By Brian D. Smith
NASCAR involves Indy this Sunday, which implies that from now till then, you will have an opportunity to snare the third and ultimate QSL card within the 2024 set of beginner radio station W9IMS. Higher but, you possibly can earn this yr’s Checkered Flag Award with much less effort than normal, because of the unexpected results of a mischievous solar.
Again in early Might, the W9IMS crew staged their first particular occasion of the yr, commemorating the IndyCar Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However a sequence of photo voltaic flares spoiled the occasion, making it troublesome for a lot of stations to attach with W9IMS.
For the reason that normal requirement of the Checkered Flag Award is to work or tune in all three W9IMS particular occasions in a given yr, the uncharacteristically low variety of Grand Prix contacts appeared destined to lead to an uncharacteristically low variety of certificates recipients.
So membership officers modified the foundations. This yr, you possibly can qualify for the award with credit for any two of the three particular occasions: the Grand Prix and Indy 500 in Might, and the upcoming NASCAR 400 on the Brickyard.
After all, it’s greatest to bag all of the occasions and declare the trio of ’24 QSL playing cards together with the certificates. However for anybody who went 1-for-2 in Might, the approaching week is your final alternative so as to add extra W9IMS wallpaper to your shack. The station will probably be on the air by means of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 21 (Indianapolis time)/0359 UTC Monday, July 22.
W9IMS operates totally on 20 and 40 meters, however often provides 80 meters later within the week (and sometimes 2 meters on Race Day for locals and followers within the stands on the Speedway). Most well-liked frequencies are 14.245 and seven.245 SSB, plus or minus QRM.
A couple of recommendations on finding W9IMS:
- Verify DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots itemizing the present frequency or frequencies of W9IMS. You’ll be able to customise your search by typing “W9IMS” within the field at higher proper.
- Go to the W9IMS net web page (www.w9ims.org) and search for the heading, “2024 Working Schedule.” Click on on the “NASCAR 400 on the Brickyard” hyperlink, which opens right into a weeklong schedule of particular person operators and their reserved time slots. Though operators continuously get on the air at unscheduled instances, your odds of catching the station enhance considerably throughout hours with a listed op.
- Prime time for weeknight operations is 6 to 10 p.m. in Indy (2200-0200 UTC). That’s additionally your most definitely shot at discovering W9IMS energetic on two bands. Nonetheless, it’s common for operators to proceed until midnight or later if band situations enable.
- Keep in mind that the printed schedule might be shortened by hostile circumstances, comparable to native thunderstorms, a scarcity of calling stations and, as we found in Might, photo voltaic flares! Don’t wait until the ultimate hour to search for W9IMS.
- However when you nonetheless haven’t labored W9IMS by the ultimate weekend, don’t quit too quickly. Towards the top of the particular occasion, W9IMS ops usually name for “solely stations that haven’t labored us this week” and/or change to contest-style operations, exchanging solely sign reviews to place extra calls within the log.
- Remember the fact that each hams and SWLs are eligible for QSL playing cards and the certificates. So in case your ham station isn’t capable of work W9IMS by Sunday night time, you possibly can create an SWL report by copying down particulars of profitable contacts – comparable to date, frequency, UTC, and the callsigns of a number of stations you heard W9IMS working. SWL reviews rely as credit too, though the certificates could function your identify as an alternative of your name.
