Fred Troeh W ØELM

IN-SERVICE

)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Summer Volume 76 August 2001)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

How I got started in

Amateur Radio Fred Troeh WØ ELM

Ames, Iowa

The 1978 World Conference seems like a good place to

start this account. Miriam and I attended the meeting for

Spanish-speaking delegates and friends, and Apostle E arl

Higdon overheard us speaking Spanish (we had learned it while

in Uruguay on a U SAID assignm ent 1966-1968). He wanted to

know if I could get away from my responsibilities at Iowa State

Unive rsity for a year to go on a term appointment to Cordoba,

Argentina. That had a special appeal to us because the man we

baptized in Uruguay (Martin Lapalma, our first Uruguayan church

mem ber) was part of the team that went to meet with the group

that started the missi on in C ordoba . I took a l eav e of ab sence

from the university, and in the summer of 1979 we were on our

way.

Seventy Robert Turner (W AØ YUG ) had be en the m ost

recent appointee minister in Cordoba, and he went along to help

us get acquainted with Niev es Pitar ch, Be to and A na Pa redes,

Carlos Parm a, and th e rest of the group. Bob didn’t have a radio

of his own there, but he knew some of the local hams and

introduced us to them, m ost notably Julio Agu ero (LU1HJA). Bob

returned to Independence, and Miriam and I made weekly trips to

see Julio. The Argentine hams were most kind to help us

comm unicate with Bob and others (Bob often used WØSHQ ), and

through them with family and friends. They relayed messages for

us and sometim es hooked us up v ia phone patch.

Amateur radio impressed us very favorably during our

year in Argentina, but I still did not have a license. It wasn’t long,

though, until I began considering an other USA ID contract in

Morocco. Iowa State was looking for staff members who would be

willing to go. I had to learn to speak French as well as tie upsome other loose ends. That was when I decided to get my rad io

license. It was close, but I passed the general test and became

NØELM just before Miriam and I left for Morocco in October 1982.

I purchased a Kenwood TS130S transceiver and shippedit along with an antenna, etc. in our freight. The Moroccan

employee that got our things through customs told the customs

officials that the antenna box had lamp poles in it and got away

with it. They looked at the radio and its instruction book and let it

pass, so everything g ot to us all right. I contacted the ham radio

club in Rabat (the capital city) and got them to forward m y

application for perm ission to use the radio to the appropriate

author ities. A few weeks later, I was called in to the local policestation to tell them about myself and why I wanted to set up my

radio in Morocco. That went all right, and it sounded like the

approval might come soon. Then I got another call to have a

similar visit with the local gend armes (nationa l police). That v isit

was much lik e the other, but

stil l nothing happened.

Finally, repeated inquiries

revealed that the application

had gone to the genda rme s’

head office in Ra bat. W e

went there to talk to them,

but could not get through to

the right person. Someone

had tabled my request, and

that was that. There were no

local hams where we lived inSettat, so the radio never got

used in Morocco. It came

back to the U.S. with our

freight in June 1985. I set it up here an d still use it, mostly on the

Sunday af ternoon net.

Each of the countries we traveled in was a unique

experience with it’s own trials and rewards. We e njoyed each

one, learned a lot, brought back a lot of souvenirs andphotog raphs, and often reminisced about our experiences.

Uruguay is a small country that raises a lot of beef. We brought

back leathe r goods, w ood ca rvin gs, etc. A rgentin a is much larger

and more varied, plus we were working for the church ratherthan the governm ent, so it was a much different experience.

