W9IMS Special Event Station Operations Start This Sunday

Posted on by May 3, 2019

W9IMS is the call sign of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club.

2018 Indianapolis Grand Prix QSL Card

The first leg of the W9IMS Special Event Triple Crown starts on Sunday May 5th.

W9IMS conducts special event operations for all three races that make up the Triple Crown on Indy’s legendary 2-1/2-mile oval – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These events are the INDYCAR Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the Brickyard 400.

Here are a couple of hints for tracking down the station during special event weeks:

  1. Go to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org), find the “2019 Operating Schedule” heading, and click on the link to the IndyCar Grand Prix or any other race. Although some W9IMS operators take to the airwaves at unscheduled times, you’ll have your best luck looking for the station during the hours and bands reserved with a name and a callsign.
  2. Check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) anytime for spots that identify the current frequency (or frequencies) of W9IMS, if any. And if you type “W9IMS” in the search box, you can customize it to show reports for only that station.

2019 OPERATING SCHEDULE:

May 5-11: Indianpolis Grand Prix (Indy Car Race)

May 20-26: Indianapolis 500 (Indy Car Race)

Sept 2-8: Brickyard 400 NASCAR Race

Fred, KC9QQ

Indiana QSO Party May 4th and 5th

Posted on by April 25, 2019

Indiana QSO Party
County Map

I am preparing for the Indiana QSO Party the weekend of May 4th.

The Indiana QSO Party starts at 1500 UTC Saturday and ends at 0300 UTC Sunday the first full weekend of May. (Saturday 11am to 11pm EDT or 10am to 10pm CDT.) For 2019, this is May 4-5. All stations may operate the full 12-hour period.

I won’t be able to operate during the entire contest, but plan to be on during the early part of the contest for a few hours.

Be aware that there are several other State QSO parties this same weekend.  These include the Delaware, New England and 7th Call Area QSO parties. You can participate in all of them at the same time.  You do not have to keep a separate log for each QSO party.  N1NN and other logging can handle the logging for each  QSO party simultaneously.  Just enter the exchange as received.  After the completion of the contests, alll you have to do is send you log to the coordinator for each for each states  QSO Parties and their software can extract the appropriate QSOs.  The list of Indiana County abbreviations are listed here: http://www.hdxcc.org/inqp/counties.html

I will be operating from my fixed location in Morgan County.  I will probably be on 40 and 20 meters depending on the band conditions.

I am looking forward to hearing a lot of activity.

73,

Fred, KC9QQ

Field Day 2019

Posted on by April 25, 2019

2019 Field Day Site

The following is from the ARRL Indiana Section April Newsletter:

Indy United ARC Indy United ARC is a newly formed club in the Indianapolis area that recently attained ARRL affiliation. Our core group was part of the 2018 Field Day team that finished 3rd overall in Class 3A under the banner of the Indianapolis Radio Club.

This year, Indy United (club call: W9SU) will operate our own competitive Field Day effort at our 2018 site, Victor Conservation Club, located on a 900-foot hill near Centerton (street address: 6675 Red Day Road, Martinsville). All are welcome to visit, and we’re issuing a special invitation for new and generally inactive hams (as well as non-hams) to get on the air with our GOTA station. Operating times will be scheduled, so please contact us at W9SU@arrl.net if you’d like to participate with one of the nation’s leading Field Day teams.

As the name implies, Indy United (yes, it was inspired by famed British soccer team Manchester United) hopes to unite clubs and operators from across Indianapolis and beyond. On previous Field Days, our coalition team has encompassed as many as six Indianapolis-area radio clubs, and we intend to continue promoting that spirit of cooperation as a new, independent radio club. With a self-declared focus on contesting and competition (particularly Field Day), Indy United members also stand ready to offer mentoring to inexperienced amateurs.