Next Weekend Session: Sunday, February 22, Noon
YL POTA Day with the EAWA: Sunday, March 8, details soon!
Next Monthly Meeting: Thursday, March 12, 7pm
Annual Symposium: Saturday, April 18, Noon to 4pm, details soon!
Nets: Every Tuesday & Wednesday at 7:00pm
Clandestine Coffee: Every Wednesday at 9:30am
All Hams, Licensed or Not, are Welcomed to Attend
February Club Mtg: Planning Upcoming Events
The February meeting started as all club meetings do, with introductions and a question: How many America250 W1AW/x stations have you worked so far? Responses ranged from 0 – 7. Following the usual business items, the discussion turned to Winter Field Day. The solar weather disturbances, and cold temperatures and wind at ground level, were real challenges this year. You can read some of the accounts in the story, “Putting the “Winter” in Winter Field Day” here.
A second major topic of discussion was the upcoming Annual Ham Radio Symposium scheduled for April 18, noon to 4pm, at Meadow View Apartments (see map here). This year the focus is on cutting edge tools and tech for ham radio. The agenda is taking shape in terms of speakers and hands-on demonstrations. Light snacks will be provided. Help is welcomed to assist in the set-up and the clean-up of the event. More details will be provided at the March club meeting. For readers who have never attended the annual symposium, browsing the story of last year’s event will offer some insights (read story here). If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Jeff KA1DBE (good on QRZ or use the Contact Us feature of this website).
The final major topic of the evening focused on recruiting EAWA members and friends to participate in the Emergency Communications for the Sea of Blue Autism Awareness Walk/5K/10K, to be held Saturday, April 25. The club provided similar services last year, which was the the first partnering of the EAWA and the Sea of Blue. You can read about last year’s event, “Teaming Up for Success” here. This year’s needs are the same: approximately 15 radio operators (we can use more!) working in pairs along the route and managing net controls in the communications trailer. Hams will meet around 7:30am for an organizational meeting (with coffee and treats!), confirm location assignments, and comms checks. The official activities start at 9:30am. EAWA members and friends are encouraged to participate in any of the silent auctions or other festivities and to partake of the wonderful lunch snacks and treats.
Check this website for more information on the items mentioned above, and other upcoming events such as the YL POTA planned for March 8, International Women’s Day. The EAWA always has something to look forward to!
Written by Marion W1GRL
Decoding Signals: Stan W1BOY and RTTY
With two large RTTY contests on the horizon, this is a good time to consider adding RTTY to your ham radio experience. If you are a RTTY operator, this a friendly reminder that the CQ World Wide RTTY WPX happens the weekend of February 14th, and the North American QSO Party RTTY is scheduled for Saturday February 28th. Unlike Phone or CW, it can be difficult to find a RTTY station to work outside of a contest. RTTY contesting is similar to other modes in that some hams enjoy the speed of running a frequency while others prefer the more causal pace of search and pounce.
Radio Teletype, abbreviated RTTY, refers to the use of a radio and modem connected to a basic teleprinter. Some call it the “original keyboard to keyboard mode.” Amateur radio use of RTTY became popular as the first generations of commercial teleprinters were being retired. As technology developed, the physical teleprinters were replaced with computers making the mode much more accessible. RTTY is a digital mode, often grouped along with FT8, JS8Call, and PSK31 in contests. RTTY uses Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) or Audio Frequency Shift Keying (AFSK) to transmit data at a standard 45.45 baud rate. It is less automated than FT8 and requires operator skill in tuning.
It’s often said that if your radio is configured for FT8, you can easily setup for RTTY with the addition of some software. Stan W1BOY put that claim to the test, and found RTTY contesting to be compelling and fun! His first RTTY contest experience was the Worked All Europe DX RTTY contest in November 2024. He was hooked and worked all of the major and many of the smaller RTTY contests in 2025. In fact, he has more RTTY contacts in his log for 2025 than any of the other mode and he’s looking forward to a better year in 2026!
RTTY is a relatively recent addition to Stan’s radio journey. His interest began when as a schoolboy he heard his principal taking about amateur radio. After being licensed in his early 20s, he was been active off and on as life got busy. Once retired and had more time, he focused mostly on station building and home-brew radios. When his wife, Marion W1GRL, decided to get active in the hobby, Stan started spending more time operating. RTTY suddenly became more attractive as a way to be in a contest, flex his technical muscles, and celebrate a traditional HF mode.
Tuning RTTY signals involves aligning the transceiver’s frequency so that two FSK or AFSK signals, comprised of ‘mark’ and ‘space,’ properly fit within the receiver’s passband. Typically, software tools such as MMTTY or 2Tone are used to match signal peaks on a waterfall or an X-Y display. Often operators will have two programs individually working to decode signals, watching to see which program is doing the best at the moment to pull out the accurate call sign or exchange. As mentioned above, if you’ve setup your radio for FT8, half of the work is done. Setting up RTTY involves using CAT to control your radio and using a modem to send and receive audio to and from the radio. For help with RTTY software and just learning more about the mode, Stan recommends https://www.rttycontesting.com/rtty/.
One of the best things about the ham radio hobby is that if you find the type of operating you really enjoy, then you can settle in and have fun! And if you are ready for a new challenge or just something different, there’s lots to choose from! RTTY provides a way to celebrate a long-standing amateur radio mode and enjoy either casual or serious contesting. Maybe you can give it a try in the upcoming contests.
