[TNham] At 97, ham radio operator still scanning the airwaves

[Greg Williams]

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-11-26-0007.html

Monday, Nov 26, 2007 - 12:45 AM
 
By Katie Britt

SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- At 97, Margaret Roberts is lucid and lively and the 
owner of a new pacemaker.

"The doctor said they normally wouldn't give a pacemaker to someone her 
age," said her niece-in-law, Linda Bowers. "But he checked her out and 
said she was a good candidate."

Roberts has more than just her good health to surprise people. She has 
been a licensed amateur radio operator, a "ham," since 1947 and still 
broadcasts today.

She first became interested in radio in 1931, during her fourth year of 
high school. Her late husband, Gerald, was a radio engineer and, living 
in Ohio, they did experimental work in radio together.

"It was quite a life to be at the beginning of radio," Roberts said. 
"Somebody had to get in there and work at it, and find out what could be 
done."

Her husband built the equipment -- transmitters and receivers -- while 
she handled things on the vocal end.

"He knew how to build the equipment and didn't have time to do both, so 
I did what I could do -- the talking," she said.

Their signals, however, began to interfere with the neighbors' 
television sets, so Margaret and Gerald started looking for a place in 
the country. They eventually traded homes with a family who wanted to 
live in the city, and made a new home for themselves in a place called 
High Point in Summit County, Ohio. There, they built two radio towers 
out of scrap aluminum from World War II.

They were living 1,420 feet above sea level in rural Ohio, where 
interference was no longer an issue.

Roberts looks back on those times fondly.

"There were a lot of things that we found out," she said. "It was very 
interesting, and I spent a lot of time making contacts all over the world."

Her QSL code, by which other operators could identify her, was, and 
still is, W8BFQ. The 8 signifies that she got her license in Ohio.

People call her the "barefoot queen," because of the phrase "running 
barefoot," which means the transmitter is operating without much power.

By 1948, Roberts received a certificate stating that she had 
communicated with each of the six recognized continents -- North 
America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Asia and Oceania. She has a 
box of QSL cards showing the codes of operators with whom she has 
communicated, and the dates and times of those communications, to prove it.

"I just had a wonderful time talking," she says.

Roberts has received various certificates of recognition during her time 
as an amateur radio operator, including one from the U.S. Air Force, 
which recognizes her for: "PARTICIPATING IN THE COOPERATIVE NETWORK OF 
RADIO AMATEUR OPERATIONS ... OBTAINING SPORADIC E DATA DURING THE PERIOD 
20 NOVEMBER 1950 TO 31 OCTOBER 1951."

Margaret acknowledges that amateur radio can be useful during times of 
crisis and wishes it were a more utilized tool.

Charlie Stuchell, a member of the Bristol Amateur Radio Club and 
Roberts' friend, says she brings up a good point.

In an age when countries in turmoil are cutting communications outside 
of their borders and major weather happenings are crippling 
communications systems, ham radio -- amateur radio -- is an excellent 
source of information.

"You can't turn off amateur radio," Stuchell said.

Stuchell, who has been an operator since 1963, says amateur radio 
remains very much a man's world.
"Women are very rare," he said.

Licensed since 1947, Roberts has been a fixture in this man's world for 
60 years and is anxious to get back on the air after getting a new 
pacemaker.

Fellow ham radio buffers are "asking about me every night," she said.

-- 
Greg Williams
K4HSM
k4hsm at knology.net

http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net