[HCRA] Fw: KB6NU's March 2013 column for amateur radio club newsletters

[Larry Krainson]

Of interest to all possibly:



Hi, all--

Here's my March  column.

73, Dan KB6NU


W8P Spreads the Word about End Polio Now

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

On Saturday and Sunday, February 23-24, 2013, amateur radio operators 
gathered at WA2HOM, the amateur radio station at the Ann Arbor Hands-On 
Museum. We were there to operate special event station W8P to commemorate 
the founding of the Rotary Club on February 23, 1905 and spread the word 
about Rotary International’s End Polio Now Campaign (www.endpolio.org).

The goal of the End Polio Now program is to rid the world of this terrible 
disease. Rotary International launched this program in 1985, and with the 
aid of UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the Bill and Melinda Gates 
Foundation has cut the number of cases by more than 99.9%. In 1988, polio 
was endemic in 125 countries. In 2012, polio is endemic in only two regions. 
We like to say that we're "this close" to eradicating polio.

The unique part of the special operating event is that stations all over the 
world took part in it. Rotary is an international organization, and its 
amateur radio fellowship, Rotarians on Amateur Radio (ROAR), includes 
members all over the world. In Australia, a group operated the special event 
station VI4POLIO. In Europe, Pertti, past president of ROAR, operated his 
station, EA7GSU. Here in the States, a group that included yours truly; 
Jack, N8PMG; Jameson, KD8PIJ; Dinesh, AB3DC; and Mark, W8MP operated W8P.

Since the museum is only open from 1500Z – 2200Z, we were only able to 
operate for seven hours on Saturday. We spent all of our time on 20m phone, 
with our beam pointed southwest, concentrating on working mostly U.S. 
stations. We had originally intended to operate on 14.287 MHz, but quickly 
had to change frequencies, as that portion of the band was occupied by 
participants in the Mississippi QSO party.

We finally ended up on 14.227 MHz and made a total of 110 contacts on 
Saturday. This included 29 states and four DX contacts.

On Sunday, we only operated for a couple of hours and made another 27 
contacts. While we made fewer contacts on Sunday, the contacts that we did 
make were more poignant than the ones on Saturday.

My first contact on Sunday was with a gentleman who was spending the winter 
in Florida, but whose hometown was Standish, Michigan. He told me that his 
mother had polio, and in the late 1930s and early 1940s, they would put her 
on a bus for Ann Arbor, where she would receive treatments. While there’s no 
way to be sure, I think that this ham’s mother was taking part in some of 
the research leading to the Salk vaccine in 1955. That research took place 
right here at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

I also talked to hams that had direct experience with polio. One was a polio 
survivor himself. Another’s wife was a polio survivor. A third was a 
physician who had been to Africa and had treated polio victims there.

It was a real treat to combine two activities that I enjoy so much–amateur 
radio and Rotary–and it felt good to know that in some small way I was 
furthering the work of the End Polio Now campaign. I hope that next year we 
will once again operate this special event and get even more Rotarians and 
amateur radio operators to participate.

===================================================

When he's not trying to save the world, Dan, KB6NU enjoys working CW on the 
HF bands. For more information about his operating activities and his 
"No-Nonsense" series of amateur radio license study guides, go to KB6NU.Com 
or e-mail cwgeek at kb6nu.com.


NOTE TO EDITORS: An image of the Rotary symbol can be found at 
http://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/rotarywheel.jpg.