Ghost Town of White Rock, SD
September 26-27, 2026
Please read and use only the W0JHwhiterock@outlook.com email address to request confirmation certificates. Postal requests will not be recognized. Confirmation certificates for valid contacts will only be sent by email as a pdf, and will be sent to the email address from which your request was made.
The Stillwater Amateur Radio Assn (SARA) will be returning for the 8th time to operate from the ghost town of White Rock, SD. We first ran this event 27 years ago in 1999 using a special WØA callsign. The town of White Rock was established in 1884 and was once a thriving farming community with a peak population of 600 people; with 7 grain elevators, 3 hotels, 4 saloons, 2 banks, a large department store, 2 drug stores, 2 churches, a 12 grade school, railroad depot, post office as well as other mercantile establishments. White Rock is the most northeastern community in SD and the tri-state point where SD, ND & MN meet is nearby. The current population is 2!
While our primary base station will be set up on SSB in the town of White Rock, we expect conditions will allow us to have a secondary station at times at the SD/ND/MN tri-state marker. SSB will be our primary mode, but we also intend to operate some CW. We will have a few people camping in White Rock that may operate some during the evening, but this is primarily going to be a daytime operation with intention to be up and running from 1400-2350 UTC on Saturday 9/26 and Sunday 9/27. One of the stations in White Rock will likely become established on 20m and will be kept busy enough to stay there most of the day. We encourage anyone who works us, to spot us on the cluster, as we won’t be self spotting and the more folks we work, the happier we will be. We have about a 4hr drive to White Rock and need time to set up on Friday 9/25, but plan to be operational late in the day on Friday. Would appreciate being able to make a few contacts then to be sure we are ready to go for the weekend, so if you are available on Friday 9/25 mid to late afternoon, you may be able to work us for an early contact for the event.
Suggested Frequencies: (with 20m & 40m being more active)
SSB: 3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, 28.360 MHz (+/– 10 kHz)
CW: Frequencies pending
Confirmations/QSL Certificates: Certificates for valid contacts will be by email only with a pdf certificate sent to you. To receive your confirmation, send an email request to W0JHwhiterock@outlook.com
No need to include signal reports, as if the rest of the info matches, you will receive your pdf certificate confirmation back in roughly 3 weeks. You will receive an auto-reply when submitting your email request to let you know your request was received, but does not imply that your contact is confirmed. This email address is for this event only and please submit promptly as this email will be deactivated approximately 3 weeks after conclusion of the event. If you get a deactivation message, you may or may not get a confirmation. Logs will be uploaded to LOTW & QRZ shortly after the event, but we need a bit of time to design the confirmation certificate with pictures from the current event.
No Digital QSL Cards or postal requests please. Confirmations will be by email only.
Keep in mind, that if you need confirmation for ND or MN, you will have to work the station we hope to have at the tri-state marker. While all valid contacts will receive the same event certificate, those that work the station at the tri-state marker will be so noted in the comments on the certificate.
To request a certificate send email request with the below info to: W0JHwhiterock@outlook.com
* Your Call Sign
* Date of QSO (UTC date)
* Time of QSO (UTC time)
* Band or Frequency
* Mode
Any email received without the above information may be returned for clarification or discarded.
Frozen Ice Station WØJH Special Event from ice covered Lake Elmo in Minnesota
February 14-16, 2026
Please read and use only the W0JHice@outlook.com email address to request confirmation certificates. Postal requests will not be recognized. Confirmation certificates for valid contacts will only be sent by email as a pdf, and will be sent to the email address from which your request was made.
Below photos are from our 2025 event.
Having strong Scandinavian heritage, Minnesotans have been known to do odd, crazy things to break the monotony of the long winter. Members of the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA), will operate a portable special event from a frozen lake in east-central Minnesota. If the ice is thick enough, we will be operating from Lake Elmo, which is a little lake that covers about 281 acres, has a maximum depth of nearly 140 feet and located at grid square EN34 in Washington County, MN.
Primary operation will be SSB ~3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, and 28.360 + or – depending upon band conditions. For safety and staffing reasons, we will only be on the air during daylight hours in MN. If weather permits, our main station will be located on the ice and likely begin on 75m or 40m in the morning to attempt to get closer stations in our log, prior to moving to 20m. Recent events have produced poor results on 75m & 40m, but excellent results primarly on 20m, 10m, &15m, so that would be the most likely bands to look for us. We anticipate having a second nearby station on the lake shore, which would be on a band that the main station would not simultaneously be on.
No digital QSL’s, QSL Cards, or other postal requests. Confirmation Certificates will be by email only.
To request a certificate send email request with the below info to:
* Your Call Sign
* Date of QSO (UTC date)
* Time of QSO (UTC time)
* Band or Frequency
* Mode
Any email received without the above information may be returned for clarification or discarded.
