Serving ARRL members who reside in the New England sections
Emily Clarke, N1DID, writes on the Greater Bridgeport ARC mailing list on March 13, 2022 at 9:04 AM:
It’s cold and the fox is hungry, so she’s come out of her den and is looking for something to eat. Remember that we switched to summer time last night, so she starts to transmit at 10 AM DST – that’s Daylight Savings Time.
The fox has a fur coat so bundle up and remember to check in on the repeaters. See our Foxhunts page to grab a map and other information.
Cheers,
Emily N1DID and Rick K2RB
From the WS1SM ham radio blog:
The 12th Annual Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge takes place Saturday, March 26th, from 12PM – 4PM!
The Maine 2 meter FM Simplex Challenge is a ham radio contest primarily designed to give 2 meter operators a chance to compete on an even basis, and have fun doing it.
Saturday, March 26, 2022, and runs for 4 hours, beginning at 12:00 PM local time.
Contacts are limited to FM Simplex on the 2 meter band.
Participants may be entered as either fixed or mobile, (but not as both).
Exchange – Exchange items include your call sign, the name of the city, village, town, or township you are operating from, and your power level. Rovers and mobiles must be within the city limits of whatever city they claim to be operating from. If you are operating from a served agency station, you should also include this with your exchange. Specify which agency you serve, for example, “SKYWARN,” “EOC,” or “Red Cross.” On the log sheets, however, there will only be a place to notate whether or not the station is operating from a served agency.
City or Town – This is simply the name of the city or town you are operating from. If you do not live within the city limits, use the name of the town or municipality to which mail or a package would be addressed.
For mobile entries, use the name of the city or town you are in, or the closest city or town.
Power levels are defined as follows:
• QRP – 5 watts or less
• Medium Power – greater than 5 watts, but less than 100
• High Power – 100 watts or more
Enter as either Fixed (either at home or portable) or Mobile (roving).
Visit http://www.ws1sm.com/2-Meter-Challenge.html for complete rules and details, including Entry Forms and Log Sheets, for the 2022 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge.
The Overall winner of the 2021 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge was Dick Bean K1HC, from Westwood, Massachusetts, who made a total of 95 QSOs, in 41 different towns, for a total of 3,895 points. Congratulations on a job well done! K1HC operated as Fixed Medium from his vacation home in Haprswell, Maine, using an Icom IC-9700 into a Diamond X50 at 295′ above sea level, during the contest. Visit http://www.ws1sm.com/2-Meter-Challenge-2021.html to see all the 2021 category winners.
Kriss Kliegle, KA1GJU, writes on the PortCity (NH) ARC mailing list:
For those of you that would like to get on HF and have problems with antennas, towers, HOA’s, etc… you can still enjoy the hobby! As discussed in my presentation at the meeting and via Zoom, I think we will go forward with running RemoteHams software, called “RCForb.” You will need a username (your call sign in small letters, not caps) and a password (that cannot have your call in it) to get on the servers. Registration is instant, via a code sent to your email address provided.
Then download the latest ‘Client’ software, not the ‘Server’ software… unless you want to place your own radio online for you or select friends. The server software is very programmable as is what users can do (RX only, Tune, TX and RX, etc). The ‘Client’ application uses the same GUI for all radio manufacturers, so it’s rather simplistic but very easy to use. There are over 320 radios available on the network, not all are open to the public. Many are radio clubs, that will ask you to join the club to obtain access.
Your entrance to the world of remote HF, VHF, and UHF radios starts here: https://www.remotehams.com/ Just follow the three steps!
Once you are all registered search the list of servers and look for the two with my call sign (KA1GJU). If you right click on them (one at a time) you can make them a favorite, and they will appear at the top of the list all the time.
As of today, there’s an IC-7300 at the clubhouse on the 40/80M fan dipole which gives you two bands to operate on. Obviously it will RX on other bands, but will be beyond the limits of the onboard auto tuner. There’s another IC-7300 at my QTH on an inverted vee for 75M. Currently the antenna is resonant at 3.980 thru 4.000 MHz, the auto tuner will handle the mismatch for operations below the upper end of the band (i.e. 3.895, 3.900, 3.925 MHz).
