Hello RST members!

After a year that seemed like several, it’s finally over, and with great if hard-earned success.

In the CACTUS event our RST CACTUS ops logged a total of nearly 400 on the air hours over the 10-day period (average 40 hours/day!!). We attracted over 4200 Hunters and made 7200 QSOs. 59 Hunters achieved a “clean sweep” (worked all CACTUS stations at least once), and another 29 tried for it but missed by just one. 

Most CACTUS ops worked from their home stations, a few set up stations in the field, and many took advantage of the CACTUS “club stations” that were hosted at N7NBV barn, AI7AZ home station, and the Days In The Park outing.

Almost all feedback from Hunters and Ops was positive, including: 

  • It was a great event. Fun to participate in and the published schedule made it even better.
  • It is events like this that help station operators to be “radioactive”!!! Keep up the good work!
  • I realize the amount of organization that goes into these events and want to thank the team!
  • The whole thing was excellent. I liked the log confirmations, spotting etc. All was great.
  • Great special event. I can’t wait to get the QSLs, they look beautiful and educational. I love paper QSLs for special events (I hate the eQSLs, just not the same. Been a ham for almost 55 years, guess I am old fashioned about Paper QSLs) Hope you do it again next year! 73s Ron de N0SL; and many, many more. 

So that this email doesn’t get too much longer, I invite any who are interested to read our final report here, look at some statistics in Ken’s summary page, or view the complete survey results.

Thanks to all the ops that made this happen (listed below).

73 & Happy Holidays

Bill N7DZ


CACTUS Credits

Several members of the CASE team worked very hard and successfully on this event. At the risk of overlooking some who deserve top praise, I want to single out a few.

  • Joe K3TYE for the idea and continuing to push it forward despite less than total enthusiasm from the rest of us. Thanks Joe!
  • Ken N7NBV for being a great partner in the planning and tool implementation, and together with Vicky KG7OYY for hosting operations at the OK Corral. Thanks Ken and Vicki!
  • John AI7AZ for all the work to design the beautiful CACTUS QSL cards, for a phenomenally successful op hosting event at his home QTH and to his wife Theresa Cullen for tolerating all this in their home. Thanks John and Theresa.
  • Laura W7VIX and Dave KK7VLU for a huge amount of operator time, frequently coaching other ops, and Dave’s technical support of many ops to get FT8 cooperating with Wavelog. Thanks Laura and Dave!
  • Kirk W0PSN for hosting a CACTUS station at the Days In the Park event that week.
  • Bill N7DZ for herding cats, providing web servers for the tools, and doing a bit of coding, and Pamela Dakota Gold for tolerance and support beyond all reasonable expectations.
  • All the spouses and other family members who gave up their “radio guy or gal” in support of this event. 
  • And huge thanks to all the CACTUS Ops. You were the main fuel in the furnace we built, and it would not have been what it was without you. They were Mike AA7WI, Bob AF9W, John AI7AZ, Joe K3TYE, Dave K7GPS, Barry K7GVB, Richard K7NSW, A.J. KB7KZ, Matt KC9UHI, Jim KD7HZQ, David KD7UUM, Anthony KD9WWC, Helen KE2BPY, Charlie KK7ED, Steve KK7GPR, Ken KK7MBX, Dalton KK7QMP, Dave KK7VLU, Don KK7WBH, Rod KU0W, Bill N7DZ, Ken N7NBV, Charlie N7OMI, Robert W7RFL, Laura W7VIX. Thanks Ops!

Reported by Bill, N7DZ
Uploaded by Ana, WV3RSE