We’ve been pretty active in 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 … Continue reading
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”. The Nashua Area Radio Society will be receiving some important recognition for our work to bring new Hams into the Amateur Radio service, for our Amateur Radio related STEM … Continue reading
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 Europe and the western USA from here in New England. For fun, I’ve plotted my 6m Grids worked and … Continue reading
Every so often, 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 But the reply is usually, why ham radio – isn’t that outdated technology?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 … Continue reading
I have been working on completing contacts with all of the entities in Europe for some time. I have been fortunate to earn the DARC Worked All Europe Top Plaque having successfully confirmed contacts with 72 or the 73 DX entities in Europe on a sufficient number of bands. For some time now, I have been trying … Continue reading
I have continued to make progress on my operating award goals and have recently received a few interesting new awards. The first one is the Worked All VK CALL Areas. This award is issue by the Wireless Institute of Australia and requires confirming a number of contacts in all 10 VK call areas on the … Continue reading
Every since our DXpedition to Bora Bora Island (OC-67) in French Polynesia in 2012, we have been interested in the RSGB Islands On The Air (IOTA) program and the associated awards. I believe that our presence on a medium-rare IOTA while were in French Polynesia contributed significantly to the success of our operation there. Anita … Continue reading
I did quite a bit of operating at QRP power levels (5 Watts) in 2013. It is great fun to make contacts at low power and it is truly amazing how far one can communicate on only 5 watts of power. QRP operating is also a great way to improve one’s operating skills. I recently … Continue reading
The 2014 Es Season was my first chance to focus on operating on 6m. To help provide motivation, I set a goal to work and confirm enough Grid Squares on 6m to earn a VUCC Operating Award. After some time to confirm and for the ARRL to process everything, my VUCC came in the mail … Continue reading
I’ve been continuing to work on several operating awards and have recently completed a couple of interesting ones. The first is a Worked All Europe (WAE) Top Plaque. This award is from the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC). It required me to work and confirm 70 of the 72 entities in Europe and 300+ band-entities … Continue reading
