Category Archives: Operating

Please join OSECA net Tuesday @ 7 PM

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A new net will meet Tuesday December 2nd at 7 PM on any of the KA1RCI Repeater Nodes.  For the Newport Area, the best choice will be the Exeter node which is 146.985 with a -600 Offset and a Tone of 67.0 Hz (the Portsmouth Node is currently down for repair).

OSECA is the Ocean State Emergency Communication Alliance, and it was created through cooperative discussion with local EMA and Ham Radio Teams throughout the state.  Our own John King, WA1ABI, is very involved in this process and has asked NCRC members to please support this new net.  He has written the following:

Good People:

A brand new 2-meter EmComm net is starting up next Tuesday, Dec 2nd at 19:00 on the KA1RCI repeater network.  This net will be open to all hams, but the primary purpose is to connect the hams who serve in the various EmComm teams in Rhode Island.  Several other EMA’s have EmComm teams like our Portsmouth EMA EmComm Unit, but at present we have no connections between those teams.  We hope to improve this with the Ocean State Emergency Communications Alliance (OSECA) Net.

Please make every effort to check in to this first net session on Tuesday. The net will be an informal directed net, something like the NCRC nightly net. I expect that we will have folks from all over RI checking in. I have been working with the EMA ham radio teams in Coventry, Providence, and Westerly to get this net going, and I am asking for your support in making it a success. Please check in if you are able. Note: The KA1RCI 147.075 Portsmouth repeater is temporarily off the air. The nearest KA1RCI repeater for most of us will be the 146.985 repeater in Westerly.

Additional information about OSECA can be found here

Maine, Final State for W1AW/portable is On the Air This Week

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W1AW/1 is operating portable from the State of Maine through 23:59 UTC on September 2nd.  Those lucky enough to make contact will W1AW in all 50 states will receive a special Centennial WAS Award from the ARRL.  (There is also a plaque that will be available).

If you have missed some of the states, don’t miss various second chances during the remainder of the year.  See the Official Schedule for details

W1AW/1 Portable in Rhode Island will be back on the air during the November Sweepstakes.

Congratulations Team RI for Outstanding W1AW/1 Results

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Team RI, managed by John, W1XX, of the CTRI Contest Group, posted a final QSO tally of 38,342 QSOs.  This puts RI in 11th place nationally, behind some huge large ham population states like PA and NJ.  That said we still completed more QSOs than NY, TX, or CA, so we have a lot to be proud of.

A total of 16 different stations were on the air (four of them were NCRC member stations K1SD, W1LY, K1JSM, and WB4SON), manned by 26 operators.  Several stations were large multi-op stations, including KI1G, who managed to rack up 17,203 QSOs (more than five states did).

RI will be back on the air during the November Phone SS contest, so the final QSO tally might be HUGE.

 

Bye Bye Solar Cycle 24

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Sad but true, as of today, July 16, 2014, the sun is spotless.  The last time that happened was on August 11, 2011.  SolarHam.com even compared the spotless sun to an orange today!

ssn_predict_l

You can clearly see the double peak of Cycle 24 on the graph above.  Unless there is another outburst, it looks like the peak smoothed sunspot number of 75.4 was reached during November 2013, which was a first for solar observations (having the second peak larger than the first — the first being 66.9 in Februrary of 2012).

Cycle 24 remains the weakest solar cycle since Cycle 14 in 1906.  By the way, the expectation for the peak of Cycle 25, a decade in the future, is even lower than Cycle 24.

Time for 80 Meter DXing!

The Original 13 Colonies Special Event

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The colony stations will operate from Tuesday, July 1st, 9:00 AM Eastern (1300 UTC) until Sunday Night, July 6th, 00:00 (Midnight) Eastern (0400 UTC July 7th).

ALL Colony states have a SINGLE QSL manager for you to QSL to, listed on our website and on my QRZ.com page under my call (KU2US).Please do not send cards to each individual operator, this is what the state QSL manager is for. It will be faster and easier. An SASE would be appreciated!

All our operators are excited to get this event rolling! We are fully staffed and praying for good propagation.

Home page:  http://www.13colonies.info/

Certificate Requests:  http://www.13colonies.info/CertRequests.htm
**CERTIFICATE REQUEST TO KU2US ONLY! **

  • COLONY STATE OF NY-K2A (QSL TO KU2US)
  • COLONY STATE OF VA-K2B (QSL TO KK4ODQ)
  • COLONY STATE OF RI-K2C (QSL TO W1KMA)
  • COLONY STATE OF CT- K2D (QSL TO N1DN)
  • COLONY STATE OF DE-K2E (QSL TO NY3C)
  • COLONY STATE OF MD-K2F (QSL TO KB3IFH)
  • COLONY STATE OF GA-K2G (QSL TO NF4GA)
  • COLONY STATE OF MA-K2H (QSL TO WB1GOF)
  • COLONY STATE OF NJ-K2I (QSL TO N2RO)
  • COLONY STATE OF NC-K2J (QSL TO W4MPS)
  • COLONY STATE OF NH-K2K (QSL TO AB1OC)
  • COLONY STATE OF SC-K2L (QSL TO KG4RUL)
  • COLONY STATE OF PA-K2M (QSL TO K3MJW)