KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog
This has been a week of ups and downs in the radio station news room. I was saddened by the loss of James McLaughlin, WA2EWE/T6AF, who was killed by an Afghan pilot on Wednesday, 27 April 2011, at the Kabul, Afghanistan Airport. The "ARRL Letter" dated 28 April 2011 has the details. Although I didn't know James, I was familiar with his DX and MARS activities. Many dusty years ago in another liftetime, I grew to appreciate the service MARS operators rendered to the families of service personnel in far-flung areas of the world. My experience in the Air Force actually encouraged me to get my amateur radio license back in 1977, a move I never regreted. I was involved in communications work before that (both in the service and in commercial broadcasting), but my duty tours made me appreciate the efforts of MARS operators in the days before the internet and cell phones. James will be missed. 'Kinda makes you wonder why this country wastes its human and material reso