[Milsurplus] Mini-MRCA meet Report

[B. Smith]

Mini-MRCA meet report.



It was a excellent mini- meet hereto referred to as a MM. I hope to post 
some pictures in the future.



Nothing like 24 hours of playing with military radios. It was all most eerie 
operating from the Marconi  1914  Trans-Atlantic Site and even  stranger yet 
sleeping over night in the  Marconi Station Managers Cottage. I tried to 
communicate with some of the past residents and “previous operators”  of the 
cottage that night but could not find the correct frequency.

Several of us set up outdoor military radio displays on Saturday  and 
prepared for the many civilian visitors that visited the Infoage 
Science/History Learning Center on Sunday. The Weather was excellent.    The 
local military vehicle group displayed numerous military vehicles including 
a Duck and Command Staff Car.  Consequently visitors were immediately 
attracted to our area to see what was going on underneath the camouflage 
nets.



 It was another fine example of cooperation between military vehicle groups 
and the MRCA.



The New Jersey Antique Radio Club Museum  was excellent and it was obvious 
that Al, N3FRQ and scores of others have spent a lot of time with 
building/restoring and setting up numerous displays. The Museum is  open on 
Sunday afternoons and manned by volunteers. My favorite was Al's spark gap 
transmitter which has a small light bulb inductively coupled to the final 
tank coil.

Most of the displays at the museum are designed as "hands on" and visitors 
are encouraged  to try different sets and experiments. One particular 
display was of a BC-348 was set up on a low frequency beacon frequency. The 
visitors would copy down the dots and dashed of the beacon identifier and 
then look up the Morse code and finally look the two or three letter 
identifier up in a book to find the actual location of the station.



If you got bored you could visit many of the other structures as the Area – 
the site was taken over by the Army and designated as Capt Evans. You pass 
through the gate and can look through the old guards house as you approach 
the museums.  I also visited the other museums which has several rooms full 
of military  radios.



Highlights  of the event.

a.       The excellent cookout arranged by N3FRQ and the view.

b.      Touring the  museums and other facilities.

c.       Actually sleeping in the Marconi Cottage and not a tent.

d.      The late night two way infrared signaling using K2WI’s equipment. 
Not as easy  as it sounds but two way was confirmed.

e.       Running into a old friend of my in the museum --an APN-9 loran set. 
I  reached out and touch the L/R switch and immediately wanted  to get out 
my screw driver and accomplish a “calibration”.

f.        Sitting and tuning forty meters and hearing my call sent by a 
very, very,raspy signal  weak signal which  then faded out.   It was N3FRQ 
operating the spark gap display inside the museum, he got me with that one, 
at first I thought perhaps I did find the right frequency for the “previous 
operators.”

g.       Walking down the poison ivy  trail to get to the Marconi Operations 
building which was near the water  and using the BC-611 antenna to carefully 
ward off the poison ivy  plants.

h.       Enjoying the other practical jokes that were created by the team 
including my calling CQ with one of my miniature VFOs  hidden in my shirt 
powered by a 9 volt battery and watching Al N3FRQ carefully tune in the 
station then I would shift frequency and tuning drill  would start all over 
again.

i.          Cranking, and cranking, and cranking, and cranking, and cranking 
K2WI’s  TBX  generator while he trouble shoots his equipment.



73 breck k4che



"Crystal-controlled, weak, and on AM is no way to go through life"




An enjoyable Saturday and Sunday my thanks to the   New Jersey Antique Radio 
Club for  the invitation.



73 breck k4che