Operating

The New England QSO Party on May 3rd and 4th is a great time to check out antenna systems and offers a moderately paced opportunity to work new states and countries. You’ll find a wide variety of participants, from newcomers to experienced contesters, all interested in making contacts with New England stations.

Our goal is to get every one of the counties in New England on the air so we hope you will encourage your members to join in the fun! Even if you can join the fun for a couple of hours, we’d appreciate it!  Will you be QRV? Let us know with a message to info@neqp.org.

The New England QSO Party is 20 hours long overall, in two sections with a civilized break for sleep on Saturday night.  It runs from 4 pm Saturday until 1 am Sunday, then 9 am Sunday until 8 pm Sunday.  Operate on CW, SSB and/or digital modes on 80-40-20-15-10 meters.  For each QSO you’ll give your callsign, a signal report and your county/state.  Top scorers can earn a plaque and everyone who sends in a log with 25 QSOs or more will get a certificate.  The goal is to work stations anywhere in the world – and their goal is to work New England stations, so you’ll be very popular!

Last year we had logs from 212 New England stations and 516 more logs from around the country and world. 

The full rules are here -> https://neqp.org/rules/ 

The 2024 results were posted last weekend -> https://neqp.org/2024-new-england-qso-party/ 

It’s just under three weeks until the 2025 NEQP. Please make some QSOs even if you don’t want to send in a log!

Thanks!

    73 Tom/K1KI

—

www.neqp.org    May 3-4, 2025

Tom Frenaye, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093. c: 860-597-4539  h: 860-668-5444

Larry Krainson, W1AST, writes:

13 Colonies Massachusetts, is looking for a few new ops to join Team K2H.

13 Colonies takes place every July 1-7. We’re looking for volunteers who can operate for at least 2 hours per day for at least 4 of the 7 days.

Operating as K2H is a blast. You become the DX, and stations want to work you. You don’t have to be a contest op to volunteer. Anyone interested and available is welcome. As part of team K2H for the past few years, we have made around 20,000 contacts. 

If you are interested, please contact Larry, W1AST, 13 Colonies Massachusetts state manager, at W1AST@arrl.net before May 15th.

Thanks and 73,

Larry, W1AST
ARRL WMA Affiliated Club Coordinator
Northeast HamX Committee Member: W1AST@HamX.org
Team K2H – 13 Colonies Massachusetts State Manager
Proud Member of ARRL, HCRA, FEMARA & YCCC
413-348-3289
WB1DBY@gmail.com
I hope to see you at this year’s HamX! – www.HamX.org

Ed Ridolfi, K1RID, writes on the QRP mailing list:

Greetings fellow QRPers.

I have volunteered to restart the NEQRP Net with a few minor changes: 

• the net will convene monthly on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 8 PM ET on 3.560 +/-   
• My home QTH is Kittery ME, FN43 and I will be running 5 watts to a doublet of two 133′ legs up 60′ in the trees
•  I plan on having a roundtable topic each month

The first net gathering will be this Wednesday the 29th at 8PM. This will be a directed but informal net. I plan to take check-ins after sending QNI. Please send your call as I build the list. Once we start the roundtable our initial topic this month will be:

• your member number
• rig
• power
• antenna and key type

For example: nr877 FT818 5w to doublet up 60 feet es bencher paddles

I am open to any suggestions and look forward to hearing everyone!

dit dit,

Ed, K1RID

Co-founder of Newburyport Electronics & Radio Society, K1YRD

Member: YorkCountyARC, PortCityARC, NEQRP, NAQCC, SKCC & CWOPS

Mitch Stern, W1SJ, writes:

The Vermont QSO Party starts Friday, February 1 at 7 PM. We hope to hear many of you on the air. The more Vermont hams get on, the happier all the participants are. Everyone is especially looking for some of those rare Vermont counties. If you are in places like Essex, Orleans, Caledonia, Franklin, Grand Isle, Orange, those are often the most requested ones. If you can go mobile and put some of the rare counties on the air, that is good too. Propagation will be good on ALL the bands 160-10 meters, so do get on and call CQ. Use the spotting network to let everyone know where you are whenever you change bands.

Read the rules!  Go to: https://www.ranv.org/vtqso.html

If you operate on FT8 or FT4 some things to know:

1. You must upload digital contacts from the WSJTx ADIF file SEPARATELY from the CABRILLO file containing the Phone/CW contacts. In other words do not try to log Digital and Phone/CW QSOs in your logging program. The upload will not work. Read the details on the web site. Don’t worry about your score – we will compute that for you. But you must upload a clean log. If not sure what to do, ASK NOW.
2. If you are on FT8 or FT4, you cannot give out your county as a multiplier – only grid squares, which will be FN34, FN33, FN32, FN35, FN44).

LET ME KNOW your approximate schedule of when you will be on and where. I will post this to the web site (but don’t do this after Friday afternoon – I will be busy with the contest then).

CARE TO OPERATE a big station? I am looking for operators at W1NVT in Essex. Free training provided. You will have a ball working people. Contact me this week.

Let’s get on the air and have a ball!

Mitch

Eric Knight, KB1EHE, and Elsie Mathews, KB1IFZ, will be on the air from King George Island, Antarctica, beginning January 28, 2025.

The Unionville, Connecticut, husband-and-wife team have been planning their “trip of a lifetime” to Antarctica for several years. According to Eric, “Yesterday we went to JFK airport. […] Elsie and I had an uneventful (although long; 10.5 hours) flight to Santiago, Chile. After a three-hour connecting flight, we have landed in Puerto Natales. All of our ham gear successfully arrived with us. We will stay overnight here in Puerto Natales. Tomorrow morning we fly to King George Island, Antarctica—and the real adventure begins.”

Eric reports that they will be “attempting 20m SSB and FT8 on 20 watts with our Xiegu G90 and a homebrew vertical.” In addition to operating, hiking and exploring the Antarctica peninsula is on their itinerary.

For more information, follow their running updates at:  https://www.dx-world.net/kc4-kb1ehe-kc4-kb1ifz-antarctica/

A number of clubs and individuals throughout New England will be participating in this weekend’s Winter Field Day festivities.

The Tri-State Radio Club will operate from their QTH on Blackwater Road in Canaan, NH.  Contact Dave, WA1ZCN, at dbcolter@myfairpoint.net for details.

The Boston ARC will operate from a Ponkapoag AMC cabin in the Great Blue Hill Reservation in Randdolph, MA. Contact Scott at k1su.scott@gmail.com for more information.

The Wellesley (MA) ARS will be QRV for Winter Field Day. No details are known.

The Hampden County Radio Club (Agawam, MA) is encouraging its members to operate individually.  

The Port City ARC will be active from its club room in Seabrook, NH. Contact Mark, K1RX, at mpridesti@yahoo.com for details.

The Barnstable ARC gang will be QRV from the Dennis, MA, firehouse. Contact KT1OK@ARRL.net for more info.