Pearl Harbor Day

I spent almost the entire day on the Battleship Iowa today operating the Amateur Radio station. 10 Meters started off with a bang, faded out around 1330 local time, and then I went to 15 Meters for the rest of the day.

Since I was there alone, I was pretty beat by 1600, so I shut down early, packed my gear up and came home.

I also had my radio club "First Saturday of the Month" breakfast, which I got to late because it was raining, and then the breakfast ran late, which made me even later to the Iowa.

Comm Central was dark when I arrived, and it took a while to find somebody who knew which switches turned on the overhead lights, so I set up by the light of the few fixtures that were on. At least I now know which switches control all the lights!

I only made about 75 contacts, as I try and spend some time with each person so I can explain to them what we're doing on the Iowa, and the status of the ship, and that slows you down from operating in full-blown "Contest Mode" where you can knock out 75 contacts per hour, and the really good operators top 100 per hour. That's not Amateur Radio to me, which is one of the reasons I don't usually operate in contests, although I have in the past, and probably will in the future, but not as a "120 Contacts per Hour" type of Ham.

I talked to people from all over the United States today, and most had forgotten that it was Pearl Harbor day until I told them why we had the ship on-the-air today.

The rest of them, most the Old Timers, and all of them Veterans, knew why we were on-the-air, and thanked me for taking the time to make sure the ship was represented.

Several of them had talked to other "Museum Ships" today, but I didn't have any luck in talking to our friends on the Hornet; band conditions just weren't favorable for the path from San Pedro to Alameda today.

All in all, it was a good day, and it's always good to be on the Iowa.