You will receive an auto-reply when submitting your email request to let you know your request was received and certificates for valid contacts will be sent as a PDF file to your email address beginning approximately 3 weeks following conclusion of the event.
The above email address is for this event only. Please submit your certificate requests promptly, as this email is likely going to be deactivated approximately 3 weeks after conclusion of the event. Late requests will likely not receive confirmation certificates.
Remembering Father George Metcalf WØJH at Belwin Conservancy
January 9 thru 11, 2026
Please read and use only the W0JHrequest@gmail.com email address to request confirmation certificates for this event only. Postal requests and digital QSLs will not be recognized. Confirmation certificates for valid contacts will only be sent by email as a pdf, and will be sent to the email address from which your request was made.
This special event recognizes the original holder of the WØJH callsign; Fr. George Metcalf. As a WWII U.S. Army Chaplain, he was tasked by General Patton to write the somewhat famous “Weather Prayer.” Patton and his troops believed the prayer for good weather allowed the Allies to liberate Bastogne, Belgium at the “Battle of the Bulge.”
Fr. Metcalf was an Episcopal Priest, who with his wife Mary, in 1959 purchased 100 acres to establish their home, near Afton, MN. We will be operating from this area, which over time through donation and purchase, has become part of the Belwin Conservancy. Belwin protects 1,600 acres of prairie, savanna, and woodlands in Minnesota’s Saint Croix Valley, just 15 miles from St. Paul.
We will be operating SSB, primarily ~3.860MHz, 7.260MHz, 14.260MHz, 21.360MHz & 28.360MHz + or – depending on band conditions. While 20m routinely produces the most contacts for us, we have found 15m & 10m quite productive during recent events. While this is primarily a SSB operation, it is possible one of our stations may turn up on another mode. We welcome being spotted where appropriate, if you hear us.
Logs will be uploaded to LOTW and QRZ. No QSL Cards, or other postal requests. Certificate confirmations for this event only to: W0JHrequest@gmail.com
Please submit confirmation requests promptly as we will be making a rapid transition to our Ice Station event coming up on February 14-16 Late certificate requests after January 31st will not be fulfilled.
No need to include signal reports with your confirmation request. What is in our log is what will appear on your certificate, however you must include:
* Your Call
* Date of QSO (UTC date)
* Time of QSO (UTC time)
* Band or Frequency
* Mode
Any email received without the above information may be returned for clarification or discarded. Certificate requests from SWL stations should include the call sign of at least one station we were in contact with during the time you heard us, and a brief synopsis of the conversation you heard.
We design a new certificate for each of our events, and that process can’t begin until the end of the event, so please be patient.
WØJH Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event
November 7 thru 10, 2025
WØJH will again be operating from the grounds of Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, in Lake County Minnesota, Grid Square EN47, and will qualify for POTA US-2524 & US-8095, ARLHS USA-783.
November 10th is the 50th Anniversary of the tragic loss of this famous ship and her entire 29-man crew. This will be the 21st consecutive year, that the Stillwater Amateur Radio Assn (SARA), has operated to commemorate the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitz passed Split Rock Lighthouse on her final voyage.
Please read below and use this address only for confirmation certificates for this event W0JHFitz@outlook.com
We plan to have 2 stations assigned to operating on SSB, primarily ~3.860MHz, 7.260MHz, 14.260MHz, 21.360MHz, & 18.160MHz + or – depending upon band conditions. While 20m routinely produces the most contacts for us, we have been known to spend time on other HF bands, including 10m. We also expect to have a 3rd station, that will also spend time operating on FT8 as well as SSB.
Due to staffing and access time to the park site, we anticipate WØJH being on the air from when we can get set up ~19:00 to ~23:00 UTC on Nov 7th, and ~15:00-23:55 UTC on other days of the event.
Confirmation certificates for valid contacts will only be sent by email as a pdf and will be sent to the email address from which your request was made. Logs will be uploaded to LOTW, QRZ, and POTA.
There will be at least two other groups using several call signs operating Edmund Fitzgerald special events during November. Be sure you have the correct call of stations you work, and follow the correct confirmation process for that station. We will only be using one call, and can only confirm contacts with WØJH.
Submit certificate requests promptly, as the incoming request email will likely no longer be monitored beyond 30 days following conclusion of the event. For confirmation certificates, send an email to: W0JHFitz@outlook.com and include the following information:
* Your Call
* Date of QSO (UTC date)
* Time of QSO (UTC time)
* Band or Frequency
* Mode
Any email received without the above information may be returned for clarification or discarded. No QSL Cards or postal requests please. Certificate requests from SWL stations should include the call sign of at least one station we were in contact with during the time you heard us, and a brief synopsis of the conversation you heard.
Certificates for valid contacts will be sent as a PDF file to your email address beginning approximately 3 weeks following conclusion of the event. We design a new certificate for each of our events, and that process can’t begin until the end of the event.
