Thanks for tuning in ham talk live will be on
the air shortly, please stand by Thanks for tuning
in ham talk live will be on the air shortly,
please stand by Good evening, everyone. This
is HamTalk Live, episode number six, National
Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting. Recorded
live on Thursday, March 24th, 2016. I'm your
host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight on the
show, Gary West, K8DEV, Jay Edrick, K8CJY, and
Joe Gruber, WD8AZQ will join us. Our guests tonight
are from the National Voice of America Museum
of Broadcasting and the Westchester Amateur Radio
Association. They will be talking about the Voice
of America Museum in Westchester, Ohio and their
club station inside the museum WC8VOA. And there's
a special opportunity for hams to get a special
tour of the facility and you don't want to miss
the information on that. So stay tuned for that
and we'll take your calls live in just a few
minutes. Last week on The Big Show, Bob Alfen,
K4UEE, was here to talk about the big time, the
expeditions that he's organized. And if you missed
that show or any future show, you can listen
to the replay on HamTalkLive .com or on Spreaker.
Tune in, iTunes, SoundCloud, or YouTube. And
last week we added Stitcher. We also added Google
Play, although Google Play is not ready for listeners
just yet, but we'll be on there as soon as they're
ready to go. hopefully will be added to iHeart
Podcasts as well in the next week or so. Tonight
we want to take your calls as always so in just
a few minutes be ready to call in. You can call
us on Skype, just use the audio only feature
on Skype, and the username there is hamtalklive
or you can call us by telephone. It's 812 -net
-ham -1. That's 812 -638. 4261. My guests this
evening are from the National Voice of America
Museum of Broadcasting and the Westchester Amateur
Radio Association. Gary West, K -8 DEV, was born
and grew up in rural Ohio and came to Cincinnati
in 1964 to attend the University of Cincinnati
where he graduated with a bachelor of science
in industrial management. Gary and his wife Deedee
have been married for 48 years and have lived
in the Cincinnati area that entire time, most
recently in Westchester. Gary is a semi -retired
co -owner of GW Associates, consultants, packaging
brokers, and manufacturers representatives. During
his career, he held various management positions
at the Kroger company and was also employed at
Procter & Gamble, WONE radio and WUBE radio.
Gary is currently serving on the board of the
National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting
and also the Gray History of Wireless Museum.
Gary is an advanced class amateur radio operator
and was licensed in 1961. Joe Kruber, WD8AZQ
has been a ham since 1975. Joe's career spans
37 years in the semiconductor industry, most
of it with Intel Corporation. Joe was involved
in many strategic roles at Intel but had the
most fun as an evangelist for emerging technologies.
Joe retired from Intel last year and holds patents
in telephony and in security. Today Joe is a
partner in several web startup businesses and
he's on the board at VOA where he manages the
STEM outreach program and is an associate judge
for the IADAS Webby Awards. Jay Adrick, our final
guest, is K8CJY, and he's been active in amateur
radio since 1961. He's a 51 -plus year veteran
of the broadcast industry. In 2013, Jay retired
from Harris Corporation as their Vice President
of Broadcast Technology, but continues as an
industry consultant specializing in digital television
systems, television spectrum issues, and the
upcoming television spectrum repack. He was awarded
the Television Engineering Achievement Award
by the NAB, is a fellow of the Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers and the IEEE
Broadcast Television Society and SBE, the Society
of Broadcast Engineers. Jay serves as a board
member on the Voice of America National Museum
of Broadcasting. So thank you all for joining
us this evening on HamTalk Live. Thanks, we're
glad to be here. Thanks, Neil. Thanks, Neil.
Well, we've got a lot of ground to cover here
this evening. First of all, Jay, if you would
tell us a little bit about the history of the
Voice of America facility there, the Bethany
shortwave relay station near Westchester and
tell us a little bit about when that was built
and why it's there. Who got this all started?
Okay, very good. Well, the station was a result,
direct result of our entry into World War II.
At the time the war began, Germany and Japan
were very active with propaganda radio broadcasting
to various parts of the world. Germany in particular
was focusing on Latin America. And they had many
shortwave transmitters of fairly high power.
up in the 100 kilowatt range. Whereas in the
United States we only had 13 shortwave transmitters
that were in broadcast service and the highest
powered one was 75 kilowatts and it was located
at Mason, Ohio with the colliders WLWO. As soon
as the war started the government commandeered
all 13 of those transmitters. about 10 sites
around the US and began some broadcasting under
an organization that was quickly set up called
the Office of War Information, OWI. In February
of 1942, a meeting was called in Washington and
they brought in representatives from several
of the major equipment manufacturing firms like
RCA, Westinghouse, General Electric. But they
also brought in representatives from NBC, CBS,
and Crosley Broadcasting. Now, some people would
say, well, why Crosley? Well, Crosley since 1934
had been broadcasting with 500 kilowatts on medium
wave at WLW with the transmitter located out
at Mason. And they also had been active in the
shortwave business since 1926, but became seriously
engaged in shortwave with WLWO beginning in 1939.
So the person that represented Crosley was James
D. Shouse. He was the president of Crosley Broadcasting.
working for Powell -Crosley, and he went to Washington.
They talked about the needs and the fact that
they really wanted high power. 200 kilowatts
was their goal for each transmitter. And it had
never been done. The tubes didn't exist. The
technology really didn't exist. So Schaus called
back to a gentleman by the name of Ronald J.
Rockwell, R. J. Rockwell. Jim was, by the way,
Ham, K8RR was his call. And he said, Jim was
the director of engineering for Crosley Broadcasting.
And he said to Jim, you know, this is what they're
looking for. 200 kilowatt transmitters. They
need six of them at our facility. If we can do
it, is that possible? And Jim was one of these
guys that never looked down at an opportunity.
So his answer was. Well, you know, I think we
can do it, but I'll give it one hell of a try.
And Jim was awarded a contract. I would say he,
Crossley Broadcasting, was awarded the contract
virtually on the spot in Washington. It was,
as we're told, a one -page contract, pretty much
a blank check, initial authorization of a million
dollars. And they came back. They found land.
consisting of three farms, basically one square
mile of land down the road from WLW's transmitter.
That was quickly acquired by the government.
The land was cleared, and Rockwell pulled together
the Crosley engineers, a very talented bunch
of radio engineers, and also hired a group of
University of Cincinnati engineering co -ops.
Started researching found out that there were
no tubes that could do that kind of power at
shortwave so they engaged The federal IT &T company
to start developing tubes he developed a transmitter
design with his crew and They designed a building
to house the transmitters a total of six of them
the Construction was started In 1943, the antennas
were designed around a rhombic type of antenna
design with a whole group of them aimed at different
locations starting at Northern Europe, going
all the way through Southern Europe and into
Africa and also Latin America. The antennas were
put together by Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company
and Dayton Light Heat and Power two utility companies
where they spliced power poles together and They
did all the stringing of the copper the transmitters
were Started in a machine shop quickly set up
in an old candy factory down in Central Parkway
in Cincinnati While the building was being built
it was in early 1944 that they started moving
transmitters into the facility. And by late June
of 44, they had one transmitter on the air. By
September, September the 23rd, which was the
formal dedication of the facility, they had all
six transmitters up and running, and they were
broadcasting with programming that came from
New York, from the Office of War Information.
The government had hired a group of professional
broadcasters and set up studios in New York to
broadcast. the message. So that's how it came
about and of course the location because of Crosley
and the expertise at high power with the 500
kilowatts on WLW. It's quite an interesting story,
a lot of details. The transmitters were, I guess
you could say, home brewed by a group. Many of
the engineers were hams and They were pretty
much built there in the candy factory and then
later finished up there on site in the building.
The facility remained pretty much intact until
the early 60s when there was a major renovation
that was done and three of the transmitters,
the Crosley transmitters were removed and replaced
with Collins 250 kilowatt transmitters. An interesting
place to work, they were on the air almost 24
-7. They had a couple of down hours overnight
when they retuned the transmitters and came up
on different frequencies. By the way, the transmitters
that were used were actually a master and a slave.
So they had one power supply, one modulator driving
two RF decks. and they broadcast with frequency
diversity, two different frequencies, same programming.
And later in 61, three of those transmitters,
the slaves were removed and replaced with these
Collins transmitters. So that's a bit of the
background, Neil. Yeah, I've got a clip here
of one of the first broadcasts that was sent
out. And I apologize, you won't be able to hear
it over Skype. I didn't mention that to you before
the show. We're gonna listen to a little clip
here of one of the first transmissions to come
out of the voice of America. This is a voice
speaking from America. A voice from America at
war. Our voices are coming to you from New York,
across the Atlantic Ocean to London, from where
they are relayed to you in Germany. Today America
has been at war for 79 days. Daily at this time
we shall speak to you about America and the war.
The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you
the truth. So the idea was that we were going
to provide the truth. Absolutely. That was what
was insisted upon by the people that were hired.
Originally, it was thought that this would be
a propaganda source, but they quickly put that
to rest. And of course, the truth was given whether
it was good. or bad. And it served a very important
role during the war. And then the role kind of
shifted after the the end of the war. Yeah, we're
just about up to our first break here. But mention
just real quickly about what the role of Voice
of America was after the war. So the Voice of
America The Office of War Information, of course,
was the job was over when the war was over. But
as you know, we soon had a Cold War. And so the
operation was transferred over to the State Department
and became a part of what became known as the
Voice of America. The Voice of America was both
a broadcasting arm as well as an information.
And eventually that became, by the way, known
as the USIA, the US Information Agency. So they
provided a lot of truth and information to people
behind the Iron Curtain and in countries where
oppression during the Cold War was taking place.
And we've had many, many visitors who have come
to the facility who are people that immigrated
to the United States and they have talked about,
you know, how how great it was to be able to
receive the voice of America and find out the
truth. There's a great clip from one of the fellows
from behind the Iron Curtain talking about, you
know, in Russia. The crops were always good.
Airplanes never crashed. And he went on and on
with a lot of great detail. But what the point
he was trying to make was that you really didn't
hear the truth from the local broadcasters there
in in Russia, but he got the truth from the Voice
of America. Now, Joe, if you can answer this
for us, is Voice of America still in operation?
Obviously, the facility there is not operating
anymore. So is that still going? And if so, how
are they accomplishing that? Thanks, Neil. And
indeed, Voice of America still is in operation,
but certainly more of a contemporary role today
than existed back in the World War II era. To
give you an idea, there's a yearly budget of
a little over $200 million supporting over 1
,000 employees in The Voice of America. They
do broadcasting in 44 different languages to
an audience of nearly 200 million people every
week. So it's a huge operation that's underway
right now. Voice of America programs are delivered
on satellite and cable and shortwave FM medium
wave they do streaming audio and video You know
cell phones You name it every conceivable Opportunity
to reach audiences is being used today and the
mantra is still the same get accurate information
out. Stories are verified by two independent
sources or at least one representative of VOA
who actually witnessed the event. So they want
to get accurate information. It's a great service
for the English language for people who want
to learn English turned to Voice of America quite
frequently. So the charter. I actually have a
clip here of a little bit of that. And also one
of the things that fascinated me when I was there
was this, they call it special English. It has
a limited vocabulary and is spoken a lot slower.
So let's listen to just a few seconds of that.
From VOA Learning English, this is the technology
report in special English. Researchers are studying
how mobile phones can help to document the spread
of malaria. The study is part of an effort to
stop or at least control the disease, which killed
an estimated 655 ,000 people in 2010. So you
can tell, you know, it's a lot slower, simple
words to help people learn English while they're
getting the news. Exactly. And, you know, that
along with trying to get non -tainted information
out there as events happen, you know, is still
the charter of VOA. You asked about transmitting
facilities. There is still limited transmission
coming from our sister facility down in Greenville,
North Carolina. It's not fully operational, but
there is some transmission. And typically for...
radio broadcast, they work with a third party
company called the IBB to contract transmission
operations around the world strategically as
required. And each month, if you go on the website,
you'll note that they actually change frequencies
to kind of fit the time of year and maximize
their penetration and presence in the areas that
they want to deliver messages. Very good. Well,
We need to take a break, but we'll be back with
some more about the Voice of America Museum right
after this word from one of our sponsors, the
HamStation, right here on HamTalk Live. This
episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you by
the HamStation. For 35 years, the HamStation
has brought new and used radios, antennas, accessories,
and equipment to the amateur radio community.
Give Jeff or Dan a call at 1 -800 -729 -4373.
or order online at hamstation .com. Hamstation
carries all the major brands like Icom, Yezu,
and Kenwood. Shop from a wide selection of radio
scanners, MFGA accessories, Heil Sound products,
Mirage and Ameritron amplifiers, Cushcraft antennas,
and more. Easy online shopping and fast shipping
are waiting for you at hamstation .com or call
1 -800 -729 -4373. The Ham Station, proud to
sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. Hey baby,
what's your sign? What's your call sign? You're
listening to HamTalk Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome
back to ham talk live thanks to the support of
the ham station to bring ham talk live to you
each week Dan and Jeff for just a phone call
away to answer your questions about a new rig
or antenna call 800 -729 -4373 and be sure to
listen to the show every Thursday night at 9
p .m. Eastern Time right here on ham talk live
comm also check out our Facebook page and our
Twitter feed just search for ham talk live we
do have some pictures of the Voice of America
Museum of Broadcasting in Westchester, Ohio,
up there on Facebook and Twitter. Okay, let's
go to Gary now. And Gary, tell us how the museum
came about. Well, Neil, as most of you know,
in November of 1994, VOA Bethany was decommissioned.
It had become the victim of changing technology
that actually made the facility obsolete. In
1997, on a very sad day for many of us, all of
its towers were brought down and the property
was sold to the local community for $1. The federal
government sold 25 acres to a private developer
and that became the Voice of America Shopping
Center. Miami University received 25 acres for
the development of the Regional Learning Center
and Westchester Township and Butler County Metro
Parks received nearly 500 acres between them
and the historic VOA building. Westchester Township
later awarded its share of the 500 acres to Metro
Parks of Butler County for the development of
recreational facilities for the community's benefit,
but retained the VOA Bethany building and surrounding
20 acres for restoration and development of the
National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.
In 2006, Westchester Township trustees created
and appointed a governing board for the museum.
About the same time the township in the state
of Ohio invested approximately $2 million in
renovating and preserving the outside of the
building. The renovation included replacing the
buildings facing new energy efficient doors and
windows and a new roof. The board was charged
with creating and maintaining the National Voice
of America Museum of Broadcasting. The board's
responsibilities include creating a facility
that pays homage to the voice of America's legacy.
and recognizes VOA's role in promoting freedom
and democracy throughout the world and the technology
VOA developed to accomplish this goal. The board
was also responsible for supervising and coordinating
the activities of the three partner organizations
that are located at the museum. Those are namely
the Westchester Amateur Radio Association, Gray
History of Wireless Museum, and Media Heritage.
Well, I I had a chance to go there this this
summer this past summer and got went through
the Grey Museum and the Cincinnati Museum of
Broadcasting and everything and it's just just
fabulous and I know you've got a lot more work
that you're planning on doing we'll talk about
that in a bit and how maybe some of our listeners
can help out with that but It's a it's a great
facility. So Jay, I understand there's several
key components that make up that collection.
Why don't you run those down for us and tell
our listeners a little bit about what they would
see if they're able to come and tour the museum
and when they can do that. Okay very good. Well
yes there are basically four overall components.
The gray history of wireless is one of them.
The Gray history of wireless actually began with
George J. Gray, Jack Gray, who was the first
supervisor of the Bethany transmission plant.
Jack worked for many years for the Crosley organization
and then transferred to the U .S. government
when they took over the facility in 1963. in
the early 50s began collecting early wireless
equipment. And he had that in a building, started
out with his garage and then added the structure
to the garage and had that at his home in Mason,
Ohio. And when Jack passed away, the collection
was handed off to a group of hams and for many
years resided at the WCET, the public TV station
in the Crosley Telecommunications Center, but
was forced out of there as they needed more space.
And that became kind of the initial cornerstone
for the museum. And then the, of course, collection
artifacts and so forth related to the Voice of
America itself. And the third major museum component
is the Cincinnati Media Heritage Collection that
was started by a local broadcaster and former
student of mine, Mike Martini. The collection
has both artifacts and pictures and some great
material. documenting the history of broadcasting
in the greater Cincinnati area. And of course,
this was a major broadcast center compared to
New York and Los Angeles. Cincinnati was right
up there with them because of the the Crosley
activities in the 30s and 40s. This was was a
real Mecca for network broadcasting. So Mike
has a lot of that plus the archives of Fred Ziv
who was a program producer. The fourth component
of that of course is the Westchester Amateur
Radio Association and WC8VOA which resides in
the former control room of the original voice
facility there at Bethany. Now the collection
is open on the third Saturday of every month
from 1 to 4 p .m. Our goal as part of the museum
is to expand those hours but we have a fair amount
of work to do in terms of making the building
ADA compliant and some renovation in the museum
exhibit space. Gary will talk a bit more about
that later in the show. We are going to have
a special open house, which I've hosted every
other year at the VOA Museum for hams. It used
to be on Friday night. This year we're moving
it to Saturday night during the hamvention. And
we'll be open from 6 .30 until nine o 'clock
with tours and guides to take you through and
explain the collection. Some very unique pieces
in the collection. We'll talk about that in a
bit as well, Neil. Very good, very good. Well,
I'm glad to hear that that's coming up and we'll
tell you just a little bit more about that here.
After we take one more break, we do need to do
that, but we'll be back with more about the Voice
of America Museum and a chance for you guys out
there listening to see this place. It's fantastic.
We will be back in just about a minute and talk
about that right here on HamTalk Live. This episode
of HamTalk Live is brought to you by Tower Electronics.
Tower Electronics has been the Ham's dime store
since 1978, bringing connectors, antennas, cables,
and other parts to the world. Scott and Jill
travel the country bringing their store to you
at HamFest, but you can also order online at
pl -259 .com or by calling 920. 435 -2973. Stock
up on those supplies like PL -259 and end connectors,
audio cables, mobile antennas, and hamsticks.
Their silver -plated end connectors are even
in use on the International Space Station. Tower
Electronics is a dealer for MFJ, Comet, Daiwa,
OPEC, Workman, and HamPro technologies. Tower
electronics online at PL -259 .com. Proud to
sponsor this episode of HamTalk Live. CQ. CQ.
CQ. You're listening to HamTalk Live with Neil
Rapp. Welcome back to HamTalk Live. We'd like
to thank Tower Electronics for sponsoring the
show. Don't miss Scott and Jill at the Mobile
Alabama HamFest on April 9th, where you can visit
the site at pl -259 .com. The National Voice
of America Museum of Broadcasting is our topic
this evening, and we have some time for some
calls. We'll be doing that shortly. So get ready
to Skype us at HamTalk Live, or you can call
us by telephone at 812. We do have a couple of
things though. We had hoped to, uh, to squeeze
in here. So let's do that. So, uh, the big announcement,
Joe, tell us everything our listeners need to
know about attending this open house on Hamvich
and weekend. Excellent. And yes, we are having
an open house. The WAN is Saturday, May 21st,
630 p .m. to 9 p .m. It is at the Voice of America
Bethany Relay Station. And gosh, what's the easiest
way to find it? We have a website at voamuseum
.org, www .voamuseum .org for further directions
on that. It's $5 payable at the door. We'll have
some refreshments there. And we will have some
of the most special, coolest tours that we've
ever done because we're going to have a lot of
hams coming down from Dayton. And we want to
show some, some of the, um, the inside secrets,
if you will. So we look forward to having as
many people join us as possible. Well, that's
excellent, Joe. I, I got to see, you know, a
lot, but I'm sure there'll be a lot more, um,
available there. And then, um, Gary, tell us
a little bit about the club station there, the
WC -8VOA. I was able to sit down and operate
that for about 30 to 45 minutes that day and
had a nice little pile up there. Tell us a little
bit about operating that station. Okay, Neil.
