Amateur Radio & Short-Wave

Joseph M. Reinert
Brophy Radio Club QSL Cards	Joseph Reinert's Amateur Radio License Joseph Reinert at Mountain Bell

Joseph M. Reinert *03-10-1924 to 12-18-2009* Joseph Reinert, better known as Joe, was born in Chicago, Ill. In 1948 he and his family moved west to Phoenix, AZ. Shortly after moving to Arizona he obtained a job with the telephone company and worked for nearly 40 years throughout all the changes. He started out climbing the poles and worked into installation, mobile phone shop, and the microwave towers for various radio and television stations. He worked on many of the radio and television loops, as he called them, for big events in Phoenix. I remember he worked on the loop when JFK came to downtown Phoenix and my Dad brought my sister and I to his work section so we could see a close up of Mr. Kennedy. It was exciting to know he was around some famous people. He also worked on big television projects such as the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament. In the early 1960's he became interested in being an Amateur Radio Operator. Our kitchen was filled with radio equipment that was placed against the wall from one end to the other. Many days and nights he would sit and I could hear "CQ, CQ, CQ6, this is K7HYG in Phoenix, Arizona is anyone out there". I was amazed at how many people were on the radio. He received numerous cards from all around the United States. He designed his own card and was involved with the Brophy College Preparatory School Radio Club and designed their call card also. My Mom assisted with the design and then proceeded to do the silk screening to print the cards. After his passing we found some of his radio equipment , cards, and a picture. I contacted Ed Sharpe after looking for a home for his memories to be displayed. Ed was very gracious and told me that he was going to do some research to see if he could find more information regarding Dad's communication experience. I am so looking forward to seeing a part of my Dad's life being reflected in the SMECC museum. Mary Lou Mitchell
what is a loop? by Bert Wiener Bert Wiener and Associates Well, a loop is a Telco term that generally refers to a circuit - mainly between a customer and a C.O., or between the two ends, at least that's the way I've always heard it used. I dealt with a lot of "Program Loops", or circuits over the years. For example, when doing the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts, we'd order a 15 kHz loop, or circuit, sending from the Music Center to our studio's on Wilshire Boulevard. Prior to the advent of ISDN, program circuits were in common use between a remote broadcast location and the studio. Still, today, it's not uncommon to have a loop, or program circuit carrying a station's audio from its studio to its transmitter. Program loop/s is a way to get good quality audio from one point to another short of running your own wire out the door and down the street. Prior to satellite delivery, network feeds, such as the Mutual Network, CBS, ABC and all the others all pretty much depended on Telco program circuits. Common program circuit bandwidths are 8 kHz (AP3) and 15 kHz (AP4). I've always gone with 15 kHz circuits because the installation costs were about the same and the monthly fee was only a few dollars (like $3 or $4 dollars) different. 15 kHz circuits are generally cleaner and don't present roll off in the same part of the spectrum as other system filters or roll offs might. Having all the system filters rolling off in the same place can cause ringing in the audio, the same way it does in video. In video the ringing can show up as anticipatory, or pre or even post ghosting - quite noticeable around collars and other sharp transitions from black to white. In audio it can appear as distortion in the area of similar roll off. I prefer having all bandwidth/s as wide as possible ahead of the last narrower filter. Then there are "Stereo Pairs", which refer to two program circuits used for stereo broadcasts. These had to be the same length, run over the same path, and had to equalize out so that the maximum phase shift between the "pairs" at any frequency between 50 and 15,000 CPS (Hz) was no greater than 3 degrees measured end to end.