VE3DVY Video: Introduction to N1MM Logger and ARRL Field Day

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I found this little gem that VE3DVY put together on Field Day and using N1MM:

This video is a great introduction to logging with N1MM. It only goes over using N1MM while logging and leaves out all the N1MM configuration info that you don’t need to know for field day.  If it still seems too complicated, don’t worry, it’s not. We’ll walk you through it this weekend when you show up to operate. You are going to be there to operate, right?

Probably the most important and hardest thing to remember is pressing CTRL+o  and entering your callsign when you sit down at the station. This signs you into the software and will let everyone else on the network know that you’re on that particular station and it assigns your callsign (or name if you don’t have a callsign) to each log entry. When you are finished operating at that station, it’s always a good idea to press CTRL+o again so the prompt is waiting for the next person who comes by to operate and so that they won’t log QSOs under your call.

See you all at School Street Park in Agawam this weekend!

HCRA Invades Agawam

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T minus 4 days and counting.

Agawam residents should be on the look out for Amateur Radio operators.

They look like normal people, dress like normal people, but have a language all their own.

Some speak in code (CW), Some in Digital ( RTTY, PSK), Even the words they use(CQ, 59 WMA, 73).

Here is what we know about their movements for this weekend they call Field Day.

Starting with a healthy Breakfast at 8:00AM Friday Morning at Partners restaurant   485 Springfield St.

http://www.partnersrestaurant.com/ordereze/default.aspx

Then its off to School street park to do the setup.

As set up continues through out the day we will be breaking for lunch and dinner which will be left to the hired volunteer help on what they want to do.

Then some will head off to a VE session at the Holyoke Hospital .

Some will stay and guard their precious aluminum that they have freshly planted and some will even stay overnight.

On Saturday morning they get going again with some coffee and other foods from the locals.  They will continue on the setup, do any last minute repairs, and do the testing.

If all is well at 2:00PM Saturday the festivities commence.  For the next 24 hours all that the residence of Agawam will hear is the hum of generators and people calling CQ or -.-. –.- Field day this is W1NY.

At 2:00 PM on Sunday all goes quiet.  Peace starts returning back to this little town as the Hams of HCRA disassemble the great flowers and return them to their collapsed state.

As things are put away neatly in the Storage trailer, people are saying goodby for the summer months  and will see every one again in the fall.

73 and Good Night

DE KB1NWH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013/2014 Election Results

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Say hello to your new board of directors! At the June 7th meeting our club elected (or re-elected) a new board. This new board holds their first meeting on June 11th and their term will expire in June 2014.

With regret we say goodbye to Marty/W1MJB. Marty has served HCRA for many years and in many positions, most recently holding the “At Large” position. We all wish Marty the best (and good DX) and thank him for his hard work and dedication to make HCRA a great radio club over the years.

We also welcome a new member to the board, Bob/K1YO. Bob is joining us as our “Technical Director”. Bob is certainly qualified for the job and we’re looking forward to his presence on the board.

For those of you that weren’t at the meeting here are the election results:

HCRA Officers/Directors for 2014

Directors:
At large: John/Kx1x
Membership: Rich/N1KXR
Technical: Bob/K1YO
Program: Matt/W1MSW
Zero Beat Editor: Frandy/N1FJ

Officers:
Secretary: Dave/N1MFL
Treasurer: Dave/AA1YW
Vice President: Ed/KB1NWH
President: Jim/KK1W

The board wishes everyone a safe and fun filled summer, our next regular meeting will be September 6th.

And of course, don’t forget about Field Day, June 21, 22 & 23 – you wouldn’t want to miss that!

Jim/KK1W

Indoor Tailgate Party Tonight!

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Aren’t you glad we decided to hold it INDOORS this year!

Table space is free, bring your stuff and have fun. Please, no PC’s, monitors, printers – you get the idea. First come gets the best spots!

Suggested donation to HCRA for helping you sell your stuff – 10%

Raffle tickets go on sale for the FT-857 tonight, don’t forget to get yours.

See you at the meeting,

Jim/KK1W

Yaesu FT-857D for only $10?

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How would you like to add a Yaesu FT-857, all mode, 160 through 70cm rig to your mobile or home shack? It’s easy; you can either pick up the phone, call HRO and order one (and plunk down almost a kilobuck) OR — buy a $10 raffle ticket at the next HCRA meeting.

We are proudly announcing the latest HCRA *250* Raffle. The prize this time around is a brand new Yaesu FT-857D, HF/VHF/UHF transceiver. Here’s a brief rundown of this cool radio’s impressive features:

(Yaesu FT-857)

Features
  • 160-2 meters +440
  • Electronic Keyer
  • 200 Alpha Memories
  • DSP-2 Board Built-in
  • 100 Watts HF Output
  • 50 Watts 2 Meter Output
  • 20 Watts 440 MHz Output
  • Spectrum Display

The *250* means only 250 tickets will be sold. Even if you purchase only one ticket your chances are much better than the lottery. Buy two tickets and double your chances, buy four and… I think you get the picture….

This is a great little rig that would look nice in any shack or vehicle. Tickets go on sale starting at our June 7th meeting. The drawing is scheduled for March 7, 2014 HCRA meeting. It could be earlier if we sell all the tickets. Included with the radio is the YSK-857 separation kit that makes it easy to mount the radio in almost any vehicle.

We appreciate the support you’ve given the club with the past raffles and look forward to giving away this great radio next March.

Tickets go on sale at the June 7th meeting!

Don’t forget to buy your ticket(s) early before they’re all gone!

’73 and good luck,

Jim/KK1W

HCRA Field Day makes local paper

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FD

 

Well looks like the advertising campaign for FD 2013 has gotten under way.  We also have gotten a pencil in visit from the mayor of Agawam.  Great bonuses this year.

