[QCWA] A Footnote On Military Station Licences

[Don W7WLL]

Ft Monmouth brings back a lot of good memories. Had the opportunity to visit 
the site a few times (70's-80's), first with our Army Account Manager, Neil 
Schiller (and his later replacement Ken England?), during the time I was 
with Tektronix' Government Sales and Marketing Group, headquartered in 
Beaverton OR. One impressive place and I was really taken back by the 
technology and work being done there by the really competent people I was 
fortunate to meet.

Just a point of interest to those who still have some older Tek products in 
the shack, a few years back I made a concerted effort to identify the hams 
who had or were working at Tek.  The current list contains some 670+ call 
signs identified, internationally.  Having an amateur radio license was a 
positive added reference for those looking to work at a high technology 
company such as Tektronix. I also heard this same comment from other hams 
working for other high tech companies.

How the technology has changed over the past 60 years I've been licensed. I 
remember having to diagram a Colpitts (or Hartley?) circuit under the 
watchful eye of a FCC examiner!!!!  The code was easy, not so the test as I 
remember.

Don W7WLL

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Sturm
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 1:16 PM
To: QCWA at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [QCWA] A Footnote On Military Station Licences

This is just a footnote regarding a military station in Bayonne NJ and
their station license.

I worked at the Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, NJ for 18 years.  In the
late 90's they installed an HF communications station to be part of an
emergency backup HF network (USB and PACTOR) for Defense Transportation
installations.  Being a ham, I naturally got to know the fellow who was in
charge of the station and was able to put it on the air on the ham bands,
both general hamming and MARS.  It was fun to play with $35,000 Harris
radios but unfortunately they rarely worked.  Neither did the rotators for
the 4 HF LP antennas on 40' towers atop an 8 story building.  Later, they
got a dozen Kenwood TS-430's which worked perfectly in all sorts of
conditions (like a tent in Haiti.)

Since we had a valid station license and I was the control operator and
had permission, there appeared to be no issue hamming with the station.
As to the station license itself, (I forgot the call but it was a WB2,) it
was FCC issued and current and prominently displayed.  I asked at the time
how the license was issued and the operator (who was not a ham) said that
he obtained the license from whoever was the Army's central communications
agency at the time, it was NETCOM when I retired a few years ago.  He said
that when an installation closed, they kept renewing and reissuing the
licences by address changes.

So that's the story of one station license.  Bayonne closed in 1997.  I
retired from Ft. Monmouth but never got a chance to operate their
magnificent club station, K2USA.

VY 73
Mike Sturm, KA2E

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