Morocco reminded us a lot of California in terms of climate, a

long coastline, both irrigated and dryl and ag ricultu re, m ountai ns,

and deserts. W e brought back a wide variety of handic raft ite ms,including carpets, pottery, woodwo rk, leath er good s, etc. It was

also unique in being a Muslim nation rather than Christian, so we

learned a lot about Islam but had to b e careful to not appear like

we were trying to conv ert anyone. W e knew before we went to Argentina that Miriam’s liver

was failing, but we went anyway to get as much out of lif e as

possible. W eak bones associated with that caught up with her in

Morocco in 1984 when she fell and broke her leg, arm, and

clavicle . W e had to evacua te her, first to Paris and then to

Independence where she stayed with my family while I finished

up in Morocco (shuttling back and forth two or three times). In

1987, her liver quit completely. She was on the list for atransplant, but the call never came. About that time, one of my

Moroccan laboratory technicians, Z ahra Ifnou, was sent to

Nebraska for some on-the-job training. She arrived just in time

to attend Miriam ’s funeral. Later she became m y wife, so now Ihave a very special mem ento from Morocco. W e usually travel

there once a year to visit her family and friends. This year it had

to be in Ju ne-Jul y beca use one of Zahra’s brothers was getting

married at that time. W e recently returned from that trip and aregetting comfortable in Ames again and readjusted to the time

zone change. I was back on the net again last Sunday for the

first time after ou r month of traveling.

Best regards to all. We can meet again next Sunday onthe net. Fred WØ ELM E-mail frtroeh@iastate.edu

Muirl Robinson W8QK Photo by Terry Redding

20 Meter NetFrequency 14.287 MHz 1530 Central Time

Sunday

Net Control WB 2UJL E rnie Miles

The following names and call signs checked into the 20M

net sin ce A pri l 6, 20 01 . I co uld n't find nam es for some call signs I

copied wrong.

Ernie

WDØAR L, Ed Gordon

KØBK Z, Gene Ch adwick

WØDZX, Dave Atkins

NØE LM, Fred Troeh

WAØFGW, Theron B ronson

KCØH BD, Leo H annel

WAØH LP, Larry Shoemaker

KBØGR, Dave Bland

WAØIB S, Andy Ferrara

KGØII, Bob Farnham

WBØ RNO , Burnie C hoate

WØSH Q, Tom Thatcher

KØSR I, MaryAnn Alden

NØT N, Jim E lliott

KGØT Q, Steve Fagan

N2HGL, Jo Framo

W2TFT , Tom T hatcher

N2U CH, George H urley

WB3AO A, Alice Nunm aker

W3H EN, Joh n Seither

VE3GRX, Hank

HP3X UD, Den ny Weldon

WA4 FQQ , De nn is Ca mp bell

N4EJA, Earl Adams

KF4EO C, Ray San ders

N4N VP, Clarence N uckoles

KE4U OD, M ike Bladock

AF4UQ, Paul Lansing

WB 4U SN , Clyd Kelly

KC4W AO,Eugen e Schaufler

N4WT W, Mike Glowaski

N4WZ, Ed Owens

K4Y ZJ, Hom er Perry

N5ECP, Jeff Salmons

W5HKY, Barbara Redding

K5ID, Ken G raham

K5IFW, Jim Cotton

AC5IM, D onald Brosseau

W5JAY , Harvey Bromley

N5LC L, David Gates

KC5LU I, Jerry Shollmier

N5N QQ, R ichard Ehlers

KK6AW, Kelsey Shm eltzer

W6LMJ, Terry Redding

W6 MP D, H arry D e Bid dle

WA6QXK, Charles Cummins

W6RWH, Hale Collins

K6ST, B arry Bettman

W7FDL, Floyd Lehman

KA7VM A, Dick Wynes

WB 7P PP , Geo rge K end all

N7Y JJ, Phil Caster

W8QK, M uirl Robinson

NG9B , John Bo wman

KA9B LH, D aniel Dare

KB9 JLC, K en Collard

Some Notes from Terry ReddingAfter stopping in Claremore Oklahom a at Roger State

Unive rsity for a day, I trave led on to Bald Knob, Arkansas where M uirl

Robinson is the caretaker for a church campground.

Muirl lives in a farm house on a hill in the middle of theproperty. His shack is conveniently located in a corner of a large

kitchen, and uses a window to feed his ladd er line out to a dipole

hanging in the oak trees that surround his home . An isolated radio site

located ona high hill,

M u i r l ' s

l o c a t i o n

p r o v i d e slow noise

r e c e p t i o n

and good

p r o p a -gation.

