Nashua Area Radio Society Featured on HamNation

The Nashua Area Radio Society’s activities and projects were featured on HamNation last evening (Wednesday, November 27th). 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… →

Source: Nashua Area Radio Society Featured on HamNation

Anita, AB1QB and I did a segment on HamNation last evening (Wednesday, November 27th, 2019). We spoke about the work that The Nashua Area Radio Society is doing to bring new Hams into the Amateur Radio Service and to provide skills development for all Hams. You can view our interview on HamNation below.

Ham Nation Episode 430 Featuring The Nashua Area Radio Society

Fred, AB1OC

Learn About Ham Radio at HamXposition @ Boxboro

Remote HF GOTA Station at HamXpositon

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
  • 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
  • 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. Bootcamp to helps 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.

Source: Interest and Excitement Around HamXposition Is Building

I wanted to share our plans for several hands-on activities at HamXposition @ Boxboro in September. We hope that Ham Bootcamp will be of particular interest to folks getting into Amateur Radio. You can learn more about Ham Bootcamp and all of our planned activities via the link above. We hope to see some of our readers at HamXpostion next month!

Fred, AB1OC

A Raspberry Pi Video Player for Ham Expo Displays

Dave, K1DLM recently prototyped a simple Raspberry Pi Video Player for use in our Ham Exposition Displays. We’ve built a number of these players to play video content at our upcoming Ham Expo Display at HamXposition at Boxboro in September. The article below shares information on the hardware and software we used to put these players together. The information should provide a useful start for many other Raspberry Pi projects.

Source: A Raspberry Pi Video Player for Expo Displays – Nashua Area Radio Society

Simple Raspberry Pi Computers have many useful applications in Amateur Radio. They can also be used to create a nice general-purpose computing platform for many applications.

The hardest part of using the Raspberry Pi video player is getting the basic hardware and software components together to create a working system. This article explains these basic steps for a simple video player application that we use as part of our Ham Radio Expo Displays. I hope that this information is useful to others who might want to use the Raspberry Pi.

Fred, AB1OC

Video About Growing and Modernizing Your Amateur Radio Club

Jamey, AC1DC Presenting in the ARRL Forum at Dayton 2019

The ARRL gave the Nashua Area Radio Society a Forum at the Dayton Hamvention(R)this past year to talk about how we approached Growing and Modernizing our club. The ARRL has produced a video of our Dayton Forum presentation. You can view the Video along with a copy of the presentation via the link which follows…

Dayton Hamvention(R) 2019 ARRL Forum – Growing and Modernizing Your Amateur Radio Club

The Nashua Area Radio Society has grown from about 35 members to over 225 members in less than 4 years. The presentation contains ideas and programs that have worked for the Nashua Area Radio Society’s (NARS) as part of our efforts to modernize and grow our club.

We have been sharing this presentation via the Internet with other Amateur Radio Clubs. All that is required is an Internet connection capable of streaming video and an associated computer with a projector and speakers. We would like to invite our readers who might want us to do a similar presentation at one of your club meetings to reach out to us via an email to ab1oc@arrl.net.

Fred, AB1OC

The Nashua Area Radio Society Story

Nashua Area Radio Members

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 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. You can see our planned presentation at the link below.

Source: The Nashua Area Radio Society Story

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.

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.

Fred, AB1OC

Update on NARS Amateur Radio Expo for Young People

Source: Update on NARS Amateur Radio Expo for Young People

The Nashua Area Radio Society will again be hosting an Amateur Radio Exposition for Young People as part of NEAR-Fest in Deerfield, NH on October 12th and 13th.

You can see more about what we are planning via the link above. Activities will include multiple GOTA Stations, a Kit Build, a Fox Hunt, Morse Code, and other hands-on activities. We will also be operating a Special Event Station as N1T.

NEAR-Fest along with several NARS members are also sponsoring a matching fundraising project as part of this event. Check it out!

