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 Previous: ARES Volunteers for Pentagon Disaster Stabilizes; New York City Operations Continue |  Next: ARRL In Action |
By Jim Andera, K0NK
September 16, 2001
The Pony Express and the telegraph office are part and parcel of our mental image of the Wild West. Although the latter was responsible for the short life span of the former, both coexist happily in re-creations of the past.
 Pony Express rider Shane accepts a message from telegraph operators Jim and Charlie while a frontier lady, Monica, visits the Telegraph Office. |
For the second consecutive year, Amateur Radio and the telegraph were part of the Hollenberg Pony Express Station's annual festival. From the perspective of Amateur Radio operators around the country, K0ASA was a busy Special Event Station, on the air for 7 hours on August 26, commemorating the 141st anniversary of the Pony Express. Those attending the festival saw it as an operating 1860s "Telegraph Office," complete with telegraph sounders clicking away. The five "telegraph operators" who worked the station viewed it as a fun day out on the Kansas prairie.
 The "telegraph operators" pose behind a display of old and new Morse code sending apparatus. Shown (L-R) are Dave, N0PGE; Ken, W0NXS; Charlie, K0THN; and Nate, N0NB; Jim, K0NK and Buddy. |
Sponsored by the Crown Amateur Radio Association and assisted by members of the Marshal County Amateur Radio Club in Marysville, Kansas, the special event station logged 88 QSOs, primarily on the CW portions of 40, 20 and 17 meters. Operators made a handful of contacts on 17-meter SSB and 2-meter FM. Two HF stations and a VHF station operated on battery power. Operators included Jim Andera, K0NK, and Charlie Hett, K0THN--from CARA; and Nate Bargmann, N0NB, Dave Crawford, N0PGE and Ken Kopp, W0NXS--from the Marshal County club. CARA is associated with Honeywell International (Bendix/King Avionics) in Olathe, Kansas.
Once again the Amateur Radio display was configured to resemble an old-time telegraph office. Visitors got to observe communications taking place using Morse code and were able to learn how the Pony Express and telegraph worked together to bridge the East Coast and West Coast in the years just preceding the Civil War.
 Nate and Charlie welcome Karen Latta, one of the festival organizers. |
This year the telegraph office display included a youth table where kids could send their names in Morse code and walk away with an Archie ham radio comic book. Some of the "kids" who visited the youth table were 80-plus years old!
 Some of the "kids" that enjoyed the youth table were older than others! |
Other displays surrounding the telegraph office ranged from a covered-wagon camp, to a beautifully restored stagecoach, to hides being prepared for tanning. One could hear the report of musket fire echoing through the grounds and observe people making cornhusk brooms and hand churning butter.
The Hollenberg Pony Express Station, an uniquely preserved bit of American History operated by the Kansas State Historical Society is located near the north central Kansas town of Hanover. In addition to being a Pony Express stop for travelers of the 1800s, the station served
 Pioneer lady Yvonne Larson's covered wagon is part of the covered-wagon camp. She displays her wagon at about 26 shows and festivals each year. |
as a general store, a home, a stagecoach stop and even a tavern, offering guests a sleeping area in the loft. About a quarter mile away is the Cottonwood Creek crossing on the Oregon Trail, where as many as 1000 covered wagons a day were said to have crossed during the peak of the westward movement during the 19th century.
Requests for a Pony Express Special Event Station certificate are coming in from across the country. On the back of one of the QSL cards we received was a note that read "this was only my second CW contact in 42 years. I practiced all week to get ready for when I would have to use it." Comments like these make all the work that goes into a special event station worthwhile!
Editor's note: Jim Andera, K0NK, is an ARRL Life Member who lives in Gardner, Kansas. Readers may contact him via e-mail at k0nk@arrl.net.
| Previous: ARES Volunteers for Pentagon Disaster Stabilizes; New York City Operations Continue | Next: ARRL In Action |
