Schlatter Family Site

Joe's Home Page

(Joe Schlatter, Jr., that is.)

Thank you for visiting my home page in the Schlatter Family Site.  I am Joe Schlatter, Jr.  More about who we are and our genealogy is here.

My home page contains the following articles:
(arranged in no particular order)  

• The Timex Bodylink® System -- heart rate monitor, GPS time-distance monitor, and data recorder -- great system for athletic training.
• My amateur radio links.
• UPDATE:  My amateur radio station as of October 2008
• Amateur astronomy as a hobby.
• Four-wheeling with Joe, my son
• The Vietnam War Missing In Action Facts Site.   
• A very good   Vietnam War newsgroup.  I am a Vietnam veteran.
• This page shows an AH-1 Cobra helicopter that saw service in Vietnam, now on display in the Veterans Memorial Park in Bristol Virginia-Tennessee. 
• Pat Robertson of the "Christian Coalition" has been called "the most dangerous man in America."  He lied about his Korean War combat record (he never served in combat), he has lied in most every statement he has made, and he continues to lie and mislead.  Read about it here.
• Don McLean's American Pie
• Quotes
• Favorite books
• Read this book:  Stolen Valor:  How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History
• Check out what I am now reading or have recently read.
• Visit my Home Page Bookstore.
• The Editorial Page.  From time to time I write an editorial expressing my views on a topic.
  • A pictorial commentary.

  • Check out this website:  www.rightwinglies.com

• The "Christian right" (which is neither) wants to destroy the U.S. public school system and replace it with a system of church schools under their control.  Do you really want Pat Robertson setting the curriculum for your children?  He may be about to do it.  Read all about it here.
• Here are the lyrics to some of my favorite songs.   Check back from time to time as I will add to these.
• Favorite links.  A collection of links that I have found to be informative or otherwise.
• Old soldiers (Marines, too) check it out and see if you recognize this.
• A bit of sadness and irony.
• No page would be complete without the author's Favorite Car.
• Installing front disc brakes on my old VW.
• My political links.
• Adjusting the stainless steel band on the Casio Wave Ceptor watch -- band is model number S-921L.
• What time is it?
• My article on training for and running a marathon.
•  Here is a link to a series of articles describing how I mounted a Yaesu FT-857D in my 1997 Mazda B4000 truck.

 Politics

I am a populist and liberal and have not voted for a Republican since the one time I voted for Richard Nixon ... I should have known better.  And if the Democrats don't restore their souls soon, I will not vote for another Democrat, either. 

For little it's worth, here is my view of the current state of our politics:

• Both major parties are under control by the most radical, far-out elements of each party:
  • The Republican Party is under the control of the most reactionary radicals this nation has ever seen -- religious zealots, bigots, corporate robber barons, you name it;
  • The Democrats, meanwhile, can't make a move without the approval of left-wing dingbats and have abrogated their historic dedication to working people;
• Our lives are being controlled more and more by corporations that answer to no one;
• "Economic globalization" is doing nothing but "corporatizing" profit and socialize misery;
• Both political parties are now nothing but an extension of corporate America; and,
• The American public wants political leaders who will (1) unify us with a vision for the future, and, (2) provide us with workable solutions to the challenges we face at the beginning of the 21st century.

I don't want a third party in American politics -- I want a second party.

On this page are links to articles I have written and links to important political action organizations.

Check out this website:  www.rightwinglies.com

Amateur Radio

I am an amateur radio operator, call sign W4HH. I hold an Extra Class license and have been licensed since 1958: 

• Novice, KN4FPT, November 1958;

• Technician, K4FPT, February 1959;

• Advanced, K4FPT, April 1979;

• Extra, K4FPT, September 1992;

• Received vanity call W4HH, January 6, 1997.

• While stationed in Japan, July 1990 - July 1993, I held Japanese amateur radio license 7J1AJJ.

This is a LONG story so I'll cut out all but the bottom line -- right now, as of October 2006, my only station is the mobile rig in my pickup.  Here is a link to a series of articles describing how I mounted a Yaesu FT-857D in my 1997 Mazda B4000 truck.

Amateur Radio Links

These are some of the amateur radio links that I use.

•  American Radio Relay League   This is the premier amateur radio organization in the country.  I like to check in with them early Saturday morning and read the weekly newsletter that is posted each Friday night.  If you are not an amateur radio operator, they have information on how to obtain your license.

