W8USR - Special Events

SS Edmund Fitzgerald Commemoration

Event History & Significance

Remembering the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald: This is an annual Special Event that has occurred in November every year starting in 1996. It originated with the Stu Rockafellow Amateur Radio Society. Starting in 2005, two other radio clubs joined in on the event. The new "joint event" offered three locations along the intended path of the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald.

The Arrowhead Radio Amateur Club operated their club call sign W0GKP from the Duluth/Superior harbor (where the ship was loaded). The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA) operated their club call sign W0JH from the Split Rock Lighthouse (a major navigational aid on Lake Superior until it was decommissioned in 1969) and the Stu Rockafellow Amateur Radio Society operating a special event call sign N8F, from the Whitefish Point Lighthouse near Paradise, Michigan (the end of the ore carrier's Lake Superior journey).

When the Stu Rockafellow Amateur Radio Society folded up in 2008, the event was continued by the Livonia Amateur Radio Club (LARC). The month of November has traditionally been the worst time of year for storms on the Great Lakes. The final voyage for the Edmund Fitzgerald began at Superior, Wisconsin, where the ship was loaded with taconite pellets. She was bound for Detroit, Michigan, when one such "Witch of November" storm sank her in the early evening hours of November 10, 1975. 17 miles off Whitefish Point is the final resting place for the crew of 29 men. Caught in the fierce storm with winds over 45 knots and waves as high as 30 feet, the exact cause of the sinking remains a mystery.

Station Log: Contact History

Below is the clean historical tracking log of our successful station contacts over the years: