Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club  

The crew on the evening of February 7th getting the Club Station ready for the event on Saturday morning.  (l-r) Mark WØMH, Bob KGØZK, and Jim WAØAXB.  

The first crew of the day.  (l-r) Mark WØMH, Paula WØHA, and June KCØNGL.  June received her license less than a year ago after participating in a class given by the Club and Brainerd Community Education.

photo by Mark WØMH

The second shift crew. (l-r) Fritz WØKO and Ski KCØDCY. 

Third shift operators:  Jim WAØAXB, and Ken KAØJSW.  Fourth shift: Orcy WØQT and Bob KGØZK

(l-r) Third shift operators:  Ken KAØJSW and Jim WAØAXB.  Bob WØZPE aided by operated the event from the Hungry Horse Ranch.

photo by Jim WAØAXB

(l-r) Fourth shift: Club Special Event Coordinator Bob KGØZK and Orcy WØQT.

During the 8 hours we made 169 contacts from the club station at Mississippi Horizons School in Brainerd.  Bob W0ZPE made 10 QRP contacts including 1 in Canada. Contacts from the club station included Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Israel, Portugal, UK, many cities coast to coast in Canada, Switzerland, Panama, and a wide variety of US contacts including mobile, marine mobile and QRP. Some of the QRP stations included 15 watts from the UK and 3 ½ watts from Philadelphia. Three stations from Alaska reported in. One was 100 miles north of Fairbanks; another reported 29 degrees in Anchorage. This was considerably warmer than Brainerd at the time. Another frequent visitor to BAARC Special Events was NN3SI, the ham radio demo station at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. Operator Jack WA4FXX reported in both from the museum and from his home station in Arlington, VA. A reminder to our club members-visitors are welcome at NN3SI. I’ve operated the station and plan to do so again.

A few words about the event itself:

1.     As usual, the operators did a great job. The club should be very proud of the high level of professionalism displayed. We would have liked more participation from our Novices and soon-to-be-hams. Perhaps next time.

2.     We used the club’s linear amplifier and had great signal reports.

3.     There was a pile-up for the 5 hours I was at the station. I suspect it was a continuous pile-up for the whole 8 hours.

4.     One of the highlights was Fritz speaking fluent German to anyone who would listen (including San Francisco).

Thanks again to everyone who took part.

    Bob KG0ZK 

For those contacting the BAARC Special Event Station, a Special Event Certificate is available by mailing a self addressed and stamped envelope to:

Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club
P. O. Box 801
Brainerd, MN  56401                    Send e-mail comments to:  webmaster@mwpersons.com