| FARA Field Station at the Upton CCC Camp 75th Anniversary |
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by Jim Weckback, W1EQW The FARA W1FY banner was on display on Saturday May 15 at Upton State Forest in Upton Massachusetts. FARA was invited by The Friends of Upton State Forest to set up a ham radio station to help celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the opening of CCC Camp SP25 which was opened in 1935. The Civilian Conservation Corps was started in 1933 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in which the objective was to give jobs to out-of-work men and stimulate the economy during The Great Depression. Many of the camps used ham radio for communications. The event was held on a beautiful day for ham radio with openings to US states as well as western Europe. FARA members supporting the event were Sumner Weisman, W1VIV; Jim Weckback, W1EQW; Ed Weiss, W1NXC; and Mary Weiss, KA1HGL. Ed and Mary demonstrated morse code using several types of cw keys. Sumner and Jim operated the HF station using the W1FY call sign using FARA's old Kenwood equipment at 100W output into an old Mosley trap dipole strung between two trees and about 30 feet above the ground. Good signal reports on 20 meters were received from about a dozen US states as well as stations in Finland, Norway, and Italy.The event ran from 10 AM to 3 PM. There was a brief ceremony at 11 AM with Massachusetts state dignitaries, members of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Friends of Upton State Forest present. Certificates were presented to several individuals who were in the CCC and stationed at Camp 25 back in the 1930's. Running the equipment out of doors gave it a real Field Day feel. It was a great day. |
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