On the Air in Kentuckiana
13 Original Colonies Special Event Set for First Week of July
It’s time for our personal favorite special event on the Ham Radio calendar: The 13 Original Colonies Special Event.
13 Colonies is an annual Special Event held during the week of Independence Day (that’s the 4th of July, for those of you in Rio Linda). Participants endeavor to make contact with special event stations in all 13 Colony Stations. In addition to stations in the original 13 colonies, there are also two Bonus Stations.
Aside from the stations in NY, VA, RI, CT, DE, MD, GA, MA, NJ, NC, NH, SC, and PA (call signs K2A through K2M, respectively), the two bonus stations are the WM3PEN station from Philadelphia, PA, where independence was declared, and GB13COL from Durham, England.
Participants do not need to make contact will all 13 to get a certificate, but doing so does get you the “Clean Sweep” endorsement on your certificate. Likewise, participants do not need the 2 bonus stations for a clean sweep. Making contact with WM3PEN will get you a “Liberty Bell” endorsement and GB13COL will get you a “British Standard” endorsement. Additional special endorsements are added for all CW operations, all QRP operations, SWL, as well as membership in the National Rifle Association (NRA), American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and active or former military service (thank you for your service!).
We always have great fun participating in this special event and celebrating our independence. Our family usually ends up with at least a couple of certificates, usually clean sweeps plus WM3PEN and a few extra endorsements on them, I don’t think any of us have ever made GB13COL. Maybe this is our year.
Let us know if you’ll be participating, how you are doing, and your final results in the comments below.
SKYWARN Recognition Day 2014
SKYWARN Recognition Day was jointly created in 1999 by the NWS and the ARRL to celebrate the contributions by volunteer SKYWARN radio operators to the National Weather Service. The 2014 Event will be held on December 6. For more details, visit the official SKYWARN Recognition Day page.
View the event in the Louisville Ham Radio Calendar.
Unlike during last year’s SKYWARN Recognition Day event, there will be no local participation at the Louisville WFO on Theiler Ln (WX4NWS). Don’t worry though, you will have plenty of opportunity to work the many participating stations.
Operating Procedures are as follows:
- Object For all amateur stations to exchange QSO information with as many National Weather Service Stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands plus the 70 centimeter band. Contacts via repeaters are permitted. SKYWARNTM Recognition Day serves to celebrate the contributions to public safety made by amateur radio operators during threatening weather.
- Date NWS stations will operate December 7, 2013, from 0000 – 2400 UTC.
- Exchange: Call sign, signal report, QTH, and a one or two word description of the weather occurring at your site (“sunny”, “partly cloudy”, “windy”, etc.).
- Modes: NWS stations will work various modes including SSB, FM, AM, RTTY, CW, and PSK31. While working digital modes, special event stations will append “NWS” to their call sign (e.g., N0A/NWS).
- Station Control Operator: It is suggested that during SRD operations a non-NWS volunteer should serve as a control operator for your station.
- Event and QSL Information: The National Weather Service will provide event information via the internet. Event certificates will likely be electronic and printable this year. Stay Tuned!
NRA 143rd Birthday Special Event Operation
Second Amendment advocacy group National Rifle Association is celebrating their 143 birthday this year and that birthday is being celebrated by radio amateurs. To commemorate the anniversary of the Nov. 17, 1871 founding of the NRA, the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC) of Prescott, AZ, will operate a special event station from 1500Z to 2400Z.
The special event station will operate from the Gunsite Academy campus in Paulden, AZ. The special event call sign will be K7NRA. Planned frequencies for special event operations include 7.250, 14.050, 14.250 and 21.335 MHz. All amateur stations, especially those operated by NRA members and Gunsite alumni, are urged to participate. A special certificate will be awarded to those stations making contact during the event.
QSL with a 9 x 12 SASE to:
YARC
P.O. Box 11994
Prescott, AZ 86304
