Well, Isn't That Special?

Thought for the day: Absolute zero is really cool.

[THEME: Amateur radio]

There are lots of cool things about amateur radio. Today, we're gonna talk about one that encompasses a wide range of possibilities: SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS.


By now, it should be no secret that we amateur radio operators enjoy making on-the-air contacts with other amateurs. We also enjoy running or making contacts with specifically designated special event stations, which operate for a limited period of time in conjunction with a particular event, location, person, historical happening, anniversary, or a whole slew of other things. Like the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the World Series. Groups wishing to put one of these stations on the air can apply for a special callsign, too, which is issued for use during  a designated period of no more than two weeks at a clip.

What kinds of excuses reasons do we use to support a special event? All kinds of stuff. The only thing that limits us is our imagination. Some of the certificates I have for working special event stations include things like

• operations from numerous museum ships
• various anniversaries of military battles and disasters
• to mark the first flight of the F-22
• from Kennedy Space Center in conjunction with a launch
• from Calaveras County in honor of the famous jumping frog
• Nude Awareness Celebrations (Now, they were some funny conversations!)
• operations from numerous lighthouses

Matter of fact, my husband and I joined a group of other Atlanta hams to operate a special event station multiple times from one of South Georgia's lighthouses.

Yup, that's me with the mike. Not sure who the fella is NOT operating. Probably one of the locals. It took us crazy Atlanta folks to get the Tybee Island lighthouse on the air for the first time. The locals know August is too bloody hot for outdoors operations, so mostly some of them stopped in for an early morning visit before retreating to the air conditioning. We went down there for several years, though, and had a blast.

And that's the QSL card we used one year. We issued both cards and certificates. See?

                            Special.







Interested in reading more about one of my all-time favorite Special Event Stations? WW2LST was the call sign used by am amazing team of grizzly veterans who went to Greece, worked their buns off to make an old WWII LST seaworthy, and then brought her back to the U.S. Those guys are REALLY special.

[My hubby and I are catching up with old friends this weekend, so as you're reading this, I'm nowhere near my computer. (Thank goodness for auto-posting!) So I won't be visiting your blogs for a while. Sorry. But I always love the super duper comments you guys and gals always leave here, and promise I'll respond to every one of them asap. Happy weekend, y'all!]