AB8AAC
AB8AAC
Alpha Bravo Eight Alpha Alpha Charlie
587th Signal Company for 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry 1968
Dau Tieng, RVN 1968
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50 Calls, 1 Nite MARS SETS RECORD 3D Brigade - An overnight record total of 50 radiotelephone calls were completed to the United States by the MARS (Military Affiliated Radio System) station of the 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. The skein of two-score-and-ten calls, a record for the Dau Tieng station, is believed to be a record for a two-radio hookup transmitting only 1250 watts power. The record was set during the night of May 27 to 28. Enabling 50 infantrymen to talk with families and loved ones were the four member staff of Station AB8AAC of the 587th Sig Co, headed by SP5 Michael L. Jackson of Memphis, Tenn. Jackson credited “unusually good atmospheric conditions” with making it possible for the calls to go through. Receiving the radio transmissions stateside and relaying them to the soldiers’ homes were signalmen at The Presidio, Calif., and Forts Belvoir, Virginia, and Bragg, North Carolina. “We actually ran out of customers for a brief time,” Jackson said. A few quick requests to units around the base camp quickly solved that problem, however, as numerous volunteers eagerly agreed to call the folks back home. According to Jackson, the calls are beamed over the North Pole, except for attempted contacts through Hawaii. Costs for the five minute calls are charged only from the stateside military post relaying the radio transmission to the stateside phone receiving the call. “Usually it only costs about two bucks, and sometimes less,” Jackson said. TROPIC LIGHTNING NEWS July 1, 1968
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