Ham radio in Vietnam, 1968
Last edited Mon Apr 28, 2025, 03:05 AM - Edit history (3)
I was on the 10 meter band today and made contact with N6KI, the author of this video.
N6KI operates on 28.506 mHz on 10 meters in tribute to his outfit in Vietnam, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne.
I am in PA and he is in San Diego.
He was a MARS radio operator in Vietnam, which stands for Military Auxillary Radio System. The MARS radio operator contacts volunteer Ham radio operators in the U.S., who patches through phone calls to loved ones at home
Some of the calls in this are heart warming, others are heart wrenching. A soldier hearing his newborn for the first time, a soldier breaking the news to his wife from a hospital he is getting a limb amputated.
The stories - how the call building was destroyed in an attack, and a jerk LT refused to let them build a new one. Until the men on the base "persuaded" him.
A Huey lifting the new Cushcraft antenna onto a 60 foot pole, as a brave pole climber attached it.
Cursing at Cushcraft when putting it together and finding parts missing in the crate. Not like you can go to the outlet to get the replacements.
I had just finished my contact with N6KI, and I heard a roar so loud I thought the shingles were blowing off the roof.
About a block away, a helicopter gunship was flying by barely above the rooftops, so low and slow I thought he was making a forced landing.
I quickly looked at my ADS-1 plane spotting app, he was not on it. His transponder was off.
I do not live near a military base. The airport here is a small civilian field
Spooky.
