Category: Club News

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

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

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

As is the tradition, the EAWA combined the December Club Meeting with a Holiday Pot Luck Luncheon. It’s the quickest meeting of the year! Among the business items, the Nominating Committee presented the slate of candidates up for a vote in January:
President, John KQ1P
Vice President, Marion W1GRL
Secretary/Treasurer, Joan W1DLC
Board of Directors, Matt KC1VLH
Also, in the announcements, if you have any interest in operating Winter Field Day, January 24-25, as W1TU from the club community room, please contact John KQ1P.

It was a particularly touching moment in the club meeting when Joan W1DLC presented Evie KA1BRA with a special gift from the club. Evie has been a backbone of the club for over 30 years. As an active member she has welcomed many hams into the club. As a special gift, members of the EAWA wrote of fond memories of interactions with Evie and special thanks to her on cards, which Joan collected and placed in a decorative box. It was a pleasure to have her presence at the party!

Soon the business faded into raffle drawings. Thanks so all who brought raffle gifts and other items for the ‘give away’ table. It was a festive time, with anticipation and cheers. Earlier, the opening question to the meeting was, “Do you ask Santa for ham radio items?” Everyone in the room answered, “no,” with many adding, “I don’t trust Santa to get the right thing.” And yet for the raffle, all surprises were perfect in their own way.

The end of the raffles signaled the beginning of the feast! It didn’t take long for friends to gather in clusters, sharing ham radio moments. Here are some random photos.

Roaming around the room various topics were heard, such as “Let’s plan a POTA, “I got Hawaii,” “How’s the software set-up going?”, “Did your new radio come yet?”, “Did moving your antenna help”, “Did you work any of the ARRL 10 meter Contest?” and more.

Lastly, because it was hard to get everyone in a photo (and because the photographer wanted to enjoy the good food and conversation too), here are a few photos of the meeting to document all who attended.

As we leave 2025, the EAWA members and friends have much to be thankful for. While the discussions of the day were casual and light, the community is strong and passionate about this great hobby. The human connection we feel is the real gift of the season. Speaking of connection, even though our next meeting is January 8, we hope to see you at the weekly Clandestine Coffee gatherings and hear you on the weekly Nets. Happy Holidays!
Written by Marion W1GRL

This fast-paced meeting reminded us of the many things we’ve been up to, and introduced some enticing events coming up in the near future. Since the last club meeting we have had a Club POTA (see story), served as EmComms for the MDI Marathon (see story), and participated in the Maine Simulated Emergency Test Exercise (see story). Early in the meeting we took a few minutes to discuss the successes and areas of improvement for each event.

Looking ahead, we have several events on the horizon. The next Weekend Session, November 23 at noon, will have an added feature: soldering demonstrations. Hams come to weekend sessions with all sorts of equipment and computers to get advice and assistance with set-ups, repairs, software, etc. Along with the open invitation to join in, we are encouraging people to set up a small soldering station and guide others through the soldering process. There are several members and friends who have never soldered before, and the weekend sessions are the perfect space to share soldering skills.

In December we are combining our monthly meeting with our annual Holiday Pot Luck Celebration, moving the meeting to Sunday, December 14 at noon. Families are welcomed! It’s “pot luck” so bring any food items you like to eat. We plan to take a group photo of all the EAWA members for the ARRL’s Year of the Club Program. A club will be featured each month in the ARRL publication QST, and perhaps one month it will be us!

Another important agenda item was the creation of the Nominating Committee for next year’s officer positions. The positions are President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer (all one year terms) and one Board of Directors position, a three year term. If you are interested or have any questions please contact Barbara KC1SSY, chair of the Nominating Committee, via QRZ or the “Contact Us” form on this webpage. The slate will be announced at the December Meeting/Holiday Celebration, and the vote will be taken at the January club meeting.

For the evening program, the EAWA President, John KQ1P, gave an enlightening presentation on “How Antennas Emit Radio Waves: What happens when you transmit that makes it possible for another station to receive your signal?” He began by discussing four key ingredients: Electrons, Oscillations in voltage and current, Fields (magnetic and electric), and Conductors. Using demonstrations, such as with a magnet and metal shavings, and a piece of plexiglass with a static charge, he illustrated how these ingredients gain force and form wave lengths. Throughout the presentation he focused on these key points:
*Antennas work because electric and magnetic fields are formed by motion (oscillation)
*Electric and magnetic fields interact to have a net force that moves in a perpendicular direction
*The force moves off the physical antenna into space at the speed of light

There was a lot to take in during this meeting – very productive and inspiring! Mark your calendars for the upcoming events, particularly the December Club Meeting and Pot Luck Celebration, Sunday, December 14th at noon, at our usual location at Meadow View (see map here). The EAWA wouldn’t be the strong, active organization that it is without all our members and friends. We’re all in this together.
Written by Marion W1GRL