You might want to look at this
and see if you want to put it
on your website.
ED - AFF4C
Hello
Ed,
One of our enterprising members sent me this article for possible use on
our
Army MARS page and I thought that it would be more appropriately
displayed
on an AF MARS site. It's a well written article and well worth
publishing in
the right environment. I thought perhaps your Region 4
webmaster might like
to have it.
73,
Andy - AAR6AC
Ham radio buff helps
airmen and families keep in touch
by Capt. Carie A. Seydel
photos by
Master Sgt. Lance Cheung
Communicating with MARS isn’t what it used to
be.
When Ray Scheffler started patching morale calls through the Military
Affiliate Radio System more than 40 years ago, the Vietnam War kept him
busy.
In those days, connecting more than 100 calls a day to
stateside families wasn’t unusual. Today, Scheffler — known as AFA1EN on the
radio — sees much less traffic, just 100 to 150 patches per
week.
“E-mail access and cell phones have cut down on our morale
calls,” he said. “And about one-third of the calls MARS volunteers patch through
are official.”
The system gives airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines
the chance to place free five-minute phone calls home from overseas, military
aircraft and ships.
Scheffler and other radio operators provide the
“phone patch” that connects phone lines to radio equipment. Using designated
high frequencies, the radio link acts as the long-distance
carrier.
Although 3,000 people are part of the radio system,
Scheffler and his wife, Jean, are two of 26 volunteers qualified to patch calls
through Air Force designated frequencies for up to 18 hours a day. Jean is the
only woman working on the military network.
Though free and
appreciated, the system isn’t automatic and not exactly private. It’s not like
making a phone call. The radio operator must flip a switch to change the person
talking. And the person talking must say “over” when done speaking. That’s the
signal for the radio operator to toggle the switch.
“We hear both
sides of the conversation,” Ray said.
Over the years, Ray’s
accumulated countless stories. One he remembers was a patch to NASA from a
helicopter clearing the coast of Florida for the space shuttle. And several were
from fathers wanting to hear their newborns’ first cries. Even survival school
students have used Ray’s skills to call back home from field radios while
traipsing through the woods.
Ray, a retired Air Force Reserve
lieutenant colonel, has been there during tough times, too. The World War II
B-24 Liberator pilot — with 51 combat missions under his belt — has helped
aircraft with radio problems or that needed refueling. And he recently helped a
C-130 Hercules crew out of a jam.
“When we discovered our airplane
had severe rudder damage in flight, Ray patched us through to the right
agencies,” said Capt. Nathan Allerheiligen, a C-130 pilot with the 61st Airlift
Squadron, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. “He held the line open and re-routed
our phone patch requests though other frequencies. He was a
lifesaver.”
Jean’s seen her share of excitement too. She patched
through a conversation between a mother in a stateside delivery room to the
airman daddy overseas.
Through the years the couple has dealt with
serious issues — and some that were funny. Like the woman who passed out when
Jean patched through a call from Vietnam.
“I told her I had a call
from her son,” Jean said. “Then I heard her fall. The next thing I know, the
husband was on the phone asking, ‘What did you tell my wife?’ ”
Jean
also laughs when recalling her exchange with a Southern woman with a heavy
drawl.
“When I told her she had a three-minute limit, it took her a
while to tell me, ‘I not only talk slow, I listen slow too,’ ” she
said.
The Schefflers love their volunteer work. And depending on
conditions, they can connect almost anyone with a phone or a radio, anywhere on
the globe. And all it takes is the flip of a radio switch.
Ray knows
where to point his antennas — depending on who he wants to talk to across the
globe. And he has charts that show him the short and long path to get the right
radio beams. Beams that connect people regardless of their
locations.
“Most of the people we’ve run phone patches for say our
equipment sounds better than other agencies they talk to,” Ray said. “I think
they’re pulling our leg a little bit because this is just amateur
equipment.”
A 40-year amateur? Not likely. Because from antennas to
receivers, it’s evident this hobby-gone-haywire surrounds the
Schefflers.
It all started in 1959, when the couple’s oldest
daughter, Vicky, joined a radio club at school. Then, when Ray’s Reserve unit
encouraged all licensed amateur radio operators to get qualified in the military
program, he jumped at the chance.
Now, with more than $30,000 worth
of equipment, the 10- by 12-foot room the Schefflers operate from looks like a
radio station control room. Letters, cards, unit patches and mementos cover the
walls. Evidence of many thanks for years of assistance.
The radio
system, sponsored by the Department of Defense, has been around a lot longer. It
evolved from the Army Amateur Radio System, which served a similar role from
1925 through to the start of World War II. In 1946, the present system went on
line. Amateurs weren’t allowed on the air during the war.
Now, each
branch of the services operates and manages its own part of the program. Running
it are licensed amateur radio operators. These “ham” operators contribute to the
system’s mission, providing auxiliary or emergency communications on a local,
national and international basis as an addition to normal
communications.
“Our mission is to back up for the Air Force’s MARS
communication system,” Ray said. “We patch for morale.”
The
Schefflers don’t plan to quit patching any time soon. They consider themselves
part of a group of dedicated fellow radio amateurs participating in meaningful
public service. And they enjoy knowing that their linking of families and
friends enhances airman morale.
And over the years not only have they
made lifelong friends, some of the people they’ve patched have visited the
couple in their Shelbyville home, just south of Indianapolis. That’s reward
enough for what they do.
“The happy voices are the best,” Ray said.
“Hearing little kids talk to dad. Sometimes the kids talk better than the adults
— and remember to say ‘over.’ ”
| AFF4C
Ed |
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