2020 marks the 100th anniversary of KDKA radio. There are plans in the works for operating special event stations in honor of this occasion.
Here is where we are at this point:
- The event will be all month long in November of 2020.
- The plan is to make this operation available to southwestern PA amateur radio operators.
- There are plans to have multiple callsigns for the event. Three 1X1 callsigns have already been reserved. Also, the call W8XK will be used as it was the original callsign of KDKA.
- We had a meeting at the last Breeze Shooters hamfest. The meeting was announced and open to any interested persons.
- There has been interest from a couple of clubs in utilizing their tower trailers and, as such, there are plans to operate from the old KDKA radio transmitter site in Saxonburg (and perhaps other sites).
- There are also plans to have KDKA officials involved.
Here’s the deal:
In an event like this it is important to have good communications between the participants. A Groups.IO group has been set up for this purpose. If you or your club have an interest in partaking in this event it is requested that you join the group. This is where the discussions will occur. It is crucial that you do this.
Please visit https://groups.io/g/kdka100 to join the group. It is open and free to all interested parties.
Note: ARRL and WPA Section Policy allow us to support and promote such events, but not to present them as an “ARRL-” or “WPA-Event”. A meeting was held for all interested parties during the WPA Section Convention in June, and a working group was formed.
At the ad hoc KDKA-100 planning meeting held at the WPA Section Convention in June, the group in attendance discussed the need for planning and chose to have Bob Bastone WC3O take the lead in organizing everyone’s efforts. Below is an open letter from Bob to everyone interested in participating:
