recentevents

Recent Events




Please find the link to the presentation Andy gave at AARC Club meeting in April. Andy_Ham_Radio_Linux_Slides





2021 FIELD DAY AT CROW ISLAND


   Click on the image to get the Field Day Report


GOTA Activities




Pre Setup Gathering



Saturday During Field Day








2020 FIELD DAY AT CROW ISLAND














PACK MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN TOP OPERATION



On November 1st, 2019 N4ADC and K1IX did a day mountain top operation up on Pack Monadnock in Peterborough, New Hampshire.  WX was brisk and cool but with a simple 20m dipole and 5 watts battery powered Yaesu FT-817 N4ADC was able to get across the big pond and work prefixes G0,SM5, S51, EI4, YO2, and G3.  It really helps to have your antenna at 2300ft!!!

73 - K1IX













PROJECT NIGHT



AARC held its traditional Project Night at the last meeting of the 2018-2019 season at the Marlborough Central Fire Station EOC.

Project Night featured five presentations:

Tim (KA1OS) brought his 3D printer, described how it was set up, showed some of his printings, and printed some new objects while others were talking. Tim's demo prompted several questions. 3D printing is becoming more accessible and popular. Tim even ran a free raffle for one of his ARRL Emblem printouts.

Jim (AB1YQ) said his 3D printer was too "entangled" at home to make an appearance, so, after showing us some of his successes and remains of his failures, we were treated to a network operation of his home printer via the internet along with an impressively detailed presentation about software choices and other considerations in getting a 3D printer to work as you want it to work.

Eric (KV1J) showed us on the big screen some of the interesting features of the N1MM logger (of which those who use it once a year on Field Day might be unaware). The big take away here was appreciating that having the latest updated version is hardly just a matter of preference because N1MM receives content (rules and databases) from all the many contests wherever it is used and that content is changing constantly. There is definitely an impressive learning curve in making this program work to its fullest potential.

Ron (N1CNG) Gave us an update on his Crow Island project which was introduced in an earlier AARClist email. Basically, Ron has assembled just about everything necessary to have an outdoor operation and experimentation site for interested Hams. He does need help in setting up the equipment. Antenna poles, tents, tables, generator operation, and equipment are all in need of handling and setup. Ron has not seen out of his rear car window for weeks, and that's just stuff not stored at Crow Island. This is a beautiful site and a wonderful opportunity. Check out the newly created Crowhams.com.

Finally, John (N1DNX) brought along his uBITX 3-30 MHz uncased transceiver which has given him considerable trouble with suitable reception. He was looking for helpful suggestions from members who had also purchased the rig or had experience with similar rigs. Well, that became the "gather 'round" project of the night which lasted until about 10:30 PM with 5 or 6 of the original dozen still hovering over the tiny transceiver like a witches' scene from Macbeth. John was very pleased with the interest, the helpful comments, and Eric's discovery of what might be a poorly connected terminator. Progress!

Once again, Project Night was a clear indication that our Club has many interesting members doing fascinating things. If you have a project you would like to show (especially in stages over a period of time), get help with, or just brag about, who is going to be more interested (or even understand what you are doing) than your fellow Club members? Please keep Mike informed.
And, most of all, a Big Thank You to Mike and all five presenters who made Project Night really special.










   2018 Museum Ship

2018 Museum Ships Event on June 2 & 3 NB1CR Activating the Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy Jr. DD-850

Ham Radio call : NB1CR

Rigs:

  • Club K3 station setup
  • K1IX - 706 Portable station
  • K1DIN - TS-480 Portable

Antennas:

  • 40m - 1/4 wave vertical on push up mast
  • 20m - 1/4 wave vertical on push up mast
  • 17m - dipole up on flag halyard

Event sponsor NJ2BB.











WACHUSETT MOUNTAIN TOP OPERATION



K1DIN and K1IX did a short Mountain Top expedition Trip to Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, MA. on July12th and had a ton of fun.  Despite terrible conditions they were both able to work the rare FP/KV1J DXpedition on St Pierre and Miquelon on 20m.  One other notable contact was NU5DE in central TX.  This was a special event station for the nude outdoor recreation league.   If you drop the 5 from their call you get the picture they are really in to it.

