12th Annual Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge is Saturday, March 26th!

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.

2021 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge Winners Announced

Point-to-point study of K1HC’s QSOs during the 2021 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge

This year’s overall winner of the Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge is: 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.

The continuing pandemic meant that served agencies, such as the National Weather Service, County EMAs, and Red Cross facilities were closed to the public, so we didn’t have any activations from those places like in years past. There was also a continuation of the trend from the previous year, which saw more participants operate from their own homes.

John Horton KC1LSO, and Dakota Dumont KB1YYC, operated as QRP mobiles, while Stefania Watson K1GJY, Tim Watson KB1HNZ, Eric Emery N1RXR, and Jason Andrews W1SFS operated in the Medium Mobile category. Dakota, John, and Eric were heard mostly in the towns around Portland and west (Falmouth, Yarmouth, Cumberland, Westbrook, Windham, etc.), while Jason travelled south from the Scarborough area. Tim and Stefania covered the most ground, ranging from Camp Ellis to Waldoboro.

Similar to years past, the most popular categories were the medium-powered classes, and they were also the most competitive, with K1GJY and KB1HNZ being separated by only 1 QSOs in Medium Mobile, and Medium Fixed tied a record for the number of entries. K1HC and WD1F led the pack, but K1JJS and KB1FGF were separated by just 10 QSOs and even on multipliers.

Some stations that appeared in many logs, include W1DYJ, KC1MSQ, N1TTT, KA1KJR, KC1HJN, and WZ1J.

The Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association (MARA) captured the club competition for the first time, earning 7,782 points from 4 logs. Congratulations on a job well done!

Click here for complete details, and to see all the category winners.

The next Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge takes place Saturday, April 2, 2022.

2020 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge Winners Announced

Congratulations to the 2020 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge winners! Bill Richardson NG1P, from Topsham, Maine, who made 67 QSOs, in 26 different towns, for a total of 1,742 points, took the overall win. Bill operated QRP fixed, using a Kenwood TH-D79A and J-Pole during the contest. In the categories, Donnie Dauphin WD1F, won the Medium Fixed class. Charlie Shepard W1CPS, won QRP Mobile over Cindy Shepard W1CJS by just 2 QSOs, and Tim Watson KB1HNZ won the Medium Mobile Category, by just 2 QSOs over Stefania Watson K1GJY.

Please click here for a complete run down of the 2020 results.

Here’s a point-to-point study of NG1P’s contacts from the 2020 Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge

The 2020 2 Meter FM Challenge is coming up soon, on Saturday, April 3rd.

Click here for more information and complete rules.