On Wednesday, Nov 11 2009, the Strategic Air Command Memorial Amateur Radio Club (SACMARC) operated a Special Event Station from the Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home in Bellevue, NE, just a mile or two west of Offutt AFB, home of the former Headquarters, Strategic Air Command. During this special event, we used the call sign K0GRL, the call that had been assigned to General Curtis E. LeMay while stationed at Offutt as Commander-in-Chief of SAC.
We planned to operate on 20, 17, and 40 meters; however, technical difficulties precluded operation on 17 meters, and an occasional check of 40 meters indicated 20 meters was the band where we'd be able to salute most veterans. All contacts were made between 14.244 to 14.252 MHz.
Operators included: Frank, AA0ZP, who made the majority of contacts; and Bob, NB0B, Ken, AC0DQ, and John, N4OWG, each of whom made several contacts and shared in logging duties. N4OWG provided most of the logistic support, including the ICOM IC-781 transceiver, Cushcraft AP-8 Vertical Antenna, and laptop computer for logging.
One highlight: in honor of the original Armistice Day, precursor to Veterans' Day, we asked for a two minute pause at the 11:11 CST (11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th month) the anniversary of the end of World War I. During that pause, there was absolute silence on our frequency, truly a wonderful salute to our veterans.
Other highlights including QSOs with a veteran of Omaha Beach, contacts with veterans of all services, veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, plus many non-veterans who had nothing but respect and appreciation for the sacrifices and contribution of our veterans.
Results of the special event beginning at 1441 UTC and ending at 2230 UTC (7 hours 49 minutes):
275 Total Contacts
34 States
5 DXCC Entities (USA, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, Sweden)
SACMARC sends our appreciation to all stations that made contact with us, and to those stations that we missed. We also send our thanks to the management, staff and members of the Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home for the hospitality and support in making this event possible.
73 de John, N4OWG
Treasurer, SACMARC
Trustee, K0GRL
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