Amateur Radio Operator to Honor Broadcast Engineers Lost on 9/11

Six broadcast engineers killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center will be remembered during a special ham radio dedication and memorial this Sunday. 

Andrew Denoncour, an amateur radio enthusiast (Callsign – N1MYY) who works in tech support at Comrex, expects to sign on the new ham radio repeater at 1 p.m. (EDT) on Sept. 11, to honor the six broadcast engineers: Bob Pattison, Don DiFranco, Steve Jacobson, Bill Steckman, Rod Coppola and Isaias Rivera.

“I plan to read a brief statement and cite the names of the six fallen broadcast engineers. And I want to dedicate the installation to them,” Denoncour said. “It just worked out because the timing of it all.”

The new site being dedicated as a memorial to the six broadcast engineers will be on 146.460 and will be part of the New England Emergency Communications Network (NEDECN), which is a digital network of approximately 90 amateur radio service repeaters covering the New England states. 

The new repeater has its antenna mounted 300 feet up on the tower of WXRV(FM) in Haverhill, Mass., Denoncour told Radio World.

“For me at least, it’s something that we all should remember. This amateur radio community shares a lot in common with the six broadcast engineers we lost. I’ve just always remembered them,” Denoncour said. “And it’s not just the six broadcast engineers we need to remember, but all of those who were taken away.”

Amateur radio resources were mobilized in New York City and neighboring New Jersey on 9/11 after commercial telecommunications wired and wireless systems were severely compromised, according to various media reports. 

Denoncour can be reached at YankeeRadio@hotmail.com.

Via Radio World: https://bit.ly/3AYQYek