Hi Dennis,

Thanks for sharing that inspiring story.  It's great you were able to contact a ham for relay.

I served in the Air Force, out of high school, from 1974 until 1985.  I was in telecommunications and computers.  One of my assignments involved satellites, which included patching the space shuttle to Mission Control throughout orbits. That was at the mysterious Blue Cube in Sunnyvale, CA.  At another assignment, I processed SR-71 mission data.

I have a 1971 M35A2 (Deuce and a Half) that I use for stationary mobile.  I learned to drive them while stationed near the Space Center.  I plan to drive mine around on Veterans Day.  Pictures of the truck are on my QRZ page.

73,

Michael, NO6O

On 2025-11-10 6:25 PM, Dennis Schaefer wrote:

I've had an "interesting" couple of months and I'll elaborate on that later.  Also, I was very sorry to miss the ADXA bash, because it sounds like a great meeting and you are my lifelong friends.  Since it is almost veteran's day, though, I was thinking about my time in the service.  A few interesting things happened along the way, one of which involved ham radio.   

******************************************************************

DX'ing with a MRC-108

In 1971, I was in the U.S. Air Force.  I was stationed at Bergstrom AFB near Austin, TX.  Our unit was a tactical communications outfit and we were on mobility status for immediate deployment anywhere in the world.  I think I had shots for every disease known to man. 

 

Our exercises were way out in the country, and this led to an interesting experience.  We set up our TRC-97A troposcatter microwave rig in a cow pasture 30 miles from the base, in a place that required going through several locked farm gates to get to.  A lieutenant in a jeep arrived at our site and asked for me.  He had heard that I was an all-around smart fellow and also a ham radio operator.  Well, at least the part about me being a ham radio operator was true!  

 

One of the men at a site nearby started having chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack.  Even though we had millions worth of comm gear, no one at the base was monitoring any frequency we could transmit on and no other military units could be reached.  Because of the distance and the number of locked gates, the commander felt that driving him out was not the best option.  He wanted the rescue helicopter at the base put on standby.   We had a few Forward Air Controllers with us and they operated VHF/HF radios from jeeps.  The HF equipment covered all HF frequencies, so I tuned around 75 meters, and found a strong signal from North Carolina.  I got him to call the base and relay our needs, and then he stood by for any futher requests.

 

Fortunately, the airman’s condition improved before the helicopter was dispatched on the hazardous night mission.  If he had gone critical, ham radio could have potentially saved his life.  Our squadron commander was amazed at how this worked and sent the ham a nice letter of commendation.

 

73,

Dennis, W5RZ

*********************************

I know others in the group have had more harrowing experiences, and have heard those "shots fired in anger".   Saying "thank you for your service" always sounds a little trite,  I usually say something like "thanks for going there so I didn't have to".

 

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