RUK (9M2RUK) . . . The Story...

In the 70's (can't remember exactly when) , the 2 Metre Band was made available to Amateurs in Malaysia. Unfortunately, Singapore did not, and HAMS there could not enjoy the same band spectrum as we did.
It was a period of great activity, enthusiasm and fun. But shortly after, we began to discover the properties of VHF. 9M2CM used the word "window" to describe channel effectsin VHF.

What is a window?...simply this; when you have a window in your house, you look through it and see the view. Move yourself away and the view dissapears. In VHF, if you move your handheld to a certain position, you hear the signal; move away from that position and the signal is gone. 9M2CM coined it the window effect! And so it was a limitation to contacts through the hand held or home station.
Very quickly he (then MARTS President) decided they should solve the problem with a Repeater. He wrote to his HAM friend in the United States for advice and at the same time discussed BANDPLAN with the Telecoms Department (Jabatan Telekom, Malaysia)
Within one week the equipment arrived at the Old Subang Airport (now Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Subang) and 9M2AV-Avatar Singh, along with 'Congoman-9M2CM' went to 'tussle' with customs. Nevertheless, the equipment was released. We then knew RUK consists of a transmitter and receiver (as one unit) plus an 8 element co-linear and 3 cavity resonators.
9M2CO-Adrian, immediately started assembly of the co-linear antenna (which turned out to be approx. 20ft tall) the 1/2 elements were positioned NSEW (directional) concentrically.
Again , within 1 week, the Repeater 9M2RUK found its home at Ulu Kali. A great big thank you to JTM, and all involved in getting 9M2RUK going.
With 9M2RUK now 'alive', a period of great activity followed ! The lonely HAM would trigger 9M2RUK and felt accompanied when the sweet response in Morse code . . dah dah dah dah dit . . . .dah dit dah . . Those who did not know wheter their rig was working triggered 9M2RUK and when RUK's response in Morse code was heard, the Rig was OK!
Ships passing throught the Straits of Malacca triggered 9M2RUK; perhaps 9M2FK, should be given the credit for installing a yagi high up his tower and triggered 9M2RUK from Penang !!
In those days you could only get through the repeater as far North as Ipoh and South up to Malacca.

**NOTE** 9M2RUK was given to MARTS by 9M2CM-CongoMan ;
The co-linear antenna mounted on the left hand side leg of Telecoms Tower Ulu Kali (View from Hotel Genting HIghlands) ; IARU and JTM secured 2 Metre Band for Malaysia.

THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRINTED WORD FOR WORD, as contributed by 9M2CM.
Syabas, and thank you to all involved; and particularly to CongoMan for narrating this story.