NRA members are invited to tune in and make a connection when the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC) of Prescott, AZ, celebrates the NRA’s 153rd birthday with its special event station on Nov. 17, 2024. YARC’s amateur radio station will operate from the 3,000-acre Gunsite Academy campus—north of Prescott—that day using FCC-licensed, amateur-radio-station call sign K7GST.
Radio operations will be on the air from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST. Frequencies in use include 7.250, 14.040, 14.250 and 21.335 MHz. Ham radio operators who make contact during the annual event will be able to download a unique NRA/Gunsite certificate (acknowledgement of communications). All amateur stations, especially those operated by Gunsite alumni and NRA members, are encouraged to participate.
Complete details on the event are available online. Those making contact can also visit this website to request their PDF certificate.
The event is much more than a celebration of America’s foremost defender of The Right to Keep and Bear Arms this year. Despite the fact roughly 750,000 U.S. citizens currently hold an amateur radio license—less than .3 percent of the population—this on-air gathering comes on the heels of the complete collapse of standard communications systems in areas of North Carolina and Tennessee during and after Hurricane Helene.
It's a particularly timely reminder to always have a working battery- or backup-powered radio and to check its working condition periodically, even if you don’t have a shortwave radio or amateur license. Many residents in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee relied on what they could hear on old-school radios to find available potable water and food once the storm passed. Readers should check that their AM and FM backup radios are charged up and working. If it happens to be capable of shortwave band coverage, you might also tune into the Gunsite/YARC celebration on Nov. 17th.
