I am delighted to announce that Ed N3US and I have agreed that AARC and W4UVA will jointly operate the Virginia QSO Party from the W4UVA club station on Observatory Hill at the University of Virginia. The VA QSO Party is on 18-19 March 2017 this year, 10am-10pm on Saturday and 8am-8pm on Sunday. We expect to be at the W4UVA station at least from 10am-4pm both days.
The primary goal of this joint event is to stimulate interest among the student membership in HF operating, contesting, and amateur radio in general. We’ll be spreading a broad net at UVa to get as many students as possible to drop in. Giving them the opportunity to sit with some contesting pros should be exciting, so we need HF operators to show off their stuff! Let me know if you would like to join us.
It’s also an opportunity for AARC members who want to get a taste of contesting to work with some contesting Elmers. Don’t be shy about participating just because you don’t have contesting experience.
Information about W4UVA is available at www.w4uva.org. For HF work, we have a Ten Tec Omni VI and a Yaesu FT-897D. There is a nice Bencher BY-1 iambic paddle for anyone who wants to operate CW. We have a brand new Tennadyne T-11 6m-20m log periodic beam that I may get on our 70ft tower before the QSO party. We should have no trouble being heard, and hopefully the W4UVA callsign will attract attention.
W4UVA is located in the Observatory Mountain Engineering Research Facility (the “Old Reactor Building”) on Observatory Hill at the University of Virginia. It’s just up the hill from the NRAO headquarters where the monthly AARC meeting is held. The main door is on the upper parking level. The W4UVA shack is the first left after you come in the main door.
See you in a couple of weeks!
73, Mike KQ9P, W4UVA trustee