Well, I'd like to let your listeners know that
the station is available for operation by anyone
who visits the museum. The station is located
in the restored original control room for the
VOA facility and it has four operating positions.
Three of the stations have amplifiers including
one that has a vintage Henry 2K Classic. The
remaining station is a beginner station that
operates barefoot and has PSK 31 capabilities.
We also have a VHF UHF operating position and
a separate APRS station. We are currently installing
an operating bench for some of our vintage equipment
and we are in the process of setting up a vintage
FT -101EE which was the last FT -101 to come
off the Yezu FT -101 service line before they
shut it down and that's going to be the first
part of this installation. We hope to have that
up and running here shortly. The facility has
been undergoing restoration for several years
so That's prevented us from installing any permanent
antennas, but we do have two 60 foot temporary
towers, one at each end of the building and both
hold tri -band beams. The East tower also has
a 75, 40 and 17 meter fan dipole and the West
tower has a six meter beam and a separate dipole
for 75 and 40 meters in addition to the tri -bander.
And I know you've got a You've got a repeater
too. Is the repeater located there or is it just
in the area? The repeater is actually located
over in Fairfield, but that is we will do talk
-in on that. That's 145 .39 minus 600 and it
has no access code. You don't need a tone to
get into it. Excellent. Excellent. And it's really
easy to find if you take the The exit there you
can actually see it from from the highway, so
it's it's not Hard to find so if you have some
questions give us a call. We're going to open
up the lines here Skype us at ham talk live or
call us at eight one two net ham one That's eight
one two six three eight four two six one if you
have a question for any of these guys Gary Joe
or Jay about the museum and about the open house,
please give us a call. And Gary, why don't you
go ahead and tell us about the development plans
for the museum and how people can help out with
that. Well, Neil, as you saw when you were there,
we've already made some pretty significant progress,
but you also saw that we've got a lot of opportunities
for the facility. We hope to make this a truly
first -class operation and we're going to need
a lot of help to accomplish this goal. As I previously
stated, Westchester Township and the State of
Ohio have made some very significant contributions
including renovation of the shell of the building.
Members of the Westchester Amateur Radio Association
have donated a very substantial amount of labor
to accomplish several very significant projects
at the museum. The most recent accomplishment
is the development of the West Garage area into
Clyde Hanley Hall, a multi -purpose exhibit meeting
area. As an aside here, Clyde was a co -op engineer
at the VOA station when it was constructed. He
later became vice president of engineering for
Crosley Broadcasting, which was later known as
Avco Broadcasting. Clyde is 93 years old and
is currently a member of the museum board. Other
significant projects include removal of two of
the three Collins 250 KW shortwave transmitters
and removal of the racking at the north end of
the control room for exhibit and meeting space.
The club also rebuilt the original control room
into what is now the WC -8VOA hams shack. Current
projects in various stages of development. A
few of them are development of the East garage
area into a more focused exhibit and meeting
area. Expansion of heating and air conditioning
systems in the building to areas that are not
currently heated or air conditioned. Modifications
to the building to make it more handicap accessible.
