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KØIP QTH becomes W1AW -
by John Wilson KØIP - please pardon my English and
grammar, 2014
So why was W1AW in Idaho, to celebrating the ARRL 100th
anniversary
W1AW the flag ship call of the ARRL traveled to all 50 states,
twice in each state.
In Idaho a
team was
assembled to make as many contacts (QSO's) as possible
using W1AW during
our week in the spotlight.
The
Idaho team leader attempted to recruit stations that participate in
contests, and
especially the
Idaho QSO Party.
During the past several
years a loosely organized
group calling themselves the
Idaho Potato
Contest Group
has racked up very high scores
during the IDQP. we operated from my QTH. So it was no surprise when I was ask if
we could operate on 20 meter SSB,
BUT me being a total glutton for punishment,
I ask for more, 15 and 10 meters. Too.
After some discussions, I was assigned 20 & 15 meters SSB,,
2 guys in northern Idaho were given 10 Meter SSB BUT, they were unavailable during
the
W1AW / IDQP weekend. SO our friend KG7E Jim in Mackay
took the 10 M SSB spot
for the weekend and join forces at my QTH for the IDQP
and the W1AW event that overlapped that weekend ..
Lucky for me, I have two towers with BIG antennas, a 20 meter monoband
beam (204BA) on one tower,
and a tri-band beam (TH7DXX)
on the other, BUT to run 3 bands at once we needed another antenna
for
10 meters, the solution was Elborn's tower trailer, and
a 4 element monoband beam for 10 meters.
I have enough old computers ,
I installed
N1MM contest logging software, networked
all the computer, and we were
ready to go!
WELL , Almost Ready , I
still
needed the most important piece of the system, OPERATORS,
lucky many folks
from PARC stepped up and helped, (see their pictures
below.)
Some made more contacts than others but everyone helped..
it all worked out,
we made over 8880 contact (QSO's) during
the first week.
One interesting stat, our high rate for a 10 minute period when all
three stations
were "churning and burning" was
over 100 stations, in 10 minutes.. Now lets see???,
thats 10 stations a minute, lots of RF
SECOND WEEK , In Sept Idaho got their second week,
I had two other operators making three
of us, I made the bulk of the Q's
but it was nice to get the
help. during the second week we
could chose 2 hour slots on various modes
and bands,
I did a lot of Teletype and SSB. see the box just below to the right
(first week, and second week)...
I personally made a total of 13844 Q's W1AW and as KØIP assistant section
manager,
(35 points) for the ARRL centennial.
This really was one of the big events of
my 50 years of hamming - a great bunch of friends came to light up the
airways. we did it.
Thanks everyone.
Love those pileups..
Here's a group of pictures that tell the first weeks story.
These are the Pocatello ARC members that made the W1AW Idaho operation a success..
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