This was another one of my NPOTA activations that was tacked onto a work trip. There are a couple things about this activation that made it a special one for me, and they aren't specifically related, so I apologize in advance if this post seems like it rambles or gets long - I'll at least do my best to keep it moving in a logical order!
The way this story starts, is that I was making a trip to my company's Rochester office. Rather than sit around in the hotel for the evening, or sit around doing work (I love my job, but I still don't want to do it for 100% of my waking hours!), I decided to sneak in an activation. The Women's Rights National Historic Park was close(ish) to my hotel, so I checked the website, and found that their grounds are open 24 hours - the perfect place to do a late evening activation!
The way this story starts, is that I was making a trip to my company's Rochester office. Rather than sit around in the hotel for the evening, or sit around doing work (I love my job, but I still don't want to do it for 100% of my waking hours!), I decided to sneak in an activation. The Women's Rights National Historic Park was close(ish) to my hotel, so I checked the website, and found that their grounds are open 24 hours - the perfect place to do a late evening activation!
The first significant thing about this activation was the 2 famous hams I got to contact as part of this activation. I'll circle back to the first in just a moment, but the second of those two contacts jumped out at me after just a second's hesitation. When I am doing these activations, I usually log on my laptop, and as I answer the station calling I'm typing their call sign at the same time. In this case I was saying Kilo Bravo 6 November Uniform you're" and then I stuttered. This was because I didn't recognize the call sign until I saw it in writing after I typed it - KB6NU. Once I realized it, I right away said, into the mic, when I should have been giving a signal report, "I recognize that call sign! Is this Dan?" from the other end of the airwaves "Yes it is." At that point I had to fill him in that I read his blog, and listen to a couple of the podcasts that he regularly appears on....I guess my wife would call it acting like a "Fangirl" but I thought it was cool to make a contact with the guy that writes a blog I read, whose study guides I used for my tech and general exam's (I did them both in one sitting - upgraded to Extra about a year after that) and who I hear on the Ham Radio 360 and ICQ podcasts.
The other contact that I wanted to mention was something that didn't even dawn on me at the moment, but after I realized it my mind was just blown! Even thinking about it now as I write this, it's almost emotional. Here's the story: As I wrapped up the activation, I saw a message on my post in the NPOTA Facebook group that said "Thanks for the new one!" Anyone want to guess who that was from? Okay, I'll tell you.....Kay Craigie! That's right Madam President! I know she is not the current president, but for a geeky ham like me, being president of the ARRL is like the being president of United States - once a president, always a president! When I saw that comment I scrambled to look back at my log, and sure enough, there it was, N3KN, number 1 in the log for this activation!
This contact leads me to the second significant part of this activation for me. Think about it! How awesome is that! I'm at the National Park that memorializes women's rights, my first contact is with someone who is also getting this park in their log for the first time, so it was a first in both directions AND that person just happens to be someone who was the Female President (first female president I believe!) of an organization that represents a hobby/service that is dominated by men. How do like them apples?!
So here's my challenge with this in mind. Let's make ham radio as inclusive of all groups of people as possible, women included. Our culture is still ripe with inequalities for women, and while I'm no expert on the subject here are a couple things that jump out at me - the US women's soccer team, that has multiple world cup championships, is paid on average something like 60% (don't quote me on the math here) of the US men's team, which can barely get out of their own way to get through the qualifying rounds. I also personally feel that our rules for FMLA leave in this country are woefully inadequate, and we still force women to choose between careers, and spending the time with their children that their children really should have, and those in power often shrug it off. There are even some religious institutions that encourage this behavior with some of their ideas, but in the interest of not going down the religion/politics rathole, because ham radio isn't the place for that, I'll move on.
In the interest of moving on, I'll end with this: A big part of National Parks on the Air is about bringing attention to the Park Service, the individual parks, and what they represent. For me, the activation in this park struck a nerve with something that we discuss in our house regularly, and the serendipitous 1st contact of that activation being with Kay Craigie, N3KN just helped cement the significance of this park in place for me. After all, "Women's rights are human rights."
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