March 2026
The Superflex
A Publication of the Alabama Historical Radio Society March 2026
NOTE FROM PRESIDENT WAG
Members,
Mark your calendars!
The date for next AHRS Business meeting will be on Monday, March 23rd, 2026, and will be in person and via Zoom at the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86330579924?pwd=ckZLWEJMb0V2ajhBUzh0S2liQnlmZz09
Meeting ID: 863 3057 9924 Passcode: 631140)
VP Steven Westbrook will be moderating the meeting and minding the shop in my absence! My wife and I are taking our annual trip to England, and when I get home I join our eldest son and his elder son (3 generations of Richards) for a WW II trip, including Amsterdam and the site of Operation Market Garden, then on to Luxembourg and Bastogne-Battle of the Bulge.
If you have not already done so, please renew your membership and dues for 2026 that may be paid via cash, check, and PayPal as usual. As we transition, finance committee member, Steven Westbrook, has been handling dues collection.
We are close to engaging a UAB graduate as an independent contractor to help us complete the Harry Butler 2nd edition of his book on Alabama broadcast radio history. Once completed, we’ll begin the cataloging process of our reference library and other items we seek to archive.
Boyd’s next class scheduled for Saturday, April 4th, 2025, at 9:00 AM in person and via Zoom. The topic is the restoration of a pair of Philco 48-481 radios which embody some interesting learning experience. The following link remains in effect:
https://us02web..us/j/88180351990?pwd=N2lucjB3WVhtR05nTSs5S0xGcURadz09
Boyd has edited and archived his classes to date; to access them, please contact Boyd directly boyd.bailey@charter.netwith your email address and he’ll guide you through the process.
We have not chosen another auction date, potentially featuring novelty radios. There are many radios and pieces of related equipment downstairs in storage, and we encourage members to visit. If you find something of interest you would like to acquire, talk to an officer or Board member about its availability. For a donation to the Society, you may well get your wish!
Do not forget our lending library!! Our reference library is on the main floor, same as our shop and radio displays. The lending library is downstairs in the anteroom of the women’s restroom. Signs on both floors help direct the reader to the lending library. If you wish to borrow a book, simply sign it out on the clipboard. (Books in the reference library cannot be signed out.)
The BirmingHamfest was held on March 2026 6th & 7th. Dave Cisco’s and Robert Cain’s planned presentation on the History of AHRS has been delayed, but Dave and Robert developed one on the history of WSGN. Robert and Jim McCullers from BARC hosted the forum. We apologize for the technical glitches during the forum; they were, however, due to the AV setup at the hosting facility. Part of the show included a video on “Pop” Ansley which is available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uakm9lg_XLI We (Ken Smith, below right) recorded the forum and will make it available once editing is complete.
Dave is recovering from a broken kneecap, so keep him in mind and prayers as he recovers. WSGN is streaming at https://www.radioalabama.net/wsgn/and broadcasts at 98.3 from Stewartville, AL.
The shop is functioning well, remains busy, and I wish to thank everyone for helping keep the work benches clear. Let us know if there are problems in the shop or lack of critical components, eg, electrolytics.
Our next major event of note is the annual Legends of Broadcast program slated for Thursday, 16 April 2026!
Needed: A non-leadership member for the Finance CMTE. With Michael Spanos selected as our treasurer, this opens a position on the Finance CMTE for someone, not an officer or Board member, as specified in our bylaws. If anyone would consider serving, let one of us know. The primary burden of serving would be attendance at one or two meetings a year to provide oversight of our finances and obligations.
We expect to move totally to the new checking account reflecting our non-profit status and migrate our accounting to online banking and QuickBooks platforms. It has been a slog and we apologize to any members for financial inconveniences during the transition. We could not have done it without Steven taking on the extra duties he shouldered.
In closing, I expect to see few antique, valve-based “wirelesses” in England, but the WW II museums we will see in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg should have loads of radios from that era on display.
Respectfully submitted, I remain,
President Wag, AHRS
Whispering Across the World: WSPR Amateur Radio and the Mystery of Flight MH370
Introduction
On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished while in route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew. More than a decade later, the disappearance remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. While satellite communications, radar data, and ocean drift modeling have formed the backbone of official investigations, an unexpected technology from the world of amateur radio—WSPR, or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter—has entered the discussion as a possible new source of insight. [mh370search.com], [independent.co.uk]
WSPR was never designed to track aircraft. Instead, it is a low‑power digital radio system created to study how radio waves propagate across the Earth. Yet some researchers argue that disturbances in WSPR signals may indirectly reveal the path of large aircraft such as MH370. This idea has sparked both renewed interest and significant skepticism within scientific and aviation communities.
What Is WSPR?
