Topband: Spot: N5J 1828.5 up 1

[kq2m at kq2m.com]

I remember when Jay, WA2FIJ came on the air from K6LPL/KH5, not to work 
anyone, but to provide the information about Jan and the plane crash and 
the need to get her immediate medical attention.

At the time I was WB2SJG and after 20 minutes of trying, I was finally 
able to break through the EU qrm on freq. to speak with Jay (Jay was a 
local and he and I were friends) and receive emergency traffic from him. 
  I had to call information (411) to  get the phone numbers of the family 
members of each opr and then I called them and passed the messages from 
Jay to each of them and let them know that they had survived.

This really brought home to me as a teenager, how critical emergency 
communications and Ham Radio can be when lives are at stake and how 
important it is to have people trained in message handling (OES, OPS and 
the NTS system) and competent in handling emergency traffic.  (I was an 
ORS and OPS at the time).

I never knew the aftermath of what happened. I'm do sorry to learn of 
the severity of Jan's problems.

73

Bob, KQ2M


On 2024-08-11 09:26, Wes Stewart via Topband wrote:
> I worked K6LPL too.  Jan Gould, WA6YQW, was seriously injured in the 
> plane crash.  Jan was airlifted to Hawaii where she was treated at the 
> Trippler US Army Hospital.  She had a broken leg and back and IIRC a 
> broken pelvis.  She was put into a body cast and traction.
> I talked to Jan several times after this and remember the following:  
> (It's been over 40 years, so I'll do my best.)
> Jan went to the military hospital because her husband was retired Navy. 
> While there an orderly mistakenly lifted her out of bed and put her in 
> a wheelchair.  She was re-injured by this and her other treatment was 
> just as bad.  So they decided to airlift her back to CA and treat her 
> at Anaheim Memorial Hospital.  A trust fund had been set up to help 
> with expenses.  They were uninsured and wound up selling their house to 
> pay expenses.  So when I talked to her she was living with a daughter 
> in Montana, or Idaho.  She was still suffering trauma from this both 
> physical and mental.  She told me that she had nightmares, about being 
> trapped in the airplane, bathed in gasoline.  Whether that was real or 
> not I do not know but it was what tormented her.  I was working a 
> temporary second shift so I was on the radio in the wee hours after 
> getting home and that is when she was up, unable to sleep.  My job 
> changed and I lost track of her.
> 
> Wes  N7WS
> 
> ps. Some of the foregoing was gleaned from The DX Bulletin, archived at 
> https://www.yasme.org/dx-bulletin/  fascinating reading.
> 
>     On Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 12:11:47 AM MST, Mike Fatchett W0MU 
> <w0mu at w0mu.com> wrote:
> 
>  We have had Tstorms all afternoon and Condx are not good but N5J is 
> very
> easy to copy on the Xmit Vertical.  No Rcv antennas currently.  Worked
> them with base loaded 80m vertical and some power.
> 
> Lots of new bands for me.  I worked K6LPL back in 1980 on 10 and 15
> SSB.  This group had nothing but trouble.  They crash landed on
> Palmyra.  They had to evac  people out twice if I recall.
> 
> W0MU
> 
> 
> On 8/11/2024 12:37 AM, Mike Fatchett W0MU wrote:
>> 
>> Loud!
>> 
>> W0MU