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Nicholas Paul Szydlek, KA1HPM, sk

Nick was born in Detroit, Michigan on September 16, 1944. He enlisted and served in the United States Navy as a radar technician/electrician’s mechanic from 1963–1967. He was stationed in the Mediterranean on the USS Mole and the USS Basilone. He also served in the United States Naval Reserve and the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He was decorated with the National Service Defense Medal.

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Bill Sims, W4AK, sk (formerly K4RUQ)

The program at our first in-person DFMA meeting was a summary of the history of our repeaters. I presented this program as I was one of the charter members of DFMA. I mentioned that when I moved to Durham in 1970, there was a repeater on 146.34–146.94. It was owned and operated by Bill Sims, K4RUQ. The 146.34 receiver was at his house in Parkwood. He used a 440 MHz radio link to the 146.94 transmitter on TV Hill in north Durham. This “split-site” repeater did not require a duplexer — which was very expensive even in 1970. Bill used tube-type radios made by Motorola, General Electric, Dumont, and others. These were retired from commercial two-way radio service and were relatively cheap.

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