"Ham radio buff helps airmen and families keep in touch"

by Capt. Carie A. Seydel
photos by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung

Communicating with MARS isn’t what it used to be.
When Ray Scheffler started patching morale calls through the Military Affiliate Radio System more than 40 years ago, the Vietnam War kept him busy.


In those days, connecting more than 100 calls a day to stateside families wasn’t unusual. Today, Scheffler — known as AFA1EN on the radio — sees much less traffic, just 100 to 150 patches per week.


“E-mail access and cell phones have cut down on our morale calls,” he said. “And about one-third of the calls MARS volunteers patch through are official.”


The system gives airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines the chance to place free five-minute phone calls home from overseas, military aircraft and ships.


Scheffler and other radio operators provide the “phone patch” that connects phone lines to radio equipment. Using designated high frequencies, the radio link acts as the long-distance carrier.


Although 3,000 people are part of the radio system, Scheffler and his wife, Jean, are two of 26 volunteers qualified to patch calls through Air Force designated frequencies for up to 18 hours a day. Jean is the only woman working on the military network.


Though free and appreciated, the system isn’t automatic and not exactly private. It’s not like making a phone call. The radio operator must flip a switch to change the person talking. And the person talking must say “over” when done speaking. That’s the signal for the radio operator to toggle the switch.


“We hear both sides of the conversation,” Ray said.


Over the years, Ray’s accumulated countless stories. One he remembers was a patch to NASA from a helicopter clearing the coast of Florida for the space shuttle. And several were from fathers wanting to hear their newborns’ first cries. Even survival school students have used Ray’s skills to call back home from field radios while traipsing through the woods.


Ray, a retired Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel, has been there during tough times, too. The World War II B-24 Liberator pilot — with 51 combat missions under his belt — has helped aircraft with radio problems or that needed refueling. And he recently helped a C-130 Hercules crew out of a jam.


“When we discovered our airplane had severe rudder damage in flight, Ray patched us through to the right agencies,” said Capt. Nathan Allerheiligen, a C-130 pilot with the 61st Airlift Squadron, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. “He held the line open and re-routed our phone patch requests though other frequencies. He was a lifesaver.”


Jean’s seen her share of excitement too. She patched through a conversation between a mother in a stateside delivery room to the airman daddy overseas.


Through the years the couple has dealt with serious issues — and some that were funny. Like the woman who passed out when Jean patched through a call from Vietnam.


“I told her I had a call from her son,” Jean said. “Then I heard her fall. The next thing I know, the husband was on the phone asking, ‘What did you tell my wife?’ ”


Jean also laughs when recalling her exchange with a Southern woman with a heavy drawl.


“When I told her she had a three-minute limit, it took her a while to tell me, ‘I not only talk slow, I listen slow too,’ ” she said.


The Schefflers love their volunteer work. And depending on conditions, they can connect almost anyone with a phone or a radio, anywhere on the globe. And all it takes is the flip of a radio switch.


Ray knows where to point his antennas — depending on who he wants to talk to across the globe. And he has charts that show him the short and long path to get the right radio beams. Beams that connect people regardless of their locations.


“Most of the people we’ve run phone patches for say our equipment sounds better than other agencies they talk to,” Ray said. “I think they’re pulling our leg a little bit because this is just amateur equipment.”


A 40-year amateur? Not likely. Because from antennas to receivers, it’s evident this hobby-gone-haywire surrounds the Schefflers.


It all started in 1959, when the couple’s oldest daughter, Vicky, joined a radio club at school. Then, when Ray’s Reserve unit encouraged all licensed amateur radio operators to get qualified in the military program, he jumped at the chance.


Now, with more than $30,000 worth of equipment, the 10- by 12-foot room the Schefflers operate from looks like a radio station control room. Letters, cards, unit patches and mementos cover the walls. Evidence of many thanks for years of assistance.


The radio system, sponsored by the Department of Defense, has been around a lot longer. It evolved from the Army Amateur Radio System, which served a similar role from 1925 through to the start of World War II. In 1946, the present system went on line. Amateurs weren’t allowed on the air during the war.


Now, each branch of the services operates and manages its own part of the program. Running it are licensed amateur radio operators. These “ham” operators contribute to the system’s mission, providing auxiliary or emergency communications on a local, national and international basis as an addition to normal communications.


“Our mission is to back up for the Air Force’s MARS communication system,” Ray said. “We patch for morale.”


The Schefflers don’t plan to quit patching any time soon. They consider themselves part of a group of dedicated fellow radio amateurs participating in meaningful public service. And they enjoy knowing that their linking of families and friends enhances airman morale.


And over the years not only have they made lifelong friends, some of the people they’ve patched have visited the couple in their Shelbyville home, just south of Indianapolis. That’s reward enough for what they do.


“The happy voices are the best,” Ray said. “Hearing little kids talk to dad. Sometimes the kids talk better than the adults — and remember to say ‘over.’ ”