Most Wireless Society of Southern Maine meetings include a rountable dicussion period about the "topic of the night." These can range from  planning a field operation to ham radio basics such as antenna modelling, dx'ing, operating QRP, digital modes, or even kit building. As this page gets updated, you'll be able to keep up to date with the latest topics, and some of the useful info that rises out of our research, activities, and presentations. Explore the Topics & Links Archive for a history of meeting topics, events, and ham radio related resources.

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2025 Events

October TBA

The WSSM-ECT will participate in the 2025 Maine Simulated Emergency Test. The emergency drill will focus on developing skills using FM Simplex, UHF repeater, digital NBEMS, and PACKET communications within a simulated event.

September 27-28th

Join us the weekend of September 27-28th for the 13th Annual Maine QSO Party contest. The Maine QSO Party is a fun contest that encourages Maine stations to expand their knowledge of DX propagation, improve their operating skills, and station capability in a competition where W/VE and DX stations have the incentive to work Maine. Click here for more details.

August 16-17th

The WS1SM team will activate a lighthouse for the 28th Annual International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, which takes place August 16-17, 2025. We plan to operate mixed HF on battery power, as well as some VHF. International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is an annual amateur radio activity started in Scotland by members of the Ayr Amateur Radio Group. It evolved from the Scottish Northern Lighthouses Award Weekend into an international event in 1998. This year, nearly 450 lighthouses and lightships, in 85 different countries are expected to participate.

June 28-29th

The WS1SM team will take part in their 15th ARRL Field Day during the weekend of June 28-29th, at the Windham High School Campus. We'll be operating in the 3A category (3 full-time HF transmitters) and also plan on having a Get on the Air (GOTA) station for visitors to try out Amateur Radio.

March 15th

You're invited to take part in a fun and competitive 2m-only contest, on Saturday, March 15th, from 12pm-4pm. Participants may be entered as either mobile (as a rover), or fixed, and there are power levels for everything from a handie-talkie to a high power base station. The contest exchange is your callsign, the name of the town, township, or city that you are operating from, and your power level. For more information and complete rules, click here.

January 25-26th

The WS1SM team will participate in their sixth annual Winter Field Day during the weekend of January 25-26. The purpose of Winter Field Day is to foster Ham camaraderie, field operation, emergency operating preparedness, and just plain on-the-air, outdoor fun -  in the midst of winter!

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2025 Meeting Topics

January's Topic: SDR

Join us Thursday, January 9th, from 7pm-9pm at the South Windham Fire Station, 33 Main Street, Windham, ME, as we'll begin with a  presentation by Zach Madore KC1SES, about the world of SDRs. Zach's experience focuses on monitoring the public safety bands, and he is excited to share how SDRs can be used stand alone and in conjunction with traditional transceivers for a superior RX experience.

Following the presentation, will be the regular business meeting and planning session for the upcoming Winter Field Day.

December's Topic: Holiday Pot Luck

Join us Thursday, December 12th, from 7pm-9pm at the South Windham Fire Station, 33 Main Street, Windham, ME, as we'll begin with a brief business meeting, followed by a Pot Luck and a movie about the 2015 K1N Navassa Island DXPedition.

There are hundreds of resources online for the radio amateur, but we've made an effort to collect links to some of the best websites in the radio community. Please keep checking, as we will continue to update this page as new sites are brought to our attention.