Radio Shack

Radio Shack, McMurdo Sound. (L-R) RM1 T.T. Montgomery, RM2 J.E. Zegers, RM2 D.L. Powell, 25Sep1956

I wasn’t even a twinkle in my Dad’s eye during his 1st Deep Freeze in 56-57, but during his 2nd Deep Freeze in the late 60’s, we lived in Colorado Springs, CO while my Mom was pregnant with her 5th and last child Mona. I remember my Dad had sent us all some stuffed penguin toys, and I hear one of them was wrapped in plastic for decades and is still around.

For my Dad, being a radioman had its perks. I was able to talk to my Dad a couple times thru an amateur radio phone patch during his 2nd Deep Freeze. There was a lot of cross talk and radio noise in the background and we had to say “over” when we were done speaking. I was a bit shy and didn’t say all the things I wanted to because it sounded like so many people were listening to our conversation because of all the cross talk, but it was amazing to be able to talk to him from so far away. They used to send out Post Cards with their call sign to other ham operators around the world that made contact with them. I have a copy of one somewhere and I’ll post it later.

Being a Communications Electronics Technician  myself, I came across some old vacuum tube receivers in the 80’s on the USS Midway (CV-41). They were very maintenance intensive and I can only imagine the work it must have taken to keep up the communications equipment at McMurdo Sound. The RMs were “definitely” a different breed back then.

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