WEBVTT 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:12.480 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:30.420 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:33.179 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:43.420 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:47.060 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:47.460 --> 00:00:52.880 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:58.740 pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, 00:00:59.020 --> 00:01:04.000 logged it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.859 amateur for more information about ICOM radios. 00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:43.480 Good evening, everyone. It's time for HamTalk 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:48.780 Live. It's episode number 132. The U .S. Coast 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:52.480 Guard Cutter Courier exhibit at the Voice of 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.260 America Museum of Broadcasting recorded live 00:01:55.260 --> 00:02:00.620 on Thursday, September 13th, 2018. I'm your host, 00:02:00.859 --> 00:02:05.379 Neil Rapp, WB9 VPG. Thanks for tuning in to another 00:02:05.379 --> 00:02:09.280 episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're joined 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:14.389 by Lee Hite, K8CLI from the National Voice of 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:17.909 America Museum of Broadcasting in Westchester, 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:21.889 Ohio. And we'll take your calls live in just 00:02:21.889 --> 00:02:24.669 a few minutes. Last week here on the show, Andy 00:02:24.669 --> 00:02:29.169 Malusi, KK4LWR, was here to talk about the Collegiate 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:32.050 QSO Party that's coming up this weekend. So if 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:35.810 you missed that, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive 00:02:35.810 --> 00:02:40.360 .com. or on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, I Heart 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:43.360 Podcasts, Google Play, TuneIn, SoundCloud, or 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.199 your favorite podcast app. We're also available 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:50.939 on YouTube. And get your questions ready to go. 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.300 We're going to talk about the Voice of America 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:59.020 Museum and how a ship ties into some of the things 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:01.960 that the Voice of America was doing and a little 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.020 bit of a ham radio connection. So we'll talk 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:08.030 about that. After the interview, you can give 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:09.530 us a call. I'll go ahead and give you the phone 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:11.750 number so you can write that down and have that 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:16.629 ready to go. The phone number is 812 -NET -HAM 00:03:16.629 --> 00:03:25.129 -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Or you can call us 00:03:25.129 --> 00:03:28.430 on Skype if you like. We're HamTalk Live on Skype. 00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:32.750 And if you'd rather not call, you can tweet us 00:03:32.750 --> 00:03:37.580 at HamTalk Live on Twitter. And a couple of announcements 00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.159 we'll throw in here. First of all, if you haven't 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:45.180 heard about Flow, Hurricane Florence, the Hurricane 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:51.180 Watch Net and the VoIP Hurricane Net and the 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:56.590 Saturn Relief Nets are all... up and going. So 00:03:56.590 --> 00:03:59.310 make sure you watch out for their frequencies 00:03:59.310 --> 00:04:04.370 as usual in hurricane season. So please try to 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:07.849 stay clear of them on the air as they work to 00:04:07.849 --> 00:04:10.810 try to help people out and you can listen in 00:04:10.810 --> 00:04:15.439 on that as well. And as a part of that I just 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:18.459 saw release W1AW is going to actually be off 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:22.240 the air on Friday. They've suspended their bulletins 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:27.500 because of that. So just a heads up that W1AW 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.120 bulletins and practice and that kind of thing 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:36.000 won't be on on Friday. Also we had a request 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:43.810 to do some t -shirts for the show and With a 00:04:43.810 --> 00:04:46.430 satellite theme now on the back. We have a couple 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:51.089 of slogans. We do the the takeoff of Les Nessman 00:04:51.089 --> 00:04:54.610 from WKRP who always signed off may the good 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:58.250 news be yours and we did may the good DX be yours, 00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:02.389 but We've also done a couple of other slogans 00:05:02.389 --> 00:05:04.870 on the back and and there was a request that 00:05:04.870 --> 00:05:08.189 we do some satellite slogans so we actually tossed 00:05:08.189 --> 00:05:10.670 some around on Twitter and I think we've got 00:05:10.670 --> 00:05:15.350 one picked up but I don't have everything quite 00:05:15.350 --> 00:05:18.269 ready to go just yet, but if you're interested 00:05:18.269 --> 00:05:22.029 in getting one of those, be aware that I'll have 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:25.389 a form online that you can fill out and sign 00:05:25.389 --> 00:05:30.649 up for buying one of those soon. So watch the 00:05:30.649 --> 00:05:34.540 social media outlets. and we'll post the information 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:37.660 on those shirts here in the next week or two 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:40.060 on how you can order those. And we're going to 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:43.220 do a limited edition order of that one. So if 00:05:43.220 --> 00:05:45.459 you're interested in that, make sure you're, 00:05:45.459 --> 00:05:47.459 you're watching for that and we'll talk about 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:50.160 it a little bit next week, I'm sure. But I'll 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:53.600 be back with Lee and we'll talk about the U S 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:56.399 Coast Guard Cutter Courier exhibit right after 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.800 this word from ICOM America right here on HamTalk 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:04.240 Live. Heard it? worked it, logged it. It's time 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.459 to get the transceiver that is best suited for 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:10.079 your lifestyle. 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Check 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:21.879 them out at icomamerica .com slash amateur. And 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:25.980 tonight we have Lee Hite, K8 CLI with us. He's 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:29.199 one of the lead docents at the National Voice 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:32.820 of America Museum of Broadcasting in Westchester, 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.000 Ohio. Lee is a retired electronics engineer with 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.480 a passion for investigating technical issues. 00:08:38.909 --> 00:08:41.730 occasionally surrounded with some mystery and 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:44.129 often bridging several fields of technology. 00:08:44.629 --> 00:08:49.049 He was licensed in 1954 and is active with the 00:08:49.049 --> 00:08:52.289 Mason, Ohio and Warren County CERT teams. He 00:08:52.289 --> 00:08:57.070 also engineers wind chimes and biomass bricks. 00:08:58.049 --> 00:09:02.450 So he does it all. Lee, welcome to HamTalk Live. 00:09:03.490 --> 00:09:06.379 Well, thank you, Neil. Very happy to be here 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:08.399 and thanks for the invitation. We appreciate 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:13.799 it. Well, I always enjoy seeing you and the people 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:16.379 over at the Voice of America Museum whenever 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:20.980 I can and try to help out as I can over there. 00:09:22.680 --> 00:09:25.299 I'm back at work again and it's been a little 00:09:25.299 --> 00:09:28.159 while and Gary tells me there's all kinds of 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.379 things that have changed already since I was 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:35.100 last there about seven or eight weeks ago. So 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:37.539 we may have to talk about that a little bit, 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.519 but one of the things that has changed is this 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:46.279 new exhibit. At the museum on the USC GC courier. 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.779 So Tell us the story about this boat and how 00:09:49.779 --> 00:09:53.500 it's connected to the history of the voice of 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:57.639 America Okay. Yeah, it's it's quite a fascinating 00:09:57.639 --> 00:09:59.960 story I've got a little background here to give 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:03.960 you as we lead into this but as we all know World 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.039 War two ended in 1945 and it wasn't but just 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:12.279 a few years later around 1947 that we defined 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:16.279 this 45 -year period called the Cold War. And 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:18.720 the U .S. government was doing a number of things 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:25.600 to try to provide a defense for threats from 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.340 the Cold War. They commissioned the development 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:32.840 of a nuclear airplane, a nuclear -powered airplane, 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.299 the ICBMs and the Polaris submarines. Two of 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:39.700 those, of course, turned out to be very successful. 00:10:40.090 --> 00:10:42.750 Well, in addition to that, that's all hardware 00:10:42.750 --> 00:10:47.370 based. They decided that the Word is a very powerful 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:50.110 weapon and while the VOA had been on the air 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:54.690 since 1942, they continued on the air after the 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:58.409 end of the war and became a very important tool 00:10:58.409 --> 00:11:03.009 during the Cold War. During that period, they 00:11:03.009 --> 00:11:06.429 transmitted into Russia, they transmitted to 00:11:06.429 --> 00:11:10.340 a lot of parts of the world. but certainly Russia 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:14.440 was top of the list. VOA had three facilities, 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:18.200 one in Delano, California, and us here in Bethany, 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:22.100 Ohio, and Greenville, North Carolina, and all 00:11:22.100 --> 00:11:27.779 three facilities broadcast into Russia. The basic 00:11:27.779 --> 00:11:30.259 message, tell the truth and let the world decide, 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:34.659 and was just trying to get our view of things 00:11:34.659 --> 00:11:38.570 broadcast into Russia. So that went on for a 00:11:38.570 --> 00:11:46.230 while, and by early 50s, 58 -51, Russia was catching 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:49.789 on to the fact that we were a pretty prominent 00:11:49.789 --> 00:11:54.409 force in the radio world in Russia, and they 00:11:54.409 --> 00:11:57.490 began jamming, well they had been jamming all 00:11:57.490 --> 00:12:00.190 along, but they got stronger transmitters, bigger 00:12:00.190 --> 00:12:04.190 signals, and was jamming the BOA signals coming 00:12:04.190 --> 00:12:09.220 out of the United States. We all practiced a 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.860 technique called cuddling, which is we will, 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:17.179 the VOA would come up beside an existing frequency 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:21.559 that the Soviets were using and broadcast. And 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:23.440 that was done deliberately so that when they 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:27.700 tried to jam the VOA signal, they would inadvertently 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:31.340 jam their own signal. It was a very broadband. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.360 Acoustic generator sounded like a coffee grinder 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.919 going off, but it would splatter all over the 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.580 band So that worked for a while, but eventually 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:44.799 they got stronger and stronger transmitters and 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:47.899 The government decided we needed to do something 00:12:47.899 --> 00:12:52.840 about it Harry Truman was running for president 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:59.100 and had Proposed a what was called a ring of 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:04.809 truth Around Russia. He wanted to put 14 Transmitting 00:13:04.809 --> 00:13:08.990 sites circling Russia each site at a 1 million 00:13:08.990 --> 00:13:14.370 watt capacity So here we would have 14 1 million 00:13:14.370 --> 00:13:21.549 watt transmitters around Russia and that Congress 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:23.830 thought it was a good idea and actually funded 00:13:23.830 --> 00:13:26.330 the beginning of it. They funded some 42 million 00:13:26.330 --> 00:13:30.850 dollars to get started But unfortunately after 00:13:30.850 --> 00:13:33.590 the election, Congress had second thoughts and 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:41.330 they cut back to only one station and that turned 00:13:41.330 --> 00:13:46.690 out to be the U .S. Coast Guard Cutter Courier. 00:13:47.370 --> 00:13:52.769 They had other stations in England and Greece 00:13:52.769 --> 00:13:58.009 that were transmitting into Russia. They would 00:13:58.009 --> 00:14:00.330 pick up the signal out of the United States, 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:02.909 and they were called relay stations, and they 00:14:02.909 --> 00:14:06.529 would then retransmit into Russia. But we needed 00:14:06.529 --> 00:14:09.370 to get a very strong signal into Russia. And 00:14:09.370 --> 00:14:13.230 so what they decided to do was to build a very 00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:17.250 powerful floating broadcast station. And they 00:14:17.250 --> 00:14:19.870 looked around to do it. This was not the first 00:14:19.870 --> 00:14:24.169 time the VOA had used a floating broadcast station. 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:30.889 this was going to be the most powerful and did 00:14:30.889 --> 00:14:34.909 not want guns or ammunition or a threat involved 00:14:34.909 --> 00:14:38.509 so normally they would look to the Navy to do 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:41.649 this but in this case they looked to the Coast 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:44.169 Guard because they were non -comfrontational 00:14:44.169 --> 00:14:50.090 and so they commissioned a ship with the Coast 00:14:50.090 --> 00:14:53.029 Guard it was actually a ship built for the Navy 00:14:53.029 --> 00:15:00.940 that was never used and was commissioned in 1952 00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:06.879 and contained, actually contained four transmitters. 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.159 They had one large transmitter that was what 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:15.899 we call medium wave or the AM broadcast band. 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:20.980 It was 150 kilowatt transmitter. And then they 00:15:20.980 --> 00:15:24.360 had two 35 kilowatt short wave transmitters. 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:28.009 And then a smaller Collins unit, three kilowatt 00:15:28.009 --> 00:15:31.669 that they use for ship to shore. And so that 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:36.950 then was deployed. They were stationed off an 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:40.250 island of Greece called Rhodes. It's way down 00:15:40.250 --> 00:15:42.389 in the key of islands off from Greece. It's very 00:15:42.389 --> 00:15:46.429 close to Turkey, about just 10, 11 miles southwest 00:15:46.429 --> 00:15:51.129 of Turkey. And we're stationed off that island. 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:54.759 And so they were there for 12 years broadcasting 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:59.799 and had a phenomenal success during that process. 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:04.600 Well, that's what you call going mobile with 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:10.399 kilowatts of power. That's going mobile for sure. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:14.740 And, uh, you know, we'd talk about, uh, you know, 00:16:14.940 --> 00:16:17.840 relays, uh, you know, well, we need a relay to 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.659 check into this net. Well, that that's a relay 00:16:20.659 --> 00:16:26.039 now. That's some powerful, powerful signals out 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:30.419 of that schmoke. The VOA in general used a lot 00:16:30.419 --> 00:16:35.139 of relays. We here in Bethany, as was Delano, 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:37.700 California and Greenville, North Carolina, we 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:40.019 were called relay stations because all the program 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:43.539 material eventually came out of Washington, D 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:45.480 .C. It started in New York and then moved to 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.139 Washington, D .C. BOA is still on the air today 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:51.220 and still producing program material. And now 00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:53.639 it's broadcast over the internet, satellite, 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.240 and cellular, and that kind of thing. But we 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.240 all were relay stations. And in our case, we 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:02.220 would pick it up from Worceton, DC, and then 00:17:02.220 --> 00:17:04.559 broadcast it. And it would either go directly, 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.700 like into South America or Africa, or be picked 00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:11.180 up by one of our relay stations over there and 00:17:11.180 --> 00:17:14.650 retransmitted. Yeah, now one of the things that 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:18.789 I always found interesting when I first discovered 00:17:18.789 --> 00:17:22.650 the museum and started making trips over there 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:25.710 and learning more about this was that you know 00:17:25.710 --> 00:17:27.650 with all those transmitters and everything there 00:17:27.650 --> 00:17:31.809 was not a microphone in the place and like you 00:17:31.809 --> 00:17:34.930 said it was it was all relay because You didn't 00:17:34.930 --> 00:17:37.470 want to take a chance of somebody taking over 00:17:37.470 --> 00:17:43.289 the station Yes, absolutely we had guards here 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:48.309 at Bethany, but it was not so much a fear of 00:17:48.309 --> 00:17:50.690 breaking in because we did not have microphones, 00:17:50.890 --> 00:17:53.750 it's more because of the re -enter rhombic antennas 00:17:53.750 --> 00:17:56.609 that were used were highly secret. The only ones 00:17:56.609 --> 00:17:59.710 in the world, they were able to take a normal 00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:03.269 rhombic and while you will normally waste 50 00:18:03.269 --> 00:18:05.730 % of the power at the tail end, the opposite 00:18:05.730 --> 00:18:09.529 end of the feed line, they... Took that power 00:18:09.529 --> 00:18:11.670 and phased it and took it back to the input and 00:18:11.670 --> 00:18:14.130 they had the rhombic running at 98 % efficiency 00:18:14.130 --> 00:18:16.829 It was like a quarter million watts in and we 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:20.450 got 1 .1 million watts of actual RF output out 00:18:20.450 --> 00:18:24.009 of the thing. So it was For that reason they 00:18:24.009 --> 00:18:26.390 guarded the property quite carefully, but it 00:18:26.390 --> 00:18:32.730 was never for a microphone Well, that's setting 00:18:32.730 --> 00:18:37.440 up, you know getting the courier off and running 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:42.839 and We found a little bit of maybe a ham radio 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:48.619 direct connection We'll talk about it or still 00:18:48.619 --> 00:18:53.559 not real clear on everything yet, but as The 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:57.440 preparations were going for the courier they 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.480 wanted to do a test run and I found the call 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:08.079 sign that they were doing for the test run. So 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.799 tell us about that. Well, that is terribly interesting, 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:16.400 Neil. And before I directly answer that question, 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:18.619 I think the answer will have a lot more meaning 00:19:18.619 --> 00:19:22.660 if I tell another situation that happened. As 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:25.940 I mentioned earlier, the courier was not the 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:29.440 first floating broadcast station. Actually, the 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:34.829 first floating station for the VOA. was the USS 00:19:34.829 --> 00:19:41.869 Texas. And they were deployed, as I recall, in 00:19:41.869 --> 00:19:47.630 the Mediterranean, I think, to get VOA's message 00:19:47.630 --> 00:19:52.450 into Nazi Germany. And they only had a very small 00:19:52.450 --> 00:19:55.009 transmitter. It was like five kilowatt transmitter. 00:19:55.789 --> 00:20:00.470 But they were deployed quickly, I think November 00:20:00.470 --> 00:20:07.849 1942. And the situation is why the courier needed 00:20:07.849 --> 00:20:10.690 to do testing. What actually happened was they 00:20:10.690 --> 00:20:14.910 never tested the USS Texas transmitters. They 00:20:14.910 --> 00:20:18.089 were installed, tuned up into a dummy load, and 00:20:18.089 --> 00:20:21.549 yeah, they worked okay. And off they went, and 00:20:21.549 --> 00:20:24.410 they sailed into the Mediterranean. Well, their 00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:27.980 first assignment... Was to bomb some targets 00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:30.779 on shore, so they moved up close to shore and 00:20:30.779 --> 00:20:35.640 fired two a terror artillery shells both of them 00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:40.319 hit their target Unfortunately the recoil from 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:44.019 those two firings completely destroyed the transmitter 00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:47.440 so they were they were only on the air for eight 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:52.039 hours and That completely ended their life as 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:55.529 a broadcast station So what does that have to 00:20:55.529 --> 00:20:58.670 do with the courier? Well Lessons learned you 00:20:58.670 --> 00:21:02.089 might say they when they deployed the courier 00:21:02.089 --> 00:21:06.190 they put the courier on a six -week shakedown 00:21:06.190 --> 00:21:09.029 Normal for the Navy no normal for the Coast Guard 00:21:09.029 --> 00:21:13.970 to go out and shake down a new ship and They 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:16.650 when they were first deployed they were deployed 00:21:16.650 --> 00:21:20.250 under the call sign Vagabond able and that was 00:21:20.250 --> 00:21:23.500 their airway call sign And then eventually when 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:25.519 they were on station in Rhodes, Greece, they 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.980 had another call sign. But during the testing 00:21:27.980 --> 00:21:32.599 phase, they used this amateur radio call sign. 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:36.559 And while I do not know the exact reason, all 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:40.059 my research, it looks like they were very fastidious 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:44.299 about being careful of not being confrontational. 00:21:44.650 --> 00:21:47.309 And I think during this entire testing phase, 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:49.990 they wanted to have just a very generic call 00:21:49.990 --> 00:21:52.730 sign. Amateur radio was non -convertational, 00:21:52.910 --> 00:21:56.170 very generic. And so I suspect that that amateur 00:21:56.170 --> 00:21:58.390 radio call sign was used for that reason. But 00:21:58.390 --> 00:22:02.609 they put anchor in Panama for about 10 days. 00:22:04.009 --> 00:22:05.769 And people all over the world could listen to 00:22:05.769 --> 00:22:08.410 them, particularly in North America, particularly 00:22:08.410 --> 00:22:11.269 the United States and Canada. They had a QSL 00:22:11.269 --> 00:22:15.250 bureau. down there that you could write in and 00:22:15.250 --> 00:22:17.029 give your signal report. They very much wanted 00:22:17.029 --> 00:22:20.269 to know the signal report. And they would QSL 00:22:20.269 --> 00:22:24.150 back. And that was a very successful operation. 00:22:24.289 --> 00:22:27.369 And then they moved on to other ports of anchor. 00:22:33.590 --> 00:22:36.869 sure why the call side and if that works or not, 00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:42.529 but we found KU2XAJ as the the call sign that 00:22:42.529 --> 00:22:45.670 they were using for that and so But they were 00:22:45.670 --> 00:22:48.549 in broadcast, you know shortwave broadcast frequencies. 00:22:49.190 --> 00:22:53.450 So We don't know the whole story here yet. Maybe 00:22:53.450 --> 00:22:55.970 maybe maybe somebody listening will know the 00:22:55.970 --> 00:22:58.900 rest of the story, but And we'll turn it into 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:04.700 a Paul Harvey show. But yeah, it'd be kind of 00:23:04.700 --> 00:23:07.339 interesting to find out there. But that was the 00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:11.819 call sign, KU2XAJ, that they were using apparently 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:16.099 with the shakedown mode down in the canal zone. 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:22.160 Yep. And after they quit the testing phase and 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:26.720 used the KU2XAJ call sign, once they were deployed, 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:31.200 on the off the island of Rhodes, they've used 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:34.900 the operational call sign, the NFKW, November 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:37.559 Foxtrot kilowatt whiskey. And that was their 00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:40.039 operational call sign. And so I would think they 00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:42.440 wanted to be careful not to use their operational 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:46.220 call sign. But like you say, we I still don't 00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:49.160 know how that came about. I never found a copy 00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.599 of their license. And I'm not sure they were 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.180 had to have a license be in the government. But 00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:57.460 I still don't know the answer to that. Yeah, 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:01.240 it was interesting just happened to run across 00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:05.839 that as a preparing for the show so We looked 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.519 into it a little bit and Lee's looked quite a 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:12.079 bit into it. So we appreciate that Well, let's 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.000 we've got a couple of minutes here before we 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.700 need to take a break. But let's talk a little 00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:20.690 bit about the museum at or the exhibit at the 00:24:20.690 --> 00:24:23.910 museum. How did that come about and tell us a 00:24:23.910 --> 00:24:27.309 little bit about what you can expect to see if 00:24:27.309 --> 00:24:31.009 you make a visit there while the exhibits in 00:24:31.009 --> 00:24:36.089 the museum? Yes, we were very honored to have 00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:39.150 the traveling exhibit from the USS Coast Guard 00:24:39.150 --> 00:24:45.150 Cutter Courier visit us last year. They provided 00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:52.430 13 large, they're about 32 inches by 40 inches, 00:24:52.630 --> 00:24:56.109 very large posters, very well done. That describes 00:24:56.109 --> 00:24:59.710 the entire history and beginning through the 00:24:59.710 --> 00:25:03.269 end of the courier. And we had that displayed 00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:07.309 in the Hanley Hall in the museum. And it was 00:25:07.309 --> 00:25:11.309 so popular and we had people come in that were 00:25:11.309 --> 00:25:14.170 either associated or had family members associated 00:25:14.170 --> 00:25:17.140 with the courier. And a lot of encouragement 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:21.119 to keep it. Of course, we had to give it up back 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:25.160 to the Rhodes organization. And so we went ahead 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:29.000 and funded and duplicated all of those hanging 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.640 posters, if you will. And a brand new hallway 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.420 just outside of the control room has been finished. 00:25:35.690 --> 00:25:38.910 With nice lighting and video and we're and we 00:25:38.910 --> 00:25:42.230 have those Mounted on the wall and it and it's 00:25:42.230 --> 00:25:44.910 just it's very meaningful to to walk down that 00:25:44.910 --> 00:25:48.190 hallway and read the story When it was dedicated 00:25:48.190 --> 00:25:51.549 we had several courier people come in to the 00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:55.869 museum actually some rhodians They were absolutely 00:25:55.869 --> 00:26:00.390 fascinating to to talk with Living here in America. 00:26:00.390 --> 00:26:04.269 We just don't understand the value of our culture 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:07.819 When they came in for the dedication, I had an 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:09.700 opportunity to talk with almost every one of 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:12.960 them. And they were so amazingly appreciative 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:15.539 of what the United States did to the Voice of 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:19.799 America message. And in particular, particularly, 00:26:20.980 --> 00:26:22.960 the island of Rhodes was pretty well devastated 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.539 after the war. And our good neighbor policies 00:26:26.539 --> 00:26:31.900 helped to rebuild that island. The crewmen that 00:26:31.900 --> 00:26:36.170 were on board ship would would go to shore and 00:26:36.170 --> 00:26:39.650 actually there were the captain of the ship arranged 00:26:39.650 --> 00:26:45.490 a mixer to get the guys to meet the gals on shore 00:26:45.490 --> 00:26:49.170 and over the course of the 12 year period there 00:26:49.170 --> 00:26:52.549 were a little bit more than 95 marriages that 00:26:52.549 --> 00:26:58.970 took place to courier men and I came across another 00:26:58.970 --> 00:27:04.039 interesting tidbit was the American Brides dress 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:08.319 was absolutely revered. And so the first woman 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:12.500 to get married to a courier crewman ordered an 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:17.660 American bride's dress. And it was so popular 00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:20.960 that it was repurposed five more times. It wound 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:25.420 up being on six brides. They retrofitted it and 00:27:25.420 --> 00:27:29.400 modified it to fit five other women. And so six 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:32.320 women got married in the same dress. because 00:27:32.320 --> 00:27:36.819 it was the thing to do on the island of Rhodes. 00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:42.400 Well, that's some pretty cool stuff. Well, we 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.079 need to take a break, but we will come back and 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:48.539 talk some more with Lee, and we'll give you a 00:27:48.539 --> 00:27:51.880 chance to call in and ask your questions. Again, 00:27:52.019 --> 00:27:58.450 that phone number is 812 -638 -4261. We'll come 00:27:58.450 --> 00:28:01.430 back and do all that with Lee right after this 00:28:01.430 --> 00:28:04.869 word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk 00:28:04.869 --> 00:28:18.240 Live. There's just one place to go for all of 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.900 your connector needs. Tower electronics. Tower 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:24.180 electronics. 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TOWER ELECTRONICS! 00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:09.119 TOWER ELECTRONICS! TOWER ELECTRONICS! Hi, I'm 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:13.200 Scott Cole, KB9 AMM, president of TOWER ELECTRONICS. 00:29:13.420 --> 00:29:15.680 I like the company so much that I bought it. 00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:18.099 TOWER ELECTRONICS, coming to a hand fest near 00:29:18.099 --> 00:29:23.099 you, or online at PL -259 .com. And we're in 00:29:23.099 --> 00:29:25.859 the yellow pages under amateur radio connectors. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.559 My, wherever did you get that lovely PL -259? 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:34.779 TOWER ELECTRONICS, PL -259 .com. or call 920 00:29:34.779 --> 00:29:41.720 -435 -2973. Do we sell PL259 connectors? Join 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:44.880 the conversation. Call us on voice with Skype 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:48.880 at HamTalk Live or give us a call at 812 -NET 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:54.960 -HAM -1. That's 812 -638 -4261. Now, here's more 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:59.779 HamTalk Live. It's not the amount of power, it's 00:29:59.779 --> 00:30:12.539 the size of our tower ham talk live You can catch 00:30:12.539 --> 00:30:16.539 Scott or Jill or both from tower electronics 00:30:16.539 --> 00:30:20.359 This weekend. They're in Peoria, Illinois for 00:30:20.359 --> 00:30:25.210 the Superfest there September 15 and 16 and then 00:30:25.210 --> 00:30:28.509 it's off to Texas Belton Texas October 5th and 00:30:28.509 --> 00:30:32.529 6th and then in Greenville Tennessee on October 00:30:32.529 --> 00:30:36.349 20th but you can always find them at one place 00:30:36.349 --> 00:30:41.950 pl -259 .com and you can find HamTalk Live at 00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:47.529 one place hamtalklive .com Thursday nights at 00:30:47.529 --> 00:30:52.319 9 p .m eastern time And be sure to check us out 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:54.779 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And it's 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:58.160 time for your calls. So now's your chance. If 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:02.460 you want to call in and ask a question to Lee 00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:08.140 K8CLI about the Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting 00:31:08.140 --> 00:31:12.319 or the Courier Exhibit, give us a call right 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:20.799 now. It's 812 -638 -4261. 812 -NET -HAM -1. Or 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:25.059 you can also drop a tweet on Twitter. We're at 00:31:25.059 --> 00:31:30.039 HamTalk Live on Twitter. And even if you do Skype, 00:31:30.259 --> 00:31:33.299 we'll take Skype call too. It's HamTalk Live 00:31:33.299 --> 00:31:37.519 on Skype. Well, Lee, while we're waiting on the 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:39.660 calls to come in, I know you want to talk about 00:31:39.660 --> 00:31:44.730 a special event coming up here in just a little 00:31:44.730 --> 00:31:48.750 over a week, I guess it is. You've got a gala 00:31:48.750 --> 00:31:52.250 and a fundraiser, but also a special event station 00:31:52.250 --> 00:31:56.650 going on on the 22nd. So why don't you tell everybody 00:31:56.650 --> 00:32:01.440 about that? Yes. Thank you, Neil. Part of the 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:07.180 BOA, National BOA Broadcast Museum, Museum of 00:32:07.180 --> 00:32:09.759 Broadcasting, we have a very important part of 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:13.099 the museum is the Westchester Amateur Radio Association. 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:17.200 They operate under the call sign WCA BOA, Whiskey 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:21.380 Charlie 8, Voice of America. And on September 00:32:21.380 --> 00:32:25.900 22, we will be celebrating BOA's 74th anniversary. 00:32:26.349 --> 00:32:30.950 And we'll have a special event station on that 00:32:30.950 --> 00:32:35.009 day. I don't remember the hours right now, but 00:32:35.009 --> 00:32:39.349 I think around 8 or 9 in the morning until 5 00:32:39.349 --> 00:32:43.109 o 'clock in the afternoon. And we'll be mostly 00:32:43.109 --> 00:32:48.210 on 40 and 20. On 40 meters, we generally operate 00:32:48.210 --> 00:32:53.849 in the vicinity of 7 .268 megahertz, 7 .268. 00:32:55.420 --> 00:33:02.019 20 meters typically operate around 14 .268. So 00:33:02.019 --> 00:33:06.220 if you're available, stop in, say hello. We are 00:33:06.220 --> 00:33:10.420 sending special QSL certificates through a new 00:33:10.420 --> 00:33:13.119 process that will be explained when you make 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:15.900 contact with us. And so we'd love to hear from 00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:21.299 you and give us a call when you hear us on Saturday, 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:26.740 September 22. 22nd. Yep. Yeah. And then talk 00:33:26.740 --> 00:33:28.700 a little bit about what's going on that evening 00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:33.019 too. We have, uh, we're funded by donations, 00:33:33.019 --> 00:33:37.299 uh, from various sources and we have what we 00:33:37.299 --> 00:33:40.279 call the gala, which is a fundraiser event, but 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:45.319 we have over 120 some people attend the event 00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:49.079 and we have a band called rock the radio, uh, 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:53.059 that evening and a dinner, a dinner kind of arrangement. 00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:58.190 And it's intended to be a fundraiser, but we 00:33:58.190 --> 00:34:01.069 have an incredible crew of docents at the museum. 00:34:01.529 --> 00:34:04.069 Our docents will be there to answer questions, 00:34:04.569 --> 00:34:09.010 and it's a really fun evening, Neil, a lot of 00:34:09.010 --> 00:34:13.469 fun. OK, so if you're interested in Rock the 00:34:13.469 --> 00:34:18.130 Radio, that's the... The gala on the 22nd you 00:34:18.130 --> 00:34:21.829 can check that out at the website That's vo a 00:34:21.829 --> 00:34:25.630 museum org and you can check out that out and 00:34:25.630 --> 00:34:28.829 see about tickets and that kind of thing for 00:34:28.829 --> 00:34:33.170 Rock the radio at 6 p .m. On the 22nd and if 00:34:33.170 --> 00:34:36.210 you can't make it to Westchester, Ohio you can 00:34:36.210 --> 00:34:40.050 get on 40 or 20 and Get a hold of Mike and the 00:34:40.050 --> 00:34:45.099 guys and they'll get you a QSL card. So, tell 00:34:45.099 --> 00:34:48.679 me what... Let me put the phone number out here 00:34:48.679 --> 00:34:55.219 again. 812 -638 -4261. 