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ESTABLISHMENT OF RADIO ROOM

    In order to provide facilities for the operation of the six meter radio station during hours in which classes would be in progress without disturbing these classes, it was decided to use an empty room at the High School.  The room chosen is located next to the Library and just across the hall from the General Science room.  The antenna coaxal lead, the cable controlling the rotor and a ground wire were run through a window into the area where the station was to be located.  A power source was obtained by building an extention to a 110v receptical located in the room.

    To house the transceiver and related equipment an old army radio pack made of heavy gauge steel, obtained from the surplus at Attalla, Alabama, was employed.  Students built a wooden cover provided with hinges and lock so that the equipment could be retained in the room and still meet Federal Communications Commission regulations, which forbid unauthorized personnel from operating an amateur radio station.

    Permission to operate the radio station was obtained from the FCC who assigned the amateur radio call WA4FPX to be used.  The call was issued in the name of the General Science instructor who holds amateur radio license K4NMV.

OPERATION OF TRANSCEIVER

     At 3:15 PM on Feb. 24 the radio station was put into operation with an ouput power of 12 watts.  After some twenty minutes of tuning and adjusting, and having sent out a general call (CQ) without receiving an answer, a contact was made with K4OCV in Huntsville.  It was a relief to know that the instrument was working properly and functioning perfectly.  During the following thirty minutes seven other stations were contacted.  Five of them gave excellent readability reports, one gave a weak readability report, the other was mobile in an automobile, and could not give an accurate report.  The stations were W4BFM, K4WHW, K4UEC, K4SPP, K4UGQ, WA4DPX, and W4WGI.  These stations were located in Huntsville and Decatur, Alabama, with the mobile station located between the two cities.  In order to test the continuity of the alignment arrangements were made with station K4UEC to move out of the amateur band to the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) band at 49.96mc for a test.  This test was a complete success.

     During the test on the MARS frequency, made possible by K4NMV and K4UEC being members of the MARS program, contact was also made with W4HSU in Springville, Ala.  Springville is located a few miles northeast of Birmingham, in St. Clair county, and in as much as part of the purpose of this project was to determine the possibilities of establishing communications between counties to the south, over Spruce Pine Mountain, this capability hithertofore unknown in this area, was established within one hour of the beginning of the operation of the station.  In subsequent days of operation data gathered shows contacts through CQ's and through prearranged schedules were made on a regular basis with amateur radio stations in the Birmingham area.  It was established that stations with sufficient output power, between 10 and 50 watts, could keep a regular schedule within distances of up to 150 miles, even over mountains.  It was further established during the tests that line-of-sight limitations in the 50mc range do not always hold to theory.  In contacting stations with as little power as 1 watt output, contact was made across mountains as high as 1400 feet (test conducted in northeast Alabama and southeast Tennessee).

     Birmingham stations contacted during the initial part of the tests were W4KWJ, K4EFM, K4UTC, WA4DDV.  The furtherest contact made was with K4WHZ in Talladega Springs, Alabama.  Local amateurs in Russellville had doubted the ability of six meters in getting out from this area before these tests began.  Now, W4RLS has set up a six meter station in his home to be used in conjunction with his 1000w single sideband station.

     Students who participated in the tests and operated the station were limited to those who had their amateur radio license.  These students were Mike McCullom WA4BYD,
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