N0FAA Stories
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LCpl 8/66- 5/67 |
I was assigned a MOS of heavy equipment mechanic after boot camp and transferred to school at Camp LeJeune NC. I had my parents send my tech school records, my Ham radio license and 1st class commercial radio license to me. I received them two days before I was to graduate from heavy equipment mechanics school. I took copies to the office of the commanding officer and with in three hours I had orders for a change of MOS and a transfer to HQ BN Special Services Camp LeJeune NC. I operated W4LEV for seven or eight months then transferred to Guantanamo Bay. I operated KG4AM/N0FJM and my own call sign KG4SS for eighteen months, the normal tour of duty was one year no one was available to fill the position so I extended for six months. shortly after I arrived at Gitmo the AFRTS broadcast engineer asked If I would help him at the radio and TV station after that my days were spent running phone traffic from 0800 to 2130 and working at AFARTS from 2200 till when ever we got done, which was great as I got a room of my own and didn't have to get up at 0500 or do the 3 mile run any more. Shortly after the AFRTS engineer left with no replacement so it then became totally my job to keep things running there. After Gitmo I was given the choice of going to 29 Palms CA, or Quantico VA, I chose Quantico. I can't recall the call sign of the station, (ed. N0RTP) I ran phone patches, message traffic and prepared tapes for the daily teletype message transmission to operators all over the US. I had a AM broadcast that we got from some where that had a pair 833 final amp tubes in it, I retuned it and set it up for frequency shift keying and we had a whooper of a teletype transmitter putting out about 2500 watts, no one had any problems copying us after that. While at Quantico I became a member of the parachute club next door to the station and ended up jumping out of perfectly good UH1D and CH46 helicopters 355 times. Back to Top |
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SSgt 1975 |
I became a General Class Ham while stationed at Camp Lejeune. One day I received a phone call from the boss of NAVYMARCORPSMARS. He asked if I would be interested in being the chief operator of N0MPR. After a few calls I gave in and said yes. (Best move that I ever made.) I was sent to N0MCL to learn the system. There were three Marines who helped me a lot, GySgt Sam Dunn, GySgt Jim Mackin and GySgt Henry Rhodes. After learning the MARS system I was transferred to Camp Garcia, Vieques Island PR for duty. It made me feel like I could do something good for my fellow men. They called me (THE MAN WITH THE PHONE) I will up date this with more information as I think of it. My tour with MARS RADIO was the best thing that could happen to me. |