Monthly Archives: July 2015

Dyer Island Activation a Huge Success

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An intrepid team consisting of John – K1JSM, Willy – W1LY, Pete – W1LAB, and Evan (Call sign pending) traveled to Dyer Island on July 25th.  Their adventure was quite successful, and fulfills the requirements for “Qualified” to make Dyer officially US Islands Award Program RI019S.

They worked a total of 259 stations, 50 of which were DX.  Congratulations guys, and thanks for making a lot of Island on the Air hunters happy!

Erecting the antenna

Erecting the antenna

Setup time

A view of the station from down the beach

New ham Evan at the mic.

New ham Evan at the mic.

BTW: Evan joined us at the GOTA station to see what ham radio was all about — he must have liked it as he just took and passed his General, missing the Extra by a couple of questions.  Nice to see him on the air so quickly.

John - K1JSM, making an IOTA Hunter happy

John – K1JSM, making an IOTA Hunter happy

Willy - W1LY doing what he does best.

Willy – W1LY doing what he does best.

Another view of the station

Another view of the station

Sadly, Pete – W1LAB isn’t in the photos above, as he was behind the lens.  Thanks for the nice pictures, and for the logistical support Pete!

Dave, W2DAN, Completes DXCC

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Dave, W2DAN, who joined NCRC last year, has recently completed his Mixed DXCC Certificate.  DXCC is regarded as the ultimate award for DX-hunters, and has been issued for 77 years.  This is an excellent award to chase for those newly interested in HF.  Even though we are on the declining side of the solar cycle, DX will still be plentiful on 20 meters for almost all the day, and for several hours during the daylight on 15 and 10 meters.

DXCC is maintained by the ARRL, and it is well integrated into Logbook of the Year, the ARRL electronic log.  This makes it more easy than ever to get confirmation of contacts.

Congratulations to Dave on his accomplishment!

W2DAN DXCC

Initial Review of ARISS Technical Proposal Favorable

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ariss_logoThe ARISS Technical Team (Mike K1NPT, Jeff KA1NGP, and Bob WB4SON) presented their initial technical proposal to the ARISS mentor this afternoon and received positive initial feedback.

A couple of tweaks will be required to the equipment list to optimize things (two complete stations must be provided and the RF requirements are pretty high for both the TX and RX paths to ensure a horizon to horizon contact).  Plus the audio/visual details still need development.

The goal is to have the proposal submitted within the next week or so.