TIME MACHINE

Welcome time travelers!   This page will take you back in time and capture the images of Frederick area hams from yesteryear.  Buckle up - we're off to 1978 . . . . . . . .

In September, 1978, members of the Frederick ARES team provided 2 days of communication for the rebuilding of a farm in Frederick County.  This was called: Project Clearwater, as the focus was on reconstructing the farm's drainage systems.  Approximately 20 hams worked two, 15 hour days to provide radio communication support for Project Clearwater.  The picture below shows the net control team: Mike Staley - WB3LJK, Harold Polk - AA3S and Roy Hammel - WB3FWF:

The above picture appeared in the Frederick News Post
on Sept 5, 1978.  Below is another of the NCS team:

If you're curious about just how far back the Frederick Amateur Radio Club goes, here is one of those "50 Years Ago Today" pieces from the Frederick News Post that dates the FARC back to 1934.  The news clip was run in the October 18, 1984 News Post:

Here, Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC, the ARRL Atlantic Division Director, presents a 50 year plaque to the FARC:

1985 Frederick hamfest and Chuck, W3SOG is calling the winning tickets:

For those who are new to the Frederick area, Chuck, W3SOG was the trustee and who's callsign appeared on the 146.73 Frederick repeater for over 30 years.

Let's follow Chuck, W3SOG into 1987.  That was the year the FARC held its annual summer picnic at the Gambrill State Park "Teahouse".  Here we find Chuck, W3SOG and Jim, KA3LPC doing what appears to be a rendition of
" He's a Jolly Good Fellow " or something like that . . . . .



And here's Chuck a little later at the picnic with Larry, KW3H:

Speaking of Larry, KW3H . . . .  Larry's shack was featured in the Frederick News Post in April of 1991.  Seated is Larry, KW3H. Standing is Pat, W3FRV and Rick, N3RO.  The story featured the fact that Larry had just completed working every COUNTY in the United States.  All 3,076 of them:

The year was 1988 and Bud, KD3J was helping with communications for a Road Rally.  You're looking pretty comfortable under that shade tree Bud. Bud's daughter is seated on the blanket to the left:

Some of the FARC hams spent Field Day in the comfort of their motorhome.  One such ham was Dale, N3EAV for the 1988 FD event:

Ray, N3HYM as seen operating night shift, Field Day 1990, from a pavilion at Gambrill Park:

Here's one of Tony, KA3VLG, operating the 1991 Field Day station  at the 4H ranch/picnic area off RT. 15:

For at least the past 25 years ( or longer ) hams in the Frederick area have been providing safety and control radio communications for the Barbara Fritchie motorcycle races held every 4th of July.  Below is a picture of Ernie, K3VVV, that appeared in an article for the Frederick News Post in July 1987:

Other radio operators that year included Ray, KA3IMP on the left and Carl, KA3NLF on the right.  Note - this was a particularly bad year for race accidents and the hams were responsible for radioing the "crash" to the tower which, in turn, would stop the race.  The tower usually depended on the radio ops to know if it was necessary for the ambulance to come onto the track as sometimes the racer would get up and other times they wouldn't.  Only the ham radio ops were in a position to both see the accident up close and report the rider's condition back to the tower:

In 1987, the "Tower" radio op and NCS was Jim, WB3FWD:

Ray, KA3IMP, has been providing radio support for these races since the beginning.  Ray has always been the radio support for " TURN ONE " on the racetrack:

In 1991, a teenage friend made a visit to the shack of N3RO.  This is Tim, N3ITA, at the mike of station N3RO:

At the 1985 hamfest I caught this picture of  Hugh Turnbull our Atlantic Division Director for the ARRL, W3ABC (on the  Left ) and Harry, WB3LFD  ( Little-Fuzzy-Dog ) on the right with his wife:

Another active ham in the 80's on VHF and UHF was John, N3FJV.   Here is John operating from his van circa 1987:

In the Spring of 1988,  five members of the Frederick Amateur Radio Club got together and were issued a special callsign by the FCC to honor Frederick's 200th birthday.  This bi-centennial operation had a special QSL card, issued by the 5 hams operating this special event from their home stations.  The QSL card is reproduced below:

The Frederick area has always had one of its finest school teachers as a ham radio operator.  In 1990, this teacher, Jim, WA3FUJ, gave a "plug" for ham radio in the Frederick News Post:  ( today, Jim, WA3FUJ, is our RACES Radio Officer for Frederick County ). The 1990 FNP picture is reproduced below:

In 1988, the Frederick Amateur Radio Club purchased a motor home and filled it with radio equipment.  The motorhome had its own power generator and could operate from just about any location.  In 1991, it was used to give the Boy Scouts a "hands on" experience with ham radio. Seen in the two pictures below is the motorhome at the annual Boy Scout jamboree field.  Rick, N3RO is seen setting up the 40 meter dipole in the second picture:

During this event, all the scout troops took turns visiting the motorhome and talking on 40 meter SSB with other scout troops around the country who were also active in the Jamboree-on-the-air activities.  In the picture below, Rick, N3RO is control op, while a local troop speaks with another scout troop on 40 meters:

The FARC motorhome was displayed at many area activities from Armed Forces Day at Fort Detrick to a Thurmont Community weekend at the Thurmont High School.  It was driven to mountain tops for VHF contests and used at the Hamfests as the "talk-in" station.   FARC members liked to visit the motorhome during these outings and operate the various rigs.  Seen in the picture below are FARC members Mike, K3TEZ and Steve, W3FOA in 1989:

The motor home not only sported its own power system, but had air conditioning, a kitchen with sink and stove and a closet where we stored the antennas and poles.   Although the motorhome sported a bathroom, no one ever used it as no one ever wanted to clean it!  Below is another picture of two regular visitors of the motorhome,  Ron, KT3T on the LEFT and Dale, N3EAV on the RIGHT.  Ron, now a "silent key", was one of the key members who helped find and install the radio equipment in the motorhome:

There was a Walk-a-Thon on the property of Fort Detrick around 1995 and four local hams provided the radio commuications for the event.  Pictured below are ( L to R ) Rick-N3RO, Norval-K3NGK, Roy-N2CSQ and Bill-N2CF.

For almost 12 years, since the very first weeks that the Volunteer Examiner program opened, the Frederick Amateur Radio Club, operated its own VE program under the ARRL VEC direction.  This team was headed by Rick, N3RO and had over a dozen certified FARC members serving on the team.   When the team first started giving exams we gave them at TJ High School for several years, but then moved to the EOC facility for increased accessibility.   The  collage of pictures below were taken at an exam session in the early 1990's:  ( note the FEE was only $4.55 back then )

This concludes our time travel through the picture archive's of N3RO.  It is hoped that a memory or two may have been triggered by these pictures.   It was truly an enjoyable experience putting this page together.