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W1NAS
In early 2015, the Shea Naval Aviation Museum Amateur Radio Club was born after ideas of joint participation between the Museum and the K1USN Radio Club. Its first club license was obtained in March, 2015, and the current call, W1NAS, was assigned on April 10, 2015. This call is most appropriate as it represents the use of the facility for more than 55 years as a U.S. Naval Air Station, first as a blimp base, and later as the home of numerous fixed-wingand rotary-wing squadrons, hence the call Weymouth 1 Naval Air Station. Membership is open to all but only licensed amateur radio operators may operate the station. The Museum is maintained by the ANA Patriot Squadron, which also operates and maintains the Shea Memorial Grove just up the street from the current museum location. Located in the Grove are stones honoring the numerous Medal of Honor recipients from the South Shore area, as well as an actual A-4 attack jet that had been stationed at the Naval Air Station. Membership in the Squadron is open to all who have an interestin Naval Aviation regardless of military affiliation. The Museum is open on the second and last Saturday of every month from 09:00 to noon. Check the Museum's website for updated information of the museum, a deeper history of the Naval Air Station, and for activities of the new Radio Club at <www.anapatriotsquadron.com>. The Shea Naval Aviation Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. QSL via W1OD with S.A.S.E. 8/2016 Update: We all had a wonderful time at the Special Event Station on Saturday, August 20, 2016. We set up three stations; one in the Museum itself and two at the Memorial Grove where the A-4 attack jet is mounted. We commemoratedthe 1958 first ever flight of a U.S. Navy Blimp, the "Snow Goose",from NAS South Weymouth to the Arctic Circle while the submarine USS Nautilus, SSN 571, was deployed on "Operation Northwest Passage" crossing under the North Pole. The Tri-City ARC in Groton, CT againoperatedas N1S from the pier of the USS Nautilus in conjunction with W1NAS. Altogether, almost 100contacts were made between all the SoWey stations. The band conditions on the vertical "BuddiPole"antenna at the Museum were very good. A number of hams checked in and related their experiences either in the Navy or who were actually stationed at NAS South Weymouth at one point during their service. You never know who will be on the other side of the microphone, and this was proven again this year when a former P-3 pilot wound up speaking with a former P-3 Flight Engineer, now an F.A.A. inspector. They had a good QSO and both walked away with broad smiles. Last year we had a few folks contact us who flew blimps out of SoWey which brought a lot of attention to the radio by those observing the operations. Thanks to all who volunteered to operate and set up, and especially to those who answered the CQ calls. Please QSL via W1OD and enclose a S.A.S.E. We will QSL 100%. 4/17 UPDATE.... W1NAS now has a dedicated station consisting of a U.S. Navy Collins 46159 receiver and a U.S. Navy Collins 52245 transmitter. This is a permanent loan from K1USN and has been operational from there. We are in the process of installing them and looking forward to putting them on the air real soon. We will be holdinganother Special Event Station on Saturday, August 19, 2017, as we've done the past two years. We are hoping to have the old Collins gear operational for that special event. We also have two old U.S. Navy NationalRadio type NC-100 receivers which will be put into good use. Due to site construction on and around our building, we may be operating from another location. 8/20/17 Update.... W1NAS had another successful Special Event Station yesterday. Due to the Museum being smack in the center of a major site reconstruction program at the former Naval Air Station,we were fortunate enough to be operating from the K1USN Radio Club in nearby Braintree, MA. We made more than 75 contacts on CW and phone, despite the horrible band conditions. We actually made more phone contacts than CW for a change! Visiting board members from the Shea Naval Aviation Museum stopped by and enjoyed the event and took many pictuires. This was the 59th anniversary of the flight of the blimp Snow Goose from NAS South Weymouth to Resolute Bay, as indicated above. Next year will be the 60th anniversary and we're already thinking about what we'll do and how we'll do it. We're hoping all the site work will be completed around the Museum and that we'll be back open to the public once again. For those wishing a high-quality QSL for yesterday's event, please send a SASE to Steve, W1OD. Many thanks to all those who assisted in yesterday's SES: K1RV, Pi; N1VH, Marty, W1VP, Larry; KA1KIJ, Bob; W1TPB, Ted; WK1D, Jeff; K1WN, Bill; N1DC, Rick; WA1TPC, Bob; and a few others whose names I forget at the moment. Keep checking this page for details on next year's 60th anniversary commemoration! 73, Steve, W1OD |
