The Austrian Military Radio Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

To mark the event,  special event callsigns has been issued 

OE50AMRS

OE50XAM - OE50XCL - OE50XCW - OE50XLC - OE50XMA - OE50XRM

The callsigns will be used from various locations in Austria during the period of

01 September until the 31 of December 2010

AMRS

Austrian Military Radio Society

50 Years

of

Peace Support  Missions

On 30 June 1960, the Congo, a former Belgian colony, gained independence.  The  newly independent Democratic Republic of the Congo - with 80 million inhabitants and six times the size of France - lacked any infrastructure.  With its opposing independence movements, a large-scale conflict was inevitable.  This triggered the first large-scale UN peacekeeping mission.  Austria, with its newly established armed forces contributed a contingent with both men and material for a field hospital to serve as part of the international UN peacekeeping forces there.  Immediately after that field hospital had become operational, all its personnel has been taken hostaged for a few days.  Due to the lack of any communication facilities, the Austrians were cut off from the rest of the world for a few days.  Such an incident must never happen again!  In the ensuring debate, the military brass noted Colonel M. Milborn, the  commanding officer of the FliegerTelAbteilung [Aviation Communications Unit]. This officer, who also was an enthusiastic amateur radio operator,    drew the logical conclusion that the required experts were readily available all over Austria, namely the amateur radio operators in the military.  The next step was to bring them together in an organisation of their own, the "Austrian Military Radio Section" (AMRS), thus creating the "tenth" provincial amateur radio society in Austria, although Austria has only nine provinces. All ten societies are part of the "Österreichischer Versuchssenderverband" (ÖVSV), which is the umbrella organisation for all amateur radio operators in Austria.

Subsequently, AMRS local chapters were founded in many barracks and received the required radio gear.  Training was conducted during duty hours, and operators could pursue their hobby off duty.

In 1973 the first large-scale international operation was conducted in support of the United Nations Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) - /5B4.  In this connection, the operation of the "Heimatfunkstelle", a specially equipped military shortwave station for long-range communications, turned out to be a great bonus.  The following operation was conducted in support of  AUSBATT, the Austrian battalion serving with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights - /YK between Israel and Syria.

In 1991 the Austrian Military Radio Section has been renamed to

Austrian Military Radio Society.

Only the word "Section" changed to "Society"

http://www.amrs.at

Logsearch available at

http://www.amrs.at/amrs-logsearch

!!! If you are in the Log, QSL-Cards will be automatically send to U by Bureau !!!

WHEN QSLING DIRECT TO US PSE KINDLY INCLUDE A SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE WITH A NEW STYLE IRC.  " TNX"

Editor:  OE1MHL

Photo and Source material by courtesy of

Wolf Harranth OE1WHC

Dokumentationsarchiv Funk QSL Collection

http://dokufunk.org