Category Archives: Activation

The Consortium – May 7th – Amateur Satellites for Beginners

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Jim K1GND and Bob W1YRC host a monthly ham radio tutorial event that they call
“The Consortium“. They meet at the Asia Grille at Lincoln Mall on Rte. 116 in
Lincoln, usually on the first Monday of the month.  Meetings start at 6:30 PM, however, people start arriving after 5:00 PM for dinner before the meeting.

The May 7th Consortium presentation will cover using our repeaters in the sky — Amateur Radio Satellites.  The FM satellites, so called “easy-sats”, are especially simple to use.  All that is required is a dual band HT and simple antennas to have successful contacts.  Online tools or phone applications are then used to track the satellites, letting us know when the satellite will be overhead and where to point the antennas.  The talk will be given by Bob Beatty, WB4SON, who has been using satellites for more than four decades, and who is currently an ARISS Technical Mentor (Amateur Radio aboard the International Space Station).

Little Gould Island Activation Saturday ~11:15 AM

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*** UPDATE 1:15 PM *** The activation has completed and they are now QRT.  Not a lot of activity on 40-meters, but 20 was a great success.  Thanks to all that helped to activate the island.

*** UPDATE 12:45 PM *** The activation was made official on 20-meters, so it is now RI-031S.  The crew has moved to 40-meters on 7.270 MHz.

*** UPDATE 11:25 AM *** The crew is on the air now (RF issue resolved) they are making contacts.  They are on 14.270 at the moment to avoid the hurricane net.

The W1SYE Island Activation Team will be activating a new island on the air, Little Gould Island, which is located in the Sakonnet River near Tiverton RI.  The island designation is RI031, with the letter “S” added once the activation is official.

This is a rare treat as the island is not open to the public (it’s a bird nesting sanctuary), but a member of the crew is a trained biologist and therefore we have permission to land.

The gang should be on the air around 11:15 AM beginning with 20 meters near 14.260 +/- QRM.  After lunch, if possible, there may be a shift to 40 meters around 7.230 MHz.

Beavertail Lighthouse Activation

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Five NCRC members, Paul N1PSX, Steve KC1AQQ, Scott WX1X, Mike AA1XQ, and Dave KC1GPA, activated Beavertail Lighthouse yesterday during the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend.  Operating as W1SYE, they made approximately 80 contacts on 20 meters from about noon until 3 PM.  Band conditions were beyond horrible yesterday, with long duration deep fades.

Station setup in tent just in back of the lighthouse. Paul N1PSX just visible on left

Rather than use the 63 foot base loaded vertical, the team erected a dipole using greenstick, a better choice for 20 meters

Thanks to Scott WX1X for the photos.

Successful Activation of East Island – Now RI029S

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Pete W1LAB, Jim KA1ZOU, John K1JSM, and Willy W1LY, had another island adventure on Saturday July 22.  They traveled with two RIB boats to East Island, which is a few thousand feet from Sakonnet Point.  They were on the air shortly after 10:30 AM, and were off the air right after 1 PM.  All operations were carried out on 20 meters. This time there were no RF issues and they made a large number of contacts, officially activating East Island as RI029S

Jim KA1ZOU logging, Willy W1LY at Mic, and John K1JSM supervising

A view from East Island back to the mainland to the North. A rare sighting of the stealthy Pete W1LAB can be seen near the middle-left.