First Year's Operations
June 6, 2001 The first operation of WW2DDM took place from the Smith Mountain Lake State Park at the Amphitheater near the Visitor's Center. This is a beautiful location on a peninsula jutting out into the lake. It was a lovely day with a gentle breeze.
One station was set up on a picnic table under some trees which shaded the table all day long and the table was within a few feet of the water. A second station was set up on the stage of the Amphitheater. This operating position had open sides and a roof. The ceiling was complete with lights and ceiling fans. The third station was the mobile of Stan, K4UK fed from AC power from the Amphitheater.
Rigs used included Ten-Tec OMNI 6, Ten-Tec Jupiter, ICOM IC-746 and Ten-Tec Scout. The antennas were G5RV, trapped dipole and hustler mobile whip.
June 7, 2001
We left all antennas in place and returned to the Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
June 8, 2001
Based on a vote of the participating operators it was decided to once again go to the Park rather than move to Gil Paxton's Farm in Bedford. The Lake location was just too pleasant a place to leave. This day at least one contact was made on: 40 CW & SSB, 30 CW, 20 CW & SSB, 17 CW & SSB, 15 CW & SSB, 12 CW & SSB and 10 CW & SSB.
June 9, 2001
The Operation of WW2DDM took place at the Lakeside Picnic Shelter in Liberty Lake Park in Bedford, VA. This was sponsored by the Roanoke Valley ARC and included an all-day picnic. The food was great and lots of contacts were made using two G5RV antennas, an FT-1000 and an FT-990.
Many operators took time out to visit the D-Day Memorial which was about a mile away. All were impressed, it is a very fitting tribute to those who took part in the landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.June 10, 2001
Operations on Sunday were limited to operating from home stations.
Other Operations
Special mention needs to be made of the monumental accomplishment of Paul Beach, K4PLB who operated exclusively on 40 Meter SSB from his home in Bedford County. He accomplished his goal of 1000 contacts for WW2DDM.
His total was 1015 during the 5 days of operation. WOW!Bill, WA4BKW operated 75 Meters to provide SSB contacts with WW2DDM.
Jack, KS4FK and Pete, W4WWQ provided PSK-31 contacts with WW2DDM.
Bob, W8HGH and Anthony, WM3T provided RTTY contacts with WW2DDM.
Frank, KE4HOA and his gang provided SSB and FM contacts with WW2DDM on 50 MHz, 144 MHz and 432 MHz.
In addition the local 6 Meter Repeater on 53.150 MHz and the 2 Meter Repeaters on 147.105 MHz and 146.985 MHz were used so that those with only FM equipment had the opportunity to contact WW2DDM.
Providing multiple bands and multiple modes surely added to the enjoyment of all who operated WW2DDM during the Special Event and we hope also added to the pleasure of all those who contacted us.
Results
Total Contacts = 2712
SSB - HF Total = 1694
75M 40M 20M 17M 15M 12M 10M
82 1444 201 7 39 1 2CW - HF Total = 394
80M 40M 30M 20M 17M 15M 12M 10M
1 143 4 126 7 19 1 3PSK - HF Total = 421
40M 20M 15M 10M
8 334 78 1RTTY - HF Total = 65
20M
65VHF/UHF - Total = 133
6M/SSB 2M/SSB 432/SSB 6M/FM/R 2M/FM/R 2M/FM/S
29 25 4 15 56 9Countries Worked
A total of 114 different countries were worked from WW2DDM.
CW SSB PSK RTTY
37 92 36 18These included:
3A, 3B8, 3D2, 3DA, 3X, 4S, 4U1, 4X, 5H, 5W, 5Z, 6Y, 7Q, 8P, 8R,
9A. 9H, 9J, 9L, 9X, 9Y, A2, A3, C5, C9, CN, CO, CT, CU, DL, EA,
EA6, EA8, EI, EK, ER, ES, F, FG, FM, FO, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU,
GW, HA, HB9, HC, HH, HI, HK, HV, I, J2, J3, J8, JA, JY, KH6,
KL7, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, OX, OZ, P2, PJ7,
PJ9, PA, PY, PY0F, PZ, S5, SM, SP, SU, T32, T9, TA, TG, TI, TK,
TN, TR, TZ, UA, UA0, UR, V2, V3, V5, VE, VK, VP5, W, WP4, XE,
YO, YU, YV, Z2, ZD8, ZF, ZL, ZS
Also, we were contacted by stations in each of the 50 States of the U.S.
Truly the Operation exceeded our "wildest dreams" and was enjoyed by all who participated in putting WW2DDM on the air..