on the generosity of our members and friends to help us. Please consider making a donation here. Fred, AB1OC --- ### Show Your Love for Amateur Radio on Feb. 14 > Everyone had a blast building the Pixie kits, and on V-day, we are going to work on a DIY oscilloscope known as the DSO138. - Published: 2016-12-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/19/dso138-scope-kit-feb-14/ - Categories: Activities, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, Tech Night, Test Equipment February 14, 2017, now represents two important days: Valentine's and Nashua ARC's Feb Tech Night! Nothing else says love like telling that special someone -- you want to solder some electronics :) Back by popular demand (and good reviews from others) is our kit building night. Everyone had a blast on Election Night building the Pixie kits, and on V-day, we are going to work on a DIY oscilloscope known as the DSO138. (It is mere coincidence FYI that our kit building nights have fallen on holidays, of sorts). The nice thing about this kit, of course, is being able to visualize some of the basic waveforms used in electronics. The kit does come with a square-wave test signal, but we will also have a signal generator present to visualize more complicated waveform. Building this kit is an excellent opportunity to hone those soldering skills, brush up on electronics theory, and add another fun toy to your growing (or perhaps overflowing) collection. The price point is definitely fair for an oscilloscope and may help you figure out if you'll want a more sophisticated one down the road. We had about 15 people last time, so I think this time, it'd be great to expand that number to 20 (or more)! Buy a kit here, and join us in February! Looking forward to seeing you. Brian, AB1ZO --- ### N1FD Multi-Op Entry in the Rookie Roundup CW > The N1FD Contest Team operated in the final Rookie Roundup of the year - the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW.  Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby KC1FFX operated... - Published: 2016-12-18 - Modified: 2022-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/18/n1fd-arrl-rookie-roundup-cw/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, HF, NARS Event, On The Air The N1FD Contest Team operated in the final Rookie Roundup of the year - the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW. Jamey, KC1ENX and Abby KC1FFX operated as a Multi-Op team using the N1FD callsign at the QTH of AB1OC and AB1QB. Abby, KC1FFX in the Rookie Roundup CW The CW contest proved to be a great way to improve the CW skills of the rookies as well as the Elmers! It was the perfect follow-on to the Morse Code Class held earlier this year. N1FD Multi-Op Score in the ARRL RR CW Abby and Jamey made a total of 21 QSOs in the contest, including one with another rookie from Alberta, Canada. Most of the activity was on the 20m band with a few contacts on 40m. US States and Canadian Provinces Worked in the Contest We all had a great time in the contest and are looking forward to working another CW contest soon. We're also looking forward to the next Rookie Roundup, the SSB contest which will be on April 17. We invite all of the new hams in the club to join us for the SSB version of the contest. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Moxons in the Attic (Part 3) > If you recall from last month, I was left with a perplexing matching problem with the 15M stealth antenna while the 17M one works fine.  - Published: 2016-12-18 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/18/stealth-antenna-moxon-3/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew Well, another month has gone by on my two-band attic Moxon antenna project. If you recall from last month, I was left with a perplexing matching problem with the 15M antenna while the 17M one works fine. I had to figure out how to come up with a way to chase down what was causing the problem. I guess this just proves that there is no such thing as a simple, straightforward antenna project. So, with a can of suds as brain fuel, I sat down to methodically list what to do and rule out possible causes. As a starting point, I connected a 1:1 balun to the 15M and a no-balun, connection to the 17M beam. This time, I decided to do all measurements from the shack so that losses from the shack coax would be taken into account. SWR checks on each antenna were consistent with earlier measurements, namely an SWR --- ### Add 16 Digital IOs To Your Next Arduino Or Raspberry Pi Project > I had some LED 7 segment displays that would be perfect for this application.  The issue then becomes how do I not use up all of my IOs... - Published: 2016-12-16 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/16/add-ios-arduino-pi-raspberry-project/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Arduino-Raspberry Pi, CW, Homebrew Below is my Arduino based CW iambic keyer. I wanted to be able to change my WPM on the fly using a potentiometer. I had some LED 7 segment displays that would be perfect for this application. The issue then becomes how do I not use up all of my IOs... Below is the IC that I used. Microchip Technology MCP23017-E/SP This IC is much cheaper than a multiplexing IC for 8 digits. Now I have plenty of IOs left over for buttons to Call CQ, give my callsign, and QTH etc. If I wanted, I can keep adding more ICs (up to 8 total or 128 IOs! ! ) as needed just as long as I set a new unique address to each IC when using I2C. I have also used this IC with an LCD display that uses up IOs quickly. 73, Mike, AB1YK --- ### A Winter's Night Visit to MakeIt Labs > ...Our contact person quickly pointed out that Thursdays are MakeIt Labs busy days since that is when they host their open house. - Published: 2016-12-15 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/15/visit-makeit-labs/ - Categories: Activities, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach Let me begin by setting the scene. Imagine bone-chilling cold... It was colder. I was going to wait outside for Fred (AB1OC) and Jamey (KC1ENX) but the biology supporting my internal survival mechanism had other plans. Bravely, I opened the door and was quickly greeted by John Bottoms. Interesting name, but a cool guy. We chatted for a bit and it turns out he's working on embedding AI into VR... I think I have that right. He quickly pointed out that Thursdays are MakeIt Labs (see their web site) busy days since that is when they host their open house. I did see all around me many people working viciously on their projects. Truly, it was maker heaven. Not long after, Fred and Jamey showed up and we were ready to begin our tour. Well, almost ready. There was a brief, but awkward exchange among two of the volunteers about who would be giving the tour. I was starting to wonder why it was so long and drawn-out. Odor-eaters in my shoes? (Check), Deodorant applied? (Check)... so it couldn't be me. Eventually, the two fellas realized a better alternative to suit both their agendas was to elicit the help of a 3rd fellow. That fellow was Doug; he's good people. Machine Lathe Doug began by taking us into the garage. Man, you all have to see this place. Woodworking shops, machine shops (including lathes and CNC machines), a litany of other heavy power tools to make the biggest kid drool), a plasma cutting machine, a mechanic's shop to bring your vehicle to tune it up -- change the oil -- or add nitrous. This. Place. Was. Awesome. CNC Plasma Cutting Table Fred was definitely familiar with the tools and instruments there. Jamey and I looked awed but bewildered. During our combined awe-strike, Fred found himself in a conversation with another knowledgeable gentleman named Andrew about plasma cutting through steel. It began harmless enough. They were telling each other about the thickest piece of steel they ever cut through. But soon, you could tell the other could not be outdone. By the end of it, I swore I heard tall-tales of karate chopping through 4 ft. titanium able to withstand a nuclear strike. All pretty cool stuff. (I may have embellished a little) CNC Vertical Milling Machine We continued the tour to the electronics portion of the lab where they had 3D printers (and another one in color), a spare electronics parts room, networking stations, dudes flying around mini-drones. We also saw they had a fabric station where folks could come in to sew. I was surprised there wasn't a line for this. Making blankets seems like the right thing to do currently. CNC Laser Cutter We saw multiple conference rooms available, a room for the FIRST robotics team they adopted, office space for folks with start-up companies -- something for everyone. Laser Cut Wood and Polystyrene Projects By the conclusion of the tour, we got to meet a member of their Board, Bill. (Hi Bill! ) This guy was definitely on board with bringing amateur radio to the masses. He liked our ideas of setting up for Kid's Day (or some variant of it), of our near-space balloon project, teaching license classes and/or intro. to amateur radio courses, and even helping us advertise before we arrive. I think he saw the strong parallels between what they do and what we do. This could truly begin to be a very useful symbiotic relationship. So with our visit over, I would recommend to those of you who have not had the pleasure, get yourself out to MakeIt Labs. If you have questions, please contact me, Jamey, or Fred. (Fred became a member tonight, so he knows the secret handshake). I think if you have ideas, projects that you've always meant to get done but haven't found the time yet -- this is the place for you. I think after you see this place, and if you were on the fence about getting involved in the Club's Youth Outreach effort, I think you're going to be all in after visiting. See you on the air, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### Home Brew a Variable Capacitor > I was looking for variable capacitors for my home brew projects that do not have high costs.  I did a Google search and found the following links... - Published: 2016-12-13 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/13/homebrew-variable-capacitor/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew I was looking for variable capacitors for my home brew projects that do not have high costs. I did a Google search and found the following links: http://www. qsl. net/n4dfp/buildcaps. html http://www. eham. net/articles/15975 The nice part is that you can make changes as you see fit. I made some changes and modeled the design in SolidWorks. From SolidWorks, I made a sheet layout in FabriWIN. you can see spacer washers cut out of the "scrap". My . 030" aluminum rotors and stators only needed some deburring from the CNC turret punch press at work. I also did not make the spring loaded rotational contact. I just attached a ring terminal and some wire to the rotor shaft. Below is a cap that I will be testing in a home brew antenna tuner. I will increase the air gaps if I find it arcing. I'm not sure that will happen at QRP levels. The knob is an old plastic gear from an old printer. It prevents my fingers from changing the capacitance value. 73, Mike (AB1YK) --- ### Nashua Area Radio Club - 2016 Highlights > Our club has had quite a year in 2016. We initiated many new activities and our members learned some new skills. Our 2016 Highlights video contains... - Published: 2016-12-07 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/12/07/2016-highlights/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, ARRL, Contest, CW Class, Field Day, License Class, NPOTA, Tech Night, Youth Outreach Our club has had quite a year in 2016. We initiated many new activities and our members learned some new skills. Most importantly, we contributed a great deal to the Amateur Radio Service through license classes and other educational and outreach activities. We have plenty of material to include in our 2016 Highlights video which follows. Highlights From Nashua Area Radio Club's 2016 Activities We made a video as a sort of memory book about our club's activities and accomplishments in 2016. We hope that you enjoy it! Fred, AB1OC --- ### Tech Night - 40m QRP CW Pixie Kit - Published: 2016-11-27 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/tech-night-pixie-kit/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Homebrew, Kits, Tech Night Connor (KC1GGX) and myself (Abby-AB1BY) both participated in the club's November Tech Night. Our mission for the night was to build a 40m QRP CW Pixie Kit. Going in I was nervous - I had never soldered before - and wasn't sure if I would understand how to put it together. Connor had done some soldering and was feeling more confident. When we walked into the room Brian (AB1ZO) had all the kits neatly set out for everyone so we could get right to work. We opened the kits and instructions and I was overwhelmed! Thankfully we had some very experienced Elmers to help us out. Bill (K1TWO) and Charlie (AB1ZN) were extremely helpful in improving our soldering techniques and figuring out what went where. At first, I was very slow and asked a lot of questions, but as the night went on I think my technique got better and things went faster. We worked the whole time and were the last two to finish, but when it came time to test our kits out they both worked! I was very proud of myself and learned a lot. Connor also had a great time and wants to do another project with soldering! We would like to thank Brian and everyone involved for putting this fun tech night together. Abby, AB1BY --- ### Thanksgiving Weekend NPOTA Fun - Published: 2016-11-27 - Modified: 2024-10-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/thanksgiving-npota-fun/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: HF, NPOTA, On The Air With only 1 month to go in the ARRL NPOTA event and some free time this Thanksgiving weekend, Fred and I decided to hit the road to activate some new parks. We activated two nearby parks, each less than 1 hour away from our home, Lamprey Wild and Scenic River, WR23, near Epping, NH, and Minuteman National Historical Park, HP27, near Concord, MA. There were close to 900K QSOs made overall in the NPOTA program as of Thanksgiving day and we also wanted to help the cause to get to 1Million NPOTA QSOs by year's end. Map of Lamprey Wild and Scenic River On Saturday, we drove to Epping, NH, where we activated Lamprey Wild and Scenic River. It was a rainy day, but we still enjoyed the scenic drive along the river. We drove along the river until we found a place by the river to park and operate. The bands were not great, with a K-index of 4 and a high A-index. Despite the conditions, our activation was a success. We operated on both 20m and 40m SSB and made a total of 307 QSOs over 3 hours. View of Countryside in Minute Man National Historical Park I work in Burlington, MA and often travel between Burlington and Waltham, MA for meetings. Each time I passed by Lexington on I-95 I saw the sign for Minute Man NHP and thought it would be fun to do an NPOTA activation from there. We activated the park on Saturday. We entered the park from the Concord, MA end and were pleasantly surprised to see some nice countryside in the middle of a suburban area of Massachusetts, not far from Boston. AB1QB logging for AB1OC/M during the NPOTA activation. We operated from a parking lot in the park from mid-afternoon until dark. The bands were a little better on Saturday and we were able to get 239 contacts into the log, mostly the US but also worked stations from Spain, Jamaica, Aruba and Puerto Rico. We have enjoyed activating 8 National parks so far in the NPOTA event. We are planning another activation between Christmas and New Years of multiple parks before the end of the event on December 31. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Fall Antenna Projects at AB1OC/AB1QB > Anita and I like to take advantage of the mild fall weather to do antenna projects at our QTH. We have completed two such projects this fall. - Published: 2016-11-27 - Modified: 2021-07-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/fall-antenna-projects/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, DX, HF, Homebrew, On The Air, Tower Anita and I like to take advantage of the mild fall weather to do antenna projects at our QTH. We have completed two such projects this fall - the installation of a Two-Element Phased Receive System and a rebuild of the control cable interconnect system at the base of our tower. Receive Antenna System Electronics NCC-1 Receive Antenna System Components Our first project was the installation of a DXEngineering NCC-1 Receive Antenna System. This system uses two receive-only active vertical antennas to create a steerable receive antenna system. The combination can work on any band from 160m up to 10m. We set ours up for operation on the 80m and 160m bands. NCC-1 Receive System Antenna Pattern The NCC-1 System can be used to peak or null a specific incoming signal. It can also be applied to a noise source to null it out. The direction that it peaks or nulls in is determined by changing the phase relationship between the two Active Antenna Elements via the NCC-1 Controller. NCC-1 Filter Installation The first step in the project was to open the NCC-1 Control Unit to install a set of 80m and 160m bandpass filter boards. These filters prevent strong out-of-band signals (such as local AM radio stations) from overloading the NCC-1. The internal switches were also set to configure the NCC-1 to provide power from an external source to the receive antenna elements through the connecting coax cables. Receive Antenna Elements and Coax Installed Active Receive Antenna Element The next step in the project was to select a suitable location for installing the Receive Antenna Elements. We choose a spot on a ridge which allowed the two Antenna Elements to be separated by 135 ft (for operation on 160m/80m) and which provided a favorable orientation toward both Europe and Japan. The antenna elements use active circuitry to provide uniform phase performance between each element's 8 1/2 foot whip antenna and the rest of the system. The antenna elements should be separated by a 1/2 wavelength or more on the lowest band of operation from any towers or transmit antennas to enable the best possible noise rejection performance. Received Antenna Element Closeup The two Antenna Elements were assembled and installed on 5 ft rods which were driven into the ground. To ensure a good ground for the elements and to improve their sensitivity, we opted to install 4 radials on each antenna (the black wires coming from the bottom of the unit in the picture above). The Antenna Elements are powered through 75-ohm flooded coax cables which connect them to the NCC-1 Control Unit in our shack. The coax cable connections in our setup are quite long - the length of the pair being approximately 500 ft. The use of flooded coax cable allows the cables to be run underground or buried. Should the outer jacket become nicked, the flooding glue inside the cable will seal the damage and keep water out of the cable. Receive RF Choke It is also important to isolate the connecting coax cables from picking up strong signals from nearby AM Radio stations, etc. To help with this, we installed Receive RF Chokes in each of the two coax cables which connect the Antenna Elements to the NCC-1. These chokes need to be installed on ground rods near the Antenna Elements for best performance. Underground Cable Conduit In Our Yard We ran the coax cables underground inside cable conduits for a good portion of the run between the antenna elements and our shack. The conduits were installed in our yard when we built our tower a few years back so getting the coax cables to our shack was relatively easy. Receive Antenna Coax Ground System The last step in the outdoor part of this project was to install a pair of 75-ohm coax surge protectors near the entry to our shack. An additional ground rod was driven for this purpose and was bonded to the rest of our station's ground system. We routed both of the 75-ohm coax cables from the two Antenna Elements through surge protectors and into our shack. Alpha-Delta makes the copper ground rod bracket shown in the picture for mounting the surge protectors on the ground rod. Shack Installation Antenna Equipment Shelf In Our Shack (The NCC-1 Control Unit Is At The Bottom) The installation work in our shack began with the construction of a larger shelf to hold all of our antenna control equipment and to make space for the NCC-1. The two incoming coax cables from the Antenna Elements were connected to the NCC-1. microHAM Station Master Deluxe Antenna Controller Antenna switching and control in our station is handled by a microHAM System. Each radio has a dedicated microHAM Station Master Deluxe Antenna Controller which can be used to select separate transmit and receive antenna for the associated radio. The microHAM system allows our new Receive Antenna System to be shared between the 5 radios in our station. Antenna Switching Matrix The first step in integrating the Receive Antenna System was to connect the output of the NCC-1 to the Antenna Switching Matrix outside our shack. We added a low-noise preamp (shown in the upper left of the picture above) to increase the sensitivity of the Antenna System. The blue device in the picture is a 75 ohm to 50-ohm matching transformer which matches the NCC-1's 75-ohm output to our 50-ohm radios. The other two preamps and transformers in the picture are part of our previously installed 8-Circle Receive Antenna System. Protection From Overload Multi-Radio Sequencer The Antenna Elements must be protected from overload and damage from strong nearly RF fields from our transmit antennas. In a single radio station, this can be handled via a simple sequencer unit associated with one's radio. In a multi-op station such as ours, it is possible for a different radio than the one which is using the Receive Antenna System to be transmitting on a band which would damage the Receive Antenna System. To solve this problem, we built a multi-radio sequencer using one of the microHAM control boxes in our station. The 062 Relay Unit... --- ### Our November 2016 Youth Outreach Event > Since the summer time, you have seen a flurry of activity regarding our efforts to attract more young people and especially kids into the hobby. - Published: 2016-11-27 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/27/our-november-2016-youth-outreach-event/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: STEM, Youth Outreach Since the summer time, many of you have seen a flurry of activity on the website regarding our efforts to attract more young people and especially kids into the hobby. And let's not kid ourselves, this is by no means an easy feat. It's a legitimately difficult problem that many clubs all over the country are facing and is large enough such that it is recognized by the ARRL. It's the lifeblood of the hobby -- passing the torch on, teaching what we can and what we know. In my humble view, I feel an almost civic duty to actively recruit these younger folks and what is advantageous to us is that we can sell the club and its activities under the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) movement. This means we can open up the study of electronics, robotics, radios, physics, and the AdS/CFT correspondence (relating 4D strongly coupled quantum gauge theories to 5D classical string theories in curved spacetimes... pretty trivial stuff) to the younger crowd. So now that I've set the stage for you, the remainder of this blog will talk about what we, your fearless youth outreach crew (see figure below), have been up to. The youth outreach crew Our activities were planned from 9 am - 5 pm on November 19. The day, of course, started earlier -- around 830am where we began to set up the ubiquitous GOTA station at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock facility in Nashua as well as the litany of other activities we had planned. We had decided that the best set of activities would be: GOTA station (the infamous IC-7300 making another appearance) Electronic snap circuit stations where folks could experiment with the projects supplied with the kits Morse code station where kids could follow along with "The Rhythm of the Code" and then eventually build up to sending more difficult messages. (Disclaimer: This video is annoying and useful all at the same time. Consumer beware :) QSL card station: After making a QSO, we posted the locale on a world map next to the station and printed out a memento of the contact on the back of our NARC QSL cards! Foxhunting: Everyone loves a good fox hunt. From ham radio enthusiasts to Quentin T. Butternuts, Esq. and his gaggle of British compatriots (No foxes were hurt in the hunt itself). Some pics of our activities are below: GOTA station QSL card station manned by Anita Tony rock'in a pose next to the snap circuits. He's practicing for the Ralph Lauren Winter collection Perhaps at the point of insanity from the Rhythm of the code Greg (W1TEN), and his two little ones enjoying a fox hunt Abby and one of our guests, Kailas, enjoying a fox hunt in the awesome weather. It almost kind of reminds me of the Abbey Road cover. Volunteers present at the event, from the club, were: Brian (AB1ZO), Jamey (KC1ENX), Abby (KC1FFX), Connor (KC1GGX), Fred (AB1OC), Anita (AB1QB), Tony (KC1DXL), Wayne (KB1HYL). All in all, we enjoyed hosting 13 people! 7 internal to our club and 6 external. Our internal members were Greg (W1TEN) and his 2 kids, Ira (KC1EMJ) and his grandson, and Don (KC1CRK) with his wife (they LOVED the snap circuits... thank you! ). I think we had a hit! Two families in particular (new to the world of amateur radio) stayed with us for most of the day and we were very grateful for their participation! They graciously provided us with additional avenues to explore and other people to contact to engender more interest in our target population. Our numbers from outside NARC are beginning to grow, and as such, we are always looking for help/advice from you, our club members. Lastly, we did learn several lessons from this event. We need to continue to proselytize our message. We understand that not everyone is available to come volunteer and help out physically at the events themselves. What we do need however that is a HUGE help is having our members spread our word, flyers, pamphlets, and any literature we can distribute. The two people I would really like to recognize for their contributions are John (W1SMN) and Tony Rizzolo's (KC1DXL) wife Josephine. They really went to bat for us and sent out our flyers everywhere. Because of our event, we made new contacts with folks from the Boys and Girls Club in Nashua and also MakeIt labs in Nashua, as well as some local charter schools. We intend on bringing the fight to these places, do some demonstrations, and recruit more kids to do additional activities with us. All in all, in addition to what we are doing, we value your input, so please send an email to myself or Jamey (KC1ENX) with your thoughts. Pick hands-on activities. I think one reason our activities at this event were successful is that the kids were engaged the whole time. Thinking down the road, we need to keep this momentum moving forward with well-thought out activities. Some of these which occurred to us were kit-building electronics afternoons. I could see this being fun during the Winter months. Projects with Arduinos and Raspberry Pis, with some emphasis on amateur radio application. Or, even a high-altitude balloon build: we could imagine putting a transmitter on one of these and ask the kids to design/build/execute over the course of several weekends. (This is of course once achieving critical mass). The point is, we do not have to gear every activity towards amateur radio, but rather gear it towards the STEM aspects of the hobby that we all find appealing. Get buy-in from the parents. The parents are the masters of their children's schedule. If they feel the time is not worth it, our efforts are for naught. We need to remember while cultivating a child's interest, we also need to do so for the parents. Jamey and I will be regrouping in the coming weeks to figure out our next steps/strategies -- both short-term and long-term. You will certainly see future blog posts from us, so please stay tuned and let us know if we can pique your curiosity to join... --- ### Moxons in the Attic (Part 2) >  It has been a couple of months since I wrote about my project to build a Moxon stealth antenna for 15 and 17 meters in the attic of my garage. - Published: 2016-11-25 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/25/moxons-stealth-antenna-2/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew It has been a couple of months since I wrote about my project to build a Moxon antenna for 15 and 17 meters in the attic of my garage. The weather has since cooled down to where I can work in the attic without sweat dripping in my eyes and my hands slipping on everything. When I wrote about my initial measurements in the last article, I was experiencing erratic SWR readings on the 15-meter beam with the lowest SWR being around 23 MHz. I did some recomputing and figured I would need to lengthen each element by 24 inches to bring resonance down to 21. 1 MHz. I was not too thrilled with the idea of having to solder wires in the cramped space of the attic so I decided to check the SWR behavior again. There is an old adage in carpentry that says measure twice, cut once. The same applies for adjusting antenna elements except “twice” becomes “until consistent”. When I connected my analyzer to the 15-meter beam, I did the flex test of the connecting cable. Lo and behold, the SWR started jumping around. I checked the connector hardware and noticed the PL-259 reducer shell was loose. Once I tightened it, I found the resonant point to be way down at 19. 0 MHz. My antenna was too long; it would have to be SHORTENED by 24 inches. Armed with the new readings, I shortened each element accordingly and measured the antenna again. My efforts paid off with a reading of 1. 1:1 at 21. 2 MHz and a 2:1 bandwidth from 20. 8 to 22. 