2021 Winter Field Day is Next Weekend!

Contest Period: 1900 UTC Saturday January 30th to 1900 UTC Sunday Sunday, January 31st, 2021

Bands: All Amateur bands, HF, VHF, & UHF except 12, 17, 30 and 60 meters.

Modes: Any mode that can faithfully transmit the exchange intact without a conversion table… CW, SSB, AM, FM, DStar, C4FM, DMR, Packet, PSK, SSTV, RTTY, Olivia, Satellite, etc… (note FT8 & FT4 cannot).

Suggested Frequencies: (to make it easier to find each other)
HF CW – 1810-1820, 3.530-3.550, 7.030-7.050, 14.035-14.055, 21.030-21.050, 28.030-28.040
HF SSB – lowest 30 kHz of the US General Class Phone bands (160m-15m), 28.400-28.425MHz (10m)
6m/VHF/UHF – adjacent to, but not on, nationally recognized simplex calling channels.

Exchange: Your WFD exchange will be a combination of your “class” and “category” and your ARRL/RAC section.

Click here for more details and complete rules.

Here’s how you can participate:

For 2021, we will not be operating as a group from a single location, due to COVID-19 cpncerns. Instead, we will take advantage of scoring changes for 2021 that allow members to participate individually, using their own call signs, and contribute to a club aggregate score.

To participate, please familiarize yourself with the WFD Rules to determine your entry category, log your contacts electronically, and enter: Wireless Society of Southern Maine as your club. Submit your logs according to WFD rules.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can setup outdoors and operate portable for either all or part of the event, or you can test out your home station and operate from inside. Whichever you choose, please share photos of your activation via email with: mainehamradio@gmail.com and on social media using hashtag: #wssmwfd21

Catch you on the air!

73′

Tim
KB1HNZ

2020 Maine QSO Party is September 26-27th!

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.

The Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge is Saturday, March 28th

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.

2019 Maine 2m FM Simplex Challenge Winners Announced

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.

Here’s a point-to-point study of K1GJY’s contacts from the 2019 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge

The 2020 2 Meter FM Challenge is coming up soon, on Saturday, March 28th. Click here for more information and complete rules.

 

The Radiogram – Summer / Fall 2019

Click here to view the latest issue of the Radiogram – the official eNews of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine.

In this issue we review the WSSM Field Day at Wassamki Springs, ILLW 2019 from Rockland Breakwater Light, Maine QSO Party preview, DX News, and more!

2019 Maine QSO Party is September 28-29

The 7th annual Maine QSO Party will take place the weekend of September 28-29, from 1200 UTC on the 28th, through 1200 UTC on the 29th. Last year’s overall winner was Joe Blinick K1JB, of Portland.

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.