PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, August 07, 2005 Quincy, MA
Members of the USS Salem Radio Club were allowed to remove their radio equipment from onboard the Heavy Cruiser, USS Salem yesterday. An agreement was reached with United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum Board Chairman, James Sheets, six weeks after being denied access to their equipment by the current Executive Director.
Twenty-five club members from around the South Shore spent several hours dismantling, packing and removing their club station, K1USN, which had been onboard since 1997. During the past eight years club members had spent thousands of volunteer hours demonstrating Amateur Radio to several thousand visitors enabling many Scouts to speak with stations as far away as McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Club members also originated the International Museum Ships Weekend. This annual radio event takes place during mid July and has grown to include participation from more that 80 other Museum Ships from around the world. Radio Amateurs activate the radio rooms onboard to help bring much deserved recognition to these vessels, their crews and current volunteer staff. Some clubs will even transmit using original WWII vintage transmitters. The club was unable to participate during this year’s event.
Members of the Battleship New Jersey, NJ2BB, Radio Club, in Camden, NJ
( www.nj2bb.org/ ) have now volunteered to sponsor the International Museum Ships Weekend.
Club members would also activate the K1USN club station during Veterans Day, Memorial Day and other patriotic celebrations. Members also manned a display booth at the Marshfield Fair and had distributed USS Salem informational literature to operators throughout the world in addition to maintaining a club website ( www.qsl.net/k1usn ).
Terms of the agreement with the USNSM call for the club to relinquish use of the name “USS Salem”. The club will be renamed the K1USN Radio Club.
Information about future club activities can be obtained by contacting the Club Trustee at haroldpugh@verizon.net
Harold Pugh Trustee K1USN RADIO CLUB
78 Temple St.
Abington, MA 02351