812 -NET -HAM -1 or tweet 00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:58.929 us. Ham talk live if you have a question about 00:34:58.929 --> 00:35:02.869 the museum or the Information on the courier 00:35:02.869 --> 00:35:05.710 that we're talking about tonight Tell us a little 00:35:05.710 --> 00:35:08.869 bit about some of the other updates. I know Gary 00:35:08.869 --> 00:35:11.469 has told me that that I wouldn't recognize the 00:35:11.469 --> 00:35:16.530 place It's only been a few weeks. So What else 00:35:16.530 --> 00:35:21.510 has been going on? We continue to upgrade and 00:35:21.510 --> 00:35:25.349 modernize the museum from its operational days 00:35:25.349 --> 00:35:30.349 as a transmitting relay station. We have a very 00:35:30.349 --> 00:35:32.769 well put together, well there's actually four 00:35:32.769 --> 00:35:36.449 museums in the building. Of course the VOA museum, 00:35:36.590 --> 00:35:40.070 we have the modernized control room when the 00:35:40.070 --> 00:35:43.190 stations shut down. Very well equipped and we 00:35:43.190 --> 00:35:46.650 take people in there and talk about. how the 00:35:46.650 --> 00:35:49.230 station ran. We preserved one of the Collins 00:35:49.230 --> 00:35:53.869 250kw transmitters. We show you that. And also 00:35:53.869 --> 00:35:56.610 the antenna switch out back is preserved. That's 00:35:56.610 --> 00:36:00.590 a 22 by 6 antenna switch. It's an amazing sight 00:36:00.590 --> 00:36:04.250 to see. And then we talk about special English 00:36:04.250 --> 00:36:07.650 that was specific to the VOA. And then the other 00:36:07.650 --> 00:36:10.010 three museums, we have a room just dedicated 00:36:10.010 --> 00:36:12.929 to Paul Crosley. He was such a prolific inventor. 00:36:13.309 --> 00:36:18.369 He invented and marketed over, I counted one 00:36:18.369 --> 00:36:21.349 day over 32 different products that were not 00:36:21.349 --> 00:36:26.289 radio related. They were other devices. So we 00:36:26.289 --> 00:36:29.510 go through a lot of that in that room. Just recently 00:36:29.510 --> 00:36:32.550 we have another room that's a radio timeline 00:36:32.550 --> 00:36:38.670 which we trace really from the days of the beginning 00:36:38.670 --> 00:36:43.900 of. discovering magnetism and Voltaia and Hertz. 00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:47.119 We trace all the way that up to the satellite. 00:36:48.380 --> 00:36:53.280 And just a few days ago, Neil, I installed an 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:56.320 antenna, a replica of the antenna that's on the 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:59.820 Titanic in that room so people can see the size 00:36:59.820 --> 00:37:03.000 of the antenna. It was called a twin T. The Titanic 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:08.199 actually had two antennas, one that was configured 00:37:08.199 --> 00:37:12.090 to to optimize the signal in the forward direction, 00:37:12.550 --> 00:37:15.829 and the other one optimized it to the rear. And 00:37:15.829 --> 00:37:19.489 we will have on display a nice model of the Titanic. 00:37:20.190 --> 00:37:23.590 And the importance there is that, of course, 00:37:23.590 --> 00:37:25.429 we all know the story of the Titanic, but there's 00:37:25.429 --> 00:37:28.710 a very positive story out of it because over 00:37:28.710 --> 00:37:32.170 710 people were saved because of wireless technology. 00:37:32.570 --> 00:37:35.429 It was all Spark transmitters, but Spark worked, 00:37:35.570 --> 00:37:40.539 and it worked very well. Over 12 ships heard 00:37:40.539 --> 00:37:43.320 the Titanic signal within a 500 mile radius. 00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:46.679 And so we've got that antenna to try to just 00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:50.360 draw attention to that wireless part. And then 00:37:50.360 --> 00:37:52.780 on the other side of the museum, we have what's 00:37:52.780 --> 00:37:55.440 called the Media Heritage Museum, which if you 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:58.940 grew up around Southwest Ohio, you were familiar 00:37:58.940 --> 00:38:01.980 with the television and radio from the beginning 00:38:01.980 --> 00:38:05.590 here in Cincinnati. And we trace all of that 00:38:05.590 --> 00:38:10.070 quite well. There's from Ruth Lyons to Larry 00:38:10.070 --> 00:38:13.010 Smith's puppets and all of the personalities, 00:38:13.170 --> 00:38:15.909 a lot of the hardware, TV cameras and broadcast 00:38:15.909 --> 00:38:19.630 replication of broadcast studios. So it's an 00:38:19.630 --> 00:38:21.630 amazing place to come see. If you ever get down 00:38:21.630 --> 00:38:24.670 to Southwest Ohio, be sure and stop in. We're 00:38:24.670 --> 00:38:27.409 open every weekend now, Friday and Saturday, 00:38:28.070 --> 00:38:32.170 1 p .m. to 4 p .m. And we have a fantastic staff 00:38:32.170 --> 00:38:35.980 of docents. to help. You can take the tour yourself 00:38:35.980 --> 00:38:39.420 or a docent can show you around. It's your choice. 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:43.639 Let me correct you there, Lee. You said Friday 00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:47.059 and Saturday. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Saturday and 00:38:47.059 --> 00:38:49.139 Sunday. Thank you. Thank you for catching that. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:52.000 Yeah. Every Saturday and Sunday, 1 p .m. to 4 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:57.960 p .m. Okay. And if you're a ham, you can also 00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:02.320 visit the station there at WC8VOA. Work a pile 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:07.179 up usually at least Yes, you can operate whether 00:39:07.179 --> 00:39:09.400 or not you'll get a pile up or not. Well most 00:39:09.400 --> 00:39:13.099 of the time it's a pile up Yep. Yep. Mike Mike 00:39:13.099 --> 00:39:15.360 Braun is typically at the operating station along 00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:20.739 with several others Carl and Bob etc and Mark 00:39:20.739 --> 00:39:24.280 but Always invite people to come in and operate 00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:28.360 take the station to make some contacts we have 00:39:29.860 --> 00:39:32.840 Even if the person is not licensed, as long as 00:39:32.840 --> 00:39:35.119 we have a licensed control operator, we have 00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:37.280 a lot of non -licensed people get on the air 00:39:37.280 --> 00:39:40.039 and absolutely have a blast. Neil, they can't 00:39:40.039 --> 00:39:43.119 believe they just talked to Italy or Japan or 00:39:43.119 --> 00:39:46.980 something like that, you know? Yeah, and great 00:39:46.980 --> 00:39:53.099 room there set up with all kinds of cool stuff. 00:39:54.190 --> 00:39:56.949 It's always a joy to get over there, and I enjoy 00:39:56.949 --> 00:39:59.570 getting on the air from there. So if you get 00:39:59.570 --> 00:40:03.170 a chance, stop in. And I know many of you have 00:40:03.170 --> 00:40:07.389 actually been there. And people come in and say, 00:40:07.530 --> 00:40:12.090 yeah, yeah, I heard it on HamTalk Live. So that 00:40:12.090 --> 00:40:16.190 was kind of cool to have that happen on one of 00:40:16.190 --> 00:40:18.630 my, well, I think it was the last trip over. 00:40:18.809 --> 00:40:23.420 I think that happened. VOAMuseum .org is where 00:40:23.420 --> 00:40:26.039 you can find more information about the museum, 00:40:26.099 --> 00:40:30.739 and there's a link there to the WC8VOA website 00:40:30.739 --> 00:40:35.780 as well, which is WC8VOA .org, right? Correct. 