Marty, Bob, Howard and Del in Action on Kansas DayJanuary 29, Kansas Day, happened to fall on a Saturday this year, so several members of the club took full advantage of the opportunity and headed for what has been dubbed "Sawyer Memorial Antenna Farm" (SMAF) in Edgerton to carry out a special event marking the occasion.
During a six-hour period that began at 10 a.m., this group of hams explored the airways using the club call sign (KSØKS) in search of potential contacts who, when reached, were informed with some measure of pride that Kansas was having yet another "birthday," its 161st.
These long-distance transmissions were accomplished through two modes, voice and CW, the latter of which was certainly an option in the way of communicating with others when Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th State back on January 29, 1861.
All in all, the hams were able to hook up with 179 other operators from inside the vintage camper Del Sawyer, K0DDS, has parked along the southern edge of his in-town "farm." Del told me the day after Kansas Day that most of the stations that were worked were located in the eastern half of the United States but that the hams had success in reaching operators in the four states bordering the Sunflower State, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma. He described that feat as "neat," as according to him, it doesn't happen all that often.
Those joining Del at SMAF for last month's special event included Marty Peters, KE0PE, Bob Shaumeyer, KC0TZX, Howard Cripe, N0AZ, and Rob Underwood, W0RU.