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Spruce Goose Special Event

75th Anniversary

Date: Saturday, October 29 - 5 PM PST to
Saturday, November 5, 2022 – 10 PM PST
Time: 0000z Sunday, October 30z to
Sunday, November 6, 2022 – 0500z

Actual Day of the 75th Anniversary: Wednesday, November 2, 2022


Spruce Goose Special Event

Spruce Goose

Background:
  • Special Events
  • Hughes and The Flight

The first and only flight of the Hercules H-4 flying Boat, aka, the Spruce Goose was on November 2, 1947. So the 75th anniversary is on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

Special Events:

This is the second Special Event that the Hughes Amateur Radio Club has sponsored for the Spruce Goose. The first was in 1983, when it first went on display next to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. In 1997 the company and the Hughes Amateur Radio Club were in a great state of flux. Hughes Aircraft had been bought by General Motors and General Motors was in the process of breaking up the company and selling divisions to other aerospace companies. The Hughes Amateur Radio Club, somehow, survived all this and recently formally incorporated as a California Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation on November 2, 2021, which by coincidence, was the 74th anniversary of the Spruce Goose. The club, as the ‘Hughes El Segundo Employees Association Amateur Radio Club’ has been in existence since the early 1970s, however, the current nonprofit corporation, ‘Hughes Amateur Radio Club’ will have its first anniversary on the Spruce Gooses 75th anniversary.

Hughes and the Flight:

“Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose” Film: circa 1985 from Finley Holiday’s Film Vault From Finley Holiday’s film vault – circa 1985 – the World Premiere of our documentary on “Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose,” produced when the Spruce Goose opened for public viewing in Long Beach, California in 1983. This film has only been seen by a lucky few who bought the VHS at the Spruce Goose gift shop in the 1980's. The story of the enormous Hughes’ H-4 Hercules is fascinating for it’s ambitious engineering and the larger-than-life personality of entrepreneur Howard Hughes. The 1940's-era press widely mocked Hughes for his outsized vision and derisively named his engineering marvel “the Spruce Goose.” Today the C-5 Galaxy serves the military role envisioned by Hughes 75 years ago.

Video: Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose ~ circa 1985

Cargo Building (Hughes Building 15): The Spruce Goose was built in building 15, The Cargo Building. The main supporting beams are also made of laminated wood, metal being in short supply.

Cargo Building

Video: How the Spruce Goose was Moved to Oregon



Operating Frequency Guidelines

The Spruce Goose Special Event stations may be found near any of the following frequencies:
W6HA stations (near Long Beach and Culver City)

Band/MHz 80 40 20 15 10 6 2 70cm
CW 3.533 7.033 14.033 21.033 28.033 50.033 ---- ----
Ph 3.833 7.233 14.233 21.333 28.333 50.133 146.52/146.550* 445.620-PL 127.3
Dig 3.573 7.074 14.074 21.074 28.074 N/A N/A N/A

ALL frequencies shown above can be +/- QRM and other in use conditions
*Simplex: 146.52, Announcement on the Hour, Half hour. QSOs on 146.550


The Spruce Goose Special Event stations may be found near any of the following frequencies:
W7RXJ stations near (Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Or) + 5 KHz.

Band/MHz 80 40 20 15 10 6 2 70cm
CW 3.538 7.038 14.038 21.038 28.033 50.038 ---- ----
Ph 3.838 7.238 14.238 21.338 28.338 50.138 146.640 -PL100
Dig 3.573 7.074 14.074 21.074 28.074 N/A N/A N/A

ALL frequencies shown above can be +/- QRM and other in use conditions

Repeater: 445.620 – PL 127.3 Los Angeles, California Area Repeater
Repeater: 146.640 – Pl 100.0 McMinnville, Oregon Area Repeater

Spruce Goose Operation Schedule

CW Operators Note:

CW operators will call: CQSG CQSG CQSG de W6HA
Please check for W6HA skimmer reports Reverse Beacon Network (RBN).



QSL Card Request Guidelines

To request a QSL card please read and follow the instructions below:
  1. To request and receive a QSL Card, you must receive an ‘Alpha Designator' from the station you contact and also a ‘Serial Number,’ at the specific operator’s discretion. So to be clear you will have a letter, such as A, B, G or M . . . as a minimum. Stations may also issue a Serial Number, such as 001, or 022, or 234 at their discretion.
  2. The Alpha Letter (and Serial Number, if any) is entered on the QSL card with other report information (UTC Date and Time, Mode, Frequency, etc). AND The Alpha Letter (and Serial Number, if any) is also annotated on the outside lower left corner of the envelope, such as: D123 (Operators that use computerized logging may not need the serial number, so that’s why it is optional. However, the alpha character is required to match your request to an operator’s log.)
  3. When requesting a QSL card:
    USA Domestic: You must include a Self Addressed, Stamped Envelope (SASE) with your request.  If an SASE is NOT included with the request for a QSL card it is unlikely that a QSL will be returned to you – possible, but unlikely. DX (International including Canada): The Bureau is recommended. Faster Alternative: Send a Self-Addressed Envelope* with either:
    1. A. USA Global Forever International US Postage Stamp**, Or
    2. B. Two Green Stamps ($2.00 USD)
    Notes: * Address must be in English If it is in a foreign language, an English Translation must be after each line Last line MUST BE the Country Name, in English. **It may be possible to purchase Global Forever International US Postage on Amazon.com, but it may cost you more than $2.00 USD.
  4. WE DO NOT SUGGEST using a QSL bureau within the U.S. due to delays in the bureaus forwarding the cards, as it can take several months to forward your request. NOTE: Please allow at least ten weeks for processing and mailing of QSL card requests. QSL card mailing time is at the discretion of each participating station.

Send your QSL Card Requests to:

Hughes Amateur Radio Club, W6HA
5207 Lillian Street
Torrance, Ca 90503 USA
A999

OR

Mc Minnville Amateur Radio Club, W7RXJ
PO Box 891
Mc Minnville, OR 97128 USA
A999

(Place the alpha designator and serial # in the lower left hand corner of the envelope, as shown, and also on the QSL card.) Please also be sure to use the correct CALL

QSL Card


SPRUCE GOOSE 75 th ANNIVERSARY

PARTICIPATING CLUBS

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 is the 75 th Anniversary of the Flight of the Hughes Aircraft Company’s Hercules H-4 Flying Boat aka The Spruce Goose.

Call Signs / Locations:

W6HA:


LONG BEACH HARBOR – LA – CULVER CITY
HUGHES AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, W6HA
El Segundo, California
W6HA stations will be near Culver City and/or Long Beach Harbor where the
aircraft was built, assembled and flown.

W7RXJ:


W7RXJ: EVERGREEN AVIATION & SPACE MUSEUM
McMINNVILLE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, W7RXJ
McMinnville, Oregon

W7RXJ stations will be near McMinnville, Oregon where the aircraft is
currently displayed in the Evergreen Aviation and Aerospace Museum.

Note: many individual operators of both clubs will operate using the above calls.
Therefore be sure to use the correct CALL and the ALPHA Designator that the operator gives
you when requesting a QSL card.

Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

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