Our delegation, consisting of:
Myself
John, N4OWG
Fred, KB0LF
Andrew, KC0BDX
went down to the SAC Museum in Ashland, Nebraska on Monday to talk with
Director Wayne Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt seemed very welcoming and
enthusiastic about our ideas for operating K0AIR at the Museum for the
USAF QSO Party in September. Turns out, he was a former Novice, and
exposed to amateur radio in the Boy Scouts.
After chatting with Mr. Schmidt for a bit, we walked around the Museum
for a suitable site for our operation. We decided on a location at the
front of Hangar B (left-side gallery as you come in the front door).
This location seemed to offer the best features, including:
- close proximity to other communications exhibits
- near steps going down into gallery (so we're not hidden back behind a
lot of huge aircraft)
- close proximity to Fire Exit 31, which can be deactivated and left
open so that we can run about 150 feet of feedline to an antenna on
the front lawn, reasonably clear of the building (and reasonably clear
of parking lots, roads, and sidewalks)
Other locations seemed to be too noisy, excessively illuminated by
floodlights, too hidden, or require lengthy feedlines to suboptimal
antenna locations.
We would have a reasonably large corner area with tables and chairs that
we could cordon off and have one, maybe two operating positions for HF
and VHF/UHF. Fred, KB0LF, is working on designing a wide-band G5RV HF
wire antenna that would give us good performance, with an east/west
pattern, on most HF bands of interest. I believe we have tentative
loans of two small, Japanese HF radios (with one capable of 6 and 2
meter VHF operation). Obviously, we'd like to see if someone could
provide some appropriate, US-made, period HF gear by Collins, Harris,
etc., even if it's just for display.
So far, it looks like a go. I'm going to arrange to get announcements
in the local newsletters, and in the national magazines (QST, CQ, 73).
The local announcements will solicit volunteer operators (you can also
volunteer by sending me E-mail at pschleck@novia.net). The event will
take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 18th and 19th, 1999. We
will operate during Museum hours, which are 9-5 PM. The Museum is open
both days (362 days of the year, in fact, closed only on Christmas, New
Years, and Thanksgiving). In addition to operators, we'd like to have
one or two greeters available at any time to interact with the public
while the operators are manning the radios. Volunteers should let me
know the dates and times they wish to operate (a half-day shift would be
preferable, but we would welcome anyone who could operate or volunteer
for any period of time). If anyone has good banners, visual aids, or
other literature they would like to add to our display, please let me
know. An excellent suggestion by Mr. Schmidt to manage operator access
is to give us name badges (we will secure our equipment, possibly by
disconnecting radios and taking them home with us, but we would hope
that someone without a badge trying to get in for free, or trying to get
out with a radio, would get stopped by staff). As with the B-29 Fifi
operation, operators and other volunteers will be admitted for free if
they sign up in advance. All others will need to pay Museum admission.
As requested by Mr. Schmidt, I will write him a short letter confirming
our plans. He will put us in the event calendar and have the staff
arrange publicity.
Mr. Schmidt was also interested in future projects, including
communications exhibits. He was familiar with SAREX (Shuttle Amateur
Radio Experiment) and expressed strong interest in having a SAREX
communications event between school children at the Museum, and the
Shuttle (or possibly Space Station Freedom) in orbit. This would
require some advance planning and coordination (and would, of course, be
dependent on launch schedules and waiting lists), but it's definitely
something that could be explored. Our idea for an exhibit about
Cold-War era SAC HF communications, including Single-Sideband, is still
on the table. Matter of fact, it may be less
grant-and-volunteer-intensive than we think, as Mr. Schmidt said there
might be capital funds and paid staff available from the Museum to
support it. Of course, all of this is medium-to-long-term, and is
dependent on an uncertain schedule with lots of long-term projects (for
example, the B-36 and B-52 will probably take 5 years of slow,
after-hours restoration on the Museum floor). The Museum has many
communications artifacts of its own, but by Mr. Schmidt's own admission,
much of it is still standing where it was unpacked after being moved
from the old facility. Arrangement of that equipment is a project that
may take another year or two.
-- 73, Paul W. Schleck, K3FU pschleck@novia.netVice President, SACMARC
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