[K4RY] K4RY AUARC: SEC University Club Event Synopsis

[wb4lnm at aol.com]

The SEC University Club Event: We had a great time and wish you had been there!


The Auburn University Amateur Radio Club, Station K4RY, had a great activity morning this past Saturday prior to the SEC championship game. Along with seven other SEC university radio clubs, K4RY went on the air to make contact with as many stations as it could.  The results were spectacular in my mind, a lot of fun, and a little bit tiring.  Kudos to operators Byron, KI4OVP, and Peter, KD5OCR, who 
operated the radios with me starting at about 8:30 AM CST.  


I must mention the 'amplifier' we used to help us rack up so many contacts.  A couple of weeks prior to the event, we applied for a special event 1 by 1 callsign.  Since there are only a few restrictions on what one can request, we asked to be assigned "W1E", so that we could use the phonetics "War One Eagle" on phone!  At that point, Auburn's football team was still #2 in the BCS, but we had faith!   


After the callsign was approved, in addition to the note that had been in the most recent QST about the SEC activity overall, we sent notice that AUARC would be using the special call sign to the ARRL Southeastern Division director, Greg, W4OVK.  Although he is a staunch 'other school in the state' fan, Greg graciously posted our information to the ARRL Southeastern Division mail reflector, which 
then distributed it to over 10,000 hams in the southeast.  We also checked into the Alabama Traffic Net on Thursday evening and Friday morning and evening and announced that the special call sign would be in use. Auburn football then went to #1 in the BCS.  At that point, the pump was primed.


Saturday morning, we fired up the old 1970's vintage Kenwood TS-130 transceiver.  The station would just be running 100 watts since the linear amplifier interconnecting cables are still configured for the Clubs ailing Kenwood TS-450 transceiver.  We'd been invited to check into the South Coast Amateur Radio Service (SouthCARS) on 7251 kHz, which we did with a very cordial greeting from the 
net control station.  We mentioned that we were headed for a clear spot around 7243 kHz, and then moved to that freqency.  The NCS said he'd send people our way if they were looking for us.  Upon arrival on 7243 kHz, we listened first in good amateur style while we discussed among ourselves what information we had to share with the potential contacts.  Still not a sound, not even a peep, on 
7243 kHz.  


Figuring we needed to get going, I picked up the microphone and said, "CQ forty meters, this is special events station W1E, War One Eagle, operating from the Auburn University Amateur Radio Club, QRZed?"  At that point, about ten firehoses of stations sprayed out of the speaker on the frequency!  Peter and I were both amazed and for a second, I really was puzzled what to do.  We started working 
one station after the other, starting with the strong ones and trying to give mobile stations a bit of an advantage if we heard someone signing 'mobile'.  This continued on and on until after 2 PM when things suddenly went quiet, almost as if a light switch had been turned off. 


After things died down, we took a look at the log, and we'd worked about 228 contacts which included a couple of local stations on 2 meter FM.  The most distance I believe was probably a Wisconsin contact.  While this was not a contest, email I've seen from a couple of the other university clubs indicated that U Florida had about 160 contacts, and U Tennessee, the organizer, had about 60. I've 
not heard anything from the others, but I do know that U Arkansas, LSU, and Ole Miss operated Saturday morning.  We had a fair share of contacts with fans from other SEC teams, but there was overwhelming support from the Auburn family hams out there, including many that identified themselves as Auburn alumni.  


My opinion is that the AUARC W1E operation in the SEC event was very sucessful.  We had an event where we really held our own, and gave us a number of 'lessons learned' to use in upcoming contest operations.  We could not have done this without the assistance of a lot of people: Our Club faculty sponsor and station trustee, Dr. John Hung, KI4NHX, who had encouraged us to go after this activity; our former Club alumni who installed an antenna on the roof that worked amazingly well; and the support of the ARRL officials in publicizing our operation.  We also want to thank former COSAM Dean Stew Schneller, K4JOP, and his wife for coming by the shack and giving us moral support when we were pretty worn out!  I'm sure there are other helpers that we've missed - thanks to you all. 


I started this saying that we had a great time, and we surely did.  Although I know there were competing campus activities that morning, and a big football game in Atlanta, we certainly would have enjoyed having more Club member operators.  There is another school club related event coming up during the week of 14-18 February, 2011.  Member, please pencil it in on your calendars now.  That activity will run all week, so there will be plenty of time to fit your on-the-air operation in with classes and other activities.  I think we can build on our experiences and lessons learned from this past weekend to be the number one university radio club in that contest. 


War Eagle! and 73,


John...
WB4LNM
EE '75




 




















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