78 MHz. I was now ready to move on to final installation. I needed more coax, a couple of baluns, and a remote antenna switch to complete the project. A hamfest scheduled for the first weekend in October in Melbourne, FL looked like a good prospect for finding what I needed. Unfortunately, Hurricane Matthew had other plans and forced a postponement of two weeks. When I attended the hamfest, many vendors were absent due to conflicting plans so pickings were slim. I did manage to find the baluns and more coax but the switch would have to be ordered. I found an Ameritron RCS-4 online at a reasonable price and ordered it. I had used this model for many years when in NH so I was familiar with its reliability. When the switch arrived, I hooked it up to check it out before installing it. Murphy said hello to me with a non-functioning control unit. I called the company I bought it from and they arranged to have it returned for a replacement. I finally received a working unit two days before Thanksgiving. With the CQ WW CW contest coming up, it came just in time. I routed a 50-foot run of coax from my shack around the front of the house and into the garage attic. Figure 1 shows the coax run. If you can't see it, good; I do not want the Village Vigilantes to come knocking on the door to question the aesthetics of the cable. Figure 2 shows a closer view of the coax entering my attic. So far, the XYL hasn't noticed it so I'm safe. Figure 1. Coax Run Across Front of House Figure 2. Coax into the Attic (Upper Left) The next step involved hooking up the baluns and the remote switch which was a straightforward process. Once everything was in place, I fired up the rig on 17 meters and found a spot for UA0ZC. I was happy to hear him and gave Val a call. A minute later I had a rare one in the log without having to hammer away indefinitely. I checked 15 meters and did not find much activity. The operational SWR was a bit higher than my measurements but still under 2:1. At least, it started out that way. I got on the air the next day and found the SWR on 15 meters hitting 6:1 and higher. I made a trip up to the attic to find out what was going on. At first glance, nothing appeared amiss. I plugged the analyzer into the 15-meter beam and noticed the SWR jumping around. Flexing the cable made some difference but not much. My initial thought had been some incomplete switching in the switch unit but the SWR behavior when directly connected to the analyzer ruled that out. I tried swapping baluns between the two beams to no avail. With other pressing holiday matters to attend to, I decided to remove a balun from the 17-meter beam in favor of the 15-meter beam. (During my troubleshooting efforts, I noticed the 17-meter beam behaved as designed, with or without a balun. ) The 15-meter beam shows no discernible difference in performance with or without the balun. Figure 3 shows the present feed point installation with the switch on the attic floor. Figure 3. Feed Points and Switch I have to admit that I am stumped at this point. There is some consolation, however, in that my K3 tuner easily matches up the 6:1 SWR imbalance. I imagine there is interaction with the other structures in the attic (house wiring, AC ducts, 17-meter beams, etc. ) that are making a good match difficult to achieve. At any rate, I am happy to have a worthwhile antenna for 17 meters vice my low inverted V. As the sunspots continue to degrade, 17 meters may well end up as the MUF. Ed, K2TE --- ### Savoring My Ham Radio on Thanksgiving > Savoring My Ham Radio Thanksgiving - Published: 2016-11-24 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/24/ham-radio-thanksgiving/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: On The Air Savoring My Ham Radio on Thanksgiving Mike Baxter (KA0XTT) tells what he is giving thanks for on Thanksgiving Night in 2013. From 'Last Man Standing' https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=BcxqNEBmNno Best Seasons Holiday to Nashua Area Radio Club members and guests. --- ### Nashua ARC Contest Team Makes The Pages Of QST! > We just received our December 2016 issue of QST - our club's certificate from the 2016 Rookie Roundup SSB was featured in the contest announcement section. - Published: 2016-11-20 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/20/n1fd-qst/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, HF, NARS Event, On The Air We just received our December 2016 issue of QST - our club's certificate from the 2016 Rookie Roundup SSB was featured in the contest announcement section. See the article below - or if you have received the December QST it is on page 95. December 2016 QST Contest Announcement Featuring Our Contest Team's Certificate We are also mentioned on page 82 in the Field Results as we were #1 in the 7A Category. Congratulations to all of the club members who participated in these achievements! We will be participating in the Rookie Roundup CW on December 18, 2016. All club members who have received their first license in the past 3 years are welcome to join the team. This is a rookie contest and all participants are new to CW - rates are slow - so don't be concerned if you are only a beginner at CW. See the calendar entry https://www. n1fd. org/event/arrl-rookie-roundup-cw-contest/ for details. Contact Anita at ab1qb@arrl. net if you are interested in participating. Anita, AB1QB --- ### A New LEO Sat! FUNcube-3 (EO-79) Goes Live > The EO-79/FUNcube-3 satellite has transitioned to amateur radio service. The FUNcube U/V transponder has been activated... - Published: 2016-11-18 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/18/eo-79-live/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF FUNcube-3 (EO-79) goes live | November 18, 2016 The EO-79/FUNcube-3 satellite has transitioned to amateur radio service, now that its primary mission has been completed. AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL have announced that the FUNcube U/V transponder has been activated with a regular schedule. Due to power budget constraints, the transponder cannot operate 24/7, so an orbit-specific schedule has been developed. The transponder will commence operation 27 minutes after the spacecraft enters sunlight and remain active for 25 minutes. This schedule may be modified in the weeks ahead, as experience dictates. The output power of the amateur radio payload is about 400mW. Source: FUNcube-3 goes live - Radio Society of Great Britain - Main Site : Radio Society of Great Britain – Main Site Looks like we have a new LEO satellite that we can work. EO-79 is now active of Amateur Radio use. It has an inverting SSB/CW transponder which operates on the following frequencies: 435. 035 – 435. 065 MHz Uplink (Initial testing indicates 435. 047 – 435. 077 actual) 145. 935 – 145. 965 MHz Downlink You can learn more about this new satellite here. Fred (AB1OC) --- ### Nashua ARC Pre-Thanksgiving Jamboree Youth Event! - Published: 2016-11-18 - Modified: 2023-09-22 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/18/youth-outreach-event-2/ - Categories: Activities, General, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: Fox Hunting, HF, On The Air, Youth Outreach Hi Everyone, Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 19 from 9am-5pm, we will be hosting an event for kids to explore and enjoy amateur radio at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock facility in Nashua. Though we will be there all day, you and your family members / friends / cool strangers you met off the street are welcome to drop in at anytime to have a look and play on the radio. We will have a few station set-ups such as: The ubiquitous GOTA station Foxhunting (I think we're going to have awesome weather for this) Design your own QSL card station (which will also help kids understand where their contact lives and how far away they were), Learn about Morse code station (where kids can play with paddles and learn the basics of the art) A snap circuits station where small projects can be done and tested to learn about the basics of electronics. Your fine crew managing this endeavor (and forgive me if I'm missing people) are: Jamey (KC1ENX) Brian (AB1ZO) Fred (AB1OC) Anita (AB1QB) Tony (KC1DXL) Greg (W1TEN) Wayne (KB1HYL) Abby (KC1FFX) and Connor (KC1GGX) We hope to see some of you out there! But if not, have a good Thanksgiving and see you at the next club meeting! --- ### Nashua Area Radio Club Supports Scouting Jamboree on The Air > Our club provided all the infrastructure for these young men and women to reach out to other scouts around the world. JOTA is not a typical contest... - Published: 2016-11-16 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/16/nashua-arc-supports-jota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Youth Activities - Tags: HF, On The Air, Youth Outreach Nashua Area Radio Club instrumental in World Scouting Jamboree on the Air. I grew up in a family deeply involved in Scouting, my father was the rifle and archery instructor for our troop, my older brother was our Senior Patrol Leader, we camped, hiked, did countless hours of community service, it was part of our family ethos. While I am new to Amateur radio I have found in the Amateur Radio community, and particularly in our club, the spirit that best exemplifies the Boy Scout tradition. The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared", and I have been thinking a lot about this since Field Day, where we went out in the heat, set up a temporary command post of seven transmitters and operated for 24 hours straight, this is at its essence what we, as hams, would do in a major emergency, enabling vital communications, emergency traffic, and welfare reports in and out of affected areas. Lesser well known is the Boy Scout Slogan, "Do a good turn daily. " Two days after Hurricane Matthew ravaged Haiti, our club presented to a group of 25 Boy Scouts how the scouting motto and slogan are alive and well in the amateur radio community. Hundreds of hams went, at their own expense to hurricane-affected areas to relay emergency and welfare traffic where the communications infrastructure was decimated. In the proudest Scout tradition, these hams were prepared and did a good turn for people they had never met. Each October, the World Organization of the Scouting Movement which includes Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Girl Guides, Sea Scouts and Venturing Scouts hosts a weekend on the air. Over 1. 5 million scouts in 157 countries participate in Jamboree On The Air; it is, in fact, the largest annual Scouting event. This year the Nashua Area Radio Club and the Historic District of the Daniel Webster Council hosted over 60 scouts, many camped out in sub-freezing temperatures to conduct the 59th Annual Jamboree on the Air. Our club provided all the infrastructure for these young men and women to reach out to other scouts around the world. Jamboree On The Air is not a typical contest, it favors quality QSOs over quantity of QSOs. Our Scouts made over 90 "contacts" with other Scouts in 30 states, 17 countries, on 5 continents. Where in a contest the average QSO would be 15-20 seconds our scouts spent an average of 8 minutes talking with multiple kids, an average of 3 scouts per QSO, at other stations near and far. The Nashua Area Radio Club set up a satellite station where we made 2 QSOs to other stations 600 and 800 miles away on 2 meters. The Scouts were blown away by sending a signal to outer space to contact stations here on Earth. We explored with Scouts the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) aspects of Amateur Radio, 14 Boy Scouts earned their Radio merit badge in sessions conducted by the Nashua Area Radio Club. One Scout has now participated in our License Classes and has earned his Technician and General class licenses. Many more Scouts have expressed interest in getting licensed as well. This was a tremendous undertaking by club members, particularly as we also had our Youth Outreach day going on simultaneously in Nashua. As a Scout leader, my heartfelt thanks to the club, particularly Fred AB1OC (also an Eagle Scout), and Anita (AB1QB) for their logistic, material, and educational support to the boys and girls. As a club member, I am so proud of our commitment to youth outreach, and the support we give to expanding the horizons for young men and women. Read the Seacoast Online Article here. On behalf of the Boy Scouts, it will be my pleasure to convey our JOTA Certificate and JOTA patch to the club at our next meeting. Yours in Scouting and 73, Greg Fuller (W1TEN) Nashua Area Radio Club Member Historic District JOTA Chair Boy Scouts of America --- ### The Nashua Area Radio Club is Number 1 Field Day Again! > We got up to some great news this morning. The Nashua Area Radio Club is once again Number 1 Field Day (N1FD)!! We are the Top Club in our Category (7A)... - Published: 2016-11-12 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/12/number-1-field-day/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, CW and QRP, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: Contest, Field Day, HF, Magic Band (6m), On The Air, Satellite, Tower, VHF/UHF We got up to some great news this morning. The Nashua Area Radio Club is once again Number 1 Field Day! ! 2016 Results - 7A Category We are the Top Club in our Category (7A) for 2016 with a final score of 9,292. The next closest club was W6TRW with a score of 5,610. You can see all the 2016 results on the ARRL score page. For a more detailed breakdown of our score for 2016, check out our Field Day page. Congratulations to everyone who helped to make our 2016 operation a success! Also, a special thank you to our planning team - Our Planning Team Mike, K1WVO Helping To Deliver Our Field Day Presentation During Our Club Meeting Presentation At Our Club Meeting We certainly have many great memories from our 2016 Operation. I spent some time today looking at the photos from our 2016 Operation and the video from our 2016 Operation again. I picked out some photos to share here - Our 40m V-Beam Our setup was well planned and the execution was top-notch! CW/6m Row With One Of Two Of Our Towers And Beams 20m CW Station SSB Stations and Digital ATV Station on 70 cm LEO Satellite Station Many folks in our club pulled together to build our setup and we operated hard during Field Day. Mike, KU1V Operating Ed, K2TE Operating 40m CW Bill, NJ1H Operating 20m CW Jamey, KC1ENX, Operating 20m SSB Abby, KC1FFX Operating on 75m SSB Brian, AB1ZO Operating on 40m SSB Jeff, WA1HCO Operating On 6m Field Day Fun 2016 Merle, W1MSI Provided Us With A Feast! We also helped to introduce folks to Amateur Radio via our GOTA Station. Our GOTA Station Provided By Wayne, KB1HYL It's fun to think about all the great things that went on during Field Day this year. Our 2016 Highlights Video Looking forward to our 2017 Field Day operation! ! ! Fred, AB1OC Hashtag: #ARRLFD --- ### Yagi Antenna Teaching Construct Part #3: Directional Gain and Front to Back Ratio > In this article of our series on the "Lego-style" antenna for teaching basic yagi antenna behavior, our focus is a Yagi-Uda 3-element antenna for 2 meters. - Published: 2016-11-08 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/11/08/yagi-antenna-3/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Mentor, Tech Night In this final article of our series on the "Lego-style" antenna for teaching basic antenna physics and behavior, our focus is a Yagi-Uda 3-element antenna for 2 meters. The Yagi antenna is the most common construction form for a "beam" antenna. The Yagi has high gain in one specific compass (azimuth) direction and very low gain in the opposite direction when compared to the classic 1/2 wave dipole. The Directional Forward Gain and "Front to Back" Ratio (F/B Ratio) features are hallmarks of the Yagi and the reasons for its high popularity. The forward gain dramatically increases "Effective Radiated Power" in a chosen direction; the Front to Back Ratio dramatically reduces interference from signals to the antenna's backside. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF THE 3-ELEMENT YAGI ANTENNA The Yagi antenna shown in the Feature Picture above has 3 radiating elements. The center element (with the coax attached) is the "Driven Element" (DE) receiving RF energy from the transmitter. The other two elements are "parasitic", meaning they are not connected to the transmitter. These elements absorb energy from the DE RF wave and re-radiate it by Faraday's Law of Induction. This fact gives both parasitic elements a 180-degree phase shift relative to the DE. In the above picture, the left side element is the Reflector, typically 5% longer than the DE; the right side element is the Director, typically 5% shorter than the DE. The length differences make both elements slightly off resonance to the DE RF wave which adds a second phase shift relative to the DE. Finally, the distances on the boom between the DE and parasitic elements adds a third phase shift since it takes a finite time for the DE wave to reach the Reflector and Director. The distance between the DE and the parasitic elements vary between 0. 1 to 0. 25 wavelengths depending on materials, construction details and design goals for the forward gain and F/B Ratio. The Yagi secret is that the sum of these three phase shifts for the 3 elements add in a way that reinforces each other for RF energy moving towards the Director. However, RF waves moving towards the Reflector combine in a way that subtracts and leaves little RF energy. Figure 2 provides an illustration of this action using only waves interacting between the DE and Director, for simplicity. Figure 2. Summing RF wave from the Driven Element with the Induced wave from the Director Element (from Wikipedia, Yagi-Uda Antenna) The DE RF wave (in green) reaches the Director parasitic element and induces a second RF wave (in blue) by Faraday's Law. The multiple phase shifts that make up the Director RF wave gives a forward moving emission that adds to the DE wave yielding a combined larger RF wave. However, the Director RF wave moving back towards the Reflector is nearly 180 degrees out of phase to the DE wave and the two nearly cancel each other out. A similar analysis at the Reflector element shows that Reflector waves moving towards the DE and Director also adds to their waves to create an even larger wave. However, Reflector waves traveling off the rear of the antenna subtract with waves arriving from the DE and Director yielding very little RF energy leaving the backside direction of the antenna. THE TOOLBOX FOR OUR EXPERIMENTS The top Feature Picture shows the "Lego-Style” antenna in a Yagi assembly and the Lamp Bridge Receiver ½ wave dipole antenna is seen in the upper right corner. The Lamp Bridge Receiver lights when resonant RF is sensed and we used this tool in both Parts 1 and 2 of this article series. New to our toolbox is a breadboard circuit to measure RF power in a semi-quantitative way using an LED Bar Graph display. The breadboard was built on an Analog/Digital Trainer Module and is seen in the lower right corner. The circuit samples the RF signal received by a 1/4 wave antenna (black antenna seen behind and above the breadboard). The induced RF current is converted to a dc voltage that feeds to a 30-stage linear increasing voltage comparator circuit. A comparator turns on an LED when its voltage threshold value is reached. Our circuit is using only 15 LEDs due to breadboard space limits; however, by skipping every other comparator we are still measuring a 30 fold signal range. The picture shows 3 lit LEDs indicating a sensed voltage that is one-fifth the dynamic range of the circuit. EFFECTIVE RADIATED POWER: COMPARING THE DIPOLE and YAGI-UDA ANTENNAS A) BASIC DIPOLE PERFORMANCE We will use the classic 1/2 wave dipole as the benchmark to assess benefits of the 3-element Yagi-Uda antenna. We begin by measuring relative radiated power of the dipole as we increase transmitter power stepwise between 5, 10, 20 and 40 watts. The power detector circuit consists of a standard 1/4 wave stub antenna connected to the LED Bar Graph RF meter. The results will be used to "calibrate" the detector circuit and be our reference point when we calculate Yagi Gain. The video below explains the use of the LED Bar Graph RF meter; then it shows the actual testing protocol and you can see the LEDs report received RF signal as we increase Tx power to the dipole. The results of received RF signal versus transmitter power for the dipole antenna are summarized in Table 1. The data show a close to linear correlation (as expected) within the semi-quantitative limits of the Bar Graph Display. B) 3-ELEMENT YAGI PERFORMANCE The next video shows the antenna forward radiated power as we stepwise build the Yagi beginning with the basic dipole; the addition of the Reflector element and a third addition of the Director element. Note, the Tx power is constant at 5 watts. Details of the Yagi construction (element lengths, spacing, etc. ) are given in the video. The data for the RF radiation received with the stepwise addition of elements to assemble the YAGI antenna are summarized in Table 2. There is a significant increase in antenna forward received signal (looking towards the direction of the Director) as we add the two parasitic elements. The signal... --- ### N1FD Enters The CQ Worldwide DX Contest In A Quest To Earn DXCC! > The CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest has just completed and we made a big step toward our goal of earning an ARRL DXCC Award for our club call, N1FD. - Published: 2016-10-31 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/31/cq-ww-dxcc/ - Categories: Activities, DX, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air The CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest has just completed and we made a big step toward our goal of earning an ARRL DXCC Award for our club call, N1FD. N1FD Operator QSOs and Bands The following club members operated as N1FD in the contest: Abby Finchum, KC1FFX Connor Finchum, KC1GGX Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Mike Rush, KU1V Joe Gordon, KB1RLC Mike Struzik, AB1YK Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB The N1FD Team operated from our station (AB1QB/AB1OC). Joe KB1RLC Operating in CQ Worldwide DX at AB1OC Many of the club members who joined us had not previously had the opportunity to operate in a major DX contest. Our approach to the contest included a significant amount of time spent to help folks learn how to operate in a major DX contest such as CQ WW DX. All of the members of the N1FD Operator Team did a great job and we worked a lot of DX given the relatively poor band conditions throughout the contest period. One Of Our N1FD Multi-op Teams In Action (THe Funchum Team - KC1ENX, KC1FFX, and KC1HHX) We entered the contest as N1FD in the Multi-Op, One Transmitter category and we operated in the High Power, Assisted class. This category allowed us to have two transmitters on the air on different bands simultaneously. One transmitter was the "run" station from which we could call CQ and contact any new callsigns on a given band. The other transmitter was a multiplier only station which was only allowed to work new multipliers (new DXCCs and CQ Zones) on a given band. We had both stations on the air simultaneously for a good portion of the contest period. N1FD QSOs During The Contest Period We operated on all of the contest bands from 160m through 10m during the contest. We mostly operated in Search and Pounce mode to focus on maximizing the number of DXCCs and CQ Zones worked. Search and Pounce mode also made it easier for the less experienced folks on our team to learn about contesting. We used a mix of data from the spotting cluster and tuning the bands to find and work stations. We did a bit of operating in Run mode (calling CQ) as well to help put additional QSOs in our log to boost our final score and to learn how to operate by calling CQ in a contest. N1MM+ Logger Setup For Our Contest Operation We used the N1MM+ logger in a multi-op, networked configuration during the contest. This allowed us to share a single log between our two stations and to keep track of the multipliers (DXCCs and CQ Zones) that the combination of the two stations worked during the contest. Final DXCCs Worked By The N1FD Team (DXCCs worked are in Blue) We worked a total of 108 countries in the contest and brought the total DXCCs worked by the N1FD callsign to 121. This means that we worked a complete DXCC during a single weekend! We added 40 new DXCCs worked as a result of our contest operation. Before the contest, our club call had 62 confirmed countries. We will need 38 more confirmations to qualify for the ARRL DXCC Award. We have received a total of 16 of the needed 38 new DXCC confirmations via LoTW as of the end of today! We also gave our club a good start toward earning future 5-Band DXCC and DXCC Challenge Awards as we worked a total of 283 band-points during the contest. Final CQ Zones Worked By The N1FD Team (Zones worked are in Blue) We also made progress toward earning our CQ WAZ (Worked All CQ Zones) Award – we now have 33 our of 40 zones worked and 28 confirmed. Our Final Claimed Score Summary For The Contest We made a total of 607 QSOs during the contest for a claimed score of 588,208. The actual score may be lower than this after the contest adjudication process completes in several months as deductions will be taken for any incorrect calls or exchanges. You can also see our results at the 3830 Score Rumor website. Mike Rush, KU1V Operating In The Contest Everyone involved had a lot of fun and learned some new skills. We are thinking about operating again as N1FD in the ARRL Sweepstakes Contest in November (Nov. 19-21). Please let us know if you'd be interested in joining the N1FD Team for this contest. 73, Anita, AB1QB and Fred, AB1OC --- ### Why Would I Want To Be In A Contest? > As I sit here watching the N1FD teamwork the CQ Worldwide DX contest, it got me thinking about what contesting is really about and why we contest. - Published: 2016-10-30 - Modified: 2024-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/30/n1fd-ham-radio-contest/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, DX, HF, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air As I sit here watching the N1FD teamwork the CQ Worldwide DX contest, it got me thinking about what contesting is really about and why we contest. Let me try to answer the second question first. There are lots of different reasons to operate in contests. Many folks do this to work new countries, states, zones, islands, grids, etc. It seems that you can find a contest that is designed to create opportunities to work just about anything that you can think of on the bands. Others work contests to try to test out their stations and to improve their skills as operators. Of course, many folks compete to win the contest or to place better than they did the last time. Some may even compete to set a record. Joe KB1RLC in CQ Worldwide DX at AB1OC Perhaps the best reason to contest is that it provides one of the best opportunities to be a better operator. You may say, aren't contesters just QRM on the bands on weekends when we want to use them for other stuff? I can see why some feel this way. I wish that more amateurs who feel this way would take some time to listen more closely to what is going on during the contest. There is nothing quite like listening to a skilled operator work a pileup from a rare place during a worldwide contest like CQ Worldwide DX. Such an operator will make 100's of calls in a row. They will accurately get each caller's information into their logs and the really great ones will also use their skills and energy to ensure that each of their callers gets the contest station's information correct in their logs as well. This requires great skill in many areas. First, you need to really learn to listen and to pick out weak and fading callers in the presence of a great deal of QRM. It's often necessary to piece together a good callsign using several rounds of a QSO. Good contest operators know perhaps 500 or more of the most common calls used in their contest and this information helps them to recognize calls and avoid making errors. The great ones also know how to work with each caller to ensure that they get the correct information to complete the contact and that the other operator does the same. Jamey, KC1ENX Operating in CW Worldwide DX SSB I like to think of this as getting in the head of the other person during the QSO. Did they get my call right or do I need to slow down and say my call again? Did I hear their callsign and exchange correctly or do I need to give them a chance to ask me to correct something for them? While I am doing all of this, I need to be as fast and efficient as possible. These skills take a great deal of practice to develop. You can get there with less time in the chair during contests if you take some time to listen and pay close attention to the great operators that you will hear during contests. First and foremost, great contesters are great listeners and they can accurately pick out call signs on the first try without making mistakes. N1MM+ Logger Setup For CQ WW DX What, you say that any operator will do great when they are sitting at a big contest station with a lot of power and big antennas? It is true that having a well-built station and good hardware and computers helps make contacts easier. Computers and modern software like N1MM+ also play an important role in making the mechanics of finding and making contacts accurately more efficient. The contest community makes their software available free of charge to everyone. I strongly encourage anyone who contests to set up and learn to use modern contest software. While these tools help, they are just like construction tools in the hands of a carpenter. The master carpenter can create a work of art with a hand saw, a hammer and some basic hand tools while an apprentice can struggle to get good results from the best shop and tools available. Also, most contests are designed with categories to group contesters with their peers who have setups similar to theirs. Station hardware differences also do not account for the contester who goes to an island in the Caribbean with a 100W radio and a simple antenna and wins an award in a contest. Julio, HI3A Competing in WRTC We also saw this clearly during the WRTC competition here in New England a few years ago. We had the best operators in the world competing using the exact same towers and similar antennas that we use for our annual Field Day operation and they made 2,000 or more contacts in a 24 hour period using 100W radios. Many of these operators did this while making almost no mistakes! So what else makes a great contest operator besides working fast and efficiently to complete and log lots of contacts accurately? For one, these folks know a great deal about propagation and how to take the best advantage of the conditions at hand. They know when it's time to run on 20m into Europe, when to look for Japan on 15m for those multiples, what time of day and segment in the contest to focus on contacts in the Caribbean and South America, etc. They learn when they need to change bands and when it's time to work multipliers or tune the band that they are on with their second radio or VFO. They can quickly determine the band and propagation conditions on the contest weekend and adjust their strategy to take the best advantage of the conditions at hand. A great operator also learns to make the best use of their station and antennas. They understand where their stations work well and they adapt their approach to a contest based upon this. They also spend lots of time looking at and comparing their performance from contest to contest and against other competitors in the same contests to... --- ### Fall License Classes > We had a total of 10 new hams from our Technician Ham Radio License class - 8 received their Technician License and 2 received their General Class License. - Published: 2016-10-30 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/30/fall-ham-radio-license-class/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class, License Exam Our Fall Technician and General License classes held on September 24-25 and October 22-23 was a great success! We had a total of 10 new hams from our Technician class - 8 received their Technician License and 2 received their General Class License. 