73 K1DIN & K1IX












2017 FIELD DAY PHOTOS



                













2016 MUSEUM SHIP EVENT



QSL Card

On June 4th, 2016 The Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy Jr. (DD-850) was activated once again at Battleship Cove, in Fall River, MA.  The call sign used was NB1CR which is a derivation of the original call sign for the destroyer NBCR.

Operation began Saturday morning on three bands 40m, 20m and 17m.   There were verticals for 40m & 20m and a dipole for 17m.  Rigs used were the club's K3, K1DIN's TS-480 and K1IX's IC-706.   The propagation did not favor the museum ship event this weekend, as a result fewer contacts were made.  During the day 20m seemed to be the band to be on and that is wehere most of the contacts were handed out.  More photos possibly after the event.


                                       













    2014 Ham Radio Flea Market

"Hear ye, hear ye..."

Let it be known throughout the Ham radio community that this day, February 15, 2014, Jim Fitton � W1FMR, won the �grand prize� of $200.00 while attending the annual Marlborough ham radio flea market.  Jim, who is one of the founding fathers of NEQRP when it was called QRPNE (and holds membership #1) was heartily congratulated by all NEQRP members in attendance and, of course, many others.  Jim has been a strong supporter of the QRP minimalist philosophy for many years and his QRP activities and accomplishments have made him a legend in his own time.   Congratulations Jim!

L to R - K1IX, AARC Treasurer, KA1OS, AARC President, W1FMR)

Submitted by, NY1Z.













Annual Armed Forces Day   Crossband Military - Amateur Radio Communications Test

QSL Card

I took part in the Armed Forces Day Crossband Communication Test read more last month, first for me.  I jumped around scanning the band for Armed Forces stations, checking off the schedule as I went.  At first didn't hear any stations CW or SSB.  Changed strategy and begin to look for stations on frequencies that favored by propagation.   I heard a few stations on SSB but they didn't hear me, or didn't realize that a CW station was calling them.   The bands were noisy and made things more difficult.   Soon I was making contacts not only cross-band but cross-mode, since I didn't have a microphone for that radio.   The AF radio operators were very professional and very efficient in handling the traffic.  It was a great experience for me.

Stations worked:

Call    Freq.    RST     OP     QTH

AAC     20m     59/599     Harv    Lexington, KY

NWKJ     20m     59/599     Carl     USS Yorktown Gilbert, SC

NWVC     20m    59/599   Rick    USS LST325 Evensville, IN

WAR    40m    59/599    -     Pentagon Arlington, VA

Report by NB1N

Received QSL confirmation from several statins, showing one here from the Pentagon.












Museum Ships Weekend

* On June 1st, 2013 six club members, k1din, wb6vva, kb1ouv, k1plh, n1ur and k1ix traveled to Battleship Cove, Fall River,MA. to activate the Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy Jr. (DD-850) for the 2013 Museum Ships weekend.  We were active on three bands 40M, 20M and 15M.  The propagation conditions were just terrible due to the recent Solar flare.  Between Saturday and Sunday we did however managed to garner 346 contacts while working 11 other Museum ships that were active in the event.  This compared favorable to the 350 we worked last year in better conditions.  Much of that can be attributed to installing the antennas the day before the event to allow us to begin operating earlier Saturday morning.  A good time was had by all and we look forward to doing it again next year.  Report by K1IX. NB1CR

* We operated NB1CR special event station for 2013 Museum Ships Weekend.  The original callsign for JP Kennedy, Jr (DD850), a Gearing Class Destoyer, was NBCR.  The team operated both Saturday and Sunday, 1-2 June.   We made 346 successful contacts.   We had 3 operating positions, 1 on each band: 40, 20 & 15M, we used 2 verticals on (40M & 20M) and 1 dipole on (15M). Propagation and Band Noise was the worst experienced thus far by the AARC Museum Ships Weekend Team.  Report by WB6VVA.

Rigs included:

  • K3 on (40M)
  • K3 on (20M)
  • IC-706MKIIG on (15M)

QSL card designed by K1IX.












Last updated April 12, 2024