SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX005
ARLX005 Hams test Army station

ZCZC AX51
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 5  ARLX005
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  February 7, 1996
To all radio amateurs

SB SPCL ARL ARLX005
ARLX005 Hams test Army station

Hams are helping a Bosnia-bound US Army mobile AM radio station in
Fort Meade, Maryland, test its broadcasting capabilities. The
station, assisted by a group of Amateur Radio AM enthusiasts in the
Washington, DC, area, seeks reception reports. Fred Cresce, KC4MOP;
Butch Ickes, WB3HUZ and Paul Courson, WA3VJB, are staffing the new
Army Broadcast Service station on 1670 kHz and using the call
letters KTRK. The frequency is in the newly expanded Standard
Broadcast Band.

Courson, a broadcaster with Dow Jones, says the station began
broadcasting around the clock February 5 and so far has received
reports from as far away as Colorado. He said he and the other hams
were brought in to help specifically because of their AM activity on
the amateur bands. The 5000-W transmitter is working into a 140-foot
vertical antenna the hams helped set up and tune. KTRK will continue
broadcasting from Fort Meade until February 9. Then, the portable
station will be packed up for transport to Bosnia, where it will be
set up to entertain and inform US troops stationed there.

Reception reports go to the Army Broadcast Service, 601 North
Fairfax St, Alexandria,  VA  22314. Write DX on the outside of the
envelope.
NNNN
/EX