Download, print and post 2023FieldDayPoster to let folks know about our annual event at the Glen. Don’t forget to join us if you can. Even if you don’t want an operating shift in the Get On The Air tent, we will fit you in. Or just come and enjoy some time with a friend or antenna. See the meeting minutes for June if you missed the meeting or want a reminder of the many topics discussed. GO FIELD DAY!
The Great POTA Antenna Shootout!
AA1XQ and his cab-mounted Wolf River Coils base loaded vertical
Wouldn’t it be great to know how your portable antenna setup compares with your buddies’? Does size matter? Is a small footprint better? Is rapid deployment the key? Is it $$? Is it single band or multi-band? Well that’s what a small group of NCRC members set out to determine this spring. After a goodly amount of friendly banter (aka, “trash talking”) K1JSM, WB4SON, KA1ZOU, AA1XQ, W1LY and KB1ZZU met behind the Eisenhower House at Fort Adams on the morning of June 10th, 2023 to determine bragging rights for the foreseeable future.
Rules were determined in advance by K1JSM and WB4SON with WB4SON tallying the scores. In short, all stations using 100 Watts transmitted relatively close in frequency and time on the 20 meter band. Reception on the Reverse Beacon Network was the impartial judge. Each score was determined by multiplying the distance in miles of each spot by the LINEAR SNR. So going further is worth more than a shorter contact. The SNR weighted score for each spot is then added to a running sum. This means someone heard by more stations (perhaps because of a more omnidirectional antenna) will receive more points because they will have more spots. All rigs were pre-programmed to send “CQ TEST CQ TEST DE callsign callsign” twice at 25 wpm to make sure to catch the attention of the RBN. This initial test group of six was purposely kept small to iron out any kinks in the process.
And the winner is ……..
Fellas, it wasn’t even close – Mike AA1XQ wins the first POTA Antenna Shootout with a score over 6 million! Second place was Willy W1LY, and 3rd place was Bob WB4SON.
It’s worth pointing out that the old saying “size doesn’t matter” was pretty much true in this case. Mike’s winning antenna was a simple vertical on the roof of his car, as was WB4SON’s. Willy, got into 2nd place with a 1/4 wave ground plane. AA1XQ and WB4SON only needed a few minutes for their set up and take down.
WB4SON captured all the raw data for all six stations. He noted that often there were spots before the test period as well as after. Those were removed from the scoring, leaving spots in the range of 1414 to 1420 UTC. Strangely one station in Greenland always reported twice.
The complete results are shown below. Note that 6.07E+06 is 6.07 Million. 7.33E+05 is 733 thousand. That big number calculated by summing up distance times a linearized SNR for each spot.
| AA1XQ | W1LY | WB4SON | KA1ZOU | K1JSM | KB1ZZU | |
| Score | 6.07E+06 | 3.50E+06 | 2.30E+06 | 1.85E+06 | 1.52E+06 | 7.33E+05 |
| Total Spots | 48 | 53 | 41 | 30 | 36 | 40 |
| Longest Distance | 3496 | 3500 | 2493 | 3182 | 2481 | 2471 |
This was an interesting project. Propagation was amazingly consistent. There was a spread from 30 to 53 in terms of total number of spots, but DX distances were not spread as much: 2471 vs 3500 miles. For the most part, all the participating stations were heard by the same group of spotting stations. The BIG difference was Signal to Noise, with Mike really putting out a consistently stronger signal.
WB4SON’s simple antenna was a 7 foot tall Hamstick on a mag-mount. AA1XQ won with Wolf River Coil base loaded vertical. An interesting experiment would be to compare base loaded short verticals to center loaded ones (A Hustler whip is center loaded vertical, for instance). That said, there was quite a large range of antennas tested. K1JSM came with a Delta Loop dubbed the “Hook’em Horns” or “El Diablo” for it’s shape. KA1ZOU used a roughly 130 foot long end-fed setup as an “inverted v” and 9:1 UNUN with the feed line shield as counterpoise. KB1ZZU used an Alpha Antenna 10-to-80-meter tuner free off-center-fed vertical. W1LY used his custom designed “Junk box Vertical” initially configured as a vertical dipole.
Great way to spend an hour this morning! Be on the look out for an opportunity to knock someone off the podium with your favorite portable antenna.
And Congratulations Mike!
73.
WB4SON and his 20M Hamstick
K1JSM and his custom “El Diablo” delta loop
A view of Narragansett Bay East Passage and part of the temporary antenna farm
KA1ZOU, WB4SON and AA1XQ standby while W1LY hustles by to tweak his “Junk box Vertical” (just visible in the background behind the W1LY white panel POTA van)
The Pell (Newport) Bridge is the background for the KB1ZZU off-center-fed “L” with the Pell Bridge in the background
NCRC May Meeting
NCRC’s May Meeting will be a remote only meeting from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Monday, May 8. A ZOOM invitation will be sent out later this weekend. Minutes and Business Meeting slides will be posted as available.