 

Hope to get some more volunteers for this new setup and new location.  Should be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

 

Ed

KB1NWH

Next HCRA Meeting- Indoor Tailgate Party

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In lieu of a tailgate party in the parking lot in Feeding Hills, Hampden County Radio Association is going to have a small-scale flea market on June 7 at the Holyoke Medical Center Auxiliary Conference Center. As space permits, we will allot about 12 square feet of table space to each club member that wants to put out a few ham radio related things for sale — a rig, a reel of wire, books – anything that fits and is not totally junk, but NO computers, NO monitors, NO printers! Table space is free–we are asking a minimum 10% commission on sales for the club’s treasury.

Heathkit – is it coming back?

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Steve/N1SR forwarded me a link to an article in the EDN Network magazine that indicates there is a chance Heathkit may be returning to the kit business? For us old-timers just the word “Heathkit” brings back memories of kit building, a chance to build something for the station you couldn’t afford otherwise and of course the satisfaction of ‘doing it yourself‘.

Take a look at the article by clicking here. For those of us desiring instant gratification the somewhat long survey is located here!

I took the survey and to tell you the truth they certainly appear serious about returning to the kit business. This will be interesting to watch, I wish them success with their renewal

Jim/KK1W

HCRA Ham Radio Film Festival???

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I would like to throw out an idea for a possible meeting topic next year and would like to hear other members’ opinions on it.

The meeting would be a ham radio film festival and we would screen ham radio related film shorts produced by our members as well as a few from other sources.   Now the first thing that might come to mind is a video tour of your QTH where technical details about the shack and antennas are documented.  While making that type of movie is a GREAT idea, it would probably be better for screening at our annual show and tell meeting. What I’m thinking are short films that capture, discuss, and/or document your, another ham’s, or a group of ham’s experience in amateur radio.  Maybe a SOTA activation, a portable operation, a special event, your experience at field day or some other emcomm training event.  How about creating a documentary about your favorite ham friend who buys lots of kits, but rarely builds them.  Or maybe you have an elmer who you would like to make a short film about.  Better yet a film about your own experience in ham radio or a film that captures what you feel are the most important aspects of the hobby. And of course, there would be popcorn, hot dogs and soda available in the lobby before the show and during the intermission.

For this to be successful, we need a few brave hams to step forward and decide that making a ham radio short is something they would like to do.  If there are enough 1) members interested in making a ham radio film short and 2)  members interested in screening ham radio film shorts, then we’ll come up with some more specific guidelines like length restrictions and format.  Whether you think it’s a good or bad idea, please share your thoughts on this idea for a meeting.  And if you have any interest in making a film, please let me know as well.  It won’t work if we’re just sitting there staring at a blank screen.  You can post comments here or contact me directly w1msw@arrl.net

If you have other ham radio related topics or ideas for a meeting, please share those as well.  We want to put together a program that our members will find interesting and engaging and we can’t do that if you don’t tell us topics that interest you!

New England QSO Party – May 4th & 5th

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From Tom/K1KI…

The New England QSO Party is coming next weekend – May 4-5 – and we’ are always looking for more activity from Massachusetts.

The NEQP is a great way to test your antennas on 80-10 meters and to be the focus of a lot of activity as stations from around the world look for New England stations.

Plus, it’s fun!!

Here is a summary of the New England QSO Party rules:

Object: To contact as many New England stations (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) in as many New England counties as possible on 80-40-20-15-10m. (New England stations work anyone)
Date: First full weekend of May. (May 4-5 in 2013)
Contest Period: 2000Z Saturday until 0500Z Sunday (4pm EDT Saturday until 1am EDT Sunday) and 1300Z Sunday until 2400Z Sunday (9am EDT Sunday until 8pm EDT Sunday).
Categories: Single-operator high power, low power(150w or less) and QRP(5w or less) categories, plus multi-operator, single transmitter. Same four categories for mobiles. Single-operator stations using assistance during the contest (packet or Internet spotting nets, etc.) will compete in the multi-single category.
Contest Exchange: Send signal report and state/province (DX stations send signal report and “DX”). New England stations send signal report, county and state.
QSO Points: Count one point per phone QSO, two points per CW (includes digital modes)QSO.
Multiplier: Stations outside of New England use counties as multipliers for a total of 67 (CT/8 MA/14 ME/16 NH/10 RI/5 VT/14). New England stations use states(50)(Count DC as MD), Canadian provinces(14) and DXCC countries as multipliers. 
Scoring:

Total score is QSO points times the multiplier. Mobiles count QSO points per county and multipliers from all counties (counted once).

 

Suggested frequencies: CW – 3540 7035 14040 21040 28040, SSB – 3850 7280 14280 21380 28380.  ** Now that the broadcast stations are mostly out of 7125-7200, try 7180 on 40m SSB.**

Reporting: Logs should indicate times in UTC, bands, modes, calls and required contest exchange. All stations include your club’s name in the log header or summary. Entries must be submitted within 30 days and sent to NEQP, P.O.Box J,  West Suffield CT 06093 or via e-mail to logs@neqp.org (Cabrillo format preferred). 
Awards: Certificates will be awarded to the top scorers (25 QSO minimum) in each New England county, U.S. state, Canadian province and DXCC country. A number of special plaques will also be awarded to top scorers.

Additional details can be found on the NEQP web site at http://www.neqp.org

See if you can have a competition within your club for the top scorer.  Several clubs are challenging each other for the best club score.
We’re especially looking for mobile stations to put the rarest counties on the air.

If you think you might be on for at least a short time in the NEQP, let us know with a brief message to us at info@neqp.org

Thanks!

– Tom/K1KI for the NEQP Committee

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New England QSO Party – http://www.neqp.org – May 4-5, 2013