Historic NSS Call Sign to be Reactivated for First Time in More than 40 Years

Operators from the US Naval Academy Radio Club (W3ADO) and the Potomac Valley Radio Club (W3GRF) will reactivate the historic NSS call sign on May 13-14 during the Armed Forces Day Crossband Military/Amateur Radio Communications Test.

Operation from the former NSS Naval Radio Station site on Greenbury Point in Annapolis, Maryland, will get under way at 1300 UTC on Saturday, May 13, and continue until 0200 UTC on Sunday, May 14. NSS will transmit on CW and SSB on 4,038.5, 7,533.5, 14,487, 17,545, and 20,994 kHz and listen for callers on announced Amateur Radio frequencies. All contacting NSS will receive a QSL card.

NSS began operation in 1918 as the Annapolis High Power Radio Station using a Federal Telegraph Company 500 kW arc transmitter and four 600-foot towers, operating in the VLF spectrum. NSS HF operation began about 10 years later, although VLF operation continued into the 1990s. The HF mission was transferred in 1976 to NAM in Norfolk, Virginia. While some of the towers were removed, three lighted, self-supporting towers remain, to serve as local landmarks and as navigation aids to boaters on Chesapeake Bay.