This weekend (Feb. 17-18) is the YL-OM Contest, sponsored by the YLRL (Young Ladies Relay League). It’s a fun event and you only need TEN valid contacts to be eligible for an award! YLs count only OMs and OMs count only YLs. Phone and CW are scored as separate contests. Digital contacts (RTTY, FT8, etc.) count as CW. It’s a simple exchange and you can download a template in N1MM. Submissions should be in cabrillo format. See full details at https://ylrl.net/contests/ or email Diane at vicepresident@ylrl.org. 73, Diane K2DO
33, Diane K2DO
Life Member ARRL
vicepresident@ylrl.com
hamyl@aol.com
Diane Ortiz – 917-364-9127 www.YLRL.net
Jack Ciaccia, WMØG, Assistant Director, EmComm and Public Service writes on the NE-ECAPS mailing list:
This month, we have a great opportunity to practice our ARES groups’ Emergency Preparedness. The Winter Field Day Association promotes emergency operating preparedness, particularly in the challenging winter months characterized by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards that pose unique operational obstacles. The primary objective of Winter Field Day, along with its fundamental principles, is addressing the unpredictability of natural disasters, which can occur unexpectedly. Your training and operational skills must extend beyond fair-weather scenarios, as preparedness is crucial for a professional and timely response to any event.
This event occurs from 19:00 UTC on Saturday, January 27 until Sunday, January 28th, at 18:59.
It’s important to note that Winter Field Day is an emergency communications (EmComm) exercise, so while the rules are significant, the total points accrued are not the primary focus. The knowledge gained during Winter Field Day and the ability to adapt and overcome unexpected obstacles will prove invaluable during emergencies. Participants should prioritize testing their abilities and equipment over chasing contacts or points. When you engage in signal report exchanges, provide accurate signal report information to help the other station assess the effectiveness of their setup. For those who share the commitment to emergency communications, Winter Field Day offers a challenging yet exciting and rewarding experience that aligns with your dedication to this critical aspect of amateur radio.
This year, you’ll observe a shift from “Bonus Points” to “Objectives;” your goal should be to achieve as many objectives as possible during the event.
The New England Division’s ARES group’s goals should include participating from your State EOC and making at least one contact with each New England State EOC via some mode and frequency. I will leave the frequency and modes to each section’s ARES SEC to coordinate.
Any mode is usable during this exercise except FT8 and FT4 modes.
All frequencies, except for the WARC bands, can be used.
One hundred watts is the maximum power level for this event.
Six hours of continuous operation from each participating station.
Running your station at home or in the field from an emergency power source during the exercise.
Operating from an outdoor location and perhaps doubling as a POTA/SOTA activation.
Above all, enjoy the Winter Field Day experience. Discuss the temperature, forge new connections, and create lasting memories as you refine your skills as an amateur radio operator.
Shawn Warren, KC1NQE, writes on the CT-POTA mailing list:
Greetings, Connecticut POTA Activators,
I hope everyone is off to a great start of the year. It is amazing to see this group evolve and all the fun we are having. For this Winter’24 SYP we are going to take our efforts to the next level.
Main Event
The weekend of January 19th-21st, we plan to activate as a group utilizing the K2D call. If you’d like to participate in this event, sign up HERE, and/or send an email to KC1NQE with your Call Sign, intended park if you plan to be in a park during the net, cell number, and if you will be joining us at Wharton. We will assign rover numbers for K2D (ex K2D/r1), which you can use during the entire weekend. This falls under the use of a club call rules, so K2D and your personal call will get credit for the contacts while activating K2D/r. [Station Name: K2D | Operator: Your personal call]. More information will be given to those signing up.
Meet Up Details
We will be hosting a gathering at K-1728 Wharton Brook SP 675 US-5, North Haven, CT 06473 11a until about 2p. This is a family friendly event, all visitors are welcomed to join and operate the K2D station – this is a great opportunity for unlicensed friends and family, and newly licensed individuals to activate on HF. Bring your pota gear and pota gear accessories for a tailgate show-and-tell, along with a mug for hot beverages.