7 people received upgrades during our General class - 6 Generals and 1 Extra. Congratulations to the following club members who received a license or upgrade through our classes! Abby Finchum, KC1FFX, General Connor Finchum, KC1GGX, General Joe Kagenski, KC1GKP, Extra Jill Gordon, KC1GKL, Technician Carol Gardner, KC1GKO, General Ben Scott, KC1GKN, General Abby and Connor pass their General Exam Thanks to the instructors and VEs who helped out in the License Class and VE Session! ! The Fall Extra Class will be held on December 2-4 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Nashua. There are still slots available in the class. If you are interested in the class, contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net --- ### Hang 'Em High > How to get these new wire antennas hung from the many tall pine trees on the property? In the past, I have used a sling shot to get dipoles up... - Published: 2016-10-14 - Modified: 2021-07-11 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/10/14/antenna-launcher/ - Categories: Antennas, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Mentor Dick Powell, WK1J A Little about me At 75 yrs old, I have a modest station, consisting of a Mosely TA33 Tri-bander (circa 1986) on a homebrew mount, at the peak on my single-level home (45ft. ) and a homebrew 160-80-40M inverted Vee at 65ft. I wound all the loading coils for the 80M and 160M traps and it performs very well and takes only 10 ft. more space than a typical 80M inverted Vee dipole (excellent for 160M on a city sized lot). I plan to write an article on its construction in the future. I have worked 90 countries on 160M, 96 on 80M and 303 on 40M with only 100 Watts output with this antenna. I am fortunate to be at 840 ft. above Sea Level with a clear shot to Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. Japan is workable but I struggle to get through west coast stations to Asia and the Pacific. Four more confirmed countries on 80M and I will have worked 5Band-DXCC with 100W, proof that at my age, you don’t need a tower, kilowatt and the latest, greatest radio, although they make the challenge easier. This summer I started in earnest to revamp my “small pistol” station, knowing that the sun spots are declining and that I needed to improve my low band 160m, 80m and 40M transmitting antennas. As well as my ability to hear weak signals better with the increased noise on the bands. Latest Project: Beverages and 9-Circle Receiving Array (an article coming in the future) This summer, I worked on improving my ability to receive weak signals by building switchable, (bi-directional) beverage antennas for NE/SW, NW/SE and E/W, switchable from my operating position. You know what they say. “If you can’t hear them, you can’t work them! ” Currently, I am in the final stages of building and deploying a 9 circle receiving array developed by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club of which I am a member. Note: The components are now offered as a kit in partnership with DXEngineering, with DXE supplying all the interconnecting cables and phasing lines. My preliminary tests show a significant improvement (8db better signal RX strength and lower noise floor by 2S units) over the beverages and it is steerable every 45 degrees. The ability to null out interference is unbelievable even when compared to the beverages. Now I need to work them! I am currently building a 160M/80M “double L”(no ground radials needed), separate 40M and 80M Delta Loops, replacing my older dipoles. I hope to have these in place by CQWW SSB later this month. Now this Article: - Antenna Launcher How to get these new wire antennas hung from the many tall pine trees on the property? In the past, I have used a sling shot to get dipoles up but usually only 50-60 ft. consistently. I read with interest the recent article that Brian, AB1ZO wrote: “I can’t believe my antenna’s up! ” Seeing the pictures of the method he used to toss a line over the tree got me to thinking about a better approach. I wanted something reliable, easy to use, easy to make (not buy), and portable in the woods, no electricity/batteries, no butane and spark ignitors (I would probably cause a large forest fire, hi! ). In other words “a field day” type solution. I also recalled Dennis, K1LGQ’s presentation on the “potato launcher” he demonstrated at project night. I viewed many YouTube videos and found a lot of excellent approaches. I settled on a pneumatic (compressed air) approach. I designed the antenna launcher to be very compact, most were quite long and not ideal for trudging through dense woods. By no means is this approach unique, but it is proving to be very reliable, cheap (less than $60 in materials, if purchased) and can easily reach heights of over 150ft. I use a simple bicycle tire pump (found for $25 on eBay) to fill the compression chamber. A compressed C02 air refill canister for a Paintball gun or a battery operated car tire pump would also work. This is a picture of the completed Antenna Launcher. It took 2, 4 hour days to complete as I waited 24 hours to ensure the PVC cement cured in the pressure chamber (important safety step). I chose to spray paint it and added labeling. I build the launcher in 4 main sections: Pressure Chamber A Modified Inline Irrigation Valve U section (for a compact design) Launching Tube Step 1 – Pressure Chamber I looked at both 3in. and 2in PCV schedule 40 Pipe. The box stores do not carry 3in PVC rated for pressure applications. Some videos on YouTube do use it; I chose the 2in for safety reasons (max. 280psi). Below is a picture of the pieces needed to assemble the pressure chamber, including the tire (Schrader) valve and pressure gauge (optional). I opted to have the pressure gauge on the chamber when filling it, rather than having to read one located on a tire pump, I blame the bifocals, it couldn’t be old age! The next 5 pictures show the progression of the assembly. For brevity, (in this article) the pictures will give you a reasonable idea of the construction. I plan to create an accompanying (downloadable) PDF document detailing all the steps with instructions. Step 2 – In-line sprinkler Valve Modifications This picture shows the parts needed to modify a common irrigation valve for air pressure vs electrical use. A good YouTube video of modifying the Rain Bird HD 1 in. valve can be found at https://youtu. be/A3EOdNP6Iag The next 7 pictures show the detailed progression of the modification. They may be a little easier to see than in the video. Step 3 – The “U” Assembly (or let’s turn the corner! ) I wanted the launcher to be as compact as possible for better portability and chose to assemble some pipe to make a “U” turn, prior to installing the actual launch tube. The following 2 picture shows the detail of the assembly of the U-turn. Step 4 – The launcher’s “business end” where all the... --- ### Our Family Picnic in August was Great Fun! > We held our Family Picnic on Saturday at Greeley Park in Nashua.  We had great weather,  great food and had a great time with friends at the Picnic. - Published: 2016-09-25 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/25/2016-family-picnic/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event, Picnic We held our Family Picnic on Saturday, August 27 at Greeley Park in Nashua. We had great weather, great food and had a great time with friends at the Picnic. Club Members and their families having fun at the picnic Wayne, KB1HYL hid his Fox, which gave us all a challenge to find it. Here are Jamey and the Wayne getting ready to hunt the fox. Getting ready for the fox hunt We had a potluck meal and more good food than we could eat. Thanks to all members who brought food and to Merle for bringing her grill and doing the grilling. John welcomed a special guest who was quite friendly. Now that was quite an eyeball QSO! John with our Squirrel visitor Thanks to everyone who came out and made our picnic a lot of fun! 73, Anita, AB1QB --- ### Yagi Antenna Construct Part #2: Current, Voltage Profiles, and Dipole Pattern > In Part 1 of this article series, I presented the “Lego” 2 m 3-element Yagi antenna design that the N1FD ham license teaching team has used... - Published: 2016-09-23 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/23/yagi-antenna-2/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, Mentor, VHF/UHF In Part 1 of this article series, I presented the “Lego” 2 m 3-element Yagi antenna design that the N1FD ham license teaching team has used over the past year for class demonstrations. The design allows easy assembly of the basic dipole antenna as well as a 3 element Yagi. The configuration of individual elements and spacing between elements can be quickly changed to demonstrate basic physics and behavior of these popular antennas. The first article described antenna construction details and showed how to demonstrate the criterion for resonance as well as the polarization property of the radio wave. In Part 2 of the series, I will continue a focus on the dipole, specifically the spatial current - voltage profiles on the driven element and the radiation pattern of the antenna. We will use this information in Part 3 of the series next month to demonstrate how a 3-element Yagi works and why it is so popular. THE CURRENT & VOLTAGE PROFILES ON A HALF WAVELENGTH DIPOLE Figures 1a and b - Current Profile on a Half Wave Dipole Antenna Figure 1a reminds us of the basic dipole geometry; and Fig. 1b shows the current and voltage profiles along the driven element. (From http://www. radio-electronics. com/info/antennas/dipole/half-wave-dipole. php) Note from Fig. 1b that the current profile of a dipole has a maximum current level at the center feedpoint and decreases to zero current at the end of each element arm. Contrasting, the voltage profile has a zero value at the feed point and increases to a maximum level at the ends of the element arms. Figure 2 - 1/4 Wave Vertical. Note the 7 spaced lamps. The 1/4 wave vertical antenna seen in Figure 2 can be used to visualize the current profile along the arms of a 1/2 wave dipole. The 1/4 wave antenna is made from a short length of a Christmas tree (incandescent) light string. The string length can be estimated from the standard equation: Length (ft) = 234/Frequency in MHz. Generally, several inches needs to be trimmed off because the lamps add “electrical length”. The shown antenna has the same resonance frequency as the Lego Style dipole we will use later (i. e. , 146. 550 MHz). The top end of the antenna is marked by the blue tape immediately above the 7th lamp. Figure 3 - Transmitting mode. Note pattern of lit and unlit lamps. The energized antenna with 15 watts RF signal is seen in Figure 3. Compare the pattern of lit and unlit lamps with the current profile sketch shown in Fig. 2b. The three lamps, counting from the picture bottom are brightly lit from an RF current. Lamps 4 and 5 show progressed less light indicating a lower RF current. Lamp number 6 is barely lit and number 7 is dark indicating together very little to no RF current at the element top end. The light pattern is a clear mimic of the diagram in Figure 1b. Demonstration of the Voltage and RF Radiation Profile on a Half Wave Dipole Antenna The voltage profile on a center fed 1/2 wavelength dipole is seen in Figure 1b. As mentioned above, the voltage is zero at the dipole center and increases in monotonic fashion to a maximum value at the antenna ends. Figure 4 - Illustration of Dipole RF Radiation Pattern The familiar RF radiation pattern of a dipole is shown in Figure 4 (taken from the cited source for Figure 1). We are all well-schooled on the pattern, so I will just list the three key facts. First, the RF radiation is broadside to the antenna axis. Second, the RF field intensity is equal on the left and right sides of the dipole axis (i. e. , there is no discerned “front to back” sidedness. Third, there is (theoretically) no RF radiation off the ends of the dipole wire. The dipole voltage profile and the RF radiation pattern can be demonstrated using the basic dipole element of our “Lego Style” antenna and two simple tools. The voltage profile, or more correctly, the electric field strength around the dipole is sensed by a small fluorescent light tube. The actual RF radiation from the energized dipole is sensed by the flashlight lamp-bridged receiver antenna introduced last month in Part 1 of this series. Direct RF Radiation Visual Detection The video below (double-click in the picture box) demonstrates the use of the lamp-bridged receiver antenna to detect radiated RF power. The video shows the flashlight bulb bridging the handheld receiver antenna lights up when it detects an RF signal that matches its resonance point at 146. 550 MHz The light bulb is dark with no transmitted RF power from the Lego dipole. Keying the radio energizes the Lego dipole and the receiver lights up about equally on the right and left sides of the Lego antenna. This reflects the figure 8 pattern of RF power illustrated in Figure 4. Voltage Profile witnessed by the Electric Field Strength. The next video (double-click in the picture box) employs the fluorescent light bulb to map the voltage profile along a dipole arm by sensing its electric field strength. An RF electric field causes a series of chemical reactions within the light bulb that produces a bright fluorescent light. The light bulb is dark when the Lego dipole is not transmitting an RF signal. Keying the radio generates an RF signal and the associated electric field around the dipole element causes the bulb to light up. Note, the bulb is very bright adjacent with the side end of the dipole arm and extinguishes as it is moved to the dipole centered feedpoint. Also, the light is dimmed at the antenna tip in-line with the dipole axis. The voltage profile map seen in the fluorescent light bulb video augments the RF signal map seen in the lamp-bridged receiver antenna video. Also, it extends our demonstration to the expected observation that there is (theoretically) no RF radiation off the end tips of dipole elements. CONCLUSION In this second installment of our Lego-Style Antenna series, we have shown how this construct together with two simple tools can be... --- ### Current Public Service Opportunities - Published: 2016-09-23 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/23/current-public-service-opportunities/ - Categories: General, Newsletter In an effort to find speakers for the club meetings, I have been reaching out to other HAMs in the community. One HAM, Mark Richards (K1MGY), serves on the Amateur Radio section of the Boston Athletic Associations (BAA) Communications Committee and is reaching out for help with some events. If you are interested in helping out with any of the below events, please contact Mark at kmalittl1@gmail. com. Jimmy Fund Walk, this Sunday. Opportunities to work medical tents along the Boston Marathon course with a top-notch comms team. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Cycle for Life, October 1, Holliston, MA. Need comms folks for hydration/medical stations on the course. Ashland Half Marathon, October 29, Ashland, MA. Need SAG (runner transportation/course safety) vehicles and fixed station operators. Best and 73, Brian (AB1ZO) --- ### Nashua ARC Youth Outreach Event! > Mine Falls Park hosts many youth soccer games every Saturday throughout the Fall. We are hoping to provide kids some insight into what Ham Radio is... - Published: 2016-09-21 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/21/youth-outreach-event/ - Categories: Activities, General, Newsletter, Youth Activities - Tags: Fox Hunting, Youth Outreach Hi fellow members, Nashua ARC will be hosting its first Youth Outreach event on Saturday, October 1 from 8am-2pm at Mine Falls Park in Nashua, NH. Mine Falls Park is located on Whipple St. Mine Falls Park hosts many youth soccer games every Saturday throughout the Fall. We are hoping to take full advantage of that fact in order to provide kids a bit of insight into what comprises amateur radio. Some of the activities that we will likely host are: Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) Station Fox hunts Use some HT's and get on the Nashua repeaters This we hope is to generate enough interest so that we can plan a follow-on activity a bit later. Now comes the part where AB1ZO looks at you warmly, scratches his cheek, and asks you for a favor. It might go down something like this: A friendly, casual conversation between me and you And that favor is that we really do need your help to come out to the Park: Help us set up beginning around 8 am (Setup is pretty important to have able bodies around for. We'll shoot to get on the air as quickly as possible after. Perhaps by 9 am) Work the booth (Most importantly) Interact with the kids. Help breakdown around 2 pm The more the merrier and the longer you're able to give a bit of time, the better as well. Additionally, you are completely encouraged to bring family and friends, especially if they are < 18 years old. But in all honesty, I think it would be fantastic if we had a significant contingent of the club at the Park, to welcome our guests. But don't do it for me, do it for the kids: Do it for the kids... If you think you can give some time, please contact myself (bsmigs@gmail. com) or Jamey (KC1ENX) to let us know what you would like to help with. Again, we really could use the volunteers in all the aforementioned areas. We're hoping this is a facet of the club you will all embrace as it evolves. Best and 73, Brian, AB1ZO --- ### Moxons in the Attic (Part 1) - Published: 2016-09-17 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/17/moxon-stealth-antenna-1/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew A few months ago, I wrote an article on building a stealth antenna farm. Since I live in the land of CC&Rs, antennas must be “dual use” such as a vertical hidden inside a PVC flagpole, or low dipoles and inverted Vees hidden in trees. I spent many years as an avid contester and DX-chaser to appreciate the logic of stacked beams on towers to enhance the thrill of the hunt. Thanks to Layne, AE1N, I checked out the website of Jeff, AC0C (www. acoc. com) for some ideas of how to build a multi-band station in one's attic without the condo association vigilantes running him out of town. Jeff spent countless hours crawling around his attic to construct multi-element antennas for 160 through 6 meters. Spurred on by Jeff's success, I decided to explore the attic of my garage to see what I could do. As I described in the MAY Nashua ARC bulletin, I settled on building Moxon antennas for 15 and 17 meters. An old adage about antenna building states that an antenna must be built-in lousy weather in order to work right. Thirty years in New Hampshire lent credence to this axiom as I spent many a cold, windy day on a tower doing antenna work. In Florida, a similar law applies: build an antenna in the summer months while sweating profusely rather than during the comfortable winter weather. Again this makes sense: DX and contesting fill up the winter months to have time to mess with antennas. It is also important to remember that, during such endeavors, you will become enamored with you antenna as you take breaks to warm your body (in NH) or drink a gallon of water (in FL), all the while cursing this law of antenna building. But I'm getting ahead of myself. My garage attic is roughly 20 x 20 feet with an apex of about five feet that runs north-south. I had selected the Moxon design because a conventional 2-element beam would not fit in the space available. I elected to build a Moxon for 15 and 17 meters that would fit in the space available without having to encounter obstacles like the ventilation duct work. I was also fortunate in that my home is one of the older models that do not have foil-backed insulation inside the roof that creates a radiation-proof box. The joists junctions are reinforced with metal plates as part of hurricane building codes. My plan was to attach the wires to the roof trusses and stay away from these plates as much as possible to avoid interaction. The 17-meter Moxon is a little over seven feet between elements while the 15-meter Moxon is about six feet between elements. I used a piece of half-inch PVC pipe as a template to mark the joists for the 17-meter antenna. The antenna is about 2. 5 feet above the attic floor for a total height of eleven feet above the ground. I had modeled it at 13 feet so I figured it would be close enough. The 15-meter Moxon is about 15 inches above the 17-meter one. When viewed from the top, the antennas look like concentric rectangular loops. Over the course of several weeks, I grunted, groaned and sweated my way back and forth measuring and installing the wires. I worked during the morning hours before I was soaked before 10:00 AM. I found myself wishing I could have my five-year-old grandson help me. He can stand upright and is plenty flexible to maneuver around the joists. While I did not have to worry about the obvious safety issue of working on a tower, I did at times feel I was a candidate for the NFL concussion protocol from bumping my head. I tried using my cycling helmet but it interfered with my headlamp. Another similarity to tower work is that I had to make N trips back and forth in the attic for stuff I forgot. This is, however, much more bearable that climbing up and down a tower to get what I forgot. Figure 1 shows a view toward the south end of the attic. The two pieces of PVC form the element separators for the 15-meter Moxon (top wire) and the 17-meter Moxon (bottom wire). Figure 1 – Moxon Element Separators, 15m (top) & 17m (bottom) Figure 2 shows the reflector elements for each antenna as secured to the joists, looking north through the attic. The white standoff fasteners are coax cable tie-downs that I found at the hardware store. Standard house wiring fasteners would have worked but they leave little room for pulling wires if I needed to make adjustments. (My first attempt was to use duct tape to hold the elements up. However, the heat soon made them droop. ) Figure 2 – Moxon Reflector Elements, 15 m (top) & 17m (bottom) Figure 3 shows one corner of the director of each antenna looking east. The duct work to the left is part of the ventilation system while the open duct vents directly from the garage below. The yellow fence standoff on the upper antenna is the bend point for one end of the 15-meter director. Not visible to the left is a similar bend point for the 17-meter director. Figure 3 - Looking East-from the Reflectors Figure 4 shows the temporary feed points for each antenna. Figure 4 – Feedpoint for 15m (top) & 17m (bottom) The figures above show the project to date. I installed the 17-meter antenna first and measured its SWR performance with my analyzer. I found that it resonated beautifully at 16. 7 MHz with a 1. 1:1 SWR while bulging to 3. 9:1 at 18. 1 MHz. I shortened each element by a foot and ran measurements again, this time the resonant point moved up to 17. 3 MHz (1. 3:1 SWR) and the SWR at 18. 1 MHz dropped to 2. 7:1. I folded the elements back another four inches on each end and measured the response. I observed the SWR bottoming out at 1. 5:1 at 18. 1 MHz where I wanted to be. As a point... --- ### Upcoming Tech Night Suggestions Forum > At our most recent Tech Night meeting on Sept 12, at the end of the meeting, Fred asked Brian (AB1ZO) to list a few of the upcoming tech night events. - Published: 2016-09-16 - Modified: 2023-05-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/16/tech-night-suggestions/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, General, Homebrewing - Tags: Antennas, CW, DX, HF, Homebrew, QRP, Tech Night At our most recent Tech Night meeting on Sept 12, at the end of the meeting, Fred (AB1OC) asked Brian (AB1ZO) to list a few of the upcoming tech night events. One such event would be to host a kit-building tech night. Plans are in the works to secure Pixie QRP kits (which run in cost from $3-$13) or some variant of this and assemble the kits during the allocated time. It's expected that more experienced HAMs can mentor newbies in endeavors such as these. Secondly, an informal poll was asked of members in attendance regarding the types of topics that would be of general interest. These included: Low-band antenna discussion: Due to the decreasing sunspot activity, "40m is becoming the new 20m". What options to HAMs have to get on the lower bands, particularly if you are real-estate limited? Receiver vs Transmit antenna discussion -- options for both High-frequency terrain analysis (HFTA) in order to better understand propagation effects of one's signal Making sense of the influence of sunspot activity on amateur radio in general. Some energy, for example, could be dedicated to interpreting the sunspot GUI that appears on the website after login and understanding the science of the ionosphere. Working more with test-equipment kits and how to use them. This may include oscilloscopes, spectrum and network analyzers, frequency counters, signal generators, building CW paddles/keyers, and soldering kits. Using RTL-SDR dongles (or again some variant) and using them in small DIY projects that we could potentially complete in the allotted time. I do want to say a few other things: Since our club is growing, and many new people are joining, I do want to stress that it is important that sometimes we "recycle" old Tech night topics in an effort to better educate our newer members. In this capacity, I would again hope that veteran members could help train younger ones. For example, I cannot solder to save my life. I would love some training during a surface-mounting tech night (since I couldn't make the last one) and have someone experience show me the ropes. Many of you are working on interesting projects at home. No matter how small or large you think it is, I am 100% certain there are a group of people within the club who would like to hear what you have to say. So if you would like to present at Tech Night something you have been working on, please do not hesitate to email me at bsmigs@gmail. com. I also want to solicit your feedback on this blog as well as my email for any other topics. The more suggestions we have the merrier! It's important we adequately represent the interests of as many members of the group as we can. In the coming weeks, I will start to construct a more concrete list of potential Tech Night topics, but help me -- help you :) Thanks for reading and see you on-the-air. Best and 73, Brian (AB1ZO) --- ### I Can't Believe My Antenna's Up! > I suppose the title could also be: (or how I learned to stop procrastinating and finally put up my HF antenna). Putting up my first antenna. - Published: 2016-09-15 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/15/my-first-antenna/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Mentor I suppose the title could also be: (or how I learned to stop procrastinating and finally put up my HF antenna). Well, I did it. I finally got my HF antenna up after months of admiring it through the plastic wrap and having the world's most expensive paperweight (IC-7300) sitting in my metashack (how could I really ascribe any reality to it when it was still merely a concept). What I would like to accomplish in this article is not only a description of the construction etc. but also of some mental gymnastics, I had to do in order to get to the finish line. Way back in February, I was able to get my General license. I was pretty stoked (to use the common tongue) and looking forward to getting it up and going. This required, essentially, two things: a radio and an antenna. Easy-peasy, right? The first really was easy. I wanted a 7300. Who didn't? The proverbial ICOM bandwagon drove by my house daily. Several times a day while banging on a few drums. So, I did my homework as best as I could, talked to a few folks, and with not much arm twisting, bought a rig. Now I needed the antenna. And some drums... For this portion of the ordeal, I ended up doing my homework a little more. I spoke to Fred and Anita at length about their choices: read their blog, saw their own setup in person, read posts in the Elmering session of Nashua ARC's website, read comments on eHam. net about various antenna types. Some factors to consider are — in no particular order: Budget How much help you will have to put this up Aesthetics Available real estate How many bands do you want to work At my QTH in MA, I have 0. 