Nebraska hams will help the state celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2017. Throughout the year, hams in the state will sign their calls with WØN special event call sign or add a “/NE150” suffix to their call. The Lincoln Amateur Radio Club is among the first participants in the commemorative. They have been operating station WØN since January 1 and will remain active through the end of March or even longer. In addition, they will operate during special events during the rest of the year, such as field day. WØN has made close to 2,000 QSOs and processed close to 200 QSL requests thus far! We also have a Facebook page set up to follow who is operating when and what modes to help keep track, so no one interferes with one another. The link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/394096724271191/ for NE150hams

The NE150Hams committee is led by ARRL Midwest Division Vice Director Art Zygielbaum, KØAIZ, and Nebraska Section Manager Matt Anderson, KAØBOJ. Members include Fred Eriksen, KBØLF, John Mardock, KRØP, Larry Frisch, KDØRTK, Dale Douglas KDØWVD, and Kurt Bauer, WBØAEA. Nebraska QCWA and other clubs and organizations have volunteered to provide event support.

The high point will be a Nebraska Sesquicentennial QSO Party for the nine days around the anniversary date, March 1, 2017. The event will start at 1300 UTC on Feb. 25, 2017, and end at 2300 UTC on March 5, 2017. The commemorative is sanctioned as an official state event by the Nebraska Sesquicentennial Commission.

Nebraska hams are encouraged to activate Nebraska historical and cultural sites. In addition, Nebraska hams may operate in recognition of well-known Nebraskans such as literary or historical figures.

Special commemorative QSL cards will be distributed to Nebraska Hams at no cost (except for postage to ship the cards to them). They can use them to confirm their QSOs.

For QSOs made during the Centennial Week QSO Party, certificates will be issued to out-of-state hams recognizing the number of NE stations worked, and to NE stations recognizing the total number of QSOs made. Participating hams will be asked to submit their logs electronically, if possible, for review. Details will be posted on the commemorative website (www.ne150hams.org) as soon as possible.