Radio Society of Tucson AK7AZ / K7RST 

The Radio Society of Tucson (RST) is an ARRL Special Service Club and a 501(c)3 charitable organization that focuses on "Communications For All" by activity supporting a variety of amateur radio activities focusing on education and a lot of hands-on activity. Club members support many public service events, public outreach with Radio Days in the Park, emergency communications, VE testing and Special Events.  Anyone interested in amateur radio, licensed or not, is welcome to attend our monthly meetings and participate in our many events throughout the year.  Club meetings are held at the Golden Corral, 4380 E. 22nd St. at 6 PM the second Tuesday of each month except in December. For more information about RST visit our website, www.k7rst.club.  See below for information on selected upcoming events.

2025 CACTUS Special Event, November 21 - November 30
         "Prickly Signals from the Sonoran Desert"

This special event is to promote amateur radio and celebrate the unique cactus of the USA southwest.  Join in the fun and contact one of the 6 special station call signs (CACTUS K7C, K7A, N7C, K7T, K7U, K7S) along with the 2 bonus stations (K7RST, AK7AZ).  All HF bands will be in play, with the exception of 60 meters.  Simplex on 2 meters and 6 meters is encouraged.  All popular modes of operation may be represented - SSB, AM, CW, RTTY, FM, FT8, PSK, etc.  The mode of operation is the special operators choice, check (TBD) for current information.

Details

Dates: November 21 (Friday) 9:00am MST - November 30 (Sunday) 4:59pm MST
    2025-09-21 16:00 UTC - 2025-09-30 24:59 UTC

Operating Stations:
- CACTUS K7C, K7A, N7C, K7T, K7U, K7S
- Bonus stations: K7RST, AK7AZ

Exchange

The exchange for this event is:
CALL SIGN
RS / RST / RSQ
STATE / PROVINCE or COUNTRY

Spotting
If you work a CACTUS station, you are encouraged to spot it for others.  
We suggest DX Summit.

QSL Card Manager

Send your QSL card requests to (suggested donation, $2.00): 

Radio Society of Tucson, Inc.
PO Box 13603
Tucson AZ 85732-3603

Certificate Request Manager

You can receive a participation certificate for working one or more of the CACTUS operating stations. (See example below)

  1. Access our CACTUS Certficate Request / Log Form. Fill it in, and use the [Print] button to print a copy.
  2. A $5.00 donations is suggested.  Include a return self addressed LABEL for your certificate return envelope.
  3. Send your return label, donation, and log sheet to: Radio Society of Tucson, Inc. PO Box 13603, Tucson AZ 85732-3603.
  4. Indicate any endoursements to be included on the certificate: All QRP, All CW, All Mobile, All Digital
  5. Indicate if you are a Shortwave Listener (SWL)
  6. We will include the "Clean Sweep" achievement if your log shows that you contacted all eight stations.
  7. We will provide the return envelope and postage.  No extra postage is required for DX requests.

Donations

The CACTUS Special Event is a not-for-profit event.  All donations are used to fund the next years event, and to defray  any expenses incurred. All donations are used for operating costs, supplies, equipment and RST initiatives. RST is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.  Donation is voluntary.  If you have difficulty with a donation, tell us on your log sheet, and we will send you the certificatge earned - No Questions Asked!

QSL Card Examples

Certificate Example

Example CACTUS Certificate

Operator Instruction Summary

If  you would like to help with this event by operating one of the special call signs, follow these steps:

  1. Contact N7DZ, Bill, at (bill@wizardofaz.net) to get the link for the event scheduler tool.
  2. Use the schedule tool to sign up for times, band, and mode that you will operate.
  3. A special call sign will be assigned to you by the schedule tool.
  4. Review the event logging tool instructions, and use the event logging tool for your QSO's.
  5. There will be "Top Operator" award plaques for:
    1. Top Operator HF
    2. Top Operator 6M/VHF/UHF Simplex.
    3. Top Operator-CW
    4. Top Operator-Conversational Digital Modes
  6. If you have questions, contact rst-cactus-work-group@googlegroups.com
  7. More detailed instructions are here (TBD):

Thank you for your help in making this an outstanding event!

FAQ's

Selected FAQ's: (TBD)

If you have further questions you can contact us by email: rst-cactus-work-group@googlegroups.com

Additional Resources