Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
from
Brian D. Smith, W9IND (ex-WO9I, KA9OIH, WN9ICB)
on
July 11, 2007
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The last commercial CW station fell silent in 1999, but once a year, several of them fire up their vintage equipment for a one-night return to the airwaves.
The eighth annual "Night of Nights" will begin at 0001 UTC July 13 -- which, in the continental United States, is the afternoon/evening of Thursday, July 12.
CW transmissions will continue until at least 0700 UTC July 13, and the stations will issue QSLs to those who submit valid reception reports. Scheduled participants include such time-honored stations as KPH, WLO, KFS (returning to the air) and NMN (participating for the first time since the U.S. Coast Guard ended the use of Morse code).
Although "Night of Nights" is traditionally an SWL event, this year the commercial stations will be joined by K6KPH, representing the Radio Maritime Historical Society. Manned by professional operators, K6KPH will accept reception reports for KPH, KFS and KSM. But the Society encourages all hams to work the station: "(P)lease don't hesitate to call, no matter what your code speed or experience level may be."
Incidentally, the stations prefer reports expressed as QSA/QRK or SINPO/SINFO, since RST is "frowned upon," according to the Society.
For fans of CW and/or radio history, this is the real deal -- a chance to obtain QSL cards from stations that are essentially returning from the dead. For many hams, these stations provided a daily source of code practice, thanks to their constantly repeating messages and perfectly spaced characters.
For more information, follow this link:
http://www.radiomarine.org/non8.html
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Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by AI2IA on July 11, 2007
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Okay, all you Morse Code fans, now is you chance to paricipate with the vintage commercial stations. I especially hope that those who are new to Morse Code and those who are rusty will go ahead and give it a shot. Won't it be nice to hang up a QSL card in your shack from one of these stations?
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RE: Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by W9IND on July 11, 2007
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Excellent suggestion.
And here's an excerpt from an e-mail I received a few minutes ago, courtesy of the Marine Radio Historical Society.
**************************************************
This just in:
Rene of WLO has just confirmed that his station will be participating in Night of Nights VIII!
WLO will be on a new set of frequencies this year. Please make note of them as they are different from last year's (which were originally posted on the MRHS Web site). The correct WLO frequencies are:
2055.5
4343.0
8658.0
12992.0
16968.5
Operators will be listening on ITU Channel 3.
It is not yet known if WLO will be active on MF this year.
For full details see http://www.radiomarine.org
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Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by AI2IA on July 11, 2007
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Thank you, Brian, W9IND, forl the additional details. I do really, really hope that the new code users and all of us who are a little rusty go for this one. When you hang up the QSL cards in your shacks if your new, you can say that you did it, or that you still have the touch, if your rusty. It's a nice incentive to dust off the key if you haven't used it much lately, or to be brave and say I don't care if I'm 5 wpm and wobble at that, but I'm going to do it anyway. As for the fast fists, well, those guys will go to it, I know, and more power to them (no pun intended). Everyone can have a good time with this one and get to keep some worthwile memories.
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Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by K0VJ on July 12, 2007
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A very enjoyable event.
I copied code wheels from KPH on 6477.5, KFS on 17026.0, KSM on 6474.0, WLO on 12992.0, and KLB on 6411.0. During the time I was listening there was no traffic handled by any of these stations.
I wasn't able to hear NMN in Virginia or NOJ in Alaska, and it appears that NMC wasn't on the air though that was anticipated.
It would have been nice to snag K6KPH, but I missed out. Ah, well, I'll try again next year during Night of Nights IX.
73, Rick K0VJ
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RE: Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by W9IND on July 13, 2007
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Definitely a fun blast from the past. Took me back to my teenage SWL days, when I learned Morse code from some of these same stations.
I also bagged KPH, KFS and KSM (very loud in Indy), as well as WLO and KLB. Managed to work K6KPH, but I likewise didn't hear any of the "N" stations.
Hope there's even more participation from the historic stations next year. Time to prepare my reception reports and go for the QSLs.
73,
Brian, W9IND
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RE: Night of the Living (Commercial) CW:
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by KE4MOB on July 13, 2007
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Yesterday evening I was tooling around the Internet and saw the announcement. Sat down in front of the radio, and sure enough, at 0001 UTC, the KPH wheel fired up..kinda of faint though. WLO was blasting in however. Seems like the 12 Mc. band was favored.
It took me back to my SWL days too. It was completely awesome to hear those wheels again. I just wish NMN was on.
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