[QCWA] Vietnam Era Overseas Phone Patching

[Bob Peters]

Hi All..I as well ran patches from both sides..I was the CO of AB8AV in 
Vietnam from 1967 and 1968... We ran 1200 plus patches a month back to the 
states  We had 3 operating positions on the air 24  7...After that I ran 
from Ft Monmouth and Tobyhanna Army Depot...Most of our US contact stations 
ran free patches for the guys as did Barry.  Barrys station was 24 7 as 
well manned by hams in Scottsdale.  He ran a Henry 4K and a 30S1  and 
always had a gang buster signal.
We would use east coast stations and progress to Hawaii stations.  It was 
probably the best 4 years of my military life...
Thanks to all that helped us out...

Bob W1PE
Dallas




At 12:33 AM 5/15/2005, Bil Seymour wrote:

>Jeffrey D Angus wrote:
>
>>During Vietnam, Barry Goldwater ran phone patches into the country
>>for people to talk to the soldiers. That was 40 years ago.
>>Even then, most people didn't know about it.
>
>
>=========================================
>
>    I did this, too.  For several years, I had sked's three nights a week 
> with various stations on military bases throughout the Pacific Ocean. We 
> would start at around 1:00AM (Pacific Time) and cycle the soldiers and 
> sailors through at the rate of about one call every 10-minutes.  The 
> sessions would usually last until about 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning. I 
> would get the military personnel's home telephone number and call his 
> family collect.  (Of course, none of them knew the call was coming and I 
> would invariably wake them up in -- especially for the East Coast 
> families -- the middle of the night.)  Not one family ever refused to 
> accept the charges.  I would have to educate the people on the telephone 
> how to say "Over" and to stand by during the time their son was talking 
> -- and we had the occasional mix up -- but it was generally a smooth 
> operation.  This was almost always on 15 Meters and I used my Yaesu 
> FTdx-560 with factory phone patch and my Mosley 3-element Yagi-Uda.  I 
> was going to college at the time and the next day I was usually very 
> tired from being up so late, but I considered it my contribution to the 
> welfare of our troops -- who must have been pretty miserable much of the 
> time.  And, you're right, not very many people knew about this aspect of 
> Ham Radio.
>       73,
>
>          <<<<    Bil  --  WA6MOD    >>>>
>
>
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Very Best 73's
Bob Peters-W1PE
President
QCWA Chapter 41