P2P Net Details
We would also like to light up the spot page with K2D (pota admins are aware). With the success of the CT P2P net during the Fall’23 SYP, and the excellent suggestions to make it better, we are going to have another go at it. Just before 11:30a on Saturday Jan 20th, a mass text with a frequency for the net will be sent out to those signed up and in a park. The frequency will be somewhere between 7.185 and 7.210, with the expectation of QRM. K2D will act as a net control, utilizing the sign up list to start making calls- when called, treat it like any P2P contact – Call, Park, Sig. This initial call up will act as a check in to the net – if you miss the first go around, opportunity will be granted at the end . Make a list of the stations you hear on the check in or print the signup sheet to bring with you. Once the check in is complete, Net Control (K2D) will give control to the next person on the list who will then make calls to those that checked in, then return the net to K2D. Make a general ‘any missed stations call’ at the end before returning the net to K2D. Other stations should take note of late check ins and add them to their list. Those that have already gone and missed a QSO with the late check in can do so when the missed station call is made by the late check in.
Contingency Plan
Connecticut winter has been kind to us so far, but we all know how that can go. If snow prevents us from utilizing a safe, and within the rules, activation location at Wharton Brook, we will divert to K-1717 Sleeping Giant SP 200 Mt Carmel Ave, Hamden, CT 06518. If the gathering is canceled due to weather, the assigned rover calls are still usable for the weekend.
N1W, organized by K5ZD in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, is one of the special event stations from around the world that are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Marconi as part of the World Wide Award in January 2024. Work the event stations each day in January on all HF bands, on SSB/CW/Digital for points and awards.
The Vermont QSO Party is coming up in a mere four weeks, February 3-4, starting at 0000 and ending on 2359 UTC. This corresponds to Friday night February 2 at 7 PM until Sunday night February 4 at 7 PM.
We hope to get a lot of Vermont stations on the air to satisfy the appetites of all the chasers.
No changes in the rules are in place but be sure to read through everything and ask NOW if you have any questions.
We are specifically looking for stations to activate some of our rarer counties, like Grand Isle, Franklin, Essex, Orleans and Orange. If you can get on from these locations, that would be great. Or else, plan a mobile operation. It is a load of fun in the winter! Hopefully we will not have a repeat of the -20 degree blast that we had last year. When you do get on, be sure to spot yourself and call CQ. They can’t find you if you run around the band!
Greater Bridgeport (CT) ARC Secretary Kevin Pfeiffer, N1MRI, has been chosen as “Top Op of the Month” by the O.M. International Sideband Society, according to GBARC Vice President Emily Clarke, NI1Q.
“. . . N1MRI was bestowed a great honour by being nominated for and voted in as The OMISS Top Op for the month of November. Out of over 15,000 members, this is an amazing honour,” writes Clarke.
On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 11 am, Parks On The Air activators in Connecticut met on 40 meters SSB for the state’s second “Park to Park” net. It was a huge success.
Rewind the timeline…I was on my quest to activate all parks/references in the state. I discovered one other amateur radio operator had already accomplished this, activating 136 parks in the state of Connecticut. That ham was Shawn, KC1NQE. I reached out and started a dialog and clearly, if he’d done it and I was on my way to completing it, there was no doubt about our passion for the Parks On The Air program. We had a lot in common. Add Peter, K1PCN, who is also attempting to activate all references and is also the President of the Greater Bridgeport Amateur Radio Club and we had the core group that officially started up the CT-POTA groups.io email distribution list.
With the three of us as the first members of the group at the end of August, we began spreading the word through various channels. We shared the group URL with the ham radio clubs in the state: Greater Bridgeport ARC, Candlewood ARA, Woodmont ARA, MARC, FARA, Greater Norwalk ARC and others. I sent email invitations to top activators at Connecticut parks. We posted about the group on social media and met up with people at hamfests. And now, we’re up to 47 members. That’s in just shy of two months. Quickly, we’ve discovered others who are also on the quest to activate all references in Connecticut and are as passionate about POTA as we are.
