The 14th Annual Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge takes place Saturday, March 16th, from 12PM – 4PM!
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).
Click here for complete rules and details, including Entry Forms and Log Sheets, for the 2024 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge.
Please join us the weekend of January 27-28, at the Cumberland County EMA, located at 22 High Street, Windham, ME, for Winter Field Day!
We will be operating in the 1O category (an outdoor club station with 1 full time HF transmitter), throughout the event. If we get more operators than we have rigs for, we’ll consider moving up to 2O.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY – 7:00 PM – Setup for the trailer, primary stations, log prep.
SATURDAY – 9:00 AM – Final prep and antenna setup.
SATURDAY – 2:00 PM – On-air activities begin.
SUNDAY – 2:00 PM – On-air activities end, followed by breakdown of equipment and site cleanup.
For planning purposes, it is VERY IMPORTANT that participants sign up for setup / breakdown duty, time slots for on-air operations, and if you plan on bringing food!
Winter Field Day requires just as much club participation as ARRL Field Day, but in more challenging weather conditions, so we need as much help as we can!
SCARBOROUGH, ME – On the weekend of June 24-25, the WSSM team participated in their 13th ARRL Field Day from Wassamki Springs Campground, in Scarborough.
Activities began Friday morning when club members helped to setup a utility trailer, tower, and antenna, that would make up the CW operating station. The station, which is the design of Rick Fickett K1OT, goes together smoothly. After assembling the antennas which consist of a 40 meter mono band yagi and a 10/15/20m tri-bander, and tower components, the tower is pulled up by a winch, so it only needs to be guided on the way up, and when the tower is almost upright, a custom made bracket which holds the yagis, allows them to move into position and lock in place. After this was complete, the guys were tightened and the area was roped off for safety.
The station consists of an Elecraft K3 that runs on a pair of deep cycle batteries. It was operated throughout Field Day by Rick Fickett K1OT, Joe Blinick K1JB, and John Huffman K1ESE. Greg Finch W1GF, who is usually a high volume contributor to our Field Day efforts, was missing this year because of health reasons, but we hope to have him back in 2024. The CW team made nearly 1,100 QSO’s, of which 477 were on 20 meters alone!
Overnight ops in the CW trailer
Later in the afternoon, the SSB stations were setup using the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA) communications trailer as an enclosure. Antennas included a 160m end fed, a Buddipole, and 40m rotatable dipole (that mounts to the trailer). The two SSB stations consisted of a Yaesu FT-950 and Icom IC-7300, which ran on battery power. After final checks and updates to the logging software, we were ready to get on the air!
The weather was expected to be rainy and possibly severe the whole weekend, but luckily, it was only overcast, with a few passing showers, and the band conditions seemed very good as well. As usual, 40 meters was steady throughout the weekend, and 20 meters opened up nicely Saturday afternoon and lasted well into the evening. There was also activity on 10 and 15 meters, especially on Sunday.
Tim KB1HNZ and Stefania Watson K1GJY, Eric Emery N1RXR, Jim Fraser KB1SDK, Brad Brown KC1JMH, and others, each took turns operating the SSB stations. Stefania K1GJY had good runs on 40 and 20 meters on Sunday. Charlie Shepard W1CPS, operated a “free station” on 6 meters, focusing mainly on digital modes.
Part of our 2023 Field Day setup, including GOTA, 6 meter, and SSB ops
Our Safety Officer for 2023 was Jim Fraser KB1SDK, who checked to make sure stations were grounded, trip hazards were avoided, and RF safety procedures were met, among other things.
Fellow club members, Frank KR1ZAN in Plano, TX, and Ryan Michaelson KB1YTR, in Duluth, MN, helped us copy the W1AW Field Day message, which was super helpful because many of us were setting up station equipment during the broadcast Friday evening.
Tim KB1HNZ prepared radiograms for the Section Manager and several others, and sent them via the Maine Packet Network (VHF), and HF Winlink.
GOTA station coach, Josh Brown KC1KTX, assisted by Brad Brown, Jr. KC1JMH, and Eric Emery N1RXR set up a nice station in Josh’s camper, which was located on site. They welcomed unlicensed and inexperienced operators, who took turns getting on the air throughout the weekend.
On Saturday evening, those who were present enjoyed a nice cookout.
Eric N1RXR, Charlie W1CPS, and others take a break for some food Saturday evening.
