Radio Hams Keep 'Queen Mary' Wireless on the Air

A wonderful article about W6RO, the wireless room on the Queen Mary found posted on the Voice of America website:

Mike O'Sullivan
April 29, 2014 10:25 PM

LOS ANGELES— The Queen Mary, an ocean liner that once sailed the North Atlantic, is now permanently berthed in Long Beach, California, where it's a tourist attraction and hotel. In one of the rooms aboard the ship, the tradition of ship-to-shore wireless operations is continued and visitors are introduced to the hobby of ham radio.

A young visitor recently got an introduction to Morse code, the system of dots and dashes once used for wireless communication. Amateur radio operators, called "hams," still use it today.

The Queen Mary was the pride of the Cunard Line after its 1936 launch, and is now a popular tourist attraction.

The wireless room preserves the ocean liner's communications hub. Queen Mary Commodore Everette Hoard said it was a lifeline in emergencies, providing two-way messages -- ship to shore.

“And not only did they carry several transmitters for transmitting the ship's business, they also, even in 1936, had radio-telephone service,” said Hoard.

Today, volunteers from the local amateur radio club show off old equipment and operate new gear, as they talk to hams around the world.

“Just chit-chat, back and forth, some of them for hours at a time, many on voice, some of them even on Morse code,” said wireless room manager David Akins.

Volunteer Kurt Freitag said the wireless station is popular with visitors and hams overseas.

“When we get out there and say, this is W6RO, our call letters, we get a pile up.  People go, that's the Queen Mary, and they all jump in, talk to me, talk to me, no talk to me,” said Frietag.

Ham operators help with communications in disasters, from earthquakes and hurricanes to winter ski accidents.

The man who helped create the ship's ham radio operation, Nate Brightman, said helping in emergencies is an important part of the hobby.

“That's the big reason that the government is so nice to amateur radio operators and gives us all these frequencies to use, because we serve the public. It's a hobby and it's a lot of fun, but it's also very valuable to the country,” said Brightman.

These volunteer radio operators are continuing the heritage of seaborne communication on board the Queen Mary, reaching out to visitors to the ship and radio enthusiasts worldwide.



Check out the video on the link below:

http://www.voanews.com/content/radio-hams-keep-queen-mary-wireless-on-the-air/1904153.html

Lonely, bullied youth- The cure: HAM radio?

Found this great article by Duane Wyatt WA0MJD on the QRZ site tonight.

Just had to pass it on

Lonely, bullied youth- The cure: HAM radio?

“Lonely, bullied youth- so sad, yet treatable”
A small, thin teen dropped by the youth center. He seemed introverted, shy and did not appear to have any friends at the center. He saw my amateur radio and morse communication practice stations and slowly approached me. I sensed his shyness because I was “him at his age”. He seemed fascinated especially by the modern iambic cw key and MorseMachine cw keyer-trainer. 
I explained the basics of operation to him and yes, kids are fascinated by keys.
When his mother came to pick him up- he did not want to leave andenthusiastically took the set of seven amateur radio comic books I gave him.
Morse operation combines the fun and challenges of video game use with the utility of cell phone texting to communicate with others. It is so much fun for me because it is relaxing, the morse is music to my ears and is still challenging even after all these years of use. I find the fun level of cw communication to be addicting- I want my “cw fix” for the day.
It is important to have a cw outreach for young people because we know that most morse users are older people and it is now a voluntary activity- not a mandatory use for licensure anymore. I am concerned that CW operation will slowly die away as the years go by. It is also important to outreach youth using modern morse- not the old fashioned use of the hand key- J38 type. Kids want easy fun- not the effort required to send morse the old fashioned way.They will not learn morse if they have to wear out their hands and wrists pounding brass. Use modern iambic paddles and cw keyers for this outreach.
KID’S CLUB amateur radio exposure units can be kept in school counselors’offices, school psychologists’ offices and pediatric psychiatrists’ offices.These attractive, small, self contained laminated wooden enclosures can be taken home, used and returned to the offices after use for a return of their parent’s cash deposit. The units contain:
1. A high quality amateur radio receiver with a wire dipole antenna kit.
2. A small gel cell twelve volt battery.
3. The set of seven amateur radio comic books produced by Icom America personnel
4. The latest Technician class license study guide
5. A modern iambic cw key with modern keyer-trainer including the morse code alphabet.
6. A ClearSpeech DSP external speaker to eliminate fatiguing white noise
7. Code Quick cw software CD that gives users an easy, fast and fun way to learn morse.


You can view the operation of the KID’S CLUB amateur radio exposure unit prototype on the YouTube website at the following URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46jMmJDxRvw

We know that bullying behavior is increasing. Its’ damage is so much greater today- countless people can see disparaging comments made online from bullying predators.
Teens are immersed in the sexual and violent paradigms saturating society. Sexting, violent video games, violent and sexual themes in movies and television creates depression and very low self esteem for those of us who do not have an ideal body image. Add the fragmented families- with increased single parenting, government mandated school curriculum creating the homework stress to LIFE. We are not surprised to see lonely, bullied teens becoming rampage killers and/or committing suicide.

I was thirteen when I happened to see an amateur radio station at the local county fair grandstand while I was in 4H. If I had not happened to see this station, I would have missed my lifelong source of wholesome fun, stress relief, self esteem elevation and challenges.
I am seeking people to help this effort. I personally feel that this effort must be only humanitarian in nature without any financial motive corrupting the effort. I personally feel that money and the pursuit of it is one of the most damaging aspects of our societal decline.If a KID’S CLUB unit is needed, the unit will be provided to the mental health professional at our cost after we have solicited the funding through community service organizations.
Duane Wyatt WA0MJD