Video: Special Event Station, W9IMS

Ham Radio is kind of hard to explain to people who have had no exposure to it, I think. They tend to lump it all in to one narrow (and not entirely accurate) analogy. In fact, it’s a very broad hobby with all sorts of niche interests. From working orbital stations, to morse code enthusiasts; from slow-scan television to digital radio networks; from casual voice chats with other licensed stations all over the world, to the fast and furious exchanges of contesting … it’s all very interesting, it’s all very different, and its all ham radio.

One facet of ham radio that I find to be fun is working special event stations.

Special event stations may operate via voice, or morse code, or digital/computer modes, etc, but in each case they are only on the air at special dates and times. This means only a limited number of stations will be able to work the special event station during the event. Other stations the world over go on the hunt for these rarer ’special event’ stations in hopes of making contact.

It’s a lot of fun and pretty rewarding to work at getting such a contact and finally managing to log the rare station in your logbook. There’s often even a special reward in it for you if you mange the task … a special QSL card or certificate to commemorate the contact.

It’s also a lot of fun to BE the special event station … to actually operate AS the special event station that everyone else wants to log a contact with.

Indianapolis is blessed with both a number of special events and an active and friendly ham radio community. Thanks to each, I’ve had the great opportunity (and privilege) to work as an operator for the W9IMS special event Amateur Radio station here in Indianapolis.

W9IMS is only on the air for a small number of days each year – surrounding each of the three big races here in Indianapolis: the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400, and the MotoGP. Indianapolis area licensed Amateur Radio Operators (“Hams”) like myself gather and operate the W9IMS station during these special events, and other hams all over the world tune in and attempt to contact W9IMS. Some of those wishing to make contact with W9IMS are race fans, some are just hunting for special event stations, and some just want to take part in all the fun. When a station contacts W9IMS they qualify for a special QSL card. There’s a unique card for each of the races that W9IMS is on the air for, and if a station manages to contact W9IMS for ALL THREE races in a given year there’s a special certificate they can receive.

It’s all a whole lot of fun.

Last weekend while operating the W9IMS “Brickyard 400″ special event, I managed to take a few recordings and decided I’d toss together a quick video to share a bit of that experience here. (Thanks to N9GSU for the still shots)

The voice operator of W9IMS you hear in this video is me (N9LTQ), and the morse code operator you hear is Pat (N2DKB).

• CQ = Radio shorthand for “Calling any station” – inviting any station to respond.
• “40“ (as in “CQ40″) or “40 meters” = The frequency ‘band’ in which I was operating.
• W9IMS = The callsign of the station I was operating.
• “Whisky Nine Indianapolis Motor Speedway” = A phonetic spelling of the station callsign (W9IMS). Radio contacts are often choppy, usually have some noise on top of them, and are known to fade in and out. You never know how well or how poorly you’re being received at any given moment … so giving phonetic spellings greatly assists receiving operators.
• 73 = Radio shorthand for “best wishes”.
• QRZ = Radio shorthand for “What station is calling?” – in the context used here, it’s an invitation for any additional stations who wish to contact me to call in now. (pronounced “Q-R-Zed”)
• QSL = Radio shorthand for “Do you copy me?” or “I copy you”. This is essentially “roger” or “acknowledged”
• “Delta Alpha Victor Echo” = Phonetic spelling of my name “Dave”.
• “5-5″, “5-6″, “5-9″, etc = These are signal reports in RST Format. “5-9″ is essentially a perfect reading.
• “+10” = A very strong signal report indicating reception at 10db over a 5-9 rating.
• “+20” = An extremely strong signal report indicating reception at 20db over a 5-9 rating.
• “30 over” = An extremely strong signal report indicating reception at 30db over a 5-9 rating.
• “fine business” = A commonly used phrase among ham radio operators that means “very good”.
• “hi hi” = A commonly used phrase among ham radio operators that indicates a joke. It’s essentially the radio slang version of a smilie face.