    Spring 2016
Volume 6, Issue 1
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EMA Station Updates
CCEMA Bunker
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
WINDHAM, ME
- The Emergency Communications Team have been active throughout
the winter making improvements to the station at the EMA bunker in
Windham. The most noticeable updates took place on Thursday,
March 31st.
WSSM
at the Maine State ARRL Convention
ARRL Hamfest, Auburn, ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
AUBURN,
ME - For the 5th consecutive year, the WSSM setup a booth at the Maine
State ARRL Convention, promoting Amateur Radio as well as club
activities. The event was also a great opportunity to meet new folks
and club members who we don't see regularly.
Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge Results
Gorham, ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
GORHAM,
ME - The results are in for this year's 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge!
Click on the button below for a complete rundown as well as visual
point-to-point and coverage studies.
QSL
Corner
We'll
explore some QSLs submitted by Stefania Watson K1GJY, from some of this
winter's most popular DXPeditions, as well as one from shortwave
broadcaster, Radio Habana Cuba.
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Gorham, ME
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
GORHAM, ME - On February 18th, members
of the WSSM formally established the WSSM Emergency Communications
Team, with a unanimous vote of approval.
VE
Exam in Gorham
ARRL VE Session, March 17th
by Tim
Watson, KB1HNZ
GORHAM, ME - On
March 17th, the WSSM VE Team hosted an exam
session at the Gorham Recreation Department.
WS1SM Team to Activate Portland
Head Light for ILLW
August 20-21, 2016
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
The
WS1SM Team will activate Portland Head light during this year's
International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, which will take place
August 20-21st.
WSSM Members Provide Communications for MS Walk
Walk MS Portland
by
Tim Watson, KB1HNZ
On
Saturday, April 23rd, WSSM members, including David Wood KB1FGF,
Stefania Watson K1GJY, and Tim Watson KB1HNZ, provided communications
support for the MS Walk in Portland, ME.
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June
9th - from
7PM-9PM at Wassamki Springs Campground, 56 Saco Street, Westbrook, ME.
July 14th - from
7PM-9PM at Wassamki Springs Campground, 56 Saco Street, Westbrook, ME.
August 11th - from
7PM-9PM at Wassamki Springs Campground, 56 Saco Street, Westbrook, ME.
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Check
out the ads on page 2 to view items for sale, upcoming hamfests,
announcements, and wanted items.
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From the Editor's Desk
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Spring Fever
With winter behind us,
we can finally look forward to some outdoor
activities in the coming weeks, and we've already been busy getting
permission
for our next ILLW outing, which will take us to Portland Head Light in
August, as well as our next Summits on the Air (SOTA) event. As
always, if anyone has summit suggestions, we're interested! You can click here
to see if its on the SOTA list of summits.
The
last few months have brought some excellent DX opportunities, as many rare entities
were active during the winter DX contests, for DXpeditions, and
most recently for CQWW WPX. Among the new ones I was able to get were K5P, 5V7D, 5J0P, and VK0EK. We've
seen HF conditions mostly favor frequencies below 20 MHz in recent
weeks, but there was some decent activity on 10 and 12 meters between
mid January and early February.
It was great to see everyone at this
year's ARRL Maine State Convention, held in Lewiston at the end of
March. Although small in scale, the hamfest is always a great place to
meet folks that we talk with on the air and even meet some of our
members who live outside the area and can't make it to meetings.
In
other news, we've been making lots of progress with the amateur radio
station at Cumberland County EMA. One of the first things that needed
to take place was a good cleaning and organizing, and improvemets to
the workspace. Charlie W1CPS, built some nice shelves, which we were
able to use to setup the radios and power supplies, opening up some
table space below. On March 31st, we rewired the stations in their new
locations and also installed a new battery backup. Ryan KB1YTR worked
on reprogramming the VHF/UHF radio, and has been also updating the PC
with needed programs and a desktop link to Google Drive for quick
access to important files.
Since
then, we've made tremendous progress on the stations themselves,
including the addition of Signalink USB interfaces, and a new DMR
radio. We've also setup two PCs and a laptop with software programs
such as FLDigi and RMS Express, and have configured the stations for
transmitting digital messages.
Since many of us work full time and can't always get out to start a net, volunteers are always needed to do SKYWARN callups during weekdays if severe weather events occur,
especially during thunderstorm season, which is fast approaching. If
you're interested in helping out, please contact me, and we will
provide you with all the information and training you need.
73,
Tim Watson
KB1HNZ
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