W4LBL Joseph E. 'Joe' Herrmann Fairfax, VA QCWA #26224

During World War 11, he was a radar engineer for the U. S. Army, at Camp Evans, Belmar, New Jersey. He attended radar courses at the MIT Radiation Lab and was Chief Instructor of the microwave radar school at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He participated in the testing programs of the SCR 582 and 584 radar systems.

In 1943 he joined the Raytheon Electronics Company field engineering group, and was assigned to the U. S. Navy PT Squadrons in the Southwest Pacific. After the war, he transferred to the Communications Division and represented the company at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), Technical Development Center at Indianapolis, Indiana. He provided technical assistance to the CAA during their testing program of air traffic control radar equipment and demonstrated the first use of moving target indicator(MTI).

In 1947 he joined the CAA at the Technical Development Center (TDC) and participated in numerous radar development and evaluation projects. His Technical Report on System Standards became the basis of international standards for the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System (ATCRBS).

The Federal Aviation Agency was formed in 1959 and he was assigned to the Research and Development Division at Washington Headquarters. As Chief of the Beacon Systems Section, his work in the ATCRBS development program continued, and he served on several committees during preparation of system standards.

In 1962 he was a member of the U. S. delegation to ICAO meetings in Montreal and Paris. From 1966 to 1970 he was the FAA representative to the DOD/AIMS Program, and FAA Program Manager for the AN/TPX-42 radar beacon system. As Chairman of the Beacon System Interference Problem Sub-Group from 1967 to 1972, he provided leadership to government and industry efforts in reducing system problems. As Chief of the FAA/DOD Beacon Management Team he established the National Improvement Program for the system. He retired from the FAA in 1974 and formed his own consulting service.

For several years he was a consultant for aircraft collision avoidance systems, and since 1982 he has been retained by the Fairfax City Police as their radio consultant. Under his guidance, three UHF repeater systems with voting receivers have been installed and new radios procured for all cruisers and police officers. The system has been very successful and he received an Honorary Police Captain award. He is now engaged in selection of a mobile computer system for implementation in the police cruisers, and a member of the Police Chiefs Communications ad hoc Committee.

He was engaged by the City in 1990 to engineer a new radio system for all city owned vehicles. Frequency assignments were obtained and a UHF repeater, over 60 mobile radios and several dozen portable units were placed in service.

Since 1974 as Site Manager, he has held the license and maintained the W4LBL 146.79 MHz Fairfax amateur repeater. Many modifications have been made to the equipment over the years and a new repeater was assembled by him, and installed in 1988. The repeater has 4 remote receivers that are linked on UHF and provide wide area coverage.

Prior to World War II he was very active on the 5-meter band - using home made equipment. "Long-lines" self excited oscillators and super regenerative receivers were standard. He also operated on all HF bands also using home-brew equipment.

In 1945 when amateur radio returned to the air, he resumed operation on all bands with considerable attention to mobile installations. He continues to be active especially on 2-meter FM. His past experience includes fast scan TV where he was vice president of the Metrovision club, Official Observer for the ARRL, author of QST article, Air Force MARS station and Technical Director of the NVFMA. He is a member of the Society of Airway Pioneers and the Quarter Century Wireless Association.