Gunsite Celebrating NRA’s 153rd Birthday On The Air

The Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC) of Prescott, Ariz., will be operating a special event station on Nov. 17, 2024, in celebration of the NRA’s 153rd birthday. The amateur radio station will operate from the Gunsite Academy’s 3,000-acre campus north of Prescott, Ariz., with call sign K7GST, an FCC-licensed amateur radio station.

Operations will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST on 7.250, 14.040, 14.250 and 21.335 MHz. A unique NRA/Gunsite certificate (acknowledgement of communications) will be available to those stations contacted during the event. All amateur stations, especially those operated by NRA members and Gunsite alumni, are urged to participate.

Those making contact can visit this website to request their PDF certificate. Complete details on the event are also available online. YARC holds the special on-air event annually. This one—coming on the heels of the complete collapse of cell phone systems, the Internet and electric grid during Hurricane Helene—is a particularly timely reminder to always have a working battery- or backup-powered radio and to check its working condition periodically.

The only way many residents in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee learned where potable water and food was available after the storm passed was through broadcast radio bulletins. Readers who don’t have an amateur radio license, but have a radio capable of covering shortwave broadcast and ham bands, are also invited to listen in on November 17.

The role amateur radio played in the aftermath of the hurricane is only now coming into focus. Emergency communications were key, but more “mundane” duties also played a critical role. Communicating through a repeater located on a distant mountain with handheld and battery-operated radios, licensed operators in the area were able to deliver messages to distant family and friends from loved ones who survived. There’s no doubt that news minimized many urges to drive into the destruction, which would have hampered first-responder efforts.