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The 13 Colonies 2025, a popular summer operating event, will take place less than a month from now, on July 1, 9:00 AM to July 7, midnight EDT (July 1 \u2013 1300 UTC \u2013 July 8 \u2013 0400 UTC).<\/p>\n
This year the event will honor founder Ken Villone, KU2US, who is passing the torch to Tony Jones, N4ATJ. Villone has led the event for 16 years by working with state and bonus station coordinators and has grown from making approximately 12,000 contacts in 2009 to making 292,496 contacts around the world in 2024.<\/p>\n
This year, one station will be operating in each of the 13 original British colonies, K2A \u2013 K2M, along with three bonus stations \u2014 WM3PEN, Philadelphia; GB13COL, England, and TM13COL, France \u2014 each representing their city, state, or country\u2019s role in America\u2019s colonial period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Villone said event actually started 2008, right after he finished participating in the ARRL Sweepstakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remembered how fun it was but I could not figure out why there were not more of these types of special events on the air,\u201d said Villone. \u201cSo I decided to try my luck and create one, for one year only, to see what happens and to have some fun. I knew we had to offer a special QSL card and\/or certificate plus have on hand a printer and supplies. The hard part was deciding what the event would commemorate and when to do this. I needed a theme that all could relate to and the event would have to be the type with multiple event stations involved, like the ARRL Sweeps.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it hit me…13 colony states, during the 4th of July week and offer a certificate with the theme for the year. I made sure the theme was different each year with a different certificate design, to make it interesting and to also make the cert collectable. The theme would highlight some event or thing connected to the American Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inaugural event was held July 1st to the 4th, 2009, 4 days, with no advertising except on QRZ. I had a hard time getting 13 different ops, one from each colony state, but it worked out. All in all it was a success!\u201d<\/p>\n
Amateur radio operators and SWLs can participate in the event. Complete information about the call for each colony station and the bonus stations can be found on the event website or on Facebook at 13 Colonies Special Event Community.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n