All,
Gary reached out to me and to Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) about an idea he was mulling. It took several texts and phone calls to get everyone on the same page, but what we came up with was this – How fun would it be to get a bunch of Club members at someone’s home and get Gary back at W1AW and we make a bunch of individual contacts? KG5VK’s Section 5 has an allocation from September 20-26th of this year.
We thought it sounded like fun, so in coordination with the other Club officers and kicking some different days of the week and dates around (Gary and several officers work, Steven is busy, busy, busy.) we settled on Saturday following the September Club meeting. WOW! Club meeting, go somewhere, take birthday cake (that Saturday is also Steven Lott Smith’s birthday) and then make HF contact with Gary at ARRL HQ! What could go wrong? Oh, ARRL is only open Monday-Friday and W1AW is only available from 0900-1445 Central. (Cue up the sound of a record player needle scratching across a vinyl record…). We settled on Friday, September 22, 0900-1500 and Steven and Zogail (KB5KBE) graciously agreed to host it at their home. Please mark that on your calendar.
Steven has the correct logging software, he knows how to use it and how to keep each operator’s record separate from the other operator’s record so that each operator can individually get credit for working W1AW – And do so while talking with RRVARC member Gary at the other end of the connection! When I hung up with KG5VK he was headed off to reserve some specific bands. You can use different bands and modes, as explained at this Oklahoma link for a February operation, but because this is our first time and we are specifically trying to reach Gary at W1AW we opted to keep it simple and only reserve for phone. If anyone wants to do the exercise again in the future, we can use any and all bands and modes that people want to coordinate.
We will plan to pack sack lunches, water and sodas. A birthday cake may show up, even if a day early. We will see how many Club members can log a contact and fun will be had by all. Please email Phillip an RSVP so that we will have a head count. We will email the address and a map to everyone that signs up. Again, if you plan to attend, please RSVP as a courtesy to all involved.
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)