W0S Titanic 95th Anniversary Special Event Station

SPECIAL EVENT AMATEUR RADIO STATION
W0S
95th Anniversary of the Titanic Disaster

This event will take place on Saturday, April 14th starting at 1300Z to Sunday, April 15th ending at 0000Z.  The Special Event Station will be located at the World’s Largest Titanic Museum Attraction on Highway 76 in Branson, MO.  April 14, 1912 was the night the Titanic met her demise with a huge iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southhampton, English.  Radio operators played a large part during this disaster.  It was one of the first times the new international distress call “SOS” gained popularity by radio operators around the world.

Three stations will operate simultaneously using SSB, CW, and Echolink.  All stations will be manned by operators from a consortium of clubs and non-club members from Southwest Missouri, as well as licensed visitors from outside the area.  All are welcome to come join us in this planned five year Special Event, taking it into the 100th Anniversary.  For collectors, we will issue a certificate, as well as a very nice QSL card for each contact.  This will continue each year until it’s 100th Anniversary.

A moment of silence will be observed by all amateur stations calling “W0S” for one minute or more, at the time of the sinking distress call on April 14th.  That time has yet to be determined.  During that time period, we attempt contact with the Belfast Amateur Radio Club with a special message.  We have been working hand in hand with the Belfast Club, which has a Special Event call representing the Titanic’s callsign “MGY”.  That callsign is GB2MGY.

Operators at the Titanic Museum will be stationed in full view of the visitors at it’s entrance.  The owners will provide, if possible, the uniforms of the original communication officers.  All scheduled operators will wear these uniforms during operations.  Last year’s event brought an estimated 6000 visitors to the museum over the weekend.  A massive media promotion is planned by the owners of the museum to cover local, regional and national news media. Amateur Radio will be one of the featured events in this promotion.

Icom Radio Corporation is the Official Radio of this Special Event.  Icom is graciously sending two IC-756 Pro III transceivers, and two PW-1 Solid State Amplifiers.  Alpha Delta has supplied two DXCC antennas for our 80 and 40 meter operation.  Vibroplex Corporation has sent one iambic key, and one straight key for the CW operators, and the Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club has supplied two forty foot crank-up trailer towers, including two Mosley TA-33 beams, one for each tower, coax, and additional antennas if needed.  We expect others to join this growing list of vendors and donors.

Updates will follow as new information becomes available.  For questions and more information on operating frequencies, schedules, and equipment, send an email to titanichams@wzeros.com or vist www.wzeros.com and www.nixahams.net

 

I hope you'll post updates here as well, when frequencies and other details are decided.