The DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club conducted a Special Event Station at the 42nd Annual Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Craft Festival on Saturday, July 6th, 2013. This year marked the fourteenth year that a special event station had been set up at the Jamboree.
The station was setup at the front entrance of the Justin Potter Library during the early morning hours on Saturday. Antennas were assembled, radios were properly checked, and transmissions were begun at 7:30 AM local time. Operations took place in the 20 meter and 40 meter Amateur Radio bands, and the station was publicized in Amateur Radio magazines QST, CQ, and the club website. This year operations took place in pouring rain for most of the entire day. For the very first time, operations also took place at the DeKalb County Emergency Operations Center – Communications Room in the Smithville Fire Department to provide weather monitoring support for the local Emergency Management Agency.
The station contacted 247 total Amateur Radio Stations in 34 States, and Ontario and Quebec, Canada. One interesting contact included the Ham Station on-board the Battleship USS New Jersey, now a museum ship, in Camden, New Jersey.
Amateur Radio Operator Guests included the following: AG4VF – Bruce Newberry, Pegram, TN; WB9SJK – David Redmond, Smithville, TN; K4DZR – Jerry Goodchild, Hendersonville, TN, KF5QYU. Very special guests were: Brandon Turrentine, Winnie, TX; KD5EFM – Debbie Driver, Houston, TX; AK5Q – Mickey A. Driver, Houston, TX, who are members of the KC5WXA Jake McClain Driver Memorial Amateur Radio Club, Houston, TX.
Participants of the station included DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club Members:
KK4OEY – Mark A. Stewart, Rock Island, TN; NN9J – Steve Kujawski, Sparta, TN; NF9G – Kathy Kujawski, Sparta, TN; KK4JUP – Jeffrey Kemper – Dowelltown, TN; KG4IKT – Jeff Estal, Bradyville, TN; and KC4GUG – Freddy Curtis, Smithville, TN. This year the station also had CW or Morse code included in the operation. This was done by N4LZY – Jerry Elkins of Woodbury, Tennessee and added greatly to the station operation.
The local club looks forward to operating another special event station at next year’s Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Craft Festival on Saturday, July 5th, 2014. The club would like to offer its thanks to Jamboree Coordinator – Mr. Jack Burton, Justin Potter Librarian – Mrs. Kathy Hendrixson, DeKalb County EMA Director – Charlie Parker, and Mr. Darryl Counts – Postmaster, Smithville Post Office for their support of this activity.
The DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club is an organization of Amateur Radio operators from DeKalb, Cannon, and Surrounding Counties and is an affiliated club of the American Radio Relay League. The next club meeting will be on Thursday, July 25th, 2013 – 6:30 PM at the DeKalb County Complex, 722 South Congress Boulevard, Smithville, TN. Any person interested in Amateur Radio is invited to attend. More information about the club can be found at the club’s website – http://www.dccarc.org.
Picture Captions:
Picture 1 = Amateur Radio Operators at the Special Event Station operate under the tent in the rain during the 42nd Annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival included:
Left to Right – KC4GUG – Freddy Curtis, NN9J – Steve Kujawski, and N4LZY – Jerry Elkins. Photo Courtesy of NF9G – Kathy Kujawski.
Picture 2 = Amateur Radio Operators at the Special Event Station operate at the DeKalb County Emergency Operations Center – Communications Room in the Smithville Fire Department during the 42nd Annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival included:
Left to Right – KK4OEY – Mark A. Stewart, KK4JUP – Jeffrey Kemper, KG4IKT – Jeff Estal, and NN9J – Steve Kujawski, Photo Courtesy of NF9G – Kathy Kujawski.
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