W1E Special Event Station: The 2nd Annual Hams All-Holidays On-Air Celebration

[Special thanks to my dear friend Barbara KC1KGS for providing me with photos for this; all of the good pics are hers!] When I chose “W1E” as a special event call sign for the First Annual Hams All-Holidays On-Air Celebration during the height of the pandemic in December 2020, it was no accident. W1E, or “We Won”, was a symbol of victory against the societal wrecking ball that COVID19 had proven to be. The special event station was meant to commemorate all of the holidays, gatherings, and events that we had lost as a result of the illness. It was a way to bring us radio friends together, to experience the uniquely human joy that shared experiences inevitably create, to reestablish our social bonds. Ironically, a COVID19 scare cancelled the group portion of the 2020 event, although AA1F and I proceeded to activate the special event station on our own.

With a year behind us, the pandemic still raging on, and the socioeconomic impacts of one of the weirdest periods in modern history kicking us all in the shins, it was time to resurrect W1E in December 2021 for the 2nd Annual Hams All-Holidays On-Air Celebration. Notification went out to the greater Boston hams that we were setting up a couple of portable stations at Hopkinton State Park. And we in turn received notification from the weather service that Mama Nature was promising a freezing wintry mix. I sent around an email advising that foolishly AA1F and I planned on operating W1E from Hopkinton as planned despite the impending snowstorm, and that perhaps it may behoove our dear radio peeps to stay toasty and warm at home…For a dozen diehard hams however, they just couldn’t stay away from the promise of a radio adventure with friends!

Arriving around 11am, AA1F and I anticipated a no-show from our usual crew. Seriously, who could blame them? While precipitation was momentarily holding off, giant highway signs warning of the impending winter storm accompanied us all the way from Southie to the Framingham exit. Lo and behold, Tom KC1OCY had been hanging out in the parking lot for a half hour waiting for us. Tom, a new member of our radio posse, had not yet learned of my chronically late condition… Regardless, he pulled out a full uhf/vhf station complete with a homemade j-pole and set it up in the designated Hopkinton Reservoir beach-side grove. You’ll see pics of Tom later on in the story…

I have a theory about public radio activatons. Well, lets face it, when you are setting up for portable operations, you look a little strange. And you catch a lot of attention. And sometimes, you really do not want to be the center of attention in a public space, if you know what I mean. But once you have set up and now are settling in and on the air, for some reason people stop noticing you and you kind of start to just blend into the background. So, my advice with portable ops? GET THE ANTENNAS UP! As fast and inconspicuously as possible!

So, when Derek AK1WI (above) and Charlie WA3ITR arrived shortly thereafter, along with Joe N1QD (also above), we all worked together on hoisting the antennas in the air. We did not, however, avoid being spectacles. In fact, we were probably only saved from explaining ourselves to authorities by the fact that very few people actually were in the park besides us. At one point I narrowly missed impaling myself (and Derek) with a rather large dead branch that expressed its anger at being wrapped in paracord by disarticulating from its trunk and aiming straight at my head. (To be honest, getting this branch down probably saved someone’s life in the future, it was a classic “widowmaker”, look it up…)

Derek, Charlie, and Joe also competed in the hammer-throw style of antenna raising after I suffered multiple failures in getting an arborist bag attached to paracord over a specific tree limb.

AA1F, being exhaustingly efficient, was on the air with his 20M EFHW antenna before my 40M EFHW was up. Of course, a few of us know there isn’t a knot to be found in his set-up. Given the weather forecast, we had decided on two HF stations.

By now, Barry K1OPK joined the party…

The focus on antenna-raising was cut short when the freezing rain started. In my mind, antennas up, then the shelters…But with a significant amount of electronics gear sitting unprotected on picnic tables and the sky starting to spit, AA1F madly dashed to the parking lot to retrieve two pop-up tents and an insulated ice fishing house. Fortunately, the running to and from the van warmed a frozen AA1F up…

Radio duo Barbara KC1KGS (my ham YL bestie, pictured with Derek AK1WI, Charlie WA3ITR, and Barry K1OPK) and Jim WB4EJR showed up distributing delicious oatmeal cookies. Jim WB4EJR, in typical Jim WB4EJR style, snuck off without so much of a hint of photographic evidence of his existence (a bit like Sasquatch! I did in fact see you there Jim, haha! And, if you do want to see a cute photo of Birbs & Jim, click here! I swear I’ll never tell where I got it!)

