2023:

The Lincoln Co. Amateur Radio Club with the approval and cooperation of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum operated a Special Event Station (SES) 'W1W' on August 12 & 13, 2023 at the Alna Center Station. Three amateur radio stations were placed into service for this event, 1) HF, 2) Morse Code, and 3) a VHF station capable of sending digital messages by Radiogram and one-way Text Messaging to a Cell phone. The HF station was able to make 89 contacts and the Morse Code station made 64 contacts over the two days of the event. The operation was in service from 09:00 AM - 16:00 Saturday and on Sunday 9:00 AM until 13:30 PM due to an approaching thunderstorm.

The aim of this SES was to bring Amateur Radio to the community and expose some of the capabilities of Amateur Radio. Along with the operators, we had LCARC members, and other hams meet the Museum visitors at the Alna Center Station operation site and answer questions along with sending messages as requested. With the arrival of each train, we met people from all across the US, and a few from outside the US. We found out that a few of the Museum volunteers were also hams and gave them a tour of our station. The total operation was powered completely by operating via Solar / Battery. For any equipment needing 120v power, we used an inverter.

Keeping with the spirit of the Museum, Joe AB1YO brought some of his vintage broadcast band equipment for an operational display. It included an Atwater Kent Model 42 (1928), a matching AK speaker, and a diamond shaped loop antenna. A low power transmitter was used to broadcast vintage recordings from 1924. We also had a vintage railroad sounder and key for the visitors to see and try as a demonstration and to compare that to the sound of the tones of Morse Code.

All of the hams operated at some point during the weekend. They were: Joe AB1YO, Jose KB1TCD, Chris W1ETI, Giff K1GAH, Patty K1PCH, Ernie K1NI, Bob KB1BXC, Pete KJ1A, Cory KU1U, and our surprise guest Simon N1URA. We also had a GOTA (Get On The Air) station for anyone interested in giving talking on the radio a try. We look forward to doing this again.