Rewind a little further… Shawn, KC1NQE, had organized a park to park net via the POTA discord channel on Summer Support Your Parks Weekend in 2022. It worked out well and we wanted to try this again. We announced the net on the new group and instructed operators to email Shawn with the parks they planned to be at Saturday morning and also to share their cell phone numbers with him. On Friday night, Shawn posted the list to the groups.io channel so all of the operators could see who else would be participating. Shawn created a text group of the operators who signed up and on Saturday morning, searched for a frequency on 40 meters to meet up on and texted it out to the group. In addition to this being Support Your Parks Weekend, it was also the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) weekend, so the bands were busy.
Shawn acted as net control, but with a twist. Once he had made contact with all of the stations on the list and any late check-ins, he handed over net control to me. Since we’d already made our contact, I called for stations below me on the list and once done, handed net control to Peter, K1PCN. As you can see, the further down the list you go, the fewer contacts need to be made eventually with the last person likely not having to call anyone, since they’ve already QSO’d with everyone above them on the list. It was the ultimate in getting park to park contacts since we were all out at parks in the state.
N2YCH’s POTA setup at K-1684, Indian Well State Park using an Icom IC-7300 and a Sotabeams Bandhopper III linked dipole.
In the end, we had about 20 participants and virtually everyone could hear everyone else from one end of the state to the other. Towards the very end of our net, we began experiencing some QRM from a JOTA station that went on the air 1 Mhz down from our frequency position and a few operators missed a few park to park contacts. We have some ideas for our next net on ways to speed things up and move through the list more efficiently, but in the end, our idea worked out well.
The day didn’t end there. We planned a meet up at a park that is in the middle of the state, hoping that the trip for any operator within the state wouldn’t have a very long drive to get there. We met at K-1728, Wharton Brook State Park in Wallingford, Connecticut. There, the Meridan Amateur Radio Club brought out their emergency operations trailer and tents and tables. They set up an SSB station, a digital station and even a satellite station. Many of the operators from around the state did drive to the park and met each other in person. A number of students taking classes for their technician test and some newly licensed hams also came out to see what ham radio is all about.
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Before we wrapped up for the day, we did a round robin of park to park contacts on VHF and UHF. Surprisingly, some local hams heard us on the call channels and got in on the action and got a few park QSO’s for themselves. To get an idea of how the day went, Rob, N1NUG, recorded a video of his experience which you can watch at https://youtu.be/3aJBYFD1gZk?si=LVBScL8X3LCN5fHD.
If you’re into parks on the air and live in the state of Connecticut, please apply for membership in the CT-POTA group on groups.io. The group is active and we’ll announce future CT POTA events and meet ups on the list.
Larry Krainson, W1AST, 2023 ARRL Massachusetts VOTA State Manager writes:
The ARRL Massachusetts VOTA fall operating week is on the air for the second and last time through Tuesday, November 7. If you want to work W1AW/1 in Massachusetts then monitor the spotting networks and work the volunteer stations soon!
Thank you,
Larry, W1AST
ARRL WMA Affiliated Club Coordinator
HCRA President
Visit my Ham Radio club website at: www.HCRA.org
Team K2H – 13 Colonies Massachusetts State Manager
2023 ARRL VOTA Massachusetts State Manager
Project Big E 2022 & 2023 Organizer
Proud Member of ARRL, FCARC & YCCC
413-348-3289
Hamop.W1AST@arrl.net
This weekend (Feb. 17-18) is the YL-OM Contest, sponsored by the YLRL (Young Ladies Relay League). It’s a fun event and you only need TEN valid contacts to be eligible for an award! YLs count only OMs and OMs count only YLs. Phone and CW are scored as separate contests. Digital contacts (RTTY, FT8, etc.) count as CW. It’s a simple exchange and you can download a template in N1MM. Submissions should be in cabrillo format. See full details at https://ylrl.net/contests/ or email Diane at vicepresident@ylrl.org. 73, Diane K2DO
Jack Ciaccia, WMØG, Assistant Director, EmComm and Public Service writes on the NE-ECAPS mailing list:
Greater Bridgeport (CT) ARC Secretary Kevin Pfeiffer, N1MRI, has been chosen as “Top Op of the Month” by the 
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Larry Krainson, W1AST, 2023 ARRL Massachusetts VOTA State Manager writes: