The Memorial Day Troop Train left the Springdale station at 8:00 AM on May 26th bound for Chester. It rained heavily during the morning and we were thankful we had things organized so we wouldn't have to be too concerned about the weather. Somewhere between Springdale and Fayetteville our 20 meter hamstick got whacked by a tree limb and came loose at the ball mount! When the train stopped in Greenland Scott KD5KZJ and Rob KE5RFL scampered up the ladder with a trusty adjustable wrench and made repairs within three or four minutes.

Unfortunately, the bands that day (40 and 20) were really, really poor. Only seven contacts were made on 20 meters, which was all but dead! Fifty-seven contacts were made on 40 meters, the noise was so strong that every contact was a struggle. There was a brief interval when the train was turning around in Chester where the band sounded relatively good. The noise came up again and the band just seemed to fizzle.

It was a disappointing day in terms of contacts, but we all enjoyed riding in the caboose. At present it has no air conditioning and the only ventilation came from opening the side windows in the cupola or proping open the front and rear doors. The air was cool and there was a breeze during the morning but as afternoon came around the sun came out. We were told that by next year there will be AC on the caboose as well as air conditioning. That means things will only get better and we sure hope the bands are better next year as well.

 

QSL information can be found on QRZ.com under W5T, K5NOW or KD5TLH. There is also a special event listing in the May issue of QST magazine on page 92.

First Ops Test for W5T was on March 2 - The antenna installation works! Click here for details!

Sunday May 25th preparation photos.

Click here for excursion train ticket info, schedules and general information or contact the railroad directly at 1.800.687.8600 or 479.751.8600. Be sure and watch for Memorial Day 2009 because we will be running the event again.