[KL7AA] Grubstake Update - Reactivation of the Ft Wainwright Amateur Station

[KL7YK]

1. The Contractor is still awaiting a break in the weather to get up to 
the Grubstake (.33) repeater.
All indications are that replacing at UHF antenna will resolve the 
issues there.  Just need a good day to fly a helo to the site.  As some 
may have noticed there is or was anyway fresh snow on the peaks above 
Anchorage yesterday.  So our weather window is closing very soon.  
Everyone open a window and heat up the sky!  Seriously we should have a 
good chance of getting the antenna up shortly,  Sept usually gives up 
some clear blue sky days before it gets cold.

When we know it's good I will advise everyone of it, until then think of 
clear skies during the week!


2.  AL7F Mike Perry out of North Pole is working with the Army Signals 
Corp to resurrect the Amateur Station on Ft Wainwright. Mike managed at 
the 11th hour to stop the equipment from being disposed of.  Signals 
Corp there has agreed to let the Ft WW Radio Club take over the existing 
facility that had been the MARS Station, complete with the radios and 
other gear.

I don't see a license assignment for Ft Wainwright in any listings. So 
Mike and company will need to apply for a license for the station, I 
hope they get a decent call assignment.  I see that Ft Greely is still 
listed as active but I know the Trustee of record lives outside now.  
Greely holds the KL7FGA call sign until 2014 anyway.  That facility is 
for all purposes closed these days.
Appears Ft WW let theirs lapse long ago,  Rod Mitchell KL1Y left there 8 
or 10 years ago now and he was the driving force then.
The Ft WW group is working on getting all the paper drill completed and 
get the required documentation for a club submitted to the appropriate 
places.  Upside is they have the both the Post Commander and the Signals 
Commander's support.  So don't be surprised to hear Ft Wainwright Alaska 
on the air soon.  If you have historical info for the Amateur/MARS 
Station there please pass it along to Mike Perry at al7f at arrl.net.  I am 
quite sure he would like to see what been done there in the past.

Military Recreation Amateur Radio Stations are becoming quite rare, it's 
good to see one coming back.  Difference in the license for a Military 
Amateur Club and a regular Amateur Club call is that the Military Rec 
Station Call's Trustee does not need to be a Ham. That's right since the 
turnover rate is usually high, Military Clubs enjoy an allowance where 
they can have a Trustee who isn't a Ham. In the past some places have 
had a person (civilian employee) in MWR act as the trustee.  Reduces the 
turnover rate anyway in Trustees.
In recent years that practice has not been used however as most have 
Licensed Amateurs as a Trustee.  Not sure what those non-Ham trustees do 
should they get a complaint about the stations operation......  But 
being that in most of those situations the Amateur Club and the MARS 
Station were the same place and were manned 24/7 back in the day it 
would have been hard to get away with any silliness.

Today having a fully manned MARS station is rare on a military 
installation.  Times have changed, these days the majority of the MARS 
Stations on federal property are operated by a National Guard or Reserve 
unit of the particular branch of the military.  95% of the MARS 
Operators in fact are either civilians or retirees today and use their 
own home stations.  Gone are the days when Uncle Sam had deep pockets 
for things like MARS or about everything else.

Locally there is an Affiliate MARS Station, it's co-located with the 
Elmendorf ARS.  As part of the Navy-Marine Corps MARS Program the 
Elmendorf Club station is an Affiliate Military Auxiliary Radio Service 
Station.
The AF and Army MARS Stations were shut down years ago in Alaska. In 
fact the last Active Duty MARS Station in Alaska was Ft Wainwright, 
which shut down several years ago due to a lack of assigned operators.   
Military Missions changed and the days of in garrison operations are a 
thing of the past, most active duty posts/bases/stations are deployment 
heavy with a greatly reduced home station manning allocations.  Part of 
the new slimmer sleeker military, doing more with less etc...

Reminds me of something I learned in my 20 years on Active Duty.

"We have done so much for some long with so little, we are now fully 
qualified to do anything with nothing"  Semper Gumby!



Ron, KL7YK