Maine Section Manager eNews March 2023

Maine ARRL Convention & Hamfest

Don’t miss the Maine State ARRL Convention and Androscoggin Hamfest March 24-25! There are some great forums Friday evening and Saturday morning, in addition to the Saturday morning hamfest, VE exam session (12:30PM Sat) and much more. The event will be at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center in Lewiston. Here is a link to the hamfest for more information:

https://www.w1npp.org/convention

Ellsworth Ham Radio Symposium

Get your geek on and come on down to Ellsworth for the April 22 Ham Radio Symposium. From noon until 4pm featured presentations include Satellite Communications, Node Red Programming for Amateur Radio Applications, Re-purposing Old Computers For The Shack, QRP, and more. Admission by donation. The event will take place at Meadow View Apartments Phase IV Dining Hall, 25 Tweedie Lane, Ellsworth. Talk-in will be on the 146.910- (PL 151.4) repeater.

Amateur Extra Course

Looking for an on-line course to help you upgrade to Amateur Extra Class? Western Massachusetts Section Manager Ray Lajoie, AA1SE is teaching a course on-line starting March 28, so register NOW to get in on it! Here is the link: https://nediv.arrl.org/2023/03/05/western-ma-train-test-group-amateur-extra-class-begins-march-28-2023/

NEARFEST

The NEAR-Fest is a week early this spring. The dates are April 28-29. Check out the website https://near-fest.com/

VE Sessions

VE Teams, please send your scheduled VE exam dates and info to N1EP and they will be included on the official Maine ARRL web site. Also, an applicant only needs to show a single legal photo ID at the session. Two alternate forms of authorized ID are only required if the applicant has no legal photo ID. Also, note that the general class pool changes as of July 1. The ARRL VEC is $15. Applicants bring your FRN number (FCC Registration Number) available for free at fcc.gov.

* March 18 VE Session at 10am at Meadow View Apartments Phase IV Dining Hall, 25 Tweedie Ln, Ellsworth. Pre-register with n1ep@yahoo.com. 207-598-5397.

* March 18 Sponsored by the Pine State ARC, 9AM (No walk-ins) must register or call ahead to Peter Bither, 207-944-2616 or email redbeard104@aol.com. Location:Â Calvary Chapel, 154 River Rd, Orrington ME 04470

A Centennial Milestone

We are all familiar with the 1901 trans-Atlantic radio communication by the great Marconi, but did you know this November is another centennial which Marconi paved the way for? That is the very first trans-Atlantic 2-way communication between ham radio operators. The Maine Ham Radio Society, at the suggestion of one of their Facebook Page members, has scheduled a Transatlantic 2-Way Centennial special event with the 1X1 call sign N1A for November 25 – 28 to commemorate the milestone. All clubs are encouraged to do the same. Let’s mark this 100-year anniversary with gusto!

CW Traffic Nets

Want to practice your Morse code, make friends with other hams, and contribute to public service and the National Traffic System? There are two such nets in Maine that you can support. The Maine Slow Speed Net meets Monday through Friday at 6:00PM on 3585 kHz. Average speed is about 10-12 wpm but net controls will gladly adjust to whatever speed in which you check in. The Pine Tree Net is held seven days a week at 7:00pm on 3596 kHz. The speed is usually around 20 wpm, but, again, net control welcomes all, no matter the speed.

New England QSO Party!

The NEQP is May 6-7 this year! This is a great opportunity to get you Worked All States award and to also give other stations outside New England your section. Details are at https://neqp.org/.

RFI Trouble Shooting Guide

Experiencing radio frequency interference from some unidentified source? Check out this logical RFI trouble shooting guide at: https://nediv.arrl.org/rfi-troubleshooting-guide/

Clubs Webinar Series (Club Secretary Edition)

From ARRL Field Services Manager Mike Walters, W8ZY:

Below you will find the invitation for the first of what we plan to be many webinars on club development. The idea is to take a look at the different positions in the club and how we can provide training for those positions. The first webinar is on the club secretary. As we move forward more positions will be targeted. Feel free to distribute this invitation to your section. All of these webinars will be recorded and the recordings and Power Point slides will be available in the ARRL Learning Center. We hope this will be of interest to many of the club members and the webinar is open to anyone that wishes to attend. They will use the link below to register and the link will be sent to them.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Mar 30, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: ARRL Club Development Series: Secretary

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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ARRL Maine Section
Section Manager: Philip W Duggan, N1EP
n1ep@arrl.org
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