ALASKA WING COMMUNICATOR Freeman to participate based on her strong record of past participation. EXCELS By Lt Michele Breme Alaska Wing Assistant DC LtCol Kristin Freeman was the top Civil Air Patrol scoring station in the recent Noble Skywave HF radio competition. Noble Skywave is an exercise contest run by the Canadian Armed Forces every year. Its purposes are to increase proficiency in HF communications among the armed forces and auxiliaries in Canada, the US, and its allies, and to “crown the best HF radio operators in the world.” This year’s event ran from 23 October continuously through 25 October, with stations around the world participating. US Army NETCOM contest administrators invited
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CAP AKWG
Besides scoring as the top CAP HF operator in the contest, Alaska’s Freeman scored 6th highest in the US and 17th highest in the world among the 367 stations who registered. This success was particularly remarkable since partway through the contest, Freeman’s station lost commercial power. While her station was equipped with back-up solar power, her antenna tuner, a critically important element of her system, had not been wired to turn on automatically in the event of a power outage. A timely diagnosis of the problem enabled her to continue operating and competing with only a few hours – and some valuable points - lost.
