Congratulations to our 2013 Maine
2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge Winners!
This year's Overall Winner is:
Stephen
Curry, KD1O, from Knox, Maine. Stephen becomes a
three-time winner of the Simplex Challenge, and the first member of our
2 Meter Century Club, making a total of 104 QSO's with 59 different
cities. Once again, our congratulations. Way to go Steve!
CATEGORY
Fixed
Fixed
Fixed
Mobile
Mobile
Mobile |
POWER LEVEL
QRP
Medium
High
QRP
Medium
High |
CALL SIGN
KB1YYC
KD1O
N1JD
W1CPS
W1WMG
KB1HNZ |
NAME
Dakota Dumont
Stephen Curry
John Donahue
Charles Shepard
Thom Watson
Tim Watson |
FINAL SCORE
60
6136
644
528
231
384 |
To begin with, we are very
impressed with how many participated despite the contest coming one day
after an historic blizzard in the Northeast. Many towns recorded record
snow fall totals, including Gorham, which had the most in the state at
37 inches. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every
one who took part in our 3rd Annual 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge,
especially those who ventured to the roads and hilltops to get on the
air.
This year most logs we received came in the Medium Fixed category,
which also saw the overall winner, Stephen Curry. KD1O put up an
impressive score with 6,136 points, and no one else came close to
challenging him. Fixed QRP was won by a first time contester and newly
licensed ham, Dakota Dumont, KB1YYC, of Greene, who used only his HT to
make 10 QSO's with 6 different cities. There was lots of mobile
activity, which came as a surprise, considering many side roads had
still not been cleared entirely of snow. Charlie Shepard, W1CPS,
compiled numerous contacts as he made his way from hilltop to hilltop
around parts of York and Cumberland Counties. Other mobile notables
include K1UC, who was also active in the Southern part of the state, as
well as N1YIO, N1NJB, K1GUP, KB1PYV, KB1SEM, W1COP, and N2QA, who were
all mobile in the greater Bangor area. Many of these mobile operators
would have challenged for classes and possibly even the overall win had
they sent in their logs!
Steve,
KD1O pictured with the 2 Meter Challenge Cup
The contest committee
appreciates the fact that most of your penmanship
was legible this year, and reports that only one math error was found
among the logs received. In one log, an additional QSO was found which
was not tallied, and this was corrected in the final score. Cross
checking was possible on 61% of all QSO's reported.
For the first
time in the contest's history we received logs for every category, so
the Maine 2 Meter FM Simplex Challenge is continuing to grow in
popularity. Thanks
to everyone who helped to get the word out - the Maine Section of the
ARRL, all the clubs who listed it on their sites, and all the hams who
talked about it on the air!
We appreciate all the feedback and kind words you send back with your
logs. Among some of the suggestions, it was recommended that we modify
the way mobile entrants log their contacts, and we will consider making
minor changes to improve this for next year. Very few changes are
anticipated to the actual structure of the contest for 2014, but we are
considering adding a club competition. Details will be announced soon.
Thanks again! See you next year!
73,
Thom Watson
W1WMG
2013
2 Meter FM Simplex Visual Study
![]() Overlay Includes: High Power,
Medium, and QRP
Overlay
Includes: High Power and QRP
Overlay
Includes: QRP only
Contest
Soapbox
"I was surprised I was able to make
contacts with so many mobile stations so soon after the Blizzard of
2013. I had suspected that many folks would be still cleaning up after
the storm. I was fortunate there were some local club embers willing
to travel and make some mobile contacts that I was able to add as
multipliers. I also was lucky to have contacts with four sets of mobile
couples that consisted of a ham op and their YL in different towns as
well. My setup seemed to work better this year, as I used a Diamond
Vertical attached to a 10ft. mast, stuck in a big snow bank. This
seemed to perform better than my 13 element beam that I used last year
at lower height. Overall, the weather was warmer than last year, which
made it more comfortable and there were some active mobile units out
there adding miles just for the contact. Thanks for sponsoring this
event.. It is a great excercise, and we also use the data for our Waldo
County EMA office for future purposes." - Steve KD1O (Knox,
ME)
 
Steve, KD1O,
operating from Aborn Hill, in Knox, ME
 
John, N1JD, sent some pictures of
his shack and tower
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