USS Little Rock 40th Anniversary

Chris (KD2ISV, logging) and Phil (KD2KSG, operating) manning the main operating position at W2PE.

On Saturday, July 15, 2017, a team of RAWNY operators activated club station W2PE in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the arrival of USS Little Rock to the Buffalo waterfront. The USS Little Rock is a Cleveland-Class cruiser, and it’s currently the only guided missile cruiser on display in the United States. The USS Little Rock is part of three ships that make up the major attraction of the Buffalo Naval & Military Park, and RAWNY has been proud to have a club station on the upper deck since 1981.

The RAWNY team operated from 1300 UTC until 1600 UTC and was able to make well over 200 contacts in that short period of time on both 40 and 20 meters. Conditions were favorable and we were able to get through the pile-ups with little difficulty. Anyone who made contact with W2PE during this special event can certainly receive a QSL card from us by following the directions on our QSL page.

The Buffalo News ran an excellent story about the arrival of the USS Little Rock 40 years ago.

Mike (KA2GVY) operated 40m from the secondary operating position.

Very special thanks to Aaron (N2HTL), Chris (KD2ISV), Ken (KD2KEH), Phil (KD2KSG), and Jim (KA2IWK) for putting the station on the air.