[CQ-Contest] Ham radio in Vietnam

[W3DMB at aol.com]

Yes,  I operated from Quang-Tri [ Northernmost province bordering the  then 
"DMZ" ] in Jan-March 1972...  Bootleg - until the US Army "Radio  Research 
Unit" from Phu Bai  {army security agency} visited in early March  and saw a 
Dipole with co-ax leading into my "hooch".. We had 12 Collins KWM-2A  Rigs in the 
supply room - not being used - as we had switched to new FM  rigs....
They didn't accept "just SWLing"  -  or MARS...  wonder  why..  considering 
they had recordings of all transmissions may have been  one reason..  Their 
equipment automatically recorded all stations in  the area for intel purposes.
 
Later, in April [during the Easter offensive] - all the rigs were  all 
destroyed with thermite sheets..  I think now, I should have left them  in place and 
put a QSL card on top of the pile...  might have resulted  in a few more ham 
friends in far places..  [ I assume there is a  statue of limitations on all 
of this]
 
In 1968 I used the local bamboo to make some beams for our tactical FM  
radios [close to 6 meters] - worked great...
 
Jerry
W3DMB     [check 55]
Butler PA 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a message dated 12/4/2008 9:05:29 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jamesdavidcain at gmail.com writes:

I know  two Americans who operated on the ham bands from Viet Nam 40 years 
ago. They  did not have "licenses," so they just made up XV call signs. In one 
case, I  have seen an actual QSL card.

I expect there were more. 

Jim  Cain, K1TN


 
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