5 acres in the front and back. My QTH in Tewksbury, MA Having done my homework, I decided to go with the Buckmaster 7-band off-center fed dipole rated for 3 kW. 3 kW antenna at the top I think the price point was a bit north of 300 bucks. Having made up my mind, I didn’t do anything about it. Upon reflection, I think I really didn’t act because work consumed me until mid-May. I literally had no free weekends for months, so there was no rush. In the interim, Fred and Anita had opened up their station for use, and I took joy in hearing about others’ QSOs for a while. In order to still feel like a HAM, however, I decided to take my Extra exam in May. Once I that got out of the way I bought the Buckmaster in June on one fateful Thursday afternoon, and again, there it sat in the meta shack until September. Excuse #2: Honestly, with a project this big (at least for me) I think I was a bit gun-shy to get it up. I felt unqualified to do it; maybe even afraid to fail amidst all these competent people in the club. Up until now, this may have read as Dear Diary, so let’s get to some actual station construction! Labor Day weekend was the ticket. Good grief was this tough! Probably 85-90% of the total time was spent trying to figure this out. Mainly because, looking at the graphic, I had to get this about 35 ft. in the air. I got frustrated pretty quickly... Buckmaster OCF dipole installation picture. Right from their website Now maybe that doesn’t seem like it’s that high, but I assure you, it becomes pretty darn high when you keep failing. So thinking about the problem and researching on the internet led me to some methods to try to get a rope up in the tree: Use a potato gun Call folks from the club to come lend a hand Rent a scissor lift from Home Depot Use a bow and arrow Use rope tied to a rock or stick and try to launch over the branch I want. Here was what the jury decided on each of these options: Built one! Fires really well, but had issues initially with sparking it in the combustion chamber. Turns out the reason was due to insufficient amounts of butane getting into the chamber. In any case, I abandoned this as a choice. But who's to say I can't be mischievous at a later date. I felt bad bothering folks despite one ethos of amateur radio is to Elmer each other, so I didn’t ask for help. Bad news bears to those of you in the same predicament. Too expensive for the little time I needed it. I think Home Depot (spelling error intentional) wanted something in the neighborhood of 200 bucks or more. Don’t have one and nearest friend with one lived in Carlisle. Would have to work around his schedule and at this point, I was thru being patient. Rock idea worked reasonably well, but honestly, the best option was to get a stick and tie nylon fishing line around it. I have a pretty good arm it turns out, so I tied fishing line around the stick and started throwing. In full disclosure, the elimination of these options takes us from Friday to Monday. Wisps of steam could be seen emanating from my ears. The stick was attaining the requisite height and hitting where I needed it to. The huge snag (no pun intended), though, was the fishing line was getting caught in the branches on the way down. Yet another problem. Cue engineer father-in-law. He’s the guy labeled “this guy” in the picture. Helper Dude He recommended winding a large amount of fishing line around the stick (but not all of it so that there would still be some left over on my side of the branch) so that when it came down the other side of the branch, it would unravel and not be as likely to get caught. This worked like a charm! With the fishing line on either side of the branch, we tied the actual nylon, water / UV resistant rope (which I picked up at Home Depot) somewhere... --- ### Boxboro Youth Outreach Summary > We already have one such star in the club, Jamey's daughter Abby (KC1FFX), who serves as Youth Advocate on the board as part of our Youth Outreach efforts. - Published: 2016-09-14 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/14/boxboro-youth-outreach-summary/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Youth Activities - Tags: Hamvention, Mentor, NARS Event, Youth Outreach I had the pleasure this past Saturday to attend the Boxboro Hamfest with many members of Nashua ARC. Amidst all the talks, activities, vendor booths, and flea markets, one component I was interested in was attending the Youth Forum. As some of you know, Jamey (KC1ENX) and I (AB1ZO), are spearheading Nashua ARC's involvement with recruiting and extending our membership to include young people; specifically targeting young folks 18 and under. We already have one such star in the club, Jamey's daughter Abby (KC1FFX), who serves as Youth Advocate on the board. This forum was important for Jamey and me to attend in order to extract lessons learned from other clubs who have successfully built an infrastructure based around attracting and retaining young people. Also in attendance (from what I could see) was Skip (K1NKR) whom many of you know has been active with the Girl Scouts and Thinking Day on the Air. The remainder of this article, therefore, will be to summarize lessons I learned and hopefully engender a discussion among interested parties of what we can do in the coming months. As a relevant aside, I truly believe this all can only work, if we have large buy-in from you as the members, so your input is certainly requested and valued. Lastly, get a good cup of hot-joe, you're in for a long read... at least I'm honest :) When the Forum began, the audience was faced with a large panel of kids all under 18. Easily 10-12 kids, with a majority of them possessing their General license. Many (if not all) were active members of the Clay Center Amateur Radio Club (and even held positions in the club) which has a whopping 260 members. They boast interesting facts: 12 former astronauts have visited the club The meeting area for the club also has an astro observatory so kids can star-gaze as well Roughly 93 out of 260 members are under 18. (One interesting side note is that if a young person was under 16, then their parents also joined as well due to club guidelines. ) Many of these kids are also students at a local high school in Brookline, MA: namely Dexter Southfield High School. One of the club's mentors is Bob (K5TEC), who has been involved with amateur radio and working with kids for over 20 years; his day job (when he is not a weekend warrior on the radio) is a teacher at the aforementioned high school. Essentially, after a brief introduction by the students regarding their age, license level, and background, the Q&A ensued. The audience began zinging questions to the youth panel and I'll share some of the results. Skip (K1NKR) had begun by asking since many of you are bright, young students, why did you choose to do amateur radio verses, really, anything else? Here were their answers: My mom/dad was interested and excited about it, so I became excited too. Additionally, my friends were doing it, and so I wanted to check it out. Since my school offered this as a program, I wanted to check it out due to its proximity and my interest in science I wanted to meet new people (both other kids in the club and on the air) and learn about astronomy, radios, and cultures other people in the world have I have a tech interest and like building computers and working with Linux I like playing sports -- Fox hunting is fun because I can run around with my friends doing something techy and sporty I really enjoy "engineering stations" -- having a big project and being "in the thick of it" was fun for me I enjoy science (electronics, robotics, rocketry, physics, astronomy, computing) so this seemed natural to get into. I liked the idea of contacting folks all over the world and was interested in contesting when I learned about it So looking over this list, I can see a few trends here: A young person became interested because someone else they look up to or respect was already involved in the hobby and remained exceedingly positive and excited about it Amateur radio had a natural overlap with many other scientific and engineering disciplines. One facet which I didn't consider was that for the sportier types -- they seemed to gravitate towards the fox hunting Giving a kid a "station building science project" that's all their own to work on, gave them autonomy. For those kids involved in the DIY electronics maker movement, this became another natural extension. And probably the most important reason, a bunch of other kids were doing it! -- critical mass was achieved -- and they did activities together! After speaking with Bob (K5TEC) he mentioned that most kids went to the club meetings every month -- but the club meeting structure would sometimes deviate from having a speaker each week. (Didn't get an answer about how yet, but getting a reply is in the works) There did exist a core group of kids (4 or more) which kept the ball moving for the rest and were responsible for more of the organization of events etc. In fact, the club also had a weekly youth network run totally by kids. Bob stressed that repeaters are essential to keep kids talking to each other. Bob additionally stressed that is we would need to make sure the club is very social -- something to be cognizant of as we move forward. One question I was particularly interested in, given the hectic schedules of high school students, is when they studied for their exams. The answers were: Flashcards / HAM test apps on phone At a summer camp sponsored by the club Studied after school but primarily most studied during the summer I think the trend is evident. As a club, we will need to concentrate heavily on licensing kids during the summertime. Moreover, putting into place a summer camp of sorts which focuses not just on the test questions but experimentation etc. will be crucial. Bob (K5TEC) followed-up with a few more comments. He found it VERY important to get kids on the air... --- ### A Very Memorable Club Meeting > We had a very memorable club meeting last evening. Tom Gallagher NY2RF, CEO of the ARRL and Dave Patton NN1N were our speakers. - Published: 2016-09-07 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/09/07/a-very-memorable-club-meeting/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, ARRL, NARS Event, On The Air, Youth Outreach We had a very memorable club meeting last evening. Tom Gallagher NY2RF, CEO of the ARRL and Dave Patton NN1N were our speakers. Tom and Dave talked with us about their plans for the future of the ARRL and our hobby. Their plans include: Initiatives to bring young people and new folks into our hobby Plans for electronics oriented education and training Social Media enhanced information sharing within the Amateur Radio community These goals align well with the work that our club has been doing over the past 18 months. 13 Colonies Top Club Award Presentation We also used this opportunity to recognize the members of our club who operated as K2K New Hampshire in the Thirteen Colonies Special Event this year. Their efforts made our club the Top Club in the event this year, making over 9,700 contacts. Abby Finchum Presenting our Youth Outreach Plans Abby Finchum KC1FFX, her Dad Jamey KC1ENX, and Brian Smigielski AB1ZO have been working on a project to interest young people in Amateur Radio. Abby did a nice presentation of their plans and asked for folks to volunteer to help us. Members and Guests at our Meeting We invited several other clubs in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to join us for our meeting. Our club had a good turnout for the meeting. Our Thanks to Tom Gallagher and Dave Patton We ended our meeting by thanking Tom and Dave for taking the time to come to talk about where the ARRL and Amateur Radio are headed. Their plans and work to keep our hobby strong and to evolve the ARRL into the future are very much appreciated by the Amateur Radio community and by our club. Fred, AB1OC --- ### NPOTA Fun - Activating a New Park - Published: 2016-08-31 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/31/activating-new-npota/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: HF, NPOTA, On The Air Ever since we built our Mobile HF Station, we've talked about taking it to Acadia National Park in Maine and operating from the top of Cadillac Mountain. The 2016 ARRL NPOTA event gave us the motivation to plan the trip for the week before Labor Day. The week before our trip, we saw an article in the ARRL Letter encouraging operation from the newly declared National Monument, Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine, which had just be designated as NPOTA MN84. Visiting the NPS website, we learned that the park is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Bar Harbor, where we are staying. We decided to accept the challenge to be the first to activate the new park. Our F150 Mobile Station at the entrance to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Tuesday, August 30 was our first full day of vacation, we left our hotel room and parked by the Acadia visitor center and called "CQ National Parks". We ended up with 76 contacts in the log from NP01. After that we got on the road and headed toward Katahdin Woods and Waters, activating counties along the way including the county line between Penobscot and Aroostook Counties. NPS Map of the Park As a newly designated National Monument, Katahdin Woods and Waters does not yet have a visitors center or any signs showing you when you enter and exit the park. We just had the map (above) to determine where the park boundaries were. All of the roads in black on the map are gravel roads that are also used for logging trucks. Entrance to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument We entered the park from Swift Brook Road off Rt 11 in the lower right corner of the map. We drove through the lower section by the entrance and then headed north along the Eastern Branch of the Penobscot River and operated near the Loos camping area. The sign above confirmed that we were within the park boundaries. Scenic View of Katahdin Woods and Waters NM The scenery along the river was beautiful with views of the mountains in the distance. Operating at MN84 We started operating on 20m and the pileups were huge! Everyone was excited to get this new NPOTA into the log. Fred, AB1OC/M ended up going split on 20m due to the size of the pile-ups. After a while, he moved to 40m to give the close in folks a chance at MN84. We went back and further between 20m and 40m until the pile-ups thinned out. We also made 18 QSOs with the club callsign N1FD to also give the club credit for the activation. We really enjoyed activating the park and the people we talked to were great! We made a total of 350 QSOs from MN84. Friendly Sign at Katahdin Woods & Waters We also plan to activate Acadia National Park NP01 again from Cadillac Mountain this week. We will also activate Saint Croix Island, HS01 and Roosevelt Campobello International Park, AA21 in Canada (as AB1OC/VE9 and AB1QB/VE9). Activating MN84 for the first time was truly a memorable experience. We enjoyed it so much we will be back on Saturday to give more NPOTA chasers a chance at MN84! Hope to talk to you on the air! Anita, AB1QB --- ### Our Family Picnic is on August 27!! > Our Summer Family Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 27th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. - Published: 2016-08-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/19/our-family-picnic-2016/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event, Picnic Our Summer Family Picnic is scheduled for Saturday, August 27th at Greeley Park in Nashua. All club members and their family members are invited. This will be a potluck lunch and members are encouraged to bring a dish. I have created a sign-up sheet. You can view it here. Please edit this sheet to indicate whether you will attend, how many family members including yourself will attend, and what you will bring. We will start to gather around 10:00 am and lunch will be served at noon. Directions can be found on the club event calendar. The rain date will be Sunday, August 28. If there is inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday, stay tuned to our Forums for updates. See you at our picnic! 73, Anita, AB1QB --- ### Learning Morse Code - Our CW Training Classes Have Begun > Our club has began teaching a Morse Code training class.  The class was created in response to interest in learning Morse Code by our club members. - Published: 2016-08-17 - Modified: 2024-08-28 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/17/learning-morse-code/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW, CW Class, Homebrew, Mentor, Software A Big Thanks To Our Morse Code Instructor Team - Layne, AE1N, Mike, K1WVO, Dennis, K1LGQ and Wayne, KB1HYL. The Nashua Area Radio Club has begun teaching a Morse Code training class on Saturday, July 16th 2016. The class was created in response to interest in learning Morse Code, expressed by several club members who are drawn to this unique mode of communication. While this unique skill-set is no longer a licensing requirement it continues to be a long standing practice enjoyed by may radio amateurs worldwide. Numerous groups and organizations exit to encourage and promote the practice of communications using Morse code such as FISTS; North American QRP CW club (NAQCC); CW Operators Club (CWops); and the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC). Also, you can learn more about Morse Code and CW operation on our website here. Dennis K1LGQ: "didit dah dah didit" The use of Morse Code is one of the simplest ways of modulating a Continuous Wave (CW) RF carrier by generating characters composed of a series of “dits and dahs” to create a message. Most QRP (low power) operators favor CW operation because of its low circuit complexity, lightweight (for portable operation) and extreme efficiency. A limited number of amateur radio operators find great satisfaction in operating using Morse Code aka CW as their only mode. Mike K1WVO 'Practice Practice Practice ... ' The Nashua Area Radio Club Code course employs the Chuck Adams – K7QO, training CD. Chuck’s course is available for download free of charge and is well-organized with over 500 audio MP3 files to help learn and improve your skill levels. Our class encourages following K7QO’s guidelines and instructions to develop good CW habits that avoid the later roadblocks to greater speed and proficiency. Our class has introduced a few variations to Chuck K7QO’s training plan with a couple of special CW practice quizzes that help keep the classroom fun and more interesting. The G4FON software trainer utility has added to the fun with background noise, QRM and QSB listening challenges, which adds a taste of real CW operation. Learning and gaining proficiency with Morse Code requires practice, practice, practice. The K7QO training MP3 files can be listened to with a PC, MP3 player or in many of the newer car CD players. From the $2 Paperclip to a $440 Bengali Key Our training class has provided an opportunity for many of the students to observe several different Morse Code keys. A couple of students have also brought in some innovative code practice keys that were constructed from some unique household items. Other students are building a small microcontroller based keyer that can be used with a straight key or a single or dual paddle key for training or use with a transmitter. The class will continue for a few more weeks and then many of the students will be ready to try their first on the air CW QSO. Each on the air QSO will help grow their CW skills and is ultimately the best form of practice, practice, practice. Mike, K1WVO --- ### Broadband Matching for Antennas > This article discusses some work on designing a matching network to make antennas match well (low VSWR) across the entire ham band.  More at Tech Night. - Published: 2016-08-15 - Modified: 2017-08-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/15/broadband-matching-for-antennas/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew, Mentor, Software, Tech Night This article discusses some work on designing a matching network to make antennas match well (low VSWR) across the entire ham band. This will be a described in more detail at the September Tech Night. Antennas have an impedance (or match) that varies with frequency. Transmitters want to see a matched antenna with an impedance of 50 ohms. The antenna has the best match at one frequency and the match gets worse as the operating frequency changes. Some bands and antennas are more challenging to match than others. Shortened or loaded antennas have a narrow range of match frequencies. The 75/80 meter band has a wide bandwidth in term of percentage. Here's a plot of the SWR for my 40 Meter Dipole. It's a good match at 7. 000 MHz and degrades to about 2:1 at 7. 100 MHz. Obviously, this is not optimized. SWR for 40M Dipole Modern radios have built in automatically adaptive matching networks make the radios work over a wider bandwidth, but networks are lossy and reduce transmitted power. A manual antenna tuner has a lot lower loss than the built in tuner, but it requires manual adjustment. In fact, the extra tuned circuits generally act to make the antenna have even less bandwidth. The QUCS RF circuit simulation program has the ability to model SWR, bandwidth, matching networks based on data about antenna performance. The antenna data can come from either an antenna modeling program such as 4NEC2 or EZNEC. Or the data can come from a measurement made by a good antenna analyzer. QUCS also has a built in optimizer. It has the ability to try hundreds of circuit values and home in on an optimal design. The optimizer setup needs a definition of "optimal". For the case of a broadband antenna, "The worst case SWR anywhere in the ham band shall be as low as possible". In the terms that QUCS understands, "minimize the maximum SWR over the frequency range 7. 00 to 7. 35 MHz. Here is the result from running the optimizer on the data for my mistuned 40M dipole. QUCS has designed a broadband matching network that can achieve less than 1. 5:1 SWR over the whole band. QUCS achieved this by varying the components of a filter network. I drew a general filter network and let QUCS tune the component values. This network is designed with coaxial stubs. The model of the antenna is stored as a file in the X1 file component. Line7 is a 30-meter coax feedline. The actual matching network consists of Line 1, 2, 3, 4. Each line is 50 Ohm coax. Line 1 and 3 are configured as open stubs. The line lengths predicted by the model are... Line 1: 7. 75 meters LIne 2: 4. 47 meters Line 3: 8. 49 meters Line 5: 8. 03 meters Here's another example. 160-meter antennas are often implemented as shortened loaded verticals. The loading makes the match very narrow-band. The red curve in the plot below shows a top loaded 160 meter vertical. It only covers a fraction of the band. The blue curve shows the result of an optimization run that selected the values for a 7 component matching network. It achieves about 1. 7:1 across the whole band. This network uses capacitors and inductors because coax stubs would be very long on 160 meters. The component values for this network... C1: 3450 pF L1: 3. 954 uH C2: 3978 pF L2: 6. 951 uH C3: 6156 pF L3: 2. 831 uH C4: 4778 pF I have not built any of these networks to see how they work in practice. The 160-meter network has some extreme values and it is probably very touchy to get right. Building that network to handle Tx power will require vacuum variable capacitors in parallel with high quality stable fixed value capacitors. But, the 160 network doesn't really need 7 components. Put in one less stage of L-C and the ripple across the passband goes up a bit. Conclusions QUCS is a great RF circuit simulator. This shows that it can work with data from an antenna model or analyzer and can optimize matching networks to create a broadband antenna. Jeff, WA1HCO --- ### Hands-On Yagi Antenna Construction 2.0 for Teaching and Experimentation > The most important piece of equipment in ham radio is our antenna.  We are connected to the world with the magic of radio waves! - Published: 2016-08-14 - Modified: 2017-12-03 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/lego-yagi-antenna-1/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, License Class, Mentor, Tech Night, VHF/UHF The most important piece of equipment in ham radio is our antenna. We are connected to the world with the magic of radio waves! Each License Exam from Technician through Extra class has questions to test our knowledge on antenna design and building skills. Home-brewed antennas are easy and relatively inexpensive projects. This article describes a 2m, 3-element Yagi antenna construction concept that the N1FD FCC license teaching team has used over the last year for class demonstrations. The “Lego” style construction (v. 2. 0) shown in the above picture is our new design that demonstrates the operating principles of the ubiquitous basic dipole antenna as well as a 2-meter, 3 element Yagi. (Note, This project evolved from an earlier effort by Diana Eng at Makezine. com, which can be seen here. In this Newsletter issue, we will describe the construction of the “Lego” stylized antenna and show how it can illustrate basic properties of a dipole antenna. We will build a Yagi antenna with the addition of reflector and director arms in a future Newsletter article. CONSTRUCTION of the LEGO STYLIZED ANTENNA. Lego Antenna Parts and Receiver Antenna The antenna demonstration unit consists of two assemblies. A handheld receiver dipole set to a fixed frequency (e. g. , 146. 550 MHz). It is shown at the top of the photo above. It follows a “plumber’s delight” construction using pieces of PVC pipe for a short boom and handles. The dipole arms are two telescoping (7-28 inch) FM radio replacement antennas, available on eBay or Radio Shack ($4-6 dollars). The arms feed through the boom and are epoxied. Bridging across the arms is a common 6-volt flashlight bulb. The bulb lights up when the dipole receives a resonant rf signal. The “Lego stylized” Yagi antenna components are shown below the receiver unit. The boom (middle item) is made of red oak dimensioned at ¾ x 1 ½ x 48 The top surface is grooved to hold an epoxied 3/16 steel rod. The bottom surface has drilled recesses to fit ¾ in PVC pipe for leg stands. The edge of the boom has two 24-inch adhesive tape rulers running from center to front and back of the boom. The rulers read-out the spacing between the driven dipole element and the parasitic reflector and director arms. In the photo, the D. E. and parasitic elements are seen below the 48 in. boom. The center element is the driven dipole and it is flanked by identical units that can be configured as either reflectors or directors. Each unit consists of two telescoping FM radio antenna rods epoxied in a grooved piece of red oak ( ¾ x 1 ½ x 3 inches) serving as “riders” on the boom. The telescope arms can be adjusted to “resonance” at any frequency in the 2-meter band. The bottom of all riders has 2 x ½ inch rare earth magnets. These allow the three antenna elements to be fixed at any position on the 48 in. boom. You can view a closer look at the assembled Yagi antenna configuration in this video (Click on Link) DEMONSTRATIONS OF BASIC DIPOLE BEHAVIOR. 1. Antenna Resonance Determined by Dipole Length. As we all know, the resonance length of a dipole is given by the equation: L (in inches) = 5616/ . We can show this fact with aid of the “receiver” antenna, which is set for a frequency of 146. 55 MHz The light bulb of this antenna will light when it senses a signal of this value from our “Lego” antenna. In the video below (Click on Link), we begin with a resonant D. E. length of 38. 5 inches and see the receiver antenna light up. Next, we manually shorten the D. E. and see the bulb light dramatically dim. When the D. E. length is returned near the start value, the light bulb again brightens up. Effect of SWR on Signal Strength. Most modern transceivers have a built-in auto-tuner that can match SWR up to 3:1. We know this only makes the “radio happy”, still we key down without much thought on how our Tx signal degrades with a 3:1 match. The pictures below use the transmitting “Lego” dipole and receiver dipole to show the received signals for an SWR of 1. 1 and 3. 0. The SWR was changed by lengthening the D. E. elements by 2 inches while holding the Tx frequency at 146. 55 MHz Receiver Signal-for Lego Dipole SWR 1. 1 Receiver Signal- for Lego Dipole SWR 3. 0 3. Polarization Effects between Tx and Rx Antennas. A horizontal dipole shows “horizontal” polarization; meaning the electric field vector of the rf signal is parallel to the earth surface. Similarly, a vertical dipole displays “vertical” polarization with the electric field perpendicular to the earth. We all learn this in a Technician class course. When we use our 2m HT’s for short distance contacts, Tx and Rx antennas with opposite orientation create a huge signal loss. The effect is shown dramatically in the video below. CONCLUSION Our classroom constructible antenna for demonstrations in our Ham Radio license classes has evolved in design over the past year. We believe it has been a useful resource, helping students translate textbook theory to “Hands On” practice. Perhaps, this review has kindled interest for our readers to think of their Next Antenna Project! 73 & Hope to hear you on the air, Dave N1RF --- ### Summertime Station and Antenna Projects At AB1OC/AB1QB > Summer is the time of year that many of us work on antenna projects and improve our station. Anita and I did both of these things at our QTH this summer. - Published: 2016-08-14 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/summer-antenna-projects/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Tower Summer is the time of year that many of us work on our antennas and improve our stations. Anita AB1QB and I did both of these things at our QTH this summer. Removing Lower SteppIR Yagi From Tower Our SteppIR DB36 Yagis were due for some maintenance so we took them off our tower. Special thanks to all the members of the Nashua Area Radio Club who helped us remove, recondition and reinstall our antennas! Matt Strelow, KC1XX of XX Towers and Andrew Toth provided equipment and know how to safely remove our two large SteppIR DB36 Yagis with help from the rest of us. Lowering Antenna With Electric Winch The SteppIR DB36 Yagis weigh almost 200 lbs each and Matt made good use of his electric winch to lower them. Antenna Coming Down The Tram Line The picture above shows the lower antenna coming off the tower. We used a Tram Line system to lower both antennas to the ground so that we could rebuild them. SteppIR DB36 Antenna On The Ground The SteppIR DB36 Yagis are quite large. They have 36 ft booms and the driven elements are almost 50 ft from tip to tip! They completely fill up our back yard when they are both off of the tower. SteppIR Rebuild Element Pole Sun Damage The rebuild process began with a careful inspection of both antennas. They were both in good overall condition with some sun damage to the paint on the fiberglass element poles. Disassembled SteppIR DB36 We removed all the element tubes and sweeps from both antennas for rebuilding. The picture above shows the disassembled upper antenna. Rebuilt Stepper Motors Installed All four Stepper motors on both antennas were replaced. These motors move metal tapes inside hollow element tubes to adjust the length of each antenna's 4 movable elements. These adjustments are done automatically by controllers in our shack which receive frequency information from the radios which are connected to each antenna. Reconditioned Element Sweep Poles All of the element housing poles were cleaned, prepped and painted with a UV resistant clear coat to protect them from further sun damage. The poles cleaned up like new. New Element Sweeps Ready For Installation The assembly of all the new element sweep tubes (shown above) was done next. Each antenna has six sweeps. Element Pole Preparation The end of each element pole must be prepped with a tape system which ensures that the poles are seated properly, sealed to and firmly attached to the sweeps. This process and the associated assembly and tightening of the element couplers was the most time-consuming step in the rebuilding process as it had to be repeated a total of 24 times. Rebuilt Element Assembly Here's a picture of one of the rebuilt element tube assemblies. The ropes support the element tubes and keep them aligned when the antenna is up in the air. These elements are attached to the antenna motors with couplers and clamps. SteppIR DB36 Yagi Rebuild Complete The picture above shows the lower antenna with all the element tubes reattached. There is quite a bit of additional prep work associated with adjusting all the supports and taping all the exposed areas of the antennas which are susceptible to sun damage. Also, all the electrical wiring on the antenna must be checked to ensure good electrical connections and good overall condition of the wiring. SteppIR Ground Testing Ground Test Setup The final step in rebuilding the antennas is to test their operation on the ground. This ground test is done to ensure that all the motors are working correctly and that the element tapes move smoothly inside the rebuilt element tubes. Ground Test Results Another important part of the antenna Ground Test is to confirm that the antennas have a consistent resonant frequency and SWR on all bands. The resonant frequencies and SWR levels are far from those that would be measured when the antennas are on the tower at operating height. The idea here is to confirm that a resonance exists and that its frequency and SWR readings are repeatable as the antenna is adjusted to different bands. SteppIR Installation and Final Testing Tramming Antennas Onto A 100 Ft Tower With both antennas rebuilt, its was time for Matt and Andrew to return and, with help from folks from our club, reinstall the rebuilt antennas on our tower. The video above shows this process. It is quite something to see! The installation took about 3 1/2 hours. Updated SteppIR Controllers The last step in the SteppIR DB36 rebuild process was to install the latest firmware in the associated SDA100 Antenna Controllers. There were some integration issues between the updated SteppIR Firmware and our microHAM system but we are getting those worked out with help from the folks at both SteppIR and microHAM. Transceiver Upgrade Icom IC-7851 With Display Monitor I recently had a major birthday milestone and Anita surprised me with a new radio - an Icom IC-7851. This radio is an upgrade/replacement for our Icom IC-7800. While the two radios are quite similar in their operation and interfaces, I did not want to install the IC-7851 until the SteppIR antennas were reinstalled and all of their upgrades were working properly with our current radios. With the antennas done, it was the time to install the new radio! Icom C-7851 Transceiver The Icom IC-7851 has several important performance upgrades. The most impactful one is a new low phase noise oscillator which significantly improves RMDR performance compared to the IC-7800. The IC-7851 is in the top-tier of Transceivers in Sherwood Engineering's tests. The receivers in the IC-7851 are very quiet, have excellent Dynamic Range and perform great in when close-in interference is present. Icom IC-7851 Display Monitor The Icom IC-7851 has a higher resolution and faster display. It also supports higher resolution external monitors so we installed an upgraded display monitor along with the new radio. The IC-7851 has a number of new networking features and supports stand-alone remote operation over a LAN and the Internet. We are planning to use these capabilities to add a second remote operating gateway to our station.... --- ### Fall 2016 Ham Radio License Classes - Published: 2016-08-14 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/fall-2016-ham-radio-license-class/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: HF, License Class, License Exam, VHF/UHF The Nashua Area Radio Club has a dedicated team of Ham Radio license class instructors and we offer Technician, General, and Amateur Extra classes twice a year. We have a great track record using the Gordon West class materials and have 68 graduates who got their initial license or upgrade. Our classes are held at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nashua, 2300 Southwood Drive in Nashua. We setup a live VHF and HF station in the classroom, which allows us to provide live demonstrations of the class material. This helps students to better understand the material and also give them an idea of what they can do with their license once they have it. Class Radio Station This season, two new instructors have joined our team, Greg Fuller, W1TEN and Brian Smiglieski, AB1ZO, who are both graduates of our May 2016 Extra Class. They join our existing instructors Dave, N1RF, Skip K1NKR, Wayne AG1A, Aron W1AKI, Anthony, KC1DXL, Wayne, KB1HYL, Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB. We will hold a License Exam Session at the end of each class, starting a 4:00 pm on Sunday. We have scheduled 3 classes for this fall: More information can be found in the flyers below. Please pass this information along to anyone you know who is interested in a Ham Radio License or an upgrade. Contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net to sign up. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Our Second Round Of NPOTA Activations > We held our second series of National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) Activations this past week. We have the pleasure of activating two different parks this time. - Published: 2016-08-14 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/14/second-npota-activation/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Antennas, HF, NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air We held our second series of National Parks On The Air Activations this past week. The weather was beautiful and we have the pleasure of activating two different parks this time. Mobile HF In Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP On Saturday, Aron W1AKI and Merle W1MSI Insinga, Anita AB1QB and Fred AB1OC activated Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park (NPOTA HP26) in Vermont, USA. We used our Mobile HF station for this activation which was an SSB operation on 20m and 40m using 500w. Operating Mobile HF in NPOTA HP26 We took turns operating as two person teams with an operator and a logger. The IC-7000 radio which we use in our Mobile HF station is easily accessible for connection and we brought a laptop running N1MM+ which we connected to the radio. This made logging accurate and easy. We made a little over 210 QSOs in about 2 1/2 hours in Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller on Saturday. Saint-Gaudens NHS On Sunday, we activated Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (NPOTA NS60) for the second time. In addition to the gang from Saturday, Joe KB1RLC and Jill Gordon, Jeff Millar WA1HCO, Ira Brand KC1EMJ and Mike Ryan K1WVO joined us for the Sunday activation. Portable Antenna - 20m Inverted-V We arrived early on Sunday and began our operation by setting up and tuning a 20m Inverted-V antenna for our portable station. We were able to get the feed point of this antenna up higher (about 35 feet) this time and the antenna performed better as a result. Portable Operation With A View - NPOTA NS60 We setup our 20m portable station in a shady spot at the bottom of the park's meadow. This gave us a nice view while operating. 20m Portable Station We used our 20m portable setup which is based upon the 100w Icom IC-7300 again for our second activation and it worked very well. We had a laptop computer running N1MM+ for logging. Nashua Area Radio Club Operating Portable In NPOTA NS60 The 20m portable station tent was our main "hang out" during our NPOTA activation on Sunday. Mobile HF On 40m In NPOTA NS60 We also had our Mobile HF station at Saint-Gaudens and we operated it on 40m. We were QRO at 500w from the Mobile. 40m Bandpass Filter - 500W We used the new bandpass filters from DXEngineering on both the 40m Mobile HF and 20m Portable stations. These filters have very low passband loss and very good filtering characteristics. We had no problems with interference between our 20m and 40m stations during our activations. Saint-Gaudens Park Staff The park staff rolled out the red carpet for us during both of our NPOTA activations. They displayed our signage and shared the information that we provided about the NPOTA program and our club. They really made us feel at home in the park. Great Weather And Music Draws A Crowd There was a large crowd of visitors at the park during our activation. The combination of great weather and live music was a huge draw for folks. This gave our club and our NPOTA activation some nice public exposure. Abe Lincoln Sculpture Saint-Gaudens was a renowned culture in his time and there are many impressive pieces of sculpture on the park grounds. The park recently commissioned this impressive sculpture of Abraham Lincoln which has become one of their centerpiece works in the park. Flower Gardens At Saint-Gaudens The park has many beautiful gardens and they offer a wonderful set of surroundings for the sculptures in the park. Our Favorite Walkway In The Park This is my personal favorite spot in the park - a Birch tree-lined walkway! Team Operating Our Portable Station Our NPOTA operations kept us pretty busy all afternoon on Sunday. We operated as two person teams - an operator and a logger. This gave more of us a chance to operate and the teamwork made it easier to handle the steady stream of callers. More Team Operating I got a chance to operate both the mobile and portable stations. It was great fun handling our contacts with NS60! Eyeball QSO With A Local HAM It seems that every Amateur Radio operation that I have the pleasure to be part of manages to hand our a nice surprise or two. This one was not an exception. I worked a local HAM, Jeff Katchen WB2NWR, in Cornish, NH which is very near the park. He came by afterward to visit and share his QSL card and a nice eyeball QSO! Our operation was a lot of fun - a success by all measures. We made a total of 570+ QSOs between our activations on Friday and Saturday. If we include our test activation of Saint-Gaudens, our NEQP activations of both parks and our July activation of Saint-Gaudens, we have made a total of 1,240+ NPOTA QSOs as N1FD! There was some discussion at the end of the day on Sunday about doing one more NPOTA activation this year. Our final one would be a high-power operation with both stations running QRO 500w! We will discuss this at an upcoming club meeting and we'll certainly do a third activation if there are enough interest and support. We took a lot of nice pictures between this last and our previous activations. You can look at them in the gallery which follows. 73, Fred, AB1OC --- ### WASK (Worked All Silent Keys) > While pondering what to write about for this month, I decided to take a detour from my usual lighthearted musings and reflect on a few Silent Key... - Published: 2016-08-11 - Modified: 2017-08-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/08/11/wask-silent-key/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: DX, Field Day, History I have been contributing articles to the Nashua Area Radio Club bulletin for almost 30 years, having started a contest column on a suggestion during a board meeting back in the late 80s. I evolved from simply reporting on upcoming contests to my impressions on operating (DXpeditions, pile-up strategies, etc. ); new modes (RTTY, PSK, JT-65); and the trials and tribulations of maintaining a station (antenna repair, rotor repair, amplifier repair, rig upgrades, application debugging, etc. ). Long ago I adopted a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating style to (1) remind myself that it is only a hobby; (2) that I'm not the genius I always thought I was after high school; and (3) know that Murphy is always there. The intent has been to help you relate to ham radio no matter where you are in the game, from a new novice to a seasoned old-timer with 50+ years on the air. The month of August usually means it is time to get ready for the upcoming fall and winter season of major contests and the return of DX for me. However, here in Florida, it means waiting until sometime in September when it is just hot to tackle antenna projects. While pondering what to write about for this month, I decided to take a detour from my usual lighthearted musings and reflect on a few Silent Keys who have significantly influenced my ham life. Many of you are new to the club and may not know these individuals. Mike Bernock, N1IW. I met Mike about 20 years ago while researching a project at work. I needed some information on one of the tactical radios used by the Air Force and was told to go see Mike. Mike and I chatted for a while about the capabilities of the radios and drifted to our personal experiences with radios, at which point he smiled and told me his call. He had not been licensed too long but was really enjoying the hobby. He also had a cool job getting to delve into the technology of the military radios. (Why I ended up with a career in radar and data format technology instead of radio applications I'll never know. ) Not long after our meeting, Mike and I met again as part of a team at K0TV for one of the big contests. Mike was firmly hooked on contesting at this point and reveled in beating out other “big gun” stations when “new meat” showed up during a contest. It didn't take Mike long to put up a tower and build a station at his QTH. (Being a bachelor, he was spared the usual justification battle when it came to his ham radio toys. ) Mike also excelled at finding a better way of doing things. When he had problems with the truss supports on a 40-meter beam he had bought, he redesigned the fasteners to eliminate sharp bends in the support cables that caused the cables to break and the elements to droop. He notified the manufacturer of the fix but was told that would add about $20 to the cost of the beam and his idea was declined. His inventiveness lived on, however, when it came to removing a beam from a tower for maintenance. When I needed to pull my beams off for some work, it was suggested that I used a special device that Mike built to lower a beam on a tram line. His device secured the beam so that the elements would not “porpoise” while being lowered. The simple jig was dubbed the Bernock Antenna Removal/Replacement Fixture – BARRF. Mike was also involved in the build up to hosting the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) that the Yankee Clipper Contest Club volunteered to set up. He was one of the coordinators for site management to make sure things would go smoothly for the contestants. Sadly, Mike would not live to see all his work pay off. Toward the end of 2013, Mike became ill and was diagnosed with cancer. I spoke to him in late in February 2014 as he was awaiting bone marrow harvesting. Less than 48 hours later, he became a Silent Key. As a tribute to Mike during the ARRL SSB DX contest a couple weeks later, members of YCCC exchanged a greeting of “Irish Whiskey” – Mike's phonetics – when working other members on the DX end during the contest. Jerry Muller, K0TV. I knew Jerry for perhaps 20 years if not more. He burst onto the public scene back in the 90s as he was building his contest station. Jerry had purchased a large house on a hilltop with six acres of land – a contester's dream. He set about erecting three towers, arranged so that he could feed them on 160 meters for gain in several directions. Unfortunately, a neighbor in the development below him took offense to the unsightly towers and vowed to fight his plans. She picked the wrong guy for a fight. Those of us who knew Jerry can describe him as irascible, irreverent, undaunted and similar adjectives that are not printable. Jerry was an avid VHF/UHF contester as well as an EME enthusiast. This meant that he understood the technical requirements of a line-of-sight path and antenna height go hand in glove. With the aid of Mike, K1TWF, and PRB-1, Jerry successfully argued his case in court. (Years later, while working on one of his towers, I remarked that a large pine tree was close to one of his guy wires. He hollered up asking if I could see the house of his tormentor. When I said no, he said that is why the tree is there. ) In the ensuing years, I operated the major contests from Jerry's QTH. I enjoyed knocking off the DX with ease, especially with his 80-meter 4-square that we put up in a steady November rain. Jerry's shack which occupied most of the basement rooms of his house would do a hoarder proud. It is a tribute that he knew exactly where everything was. The downside is that it meant he had to be on call... --- ### 2016 Summer Activities! > Please contact me at ab1qb@arrl.net for more information on any of our summer activities. We hope to see you at these events throughout the summer! - Published: 2016-07-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/19/2016-summer-activities/ - Categories: Activities, CW and QRP, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, CW, NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air, Picnic The Nashua Area Radio Club has a lot going on this summer! Examples of CW Keys at Our First CW Training Class First, our CW Training Classes have begun. We held our first class last Saturday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Nashua, NH. CW Training Class Details These classes are being held on Saturday mornings and are open to all Club Members and it's not too late to join. You can find more about the classes in our CW and QRP Forum and on our calendar here on our website. Saint-Gaudens NHS We also completed the first of our planned NPOTA activations at Saint-Gaudens NHS recently. We had a lot of fun and made a bunch of contacts. You can read all about our activation here. We are planning a second activation at Saint-Gaudens NHS on August 7th. You can find more about it in Aron's article on our Blog and on our Calendar. 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY Information Don't forget the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY which is coming up on August 21st. Fred, AB1OC and I will again be hosting a multi-op entry in this contest. It's open to all of our members who have earned their first Amateur Radio License in the last three years. We will be scheduling a training and practice session before the contest. We will announce the details in the Member's Forum here on our website. You can read about our ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB entry here on our blog. Nashua Area Radio Club Summer Picnic Finally, don't forget our upcoming club picnic on Saturday, August 27th (the rain date is Sunday, August 28). This will a potluck picnic and social gathering for our club. Bring your whole family and meet the families and friends of our club members. Our picnic will be held at Greeley Park in Nashua, NH. You find directions and information about the park on our club calendar. Please contact me at ab1qb@arrl. net for more information on any of our summer activities. We hope to see you at these events throughout the summer! 73, Anita, AB1QB --- ### July 10th NPOTA activation by N1FD > On July 10, N1FD members gathered in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL's year-long NOPTA event. - Published: 2016-07-18 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/18/npota-activation-n1fd/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: HF, NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air On July 10, N1FD members gathered in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL's year-long National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) event which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. We almost canceled it due to a prediction of thunderstorms, but the weather changed to merely intermittent showers, which we didn't let get in our way. NPOTA Portable Station at Saint-Gaudens NHS While the rain was still very light, the advance crew was able to set up the canopy that was last used as the food tent during our recent Field Day operation. It was more than adequate to keep the 100W station and a handful of club members dry throughout the day. The site was on the edge of the meadow (a/k/a the reserve parking area) near the entrance to the Ravine Trail which was furthest from the buildings. 20m Inverted V Antenna With the next carload of club members and a pneumatic launcher, we were able to put a line over the branch of a tree along the edge of the meadow and use it to hoist up a 20m dipole in an inverted "V" configuration. It only had to be lowered and raised a couple of times to tune it, and we got it right on the mark using an antenna analyzer. 20m Portable Station A small, quiet generator was also set up on the edge of the field to provide power. This 20m antenna and generator were used on the 100W station, an IC-7300. Mobile HF Station on 40m A second station, Fred AB1OC's 500W mobile station, was parked midway across the field towards the road and operated on 40m. I don't know how many NPOTA activations have had multiple stations running at once, but a number of hams worked us on both bands. One of Many Sculptures on the Park Grounds Unlike our visits earlier in the year, park operations were in full swing for the season. All of the buildings were open to visitors. The park's Resident Artist for this summer was working on a clay original to later be cast in bronze, and he paused to talk to us about his work. Club members were able to explore other modern sculpture, and also the sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, that is on exhibit throughout the grounds. A number of members walked the Ravine Trail, which descended into a deep ravine (what did you expect? ) to a stream and a swimming hole used by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his family and others who worked at the studios. People were also able to enjoy a bit of the Sunday afternoon concert. Saint-Gaudens NHS Resident Not too far from where our 20-meter station was, Mike K1WVO spotted a tiny salamander, a Red Eft, crawling across the forest floor. I'm not sure, but I suspect that a few Pokémon were also spotted in the park! We also had some special visitors: a ham from California whose daughter worked at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park across the river in Vermont, and a local ham who worked us and then drove over for an eyeball QSO. N1FD On The Air at Saint-Gaudens NHS The rain continued off and on throughout the day, but it was never heavy -- certainly not heavy enough to dampen the spirits of the Nashua ARC members who were too busy making or helping to log QSOs to notice it. The group logged a total of 528 QSOs in a little over 4 hours! At the end of the day, the equipment was quickly broken down and packed up, just in time for the rain to completely stop and the skies to clear for a pleasant drive home. We're hoping that you and your family can join us for the next activation of this park on August 7! Aron, W1AKI --- ### 2016 - A Record Year for Nashua Area Radio Club On The Air Operations? > 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. - Published: 2016-07-17 - Modified: 2023-06-02 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/17/2016-record-year/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, Contest, Field Day, NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air, Satellite 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 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. ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB - A First Contest 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 New England QSO Party Mobile Ops 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. NEQP Contest Operations 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 Learning To Operate Through Satellites 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. 2016 Nashua Area Radio Club 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 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 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 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 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 - 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 - 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 - 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... --- ### Boeing 100 Years Special Events > I thought that some of the members in our club might be interested in the Boeing 100 Years Special Event activity. - Published: 2016-07-14 - Modified: 2017-11-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/14/boeing-100-years/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: On The Air I thought that some of the members in our club might be interested in the Boeing 100 Years Special Event activity. Please note the dates for the air museum using a 1x1 call sign. Certificates and QSL cards available. Info re cards and certs also on QRZ using the calls for each location. You can find out more about the event here. 73 Tom AB1NS --- ### AB1NS/P: IARU Contest - Sometimes the gods do smile > I discovered the IARU Contest about 5 years ago when I took my IC-756 to see what I could do operating from the summer place in western Massachusetts. - Published: 2016-07-13 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/13/ab1nsp-iaru-contest/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, On The Air I discovered the IARU Contest about 5 years ago when I took my IC-756 to see what I could do operating from the summer place in western Massachusetts. The property sits at 1397' a. s. l. and I have plenty of room to install a G5RV. Unfortunately, the place is nestled in a valley with two higher mountains on both sides. However, I was hitting Central and South America way better than and one ear piece covers my main QTH in Merrimack NH at 330' a. s. l. After Field Day and 4th of July with the visiting grandkids, the XYL and I were striking out on a trip to the summer place in the Berkshires in Becket, MA for a few days. My wife planned on attending the HOA annual meeting (No CC&R's, here) and I planned on operating in the IARU Contest. So, with our van packed with our "stuff" and our two dogs, we departed. We got to Westford and I remembered that I had not packed my box of accessories and miscellaneous gear; back to the house to retrieve. After arriving at the pond, I did my major repair of installing a new exhaust fan for the composting toilet and started ro set up my portable QTH. This year, I took my Kenwood TS-680, a Z11ProII tuner, power supply and laptop for this one. AND then... discovered I had left the power supply AC cord home, a trip to Radio Shack in nearby Lennox solved that problem; discovered that our 6-month old puppy, Paisley, had decided to chew on my Heil Duo headset. She trashed the mic and one ear piece cover while she enjoyed the pad covers. That was solved by using the hand mike that permanently resides in the travel case, after a mic problem 4 years ago. It turned out that the head set earphones still worked! Good thing. Ear buds would have made contacts even more of a challenge with the QRN and pileups. discovered that I could hear other stations fine, but nobody came back to my calls. Call to Jack, WB4MDC, and friends on Friday morning on their thrice weekly chat on 80M that confirmed that I was getting out, but still didn't seem right. I had added a homebrew battery pack to the tuner so I would not have to remember :>) a wall wart. I went into town and discovered a sale on AA batteries at the TrueValue and that seemed to take care of the rest of the problem. finally remembered that you had to change your technique when using a hand mic. Moving closer to the mike made the difference there. So, after roundly cursing my inept preparation and several balancing instances of the "gods smiling," I was on the air at 100W. And, the noise level on 20M and 40M was awful and there was almost nothing from Europe. I started getting contacts in the Caribbean and 4's, 5's and 6's. I worked 20M exclusively for about 4 of the 6 hours I was on the air. Then, things started to lengthen into South America, Europe and two 40 over contacts from Hawaii on 20M. Almost all the operators who were running were very patient with the low power stations through the noise. I worked 2 Q's on 15M, and did a bunch on 40. By now 2330Z most of the heavy QRN has subsided. Did Poland, Denmark, Germany, Russia and other central European countries, when I hit my "new one," Namibia! ! I made three tries over the next 30 minutes to make contact. On the third try, the pile up had subsided and Gunter (V51WH) patiently completed the QSO. I also got a contact from ZA0HQ which would be Albania. However, this may be a busted one as it indicated it was DARC because I had a DA0HQ on 40M. All in all, a fun day. 111 Q's, a little over 9800 claimed points, 31 countries, and 15 states. Wonder how far down the list I'll be in QST? The resurrection of the checklist has begun! 73 Tom AB1NS --- ### A Newbie's First Field Day Reflections - Published: 2016-07-11 - Modified: 2021-07-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/11/first-field-day-reflections/ - Categories: Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Field Day, On The Air I have been taking a bit of time before I posted on the website about Field Day 2016. I have been recently trying to consciously temper my inherent impulsiveness both in my thoughts and words and therefore found this to be a good opportunity to reflect on my thoughts for this event. Since it was my first Field Day, and I am a new HAM, I definitely want to get this right! Admittedly, the build up and anticipation for the day had been steadily growing. My wife, co-workers, and family were getting sick of me talking about it. Jealous they were, I would say to myself. They just don't get it. How could they not think it was cool that a bunch of folks would be erecting antenna towers and wire antennas --- operating a myriad of SDRs --- figure out how to meaningfully wire together all the hardware and electronics lying around to make some QSO a few hundreds (if not hopefully thousands of miles) away? If you asked me the Friday that we were setting up what Field Day would look like for me, I would have readily replied late nights with my IC-7300, pounding back hot coffee, and chatting up some folks in California. What I didn't expect, however, was that Field Day became an opportunity to become further invested into a club in which I started to feel like I belonged more and more. It was pretty obvious early on I wasn't going to get a ton of operating time. And that was fine. There were so many folks on the air, working pileups, and not noticing the passage of time. Clearly time is a relative quantity -- and I didn't need Special Relativity to explain that one! What struck me, looking around, was that these were my people! Now, I have been to my fair share of physics conferences back in the day. Even after a day of intense workshops, folks would be sitting around in some exotic locale, drinking the local brew, and even in their free time they would talk physics. Ever since I left academia I had missed that. A lot. I became fortunate to re-encounter that again during Field Day. A lot of like-minded, technically competent, curious people, sat around the food tent and talked about something they really loved to do. So I embraced it. So what if I got 30 minutes here, or 45 minutes there. I am going to have plenty of time to make QSO's. What I decided was important that weekend, was to be within strike distance of the knowledge bombs being dropped by all the Elmers on the fields of Hollis Brookline High School. And in between the moments of intense radio and engineering carnage, I also found time to just shoot the breeze with folks too. We talked about families, other interests/hobbies (though we clearly do not devote as much time to them -- the other hobbies that is), and plans for the rest of the summer. Field Day 2016... my first Field Day, mind you, did not go as I planned. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that was totally fine! I am quite happy for how it turned out and I wouldn't trade that experience for a different one. I hope to the people that I spoke to, that I helped put a smile on your face and made the weekend as enjoyable as you did for me. Many thanks NARC! 73, Brian (AB1ZO) --- ### Summits on the Air (SOTA) > I heard a CQ from KB1RJD on the VHF National Calling Frequency (146.520) for SOTA from Mount Washington in New Hampshire - over 100 miles away. - Published: 2016-07-07 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/07/summits-on-the-air-sota/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: On The Air, SOTA, VHF/UHF - Formats: Image On Saturday, June 18th as I was heading home from a workshop I presented in Portland, ME I heard a CQ from KB1RJD on the VHF National Calling Frequency (146. 520) for Summits on the Air from Mount Washington in New Hampshire - over 100 miles away. I answered their call but they could not get the last letter of my call sign, so I could not log the QSO. After getting home I looked up more information on Summits on the Air. Abby and I both love to hike and be outdoors and of course combining that with ham radio sounded like a lot of fun and didn't seem to take any more equipment than what I already have – plus I had just purchased a new VHF/UHF 5 element, Elk Yagi. Sunday morning, Abby (KC1FFX) and I headed up to Pack Monadnock (W1/HA-041). It wasn't too far away and we thought it would be a great first try for an activation. If nothing else we would enjoy some beautiful weather on Father's Day together! We jumped in the car with the ELK Yagi and a 5 watt HT on battery power. We also brought my IC-7100 and a buddipole. Let me tell you, we had a blast! We had so much fun on 2 meters with the handheld that we never got to setting up the buddipole. The antenna got heavy trying to hand hold it so we found a stick that fit it almost perfectly! It was a gorgeous weather and we made 12 contacts as far away as Plymouth, MA and Madison, NH! We really enjoyed the directional antenna and trying to "home" in on signals - we seemed to get better as the day went on. We're already looking forward to our next SOTA activation. When we got home we started looking at all the other mountains and hills in the area. There is a list of summits here. A gorgeous day and a lot of fun! We would love to hear from others that have tried SOTA before or if anyone would like to team up and activate a summit! 73, Jamey KC1ENX Abby KC1FFX --- ### CW Ops Using Winkeyer and a Decoder > I had CW Skimmer already installed on the laptop. What more could I need? - Published: 2016-07-05 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/05/cw-ops-using-winkeyer-decoder/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW, Field Day, On The Air, Software Ira (KC1EMJ) and I helped set up the IC-7300 80, 15, and 10m CW station. We were short a CW operator. Having my license for only 8 months with over 1000 SSB QSOs and zero CW contacts in the log I wasn’t a CW op but the station was available and the field day clock was running. My ability to copy is improving but very limited. On the run up to Field Day I had some experience with N1MM, Fred (AB1OC) added a WinKeyer and loaded his macros, and I had CW Skimmer already installed on the laptop. What more could I need? It only took a few minutes to get the ICOM IC-7300 and CW Skimmer setup for reliable decoding. It was exciting when the decoder finally started displaying “CQ CQ FD DE CALL-SIGN” for each station I tuned in. I have included a simulated display showing a decoded message. I was in business! Or so I thought. With Search and Pounce selected, the WinKeyer was setup so the laptop keyboard’s F1 key was QRL? , F2 the exchange (class and section), F3 TU for “thank you” and so on through F9. I assumed one would start with F1, and progress to F2, and then F3, what is QRL anyway? After decoding a “CQ FD call-sign” and entering the call into N1MM I hit F1, and then decoded a “don’t say you do not hear me”. I moved up the band and tried it again with the same result. It was great I was making contacts, but not so great they was throwing bricks. A quick check with Mike (K1WVO) I found QRL is “Are you busy? ”. As a Phone op I had never used QRL, we just ask “is the frequency is in use”. Soon I was responding with N1FD instead of QRL? The Caller returned his class and section. With his call entered into N1MM it was easy to send his call sign with a tap of the F5 key, F2 for 7A and NH, and after his TU I would send a TU and QSY to the next station and repeat the process. It had transitioned from real exciting (meaning a bit stressful) to real fun fairly quickly. The lesson I learned is to take the time to understand the message stored behind each “F” key even when time is short and the contest or Field Day has started. The experienced CW operators were using the same process that I was using with WinKeyer, N1MM, and the keyboard. The one difference is they were decoding CW with their ears, and not a decoder. It wasn’t long before I ran out of new stations to work. I switched from searching for stations in “Search and Pounce” mode to “Run” meaning I stayed on one frequency and called CQ. The F1 key became CQ. It wasn’t long before I had a short run of 5-6 QSOs one right after another, but it quickly came to an end. There are few targets on 80m in the early evening and I worked them all. I was headed home just as the band was heating up at midnight... Next year I’ll take the midnight to daylight shift and plan to copy code with my ears... and not a decoder. With a little practice, this form of operating is effective for contests and Field Day where the exchange is simple. The high rate you can add new stations to the log definitely makes it fun. Hamilton (K1HMS) --- ### Field Day Rebirth > For 2016, plans called for setting up the two towers similar to what was done last year. This time, however, the 40 SSB station was going to be beefed... - Published: 2016-07-03 - Modified: 2019-11-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/07/03/field-day-rebirth/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Field Day, On The Air Field Day 2016 found me once again participating with NARC in the bucolic setting of Hollis, NH. I thought that last year was to be my last Field Day with the club as I was in the process of pulling up stakes and heading for Florida. However, I had the opportunity to head north the weekend before Field Day to drop my grand kids and their mom off for the summer. Once I realized the proximity to Field Day on the calendar, it didn't take much lobbying from Fred, AB1OC to convince me to hang around for Field Day. Prior to leaving for NH, Fred mentioned that the club would be operating from the Hollis-Brookline High School ball fields at the back of the school. The last time the club operated from Hollis was in 2012 when we were still putting up 70-foot towers and dipoles. Since that time, the club has downsized as far as ambition by switching to 40-foot towers using the falling derrick method to raise a single triband antenna and dipoles without anyone climbing. For those new to the club, the falling derrick approach came about from the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) event that showcased New England as the Yankee Clipper Contest Club hosted 50-plus two-person teams of the best contest operators in the world. Several club members participated in setting up some 65 towers for the mid-July event. For 2016, plans called for setting up the two towers similar to what was done last year. This time, however, the 40 SSB station was going to be beefed up with a 3-element Inverted Vee beam array. The club had tried such an array back in the 1990's on 80 CW. It worked OK considering the elements were suspended from a drooping rope from a tree to one of the towers, hardly in line to benefit from a director and reflector. Fred opted to set up three, 50-foot telescoping masts with pulleys to hoist the elements up. I must admit that I figured setting up the array was going to be the long pole – err, poles – in the NARC tent. With twelve sets of guy ropes per mast I envisioned a rat's nest just begging to be tangled. My pessimism proved to be unfounded as the masts went up without much of an effort from Murphy to mess things up. Kudos to all the folks who pitched in to pull it off smoothly. The array dominated the Field Day setup like a far-off DXpedition. Also new for Field Day was the use of the new ICOM 7300 transceivers. I learned that many in the club have purchased what is an amazing rig with a very easy user interface (especially for me) and great phase noise performance at an uncharacteristically cheap price for ICOM. The low phase noise level translates to a lower level of interference from nearby stations. I had the chance to familiarize myself with the 7300 leading up to Field Day using the N1MM+ logging program so that I could avoid the panic at T-0. I operated 40 CW with an inverted Vee that was less than 100 feet from the end of the driven element of the 40 SSB array. I did not experience any noticeable interference. Field Day 2016 had a number of welcome surprises for me after nearly 30 years of my involvement with NARC. To put in simply: a lot of new faces. The club has been growing by leaps and bounds since I left. (Hmm, that doesn't make me look good. ) I wore my NARC call badge in case anyone wondered who I was. I was happy to meet all the new “2 X 3” hams in the club and I hope I will be able to match faces to calls as time goes on. Other highlights were making contacts on satellite after a hiatus of several years, and a cool demonstration of amateur TV with the Pepperell club. Field Day 2016 was a homecoming for me since I also had the chance to meet old friends from many past NARC Field Days. While NARC has operated at other sites over the years, Hollis has a rich history in the club. Back in the 80's NARC operated from what was then an open field adjacent to Beltronics off the town center. I was new to NH back then and I was amazed at the level of participation to build four towers and set up 12 or more stations. The logistics of such an operation benefited from (1) a storage barn less than a mile away on Ridge Road; and (2) a large pool of 30-40 year-old Hams to put it all together. Using the call of our host Jim, N1NH, NARC was regularly in the top 10 finishers for Field Day. The club grew steadily back then. When the field at Beltronics succumbed to rows of storage sheds, I looked around for a suitable site that would not require a large caravan of pickup trucks to haul our equipment. The solution was right under our noses: the field beyond the orchard behind our storage barn. This proved to be the idyllic setting for a Field Day operation that everyone liked. It did not take long for the club to ratchet up Field Day participation to 20 stations or more. NARC was off and running big-time, culminating in winning it all four years in a row during the 1990's. One of the club members secured the call N1FD for the club to showcase our accomplishments. With Field Day 2016, I see a rebirth of the enthusiasm I enjoyed in the past. The future of NARC Field Days will be driven by the new crop of hams in the club. It will most likely NOT be “your grandfather's Field Day”. The goal is not to see if the club can match the glory years of yesteryear but to try new things. Alas, CW is fading in popularity in the face of the digital modes that have cropped up featuring 100% copy with near-QRP power levels. Maybe more stations running PSK or... --- ### Huh? 2 meter QSO into Canada! > Ok, this is slightly misleading but it's true.  I had a QSO with a Canadian station over 200 miles away on 2 meters using the ISS packet transponder. - Published: 2016-06-29 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/29/iss-packet-qso-canada/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air, Space - Tags: On The Air, Satellite, VHF/UHF Ok, this is slightly misleading but it's true. I had a QSO with a Canadian station over 200 miles away on 2 meters. From my car none the less! You may wonder how this was done. I had some help from above that's how. I discovered that on the International Space Station (ISS) is this cool thing called a digipeater. Now I'm no pro at this but I will attempt to explain in hopes that someone else can enjoy getting their toes wet in Amateur Satellite opportunities. To start, here is an eQSL card of my from my first QSO of this nature: Note the mode on this card. It's packet. The digipeater on the ISS relays APRS messages. This was all foreign to me prior to this contact. I discovered all of this by accident while I was monitoring the ISS frequencies for voice and SSTV. APRS transmissions were pouring out of my radio. Curiosity got me to research the sounds and ultimately steered me towards giving it a go. Although I already had all the parts and pieces to start my way I lacked the knowledge of what to do. It took some figuring out, but I now have a simple and relatively low-cost way of working some satellites. Unlike voice mode, you do not need a directional antenna to do packet through the ISS. I use my mobile radio in my car, an omnidirectional antenna, a USB SignaLink sound card and an inexpensive Windows tablet pc. I downloaded UISS and AGW packet engine (both are free). I think I blew a brain fuse or two figuring out how it all goes together, but in the end, it works. The uplink and downlink frequency for this is the same: 145. 825 Go ahead, tune in and listen while the ISS is over your location. There are many websites and smart phone apps to give you the pass schedule. If you are interested in this and want help getting started on this for yourself then feel free to shoot me an e-mail curtis@curtis. org Hope to hear you on the air! Curtis (KB1RTQ) --- ### 6M Propagation to Europe on JT65. > Wow, six meters was wide open this morning to Europe. I started playing on CW, but the signals were so steady that I decided to go to JT65. - Published: 2016-06-13 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/13/6m-propagation-to-europe-on-jt65/ - Categories: CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: CW, Magic Band (6m), On The Air Wow, six meters was wide open this morning to Europe. I started playing on CW, but the signals were so steady that I decided to go to JT65 so I could see where I was being heard. I have included a pskreporter. info map filtered for my station for the previous 6 hours. The snapshot was taken at 2016-06-13 at 18:05 UTC. Beam was between 45 and 60 degrees. The USA stations were all off the back of a 3 element Yagi. Running 70 watts. The rig was my Flex-5000. The ARRL VHF contest this weekend also had great openings, primarily state side, although I did work an EA8. This is the time of year to get on 6 meters. 73, Bill NJ1H --- ### Activating Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site > We will have two club events in Cornish, NH to activate the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site as part of the ARRL NPOTA. - Published: 2016-06-05 - Modified: 2023-02-07 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/06/05/activating-saint-gaudens-national-historical-site/ - Categories: Activities, Antennas, Featured, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air 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 --- ### Our First Extra License Class > We held our first Extra License Class the weekend of May 13-15, 2016.   This was a 3-day class due to the larger amount of material... - Published: 2016-05-31 - Modified: 2019-11-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/31/first-extra-license-class/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: License Class We held our first Extra License Class the weekend of May 13-15, 2016. This was a 3-day class due to the larger amount of material that the Extra License Exam draws from. We had 15 students and every student passed the Exam at the end and received their Amateur Extra class license upgrade! Wayne Wagner Teaching the Extra License Class Congratulations to all the new Extras! Bob Bell, KC1FAE Bernie Biron, K1BFB Dale Chayes, KB1ZKD John D'Errico, N1ERF Bob Fiero, K1WKG Jamey Finchum, KC1ENX Greg Fuller, KC1FFQ Ron Gonzalez, K1LCS Joe Gordon, KB1RLC Niece Hayes, KA1ULN Charlie Pentedemos, KC1EIQ Brian Quick, W1XMM Don Risley, KC1CRK Brian Smigielski, AB1ZO Bill Warrington, W1TWO A special thank you to our great instructor and VE team - Wayne Wagner, AG1A, Aron Insinga, W1AKI, Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL, Dave Michaels, N1RF, Skip Youngberg, K1NKR, Wayne Grant, KB1HYL, and Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC. Also, an extra special thanks to Merle Insinga, W1MSI, for managing all the logistics and meals on Friday and Saturday! ! Anita, AB1QB --- ### The 13 Colonies Special Event Is Coming!! - Published: 2016-05-31 - Modified: 2019-12-06 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/31/13-colonies-special-event-comming/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: 13 Colonies Special Event, On The Air The 13 Colonies Special Event is coming soon. It is the largest on-air special event in the world and it will take place from July 1 (9 AM EST) to July 6th (Midnight EST). The idea of the event is to work each state which grew from the original 13 Colonies. If you work one or more of the 13, you will receive a certificate like the one above. There will also be two bonus stations WM3PEN at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA and GB13COL in the United Kingdom. If you work all 13 Colonies plus these, it will be noted on your certificate. K2K New Hampshire QSL Card Each Colony station has a K2x Special Event call and will provide a QSL card to confirm your contact. The Event logged over 126,000 contacts in 2015 with K2K New Hampshire contributing over 10,000 of these. You can see a recap of the 2015 K2K New Hampshire operation here. 13 Colonies Special Event 2016 - K2K NH Top Club I am the Thirteen Colonies State Manager for New Hampshire and we have assembled a team of operators from our club to work the event. Fred, AB1OC and Anita, AB1QB will provide training for the New Hampshire operator team and will make their station available for use during the event. Fred, K2K New Hampshire --- ### Dayton Hamvention 2016 > Fred, AB1OC and I just returned from the 2016 Dayton Hamvention in OH. Our first day in Dayton was spent at Contest University... - Published: 2016-05-28 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/28/dayton-hamvention-2016/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Hamvention, Satellite Fred, AB1OC and I just returned from the 2016 Hamvention in Dayton, OH. Our first day in Dayton was spent at Contest University – this was our 5th year in attendance but each year we learn more from the contesting experts. This year, we attended two presentations from Frank Donovan, W3LPL on operating techniques for the declining solar cycle and on 80m and 160m antennas. We also heard a talk from Val NV9L from Ham Nation on Log Analysis tools and another session on SO2R (Single Operator 2 Radio) Operating. Slide from W3LPL Contest University Presentation Friday was the first day of the Hamvention and we spent most of the day visiting all the vendor exhibits. We visited the Icom booth, where we looked at the new Icom 7851. It has an incredible display as well as one of the best receivers on the market. Icom 7851 Display on Large Screen TV We also saw the new KX2 Transceiver at the Elecraft booth. It is even smaller than the KX3 and is perfect for SOTA and other portable operations. I would expect to hear some NPOTA activations using this radio. Elecraft KX2 on right, next to a KX3 Friday evening was the Top Band dinner where we learned all about “Top Band Disease” from Larry “Tree” Tyree N6TR. Hams with this disease are nocturnal, love the bottom of the sunspot cycle. They are constantly improving their 160m antennas – when you upgrade your receive antenna, then there are people who can’t hear you, so then you need to improve your transmit antenna – and the cycle continues... The DX Alarm Clock is perfect for those with Top Band Disease! Top Band Dinner Presentation After the dinner, we were treated to a concert from the Spurious Emissions Band (N0AX, KX9X, K4RO, W4PA), with hits like “On The Cover of the NCJ” and “Sittin on the Edge of the Band”. They were so funny! You can watch their performances on YouTube http://bit. ly/DaytonSpurs2016. The Spurious Emissions Band Performs at Dayton On Saturday, Fred, AB1OC and I presented our Station Building talk to around 250 people as part of the Dayton Contest Forum. It was a great honor to be selected to speak there by Doug Grant K1DG, who has organized the Contest Forum for many years. Fred, AB1OC, Speaks at the Dayton Contest Forum We also continued to tour the vendor booths, visiting Club Member Bill Barber, NE1B, at the DMR-MARC booth. Bill Barber, NE1B at the DMR-MARC Booth After that, we stopped by Gordon West's Ham Instructor booth where we spoke to him about the success of the Club's License classes. Here is a picture of Gordon, WB6NOA, and Fred sharing the secrets of how the Hilbert Transform and the Flux Capacitor make Single Sideband and Time Travel Possible. Fred, AB1OC with Gordon West, WB6NOA We also visited the AMSAT booth, where we met Burns Fisher, W2BFJ, who now lives in Brookline, NH and is moving to Hollis. They had a cube sat on display - you can see how small it is below. It's amazing that AMSAT builds and arranges to launch them into orbit so that we can make QSOs through them! Anita, AB1QB with a Cube Sat Fred could not resist a visit to Begali Keys where we purchased a neat travel key. It should be great for operating mobile and for Field Day. Begali Travel Key On Sunday, we headed back to New Hampshire, sad that the weekend had come to an end but full of great memories from the trip. Anita, AB1QB --- ### Plans for N1FD Field Day 2016 > 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... - Published: 2016-05-27 - Modified: 2023-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/27/field-day-planning-2016/ - Categories: Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Field Day, Homebrew, NARS Event, Tower Field Day Planning Team 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! 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. Falling Derrick Tower and Beams 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). 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 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 --- ### A Stealth Antenna Farm > I looked at the Moxon design to see if I could get more isolation between the beams. This design could be the basis for a good stealth antenna. - Published: 2016-05-20 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/20/stealth-antenna-farm/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Homebrew Living in a community that expressly prohibits ham radio towers often means enduring constant frustration trying to work DX with wire antennas or a multi-band vertical with what is always an inadequate radial field (read: less than 200 radials) over the “worse soil in the world”. My mantra of “work 'em on all bands and all modes” that I pursued for many years from my NH QTH has morphed to “hope I can hear them and they can hear me”. My lot can support a 40-foot tower that would be great for a small beam like the Cycle 24 used during the World Radiosport Team Championship a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I would never get past a permit for the tower base if I ever tried to put one up. Ah, but there is hope. The frustrations wrought by CC&R limitations often bring out the ingenuity in hams. Thanks to Layne, AE1N, I visited the website of Jeff, AC0C (see AC0C. com). Jeff lived in a condo with the no-tower restrictions. He looked over the attic where he lived and set about figuring out how to build an array of beams using the roof support structure. In a triangular volume measuring 16 feet at the apex, 20 feet long, and 40 feet wide, he managed to cram in a 22-element array that covers 160 – 6 meters! A scan of Jeff's website is a testament to a ham's perseverance to build an antenna farm where common sense says you cannot. Jeff used the popular EZNEC modeling program developed and maintained by Roy, W7EL. The overall configuration of the project shown on Jeff's website looks like the proverbial rat's nest. Somewhere on his site he mentions using over 1000 feet of coax, hundreds of ferrite cores, dozens of relays, and numerous switching boards to select the desired antenna while holding the RFI beast at bay. Intrigued by Jeff's work, I decided to take a look at my garage attic and see what I could do. My attic measures about 17. 5 feet long, 19 feet wide, and 5 feet at the center above the floor. There is usable space beyond the garage over the remainder of the house that runs to the back, providing more depth. Unfortunately, my attic runs N-S so that any fixed antenna would have to be situated to favor a pattern to the E/NE direction for DX. I studied Jeff's design for his 2-element 40 meter Yagi and decided to scale it for 30 meters. Each element resembles an inverted-V with the lower half of the ends bent at right angles to run horizontally along the floor of the attic. The horizontal portions of each element run toward each other so that the antenna resembles a modified “bent” Moxon antenna. (The Moxon antenna owes its design to Les Moxon, G3XN (SK). It is a 2-element beam that resembles a rectangle, is easy to build, and is forgiving in dimensions for a given band. ) I modeled the antenna with a separation of 19 feet between the elements and inserted loading coils in the driven element to shorten them. The apex height of the antenna is only about 14 feet above the ground so I was not expecting spectacular gain in the primary direction (North). The resulting pattern resembled a low dipole with maximum gain of 4. 5 dB North and South, dropping to 3. 4 dB at 45 degrees. While this may seem respectable, it occurs for an elevation angle of 45 degrees which means it would not work very well for typical DX angles. Indeed, when I looked at the gain performance at 24 degrees elevation, I had less than a dB. (The astute DX'er will notice that good DX performance occurs for elevation angles of 15 – 20 degrees. When limited to a height of 14 feet, the gain profile at 15 degrees is over 8 dB down from its peak. ) Figure 1 shows the layout of the antenna. I realized that I'd be better off with a 30-meter inverted-V dipole off the back of the house. Figure 1 – 30-meter 2-element Attic Yagi Not to be deterred, I then modeled a 17-meter 2-element beam using relays to disconnect the 30-meter element at its coils and inserting an inverted-V element between the 30-meter elements to act as a director for 17. Figure 2 shows the results where the driven element is on the right and the director is at the center. Figure 2 – 17-meter & 30-meter Attic Yagis The performance for 17 meters was similar to 30 meters with a modified dipole pattern. The gain was a little better at a 24-degree elevation angle but still less than 2 dB. Again, better to stay with my inverted-V that boasts a 3. 8 dB gain toward NE. While I pondered my next move, it occurred to me that what worked for Jeff might not be the best idea for me. All that coax and those ferrite cores pointed to a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get rid of RFI gremlins that such close quarters tend to foster. I considered using relays to change bands by lengthening or shortening the antenna elements. However, this would mean control cable wires from the shack to the antennas, themselves inadvertent antennas when transmitting. There has to be a better way. Then, the long-dormant light bulb in my head came on. Why not try a 2-element wire beam? I looked at a model for such a beam for 17 and 15 meters, 2 elements for each band on the same “boom” and each fed separately. The results showed 17 meters behaves as expected with a gain of 6. 2 dBi and a F/B of 21. 6 dB. However, the 15-meter portion had a peanut-shaped pattern that was reversed from the intended direction with a F/B of less than 5 dB. I adjusted the height of the 15-meter elements within the available limits but to no avail. Now what? I looked at the Moxon design again for its space-saving feature to see if I could get more isolation between the beams.... --- ### Silent Keys > When my father passed on years ago to our surprise uniformed US Navy officers appeared at the funeral and passed a flag to my mother for his... - Published: 2016-05-16 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/16/silent-key/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter When my father passed on years ago to our surprise uniformed US Navy officers appeared at the funeral and passed a flag to my mother for his service during WWII. Years ago something similar occurred at my wife's father's service except it was USAF, he was a B-17 radioman and survived his 35 mission over Germany, over 1/3 of all crews didn't. Many SKs leave their spouses with wires, towers, and equipment, some worth considerable money. I haven't formulated a plan and some of the issues and liabilities are daunting but wouldn't it be nice if a clubs "SK Committee" contacted the widow and offered to come by to review the equipment and provide reliable contact names for its sale or removal. Maybe the initial contact is simply a condolence card from the club or possibly a certificate of thanks from the club. Accompanying it might be a list of resources (creditable tower installers, HRO consignment, etc. ) and a contact number if they have questions dealing with a shack. I'm absolutely not suggesting we take down towers or appraise equipment or any other idea that will get someone hurt or the club in legal trouble. I am suggesting we take the opportunity to recognize the SKs contribution to Amateur Radio to their spouse and provide a bit of guidance on decommissioning the shack while avoiding those that would give them 10 cents on the dollar while dropping a beam through their roof. Just a thought... Hamilton, K1HMS --- ### 2016 NEQP Report from N1FD/M > We operated as N1FD/m (Mobile HF) in the New England QSO Party (NEQP) this weekend. We began our operation on Saturday afternoon on the MA - NH State line. - Published: 2016-05-10 - Modified: 2022-05-20 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/05/10/2016-ne-qso-party/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, NPOTA, On The Air We operated as N1FD/m (Mobile HF) in the New England QSO Party (NEQP) this past weekend. We began our operation on Saturday afternoon on the Massachusetts - New Hampshire State line where we activated two counties and two states. N1FD/m NEQP Multi-Op Team We entered the 2016 NEQP Contest in the High Power Multi-Op Mobile HF Category. We operated using SSB phone mode mostly on the 20m and 40m bands. Wayne AG1A, Jamey KC1ENX, and Fred AB1OC were the operators. We took turns operating, driving and navigating. We used Fred, AB1OC's mobile HF station in his truck. CQ NEQP from N1FD/m We operated Saturday and Sunday for nearly the entire contest period. We spent most of our time calling CQ and we had several nice pile-ups to work. Counties Activated by N1FD/m in the 2016 NEQP The map above shows the counties in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont that we activated during the contest. Anita, AB1QB helped us to create a route of counties to activate which included some of the more rare counties in Vermont and New Hampshire. Operating On a County Line in Vermont We tried to focus on activations where we could be in two counties as once. These activations produced some nice pile-ups for us to work. Operating On a County Line in NH We parked on county lines with 2 wheels of N1FD/m in one county and 2 wheels in another. This gave us two QSO points (one for each county) for each contact that we made. NPOTA Activation - Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP in Vermont We also activated two National Parks along our route as part of ARRL's NPOTA program. We activated Saint-Gaudens NHS (NS60) in New Hampshire and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP (HP26) in Vermont. The HP26 activation produced the best response - we made about 50 contacts while we were there. Solar Weather for NEQP 2016 We had a few challenges along the way. We had some antenna related problems with our Mobile HF setup to deal with. Fortunately, we had some spare parts with us and we adjusted our operating style to overcome them. We also had to operate through a major solar event on Sunday. This made contacts very difficult but we still logged over 235 QSOs that day in spite of the conditions. Wayne, AG1A Operating in NEQP 2016 All in all, we had a great time in the contest. We logged a total of 631 QSOs and we worked 58 Multipliers. Our claimed score was 36,598 - not bad given that this was our first entry as a mobile and our first time in NEQP. We worked 43 of 50 states and we had quite a few stations from Canada and Europe call in to answer our CQs. There was some discussion on the way home about the Maine and New Hampshire QSO parties which will be held later this year. We hope to be N1FD/m again in one or more of those as well. The N1FD/m Multi-op Team, Fred (AB1OC) Wayne (AG1A) Jamey (KC1ENX) --- ### KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux download on SourceForge.net > KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux Ubuntu Linux remastered for Amateur Radio users. How to find and download from Sourceforge.net. - Published: 2016-04-29 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/29/kb1oiq-ham-radio-linux/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event, Software KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux download. KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux CD free download. KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux Ubuntu Linux remastered for Amateur Radio users Source: KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux download on SourceForge. net Andy attended our Club Meeting on Tuesday, May 4th to talk with us about using Linux and various HAM Radio applications which run on it. The page mentioned above contains links to Andy's Linux HAM Radio files. You can see a copy of Andy's presentation here. --- ### Rig Audio Interfacing and Low Cost PC Headsets > PC headsets and Heil headsets operate differently. It's important to understand this to get either one to work well with your Rig audio. - Published: 2016-04-27 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/27/rig-audio-interfacing/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Digital, Homebrew, Mentor First I want to promote some excellent papers on rig interfacing and grounding produced by Jim Brown K9YC. There is a wealth of information there, produced by a very talented and experienced engineer. K9YC Publications web site Power, Grounding, Bonding, and Audio for Ham Radio Computer to Radio Interfacing... etc, etc. Now... on to the topic of interfacing PC headset to ham rigs... Heil Headsets get a lot of support and advertising in the amateur community. But they are expensive. The W2SZ VHF/UHF contest group that I belong to uses mostly Heil headsets, so I have a lot of experience with them. The problem is that a lot of them are broken. We only use them two weekends a year for about 36 hours but they fail in a variety of ways. I don't own a Heil headset (I'm too cheap), but wanted a more reliable headset for my own use on the mountain. In this case, reliable means I can bring several for a reasonable price. So, this led to a series of experiments with PC headsets that are available for prices that range from about $13 to $50. PC headsets and Heil headsets operate differently. Heil headsets use a dynamic microphone and cannot tolerate any DC current through the microphone. PC headsets require a DC bias voltage to operate their electret microphone. The diagrams below (copied from a great presentation on rig interfacing by AudioSystemGroup) shows the two ways a PC puts electret bias on the ring terminal of the 3. 5 mm microphone jack. All PC headsets have the ring terminal for bias... that is the key to this design. The box below takes 8 volts from the ICOM microphone connector and uses it to power the PC headset. The circuit has... 3. 5 mm (1/8th inch phone) jack for the microphone 0. 47 uFd series cap on the microphone, pass audio and block DC 2. 2K resistor to pass DC from the 8V pin to the ring terminal 1/4 inch phone jack for rig keying Cable and ICOM microphone plug It was important to ensure the Heil headset doesn't see any DC if plugged into the microphone jack of this adapter. The design put bias on the ring terminal to feed the PC headset. But, the Heil microphone connector does not have a ring terminal so it simply grounds the bias voltage... so, no bias gets to the Heil. The dynamic microphone in the Heil couples audio through the series cap. Here's another design. This one has two 3. 5 mm connectors, one jack, one plug plus a battery. The battery supplies power to the PC headset without the need for power from the transceiver. This also supplies power to the ring terminal and block DC to the microphone on the tip terminal. This took about 5 minutes, the components are under the tape. One of our W2SZ members, Tom Price KC2PSC, designed of a PC board to implement this idea. RJ-45 connector for rig microphone interface Converts to 3. 5 mm microphone and line out Converts 1/4 inch phone for rig keying Includes option for battery There are a number of web sites that discuss the same thing OZ1JTE has a complicated version KV5R uses an old CueCat! DX zone compiled a list W6JMF at HamUniverse YouTube video discussing W2ENY version K8JHR version KC2RGW does it with a PVC pipe cap? --- ### Saint-Gaudens NHS - Mobile HF Trial Run For Our NPOTA Activation > We made a trip to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in NH. Our goals was to seek permission for NPOTA Activation. We operated Mobile HF there. - Published: 2016-04-23 - Modified: 2022-03-24 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/23/saint-gaudens-trial-npota/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: NARS Event, NPOTA, On The Air Aron W1AKI and Merle W1MSI At Saint-Gardens NHS The Nation Parks On The Air (NPOTA) program was created by the ARRL to commemorate the National Park Service Anniversary (100th). Aron W1AKI, Merle W1MSI and Fred AB1OC made a trip to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in NH this past week. Our goals were to seek permission for a Club National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) Activation at the park as well as to see the site and do a brief trial activation. I am happy to report that we achieved all of these goals and also activate the park using our Mobile HF station! N1FD NPOTA Presentation (click on the picture to see our presentation) Aron and Fred put together a presentation which we shared with the head ranger, Greg Schwarz at the park. Our goal was to create an understanding of who we were, why we want to Activate Saint-Gaudens NHS, what our activation would involve and how we would relate to the National Park Service Anniversary celebration this year. We had a very good meeting with Greg and we secured permission for multiple activations of the park over the summer months. We will share more about what we are planning to do and the dates for our activations at our next club meeting. Aspet House, Built About 1817 The park grounds are very beautiful and will be absolutely stunning in the summer time! Garden With Bronze Monument Saint-Gaudens was one of America's greatest sculptors and some of his works and their history are nicely set in the building and gardens which make up the park. There is plenty to see and do in the park. Open Meadow In The Park The park has a large, open meadow which is surrounded by trees. The meadow is partly used for overflow parking and should offer a good area for us to use a mobile station plus a portable station when our club activates the park. We will be allowed to use a small generator and put up a small screened shelter to protect us from sun or rain while we operate. We were also invited to set up a table to share information about our club and about Amateur Radio in the area of the park which is frequented by visitors. The park hosts open air concerts most Sundays during the summer months. Greg indicated that about 200-400 visitors attend the summer concerts. He felt that this would be a good time for us to activate the park as there would be many visitors in the park for these concerts. N1FD On The Air In NS-60 Greg also allowed us to park in the meadow and activate the park as part of the National Park Service Anniversary celebration. Aron W1AKI, Merle W1MSI and Fred AB1OC did a brief trial activation to get an idea of what propagation would be like in the park. We used Fred's Mobile HF Station for the activation and we operated as N1FD on the 20m and 40m bands for about 45 minutes. If the trial run is any indication, we are going to have a lot of fun when our club does the real activation in the summer. In 45 minutes of operating, we gave 80+ happy Amateurs NPOTA NS-60 on a combination of the 20m and 40m bands. We were easily able to work stations in all regions of the US and we put 29 states and 4 DXCC's into the log during our brief activation. We had folks in Alaska, Portugal, Poland and Canada call in and we had a good pileup for the entire time that we operated. We were using a paper log for the trial run and we had a hard time writing fast enough to get the QSOs into the log! We hope that you'll join us for one of our Saint-Gaudens activations during the summer! Aron, W1AKI Merle, W1MSI Fred, AB1OC --- ### How To Use Our Blog - Finding and Reading Articles > Our club website has a Blog or Articles area where all club members can post articles which appear on our website. These articles work much like pages... - Published: 2016-04-23 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/23/using-ham-radio-blog/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter Our club website has a Ham radio Blog or Articles area where all club members can post articles which appear on our website. These articles work much like pages on our website - they can be read by everyone including visitors to our website. Also, club members who are logged in to our website can add comments to share information and to recognize the author's contribution to our club and to our website. Articles Menu - Use to Read Our Blog It is very easy to read articles on our Blog. Just click on the ARTICLES choice on the top-level menu and this will show you a list of all the articles on our Blog from newest to oldest. If you are interested in articles on a specific topic, can you can from the list of topic areas in the drop-down menu. There is also a choice to view archives of our club newsletters in PDF format. How To Subscribe To Our Blog Several club members have posted great articles on our Blog for a while now. I'd encourage you to log on to our website and subscribe to our Blog. After you do this, you will get an email each time a new article is posted. You will find the dialog above on the left side of all pages. Make sure you are logged on to the website and then just enter your email address and hit the SUBSCRIBE button. You will receive an email at the address that you entered to confirm your subscription. Once done, you will be subscribed to our Blog. New Blog Article Notification Email Example Members who subscribe to our Blog will receive an email each time a new Article is posted. The email will show you what the article is about and who posted it along with a link to our website to read the full article or to comment on it. We hope that you enjoy our Blog! Fred, AB1OC --- ### The Path to Special Service Club > What is a Special Service Club? A club that exists to go above and beyond for their communities and for Amateur Radio is what defines an SSC. - Published: 2016-04-22 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/22/special-service-club-path/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: NARS Event The Nashua Area Radio Society (Nashua ARS) April 2016 General Meeting was an exciting time for me as your Vice President. Nashua ARS Exceeds 100 Members! We Celebrated the milestone of exceeding 100 Club members complete with a sheet cake. ARRL Special Service Organization Presentation NH Section Manager Peter Stohrer K1PJS and NH Affiliated Organization Coordinator Al Shuman K1AKS came down from Concord and made two special presentations: A Certificate naming Nashua ARS as a Special Service Club (SSC), and A Plaque commemorating Nashua ARS's 35+ years as an ARRL Affiliated Organization. Peter and Al Presenting a Plaque Noting Our Organization's 35+ Year Affiliation with the ARRL Somewhere around January of 2015, your Executive Board looked at our Special Service Organization status and it was discovered that it had been many years since our SSC had been renewed. This I took on the assignment of applying to ARRL Headquarters with a new updated SSC application. What is a Special Service Organization? An organization that exists to go above and beyond for their communities and for Amateur Radio is what defines a Special Service Club (SSC). They are the leaders in their Amateur Radio communities who provide active training classes, publicity programs and actively pursue technical projects and operating activities. SSC Application Guidelines - As an ARRL Special Service Organization, we have met our agreement to develop our skills in the specified areas during the past two years in accordance with the guidelines in the Active Club On-Line Primer. With this application, we apply for renewal as an ARRL Special Service Club for the year to come. We have worked closely with our Affiliated Club Coordinator throughout the year. Recently we have discussed our successes and problems during the past year, reviewed our current strengths and weaknesses, and agreed on an acceptable program for the coming two years. Minimal Criteria: New Ham Development and Training. Develop an effective, coordinated program of public relations, recruiting, training, and ongoing assistance targeted to prospective and newly licensed hams in your community. Public Relations. Establish an effective Amateur Radio presence in your community, including contact with local media and coverage of your activities; Public Information Officer Appointment. Emergency Communications. Members should become skilled in communicating effectively during communications emergencies and be prepared to assist when needed; Official Emergency Station appointment and participation in ARES. Technical Advancement. Continuing education in the technical aspects of Amateur Radio to ensure that your club members are technically competent, familiar, and comfortable with modern radio-electronics technology; Technical Specialist appointment. Operating Activities. Active participation in one or more major operating or operating support activities to ensure that your club maintains a high level of operating skill. Miscellaneous Activities. Every active club has its special interests and activities that make it unique, that give it a special personality. List three of these activities. It became very obvious that this was to become a challenge. But, where do I start? First, a thorough review of the ARRL’s Active Club Primer was in order. This 48-page primer is a compilation and update of The Club President's Workbook and the Special Service Club Manual. It is loaded with helpful links and ideas galore to get a club enlivened! Second, since the SSC application allows a club to go back to reporting its activity for the previous two years, I poured over the website, especially the archives of the Nashua ARS Newsletters to extract data. The first rough draft was hastily put together and presented to the Executive Board for review and discussion. As with any project, the four drafts went from overkill to simplicity. This took a matter of months of revision and review. I quickly found out that our organization has done so many things that I had to cut out everything over 18 months old! This shows you just how ‘outstanding’ the Nashua Area Radio Society is! I am proud of our membership and the primary reason to write this article is for members to see just what we have done, what we are doing and where we are headed. The future is promising! Next, the completed application for Special Service Club. Special Service Organization Application As an ARRL Special Service Club, we continue to meet our obligation to develop our skills in the specified areas during the past two years in accordance with the guidelines in the Active Club On-Line Primer. With this application, we apply for renewal as an ARRL Special Service Club for the year to come. We have worked closely with our Affiliated Club Coordinator throughout the year. Recently we have discussed our successes and problems during the past year, reviewed our current strengths and weaknesses, and agreed on an acceptable program for the coming two years. Application Type New Date February 12, 2016 ARRL Section New Hampshire Club Name Nashua Area Radio Society Call Sign N1FD Address PO Box 248 City Nashua State NH Zip Code 03061-0248 Club President Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC Vice President Layne LaBaume, AE1N Your e-mail address vp@n1fd. org New Ham Development and Training Purpose: Develop an effective, coordinated program of public relations, recruiting, training, and ongoing assistance targeted to prospective and newly licensed hams in your community. January 2015: New initiative: "At Nashua ARS, We Love New Hams! " Recruiting targeted mailings were shifted to sending free bulletins with inserts to newly granted licenses within a 25-mile radius of Nashua. May & December 2015: Presentations: In outreach, presented "An Introduction to Ham Radio" to SPARK Sessions (Symposium Promoting Advancement of Real-world Knowledge) at the Nashua Academy of Science and Design (a STEM charter school). New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan attended one session. Nashua Area Radio Club has a formal program including classes, license testing, and follow-up to enable new HAMs to earn licenses, learn about HAM radio basics, and seek the help of experienced Elmers to get on the air. Nashua ARS License Classes are posted to the ARRL website, on Gordon West’s website, on our Facebook page, and our Calendar. a) We have four new ARRL certified Volunteer Examiners: AB1QB, KC1DXL, N1RF, and W1AKI that were certified in the past year. Previously certified Volunteer Examiners are AB1OC,... --- ### Field Day Station Test - Published: 2016-04-21 - Modified: 2024-08-10 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/21/field-day-station-test/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter - Tags: Contest, Field Day, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air Field Day QTH It's almost time for the 2016 Field Day Event and we've been in high gear getting ready. We will be setting up at the Hollis-Brookline High School in Hollis this year. The Featured image for this article shows a satellite view of the site. We have already held two Field Day Planning Meetings and many club members have volunteered to help with our Field Day Operation for this year. You can read the latest about our Field Day plans in the Field Day Forum here on our site. Our club was very active in WRT2014 and we were able to purchase several of the WRTC station and tower kits from that effort. In preparation for Field Day each year, we like to set up our station kit in our backyard to verify that all of our equipment is ready and in good working order. The first step is always to pitch the wall tent from the WRTC kit. The tent and the associated tables/chairs can comfortably hold 3 - 4 people. Field Day SSB Station Test We will be using the new IC-7300 Transceiver for Field Day this year. As you can see from the pictures from last year, we used an Elecraft KX3 Transceiver in 2015 along with an outboard KXPA100 100W Amplifier to bring the station up to 100W and Elecraft's PX3 Panadapter. The either of these combinations makes a great 100W Field Day Station as does any good 100W transceiver that can be operated from 13. 8Vdc power. Elecraft KX3 Field Day Station We've also used a Behringer HA400 four channel headphone amplifier (the unit on the right on top of the power supply) with our Field Day setup. This enables connection of a total of 4 sets of headphones to the station - one for the operator, one for a logger and two more pairs for folks to listen in on the fun. Our club has been doing a great deal of outreach to encourage new HAMs to join the hobby and we built this setup so that some of the new folks can listen in on our operation more easily. We will be using a Heil Pro 7 headset to operate and we will have 3 sets of Heil Pro Set 3 headphones for others to use. The Heil gear is very comfortable, light weight and sound great over the air. N1MM+ Logger We will again be using the N1MM+ Logger for Field Day. It is very easy to set up N1MM+ to work with the IC-7300 or the KX3. We will be doing an N1MM+ demo and training at our June Tech Night session to help others in our club to get going on the N1MM+ logger. Generator Test One of the many great aspects of Field Day is that it requires those who participate to test their emergency equipment and field operating skills each year. Our club has a large generator and power distribution system that we all share for Field Day. We use our station test session as a reason to get our smaller generators out for a test run. We have a pair of Honda EU2000 generators which can be used together to generate quite a bit of power. Our club has quite a bit of antenna equipment and we will be putting up two 40 ft towers and tri-band beams with Triplexes and Filters for our 20m, 15m and 10m SSB and CW stations. We are planning a 40m Delta Loop array for our club to use for 40m and we'll also be putting up 40m and 80m inverted-V and dipole antennas. I hope that everyone in our club will join in on the Field Day fun again this year. Fred, AB1OC Hashtags: #ARRLFD #N1FD --- ### N1FD Team Wins Multi-Op In 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Contest! > The results are in and N1FD took first place in the recent ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB in the Multi-op Category. The N1FD team was also #1 in area one... - Published: 2016-04-21 - Modified: 2017-08-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/21/n1fd-wins-rookie-roundup-ssb/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air Abby, KC1FFX and Her Dad Jamey, KC1ENX Operating in the ARRL Rookie Roundup The results are in and N1FD took first place in the recent ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB in the Multi-op Category. The N1FD team was also #1 in area one and #5 overall in the contest. Congratulations to all of our operators - the did a great job operating in the contest. You can find all of the scores for the contest here. N1FD Certificate from the 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB Many folks on our team are interested in the upcoming ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY. We are planning another multi-op entry for that contest as well. --- ### 2016 ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB - N1FD Muti-op Entry > A team of newly licensed club members came together to enter the 2016 ARRL Rookie Round SSB Contest. We held a training session at the weekend before. - Published: 2016-04-19 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/19/arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb-n1fd/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air A team of newly licensed club members came together to enter the 2016 ARRL Rookie Round SSB Contest. We held a training session at our QTH the weekend before the contest to allow our operators to learn about contesting and to become familiar with our station. We put together a training package to introduce the operator team to contesting in general and to the ARRL Rookie Roundup. You can view the training package here. Station setup for the Contest We entered the ARRL Rookie Roundup in the Multi-Op, Single Transmitter category using the club's N1FD call sign. This gave everyone a chance to operate in the contest and to contribute to the team's final score. Fred, AB1OC spent some time setting up and checking out our station ahead of time. Our operators used the N1MM+ logger and operated using 100w of power on the 20m and 40m bands. Abby and Her Dad Jamey Operating in the Contest - Abby has a Bright Future as a Contest Operator! We had a total of 13 Nashua Area Radio Club members who attended the preparation session and/or operated in the contest. Folks worked as teams during the contest with one person operating while another person logged. Our operators had nice pile-ups to work for a good portion of the contest. All of our Operators did really well. As you can see and hear from the above video, we definitely have some future contest stars in our club! The table above shows the results of our operations during the 6 hour contest period. Our team did really well! Of particular note is that they were able to work 45 of the 70 available multipliers. It will take some time for the ARRL to put together the results for everyone in the contest but we believe that our team did very well. We are planning to host recently licensed club members again for the ARRL Rookie Roundup RTTY and the ARRL Rookie Roundup CW contests later this year. We hope to see many of our operators back again for these contests. Anita (AB1QB) --- ### Ham Radio and CC&Rs: Back to the Future > The 6BTV is attractive because it requires no top hat capacitive loading that would not work inside PVC pipe.  It fits in with the CC&R limit... - Published: 2016-04-18 - Modified: 2023-01-27 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/18/ham-radio-and-ccrs-back-to-the-future/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, Homebrew, Mentor As many of you may know, I QSY'd to Florida last summer and now live in a large retirement community. With the move I find myself in an area tailored for the elderly – single-story homes with wide doorways; age minimum of 55 years old; small lots with few trees; landscape and lawn-care services; and the omnipresent golf carts. The biggest industry besides the care and feeding of golf clubs is health care. While I do not consider myself elderly at least for another 10 years or so, it is nice to know what lies ahead. The Villages, FL is probably the largest planned retirement city in the country. The city's goal is to make retirement as enjoyable and comfortable as possible for residents, free from those annoying things you had to put up with during your working career up north. That “freedom” factor is often embodied in fine print on one's deed that is called Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs). Hams are familiar with the term since those who live in apartments or condominiums have to contend with “no outside physical structures for non-commercial antennas, or related paraphernalia attached thereto to one's domicile”, or similar gobbledygook that means no towers and antennas. So why in the world does a guy who had two towers, stacked beams, contested regularly on 160 – 10 meters running the legal limit in power, and has worked them all (DXCC and states) pull up stakes for such a place? I'm still asking myself that question, although I must admit being able to cycle, run and swim in January and February is pretty cool. I'm still in good shape for tower climbing if I find a big station off the reservation that needs some help. But take heart. Life's changes mean new challenges and ham radio is no different. Thanks to technology and ham radio ingenuity, there are ways to coexist with Big Brother and still enjoy the hobby. Before I made the commitment to make the move, I checked out the local radio club's site at K4VRC. COM that contains some useful and clever stealth antenna configurations one can implement. A number of local hams have an “ugly” flagpole made of PVC pipe that encases a vertical antenna. The base hardware is disguised with a fake rock or a nice flower bed while the lush lawns hide a radial field. It didn't take me long to settle on a Hustler 6BTV vertical for my flagpole antenna. The 6BTV is attractive because it requires no top hat capacitive loading that would not work inside PVC pipe. It is about 24 feet in height which fits in with the CC&R limit of 22 feet for flagpoles. (The two feet that stick out are part of the 80-meter coil and are hard to see. ) I've been operating about four months now with the vertical and have had some success with it. I managed to work 500 stations during the ARRL CW DX contest in February and several hundred more during a couple of the RTTY DX contests. I find my hamming has a familiarity that hearkens back to when I got started. As a newly minted General in the 1960s I was confined to low wire dipoles; the Heathkit DX-20/DX-40/DX-60 line of transmitters; and a Hammarlund HQ-100 receiver. I was happy working the states and especially the counties, the latter being “retired” at ~3035 confirmed. OK, what now? Why, more antennas, of course. The back of my house has a peak about 20 feet up that I figured would be a good spot for a pole bolted in place to support a dipole. I have a tree on the front corner of my property that is 30+ feet tall, fine for one end of a multi-band dipole. Back in the early 80s when the WARC bands were new, I built a tri-band dipole for 30, 17, and 12 meters. This simple antenna worked well since there were few beams and even fewer amplifiers on these bands so everyone was on an equal footing. I decided to go with a 40/17/12 meter combination to give me another option for 40 meters. I hung the antenna between the tree and pole on the back of the house, the 40-meter dipole resting just a foot or two above the roof. The 17 and 12-meter antennas were made with insulated wire and run across the roof to tie-off points on the side of the house in a tilted inverted Vee configuration. Other hams in The Villages have run similar antennas across their roofs and found them to work OK with a tuner. (Such antennas are also hard to see even for the neighborhood vigilante. ) The new antenna allowed me to cover the entire 40-meter band without a tuner. The 12 and 17-meter antennas, however, did not perform as well as I had hoped. Propagation was a factor but I also noticed that the wires worked their way under the roof shingles and I did not want them pulled up when the antenna flexed on windy days. Time to figure out a new scheme, especially when the XYL complained about the dipole being visible from the street. I studied the pole on the back of my house where the dipole was secured and had an idea. Why not mount the center insulator on the pole and feed the antenna ends to the ground as a series of inverted Vee antennas? This approach was desirable for two reasons: (1) it was hidden from the street view; and (2) I could orient the inverted Vees to the Northeast to favor Europe. I found that I could secure the ends of the 12-meter antenna off the ends of the soffit at the back peak of the house. The 17-meter inverted Vee hangs off one end over a lower roof and is tied off to a bush on the corner of the Lanai, and the other end is tied off to a hook on the other side of the roof. The 40-meter antenna runs from a small tree at the back of the property on one side and... --- ### Heartbreaking Destruction of the VOA’s Sterba Curtain Antenna > A heartbreaking destruction of the Voice of America’s  Sterba curtain antenna. - Published: 2016-04-12 - Modified: 2017-08-17 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/heartbreaking-destruction-of-the-voas-sterba-curtain-antennas/ - Categories: Antennas, Featured, General - Tags: Antennas, History Curtain Antenna A heartbreaking destruction of the Voice of America’s Sterba curtain antennas. See the video here. --- ### New England QSO Party > The NEQP has become very popular among county hunters as many folks go mobile to activate rare counties in the New England states. - Published: 2016-04-12 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/new-england-qso-party/ - Categories: Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: On The Air New England QSO Party For a number of years, Tom, K1KI has been managing the New England QSO Party (NEQP) that takes place the first weekend of May, usually right after NEARfest. This year's event will be held May 7 & 8. The NEQP has become very popular among county hunters since many of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club members get on the air from New England with several of them going mobile. The small size of the NE states and counties make it ideal to spend a few hours in the car running pile-ups from county lines. If you're new to the hobby, this is an excellent time to experience the thrill of being a sought-after station. Stateside QSO parties are a great stepping stone to larger operating events like Field Day. Whether you go mobile or not, there are plenty of stations looking to work NE. 2015 NEQP Certificate Lest you think you need to slog it out for hours to get anywhere, I won the NH Hillsborough Low Power category, using N1FD, for 2015 with only 162 QSOs. Tom spreads the wealth to maximize enjoyment. If you're interested in giving it a try, check out NEQP. ORG for details. In past events, NARC has used an interactive spreadsheet for those who would like to operate with the N1FD callsign so that folks can select a time and frequency for operating. Finally, as a warm-up, look for me from Marion county, FL the weekend of April 30 - May 1. 