March 10-11, 2007    Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM, Sunday 12 NOON - 5 PM EST

A note about the “telegraph education” closed telegraph circuit that will run separately from the Special Events station CW frequencies:
For the very generous hams who offered to loan Civil war period keys and sounders for the “telegraph education” portion of the event many many thanks.  I had to make the decision not to take you up on your kind offers however.  After talking to several people here at the museum concerning the number of people expected to attend the events and after finding enough funding I decided to bring in a Signal Corps reenactor who has experience and the equipment to handle the set up and most of the operational details of the closed telegraph circuit.  The time involved in acquiring the assorted supplies including Civil War looking tents, building the tables and wooden boxes as well as locating and setting up about a mile of wire and telegraph poles was a bit too much to deal with on top of all the other things involved with the opening festivities here.  And even more importantly I had to give consideration to the wear and tear that the loaned instruments might suffer.  The reenactor is willing to take all the risks of damage to his equipment and since he will be receiving a fee for his services it reduces a lot of guilt on my part if anything may happen. But thank you again for your support.  See below for more info on this part of the festivities.

QSL certificate:
The QSL certificate which has been approved by the marketing gurus here. It will be printed on a parchment colored paper.  As a way of explanation for several things on the certificate:  The NOAA logos at the bottom were requested by the museum because of the USS Monitor’s status as a marine sanctuary.   I included the club names in order to capture the participation of all the groups who are offering assistance and these names will also be included on signs that will be posted by the museum.A QSL writing party may be scheduled a week or so after the event if necessary. 

Available equipment here at the museum:
A change to previous plans is that a few radios and antennas will be available for use here at the museum.  The plans are to have a TS 711 for 2m sideband, a TS 850 for HF stations, and the District 7 trailer will have HF and packet set ups.  Antennas will include an 11-element Cushcraft and a triband beam.  If you wish to bring your own equipment, let me know ASAP so I can plan the space. One of the advantages of using this equipment is that I may not need a frequency coordinator for the event.  I will have the frequencies assigned to each radio ahead of time. We will be using a covered tiki hut as the operation site.   If you are planning to operate an HT or a mobile station, let me know.  Also please let me know what times you are planning to be here so I will know when to expect you. This will allow me to alert the security teams so they will let you through the secured areas.  Onsite storage for equipment is available in an area with two layers of security (locked area within locked area) if you are working both days and want to secure your gear overnight. 

Parking:
Parking will not be near the stations.  We will be allowed to drive up and offload equipment, but the vehicles will have to be left in a staff parking area.  Shuttle buses will run from the parking area back to the museum at regular intervals.  I don’t know how often yet, but should have some information soon. All participants will need parking passes and I will have these a few days prior and will start passing them out then.  I know this parking situation will be inconvenient, but the museum planners made the decision because of the number of people expected that weekend.  If you are coming from outside of the Hampton/NN area, let me know what your estimated arrival time that morning so I can meet up with you to give you the pass.  You will need the pass before you arrive at the security checkpoints.  Visitor parking will be offsite (unless handicapped parking is needed) so no vehicles will be allowed to enter the museum grounds without that particular piece of yellow paper.  If you are unsure whether you will be attending, let me know.  I will assume that you will be here and will plan accordingly for the number of parking passes needed.  I would rather have too many than too few.

Telegraph reenactment:
CW haters and CW operators are invited to participate in the Special Event Station and a Civil War era closed telegraph circuit.  Two camp tents containing stations with period keys and sounders will be set up on the grounds and messages will be sent from one station to the other over a closed circuit.   If you hate CW, (although I can’t understand why), you can still “play” because we can use a coded message format in which you only have to count the clicks (1 click or 2 clicks) in order to send and receive.  We will be using Myer’s Civil war flag code signals, for example 11 or 1221. So, for “11”, it means 1 click, wait a second, one more click.  Three clicks are used to signify the end of a word, sentence or message.  I will have printed sheets with the code available.  It is quick and simple to learn to use and within 5 minutes you will be a Myer code pro.   Spare Civil War uniforms will be available, or I can send you a list of modern clothing that will work if you want to wear your own.  Of course, CW lovers can use the “mother tongue” (American or Railroad Morse) or International Morse.  I have a sounder and key available if you want to get together to try it out or you can practice when you get here.  I need at least 5 people who would like to spend a few minutes working this part of the event as operators.  I will have replica telegraph blanks for the Union and Confederate sides of the circuit as well as informational flyers and a list of books that people can consult for more information.  This is the first time this type of event has ever been done here at the museum and as far as I know, the first time on the Peninsula.  It should be fun for everyone involved.

Club flyers and handouts:
Please bring flyers from your clubs or lists of upcoming events to pass out.  I will have log sheets printed out or you may bring your own.  I will also have printed information sheets in case any of the contacts ask questions about the Monitor or the Museum.  If you want, I can send copies out as soon as I get them finished.  I will also be either working or working near the SE station both days so I will be able to provide any answers.  We will have a 2m simplex frequency designated as a tactical channel in case it is needed and I will have a museum HT in case of emergencies.

