Operating

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.

Details are at: https://www.ranv.org/vtqso.html with the detailed rules at: https://www.ranv.org/vtqso.doc

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!

Mitch Stern W1SJ
W1SJ@arrl.net

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ARRL Vermont Section
Section Manager: Paul N Gayet, AA1SU
aa1su@arrl.org
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Tim Bubier, WT1A, writes on the Androscoggin Amateur Radio Club mailing list:

Due to antenna damage during the storm, the Livermore [146.895] repeater is off the air probably until Spring.

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.

Congratulations, Kevin!

Stefania Watson, K1GJY, of Saco, Maine, calling CQ on 14.248 MHz as WX1GYX for 2023 SKYWARN Recognition Day.

(Courtesy Wireless Society of Southern Maine Facebook page)

Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH , writes:

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.

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

Peter Cimino, K1PCN, writes on the Greater Bridgeport (CT) ARC mailing list:

This is the POTA Fall Support Your Parks weekend and CT activators will be out in numbers and activation. There will a POTA meetup at Wharton Brook State Park in North Haven (see flyer) and more info on the CT POTA (groups.io) page.

If you are activating, then register. There will be a point-to-point CT net at 11 am.

Hope to hear you on the air.