Posted on 02/14/2005 7:50:35 PM PST by Denver Ditdat
The Collins Amateur Radio Club, in cooperation with the Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club will be operating a special Amateur Radio Station at The Carl and Mary Koehler History Center, 615 1St. Ave. S.E. Cedar Rapids on February 19th and 20th to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the WWII invasion of Iwo Jima. February 19th is 60 years, to the day, from the landing on Iwo Jima by American forces. In that battle, which was fought to secure an emergency landing site for B-29's that were bombing Japan, 6,821 US forces were killed and 19,217 wounded. Iwo Jima was made available as an emergency landing site because of their sacrifice and, as a result, approximately 2000 B-29 landings were made on Iwo Jima before the end of the war.
The equipment that will be used for this special Amateur Radio Station is the same equipment that was used in the B-29 radio operator position. A complete radio operator's position has been restored and will be operated on Amateur frequencies for this special event. This most important piece of equipment in this position, the ART-13, originally made in Cedar Rapids by the Collins Radio Co. was the first military airborne automatic tuning transmitter, a significant advancement in technology at that time. Mr. Clyde Hussey, a radio operator on the last B-29 mission over Japan, will be at the History Center at noon on the 19th to make the very first radio contacts using this equpment. He will also make a presentation at 2:00 PM on the 20th.
Weekend Details:
* Feb 19th Noon - 8:00 P.M. Remembering Iwo Jima: B-29 Radio Demonstration. A replica of the B-29 radio operator position including restored equipment identical to that used in B-29 bombers will be demonstrated in two-way communications on amateur radio frequencies. All veteran radio operators are invited to operate the equipment at the top of every hour. Mr. Clyde Hussey, radio operator on the last B-29 mission over Japan, August 14-15 1945, will be making the first calls on the equipment at 12:00 noon. Public welcome. For more information see: http://www.collinsclubs.com/carc/b-29/
1 * Feb 20th 2:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. Remembering Iwo Jima: Lecture/Discussion. Mr. Clyde Hussey, radio operator on the last B-29 mission over Japan, August 14-15 1945, will join Lawrence Robinson to present "The Real Last Mission" and "Iwo Jima and the B-29 Bomber". Mr. Hussey's B-29 aircraft, "The Horrible Monster" made one of the 2000 B-29 emergency landings on Iwo Jima. Public welcome. For more information see: http://www.collinsclubs.com/carc/b-29/
For information, contact Lawrence Robinson at 319.393.1216.
Ham Info on the Special Event:
Freq(+/-): 3885, 7290, 14286 (AM) and 3529, 7029, 10129 and 14029 (CW). QSL with $1.00 for glossy certificate to W0CXX/29 c/o The History Center, 615 1st Ave. SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
We plan to operate both the ART-13 / BC-348 pair, as well as the SCR-274N (aka ARC-5) simultaneously. Listen for us primarily on the above freqs on 75 for phone and 20 or 30 for CW. We anticipate the traffic from the ARRL CW contest might be too intense to operate CW on 20, so 30 is our back-up plan. We will try to operate the SCR-274N on 75 phone and the ART-13 on CW during daylight and at some point in the evening try to operate the ART-13 on 75 phone. We cannot make promises for special skeds, but will try to accomodate. For additional info or special sked requests contact Phil Shook, KC0OOF.
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Ping
Thank you jig!
Always good to see something on the B-29's. My father's B-29, the Princess Eileen IV, was shot down May 25, 1945. He was captured and was a POW to wars end.
And another Iwo Jima tribute going on this week in Fredericksburg Texas...
http://www.nimitz-museum.org/iwojima2004.htm
I hope to be there Saturday!
ping
Iwo Jima bump
I've always wanted to visit that place! I'd love a report, if you think of it!
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