1968 while a radio receiver repairman they were putting up a new  station in Dong Ba Thin I and a couple guys went and helped put the  station together building the console, installing an antenna and  running cables.

A few months later our signal sites were disbanded and  taken apart where transmitter/am/mirowave/repairmen were relocated I and 6 others were offered the MARS AB8AAO as our new duty station.  At this time we got a twin 80' tower with huge log/rhythm antenna with  rotor motor very high gain capable of 50KW input from our transmitter location. We got a hold of a signal company that brought a crew in to install the tower and mast and antenna.   At our location of the 18th Eng the crane had bad u-joints and wasn't workable frustrated was the Sgt in charge of that crew I made a call to the CID unit next to us they said sure no problem they brought over a Chinook we got 20 guys  to hold the guy wires and we installed the tower

We now had 2 fully operational transceivers and were up and running  with 2 crews 24/7 and was able to complete over 902 calls home a month once a month calls to families in Hawaii.  We kept a call card for all that used our MARS station and when there was a station state side we would go thru that list to every Check Point Charlie, bunker, club, Company we could get to pick up their phone.  Old was the telephone system in Nam made things interesting as we would whistle in the phone and get an operator from somewhere one time it was to Germany where we completed a whole office of 30 people with phone calls to thier families via Vietnam. My father was a state side ham operator for Barry Goldwaters KUGA Phoenix, AZ USAF I would back tune and talk to him. As it were when I got home from Nam I thought it would be fun to chat back to Nam but with no license they said no way.

Ron Harkins - Sgt USA