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From the Delphos Herald.
By NANCY BRIGGS
The Delphos Herald
FORT JENNINGS
Paul Baumgarte #(WD8RJ) has traveled the world. Sometimes in person, other times on his ham radio.
The Landeck native was stationed in many sites in Europe, Asia and Africa during his service in the Army Air Force; set up some of the first giant computer systems in Japan and other countries through his work with IBM; and has talked to people in 326 countries on the ham radio from his home.
To a ham radio operator, the concept of a country is a little different than the norm. #Ham operators consider a place a country if it is separated from its mother country by at least 350 kilometers or 225 miles of water or land, Baumgarte, 81, explained. #So, to us, Hawaii and Alaska are countries. #Push pins dot a world map hung over Baumgarte's radio set in the den of his home. Black pins represent places he has worked and received cards from, and yellow pins indicate the location of people he has contacted but has not yet received a card. Near the map, numerous plaques he has earned through his hobby, as well as postcards from people he has spoken with on the radio, fill the wall. It is in this cozy room in his home along State Route 190 that Baumgarte listens to radio conversation nearly all day, every day.
Some of the countries not visited by Baumgarte, either in person or through the radio, include Yemen, N. Korea, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and numerous islands including Europa and Scarborough Reef. #Once Baumgarte contacts a person on the radio and finds out where they are from, he sends them a postcard with his information, including his address and radio club name the Tri-County Amateur Radio Club #and his call letters, WD8RJ. They in turn send Baumgarte their postcard, which he keeps with his collection. Once he receives the card, a black pin is placed on the map.
There are 341 countries according to the American Amateur Radio League, and Baumgarte says he is within nine contacts from having his name added to the league¹s honor roll, a list of radio operators who have talked to 335 countries or more. #
There are many facets to being a ham operator. You can make it what you want. I like to work toward the little awards and just talking with people. It is thought to be an expensive hobby, but you can talk on the air with a $200 handset or you can spend $2,000 and more on a setup. It's all what you want to do, the longtime enthusiast said.
Baumgarte also holds a Rag Chewers Club award from the radio league which is given to an operator who has had at least a half-hour conversation with another operator, and also a World Radio Award for talking to someone in each of the 24 time zones. #Some guys just get on there, get the information and get off. I like to get to know the people a little. The Rag Chewers Award is just perfect for me. #I like to talk, he said.
To keep up with the times, Baumgarte also uses Echo Link on his computer to monitor the airwaves. It lists the country the talker is from and their code name if they have one. The retiree can see who is talking and decide if he would like to join the conversation. Baumgarte says all you need on a computer to talk on the airwaves is a microphone, stressing that you must also have an amateur radio operators license to use the Echo Link or talk on the radio.
Conversations on the airwaves have led the Fort ennings man to research different areas, countries and current and past events. #I love to learn, he said. #When I talk with someone and they make a reference to their ountry, area or a happening that I find interesting, it leads me to research the topic. I have to know what they are talking about.
Baumgarte also shares his interest in the radio with area Boy and Girl Scouts and opens his home to groups to talk on the air and learn the basics of ham radio. #I enjoy the kids coming here and there have been times I've had so many, they camp out in my yard, he said. They come here and get such a kick out of talking to someone from Germany or some other country they just know from a map. I think it gives them something to think about. Our world is a lot larger than they think.
Amateur radio operators also provide weather information during storms by physically tracking storms and reporting their progress. #The weather bureau makes very good use of us, he laughed. #
The Tri-County Amateur Radio Club's 41 members participate in the annual Field Day to stay prepared and also garner a few awards. #The Field Day is a contest for ham radio operators. They are to make as many contacts as they can in a 48-hour period in as many countries as they can. #We just broadcast our message and wait for the others to come to us, Baumgarte explained. #We usually do pretty well. It still amazes me the number of people we can contact in that short amount of time.
Sometimes, according to Baumgarte, the services radio operators provide can also be more personal. #I talked to a guy on Easter Island one time whose mother lived in Lima (Ohio). He wanted to get a message to her. I contacted a radio operator in Lima and he got the message to that man¹s mother. That's when you really feel good about what is considered a hobby. You can touch people¹s lives, #the grandfather of six said. #Baumgarte was surprised when, 20 years later, he met the man at a trade show. The man recognized the call letters on Baumgarte's cap and the two began to talk. #He asked me if I was the man who helped get a message to his mother that day long ago and I told him I was. There have been many other incidents where I will meet people I have talked to and we seem to know each other right off, he said. That happens to me at least once a month.
Baumgarte has four children, Dennis (Beverly), David (Lita), Carol, who lives at home with Baumgarte, and Linda (Shaun) Chelsey. The other three children live in Connecticut and New York. #He keeps in contact with his boys via the radio. #They are both licensed ham radio operators and we talk quite often, #Baumgarte said.
Carol is a school teacher and she and her father spend several months each summer traveling the United States. #I have been in all 50 states, seen all 50 capitals and, if I have not been inside the building, I have at least stood on the steps of all 50 statehouses, he said with pride. #We are already planning our trip this summer and hope to have four or six weeks to drive around and see what we can find.
A Civil War buff, Baumgarte also enjoys visiting battlefields and learning about the war.
Baumgarte's enthusiasm for electronics and radios came at an early age. #I became interested in magnetism when my father was taking a correspondence course in electricity. I was in the third grade, he said.
That interest led to a 30-year career in computers with IBM and numerous offers to instruct courses at local colleges. It also led to a lifelong love of amateur radio operating.
I just enjoy talking. Since I lost my wife, Betty, I go to breakfast each morning and talk with the farmers and then come home and talk to the world, he said.
The octogenarian says he also likes to help people. #There is nothing better to me than to have someone come to me with questions or a problem to do with electronics and me helping them through it. I guess I like to share the knowledge I have acquired, he added.
He also enjoys his daily crossword puzzle.
I like to start on it early in morning. It seems to get my brain going. If the mind is active, I think the body follows, he said.
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I have known Paul for many years and he is the perfect Elmer to hams in the area. #You can ask him a question about anything pertaining to ham radio and he will have an answer you can understand. #He is always there to help aspiring would be hams and new hams. #I thought submission of this article is a way to recognize the good he has done for our hobby.
Joe, WA8UET
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Pauls call is WD8RJR. I made a typo and omitted the last R when cleaning up the scan of the article. Joe WA8UET.
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Great Piece...
We need more just like it....
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Joe, WA8UET:
In the article there is mention of "The Tri-County Amateur Radio Club" Just courious what three counties. Just guessing, maybe Allen, Putnman, and Van Wert??
For the record I am originally from Paulding County, and I have kin folks in Allen County.
The sands of time don't go back up unless you turn over the hourglass
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Doug Flory
WB6BCN
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Quote "Baumgarte also enjoys visiting battlefields and learning about the war". Unquote.
Yes, very nice written article. If interested in battlefield and war, go to #"GOOGLE" and check the "Burma Campaign". You will find many interesting information that is not normally mentioned, especially the American soldiers, which is claimed, all or most records have been lost or destroyed.
# # # # # # # # # W6th
P.S. I edit and correct my first notes as it may have sounded very crude and could be taken as a negative attitude which was not the case. Sorry about that.
# ## #
# # # # # # # # # # # #
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A wonderful article!
A very interesting side point. #There's one trivial error in the article (as there is in every newspaper story). #The reporter looked at her notes, saw something that didn't make sense to a non-ham, and described the league as the "American Amateur Radio League".
It's kind of ironic because I suggested that same name change a number of years ago! #It's actually a more accurate description of what our national association really is nowadays. #Message handling (the "relay" ) is just a part of it now. #I'm sure some non-hams look at "Radio Relay" and think of folks using walkie-talkies as batons in a relay race.
Perhaps we all could get used to AARL in time.
73
Gary, K2GW
Life Member, ARRL (or AARL if you wish)
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I look at the term "Radio Relay" at face value. #Having been at a radio relay site for almost the last quarter century, and being assigned to a radio relay and message center in the service. #Also, the other side of radio relaying, the interface between other entities processing and relaying messages, #such as it is being performed with some nets, and with agencies such as M.A.R.S.
Strange, when I read the article the "American Amateur Radio League" didn't even click as being out of place. Maybe it should be considered as a change, #since so much has changed over the last number of decades.
The sands of time don't go back up unless you turn over the hourglass
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Doug Flory
WB6BCN
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Hello out there, I just thought of a good name and call it, "AHFFARO" #Which would stand for:
"American Hobbyists Foundation For Amateur Radio Operators".
Being an old man and not foreseeing the near future, Why not leave it as it is and what it stands for. Why do you new kids on the block want to change everything. As an example: No code, no written exams, no longer is it Amateur Radio, but a hobby. Good grief, what next do you'all have in mind? Get rid of SSB?
American Radio Relay League and cw, ssb forever.
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| Quote (w6th @ Mar. 06 2003,12:40) | Hello out there, I just thought of a good name and call it, "AHFFARO" #Which would stand for:
"American Hobbyists Foundation For Amateur Radio Operators".
Being an old man and not foreseeing the near future, Why not leave it as it is and what it stands for. Why do you new kids on the block want to change everything. As an example: No code, no written exams, no longer is it Amateur Radio, but a hobby. Good grief, what next do you'all have in mind? Get rid of SSB?
American Radio Relay League and cw, ssb forever.[/QUOTE]
W6TH: Hi neighbor: you are not old, or that is what I tell my mother. You are 14 days yonger than her. I tell her that to be politacally correct, she is chronologically challanged.
The reason I said neighor is because I also live in the Antelope Valley.
The sands of time don't go back up unless you turn over the hourglass
-.-. .-- -- .- -.-- .. - -. . ...- . .-. -.. .. .
Doug Flory
WB6BCN
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wb6bcn
Hello Dough, yes we are neighbors, I am up at 3475 ft above sea level and bet I will be able to see your antenna at your qth.
Very happy to have you join us here. We are educated, civilized hams and yet we can at times act as fools. Oh, so much fun on a glorious 68 F degrees today.
Congrats to your mother and take good care of her, the best friend a man ever could have and will ever have.
Old soldiers never die, we just fade away. Take care and may we meet someday soon.
# # # # # # # # 73, Vito #W6th
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