73 de K2TE --- ### International Marconi Day > Marconi’s Wellfleet, MA USA wireless station is listed as a National Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places (1975)... - Published: 2016-04-12 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/12/international-marconi-day/ - Categories: Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: On The Air The next KM1CC on-the-air event will be April 23, 2016, 0000 UTC-2400 UTC for International Marconi Day and NPOTA (SS03). KM1CC, the Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club, partners with Cape Cod National Seashore for Marconi related events. Marconi’s Wellfleet, MA USA wireless station is listed as a National Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places (1975) and is now part of the Seashore. Weather permitting, KM1CC will set up a temporary ARS inside the park’s old Coast Guard Station, Eastham. Follow KM1CC on Facebook and dxsummit. fi for frequency updates for both CW and SSB operations. Frequency plan- we will switch bands as conditions change and to respect other operators. 15 M 21. 360 SSB 21. 035 CW 17M 18. 160 SSB 18. 080 CW 40M 7. 130-7. 260 SSB 7. 035 CW 30 M 10. 110. CW 20M 14. 260 SSB 14. 035 CW 80M 3. 660-3. 860 SSB 3. 535 CW 160 M TBA SSB TBA CW DMR 2 M VHF Digital FM 4FSK Digital Mobile Radio I have been asked to help operate on DMR and HF. We will operate on the World Wide, North America and TAC310 talk groups on DMR. 73, Bill - NE1B --- ### Getting On The Air - Your First Station > So you’ve gotten your Technician License or your General upgrade – how do you get a first station on the air? This was the topic of our recent Tech Night. - Published: 2016-04-10 - Modified: 2021-08-13 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/10/first-station/ - Categories: Antennas, Digital, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, Station Equipment - Tags: Antennas, Digital, Mentor, On The Air, Tech Night Class Grad with Her CSCE So you’ve gotten your Technician License or your General upgrade – how do you get a station on the air? This was the topic of our recent Tech Night. The following are some thoughts to get you started. If you are a new Technician, the first thing to ask is - “What do I really want to do on the air and where will I be doing it? ” Here are some common answers to this question: I spend a lot of time commuting in my car or truck and I’d like to pass the time talking with other HAMs I will mostly be operating from my home and I want to rag chew (chat with other HAMs) and check-in to emergency, ARES and/or other nets My plans are mostly be doing parade and other HAM activities in the field and I need something that is portable Approaches for Tech Operators In all of these scenarios, you will be using a combination of FM Simplex and Repeater operation on the 2 m and 70 cm bands. Mobile 2 m/70 cm FM Radio in a Vehicle If the first case is you, then you’ll want to install an FM mobile rig and antenna in your car or truck. You’ll also probably want to permanently mount a simple 2 m/70 cm antenna on your vehicle. Base 2 m/70 cm Radio with APRS Display If the second case is your prime operating scenario, then your choices in radios probably are along two main paths. A 2 m/70 cm radio or a dual purpose HF and 2 m/70 cm capable “all in one” radio. You might take the second approach if you already have or are planning to get your General Class or Extra Class license. A 2 m/70 cm ground plane style vertical antenna that you can mount outside or perhaps in your attic would be a good choice. You might also want to consider a radio that does D-STAR or another Digital Voice mode. There are some large worldwide nets that use digital plus internet linking to reach a large population of HAMs. HT with Improved Antenna If the third case is you main operating mode, then you probably want a quality HT with a good antenna. The rubber duck antenna that comes with most HTs will provide relatively weak performance. A quality 5/8 wavelength antenna and a spare battery for your HT will be a good way to go. Approaches for General Operators OCF Dipole and a 2 m/70 cm Antennas If you’ve received your General Class license and want to do HF, your biggest decision will your antenna antenna. This topic is pretty broad and we’ll cover it in more detail at our Tech Night. I usually recommend a simple wire antenna to get started. A 20m dipole mounted either horizontally or vertically is often a good first choice. It's inexpensive and can be put up at most QTHs in a day or less. Moving up from here, a 40m delta loop or a multi-band OCF dipole also make great starter antennas depending on your space and what you want to do. If you cannot mount an antenna outside, you may be able to mount a modest dipole in your attic or use a portable antenna system like the Buddipole that you can set up to operate and then take down. Basic HF Station with PC Radio choice is also a broad topic which we will cover at our Tech Night. I would recommend a starter HF radio or a good used one (with help from an experienced HAM to select and check out). Your radio should be a 100W unit and cover all of the HF bands from 80 m – 10 m at a minimum. QRP radios (5 – 10W) are usually not a good choice for a first station. Making contacts at this power level with simple antennas can be challenging. It’s also good to have a radio which can do 6 m if that works out for you. I highly recommend that you include digital mode capability in your first HF station. Digital modes such as PSK and RTTY provide a great way to learn to make contacts on the HF bands. Also, these modes work very well for making DX contacts with 100W and simple wire antennas. I hope that this will get you started thinking about how to set your first station. Please come to our next Tech Night session to learn more. You can ask questions and get the benefit of experienced folks in our club. We can help you with these choices. We can also help with installing radios, antennas and getting on the air. Fred, AB1OC --- ### 3D Printing a Raspberry Pi Case - Published: 2016-04-09 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/09/3d-printing-a-raspberry-pi-case/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, Mentor In a previous article, I wrote about jumping into 3D printing for fun and home-brewing. I decided I wanted to try printing a custom case for my Raspberry Pi 2 Model B that I found on Thingiverse. I chose one that had VESA mounting tabs with 75mm spacing in order to mount to the back of an older LCD monitor I had laying around. I am doing this to create a dedicated computer for running my M3D 3D printer. Custom Cases for Raspberry Pi found on Thingiverse. com I'm printing the case you see above on the left. There are other upper case options for mounting mini-fans should you need to provide extra cooling for your Raspberry Pi. And if you are handy with one of the many 3D modeling software packages out there, you can mod this case (or any case) to fit your specific needs. PRINTING THE CASE LOWER I acquired a spool of black PLA filament (Hatchbox) from Amazon. While not specifically branded by M3D, I wanted to try other sources because the Hatchbox brand was less expensive on the order of 2. 8:1 than the M3D branded filament. I was taking a chance because I am learning that getting the temperature right for a brand not tested by the printer manufacturer can be tricky. I did have issues of the print starting to lift off the print bed (M3D is non-heated). But I recovered from that by tacking down the corner with a hot glue gun. Maybe this would have printed better on a heated print bed or if I would have controlled the surrounding temperature better. Almost completed lower Raspberry Pi case Completed Raspberry Pi case lower Back of case showing "raft" before removal and cleanup Cleaned up lower ready for test fit Fits like a glove! PRINTING THE CASE UPPER Given the experience I had with printing with the Hatchbox filament, I wanted to see how printing the case upper would be using the M3D filament. I just chose one of the other M3D filaments to contrast the black lower. The printer's program calculated this to be a 14 hr print. But, the output is looking good for far--no lifting of corners or warping. About 12 hours later... DONE! Print completed for the RasPi case upper After removing the raft and cleaning up stray flashing (inside) After removing the raft and cleaning up stray flashing (outside) Fits great! Just need to figure out the case screws. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to print the case version with the VESA mounting tabs on the back of a monitor. In this case, they needed to be 75mm spacing. Aligned nicely! This was a fun project. While not a perfect printing experience, it was good enough for a first major print project. Lessons learned will be turned back into the printing experience and improved upon on subsequent projects. After mounting this Raspberry Pi w/case to the back of the monitor, the next mini-project is to get the Raspberry Pi working with the 3D printer. There appears to be groundwork already done in this area, and I will follow the path already paved. Wayne / AG1A --- ### NEAR-Fest XIX > EAR-Fest XIX  - April 29 - 30 will be held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds -  34 Stage Rd, Deerfield NH. - Published: 2016-04-03 - Modified: 2022-01-29 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/03/near-fest-xix/ - Categories: Featured, General - Tags: Hamvention NEAR-Fest XIX - April 29 - 30 will be held at the Deerfield Fairgrounds - 34 Stage Rd, Deerfield NH. Open: Friday 9:00 AM to Saturday 1:00 PM - the Grand door prizes are drawn at 1:00 PM Saturday. More info: near-fest. com (be sure to scroll down). Lots of buyers and sellers usually attend (depending on weather) plus some commercial vendors. Sellers are dispersed over a significant portion of the fairground, so be prepared for a little bit of walking - usually, 2 or 3 trips around the grounds will give some good ideas of what is available. Most sellers will negotiate - so make an offer, but don't wait too long - great deals go quickly. The best part of the event is the people! You'll likely run into a few of your radio buddies as you wander the fairgrounds. --- ### How to Build a Ground for your Shack and Feedlines > Ham Radio Grounding - The ground system used was a simple one that would make a good system for a new HAM's first station. - Published: 2016-04-02 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/02/ham-radio-grounding/ - Categories: Antennas, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: Antennas, HF, Mentor When I began construction of a dedicated 8-Circle Receive Array antenna system for the low bands (160m – 40m) some time ago (see part one in this series for details), I knew that I’d have to use good Ham Radio grounding practices... This is an article about Ham Radio grounding that I wrote some time ago when I added a second ground and entry point for my shack for some additional antennas. The ground system used was a simple one that would make a good system for a new HAM's first station. The copper bracket on the rod can mount the feed line arrestors needed for feed lines before they enter your house. All one needs is the ground rod, the bracket, arrestors for your feed lines and a 12 gauge wire into your shack to ground your radio and you're ready to get on the air. You can also use the arrester as a place to disconnect your feed line(s) when you're not using the station to protect your QTH from lightning. Source: Receive Antenna For The Low Bands Part 2 – Second Shack Entry And Ground Point | Our HAM Station Fred, AB1OC --- ### Baofeng/Pofung Radios: A Review For The New Ham > You may have run across the names Baofeng/Pofung here and there. They are a Chinese manufacturer of two-way radio equipment. - Published: 2016-04-01 - Modified: 2024-10-15 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/04/01/baofeng-review/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Mentor Baofeng UV-5R You may have run across the names Baofeng/Pofung here and there. They are a Chinese manufacturer of two-way radio equipment. What makes these radios attractive to the new ham is their low cost. If you look carefully on Amazon, you can buy a UV-5R+ dual band HT for around $40. Add a programming cable for $10, pair that with the free, open source programming software called CHIRP and you’ve got a very capable portable station. The UV-5R+ covers 136-174 / 400-512 MHz (transmit and receive) with two power levels, 1- and 5-Watts. They also feature a dual-watch function, DCS/CTCSS encode/decode, DTMF keypad, VOX, and a handy LED flashlight. The front mounted speaker provides 1 Watt of clear audio. The audio and reception reports I’ve received were excellent. There is a two-pin, Kenwood compatible socket on the side of the radio for an optional speaker mike. An earphone-microphone is included. One drawback to these radios is the fact that programming them manually is a bit of a challenge. However, with some practice, it is possible to program the radio without the aid of a computer. There are many YouTube videos on programming. It’s usually a good idea to learn how to program any radio in the field because your laptop/desktop computer may not be available to you in an emergency situation. So you’ve got your new radio, you’ve charged the battery, turned it on, was greeted by the cheery voice telling you that you were in the frequency mode (yes, the radio will talk to you in English or Chinese)... now what? The first thing you should do is get CHIRP installed and running on your PC. Next, download the virgin configuration from the radio and save it to a file on your computer. That way you’ll be able to revert the radio to its factory fresh state in case you accidentally mess things up. More about CHIRP in another article. One accessory you might want to consider is an antenna. The stock rubber antenna isn’t very good because of mismatching. You’ll find that most users recommend Nagoya antennas. These seem to be well made Taiwanese antennas that are much better than the one that came with the radio. Unfortunately, there is a rash of counterfeit Nagoyas out there so be careful. I have had good luck with the MFJ-1717S dual-band antenna. Just remember to get an antenna with a female SMA connector. Another nuisance I’ve found is the retaining nut for the antenna connector on the radio coming loose after a couple of days use. The simple fix for this is to remove the nut and apply a small amount of thread locking compound to the threads. Tighten the nut well and that’s it. Just make sure that the thread locker is removable because there will come a time when you have to take the radio apart for servicing. I recommend Loctite Blue. I’ve had my UV-5R+ for two years and it just runs. Last year I bought a BF-F9+V2 which is the tri-power version of the 5R+ (1/5/8 Watts). These low cost, easy to use radios will make a welcome addition to any emergency Go Box. Bill, KA1SSR --- ### The Colossus of Radio > Crosley Radio Corporation’s 1936 “WLW Model  Super-Power Radio Receiver". Front of Crosley Radio Corporation’s WLW Model Super-Power radio receiver. - Published: 2016-03-31 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/31/colossus-of-radio/ - Categories: Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: History The rear of the Crosley Super-Power set. Everything that could be was chromium-plated. Crosley Radio Corporation’s 1936 “WLW Model Super-Power Radio Receiver”Front of Crosley Radio Corporation’s WLW Model Super-Power radio receiver. Features included multiple tuning, volume, fidelity, and tone controls, as well as a public address system. In 1935, the Zenith Radio Corporation produced a stunning radio receiver called the Stratosphere model 1000Z. The set used 25 tubes and three loudspeakers — more than any other radio to date. An amazing (for the time) 50 watts drove its three speakers — one 6 inch dynamic high-frequency and two 12 inch dynamic low-frequency speakers. Check this article out. Found by Ralph Keyslay, N1UH. Ralph suggests that we might want to include this article in a future newsletter. Looks like a great QRP rig! Source: The Colossus of Radio - Nuts & Volts Magazine - For The Electronics Hobbyist --- ### April Club Newsletter > Enjoy the April edition of the Nashua Area Radio Club Newsletter. - Published: 2016-03-30 - Modified: 2019-11-04 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/30/april-newsletter/ - Categories: General, Newsletter Enjoy the April edition of the Nashua Area Radio Club Newsletter. April Newsletter --- ### Inexpensive DIY Digital Oscilloscope Kit - Published: 2016-03-27 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/inexpensive-diy-digital-oscilloscope-kit/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing, Newsletter - Tags: Homebrew, Kits, Test Equipment I came across a DSO138 DIY Digital Oscilloscope Kit (SMD Soldered Version) on the Internet recently that looked like a fun project for the kids and me to work on together. The price didn't seem bad at $24 w/free shipping. I ordered the optional clear acrylic case to go with it for another $7. 50 more. Basic specs (from the supplier site): Maximum real-time sampling rate: 1Msps Accuracy: 12Bit Sampling buffer depth: 1024 bytes Analog bandwidth: 0 - 200KHz Vertical Sensitivity: 10mV / Div - 5V / Div (1-2-5 progressive manner) Adjustable vertical displacement, and with instructions Input impedance: 1MΩ Maximum input voltage: 50Vpp (1: 1 probe), 400Vpp (10: 1 probe) Coupling modes: DC / AC / GND The horizontal time base range: 10μs / Div - 50s / Div (1-2-5 progressive manner) With automatic, regular and one-shot mode, easy to capture the moment waveform Available rising or falling-edge trigger Adjustable trigger level position, and with instructions Observable previous trigger waveform (negative delay) Can freeze at any time waveform display (HOLD function) Comes with a 1Hz /3. 3V square wave test signal source It came in the mail this weekend. In the box was the case kit, bag of parts, main board, display board, test cable, assembly checklist, and a basic how to use guide: I plan to post updates on the build experience with photos along the way. Stay tuned! Wayne, AG1A --- ### Join us for the ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB on April 17!! > Are you a new Ham who has received your first license in the past 3 years? Are you interested in finding out what contesting is all about?  - Published: 2016-03-27 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/arrl-rookie-roundup-ssb/ - Categories: Activities, Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air - Tags: Contest, Mentor, NARS Event, On The Air Are you a new Ham who has received your first license in the past 3 years? Are you interested in finding out what contesting is all about? The ARRL has a contest just for you! The ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB is coming up on Sunday, April 17 from 18:00 UTC until 23:59 UTC (2 pm – 8 pm) and it is just for “Rookies”. We will be fielding a Multi-Op entry from the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH using our club callsign, N1FD. Non-rookies can help by getting on the air and working rookies in the contest! See the ARRL Rookie Roundup Site for the rules and exchange. AB1OC Antenna Tower We will hold elmering sessions for the contest to help you learn how to operate our station and use a contest logger the weekend of April 9th and 10th. Join us at one of three sessions : Saturday, April 9 at 10:00 am Saturday, April 9th at 2:00 pm Sunday, April 10th at 1:00 pm The rules for the Rookie Roundup are on the ARRL website at http://www. arrl. org/rookie-roundup. If you are a rookie and you are interested in operating in the contest, or just visiting our station and watching the operation, contact Anita, AB1QB at ab1qb@arrl. net. AB1OC/AB1QB Shack --- ### 3D Printing for Fun and Homebrewing > There are many helpful 3D Printer projects you can print on the Internet and many colors to choose from.  Here's a Raspberry Pi case that I made. - Published: 2016-03-27 - Modified: 2023-10-30 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/27/3d-printing-for-fun-and-homebrewing/ - Categories: Featured, General, Homebrewing - Tags: Homebrew, Mentor I recently picked up a mini 3D printer made by M3D. com because I wanted to channel my inner-maker and see what it was like to dabble in 3D printing, but I didn't want to spend the $1k-$2k or more for trying out something that I might not like. This particular printer has a capability of printing objects up to 5. 9" x 5. 9" x 5. 9" in both PLA and ABS. It is not the fastest printer out there, but with a little patience and sub $400 prices, I was willing to give it a try. After unpacking the printer and settling on the white filament for my first dive into 3D printing, I looked for something that was simple, small, and easy to print. I picked a flop-eared bunny for one of my daughters for Easter. I pulled this 3D model from a well-stocked source of 3D models called Thingiverse. It was easy to get the printer up-n-running. Here is a sequence of photos during the 4-hour process with the final image being the bunny with all raft and supports removed. Now that I got thru my first successful 3D print. I started thinking more of what can I print that might be practical and useful? I know I have always wanted something to keep my charging cords from falling behind a desk or nightstand, so you can print these: And how about a nice custom case for that new Raspberry Pi you recently got? Or custom printing some other little project box? There are many helpful projects you can print that already exist on the Internet and many colors to choose from. Want to strike out on your own and brew your own custom widget? Here is a chance to learn 3D modeling and there a quite a few freeware versions of software to choose from. I recommend going to a site like 3D Printing for Beginners for starters. There appears to be quite a bit of info on this site to keep you busy in learning about 3D printing. Wayne, AG1A --- ### VK0EK Heard Island DXpedition is active now! > Because we will be on the air at the same time as the FT4JA DXpedition – and because we will both be operating from a very similar time zone... - Published: 2016-03-26 - Modified: 2025-05-05 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/26/vk0ek-dxpedition/ - Categories: DX, Featured, General, On The Air - Tags: DX VK0EK DXpedition – March 6 – April 20, 2016 DURING the FT4JA DXpedition (March 29th – April 11th) Because we will be on the air at the same time as the FT4JA DXpedition – and because we will both be operating from a very similar time zone – it is very important that we coordinate with the French Team, and we have. We will use different frequencies for RTTY to allow a greater listening range until FT4JA comes on the air. We may occasionally deviate from this plan before FT4JA comes on the air, if the op considers it useful to do so. We also will make sure we are on valid and legal frequencies for 80M SSB. Check out the website for the VK0EK Heard Island DXpedition. They have some great tools on their website to help folks who are trying to work them. Source: Link to the VK0EK DXpedition website --- ### Becoming A Great Elmer > There is much being said these days about the importance of bringing new people, especially young people, into our Hobby. Become a Ham Radio Elmer. - Published: 2016-03-23 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/23/ham-radio-elmer/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: CW Class, Mentor There is much being said and written these days about the importance of bringing new people, especially young people, into our Hobby. There are many obvious reasons for this. As we all get older or get busy with other aspects of our lives, some will leave the hobby. Also, we have the use of many commercially valuable portions of the RF spectrum and there is always pressure to reallocate bands or segments of bands which are not fully utilized. In my mind, the most important reason to bring new HAMs into our hobby has to do with the energy and new ideas that these folks bring to Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio has always been a learning hobby and new folks help us to keep this important part of what makes our hobby so much fun vibrant. Anita (AB1QB) and I try to put a lot of time and energy into getting folks started in Amateur Radio and helping them to build their skills and progress. Our Amateur Radio License Classes and the youth outreach work that we’ve been doing are two good examples of this. To make these efforts as successful as they can be, it’s also very important to provide good opportunities for folks who are new to various aspects of Amateur Radio to learn and gain experience. This means becoming an “Elmer” or a HAM Radio mentor to people who are less experienced in some part of the hobby than you are... . Source: Our HAM Station | Our notes on the construction and operation of a multi-op Amateur Radio Station --- ### How to QSL a DX Station? > Important contact! You may already have a QSL card made and you are wondering how to go about getting a card to confirm your contact. - Published: 2016-03-22 - Modified: 2021-08-12 - URL: https://www.n1fd.org/2016/03/22/how-to-qsl-a-dx-station/ - Categories: Education and Training, Featured, General, Newsletter - Tags: DX, Mentor Step 1 - QSL Piece Parts Congratulations on your first DX or important US contact! You may already have a QSL card made and you are wondering how to go about getting a card from the DX station to confirm your contact. Step 2 - Inner Return Envelope I think that Green Stamps are the best way to go. There are a few countries where its illegal to accept US currency but you can use green stamps (USD bills) for 99% of what you¹ll ever QSL and they are easier for many folks outside the US than an IRC would be. Step 3 - Outer Envelope Stuffed Its important to properly package and seal a QSL with green stamps to avoid postal theft which is, unfortunately, common in many parts of the world. We use a system consisting of an envelope in an envelope. Step 4 - Outer Envelope Sealed Note the taping of the outside envelope including the corners – this is an important deterrent to postal theft. Also note that the double envelope makes it nearly impossible to see that there are $$ inside. Also note how the $$ bills are folded and spaced around the QSL card to make the final result appear thin. Step 5 - QSL Ready to Mail US QSLs or QSLs to stations with US QSL managers are simpler. You just include an SASE in lieu of green stamps. We get about a 70% return QSL rate on our direct QSLs this way which is very good. All of these steps are designed to reduce the likelihood of postal theft. You should also get up on Logbook of the World (LoTW) and Clublog. These are two sites that can make confirming contacts easier, faster and less expense. LoTW is an ARRL tool that used a double-blind system (neither party knows what it the other¹s logs). LoTW confirmations are accepted by the ARRL for all of their awards (DXCC, WAS, VUCC, etc). You don¹t get a card but you can apply these confirmations to ARRL awards. Clublog offers an online log checking and QSL request service. Our club call (N1FD) has our logs on Clublog for example and you can request a card via the QSL or via direct mail (for a fee to cover postage). Most of the major Expeditions and many special events as well as individual operators use Clublog so you can tell if you are "in the log" and a subset will provide OQRS (online card requests) as described above. I would also recommend subscribing to the W1 Bureau. This path is slow (sometimes getting a card takes 2 years, almost never less than 6 mo) but the cost of QSL¹ing this way is very low. Not all HAMs subscribe to the worldwide Bureau system and not all countries have a QSL Bureau but most do. Fred (AB1OC) --- ---