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Letters
Dear Wayne,
Last May I was able to visit the wortd's Fair for half a
day. I made a bee-line for the Coca-Coca pavilion. After
a long wait I was able to enter. Before very long I found
myself back in the sunlight with a strange craving for a
Coke and no sign of K2US. Finally my myopic eyes
lighted on that little door. I went up the stairs, sure that
I was where I shouldn 't be, when suddenly, near th e r est ­
rooms, I found it. I went in and was greeted rather coldly.
I will not say that the man on duty was r ude, but he
did look a t me as if I was three-legged. After reluctantly
being permitted to operate I left a short piece of traffic
addressed to m y parents at home. It is now August, that
piece of tra ffic has yet arrive, and I have lost what faith
I had in the X ationn] Traffic H andling system .
Charles S. Peavla K 6PV S
Alexandria, In diana
Dear Wayne,
May I request t hat you print some information on the
orig ins of \VA2USA and its brief existence. Many local
amateurs are aware that there was another station at the
Fair besides K2US, but few know much about it.
Several weeks ago I had the sad experience of represent.
i n ~ the Radio Club of Brooklyn for one whole day at
K2US. I departed late that night for Brooklyn, very
depressed and tired. \Vayne, no one has been able t o tell
me wh y K2US even exists, except that it is run by
HARe. Can you tell us why this station was ever broug-ht
into existance, who d id it, and what they th ought they
would accomplish with the setup ?
L ew L evitt WB2NDI
B rooklyn, N . Y.
If/ell, Lew, rome of 'he [aas are hard to come by,
but here ir the rlory as 1 know it: It was generally
a~reed that there thould be a ham ttation at the World't
Fair. The reasoning behind thit W4r that with all tbose
million s of people vitiling the Fair ,hit would be wonderful
publicity for ham radio. At the t uggeu ion of W 8DL} the
ARRL got together with Coca-Cola and a big ham uation
war planned at a feature of the Coca-Cola exhibit. Everything
wat going just fine when word leaked out that HQ
had decided that only equipment of one tingle manufacturer
would be on exhibit. No explanation for this decision hat
erer bee" released, a fact which hat led man, amateurt to
rutpect the urorst.. When word of thit reached Coca-Cola
they were furious . The next thing u'e heard tuas that the
man u-ho made the agreement with the League for Coca-Cola
had been fired and that instead of having the feature tpot
in the pavilion, K2US had been moved up into the attic
where virtu/tlly no one except hams would ever tee it,
SU'eral of the manufacturert u-bo had been frozen ous of
thit exhibit decided that Ihit uras too much and within
a few dayt arram;ementt h,td b cen made for a ham Jlation
to be a feature of the not yet completed Venezuelan
PatJiJion. The prettige of the Pun American Radio Club,
made up largely of amateurr who could speak Spanith, help£d
'0 convince Venezueld to donate thir valuable rpace. The
club obtained the call W A2USA and had their Slation on
the air in time for President }ohnton'r official opening of
the PatJilion on May 9th. It is estimated that over $50,000
W4J tpent on thit rtation!
Back al K2US ther war trouble. The League finally
admitted Ipon1orthip of the ttation when Coca-Cola gatJe
them an flltimatum to either rpo ntor il or take it out.
Running of the Itation had been turned over to the H udt on
AmaJeur Radio Coundl, tbe local ARRL satellite.
Though it may baoe been coinddental, 'You'll n ever conoioce
on e of the WA2USA Opt that the interference from
K2US war any,hing other ,h"n intentional. After a couple
dayr of thil ncnseme ther put in a receiver a couple miJes
away with a phone line and rolved the problem, much to
'he consternation of the K2US group.
The ARRL WaJ not taking thit calmly. They'd been made
the [oots and they k new it. They went to work on V enezu elan
officialt, on the FCC, and on a couple unhappy Pan
92
Americun Club members, A t le11gth a loophole fo r rtopping
the rtalion was discooered.. A fault WaJ found with the
Itation application which forced the FCC to cancel the
license until it wat corrected. By the lime the licente had
been ttraightened out enough Venezu.elan offidalr had been
preHured to prevem the station from getting back on the air.
It it doubtful if W A2USA wilJ return to sbe air exceos
under ARRL domination. A
lot of very sad barns hav£ found
that they couldn', fight the H oover name and a multi-million
dollar publithing corporation.
Reierences: Myers-Coca-Cola letters, Bul/etin # 4 and
W A 2USA White Paper by W2AOE, Bul/ etin #53. Bolh
available at no charge from 73. SASE pleaie.
D ear Sirs:
Recently, I visted K2US at the \ Vorlds Fair, and J
believe I saw there one of the worst representations of
H am Radio I have ever witnessed. I am not going t o
speak of the location or equipment, but only of the attitude
of those present.
F rom the start, I was made t o feel about as welcome as
a participant in an 11 meter ragch ew. Those present
seemed bored with the whole idea and I was told in no
uncertain terms "Our main purpose is not t o entertain
visitors, but to handle traffic," In short, the entire ntmosphere
was less than cordial.
Up to now, every single H am I have ever met has been
the nicest most helpful sort of person you could hope to
see b ut those at K2US showed an attitude found only in
the C B band.
I was almost ready to become a member, but if this
attitude is r epresentative of how the ARRL feels toward
K2US, I regretfully say I want no part of your organization!
Craig E. B uck, WN4TUF
Dear Wayne,
T hree mailorder companies advertize 2N1907 high
power transistors for about $2.00.
Since this is the only large unit available designed for
R F service, I bought 6 of them ( 2 from each source),
and tested t hem both in t ransistor tester, and in actual
service; as a 4mc oscillator and amplifier. R esults :
4 units-defective on a tester (short, open, etc.)
2 units-about 20% output compared with a known good
t ransist or.
All units came evidently from the same source-s-Texas
Instrument-and a re of no use to hams.
Most of t he outfits r eplaced them wit h different merchandize.
Gus K6BI]
Hi O .M.,
On page 24 of the March 1964 issue, in the text accompanying
circuit board illustration, instructions are
given to remove resist with thinner or gasoline. \V ell, the
purpose of this q sl is to stress that gasoline should never
be used as a solvent, cleansing agent, or thinner-in the
home or home workshop. It's simply too dangerous to be
trusted and besides, modern leaded gasofines are very
toxic to the skin.
M y objection is based on the assumption that any ham
radio construct ion work will be done indoors. Ga soline
doesn't belong ind oors, no matter how careful one may
be. Agreed?
W6DMB
Boom!
Report from D . K. Lovett K8BXT in "Q.Match," the
bulletin of the W arren ( O hio) Amateur Radio Association.
73 Magazine has been the target of m uch criticism r eo
gard ing lack of facts, statements based upon " unfounded
rumors, " etc. C Q and QST have been strangely quiet
about W ayne Green's expose of K 2U S , the amateur radio
73 MACAZINE