Who else remembers the film ‘Contact’ released in 1997, featuring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey as the main protagonists? It was based on a novel of the same name, written by Carl Sagan which was published in 1985; it’s one of my favourite films.

Jodie Foster plays Dr. Ellie Arroway who, after years of searching, finds conclusive proof of extraterrestrial intelligence…and receives plans for a large and mysterious machine.

If we ever did discover intelligent life on other planets, it would probably be discovered this way. The idea of Vulcans landing, shaking hands and having a blast with Zefram Cochrane at an old missile silo…as they did in Star Trek: First Contact, released a year earlier…is somewhat less likely.

If aliens have the knowledge to travel faster than light, I can’t see any reason why they would want to stop at earth…except to plunder our resources or use us a slaves and/or food.

CQ this is W9GFO

In the film ‘Contact’, 11 year old Ellie Arroway uses her Collins KWM-2 transceiver to put a call out to other radio amateurs. She calls “CQ, this is W9GFO. CQ, this is W9GFO here. Come back?” She finally gets K4WLD in Pensacola, Florida to reply. Her dad in the film sadly dies, and after the funeral she calls again, hoping he’s out there “This is W9GFO, do you copy? Dad, this is Ellie, come back?… This is Eleanor Arroway, transmitting on 14.2 megahertz. Dad, are you there? Come back? Dad, are you there? Dad, this is Ellie…” Click here for a link to the YouTube clip.

We are lead to believe it is that experience that pushes her into a career looking for extraterrestrial life.

I often wondered if W9GFO was a real callsign. It turns out that it is, and a chap called Richard Harman owns it. His details are here, but that is only a link to QRZ.com. You’ll need to be a member to view them. There is a brief page about the callsign at QSL.net and the link to that is here.

Oh, K4WLD is also a real callsign, held by Randy Wallace…the QRZ.com link is here.

There is a Wikipedia link with more information here, and the IMDB link is here.

If you haven’t seen the original film, I recommend you watch it. Star Trek: First Contact is my favourite of the TNG era…you should watch that too.