A special presentation entitled “Ham Radio Contesting” will be given by our own “DaveDan” Dave Neal, W2DAN. View his presentation recording here.
Join Dave Neal, W2DAN as he shares his enthusiasm for contesting in a presentation filled with information for both beginners and seasoned contesters. He is on a mission to welcome everyone into radio’s contesting world, and will show you why without casual operators contests would be boring for competitors. Each contest offers a new opportunity for hams at every level to push their own skills during a time-limited competition.
You can get started with hands-on learning the weekend before his presentation (May 6-7, 2023) by checking out the annual New England QSO Party NEQP.
For example, the 2022 NEQP results were just posted andW2DAN came in with a score of over 50,000 and 787 Phone QSOs. Another respected NCRC contester, Peter Bartram, KQ1X posted 275 CW QSOs. But other casual contesting NCRC members also participated: Carl KC1NAM made 43 QSOs across all New England counties while Mike Cullen, K1NPT logged 41 QSOs. So check it out, and join with whatever personal goal you decide on.
Note that NEQP is open to Technician Class Licensees. The suggested 10 Meter contest SSB operating frequency is 28.380 MHz which happens to be in the Technician Class privileges‘ range of 28.300-28.500 MHz: CW, Phone/SSB, so an NCRC club member might offer to set up a station on Sunday May 7, 2023 sometime during 9am-8pm on the 10M band and give interested licensed Techs or new Generals the chance for some hands-on experience before the club meeting. If you can help make this happen let club members know.
73
ARRL Member Survey
Making a Big Decision — Together
Dear ARRL member,
For only the second time in 22 years, we are considering a dues increase. Promoting and protecting amateur radio requires a strong and vibrant ARRL. Paying our dues (and some of you go above and beyond) is one way each of us does our part.
In my column in the April issue of QST (read now), I introduced the following question:
How does ARRL handle an increase in dues?
On May 1, we will launch an online survey, inviting all ARRL members to participate. The survey will include some short questions about raising dues and modifying the way some membership benefits are bundled. The survey will also include an opportunity to share your feedback. The participation of every member is important.
Do this before May 1: Review your ARRL website account
Before you can take the survey in May, you’ll need to make sure you have a working ARRL website account that is associated with your membership.
Follow these steps:
- Go to www.arrl.org/take-dues-survey. This is a member-only page.
- If you are already logged in to your account, you’ll see CONGRATULATIONS! on the members-only page that will host the survey in May.
- If you are NOT already logged in to your account, follow the instructions on the page to log in. Or, select the Login button at the top of the web page, and you will be prompted to enter your ARRL website username (usually your call sign) and password. If you have not logged in since April 2022, please use these Login Instructions.
- The survey will open on May 1. Return to this web page to take the survey on, or after, May 1: www.arrl.org/take-dues-survey.
If you need additional help with your login, call us Monday – Thursday from 8 AM to 7 PM ET, and Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM ET at 860-594-0200 or email us at membership@arrl.org.
Thank you for being a member and collaborating on this big decision.
73
David A. Minster, NA2AA
Chief Executive Officer
Virtual Ham Bootcamp May 13th
The Nashua Area Radio Society will be holding an online Ham Bootcamp on Saturday May 13th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Eastern Time.
Ham Bootcamp is a program to help new, inactive, and prospective hams gain the skills and information that they need to Get on The Air. It is open to any interested Ham or Prospective Ham in the US and Canada and there is no charge to attendees.
The morning session is geared toward operating on the VHF/UHF bands:
- Putting together a Station for Repeaters – How to pick an HT or Mobile Radio and an Antenna
- Radio Programming Tutorial
- Making Contacts and Joining a Repeater Net
- Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites
- Getting started with Fox Hunting
The afternoon session is geared toward operating on the HF Bands:
- Putting together an HF Station for SSB, CW, and Digital
- Picking and putting up an HF Antenna, Feedlines, and Grounds
- Operating on the HF bands using SSB Voice
- Getting started with WSJT-X and FT8 Digital
There will also be breakout sessions where attendee can choose one of the following topics:
- Learning CW
- Intro to EmComm
- Finding DX, Logging and QSLing
- Portable Operating
… and more! Registration is now open for the May 13th session. You can get more information about Ham Bootcamp, including a link to register at n1fd.org/bootcamp If you have any questions, you can contact us at bootcamp@n1fd.org. Registration is required to receive the link to the web conference.