As promised, the Sydney Amateur Radio Ferry Contest is back for a second year following on from 2016’s excellent turnout.  Laurie VK2GZ writes via the club’s email:

I am writing to ask for your help in promoting the 2nd Annual Sydney Amateur Radio Ferry Contest which takes place on Sydney Harbour on Sunday March 12th 2017 from 10:00 to 16:00 local time.

This unique contest hopes to attract hams from all over the nation to make VHF/UHF contacts from any of the system’s ferries and 36 wharves.

With all-day travel for just $2.50 using an Opal Card, this is a great way to spend a Sunday!

Operation is restricted to hand-held radios (any mode) and can include repeater, simplex or “eyeball” (a handshake and an exchange of QSL cards) contacts.

Multipliers are gained by working multiple ferries and/or wharves. A number of awards, including the prestigious “Worked All Ferries” (or WAF Award), are available.

The event is being run by the Waverley Amateur Radio Society (VK2BV) and we will be running a club station at Rose Bay Ferry Wharf for the duration of the contest. We hope to eyeball as many contestants as we can during the day.

Full contest details and rules are here.

There is also a Facebook group page here (or search Sydney AR Ferry Contest). Please join the group!

Hoping to see you on the Harbour.

73

Reserve the date, lets see if we can get a few members down there this year!

From ARVic, original post here.

At the end of October comes the major CQ World Wide SSB Contest with lots of callsigns, many countries and zones on all bands from 160m to 10m.  For many this is an opportunity to snare a rare DX entity or two, mount up the tally for the DX Century Club, qualify for operating award or just for pure enjoyment.

Others are contest competitors seeking as many contacts as possible and sending in an entry.  All taking part are now working out the strategy to adopt, and of course have studied the contest rules at www.cqww.com.

Tips on what can be done are in this month’s Amateur Radio magazine Contest Column by Trent Sampson VK4TS.  Also in the column are the words of the ‘Contester of the Month’, Martin Luther VK7GN, who has some advice including a suggested approach for someone new to contesting.  The CQ World Wide SSB Contest is on October 29 and 30 – why not give it a try?

Laurie Gordon, VK2GZ writes via the WIA Club Mailing List:

I am writing to ask for your help in promoting the Sydney Amateur Radio Ferry Contest which takes place on Sydney Harbour on Sunday March 13th from 10:00 to 16:00 local time.  This unique new contest brings hams from all over the nation to Sydney Harbour and invites them to make VHF / UHF contacts from any of the system’s ferries and 36 wharves.

With all-day travel for just $2.50 using an Opal Card, this is a great way to spend a Sunday!

To add some fun, operation is restricted to hand-held radios (any mode) and can include repeater, simplex or “eyeball” (a handshake and an exchange of QSL cards) contacts. Contestants can obtain points multipliers by working multiple ferries and multiple wharves during the six hour contest.  A number of awards, including the prestigious “Worked All Ferries” (or WAF Award), are available.

The event is being run by the Waverley Amateur Radio Society (VK2BV) and we will be running a club station at Rose Bay Ferry Wharf for the duration of the contest.  We hope to eyeball as many contestants as we can during the day.

Please pass this email on to all of your members and encourage them to take part.  If you have a club meeting, a net or other event between now and Sunday 13th March, we would appreciate a mention as well.  Please consider promoting the contest through your website or Facebook page. (VK2ICQ notes: Done! 🙂 )

This is a fun contest for the amateur radio community but also a great way to promote amateur radio to the community at large.  My personal thanks in advance for your support.

Full contest details are at here.  If you have any questions prior to the event then please direct them to the Contest Managers – Rob Halliday VK2XRH (rob at hallidays.id.au) or Andy Mitchell VK2RM (amitch at iinet.com.au).

We’ve posted about this unique event before here.  Here’s hoping some members will either be in Sydney at the time or be prepared to make the pilgrimage for what’s sure to be a great day (devoid of any seasickness)….

Laurie Gordon, VK2GZ writes via the WIA Club Mailing List:

Amateur Radio on Sydney Ferries – a unique contest on the harbour.

Waverley Amateur Radio Society is proud to announce a unique new contest which aims to bring amateurs together on Sydney’s world-famous harbour and its historic ferry service.

The date is Sunday March 13, 2016 and the object will be to make as many contacts as possible, afloat from the ferries or from any of the system’s 36 wharves.

Operation will be restricted to VHF and UHF bands, any mode, simplex or through repeater using hand-held transceivers.

A scoring system will encourage operators to visit as many wharves and travel on as many ferries as possible in a six-hour period.

As points will be claimed per location/contact rather than distance and with no advantage for high power or digital modes, all classes of licensees, including Foundation, can compete equally.

Many parts of the harbour are within range of several repeaters, with plenty of scope for simplex operation ferry-to-ferry or wharf-to ferry.

There will be a number of awards for achieving goals such as Worked All Ferries, as well as for highest number of points achieved.

Home and mobile operators will also be able to take part by contacting amateurs riding the ferries or activating wharves.

It is hoped that if successful, this inaugural event may become part of the regular amateur radio contest calendar.

Since its formation in 1919, WARS has had a long association with central Sydney and the harbour. Many of our diverse member base live and work around the harbour and regularly use the ferry service to travel for business and leisure.

With its headquarters at Rose Bay, just a few metres from the harbour itself, the club is well-positioned to host this exciting event.

As the special Sunday fare allows you to travel all day for just $2.50, the club is hoping that the contest will attract a good number of participants for an exiting and enjoyable day out on one of the world’s most beautiful harbours.

Further details will be added to the club’s Ferry Contest page which can be found here.