The Stillwater Amateur Radio Assn (SARA) WØJH {#1905] will be returning for the seventh time to operate from the ghost town of White Rock, SD. We first ran this event 22 years ago in 1999 using a special WØA callsign. The town of White Rock was established in 1884 and was once a thriving farming community with a peak population of 600 people; with 7 grain elevators, 3 hotels, 4 saloons, 2 banks, a large department store, 2 drug stores, 2 churches, a 12 grade school, railroad depot, post office as well as other mercantile establishments. White Rock is the most northeastern community in SD and the tri-state point where SD, ND & MN meet is 1 mile north. The current population is 2! Very few structures remain in the old town.

We're adding PSK to the mix this year, given that it is August, and it's an expedition as we have to bring everything along including food, water, power, and well - you get the idea, Therefore, we have an excellent opportunity for an August PSK Expedition! 

While our primary stations will be in the town of White Rock, we expect conditions will allow us to have a secondary SSB station at times at the SD/ND/MN tri-state marker. SSB will be our primary mode, but PSK31 and FT8 digital modes may also be used. While we will have a few people camping in White Rock that may operate some during the evening, this is primarily going to be a daytime operation with intention to be up and running by 1400 UTC on Saturday 8/28 and Sunday 8/29. The PSK station in White Rock will be established on 20m and will likely be kept busy enough to stay there most of the day. We encourage anyone who works us, to spot us on the cluster, as we won’t be self spotting and the more folks we work, the happier we will be.

Given the limited access and space at the Tri State Marker - it's at the end of a minimally maintained farm road surrounded by farm fields (no trees) and a drainage ditch, it will not be practical to establish a PSK operation at the intersection of the 3 states alongside the Phone station. White Rock is in grid square EN15rw. There is a possibility of activating EN15 on 6M on Saturday.

Suggested Frequencies: standard PSK frequencies on 40 - 20 - 15. Phone will be at or around 3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360 MHz (Tune +/– 10 kHz if QRM)

An electronic QSL certificate will be available a few weeks following the Special Event. For info on requesting the e-mailed PDF certificate, see the W0JH listing at qrz.com. QSOs will also be confirmed via LoTW.  

I will be there, roughing it in a tent, and running PSK on Saturday the 28th.

--


Joe KC0OIO
#1601

On Sat, Aug 7, 2021 at 15:00, Steve Prior

<prior.stephen@...> wrote:

Just had a brief chat with Karen. This goes back a long way in the "early days" of psk and 070 club,

The magic of radio talking to old friends after some many years ago. One of few EyeBall QSO's - met up at a HamFest in Va.


Great time -

73,
Steve
N3UYI
070 # 92
LONP # 13