July - August, 2007
Obion County Public Library
The Obion County Public Library is a very new and modern facility which is home to the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club meetings. It is located in Union City, Tennessee. The entry foyer has a display case that is approximately 20 feet long and is divided into six cabinets.
During the latter part of 2006, the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club was interested in expanding public awareness in amateur radio. It was felt appropriate to pursue a time when the RARC could present itself and amateur radio in general by making a display for the Obion County Public Library. The library display cases are very busy and have had a great deal of interest by many varied groups. This interest was further crystallized by the dramatic events that occurred at the Gulf Coast with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This request was granted by the library for the month of July, 2007.
During the following monthly meetings, the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club began to plan for this library display. Rose W9DHD, with her well-known artistic talent, was asked to coordinate this undertaking. She was summarily "volunteered" ! 
During the weeks that followed, Rose formed a proposal for the display that would highlight amateur radio as it was in the past and follow through to the present day.
During the regular Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club meeting in June, which is normally filled with excitement for the forthcoming Field Day event, there was also a lot of time and energy spent on preparing for the library display which would begin the following week after Field Day. Jeff W5VNH brought to the meeting an ARC-5 receiver, which was used in a B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II, for display. Everybody was very interested in what would be displayed. After Field Day, it was learned that the display would be vacant for us to begin occupying it a few days early. This was the last thing Rose wanted to hear as she had plenty of preparation that was not yet complete. Rose sent many articles for review and correction to Jamie WB4YDL during the week prior to display. Finally, on Monday July 2nd, the display was begun. Glenn N4MJ, Bob K9IL, Jamie WB4YDL, Larry KI4UNT, and Rose W9DHD began the long process of putting together a first rate display.
The display begins with the early days of ham radio with the ARC-5, a Harvey-Wells radio, and a National receiver. Articles on the timeline of development of radio are presented. The next cabinet is filled with information on Morse Code and displays of various keys. There is also a recent article from QST on "Why SOS?" which explores the source of the famous distress signal and highlights the emergency radio communications that occurred during the sinking of the Titanic. The following cabinet explores the radios that existed in the 1970's with exhibit of the Drake B-line along with a Drake 2-NT Novice transmitter. Also on display is a large map of the world displaying DX entities and their prefixes. Displayed around the map are various QSL cards donated by Bob K9IL and Jamie WB4YDL. 
There is an Astatic D-104 microphone and logbooks of this era. As we progress to the next cabinet, solid state electronics are now presented with the Kenwood TS-440S, circa 1990. Also highlighted are various awards such as Worked All States (WAS) and DXCC (DX Century Club). Keeping with the patriotic theme that Rose set out, a Bicentennial WAS award was displayed which was offered in 1976. During that year, all USA call signs were changed to include an A in the prefix - so WB4YDL was AB4YDL for that year. Bob K9IL displays his awesome DXCC awards. Also, an area explaining space and satellite communications is presented including a QSL card from the International Space Station. Moving on the next cabinet is an area dedicated to emergency communications and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. On display is an ARES Field Manual along with a present-day handy-talkie (HT) - a Kenwood TH-D7A. Attached to this radio is a VC-H1 Visual Communicator which can be used to send and receive Slow-Scan TV pictures. Sadly, these units are no longer produced. The last cabinet highlights present-day ham radio with displays of pictures obtained during Field Days and Christmas meetings of the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club. Different Field Day and Hamfest pins are on display as well as a RARC summer cap. 
Also, modern day electronics are on display with the Elecraft K2/100/ATU, Elecraft K1, and an Elecraft KX1 with an attached HF Packer amplifier all built by Jamie WB4YDL. These are the highlights of this very large library display.
Rose W9DHD, who spent countless hours on the formulation and perfection of this display, deserves the greatest credit for a job well done ! These multiple pictures tell far more than these words. It was a labor of love and all members of the Reelfoot Amateur Radio Club should be very proud of this accomplishment. A synopsis of this story with available pictures will be submitted to the ARRL for consideration for publication in a future issue of QST. As an addendum, the Obion County Public Library, seeing our display, has asked us to remain on display for an additional month, through the month of August. Excellent !
When all else fails ... Amateur Radio.
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