Pig War Special Event
San Juan Island, WA
June 12-14, 2026
The Stanwood Camano Amateur Radio Club (SCARC - W7PIG), in a Joint Venture Operation with the
Fellowship of Enthusiasts for Amateur Radio (FEAR - WA7SJI), participated in the first annual Pig War dual-club
commemoration of this event. History: the Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom
over the U.S / British border in the San Juan Islands. The actual boundry between the two countries had been in
dispute for over a decade and protracted negotiations had not resolved the issue. The Pig War is called that
because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig. US troups were dispatched to defend the US settlers on San
Juan Island. Despite being referred to as a "war", there were no human casualties on either side.
This year's event was a time of fun
and sun as the SCARC and FEAR members joined
forces on the South Beach of American camp on
San Juan Island. The SCARC furnished Russ’s - NH6B
tilt-up tower with a triband HF beam; a vertical; a dual
band inverted V and a digital station. Fred –
N7KRN and Paige – W0FLZ drove everything
over on a 4 am ferry Friday morning. The FEAR
club help set up. Fred stayed up most of the
night operating the station and keeping an eye
on things. Help arrived Saturday as Steve—
AC7SG, Dave – AL2I, his granddaughter Kira, and Liza — WA7WXA arrived.
The FEAR group had a lot of experience with POTA
activations and operated to give extravagant “4-
point” activations: they’d first call CQ POTA with
the W7PIG call, then change operators to provide
a second contact with their WA7SJI call. As the
location actually counted for 2 park activations,
contacts got 4 points for 1 call!
Unfortunately the digital station interfered with
the SSB station, so simultaneous operation wasn’t
possible. Both Paige and Steve
went off-site to pursue POTA
stations and ARRL VHF contest contacts.
Later, Kira, Dave’s
granddaughter took the mic
with both Paige and Liza
coaching. The resultant pile-up
was daunting for Kira (who
covered her ears and said “There’s too many men yelling at me!”), but she
persevered and kept on making contacts.
None of this would have been possible without the organization, coordination,
and sheer sweat and muscle of Fred who got everything set-up, working, and
torn down! Thanks Fred!! And thanks to all who joined in the fun.
There is a special commemorative QSL card available.
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