Besides the lessons learned at the GOTA station, we also offered a formal educational activity about radio direction finding. Tim KB1HNZ hid a small purpose-built transmitter and explained some of the various methods that can be used to track it down, including using doppler finder technology, attenuators, body shielding, and a directional antenna. Tim’s son, Elliot, had a fun time trying to find a hidden transmitter and eventually did!
Operating as 3A (three fulltime HF stations on emergency power), and call sign W1M, 2023 ARRL Field Day was not only a fun time, but a huge success! We logged 1,320 QSOs for a total of 4,840 QSO points, and nearly maxed out on all the bonus points.
Special thanks to Chris Wheeler, and everyone at Cumberland County EMA for their support and allowing us to use the CCEMA communications trailer, and to the Hillock Family for their continued hospitality, allowing us to operate from Wassamki Springs Campground for the 13th consecutive year!
YORK, ME – On Saturday, August 19th, WSSM members activated Cape Neddick “Nubble” Light for International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW). The team setup their radio gear in Sohier Park, using an Icom IC-7100 on battery power and a BuddiPole, which was configured for 40, 20, and 15 meters throughout the day.
Icom IC-7100 tuned to 40 meters Saturday morning
Members present included: Peter Fulton WO1J, Tim Watson KB1HNZ, Eric Emery N1RXR, and Jason Andrews W1SFS, as well as other hams who stopped by while visiting the area.
The weather was sunny and pleasant, despite a steady sea breeze which limited our ability to get the desired height from the antenna. Band conditions were mixed, with some early success on 40 meters, but an increasing noise level and QSB (fading) caused us to move up to 20 meters, before settling on 15 meters, where we had our best run of the afternoon. Memorable contacts included TF3PPN in Iceland, EA5GJ in Northern Spain, ZF2PG in the Cayman Islands, and MW0SSB, in Wales (all after 1540 UTC). We also contacted a few other lighthouses, including the Oswego West Pierhead (US0207), and Dunkirk (US0016) lighthouses in Western New York.
Jason W1SFS operating on 20 meters
2023 marked the 26th annual International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend (ILLW), which began in 1993 as the Northern Lighthouse Activity Weekend, in Scotland, before evolving into an international event, which now sees over 400 lighthouses activated each year.
Peter WO1J takes a turn at the mic
The Wireless Society of Southern Maine has participated in ILLW since 2011, activating lighthouses across Maine and the Maritimes, including Pemaquid Point (2011 & 2013), Wood Island (2012), Seguin, West Quoddy, and Head Harbour Lights (2014), Cape Neddick “Nubble” Light (2015 & 2023), Portland Head Light and Bass Harbor Head Light (2016), Portland Breakwater “Bug” Light (2017), Spring Point Ledge Light (2018), Rockland Breakwater Light (2019), Owls Head Light (2020), Doubling Point Lighthouse (2021), and Squirrel Point Lighthouse (2022).
Eric N1RXR calling CQ on 15 meters
Next year’s International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend (ILLW) takes place August 17-18. Stay tuned for an announcement about the next lighthouse we’ll be visiting.
View of our ILLW setup, with WO1J operating
Click here to learn more about International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend.
If you’re ready to upgrade, or trying for your first license, please join us for a VE Exam on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. The Wireless Society of Southern Maine and Portland Amateur Wireless Association will be hosting an exam session at 7PM at the South Windham Fire Station, 33 Main Street, Windham, Maine.
Walk-ins are welcome, so there’s no need to sign up. Please bring a valid photo ID if you are planning on taking a test, and there is also a $15.00 test fee payable in either cash or check, made out to ARRL VEC. Click here to find out more about what to bring to the exam.
MANDATORY BEFORE THE EXAM FCC Registration Number (FRN): Examinees are required by the FCC to submit your FRN with your license application form. New license applicants must create an FCC user account and register their Social Security Number (SSN) in the FCC Commission Registration System (CORES) before attending exam sessions.
Registrants will be assigned an FRN which will be used in all license transactions with the FCC. For instructions on how to register your SSN and receive an FRN from the FCC, visit the CORES Registration page and the FCC’s Registration instructions page. Per FCC rules, a valid email address is also mandatory on the application form to receive FCC correspondence, including the official copy of your Amateur Radio license.
Congratulations to the multi-op team of Stefania Watson (K1GJY), Tim Watson (KB1HNZ) and Rick Fickett (K1OT), who operated as WS1SM from Windham, ME. They became only the second Multi-Op team to win the contest overall, scoring a total of 364,530 points, and 1232 QSO’s!
For 2023, we received over 80 logs from 3 different countries, 33 U.S. States, 3 Canadian Provinces, and 7 Maine Counties. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Michael Snook W7LG, from Lewiston, PA, captured the Single Operator QRP (SOQRP) category with 3,780 points. Peter Siemsen VE9CZ, from Grand-Barachois, NB, won the Single Operator Low Power (SOLP) category with 20,737 points. Kevin Thomas W1DED, who operated remote from Van Buren, ME, won the Single Operator High Power (SOHP) category with an impressive 302,107 points. Ethan and Jacob Handwerker, operating as N1SOH, won the Multi-Operator Low Power Category with 374 points, and this year’s overall winner, WS1SM, won the Multi-Operator High Power (MOHP) category with 364,530 points.
Complete results, including State, Province, National, and Maine County winners, will be available soon.
The 2024 Maine QSO Party will take place the last full weekend of September, (9/28 – 9/29). Click here for complete rules and details.
During a 24-hour period beginning at noon on Friday, October 27th, and continuing through Saturday, members of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine Emergency Communications Team (WSSM-ECT) participated in a statewide drill to test their communications capabilities between various sites throughout Cumberland County and the state of Maine. The drill, known as the Simulated Emergency Test, or SET, is an annual exercise, sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, which encourages amateur radio operators from across the country to test their communications skills during a mock disaster.
During the SET, hams are required to quickly establish communications between various Emergency Operations Centers and exchange formal messages and traffic, which contain requests for supplies, medical information, or weather reports, or other information that may be of importance during a disaster. They do this via voice, Morse code, and digital two-way radio, on bands ranging from HF to UHF, as required.
The purpose of this year’s exercise was to test the ability to communicate intra-county and between counties, using various modes: V/U FM repeaters, VHF FM Simplex, V/U Digital, HF SSB, VHF Packet, HF Digital, and Winlink via VHF Packet and HF, with the following objectives:
Test ability to activate group
Establish an HF circuit with KE4UCW (Simulated State) and ISS ops
Establish an HF circuit with other County EOCs
Establish 2 Meter Simplex Comms within county and with adjacent counties
Establish HF and 2 Meter Comms with N1RXR (Simulated NWS)
Test EMA repeater coverage
Ability to send and retrieve Winlink traffic
Relay simulated requests for support to MEMA and/or adjacent county EOCs TASK
Tim Watson, ARES EC for Cumberland County, said afterwards, “We accomplished all of our tasks, and although it exposed a few deficiencies, we also learned quite a bit about VHF/UHF coverage in the western part of the county, and discovered that we can use peer to peer Winlink as a reliable means of sending traffic if the nodes and/or digipeaters are unreachable. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their weekend to help us out!”
Several operators (listed below), were deployed to shelter locations, where they tested various forms of communications, including FM simplex, UHF repeater, Packet Winlink, HF (on both 40 and 80 meters), and the EMA repeater, if equipped to do so. They communicated with Net Control at the EMA Bunker in Windham, with adjacent counties, direct with the Maine Emergency Communications net on HF, and via Packet Winlink.
Peter Hatem KC1HBM – deployed to South Portland High School / South Portland Community Center. Peter tested HF SSB, FM Simplex, V/U repeaters, EMA repeater, and digital voice via DMR and Fusion simplex.
Tom Mahon AB1ND – deployed to Westbrook High School. Tom tested FM Simplex and V/U repeaters.
Brad Brown, Jr. KC1JMH – deployed to Lakes Region High School (in Naples, ME), and Bridgton Hospital. Brad tested HF SSB, FM Simplex, V/U repeaters, EMA repeater, and Packet Winlink.
Brad KC1JMH setting up his portable antenna during the SET
Todd Rodgers KC1SQ – deployed to Gorham Middle School. Todd tested HF SSB, FM Simplex, V/U repeaters, and the EMA repeater.
Todd KC1SQ setup at Gorham Middle School
A unique task this year was to test the range of the EMA repeater, which is in the 155 MHz band. It had remarkably good coverage, especially to the western reaches of Cumberland and York counties.
