Maine 2 Meter Fm Simplex Challenge
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!

KD1O
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

Overall
Overlay Includes: High Power, Medium, and QRP

2013 QRP and High Power Overlay
Overlay Includes: High Power and QRP

2013 QRP Visual Study
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)

KD1O operating location KD1O view from the top
Steve, KD1O, operating from Aborn Hill, in Knox, ME

N1JD shack N1JD antenna
John, N1JD, sent some pictures of his shack and tower



  

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