Hello HWC:

I'm sorry to tell you that we haven't made much progress on scheduling for the special event. Bill has enlisted KD1LE, Stan Pozerski, to do some CW operating, but otherwise, we're at the same point we were 5 days ago. Here's where we still are:

Bill, KO1O - full coverage both days;
Mike, K3UOC - full coverage both days;
Paul, W1HFA - Saturday, as much as he can;
Nick Guydosh, N2MSE - looks like 4-8PM Saturday and 12-4PM Sunday;
Dave Allred, N1EXQ - unsure of operating times as of yet;
Nick Akers, KC6TAH - unsure of operating times as of yet;
Conway, N2JWQ - unsure of operating times as of yet;
Fred, K1VR - may have a conflict but trying to free up some time to
operate;
Maury, W3EF - will be looking to work W1AF from the UK;
Dave Smith, K1XQ - unavailable;
Phil, K9HI - unavailable;
Richard, KE0MY - no response yet;
Edson, N1VTN - no response yet;
Mary-Anne, N1TDI - no response yet;
Geoff, KB1DSM - no response yet;
Frank, N3OQB - no response yet.

It's high time for a number of you to declare your intentions. If you are intending to operate, when are you planning to be at W1AF? If you don't intend to operate in the special event, N1EXQ or I would appreciate knowing that.

OPERATING THE SPECIAL EVENT:

The main goal of this operation is to make as many contacts as possible in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the HWC. However a special event is not a 'contest' so although it is important to keep up the pace, the prime objective is not 'rate' in itself. Think of yourself as a dignitary whom many people have turned out to meet. You'll be doing a lot of hand shaking and small talk, ever aware that someone is waiting in line to meet you.

CW will pretty much take care of itself this weekend. I'll program the keyers with special event type exchanges which we can use or not. Up 35 kHz is where we are advertised to be on 10-15-20-40-80. 25 WPM sounds about right. I see CW pretty much as a filler for this special event -- most of the crowd will be seeking us on SSB so CW will be there for us when the SSB crowds dwindle.

When you come to operate, spend some time listening to the operator before you. That's the best way to see how it's done. Let me see if I can anticipate some procedural questions:

1. How does your average special event contact go? Typically, you'll spend from 2-3 minutes in QSO with a station. Since you're the 'run' station, everyone will be calling you. After your initial "CQ, CQ, this is special event station W1AF at Harvard University celebrating 90 years of amateur radio," you may not have to call CQ again! At the end of each QSO, use QRZ rather than calling CQ again -- "QRZed, this is special event station W1AF."

2. What should I say in QSO? The usual signal report, your name and then a statement or reference about the special event. For example, "We're celebrating 90 years as America's oldest amateur radio club," or "We're operating a special event here at Harvard and will be on the air today until Zero Zulu and the same tomorrow." Be creative. You turn it back to him and expect to hear your report, the operator's name, and some words of congratulations. Then it's your turn again for your second, and probably last, transmission in this contact. During this one, you have various options -- tell him the QSL route, direct via W1AF. Mention the terms for QSLing -- the special 90th QSL and the 3 souvenir DXpedition cards & SASE, please. Mention the other frequencies we'll be active on. Mention the web site address for a further look at the club. Encourage him to take the Virtual Tour on the website. Tell him briefly about yourself. Mention the rig and antenna you are using. Review the Virtual Tour yourself if you are unsure what we have for equipment. Remember, these are all options for that second go around. The best special event operators kind of cycle through the various options and pick a different one each time, meaning that there is always good variety to their exchanges.

3. What can I expect them to ask me? Thinking back to the 80th, these are some of the questions I recall: Are you sending out certificates? (no, we have our special anniversary QSL and the DXpedition souvenir cards); Any special size SASE needed? (we prefer letter size, but any size will do); Are you guys on any other bands/modes? (CW & SSB and you can mention some of the other announced frequencies); Can you QSY to ___ for another QSO? (only if there are no pileups. But feel free to make skeds and then make sure to meet those skeds).

4. What if they ask me about the history of the HWC or about something in the new article? Review the W2KOY "80 Years History of W1AF" and the CQ cover article. You shouldn't be stumped if you are familiar with these two documents.

5. What if someone calls me and asks for a contact in the California QSO Party? Keep a running tally of CQP contacts on the legal pad at the operating position. In addition to recording the call in CT, write down the callsign and the serial numbers sent and received. That's all. And only California stations can work you for points. We can reconstruct a CQP log after the special event. They start the contest at noon on Saturday and it runs thereafter during our special event. So the bands may get a bit busy at times with other activity. Do your utmost to hold your frequency. Be as close (+/-) to the announced frequency as possible.

6. What if someone 'famous' calls me or if another collegiate club calls or an alum? Spend a little extra time with the big guns and high profile operators. Don't be surprised to hear from the likes of W1AW, K1ZZ and K2MGA. Spend extra time as well with those who identify themselves as collegiate club stations. Extra thanks to these folks for supporting W1AF and collegiate radio. You'll hear from Harvard alums (there's a lot of them out there) or those whose kids go/went to Harvard. Try to find a little common ground with these folks before pushing on. Be extra chatty with W1AF alums. Ask them to visit our web site, sign our Guestbook and check out the Alumni/ae forum. Know our URL. Be prepared to rattle it off. And for some folks to be confounded by the 'tilde.'

7. What if I get some guy who goes on. . .and on. . .and on? That happens. There's not much you can do except be polite and try and expedite the QSO on your end. Remember, there will be an audience out there listening on frequency -- some for hours. A special event is very entertaining! It's kind of low-level performance art and we can't forget that impressions are formed easily in the world of radio. Special event audiences are very forgiving of rookie operators. However, and you know this already, there are two sets of standards in the world -- one for Harvard and one for everything else. So why not give them a "Harvard Performance?" Nothing but the best!

8. Can both of our HF positions be active at the same time? Absolutely. And we definitely want to keep two stations running as much as we can. Just remember to be on different bands (the same mode is OK) and keep the X7 and log periodic out of the same plane with each. Get at least 45 degrees of separation between the antennas.

9. What will we do about VHF/UHF? Anytime we have three operators on site, the third one should check 144 & 440 SSB. Put out calls in different directions. When things get slow on Position #2, flip down to 50.150 and give a call in different directions. Log all UHF/VHF contacts as 'satellite' in CT as there are no other options for those bands.

10. Who all can we expect to work in the special event? Primarily North American stations, but remember, we've got a pretty potent signal so there will be a lot of DX in there too. If the pileups get fairly large, standby for DX callers from time to time. Coordinate with the other operator. Is he beaming West? Then why don't you beam 50 degrees N and work the Europeans. Get those call signs right in CT! We'll be doing labels for QSLs so we need that call right to expedite QSLing. Speaking of that, K1XQ has graciously volunteered to organize QSLing for the special event. Once he gets a feel for the volume of the requests, he'll be asking you for some help in knocking off the replies.

OK folks, I think that's good enough for a start. Again, I'll be at the HWC Friday evening getting things organized. I look forward to seeing all of you Saturday, Sunday or both days.

73,
Mike, K3UOC