Event: Monthly Atlanta Radio Club Meeting
Date: Thursday, January 6, 2022
Time: 7 p.m. ET (0000Z)
Location: Zoom
Date: Thursday, January 6, 2022
Time: 7 p.m. ET (0000Z)
Location: Zoom
On Saturday, December 4, we’re having a very special “Special Event” field activity at the offices of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Red Cross. From 10:00am (1500Z) until 2:00pm (1900Z) we will be operating Special Event station KG4ARC to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross. Our announcement has been published in QST magazine and we’ll be posting to various spotting networks as the event unfolds. On top of that, we’ve prepared a special bi-fold commemorative QSL card. Taken together, all of that means that we expect a fair amount of activity.
But wait … there’s more! We’ll have two operating stations set up. One outside the Atlanta Red Cross offices, and one INSIDE the Red Cross emergency operations “radio room.” For those who are fully vaccinated and masked up, we’ll be able to escort operators two at a time into the radio room, where we can take turns operating. And, of course, you can operate to your heart’s content at the other station outside the offices, where we’ll have the usual fellowship, food, and festivities.
Special thanks to Wayne K4WK for setting all of this up. Please come by, say hi to your fellow hams, and help make the Special Event station even specialer. The Atlanta Red Cross offices are located on Monroe Drive in Midtown, which should be easy for most people to get to: American Red Cross - Google Maps. Hope to see you there.
The reason for the special event is simple. Most of us are familiar with the Red Cross, but how the American Red Cross got started involves the story of a very remarkable woman. In 1861, Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton was working in the Washington D.C. patent office, one of very few women working in the ranks of the federal government. In April, the Civil War broke out and a train headed from Baltimore to Washington was attacked by Confederate sympathizers. When the train arrived in Washington, Clara was moved by the sight of the injured soldiers and began to care for them. Over the following weeks, other trains began to arrive with wounded soldiers. Clara realized they desperately needed care, but facilities and supplies were sorely lacking. She began to organize a response, and soon had set up locations to care for the soldiers and had amassed three warehouses of medical supplies. Not content to care for the soldiers in the relative safety of Washington, though, Clara moved toward the battlefield, setting up a field hospital near the Battle of Cedar Mountain, which is where she got the nickname, “the angel of the battlefield.” She continued to move to the action, rendering aid to the wounded wherever she could. In 1863, she moved to the battles in South Carolina, and was in the area of the assault on Battery Wagner, made famous in the movie Glory. After the war, she worked with one of the prisoners of war at Andersonville, compiling a list of all of the 13,000 Union soldiers who died in that camp and assuring that each of their graves was properly marked.
In 1868, Clara traveled to Europe where she met with representatives of the International Red Cross, who inspired and encouraged her to form the American Red Cross. She formed the Red Cross here shortly after her return, and then served as the President of the Red Cross until 1904, when she retired at the age of 82. In 1912, at the age of ninety, Clara Barton died at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland.
The Atlanta Radio Club is proud to sponsor a special event station commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Barton, and to honor the American Red Cross that she founded and served. Her legacy has led to humanitarian services the likes of which the world has rarely seen, and she stands as a model to this day of tireless, selfless service to others.
But wait … there’s more! We’ll have two operating stations set up. One outside the Atlanta Red Cross offices, and one INSIDE the Red Cross emergency operations “radio room.” For those who are fully vaccinated and masked up, we’ll be able to escort operators two at a time into the radio room, where we can take turns operating. And, of course, you can operate to your heart’s content at the other station outside the offices, where we’ll have the usual fellowship, food, and festivities.
Special thanks to Wayne K4WK for setting all of this up. Please come by, say hi to your fellow hams, and help make the Special Event station even specialer. The Atlanta Red Cross offices are located on Monroe Drive in Midtown, which should be easy for most people to get to: American Red Cross - Google Maps. Hope to see you there.
The reason for the special event is simple. Most of us are familiar with the Red Cross, but how the American Red Cross got started involves the story of a very remarkable woman. In 1861, Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton was working in the Washington D.C. patent office, one of very few women working in the ranks of the federal government. In April, the Civil War broke out and a train headed from Baltimore to Washington was attacked by Confederate sympathizers. When the train arrived in Washington, Clara was moved by the sight of the injured soldiers and began to care for them. Over the following weeks, other trains began to arrive with wounded soldiers. Clara realized they desperately needed care, but facilities and supplies were sorely lacking. She began to organize a response, and soon had set up locations to care for the soldiers and had amassed three warehouses of medical supplies. Not content to care for the soldiers in the relative safety of Washington, though, Clara moved toward the battlefield, setting up a field hospital near the Battle of Cedar Mountain, which is where she got the nickname, “the angel of the battlefield.” She continued to move to the action, rendering aid to the wounded wherever she could. In 1863, she moved to the battles in South Carolina, and was in the area of the assault on Battery Wagner, made famous in the movie Glory. After the war, she worked with one of the prisoners of war at Andersonville, compiling a list of all of the 13,000 Union soldiers who died in that camp and assuring that each of their graves was properly marked.
In 1868, Clara traveled to Europe where she met with representatives of the International Red Cross, who inspired and encouraged her to form the American Red Cross. She formed the Red Cross here shortly after her return, and then served as the President of the Red Cross until 1904, when she retired at the age of 82. In 1912, at the age of ninety, Clara Barton died at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland.
The Atlanta Radio Club is proud to sponsor a special event station commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Barton, and to honor the American Red Cross that she founded and served. Her legacy has led to humanitarian services the likes of which the world has rarely seen, and she stands as a model to this day of tireless, selfless service to others.