I have my servers set to have users be registered before they can ‘spin the knob’, so send my a PM if you want your call on the user list for privileges.
Both are in the ‘experimental’ stages (been online for three days only) and I got most of the big issues taken care of. Now it’s where can I place them as to not interfere with my own operating schedule. I host numerous remote SDR servers for people to use, and I try to keep QRM to a minimum. So distance has to be placed between RX only antennas and the many TX antennas I have.
Feel free to email me with any questions you may have. I’m still learning how to use the software after day three! The same website posted above also give you access to the forum, and you can get answers there too.
73 Kriss KA1GJU
Dave Tipping, NZ1J, writes on the ctfoxhunter list:
Instead of our usual ‘live’ Fox Hunt, this weekend we’ll have a Fox Box hidden somewhere in Wallingford. The box will transmit 1 watt on 146.565MHz for 45 seconds, each time it is activated via a DTMF ‘1’, also on 146.565MHz
The box will be switched on at noon on Saturday and will be switched off at 11am on Sunday.
Upon locating the box, please announce on 146.565 that you have found it. (Rob has been known to linger in the vicinity of a Fox Box. Who is to say who might be nearby and watching you and the box at any given time?)
Good Luck,
Dave NZ1J
Bill Bliss, W1WBB, writes on the CTRI Contest Group mailing list:
The beginning of State QSO Party season is upon us. This coming weekend (Sat/Sun Feb 5 & 6) the festivities begin anew. I’d really like to encourage CTRI members to consider joining the fun by participating in some additional State QSO Parties (incl. this coming weekend!) during the 2022 contesting season. They are fun, interesting and often short but challenging events that target a specific geographic area with SSB and CW as the primary modes of communication.
The State QSO Party Challenge (in it’s 3rd year now) runs concurrently and offers operators a season-long QP competition complete with a Leaderboard and Award Certificate offerings. It is also expected to include a brand new Club Competition (similar to ARRL’s) which will run throughout the QSO Party season. New for this year is the Quebec QSO Party as well as the inaugural running of the Canadian Praries (VE4/5/6) QP … exciting stuff for QP ops in 2022!
For the first events of the year, this weekend: The MN QP (a perennial top 10 in participation), BC QP and VT QP are all running at different times over the weekend. Make a minimum of two QSOs in each, then post your score to 3830scores (for each), and you will begin the QP season ‘3 for 3′ while beginning work toward the Worked All QSO Party award (min qualification is 50% QP participation by seasons’ end). And please don’t forget to indicate CTRI as your associated club on the 3830scores.com submission page — you can prefill this on the ‘preferences’ page found via this link: 3830scores.com – prefill preferences page
Some very helpful QSO Party links:
*State QSO Party Challenge 2022
*State QSO Parties Calendar 2022 by WA7BNM
*SQP Challenge, explanatory video by K8ZT
*groups.io – QSO Party group link
I hope this info will encourage you to consider trying out some upcoming QP events!
Good luck & good contesting/73,
Bill W1WBB
Section Manager: Paul N Gayet, AA1SU, writes on the Vermont ARRL Members List:
Hello Fellow Vermont Hams,
The Vermont QSO Party is in another 3 days. Are you ready?
The event will start Friday night at 7PM and run 48 hours until 7PM Sunday night. Operate as much as you like. Conditions have been all over the place, so there is no telling what openings we might find. However, the best openings will not make up for failure to call CQ. Here is the link to the rules: http://www.ranv.org/vtqso.html. This includes various information, such as the correct abbreviation for your county.
The rules are pretty much the same as last year. A minor change in scoring was made to help the smaller scoring operators on FT8. This year, the grids will be divided by 3 instead of 4 for the FT8 multiplier total. FT8 (and FT4) are a lot more heavily used, so consider putting up an effort there as well. That’s an easy mode to make contacts on while you do something more useful, like watch TV or read a book!