Very important info about Monitor Center:
Due to the number of visitors expected timed tickets for the museum are being generated for this event.  Because of this, I cannot promise that if you work the Special event station or the telegraph station that you can get in to see the new part of the museum during the weekend.  I have arranged for free passes for the operators who are working the stations, so they can come back at another time to see what all the fuss is about. I can arrange a walk through of the new center on the Sunday before the event (March 4) if you are interested in having a peek. Anyone working the event will not have to pay an admission fee to get into the buildings because I will be signing everyone in as “visitors.” Although your access to the new exhibits might be limited you are encouraged to take time to see the other areas of the museum while you are here with the SE station.

Talk to Me:
Let me know of your questions, complaints, suggestions and so on.  Please get info to me by February 28^th  to confirm that you will be here, are planning to be here, or may be here and what equipment you are planning to bring, if any. This deadline will allow me to let security know in advance how many people to expect for our events and so I will know how many people I need to recruit for the telegraph reenactment. You are welcome to work the SE stations and help out with the closed telegraph circuit or you can come out to work one or the other.  If you know of any hams or non-hams who would be interested in the telegraph reenactment, please pass on my email or phone number. 

Please forward this information on to interested parties.

Thanks to each of you for your interest and help with this event. I look forward to working with you.

73
Cindi
AI4OO

Cynthia Verser
Collections Management Specialist
The Mariner's Museum
100 Museum Drive
Newport News, Virginia 23606
The USS Monitor Center Opens March 9, 2007
An Ironclad Promise of Adventure

cverser©marinersmuseum.org or ai4oo©arrl.net
{Note: Replace © with @ in the addresses above}

The purpose of this VHF contest is to promote the use of VHF simplex frequencies, encourage the use of handheld radios on the simplex frequencies, and to engage the local amateur radio community in a simple form of contesting.  The contest is sponsored by the Hampton Public Service Team (W4HPT) and generally follows QSO Party procedure.

Date:     Saturday, April 21, 2007 from 0800-1200 local (1200-1600 GMT)

Stations:      All single-operator as follows:

• Fixed Station - your home station, any legal power level, any antenna.  A handheld or mobile rig attached to your home antenna will be considered a fixed station.

• Mobile Station - You must be fully mobile in a vehicle that is capable of being moved legally on the highway without modification such as antenna removal, i.e., using your normal mobile configuration.  Note: A handheld radio connected to your mobile antenna is considered a mobile station for the purpose of this contest.

• Handheld Station - You must be fully portable with a handheld radio (HT) using a stock, aftermarket or home brew antenna attached directly to the radio at the antenna base without a feed line, i.e., a rubber-duckie or telescoping style antenna or similar.  A handheld radio attached to any other style of antenna will be considered a mobile or fixed station as appropriate.  Handheld beams that use a feed line between the radio and the antenna are not permitted in this category.

Mode:                FM only

Frequencies:      Use only SERA recommended 146 MHz FM simplex voice frequencies at .40, .415, .43, .445, .46, .475 .49, .505, .535, .55, .565, .58, and .595.  Do not use 146.52, as this is designated as the National Simplex Calling Frequency and should be maintained clear. Use of repeaters or repeater input or output frequencies for contacts or coordination is not permitted. 

Contacts:          Hampton amateurs work all stations.  Amateurs from surrounding communities work only Hampton                             amateurs.  Each station may make one contact with any other station. 

For the purposes of the contest, fixed, mobile and handheld are considered three different stations, so there of nine separate possible contacts between two amateur radio operators as follows:

Scoring Matrix

Exchange:       Call Sign, QSO sequence number, type station (Fixed, Mobile, Handheld), City/County
                       For example W4ABC, 134, Foxtrot, Hampton  -or-  K4YZ, 16, handheld, Isle of Wight

Example QSO would go similar to this:
N4DJ:      CQ Hampton this is N4DJ operating handheld
KE4UP:    N4DJ this is KE4UP 
N4DJ:      KE4UP this is N4DJ you are my number 1, handheld in Hampton
KE4UP:    QSL your number 1 handheld Hampton, you are my number 4,  fixed in Hampton 
N4DJ:      QSL your number 4 fixed Hampton, good luck in the contest, this is N4DJ Handheld

W4HPT               The W4HPT station will be on the air from fixed, mobile and handheld.

NTS Message      For 20 additional bonus points, properly originate and transmit a correctly formatted routine precedence NTS message to the W4HPT fixed station on 146.565 between 1200-1330L (1600-1730Z), or on the 145.49- repeater between 1430-1530L (1830-1930Z) with your call sign, total number of contacts, total number of base points, total number of bonus points and grand total score.    Use the FCC ULS Address for W4HPT in the address section of the message. Message text format is:

                        Your call sign, city/county, # contacts,  #base points, # bonus points, grand total score
W4ABC        York            165             285                 120                  405

This message would be transmitted “Amateur call whiskey four alpha bravo charlie york figures one six five figures two eight five etc.  Ensure that the header on the message is correct, and that you include your first name and call sign as the signature.

                    See http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/nts-mpg/ for NTS message formating.

Do not include the 20 additional points in the totals - the bonus will be added after the message is checked for format and totals are compared to your submitted log.

Submissions:     Submit legibly completed log sheets that have been dupe checked and postmarked not later than one week following the contest to:

Awards:            This is a for-fun contest aimed at promoting the use of VHF simplex in the Hampton Roads area.  There are no real big prizes here, other than a nice certificate from the Hampton Public Service Team (W4HPT) for:

See suggested log format below.  E-mail ke4up©cox.net for a Microsoft Word version of the logsheet.
[Note: Change © to @ in the email address above]