Apr72018

New England QSO Party – May 5 & 6, 2018

General Interest • Radio Events

The New England QSO Party will be held on May 5th and 6th, 2017.

It is 20 hours long overall, in two sections:

4PM (EDT) Saturday thru 1AM Sunday,
sleep for 8 hours,
and 9AM Sunday thru 8PM Sunday.

Operate CW, SSB and digital modes on 80-40-20-15-10 meters.

The NEQP is a great time to check out antenna systems and offers a moderately paced opportunity to work new states and countries. You’ll find a wide variety of participants, from newcomers to experienced contesters, all interested in making contacts with New England stations.

Other webpages of interest are: Rules, Counties list, FAQ.

For each QSO,  give your callsign, a signal report and your county/state.

NEQP Reports shows SEMARA members are ‘radio active’

Don WA1BXY from Newport County, RI reports:

Total QSOs — 546: CW 487 — SSB 58 — Digital (PSK31) 1.

Henry K1WCC from Barnstable County, MA reports:

About 200 SSB QSOs on 20, 40, and 75 meter bands.

Apr72018

VE Session Results – April 7, 2018

Exams & Training • SEMARA Announcements

Congratulations to these hams who passed their exams at the April 7, 2018 VE Session:

Sean O’Brien, KC1JNR – Technician
Sharon A. D’Addio, KC1JNA – Technician
Phoenix X. Dalla Costa, KC1JPK – Technician
Theodore J. Wojcik, KC1JMZ – Technician
Francis I. Currie, KC1HTV – Extra
Christopher J. Bosse, KB3HLW – Extra

Enjoy your new/upgraded privileges!

Need help to get on the air?  Email us with your particular needs, including antennas, VHF/UHF handheld programming, SSB, CW and/or digital mode operation, etc. – radioevents [at] semara [dot] org.

When are you available?  We may be able to arrange either 1-on-1 or small classes.

Mar312018

ARRL Contest Corral – April 2018

Radio Events

Be sure to check and bookmark the ARRL Contest Calendar for upcoming radio events! Some highlights in April include:

  • Sun 4/8: North American SSB Sprint Contest
  • Sun 4/15: ARRL Rookie Roundup, SSB
  • Sat 4/28: 10-10 International Spring Contest, Digital

See the April 2018 Contest Corral, a downloadable PDF file from the ARRL, for a full schedule. This will surely assist with long-term planning of your contest operations. Please note that the Contest Corral file includes non-ARRL events. Be sure to refer to the contest’s website for full rules, scoring information, operating periods or time limits, and log submission information.

Mar312018

Next VE Exam Session – Saturday, April 7, 2018

Exams & Training

Obtain or upgrade your Amateur Radio License!

VE Sessions are held at the SEMARA Clubhouse, 54 Donald Street, Dartmouth, Massachusetts on the first Saturday of even months at 10:30 AM.

Although walk-ins are welcome, we recommend that you contact us ahead of time if you plan to attend an upcoming session.

SEMARA’s VE Team Leader is Frederic S. Bacon, III, N1TF. He can be reached at 508-748-0047 or exams [at] semara [dot] org.

Full details, including what you must bring, can be found at our VE Exams section.

Mar152018

GARS Technician License Course – April & May 2018

Exams & Training • General Interest

The Genesis Amateur Radio Society (GARS) will be conducting a Technician License Course in April and May.  The Saturday classes will be held from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM on the following three dates:

  • April 7
  • April 21
  • May 5

A VE exam will follows the last class on May 5th.

Classes and exam are on the ground floor classroom and is handicap accessible at:

Plymouth Municipal Airport
246 South Meadow Road
Plymouth, MA 02360

This course will use the MFJ-3211 Technician Quick Study Guide, which gives only correct answers and will be needed for homework assignments.  The cost of guide is $12.95 and can be obtained by calling MFJ at 800-647-1800 x4.  The cost of the VE exam will be $15.00.

Contact Ed “Sonny” Mello, KB1HJG at 941-539-8554 for more information.
The GARS Plymouth Repeater is 146.685 MHz, minus offset, CTCSS (PL) 131.8.

Dec132017

2017 CQ WW DX Contest Summary

Radio Events • SEMARA Announcements

SSB: October 28 and 29, 2017

Assisted Low-Power All-Bands – W1AEC

Rank Score OP
World 40 of 931 504,060 WA1BXY
Continent 8 of 298 504,060 WA1BXY
Country (W) 5 of 251 504,060 WA1BXY

Antennas: the LPA and my inverted L.

Rig: my K3; at that time the club’s radios were not up and running.

Software: N3FJP contest logging.

CW: November 25 and 26, 2017

Multi-OP Two-Transmitter – W1AEC

Rank Score OPs
World  61 of 73 770,148  WA1BXY, WA1ESO
Continent 24 of 25  770,148  WA1BXY, WA1ESO
Country (W) 18 of 19  770,148  WA1BXY, WA1ESO

Assisted: I only spotted 2 stations but that is enough. And the spotting was done thru the logging program

Transmitters: (2); Both were K3s.  The club’s was donated by Ed Duclos’ wife after his passing.  The other was my personal K3.

Antennas: (3); LPA, inv L and this was the first go-around for the 43-ft vertical, which also was Ed’s antenna.

Software: N3FJP contest logging.

As of now, the vertical is still not 100% completed to my standards.  It needs some work to be completed, but is operational from 20-6m.  I plan to have it completed in next few weeks if the weather holds up.

Thanks to John, WA1ESO for coming in and making some contacts in the CQ WW DX CW Contest.  We made 864 contacts.  We had a total of 320 multipliers!  Worked a solid 100 countries.

“Just about 200 more QSOs for the CQ WW DX CW Contest than CQ WW DX SSB Contest.”

“CW rocks!”

Submitted By: Don, WA1BXY

Dec72017

Kids Day – Saturday, January 6, 2018

Radio Events

Twice a year, ARRL offers an event designed to promote Amateur Radio to our youth.  Share the excitement with your kids or grand-kids, a Scout troop, a church or the general public!  Kids Day aruns from 1800 UTC (2:00 PM EST) through 2359 UTC (11:59 PM EST).  Operate as much or as little as you like.

Suggested initial exchange is name, age, location and favorite color.  You can work the same station again if an operator has changed.  To draw attention, call CQ Kids Day.

Suggested Frequencies:

  • 10 Meters: 28.350 to 28.400 MHz
  • 12 Meters: 24.960 to 24.980 MHz
  • 15 Meters: 21.360 to 21.400 MHz
  • 17 Meters: 18.140 to 18.145 MHz
  • 20 Meters: 14.270 to 14.300 MHz
  • 40 Meters: 7.270 to 7.290 MHz
  • 80 Meters: 3.740 to 3.940 MHz

Be sure to observe third-party restrictions when making DX QSOs.  You may also use your favorite repeater (with permission of the repeater’s sponsor).

Kids Day Certificate of Participation:

All participants are eligible to receive a colorful certificate. You can download this certificate and complete it with the participant’s name and date of the contact.

Kids Day Survey:

Fill out the survey to share your Kids Day experience.

All the details and forms on the ARRL Kids Day page.