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Our Club participates each year in the annual Antarctic Activity Week (AAW). This year, it it will be from February 19-27. This will be the 20th annual AAW event, and the 13th in which our club has participated. In the past we have operated remotely from the Kansas City Zoo. However, in most recent years we have been unable to do that due to COVID and weather. Each year's operations continue to be subject to weather.
Our club members also participate on the air from their home QTHs during AAW week. If you would like to help us with the next AAW event event, or have some interesting AAW contact stories to share, please send an e-mail to info@k0ant.org.
When able, our remote operations from the Kansas City Zoo typically use two or three portable HF stations at the Zoo.
In the past we have had an SSB phone station using an Icom 7000. We have also had a digital station using PSK31 on an Icom 7000. And we have also had a CW station on some occasions.
Our portable antenna choices have including a 30' end-fed wire antenna with a 9:1 UNUN match box (see our Projects page). It only takes about 5 minutes to set up, but requires a tuner. We have also used a Comet multi-band vertical, which can operate without a tuner. We have occasionally used portable 15m and 20m antennas. We also have a available an Alpha 2.0 Military Field Antenna, which only takes 5 minutes to set up, and also operates without the need for a tuner.
Antarctic Activity Week is a worldwide, all amateur radio band, all amateur radio modes event. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the ongoing work of the international scientific community, researchers and support staff, spending year round studying the secrets of the earth and preserving the pristine environment under treaties of neutrality and non-militarization on the continent of Antarctica and its surrounding seas – and, of course, to have fun with our radios. We take the last full week in February (starting with the Monday, because the Italian week starts on Monday) and operate the Special Event stations so that other hams will contact us and learn about and remember the work being done there under oftentimes some of the harshest conditions on the planet. Our Club has a unique QSL card (a confirmation of the contact) that we provide to those who want one and send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Also, our Club, with the radio call sign of KØANT, has been assigned a Worldwide Antarctic Program reference number, WAP-198, for those ham operators who want to obtain a certificate from the Program for working a number of other WAP stations. For information on how to get those certificates, and to learn more about the Worldwide Antarctic Program, amateur radio on the continent of Antarctica, and about the Antarctic Activity Week, please visit the WAP web site: www.waponline.it
When we operate from the Kansas City Zoo, We enjoy promoting not only the Antarctic Activity Week but also the KC Zoo's great Penguin exhibit.
We always enjoy having Zoo patrons stop by to see what we are doing. Hopefully they learn a little about amateur (HAM) radio, and about the Special Event that we are running.
The digital station has included an Icom 7000 running PSK31 on portable 15m and 20m antennas.
We would love for you to join us the next time we do this event.
Our Club always looks forward to this event. We enjoy logging interesting conversations over the air with amateur radio stations across North America, and also
a few DX stations, sharing information about the work being done in the Antarctic and the scientific teams that have devoted time for that work. On occasion, we have the privilege to visit over the air with amateurs who have themselves personally served at research stations in the Antarctic.
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