A new special event will take place on Saturday, August 19, 2023, involving amateur radio and former Atlas F missile silos. Beginning at 11:00 AM EDT, amateur radio operators from the Champlain Valley Amateur Radio Club (CVARC), W2UXC, as well as a group of amateurs in Texas, will attempt to activate two missile sites — one in Oplin, Texas, and the other in Champlain, New York. The goal is to establish an HF contact with each site and with other amateurs throughout the day. The frequencies have not been selected yet, but additional information will be posted on the CVARC Facebook page.Robert Grabowski, KB5RG, and Lance Tolar, KD5EFB, will be at the Texas site, which is one of 12 missile silo sites remaining in the state. “The site has been converted into a home, but the owner has agreed to let the amateurs use it for the event,” said Grabowski. “Eight of the 12 sites are lived in, and two are still abandoned,” he added. The site in New York, is listed as Champlain Atlas Missile Silo Site 1, at 67 Missile Base Road. It took only 4 days to plan this event, but both groups say they envision organizing other special events and operations linked to historical dates related to the Atlas F missile program.