The day I

was therefor a visit

was idyllic.

W h i t e

c l o u d s

against a

deep blue

sky gave a hin t that it was a cool day. A slight breeze through the

trees made walking the grounds very enjoyable.

I kept suggesting we should do an antenna project - or

something. But M uirl was c ontent just to shar e the joy s of the

campground and discuss the possibilities of very large horizontal loop

antennas that could be snaked through the surrounding 80 foot high

trees. Several possible tower locations were also identified and

discussed.

Muirl has a small crank -up tower that could be easily erected

alongside the hou se - a large collec tion of yagi be am s - and en dless

possibilities in terms of what he might choose to do to improv e his

signal o n va rious ham bands.

W e should only hope to each have so many possibilities and

choic es as we co nsider im prov ing our o wn statio ns.

I have known Muirl for the better part of 25 years. I first met

him more than 10 yea rs ago wh ile he liv ed in A ngleto n, Tex as. Today

he looks healthy and h appy, and conten t.

It was a pleasure to be able to spend som e time with him .

Terry W6LM J terry@oltraining.com

Letter:I moved from Grandview, Missouri to Deerhaven, Florida the

summer of 1999 having retired from 35 years as a radio mechanic at

the TW A overhaul base in Kansas City. The comm unity of Deerhaven

is adjacent to the Deerhaven Cam pground in Central F lorida which is

operated by the F lorida Mission Cente r.

I've been a Technician (Plus) class operator for almost 40

years. I was active on six and two m eters back in Kansas City until

1978 when I was transferred by TWA to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Upon

returning home in 1985 it seemed ham radio was not interesting

anym ore, so, except for a few QSO's on 2 meter repeaters I was

mostly inactive. W hen I heard last year that I could now upgrade to

General without the 13 WPM I decided it was tim e to get back into

ham radio. Plus, I'm retired and need something to do.

This past wee k m y new lic ense arrived in my mail boxand now hangs in my room. T his is the first time I've trie d

tuning the HF bands. I must confess, I had to learn how to

tune in a signal. Sure seemed different from the old days of

AM. Even after reading the owners manu al, I still don't knowwhat some of the buttons and knobs on my Kenwood TS570S

are for. But, I 'm learning and most of a l l - - i t is fun! !

Now my proble m is an antenn a! I don't have one -- at

least not a real on e. Just to test out the receiver I connected

a piece of wire between the antenna jack and my aluminum

rain gutter. It seemed to work okay while receivin g. I just

couldn't leave well enough alone so I attempted to load the

gutter to the transmitter. Believe it or not; it loads very nicely

on 80 and 2 0!! Less than 1.5:1 SWR. I've worked several

European and many state-side stations with the rain gutter.

I've got a 80 through 10 dipole laying on the bench top waiting

to be erected -- just need to do som e tree trimm ing first!

This afternoon was the f irst opportunity to check into

the ASCRA net. I could only copy the Missouri stations

because of heav y QRN . But it was, neverthe less, great!

73's from Florida Theron "Rande" Bronson WAØFGW

29720 North Boulevard, Paisley FL 23767-8908

Phone (352) 669-9666

Welcome Rande, see you on the net. Editor

Silent Key

We regre t to report tha t G. Stewart Wight AA5LX has

passed awa y. Services we re he ld at the Crystal Springs,

Washington church on Sunday June 10, 2001. The following

letter was sent to Maxine by the Secretary of ASCRA.

Dear Maxine,

As a founding m embe r and secretary of the Association

of Saints Church Radio Amateurs I have had the pleasure of

associating with Stewart many times over the years since our

organization in 1973 and his reinv olvem ent with Am ateur Radio

and our on-the-air activities in the late '70s. I, personally, have

greatly enjoyed his sense of hum or and listening to what I am

sure are only a few of the stories of his adventures and your life

of min istry together.

This past week I have been uplifted by numerous tales

and testimonies I have received from many of our aficio nados.

I am pleased to have forwarded some of them to you in care of

Jim Fish. There may well be others coming to you in the weeks

to come. I hope they will bring a measure of comfort and

encouragement to you and your family.

There have been and will continue to be m any prayers

offered for you and your family by the members of this special

fellowship as there ha ve b een fo r Stewa rt during these pa st few

mo nths. May God continue to bless and strengthen you r fam ily's

testimony of his universal and ubiquitous love.

On behalf of ASCRA's Board of Directors and our over

300 m em bers,

W ith grea t regard , in gospe l bonds,

Douglas Shaw, WA0EMX

Secretary ASCRA

..and from Jim Elliott NØTN

Stewart and I go back a long way. I remem ber visiting

his shack in his house in Lamoni when he was W9NMA . I was

impressed as the me rcury vapor rectifiers glowed as he

modulated. He operated 160 me ters mostly and I remem ber

hearing him on our BC radio. As far as I know no one

complained. Stew encouraged my brother and me as we studied

for the ham test. Stew was a leader of the Z ion's league in

Lamoni in the early 19 40's. He worked in the Post Office till he

joined the Navy a bout 1943. Afte r the war, he returned to

Lamo ni.

One winter there wa s a severe Ice storm and he and I

helped provide comm unication to power plants in southern Iowa.

W e attende d a dinn er giv en by th e utility to hono r ham s whohelped out.

Soon he was emplo yed by the FA A as an installer of

electronic navigation equipment. By coincidence, he was

assigned the job of commissioning the VOR station in Lamo ni.

He was able to hire me as his helper during that program.

His work took him to Brazil and Peru and he helped

launch congregations there. Coincidences happen. I was talking

to a ham in Brazil. He must hav e mentio ned being in aviationavionics there, because I asked him if he had met Stew. He

replied that he certainly had and he gave a glowing account of

his association with Stew. Radio conditions were good and I

recorded the Q SO and was able to give it to him later.

My last job with McDon nell Aircraft brough t me to F t.W orth Texas for an extended pe riod. I contacted Stew and was

invited to visit. Maxine served a fine ev ening meal and we had a

lengthy discussion. By that time I had grown away from the RLDS

church, but both Stewart and Maxine gave strong testimonies asto the divinity of the church.

My world and the world of many others is diminished by

his death.

Jim Ell iott NØTN

Jim Elliott introduced me to Ham Radio and I too have a personal

bond to Stew and Maxine. The Wights served the church

energetic ally and faithfully over the years as self sustaining

missionaries wherever their work took them. Editor

..and from Terry Redding W6LMJ

Remem bering AA5LX - Silent Key

I first met Stew while attending Cam eron Univ ersity, in

Lawton, Oklahom a in the late 70's. My family and I were involved

with the Lawton Mission and Stewart and Maxine would come up

from Texas to provide ministry.

Stew gave B arbara, my wife, her Patriarchal Blessing,

and Maxine provided the typed transcription. It was about that

time that Stew becam e active, again, in am ateur radio. His

participation was eagerly anticipated by many mem bers ofASCRA who he had known for many years, and had inspired to

becom e ham s.

Nearly 15 years later I again becam e personally

re-acquainted with Stew and Maxine when my wife wasdiagnosed with cancer. During her surgeries I stayed from time

to time with Stewart and Maxine in their home.

W hen Stew becam e ill and was hospitalized we all were

very concerned and news of Stew's condition was shared worldwide through our extended ne twork of ham radio operators and

friend s. In am ateur ra dio whe n a frie nd dies, and we face the

reality that their signal will no longer be heard, we call them a

silent key. But in our faith we know that silence is a two way signal

path. It involves both the sender and the receiv er. Each of us in

ASCRA has the possibility of keeping Stew's signal alive as we

recall the many times across our lives and his we were blessedthrough the Spirit that seem ed to ever ac comp any him .

