Maine’s Premier International HF Contest.
Mark your calendars!
Contest Period: 1200 UTC Saturday September 24, 2020 to 1200 UTC Sunday September 25, 2022.
Bands and Modes: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10, CW, and phone (SSB, FM, AM).
Exchange: Stations in Maine send signal report and county. Stations outside of Maine, but within either the United States or Canada, send signal report and state/province. DX stations send signal report and “DX.”
Click here for more details and complete rules.
Mark your calendars!
THE 2022 MAINE QSO PARTY IS SEPTEMBER 24-25!
Contest Period: 1200 UTC Saturday September 24, 2020 to 1200 UTC Sunday September 25, 2021.
Bands and Modes: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10, CW, and phone (SSB, FM, AM).
Exchange: Stations in Maine send signal report and county. Stations outside of Maine, but within either the United States or Canada, send signal report and state/province. DX stations send signal report and “DX.”
Click here for more details and complete rules.
Congratulations to 2021 MEQP overall winner, Joe Blinick K1JB, of Portland, Maine! Joe scored a total of 217,905 points, making 990 QSO’s! For 2021, we received 207 logs from 6 different countries, 27 U.S. States, 2 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 3,915 points. Robert Coakley KX1E, from Portland, ME, won the Single Operator Low Power (SOLP) category with 15,300 points. This year’s overall winner, Joe Blinick K1JB, won the Single Operator High Power (SOHP) category with 217,905 points. In Multi Op, Stefania (K1GJY) and Tim (KB1HNZ) Watson, who operated as YO/KB1HNZ from Baicoi, Romania, won the Multi-Operator High Power (MOHP) category with 127,428 points, and also placed second overall.
In the club competition, the Yankee Clipper Contest Club took the top spot, with 3 log entries totaling 220,333 points. Congratulations!
For complete results, including State, Province, National, and Maine County winners, click here.
The 2022 Maine QSO Party will take place the last full weekend of September, (9/24 – 9/25). Click here for complete rules and details.
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).
Click here 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. Click here to see all the 2021 category winners.
Mark your calendars!
THE 2021 MAINE QSO PARTY IS SEPTEMBER 25-26!
Contest Period: 1200 UTC Saturday September 2, 2020 to 1200 UTC Sunday September 2, 2021.
Bands and Modes: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10, CW, and phone (SSB, FM, AM).
Exchange: Stations in Maine send signal report and county. Stations outside of Maine, but within either the United States or Canada, send signal report and state/province. DX stations send signal report and “DX.”
Click here for more details and complete rules.
Congratulations to 2020 MEQP Overall winner, Axel Bruderer, KI6RRN, of La Mesa, CA! Axel scored a total of 417,679 points, making 1920 QSO’s!
2020 was a record year for entries. We received 197 logs from 7 different countries, 41 U.S. States, 2 Canadian Provinces, and 7 Maine Counties. Thanks to everyone who participated!
The most popular categories were the Single Operator Low Power (SOLP) class, with 125 entries, followed by Single Operator High Power (SOHP), with 55 entries.
Michael Snook W7LG, from Lewiston, PA, captured the Single Operator QRP (SOQRP) category with 2,508 points. 2019 Overall Winner, Stefania Watson K1GJY won the Single Operator Low Power (SOLP) category with 60,241 points. This year’s overall winner, Axel Bruderer KI6RRN, won the Single Operator High Power (SOHP) category with 417.679 points, and in Multi Op, Richard (W4THI) and Debra (KN4NZH) Lucas, of Jupiter, FL won in Multi Operator Low Power (MOLP), while Ethan (N1SOH) and Jacob (W1FM) Handwerker, of Lexington, MA, continued their winning ways in Multi Operator High Power (MOHP), picking up their fourth win in the category.
In the club competition, the Southern California Contest Club took the top spot, with 3 log entries totaling 439,558 points. Congratulations!
For complete results, including State, Province, National, and Maine County winners, click here.
