“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”~ FDR
Today the Azalea Coast Amateur Radio Club in Wilmington, NC brought the U.S.S North Carolina to life on the airwaves. The U.S.S North Carolina calls Wilmington home, birthed along side downtown in the Cape River. The North Carolina BB-55, NI4BK(NIBK military designation) was the first vessel to enter Pearl Harbor after the attack December 7th 1941.
The ham radio operators including myself operated from 2 of the ships many radio rooms. We operate a modern Yaesu transceiver but utilize the ship's original wiring and antenna to broadcast our signal around the world. Some the contacts on SSB today include one Russian station, California, Texas, Vermont, Maine, Colorado, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and Tennessee to name just a few. One of which was a vet who was stationed in the Pacific during the war. We also made a QSO with the USS Kidd. Those QSO's, contacts, we're made on the 20 meter band.
NI4BK is the callsign of the ship as provided by the FCC, but it's original military designation was NIBK. I am proud to stay that for 1 and a half hours I brought the old girl online.
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