Terry - W6LMJ

This issue of the IN-SERVICE costabout $100 to print and m ail.

Membership in ASCRA is free but theexpenses go on.

Send your annual contribution to:ASCRA Box 73, Independence MO

64051

Ernie’s Comments

ASC RA M em bers:

This issue of the In-Service needs some articles and

if you are timid about contributing something, this article will be

an easy one for you to m atch or better with your attempt. Soplease feel some obiligation to help Hale make the IN-Service

better by contributing YOUR BEST E FFORT too.

Summ er is upon us and the antenna rotor is still not

working.

Some who I chat with frequently on the Sunday 20M

net have heard about our plans, so this is for the rest of the

ASC RA m em bers.

W e have some plans to get this NY house cleaned up

in the next few m onths and sell it for a move to the Raleigh NCarea where our son and grandson are living. I'm arriving at 70

in Nov. and the wife is right behind me in age so lawn mowing

and leaf raking are items I'd like to leave behind.

But, "NO", she says, "I don't want to live in a condo or

an apartment as I need my space and you need your antenna

farm. W e have to get another house but fa rther south where

the cold NY weather can not reach us." So I guess we willtrade houses with those two goals in mind.

I'm spoiled by having Road Runner which is a high

speed internet service prov ider and hope to find that around

Raleigh. I 've been involved several years as a genealogy

volunteer for a couple of RootsWeb county web sites which I

don't think I've mentioned for a year or two.

http://www.rootsweb.com /~m omac on/index.htm

and

http://www.rootsweb.com /~nytioga/index .htm

W e have just finished having several family visits and

taking grandchildren to camp so now the house painting and

fixup begins again.

I hope to find some of you on the 20M net each Sunday

73's, Ernie

President ASCRA

IN-SERVICEPublication of the Association of S aints Church Rad io

Am ateurs

Comm ents, suggestions or material for future issues send

to: Editor: Hale Collins W6RWH

Route 1 Box 228

Lamoni IA 50140

e-mail: w6rwh@arrl.netPhone: 641 784-6007

More Letters

(Keep’em coming)

I ENJOY THE IN SERVICE PUBLICATION VERY MUCH

HOW EVER IN LOOKING AT YOUR TREASURERS REPORT

ON EXPENSE BUDGET FOR THE COMING YEAR, I SEE A

BANK CHAR GE O F $25.00. W ITH YOUR ACCOUNT

BALANCE OF NEARLY $2,000.00 WHY IS THE BANKCHARGING A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION A BANK

CHAR GE?.

I TAKE CARE OF THE ARARAT SHRINE RADIO CLUB ASSECR ETAR Y AND I PAY N O BA NK CH ARG ES.

IF YOUR BANK STILL INSISTS FOR THE CHARGE YOU’VE

GOT YOU R MO NEY IN THE W RON G BA NK.

ABOUT FEMA NOT D ELIVER ING T HE CIR CUIT BOARD FOR

THE W IDE AREA CO MM SY STEM W HAT HAP PENED?

BEST REGARDS

MILO BAR NHAR D JR.

KC5AZ

P.S.

THE 146.73 REPEATER W ILL POSSIBLY BE OFF THE A IR

FOR MAINTENANCE IN THE NEAR FUTURE AND AT THATTIME ALL INCODES WILL BE REPRO GRAM ED AND I W ILL

INFO RM A LL INDEP ENDE NCE O PERA TOR S.

OLD 80-YEAR-OLD MILO

Milo : Our Treasurer informed us at the last meeting that if the

bank was going to make that ch arge he w ould change banks or

at leas t chan ge the type o f acco unt.

By the way Milo, when we foreigners from another

state come to Independence we APPRECIATE having the

repeater available, thanks! Editor

Letters

Doing a little house cleaning today and ran across IN-

SERVICE dated May 2001. I knew I’d saved it for some good

reason. In reading Presidents Report I noted 23 was the

number of contributors to club finances last year. WOW - How

do you keep going? A surprise to me. I thought there were a

large number of members associated with ASCRA.

