Maine-Wide POTA Day!

Parks On The Air

  Jeff Hanscom KA1DBE, president of the Ellsworth Amateur Wireless Association and Assistant Section Manager, is organizing a state-wide POTA activation for Maine. The selected date is Saturday, May 18, 2024.

   Clubs and individual hams are asked to activate a state or federal park on that date. This will be widely promoted to give POTA fans far and wide a heads up to work Maine parks on that day. What a fun event this can be for yourself and club members. ARES teams and other groups are also encouraged to join in the fun. There are 32 state parks, 4 national parks, and a multitude of national wildlife areas and other entities in Maine that can be activated. Check out parksontheair.com for rules, a map and other details of sites near you. Direct any questions to Jeff - email [email protected] j.hanscom at gmail dot com

The Maine Slow Speed Net

Are you just jumping into the world of CW fun? Or are you an experienced Morse code operator but want to start learning about or contributing to your section’s CW traffic nets? Then the Maine Slow Speed Net is the perfect choice.

   The MSSN meets Monday through Friday at 6:00pm (2200z) on 3585 kHz and welcomes all. The net control stations normally send at 10-12 wpm but will slow down to whatever speed in which you check into the net.

   MSSN is affiliated with the National Traffic System (NTS) and participants can relay radiograms destined for Maine stations or elsewhere. The most common traffic on the MSSN are net reports. It is not a “rag chew” net, so once any traffic is handled, you are dismissed from the net. The net usually lasts about 10 minutes or so.

   “Check in at the speed you are comfortable copying and we will match it,” advises Net Control Station Dave Herrick WA1BXM. “Learn basic net Q signals (QNI, QND, QNZ, QNX, QTC, QRU, etc).”

   Steve Sozanski, WA1HHK, is the MSSN Net Manager, and he and Bill Mann W1KX, and Dave Herrick WA1BXM presently serve as net control stations throughout the week.

   MSSN has been around for several decades, although some of its history is unknown due to a lack of records.  Bill W1KX has some records dating back to 1959. There were some periods between then and now that the net appeared to be inactive, but it has run continuously since 1990.

   Many dedicated hams have supported the MSSN through the years as net control stations and participants. Past net managers include K1GVQ, K1MZB (WA1QHU), WA1UOY (W2UOY), WA1MUX, WA2ERT, WB1AOD, N1BJW, K1UNQ, N1NGM, W1QU, and W1JX.

   The net had a monthly newsletter called the MSSN Report started by WM1C in 1991 and continued by WA1WPR and KA1UEH until 1997.

   At its peak, MSSN reported 361 check-ins with 38 messages back in May 1997. Nowadays, it is significantly less. But you can help change that by participating in the net! Thank you W1KX for the MSSN historical information.

Example Check-in Procedures for CW traffic nets are viewable at https://www.qsl.net/n5lf/cw-nts.html under III. QNI - General Check-ins, which is very similar to the MSSN procedure. Note that when the NCS asks for check-ins (QNI) you respond by sending a single letter, usually the last letter of your suffix unless it is an E, T, or K.  Then when NCS repeats that letter, you check in with your complete call sign. For example, N1EP usually checks in with a P.

EXAMPLE Net control [W1KX] calls up the net in the below fashion and N1EP is first to check-in as follows:

[W1KX] CQ MSSN MSSN DE W1KX QND QNZ MSSN DE W1KX QNI K

[N1EP]  P

[W1KX] P

[N1EP] DE N1EP GE BILL QRU K

[W1KX] N1EP GE PHIL AS

[W1KX] MSSN QNI K

[ANOTHER CHECK-IN] D

[W1KX] D

[CHECK-IN] DE K1EQD QRU K

[W1KX] K1EQD GE DARRYL AS K

GE means good evening

AS means standby

VOTA 2023

The ARRL is recognizing all the volunteers that help make ham radio the fun and rewarding hobby and service that it is today with a year-long operating event called Volunteers-on-the-Air. Volunteers and other participants can upload their logs to Logbook of the World (LOTW) throughout the year. Different ARRL staff and volunteers (such as net managers, official emergency stations, section traffic managers, etc) are worth different points when you make contact with them. LOTW does all the work, as it knows who is worth how many points via the ARRL database. Furthermore, each state will activate W1AW from within their sections twice during the year, for week-long portable W1AW contacts, similar to the 2014 ARRL centennial event. Participants can earn awards. State activation schedules, VOTA point systems, and other details are available on the VOTA dashboard: http://www.arrl.org/volunteers-on-the-air