The 2021 Maine QSO Party will take place the last full weekend of September, (9/25 – 9/26). Click here for complete rules and details.
The Maine 2 meter FM Simplex Challenge is this Saturday!
Contest Period: Saturday, April 3rd, 2021 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.
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
Entry Categories – There are two entry categories: Fixed and Mobile. You may enter only one category for the contest. If a station gives out more than one multiplier during the contest, that station will automatically be entered into the mobile category.
Click here for complete rules – and don’t forget there’s a club competition as well!
Catch you on the air!
Mark your calendars!
The 8th annual Maine QSO Party will take place the weekend of September 26-27, from 1200 UTC on the 26th, through 1200 UTC on the 27th. Last year’s overall winner was Stefania Watson K1GJY, of Saco, Maine.
The contest is designed to encourage Maine stations to expand their knowledge of DX propagation on the HF and MF bands, and improve their operating skills, and station capability by participating a competition in which W/VE, and DX stations have the incentive to work Maine.
The contest takes place on the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands, and allows for phone and CW for modes.
For an exchange, stations in Maine send signal report and county, while stations outside of Maine, but within either the United States or Canada, send signal report and state/province. DX stations send signal report and “DX.”
For scoring, contacts with stations in Maine are worth 2 points. Contacts with stations outside Maine are worth 1 point. Multipliers are the same for all participants: Use Maine counties (16), States (50), Canadian Provinces (14), and DXCC entities as multipliers. You may work any station once on each of the two modes, on each of the six contest bands.
The Maine QSO Party is a fun contest that offers categories for operators of all skill levels and station capability. Also similar to DX contests like the Canada Day contest or YODX, its open to all contacts as long as the proper information is exchanged. Stations outside of Maine are not required to work only Maine stations for credit, as is the case with most QSO parties. This being said, its important that as many Maine stations as possible are active, and it would be really nice to have participation from all 16 counties. So far, the competition has seen most Maine participation from the more populated southern counties. Help get the word out and share this on contest blogs and social sites!
For more information, including complete rules, click here.
CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT
Saturday, March 28th, from 12PM – 4PM
The 2020 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge takes place Saturday, March 28th, for 4 hours, beginning at 12pm local time!
Getting started is easy!
Choose a power level from: QRP (5 watts or less), Medium (Greater than 5, but less than 100 watts), or High (100 watts or more), and decide whether to operate as Fixed or Mobile.
The Exchange is 3 items: your call sign, the name of the city, village, town, or township you are operating from, and your power level.
For example, if your call sign is W1ZZ, and you’re operating from your home station in Gorham, and running 50 watts, you’d say: “Please copy, Whiskey One Zulu Zulu, Gorham, Medium Power”.
Suggested frequencies: 146.475, 146.490, 146.505, 146.550, 146.565, 146.580, 147.420, 147.435, 147.450, 147.465, 147.480, 147.495, 147.510, 147.525, 147.540, 147.555, 147.570.
Contacts with an EOC, SKYWARN, Red Cross, or other served agency station are worth 2 points each! Check out the official rules for more details.
Now, get on the air, and have fun!
Click here for complete rules and details.
Congratulations to the 2019 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge winners! Stefania Watson, K1GJY, from Saco, Maine, who made 119 QSOs and 38 bonus points, in 17 different towns, for a total of 2,669 points, took the overall win. Stefania operated mobile from 29 different locations during the contest. In the categories, Eric Emery KC1HJK, who operated as WX1GYX from the National Weather Service, in Gray, won the Medium Fixed class, in a close battle with Ara Kemezys AC1FB, and Brad Brown KC1JMH, who operated as WS1EC from the Cumberland County EMA. Dakota Dumont KB1YYC won QRP Mobile over Greg Dean K1ME, and Rick Alderette KB1ASM won the Fixed High Category.
Please click here for a complete run down of the 2019 results.
The 2020 2 Meter FM Challenge is coming up soon, on Saturday, March 28th. Click here for more information and complete rules.
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