eHam.net News

///////////////////////////////////////////
ANZAC 100 'Last Hurrah' in Full Swing:

Posted: 15 Dec 2015 05:01 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/35796


The WIA ANZAC 100 'last hurrah' began at the weekend with commemorative
ANZAC-suffixed callsigns in Victoria, Queensland, Perth and Darwin.VI3ANZAC
reports activity on HF, using phone and digital contacts. On Tuesday
December 15, it will be on Digital Amateur Television through VK3RTV, with
an exponent of that mode at the ready. It will end on December 19-20 with
VI3ANZAC coming from Fort Gellibrand in Melbourne's inner-west. VI4ANZAC
has had CW and SSB contacts, using the lower, HF, and 6m bands. At one
stage it averaged 20 contacts per night on 80m. All involved in operating
and making contact are most pleased. The VI4ANZAC team is made up of mostly
ex-NAVY, some Army and marine-type operators, promoting the Royal
Australian Navy Bridge Train (RANBT) who were the 'Sailors in Khaki' at
Gallipoli. The Ham College in Perth also began its commemoration on
December 12-13 at the RAAF Museum Bull Creek in the Cobra Helicopter
display. On the final weekend December 19-20, VI6ANZAC will continue on HF
using SSB and sometimes CW, and plans to activate an FM satellite as well
from its new QTH at a scout hall. VI8ANZAC has been hitting the bands with
plenty of activity. From Germany a visitor Horst Kleinschwaerzer DM6HK, had
a couple of hundred QSOs, before the storms reached Darwin. He also became
the 33 DXCC to visit Stuie VK8NSB in the top end. Throughout the week
VI8ANZAC will continue mainly on 15m and 20m to work long path, with some
good openings already reported.


///////////////////////////////////////////
George Marti Dies; Iconic Equipment Maker:

Posted: 15 Dec 2015 05:00 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/35795


Ask any U.S. radio broadcast engineer above the age of 40 for the name most
associated with "Cleburne, Texas." They'll be sure to answer: Marti. Iconic
radio manufacturer George Marti has died at age 95, according to the
Cleburne Times-Review. Marti was indeed a central figure in that city -- he
was its long-time mayor, for one thing -- but radio people know him for the
remote pickup and studio/transmitter links he manufactured for many years.
His gear was so popular that for decades, his last name became both a
common noun and verb -- engineers who wanted to set up a remote broadcast
and feed it back to the station would talk of doing a "Marti"
or "Marti-ing" the signal back to the studio. An early Marti RPU is part of
the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. In
1991, the National Association of Broadcasters honored George Marti with
its Radio Engineering Achievement Award. "Texas has lost a giant with the
passing of George Marti," stated TAB President Oscar Rodriguez, calling
him "a man whose technical and business acumen changed the course of the
broadcasting industry throughout the world and fueled scores of local,
independent broadcast operations serving communities across the state."
According to the TAB's bio, Marti graduated from Central High School in
Fort Worth at the age of 16 and attended technical school for nine months.
He received his radiotelephone First Class and Amateur Radio licenses just
prior to his 17th birthday (call letters: W5GLJ). TAB said Marti cited his
grandmother as influencing him more than any other person.