Outdoors

Field Day, June 22—23

nv1w Events, Field Day, Outdoors

BARC will be gathering for Field Day this year at Hale Education in Westwood. This annual event, held on the third full weekend in June, is part contest, part open house, part emergency exercise, part camping trip, and all a lot of fun. People who aren’t yet members of BARC, or who even aren’t yet licensed, are welcome to join us.

The operating period runs from 2 pm on Saturday until 2 pm on Sunday, and will be preceded by setup and followed by teardown. We will have four HF stations in operation, and in keeping with the emergency preparedness theme, power will be provided by generators. Single sideband voice, CW (Morse code), and various digital modes will be used. If you’re licensed but haven’t operated much (or at all), this is a great opportunity to get started on HF.

There will be food and drinks available.

The ARRL Field Day page is here. Directions to Hale Education are here. Talkaround will be on 147.420 MHz simplex. For more information, contact us at w1bos@arrl.net.

BARC Field Day, June 24–25, 2023

nv1w Announcements, Field Day, Outdoors

Once again, BARC will be holding Field Day in 2023 at the Andrew Cucchiara Learning Center at Hale Education in Westwood, MA. Directions are here. Note that if you are coming to this event, you do not need to pay the normal entrance fee to enter the Hale Education site. Everyone, including guests and those who are not yet licensed, is welcome.

Operating times are from 2:00 pm Saturday, June, 24, until 2:00 pm Sunday, June 25. We will be in class 3A, operating 3 HF stations and a VHF/UHF station using SSB, CW, and digital modes. We are also planning to make a satellite contact. People who wish to participate are encouraged to help with setup on Saturday morning and/or teardown on Sunday afternoon.

We will have pizza on Saturday evening, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday will be provided. Spots for tent camping will be available, though facilities will be minimal (portable toilets and a small sink but no other running water).

Talkaround will be on the BARC simplex frequency, 147.420 MHz.

If you are planning on coming, please let us know using the Google form at https://forms.gle/JFYhn53M8j8BkfZz5.

More information on Field Day can be found on the ARRL website and questions about BARC should be sent to w1bos@arrl.net.

Radio demonstration at the Milton Klondike Derby, March 12

nv1w Outdoors

The Scouts BSA Great Blue Hill district has expressed interest in having a few hams on hand to provide a demonstration of amateur radio during their Klondike Derby event at New England Base Camp in Milton on March 12, 2022.

We will be operating under the special event callsign W1BSA. (Thank you to Pi K1RV for use of the callsign.)

The base camp is in the Blue Hills State Reserve (K-8402); as such this event could count as a POTA activation.

Please fill in the information below if you might be interested in participating, including whether you’d like to attend and operate in person or monitor the airwaves for calls from the event. Details are still being worked out with the event organizers, including the number of operators that they’d like to have attend; please don’t be offended if in the end we have more interested hams than can be hosted.

If interested, sign up here: https://forms.gle/7SmjoZLPh4cyYHxJ6

If you have questions, please contact Tom Ulrich KC1OCY (thomas.rm.ulrich@gmail.com, 617-571-8650).

Frequencies for Technician POTA Event

nv1w Outdoors, Uncategorized

Here are some suggested frequencies for the Technician POTA event at the Blue Hills State Reservation on Saturday, September 20. Frequencies in bold are where activators will start operating, and where hunters should concentrate. See also the POTA spotting site; search for BARC in the comments or park K-8402.

10 meters: Bottom of the Technician phone and image range (28.300–28.500 MHz SSB). Try 28.340 MHz. Note that 10 meter band openings are unlikely to be reliable or long due to very low solar ionizing radiation this weekend.

6 meters: Techs may use the full band, though remember only CW is permitted below 50.100 and avoid the DX window from 50.100–50.125 MHz. Try 50.130 MHz.

2 meters: 146.520*, 146.535, 146.550, 146.565, 146.580, 146.595, 147.405, 147.420†, 147.435, 147.450, 147.465, 147.480, 147.495, 147.525, 147.540, 147.555, 147.570, 147.585 (*National call frequency, †BARC simplex frequency.) If the activator is not having much luck, we will also try the national call frequency of 146.520 MHz.

70 centimeters: 445.9125, 445.9250, 445.9375, 445.9500, 445.9625, 445.9750, 446.0000*, 446.0125, 446.0250, 446.0375, 446.0500, 446.0625, 446.0750, 446.0875, 446.1000, 446.1125, 446.1250, 446.1375, 446.1500, 446.1625, 446.1750 (*National call frequency.) If the activator is not having much luck, we will also try the national call frequency of 446.0000 MHz.

Update to Tech POTA Day

NW1S Announcements, News, On the air, Outdoors 0 Comment

Update on the Tech POTA Day: 

We tried to get access and permission to operate from the Norman Smith Education Center but they are hosting a private function and cannot accommodate us. Just outside their gate there are several good clearings where we will be setting up our Parks on the Air station. There is also a quick path around the center to the peak along the skyline trail. 

TALKABOUT: We will use the Great Blue Hill repeaters for communicating during the event: NE1AR 146.985/PL 88.5, and 449.125/PL 146.2 (Echolink Capable). As a backup you can contact NW1S via text or phone: 978-430-0750

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PARKING: The closest and easiest way to get to the activation site is the Chickatawbut Parking lot (shorturl.at/jxAJQ), though space is limited. There is also a parking lot at Route 28 and Chickatawbut Road (shorturl.at/hFL15). If you’re looking for a longer hike, park at Houghton’s Pond Parking (shorturl.at/byK78) and follow the trail towards Chickatawbut Hill. Trail Map: shorturl.at/gmDP2.

GETTING THERE: After parking you may hike one of the many trails or take a short walk up the road towards Norman Smith Education Center. The Gate MAY be open to that road but please do not drive up that road as we are only asking for access for one car so we can haul up the gear. Don’t forget to drop us a quick email if you’re thinking of going even if just for a short while: nw1s.brendan@gmail.com.

EVENT: The Boston Amateur Radio Club plans to be up there from 1030am to around 4pm and have coordinated to have a SOTA to POTA contact with a Ham from Temple Mountain, 58 Miles away! We also have a BARC member in Virginia who will be listening to make contacts with us as well. 

SATELITE: The SO-50 Amateur Radio satellite will be in the air between 11:53 and 12:07 local time on Saturday! We have three radios, including a full duplex VHF/UHF radio, set up and ready to make a contact via satellite.

HUNTING: The Blue Hills have archery hunting but it is only permitted Monday through Thursday so we should not have any issues. 

SPOTTING: We will be spotting via the POTA.us spot page and will do our best to add BARC in the comments section of the spot. You can also look for all spots from K-8402.

WEATHER: It looks like it’s going to be a cold one up on the hill so dress appropriately. 
CLUB: The Event is hosted by the Boston Amateur Radio Club. Visit www.barc.org/ and join today if you’re not already a member.

Technician POTA Event, Saturday, Nov. 20

nv1w Announcements, Outdoors

The Boston Amateur Radio Club will host a Parks on the Air (POTA) event with a special invitation to Technician license holders and new hams on November 20th, 2021, from 10:30 to 4:00. The event will take place in the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton at the Mount Chickatawbut summit. We will attempt to “activate” the park according to POTA rules using VHF, UHF, and the Technician segments of the HF bands.

Bring your handheld and any other radio you want to try out on the summit. The club will provide some power sources and a few different antennas for you to experiment with. You will also have an opportunity to operate on six and ten meters. Brendan, NW1S, and Joe, NV1W, will be on hand to answer questions and help introduce you to amateur radio in the great outdoors. There will even be prizes for accomplishments things like most contacts made, farthest contact, and most Technician bands used. Afterwards there will be a social event of food and drinks.

You may park at a lower parking lot and hike the short path to the summit. The Boston Amateur Radio club is attempting to organize a car to bring those who cannot or wish to not walk the distance to the summit. Further information on the Blue Hills can be found at https://friendsofthebluehills.org.

Please email Brendan, NW1S at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com if you’re planning to attend. Final information on the event will be published here as the event approaches.

Join us at the 110 Grill in Braintree afterwards for some food and drinks! Please include in your email if you will be joining us at 110 Grill so we can make a proper reservation.

We look forward to seeing you at the summit!

Updates on the Tech POTA Day can be found at BARC.org, and @W1BOS on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you want to participate without making the trek up Mount Chickatawbut? You can hunt our operators on Saturday. Look for us on the POTA spot page, the @W1BOS Twitter or on the National Calling Frequencies. We invite your club to get on the Air with our Technicians and test out your VHF and UHF Equipment.

2021 Autumn New England Parks on the Air Day

nv1w Announcements, Outdoors, Uncategorized

Our friends down at the K1USN club are organizing an Autumn New England Parks on the Air (POTA) Day from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC on Saturday, October 16 (8 pm Friday–7:59 pm Saturday). From their newsletter:

The goal would be to have one group/individual at each site to enable the activation of as many NE POTA’s as possible.

Officially listed POTA’s from throughout New England would be required. Maps and lists can be found here — parksontheair.com.

Since this is not a “contest”, official log submissions will not be required, but summaries would be encouraged. [NV1W comment: I think it’s polite to submit logs to the POTA website so hunters get credit.] A post-event link will be available at www.k1usn.com.

Remember that this will be a New England wide event so folks that attend Nearfest on Saturday, Oct 16th in Deerfield, NH may wish to activate a NH park on the way home.

Okay… Who is interested in jumping onboard the NE Autumn POTA event?

BTW, Bob, WC1N, has created a spreadsheet so that we can keep track of individuals/clubs as they sign on. You can sign up here — http://www.ilovepota.com/index.php.