Bob French

S/Sgt 1956 

In 1956 or shortly before a Capt. A. Charlton negotiated with Col. Steinhauser the base Communications Officer to get funds to establish a MARS station at 29 Palms.  The Captain designated myself since I had a commercial Radiotelephone License to assist another S/Sgt named Earl who had a Ham License to get the station up and on the air.  We had very little $$ available to get the job done, so we done a lot of misappropriating {i.e. stealing} equip from the Navy’s China Lake facility and any other place that we could "cumshaw" equip from.  We ended up with a "hot" BC-610 and a lot of parts etc.

The budget had enough $ in it to buy a Central Electronics 10A SSB Exciter,  a National 200 (??) receiver and a Sideband Signal Slicer to be able to copy SSB on the receiver.  Also the budget funded a Telrex Tri Band Beam antenna and rotator.  I done the pole climbing etc and we mounted the beam on an old light pole.  We also constructed a Sterba Curtain for one of the higher freq. bands and hung it between that pole and another light pole.   The equipment cited above was bought from Henry Radio in Los Angeles.  Since the statute of limitations had run out I can also say that we used a couple of 1st LAAM's unaccounted for pieces of Radar Test equipment to trade to Henry Radio for stuff we needed.  I built a small linear Amp to use with the Central Electronics SSB exciter. I used a Eimac 4-65 tube and for High voltage ran a piece of coax cable from the BC-610's power supply.  I remember that at that time KR6MB was one of the "Big Guns" along with the station at Camp Pendleton.  They had full sized Rhombic Antennas and had no trouble communicating.  Also the MARS Station at Yokosuka ran illegal power and was a boomer.  S/Sgt Earl had worked there before coming to 29 Palms and told me about the set up there.

I was NOT a MARS operator.  Did not have a Ham License, but instead had a 2nd Class Radiotelephone Commercial License. I did the Technical work to get K6MCA up and running and Earl did the operating as he had a Ham license. My MOS was 2841 Radar Tech and 2771 Radio Tech which later became 5931 and 2861 respectively.

That’s about all that I can remember now at 74 years old. HA!  Back to top

Ernie Young

Cpl  1969 - 1972

Sorry, I really don't remember the names or call signs of stations I worked in either South East Asia, Johnson Island, or Japan. The only call sign I do remember is KR6MD, the Muddy Duck. I ran many phone patches, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) remember few.  I do remember running rather interesting phone patches for two Majors, one in Vietnam and the other in Washington D.C. area.  They were husband and wife and used to always end their conversations with "love ya way up past the sky."  I spent three and a half years at the MARS station at Twenty-nine Palms; working most days well into the night.  MARS operations for me was a twenty-four seven experience. 

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Ken Meade

LCpl  1976 – 1978

I had re-enlisted in the Marine Corps as a retread and was working in the Comm Center, El Toro.  Red Bonnie was going to PCS to Albany, GA and was turning the MARS station, NNN0MET, over to GySgt. John Stone.  John had worked in the comm center and knew I was a trained 2533, Radio Telegraph operator, so he had me moved to the MARS station with him.

While at the El Toro MARS station, we experimented with afloat MARS operations in 1977 with a NOAA ship that went to the South Pole for a freeze over expedition.

I spent the rest of my Marine Corps career in the MARS program. Back to top

David Jackson

Cpl  1988 - 1990

I was a ham operator prior to joining the Marine Corps.  My primary MOS was 2531, Field Radio Operator.  When I graduated from C&E School in 1988 I requested to be part of the permanent staff at a MARS station.  The Marine Corps thought otherwise and sent me to 1st Bn 4th Marines at 29 Palms Ca.  After 6 months supporting Operation Ernest Will I returned to 1/4, which became 3/7.  A few months later I was granted a request to TAD to the MARS station at 29 Palms.  We only ran RTTY traffic.  Rarely did we run phone patches. I was on duty during the big San Francisco earthquake in 1989. We ran traffic for family members in the bay area who had military family overseas.

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