Route 66 (On the Air)

Lisa and I started the year with a January trip to the Southwest. Throughout our travels, we spent a good deal of time on the venerable Route 66.

Dare I say: We got our kicks. Ahem,

Along the way, we discovered that 2026 is being celebrated as the 100th Anniversary of the renowned road. So, even more fun than we planned.

Fast forward to last week. The ham radio world also marked the festive occasion with the annual Route 66 On the Air special event. 

"Route 66 On the Air" is set up like many of the other ham radio special events I have told you about previously. It's a hunt and gather exercise.

I can think of other types of similar pursuits from earlier days.

• The NFL Helmets Gatorade Caps
• The Plastic NFL Helmets collection (with goalposts)
• 50 State Quarters (coins)
• Postage Stamps from all over the world

In this case, the enterprise is an on-air scavenger hunt.

So, what you are really collecting, in this instance. is a set of contacts with the various cities depicted in the song I referenced earlier. Each city is represented by a local ham radio club. Club members staff the event using special call signs assigned to the club for that specific city. Like the song and the route, the contest spans 2,000 miles from Chicago to L.A. (Joplin, Missouri; Oklahoma City...and many in between).

If fortunate or diligent (or both), an operator would be able to log a clean sweep. It's not easy to do and I don't remember finishing one the last few years. But, fortunately I did, indeed, complete a successful contact with each of the 22 stations this time.

On Sunday, I mailed off my log sheet requesting a 100th Anniversary Route 66 On the Air certificate for the ham shack. An operator can also request commemorative QSL cards for each contact made. 

As mentioned before, I don't recall us having a lot of these sorts of events from my earlier time on the air. Coming back, and discovering fun events like this one, was a real treat. Clearly, there were some great ideas during that 30 year period.

There are so many of the special events, really, it would be impossible to list them all. I did a round-up of some for the September edition of The Rag Chew - the SKCC newsletter. 

The annual calendar is dotted with many of them. And like the various cities along Route 66, you can wind your way from special event to special event throughout the year. Really, it's a lot of fun.

JG