by
Ahron Kirschner4X1ATand
Ron Gang4X1MK
THE
CHANGING OF THE GUARDS
A
lot of changes of active members are taking place lately.It
is not only the final intention of chairman Joe Obstfeld 4X6KJ to give
up the scepter in favor of 4X1YM Danny Roth, but our long time editor of
the Hebrew HaGal (IARC magazine) Shlomo Mussali 4X6LM left his desk to
Michael Barak 4X4KF.So it is time
to look back on 12 years of punctually delivered magazines to the printer,
72 issues plus a special 50th anniversary of IARC edition.
Shlomo
was born in 1954and had been for
many years an officer in the Israel Army.He
was wounded twice.In 1982, while
lying in hospital, after having been wounded for the second time, a friend
brought Shlomo a radio to his bedside.Listening
around he suddenly heard some radio amateurs talking.His
enthusiasm for this hobby brought him to take classes at ‘Bikurei Haitim’
4X4HQ, a club station in midtown Tel-Aviv.At
that time this club, located in a community center of Tel-Aviv, was the
largest place kids and grown-ups could attend lessons to become an amateur
radio operator.The (then postal
authorities) held all the exams on the spot.Hundreds
of the now active hams have past these excellent courses.Shlomo
among them got his license in 1983. Shlomo 4X6LM, as so many of us, after
getting licensed, was on the air each day for many hours.He
took part in contests, became a DX hunter and collector of radio amateur
awards.
Shlomo
joined the ‘Vaad’ (council) of IARC and functioned as secretary from 1984
to 1985.He made it a point to visit
clubs all around the country to advance our society.Those
were years when the numbers of IARC members were increasing.One
of the ailing things was the Hebrew HaGal magazine.It
had its ups and downs but it needed a man who could bring up its standard
and assure at the same time a punctual appearance of this bimonthly magazine.So
from 1990 to 2002 Shlomo was the editor of our HaGal. With the rising importance
of the Internet he produced the HaGal Web Site.
Shlomo
brought out two awards.The ‘Tel-Aviv
Award’ is a very beautiful and successful diploma.It
was worked by more than a thousand hams!The
second award is the ‘Digital Award’ and has, of course, to be worked in
digital modes only.
In
the mean time Shlomo got married and raised a family.One
of his kids is licensed too.He became
a managing director in an insurance company in the department of elementary
insurance, a job he is still doing to this very day.
Shlomo
found out, as so many of us already know, that a dozen years is more than
enough to hold a certain post.A
job done in the beginning with pleasure and zest, does become, after so
many years, a burden.We have to
thank Shlomo for his endurance and good work through the years.Personally
I hope that he will return and become again an active ham.As
the editing of the HaGal took up a lot of his time, the real hobby got
somewhere lost in the process..
4X4KF
MICHAEL BARAK’S STORY
I
was born in 21 June 1935 in Oppeln, a small town in uper Schlesia, a part
of the Reich of the 1000 years. My name at the time was Fink, Michael Fink.
Now it is Barak, Michael Barak.My
parents were a wealthy family, my father one of the biggest wheat,horses
and wood merchants to the Prussian Army, following his father and his ancestors
before.
In
1939 my father wanted to emigrate to the U.S.A. , where my uncle, his brother,
went in 1934.The plan was to emigrate
to the U.S.A. At that point the Nazis prepared the ship, theSt.
Louis, of the Hamburg - New-York line to be a example to the world of their
intention to let all Jews out of Germany.In
may 1939 the vessel left for Cuba, as an intermediate port to New-York.
But nobody was allowed to leave for Havanna and after 2 weeks were forced
to leave the harbor.
When
approaching Miami, of the “free” countryRosevelt
send the US navy to prevent any entry, on top of that he warned any country
in the region from letting any of the “damned” Jews to land safely on their
soil. In Canada the head of immigration said, after being asked how many
Jews of that ship could be accepted,“None
is too many”.
At
that time, 1939, the infamous rules of Nueremberg where already in full
power.In short, the Captain of the
ship, Schroeder, a real decent gentleman, turned back and sailed to Antwerpen.
He should have taken us to Hamburg, but contrary to Rosevelt and the Americans
and their allies in the west, he knew what our fatewould be in that case.
The
“cargo” of th St. Louis was divided to four countries : England, Holland,
Belgium and France.
Unfortunatly
we landed in Holland. After some time we were send to Westerbork, a camp
for Dutch unemployed. We were forbiden to learn Dutch or to work. Those
are the “nice Dutchmen” for you. After 4 years we were send to Theresienstadt
concentration camp, wher my father was promptly taken away to Auschwitz,
where he perished.
We
were liberated by Russians and transferred back to Holland.My
mother who had no means at all stayed with some friends, and I was sent
to a childrens’ home in Dieren near Zwolle.
In1946
the British let a limited amount Jews emigrate to Palestine, and that small
(12 children) home was given certificates to enter Palestine.My
mother stayed behind until the declaration of the State of Israel
With
an interlude of a year in the new settlement of Lachish, I served in the
Israel army from 1953 up to
1959.I exploited the long service
in the navy to learn electronics,and
in 1959began to work in a small
lab, where I met my future, present and past wife for the last 40 years,
Ruthi.
At
that time I met Ahron Kirschner 4X4AT (now 4X1AT), who was an expert of
transformers, who repaired and rewound all our burned out transformers.
In
time we had three children and only 3 grandchildren from my son a professional
soldier, major Roi Barak. My older daughter lives in the Los Angeles, CA
and works at FOX 20th Century. My young duaghter studies international
relations in Jerusalem.
I
started my Ham activity in 1957, under the heavy help ofTuvia
4X4GT, Yankele 4X4AH and, Ahron 4X1AT and God forgive me for not mentioning
all the other Hams who gave willinly a helping hand.
And
while we are at it – my callsign is 4X4KF.
REPEATER
CHANGES
The
Haifa Repeater has swapped channels with the Jezreel Valley repeater, in
order to get away from the unbearable interference caused by high-power
wireless telephones operating illegally on the two metre band in the city
of Jenin in the Palestinian Autonomy.(If
only this was the only problem emanating from Jenin, our situation would
be a lot better.)
So
the new frequencies:Haifa – R12
– 145.300;Jezreel Valley – R-3 –
145.675 MHz.As before the input
frequencies are 600 KHz lower and the 91.5 Hz sub-audible tone is required.