[PPRAANet] Nice Repeater Article in QST

[W0rw@aol.com]

There is a really nice article about the first big repeater in LA...K6MYK
in QST this month, March 2004...p52, written by Bill Pasternak, wa6itf.

It doesn't really have a good picture of overall repeater which was housed in 
a 6 foot rack.
There were some complete pictures published long ago in CQ, FM Bulletin, or 
somewhere else. You can find more information by searching Google for K6MYK 
Repeater.
i was the LA City Civil Defense guy who got to operate the repeater every 
Monday night. Mt. Lee (as it was known for the Don Lee Broadcasting Co), is 
really Mt. Hollywood because it has the 'Hollywood' sign on it and is 1800 feet ASL.
i would drive up there every  Monday to operate the repeater at the local 
control and could switch frequencies and call signs. i would switch the call to 
K6ROC, the City RACES Call Sign.
i would talk to Art (W6MEP) over the 220 FM link and i would adjust things 
for him.
He finally got a motorized squelch control on it. AM squelches run by 6H6's 
were very drifty and there was a lot of radio noise there. The site was the 
main police receiver site and there was an LAPD  CW circuit on 5 or 8 MHz that 
was used for
cross country stolen car reports, etc. The CW op controlled the entrance gate.
i talked to one of the retired CW ops just a few years ago.
Many times i would go up there early, because there was a big swimming pool 
up there (to be used for fire only) but the guys there kept it in really nice 
condition.
So i got a little swimming time in above the Hollywood sign. All this was the 
1957-1962 time period...
The other CD radios which were there in the command center were on every City
frequency for disaster coordination. Most of the CD guys had commercial 
radios on the command channel where the Mayor and other higher up city officials 
would communicate.
The K6MYK repeater would be used by all the hams in LA. Almost every one had
Gonset Communicators. The city would give out free crystals to RACES Hams.
The repeater used a coaxial dipole and the 220 link had a 13 element fishbone 
yagi pointed toward Art's house in the San Fernando Valley.
The repeater had a one inch plastic continuous loop tape with holes cut in it 
for the CW identifier. There were little fingers sensing the holes in the 
tape as it ran by to send "K6MYK" or "K6ROC" . No PIC Chips then.
The main tower and building were torn down some years ago and i have not been 
up there for a long time. It was originally a TV studio for Channel 5 (W6XYZ).
They didn't have good microwave equipment so the put the studio right under 
the antenna.
Art and Millie were my friends too...

Thanks Bill for writing the article. It brought back many memories...

Paul Signorelli  
w0rw@aol.com