Modernization of restroom facilities. development
of exhibit areas to more effectively tell the
VOA story and of special interest to us hams,
installation of permanent antennas for WC -8
VOA and replica rhombic and curtain antennas
that WC -8 VOA will use to demonstrate the operation
of the original VOA antennas. We have numerous
other things that we want to accomplish, and
we're looking for money, in -kind donations,
and volunteers who can help us with these projects.
Anyone seeking more information about these opportunities
can contact us through our website voamuseum
.org. That's voamuseum .org. More information
about the Westchester Amateur Radio Association
is available at WCAVOA .org. That's WhiskeyCharlie8VictorOscarAlpha
.org. Or anyone who would like to reach me directly
can do so at K8DEV, Kilo8DeltaEchoVictor at Yahoo
.com. So that's a little bit of what we're up
to. Well, very good and I know the day that I
was there the the garage door was half open so
we get some air in there and I was glad that
it was a cold rainy day because it was warm and
so that air conditioning I'm sure would Definitely
help and a lot of those initiatives. So look
forward to seeing that Grow as as time goes on
so good luck with the with the plans for that
We've got about three minutes left here and we
could go on for hours. But Joe, there's some
educational outreach. Can you give us a real
quick rundown on that? Sure, Neil. We had an
opportunity with a local organization who was
setting up something called Pi Day. Imagine that
3 .14, March 14th or the closest Friday. and
they asked us if we would participate. And the
club got together and put together a pretty stellar
demonstration where we talk about magnetics and
electricity and the magic that happens between
them and how that ultimately turns into a radio
wave. So we've participated in several events,
thousands of students in the fourth, fifth, sixth
grade. And our goal is to use the expertise in
the club to reach out to the next generation
and hopefully get them interested in STEM careers.
Well, absolutely. And that's a lot what I do.
So that's near and dear to my heart. And I was
able to see a little bit of a demonstration set
up there when I walked in. I didn't get a chance
to look at it real well, but there had been some.
some kind of a display earlier in demonstration
earlier that day and saw some things you're doing
so that's just great. Now I've got one minute
left and I'm not sure who to direct this to but
in our meeting the other day I know the Drake
fans out there. Drake was just up the road in
Miamisburg. I understand we've got a complete
collection or near complete collection of Drake
equipment up there. Yes, this is Jay. Bob Drake,
who was the founder of RL Drake, was very good
about putting one of everything that they built
aside and stored it in McGee's closet, so to
speak. When Bob passed away, much of that was
discovered. When they relocated the business
to Franklin, Ohio, the employees put together
a museum essentially in the lobby, behind glass
type display, beginning with stuff that he built
during World War II, and of course the early
phone patch and the filters, TBI filters, the
high pass and low pass filters, then the Drake
1A and of course the 2A, 2B, etc. When R .L.
Drake was purchased by one of, by Blondertong,
one of the cable TV companies, the collection
was going to go into storage. So we contacted
the president of Blondertong and persuaded them
to donate the collection to the gray portion
of our museum. And we're very fortunate to have
this equipment. It is in pristine condition.
Many pieces have never even been operated in
service other than when they were on the bench
being aligned. So we've got everything beginning
with the, as I said, the World War II products
all the way through the TR7 and R8 era of RL
Drake. And it's quite an addition. That's excellent.
So all you Drake fans, make sure you stop by
this place and check this stuff out. Again, voamuseum
.org is the website and the clubstationwc8voa
.org. Check those out and guys, thanks for being
here. And that's gonna be a wrap for this week's
edition of HamTalk Live. I'd like to thank my
guests, Gary West, K8DEV, Jay Aldrich, K8CJY,
and Joe Gruber, WD8AZQ, and all the callers and
listeners out there in cyberspace. and invite
you all back next Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern
when my guest will be Rosalie White, K1STO, who
is the coordinator of the ARIS program at ARRL.
They recently celebrated their 1000th QSO with
the International Space Station and Rosalie will
be here to reflect on the program and fill us
in on the future of ARIS. So with Assistant Producer
Nick Bauer, KC9 Cheesy Y, this is Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG, saying 7375, and may the good DX be yours.