[PPRAANet] Re: Nice Repeater Article in QST

[BillWA6ITF@aol.com]

Paul,

Thank you for the kind words and the additional information.  Both are 
sincerely apreciated.  

Writing that article was truly a labor of love on my part.  While I did not 
have the honor of being one of Art's protague's, he none-the-less had a great 
impact on my life, my view of our hobby/service and -- to an extent -- on my 
career.  If nothing else, it was my personal "thank you" to a great man whose 
work in must never be forgotten.   

A day or two before Art and Millie were transported to Oregon, Burt Weiner, 
Bill Arens and I went over.  We collected and photographed everything we 
collectively thought would be of value to future generations and said a final 
"goodbye" to Art.  Most of the original repeater and allied gear was taken away to 
be stored by Burt and Bill.  All I have is the Tapretone 220 converter that was 
the "front end" of the control receiver.  But its put away -- safe -- as a 
special momento of a very important person whose technical expertise so changed 
the face of ham radio over the past 40+ years.

The nicest praise I can give Art and Millie are to say -- "They were my 
friends and I was proud to be theirs."

Thank you again...

de
Bill P. 

Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF
Writer - Producer
The Amateur Radio Newsline, Inc.
wa6itf@arnewsline.org
http://www.arnewsline.org
"Since 1976 - Hobby Radio News
for Todays Radio Amateu  


In a message dated 2/10/2004 6:55:28 PM Pacific Standard Time, W0rw writes:

<< 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
 
  >>