 Rick
McCusker, WF6O
The former Cunard Lines luxury ocean liner, HMS Queen Mary, permanently
docked as a tourist attraction and hotel in Long Beach, California
is the home of the famous Amateur Radio Station, W6RO. For the past
23 years, volunteer staff and visitors have kept the station on
the air almost every day.
The stations became a reality 27 April 1979 after almost a decade
of planning, pleading and begging for official permission to establish
a permanent Amateur Radio station in the ship’s wireless room.
One condition that has been proudly met is the service of the staff
manning the room during the ship’s business hours.
Each of the staff is a member of one of several clubs in Southern
California that provide the “crew” for the wireless room.
Besides being experienced Amateur Radio operators, each of the crew
can present a detailed explanation on the equipment installed in
the radio room. The Amateur Radio gear is all state-of-the-art and
is regularly updated by the manufacturers of the gear. Each item
is donated to the station and is kept in tip-top condition. Visitors
to the wireless room ask a variety of questions and each of the
volunteers can present an interesting history of the operation of
the “vintage” gear that remains on display as well as
the modern Amateur Radio gear.
The Amateur Radio Station was an idea that began with Nate Brightman,
K6OSC. He thought it might be interesting to have a Amateur Radio
station aboard the Queen Mary. The ship was being retired and had
been purchased by the City of Long Beach, California in 1967. On
her final voyage, a local member of the Associated Radio Amateurs
of Long Beach, Al Lee, W6KQI, made the final voyage. He operated
the temporary Amateur Radio station and made over 3,000 contacts
during the trip.
 Another
temporary operation took place in 1970 when the Queen Mary was moved
from the shipyard where the conversion took place to the permanent
berth she occupies today. On that short journey across the harbor,
Nate Brightman, K6OSC and his son, Howard, K6OSD made several contacts
and a commemorative QSL card was sent out.
There wasn’t any money available at the time to establish
a permanent station aboard the ship. In 1979 the ship was turned
over to the City of Long Beach and suddenly plans were in high gear
for the station.
On 27 July, Bob Heil, K9EID, of Heil Sound Ltd. And Joe Walsh,
WB6ACU, presented several new microphones to the station. Each of
these microphones contains a pair of elements — one for traditional
QSO’s and one for contesting. The Heil Classic microphones
also sport an attachment at the top with “W6RO” boldly
emblazoned in large letters. No one can mistake the classic look
of these new microphones. They look exactly like the microphones
used at radio stations and recording studios when the Queen Mary
was in her heyday.
 Over
50 people were in attendance for the presentation, including representatives
from the major manufacturers of Amateur Radio equipment and several
members of the Amateur Radio press. The hear the actual presentation,
go to the Heil Sound web site at: www.heilsound.com.
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