Excerpt from and article published in the Alpena News 3/23/02

LINCOLN -The Alcona County Historical Society and the Alcona County Amateur Radio Group presented a history of radio on Thursday night. This was the first time for a partnership of the historical society and the radio group. The evening included a display of old radios and equipment, which included some metal radios from World War II planes and plastic and wooden radios that made the room hum with nostalgia.

"There's a radio over there that looks just like the one I got for my tenth birthday.”, said Don Sawyer, president of the Alcona County Historical Society. All radios were still in working condition and restored by Burt Ostby, KC8FBR, from Mikado. Ostby was on hand to answer questions about the antique radios. Radio Officer and Emergency Coordinator for Alcona County Stan Darmofal said that Ostby is nationally known for his radio restoration work.

The Alcona County emergency equipment communications trailer was also on site for people to see the face of modern radio. The trailer was a two-year project for the radio group and was dedicated this past fall. The trailer has a global antenna, which allows the group to talk to people allover the world and a local receiver for the county. The trailer allows the group to be mobile, with antennas that are already set up. Darmofal talked about the technical aspects of radio, like what radio is, the components that make up a radio and frequency waves.

He also talked about the early days of radio and Morse code, starting with experiments with induced mediums that led up to the discovery of radio waves. Darmofal said that a couple of early experiments were close to discovering radio waves, but that the experimenters decided the experiments weren't worth pursuing. Darmofal then turned the program over to the award-winning documentary Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, by Ken Burns. The documentary took viewers through the lives, inventions and marketing ideas of three Americans, Lee de Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong and David Sarnoff, Who laid the ground work for mass radio as it is known today. The documentary also followed the discoveries and history of radio broadcasting. The Alcona County Amateur Radio Group meets once a month for informational programs. "Our prime purpose is to provide emergency communication within the county”, said Darmofal.

The radio group annually takes equipment down to the lighthouse for the International Lighthouse weekend where members transmit to other lighthouses around the world.

The historical society runs programs two to three times a year and focuses programs around an aspect of local history .The society also is involved with the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse and the Old Bailey Schoolhouse.

….AMANDA CAIRO Alpena News Staff Writer