We've made a lot of progress in the last few weeks, enough that another
update is warranted:
April 1997
- I finally got the Talking Paper (now a Bullet Background Paper)
finished, and passed along to John Sheffield, N4OWG, for review. Once
reviewed, I intend to send it on to our contacts at the SAC Museum
(preferably sometime in May, mostly as an interim measure to let them
know that we are still alive and having a charter meeting in June). You
can view a draft copy of it at:
http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/k0air/bb_paper.html
- There is a good write-up of us on the 55th SRWA Home Page
(http://www.ns.net/users/dgrif/55srw.html), including our efforts to
obtain SAC historic callsigns.
- In response to my request for help, I promptly found three volunteers,
Steve Hunt (KB0MYH), Sid Reade (W0WWH), and Roy Gertig (N0RG).
Steve and Roy know Dr. Charles Keene (the author of the May QST article)
personally, and volunteered to approach him. Steve has already made
contact and found out some interesting information. For one thing,
Dr. Keene was actually surprised that there are so many local amateurs
(we seem to be rather low-profile these days). Being a historian, he
probably chose QST for his venue for academic/research reasons (i.e.,
"get published"), rather than an awareness that a lot of local radio
amateurs and veterans would see it.
Considering the reaction above, if you know Dr. Keene personally or
professionally, it might be useful to give him a short friendly note or
phone call and let him know how much you liked the article, and that
amateurs are still around, doing much of the relevant things (technical
experimentation, self-training, public-service, etc.) that amateurs were
doing 40 years ago.
Dr. Keene is also a member of the "SAC Communicators Association" which
is a closely-related, but more general, SAC communications history
organization. They have a monthly newsletter and about 360 members,
offering the possibility of a lot of cooperation and member
recruitment. Dues for their organization is $5/year as well.
I gave Steve a copy of the draft Bullet Background Paper to pass on to
Dr. Keene for review. Dr. Keene may be useful in introducing us to
General Habiger, USSTRATCOM/CC and K6EWP, and letting him know about us.
Steve is researching protocol on this point. Steve also pointed out
that USAF Regulations were overhauled and renumbered, so AFR 700-17 may
be an AFI with a different number today. He is researching this point
as well.
Sid approached the Bank of Bellevue about a club checking account and
use of the public room for meetings. He was able to get favorable terms
for the account (no monthly or per-check fees) that are probably better
than what we could get elsewhere. He obtained a copy of IRS Form SS-4
(Application for Employer Identification Number) that we'll need to set
up the account (essentially an application for a federal tax ID number).
He's also reserving the public room for our charter meeting (last
Wednesday in June).
A big thanks to these volunteers for doing some very worthwhile leg-work
on behalf of the club, taking some of the burden off of my (and John's)
shoulders.
- Frank Taylor, AA0ZP, brought some callbooks to give away at the last
BARC meeting. The domestic callbooks from 1969 and 1976 offered some
additional insight into the K0AIR callsign.
In the 1969 callbook, K0AIR was a mil-rec station assigned to the
"Electronic Maintenance Section, 31st Communications Squadron, Building
305, Offutt AFB." In the 1976 callbook, the Squadron changes to the
1911th. K0AIR does not appear in my copy of the 1980 callbook
(narrowing the license lapse date to between 1976 and 1980, much later
than we'd previously guessed). I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who
has knowledge of these units, and possibly the K0AIR station, at Offutt
AFB.
(K0GRL probably disappeared by the late 50's/early 60's, as General
LeMay became K4FRA when he moved to the Pentagon to be the USAF Chief of
Staff).
- John Sheffield is working on setting up a membership database, using
the software and schema of the BARC database. I'll be happy to take
minimal name, callsign, and E-mail address information now (chiefly for
the purpose of putting you on this mailing list), but please hold off on
more detailed membership information (and money) until the charter
meeting (see below).
- The application for the second station license has been approved by
the FCC:
Callsign: KC0AQT
Club Name: STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND MEMORIAL ARC
Addr1: PO BOX 1292
Addr2: BELLEVUE NE 680051292
Country: USA
Effective: 24 Apr 1997
Expires: 24 Apr 2007
Trustee: ROY S GERTIG N0RG
Location: 41.151 N 95.910 W Sarpy County info
Email: [unknown] Update Email Address
I'll check the P.O. Box next week. As soon as the copy of the license
arrives, I'll get with Roy to quickly turn around a 610-V to retrieve
K0GRL.
- I sent the following E-mail to local ARRL Volunteer Counsel Brian
Zdan, KM0Y:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian,
Paul Schleck, K3FU, here. I don't know if you've heard already, but a
new club in Bellevue is forming, the Strategic Air Command Memorial ARC.
It's purpose is to preserve USAF and SAC communications and amateur
radio history, such as via the preservation and use of historical
callsigns (K0AIR/K0GRL), and working with the SAC Museum to put together
communications history exhibits.
Carl Quijas, WB0TUE, and John Sheffield, N4OWG, referred me to you, as
you had provided your Volunteer Counsel services recently in reviewing
the revised BARC articles and by-laws. We have a reasonably polished
draft of the corresponding SACMARC documents (heavily borrowed from the
BARC versions) that we'd like reviewed. As with BARC, our eventual goal
is to incorporate by submitting the articles to the Nebraska Secretary
of State, so handling the processing (including the public notice
requirements) would also be requested.
We're planning on having a charter meeting to, among other things,
ratify the articles and by-laws, on the last Wednesday in June (June
25th). Would that be too soon for you to review them? Once reviewed
for obvious defects, and ratified, we can quickly get on the application
track for incorporation.
Please let us know about your schedule and availability.
TNX ES 73,
Paul W. Schleck, K3FU
Trustee, K0AIR
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- I am also in the process of sending the following to the editors of
the local club newsletters (Bellevue, Fremont, Aksarben, Lincoln,
Elkhorn Valley, SWIARC, and Plattsmouth):
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new club is forming in Bellevue. It is the Strategic Air Command
(SAC) Memorial ARC. It is a collaboration among active-duty personnel,
veterans, members of the local amateur radio community (including the
Bellevue Amateur Radio Club), and members of SAC-related historical
organizations. Its purpose is to preserve USAF and SAC communications
and amateur radio history, such as via the preservation and use of
historical callsigns (K0AIR/K0GRL), and working with the SAC museum to
put together communications history exhibits.
All interested parties are welcome to attend our charter meeting,
tentatively scheduled at the Bank of Bellevue, American Plaza, on the
corner of Galvin and Cornhusker Rds., on Wednesday, June 25th, 1997 at
7:30 PM. The meeting agenda includes ratification of our Articles and
By-Laws, the election of officers, and planning of future projects.
Dues for membership will be only $5/year, and future meetings will be
quarterly (last Wednesday of December, March, June, and September).
For more information, contact Paul Schleck, K3FU, at (402) 291-6176 or
pschleck@novia.net, or John Sheffield, N4OWG, at sheffieldj@aol.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As always, we are open to any reasonable ideas or suggestions
(particularly if you want to take the lead on any project). If you
don't want to share them with the entire list, you may feel free to send
them to me or John Sheffield (sheffieldj@aol.com).
-- Paul W. Schleck pschleck@novia.net K0AIR Trustee
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