Radio station HB9O Lucerne News

The next events at the HB9O station:

NEWS

HB9O has arrived

Nothing is as constant as change. It’s not just our economy, technology and much more that we have long since become accustomed to. Change also confirms our expectations. The issue of the airport and skyguide has become one and the same. For a long time, the idea was to place HB9O just a few meters from Skyguide. However, this idea soon had to be discarded because the radio station would have been in the line of a possible escape route.

Only time will tell whether the current location of the station will attract more visitors, whether it will avoid the flow of visitors or whether it will be more of a quiet place. The important thing is that there is much more light at this location than before on the second floor. We are in talks with the staff at the Museum of Transport to reduce this excessive amount of light.

We have also found a new location for the Beam, which is currently still on the high-rise building. This is because the skyscraper is being renovated and will ultimately be rented out and will no longer be accessible to us, so in the first phase we will have a dipole or even a long-wire antenna at our disposal. The feed line to the roof of the Kosmorama cylinder will be approx. 45 m long. In a second phase, the beam will be placed on the roof of the Kosmorama. There are also ideas for a decentralized antenna system, which will provide better propagation possibilities and less interference.

On behalf of everyone, I would like to thank the staff at the VHS for their hard work and, of course, Urs Baumgartner (HB9MYH) and Karl Scotzniovsky (HB9BRG) for dismantling the station and setting it up at the new location.

PICTURES

WHO CAN HELP?

Did you miss anything during your last visit? Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

Let us know. We do everything we can to make our visitors feel at home. Send us an e-mail with your ideas to hb9o(at)uska.ch .

Commissioning

HB9O – New location – New opportunities

The impression that the HB9O radio station is once again being “moved” is not without good reason. In fact – the station is being moved. A lot of heart and soul was put into the construction of the current location. A great many hours (mind you) were spent working on the site.

It should not be forgotten that a museum “lives” from change, which is what visitors ultimately expect. Skyguide is moving its site to where HB9O is (still) located. The station would only have had to be moved a few meters further. On the outside of the building, on the side of Lidostrasse, a walkway is being built, which is part of the escape route concept. The station would then have stood in this escape route. As a result, the safety regulations would no longer have been met.

Finding a new yet attractive location in the aerospace hall is a challenge in itself. HB9O and therefore we radio amateurs are very welcome in the VHS. This is repeatedly confirmed to us by Daniel Geissmann (responsible for the collection and exhibition at the Museum of Transport Lucerne) and Damian Amstutz (curator of the Aerospace Hall, Museum of Transport Lucerne).

The proposed new location is shown in the diagram. The station is at ground level and can be presented in daylight. This is very convenient for public relations work with soldering courses. There is space next to the station that can be made available for these temporary activities with school classes. There is also a small room where tools and brochures can be stored and used as a checkroom.

Although the station has a window seat, it is not expected to be exposed to much sunlight. The definitive orientation of the station table, which will be retained in its original form, still needs to be checked and optimized if necessary. This location has largely solved the issue of ambient noise interference.

A beam enjoys the heights

The high-rise building on which the Beam stands will be renovated from around 2018/19 to 2021 and will ultimately become a youth hostel. This building will therefore no longer be freely accessible. Not only the antennas of HB9O, but also those for mobile radio are affected and have been given notice of termination for this antenna location.

The Swiss Museum of Transport is offering HB9O a new location on the roof of a building (e.g. Cosmorama cylinder hall for aerospace with suitability for mounting a lattice mast). If HB9O is unable to provide its own lattice mast or if it needs to be adapted or supplemented, the Swiss Museum of Transport’s metalworking shop is available for the corresponding work.

The Museum of Transport is also offering to help us move the furniture. Further discussions on the detailed planning are still to come. Read about this in the news from HB9O.

Although this message requires a lot of work and goodwill from everyone, we are of the positive opinion that this situation deserves a new chance.