At any rate my reason for saving the Club newsletter

was I intended to make a contribution and it had slipped my

mind. (They say at age 80 you are not held accountable for

mist akes, forgotten appointm ents, being late for m eetings, etc.)

So at 81+ I believ e this is m y secon d tim e to use th is excuse -

Hi! Hi!

I’m very glad to see you’re involved; such clubs as Ham

Association really need experienced, devoted, dependable, and

helpf ul m em bers.

I’ve enjoyed the IN-SERV ICE letter and I especia lly

enjoyed your report of a couple letters ago concerning Farnham

and Crandle’s work referen ce “2 mete rs.”

I took my station in Jan. of 97 and placed it in storage till

I settled in my own place in Man ning IA. I’ve been inactive for

over 4 years. Finally bought a place an d after num erous bouts

with heal th an d sev eral surge ries I ’m able to walk a little and

drive again. So if I can get some help I plan on getting back into

active Hamm ing. Had 3 towers put up last May (2000), but due

to one hip replacement in Sept. 2000 and carpal tunn el surgery

in March 2001 I’m just now getting around.

Keep up your good work. Hope all is well with you and

family.

Sincerely,

Ed Morr is WBØWWU

Ed: Than ks for your letter and co ntribu tion. Yes Ed, we ma il to

about 300 church hams every issue. Editor

* * * *I received the May 2001 issue of In-Service and enjoyed

it. Tom Thatcher’s article was great. Later this fall I hope to

have a 20-mete r antenna up so I can join the Sunday ASCRA

Net on 14.287.

I believe tha t my add ress in your data base is in error. It

should read:

Bil l Bedwell WBØIUJ

600 Enterprise #1110

Rock Port TX 78382

Thanks and 73 , Bill

Bill: We w ill lo ok for you on the net. I made the address

correction

Editor

Fred VK3AQN is on Again

Terry W6LM J reports that after a late

night QSO on 20 M eters he... heard a fam iliar voice.

W ith no mov ement on the needle, and a signal well down

in the noise I heard clearly VK 3AQN calling W 6LMJ. I

responded to what I believed was his first call and started

turning the antenna towards Australia. Fred's signal grew

stronger until it was well above the noise and perfectly Q5.

A glance at the S meter showed it was still sitting on S0.

Thank goodn ess the ba nd was again quiet. Fred and I

started chatting and slowly his signal came up.

Switching my receive pre-amplifier on brought

Fred 's signal up to between an S3 and S4 before we

finished talking about 40 min utes later. During the entire

contact Fred was Q5. T here was neve r any difficulty

understanding his words. He was operating VK 3AQN /2

from Sidney. He described his operating position as pool

side at his son's home with just a low dipole strung above

the pool. His station was a borrowed TS-50 running about

80 watts.

He reports he and Margaret are fine. They have

been enjoying their new hom e and spending tim e in their

trailer traveling abo ut. It is of course winter in Australia.

But the weather was reported as pleasant. I asked after

the possibility of Fred putting up an antenna at his new

QTH. The possibility e xists, bu t has not b een a f irst

priority. We discussed a tower similar to the sky needle

Eldon had used in Lom ita, Ca liforn ia. I belie ve h is first

antenna may well be a dipole, though a bit higher than the

one he used yesterday from Sidney.

It was growing late quickly and so it was time for

us to stop - as the time was approaching 2 AM. Fred and I

could have talked longer. But the wee hour of the morning

made it clear it was time to stop. We exchanged 73 and I

paused waiting to listen on the frequency before shutting

the station down. A few ZLs and VKs were calling. A lso, a

station or two from E urope - but with regret I cl icked the

antenna switch off, and turned off the radio.

It was great to f ind Fred on freq uency. I really

didn't mind the lateness of the hour. Now, when I have a

chance to operate late at night, in addition to listening for

California - I can take a bit of time to listen for Fred.

Terry - W6LMJ