We are a club of radio amateurs who commit ourselves annually for the Jota with the call PA3EFR/J. We are a Plus-Scout Group (Fellowship) and have no fixed base. Because each member has his own equipment, we can set up a HAM radio station wherever we want. We support scouting groups who would like to run Jota and we have resources to implement and support this global event.

During the General Members Meeting (GMM) in 2018, the question came up what kind of events we could do in the future. And a great plan came to life.

What was this cunning plan?

Apart from the Jota, we are also active at events that we organize ourselves. This great idea that emerged from the GMM was to organize an event around the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. The liberation of, among others, the Netherlands started on June 6, 1944 in Normandy. The idea was to follow a unit along the liberation route from Normandy to finally the liberation of The Netherlands on 5 May 1945 in Wageningen.

After some study, the idea came to follow the route of the American 82nd Airborne Division. This Division was dropped on June 6 in St. Mere Eglise during the execution of Operation Overlord (Operation Detroit). They have also been deployed in Bastogne and Grave. We will follow the route from the planning phase in the Dover Castle, through to the landings in St. Mere Eglise (Utah Beach), and via the battles around Bastogne and Grave. Eventually, we end our trip in Wageningen where the liberation was established and where we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of liberation on 5 May 2020.

Dover Castle Crew, 10th to 12th May 2019


 

The QSO's from this location.

     

The Crew at Utah Beach, 5th to 9th June 2019.

 
   

 

   

 

The Crew at Bastogne, 13-15 th December 2019.

 

The world wide communications in a picture.

 

 

 

The final stages of our tour turned out to be completely different than was planned. We had to cancel Grave and Wageningen in 2020 as locations. However, every operator brought PA82AD to the waves from their home QTH's or visited each other. A group picture was therefor impossible, but a compilation of selfie-type images was possible.

Thanks all for the one-year Radio Scouting event. A great experience with a great group of Radio Scouters.

 

Proudly, our flag was held at the historical hotel De Wereld, Wageningen, where 75 years before the German capitulation was signed in the presence of the allied forces. After 5 years of war The Netherlands was liberated.

 

 

Then, suddenly, we had the opportunity to work PA82AD from Grave under strict COVID conditions. So we did. PA82AD was again operational in September 2021 from the Grave area (east Netherlands).

More pictures can be seen on QRZ.com.

With 80 percent of the planned locations activated this crew made it worthwhile to bring tribute to the members of 82nd Airborne Division. The final location Wageningen has to wait until further notice, but will be remembered as potential QTH for future operations.

 

   

On Friday 13th September 2019, a PA82AD team delegation participated in a special commemoration ceremony at the Waal-bridge in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. It was here that in 1944, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division had to cross a major river, while under fire of German soldiers. More than half of the American soldiers lost their lives in this crossing.

Every evening, every year, at sunset, a Dutch Veteran walks with a group of interested participants across the bridge over the Waal. The pace of his walk is also the pace at which a series of street lanterns ignite; every lantern representing the loss of a soldier 75 years ago.

 

   

 

 

On 17th September 2019 a small delegation of our team visited the fields of the Ginkelse Heide, near Arnhem, during the 75 years commemoration activities of Operation Market Garden.

A sunny day with too many visitors.

On the picture in the background you can observe the impressive monument for the fallen parachutists.

 

How do/did we accomplish our operations from PA82AD?

Our idea was to be operational under the call PA82AD from the locations that the 82ND Airborn Division have visited. We are on the air as close as possible to the date of the operations 75 years before. The objective is to make QSO's mainly on HF in SSB. We will certainly try to reach the USA in order to honor the American 82ND Airborne Division.

For every location, a special QSL card is designed. It not only shows the call sign and compulsory prefix of the country of transmission; it also depicts the location of the 82nd Airborne Division activities 75 years before with our waving flag.

 

 

On 10th May 2019 the station did transmit from the White Cliffs of Dover from the former Communications Centre that was established to prepare for D-Day and execute coordination of D-Day.

G/PA82AD did end operations on 12 May 2019.

     

On 5th June 2019 the station did transmit from the Utah Beach in Normandie, France. This was the beach on which the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division landed to start their liberation campaign of Europe in 1944.

F/PA82AD did end operations on 9th June 2019.

 
     
 

On 13th December 2019 the station did transmit from the town of Bastogne, Bastenaken in Dutch, Belgium. As part of the Ardennes Offensive, Battle of the Bulge, heavy battles were fought by the 82nd Airborne Division.

ON/PA82AD ended operations on 15h December 2019.

     

On 21th March 2020 the station was going to transmit from Grave, The Netherlands. This was an important town for Operation Market Garden in March 1945.

However, due to national Corona restrictions this event has been cancelled in 2020.

 

 
     
 

On 4th May 2020 the station was planned to transmit from Wageningen, The Netherlands. In this town, in the hotel De Wereld, the capitulation was signed by the Germans 75 years before. However, the operators stayed (close to) home.

The QSL-card is twofold with explanatory information on the inside of the card.

   

 

 

A special badge for this occasion has been created, showing the different locations PA82AD did visit and of course the badges of the associated organizations.

 

After completing QSO's with all the above-mentioned stations, the QSL-cards form a Radio Certificate. It is depicted in the following overview:

 

 

Sponsors:

There are some friends who had the idea to support this activity and made a donation. Our special thanks are going out to Gerard Laumen who was the first to do this. A big left hand to him from our team.

Other sponsors are:

We highly appreciate their contributions, however, additional funding is always welcome. Feel free to contact Erwin, PA3EFR "at" gmail.com.

Furthermore, the antenna mast company SIMAC is supporting us by providing HF masts for our global HF communications. A big thanks goes out to the company for letting us use their ruggadized equipment  
     

 

Recce reports:

After the successful recce at the Castle Grounds of Dover, further planning has started for the antenna and radio shack configurations. By clicking on the image below, a Youtube film will be played, showing the intentions of the station setup.

As we received confirmation for the Utah Beach event (15x15 meters) we planned a setup for our radio antennas, vehicles, tent and shack. Anything could change in due time, but this helps to discuss issues and start planning our material list. A video impression of the expected station at Utah Beach is available when clicking on the image.

 

Bastogne, or Bastenaken if you please, has been visited by our team and the results have been processed in yet another Sketchup film. From this location, ON/PA82AD will be operational. Please note that this event is "green only", resulting in other equipment to be used, including an extra green sleeping facility for the team.

Contact with the owner of the pumping station at the bridge of Grave has been established and plans are on the way to use the area for our first Dutch PA82AD location. Antennas in the film are for planning purposes only, the end results will be different.

As final location the city of Wageningen will be visited. It was in this place that the German capitulation was signed in May 1945, declaring the liberation of The Netherlands.

   
   

Frequencies for PA82AD.

As we would like to have a link to the 82nd Airborne Devision on frequency level, we came up with the idea to transmit on fixed frequencies, +- QRM. During the dates of our activation, please look on the following HF frequencies.

 

80 meter band
      3.682 MHz
40 meter band
      7.082 MHz
20 meter band
      14.182 MHz
15 meter band
      21.182 MHz
10 meter band
      28.482 MHz