NADXA Awarded ARRL Club Grant!

NADXA is very excited to announce that we have received a grant through the ARRL Club Grant Program. We were awarded $10,077 to make improvements to our mobile station. The grant will be used to purchase traning material for new Ham training as well as STEM outreach. A significant portion of the grant will be used to make our trailer off-grid capable.

The grant was awarded to purchase the following items and make these improvements to our trailer.

Amateur radio license training materials
CW practice equipment
Off-grid power solution
Trailer heating furnace
Heil Headsets
Laptop computer

The off-grid power solution will include 100Ah batteries for each of our three operating stations. These batteries will be kept charged by independent solar charge controllers and solar panels. Each station will be an independent solar power system, which will provide redundancy and minimize impact of a system failure in the field.

The trailer will be equipped with a built in Suburban 20,000 BTU furnace. The installation will include two 30 pound propane tanks, thermostat, and a carbon monoxide monitor.

Each station will be equipped with a Heil Pro 7 headset for station operators, each paired with PTT foot switches. Additionally, each station will have a set of Heil Professional headsets that can be connected to the Pro 7s so loggers or observers can listen in on QSOs. These additions will significantlly cut down on cross talk and other noises from distracting those working a station.

The laptop computer will be assigned to one of the stations and be used for logging QSOs. The new laptop will be capable of charging via USB-C PD so no AC power will be needed to keep it running.

The CW practice equipment and training material will be used for new Ham training and STEM outreach to area schools.

NADXA has been involved with training and testing of Hams in order to grow our community of operators. For the past year or so, we have also been reaching out to regional schools to provide demonstrations and hands-on experience to middle and high school students. The material and improvements made possible through this grant will enable us to operate in more locations and reach more students and future Hams.