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Special Event Station PA75OV on the air in 2020

Discussion in 'Contests, DXpeditions, QSO Parties, Special Events' started by PA2P, Nov 30, 2019.

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  1. PA2P

    PA2P Ham Member QRZ Page

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    In 2020, radio amateurs in the North Limburg region (The Netherlands), will be on the air with Special Event Station PA75OV.

    Just like in 2015 with PA70OV, the station PA75OV is a Special Event and Memorial Station for the occasion to commemorate 75 years of freedom and the WW-II Operation Veritable.

    Operation Veritable

    Operation Veritable, a.k.a. the Battle of the Reichswald or the Great Allied Rhineland Offensive that started February 8th 1945, took place in the North Limburg region and was the successor of Operation Market Garden.

    Operation Veritable is not known very well to most people, compared to the bombing of Rotterdam, Operation Market Garden and the Dutch famine of 1944-45. The failed Operation Market Garden (a 'bridge too far’) took place eight months earlier with parachutist and glider landings near Nijmegen in the city of Groesbeek.

    After Operation Market Garden the Allied troops were halted in and around Nijmegen in the winter of 1944. In the following months almost a million troops were gathered for Operation Veritable and Operation Grenade together.

    Operation Veritable lasted from February 8th to March 11th 1945, when the objective to clear German forces from the area between the Rhine and Maas rivers, east of the German/Dutch frontier in the Rhineland, was achieved. It was part of General Dwight Eisenhower's "broad front" strategy to occupy the entire west bank of the Rhine before its crossing.

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    Churchill and Montgomery visited the battlefield of Gennep in February 1945 to see the course of the battle with their own eyes. The picture shows next to the visitors, a Bailey-bridge (the longest of WW-II), which was built for the occasion to cross the river Maas.

    PA70OV + 5 = PA75OV

    In 2015 Special Event Station PA70OV was activated throughout the year with a special three days live event in the old town hall of the city of Gennep.

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    In February 2020, exactly 5 years later, this will be repeated; we only added 5 years to our callsign.

    Various activities will take place to commemorate 75 years of liberation of the municipality of Gennep and its surroundings by the 51st Highland Division (Black Watch). Special Event Station PA75OV is part of these activities.

    A group of re-enactors is also setting up an English HQ in the basements of the old town hall, just like in WW-II.

    Special event station PA75OV will be active throughout 2020; the live event will take place during the Liberation weekend from Friday, February 14th 2020 to Sunday, February 16th 2020 in the old town hall of Gennep on the second floor, performed by more then 20 amateur radio team members.

    Our housing will be the council chamber of the old town hall on the second floor. Several radio positions will be deployed to activate the callsign PA75OV.

    One of the radio positions is manned by members of the Surplus Radio Society (SRS) and historical WW-II radio equipment will be used.

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    There are no particular band plans: HF, VHF and UHF activities will be announced on the DX-Clusters. QSL cards will be sent automatically by the end of 2020 after closing of the station.

    We started our preparations at the beginning of 2019 with an English website: www.pa75ov.nl.

    This website contains information from Operation Veritable and images from PA70OV and the preparations for PA75OV so far and lots more.

    On behalf of the PA75OV team.


    Jan, PA2P
    www.pa75ov.nl
     
    2E0WMP likes this.

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