“We found, in some cases, that FM simplex was more reliable than the UHF repeater, and in one instance, when Brad KC1JMH was unable to reach any Packet nodes from Lakes Region High School, we attempted Peer-to-peer (Simplex) Winlink, and it was successful,” Watson added.
“Peter KC1HBM reported having some difficulties setting up one of the BuddiPole antennas in the windy conditions, and we found that the BuddiPole that he used didn’t have the instructions in it for the 80m NVIS configuration, which is something we’ll be sure not to forget in the future,” continued Watson.
“I’m proud that our team accomplished their objectives and we even learned a few things that we didn’t anticipate, so the 2023 SET was a huge success.”
Thanks also to Jim Fraser KB1SDK, who assisted at the EMA on Saturday, Chris Wheeler, LEPC Liaison at CCEMA, who provided some realistic resource requests, and to everyone who checked into our SET nets Friday evening through Saturday.
Since 1999, SKYWARN™ Recognition Day, developed jointly by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League, celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN™ radio operators make to the National Weather Service.
This year’s event takes place December 2, 2023 from 0000z to 2400z (December 1st, 7 PM ET – December 2nd, 7 PM ET).
After nearly three years of being in storage due to the pandemic, the radio gear at the NWS is setup and ready to be used for this year’s SRD! SKYWARN radio operators who would like to visit the Forecast Office to operate the radios there, may do so between the hours of 8PM-10PM on Friday evening, and 9AM-12PM on Saturday. Since space is limited, we’re asking that no more than two operators be there at the same time. Please enter your call sign followed by /GYX in those time slots to indicate whether or not you’ll be operating from the NWS.
All other operators are encouraged to take turns activating the WX1GYX call sign, either from their home stations, portable, or mobile, during the event.
If you’d like to use the WX1GYX call sign during SRD, please click here to sign up for a time and band slot (or multiple slots) to operate.
Participants are asked to log contacts in an electronic logging program, such as N1MM, and submit their logs to kb1hnz@yahoo.com in an ADIF format, so they can be merged afterwards.
The suggested exchange for contacts, is your name and current weather conditions (usually temperature and observation).
Click here to visit the event website, where you’ll find operating guidelines and links to register your personal station and spotter location.
SRD is a fun on-air activity that feels very much like a contest, but its informal. There’s no band or mode limitations, and you can even use repeaters. Just get on the air and have fun!
For 24-hours, beginning at noon on Friday, October 27th, members of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine Emergency Communications Team (WSSM-ECT), which meets monthly in Windham, will participate in a statewide drill to test their communications capabilities between various different sites throughout Cumberland County and the state. The drill, known as the Simulated Emergency Test, or SET, is an annual exercise, sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, which encourages amateur radio operators from across the country to test their communications skills during a mock disaster.
During the SET, hams are required to quickly establish communications between various Emergency Operations Centers and exchange formal messages and traffic, which contain requests for supplies, medical information, or weather reports, or other information that may be of importance during a disaster. They do this via voice, Morse code, and digital two-way radio, on bands ranging from HF to UHF, as required.
“Similar to previous years, there’s has been statewide coordination for the SET, and Maine ARES and others have developed a plan that involves testing both amateur radio and EMA communications,” says Tim Watson, of Saco. Watson is a founder of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, which provides auxiliary communications support for Cumberland County EMA, as well as the National Weather Service. “The SET tests how we respond during large- scale disasters, where commercial infrastructure has failed. In these events, hams are often the only source of communications.”
“The hams in our club are a dedicated group,” adds club President, Jason Andrews, of Scarborough. “Amateur radio has a long history of volunteerism. Sure, it’s a hobby and there’s some fun things that we do like lighthouse expeditions or competitive events like contesting, but so many like to stay sharp by providing support for community events, and drills like this, so they’ll be ready to offer their time and expertise when disaster strikes.”
The Wireless Society of Southern Maine’s Emergency Communications Team is participating in their ninth SET. After the event, the participants will do an assessment to determine how well they performed and look for areas to improve upon. “There’s always new things to learn and ways to improve,” says Watson. “This year we’ll be testing some updates that have been made to the statewide digital packet network, which is one of the tools we use for sending messages. We hope to learn more about its capabilities and how to improve it for the future.”
For more information about amateur radio, or the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, please visit their website at: http://www.mainehamradio.com
WS1SM Ham Radio Blog 