Tag Archives: 13 Colonies Special Event

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

2020 Thirteen Colonies Operations Report – A Record Year for K2K

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The 2020 Thirteen Colonies Special Event is in the books as I write this. The K2K New Hampshire Colony had a record year in 2020. All of the members of the 2020 K2K operating team are also members of the Nashua Area Radio Society…

Source: 2020 Thirteen Colonies Operations Report – A Record Year for K2K

The 2020 Thirteen Colonies K2K New Hampshire team had an amazing year this year!

Matt Strelow, KC1XX joined the K2K team this year. Matt’s superstation and he and his team of world-class operators enabled us to break some records in 2020. Our 2020 operator team included:

  • AB1BY – Abby, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH
  • AB1OC – Fred, Hollis, NH (State & QSL Manager)
  • AB1QB – Anita, Hollis, NH
  • AC1DC – Jamey, Nashua, NH
  • K1DLM – Dave, Operating from AB1OC, Hollis, NH
  • K1GQ – Bill, Wolfeboro, NH
  • K1QX – Craig, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH
  • KC1IMK – Keith, Candia, NH
  • KC1IML – Mark, Candia, NH
  • KC1XX – Matt, Mason, NH
  • KM3T – Dave, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH
  • NE1B – Bill, Operating from Hudson, NH
  • NN1C – Marty, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH
  • W1FV – John, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH
  • W3UA – Gene, Bedford, NH
  • WA1Z – Bob, Operating from KC1XX, Mason, NH

All of the members of the 2020 K2K operating team are also members of the Nashua Area Radio Society.

A Record Year for the 2020 K2K Team

The K2K Team made an amazing 22,696 contacts during the July 1 – July 7, 2020, Thirteen Colonies period! This shattered the previous event record for a single state of 16,092 contacts. We are hoping that this will be an event record when the final 2020 results are in. Equally amazing was the fact that over half of the K2K operators made over 1,000 contacts including some ops with relatively modest home stations.

2020 13 Colonies Special Event Certificate - K2K Included
2020 13 Colonies Special Event Certificate

You can read all about our 2020 K2K operation via the link above. Information on how to obtain a K2K QSL card and an event certificate are also included in the link.

More to the 2020 K2K Story

The story behind K2K’s success this year is all about our operators who used their home stations to contribute a good portion of our final contacts. It’s much more difficult to manage pileups and make many contacts from a smaller station with wire antennas and limited power. I want to especially thank our operators who put in the hard work from their home stations to help us make contacts – thank you!

K2K’s 2020 Thirteen Colonies operation included some great stations for sure but the real story around our success was our operator team. Everyone worked very, very hard to make contacts and our results demonstrate this. There was great teamwork with lots of collaboration to ensure that we did a good job of covering all of the bands, modes, and DX around the world. I am proud to have been part of the 2020 K2K Team!!

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event Begins on July 1st

The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event begins on Wednesday, July 1st at 9 am Eastern Time! There will be stations in each of the states that grew from the original Thirteen Colonies plus two bonu…

Source: 13 Colonies Special Event Begins on July 1st

The 2020 13 Colonies Special Event is almost here! We’ve got a great team of operators lined up for K2K, New Hampshire this year and we’re looking forward to a great event and some on the air fun. The 2020 event starts at 9 am on July 1st and ends on July 7th at midnight eastern time.

2020 13 Colonies Special Event QSL Card for K2K, New Hampshire
13 Colonies Special Event QSL Card for K2K, New Hampshire

The idea is to try to work all 13 Colonies Special Event stations K2A – K2M and the two bonus stations – WM3PEN and GB13COL. There is a nice certificate available for working one or more of the Colonies as well as QSL cards from each of the K2x stations. Check qrz.com for QSL information and the Thirteen Colonies Special Event website for certificate information.

K2K New Hampshire will be operating from a number of locations in the great state of New Hampshire including from AB1OC/AB1QB and KC1XX. We will be operating SSB, CW, Digital (FT8/FT4), and via Satellites! We are going to spend some time on 6m and perhaps 2m and 70cm if we have some Tropo openings.

You can learn more about the 2020 event via the link above. I hope we’ll see you in the pileups!

Fred, AB1OC

Activities, CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

July Contest Notes

Half Gone

It’s difficult to believe that half of 2019 is already behind us. We’re only a few months away from the start of the 2019-2020 contesting season. As the NARS Field Day totals have shown, there is still plenty of good propagation out there so don’t believe all that talk about the bands being dead. The bands, especially during contests, often have a surprising amount of activity. Take advantage of it.

13 Colonies

The height of Summer brings us things that are an equal amount of fun and competition. Though not a contest, per se, the 13 Colonies Special Event will bring you pile-ups worthy of CQ WW. If you’ve not found some slots to work already, check out the NARS club 13 Colonies effort and get involved.

A Couple of Highlights

I’ll start with one of my favorite contests of July: the RSGB IOTA Islands on the Air contest.

RSGB IOTA Contest [1200Z July 27 to 1200 July 28]

Exchange: RS(T) + Serial No. + IOTA No. (if applicable)

I have often done this contest from the Boston Harbor Islands (NA-148), either Georges Island or camping on Lovells Island. There may be a club field-trip to Georges for a Saturday 6-hour effort. Keep a watch on the Forums section of the website for more information.

CQ WW VHF Contest [1800Z July 20 to 2100Z July 21]

Exchange: 4-character grid square

I’ve done this contest from the top of Mount Wachusett and it is a ton of fun. Of course New Hampshire has a bunch of mountains to try your luck. Walk up the slope and get SOTA points, too!

Take your 6m and 2m all band radio and do SSB, FM, and CW from a mountaintop and rack up the grid squares. This is a really fun way to spend an afternoon.

North American QSO Party, RTTY [1800Z July 20 to 0559Z July 21]

Exchange: Name + state (DC/province/country) for North America. Just name for those outside North America.

The National Contest Journal holds QSO parties and sprints for each mode twice a year. These contests are fun because they are not jam-packed with people. If your new to a mode, or if you just want to sharpen your skills, these are great contests to try.

Until Next Time

Summer is a good time to catch up with family, see a few baseball games [Go Spinners!], or do that outside project you’ve been putting off. But, if you do have some time, get on the air!

73 de

Scott, NE1RD

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide