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MICROWAVELENGTHS ST. LOUIS AREA MICROWAVE SOCIETY  RECENTLY, HERBERT
ULLMANN, AF4JF, MET ARRL CEO DAVID MINSTER, NA2AA, AT AN AIRPORT, AFTER
SPOTTING DAVIDS ARRL MASK.  A DISCUSSION ABOUT MICROWAVES ENSUED.  DAVID
SUGGESTED THAT HERBERTS CLUB, THE ST. LOUIS AREA MICROWAVE SOCIETY SLAMS,
MIGHT BE A WORTHWHILE SUBJECT FOR A MICRO WAVE LENGTHS COLUMN.  SLAMS IS
ONE OF THE NEWER MICROWAVE GROUPS.  HERBERT AND RON OCHU, KO0Z, WILL FILL
US IN ON HOW IT WAS STARTED AND SUSTAINED.  SLAMS BY HERBERT ULLMANN,
AF4JF, AND RON OCHU, KO0Z ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH ANTENNA THEORY UNDERSTANDS
THAT AS RADIO FREQUENCY INCREASES, ANTENNA ELEMENT LENGTH DECREASES.
EVIDENTLY, A SIMILAR RULE APPLIES TO HAM RADIO CLUBS, BECAUSE AS
FREQUENCIES APPROACH THE MICROWAVE RANGE, THE NUMBER OF CLUBS DEDICATED TO
USING THEM DECREASES.  TO BE SURE, MICROWAVE ENTHUSIASTS ARE AN ESOTERIC
BUNCH.  PUTTING TOGETHER A MICROWAVE STATION CAN APPEAR DAUNTING,
ESPECIALLY TO A NEWCOMER.  WE MICROWAVERS ARE OFTEN ASKED BY NON MICROWAVE
HAMS WHAT THE OVERALL COST PER CONTACT IS.  LIKE MUCH OF TECHNOLOGY,
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT TRENDS TOWARD BECOMING LESS EXPENSIVE, BUT THEY DO HAVE
A POINT IT STILL TENDS TO BE A LITTLE MORE COSTLY THAN THE LOWER BANDS.
ANOTHER PERCEIVED HINDRANCE IS, WHO ELSE IS OUT THERE TO CONTACT?  UNLIKE
HF, MICROWAVE BANDS DO NOT USUALLY HAVE AVAILABLE QSOS 24/7.  MICROWAVE
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