I had a special day at WA2HOM today…a special event day, that is.
First of all, it was SKYWARN Recognition Day today. There were more than 100 National Weather Service amateur radio stations on the air today (see map below).
I managed to work eight of them including stations in FL, IL, KS, KY, MA, TN, TX, and VA.
I also contacted several stations participating in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Amateur Radio Clubs Special Event. This operating event was held in conjunction with the SEC championship football game. I was able to work three of the stations: AA4UT (Univ. of Tennessee), W4DFU‘ (Univ. of Florida), and W5YM (University of Arkansas). It was great to hear so many college club stations on the air.
One thing that I found a little curious is that the event lasted only from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. Then, it hit me. The game must have started at 1:00 pm. D’oh!
I worked two stations commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor. The first, N4WIS, was aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA. The second, W2W, was located at the National Electronics Museum in Baltimore, MD.
When I wasn’t busy working the special event stations, I managed to sneak in a couple of DX contacts. The first, VP2MOR, was on the island of Monserrat. The second, NH7U, is on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. It was kind of neat to work NH7U as I’ve actually been to Molokai.
In addition to all these great contacts, I was able to give a couple of demos to interested museum patrons. That rounded off a really special day down at WA2HOM.
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