NCRC Digital VE Session Lead Mike Seil, AA1XQ (standing left) April 22, 2023
Read more at: Newport County Radio Club: “One Year of Digital VE Sessions”
NCRC in the ARRL New England Division News
Monthly Archives: April 2023
ÄRTEN™ at Microwave Update 2023
NCRC’s own K1YBE presented “ÄRTEN™ Project – New England MESH Networking” at the Microwave Update 2023 and 46th Eastern VHF/UHF Conference held April 14 & 15, 2023 held in Windsor, Connecticut. The conference was sponsored by the North East Weak Signal Group and ARRL.
There were many presentations about Ham experimentation and antenna build techniques up to 122 GHz as well as simpler practical advice on TV station interference. You can get a flavor for all to this at
K1YBE presents…
…to a good size audience.
Along with his presentation, K1YBE set up and demonstrated connected ÄRTEN™ nodes.
Chris Cox, NØUK and his ham XYL from Minnesota. She is interested in setting up a STEM activity based on ÄRTEN™.
Several interested parties have since contacted us about sharing the ÄRTEN™ concept. We have been scheduled to provide the presentation by Zoom on June 19th to the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club in Ontario. In the past, this club was very active with ham mesh, but interest has waned. We hope to fix that.
Skip Youngberg, K1NKR made a request for ÄRTEN™ participation in this year’s HamXposition held in Marlborough, MA and he specifically requested our participation on Saturday, August 26th. Since this is a local ham convention that some in NCRC attend, we can include you in a demonstration we are concocting. Early planning stages for now…
For some perspective on size, consider if you will, a 2.4 GHz (12 cm band) Yagi antenna on a table…
…and 144 MHz (2m band) & 440 MHz (70cm band) Yagi antennas in the parking lot!!
Conference attendees well represented the eastern seaboard amateur radio community.
Photos credits KC1LYG.
73
Time to Get Ready for Field Day*
ARRL Field Day is just over two months away, but like spring cleaning, it pays to start getting ready now.
2023 Field Day will be held June 24 – 25. It is ham radio’s open house. Every June, hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to communities and the nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Some participants may also choose to operate from home, using the exercise to develop and practice their personal radio communications capability.
Field Day has been an annual event since 1933 and remains the most popular event in ham radio.
In 2022, 4,929 entries were submitted (including check logs), and there was a total of 29,679 reported participants.
Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit and may submit entries as check logs.
The main focus of Field Day is to work as many stations as possible on the 160-, 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter HF bands, all bands on 50 MHz and above, and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less-than-optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness and acquaint the general public with the capabilities of amateur radio.
For Field Day 2023, several rules changes have been made. It’s a good idea to make sure that your logging software has been updated to the most current version to incorporate these rule changes including the updated Canadian sections list. There are many facets to operating on Field Day and knowing the rules and keeping good logs are paramount to successful contacts.
To start preparing for Field Day, check out arrl.org/field-day for the official rules and all the information you’ll need.
Newport County Radio Club will again participate as W1SYE 2A RI from Glen Park in Portsmouth, RI.
For more information on how to participate with NCRC contact: Dick Bianco
What the heck is that: ÄRTEN™ Workshops Continue …
The ÄRTEN™ project held it’s fifth bi-weekly workshop on April 3, 2023 at FabNewport. Project members and students from Pull It Apart! – FabNewport joined in a “What the heck is that?” gameshow to identify electronics gear stored in the hamshack closet at All Saints STEAM Academy. SPOILER ALERT – from left to right the team identified an antenna rotator controller, a signal generator, a Heathkit® power supply and its matching amateur radio transceiver the venerable HW-101.
Glowing with gameshow success, project members then attempted to integrate an Ethernet-enabled CO2/Temperature/Humidity sensor from TEMCO Controls with a notebook controller. Unfortunately, the aura of invincibility wore off and attempts to communicate with the device were unsuccessful; no habla IEEE 802.3! Stay tuned.
NCRC April Meeting
NCRC’s April Meeting will be a hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Monday, April 10. A ZOOM invitation will be sent out the weekend before. In-person will be at St. Barnabas Parish Hall, 1697 East Main Rd. at Fairview Lane, Portsmouth, RI. Minutes and Business Meeting slides will be posted as available.
Doors open at 6:00pm for a pizza and social hour from 6:00 to 7:00pm. Join us!
Andrew Staub KC1OKI will give a special presentation entitled “Drone Law / Drone Love” after the business meeting. Slide deck is available here. And a video of Andrew’s presentation here.
NCRC welcomes new club member Andrew KC1OKI to share his legal experience and drone enthusiasm in this not-to-miss talk/demo. Andrew will be bringing examples of his home-built racing/freestyle drones, as well as a selection of homebrewed ultralight drones that are called toothpicks, and some factory built “whoops” meant for indoor flying. All of these utilize ham frequencies for video transmission. The plan is to project video during his presentation so that members can appreciate what it looks like when flying various drones. Andrew KC1OKI notes there is a veritable ton to discuss on this topic, including the laws and legal considerations for drone pilots.