00:40:36.219 --> 00:40:39.920 Yeah, okay. Just making sure. Well let's give 00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:42.699 one more opportunity here for calls tonight. 00:40:42.860 --> 00:40:46.900 It's 812 -638 -4261. I've been checking the... 00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:49.699 tweets here too and haven't seen anything but 00:40:49.699 --> 00:40:53.539 we know most of our audience doesn't listen to 00:40:53.539 --> 00:40:58.019 us live they listen to the replay so we know 00:40:58.019 --> 00:41:00.559 that happens but if you're listening live we'd 00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:02.519 love to hear from you it's eight one two six 00:41:02.519 --> 00:41:07.340 three eight four two six one so all kinds of 00:41:07.340 --> 00:41:11.369 things happening and Okay, I'm gonna pull this 00:41:11.369 --> 00:41:14.929 one out of the hat and I think you're prepared 00:41:14.929 --> 00:41:18.349 for this but we didn't put it in the in the plan 00:41:18.349 --> 00:41:22.250 Talk about this this new rhombic that you guys 00:41:22.250 --> 00:41:26.989 are working on. Oh, yes quite exciting the The 00:41:26.989 --> 00:41:29.869 VOA station here in Bethany when it was operational 00:41:29.869 --> 00:41:35.730 had 22 rhombics Wrong I said that wrong. We had 00:41:35.730 --> 00:41:40.670 22 antennas Fourteen of them were rhombics and 00:41:40.670 --> 00:41:43.550 eight of them were, we had two curtain antennas 00:41:43.550 --> 00:41:46.590 and each curtain had four dipoles in it. But 00:41:46.590 --> 00:41:50.929 we had 14 rhombics. And normally, as I'd mentioned 00:41:50.929 --> 00:41:53.989 earlier, when you feed a rhombic at one end, 00:41:54.469 --> 00:41:58.630 you terminate the other end in the impedance, 00:41:58.650 --> 00:42:02.510 I think it's 600 ohms. And that gives us its 00:42:02.510 --> 00:42:06.960 directionality forward and a fairly narrow beam 00:42:06.960 --> 00:42:11.619 width and that's what the amateur radio station 00:42:11.619 --> 00:42:16.260 is going to put up is we've done some testing 00:42:16.260 --> 00:42:21.019 on a temporary rhombic and now we are in the 00:42:21.019 --> 00:42:24.719 process of acquiring 80 -foot poles and it will 00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:28.099 be put up in the traditional diamond shape and 00:42:28.099 --> 00:42:32.400 It'll be broadband by using three wires on the 00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:36.860 sides Each leg will have three wires As a conductors 00:42:36.860 --> 00:42:40.519 which helps to broadband the the antenna But 00:42:40.519 --> 00:42:43.739 we're quite excited. It's it's it's in process 00:42:43.739 --> 00:42:46.440 right now Neil. They just had a meeting two days 00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:50.639 ago About acquiring the 80 foot poles and once 00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:53.260 we get those up the wire and everything else 00:42:53.260 --> 00:42:55.980 will go up pretty quickly So we'll let everybody 00:42:55.980 --> 00:42:58.260 know with all they'll let you know through the 00:42:58.260 --> 00:43:01.099 ham station and we'll let you know on the website 00:43:01.099 --> 00:43:05.159 All right, very good. So Some more to look forward 00:43:05.159 --> 00:43:08.139 to over there at the Voice of America Museum 00:43:08.139 --> 00:43:11.960 of Broadcasting and let me take one last look 00:43:11.960 --> 00:43:15.440 here at Twitter and make sure we're not missing 00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:19.820 anyone's questions here tonight, but I think 00:43:19.820 --> 00:43:25.039 we have everything covered. Lee, it's great as 00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:29.000 always to talk to you and thanks for coming on 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:32.139 the show and talking with everybody here tonight. 00:43:32.730 --> 00:43:36.489 and letting us know about the new exhibit with 00:43:36.489 --> 00:43:40.070 the courier and some of the history there. And 00:43:40.070 --> 00:43:43.070 come back any time. We'd love to have you back. 00:43:43.670 --> 00:43:45.869 Well, thank you, Neil. And certainly on behalf 00:43:45.869 --> 00:43:48.590 of the museum and the Westchester Amateur Radio 00:43:48.590 --> 00:43:50.869 Association, we thank you for the opportunity 00:43:50.869 --> 00:43:54.309 to be on the program. We're still trying to get 00:43:54.309 --> 00:43:56.289 our message out to everyone. And this was certainly 00:43:56.289 --> 00:43:58.809 a very important vehicle. So thank you for everything 00:43:58.809 --> 00:44:01.090 you're doing. Happy to be here and we'll see 00:44:01.090 --> 00:44:04.829 you next time. All right, very good and oh just 00:44:04.829 --> 00:44:08.590 just did come in here I've got a note from Jim 00:44:08.590 --> 00:44:13.469 Wilson K5 in D if I can get my phone to cooperate 00:44:13.469 --> 00:44:17.329 here Great story about the courier. I have QSLs 00:44:17.329 --> 00:44:21.610 from Rhodes Greece VOA and Didn't have any idea 00:44:21.610 --> 00:44:26.110 that was that was around there. So It's good 00:44:26.110 --> 00:44:30.699 to hear from Jim there tonight and Didn't realize 00:44:30.699 --> 00:44:34.039 that that that was a ship. So now now, you know, 00:44:34.300 --> 00:44:38.199 so All right. Well, we're going to finish things 00:44:38.199 --> 00:44:40.980 up here tonight but thanks for coming on the 00:44:40.980 --> 00:44:45.019 show and and that is a wrap for this week's edition 00:44:45.019 --> 00:44:49.360 of ham talk live thanks to Lehigh to k8 CLI and 00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:52.420 everybody out there in cyberspace for Listening 00:44:52.420 --> 00:44:55.179 and chiming in and invite you back next Thursday 00:44:55.179 --> 00:44:59.320 night at 9 p .m. Eastern time We plan on having 00:44:59.320 --> 00:45:02.099 Don Greenbaum in one DG. I guess I should say 00:45:02.099 --> 00:45:05.960 we need to make sure he's coming but that's the 00:45:05.960 --> 00:45:09.119 plan to do a little recap on the Baker Island 00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:13.239 the expedition and You can catch up with what's 00:45:13.239 --> 00:45:16.460 coming up on the show by going to hamtalklive 00:45:16.460 --> 00:45:19.920 .com click on the show schedule link and you 00:45:19.920 --> 00:45:23.559 can see for sure who's coming up and If you like 00:45:23.559 --> 00:45:26.840 ham talk live, please leave us a review on it 00:45:26.860 --> 00:45:29.480 or wherever you listen. That helps others find 00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:32.039 us faster, so we'd appreciate it if you would 00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:36.320 do that. So for now, this is Neal Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:45:36.440 --> 00:45:56.599 saying 7375, and may the good DX be yours. Bye 00:45:56.599 --> 00:45:57.400 bye.