Feel free to spot yourself whenever you change bands – just don’t overdo it.
Remember, that we run at the same time as the MNQP, BCQP, Eu-DX, NA Spring, 10-10, and XE RTTY contests. Know their exchanges, so you can cross pollinate and have more fun.
Before the event, make sure your logging software and your station is working correctly.
Remember, you cannot put Vermont on the air, unless you turn on the radio AND CALL CQ (tuning around doesn’t count). The guys are looking for us, and if you have a signal out there, they’ll find you!
Help make Vermont proud!
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ARRL Vermont Section
Section Manager: Paul N Gayet, AA1SU
aa1su@arrl.org
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From K1USN Happenings, 1-21-2022:
Thanks to Barbara [N1NS] for organizing another event at the Coast Guard Station in Eastham [MA] on January 18, 2022. Special thanks to Russ, K1RTA, for bringing his portable trailer tower and to the other volunteers helping with setup. We had restrictions on the number of operators and visitors due to COVID. This was a CW only operation. There were two stations operated by N1DC and K1RV. We used Elecraft KX3/KXPA100 equipment at 100W with an OCF Dipole and a MyAntenna 80-10 end fed wire. The end fed antenna had the feed point at the Cupola railing with the wire sloping down toward the ocean tied to a fence post pole. The dipole was center supported by Russ K1RTA’s portable trailer tower on the south side of the building.
We had some interstation interference that the coax stubs did not suppress. This may be related to antenna orientation and will have to be investigated further. Overall we were able to manage the situation.
Results
509 QSO’s in 50 Countries. We also worked approximately 36 states and a few Canadian provinces.
Conditions were good especially on 15 and 20M. Europeans were loud. We completed a successful SKED on 20M with GB2GM in Poldhu England. <https://gb2gm.org/> We worked Thaire, W2APF, on vacation in Montserrat as VP2MDX on several bands. Check out the pictures and videos on Facebook : <https://www.facebook.com/KM1CC>.
We hope to operate again in April for International Marconi Day.
73,
Rick N1DC
Amateurs from across New England are preparing to brave winter temperatures on the weekend of January 29-30 to participate in the annual Winter Field Day (WFD) event.
The New England Sci-Tech ARS (STARS) in Natick, Massachusetts is busy making plans to set up a station for the event.
Members of the Twin State Radio Club in Canaan, New Hampshire are discussing a WFD club operation, per the club’s December, 2021 meeting minutes.
Maine Section Manager Phil Duggan, N1EP, writes: “My local club [the Maine Ham Radio Society] will be participating in the Winter Field Day event. This should be a lot of fun, and good practice for this summer’s ARRL Field Day!”
“The Barnstable ARC and Falmouth ARA [Cape Cod, Massachusetts] plan to partner up for Winter Field Day,” writes Assistant Director Rob Leiden, K1UI. “Falmouth has a beautifully equipped mobile system that may be the headquarters. The effort is still in the planning stages.”
The WFD operation at the Newport County RC in Rhode Island is being headed up by John Vecoli, KC1KOO. According to NCRC President Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, “John is again taking a huge leadership role with planning and logging.”
Drop me an email or radiogram if your club is planning to operate in the 2022 Winter Field Day event.
73,
Phil Temples, K9HI
k9hi@arrl.org
The 64th Vermont QSO Party will take place during the first full weekend of February 2022. It will begin at 0000 UTC Saturday February 5 and will end at 2400 UTC Sunday February 6, which is a 48-hour period. In local time, this corresponds to a start time of 7:00 PM EST Friday night February 4th and an end time of 7PM Sunday night February 6th.
The Vermont QSO Party provides the opportunity for Amateur Radio operators to contact and exchange QSO information with Vermont Amateur Radio operators. All licensed amateur radio operators are invited to participate. Stations outside Vermont work Vermont stations. Stations within Vermont work everyone.
Please download The Official 2022 Vermont QSO Party Rules for specific rules.
Rob Cichon, K1RCT, writes on the ctfoxhunter list: