New England QSO Party May 2-3

Posted on April 22, 2026 by Admin Admin

The New England QSO Party on May 2nd and 3rh 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.

Our goal is to get every one of the counties in New England on the air so we hope you will encourage your members to join in the fun! Even if you can only join the fun for a couple of hours, we’d appreciate it! Will you be QRV? Let us know with a message to info@neqp.org

The New England QSO Party is 20 hours long overall, in two sections with a civilized break for sleep on Saturday night. It runs from 4 pm Saturday until 1 am Sunday, then 9 am Sunday until 8 pm Sunday. Operate on CW, SSB and/or digital modes (not FT-4/8) on 80-40-20-15-10 meters. For each QSO you’ll give your callsign, a signal report and your county/state. Top scorers can earn a plaque and everyone who sends in a log with 25 valid QSOs or more will get a certificate. The goal is to work stations anywhere in the world – and their goal is to work New England stations, so you’ll be very popular!

Last year we had logs from 214 New England stations and 493 more logs from around the country and world.

The full rules are here -> www.neqp.org/rules
The 2025 results are posted -> https://neqp.org/2025-new-england-qso-party/

It’s just under two weeks until the 2026 NEQP. Please make some QSOs even if you don’t want to send in a log!

BEACON Auxcomm Drill

Posted on April 20, 2026 by Admin Admin

RI hams/GMRS/FRS users are needed to strengthen our regional auxcomm capabilities.

Consider making a small investment in time on April 30th. Sign up for 2026 BEACON Exercise.

BEACON is a large-scale, grid-down California exercise taking place at the same time and we’re leveraging their planning.
Over 15 counties, 300 organizations, and multiple states are participating.

All forms of auxcomm should be used to pass both informal and formal messages: Ham, FRS, GMRS, SMS Text, Meshtastic, MeshCore, Starlink …

You’ll be invited to play one or more roles:
local observer, auxcomm info hub, town emergency operations center lead, non-government organization partner, a state contact

You can operate from work, home, car, in the field, a served agency, wherever you’d like.

Hurricane season is approaching. Thursday April 30th. 30 minutes. One day. Real drill. Real impact.

Register: via the QR Code or the Google Form at https://forms.gle/gskW47XAt27Uv5SR7

Send questions to Mike, K1NPT@arrl.net

Winter Field Day Wraps Up

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Jim Sendrak

Cold. Bitter, bitter cold weather this past weekend (as you know). But that didn’t stop the NCRC crew from erecting the five or so antennas that were going to be needed for the event.

Then, the equipment needed to be checked out before the event started at 11:00am, Saturday. All good!

And with the weather being so frightful we attempted to operate two differents stations, CW and SSB/Phone in the same cabin. (So we could avoid setting up a tent outside.)

It worked! It worked just fine, with the assistance of headphones. Operators were able to stay out of each other’s way and score big points.

Ever compliant with WFD rules, we had plenty of off-the-grid power and heat.

Additional points earned after making Satellite contact with the International Space Station (ISS).

Several newer members got to experience Field Day for the very first time.

Into the night and early morning hours, operations continued.

At dawn, with heavy, heavy snow in the immediate forecast, the decision was wisely made to cease operations and safely pack it up.

And just as the last cable was coiled, the record breaking storm hit while everybody safely headed for home!

WFD Video featuring satellite contact with the ISS! Click Here

See you at Summer Field Day!

NCRC Holiday Dinner Party

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Jim Sendrak

This past Monday (December 8th, 2025) the Newport County Radio Club held its annual holiday party and dinner for members. .

Once again, we gathered in a private room at the Hometown Tavern in Warren. Food was great and the banter was lighthearted and friendly. Always nice to get together in person with members.

Mega thanks to Keith Henry for the array of marvelous photos.

Many thanks to Linda Maclean for running the popular Yankee Swap. Many of the participants pictured.

If you were there, hope you had fun. If you missed it, maybe next year!

Successful Build Night!

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Jim Sendrak

Last night (12/1/2025) 15 members and a guest attended the NCRC Build Night in Portsmouth. The mission was to build 2-meter “J-Pole” antennas.

With the leadership of Chris Lirakis, W1QIS, members learned how to build this simple design antenna with either 300-ohm twin lead or 450-ohm ladder line wire.