WSPR (pronounced “whisper”) is a digital communication protocol used by amateur radio operators to study radio propagation under real‑world conditions. Developed in 2008 by Nobel Prize–winning physicist and radio amateur Joe Taylor (K1JT), WSPR allows stations transmitting very low power—often one watt or less—to be detected thousands of kilometers away. [en.wikipedia.org], [onallbands.com]
Each WSPR transmission lasts just under two minutes and carries only three pieces of information: the station’s call sign, its geographic grid locator, and its transmission power. Receiving stations automatically upload reception reports to a public database called WSPRnet, creating a massive, time‑stamped archive of radio propagation data from around the world. [amateur-ra...o-wiki.net], [brokensignal.tv]
Crucially, WSPR is one‑waycommunication. There is no conversation between stations; instead, the system functions like a distributed scientific instrument for monitoring how radio waves interact with the ionosphere, terrain, and other environmental factors.
From Propagation Study to Passive Radar Hypothesis
The link between WSPR and MH370 arises from a hypothesis known as passive radar. Passive radar systems do not transmit their own signals; instead, they analyze disturbances in existing radio transmissions caused by large moving objects. [w6hs.net]
Proponents of the WSPR‑MH370 theory suggest that a large aircraft flying through radio paths between WSPR transmitters and receivers could slightly alter signal strength or frequency. By identifying statistically unusual “anomalies” in WSPRnet data and correlating them with time and location, researchers argue it may be possible to infer an aircraft’s approximate flight path. [hamradio.my], [independent.co.uk]
This approach was developed primarily by aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey, working with Dr. Hannes Coetzee and Professor Simon Maskell. Their published analyses claim that WSPR data from the night MH370 disappeared contain multiple anomalies consistent with a southward flight path into the Indian Ocean.
Prepared by Co-pilot
Quotes of the Month
“My uncles’s dying wish was to have me sitting on his lap. He was in the electric chair”
-Rodney Dangerfield
“If you are the smartest man in the room…. then you are in the wrong room.”
-Confucius
Remember our Lending library in the basement is a wonderful asset available to all members.
Occasionally we receive radios and radio related items from donations that are stored in our basement, but do not make it into an auction. If you are interested in amy of these items please discuss them with Tom Killian or Ray Giles.
We meet every Saturday (unless a Holiday weekend) at 8:30 A.M. until around 11:30 A.M., at the one-story AHRS Shop at the corner of 8th Avenue North and 18th Street, (1801 8th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203). Please use the rear (Southeast) entrance.
The Shop is open on Tuesdays at 8:30 A.M. until around 11:30 A.M. Note that parking can be a problem on Tuesdays, so you may have to find street parking occasionally.
Regular monthly members meetings are on the fourth Monday night starting at 7:00 PM with the Executive Meeting starting at 6:30 PM
Please come join us!
The electronics classes are generally on “Zoom” and “in-person” at the AHRS Shop, typically the first Saturday of each month (except when something special is taking place, then we agree on an alternative Saturday)
Check your emails for the schedule and how to participate.
We start from the beginning Ohms Law, inductors, resistor and Capacitors color codes, as well as what each component does within the radio circuits. We also teach how to use test equipment used in the repairing of radios. We teach troubleshooting radio troubles, as well as how to read a radio diagram.
Currently the class is studying advance topics relating to troubleshooting and project radio repair. We are retooling our website in hopes of archiving prior classes for those who may have missed a prior class. Email will provide timely details on date, topics & links.
There are coil winding classes, and one-on-one repair help. Come join these classes!
Membership dues are $25.00 a year, payable beginning in January. If you have questions about your dues, you can contact Treasurer Mike Woodruff at 205-823-7204. Dues can be mailed to AHRS at P.O. Box 131418, Birmingham, Alabama 35213 or paid on-line at https://alhrs.org
Be sure and check out our website at https://alhrs.org, which has copies of all newsletters from 2006 to the present (click on News), videos, photo galleries, museum, Old Time Radio columns, Projects, Reading Rooms, Archives, and Contact Information. Within the next few months we hope to update our website and add additional content and new capabilities
President – Richard “Wag” Waguespack
(205) 531-9528
drminims@aol.com
Vice President – Steven Westbrook
(205) 305-0679
spwestbro@bellsouth.net
Recording Secretary – Grady Shook
(205) 281-3007
gshook@bellsouth.net
Treasurer – Michael Spanos
Boyd Bailey, Member and Instructor
(334) 412-6996
boyd.bailey@charter.net
Newsletter Editor/Webmaster – Steven Westbrook
(205) 305-0679
spwestbro@bellsouth.net
Web Address:
https://alhrs.org
E-mail Address:
ahrs2000@gmail.com
Youtube Channel: Alabama Historical Radio Society - YouTube