Fred, AB1OC

Nashua Area Radio Society Youth Expo at Boxboro

Karen KC1KBW a BGHS Teacher Building a Kit

Karen KC1KBW a BGHS Teacher Building a Kit

The Nashua Area Radio Society put together a successful Amateur Radio Youth Exposition at the New England Amateur Radio Convention at Boxboro this year. Our exposition features over ten displays with hands-on activities…

Source: NARS Youth Expo at Boxboro – Nashua Area Radio Society

Anita AB1QB and I are continuing to work along with the Nashua Area Radio Society to encourage young people to become licensed and join the Amateur Radio Service.

NARS Team at Boxboro

Nashua Area Radio Society Team at Boxboro

The Nashua Area Radio Society recently hosted an Amateur Radio Exposition for Young People at the New England Amateur Radio Convention in Boxboro, MA. Our event featured Remote HF and Satellite GOTA stations, a kit build, and many other hands-on activities which were part of the over ten displays at the event.

You can read more and see photos from our Youth Expo via the link above. We will be holding another Amateur Radio Youth Expo as part of NETT at NEAR-Fest in Deerfield, NH in October. We hope to see some of our local friends there.

Fred, AB1OC

Please Help Us Grow the Amateur Radio Service

Graduates from our Summer Youth Technician License Class

Source: Support the Nashua Area Radio Society on Amazon Smile and GoFundMe

Anita and I have been working to grow the Amateur Radio Service through our work at the Nashua Area Radio Society. The Nashua Area Radio Society is a 501c(3) public charity whose 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!
Students and Teacher Ready To Launch Their High-Altitude Balloon

Students and Teachers Ready To Launch Their High-Altitude Balloon

The Nashua Area Radio Society has created many programs designed to provide STEM learning experiences and training through Amateur Radio. Some of these include:

To carry out our mission, we have formed close relationships with several schools. This helps us develop and deliver effective, high-quality programs that bring learning through Amateur Radio to young people. You can read more about what we’re doing via the link at the top of the page.

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 hope that our readers will consider supporting our work at the Nashua Area Radio Society by using Amazon Smile and designating us as your favorite charity and/or by making a donation to our current fundraising campaign (click on the badge below).

GoFundMe Badge

Amazon Smile is free and it’s easy to set up and use (click here for setup information).

On behalf of the many young people and others that we help, thank you very much for your interest and 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.

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. Our display will be part of the New England Amateur Radio Convention in Boxboro, MA on September 8th and 9th. We are also planning a similar display for NEAR-Fest at Deerfield Fairgrounds, NH later in the fall. You can see more about our planned display and the associated hands-on activities via the following link.

Source: Fall Youth Events at Boxboro and NEAR-Fest – Nashua Area Radio Society

I want to share some information about an Amateur Radio event that we will be doing at the Boxboro, MA Ham Radio Convention in September. Our display and hands-on activities provide an introduction to Amateur Radio for young people and include information and a chance to try Amateur Radio activities such as:

You can read more about our plans for the event via the link above.

Morse Trainer Kit

Morse Trainer Kit

We’ve been working with Steve Elliot, K1EL to develop an inexpensive kit building project to include as part of our displays. We will be including a new kit building activity in as part of our display. Builders can purchase the Morse Trainer Kit shown above for $20 and build it at the show. We will provide soldering equipment and kit building mentors to help builders complete their kit. The package includes batteries and a printed manual. We will have these kits available for walk-up purchase at the show on both Saturday and Sunday.

I am also planning to provide forum presentation on the following topics on Saturday at Boxboro:

  • Creating Successful Youth Outreach Projects
  • Portable Satellite Station Design, Operation, and Planning for an upcoming ISS Crew Contact
  • STEM Learning for Young People via High Altitude Balloons Carrying Amateur Radio

You can view the Boxboro Forum schedule here.

I hope to see folks who follow our Blog at the New England at the Boxboro Convention. If you can make it, stop by our display or visit us in the forums and say “hello”.

73,

Fred, AB1OC

2018 Dayton Hamvention Report

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. You can read more about what we saw at Dayton this year via the link below.

Source: 2018 Dayton Hamvention at Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH

Fred, AB1OC