Operating

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.

[On December 24, 1906, the first radio broadcast for entertainment and music was transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts to the general public.]

Lem Skidmore, W1LEM, writes on the Barnstable ARC mailing list:

The Charles County Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) will be operating a Special Event Station on Saturday, 21 December 2024, to commemorate the 124th anniversary of Radio’s First Voice. On 23 December 1900, Reginald Fessenden made the first wireless transmission of human speech between two sets of 50-foot masts erected along the shore of Cobb Island, in Charles County, Maryland.

Who: CCARC

What: Special Event Station, call sign N3V (for New Voice).

Where: Old Fisherman’s Field, Cobb Island, MD (a grassy field bordered by Cobb Island Rd, Route 254, and Neale Sound Drive, just over the bridge to Cobb Island) 

When: Saturday, 21 December 2024, On-the-air operations are scheduled for 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET.

How:  Contact N3V on various bands/modes of operation, QSL information at N3V on qrz.com. https://www.qrz.com/db/N3V

*Potential operations include various bands 40M, 20M, 15M, 10M on modes SSB and FT8.  

*Echolink: Connect to EchoLink node KB3KOW-R and call for N3V.

*Check your favorite DX Cluster, such as http://www.dxsummit.fi, for current N3V spots.

(We intend to self-spot periodically, but if you hear us, please spot N3V to help draw traffic)

*US Islands Awards concurrent activation for Cobb Island, Island # MD020R. https://usislands.org/maryland/

*Visitors welcome to join us at the Cobb Island operations site.

*Hope to see you or hear you on Saturday!

73

Jeff – KB3SPH