For once I went to a radio club meeting in Vienna, but not in Virginia. Earlier this week, I landed in Austria, had some meetings at the Vienna International Center and then headed directly to the Landesverband Wien in Österreichischen Versuchssenderverband, i.e., the Vienna section of the Austrian IARU member organization. According to their website, meetings are held every Thursday at 17:00h. It turns out that this is true, but 17:00 is just the starting time — most come between about 17:00 and 19:00 (presumably the time is more exact on an evening with a scheduled activity).
The club house is just around the corner from the Gumpendorfer U-bahn station, so it’s easy to get there. Looking the large multi-element beam, a vertical and some VHF antenna on the roof, there is no question about which building. The familiar diamond-shaped radio league symbol appears on the door of the building next to some door bells. I pressed the buttons and was buzzed in.
At the club, I was greeted by Wolfgang, OE1VFW (see his website). He told me about the club and showed me around their club house. The club now has “only” 250 or so members, but at one time had reached 500 members. At one time, the club owned the entire building in downtown Vienna. Now, the club still has a large flat that is the club house, plus a workroom and roof access. The club area includes a front coat room which doubles as a QSL card sorting area, a few meeting rooms, a large classroom, a kitchen, an administrative area, and a radio room.
The main HF rig in the radio room is a TS950, but right next to the operating position is an interesting piece of vintage gear: a 1960s(?) vintage commercial teletype that has been restored to working condition.
Another interesting piece of gear stands to the side in the common room: a 1930s AM station that was home brewed by OE1ER, Erwin Heitler. Getting that rig restored is on the club’s to-do list, but it will involve some reverse engineering, as no schematics exist.
In the course of the evening, I met several other hams at the club, but given my lack of German conversation skills, most of the time I talked with Wolfgang and Erwin, OE1EGU. Erwin surprised me by immediately identifying Vienna, Virginia as the end of the Washington Metro Orange Line.
I extended a general invitation for them to visit the “other” Vienna radio club, should any of them take a trip to the US nation’s capital region.