Written by Marion. W1GRL
Putting the “Winter” in Winter Field Day
Over the weekend of January 24th and 25th, EAWA members and friends participated in Winter Field Day in a variety of ways. Some went “all out” with their off-grid wilderness set-up, while others stayed closer to home. Although Winter Field Day (WFD) has much in common with the ARRL Field Day in June, the focus and point system is aimed at true field operations. The WFD website states the event, “aims to help participants improve their preparedness for disasters and enhance their operational abilities in adverse conditions.” With temperatures below zero, made worse by winds, and heavy snowfall directly following the event, coastal Mainers nailed the “adverse conditions”!
Matt W1MRH and Jeff KA1DBE set up their special events station N1S at Matt’s lakeside camp. Bill KC2NMK joined the team this year. They were ready to go an hour before WFD started, and worked the allowed 24 out of 30 hours. The bands were noisy, and around midnight 40 meters was the only band open. Two hours into the event they realize they were using two different versions of N3FJP. Thankfully, the mix-up turned out to be a non-issue. Bill operated PSK while Matt and Jeff worked SSB, CW, WinLink, satellites. The team also copied the WFD bulletin.
Joan W1DLC chose to set up an off-grid station near her home. In a small out-building she setup her gear, along with a wood stove. Although she added some insulation, the cold temperatures and wind were too much for the small stove. She worked for 6 hours, with both SSB and CW, before shutting down.
Matt KC1VLH operated inside his home but used only emergency power for his radio and computer. He used a battery box he build for POTA to power his equipment. Matt operated for 16 hours, making many SSB contacts. This was Matt’s first WFD activation.
Marion W1GRL choose the easiest way to participate, hunting stations from home.
Most likely there were others operating WFD as well. One of the best things about ham radio is the many ways we can engage the hobby. It’s wonderful to have a community that offers so many ways to participate and enjoy radio communications. Cheers to Winter Field Day! Perhaps next year it will coincide with a January thaw? Perhaps not. Whatever the conditions, EAWA members and friends will be up for the challenge.
Written by Marion W1GRL
Weekend Session: Plans & Projects!
The Weekend Session on January 11, the first of the new year, brought out many EAWA members and highlighted various projects. Jeff KA1DBE is working on plans for the EAWA’s Annual Ham Radio Symposium. The April Symposium features guest speakers, demonstrations, raffle prizes, and light refreshments. Once plans are finalized, announcements and details about the symposium will be published many places, including this website.
As is typical of Weekend Sessions, several members had planned to meet up during the scheduled time for troubleshooting and mentoring. The topics always vary, but the time to meet up and work together is always appreciated!
Weekend Sessions are a great place to get advice on any aspect of ham radio and to share current projects. These are scheduled for twice a month during the fall and winter. For future dates, check here. Perhaps we’ll see you at a Weekend Session soon!
Written by Marion W1GRL
January Club Mtg: New Year, New Energy!
The January 8th club meeting brought new energy to the challenges waiting in 2026. The meeting opened with introductions and the question, “What is one radio goal you have for 2026.” Responses varied from license upgrades to new antennas to learning CW. The topics covered in the old and new business were also varied. Among the noteworthy items was the election of club officers for 2026: John KQ1P returns as President, Marion W1GRL begins a term as Vice President, Joan W1DLC returns as Secretary/Treasurer, and Matt KC1VLH joins Stan W1BOY and Greg KC1RID as a Director of the Board. President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer are one year terms. The additional directors are elected for staggered three year terms. The club would like to thank Chuck AC1BS for his many years serving as the club Vice President, and Evie KA1BRA for serving on the Board.
On a different note, Barbara KC1SSY, EAWA member and Hancock County Emergency Coordinator, encouraged members to use some winter downtime to take two important FEMA courses: ICS 100, Introduction to the Incident Command System and ICS 800, Introduction to the National Response Framework. These are the beginning courses for anyone interested in moving forward in Emergency Communications.
There were numerous announcements, including a friendly reminder that yearly dues should be paid soon ($15 per person, $20 per family), at the Weekend Session this coming Sunday Jeff KA1DBE is holding a planning session for our Annual Ham Symposium in April, and new equipment has been installed for the W1TU repeater. There was also discussion of the various awards associated with ARRL’s American250 WAS program, and lastly, Marion W1GRL announced that at least 8 EAWA members participated in the 2025 DX Marathon.
The title of program, presented by Marion W1GRL, was “The EAWA Website is 2 years old! How are we doing?” The presentation began with many statistics, provided by our website host, WordPress. Combining 2024 and 2025, we have had 3,150 visitors, and 13,028 pages viewed. Focusing on 2025, we published 42 blog posts, and averaged 641 views per month. The most views came in June and October, and our most viewed story was Hamming It Up In the Summertime. Most visitors are reaching us through search engines, however a significant number found us through Facebook. We did have visitors from the ARRL’s club page and from QRZ.
Following a review of the stats, Marion shifted to discuss the ARRL Website Competition that is part of the 2026 Year of the Club. The competition requires a club to state the goals for their website and describe how they are meeting those goals. We have two simple yet powerful goals for the website: To strengthen the sense of community within the club, and share our thriving community with others in an accessible and approachable way. One indicator that we are meeting our goals is that in 2025 we had 1,924 visitors to our website, with most viewing our Homepage (with the calendar and most recent blog posts), Regular Events, and Club Information and History. A second indicator, using data provided by Joan, the EAWA Secretary. Our membership had been declining, reaching 36 in 2023, and since the launch of our website in January of 2024, our membership grew to 43 in 2024 and 54 in 2025. At the time of this writing our website entry has been submitted. Winners will be announced in May. Whether we win something the ARRL competition or not, we are achieving bigger and better things by growing the EAWA and sharing our passion for this great hobby with all who visit our website.
Written by Marion W1GRL
W1TU 