You can also see Paul N1OIL and his puppy in the right hand side of the picture below. Paul, usually quite quiet and reserved, is actually becoming a regular part of our group and I am always delighted to see him! The other guy in the background is someone who was randomly interested in what a bunch of hams were doing in the park…

That is Steve KC1MWF (“Kansas City Won Monday Wednesday Friday”… I heard Steve say this once on Mt. Wachusett and I have *never* forgotten it!) on your right and Tom KC1OCY (from the beginning of the story) on your left.

So just a note about what is going on with the shelters…The ice fishing tent is insulated and retains heat very well. In fact, running a Mr. Buddy propane heater (Massachusetts compliant!) warmed it up even with both doors open! The outside temperature was hovering around freezing. The ice tent is *not* however waterproof, probably due to the fact that ice fishing in the rain is probably not a great idea. An overlying pop-up canopy is the antidote. The 20M station inside the tent consisted of a Yaesu FT-891A, an LDG Z-100 Plus tuner, a Dunestar 20M band pass filter, a 15ah Bioenno LiFePo4 battery, and the 20M EFHW antenna.

Tom KC1OCY’s vhf station is underneath the other pop-up canopy. In between the two is a blue tarp, rigged with hiking poles, stakes, and ties between the pop-ups. This protected the 40M station, with the same hardware as described for the 20M station with instead a 40M Dunestar band pass filter and a 40M EFHW antenna.

Here’s another viewpoint of our radio shanties….

Steve KC1MWF and I share a chuckle…

I manage to capture a great picture of one dapper Charlie WA3ITR posing in the trees. Charlie, you are looking quite GQ here!

And this is followed by what is now becoming a selfie ritual for Charlie and I…

The biggest happy surprise was the arrival of KB1REQ, whom you all know I am an unabashed fangirl of. I am not exactly sure what moment Barbara KC1KGS was capturing here to be honest…

So, shelters up, radios on the air, and some serious operating was occurring. AA1F showed Tom KC1OCY the ropes on HF. And Tom made his first HF contacts, as well as activated his first POTA with AA1F as the control operator. Welcome to the high frequencies Tom!

All-in-all, the 20M station made over 40 qsos between noon and 3pm. One of those contacts I made with my favorite rock star Rob WA1UMU, and while I am glad to have caught him on the air, I always like it when he joins our radio adventures in person! Next time Rob!

Now, the 40M station… Joe N1QD held it down! For one, it was really nice to hang out with Joe…we were so happy you came by. For two, I am totally envious of Joe’s cw skills! At one point toward the end of the activation, we managed to accidentally smack Joe in the face with an ice-filled fold in the tarp, as we were attempting to replace the tarp with the pop-up canopy… Joe never missed a dit, and kept on making contacts! He even managed to pick up Pi K1RV as well (this is really written here just as an excuse to shout out to Pi! Hi Pi!) Here Joe is operating phone while Barry K1OPK logs. Yes, we used handwritten logs old school-style!

Barry’s turn to get on the air while I log for him….

And like the delightful game of musical chairs that was the 40M station, Joe is on phone, and KB1REQ is logging… (Dimitris NE1D made contact and I got to say hi to him!)

And then the reverse… (If you look really closely you can see AA1F on 20M!) All-in-all, the 40M station made 121 contacts! I will design and get qsl cards printed to commemorate the “The 2nd Annual Hams All-Holidays On-Air Celebration”, and then AA1F and I will send them out to everyone who contacted us and to all of the day’s participants as well.

I have reached the end, but I am finding it hard to end this story. Our connections with each other can seem so strong one moment, so ephemeral the next. Twenty meters on the gray line, full of qsb and a cacophony of increasingly indecipherable faceless voices. Handshakes and hugs to keep us grounded are hard to come by in a pandemic. Yet we need to connect to one another, need to assure ourselves of our mutual reality. Need to believe that a community exists. And that we belong in that community. And we need to know we are friends.

It has become a scary, uncertain time. A funhouse maze at the exact moment you realize an exit may not materialize. The distorted world view of a kaleidoscope. The solidity of an ice cube in a warm cup of tea. It feels easier to retreat, shut the door, wrap up in a blanket, and squeeze our eyes shut until the madness disappears.

But for a moment, we can share each other’s company. Feel the slightest sting of a gentle freezing rain on our bare skin. Travel through time and space on radio waves harnessing equal parts magic and physics. See the exquisite beauty in a gray, wet, winter day. Hide under plastic tarps. And play together like kids. The moment itself is as fleeting as the wildflower blooms of spring. The memory sears deeply into the soul. The spirit of humanity.

W1E, “We Won”. The Hams All-Holidays On-Air Celebration for all of the holidays, gatherings, and events that were stolen from us. We won. And we always will.

Yours,

KM1NDY