Here are some preliminary totals for the recent W1AW/8 operation from Michigan. Not too shabby, if you ask me. I just wish I could have contributed more Qs.
Here are some preliminary totals for the recent W1AW/8 operation from Michigan. Not too shabby, if you ask me. I just wish I could have contributed more Qs.
Over the past week, I participated in two special operating activities. The first was operating as W1AW/8 on 40m CW on Thursday evening, 2/20/14. Three of us—Stuart W8SRC, Arun W8ARU, and yours truly—operated for two hours between 0100Z and 0300Z at W8UM, the station of the University of Michigan’s amateur radio club. Matt, WS8U, the station manager, made all the arrangements.
While it was a lot of fun, I’m afraid that we didn’t make as many QSOs as we’d hoped. Band conditions were just horrendous, due to a coronal mass ejection, and often we couldn’t hear a thing. All told, we only made 86 contacts over two hours.
We did have a lot of fun, though. Stuart recorded about a half hour of our operation and posted the video to YouTube (see below). You get a great view of the back of my head in this video. :)
W8P spreads the word about End Polio Now
Over the weekend, I operated W8P from our station at the Hands-On Museum. The purpose of this special event was to commemorate the founding of the Rotary Club in 1905 and to spread the word about the End Polio Now campaign. Since the mid-1980s, Rotary International has been working to eradicate polio around the world.
Since 1988, more than 2.5 billion children have been vaccinated against polio, and the number of countries where polio is endemic has decreased from 125 to just 3 (Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan). On the About Polio page, there’s a graphic example of how the number of cases and the countries in which polio is endemic has declined over the years.
I operated solely on 20m SSB, and made a number of poignant contacts, including those who had family or friends who were polio survivors. Perhaps the most touching was with Greg, WA4YBP, of Shelby, NC, who is himself a polio survivor. He contracted polio when he was only 9 months old and wasn’t expected to live. He not only survived, but has lived a good life, even though he’s spent his entire life in a wheelchair.
Both of these operations were worthwhile in their own ways. I’d urge you all to either participate in a special event operation, if you’re invited, or start your own special event. Special events not only make our hobby more fun, but can also provide a real public service.