•  Look up call signs by call, name, or location.   This link takes you to the web site of QRZ.  You can go here and use their search routines to search for a call sign, name, or location.  Their database returns name, address, call, date licensed, e-mail, and other data.

•  AC6V's home page has lots of neat stuff.   I do not know this gentleman and I hope this is still his site.  He has lots of links to interesting and useful amateur radio sites.

• If you are looking for equipment, these links will take you to  Amateur Electronic Supply, to  Ham Radio Outlet, or to manufacturers'  web sites:   Yaesu ,  Icom , and  Kenwood .  There are other manufacturers and dealers on the WWW and I will add to these links.

• This is a link to  The Ole Virginia Hams Amateur Radio Club in Manassas, Virginia.  I joined OVH years ago and maintain membership.  They have an excellent hamfest held on the first Sunday of June each year.  Lots of folks attending and a huge flea market.  Take a few days off, go to Manassas, visit the Civil War battlefields in the area (First and Second Manassas/Bull Run), Wilderness, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville), tour Washington, D.C., then take in the hamfest.

APRS   

APRS -- Amateur Position Reporting System -- is a system developed by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, that uses amateur radio to transmit position reports, weather reports, and messages between users.  APRS is fascinating.  The software runs on a computer that is connected to an amateur radio packet station.  The station receives formatted position reports from other stations then the software plots the reports as symbols on a map in real time, allowing you to see where other stations are located.  I have  GPS receiver in my old VW Beetle hooked up to my amateur radio transmitter.  As I drive around, the GPS reads my position, direction, and speed and feeds it to the radio, where it is transmitted, allowing other APRS stations to track me.  The system has all sorts of uses; commercial truck fleets use the system to keep track of where their trucks are.  To see a real time display of APRS activity, go to this link.  It defaults to a map of Florida; the Java applet takes about two minutes to load; you can go to other map displays. (APRS is a registered trademark of APRS Software and Bob Bruninga, WB4APR.)

For more details, go to my APRS page.

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Missing-in-Action (MIA) Facts Site

During the approximately one decade that the United States fought a war in Southeast Asia, over 58,000 Americans were killed in action.  A small number of prisoners of war were released while the conflict was still going on and, in Spring 1973, during Operation Homecoming, 591 American prisoners of war (POW) were released.

At the same time, there remained over 2,500 personnel whose fates were not entirely determined.

•  Some of these were lost under circumstances where they may have been captured, yet they were not returned and were not seen by other prisoners.
• Others were known to have been killed but their remains could not be recovered, either at the time they were lost or through follow-up search operations.
• Others were missing, with little known about their disappearance.

Extensive intelligence operations and reviews of all available evidence collected during and since the end of the Vietnam War can lead to only one conclusion:  All American prisoners of war who were alive at time of Operation Homecoming were released by their captors.

In spite of overwhelming evidence to support this position, there remains an active claim that the U. S. government knew of prisoners who were not released at the end of the war and that there has been and continues a conspiracy throughout the U. S. government to hide the evidence of this abandonment and the evidence of live Americans who are still held, even almost 25 years after the war ended.

This claim of live prisoners and a cover up and conspiracy can be found on many Internet websites.  Proponents of this claim cite evidence that seems convincing.  The MIA issue continues to be plagued by this same sort of misinformation and pseudohistory. What is almost completely missing from the Internet is a lay-out of the facts.
 
While on active duty with the Army (28 years), I served as Chief of Analysis for the Defense Intelligence Agency Special Office for POW-MIA Affairs, then as Chief of the Special Office.  Later, I served as Deputy Director of the Defense POW-MIA Office.

I have collected from others and have written myself articles that present factual information on various aspects of the MIA question. The MIA  Facts Site is found here.   The MIA Facts Site is a living document.  That is, there will always be pages under construction.  I will do my best to keep things updated. 

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Vietnam Veterans

You may be interested in the newsgroup  soc.history.war.vietnam .  It is a moderated group that provides an opportunity for folks to exchange ideas, experiences, and what-have-you on the Vietnam War.  I recommend it.  The moderators are professional and keep the dialogue at a high level.   The folks who maintain SHWV also have an excellent site full of resources on the Vietnam War at this URL:   http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/shwv/shwvhome.html

I am a Vietnam Veteran:  2d Battalion, 13th Field Artillery; February 1969 -- February 1970. 

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W4HH - I support know code.